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The band's lineup, as we know it today, was formed in 1964 by Joseph Shabalala. Why? It came to him in a dream. He'd been the bandleader of a choral group specializing in isicathamiya, traditional Zulu music. But the sounds he heard in his dream were these gorgeous harmonies that
Music
I'd like to preface this list by saying that I totally wussed out. Love songs are a personal thing, you know? I couldn't assign numbers to these songs, no matter how hard I tried. I know some people would have chosen different songs - songs that tug at their
Music
It seems to me that, this far along in the history of music, the only boundary left to be broken is listenability. With people destructing nearly every sound and mashing them up, all you can really do to distinguish yourself is make your product unpalatable. Believe me, plenty of bands
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Tune-Yards, aka Merrill Garbus, is a true original, and an apparent master of her medium: tape music. She's one of those people, like Hendrix was with the guitar, who can take her tool and bend it, stretch it, distort it, and reform it anew. Listening to her debut full-length, Bird-Brains,
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Here we have a monster of a show. Calvin Johnson, godfather of Olympia music, will be bringing his Hive Dwellers to the Den. Joining him will be local favorites Basemint and Friskey. I don't feel like I need to tell you any more about this show, because the quality is
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Ah, boys and girls. Something mysterious and beguiling happens when their voices come together in pairs. The boy's voice is anxious and searching, the salty to the girl's sweet; the girl's voice is simple, a warm embrace, the sweet to the boy's sour. With Catcher, the boy/girl dynamic is well
Music
Tristan Marcum and I met the way friendships are usually formed: He started dating my ex-girlfriend. Shouts were exchanged over unwise telephone calls, and I slowly sunk into a bottomless pit of self-loathing and despair. In the months after he and my ex parted ways, I suddenly found myself warming
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Check this out: For the month of March, Red Jacket Mine is the band in residence at the Hard Rock Café in Seattle - a distinction I find utterly baffling. Leaving this fact alone for a second, let's consider the band. Red Jacket Mine is an assembly of pop craftsmen,
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While I generally like to think (probably incorrectly) that I have discerning tastes in music, for some kinds of music I'm just ... easy. I don't like knowing there's a surefire formula to get me to like a band, but it definitely seems like there is - more than one,
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The Fun Police, it must be said, are one of those workhorse local bands that absolutely fucking bring it. They treat each venue the same, making sure the crowd leaves dazed, a ringing in their ears and smiles on their faces - because they've just seen a show. Through
Music
"Psychedelia is all about experiencing sounds and images that your brain wouldn't be able to comprehend under normal circumstances," my father will occasionally tell me, a mad look lingering in his eyes. I usually respond that I understand, and beg him to please turn off "Echoes." I don't care if the
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I know the people behind "We Are The World 25 For Haiti" mean well, but the song is an abomination. What's worse is I know it's possible for a star-studded song for charity to not suck - mainly because it's already happened. Shane MacGowan gathered together his punkiest punk
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I may be off base in my assessment of Radio Active, but he sure sounds like a really nice guy. On top of that, he sounds as if he wouldn't mind me saying so. Radio Active is a rapper and accomplished free-styler whose songs are overwhelmingly positive. If he
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If The New Frontier Lounge were a contestant on Iron Chef, their bill Friday might be referred to as "psychedelia - three ways." Representing three distinct but, I think, valid, sides of psychedelic music will be Egg Plant, the Drug Purse, and the Nightgowns. Let's take Egg Plant, for instance.
Music
Western Ghost House is yet another band that straddles the middle ground between indie rock and country, enriching and expanding both. I'm hesitant to call it alt-country, which is an awfully loaded word. The band plays as if trying to replicate the sounds of people like Townes Van Zandt, but
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Western Ghost House is yet another band that straddles the middle ground between indie rock and country, enriching and expanding both. I'm hesitant to call it alt-country, which is an awfully loaded word. The band plays as if trying to replicate the sounds of people like Townes Van Zandt, but
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L'Orchidée d'Hawaï is a French band, and, as such, it's hard to tell when they're kidding. Their songs bounce back and forth from surf rock, to spacey jams, to Japanese pop. You know what? They really seem into Asian culture. One song - "Bangkok 1997" - is precisely what I
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Have you seen Hated? It's the great documentary about the completely incomprehensible G.G. Allin, and it features such notorious performances as the one where he unbelievably gets to perform at NYU and responds by inserting a banana into his ass onstage and throwing chairs at the audience. Who knows why
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Tell me if he's told you this one before: It's around 1979 and Dan Long is working at a movie theater in North Seattle that specializes in screening 70 mm prints. Sitting in the projection booth with Long is Francis Ford Coppola. You see, Coppola is repping Roman Polanski's Tess in
Music
Great Waves is an awfully grandiose name for a young band - a band that, indeed, is young enough to compete in this year's EMP Sound Off! competition. Reflecting the grandiose name, Great Waves give titles to their songs like "The Moon and the Gutter" and "Konza Plains." In turn,