Sportn' Life Records

​"Unapologetic" isn't just a token adjective writers use to describe Fatal Lucciauno's ruthless verbiage on record, it's a well-earned medallion solidified by the genuine callousness of his steroidal bravado. Nearly five years since the release of his street-savvy debut The Only Forgotten Son, Lucciauno returns with The Message EP, which leads up to his formal sophomore effort Respect (which Gwendolyn has already reviewed here), out the 21st of this month.

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​The season for summer festival hype has already started--so far, all we know about Sasquatch! 2012 is that it'll run from May 25-28, during Memorial Day weekend, per usual. Things will get more interesting this Thursday, February 2, when the festival's entire lineup will be announced at the Sasquatch! Launch Party at the Neptune Theatre. The show is all-ages, will be hosted by Luke Burbank, and will feature performances from Jose Gonzalez' Junip, Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, and local hip-hop trio The Physics. Tickets are $15, but Reverb's giving away not one but two pairs right now.

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Dale May

Jonathan Coulton has made a healthy living co-habitating with pirates. Good for him.

​Every time a story comes out about an artist who has found a way to make money off NOT charging for music -- yes, we're looking at you, Radiohead -- it's accompanied by a flood of comments and conversations along the lines of: "See! Piracy IS GOOD FOR ARTISTS! When I steal, I'm actually HELPING the artist because I'm going to tell my neighbor about the band, and then she's going to steal the record and tell her bus driver!" So it was last week when Jonathan Coulton, an industrious freak -- and a very smart one -- told the public radio show Marketplace, that his career has been aided by piracy. Coulton's Tweets and blog post on the subject, too, were predictably met with proclamations like Techdirt's: "Jonathan Coulton Destroys The Rationale Behind The Megaupload Seizure."

First of all: Good for Coulton. But let's not pretend that because the man's made a business model out of piracy, it's going to translate to the rest of the industry.

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​​​Best of luck to anyone trying to make a living.

Funnyman Jeff Ross is holding court at the Neptune on Thursday, Jan. 19. And we've got a pair of tickets to give away to see the man who's sent up everyone from Pamella Anderson to Charlie Sheen. To win, just send a one-liner -- any one-liner; yes you can steal -- to me at ckornelis@seattleweekly.com with the words "JEFF ROSS TIX" in the headline. I'll pick the best one and award the tickets according.

Best of luck, y'all.

Eric Krebs

​Anomie Belle celebrates the release of her new Machine E.P. tomorrow at the Tractor Tavern. Here's what I had to say about it in last week's issue of Reverb Monthly:

On trip-hop maven Anomie Belle's new EP (her fifth release), all is not right with the world. The bleak portrait of America presented in the title track is a rallying cry for the 99 percent, and features a verse from socially conscious MC Mr. Lif.

The show also marks the debut of a new piece composed specifically by Ms. Belle for her string quartet, commissioned by Seattle's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and 4Culture. Local folk-rockers Cataldo and New Orleans jazz trumpet player Michael Naveda open. And best of all, it's free! Festivities start at 8 p.m. Check out the video for the EP's title track after the jump.

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Deirde O'Callaghan

​The British indie-rock quartet The Kooks are playing an all ages show at the Showbox at the Market this Friday, December 2--but apparently enough of you knew that already, because it's all sold out in presale. The Kooks, who are touring in support of their third full-length, Junk of the Heart, are selling out a majority of the shows in their current outing across the US (check out their post-Seattle itinerary after the jump).

If you're wanting to the check out The Kooks but didn't act early enough to buy tickets, Reverb might be able to help out. We're giving away a pair of tickets.

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​Jason Baxter - "Video Freak" (via Cairo Records)

Jason Baxter is a prodigious multi-tasker. Currently, the dude divides his time between running the in-house publicity for Sub Pop sub-label Hardly Art, making the hypnagogic pop as one half of local electronics duo USF, and writing the fledgling indie comic Trip Fantastic along with illustrator Derek Charm. Recently, his job juggling has included overlapping gigs writing the all-ages column for the Stranger, doing PR for all-ages venues Cairo Gallery and the Vera Project, and managing the UW's online Rainy Dawg Radio. Point is, the guy stays busy.

His latest bit of business is "Video Freak," a meticulously dubbed-from-VHS* mixtape of LOL'90s TV ephemera and smooth digital studio funk--"studio bumpers, sports blooper soundtracks, weird adverts and bizarro music cues"--that sounds perhaps unsurprisingly of-the-moment in these Retromaniacal times. Visit the Cairo Records site for the full description and a partial track-listing.

*Also a good cheap way to add that analog tape vibe to your home recordings, a la Hieroglyphic Being.

membersonly206.bandcamp.com

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Listen here. Ski Team is a rising L.A.-based production group who have worked with MCs from around the country, like Hollywood Holt, Freddie Gibbs, and U-N-I. Seattle's-own State of the Artist has also worked with them on a number of occasions, and in Slopes, the two groups have come together for a full-length venture.

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This week's music lead is all about the month Annie Clark--alias St. Vincent--spent in Seattle, October 2010, where she first began to write her newest album, the beautiful Strange Mercy. Clark will be back in the town of her inspiration tomorrow night, when she'll perform at the Neptune Theatre. Tickets to the show, which is all-ages and starts at 8 p.m. with Welsh singer Cate Le Bon opener, are still available for $15 in advance or $18 at the door, but we just love St. Vincent so much that we're giving away a pair of tickets to the show for free.

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