The Budos Band opened up the night in style! Photo by Seattlest's Abbey Simmons. The Saturday Knights/Budos Band show at Nectar on Friday night was sold out by 9:30 p.m., as in guest lists closed, no further entrance, and crowds of people partying outside the gates. Seattlest arrived at a normally respectable hour of 10:45 p.m. to find the Budos Band's shiny brass horns blaring, congo drums thumping, and every inch of Nectar packed with......

FREE BOOTY: Scion is desperate to be cool, and the latest result of that pathological drive is a CD sampler of work from IHEARTCOMIX, the LA-based label/lifestyle company. The CD is available at Scion dealerships, but the real cool news is that IHEARTCOMIX is sending dj Franki Chan (with Radiocl*t and Drop the Lime) on a limited and exclusive tour to support the release that comes to the War Room tonight. The show's free, but......

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......

That's what opener Anna Ternheim dubbed the Ternheim-Li-del Mar lineup at the Triple Door last night, the "Swedish girls tour." She was the solo singer/songwriter of the night, with a throaty, room-filling voice, a setlist stuffed with love and anti-love songs, and a guitar. (She also took over the grand piano.) "That one was about a girl who's a stalker," she mentioned off-handedly. "Any stalkers here tonight?" Her songs often ended surprisingly, in mid-flow. Twice......

Get your name on the official list for Experience Music Project's 2008 Pop Conference, taking place in our very own Hendrix-drenched, spring-obsessed city from April 10–13. That's next weekend! This year's theme is "Shake, Rattle: Music, Conflict, and Change," and EMP has gathered over 160 writers, speakers and musicians to expound on the many facets of the subject. (The conference is completely, gloriously free.) The many panels we're excited about include Riotous (featuring presentations......

Jens Lekman just makes us happy. Last night at Neumo's, the sweet Swede gave a joyful pop performance, not too different from his show last fall, except now his all-girl backing band is smaller--only four members, two of which (including opener, My Brightest Diamond's Marla Hansen) are actually from the States--and this time around everyone was in grey instead of white. The only other dude on stage, Viktor Per Sjöberg, mans the laptop and......

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......

Sometimes we'd rather experience a new (or new-ish) band's sound in person, rather than be tipped off by their recorded work. So we haven't listened to Great Northern's streaming songs, played their (first) 2007 album, or let fly The Gutter Twins' online teaser. (We didn't even listen to that live Twins clip; sorry if the sound sucks.) Tomorrow night, when the former opens for the latter, we expect to experience true aural pleasure. Great......

We're sure we don't need to say this, but you can't miss your caucus. This is the first year in our whole time in the Pacific Northwest where it matters what Washington voters think. If you're still wondering where to go, here are two Dem or GOP caucus locators. Caucusing starts at 1pm. We understand that if you know who you support and you don't want to spend an hour or two talking about it,......

Last week, Seattlest lamented the four-year absence of a live-in-person-on-a-Seattle-stage Mark Lanegan. Yesterday, we found new tour dates on the Gutter Twins’ (Lanegan’s latest project) Sub Pop page. And guess what? The Twins—Lanegan and Greg Dulli—will actually play Seattle during their "Maiden Voyage" tour. It'll be the Showbox (original)—site of Lanegan's last full-set appearance—on March 4, the date the duo's first album, Saturnalia, hits the bins. Score. Thanks for reading your record contract Seattlest,......

Has it really been over four years since you've taken a stage in Seattle, Mark? We could be wrong, but your late 2003 Showbox show—a great one, by the way—is the last we heard about. (QOTSA appearances don't count.) Assuming we're right, that's just silly. It's not like you haven't had albums to support. Your 2006 pairing with Isobel Campbell was a gorgeous, syrup-and-sour-mash treat—but did you two share any live love outside of Europe?......

On Saturday, we took our godson, his mom and his dad to Baby Loves Disco. Since we don't have a kid of our own and don't have any experience with kid-themed events, 17-month-old Eli agreed to let us interview him about the party. We'd like to preface his comments by saying that from the moment we walked in until the time we left, Eli was trailed by a gaggle of older-than-him little girls. Undoubtedly this,......

What a glorious morning! The Sonics have won three of five, Edgar Martinez wasn't in the Mitchell Report, we've got a kickin' holiday party to attend tonight. Guess we'll just check out Monkey Disaster, the blog of ex-KUOWer, Conservatize Me author and Seattlest favorite John Moe and see what's up with him...I'm writing you this letter to let you know that I'm leaving you. I've met someone else. Someone named Paul. St Paul. I'm going......

Last month, in response to a push to "reconsider" old Mudhoney songs, we said that the band never made it big because they sounded more "rough and fuzzy" than the Big Four (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains). We said that singer Mark Arm's style--as well as the band's--was "not bad, just different." After witnessing Mudhoney's transcendent assault on El Corazon Friday night, we'd like to propose a reconsideration of the band itself.......

We've been delinquent. Show after great show keeps arriving at Roq La Rue, and we keep not telling you about them. We could list excuses, but they're mostly varieties of "we should learn how to effectively use a to-do list." Case in point: the current show, featuring Yumiko Kayukawa (whose Princess of Darkness is pictured) and Ojimbo, opened October 12. We should have promoted opening night. But the show's still open, the art's still there,......

Dear, sweet Arthur & Yu. The local band (on new Sub Pop pseudo-imprint Hardly Art) has dreamy duo Grant Olsen and Sonya Westcott at its core, with Bobby Wane, Ben Kersten, and Scott Blue rounding out the group. Their music is simple and pretty and straight outta the swinging 60s. So sez Gorilla Vs. Bear: You know how on MySpace bands always list their "influences," and as you listen to the songs, you can't......

