Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: There’s a lot of great stuff coming out of the Midwest. I think we all know about Bon Iver, or Justin Vernon, who, in 2008, made it cool to spend an entire season in a remote Wisconsin cabin. Then there’s the promising Juniper Tar, and now Missouri-native [...]
Mumford and Sons is a four-piece band from London and one of my favorite discoveries of the last month or two. Their full-length Sigh No More will would definitely be comfortably near the top of my 2010 albums list –if it hadn’t been released in 2009. Not surprisingly, they seem to have been getting a [...]
Ellensburg, WA, is a small town in Central Washington which you will likely never have the occasion to drive through, unless you attend the Sasquatch Festival in George, Washington (really), which is something you should probably not do. Ellensburg is also home to Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs, an Americana-infused rock band whose full-length [...]
Here’s the thing — I don’t want to like Lissie. Maybe it’s because her songs are a bit too palatable and a few tracks on her EP are a bit too predictable. But most likely it’s because she’s unbearably pretty and talented and probably 23. Lissie is an LA-based artist who looks (and to a [...]
Lord knows the last thing I want to do is draw any more attention to Portland bike enthusiasts, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t introduce you to Blind Pilot, another great Portland band to emerge in the last few years. These guys started as a duo and toured on their bikes up and down [...]
Horse Feathers is one of my favorite Portland bands to emerge in the last few years. Loosely described as indie folk, they create sparse, atmospheric music that somehow manages to sound full and lush at the same time. Most of their tunes are mellow, but they maintain a level of energy that makes both their [...]
I don’t know shit about Austin Lucas except that I love his newest album and I skipped seeing him in Portland a few weeks ago because my New York Yankees were winning the World Series that night, so I owe him some attention. I got his album via emusic a month or so ago on [...]
The Maldives are the greatest nine-person Seattle band you’ve never heard of. They swing as far towards traditional country as you’re likely to find me go, drawing on the banjo, pedal steel and occasional accordion and fiddle. They are a solid country rock outfit with stellar vocals, reminiscent of the best of Rick Danko (my [...]
The Cave Singers are one of my favorite discoveries of the last few years. I can’t better describe this Seattle group than their Matador Records bio does, so here’s some stolen narrative for you: “Here is the mystery of Seattle’s Cave Singers. They never listened to much folk music, they never intended to play folk [...]
I first stumbled upon Portland’s The Builders and the Butchers by accident during a particularly frustrating evening spent trying to navigate 2007′s MusicFest NorthWest. MFNW is a well-intentioned local festival that hasn’t quite figured out how big it wants to be, or rather, how to manage how big it’s become. After getting shut out of [...]