The full-on 10-song-or-longer recorded album is for, all intents and purposes, an anachronism in a world where our rapidly-eroding attention spans demand instant gratification from music. But while the format is on the ropes, it’s not down for the count yet. I’d be the last to deny the elemental power of a great three-minute pop song….
Without going into tedious detail, I spent the last couple of weeks of summer nursing a hearty dose of depression, thanks to blind fate forcing me to stare hard at my mortality (long, dull story). The incident stirred within me the dispiriting notion that life is a mundane descent into nothingness, and that every…
Over the course of six years and three albums, singer/songwriter/guitarist Leeni Ramadan has crafted a distinctive musical universe with her band Prom Queen. It’s an environment where Brill Building girl-group pop, surf rock, exotica music, and Patsy Cline country share space—a place where jet-black humor, kitsch, and haunted obsession intermingle like spirals of cigarette smoke….
Conor Byrne, that beloved Ballard pub normally informed by folk and Americana, becomes a hotbed of noir-informed musical intrigue Friday night. Seattle band Hotels takes to the stage, and I won’t mince words: You really should go. Night Showers, the most recent release from the band, wound up being one of my most cherished album…
Limbo’s Daughter by Tomten There’s something about hearing a great pop single in the flush of a gorgeous summer day that can crystalize every gold-tinted summertime moment you’ve ever experienced into three or four minutes of sustained bliss. The latest perfect summertime pop song to gently but inexorably insinuate its way into the mixtape that…
It’s really hard not to burst into superlative overload when it comes to Kelli Schaefer’s voice. It’s an instrument of such distinction, power, and nuance that it’s capable of telling stories and painting worlds as readily as an entire orchestral pit of instruments. Those pipes of hers have proven remarkably versatile over Schaefer’s decade-long musical…
Seattle singer/musician Rusty Willoughby’s demeanor is so unassuming, the simple acknowledgment of his music feels like it’d give him a case of the awkwards. He’s never seemed super-comfortable with attention, or with the kind of networking and extroversion necessary to be a Big Time Rock Star. Even the times he’s edged close to outright breakout success…
There’s undeniably something elemental about The Maldives’ sound. After all, roots music, folk, and country—sub-genres that, at their best, have always evoked the Earth and the elements—form the band’s bedrock. But like so much that’s elemental, The Maldives’ longevity (13 years and counting) and dependably awesome live presence can be taken for granted with alarming…
The assignment starts out as nothing more than another fun Artist Home web piece. AH co-founder Kevin Sur brainstorms the idea to me via email—an ongoing series of articles highlighting some of our favorite Northwest-grown album cover art and packaging. The spark for the idea comes from the stunning presentation behind the vinyl pressing of…
Full disclosure: 2016 has given me a Doctoral crash course in navigating seriously wrenching financial, personal, and emotional loss, especially in the last two months. So for me at first blush, the recent deaths of Leonard Cohen and Sharon Jones—right in time for the holidays— just felt like two more reasons why 2016 could…
Halloween’s just around the corner, and you’ll need a soundtrack for all of the trick-or-treating, parties, and all-around skullduggery. Doubtless, there’s a ton of horror-themed songs out there for your All Hallows Mix. Northwest artists have generated their share of genuinely spooky/scary/horrific tunes, to be sure—enough to put together a pretty primo playlist. I’m not…
It’s an overcast Saturday afternoon in Upper Queen Anne, on one of the first honest-to-God, truly autumnal autumn days of 2016, and I’m on my way to interview Ravenna Woods lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Chris Cunningham. The wind’s picking up, and the trees—some flashing lambent autumn reds and yellows, others bare and skeletal—are bending and eddying with…
