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When there’s a story — or an album’s worth of stories — inside you, it’s going to find a way to come out. For Vikesh Kapoor, the first several years of his life were spent playing piano. Then, an arm injury. He turned to photojournalism at Boston University. Continue reading
Seattle has become a hip-hop factory — or at least hip hop with a PNW twist: Blue Scholars, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Wanz, Common Market, Grieves, Shabazz Palaces. And, like most hip-hop scenes, Seattle is dominated by male artists. Then there’s THEESatisfaction, an R&B-leaning hip-hop duo made up of Stasia “Stas” Iron and Catherine “Cat” Harris-White. Continue reading
Alternative rocker Laura Meyer calls it like she sees it. Religion, greed, life on the road and relationships all get their share of attention on her albums, and her observations will certainly get you thinking. After listening to some of her tunes, you won’t be able to help but be reminded that the life of a rock star isn’t all fun and games, even if she did appear on The Jay Leno Show once. Continue reading
Eric Earley is of two minds when it comes to talking about the 10th anniversary of Blitzen Trapper’s self-titled debut album. “Well, we’ve only been touring for like five years, and before that we were playing but not really, so for me, when we started touring was when we really started to be a band,” Earley says. “But yeah, the years have definitely gone by fast.” Continue reading
Kaleidoscope Music Festival has raised the bar for releasing music lineups with a highly produced viral video featuring a woman on a treasure hunt. National acts on the roster include Bassnectar, Los Rakas, Blue Scholars, Afroman, Souls of Mischief, Paper Diamond, Com Truise, gLAdiator and Amp Live. According to OneEleven, the producer-promoters behind the fest, the video was only phase one of the lineup announcements. More musicians will be announced May 30. Continue reading
Seattle Folklife Festival 2012, photo by Alex Notman Our 5-23 issue was jam packed so, unfortunately, we couldn't squeeze in BackBeat this week. Here are some more notes and news to pay attention to this weekend: Continue reading
With music institutions — especially those in less commercial genres — struggling musicians and fans have had to get social and entrepreneurial, increasingly relying on grassroots funding (through Indiegogo, Kickstarter and similar crowdsourcing sites) and informal venues. The Shedd is our biggest local example of music lovers creating their own outlets for the music they cherish, and fans run many venues like The Jazz Station. Continue reading
Love or hate Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby, one of the most hypnotic scenes of the film is the first. There’s no Leonardo DiCaprio or Carey Mulligan, simply the camera zooming in on the metallic, Art Nouveau Gatsby crest as The xx’s “Together” pings with melancholy coolness. Continue reading
It takes a special character to receive surprise fellatio onstage mid-performance (we’re not making this up) and then keep performing. But I guess that’s what happens when the majority of your lyrics focus on drugs, sex and the rockstar life (listen to the track “Die Like a Rockstar”). It’s the nature of the provocative rap beast. Continue reading