Thu., September 9, 7:30pm - Magic Kids’ debut album, Memphis, came out just a few weeks ago with not a hint of the country music the title suggests but instead every possible sunshiny salute to Beach Boys’ swoon pop. From the hyperactive sugarhigh of “Superball” to the diner dance of “Hey Boy,&#...
Thu., September 9, 8:00pm - According to Google, the tallest man in the world is the 8’5” Ukrainian veterinarian Leonid Stadnyk. He is not to be confused with The Tallest Man on Earth, who is the Swedish troubadour Kristian Matsson, actually less blessed in stature (he’s only 5’7”) and much more so in ...
Thu., September 9, 8:00pm - If there's anything plaguing contemporary art punk bands invoking the fuzzy garage-psych sound of the '60s, it's that they tend to sound the same. Blame it on the distortion and static if you want, but this formula is something that's been attempted so often over the past half-century or so that we'...
Fri., September 10, 9:00pm - After a ten-year run fronting Chapel Hill indie-luminaries Archers of Loaf, Eric Bachmann and the rest of the band stepped away from the limelight at the height of the band's popularity. Now, having spent just as much time creating music as Crooked Fingers, it would seem Eric Bachmann is pretty comf...
Sat., September 11, 9:00pm - The phrase “of the Brian Jonestown Massacre” is thrown about by so many Portland musicians you’d think it’s earned by dating a Magic Garden stripper, but multi-instrumentalist Collin Hegna actually plays bass for the band. Hegna’s also a producer at his own Revolver studios,...
Sat., September 11, 9:30pm - Hailing from the north, south and west of Seattle, the colorful trio of S.O.T.A. Boys might be young, but after sharing stages with the likes of Gym Class Heroes, Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa, they’ve proved they’re no slouches. And while hypeworthy debut full-length record Seattlecalifra...
Sun., September 12, 7:30pm - Modern English are best known for the 1982 single “I Melt With You,” which kids these days often mistakenly think is by The Cure or Taco Bell’s marketing department. It turns out they’ve made a few other songs in their 30-year career, including an entire album’s worth releas...
Sun., September 12, 8:00pm - In the liner notes for their 2002 record O.S.T., producer and emcee Thes One wrote that "somewhere along the way it seems most critics decided that just making hip-hop was not good enough.” But after 13 years and 7 records, this LA hip-hop duo is as dedicated to the idea of golden-era hi...
Sun., September 12, 9:00pm - New Jersey’s Titus Andronicus likes to show off their book smarts – they named their band after a Shakespeare play, and now their second record, this year’s The Monitor, is probably the first and only Civil War-themed rock album out this year. The songs are gloriously galvanizi...
Mon., September 13, 8:00pm - Marina and the Diamonds is not a band, but a Welsh-bred singer-songwriter (real name: Marina Diamandis). Admittedly, it’s easy to be cynical about the ever-increasing crop of alt-pop princesses in the industry. But Diamandis’ debut album The Family Jewels is crammed with cleverly-cr...
Every week Monday, Tuesday, 8:00pm-2:00am - 88 Keys is better known for its dueling piano action than for its Monday and Tuesday karaoke nights. And that’s why it’s ideal for musically challenged crooners to sing their hearts out. Unlike some karaoke joints, the crowd here is forgiving. Nobody takes themselves too seriously. Tone-de...
Tue., September 14, 8:00pm - Though the vast majority of June release LP4 came out of the same recording sessions that spawned 2008's LP3, electronica duo Ratatat didn't put out the album until this year, opting instead to craft two songs for Kid Cudi. Even though most of LP4 is as old as LP3, the sp...
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
Tue., September 14, 9:00pm - Earlier this summer, Owen Ashworth announced that he would be retiring his longtime stage project, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. Since 1997, CFTPA has been producing witty, minimalist songs, hybrids of electronic beats, plinking keyboards, and wry, low-key vocals. For reasons only the gods of i...
Wed., September 15, 8:00pm - Rockaraoke has always made regular karaoke seem like tiddlywinks, but the concept was flawed. For years, they’ve tried to get this idea of live band karaoke going, but the lack of a teleprompter held things back. There were bands that could play a ton of tunes, but the problem was singers had t...
Thu., September 16, 7:30pm - As the alt-country hipsterati has embraced Willie Nelson over the last decade, his coolness cache has gone through the roof, and he spends some summers touring minor league ballparks with Bob Dylan. But 10 years ago, in the summer of 2000, the hankied one launched a veritable tour of small-town Wash...
Eldridge Gravy and the Court Supreme
Fri., September 17, 8:00pm - If there’s doubt that funk is anything but alive, well and ass-kicking, critics need look no further than the furious energy of this local ten-piece and its charismatic frontman. Fresh off a Bumbershoot performance and the less-recent release of their debut album Us It What Time It Is in...
Fri., September 17, 9:30pm - While Seattle three-piece the Night Beats' soulful sludge rock invokes the heady psychedelia of Cream, the 13th Floor Elevators and the Doors to the best possible end, there's a sultry edge to the band's music: the slurred riffs and Lee Blackwell's (real name Danny Rajan) howling is heady enough to ...
Sat., September 18, 6:00pm - Used to be, the notion of a member of a cover band that covers one particular band being asked to actually join that particular band was the stuff of a lackluster movie starring Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Aniston, and some really bad wigs. But now, as Journey, INXS and what’s left of the Grateful ...
Sat., September 18, 7:00pm - In the culinary world, finding that perfect balance of subtle sweetness and fiery spiciness takes years of practice to perfect. In the rock and roll world, one only needs to look toward the Riverboat Gamblers for a shining example of that consonance. Having spent countless months on the road over th...
Sat., September 18, 8:00pm - Craig Minowa of Cloud Cult has been writing heartbreakingly mournful songs about the untimely death of his two-year-old son, Kaidin, for almost a decade, backed by an eclectic swirl of vocoders, swelling cello and violin, august trombone and French horn, and visual artists. But the band’s newes...
Sat., September 18, 8:00pm - Dear Airborne Toxic Event: You are my badge of shame to wear, and I have come to accept this. Your lyrics are the most melodramatic and cliché confessionals this side of the Killers (what happens when you walk into a bar and see your ex with someone else? “You look like you’ve seen ...
Sun., September 19, 7:00pm - It's hard to name a Seattle or Olympia-based artist who hasn't worked with K Records stalwart Karl Blau in some capacity -- whether as sound engineer, producer or musical co-conspirator. He plays with the Microphones' Phil Elverum and Beat Happening's Bret Lunsford in D+, has recorded with Laura Vei...
Sun., September 19, 9:00pm - While he’s primarily known as leader of one of the loudest, punk-informed metal bands of all time, Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister’s first love is actually rollicking, old-school rock-and-roll, a la Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran. The Head Cat is essentially Kilmister’s rockabilly s...
Mon., September 20, 7:30pm - In 1988, then-20-year-old singer-guitarist Jason Falkner joined the final incarnation of The Three O’Clock – the jangly stalwarts of L.A.’s “Paisley Underground” scene – thus launching an eclectic career that’s delivered some killer power-pop and roots-pop while no...
Every week Monday, 9:00pm - It’s a shame Dante’s in the U-District only offers karaoke on Monday nights, because they have the best stage for crooners in town. There are two levels that open up to the bottom floor where the mic is set up - singing your favorite tune on a packed night with people from all sides lookin...