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
Getting Ghosted
Kim Fu’s latest novel turns a rain-soaked Pacific Northwest winter into the backdrop for a story about grief and loneliness.
In their latest novel, Seattle-based author Kim Fu gets one thing right about the Pacific Northwest: the rain. Set during a particularly bleak winter, The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts tells the story of Eleanor Fan, an online therapist grappling with the recent loss of her mother, Lele. After Lele’s passing, Eleanor inherits money to put…
Go See Diné Artist Eric-Paul Riege’s Largest Show to Date at the Henry Art Gallery
With a mix of mediums, ojo|-|ólǫ́ examines questions surrounding the authenticity and ownership of Indigenous work.
It’s a phrase that’s been drilled into most of us since we were young children: When you’re visiting a gallery, please, do not touch the art. In many cases, it’s with good reason: the pieces on display are fragile, one-of-a-kind, or historic works that cannot be reproduced. It’s such an ingrained approach to the museum-going…
Rearview Mirror: Ballet’s Saddest Story, New Art in the Sculpture Park, and a Home-Grown Wine Label Promoting Social Justice
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
Circular Thinking I am very lucky to live just a 12-minute walk away from Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park. It’s a regular destination for my weekly walks and, aside from the world-class art, has one of the city’s best views of Puget Sound. Earlier this week, I went on a wet, windy walk and discovered…
Studio Sessions: Gabriel Stromberg
For his current show at studio e gallery, Gabriel Stromberg explores the challenges of working with clay.
Gabriel Stromberg has been a name about town for nearly two decades. As one of the cofounders of design firm Civilization (where he was the creative director and lead designer from 2008 to 2022), Stromberg worked on many award-winning projects, helped produce the wildly popular and always packed Design Lecture Series, and co-created and moderated…