SassyBlack, a.k.a. Catherine Harris-White, has spent years making lunar-inflected R&B and sending Seattle audiences on a funky galactic journey—both as a member several Seattle-based groups, like rap duo THEESatisfaction, and now as a formidably innovative and prolific solo artist. With a production vibe reminiscent of Roy Ayers and Pharrell, and an expressive vocal style that [...]
On "Getting My Own Place," a new song from Seattle band Golden Idols' Uneasy EP, lead singer Patrick Broz croons, "I need some space, and you do too/We need some time to work this whole mess through/Couples counseling or admit we're through: I'm getting my own place." It's a tragically familiar refrain for most people [...]
I’m somewhat of a veteran outdoor music festivals—growing up in Seattle, my hippy musician parents would tote me around to local festivals like Folklife and Bumbershoot, and several summer music camps throughout the west coast. By ten years-old, I was well-acquainted with dusty Birkenstock-clad feet, the usefulness of a good waterproof fanny pack, and the [...]
Seattle-based singer, songwriter, and drummer Heather Thomas has held it down on the kit since she was a kid in Puyallup, WA, playing in her church youth group band and learning percussion parts from her dad. Steadily, through writing and performing her own songs, teaching music, and touring with notable Seattle-bred artists like Mary Lambert, [...]
press photo by Tony Hammons Like a child's pirouette, the new single from songwriter Lizzie Weber, "When You Look At Me," spins gentle and dreamlike. Inspired by the early days of her relationship with her now-husband, "When You Look at Me," is sung with the sort of tender lilt that plunges someone into [...]
Seattle's Nauticult— equal parts industrial hip-hop and thrashing noise punk—was born in a moment of raw inspiration. For years, the members had known each other and even considered rapping over beats together, but they didn't actually pull the trigger until a surprise birthday party performance in 2015. The result was cataclysmic innovation—electric drums, synth guitar [...]
In Seattle, bands are known to achieve success in unconventional ways. Unlike bands in popular music towns like L.A. and Nashville, Seattle musicians are stubborn about forging their own way in order to maintain creative control, playing music that's authentic first and foremost, and bucking industry commercialism. It's how grunge was born, and why Seattle [...]
By Carol Hodge With her teased bouffant, vintage A-line dresses, red lipstick, and coy, lilting voice, musician Celene "Leeni" Ramadan, who releases music as Prom Queen and as Leeni, stands out as one of Seattle's most unique exports. Though she currently lives and works her day job as an editor in Los Angeles, [...]
Cosmic glitter. That's how singer Aubrey Bramble describes Golden Gardens, the band she co-founded with Gregg Neville in 2012. She's dead on, of course. Their last album, 2016's Reign, is one ethereal, melancholic starburst after another. Likewise, the listening experience of their newest single, "Desert Rose," is less a walk on parched earth than it is [...]
Cantrip plays the release show for Authentic Luxury at River Dan's on May 4th. Seattle has a vibrant community for free improvisation, and guitarist Simon Henneman is a veteran member. Since the early 2000s, Henneman has been playing at Cafe Racer, a local hang known for its weekly free Racer Sessions jam, and [...]
