Scene It
It seems to me that the game of bingo involves itself in one's life in three stages: First, you experience it as a child in elementary school. It's hard to express the excitement of doing away with the syllabus for a while to enjoy a completely random and skill-less game. This
Music
Something about the BreakLites calling their new album RAPFACE - all caps, accompanied by an illustration of a vicious animal with the title clenched in his teeth - seems weirdly incongruous when compared to the music the BreakLites make. The packaging is so aggro that when you finally hear what
We Recommend
Something about the BreakLites calling their new album RAPFACE - all caps, accompanied by an illustration of a vicious animal with the title clenched in his teeth - seems weirdly incongruous when compared to the music the BreakLites make. The packaging is so aggro that when you finally hear what
We Recommend
Looking at Allan Boothe and hearing him sing are two completely different things. To see him, he's a tall, handsome guy with a goofy laugh and an affable manner, but to see him perform is to see a bundle of nerves. As Humble Cub, Boothe is buoyed by a bed
We Recommend
Luminol is a chemical used by forensic investigators to detect trace amounts of human fluid left behind at crime scenes. It emits an eerie glow. Luminol is also a band of jarring creativity - a band that has a particular sense for the eerie itself. While largely creating soothing atmospheres, Luminol
We Recommend
The string of words that make up the name Death by Stars sounds at once full of portent and utterly frivolous. This dichotomy seems to seep into and help define the band's music as well. Combining the biggest, most direct qualities of punk, electronica and psych-rock, the band has cooked
Scene It
When I was a kid, I spent too much time in bowling alleys. Specifically, every Saturday morning and Tuesday night was spent at Chalet Bowl, competing in various leagues. I was never very good at bowling, which is an odd thing considering the years I devoted to it. Mainly, I
Archives
Matt Eklund describes the process of putting together the Urban Arts Festival as being, in and of itself, like creating a huge piece of art. Tacoma can experience this particular piece of art on Sunday, June 24, at Fireman’s Park off of South Eighth and A. The park itself can be
Music
"Tokyo Police Club was coming to town, so we wanted to make this poppy sound," says Really Old Airplane's Keagan Smith. "If you listen to our first EP, it's really poppy. We wanted to open for Tokyo Police Club, so we thought we'd try and write songs like them." This is
We Recommend
The last thing I thought I'd be doing when I first put on a Bodybox song is begin to marvel at the unexpected vocal similarities between Bodybox frontman Kurt Lindsay and late cult singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley. "Supernova," in particular, shares qualities with Buckley's slash-and-burn classic, "Grace." Both songs cascade on
We Recommend
If there's nothing else that can be said about Tacoma's School of the Arts, it's a darn fine factory for churning out young and talented songwriters. To see each wave of SOTA musicians emerge from the school is an inspiring and fascinating thing to watch. To celebrate the end of
We Recommend
After the band's first EP, Really Old Airplanes started to refine its sound. On the debut LP, there are elements of European folk, straight-ahead indie pop and occasional flairs of power pop. All of these elements are imbued with a warmth and clear intent, which creates an album of delicately
Archives
Mass has begun. Someone has painted Jesus Christ silver and placed him on a surfboard. Surf’s up. The first “Fantastic Four” was a mindless, silly popcorn movie with plot and characters stretched thinner than Mr. Fantastic. For the sequel, “Rise of the Silver Surfer,” a new team of writers (Mark Frost
News Front
On Dec. 6, Public Health Activity-Fort Lewis held a training event and performed annual surveillance inspections on meals-ready-to-eat in an interactive environment as part of their food inspection mission. Public health personnel are most often thought of as ambassadors of veterinary services, but they are also responsible for public health concepts
Music
Over the years album art has grown to crazy new heights. Conveying information about the band, or a sense of what the band might sound like, has more or less faded to the background in exchange (legitimately, in my opinion) for expressing something less clear about the band's spirit. It's
We Recommend
The goth is strong in this one. Charlie Drown is the kind of group/artist/performer/whatever that's totally comfortable throwing around lyrics about beds made of skin and "48 dead in my head," all while drum machines and synths pulse in the background. Lead vocals are not so much singing as they
We Recommend
It's always a bit of an event when local boy Eliot Lipp returns to Tacoma, an occurrence that now seems to be setting nicely into a roughly six-month cycle. Six months ago, I wrote of the delightful dustiness that seems to adorn Lipp's electronic music - referring to how he
We Recommend
This is psych rock for people who get laid. "I've been into psychedelic and heavy music for a long time," says White Orange lead singer Dustin Hill. "I studied it, and was very much into early '60s underground psychedelic high school bands, and was also very influenced by - for lack
Guides
The holiday season in these parts can be particularly frustrating. Twinkling lights and red/green motifs are typically betrayed by cruelly bitter winds and dismal rain. People hold their breath for snow, and continue to hold it if it sticks around for more than a day. Feeling the holiday spirit can
Music
The Foghorns sound exhausted. Like, physically exhausted. Delirious. They sound like they've been up for two days and the only way they've found to keep their eyes open is to have a series of sing-alongs that sound, at various times, punchy, wistful, embarrassingly forthright, spiteful, defiant, sorrowful and oddly exuberant.
