Jon Rooney — The Monarch Review
Capitol Hill Block Party
Thursday, July 28, 2016 11:48 — 1 Comment
Capitol Hill Block Party was a Sunday out of the sun with (mostly) Seattle artists. My plan for the experience carried a few rules: 1) My Block Party exposure would be Sunday only 2) I decided to just check out local bands I hadn’t seen live before (which I mostly stuck to) and 3) I had to be home in time to put my son to bed, so I’d cede the sprawling CHVRCHES set to all the young dreamers. Set schedules conspired to keep me indoors, hustling up and down the stairs between the Neumos and Barboza stages, out of […]
CHANNEL Seattle Record Label Fest
Tuesday, July 12, 2016 13:55 — 0 Comments
On Saturday, the inaugural CHANNEL Seattle Record Label Fest takes over Fred Wildlife Refuge all afternoon and into the night. Over 30 record labels from throughout the region will be showing their wares, with live performances from Hibou, Gaytheist, SSDD and Roladex. While Seattle boasts internationally known independents like Barsuk and, of course, Sub Pop, CHANNEL Fest is focused on highlighting smaller upstart labels found throughout the winding catacombs of the local music scene. Participating labels run the gamut from Help Yourself, who’ve made waves with releases from Chastity Belt, Dude York and Childbirth to Neon Sigh, which is a […]
The Spider Fern’s ‘Safety’ and Garbeau’s ‘Little Laugher’
Monday, January 25, 2016 11:08 — 0 Comments
The early part of 2016 brings new EPs from two Seattle-area bands worth checking out: the Spider Ferns and Garbeau. Last year, the Spider Ferns released their well-received debut LP, Soon Enough, a slinky, sometimes icy collection of electronic pop meditations. Their new EP, Safety, is very much in the same vein, with songs built around downtempo beats propping up effects-laden electric guitar and Kelly Fleek’s prominent vocals. “Stronger Still†opens with an iconic 80’s brass synth pad, a drum loop and intermittent laser-sounding synth bursts before Fleek’s dramatic vocals slowly enter the scene. The song stalks around for over […]
It’s Not Good for Anyone to Have a Body of Work Denied: An Interview with Stephen Wood
Tuesday, November 10, 2015 10:47 — 0 Comments
Stephen Wood is a Vancouver-based musician who spent a good portion of this new century, as well as the end of the last, leading a band called the Battles, which he later renamed Giantess (for more on the Battles/Giantess – grab a comfy seat and read this). Wood also served as a sideman, playing guitar in the classic, pre-Merge Destroyer lineup that gave the world City of Daughters, Thief and Streethawk: A Seduction. His latest project, which serves as the jumping off point for this interview, is an instrumental duo called Kensington Gore (named after the famed recipe for fake […]
The answer isn't poetry, but rather language
- Richard Kenney
