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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
A wolf in sheep’s clothing? More like a wolf in a hip T-shirt. Sabrina Jackson, the local printmaker behind graphic tee brand Poppy & Moe, is relaunching her company as Wolf Child, featuring a new line of hand-printed shirts with all sorts of symbology: snakes, crescent moons, skeleton keys and the Eye of Providence. The line will make its Eugene debut at Passion Flower Design on Broadway during the First Friday ArtWalk; look for it at WolfChild.com this summer. 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
Everything is dark except for the truck-sized monolith. Two female figures emerge from the shadows, their bodies athletically twisting and spinning and stomping to the electronic beat, which sounds like someone drumming on crystal stalagmites. Crisp, geometric patterns project upon the monolith, creating a digital trompe l’oeil effect, the electronic shapes dissolving into and out of the forms of the dancers, whose projected images appear to be writhing within the structure as their counterparts writhe freely outside. Continue reading
Four years ago, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot pulled off a slick little trick. A shiny, whizbang movie with an excellent ensemble cast, the 2009 Trek restarted the series timeline, giving Abrams and company endless freedom to boldly go to entirely new places, unencumbered by the history writ in the TV shows and earlier films. 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