Wall of Ears Take a Concise, Strange Journey on It Is

By Tony Kay | November 3, 2021

Hello Beautiful Nothing, the sophomore effort from Seattle band Wall of Ears, got a lot of play (and inclusion in our list of 10 Best PNW albums of 2017) in this neck of the woods. Simply put, it was psychedelic pop that combined a beguiling atmosphere of sensory exploration with concise pop smarts, to near…

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Artist Home Premiere: “Cosmic Fruit” by Low Hums

By Tony Kay | January 22, 2020

If I’da heard Zzyxz, the latest full-length from local psych-rock vets Low Hums, closer to its November 2019 release, it might well have found its way into my PNW 2019 Top Ten. It’s that good. Any fan of forward-thinking psychedelic rock will find myriad itches scratched by Zzyxz, big-time. Garage-pop infectiousness (the gloriously heavy and…

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At the Love-In: The Chocolate Watchband, Interviewed

By Tony Kay | November 30, 2018

Three days ago, I received sonic deliverance from the autumn’s cold snap, and from the mundane necessity of my day job. It came through my earbuds while I was en route to work, in the form of a 3.5-minute adrenaline burst delivered—remarkably—by the latest iteration of a rock band formed before I was born. The…

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