Just the other day I re-published a review of The Dutchess And The Duke’s debut LP. That’s one of the first things I notice about Ain’t No Surprise by Leopold And His Fiction (MySpace) – it has a quite similar sound in the 60s-70s style folk-based rock. There are lo-fi elements here, where the volume is cranked up so loud that it gives the guitar and vocals feedback. The vocals come out more gravely and the guitars more intense. The result is astounding.

I’ll probably have a nice little package in the mail when I get home tomorrow (actually today, if you’re reading this the day it was published) with these guys in it, but I cannot wait to get this song out there. It’s “What Would Tim Armstrong Do?” by The Besties. And while I do not know a Tim Armstrong, I do know that this song is damn catchy.

There’s an inside joke in our office: Matt, the thin, goatee-d 90s grunger is good at designing cute things. So, naturally, in all his seemingly unkempt Cobain-esque demeanor, it becomes funny. (There’s also one about me and my George Costanza moment, washing the office dishes in my undershirt so I wouldn’t soil my dress shirt the night of our office party.) Like the opposing traits that humor our office, a similar effect can be found in Archeology.

Seattle’s Eastern Grip is fairly unknown in the world of music, but my prediction is that they won’t remain unknown very long. The wildly catchy opening tune off Griptheria is what leads me to that conclusion. It’s filled with an intense hook-filled guitar riff and various group vocals. That song is “Walking Around In A Deadman’s Shirt”, and if you were thinking the purely amazing songwriting were to end there, you’d be dead wrong.

It’s about 50 in the office and I had the brilliant idea of wearing flip-flops and a short-sleeve dress shirt today. Damn appendages are freezing off. I can think of a few cures to remove the chill. Sometimes all you need is a little folk-pop; today, I turned to Haakon Ellingsen.

Music festivals, other than catching hot shows and partying it up with crazies from across the nation, are all about networking with industry people and discovering new artists. I had just handed out about 200 bars of Ice Cream at The Village Underground last Wednesday. Matt, also known as Ice Cream Man, hopped into his Yaris and drove down the street after thanking me for some needed assistance. I made my way downstairs for the SPECTRE + Wii + Rockstar Games party, where I met some of …

Lie To Me, the new EP by Kingsbury (MySpace), is mysterious in all its splendor. Lacking a true genre, it resides somewhere in-between. Fitting; listening to it takes you elsewhere as too, a place undefinable, encased within the mind. It’s not quite hypnosis, but it’s not necessarily what the common person would call reality.

My oh my, what a fun record! With more ups than downs, Portland’s Derby has created a happy go lucky classic album with Posters Fade. These guys are about a dozen RPM’s shy from being a pop punk group. A truly personal sound. It would be wise of them to keep said pace, considering they already have folks clapping wildly when they perform along the west coast. And more shall (as some have) do the same across the globe.

The Dutchess is Kimberly Morrison and the Duke is Jesse Lortz. The two have been playing together for years, but it wasn’t until they struck out on their own in The Dutchess And The Duke that their creative music abilities came full circle. She’s The Dutchess And He’s The Duke is an album mixing lo-fi folk elements (but not too much so) with 70s folk melodies.

It’s been nearly a decade since I last sat on my favorite rocky beach on Orcas Island. I worked as a day camp counselor at a YMCA camp there; a three hour ferry ride from Anacortes, Washington. I still remember the beach well, often daydreaming of the evenings my fellow counselors and I would stroll down to the waterfront and sit watching the sun drop from the sky, turning it shades of pink and purple, and listen to the waves lap the rocky shore. “Simple Chords (Intro)” by Irene opens …