While there's nothing quite like "discovering" your new favorite band, getting to see those artists who have lived on your iPod for years warms a very sentimental part of the heart. more ›

SMALL BUSINESS SKILLS: SeattleSCORE, the people who help small business people learn stuff, have put together a 4-hour seminar, Marketing 101. On the syllabus! Identifying your customers, packaging your product or service, creating effective marketing tools, and getting repeat customers. Now, in this market none of this will help, but it will get you out of the office for a bit, and you might meet some new people. more ›

This Sunday, they return to Seattle for the fourth time (they most recently played Bumbershoot), with the Hold Steady at the HUB Ballroom at the UW. Art Brut's newest effort singles like "Modern Art" and "Bad Weekend," but it still delivers some memorable songs like "Direct Hit" and "Nag, Nag, Nag, Nag." more ›

Tuesday night at the Showbox, waiting, watching the crowd. They're a lovely blend of shimmer and shab. A fitting and complimentary mix of well dressed girls and unkempt boys. Some nights you can tell who's here to see which band, but not this night. Seattlest got the impression that much of this crowd was like us: Here for The National, but also excited and curious to see what newcomer St. Vincent brings to the table. more ›

What the hell is it about Iceland? How can a cold and tiny isolated nation with only 300,000 people be responsible for so much weird and wonderful music? From Björk to Sigur Rós to Múm (who will be appearing at Neumo's in October, btw), Iceland's got a strong presence on the indie scene. Hmm...there must be something in all them hot springs. more ›

--David Postman of the Seattle Times saw Sicko over the weekend and talked with Michael Moore about it. more ›

When Seattlest made it to the Paramount last year for what would be an amazing performance from Sufjan Stevens, we were running a little late and needed a drink. Straight to the little bar we went, causing us to miss most of the opening act. We did settle, finally, in our seat for the last couple songs by said act and when it was done, we said to our company, "Wow. We should have gotten here sooner." Then Sufjan came out, handsome devil that he is, and we forgot about everything until we realized that the "cheerleading captain" for Sufjan's band was none other than the woman who'd just finished warming the crowd. more ›

MUSIC MOVIE: Danielson: A Family Movie follows musician/multi-media artist Daniel Smith as he endeavors to create art with his siblings and friends while also balancing his love for Jesus. Including appearances by Sufjan Stevens, Rick Moody, Daniel Johnston, and Steve Albini, tonight’s the documentary’s Seattle premiere. more ›

Seattlest got paid today. What does that mean? Off to the record store we go. more ›

The Decemberists played the Paramount Friday night and it was packed all the way up to the nosebleed section. A friend of ours warned us not to go as he feared they would be playing too much from the new album, The Crane Wife, which he hated and which we are sorry to say we've been too busy lately to have even heard about. We loved their earlier work--elaborate, sad, heavily orchestrated--which seemed to put them in the same pantheon as Neutral Milk Hotel, Sufjan Stevens, and Arcade Fire. more ›

Has Seattlest mentioned that we are in love with Sufjan Stevens? Yes, we love him, but it's totally not in a sexual way. Though we certainly appreciate his boyish good looks (and nicely toned arms), for us to touch someone with such wide-eyed childlike wonder would surely make us a pedophile. More than anything, we'd love to hold him close to our bosom, thereby protecting him from the cold, cruel world. Still, when a man attempts a project even he knows he's not going to finish---creating an album per state of the union, and on each chronicling the state's feel via extensive research, personalized lyrics, and elaborate folk orchestration---well, we kinda hafta fall in love with him. Especially when he chooses as his second state the place of our birth, and the big single off the album is about our hometown. more ›

Tuesday 10th more ›

Danielson took the stage around 11:30. The crowd steadily filed in from their twenty-minute smoke breaks. Ben Gibbard of Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie fame showed up following the opening band. more ›

Currently enjoying premium real estate in the coveted "Best New Music" space on Pitchfork, Danielson (aka Daniel Smith) allegedly rocks - in italics - "with blaring trumpets signaling snares to exact their force beneath sweeping multitracked vocal choruses that simply won't stop crescendoing." The same article also claims that Sufjan Stevens serves as Danielson's "acolyte," which conjures up all kinds of unrelated and unfortunate images. more ›

First of all, we could describe it all, the minutiae, the ecstasy -- but streaming video is also fun. MSN Video was at Sasquatch, filming for future on-demand streaming starting Thursday, June 1. (We understand teasers and highlights are up now.) They have artist interviews and a blog from Sean Nelson (whom our friend thinks lives upstairs from him, after seeing him appear with the Decemberists -- "He's in a band?" he asked. "Man, he makes a racket stomping around up there. He's got a piano, too.") You can create your own playlist or just sit back and Sasquatch. more ›

Pelting rain drove us out of Seattle and down I-90 this morning, but the clouds thinned magically over the Gorge. To the left, a threatening black pile of clouds; to the right, a sunbreak directly over the amphitheater. Sasquatch gates opened at either 10am or 11am, depending on which sign you believe, but we rolled in around 1pm after setting up a tent at the (well-reviewed) Stars & Stripes RV Resort well down the road. Sasquatch is sold out for Saturday and Sunday, and lodging is scarce. more ›

Besides raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, these were a few of our favorite things, at least in terms of live music during the past year. more ›

If you are at all like us, your formative years were spent watching the 'Transformers' and 'Thundercats.' Sure, sure our mom said we should have been 'reading' or 'doing something productive' but we said to that 'Mom, we are learning. We are learning about lasers. Oh, and about talking cats, too.'. more ›

We are thoroughly unimpressed with the shows in town this week. We will let you decide if that's because there are no good shows or that we are a little dead inside. Despite the lack of good shows, there are some pretty hot new CDs out to satisfy your music fix. more ›