It's almost Labor Day Weekend, heralding not just the end of summer, but the presence of Bumbershoot, Northwest Psych Fest, and a ton of other music gems. Our critics have picked everything from the #1 crew keeping tie-dye alive (the 12th Annual Jerry Garcia Celebration), to Dave Segal's favorite prog-to-techno journeyman (System 7), to the future of Seattle soul (SassyBlack). Follow the links below for song clips and ticket links, and find even more shows on our complete music calendar. If you're just in fest mode, check out our comprehensive Bumbershoot calendar.
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MONDAY
Ecklund Presents: Quid Quo, Scott Yoder, Slow Elk
Seattle post-punk trio Quid Quo will be joined by psychedelic indie-folk artist Scott Yoder and guitar-less punk outfit Slow Elk in Pettirosso's new show series.
Weedeater, Telekinetic Yeti, Un, Dangg
As you would reckon, a night like tonight at the Highline is gonna be thick with beardos, long hair, sweat, and hella tuned-down riffage. Shoving off first are locals Dangg, who play rockin’ jams with some sweet leads and dive-bombing fills, and Un, with some expansive yet sludgy prog. Following them are Telekinetic Yeti, who are a smart bunch of contemporary heshers, as they sport some surprising 1990s indie nods, but then the Midwest is known for producing smart, killer rock action, and headliners Weedeater, who are bringing some growling, thick, bottom-heavy fuzz up from the balmy coast of North Carolina. I got $10 on Weedeater touring right now to escape NC’s late summer hell of humidity. MIKE NIPPER
WEDNESDAY
S1ugs, Divorcer, Soul-La-May
At the release party for their new 23-track tape, eccentric Northwest synth-punk project S1ugs will be joined by experimental hiphop artist Soul-La-May and Vancouver post-punk band Divorcer.
Springtime Carnivore, Valleymaker, Boots to the Moon
As Springtime Carnivore, songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Greta Morgan brings an uncommon level of finesse to what can be a staid form—loosely psychedelic indie pop. Morgan’s knack for arrangement and outside-the-box thinking is most apparent on Take It, It’s Yours, an album of covers in collaboration with Katy Goodman of La Sera, where the duo turned formative punk songs (by the Stooges, Bad Brains, Buzzcocks) into harmony-rich reveries that are nearly unrecognizable. Her original material displays similar verve, if less ambition. Last year’s Midnight Room, besides emphasizing Morgan’s showy vocals, recalls the likes of Neko Case or Cat Power. Little about Springtime Carnivore breaks new ground, but Morgan’s fundamentals are strong. ANDREW GOSPE
THURSDAY
SassyBlack
The artist sometimes known as Catherine Harris-White used to rap with Shabazz Palaces and later as half of THEESatisfaction. Now she’s mostly singing, one chilled-out but sly observer from the back of the bar, nursing one drink as humanity struts, flexes, sometimes belly flops up in the front. Listen closer, though, and she finds a way to relate through that distance, to herself—then outward, again, wondering what she might mean to someone else, confident and a little scared by turns. Inviting conversation and compromise, but never a doormat. Agreeably and wittily, she relates how life flows behind doors and windows open, closed, stuck, painted shut. Implying reasonable discourse may now seem unrealistic. Such never stops her. ANDREW HAMLIN
VHS, Constant Lovers, SSDD, Miscomings
Up-and-coming Seattle four-piece VHS (Violent Human System) recently released a sickeningly sweet new record, Gift of Life, via Suicide Squeeze. The 25-minute bout of noise-punk malaise is hospital-themed, with bleak rockers like "Wheelchair" and "Binge Everything" artfully criticizing a perpetually sick culture. This record, with its agonizingly bent guitars and metallic punk luster, is proving to be one of the year's best local releases. BRITTNIE FULLER
Yasiin Bey (Mos Def)
To this day, Yasiin Bey’s (then Mos Def’s) Black on Both Sides is a pleasure to listen to. The album’s soul- and jazz-sampled beats, whose rounded edges were pierced by Bey’s athletic and equally musical verses, stood as the high point in an already elevated moment in hiphop. As the album’s intro states, “You know what’s gonna happen with hiphop? Whatever’s happenin’ with us.” Since then, Bey’s multiple retirement promises, spotty musical appearances, poignant political activism, and trans-Atlantic immigration woes (he’s dealt with a lengthy legal process regarding his over-stayed South African visa) have set the scene for a rare moment of reflection in the form of a tour in which he will perform his 1999 conscious rap classic front to back. From the DJ Premier–produced “Mathematics” to the Aretha Franklin–sampling “Ms. Fat Booty” to the resource politics of “New World Water,” Bey’s ahead-of-their time words ring as true and relatable today as they did almost 20 years ago. TODD HAMM
