Out this week are two new compilations that highlight the diversity and breadth of Seattle’s music scene. And if you want to get a taste of what’s happening (and about to happen) locally, I recommend you pick up both.

Crybaby Studios’ Compilation features tracks from artists who currently practice and record in the subterranean complex which has been home to countless Seattle bands. Much like the studio space itself, the compilation is chock full of interesting up-and-coming bands that run the gamut of what’s happening at Capitol Hill bars every night of the week. It features tracks from folks like Absolute Monarchs, My Goodness (the only recorded track of the bands we know of), Hallways, Strong Killings and See Me River. You can pick up a copy of the compilation with the $5 cost of admission to tonight’s record release party at Neumo’s where bands featured on the comp will entertain.

While Crybaby’s comp features diverse bands who all happen to share the same practice space, the Seattle’s Best Compilation from Mario Sweet highlights Seattle’s vibrant hip hop community. The free compilation features tracks from two legends of the local hip hop community, Vitamin D. and Jake One; as well as some of the biggest names of what’s happening right now in Seattle: Mash Hall, THEESatisfaction and Grynch. If you’re a local hip hop head, you already know and love these artists and the compilation is a must have mix tape of favorites. On the flip side, the compilation serves as a solid introduction to those curious about what the 206’s burgeoning hip hop scene sounds like.

Whether you’re a local music die hard or you’re looking for an introduction to what’s happening right now in Seattle, both compilations are worthy purchases and well-done snapshots of what unsigned Seattle sounds like in 2010.

Partman Parthorse just released what is either a hilarious parody or  a diss track of massive proportions on about a third of Seattle’s popular local bands and it is cracking me up.

In all honesty, I like most of the bands that Partman Parthorse are hating on in this video more than I like them, but this is far too meta and funny for this Seattle music blog not to share with you. (The real question is: is this funny to anyone who isn’t a Seattle music blogger, scenster or show booker?)

Partman Parthorse’s new album Emerald City Dummies is out on June 11th and it too will certainly end up in some Emerald City Dollar Bins.

The Maldives ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Depending how you look at it,  Columbia City Theater has either been Seattle’s best kept secret or it’s most under utilized treasure. Every time we had reason to attend a show at the the theater we left mouth agape in awe over the vaudeville style stage complete with red curtains, sky high ceilings, glass chandeliers and rich sound. And inevitably, on the speedy 10 minute drive back to Capitol Hill, the question was asked, “why isn’t this one of Seattle’s most beloved venues?”

Well, we’re doing more than wondering now. Today we’re doing our part to make sure that Columbia City Theater reaches it’s full potential as a venue and vibrant source for live music.

In late February the theater was purchased by Rob Hillman and CB Shamah who, with the help of booker Kevin Sur (from Artist Home Booking and the Doe Bay Festival) and a couple other folks who I’m comfortable describing as local legends, are well on their way to making Columbia City Theater the jewel of Seattle music venues.  The venue is currently being remodeled to improve upon its beautiful foundation (and get it up to code) and the theater is scheduled to reopen with two weekends of truly grand celebrations, June 25th & 26th and July 2nd & 3rd. Hopefully you’ve already blocked off June 26th for Grand Hallway and Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives, and we think you should do the same for July 2nd. (Actually, we think you should pretty much plan on being there all four nights.)

Sound on the Sound is honored (and downright giddy) that the folks at Columbia City Theater have asked us to book a night during the Grand Opening celebration and every month that follows. We’ll be starting off big on July 2nd, when we’re bringing a little bit of Ballard Avenue to the Columbia City stage with a free show featuring Seattle’s favorite Wrangler headbangers, The Maldives. 

It’s a night to celebrate not only Columbia City Theater, but everything we love about local music: the bands, the people behind the scenes, the dreams that drive them and the immense possibility of them all. It is those things that inspire us not just as writers and photographers, but people. July 2nd is  a night to put on your dancing shoes, or at least your cutest flannel, and to come celebrate with us. When you see the theater, believe me, you’ll feel like celebrating.

Sound on the Sound Presents:
The Maldives at Columbia City Theater
*A Free Show to Celebrate the Grand (Re)Opening *
July 2nd, 2010

And July 2nd is just the start! We’re partnering with Columbia City Theater to bring you a monthly showcase of Seattle and the rest of the Northwest’s best bands. We’re already dreaming up dream line-ups and we have an awesome stretch of summer shows at Columbia City Theater coming up for you. We can’t wait for you all to see the theater and to start seeing you monthly!

