Ben London has been a presence in the Seattle music scene for a couple of decades, both as a musician and in music industry positions with MoPOP, The Grammys, and Hewlett Packard among others. So he knows about the sometimes rocky road traveled by Seattle creatives. To that end, he’s helping bring Black Fret, a successful musician-focused…
Singer/songwriter Stephanie Anne Johnson is proudly Tacoma-born and bred, and there’s something about her songs and voice that reflect that, in the best possible way. In contrast to the airs of pretense that its sibling to the North—Seattle—often puts on, Tacoma’s a scrappier, more blue-collar, and much less pretentious place. Tacomans have no problem keeping…
We’re big fans of Bodies on the Beach, the Planes on Paper side project whose bang-up single, “Ghost,” premiered here back in September. The band is now celebrating the release of the entire (terrific) Ghost EP with a special release party at The Crocodile, and it’s definitely going to be something unique. In lieu of…
When I discover an amazing record, I’m prone to want to deep-dive. Immediately after immersing myself in it, I try to capture in words why the hell said record is worth someone’s time. In the end, that’s exactly what most music writing comes down to. Sometimes, though, that kind of dissection is the rock-writer equivalent…
So it’s two days from Halloween. You’ve got a costume. You’ve got the urge to cavort with monsters, demons, and revelers at every level of debauchery known to man. And you want to hear some music. Long story short, there are plenty of ways to fill your musical trick-or-treat bag in this neck of the…
Meagan Grandall, lead singer/songwriter/leader of PNW band Lemolo, has spent nearly a decade recording music that’s equal parts intimate and expansive. Her lyrics and bell-clear voice are as emotionally vulnerable and naked as the most introspective folk singer’s. But the sonic canvas on which she paints is ethereal pop, rife with texture and a sense…
For 20 years now, Seattle’s Degenerate Art Ensemble has created performance pieces that combine modern dance, Butoh theatrics, avant-garde free-jazz-tinted music, kinetic sculpture, and experimental video. So when the two founders of DAE—vocalist/songwriter Haruko Crow Nishimura and composer/guitarist Joshua Kohl—formed their band Skeleton Flower, it was a fair bet that the sounds would boast as…
Somewhere around the middle of the eighties, pop evolved from the synthesized sparseness of Kraftwerk, early OMD and Depeche Mode, into a glossier, bigger style that was, in its own way, distinctly American. Production became bigger and more epic, with keyboard hooks of Sistine Chapel-level spectacle and sparkle, gated and mechanized drums, and hooks that…
Summer in Seattle was spiritually (if not formally) ushered out last weekend in a flurry of lightning strikes, thunder claps, and heavy rainfall. But Dumb Thumbs won’t let summer go without a fight. Artist Home is proud to premiere “In the Wild,” the flagship single and title track of the Seattle band’s second EP. It’s…
There’s a Rock-of-Gibraltar stability and comfort in Planes on Paper, the acoustic duo co-fronted by singer/songwriter/guitarist Navid Eliot. A lot of that welcoming quality comes from Eliot’s lived-in wanderer’s voice. It’s elemental but soothing, like tall grass that bends but still endures amidst the gusting tumult of a windstorm. And that lyrical and literal voice…
I heard these. They’re really great. Give a listen. Rusty Willoughby, “Uptown” b/w “Viaduct” single, “Another Train Comin’” b/w “Buttercup” single (Book Records): As has been iterated in these virtual pages, we at Artist Home loves us some Rusty Willoughby. And he’s batting a thousand with the four tracks inhabiting these two new virtual 45s….
Seattle jazz collective High Pulp have been doing their very unique thing for about four years now. They’re a prime example of a new breed of jazz combo—one that uses jazz virtuosity and motifs as a gateway into a bouillabaisse of genres. Sonic omnivores who freely cherrypick from funk, soul, electronica, and hip hop,…