THURSDAY-FRIDAY
12th Annual Jerry Garcia Celebration
The world teems with Jerry Garcia acolytes, but few channel the late Grateful Dead guitarist’s preternaturally liquid, radiant style with more facility and feeling than does Seattle’s Andy Coe. Week in and week out at Blue Moon Tavern, Coe has applied his formidable talents toward honoring Garcia and the Dead’s adventurous improvisational spirit and poignant way with melodies. This show benefits the Rex Foundation, a nonprofit that Grateful Dead members and friends launched in 1983 to “proactively provide extensive community support to creative endeavors in the arts, sciences, and education,” according to Wikipedia. DAVE SEGAL
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
CĂ©cile McLorin Salvant
In 2016, CĂ©cile McLorin Salvant won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album for her record For One To Love. She is celebrated for her ability to bring together the connections between jazz, vaudeville, blues, and folk music with her strong tone.
FRIDAY
Gangstagrass with The Railsplitters
Aficionados of unlikely sonic hybrids, rejoice! Gangstagrass (meh to the telegraphing name, respect to the exemplary title of their 2012 album, Rappalachia) fuse bluegrass with hiphop, and the resultant novelty effect surprisingly doesn’t wear out its welcome. Conceived by the producer Rench in 2006, Gangstagrass have struck a nerve with their urgent, social-justice-slanted verses, rambling banjos and fiddles, and chunky funk beats, luring major figures like Kool Keith, Smif-N-Wessun, and Dead Prez to lend verses to their music. At a time when the White House nefariously sows racial divisiveness, groups like Gangstagrass rebuke such regressive ideologies and bolster the prospect of social unity. DAVE SEGAL
The Gipsy Kings with Nicolas Reyes and Tonino Baliardo
Fusion legends Gipsy Kings showcase their decades of experience blending traditional flamenco styles with Western pop and Latin rhythms.
Research: Sotofett & LNS
Now this is one for the music fans who are fond of astral traveling. Throughout this decade, Norway’s famously eccentric dance music underground has seen a shift in global attention away from the space disco of the Alpha Pup and Feedelity labels to the omnivorous house music proffered by the Sex Tags family of labels. Within this close-knit community, Sotofett has emerged as the label’s global ambassador, releasing the collaboration-heavy double LP Drippin’ for a Tripp on Honest Jon’s in 2015. Since then, he’s continued plying his strange sounds around the world while gaining new friends, including estimable Vancouver selector LNS, who has released some of the most exciting electro via the 1080p imprint and Sex Tags sublabel Wania, alongside Sotofett. Expect things to get weird. NICK ZURKO
She Wants Revenge, William Control, Jack Bruno
In 2006, San Fernando post-punk revivalists She Wants Revenge became an overnight sensation thanks to “Tear You Apart.” A happy medium between New Order’s rhythmic sugar and the sexual salt of Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer,” it’s one of those songs that you can memorize after a single listen. She Wants Revenge weren’t able to capitalize on the song’s success, and disbanded in 2012. They may be playing Neumos, but whether they’re back on the record-tour-repeat cycle remains to be seen—the group’s been playing sporadic shows as part of a protracted 10th-anniversary celebration. JOSEPH SCHAFER
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
Bumbershoot 2017
Bumbershoot, Seattle's biggest music, comedy, and arts festival, will take over Seattle Center for Labor Day Weekend 2017 for the 47th year. This year's lineup is full to bursting with local and national stars, including headliners like Flume, Lorde, Odesza, Solange, Weezer, Big Sean, and Gucci Mane, mid-range acts like Cody Jinks, Conor Oberst, Vince Staples, and Sofi Tukker, and hometown gems like Dude York, Porter Ray, Stas THEE Boss, and Crater. See the full lineup and learn more about the artists on our complete Bumbershoot calendar.
