Matthew Dear is a Michigan-based artist most known for his techno productions, both under his own name and under a slew of aliases. Over the last few years the incredibly productive Dear has taken a decidedly pop turn, adding his own baritone vocals to his techno productions, crafting songs instead of tracks under his own name. Dear hinted at the pop shift with his 2003 release Leave Luck to Heaven (and the hit "Dog......

Sigur Ros never fails to put on a good show. Unlike Jamie Lidell--whose gimmicky, disjointed full-band set at the Showbox on Friday left us longing for his solo days--Sunday night, the Icelandic quartet delivered a serious yet ethereal show, as always. Something that never fails to impress us is the graciousness of a Sigur Ros audience. There are always magically organic moments so quiet and weighty that no one breathes, lest they break the......

Even if you're going to tonight's John in the Morning at Night, Friday's best bet is DJ/blue-eyed soul man/gold lamé bathrobe-wearer/consummate performer Jamie Lidell, along with opener Janelle Monae at Showbox. Jamie also has an instore at Easy Street Queen Anne this evening at 6:30 p.m. Meanwhile, there's the Anticon two-fer of Why? and Restiform Bodies at the Vera Project.......

The video above is "Rainbow Claw," off of Tussle's latest album, Cream Cuts, out now on Smalltown Supersound. While that's well worth seeking out, what's more immediately important is the fact that Tussle play tonight at The Comet. While Tussle's recorded output faithfully captures their psychedelic funk jams (no hippie stuff though, don't worry), it's live where the material really shines. The band's rhythm section locks everything into a solid groove, with drumming so......

Sigur Ros photo by Eva Vermandel ...if you're willing to pay way more than face value. In advance of the Icelandic band's sure-to-be-epic performance this Sunday at Benaroya Hall, Craigslist is blowing up with people looking to buy and sell tickets to the long sold-out show. Seems like there's still some good tix available, but as always, be careful who you do business with. While some posts look to be from real people just trying......

GET SMARTIE: So you think you're a smartypants, eh? And you want to see that smartypants professor in the white house? Then you're in luck! Go use your brain for Obama tonight, and participate in a trivia night fundraiser at the Hi-Life in Ballard. The entry fee is a bit high for trivia night at a bar, but excessively low for a political fundraiser. Just think of how those Eastsiders paid $1k/plate when Cindy McCain......

The stage at Jazz Alley was cramped for a nine-person band. Before funkified sax master Maceo Parker and his crew hit the stage, the drums were shoved hard against the rear curtain like a belt buckled tight around a pair of empty pants. When Jerome Thomas took to his kit, he had to squeeze through and climb around, and he played much of the set like only the funkiest rhythm could release him. It......

GLASNOST: The Cold War Kids bring their bluesy, vaguely Southern-sounding brand of piano-based indie rock to the Showbox/Market tonight. The Cold War Kids first gained notice back in 2006 with their debut LP Robbers & Cowards and the get-off-the-sauce single "Hang Me Up to Dry," which is, ironically, a great drinking song. Their second album, Loyalty to Loyalty, dropped last week. Tix for tonight are still available as of this morning. 8 p.m. doors //......

If you haven't heard it yet, the above video is for Noah and the Whale's light-hearted poppy single "5 Years Time" off their debut album Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down. That catchy song just begs to be used in pretty much every movie trailer—Wes Anderson ones especially—and/or TV ad (we've already seen it in a car commercial). The folky twee British quartet plays a free show tonight at Chop Suey with openers Grand......

Pearl Jam's rhythm guitarist, who recently recorded with Fags' bassist Barbara Ireland, will join the reunited local early-80s act tonight at the King Cat Theater. (Thanks for the tip, Marlow Harris.) $15 gets you in to see that band (minus original singer Charles "Upchuck" Gerra, who died of AIDS in 1991), Ginger Coyote and the White Trash Debutantes, and the Nasty Habits—and the CD Upchuck: Gone But Not Forgiven, a new collection of Gerra's notable......

