Well folks, I did it. I spent the weekend in the tween-filled, EDM-saturated alternate universe known as Bumbershoot and I’ve lived to tell the tale. Ok, so I’m being dramatic. It was mostly really fun and only ever got uncomfortable or depressing when I watched fourteen-year-olds doing drugs or something.
Punk’s vitality lies primarily in its imperfection. In the unrefined fuzziness of a bedroom recording or the brutal sloppiness of a drunken live set, you can hear growth, change, disorder–in short, the sound of being alive. Punk widens the cracks in music’s surface enough for us to see the organ of humanity churning beneath.
This week I’ve been thinking a lot about hip-hop, which is maybe a weird thing to write. I often think about hip-hop because I am both an immense fan of rap music and also deeply fascinated by its effect as a social and political movement, but this week in particular it seems like that’s all I’ve been thinking about and listening to.
Since I write one of these pieces a week, there’s no possible way to stay on top of all of the worthwhile music being released. So, in order to remedy all of my oversights, I decided to compile some of my favorite releases of the year. Hopefully you’ll forgive me for not mentioning some of these earlier.
The 20th annual incarnation of the beloved/ horrific (depending on who you ask) neighborhood music festival lit up the Pike-Pine corridor this weekend, and Jetspace Magazine was there to see it all.
Goopy, glittering, and riotously fun, local punk outfit Mommy Long Legs will blow your face off. With songs that run the gamut from yuppie moms to chic, undead parties, the band is a raucous, irreverent delight, and one of the best bands in Seattle.
In case you live under a rock, Capitol Hill Block Party is a few short weeks away. If you actually live under a rock, let me know what your rent is like and if there are any vacancies.
Block Party at the Station aims to stay true to the community-oriented, neighborly idea of an actual block party. All of the artists are local hip-hop musicians from throughout the region, the festival has no corporate sponsorships, and it’s free.
Many of us–perhaps all of us–have a diva. She (or he) is many things to many people, but she is there, a trellis onto which we graft our hopes, desires, ambitions, failings–in short, our lives.
As consumers we have economic, and therefore cultural and political, power. Refusing to critically examine the content that you consume, simply because it’s uncomfortable, is, at the very least, irresponsible.
One of the most visionary poets, artists, dramatists, and avant-rockers of post 9/11 America, Anohni has never shied away from publicly engaging in radical politics.
You know that only an exceedingly rare and precious jewel of an event could drag me out of semi-retirement as Gay Seattle’s premier nightlife tell-you-what-to-do-er. But Comeback at Chop Suey is that rare and precious jewel.