The Darts are an all female punk band who originate from Seattle Washington, a fertile breeding ground for interesting music, the city that gave us Jimi Hendrix and the 90s grunge movement. The members are Nicole Laurenne on vocals, who is a former judge, Rebecca Davidson on guitar, Lindsey Scarey, with a very appropriate surname on bass, and Rikki Watson on drums. They come from a label called Adrenalin Fix Music (EU) or Meow Hiss Music (US). Both names describe the band well. The Darts specialize and ply their trade in a subgenre of punk made famous the Cramps and the Misfits – horror themed garage rock with surfer licks.…

If you’ve been on social media lately you may have noticed there’s been an upsurge in nostalgia for the years between roughly 2008 and 2012, this brief glowing pocket of time where indie culture still felt handmade and full of possibility. Before social media was embedded into our phones and taken over by ads and algorithms, when we were all just taking 100 photos on a digital camera on a night out, watching HBO’s Girls and wearing American Apparel disco pants. The Tiktok teens are calling it the “Millennial Optimism Years”. For me, who turned 18 the year Obama was elected, went to fashion school and moved to Portland in…

The new album by MV Wells, “Le Dauphin” is not afraid to write a melody, or use any instrument needed in its production. In a modern “Sgt. Pepper” kind of way, the songs are each unique, with the aesthetic needed that best fits the theme or tone of each song. The tracks rely on a sheer singer/songwriter appeal, with no unnecessary effects, or being lost while being while being submerged under a mountain of guitar pedals and effects. The influence is from a different era, not buried in too much delay or 90s guitar overproduction. Instead, we are just left with good recording, songs, and singing. On the first song,…