Your favorite super-duper producer is performing at Showbox SoDo on November 2, and the Ticketmaster presale ends today at 5pm. Presale codes are "showbox" and "verizon." Mista Timba will perform his most recently wrapped album in its entirety. You know, the one by Chris Cornell. (Yes, he's also on the bill.)......

Talented Toronto singer-songwriter young'un Justin Nozuka has spent the entire week traversing the wilds of the internets. On his virtual tour, he already made stops to deposit videos of exclusive performances at Pop Culture Madness! and Stop Okay Go, along with his MySpace profile and iLike page. Today he pulls into the station at Seattlest with his current single "After Tonight" off debut album Holly (awww, named after his mama). In real life, Nozuka......

DIAL M-A-C-E-O: You know how some people are so funny (Steve Carell, Ellen DeGeneres) that just looking at them makes you laugh? Well, that's kind of how Maceo makes us feel, but instead of making us laugh, he makes us get funky. He's played with everyone who matters—from James Brown to Prince—and he's here tonight and for the rest of the weekend to bring the funk to you. How lucky you are! 7:30 p.m. //......

There's a banjo joke that talks about someone breaking into the banjo player's car and leaving a second banjo in the back seat. We have to say that's what entered our mind when we first heard that local multi-instrumentalist Jeff Fielder—on tour now with Sera Cahoone—had his banjo stolen. Then we immediately thought about how a good banjo is a darn expensive instrument. So are a good Dobro and a good guitar (Cahoone's guitar was......

It's safe to say that the only person in town who loves Dr. Dog more than us is erstwhile Stranger music editor Jonathan Zwickel. We won't go so far as to say that they "sound like the best band ever," but we do agree that the Philly five-piece have the influences (Beach Boys, Beatles, Steely Dan, The Band, and so on), the sense of melody, and the spot-on harmonies to always put on a......

ALL INCLUSIVE: Knowledge is power. Bone up on making your website design more accessible to every PC, Mac, and Blackberry by taking this course, sponsored by Refresh Seattle. Consultant Wendy Chisholm will speak and everyone will head over to the Red Door for snacks afterward. 6:00 p.m. // Fremont Public Library, 731 N. 35th St. // Free WEDDING SEASON: Our ex-boyfriend from college introduced us to the excellent band The Wedding Present. Even his......

ROOTS MUSIC IN BALLARD!?: Yeah, we know this happens pretty much every night, but there's a good batch of bands at the Tractor tonight. Local singer-songwriter outfits Husbands Love Your Wives and Jack Wilson & The Wife Stealers open a bill for the wonderful and interesting anti-folk fabulousness of Elliot Brood from north of the border (and east a bit). 9 p.m. // Tractor Tavern // $8 HIPPIE WOO-WOO TALK: (We can call it that......

Journey at the Dallas version of Friday's concert, by ladybugbkt. If we hadn't been suspended a few feet off the ground in classic rock-induced ecstasy, Seattlest might have been more irritated about the 2.5 hour drive home from Auburn on Friday night after the Journey/Heart/Cheap Trick concert. However, we were happily cocooned in the memory of hearing Heart's "Crazy On You" and their Led Zeppelin covers only twelve rows from the stage. And though......

FOREVER WAR: Dexter Filkins, the Pulitzer Prize-winning NY Times reporter comes to Town Hall tonight to read from his new book The Forever War, recounting his experiences covering the war in Iraq. Filkins actually had a piece in yesterday's "Week in Review" section about returning to Iraq for the first time in two years, finding it a changed if uneasy place, balanced on a knife's edge of peace following the much ballyhooed troop surge, but......

Tonight, drink pricey beers at the WaMu Theater (hey, they need the money!) before The Kills and The Raconteurs. You best get there early; believe us, it takes a lotta beers to make Jack White look pretty, but no drinks at all to make him sound good. If you'd rather get your face first country-rocked gently and then melted off, head to the Tractor for Shim with The Maldives opening. It's like a Bumbershoot Sky......

