In an age when brief pops like retweets and viral videos reign supreme, Seattle rapper Raz Simone has chosen a more maintainable route—one where numbers aren't the driving force but the viability of making art is. Simone's is a trek that susses out the complete character and depth of his work in music, and his mission is one of personal and creative sustainability. "My career," he explains, "is going to be a longer battle. But it's going to be very worth it."
Read MoreSeattle’s Jason Koenig, who has carved out a tremendously successful career as a music video director — which includes the video for the new Macklemore single, “Glorious,” released this week — can hardly believe his good fortune.
Read MoreSeattle-based crooner Vince Mira’s new 12-song LP, “El Radio,” often feels more like an intersectional collage than a modern pop release.
Read MoreYoung, hopeful musicians often enter the music scene with lofty goals of stardom and success. Rarely, however, do these dreams pan out. Seldom does the shift occur when, one day, an artist is playing a small bar and the next she’s on the biggest stage. But for Seattle rapper Taylar Elizza Beth (aka Taylar White) — who will celebrate the release of her new record, “Fresh Cut Flowers,” on Tuesday, June 13, at the Timbre Room — that shift may indeed be happening.
Read MoreIf you’ve ever seen the Seattle-based singer-songwriter Celene Ramadan (aka Prom Queen) perform, you know the aesthetic pizzazz she showcases through the magic of color and cloth, in addition to her jangly retro rock ‘n roll. As Prom Queen, Ramadan dons a dark bouffant, dazzling dream-pop dresses and plays a pink guitar. She’s the mastermind behind Midnight Veil, an LP-length music video opus featuring genie lamps, doo-wop singers and milk shakes. Now Ramadan has a new creative persona: a big, white, joke-telling rabbit who she’s named Snax The Bunny.
Read MoreGalen Disston, lead singer for the soulful Seattle rock band Pickwick, trades in two creative escapes: his music, a lifelong ambition and an art form with infinite possibilities; and the intricate craft of watch building, an endeavor Disston–whose band’s new record, LoveJoys, is out June 10—began only recently.
Read MoreThe genesis of Naomi Wachira’s newest album, Song of Lament, was a spiritual one— perhaps even divine. For the soulful, Kenyan-born singer, the songs for the new 11-track record, out now, came to her during a stint in Germany while she was at one of the lowest emotional points in her life.
Read MoreWith a composed, sweet, and measured voice, the woman behind the spastic, exaggerated femme persona known as Cherdonna Shinatra describes her upcoming projects. The tone of the conversation is markedly different compared to the character’s at-times cartoonish physicality, but the woman behind Cherdonna, Seattle’s Jody Kuehner, has no problem with the concept of dichotomy.
Read MoreAt age 41, Sera Cahoone says she’s now more secure in herself than ever. This confidence runs throughout the Seattle-based Americana singer-songwriter’s new record, “From Where I Started,” which is set to be released at a sold-out show Saturday, April 1, at The Tractor Tavern.
But confidence is a funny thing. It can be false or it can be rooted in the accepted eccentricities of our own unique, creative selves. For Cahoone, it’s the latter. While she says she can still feel “all over the place,” she’s also less “in her head” than she used to be, both as a person and as a songwriter.
Read MoreLos Angeles-based rock group Dawes is one of the rare acts to observe and learn from musical legend Bob Dylan. The band recently toured with the Nobel Prize winner for about six weeks. And now Dawes will take the lessons learned and use them on its own 50-date tour, which includes a stop in Seattle on Friday, Feb. 24.
Read MoreSeattle-based violinist/composer Andrew Joslyn has toured the world on the strength of his playing. He is most definitely a musician. But the prolific artist could easily have been the world’s most accomplished juggler.
Sitting across a table from him in West Seattle’s cozy Uptown Espresso, plans, words, and ideas tumble out of his mouth at an amazing rate—objectives he seems to keep afloat, bouncing in midair—but they aren’t just wishes, they’re descriptions of the many actual projects he has his hands on.
Read MoreAnthony Ray — aka Sir Mix-A-Lot — still loves an intimate rap show, which is why the man who made the big butt immortal will perform at Seattle’s 475-person-capacity Nectar Lounge on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 2 and 3.
Read MoreOn a bright Sunday afternoon, Jamil Suleman walks through the doors of Columbia City’s Royal Room and people instantly turn toward him and exclaim, “Hey! Jesus!”
Read More“It’s one thing to say to folks, ‘Go and do the work,’ ” says Seattle activist and writer Marissa Jenae Johnson. “I certainly understand that sentiment, but it can be hard for some people to grasp.”
The work she’s referencing, of course, is visible, tangible efforts made by everyday citizens to dismantle oppressive systems like racism, ableism, and the patriarchy. Johnson, world-renowned for her work with Black Lives Matter, is a staunch advocate for sacrifice, especially when it comes to privileged white people giving up their comforts to people of color and the marginalized, who have suffered at the hands of an abusive system for hundreds of years.
Read MoreWhen Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready walks into a KEXP music fair wearing your record label’s T-shirt, you know you’ve officially made it.
That’s what happened for Freakout Records, a new Seattle-based venture started by four locals — Ian Cunningham, Skyler Locatelli, Guy Keltner and Nathan Casey — who, in addition to running the label, are putting on a loud, two-day music festival Thursday and Friday (Dec. 8-9).
Read More
