Ratatat is a dance band. A melodic, guitar-driven, videogame soundtrack dance band, but a dance band all the same. It took a while, but last night at a sweaty sold-out Neumo’s, the New York electro-rockers had asses shaking and all the kids jumping around. On the eve of their third album’s release, multi-instrumentalist Evan Mast and guitarist Mike Stroud (along with some guy and his damn big fro) kicked off their US tour with......

Liz Phair's musical legacy packed Chop Suey last night, as Seattle's indie rock scene turned out to wish Three Imaginary Girls a happy sixth birthday, and Phair's Exile in Guyville a happy fifteenth. In truth, the affair had an insider-ish feel, with a large number of people we recognize from the local music industry, due both to TIG's status as the local Pitchfork and to Exile's status as a cult album. The six bands/artists who......

Love it or hate it, there's no denying the commercial success of Kidz Bop. A big hit with the kids, as well as their parents, the family-friendly Kidz Bop series has sold 10.5 million CDs in the past seven years, no small feat in the dying music industry. And to think, all they're doing is taking pop songs (sometimes current, sometimes retro) and adding incredibly chipper kids' vocals to the mix. Now Kidz Bop is......

It's easy to be a snarky critic, but really, could Tokyo Police Club have been more over-hyped? Standing inside the sticky heat at Neumo's for a sold-out show on Sunday (which nevertheless felt a bit empty after Smoosh finished their opening set), we were at first a bit curious how a band whose debut LP Elephant Swell had been out all of three weeks could afford a reasonably classy (if utterly uninspired) LED stage......

Laura Veirs has been writing and performing dreamy folk and pop songs for nearly a decade. She graces Seattle with a solo performance this Friday night at the Triple Door. 7:30pm & 10pm (21+) // Triple Door // $17 adv, $20 dos // Liam Finn opens Seattlest: Can you tell us a little about the solo tour? Laura Veirs: I start on Wednesday in Vancouver and then the second show will be in Seattle. It's......

That long-awaited EP from Seattle's Fleet Foxes is out, a few months in advance of the new album due June-ish. Sun Giant (Sub Pop) provokes something more than cautious optimism on the part of Pitchfork: "It's a sovereign work: a statement EP, supremely crafted and confident." An 8.7! It's also just $5, mp3 download or CD. The Pitchfork review goes on to say:...Fleet Foxes' songs inhabit a very specific, very rural space that's as much......