Children dressed in rags? Check. Dystopian themes? Check. Colin Meloy singing about arms being unbound? Check. The video for "This is Why We Fight" has all the trappings of a Decemberists video. more ›

Many of you may have already gotten your hands on the Decemberists album The King is Dead, set to hit the shelves tomorrow. While it hasn't been officially released yet, the public has done a disservice to the band byspreading a pre-release version throughout the web. We don't want to condone downloading anything from the Internet; it's just one of those things we all accept as a typical occurrence these days. However, there are times when it really sets our blood to boiling--and this is one of those times. more ›

As we do every year, this Seattlest has gone through the year's schedule and made the hard choices. We've selected the can't-miss acts and have made a point to provide options if you aren't able to see your first choice. Though we've heard about some changes that are designed to make comedy and theatre lines more bearable, we still recommend setting aside enough time to stand in line and encourage you not to be too heartbroken if things don't pan out exactly how you'd planned. With Bumbershoot a mere 24 hours away, we give you our official schedule followed by five can't miss acts. Do yourself a favor and bookmark this post to reference while at the Center or print it off today, while you still have access to the office printer. (Schedule and can't miss sets after the jump) more ›

Making music together since the turn of the millennium, Portland’s The Decemberists are one of the Pacific Northwest's most dynamic musical acts. Among other accomplishments, the band has established themselves as strong storytellers who artfully blend disparate elements of folk, rock, and country. The band’s often weird and winding narratives parallel the kudos picked up by the band along the way, including participation in a one-on-one shred-fest against Stephen Colbert (and his pinch guitarist Peter Frampton), among many other more traditional honors. This evening, the band will be playing in Redmond for the first time and are looking forward to exploring the sonic expanses through a live performance that may or may not include their cover of a local legend. We were album to catch up with guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk on the eve of tonight's Marymoor Park show. more ›

"I think the Decemberists are a great band, and I think there are some similarities: we are both folkish and use more varied instrumentation than most rock bands. I think that if you actually sit and listen to both bands, you'd see that they both are coming from very different places. The era of songs that drive and influence the majority of the Builders' material is early Depression-era blues, folk, and gospel, and weirder stuff like Tom Waits." more ›

Their bloodfeud over use of greenscreen long forgotten, our precious Stephen Colbert allowed the Decemberists back on the Report last night, and he even let them have two segments, one with a mini-interview and one with a song performance (a la TV on the Radio). Above is the interview, in which Stephen tells them they should name an album You're Beautiful, Honey, makes a crack about biking in Portland, and mocks Colin Meloy's ample 19th-century sideburns. more ›

Laura Veirs has been writing and performing dreamy folk and pop songs for nearly a decade. She graces Seattle with a solo performance this Friday night at the Triple Door. more ›

In terms of live music, this weekend is rather Friday-heavy. Kick things off early at a free happy hour (5pm) show at Nectar with Siberian and Pseudosix, featuring members of The Decemberists, Dolorean, and The Joggers. Just a taste of what can occur when the Portland supergroup plays: more ›

As the amazing reality of the 2007 draft order settles in, it has become apparent that if you need to send a representative to the NBA Draft Lottery, pick a Garfield High graduate. 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 ›

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. more ›

We finally saw the repeat of last month's Colbert vs. Decemberists guitar challenge on the Report last night. If you also missed it, Colbert, of course, wins by having Frampton stand in for him. Here's Frampton, The Decemberists and Colbert doing the Report's theme song. more ›

A reminder to all Seattle music lovers: Wednesday, Dec. 20, be sure to tune in to at 11:30 on Comedy Central, for the epic guitar battle between Stephen Colbert and Decemberists axe-man Chris Funk. more ›

In the spirit of an earlier post in which we asked you to vote for your top-five albums of 2006 via KEXP, Seattlest would now love it if you'd narrow it down to your top-five Northwest albums via Three Imaginary Girls. In addition to letting your voice be heard, the girls are promising that every ballot cast will be entered into a drawing for a "prize pack of fun imaginary goodies." 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 ›

Tuesday 14th more ›

Why is it when we're depressed, we insist on listening to depressing music? Seattlest has been playing "Fuck it Man" by Mellowdrone and "Eli, The Barrow Boy" by The Decemberists all morning. more ›

To have been at McCaw Hall Friday night, is to have been truly blessed. It was a night filled with smiles, laughter and bottomless admiration – not only for the performers, but also for the people behind the scenes for whom this night was meant to benefit. It was a night which, at one point, brought a couple tears to our eyes. But we’re sensitive like that. more ›

So, there's that big, crowded festival-thingy going on this weekend and we could recommend a bunch of stuff to hit there, but ah, we're far too lazy to do that. Here's the schedule - make yourself happy. No one's looking. more ›

Because Friday night had been a late one, it was nearly noon before Seattlest awoke on Saturday. Dazed we were and wondering, Had we really been rocked by pirates last night? more ›

In all the annals of music, it's hard to imagine anymore specific a genre than "gypsy punk." But that's just the sort of cabaret-esque insanity that Gogol Bordello brings to their shows. more ›

It's music, which we love, and video, which we also love, however in Seattlest's opinion there is no more wasted modern art form than the music video. How these two vastly expressive mediums combine to form such an awful taste is beyond us. Damn you, MTV. They're just not ever worth watching, outside, of course, of a handfull of indie rock videos that never get spun and the odd Tool offering. Yes, actually some indie videos are good. You haven't seen them, because where would you? But they're good. more ›

The final day of Bumbershoot (last Monday, September 4th) usually brings out the biggest crowd (well, at least it did last year with the Pixies headlining). This year’s main stage headliners, the reformed punk legends Iggy Pop and the Stooges headlined with local grunge kings Mudhoney warming up the crowd for them. While it was a little more crowded than the previous days of Bumbershoot - it was nowhere near as packed as it can be. Less crowded always equals better Bumbershoot. Here were our highlights of the day: more ›