Rachel HelmTravis Lee Wiggins has been described as prolific, and although it’s accurate, I’m not sure it does him justice. The newest release from his Chicago band Essex Chanel, Love is Proximity, is studio album number eight — not including...
Vee Hua 華婷婷It’s official: These Arms Are Snakes’ frontman Steve Snere is my favorite frontman. Simultaneously goofy and raw, Snere is the kind of guy you might think would run out of signature moves — he has so many, after all — but on...
Ryan PangilinanOver six years after the Postal Service’s debut, the music produced by Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello is still influencing new jacks like Adam Young, who takes the stage name Owl City. Owl City’s been there, done that album, Ocean...
Greg HealeyIn a feat that must be applauded, Dean Woods’ new release, Ahhhmend, manages to create a sound that might simultaneously have come from a simpler, naive past and a distant and sophisticated future. These are beautiful songs that, in an...
Judy NelsonRarely has one adjective so adequately described a piece of music more than the word “moody” describes The Color Turning’s debut LP, Good Hands Bad Blood. If you are able to move pass the beginning track, “Slow as Passing...
Robin has gained popularity in their natural habitat among the punks of Japan, and in their first album marketed and sold overseas, Thunder and Speedumb, the psychobilly boys have produced something thrashing and loud and pretty much awesome. On the...
Peter WoodburnOm Prior to watching Om, I had absolutely no idea what kind of band they were. Imagine my surprise, then, when the San Francisco-based doom metal trio turned out to be one of my favorite Musicfest NW performances! Especially because I’d...
Superficially, Aluminum Babe seems to be a DIY-driven, fierce frontwoman-powered electro outfit making music suitable for garages and house parties. In theory, they seem to be the type of band that has a well-honed demographic and probably fills a...