Coffee culture is continuing to grow in Tacoma and it continues to be exciting to have options. Tacoma hasn’t always been a place with variety as a priority; it’s more of an oldie but goodie place. The more of the market place independents take up the less need for chains like Starbucks and far less market potential for them to poach. I’m not saying we don’t need them but more us and less them should always be the goal. Although keeping in mind there may be some Tacomans who own franchises and those should be the ones most frequented. There is a lot of charm and tradition built into our businesses. But as of late (the last 5 years) we are starting to see the rumblings of progress. Slowly more independent coffee experiences are developing throughout Tacoma and that’s bringing Tacomans into neighborhoods they haven’t traditionally frequented. It’s great businesses that often create cross pollination within cities. An area may feel out of the way until you have a reason to go. And Old Town Tacoma hasn’t been injected with something new in a while. Space is a major part of the issue, there’s only room for about 4 businesses on the little strip of N 30th anyway, but it’s prime real estate and holds significant historical value. The space they occupy was once completely owned by the Spar, one side was the Spar cafe while the other catered to the Spar bar. During my early years of college living elsewhere and coming home to the Spar felt like the most authentic part of Tacoma, the Old Town history and proximity to downtown via Schuster Way offered a level of convenience to the Waterfront prior to its developments and my version of nightlife simultaneously.

Mt Fog | Saturday, February 4Seattle’s own Mt Fog describes her music as “forest folktronica,” evoking the push-and-pull relationship between the natural and the inorganic. Truly, it’s easy to listen to Mt Fog and imagine the swirling synths, insistent beats, and alien vocals reverberating around a misty Pacific Northwest wood. Mt Fog is the work of Carolyn B., an artist whose adventurous, elastic vocal style hit the sweet spot for fans of Bjork or Joanna Newsom, serving as the perfect accompaniment for her largely minimalistic electronica. Her voice phases in and out of recognition, warping and wrapping itself around chiming keyboards.

Jesus on the Moon | Wednesday, March 29It’s been established, again and again, that the idea of a singular artistic mind and voice being entirely responsible for a band’s sound is bunk – making an album is a collaborative experience, no matter who you are. Still, that notion lingers, which lends a bit of extra juice to one-man bands, where a person locks themself away to create magic on their own. Jake Frye would undoubtedly bristle at this image, but as the operating brain behind Jesus on the Moon, his music project since 2005, Frye has been quietly writing and recording songs in tucked-away spots like basements and bedrooms. Like it or not, his authorial stamp is all over every guitar-spiked, synth-soothed note of his music.

In 2006, a few things were happening in the greater indie rock landscape, including the ever expanding tendrils from the past few years’ rediscovery of previously discarded genres like psychedelia, garage rock, and goth; the excitement of hundreds of bands scrambling to see where everything was going next; and the birth of two bands: the Growlers and the Coathangers. For the Growlers, surf-rock and an arid, dusty atmosphere led them to describe their sound as “beach goth”; as for the Coathangers, they embraced an increasingly hooky brand of punk, bolstered by an unfuckwithable swagger.