Sisters have made a name for themselves in the highly competitive Seattle scene with their ambitious events and athletic approach to music, and their brand new album Drink Champagne is poised to make them break out on a larger level. Impeccably arranged and produced, the lavish album mixes the band’s impressive technical chops with Hall & […]
Martis Unruly’s Distant is Queasy Music for Subterraneans
Early on in Distant, Martis Unruly sleepily declares “I look like I’m pissed off/Yet I feel so positive,” the removed tone of the statement jutting up against both the words and the poppy, dystopic “Hollaback Girl” beat. The question posed by that juxtaposition is a classic unreliable narrator dilemma: do we believe Martis’ words? do we believe […]
Nacho Picasso’s Blunt Raps 2 is an Excellent Introduction to the Sith Lord of Seattle Rap
Seattle hip hop is too varied to have one immediately defining quality but dwell on it long enough and you’ll notice most of the city’s important acts have had a gray texture to their production, not necessarily somber but dark, hazy, listless. You see that especially well in the scene’s current avant wave, with Shabazz […]
Positive Thuggery: Croatoan Crimewave is a Stunning Early Work by BB Sun
Normally when you stumble across an early artifact from an artist’s career it’s more curious than satisfactory, offering you glimpses at the promise that was there all along but ultimately serving as a reminder that artistry needs time to develop and early failures are as important to the DNA as initial successes. So the fact […]
Sunday Sads: The Corrupters’ Weakend is an Adventurous Power Pop Work by a Seattle Loner
Self hyped as “powerpop anthems for the weekend,” the Corrupters’ Weakend is one of those rare random Bandcamp finds I knew I’d enjoy just from a glance at the artwork and sparse liner notes. With cover art looking like an ’80s slasher flick VHS cover take on Twin Peaks, Weakend has the green melancholic aesthetic of so many […]
Video of the Week: The Ononos “Body for Body”
I didn’t even really like living in Seattle but whenever anyone writes the city’s music culture off as strictly grunge or bearded, overwrought indie pop, I have to focus on not losing my shit. Seattle’s a fucking weird place musically, more so than my new home of Austin even though Austin has a weirdo mantra […]
The Lack of Point Might Be the Point: Sisters’ Diamonds of Gold is a Restless Audio Delight
As is the case with a lot of people in my generation, I’ve never really aligned with any one music scene. My listening habits are, frankly, fucking bizarre and so the most exciting music discoveries I make are of artists who make music that indicate they’ve got similarly odd listening habits. Stumbling across Sisters recently, […]
88 Flow: Porter Ray Makes Seattle Hip-Hop Shine with Fundamentals
Hip-hop breaks barriers. There’s no better proof in this day and age than the fact that some of the fullest and most interesting movements in hip-hop are coming from Seattle- the home of rain and coffee and cliches about both. Hip-hop isn’t about fitting into a form or a function or an idea- it’s as […]
Video of the Week: Iska Dhaaf “Everybody Knows”
Apocalypse Now has been rereleased so many times and filled with so much rediscovered “lost” footage that it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Iska Dhaaf’s video for “Everybody Knows” found it way into a future release as a “remastered” version of the bleakly comic USO scene. Apart from it not having the graininess of […]
Sorry, I’m a God: Bolo Nef’s Sol Invictus is Truly Scary Horror Rap
It doesn’t take much for hip-hop to scare people. For a nation that has “conquered racism,” we’re stock full of people who think an MPC is more dangerous than an AK and are all too happy to put a Soundcloud beats page up on the same criminal pedestal as running down a mob of people. […]