Music
The Clouded Surf: Warren Dunes Makes Beach Music for Seattle
The local band is the unlikely mascot we need.
Contrary to what you might think, the best mascots are born, not manufactured. Yes, a lovable socialist monster like Gritty might emerge to provide a face for the soul of a city, but sometimes, there are artists who rise up to define the character of that city. One of the enduring memories I have of…
Macy Gray Joins New Seattle Pride Gala
Lifelong’s first formal Pride fundraiser brings music, art, and big-name honorees together to support LGBTQ+ services and youth programs.
Seattle’s Pride calendar is getting a glamorous new addition this year. On June 13, Lifelong will debut the Pride Gala: An Evening for Equality, a new black-tie fundraising event blending entertainment, art, and advocacy at The Sanctuary at the Lotte Hotel in downtown Seattle. Billed as Seattle’s only formal Pride dinner, the inaugural gala aims…
KEXP DJ Kevin Cole Broadcasts From the Heart
A new documentary follows the Seattle tastemaker through a remarkable life spent championing music.
For those of a certain generation, there may be no more trusted a voice when it comes to music than Kevin Cole. From navigating his way from the clubs of Minneapolis to DJing Prince’s birthday parties, to starting his own radio station, to revolutionizing how radio can function in the 21st century via KEXP, Cole…
Grapes of Wrath
Blood of Gods brings heavy metal and wine back to Walla Walla for its fifth annual Merrymaking.
The fervent cross-pollination of culture continues to bear fruit, with new subgenres and micro-niches popping up every day. Every time you see a collision between two seemingly disparate worlds and ask yourself, “There’s an audience for that?”—the answer is a resounding, “Yep!” Here, we have Blood of Gods, a biannual zine based in Walla Walla…
Beyond the Notes: Xian Zhang Expands Seattle Symphony’s Reach
The music director talks representation in classical music and the work of bringing new audiences into the concert hall.
As Xian Zhang prepares to lead the Seattle Symphony into its 2026/2027 season, the acclaimed conductor returns to one of the city’s most storied cultural institutions. A Grammy and Emmy-winning maestro with an international résumé spanning the New Jersey Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and major opera houses across Europe, Zhang’s relationship with…
Staying in the Pocket with True Loves
The Seattle funk powerhouse heads to Jazz Alley for five soulful nights.
If you were to pull aside any casual music fan and ask them to cite quintessential Seattle music, you’d get a lot of grunge, the indie-rock explosion and folk revival of the ‘00s and ‘10s, and maybe some of the hip-hop that came bursting from the underground in the last 15 years. Your average person…
Henry Mansfield Wins a Spot at Northwest Tune-Up
A new contest for Washington musicians wrapped earlier this month in Bellingham. Nearly 200 artists entered, and it came down to five finalists.
Earlier this month, Seattle-based queer indie artist Henry Mansfield won the final round of Doc Swinson’s Opening Act Contest at Wild Buffalo House of Music, earning a slot on the Northwest Tune-Up Festival main stage this July. Mansfield makes loud, anthemic pop rooted in storytelling, with songs that move between grief and joy and pull…
Curmudgeonly Hope
The UK punk heroes Mclusky have returned, loud and pointed as ever.
When you listen to the sardonic, whip-smart, and perennially ornery UK band Mclusky, you get a certain impression of the type of person that must be behind it all. Frontman and founder Andrew Falkous was just home from having seen his daughter perform at a choir recital when he got on the phone, and he…
Earthen Art-Rock
Seattle trio Mt Fog’s music is, at turns, dreamy and feral.
There’s a concept in psychology called “nominative determinism,” where people may be drawn to pursue a career in a field suggested by their name—a substitute teacher named Mr. Fillin, or a polar explorer named Daniel Snowman, for example. It’s a condition that seems to mostly affect Batman villains (you can’t just name your child E….
Sing Her Name
Seattle Women’s Chorus Centers Women’s Stories at Benaroya Hall.
The lights will dim at Benaroya Hall, and 75 voices will rise together. That collective sound has long defined Seattle Women’s Chorus. This weekend, the chorus presents Legacy, a show built around women’s lives and the histories they carry. Onstage February 28 and March 1, Legacy moves between protest songs, contemporary choral works, and familiar…
Going Widescreen with Clouds of the West
The chamber-pop band celebrates the vinyl release of 2025’s earthy and compelling Glass Radio.
When bands get described as having a “cinematic” sound, there’s typically a type of film that’s being evoked: a sweeping epic, a magnum opus, fraught with love and peril, careening across time and space and indulging in the highest of drama. This music may be beautiful and engrossing, but something it rarely feels is natural,…
Slow Burn R&B
South Seattle singer-songwriter Jaymin leans into vulnerability on debut EP Sweet Nothings, a self-recorded project rooted in intention and the city that raised him.
Seattle has long been a city that shapes artists before the rest of the world catches on. For Jaymin, that shaping happened in church choirs, suburban bedrooms turned makeshift studios, and late nights spent writing songs that favored feeling over flash. With the release of his debut EP, Sweet Nothings, the South Seattle–born singer-songwriter, backed…
Nordic Pop Comes to the Nordic Museum
An afternoon concert brings Seattle singers, strings, and percussion together for a dreamy midwinter dance party.
January in Seattle is a mood. The light is thin all day, and by midafternoon it starts to collapse into night. It’s the time of year when any plan that involves leaving the house has to earn its keep. This is where Nordic Pop comes in. On Sunday afternoon, January 18, Seattle musician and producer…
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