You guys! I honestly cannot think of a better pairing than The Drums and Craft Spells -- and they are playing together! In Seattle! At Neumos! On May 9th! It's like chocolate and peanut butter for your ears! (Or something) 

Anyway! Y'all already know how much I love The Drums, so I decided to try to convince you to come with a Craft Spells video this time around. But just in case, you can watch some Drums videos here. Supporting band Part Time also sounds pretty neat. This is going to be an awesome show, so get your tix now! 

{The Drums, Craft Spells, and Part Time | Neumos | Wednesday, 5/9 | 7pm Doors | $13 ADV at Moe Bar & eTix.com} 

{Brave Irene photo by Caitlin Livingston}

This Saturday (November 5th), shining stars of the indie-twee dreamscape will gather at the Vera Project.  Opening the night is generifus, an Olympia, WA outfit who's new album, I Don't Have To Worry, features Spencer Sult (who handles all primary duties) with Eli Moore, Karl Blau, members of LAKE and others helping out.  As the names of the players suggests, the songs are arid, carefree with moments of both easy-listening joy and innocent melancholy. Best of all, you can easily become obsessed with them thanks to the generifus bandcamp page. Make sure to hear "Good Graces," which channels the whispy, aired meandering of Galaxy 500 that I love so.

Anchoring the show in the middle is Seattle's own crown jewel of Charmin-soft dreamy-pop, Seapony.  Seapony songs are sweet and subtle while filling the air with nostalgic fuzz and reverb... and rumor has it Saturday night's set will feature new songs!  If you still include the Softies in your nighttime prayers, you'll love Seapony.

Speaking of the beloved Softies, guess who's topping off the night!!! (+ even more exclamations implied).

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Tonight, Wednesday 11/17, my friends over at The Beta Society are putting on a show that could potentionally rival the ever-popular Salon of Shame called E-mails from My Parents.

Rather than read your own embarassing journals, why not share the most embarassing e-mails, voice mails, or even videos from your parents? I mean, they've embarassed you enough, right? Why not turn the tables?

Head over to Central Cinema from 7-8:30pm tonight and experience dramatic re-enactments of parental tomfoolery, live readings of e-mail, and actual videos from the 'rents. I can't think of a better thing to do on a rainy, cold night - can you? Tix are $7 at the door, and the usual CC food & drink menu will be available.

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{photo: John E. Hollingsworth}

Day 2 of the countdown to the big huge wonderful Imaginary Winter Holiday Spectacular at Chop Suey on December 23rd {an evening full of big huge wonderful fun including, but not limited to Christmas Belles, free mega-raffle ticket goodness, MC David Schmader!}.

The band that is going to kick off the evening is the Special Places, a Seattle duo who recently started to take Seattle by storm with opening slots at BOAT's album release show and Aussie Darren Hanlon's recent visit. You might know them as 2/5 of imaginary favs Tullycraft, so you can imagine we jumped at the opportunity to sit down with them for their first ever interview as the Special Places. Jenny and Corianton spilled some deets on how they started out and whether or not they are secret (or not so secret) lovers. Now we're doubly looking forward to seeing what they have in store for us at the Spectacular.

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We're counting down to the big huge wonderful Imaginary Winter Holiday Spectacular at Chop Suey on December 23rd {at which we'd be sincerely honored tol see your fine booty at}!

We are so delighted to have Seattle band Skeletons with Flesh on Them on the evening's bill with The Special Places, The Nightgowns, Wallpaper, and The Redwood Plan. On their 2009 album, All the other Animals, they've combined straightforward sweet pop guitar and songs vultures and lust that keep us on our toes and giddy.

I recently chatted with Scott of SwFoT about where that graphic band name came from and find out if they really are as nice as their songs suggest...

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In November, 2008, our dear Visqueen-er, Rachel Flotard joined her friend Justin on a trip to southern Laos to visit his family. While there, among other adventures, she visited local schools, taking all craft supplies, toothbrushes and the like she could stuff in her luggage. The visit had a huge impact on her and she chronicled the stunning details on her blog.

While at the local elementary school, she asked repeatedly what they would like more than anything for their school (besides a soccer ball), they hesitated, and said, “a floor”. During the rainy season, 340 pairs of these tiny, eager feet get wet while *inside* their classrooms.

To quote Rachel, "This outrages our inner Kevin Bacon."

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San Francisco band French Miami will be at the Sunset this Sunday (8/9/9) and bringing with them their post-apocolypse Modest Mouse song "God Damn Best" which has convinced me to don my best black blazer and chant "Whatcha going to do with all that, whatcha going to do with all that love" over and over.

For the first few bars I was skeptical.  Two listens of the MP3 later, I'm totally down with French Miami. Want more? Watch this video of "Science Fiction" to see a quick transition from Ian Curtis to Ian MacKaye to J. Robbins to wacked out synth.

On the Bumbershoot schedule this year, Australian-born, LA-based singer/songwriter Lenka is the closest thing to a pop star on the roster. When Lenka is at her best is when her songs are ridiculously catchy, upbeat and fun. When she played at the Triple Door at the beginning of the year, I wrote:

She’s lovely and her songs are cute and poppy – completely crush-worthy. She came on stage about 8:30 and opened with “Trouble is a Friend” – and playing with a full, four person backing band and in the warm confines of the Triple Door, the song sounded huge.

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If this show wasn’t sold out, it was very close and the crowd seemed to be very receptive to her pop songs and several people sang along with the choruses to “Trouble is a Friend”, “The Show” and “Don’t Let Me Fall”....

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Ideally summertime is all about getting sweaty and silly at free outdoor music shows. And guess who sticks to their ideals? Our provider of independent, new music, KEXP. Their summer concert series at the Mural Amphitheater in Seattle Center is running over the next few weeks to bring you a plethora of pitch-perfect bands for free. This Saturday, the 8th happens to be their annual BBQ from 2-9 pm and you know it’s going to rock your socks off.

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On their Jay-Z sampling single "The Game Needs Me", Dyme Def made one of my very favorite boasts in hip hop: "I'm the future, wondering where the past went; I'm ahead of my time so the future is past tense."

Modesty isn't Dyme Def's most visible trait but it doesn't seem unfair. The young trio from Renton have been one of the biggest acts in Northwest hip hop for the past few years and they may have the most potential. Each album and EP and mixtape they release (and they're quite prolific) seems to be an advancement over the its predecessor with the beats (from hot-shit producer Bean One) growing more intricate when they need to or more subtle when the songs call for it. The rhymes are more assured and confident.

The most recent release from Dyme Def is their Panic EP, whose release party at the Crocodile marked the club's first hip hop show since it's reopening (and they were pretty rare before that) and by all accounts, the night was quite the event: a sold out affair with appearances by some of the biggest and most talented artists in the flourishing hip hop community. Such a party outdoors, in the mid-afternoon would make for one of Bumbershoot's obvious "can't miss" sets.

Here's a video they just released that was shot mostly on Pine Street with iPhones. It's to their song "I'm Gone":

Dyme Def plays Bumbershoot on the Fisher Green Stage at 2:15pm on Sunday, September 6.