As its name suggests, the folks behind Hollow Earth Radio (hollowearthradio.org) are sort of like the adventurers in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. The online indie station’s DJs and organizers dig through the loamy art soil of the Pacific Northwest, searching for golden nuggets deep within its molten musical crust. If you’ve ever listened to Hollow Earth Radio or attended one of the many shows at its cozy, wood-paneled Central District headquarters, you probably left thinking something like, “Oh! I didn’t know there was really great flamenco-inspired drone folk coming out of Anacortes!” or, “I had no idea the kawaii-krautrock scene in Vancouver, B.C., was so good!” If you’re curious about the teeming musical wilds of the Pacific Northwest, Hollow Earth will guide you lovingly into the unknown.
With that in mind, think of Hollow Earth’s Eighth Annual Magma Festival, celebrated with special showcases every weekend this month, as its grandest sonic safari—an expedition where you’re all but guaranteed to hear something amazing and local that you’ve never heard before. This year’s fest is a special one, with all proceeds going toward an upcoming expansion, planned within 13 months, into a low-power FM station.
You’ve likely already heard of Chastity Belt, performing this Saturday, but you may be less familiar with the rest of the lineup. So let me introduce you to some of this year’s golden Magma nuggets. (All these performances take place at Hollow Earth Radio, 2018 E. Union St.)
JusMoni
Hometown: Seattle
Genre: Future/Electronic/Soul
Moni Tep, now 22, has been rocking her space-soul vibe as JusMoni since she was just 14. Growing up in the musical community at Hidmo, the now-defunct CD Eritrean restaurant that also fostered her “sisters” in THEESatisfaction, JusMoni quickly fell in with Seattle’s Black Constellation crew, whom she affectionately calls family. “We got it so poppin’ in there,” JusMoni says. “It was amazing having showcases there for women, queer women of color, people from continental Africa—all that intersectionality was really special, and I feel lucky to have come out of that moment.”
JusMoni pulled an Aaliyah and sold out the Chop Suey release show for her debut album, Ready for Life, at a mere 17. She recently followed it up with a re-release of 2012’s Queen Feel EP, a starry record full of brainy, complex hip-hop structures and intricately woven vocal melodies. “When I sat down with WD40, who produced the record, we decided the concept for it would be “hella queen,” she says. I ask JusMoni to clarify. “It’s me! It’s bright and shiny and future and gold and fierce and rugged and real.” With Porter Ray, Astro King Phoenix, OC Notes. Suggested donation $10. 8 p.m. Fri., March 13.
Listen Lady
Hometown: Seattle
Genre: Simpsons-core Pop Punk
Just over a year old, Listen Lady’s story thus far is bookended by comedy with some serious hardship in between. “Pop-punk kids tend to gravitate towards The Simpsons for some reason,” drummer Tom Lowell says, wearing a T-shirt depicting Milhouse drawn in cubist, Bauhaus style (it reads: MILHAUS). The group began by naming itself after an advice column Marge Simpson starts in one episode of the show, a quote from which kicks off the band’s ripper of a self-titled debut EP, chock-full of earworm vocal hooks, power chords, and feedback.
Soon after the band started, however, lead guitarist and co-vocalist L Henderson, who came to Seattle from San Jose in December 2013 to undergo gender-reassignment surgery, was diagnosed with blood cancer. “I wrote two songs about it, one about not wanting to die here and one just about being fucking upset,” Henderson says. “After the diagnosis, I really didn’t want to stop the band. It’s important to me to focus on something creative and positive that’s not the cancer.” Soon after, Henderson began doing stand-up comedy at Seattle’s Comedy Womb as a sort of middle finger to the cancer. The effects have been positive. “I feel like with the band and the comedy, it’s kind of surprising how much people like our shit here in Seattle,” Henderson says.
