“VILLAIN” INFUSED VIBES FROM SEATTLE’S SAX G
“VILLAIN” INFUSED VIBES FROM SEATTLE’S SAX G

Seattle’s Sax G makes music capable of floating you into a pleasant ether while also somehow rooting your feet into actual, tangible experience. It’s like a bird singing on a statue in your 3am dream. The sound is eerie, haunting, and beautiful.

Sax has a new album out, “Tomorrow’s New Villain,” which you can stream here. The record is an amalgam of movie scenes, hip-hop breaks, French aesthetics, philosophy, sadness, and care for family. In some numinous way, it also feels like you’ve been listening to this record your whole adult life. To get a sense of where it came from and what’s up next for Sax, the Emerald spoke with the musician while he was in Austin, Texas for a SXSW performance.

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Q&AJake UittiSSE
A Q&A with Seattle MC Gifted Gab, Whose Video with Blimes Brixton, "Come Correct," Has More Than 10 Million Views
A Q&A with Seattle MC Gifted Gab, Whose Video with Blimes Brixton, "Come Correct," Has More Than 10 Million Views

If you’re on the internet, it's possible you saw the recent video for “Come Correct,” a song collab by MCs Gabrielle Kadushin, aka Gifted Gab (from Seattle) and Blimes Brixton (of San Francisco). Or perhaps you checked out the clip shared by UNILAD Sound, or you saw it on Urban Leak's Leak of the Week, or on Born Famous, which amounts to more than 10 million views, all told. That's enough to ensure that the video's stars are on their way to becoming household names in hiphop. Both women were also named in Pandora's Predictions Chart (and then name-checked on Billboard) this past February.

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Q&AJake UittiThe Stranger
Local Director Megan Griffiths on Her New Film, Sadie: "I Wish Youth and Violence Was a Less Relevant Theme"
Local Director Megan Griffiths on Her New Film, Sadie: "I Wish Youth and Violence Was a Less Relevant Theme"

Sadie, the latest feature film from Seattle director, Megan Griffiths, debuted this past weekend at SXSW. It is a close-up look at the life of a 13-year-old girl (Sadie, played by Sophia Mitri Schloss) living with her mother (Rae, played by Melanie Lynskey) in a trailer park. Sadie’s father has been away serving in the military for years, and the two only communicate through the rare handwritten letters. Sadie, a smart but frustrated student, begins to test the bounds of her day-to-day life and, well, you have to watch the film to find out the rest. It features a very recognizable cast (including Danielle Brooks of Orange Is the New Black fame), is scored by Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, and it's moving, well crafted, and honest. It’s also quite pertinent to today’s culture of hostility and violence. To get a sense of the film's genesis and themes, I chatted with Griffiths over the phone as she drove from San Antonio to Austin.

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Q&AJake UittiThe Stranger
Canna Parents: Does Smoking Make You A Better Parent?
Canna Parents: Does Smoking Make You A Better Parent?

People have been smoking marijuana for hundreds of years. And, inevitably, some of those people have been parents. Today, as cannabis becomes legalized in more states across the U.S., parents are facing the challenges—both privately and publically—of how to talk about the substance with their children, as well as how to orient parenting around their own usage. To get a better sense of how parents make these decisions and to see what they’ve learned on the job, we reached out to a few for insight.

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ImbibeJake UittiDOPE Magazine
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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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