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Remember all those times you've taken cross-country road trips, discovered hidden truths about yourself, and - ultimately - come of age? Sure you do. You laid down in the back seat, feet hanging out the window, millions of miles of road ahead and behind you. Do you remember what was
Music
AU is a band shrinking in the aftermath - having recently been hotly engorged. Ballooning from a solo bedroom pop act to a remarkable 20 members, the band became an experimental chamber pop collection that utilized every hand and voice in creating thickly orchestrated arrangements. As of their 2008 recording,
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As popular music moves into the future and becomes drenched in drones, break beats, intrusive synthesizers and various other ephemera, there will always be a contingent of musicians who will push to bring it back to its roots - or closer to them, at any rate. The Marrying Type, Canon
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To intentionally misspell a word makes me very uncomfortable. For a band to utilize a misspelled word is, to me, almost as bad as creating an unpronounceable name (!!!, for example). So, it's with a slight cringe that I write to you regarding Makeing Tents. And just now, Microsoft Word
Music
Is it possible to create party music that doesn't inspire the urge to dance? How about party music that makes you long to stand in a stairwell, clutching a red keg cup and making awkward passes at that girl you see around sometimes? Or what about music to be hastily
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Holy Komodo and the Feelings pull off the impressive trick of feeling intrinsically Northwest while at the same time appealingly worldly. Their embrace of some of garage rock's tropes is cozy, while their subtle incorporation of things like Latin rhythms or zydeco flavor expands the music into something far more
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Hotel St. George's music is the kind of damaged pop that we've grown to know through bands like Spoon or Guided By Voices - as disparate as those bands might seem. Their melodies are pure and catchy as all get out, but the vocals and lyrics are desperate, longing pleas
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I tell you this honestly: There was a period of my life when I would walk along with a copy of Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies by Of Montreal in my CD player, and it truly scared me. Walking the Tacoma streets at night with the schizophrenic pop blaring in
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The I's are Portland glam-garage by way of Austin punk, and when they land in Olympia they'll be playing bluesy folk-rock, informed though it may be by a good chunk of musical history. Read the full story here. <h3>The I's</h3> Friday, may 14, 10 p.m., no coverLe Voyeur, 404 Fourth Ave. E.,
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The I's are Portland glam-garage by way of Austin punk, and when they land in Olympia they'll be playing bluesy folk-rock, informed though it may be by a good chunk of musical history. Fronted by S.I.D. Need, AKA Jona Napier, the I's is a collection of musicians who met while perpetually
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When you see him perform it's not quite the plate spinning we usually associate with one-man-bands. When you watch Andrew Bird utilize the loop pedal, it's an awful lot like a high-wire act; but Daniel Francis Doyle approaches his songs like a trail of dominoes. You watch him lay
Music
Have you longed for the quirky emotionalism of Jonathan Richman to careen headlong into noise-rock? Sure you have. You just never knew it. Now, once those two sounds have been precariously welded together, how would you prefer them to be thrown at your head? If you said, "By way of a
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Selkie, AKA Jack Doyle Smith, will be playing his first show (ever, apparently) at The Den on Saturday. A self-described player of experimental pop, it's hard to know what you'll see when he's at The Den. All I know is that "I've Never" - one of only two Selkie songs
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Athens, Ga., band The Winter Sounds are beyond slick, as recorded. Layers and layers of churchly harmonies, chiming guitars and driving rhythms, dominate the band's songs. It's all a little too sterile for my taste. But when you get up close and personal to see the band live, they allow
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In the 1970s, a Canadian folk-rocker named Bruce Cockburn released almost an album a year for the entire decade. He missed 1977, but this was most likely due to a shortage of notebook paper he suffered after penning seven albums worth of material - so get off his back.
Music
In the 1970s, a Canadian folk-rocker named Bruce Cockburn released almost an album a year for the entire decade. He missed 1977, but this was most likely due to a shortage of notebook paper he suffered after penning seven albums worth of material - so get off his back. My
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Throughout the month of May, Northern will be hosting a group exhibit of political artwork from Vancouver, B.C. artists. The show will be co-curated by David Lester and Jean Smith, the duo that make up the long-standing noise-rock band Mecca Normal. Saturday will be the exhibit's opening reception, as well
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The Riffbrokers would sound perfect on vinyl. They remind me of a band whose LP I'd pick up on a stop in a record shop - intrigued by their name and a couple song titles, never having heard them before. I'd bring The Riffbrokers home and listen alone on a rainy
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L. Alex Guy (as Led to Sea) is one of those artists, like St. Vincent or Andrew Bird, who approaches pop music with the eye of a classical composer, breaking down and rebuilding pop tropes into something resembling fine art. Guy is an accomplished violist, having lent her talents to
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There's not much convincing needed when talking about a band like Coldnote. You know right now whether or not you're onboard. The band plays smooth, sexy soul and funk that's more Marvin Gaye than Prince, if you know what I'm saying. And that's all you need to know, really. If