In a few seasons, Seattle indie stalwart Sub Pop will shed its adolescent husk and turn 20. Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman, the dudes who put Soundgarden and Nirvana in bins before major label reps stormed Seattle, will, according to this bio, celebrate "as conspicuously as they can manage." As well they should. They were the fuse to said bands’ (and others’) genre-birthing TNT, after all. And though maybe not as globally revered since the......

Last Friday we saw Sea Wolf at Chop Suey. We found this Pop Matters review of their first full-length album, but if you'd like to learn more, here's an interview by Sound on the Sound. The band says "We want to be JUST LIKE:"Wolf Eyes, Wolf Parade, We Are Wolves, AIDS Wolf, Wolfie, Wolf Colonel, Patrick Wolf, WolfMother, Guitar Wolf, Steppenwolf, Hugo Wolf, Kate Wolf, Laurent Wolf, Wolf City, Duran Duran (though they don't really......

People are strange. They say Ann Coulter is funny. They pay a $20 cover to have a conversation in a club. At the Showbox a few weeks ago, we saw Lavender Diamond, opening for the New Pornographers, cut their set short after telling the audience it was hard to play with all the talking going on. So we were worried heading back to the Showbox for the Jose Gonzalez/Tiny Vipers show because neither of......

Are we in White Center? Baghdad? No! We're at the former Sub Pop Records headquarters, 4th and Vine. Some kinda home furnishings store, Medallion Imports, selling crap on the sidewalk, for God's sake. What has Belltown come to?......

We're trying to test Amazon's new MP3 download service because we hate CDs and iTunes and we love DRM-free music files and compensating artists for their work. Hang out with us a minute here while we try this... Local band Kinski has a new album out and since we felt the last time they released something they were finally on the right track we definitely want to check this one out. Their label is Sub......

Not that we care anymore (So You Think You Can Dance has taken over our capacity of interest in reality TV at the moment--my God that Mia Michaels routine last night was incredible!), but all our American Idol crushes will be in Tacoma tonight strutting their stuff for the girlies. We can hardly contain our amusement that this tour is being sponsored by Pop Tarts. That's just brilliant. So, who spent $75 on a ticket......

We don't know the first thing about NW indie band Saturna [MySpace], really, we just wanted to get out Saturday night. We've listened to a few mp3s online and have discovered that Staten Island is now in Ryan Carroll, Steve Anderson, and Eric Block's thrall:"Some Delicious Enemy" starts with a giant, My Bloody Valentine-like juggernaut, "Roll Down," featuring sweeps of electronic noises, a muscular bassline and catchy refrain from singer Ryan Carroll, who sings in......

Last night at the Crocodile was one of those evenings you stumble on where things just keep getting better and better. We went down to see headliners Sea Wolf [MySpace] after hearing them do an in-studio bit at KEXP (not posted yet). About two songs in, the indie-folk melodies and lead singer's baritone duets with cello swept us and Shelves of Vinyl off our feet. They're a six-piece -- Alex Brown Church on vocals and......

-- Microwave popcorn? Pop 'em while you got 'em, Seattle city employees. -- Calling all gurgitators: Top Pot Doughnuts meet competitive eating. -- Why isn't the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce losing classified ad revenue? -- Don't drive naked. Or embracing. Or drunk. -- Another day, another luxury condo project breaks ground. -- Seattle's gotten so expensive people are fleeing to Indianapolis. -- Seattle ites buy more sunglasses per capita than any other city......

--The Pioneer Square building that caught fire Monday has a pretty cool history. --Sonics diehards give their answers to this prompt: "If the Sonics win the #1 pick, I'll ______." --Bellevue has four of the top 100 high schools in the country. Garfield is the only Seattle school at #361. --Sherman Alexie says all NBA fans are "racial" but he worries that some are "racist." --Pop quiz: what didn't Starbucks sell when the logo......

Pretend for a moment that you work the circulation desk at a Seattle branch library. A patron asks you to change the information on his account. He's moving, so you change the address. And he asks you to change his default pickup branch to a new, rather distant location. From, say, North East to Rainier Beach. While you're doing this, you notice that he's got 18 hold requests already placed in the system. Pop quiz:......

"If I were still mayor, and I knew I was coming to an event like this," Charley Royer told us before last night's political fundraiser pub quiz, "I'd make sure there wasn't a question about Seattle that I didn't know the answer to." Nice in theory. Mayor Nickels' team won the night (we swear we didn't rig it!), but he was only able to get 6 out of 10 on our Seattle round. Can you......

MUSIC: Deerhoof. Some have dismissed Deerhoof as bland or simply weird. Others praise the complex composition of their songs. We just think they're good. *Sample tracks on MySpace 8:00 pm // Neumo's // $12adv (All ages, bar w/ ID) AUTHOR, AUTHOR: Charles Johnson delivers his talk, "Whole Sight: The Intersection of Culture, Faith, and Imagination." Literary critic, screenwriter, philosopher, and cartoonist, Johnson is the author of Middle Passage (1990), winner of the National Book Award.......

--KCJ is already down and now the Kitsap Sun looks like it might be in jeopardy. --Seattlest drove down to a Renton parking lot the other day and paid some guy cash for a Nintendo Wii, so we don't need Bill Gates to tell us the platform's a Microsoft killer. --Storm water drainage is a concern in Seattle, particularly lately, and there are good and bad ways of handling it. --It's freezing and there's......