Seattle Music 2014: Psychedelic Bands
From the Rose Windows to The Comettes, these local bands are far out
By Brangien Davis & Jake Uitti August 13, 2014
This article originally appeared in the September 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.
What’s your favorite current Seattle band? If you have trouble answering (or if you draw a blank after Macklemore), we’re not going to judge. But we are going to suggest it’s time to check in with the city’s thriving indie music scene. New local bands are exploring sounds, blurring genre boundaries (though we’ve wrestled them into categories here) and playing vibrant live shows all over town (see our Live Music Venue guide). Even with this sampler of 50 bands, we haven’t scratched the surface of Seattle music. Listen right here—where you can stream songs from all 50 bands—and also try tuning in to KEXP (the city’s unsurpassed discovery engine for local music) for a whole week. Soon enough, you’ll have an answer to the above question—and you might just go on and on. Peruse the local bands featured in the other genres here.
Shabazz Palaces
Gateway Bands: Digable Planets, A Tribe Called Quest
Ishmael Butler (aka Palaceer Lazaro, formerly of Digable Planets) and Tendai “Baba” Maraire comprise this experimental trip-hop duo—whose entrancing beatscapes earned them a Sub Pop contract—and whose 2011 album, Black Up, was incredibly well-received. Spin magazine calls them “psych-rap mystics,” and that sounds about right—as long as you add “from outer space.” With the July release, Lese Majesty, these hyperintelligent aliens are coming to take us away on a metaphysical head trip, with a soundtrack of heavy beats, burbling synth and hypnotic rap. subpop.com/artists/shabazz_palaces
Sample Song:
Video:
The Comettes
Gateway Band: The Doors
Singer Timmy Sunshine has a bit of an Oasis sound in his vocals, and there is a similar, charmingly aloof quality to how he comports himself on stage, too. The Comettes, who call “Earth” their hometown, feel a bit pleasingly out there. Full of moxie and celebratory spirit, their sound evokes The Walkmen and Cold War Kids—ambient yet incisive all at once. In addition, they hold the distinction of recently opening for Grammy-nominated group The Lumineers. The 2014 EP Sun Came Up shows them polishing their sound to a fine burnish. thecomettes.bandcamp.com
Sample Song:
Video:
Rose Windows
Gateway Bands: Jefferson Airplane, Cream
This Sub Pop band displays the best of psychedelic rock without overdosing on the dreary. The male/female harmonies will open your eyes and ears like a hit of wasabi, and the group isn’t afraid to add a flute to the mix of giant rock drums and distorted keys. Their music may make you feel like you’re chasing Alice down the rabbit hole, but at the end of the trip is a whole universe of music. Explore it on the acclaimed 2013 release, The Sun Dogs. soundcloud.com/rose-windows
Sample Song:
Video:
Follow Us
Rearview Mirror: A Better Bath, a Bright Riesling, and Les Mis
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
Moon Bath Last week, I went to a spring workshop at SLU BRU, the newish beer hall at Dexter Yard in South Lake Union. Open since November 2025 and operated by Gourmondo, it’s definitely ready for nicer weather, with big garage-style windows that open onto the sidewalk. The night was hosted by Orange Moon, the…
Studio Sessions: Lauren Boilini
Seattle artist Lauren Boilini talks about animal behavior, field research, and the whale fall installation she counts among her proudest works.
Lauren Boilini has spent years building dense, teeming painted worlds full of animals, movement, and tension. Her work often starts with close observation—time in the field and conversations with scientists—and turns that research into large-scale paintings that feel charged, layered, and alive. Born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, Boilini studied painting and art history at…
The Story Behind the Bing Cherry
A new picture book follows Ah Bing from orchard history into folklore.
Seattle illustrator Julia Kuo first came across Ah Bing in a history book. She was reading The Making of Asian America: A History when a detail caught her attention: the Bing cherry, the most popular sweet cherry in the United States and a signature fruit of the Pacific Northwest, was tied to a Chinese immigrant….
Staying in the Pocket with True Loves
The Seattle funk powerhouse heads to Jazz Alley for five soulful nights.
If you were to pull aside any casual music fan and ask them to cite quintessential Seattle music, you’d get a lot of grunge, the indie-rock explosion and folk revival of the ‘00s and ‘10s, and maybe some of the hip-hop that came bursting from the underground in the last 15 years. Your average person…