At a festival, it's rare to get a performance that feels "intimate." It's something most fans reconcile with before they ever enter the gates and scan their wristbands. So walking into the KEXP Gathering Space on Saturday afternoon at the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival and finding the crowd sitting cross-legged in front of the stage was a total, welcome surprise. Seattle alt-country act The Maldives were playing only as a duo this time around, with lead vocalist/guitarist Jason Dodson and drummer Faustine Hudson representing the group. The two performed the band's recent album, Mad Lives, in its entirety straight through. Even for fans who may know the album intimately, this gave a totally new experience to the record. Gone were the sweeping, cinematic arrangements from the recordings, replaced with delicate, stripped-down versions that let listeners take in the intricate story Dodson conceived for the record. Hudson would lightly pound on a floor tom and would quietly tap on a cymbal, even using a bracelet to create a sizzling sound that veered into ASMR territory. With the whirrs of espresso being made in the background, it felt like stumbling into a coffee shop only to find your new favorite songwriter laying it all bare on the stage.
Aminéisn't just up-and-coming anymore -- he's arrived. The Portland rapper made his Seattle debut in probably the biggest way possible -- playing to a packed out crowd at Key Arena at the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival. Walking on to the beastly, hyphy-like beat of "Red Mercedes," Aminé kept…
L.A. alt rock veterans Weezer have made a career out of being definitively uncool. They write weird, sometimes twisted, but undeniably catchy songs about not getting invited to the party, not getting the girl, not making it to Beverly Hills. They pull influences from genres (pop-punk, '80s metal) t…
Earlier on into Ruler's afternoon set at Memorial Stadium, lead vocalist and songwriter Matt Batey asked the crowd who they were camped out for, greeted with an almost unanimous scream of "LORDE!" Batey and co. welcomed the reaction, seemingly reveling in the idea that they were playing on such a l…
