Local hipsters got pretty excited in April when French art-pop duo Air chose little ol’ Tacoma over Seattle for their Puget Sound appearance. (They played played the Pantages, to be exact.) That’s what Tacoma needs, they said. And now maybe more KEXP and Pitchfork-approved bands will realize the South Sound exists.

On the flip side, there have been a few notable club closures in recent weeks: the 54, JD’s Wild West Saloon, the Garage, the Alano. In a couple of those instances, Tacoma’s music fans seemed to be saying,

Read more »

OK, I know I’m asking for it as someone who has penned many a snarky dis about other people’s music. But in tomorrow’s column (related to my previous blog on D.I.Y. electronic music) I invite readers to check out a few of my beats – stuff I threw together one afternoon using Acid Music Studio and a couple of sample bundles I had saved on my laptop.



Hopefully, it’ll inspire some of you to do your own thing, too. I made these in one afternoon without having read the entire Acid manual. And with

Read more »

Pacific Lutheran University announced the lineup for its Jazz Under the Star series this morning, which will kick off at 7 p.m. July 12 at the Mary Baker Russell Amphitheater, located off of 124th Street South and 10th Avenue South. Free concerts will continue in that time slot through Aug. 16.

Here’s the lineup with descriptions from PLU’s press release:

PLU’s Jazz Under the Stars 2007

July 12, Jovino Santos Neto

Jovino Santos Neto obscures the barriers between classical music, jazz

and indigenous Brazilian music. Born in Rio de Janeiro,

Read more »

Soon, they may have to change their name to Burn Out Boy.

For now they’re called Fall Out Boy. And the chart-topping Chicago quartet headlined the Tacoma Dome yet again Wednesday night, just six months after an appearance there with Kiss-FM’s Jingle Bell Bash, and a year and change after another headlining gig.

All that touring has got to take a toll, on both the band and fan willingness to keep buying tickets. So fan burnout seemed as likely an explanation as any for why only about 7,000 watched the undisputed kings of emo-pop headline

Read more »

The Crass Product Placement tour just wrapped up at the Tacoma Dome. And here’s what the main attractions, Fall Out Boy, played:

Fall Out Boy set list

Tacoma Dome

June 27, 2007

Thriller

Where Is Your Boy

Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down

Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued

Of All the Gin Joints In All the World

Hum Hallelujah

The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes/ Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner

Tell That Mick He Just Made

Read more »

What: A Tacoma-based R&B and hip-hop label; the acronym stands for One Family Always Makes Money.

Founded: 1999

Mission: In the words of CEO Theo "Mr. Network" Hall

Current roster: R&B singer Dwayne D’Arby (think Anthony Hamilton, David Hollister) and rapper, the Factor

Live: D’Arby and the Factor perform with artists from Port Orchard’s Mastermynd Entertainment, at Midweek Affair, a Wednesday night event at McCabe’s, and Soul Fusion, Fridays at Syren Lounge. They’ll also perform at Paul Wall’s after party tonight at the Loft.

Hall is also looking

Read more »

KISW has released more details on that Pain in the Grass show I mentioned in passing a couple of weeks ago.

Godsmack, Candlebox, Buckcherry, Finger Eleven, Operator, Black Light Burn, Evans Blue and Point One are the main attractions for this radio gala, which is slated for a 1 p.m. start on August 11 at Cheney Stadium.

Advance GA tickets will go for $40, with VIP tix also available. They go on sale beginning 9 a.m. Saturday. Click here for more info.

Live365, Rhapsody and MTV Online will be silent today, along with other Internet radio broadcasters that are protesting higher rates imposed by the Copyright Royalty Board. The new rules also mean those outlets will be stuck paying 17 months worth of back payments, according to a story on the Radio Ink site.

Canadian post-grunge band Nickelback will bring its chart-topping sounds to the Gorge Amphitheatre on Aug. 10, Live Nation announced this afternoon. Tickets will go for $47.50, and they’ll be available through Ticketmaster beginning 9 a.m. Saturday.

Here’s a how-to sidebar that was originally slated to run with today’s SoundLife story on making your own electronic music. Hope it’ll inspire you to save up your ducats and get started:

So you want to build your own digital recording studio at home. Well, it’s not as hard as you might think. Here’s a basic shopper’s guide:

Start with a decent computer: Chris Middleton, the author of "Creating Digital Music and Sound," recommends that your computer have at least 60 GB of hard disc space, a 1 GHz processor (though 1.6 GHz

Read more »