Posts by Tony Kay
Artist Home Premiere: “The Fold” by Matt Badger
The founding members of the dark-pop explorers’ collective known as Ravenna Woods have certainly kept themselves busy in the wake of the pandemic. Multi-instrumentalist Brantley Duke and lead singer/guitarist Chris Cunningham are both rumored to be working on on solo music projects, while Cunningham’s also built up a formidable resume as a filmmaker/videographer under the…
Read MoreBiG BLDG: A Non-Profit Built on Delivering (and Keeping Alive) Indie Music
With the specter of COVID-19 looming large over the PNW music industry, a number of organizations have stepped up to offer a hand. Seattle-based 501(c)3 non-profit BiG BLDG has done their part in aiding local artists and musicians for the last seven years. The organization’s broad platform encompasses live performances (including several iterations of the…
Read MoreArtist Home Premiere: Benevolent Transformer EP by Wes Speight
Over the last eight years or so, Seattle-based singer-songwriter Wes Speight’s recorded a catalog of songs that draw from mainstream rock, piano balladry, and an Americana tinge that reflects his Tennessee roots. All of that’s on display in Benevolent Transformer, his newest EP, and we’re proud to premiere it here at Artist Home. <a href=”http://wesspeight.bandcamp.com/album/benevolent-transformer-2″>Benevolent…
Read MoreDirty Dirty Delivers on Anxious Electric Auto Erupt
Long before the term was lazily slapped on every mainstream rock band that dressed like loggers in the halcyon days of the 1990s, grunge meant something very different. The grunge bands of the late ‘80s—Green River, Mudhoney, Sub-Pop era Soundgarden and Nirvana, and lesser-knowns like Gruntruck and the U-Men—cranked out a bastard weld of metal,…
Read MoreArtist Home Premiere: “Loser” by Killer Workout
I am genetically predisposed to appreciate any band that names itself after a trashy ‘80s horror movie. Combine that with a snotty, irresistible three-minute blast of a song, and a video for that song comprised entirely of clips from Plan 9 from Outer Space, and you can color me smitten. You can also color Artist…
Read MoreThree Favorite Black PNW Artists: Representing Pop Music’s Continuum as Juneteenth Wanes
<a href=”http://itsguayaba.bandcamp.com/album/guayaba-presents-fantasmagor-a”>Guayaba Presents: Fantasmagoría by Guayaba</a> It’s late on Juneteenth, and Bandcamp is offering a new angle to their now-regular giving back to the community ’til midnight tonight. Today, the website’s donating its share of proceeds to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Even better, a ton of artists and labels are getting in on the…
Read MoreGreat PNW Black Artists You Can Support Today on Bandcamp
Today, June 5, Bandcamp is waiving their revenue share in order to help artists and labels impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that every purchase you make on the site today goes 100% towards the musicians and labels selling their wares. It’s a tremendous opportunity to support a creative community struggling with the financial…
Read MoreThroughout the Night, No Need to Fight: RIP, Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers
I first heard it, what seemed like a million years ago; a spotty suburban teenage kid with feathered hair, listening to a new wave station called KYYX as it beamed in songs that were from half a world away. I hadn’t heard a new-wave song in waltz time before, and it enchanted me. Hugh Cornwell…
Read MorePacific Northwest Music Venues are in Danger, But You Can Help
The COVID-19 pandemic has already dealt some traumatic blows to the world in general, and to the Pacific Northwest in particular. Aside from the horrific human toll that the virus has wrought, it’s also leaving economic devastation in its wake. Most every strata of the Pacific Northwest has been adversely affected, and thousands of employees…
Read MoreNew Songs to Help Get You Through These Rough Times
The words, “We’re in this together,” have never, in any of our lives, held more meaning than they do now. Please, everyone, wash your hands, take care of yourself and your loved ones, and stay safe. To further the spirit of sharing the catharsis and joy that music can give us all, Jake Uitti and…
Read MoreNew Release Rundown: Jupe Jupe, Patrick Galactic, Eamon Ra
A few strong local releases have been occupying my ears of late. Read–and of course, listen–on. Jupe Jupe, Nightfall EP (Jupe Jupe Music) If the members of Jupe Jupe didn’t find adventure and escapism from British synth pop and jangling guitar tunes in the halcyon 1980’s, they damn sure sound like they did, in a…
Read MoreDark Diva Charlie Kind Holds Court for One of Fred’s Last Hurrahs
Singer/songwriter/musician Dimanche Doré has a million things on her mind as we chat during dinner at La Dive, the new wine bar on Capitol Hill where she works. “As a producer in this situation, I’m that creative nervous performer who’s like, we’re sounding good, we’re all professionals, but are we really gonna pull this together?”…
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