J Pinder speaks smoothly. If his voice were a person walking down the street, that person would be gliding, as if perfectly calibrated for steady movement against all possible pitfalls. J Pinder is also a rapper who grew up in Seattle and later found himself in the throws of Los Angeles working for none other…
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…
Everyone in the Seattle music community knows Marco Collins. To some, he’s a hero, an idol. To others, he’s a friend and confidant. To even more, he’s a story, perhaps a cautionary tale to not let a life or career in music overtake you. But, above all else, Collins, who is one of the few…
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…
The essence of the writing retreat, Write, is growth. From one perspective, of course, that’s a very concrete notion, something you can plant your feet on. From another, though, it’s numinous. Like a breeze in your hair reshaping an idea for a poem’s first line. Or a blue pebble in your shoe recalling a similar…
Seattle’s Eric Lilavois works tirelessly all hours of the day in the recording studio he co-owns, London Bridge, to bring the music of local artists to life. Whether he’s working with Ayron Jones, Julia Massey, Heather Thomas or any number of other talented folks, Lilavois offers his experience and talent to bring the best out…
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…
When Seattle Americana singer Lydia Ramsey released her debut record, Bandita, two years ago, I was floored by the craftsmanship, the attention to lyric detail and the overall joy for music emanating from the album. Indeed, I thought it was one of the best releases in the city that year. Now, Ramsey has written and…
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,…