Keeping the group together has also helped co-vocalist Siobhan Whalen, who works through her own life stuff in one of the band’s catchiest tunes, “Hey Listen,” which details a moment in Portland when Whalen was cornered by a creepy man trying to pick her up. “I wanted a space where I could take charge of that moment in a way I couldn’t in the actual moment. It feels really good to sing it because I’m practically screaming it,” Whalen says—a sentiment Henderson shares in many of the group’s cathartic songs. With Llama, Cradle Cap, Power Skeleton. Suggested donation $7–$15. 8 p.m. Sat., March 21.
Lilac
Hometown: Seattle
Genre: Dreamy Upbeat Electro
When Madeline Franks told a friend she was going to start a solo project as an outlet for the ethereal, beat-heavy songs she’d been writing, her friend suggested the name Lilac, inspired by a recent dream in which Franks had purple hair. “I always liked the idea of someone naming me, and I instantly loved that name—it just fit everything together perfectly,” Franks says. “I feel like Lilac is something I’m actively becoming that’s always secretly been inside of me, like it’s my destiny or something.” Fulfilling this fateful prophecy, Franks began dyeing her hair purplish-blue and working on her debut, Dream Journal, an EP she released last month. It’s a wonderfully woozy dance record that will definitely sound like the color purple for all you synesthetes out there. With Ings, Gar Pal, Annie Lukins. Suggested donation $5–$15. 7 p.m. Sun., March 22.
Globelamp
Hometown: Olympia
Genre: Witch Folk
One recent morning, Elizabeth le Fey left her crystal ball on the windowsill. Later that day, her roommate, fellow Olympia musician Arrington de Dionyso, smelled something burning, and realized the blanket on the couch across from the window was on fire. “It was crazy—the crystal ball was so powerful it focused the sun and started a fire,” le Fey says. “I totally believe in magic, the power of crystals, nature, and ritual. I write about that a lot.” Globelamp, le Fey’s mystical, spooky folk project, is responsible for last year’s richly realized Star Dust, an album steeped in Mount Eerie-style atmosphere, complete with weird analog tape experiments and ample field recordings spliced among psyched-out, lo-fi hymns. “I feel like magic is more in the underlying thread of things, it’s more subtle, so I really want to make music that to me is more reflective of that energy.” With Underpass, Crater, Fauna Shade. Suggested donation $5–$15. 8 p.m. Fri., March 27.
SIC ILL
Hometown: Tacoma
Genre: Nerdcore Rap
When I walk into Zeitgeist Coffee to meet up with SIC ILL, a wide-eyed fan has already gotten to him. “Aw man! You’re the guy from the Sonic video! I’m from Tacoma too, dude, It’s super-nice to meet you.” SIC ILL, aka Demetrius Jackson, grins as the two shake hands, saying, “Hell yeah, anyone representing Tac-Town is a homie.”
This random fan counts himself among the 103,693 people who have seen Jackson’s amazing Sonic the Hedgehog-themed “Labyrinth Zone Act 1” music video, which you should watch as soon as you possibly can. SIC ILL, whose name was inspired by his years volunteering at a Tacoma hospital, is the pioneer of a new genre he’s dubbed “Nerdcore Rap”: He takes 8-bit theme songs from retro video games and rap-sings incredibly catchy, schmaltzed-out love songs over them. Also a self-made animator and film producer, SIC ILL has created entire Beyonce-style visual albums like last year’s Vicdemic 1234. But SIC ILL’s new “nerdcore” music-video style, which places him in video-game landscapes like Sonic the Hedgehog’s, is what’s finally getting him recognized in the streets.
“I feel like Sonic is my spirit animal,” SIC ILL says. “You know, he fails over and over, but he keeps getting new lives until he gets it right. That’s how it was for me until I figured out this nerd-rap angle—Sonic and I finally got it right.” (Ironically, due to a recent thumb injury sustained while trying to cook himself a hamburger, SIC ILL can no longer play video games.) With Pastel Ghost, LH2020, Nightspace, Fantasy A. Suggested donation $5–$15. 8 p.m. Sat., March 28.
Lilac
JusMoni in front of a painting of JusMoni.
Globelamp
