The 50 Bands Rocking Seattle Music Right Now
Are you up on Seattle's music scene? Test your knowledge with these local bands
By Brangien Davis & Jake Uitti September 8, 2014
This article originally appeared in the September 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.
What’s your favorite current Seattle band? If you have trouble answering (or if you draw a blank after Macklemore), we’re not going to judge. But we are going to suggest it’s time to check in with the city’s thriving indie music scene. New local bands are exploring sounds, blurring genre boundaries (though we’ve wrestled them into categories here) and playing vibrant live shows all over town (see our Live Music Venue guide). Even with this sampler of 50 bands, we haven’t scratched the surface of Seattle music. Listen right here—where you can stream songs from all 50 bands—and also try tuning in to KEXP (the city’s unsurpassed discovery engine for local music) for a whole week. Soon enough, you’ll have an answer to the above question—and you might just go on and on.
Peruse our list of local bands below, divided up by genre. Plus the Best Live Music Venues in Seattle where you can rock out and throw your hands up in the air.
AMERICANA/ALT-COUNTRY
AKA indie folk, y’allternative, roots music, chamber folk, neo-folk, country rock, outlaw rock, alt-folk, twang, blues, haunted boogie, folk rock, blues rock, swing, honky-tonk, swamp stomp…
INDIE ROCK
AKA garage rock, roots rock, blues rock, alt-rock, alt-blues, hard rock, riot grrrl, post-punk, doom pop, fuzzy, shoegaze, pop rock, blues rock, ambient rock…
INDIE POP
AKA chamber pop, dream pop, power pop, pop punk, cosmic folk rock, eclectic, retro, lounge, girl group, avant-garde, electro-acoustic, orchestral pop, ambient rock…
SOUL
AKA R&B, gospel, Afro-soul, hip-hop, funk, electro-soul, neo-soul, raw soul, world fusion, post-jazz, soul hip-hop…
ELECTRONIC/DANCE
AKA electro-pop, synthpop, ambient, indie pop, DJ, electro-ambient, electronica, techno, dubstep, house, chillwave, synthwave, new wave, electro-house, folktronica…
HIP-HOP/RAP
AKA beats, R&B, pop, funk, trip hop, dub, bass, experimental hip-hop, hip-hop soul, Afrobeat, underground hip-hop, alt-rap, abstract hip-hop…
PSYCHEDELIC
AKA drone, trippy, trance, trip hop, chillout, ambient, doom, space rock, gothic, sci-fi, psych rock, dream rock, ’60s rock, experimental hip-hop, darkwave…
INSTRUMENTAL GROOVE
AKA funk, soul, Afrobeat, progressive, ambient, world, cinematic, funk orchestral, deep funk, rare groove, world fusion, free jazz, jam, improvisation, post-jazz…
Follow Us
Studio Sessions: Jo Cosme
The Seattle-based multimedia artist and 2026 Neddy Award winner challenges the postcard version of Puerto Rico and centers the persistence of its people.
Jo Cosme knows how seductive a postcard can be. The Seattle-based Boricua (Puerto Rican) multimedia artist works across photography, installation, video, sound, and interactive elements to examine and pull apart how Puerto Rico is seen, sold, and misunderstood from the outside. Trained in photojournalism, with a BFA in photography from Puerto Rico School of Fine…
Seattle’s Drag Brunch Has History
The city’s Sunday shows started long before the mimosas got bottomless.
There was a time not too long ago, when drag performances—now a mainstay of Seattle’s queer scene—were kept under wraps. And when brunches, complete with singing and dancing queens dressed in dazzling drag as you sipped mimosas, weren’t a Sunday staple. During the 1940s and ‘50s, an era largely shaped by restrictive laws and bias…
Studio Sessions: Sangram Majumdar
Working at the confluence of history, culture, and various painting traditions, UW associate professor Sangram Majumdar is one of this year’s Neddy Artist Award winners.
Discover the art of UW professor Sangram Majumdar, a 2026 Neddy Artist Award winner. Learn about his inspiration and upcoming Seattle exhibition at Cornish.
Rearview Mirror: A Georgian Dinner, Sidewalk Sips, and One-of-a-Kind Clothing
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
A new life for old clothes To celebrate one year in its current studio, the FXRY—a clothing repair service available via in-person appointments, home pickup, or mail-in drop off—is dropping its first collection. A small batch of reworked pieces, Second Mark will feature 13 vintage barn jackets, cropped, chain-stitched, and renewed into a completely unique, one-of-one…