THIS WEEK'S VOLCANO MUSIC COVERAGE >>>

The Weekly Volcano never sleeps. It's true ... or very close to true. We average only a few hours of shut-eye a night, be it because we're busy putting together another jaw-dropping issue of the Weekly Volcano, or simply because we're busy celebrating the arrival of Peyton Manning to the Broncos (looking at you, Driscoll).

It's true. And you better believe we managed to pump out another stellar Weekly Volcano music section, just like we do every Thursday.

The Volcano music section is your weekly chance at the best in South Sound music coverage. This week's Volcano music section includes Cathedrals Tacoma with Pickwick, the Maldives and Pearly Gate Music, Sioux Falls (the band), Lil Ripp, Cave Singers, Raekwon and more ...

FEATURE: CATHEDRALS TACOMA

This Saturday, the historic walls of Tacoma's Immanuel Presbyterian Church will be filled with some very fresh sounds.  Indie groups Pearly Gate Music, The Maldives and Pickwick make up the impressive line-up. An eye-stopping cobalt blue poster heralds the event as Cathedrals Tacoma: Part One. 

Cathedrals, a series with the simple concept of ‘presenting music in amazing spaces,' was started in Seattle by Fremont Abbey Arts Center Director Nathan Marion, pioneer of other such elegant experimental musical series as the Round, and Bare. After experiencing the Round, a series in which musicians share the stage with slam poets and live painters, Tacoma musician and Programming Associate for the Broadway Center for Performing Arts Aaron Stevens was so taken with the concept that he called Marion up and invited him to lunch. He offered Marion a proposition that was half praise, half warning.

"I said, listen, that was amazing. I'm either going to steal this idea or invite you to partner with me on bringing this thing to Tacoma," admits Stevens. ... -- Jenni Prange Boran

FEATURE: SIOUX FALLS

Bands that take on influences from Modest Mouse tend to sound more lost to me than bands drawing from, say, Vampire Weekend or Death Cab for Cutie. If you are talented and you really want to sound like Vampire Weekend or Death Cab, well, you can. But no one can fully capture that Modest Mouse sound, which makes bands like Sioux Falls- which draws some influence from that infamous shack in Issaquah -sound forever searching, lost in the complexities of the guitar.

In a good way, if you can believe it. ... -- Rev. Adam McKinney

HIP-HOP: LIL RIPP AND MORE

Right now Lil Ripp, an under-ager from Tacoma, has a fever-level buzz. Watch any YouTube video by Lil Ripp and you'll see why - he's at the head of the class when it comes to local new-school MCs.

It's not just kids that freak-out when Lil Rip music comes on. I was at California Club two Thursdays ago and the ladies lost their mind when Little Rip's "Tac City" played. It will be cool to see what road Lil Ripp's music leads him down. He has the potential to be extremely successful, perhaps one day becoming the breakout artist Tacoma has been pushing for. Right now his flow is as simple as you'd expect from a young man less than 21 years old, packing that "I'm too cool to try hard" vibe. Lil Rip has the capability to be a good songwriter and he's marketable, so the sky's the limit ... -- Josh Rizeberg

WE RECOMMEND: CAVE SINGERS

The members of the Cave Singers began their notable music careers on full tilt, in prog-rock and art-punk outfits like Pretty Girls Make Graves, Murder City Devils and Cobra High. Their transition to the indie folk-rock of the Cave Singers is somewhat akin to someone taking a lung-bursting sprint into a freezing body of water, their legs becoming sluggish frigid as the waters begin to lap up around their waist. In the subsequent years, this body has become acclimated to its new environment, and the Cave Singers sound more comfortable than ever in creating simultaneously traditional and rousing folk-rock. ... – Rev. AM

WE RECOMMEND: RAEKWON

Olympia will be blessed with an East Coast legend Sunday when Wu Tang Clan member Raekwon hits the state capitol for the first time.  Since officially joining Wu Tang in 1992, over the years Raekwon has become one of the more recognized names in the group and continues to consistently release his Mafioso style of hip-hop.  After releasing a very successful album in 1995, Only Built For Cuban Linx, "The Chef" maintained his composure and stayed busy by collaborating on many other Wu projects, releasing more solo efforts and working with many other top hip-hop artists. ... -- Nic Leonard

PLUS: BETTER LIVING THROUGH MUSIC - RVIVR, Hip-Hop is Alive and more ...

PLUS: Comprehensive Live Local Music Listings

PLUS: Concert Alert

PLUS: Rampant Ridiculousness