From moment one I knew Dita Vox was a rock star. The poster from $5 Cover Seattle makes me think movie star as well.

For me, an image of few people could be more iconic of my experience with the Seattle music scene than that of Dita Vox. (The first album I reviewed on Sound on the Sound was Can You Dig It?,  after all.)

$5 Cover Seattle premieres next Monday (March 1st) at SIFF Cinema. Ms. Vox will be there and so will we. I’m looking forward to reporting back to you after seeing lots of our favorite stars from Seattle stages on the big screen. Dita may be the poster child, but she’ll be joined on screen by The Maldives, The Moondoggies, THEESatisfaction, The Lights and more. I can guarantee it’s going to be surreal to see, but I’m can also guarantee there’s going to be a great soundtrack.

Part of what makes the Seattle music scene so exciting right now are the artists who aren’t on stage: the talented community of poster artists and photographers. They are as much a part of the riches of Seattle as the musicians who they chronicle and create for.  It’s been a big week for celebrating the rather obscene number of talented folks who call Seattle home with photo show openings for Chona Kasinger, Jenny Jimenez, and now the showcasing of these two talented artists: Jon Smith and Tyler Soverns at the Greenwood Collective tonight.

Jon Smith (and partner Owen) are the minds and artists behind the trippy posters of SmithBellcraft. Jon has created creepy wonderful posters for local bands like Iceage Cobra and Thee Emergency, to national acts like Ghostland Observatory, Ween and The Decemeberists, and for big name festivals like Sasquatch. A number of Jon’s posters hang proudly at Sound on the Sound HQ and we’re still excited that Jon designed a poster for Sound on the Sound’s first show a few years back.

Apparently just above (or below) Jon Smith’s show will be the opening of SNAPS featuring portraits of Seattle hip hop artists by Tyler Soverns, better known as Rabid Child Images. With his unmistakable fish-eye style Tyler has been chronicling the local hip hop scene for quite a while now and I’m certain his pictures have played a big part in building the amazing momentum bands like Mad Rad and Fresh Espresso have. I knew I had to see these bands thanks to Tyler’s photos long before I ever had a chance to hear their music. SNAPS will feature  his signature white background portraits that capture many of the biggest names in Seattle’s hip hop in intimate and funny moments where ego has been set down and a smile is given into.  

Before you head out to a show tonight, we highly recommend you heading up to The Greenwod Collective (8537 Greenwood Ave N.)  to celebrate Jon Smith and Rabid Child Images.  

Before enjoying a plethora of musical choices tonight (No Depression Festival, Robin Pecknold/Drink for the Kids at Neumos, The Ironclads & The Hands at Mars Bar, Thee Emergency for Free at The Nectar, The Pharmacy at The Comet, Mad Rad at Chapel…) I highly recommend you make your way to The Sunset Tavern to support another talented local artist, Stoic Swine.

On this blog, Stoic Swine is best known as Blowdog of the dearly departed Hopscotch Boys. His performances, which we’ve described as “part art, part felony” were confrontational, dark, abrasive, fascinating, enthralling, and totally unique. The same can be said of the artwork he creates under the name of Stoic Swine.

While I’m no art critic or historian, Stoic Swine’s pieces evoke the same sort of reaction in me as his performances as Blowdog: enamored revulsion. As Stoic Swine describes his own work, “soul in the soot, head in the ether.”  His art, like his performances, toes the line of grotesque, in a way that makes you want to see more, not less.  It is raw, honest, totemic, evocative, and I think, beautiful in it’s portrayal of the flaws and vices of man. Much like Blowdog on stage, it’s work you’ll either love or hate, there’s no middle ground. I for, one, love it. 

So does The Sunset Tavern on Ballard Avenue, which is currently hosting Stoic Swine’s latest collection, “YESTERDAY’S HERO, TODAY’S GOAT.” The artist describes his work, created just for this show at the Sunset as:

Spanning from the fumes of the room’s storied past (from shaky Chinese restaurant to a debauched sailor dive) to its present lore as one of the city’s finest rock clubs, this work was created specifically to be installed in the legendary Sunset Tavern. All portraits on display are of figures I could imagine, at one time or another, filling the Sunset with their gregarious personalities and drunken behavior as they unwittingly question life’s greater existential formalities. Hopefully no amount of their blood, sweat or ejaculate has been spared in my faithful depiction.