Say what you want about American Idol's biggest success story, Ms. Carrie Underwood—including that she can't dance, bless her heart—but it can't be said the woman doesn't have a strong set of pipes. She'll be the last major performer during the Puyallup Fair's final weekend. If there's anything in the show that remotely resembles her performance from last year's Grammy Awards, we'll just die: Seattlest doesn't have tickets (we'll gladly take a pair off the......

Does It Offend You, Yeah? attracts a good crowd. Last night at Chop Suey, the angular British electro-rock four-piece had an audience of fans eager to dance, sing and clap along, and once (just once) send someone aloft crowd surfing. For the rest of the show, DIOYY acted as the big beats soundtrack to a dark and bangin' dance party. Morgan Quaintance provided more cowbell (see above), while singer James Rushent yelped the vocals--that......

Tonight's the all-ages Red Bull Big Tune Battle at Neumo's. It's a big hiphop competition (twelve producers are picked to compete, whittled down from the eighty who applied from all over the Northwest and even northern California), and the regional showdown for one of the only legit national beat battles. This year's featured guests are Detroit's Black Milk and Elzhi. It's also the surprisingly sold-out Rancid and Less Than Jake show at the Showbox SoDo.......

Willy Porter promotional photo © Rodney Bursiel We first became privy to Willy Porter years ago when he opened for Tori Amos at the University of Central Florida, and we still dig his impressive guitar skills and rootsy acousti-pop songwriting. He'll be rolling into town tomorrow night to play an early show at the Tractor with the amazing ladies of Raining Jane. We got him on the phone this week for a little insight into......

CELEBRATE THE SALMON: The Pacific Northwest is known for coffee, technology, and Boeing these days, but three hundred years ago we were known--if you'll allow us some leeway in the use of "known"--for salmon and trees. A group of Northwest Indian tribal organizations throws an annual, multi-ethnic, three-day party down on the Waterfront to celebrate the spiritual and ecological importance of salmon in our region, and the party commences today. Along with the music, dancing,......

WHO WILL SAVE YOUR SOUL?: Wow, Seattlest really loved that song when Jewel first came out back in '96. When we went to Lilith Fair, Jewel's set was the one we thought we'd skip and go have dinner during. Then she started, and she was an absolutely captivating performer. We're not totally sure what she's been up to all these years since then, but we can vouch for the truth of the matter that Jewel......

Slaid Cleaves may not be super known out here on the left coast, but among songwriter circles in the south and back east, he's one of the most respected singer-songwriters on the scene. The man just has a way with words, and he'll be gracing us with his presence next Wednesday at the Tractor. If you're a ZooTunes-hanging Mountain listener who appreciates a good solo acoustic songwriter, then the Tractor will be your place next......

PHILOSOPHY!: Slavoj Žižek occupies a place in the intellectual world akin to that of Noam Chomsky, at once both a (perceived) leading philosopher and theorist and a public intellectual who commands the respect of the educated masses, weighing in on the issues of the day in more accessible publications like the London Review of Books. So, after thirty-plus books in English, hundreds of articles and essays, a tabloid-style wedding to an Argentinian supermodel-cum-Lacanian theorist, and......

Head to the Sunset tonight for Sub Pop band Oxford Collapse. Along with Love as Laughter, it's a veritable indie pop fest! It's hard to know what to expect from a hardcore band named Fucked Up, but apparently it involves manboobs and a bunny mask. They're also playing tonight, at the Vera Project.......

SYNTHS, BLEEPS, AND BLIPS: Naw, we're not talking about party politics. We're talking about the bright, accessible electronica of Ratatat, and about how you should have bought tickets months ago for their sold-out concert tonight. Ratatat's eponymous debut and their '06 release Classics get regular and beloved play in Seattlest's living room; we haven't heard LP3, but it's probably just as perfect to put on if you want to dance a little while you make......