Loch Lomond and Viva Voice opened up the night and it was already packed early on in the evening. We managed to scootch our way up to the front for the headliner and he was incredible. That was evidenced by the completely silent house during every one of his heartfelt songs. He's headed out on tour now with stops in San Francisco, Little Rock, SXSW and Phoenix. We'll be happy when he makes his way home to Seattle though. more ›

Have you noticed that they aren't making it easy on us anymore here in Seattle? There are entirely too many insanely good bands hitting the bars and venue stages lately. The problem is, they make us decide which great show to go to and you're left wondering "did I make the right decision?" Well, tonight is no exception. There are three incredible shows, so you have no excuse to sit home in your jammies eating icecream. Get out there and shake your booty! more ›

Lots of great live music possibilities this weekend! more ›

In Slate today, Taylor Clark declared our -Ist-less neighbor to the south "America's indie rock Mecca," then spent several paragraphs dropping names and figuring out why. His conclusion?

It's easy to live here. In the words of a friend of mine who used to be the music editor at the local alt-weekly, Portland is like a resort community for indie rockers who spend half the year working themselves ragged on tour. You can venture into public dressed like a convicted sex offender or a homeless person, and no one looks at you askew. It's lush and green. Housing is affordable, especially compared with Seattle or San Francisco. The people are nice. The food is good. Creativity is the highest law. For young, hip Portlanders, financial success is a barista job that subsidizes your Romanian-space-folk band or your collages of cartoon unicorns.

While Neumo's hosts SIFF's second Face the Music Rock Party, featuring the dreamy pop of Viva Voce, the fragile and spooky soul of Jesse Sykes, and the swoon-worthy indie rock of Siberian, local cutie pie sister act Smoosh opens for sassy Brit girl-group throwback The Pipettes tonight. Here's a video of Smoosh's cover of Bloc Party's "This Modern Love" from a show earlier this week: more ›

Sniff sniff, single tear. It's the last full week of SIFF, so you're well approaching your last chance till next year to take in some of that sweet filmy goodness. SIFF's not just movies; this week offers both the Opticlash 2 VJ battle at the CHAC and the Face the Music party at Neumo's, the latter of which includes performances by Viva Voce, Jesse Sykes, and Siberian. Tickets for both are going fast! more ›

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So a friend gets an email from another friend saying they were on the Capitol Hill Block Party website last night and Viva Voce had just been added to the Friday lineup. She tells us this and we think, Great! Now we can see Neko Case this Saturday and not feel bad about it! more ›

We saw it first in this month's Seattle Sound magazine, but then we misplaced it somewhere, so we grabbed the current Stranger and -- ah, there they are: The stage times for all the performers at this weekend's Sasquatch Festival along with the inevitable, unavoidable conflicts that occur at all festivals. They did a pretty good job of staggering the times, but there are still some "What do we do?!" moments. more ›

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 ›

Tuesday 7th more ›

Yeah, we know you just spent all weekend at Bumbershoot. Is the wee little baby tired? Can't handle any more music? Ah, look at that poodum... more ›