The Flow Of Music: 25 Years Since Reachin' And Ishmael Butler Is Still Working With Friends
The Flow Of Music: 25 Years Since Reachin' And Ishmael Butler Is Still Working With Friends

On February 9th, 1993, the New York-based hip-hop group, Digable Planets, released their debut LP, Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space) on Pendulum/Elektra Records. A few months prior, in November of 1992, the group released the album’s debut single, “Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat),” one of the world’s greatest and chillest tracks. Featuring a walking bass line, smooth and mellow voices and an overarching thoughtful atmosphere, the song has lived on in the heads of rap fans ever since. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of Reachin’, Light in the Attic Records, has issued a vinyl release of the classic record. And to celebrate that landmark, we thought it best to talk with Digable’s front man, Ishmael Butler, about the making of Reachin’ and what it’s like having written one of the greatest rap lyrics of all time.

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Q&AJake UittiKEXP
Interview // There Isn’t a Metaphor for Everything: A Conversation with Jane Wong
Interview // There Isn’t a Metaphor for Everything: A Conversation with Jane Wong

Jane Wong, the exceptional Emerald City poet, now lives and works in Bellingham as an Assistant Professor at Western Washington University. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Wong graduated from the University of Iowa’s MFA program in poetry, and then earned a PhD from the University of Washington. Recently, Wong was also awarded a prestigious Washington State award. But perhaps more than anything it was the restaurant her parents owned and operated in New Jersey that shaped her career. We wanted to catch up with Wong—whose poem “Aphoristic” appeared on our website, and whose first collection, Overpour, was reviewed here by Dandi Meng—to talk with her about her recent award, how her past has shaped her present, and how she moves forward through a challenging and often dark world.

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Q&AJake UittiPoetry Northwest
Better Call Sol: The Seattle Rapper Talks About His Humorous New Video and the State of the Local Scene
Better Call Sol: The Seattle Rapper Talks About His Humorous New Video and the State of the Local Scene

For those following the Seattle hip-hop scene, the rapper Sol has seemingly been around for decades. Ever since he dropped his second LP, Yours Truly, in 2012 -- which hit #1 on the iTunes U.S. hip-hop charts -- Sol has been a popular mainstay in the Emerald City. And, to add to his accolades, the musician recently released a great new video for his latest single, "If You Don't Call," an intimate look into frayed friendships and lost loves. Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 6th, Sol will perform in the KEXP Gathering Space as part of the 2018 Capitol Hill Block Party lineup announcement party. But before that gig, we wanted to catch up with the artist to see how he's changed over the last few years and to hear about his latest musical inspirations.

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Q&AJake UittiKEXP
Springtime with the Decemberists
Springtime with the Decemberists

For their new album, “I’ll Be Your Girl,” released in March, the members of Portland-based rock band The Decemberists set out to challenge themselves. The group hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with its 2011 LP “The King Is Dead” and has built a following for creative sounds and lyrics. But fresh tactics, says frontman Colin Meloy, had to be taken to keep making invigorating music.

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ProfilesJake UittiAlaska Beyond/TMR
Shana Cleveland of La Luz Shines a Light on the Upcoming New Album, Floating Features
Shana Cleveland of La Luz Shines a Light on the Upcoming New Album, Floating Features

Shana Cleveland, lead singer, guitar player, and principal songwriter in the surf-noir band, La Luz, has a lot on her plate. Just back from a trip to New York City, Cleveland, who now lives in Los Angeles along with her bandmates, has a list of errands to catch up on. And, in May, the group -- comprised of drummer Marian Li Pino, keys player Alice Sandahl, bassist Lena Simon and Cleveland -- will head out on the road for yet another national tour, celebrating the May 11 release of their latest LP, Floating Features.

In preparation for the release, La Luz recently dropped their latest music video for the album's lead single, "Cicada." The video, inspired by the opening credit sequence from a telenovela drama, is theatrical and weird, humorous and odd. It speaks to the numinous-yet-familiar style of La Luz, which formed in Seattle about five years ago. Given all this upcoming action, we wanted to catch up with Cleveland and ask her about the new record, video and the upcoming tour.

