Northwest indie-rockers Modest Mouse have been a target for both doe-eyed reverie and lip-curled hatred, but regardless of which camp you align with (I fall deeply into the former), it’s impossible to deny frontman Isaac Brock’s lyrical obsession with the afterlife, interstates and urbanization of the west. If critics have paid minimal attention to his [...]

Portland singer-songwriter M. Ward stresses that Transistor Radio was intended for vinyl, but for practical purposes was released on CD. Regardless of the format, the music is blatantly separated into two parts: sixteen songs, eight to a side. Side A’s instrumental opener “You Still Believe In Me” features Ward’s light-fingered plucking backed by an echo. [...]

Humility! The word is so often lost on modern artists — but former Mudhoney guitarist Steve Turner is a near master of it. Turner made his debut as a solo act last year with Searching For Melody, a humble affair that meshed his punk roots with his fondness for folk songs. This amalgamation, which he [...]

Some inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest feel it is not a geography, but rather an energy. Something about gray skies, rain, foggy mountains and tall Douglas firs imparts a sense of mystery, a Zen-like awareness. Much of the music that comes from the Northwest is steeped in this same energy, but few have rendered it [...]

Ken Stringfellow’s follow-up to 2001’s Touched, bears the mark of consistent movement. A glance at the CD booklet notes reveals the various geographies Stringfellow’s schedule has found him in: The songs were written and recorded in Seattle, New York, Hollywood, Vancouver, Athens, Sweden and Paris. No surprise, then, that the record feels more like a [...]

As a recent sideman for the Supersuckers and session player for Gerald Collier’s Low Tar Taste, Clay Bartlett has paid a few dues in the Northwest alt-country scene. Partly because of this, Fixin’ To Break Down is bubbling with urgency and doused with the knowledge of an artist who has done his songwriting homework. Plenty [...]

An American Starlet combines the heartache of classic country with the minor-key flare of Northwest indie rock. The Duchess Of Hazard, the band’s second outing, might as well be its first; following the release of 2001’s overlooked Sweet Country Melodies, singer-songwriter Ian Parks disbanded the group (then based in San Francisco) and relocated to Seattle [...]

Evangeline’s sophomore outing is drenched in Americana romanticism, covering plenty of classic country-folk territory. Big Choice opens with “Little World”, a song of wanderlust that nods to early-’70s Jackson Browne. The fleeing-hometown theme is a well-traveled one, but vocalist Jennifer Potter’s soprano is crystal enough to steer it away from cliché. When guitarist/songwriter Chris Cline [...]

It’s a fine line between melancholy and moping, but Downpilot walks that line with superb grace. With its brooding lyrics and hooks that haunt you in the middle of the day, Leaving Not Arriving is full of romantic meditations that brilliantly capture life’s complexities. Frontman Paul Hiraga’s austere delivery of the album’s opening couplet ,”I [...]