MUSICAL GOODNESS IN PRINT & ONLINE >>>
Wow. Big week for us here at the Weekly Volcano music section. It feels like it's been "No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn" since Monday just making this thing happen. In print and online, the Volcano is literally bursting at the musical seems this week. Let's dig in.
Here's a peek at the musical goodness in store in print and online.
"(The Voice) contacted my manager, Beth Tallman, and asked her to convince me to do it, because they knew I didn't want to do anything like American Idol," says Martinez. "I liked the concept, especially the blind audition idea. I thought, ‘That's cool. It'd be totally based on my voice, if they like me.' ... Even my girlfriend said it, one morning. She said, ‘It's like a big commercial. You get to be on NBC and have a big commercial about you. What's wrong with that?'" - Rev Adam McKinney
It's been two years and one month since instrumental rock band Waves and Radiation played its farewell show at Bob's Java Jive. On Saturday, the band will reunite for a special one-off return performance at the same coffee-pot-shaped venue where they called it a day back in 2009. Fans of Waves and Radiation will be pleased to hear that as far as guitarist Tristan McNabb is concerned, it's as if they'd never stopped playing together at all. - Jason Baxter
... the crew that resurfaces Friday night at The New Frontier Lounge - Revengers' first show in six months - will look and sound noticeably different from what fans have grown accustomed to. That's thanks to the "come to Jesus moment" that followed Quinn's departure to Michigan in January after getting accepted to law school. "Eric is my musical soul mate," says Coleman, who had also been Quinn's band mate in defunct local hip-hop group Biznautics. "Not having him around was really tough for me," he says during last week's Art on the Ave festival, recalling his band's near breakup. "For a while, I really had to have a moment and think about whether I wanted to do it without him." -- Ernest A. Jasmin
Listening to Gillian Welch - in particular her new album, The Harrow & The Harvest - there's a palpable yearning that lurks in and around her music. Welch's adherence to classicism in the areas of folk, bluegrass and country has about it the mournful pang of nostalgia for a time she never experienced. - Rev. AM
Lots of local albums have dropped this year - perhaps more than any other year I can remember. It's obvious some people are really getting on their craft. One of the artists having a particularly productive year is Todd Sykes, one half of CityHall. Sykes is the full-time producer of all CityHall tracks and he also shares 50 percent of the rhymes. He also has a tendency to sing a lot of the hooks on the project, so if ya like CityHall, ya like Todd Sykes, whether ya know it or not. Def' take some time to download Sykes's newest solo album, Background Music, available on CityHall's Bandcamp page. - Josh Rizeberg
The Damage Report with Jason McKibbin (NEW PUNK & METAL COLUMN!!)
Hello from the City of Destiny! Some of you may know me as your loveable bearded doorman at Hell's Kitchen, or as the manic frontman for Tacoma's infamous punksters I Defy. But did you know that before I was a singer or a bouncer I was a music journalist!?! True Story! Now, I've once again answered the call, and just like way back when, I'm all about the scene. "What scene?" you ask. Well, the local punk, metal and extreme indie scene, to be exact. - Jason McKibbin
Once upon a time in the early 2000's there was a backpacking/skateboard/delinquent hip-hop crew in Olympia called Hostalion that reigned supreme in the South Sound. For many years they were untouchable, whether it was battling poor fools that had no idea what they were getting themselves into or consistently releasing some of the freshest up-to-date hip-hop Olympia had ever seen. Your average fan that only saw Hostalion play a show or two may wonder, "What ever happened to those guys?" Loyal fans and those who followed close know that although the name Hostalion isn't repped like it use to be, about half the members are still active and putting music out right under our nose here in Olympia. - Nic Leonard
PLUS: Better Living Through Music - Earth, The Hague, Liturgy, Sam Vicari
PLUS: Concert Alert