Tonight the bar will be hosting an artist’s reception during Ballard’s Art Walk  for Stoic Swine and his work from 6 to 8pm.

To see more of Stoic Swine’s work, check out his blog: Gift Horse Mouth

What people who don’t live in Seattle don’t realize, is many of our rainy days are really just drizzly days. It’s not that Seattle doesn’t do downpours, we do, but many of our rainy days are just kind of half rainy days. As someone who was born and raised in Seattle, I’d say these days are the epitome of Seattle weather and climate. We’re all about the in-between here.

Most “rainy day” songs and albums are for those downpour days, the really stormy nasty days, but here in Seattle, what’s really valuable are the albums for those in-between days. For me, nothing fits days like this, like The National. While all their albums are well-suited for the in-between grey days, their second release “Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers” was made for such days. It’s brooding but not furious, with just enough upbeatness amidst the anger and heartache. It’s a moody album in a very grey Seattle skies way.

I’m not strictly a National girl on these days, or I would listen to very little else. A few of my other favorite in-between rainy day albums are: Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, Radiohead Kid A, and Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West. Lately I’ve also been playing The Rural Alberta Advantage Hometowns lately on the half-grey days.

I’m sure you have your go-to albums for these kind of in-between grey Seattle days, and I would love if you’d shared them. I need to add a couple more to the rotation.

A few more of our favorite local photogs are hosting a wonderful show this weekend and we wanted to share the news (and gorgeous flyer) with you.

Hillary Harris and Kristen/Blush Photos are two of the most ridiculously talented and lovely women we’ve had the pleasure to meet in a long long time. The photos and portraits these ladies take speak to our soul and inspire us daily to expand our eye, viewpoint, and experiences as a photographer. 

So take some time on your Saturday to support a few of Seattle’s most talented artists, Sound on the Sound is definitely going to try to make it to show our love and drool over some gorgeous photos.

Rock’n'roll is a mans world. From the people who most frequently play it, to the people who promote it, to the fans that attend shows, the writers who critique it, and the photogs who shoot the shows. Despite it being 2008, rock’n'roll is still largely a boys club.

Luckily, I live in Seattle. A town that is blessed and rare because of the talented cadre of women writers, photographers, and performers who call Seattle home. Tonight Hannah Levin of KEXP and The Seattle Weekly, an honest-to-god inspiration for me as a female music writer and lover, is celebrating the opening of a photography show she’s curated. The exhibit titled “You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello” displays a few of Seattle’s most talented female photographers and their photos from the last shows of local bands.  The trio of talented femme-fatale photogs are Jenny Jimenez, Laura Musselman, and Sarah Joann Murphy.

The group exhibit will be at the Tigertail in Ballard (704 NW 65th St, Seattle, WA 98127) through September 30th. Tonight, however is the big opening shin-dig with a DJ set by a few of the fine fellows from The Cops and Scott Kannenberg, former guitarist for pavement. So stop by the Tigertail from 7-10pm tonight and celebrate a few of the wonderful women who help make the Seattle scene such an amazing place.

Fellow Seattle music lovers and writers Nada Mucho, have been hard at work creating a compilation cd of the sounds and songs of the “Seattle Underground.” They’ve rounded up a number of great local acts to contribute a previously unreleased or a new recording of an old favorite for the album. The album is due out on July 1st on Global Seepej Records, but we’re just so excited about it we had to share the track list with you.

1.       Bienvenidos! (sound snippet)
2.       At the Spine – Meteorite (2008 remix)
3.       The Tea Cozies – Tranciting
4.       Head Like a Kite – Noisy at the Circus
5.       Hazelwood Motel – Break Myself in Two
6.       The Lonely Forest –You Move
7.       Pufferfish – Rest Stop (Hello Zero Demo)
8.       Amateur Radio Operator – Strobe Light
9.       Chris Klepac – Beelzebub’s Tale to His Grandson
10.     The Wastelanders – Pride & Strawberry Wine
11.     WhoTheHells – Run with an Axe
12.     Iceage Cobra – Baconface Sweepstakes
13.     Eastern Grip – Boots
14.     C-Leb & A-Bro – Early Summertime Blues #1
15.     The Endeavors – On the Mouth
16.     Spaces – Flatland
17.     Katherine Hepburn’s Voice – Out Like This
18.    Elder Mason – The Revival