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Q&AJake UittiKEXP
Biscuits and Gravy Face Off: Searching for the Best Serving of the Southern Staple in Seattle
Biscuits and Gravy Face Off: Searching for the Best Serving of the Southern Staple in Seattle

There’s something classic and homey about biscuits and sausage gravy, a dish with European roots that has existed in America in one form or another for more than 300 years. It became a staple of the American South after the Revolution when resources were in short supply; the dish, which requires few ingredients, is the perfect fuel for someone facing a long day of manual labor.

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FoodJake HansonThe Stranger
Easy Street's Matt Vaughan Talks About Thriving for 30 Years in Music Retail
Easy Street's Matt Vaughan Talks About Thriving for 30 Years in Music Retail

Thirty years ago, while Matt Vaughan was attending Seattle University, he established the monument to local music that is West Seattle’s Easy Street Records. In the interim decades since, Vaughan has watched the neighborhood around him change dramatically and watched friends, like members of Alice in Chains, rocket to stardom and then tragically fall. Vaughan was there when Sir Mix-A-Lot first began hustling his debut, Swass; there when Macklemore sold his first CD; and he’ll be there when the next sensations—Thunderpussy, Car Seat Headrest—rise to the top of the charts. No one has followed Emerald City music quite like Vaughan; in a way he is the eye of the local scene’s storm.

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ProfilesJake UittiThe Stranger
SHE’S MIGHTY, MIGHTY: BRIQ HOUSE AND HER SUNDAY NIGHT SHUGA SHAQ
SHE’S MIGHTY, MIGHTY: BRIQ HOUSE AND HER SUNDAY NIGHT SHUGA SHAQ

Ms. Briq House—a burlesque performer, sex work advocate, professional cuddler, stripper, educator, and entertainer—wants you to see the light. Raised by her grandparents as a Southern Baptist Christian, House was an active member of the church as a youth. She worshiped. She spread the word. But, at twenty-five, she sought a divorce from her then-husband (with whom she remains in amicable contact), and that is when, “We saw people’s true colors,” she says.

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ProfilesJake UittiSSE
Exclusive Interview: Ann Wilson of Heart
Exclusive Interview: Ann Wilson of Heart

Singer Ann Wilson appreciates people. The powerful-voiced frontwoman for the legendary rock ‘n’ roll band, Heart, which has sold tens of millions of records over four decades, continues her career in the music industry so that she might continue to engage in honest, even primal expressions and connect with people along her journey.

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Q&AJake UittiKEXP
Traveling Musician
Traveling Musician

While visiting nashville, Tennessee, singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc found something he did not expect. Inside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Blacc stood before a large mural depicting the origins of the museum’s central genre. The painting showed a cultural mashup of players with West African banjos, as well as fiddles and other harmonic and melodic elements that originated in Europe.

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ProfilesJake UittiAlaska Beyond/TMR
Songsmith Caela Bailey's New "Belltown Crawl" Video Has One of the Sexiest Moments in Music Video History
Songsmith Caela Bailey's New "Belltown Crawl" Video Has One of the Sexiest Moments in Music Video History


Seattle’s Caela Bailey is attracted to the colorful, the unique and the flamboyant. And, as a lifelong resident of the Emerald City, she has seen many manifestations of what she loves go extinct. Whether a favorite bar demolished or an artist friend forced out of the city, Bailey laments these losses. And, as an artist, she attempts to subvert the pain from those disappearances with bouquets of eye-popping performance. Her latest, a beautiful video for her song, “Belltown Crawl,” features a swath of local creators—from Chocolate Drizzle producer Keon Volt, to superstar burlesque producer/performer and all around advocate, Briq House, to rock ‘n’ roll singer Eva Walker. The production is a love letter to Seattle’s creative explosions.

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ReviewsJake UittiThe Stranger
The Perfect Storm: WNBA Team the Seattle Storm Ignites Social Justice
The Perfect Storm: WNBA Team the Seattle Storm Ignites Social Justice

Traditionally, professional athletes aren’t known for speaking their minds, though that’s beginning to change. Their personal opinions often remain private to protect an endorsement—or three. Of course, there’s the apocryphal story of Michael Jordan saying, “Republicans buy sneakers, too,” when asked about a political opinion he did not want to give. But there are professional athletes who speak their minds and stand up in the face of social and political injustice. And they’re often women.

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EssayJake UittiDOPE Magazine