Dave Segal on The Intelligence:

For many years, the Intelligence have been one of this city's greatest bands. And yet, a decade into their existence, they're still playing tiny venues like the Comet, the Funhouse, and the Wildrose. What the hell? The group's leader, guitarist/vocalist Lars Finberg, says the Intelligence can sell out a 500-capacity club in Paris, while places like Macedonia, as well as Oklahoma and North Dakota, prove more resistant to the band's considerable charms as does Seattle, mysteriously.

Eric Grandy on Pissed Jeans:

Over three albums, including the recently released King of Jeans on Sub Pop, Korvette has honed a self-deprecating stance that's as vicious as it is blackly comic: He has diarrhea. He's "ashamed of [his] cum." He loathes "people persons." He's an emotional eater (ice cream). He shrinks into his bed and "laughs at [his] own jokes in [his] fantasy world." He brags about his insignificance and how easily he can make himself disappear. He, in general, doesn't bother. He works a drab desk job (claims adjusting, in fact). He's tired and spent. He's losing his hair.

Charles Mudede on Yirim Seck:

Yirim Seck is 28, was born in Seattle, and is second-­generation Senegalese. Hear Me Out is his debut album, and on the flyer for its record-release party, Seck wears a leather-and-bead necklace with a pendant of Africa. This artifact takes us all the way back to the Afrocentric moment in hiphop: Queen Latifah, X Clan, Poor Righteous Teachers. From this distant past rise the phantoms of Schoolly D's Am I Black Enough for You? ("Are you somebody?/You are damn right I'm somebody") and Jungle Brothers' Done by the Forces of Nature.

Read all about this week's concerts and shows in Up & Coming, like the Sea Navy at the Sunset tonight:

On their new record, Memory Matches, the Sea Navy break the stereotype that all button-up-shirt-wearing namby-pambies strumming guitars are the anti-jocks. Singer Jay Cox is actually a sports nut, and it shows on the new record. "What Curse?" is a bright guitar-driven tune about his annual love affair with baseball and the emptiness the end of the season can bring: "Another sad September/I get home, I'm all alone/I leaned on you too much in the spring and summer months." "March Madness," Cox tells me, was "written on March 17, while watching Greg Oden's Ohio State beat Xavier during the NCAA March Madness tournament." There are some nerdier topics addressed too, though songs about lost love, favorite movie villains, and board games. MEGAN SELING

Fucking in the Streets on Mad Rad and Champagne Champagne:

The patio was packed before the game even started, the crowd full of Seattle hiphop scenesters and journalists in about equal measure. Macklemore, sporting a referee's jersey and whistle, explained the rules: The game would be to 21, the winner would have to be up by two points. After a couple leisurely long shots scored by Gray, the crowd got restless, shouting, "Y'all wanna change it to 11?" and "Next one to score!" The players picked up the pace, the game got a little more physical and aggressive, and the crowd kept with it, chanting, "Raaaad-Jaw" and "Souuuuuth End." Gray and Radjaw mean-mugged between shots, Radjaw pinching his shirt up off his chest like it was expensive, Gray grinning maliciously or making a throat-cutting motion with his finger.

Check out the latest singles and releases in It's a Hit:

"Love the Nite Away (Tiedye Mix)"
by DJ Kaos
(Rong/DFA)
It took until 2005 for someone to come up with what, in retrospect, is the most obvious musical term in the world: "yacht rock." It came from a cult-classic internet comedy series a dozen five-minute episodes total, featuring made-up "true stories" of the making of, for example, the Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes," Toto's "Rosanna," and Steely Dan's "FM." (The latter, it transpires, emerged in the wake of a blood feud between the Dan and the Eagles.) So at this point you'd figure anyone working in that vein who isn't a more-or-less earnest singer-songwriter or soft-rock type is doing so through a couple layers of irony, at least.

Data Breaker on Portable Morla:

Playing keyboards, synths, percussion, bass, melodica, accordion, and various toys, Portable Morla creates tunes that sensually slither into earshot. She composes low-lit torch songs that slyly seduce rather than slap you upside the ass. Dub influences her production style, lending her songs a lo-fi, intimate spaciousness not unlike the Kranky Records artist Nudge and Welsh post-punk band Young Marble Giants; similarly, Portable Morla's dulcet voice bears a slight resemblance to Nudge's Honey Owens's, albeit with more vibrato and theatricality. Morla's beats are relatively gentle, which allows more room for her lush, sparkling electronic embellishments to blossom. Overall, Portable Morla's introverted brand of electronic-oriented songcraft bears a distinctive sound palette and vocal tenor that will linger long after the last song dissipates into the ether.

Larry Mizell Jr on Thee Satisfaction:

Which reminds me—Thee Satisfaction's going-away party is at Hidmo on August 22; you should take that opportunity to get their new Snow Motion EP, because it's daring, deeply DIY, and one of the year's very best local releases. Touching on the black nation, Obama, space, haters, (bi)sexuality, and death (such as on the Tyrone Love—dedicated title track) in just shy of 20 minutes, Thee Stasia aka Neon Warwick and Cat Satisfaction paint a vivid, weed-smoke-trailing streak through the cosmos. That said, they need to stay they asses here, so please, everybody tell them that.

Christopher DeLaurenti on Miles Davis:

Was any other revolution in jazz so suave? When Miles Davis led a two-week stand at New York's fabled Royal Roost in 1948, the music composed and arranged for a nonet by Gil Evans, John Lewis (later of the Modern Jazz Quartet), Gerry Mulligan, and others changed jazz forever.

Revolution was already in the air: The sped-up, serpentine lines of bebop stymied mainstream musicians rooted in swing. Other contemporary experiments, notably the forays into unscored, chartless, freely improvised music fathered by Lennie Tristano as well as Stan Kenton's swaggering Innovations Orchestra, stunned and baffled listeners. But those brave ventures were short-lived.

Megan Seling on the Monsters of Accordion showcase:

The accordion is an annoyingly mysterious instrument. To me, it looks like the easiest thing in the world to play just squeeze it a little and hit some keys or something, right? My 1-year-old nephew could do that. But I tried it once, and the results were disastrous. Turns out that accordions are heavy and complicated and require a lot of skill in order to not sound like a beached whale on helium. I have no idea how they work.

But you don't need to be able to play (or even understand) the instrument in order to appreciate it. And this week, accordion enthusiasts (or even those who are just curious) have a perfect opportunity to see some masters in action at the Monsters of Accordion showcase.

Also check out Poster of the Week! Party Crasher gets down with a double birthday party! For more concerts, live music and DJs, you can browse a complete listing from our online calendar.