We've got some good stuff lined up this week--everything from record collecting to poetry. It's not going to be hard to enjoy your week in Seattle lit! more ›

Perk up your Tuesday with new music from one of Sub Pop's most promising acts. more ›

We've been mesmerized by the pure insanity of what's happening in London over the last few days. It was brought to our attention by a single Tweet from The Givers and since that time, the story seems to fall deeper and deeper into the ludicrous. more ›

Today: Help for writers, the Fruit Bats, and what can we can be learned from the pitfalls of prohibition. more ›

This week I am checking out the summer seasonal from Elysian, Loser Pale Ale. Loser is brewed to commemorate the 20 year anniversary of Sub Pop records. You all know about Sub Pop already, so let’s skip the local music history lesson and get to the beer. more ›

News from some local lovers, courtesy of Gina. more ›

Exciting news from The Head and the Heart. Set your DVRs for May 17th, and watch this awesome video now. more ›

The Head and the Heart is a well-rounded, fun, engrossing group of musicians that have gone from meeting at a dive bar's open mic night to critical acclaim with more than modest success (i.e. signing to Sub Pop) in less than a year. All of these things have culminated in a headlining show at the Showbox Market set for April 29th (that's 70 days from now). more ›

As we (not so) subtly hinted by our allusion to the deja vu feeling we got when Fleet Foxes signed to Sub Pop in our THATH preview from last week, we'd been tipped off about The Head and the Heart's move to Sub Pop and we're thrilled to hear it's now official. Wait. What's that you say? No official word yet? Well, iTunes said it's so and we're not putting the cat back in the bag. Heartfelt congrats to the band and we look forward to officially congratulating you when the powers that be make it...well..official. Hat tip to our friends at Sound on the Sound and Travis at Guerilla Candy who made us want to talk about what we already knew also. more ›

Andy Kotowicz, a dear friend of many in the Seattle music scene and longtime member of the Sub Pop family, was tragically taken from us a little over a month ago in a car accident. We'd rather not recount the details (if you're interested you can find them here), but he was taken suddenly and entirely too soon. Being such an established member of the music community in Seattle and nationwide, there's been an enormous amount of support and kindness toward Andy and his family. First, a foundation has been established, The Andy Kotowicz Family Foundation, and you can contribute by writing a check payable to the Andy Kotowicz Family Foundation can be mailed to: more ›

After much speculation, it was just announced that the original incarnation of local emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate (Nate Mendel, William Goldsmith, Dan Hoerner, and Jeremy Enigk) will reunited for a 20-date US tour starting September 17th. Additionally, Sub Pop is reissuing remastered versions of the band's first two albums, with bonus tracks (ooooh) and new liner notes (ahhhhh). The tour kicks off in Vancouver and ends--home again, home again, jiggity jig--at the Paramount on October 16th. Tix will be $28 and go on sale sometime next week. Full list of tour dates here.
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• SIFF is calling for all young film-loving kiddos to apply for a spot on their very first FutureWave Youth Jury (for high schoolers) and the Films4Families Youth Jury (for kids grades 4-8) at this year's festival. Application deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, May 18.
• Washington likes to tweet a lot. Social media-savvy us create the biggest percentage of people who are active Twitter users from across the U.S.
• A brutal lovers quarrel between Granny and Gramps in Lynnwood. She kicked him where it counts for being unfaithful over 35 years ago.

At this point, who doesn't love The Thermals? Your mom might not like that they play their music so loud and that their second album title featured the f-bomb, but even she'd have to admit that all their songs are pretty dang catchy (her words, not ours). Personally, we have loved them since their debut, the delightfully messy, sneeringly lo-fi More Parts Per Million, born of the fertile womb of Bush administration angst. The Portland post-powerpop-punk three-piece has continued to grow and evolve (and change lineups) over time, such that their last full-length was a concept album about living in a right-wing fascist theocracy. But now here we are at the dawn of a new political era, and The Thermals have a cautiously hopeful album to match. It's about death, of course. We spoke to Valley Girl-voiced singer Hutch Harris in anticipation of the band's show at Neumo's tomorrow night (8pm doors, $15, all ages). more ›

Head to the Sunset tonight for Sub Pop band Oxford Collapse. Along with Love as Laughter, it's a veritable indie pop fest! more ›

Break out the hackysack and butterfly wings, because former Phish bassist Mike Gordon is at the Tractor tonight in support of his new solo record, The Green Sparrow. more ›

Sup Pop is well-known for unabashed self-promotion and grandiose overstatement. Thing is, most of that (tongue-in-cheek) hyperbole is deserved. The much-touted reunion of Green River, one of the label's first signees, was no different. It truly was the highlight of Sub Pop's two-day 20th birthday bash. more ›

