In mid-November, Tilth chef de cuisine Larkin Young left Maria Hines’ kitchen to pursue his own restaurant. While he doesn’t yet have a space, Young does have investors, a business plan, the full support of his former boss, and a notebook full of ideas for dishes at his new spot. He also has a name and a hope of opening his doors “some time in early spring.” more ›

There's some music that when you hear it, you can just picture it in a movie. We're not claiming to have Alexandra Patsavas' chops but we certainly like to think we can sense the sound of cinematic greatness when we hear it. At least when it comes to a few choice musicians. Hearing composer Dustin O'Halloran for the first time resulted in a similar declaration. O'Halloran has been painting sonic landscapes fit for the screen for years. Gaining attention for crafting playfully melancholic piano waltzes for the L.A. dream pop band Devics, O'Halloran has since established himself as one of the most promising American composers alive today. We were lucky enough to catch up with O'Halloran in advance of his show at the Triple Door with noted German pianist Hauschka. more ›

Hooray! The first batch of the Capitol Hill Block Party line-up for this summer has been announced, and we're thrilled to see what a truly fine list it is. Hot groups such as Vampire Weekend, Les Savy Fav, Kimya Dawson, and The Physics are already confirmed, with nary a six-hour-long Spoon set to be found. (Okay, so maybe last year's Spoon performance wasn't exactly six hours long, but it kinda felt like it.) more ›

Our sophomore year boyfriend was mid-grope when we heard our first Spoon song and stopped paying attention to him entirely. While the relationship proved futile (shocking!) our love for "Change My Life" remains as solid as ever. Is it hormone-fueled nostalgia that keeps our Spoon flame burning? Or is it just Britt Daniel? more ›

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt, who has completely covered her house in mosaic tiles. more ›

The above vid is a live performance of "Our Bovine Public," the barrelling leadoff track from The Cribs' latest release, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever. Even if the album wasn't really, really good (and basically all we've been listening to lately), we'd have to recommend it based on the awesomely ambivalent title alone. more ›

We know that the weather has been rainy and overcast and downright crummy these last few days, but never fear: things are looking up! And just in time for this weekend's Capitol Hill Block Party, which over two days features three stages and nearly fifty bands. more ›

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Finally, someone else sees things our way. Like peanut butter and jelly, there has been one natural combination longing to be put together: having a beer and thinking about your favorite insurance company. Thank God Online providers Esurance have stepped up to the plate. Meshing together insurance needs with scenester whoredom, that's right, this year it's the Esurance Capitol Hill Block Party. more ›

Last year's Sasquatch line up was good, but not good enough to get us to spend three days at the Gorge. We still prefer the festival in its one-day, all-in-one-fell-swoop form, but with the lineup that's been announced for this year's two-day fest, we may just have to make the trip. Out of the two days, it was Saturday that really made us coo. Bjork *and* Arcade Fire? Consider us sold. There are still bands to be announced, but here's how things stand as of right now: more ›

From upstate New York, Robbers on the High Street [MySpace] are that band you heard on the Wedding Crashers ("Love Underground") or Just Friends soundtrack ("Big Winter"). Maybe you tuned into KEXP on Monday and heard them on Cheryl Waters' show. more ›

Eighteen teams competed in Seattlest trivia at the Old Pequliar last night. We'll post the final standings this afternoon. In the meantime, test yourself with the quiz: more ›

By embracing you with hard rocking hands, petting your head with beats, and letting you know in a sweet falsetto voice that the rocking will never stop, Spoon bends you into believing that everything is going to be okay. Even in the hot hot sun, even when the only food you can afford is roasted corn, even when they have David Cross do an interpretive dance of one of their songs and he shows the entire audience his ass, you know that the rocking will never stop. more ›

Lordy, we are getting old. Midway through day 2 of Bumbershoot, we were dragging hardcore. The crowds, the drunk white guys, the terrible fashion---it was all getting to be too much. But then we nutted up and carried on with our high-octane music intake. more ›

What a great way to close out the summer: Beer, fried food on stick, irritatingly large crowds, great music, and a slight chance of rain (remember last year?). Seattlest loves us some Bumbershoot though, and we wouldn't let some pesky weather ruin our fun. This year looks to be a good one. A couple things we are digging right off the bat are the addition of good bands on the outdoor stages and ditching the Friday festivities before the weekend (we never went on that day anyway). more ›

Decisions, decisions. This member of Seattlest will have a good friend in town for the duration of Bumbershoot weekend, so most of our scheduling will depend on him. Good thing our friends tend to have taste. Present company excluded. more ›

Love Bumbershoot, but wish it were more elitist? You're in luck. more ›

Seattlest saw three accomplished bands perform at the Paradox last Friday. Even though we were a little out of it from the usual double-shifts at the multiple day jobs, we can still testify that all the usual stuff you've read about the Silversun Pickups, Crystal Skulls and Helio Sequence remains true as of this writing - except all that stuff you've heard about Brian Aubert sounding like Billy Corgan is not actually true; his voice was more original than that and, let's just say, better. The Crystal Skulls earned the Spoon/Smiths/Stereolab comparisions enjoyed previously and Helio Sequence sounded exactly like their label describes them: "...buoyed by swift pop undercurrents, with this collision of electric and organic elements." It was all very accomplished and good, but we weren't feeling it somehow. more ›

The Matador Records website announced a New Pornographers / Belle and Sebastian tour last week and we can't say we're ecstatic about the pairing. Sure, we went through a very brief B&S phase at one point a few years ago. We're not proud of it, but we can admit it. Finally. And we suppose that we can see what Matador is trying to do. Twin Cinema is an excellent attempt at a great album and due to our relative proximity to British Columbia we're very aware of that, as a region. Probably we're in the minority, nationally, though, and we suspect that Matador thinks it should be selling a lot better than it is. And they'd be right. So attach the Pornographers to the warhorse of their stable, the cash cow, the begging-craigslist-for-tickets, probably-playing-the-Paramount band and see what kind of exposure they can get. We're just not sure that fans of the one can necessarily be cross pollinanted into being fans of the other. more ›

If you are more into reverb (and we think that you are), go see Built to Spill at the Showbox tonight. They are one of our all time favorite bands (Built to Spill fun fact: They often play a really long version of Neil Young's 'Cortez the Killer' which is a great opportunity to grab a beer or two. If you are not drinking, it is an excellent opportunity to grab a Shirley Temple or perhaps a Diet Coke). more ›

Apparently, there is something out there called 'nature.' It has trees and birds and such things. We are a little scared of it. If you, on the other hand, are more intrepid than we are and you also happen to enjoy the indie rock, head over to the Gorge Amphitheater tomorrow to see the Sasquatch Music Festival. As you most likely know, the lineup features the Pixies, Wilco, Modest Mouse, Kanye West, the Dears, Arcade Fire, the Bloc Party and more. The lineup is awesome, but we are a little biased towards ceilings, walls and climate control, but that's just us. more ›