Music Winston Yellen was probably right when he said any one of the three performers from last Sunday night at the Doug Fir could have played headliner. The choir-voiced frontman for Night Beds seemed honored to play, remarking that a previous show in Kansas attracted a total of seven people. Surprising, given the Nashville band’s recent comparison to some dude named Bon Iver. Up first, though: ...   More

Music Carrie Brownstein was really holding back on the spinny arm thing. You know, her little Townshend twirl which, in reviewing her new band Wild Flag’s show at the Doug Fir, I am obligated to mention she does better than anyone.The restraint was admirable, the mark of a true show womyn. She wanted to go for it, you could tell. Right from the start, a stiff rendition of “Electric Band” that could’ve ...   More

Music Well, crap. I've always had a soft spot for Jonah's sturdy pop melodies, syrupy vocals and the grand scale of their music—but somehow the band's new album, The Wonder and the Thrill, got lost in the shuffle and we didn't preview Jonah's CD release show (tonight at Doug Fir) in WW. It speaks to the volume of great local bands and touring acts that a group like Jonah—one that deserves the attention ...   More

Music Nick Jaina must have known he was already loved when he emerged on the Doug Fir stage to see a packed house, but that didn't stop him from bribing the audience. “They're as big as your head,” the songwriter said of the massive cookies he baked prior to the show and plopped next to the merch booth selling his new album, A Bird in the Opera House. Jaina wasn't the only one debuting ...   More

Music The quiet shows are always the most vulnerable. Chit-chat at the bar can poison an entire evening, wafting over from clanking glasses to the stage like a toxic cloud. I have seen musicians simply pack up and leave when conditions are too boisterous for their fragile ways. Tuesday night's show was the antithesis of this. Credit to the quiet crowd, so bashful that every musician remarked on it. ...   More

Music Never count John Darnielle out. The Mountain Goats frontman, who always puts on an amazing and passionate set, didn't disappoint this weekend as the band packed the Doug Fir one night before they headed up to George, Wash. to play at the Sasquatch! festival. We sent local photographer and Mountain Goats superfan Nick Albertson to the show, and he came back with these pictures of Darnielle and gang ...   More

Music On a balmy Sunday night at the Doug Fir, three very different bands squeezed into a single bill. Opening act the Franks, quick to tout childhood connections to the Pacific Northwest, loosened up a growing crowd of overzealous, sunburned weekenders. While sounding somewhat like a an average Sex Pistols cover band, the L.A. trio compensated with amusing wisecracks and giddy stage antics. The standby ...   More

Music It ended too soon, but that's the sad truth about young bands with limited catalogs. “We don't know anything else,” co-lyricist Aaron Espinoza said, wrapping up the last of his new band's record I Heart California. Admiral Radley is a little more Grandaddy than Earlimart. Though its made up equally of members of both bands, the quartet favors the skate rock, electro-charged tinkering ...   More