Blog: The Color Awesome!

For months, I've been telling all my friends that ska legends Madness would be announcing a northern California date the week of April 16th. How could I be so sure? For years, The Coachella Festival has provided a bounty of shows in its wake. This year was bound to be a banner crop of shows [...]

"Always Forever" is a two minute pop gem. Hunx plays SFO on March 21st @ Bottom of the Hill + Seattle on the 23rd at the Crocodile.

The Noise Pop Festival and Bottom of the Hill are proud to announce "The Noise Pop Photo Retrospective". The Noise Pop Photo Retrospective takes a look back at the past 19 years of Noise Pop Festivals: the artists, the fans and the clubs that have shaped the yearly event from what began as a single, [...]

Light Asylum equally appeal to hip adults with taste and teens going through their goth phase. We predict that they'll be massive.

If 2011 wasn't quite Johnny Jewel's year, then 2012 will be. I can't think of a harder working person in the independent music industry. Johnny's "rejected" soundtrack for the sexiest film of 2011, DRIVE, is now released under the name Symmetry. Themes For An Imaginary Film bags up all evidence of pop elements and throws [...]

If 2011 wasn't quite Johnny Jewel's year, then 2012 will be. I can't think of a harder working person in the independent music industry. Johnny's "rejected" soundtrack for the sexiest film of 2011, DRIVE, is now released under the name Symmetry. Themes For An Imaginary Film bags up all evidence of pop elements and throws [...]

This one put a lump in my throat. I've given Perfume Genius a bit of a hard time in the past, referring to him as a "downer." Well, the truth is sometimes a downer. This piece is about the fear of giving yourself to another, but becoming so scared that you just give up. I was [...]

Frankie Rose has been spending time with the Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, and Crystal Stilts. Damn, those residencies have done her good. "Know Me" is the first single off her upcoming second album "Interstellar"It ill get a Slumberland release February 21st, 2012. "Know Me" is a little slice of lush and dreamy shoegaze pop [...]

My first DJ gig in Seattle was a weekly shoegaze/dreampop happy hour at the Baltic Room. This is like, 10+ years ago. It was a great time, the bartenders were cool, members of local bands like C'est La Mort, Kinski, The Turn-ons and Voyager One would come by and I had a chance to show [...]

If you've followed my musical tastes for any length of time, you may know I have a soft spot for classic Americana and roots rock such as The Blasters and The Smithereens. So imagine my surprise when I came across a tune that touched this chord by way of the Netherlands. The song is 24/7 [...]

• 24/7 by Are You A Lion » Ayal-24-7.mp3

Big Deal have yet to be a big deal here in the US. But across the pond our friends in the UK have been gushing about Big Deal for almost a year. Big Deal are Kacey Underwood and Alice Costelloe and they harmonize perfectly. I found Big Deal's melodies and lyrics becoming more and more [...]

• Big Deal - Chair

When Paige and I first met in 1985, our music tastes were definitely criteria for our future friendship. She was a Madness, Echo & the Bunnymen, English Beat girl; I was Depeche Mode, New Order and anything KROQ was playing in Los Angeles before my move to the bay area. I think this photo was [...]

Here's something I stumbled across this morning. The track is from the upcoming Solar Bears album Supermigration. "Alpha People" features Sarah, lead singer of Keep Shelly in Athens. Love her vocals and the chilly cool synth. Alpha People by Solar Bears

As if Noisepop 20 wasn't looking sweet enough already! Last night our savvy friends at Noise Pop 20 announced the addition of The Flaming Lips, Bob Mould, Sleigh Bells and Mac McCaughan of Superchunk to their 20th anniversary festivities. The Flaming Lips will launch this historic 20th anniversary cellebration playing an intimate gig at Bimbo's [...]

We love this new video from Italy's The Vickers. The song is catchy, the video is clever and we bet you'll crack a smile. We get a LOT of music sent to us, most of which we don't find very interesting. We liked this immediately; and there's a few more coming this week. Maybe bands [...]

From The Walker Brothers in 1965 to his current material on 4AD, Scott Walker has always raised eyebrows and confounded us with his work. Happy Birthday!

We've been hinting on what we're excited about in 2012, And Seattle's Stephanie is right at the top of the list. Tomorrow night at Neumo's will be another chance to believe the deserved hype around these guys. They'll be playing songs from their upcoming One Glove mini-album, produced by another fellow on the bill, the [...]

Thanks to our friend Christian, this was the first piece of media I payed attention to today. It's Gondry-esque and will surely slap a smile on your face. I've always been a fan of Cornelius from Japan. In the heydaze of Stereolab and St. Etienne Cornelius fit in nicely with his quirky, boundary stretching pop [...]

David Bowie is THE ultimate icon. He didn't split from a famous band to to further his name, no one discovered him, the guy just landed here. Hurray for talented alien life! Happy Birthday, Starman. This video was finally unearthed in late December. It was recorded on a Wednesday, and aired on a Thursday in [...]

I was so excited to find a prerelease of The new Twilight Sad CD yesterday in my inbox. I'm loving their evolving sound, especially the 802s Factory-esque synths. I'm hoping Phil might right up a full album review soon, but in the meantime, you'll find a link to my favorite track, "Another Bed" after the [...]

• Another Bed » 2ji1.mp3