Peter WoodburnAURAL DEVASTATION is a regular column about heavy music. This month, Circle Takes the Square awaken from an eight-year slumber and Sweden’s gothic masters Ghost return from their spectral hideout, plus tracks from KEN Mode, Kvelertak, and Shai...
Erik BurgYouth Lagoon Wondrous Bughouse Fat Possum Around the time Trevor Powers was set to release his first record for free, before Fat Possum or any other record label came calling — or rather, begging — there was an insatiable desire for home...
Vee Hua 華婷婷Barn Owl’s 2011 release, Lost In The Glare, was an instant love for me and earned a deep place in my heart with hardly any effort at all. I had been longing to see the Northern California duo since, and during the wait, my expectations had...
MADNESS! is a recurring series of audio WTFs and head-twitching, spine-tingling experimental or chaotic fun (k-k+st-s-t+l-l)icks. Today, Aperiodic bring chaotic free jazz noise, and we pay slight homage to past sounds via Finland’s haunting...
AURAL DEVASTATION is a regular column about heavy music. Today, Converge reasserts their importance, and Pig Destroyer get covertly political, arguably. +++ FULL POST + AURAL DEVASTATION COLUMNS + ALL MUSIC COLUMNS Converge Few bands have remained...
Now in its tenth year, Seattle’s Decibel Festival has grown from a tiny electronic celebration to a world-renowned music festival without sacrificing attention to detail along the way. From fabric wristbands to the notable lack of corporate...
What some of us might call the Pacific Northwest’s best music festival — and maybe the next and more relaxed SXSW — is Musicfest NW, a multi-day spread across Portland’s best venues. Featuring diverse and exceptional booking...
Looking Through The Glass When I first wrote about the work of Sydney, Australia’s Mark Whalen years ago, I was fascinated by his use of bright pinks and blues in angular ways that can’t possibly exist in “real life”. Now, in...