Breaking up is hard to do. Everyone is doing it. Russell Brand and Katy Perry. A famous professional athlete and a woman millions of other men would like to get to know intimately. Will and Jada. Ike and Tina Turner. Unfortunately for my tender heart, many Seattle bands are breaking up as well. Spurm is not the only one who [...]

I figured with my previous show being devoted to songs that remind me of sleep, this one would be the opposite. After a few bouts of standard indie rock, things got thick and loud. A shout out to my buddy Brett, for tuning in from Sedro-Woolley. Next time I'll have to add Tullycraft to the list in honor of how we met. The show began with a song off one of my desert island top 5 albums, and ended with a track that's nearly thirty years old. [...]

Every week, we'll be offering you early picks for some of the week's best concerts. Do you think we omitted something worthwhile? Let us know in the comments! Be sure to visit our Local Concert Calendar for an expanded set of daily listings. 1-2-3-4 Go! Anniversary takes over the Oakland Metro all weekend Oakland label/record store 1-2-3-4 Go! Records celebrates turning 10 (as a label) and 3 (as a [...]
It's almost hard to believe that it is summer here in northern California and the Pacific Northwest, because it has been unusually cool, and even rained (which almost never happens in the Bay Area during summer). One of the best things about summer is taking trips to the beach. We're blessed with being only a [...] Read more, get songs or stream the entire mix on Indie Rock Cafe
It's almost hard to believe that it is summer here in northern California and the Pacific Northwest over the past week. But the unusually cooler temperatures, and even rain (which is almost non-existent in California in summer). Nevertheless, the rest of the country is enjoying the summer, and it'll soon be returning to these parts. [...] Read more, get songs or stream the entire mix on Indie Rock Cafe

Live This Month: July 2011 (Podcast #252) In Live This Month , we sample some of the great local and out-of-town bands performing in the coming month in the San Francisco Bay Area. As summer touring heats up, a bunch of buzz bands are coming through town this month, and the arriving Iceage, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Cold Showers have all received strong praise for their debuts. Meanwhile, several locals, including Release the Sunbird, Form & Fate, and Painted Palms, all have new records they're supporting with SF shows. Last, but not [...]

If you're looking for a song with a riff which will punch you in the face straight from the off, then we recommend jutting your chin out and listening to Unnatural Helpers' 'Sunshine/Pretty Girls'. If you want a Ramones-style tight workout from the Seattle band, then listen to the track here: 'Sunshine/Pretty Girls'

Summer is here in full force and look at the effect it has had on our beloved pop glitterati. Amy Winehouse performed a gig in Belgrade in a stupor while hackers went wild on her website, Justin Timberlake purchased a chunk of the ailing Myspace, while Thom Yorke DJ battled the James Blake juggernaut in a fight to be crowned the anglicized dub step champion. Sure the reappropriations and re-inventions of sounds and styles can try even the patience of the purest of pop music hearts, but let...

Hardly Art Records From: Seattle, United States Mention Seattle and record label to any music buff and the first words that will form in their head are Sub Pop. Well maybe not any more. Sub Pop founder Jonathan Poneman's Hardly Art are the name to drop amongst those in the know and with a roster that makes major labels green with envy, including the outrageous Hunx and his Punx featured earlier this week, it may not be long [...]
"My looks are killing me But I'm never gonna give it up"

Seattle's favorite sinister n' sloppy garage rockers The Lights have announced their "indefinite hiatus" after 13 years of tearing our town to shreds. Drummer PJ Rogalski is moving on up and the band just can't simply replace such a torched thunderer. I'd like to note, however, that the band is going out on an extremely high note, as their most recent album, Failed Graves , was a deathly, ramshackle success . Sigh. . But! - there's always a 'but' - [...]

I've been contemplating doing something for Valentine's Day for years, and I finally settled on something good - a massive post packed with great singles from the past. Seems fitting, being the romantic holiday can be a bit alienating for the single person. Or that the seemingly comfy nature of the 7-inch single, with two (well, typically, with an occasional three or four) great songs placed back to back and stuffed in a typically well-designed sleeve, is a bit romantic in and of itself. So for the past few weeks, [...]
The Unnatural Helpers ::: photo by Josh Lovseth "To be the man, you have to beat the man...WOOOOOOO!!!!!" - "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair circa 523 B.C. after he somehow survived a death sentence by putting his executioner in a figure-four leg lock. The Unnatural Helpers are not fighting off death but they are "the champs", if [...]

Our new online video channel, Cluster 1 , was just updated with a bunch of glorious content. Here are some highlights: - Our host with the most, Mr. Sami Jarroush, offers a Cluster 1 News Update , featuring stories on Coachella 20112s lineup announcement, Arcade Fire and Spike Jonze's forthcoming short film, new music from Björk and Kate Bush, and more. - Check out videos from Hawnay Troof , Unnatural Helpers , Rickolus , and Factor . - Want a constant [...]

The problem with so-called best-of lists, is that they are really just a collection of items organized based on experience and time, in that there will be plenty of albums heard the following year and beyond that will hold just as much weight as these we dub as "Best." So, as of right now, at this particular time in the tail end of 2010 and the first moments of 2011, these albums are the best. There's no question about it; it will change. My next list (which I've started, but may take a while to publish) is [...]
Unnatural Helpers ::: photo by Josh Lovseth Hey, you remember that time that Kanye West put out his first decent album since College Dropout and received a perfect rating from Pitchfork? Wasn't that crazy? Or what about that time that the Arcade Fire put out their least memorable studio album to date and ended up on [...]

Congratulations to the PacNW for another stellar year in music. It really outdid itself. There were quite a few bands from our region who received obscene amounts of attention this annum and even rippled the national scene with their respective records. Unfortunately, not many of them ended up on my list. Despite this cultural discrepancy, however, the bands and albums listed below represent what I believe to be the very best in Northwest music that you could've listened to in twenty-ten. Or not; I dunno, I'm just one dude. Feliz Navidad! . [...]
I admire people like Toby who stick to genuine singles for their year end lists, but I can't do it. It's harder and harder to know what it means anyway. The Fresh & Onlys made a fancy video for "Waterfall" but didn't release it as 7" -- is it still a single? (It's not on list anyway, but another of theirs is.) I don't worry about it, clearly, as my #1 was an album cut. An AWESOME album cut. I do still feel singles are meant to be ephemeral. If I'm not listening to some of these tracks [...]

We've made to the fat on top, or the fruit at the bottom, in other words the top ten…I bought way too many seven inch singles this year. I'm not trying to brag. It's a problem really. The seven inch is like crack to the record geek, a fleeting moment of pop perfection and then it's off to either flip the record or put on another one. This was a daunting task this year and I feel like I left out a lot of stuff, but a top 60 would have been too much and limiting it to 40 makes [...]