Sub Pop wasn't the only iconic local business to celebrate a big anniversary this week. Archie McPhee's—the one-stop shop for all things rubber chicken, bacon, and fun-related—celebrated 25 years of business yesterday. The quintessential Seattle store marked the occasion with a sidewalk sale and a serenade from a few of Seattle's own Rat City Roller Girls. Here's to another 25 years of devil duckies, wind-up librarians, yodeling pickles, and whatever wonderful impish toys those crazy kids come up with next. We hope it's just as successful and fun as the first 25. more ›

Still not Sub Popped out? After a long weekend chockablock of 20th anniversary festivities, Sub Pop has one more show to offer: tonight at Neumo's, it's Wolf Parade and Foals (along with openers The Listening Party). Even though the lineup has been "secret" for a while now, that Wolf Parade was playing was kinda obvious (see clues here). Foals was unexpected, though. Neumo's just made the official announcement of tonight's bill, noting that "tickets are already selling fast, even with the last-minute announcement." Tickets are available through Ticketswest and at the Moe Bar box office, which opens at 3 p.m. sharp. more ›

While this weekend is mostly dominated by all that Sub Pop hooha (and once again, kids, 520's closed, so take alternate routes), there's still a few shows besides those that Katelyn already mentioned. more ›

ARTISTS X-ING, WITH CAMERAS: A motley crew of photographers are gathering down at the Market tonight to explore the area through their camera lenses for the evening. They're meeting at that brass pig by the fish throwers (could this event get any more Seattle?) and will be snapping photos around the Market, downtown, Pioneer Square, the waterfront, and more. It's open to anyone who wants to join in the spirit of discovery and photography. more ›

If you're planning on hitting up Sub Pop's three-day 20th anniversary celebration, you best be getting those tickets now. Friday's comedy extravaganza at the Moore (featuring funnymen David Cross, Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman, and Todd Barry) just sold out, and tix to Saturday's event at Marymoor Park are long gone. That leaves you with two options for Sub Pop-related revelry this weekend: the Gutter Twins and Brothers of the Sonic Cloth at the Showbox Saturday night, or Sunday's Marymoor Park music spectacular, with Wolf Parade, Green River, Beachwood Sparks, Comets on Fire, Red Red Meat, No Age, Les Thugs, Foals, Kinski, Grand Archives, The Ruby Suns, and the enticing wild card of TBA. All proceeds get divided up amongst charities designated by the performers. more ›

NPR's quiz show Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! hasn't taped an episode in Seattle since 2001, but last night at the Paramount, they had a sold-out venue full of Seattleites dressed up in their best fleeces eager to clap and guffaw on cue. Apparently, a radio show that runs about forty-five minutes on the air takes more than twice that live, including a humorously eerie segment at the end of the night where the cast quickly records disembodied do-overs of the lines they flubbed the first time around. more ›

, Waters has been pushing the boundaries of the cinema for about 40 years, and has moved from the indie fringes to the mainstream with popular stage musicals of his classic films. more ›

Stairwell Sisters have joined the slowly growing community of all-girl old-timey bands, and recently released their third album, Get Off Your Money. They do much better when they tackle the traditional fiddle tunes, but their originals do the genre plenty of justice. They’ll be joined at the Tractor tonight by local old-timey heroes the Tallboys. more ›

It's weeks like this that make us glad to be writing about rock in Seattle, because a pair of American indie's leading lights are coming to town this Thursday and Friday. more ›

That long-awaited EP from Seattle's Fleet Foxes is out, a few months in advance of the new album due June-ish. Sun Giant (Sub Pop) provokes something more than cautious optimism on the part of Pitchfork: "It's a sovereign work: a statement EP, supremely crafted and confident." An 8.7! It's also just $5, mp3 download or CD. more ›

Sometimes we'd rather experience a new (or new-ish) band's sound in person, rather than be tipped off by their recorded work. So we haven't listened to Great Northern's streaming songs, played their (first) 2007 album, or let fly The Gutter Twins' online teaser. (We didn't even listen to that live Twins clip; sorry if the sound sucks.) Tomorrow night, when the former opens for the latter, we expect to experience true aural pleasure. more ›

The UK's Guardian Unlimited spoke to Seattle's Fleet Foxes (thanks, CHS) ("a group whose unique sound is hymnal and baroque, with mandolins and banjos and extraordinary vocal harmonies") and got the scoop on Seattle's development opportunity. more ›

Last week, Seattlest lamented the four-year absence of a live-in-person-on-a-Seattle-stage Mark Lanegan. more ›

Has it really been over four years since you've taken a stage in Seattle, Mark? We could be wrong, but your late 2003 Showbox show—a great one, by the way—is the last we heard about. (QOTSA appearances don't count.) Assuming we're right, that's just silly. more ›