EMP’s 21-and-under music competition, Sound Off!, has an uncanny way of opening a window of sorts onto Seattle’s hottest bands of the future. Oddly, it’s not always the first-place winners who take off, as is the case with Fauna Shade, who lost in this year’s final round. But this young group didn’t let that get in its way, as it’s been hot-footing it around the Pacific Northwest ever since, performing at the Fisherman’s Village Music Festival in their hometown, Anacortes’ Catapult Music Fest (opening for The Lonely Forest), the Timber Music Festival just last month, and several venues around Seattle to boot. This “new old wave rock & roll” band, as it likes to call itself, is building a strong audience, tapping into a distortion-heavy niche that’s been missing on the scene for a while. Needless to say, these guys are spreading out past their hometown to bigger and better things. faunashade.bandcamp.com

Read all of our picks for Arts & Culture, and explore the rest of this year’s edition of Best of Seattle.