Sat., July 31, 8:00pm - If Matthew Houck didn’t stumble out of the top-floor bedroom of a Texas saloon, slide down the banister, tucking in his buttoned-down white shirt en route to the bar’s upright piano to record the dusty, jubilant “It’s Hard to Be Humble (When You’re From Alabama)”, the ...
Sat., July 31, 8:00pm - Last time the Los Angeles-based space-rock quartet Silversun Pickups was in Seattle, frontman Brian Aubert was cracking self-disparaging jokes—apparently recycled ones at that—about how their presence at WaMu Theater could only be explained by the fact that they were opening for someone bi...
Sat., July 31, 9:00pm - Those who find shoegaze to be a total snoozer should check out Sleepy Eyes of Death, whose expansive set-up sends a gigantic, psychedelic wall of sound forth into the atmosphere. Sometimes, though, the band is a bit of a tease: when the music leaves shoegaze territory and wanders off on these downte...
Sun., August 1, 8:00pm - If you only know veteran singer-songwriter Steve Poltz as the one who wrote Jewel’s 1996 mega-hit “You Were Meant for Me” (which he calls “the song that sent my parents on an Alaskan cruise”), you’ll be in for a very pleasant surprise tonight. For starters, his own root...
Sat., July 31, 8:00pm - The New Pornographers' latest full-length, Together, moves at a fast pace. You can picture the string sections sawing along to keep up with the speedy, rollicking melodies. And it's all wonderfully fresh and exuberant. "Your Hands (Together)" is thunderous and thrilling, the band's best singl...
Mon., August 2, 7:30pm - Remember 2003? You know, when Indiana-based quartet The Ataris had just put out a gold-certified record called So Long, Astoria and were riding high on a handful of pop-punk meets alt-rock radio hits including their cover of Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer”? Well, that was 200...
Mon., August 2, 9:00pm - When he’s not fronting the excellent, under-appreciated Widower, guitarist and songwriter Kevin Large can often be found at the Hazlewood in Ballard. Every Monday, while his stylish gal Sarah Fisher mixes up fresh ginger bourbons and other artisan cocktails downstairs, he holds down the DJ deck...
Tue., August 3, 7:30pm - The old moniker Nathaniel Rateliff and the Wheel was fitting for a band that carried and moved something bigger than themselves, a band started by a few friends from Missouri who'd moved to Colorado, leaving marks in all the trails they'd crossed and surely worn down in return. Stripped of "The Whee...
Tue., August 3, 9:00pm - Beware acronym-wielding hipsters. When speaking of country rock and the initials B.O.H., don’t be quick to assume the reference is to Ben Bridwell and his Band of Horses. When you cross the border of the Lone Star State, locals will presume you’re talking about Band of Heathens, a collecti...
Wed., August 4, 8:00pm - A man moves to New York City under a pseudonym. A legend grows around his swirling bourbon, ever-present cigarette and way with the ladies. He oozes the kind of magnetic charisma for which the phrase “charm your pants off” was invented. He’s one debonair mystery and wears the hell out...
Wed., August 4, 9:00pm - Is Chatham County Line a seasoned, flawless bluegrass band from North Carolina? Or are they a major league baseball team? All evidence points to the latter, even though the real answer is the former. While in the State of Washington, they’ll play a de facto four-game series in three days, begin...
Thu., August 5, 8:00pm - There is quite a lot of pseudo-roots schtick music being made right now that's been labeled “bluegrass” simply for lack of better terminology. So sometimes, it's nice to step outside of the indie intelligentsia-approved-band box and check out some artists performing the traditional songs t...
Thu., August 5, 8:00pm - The banjo is a powerful, powerful thing. In the 21st century, those four or five strings aren't just limited to bluegrass yarns about the ol' Appalachian Mountains. Paper Bird have some of that (in this Colorado band's case, it's the Rockies), but When the River Took Flight, released July 27t...
Fri., August 6, 5:00pm - Toronto folk-rock hybrid Elliott Brood specializes in boot-thumping Frankensteins of country songs. The band's second full-length, 2008’s Mountain Meadows, is constructed of plucked banjo and strummed ukulele, saloon piano and horns, with a rock edge supplied by frontman Mark Sasso's hoa...
Fri., August 6, 8:00pm - Graig Markel, the musician and producer behind The Animals at Night, calls their sound “Broken Soul”—a blend of downtempo, rock and R & B that would fit nicely between Hot Chip and Head Like a Kite (who Markel produced) on a mixtape. It’s pretty great stuff, from a wildly creativ...
Sat., August 7, 7:00pm - Tall, sultry, raven-haired, Kentucky-bred, church-trained, Americana-lovin’ the Watson Twins –Leigh and Chandra– captured the attention of many a music fan nearly five years ago when they graced the cover of Jenny Lewis’s solo debut, Rabbit Fur Coat, and caressed many of t...
Sat., August 7, 7:30pm - Seu Jorge is a full-blown samba star in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro -- it’s been twelve years since his debut was released -- but he didn’t catch our attention until 2004, when he donned a red toque and became Pelé dos Santos, the deckhand who played acoustic David Bowie covers i...
Sat., August 7, 8:00pm - Matisyahu was just a beatboxing rich-kid named Matt from White Plains, N.Y. before converting Hasidic Judaism and making his name as a reggae star. Whether or not you’re down with Matisyahu’s message, it’s hard to deny that reggae and Hasidism make impressive bedfellows—a hint of...
Sat., August 7, 8:00pm - Rush is almost on par with Elvis; one of those bands whose artistry is matched by the rippling cultural waves they've created. Rush is shrouded in mystery, regarded by their fans as brilliant wizards of melodic yet challenging progressive rock, somehow bridging a gap between Led Zeppelin and, say, K...
Sun., August 8, 6:00pm - Van Morrison is often regarded as stubborn, churning out album after album of the same countrified R&B rhythms he knows so well. But think about this: How many old bluesmen changed their sound over time? Very few. The best ones formed their sound early, stuck with it, and allowed it to evolve organi...
Sun., August 8, 9:00pm - Cotton Jones' second release, Tall Hours in the Glowstream, comes off like a twangier, more accomplished improvement upon the wispy folk strains of debut effort Paranoid Cocoon. The majority of the album hangs out somewhere in the indie folk realm -- strains of pedal steel and windy ec...
Daily, 11:00am-2:00am - The appeal of Lower Queen Anne is the idea of something for everyone. It doesn't matter if you're a barely legal frat brother or a 70-year-old karaoke nut, you're either going home with someone's digits, a beautiful stranger, or, at the very least, a good story. Karaoke enthusiasts flock every night...
Crescent Lounge Karaoke Nights
Daily, 12:00pm-2:00am - The Crescent is easily the most popular karaoke bar on Capitol Hill. Drag queens, dykes, and hipsters squeeze into the claustrophobic space like sardines on any given night, and by 12 a.m. there’s usually standing room only. The booze is dirt cheap ($3 wells, $4 pitchers), the bathrooms are fil...
Every week Saturday, 12:00pm-2:00am - I celebrated my 23rd birthday by getting plastered, flailing about to Billy Idol, and then dumping my boyfriend of two years via text message. I woke up the next morning hungover, single, and thoroughly ashamed of myself. But that unpleasant experience hasn’t deterred me from frequenting the ba...
Daily, 9:00pm-2:00am - The Rickshaw Restaurant & Lounge serves greasy Chinese food and American fare, but nobody ever goes there to eat. The establishment is much better known for satisfying folks who’ve got an insatiable appetite for karaoke. It’s packed with singers until closing every night of the week...