Northwest Psych Fest
Here’s a “psych fest” that really earns its lysergic stripes. Most excitingly, it hosts the first US date since 1985 by Los Dug Dug’s. In the 1970s, this Mexican group forged a canon ablaze with artfully brutal rock and gritty earworms. Their songs wield a galvanizing power combined with a melodic brilliance that’s rarely heard these days. Other highlights include polyglot avant-rock dynamos Diminished Men, epic outer-limits jammers WEEED, South Korean sike-pop sky-strafers Julia Dream, and power-trio outliers LORBO. The event also represents a comeback of sorts for local gothadelic legends Sky Cries Mary, who will perform their awesome cover of the Stooges’ “We Will Fall,” if we’re lucky. It’s a loaded bill to get loaded to, for sure. DAVE SEGAL
SATURDAY
The Squirrels, Zhongyu & Super Z Attack Team, Mark Nichols & The Ever-Expanding Experience Machine
Once dead, now alive, the Squirrels are still one of the city’s greatest bands, now and forever. They’re back! The world needs to know! Took fucking Trump to get them to unhibernate, but fuck, let’s be grateful for small favors. Rob Morgan, who knows every rock-and-roll song ever recorded and can kill on at least five of them at any one time, leads a ragtag assemblage of no-goodniks (one graduated Berklee in Boston, another runs a Mexican joint) through the heart, soul, alimentary canal, autonomic nervous system, and occasionally toenails of Western culture. More fun than escaping panda videos! And if you’re not careful, you will learn something… ANDREW HAMLIN
System 7
Well, this is weird. System 7 playing a venue I’ve not heard of, on short notice? Whatever the odd circumstances that brought extraordinary English prog-rocker turned techno producer Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy here, Seattle should flock to Terrarium and witness a master of baroque guitar calligraphy and creator of one of the greatest chillout LPs ever, Rainbow Dome Musick, do his fractalized techno thing in a super-rare North American visit. Few musicians have so smoothly and rewardingly made the transition from prog legend to techno master as has Hillage—nor has anyone collaborated with Derrick May, Don Cherry, and Boredoms-associated space-rockers Rovo. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to catch this former Khan/Arzachel/Gong member in the flesh. DAVE SEGAL
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
Simple Plan, Set It Off, Patent Pending
A Montreal rock band is embarking on a highly anticipated summer tour that coincides with the anniversary of a cherished album. I’m talking, of course, about Simple Plan, whose 2002 debut No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls turned 15 in March. Neon Bible it’s not, but it is a product of its time: The band’s snotty, radio-ready sound was practically de rigueur for pop-punk in the age of Blink-182, and the group’s formation story involves two members reconnecting at a Sugar Ray concert. The focus on young white suburban male angst has also aged incongruously, a charge leveled against much turn-of-the-millennium mainstream rock. But unlike your average nü-metal jabroni, these guys at least gave us some catchy tunes. ANDREW GOSPE
SUNDAY
Guns N' Roses
Going in to the Guns N’ Roses “Once in a Lifetime” show last summer at CenturyLink, I had low expectations. Based off their reputation, part of me was anticipating an all-out shitshow. Boy, was I wrong. The three original members—Axl , Slash, and Duff McKagan—were completely in sync, soaring through their massive collection of hits as bombs and fireworks exploded around them. They played for damn near four hours with a handful of costume changes thrown in for maximum Axl effect. It was exactly what you would want from a Guns N’ Roses show in all its ridiculous, fun, rock-and-roll glory. KEVIN DIERS
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