K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent music" since the 1980s.
The port city of Olympia, Washington, has been a center of post-hardcore, anti-folk, and other youth-oriented musical genres since the late 1970s. Before this period, Olympia's The Fleetwoods had several Billboard chart successes between 1959 and 1963. Olympia saw a rise in feminism in the music industry, where artists commonly addressed rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, racism, patriarchy, classism, anarchism, and female empowerment in their songs. It was a center for the riot grrrl movement of the early 1990s, which featured Bikini Kill and Bratmobile.
Chainsaw Records is an independent record label run by Donna Dresch that is devoted to Queercore bands. The label is in Portland, Oregon.
The Need is an American queercore band formed by singer/drummer Rachel Carns and guitarist Radio Sloan in Portland, Oregon in the mid-1990s.
Unwound is an American post-hardcore band. Formed in 1988 in Tumwater and Olympia, Washington, the band currently consists of Justin Trosper, Jared Warren, Sara Lund (drums), and Scott Seckington (guitar).
Bangs was an American punk rock and riot grrrl band from Olympia, Washington.
The Weight Is a Gift is the fourth album by American alternative rock band Nada Surf. It was released via Barsuk Records in 2005.
Janet Lee Weiss is an American rock drummer, best known as a former member of Sleater-Kinney and a current member of Quasi. She was the drummer for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, leaving after the album Mirror Traffic, and contributed to the Shins' fourth studio album, Port of Morrow (2012). She was also the drummer for the supergroup Wild Flag.
One Beat is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on August 20, 2002, by Kill Rock Stars. It was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded between March and April 2002 at Jackpot! Studio in Portland, Oregon. The album peaked at number 107 in the United States on the Billboard 200 and entered the Billboard Top Independent Albums at number five. One Beat was very well received by critics. Praise centered on its cathartic musical delivery and progressive politics.
Dig Me Out is the third studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on April 8, 1997, by Kill Rock Stars. The album was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded from December 1996 to January 1997 at John and Stu's Place in Seattle, Washington. Dig Me Out marked the debut of Janet Weiss, who would become the band's longest-serving drummer. The music on the record was influenced by traditional rock and roll bands, while the lyrics deal with issues of heartbreak and survival. The album cover is an homage to the Kinks' 1965 album The Kink Kontroversy.
The Hot Rock is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on February 23, 1999, by Kill Rock Stars. It was produced by Roger Moutenot and recorded at the Avast! recording studio in Seattle, Washington in July 1998. The Hot Rock marks a considerable change in the band's sound, veering into a more relaxed and gloomy direction than the raucous punk rock style of its predecessors. The lyrical themes of the album explore issues of failed relationships and personal uncertainty.
Call the Doctor is the second studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney. It was released on March 25, 1996, by Chainsaw Records to critical acclaim.
Donna Dresch is an American punk rock musician, perhaps best known as founder, guitarist and bass guitarist of Team Dresch.
Rachel Carns is an American musician, composer, artist and performer living in Olympia, Washington, U.S. Raised in small-town Wisconsin, she went on to study painting and drawing at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City, where she completed her B.F.A. in 1991. Carns began her career as drummer for Kicking Giant, later collaborating with several bands, including The Need. She is a celebrated graphic designer, working under the name System Lux, and plays drums and percussion with experimental performance art group Cloud Eye Control.
The Hall of Justice is a recording studio in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The triangular-shaped building, which has changed ownership and purpose throughout its century-old history, has functioned as a studio for rock bands since the 1970s. The windowless, unassuming space has been home to the recordings of albums by seminal indie rock bands, including Nirvana, Soundgarden, Death Cab for Cutie, Fleet Foxes, the Decemberists, Sleater-Kinney, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, and more.
Sky Larkin is an English indie rock band from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, who formed in 2005.
The Third Sex was an American queercore band formed in 1993 in Portland, Oregon. The band featured Trish Walsh on guitar and vocals, Peyton Marshall on bass and vocals and, initially, a series of drummers. Although primarily a two-piece band, they helped propagate the queercore movement across the country. A part of the Riot Grrrl scene, The Third Sex were significant in feminism's third wave and both influenced, and were influenced by, DIY culture.
Avast! Recording Company is a music recording studio in Seattle, Washington. It was established in 1990 by producer Stuart Hallerman, who was soundman for Soundgarden and involved in the grunge movement coming out of Seattle at the time. The first CD released by Avast! was Crime Pays When Pigs Die by Nate Mendel and Eric Akre's Christ on a Crutch project, and the company has since worked with a number of other artists, including Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Built to Spill, Steve Fisk, Bikini Kill, and Supersuckers.
Sleater-Kinney is an American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington in 1994. The band's discography consists of 11 studio albums, one live album, one compilation box set, 16 singles, and nine music videos. The band released their debut album, Sleater-Kinney, in 1995 on the independent record label Chainsaw Records. The band's second album, Call the Doctor, was released in 1996 to critical acclaim, cementing the band's reputation as one of the major musical acts from the Pacific Northwest. Dig Me Out, Sleater-Kinney's third album, was released the following year on Kill Rock Stars. It became one of their most successful albums, appearing on several publications' best album lists.
