Cool Cover: KUN‘s Self-Titled Debut
Details: KUN’s album hits stores on February 6th, but you can gaze upon the cover now. Also known as Cai Xukun, KUN continues to break away from boy groupdom, and sports an outfit ready to feature in dystopian drama. The Chinese singer-songwriter includes the beautiful track “Jasmine” on his debut.
~Dagmar
Artwork for KUN
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ the Showbox – 9/24/25
Photos by Alex Crick
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – photo by Alex Crick
There’s an epitome of cool, and that is San Francisco’s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The quartet visited Seattle in September ’25, in moody black and blue vibes, surrounded by some fog, flashing lights, and they played lots of powerful music. Prepping for the 20th anniversary release of the now remastered Howl, including an enticing box set, BRMC shared a huge portion from that album live. With inspiration from the poem “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg, the band could easily ask of the world, “What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?” Fortunately there’s no fear they would ever need to ask this of themselves, because they really are awesome.
BRMC – all photos by Alex Crick
Stella Cole @ Jazz Alley – 1/27/2026
Photos by Kirk Stauffer
Jazz Alley was the perfect setting for returning singer Stella Cole during a two-night stop on her It’s Magic tour. Drawing from the Great American Songbook, the audience was transported back to the previous century with her beautiful voice and stage presence. On one of the song intros, the twenty-something commented that the decades-old tunes were two, three and even four times older than she was. Michael Kanan (piano), Michael Migliore (bass), and Hank Allen-Barfield (drums) complemented her style flawlessly. Sounding exactly like Judy Garland, Cole finished her set with, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, which was quickly followed by a well-deserved standing ovation.
Stella Cole – Photos by Kirk Stauffer
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit played the Paramount Theater Friday evening, his first visit to Washington State since the summer of 2024. Isbell released his 10th post Drive By Truckers album in 2025, ‘Foxes in the Snow’. The release is his first solo acoustic album and it has been nominated for 3 Grammy awards, including Best Folk Album.
This is probably the moment to acknowledge the fact that I am a fairly avid fan of both Isbell and the Drive By Tuckers, having seen both acts more than a handful of times. Isbell, born and raised in the Muscle Shoals region of Alabama, was a member of the Truckers from 2001 to 2007, his time with the band coming to an unhappy conclusion when he was asked to leave over concerns for his then struggles with addiction to alcohol and drugs. The singer/songwriter/guitarist began treatment for his illness in 2012 and has been candid about his journey toward sobriety, referencing both his struggles and successes in his music. Over the last few years he has mended his relationship with his ex bandmates in the Drive By Truckers, appearing with them onstage, including a recent televised performance on the Stephen Colbert show.
Isbell’s performance Friday evening was an intriguing and satisfying collection of songs drawn from his lengthy solo career with a handful of numbers he wrote and recorded with the Drive By Truckers. The show opened on a strong note with a full band version of one of the highlights of ‘Foxes in the Snow’, the seemingly autobiographical ‘Crimson and Clay’:
“guess the city didn’t kill me after all, the thing that nearly took me out was loneliness and alcohol, so I just put it down and walked away, and went back to the crimson and the clay”
Isbell’s band, the 400 Unit, is a road honed collection of stellar musicians, with special consideration going to his exceptional lead guitarist, Sadler Vaden (formerly of the much loved southern combo ‘Drivin and Cryin’). Vaden shone throughout the evening on electric and acoustic guitars and on mandolin. Both he and Isbell are formidable players and frequently square off for long and thrilling solo ‘battles’, seemingly relishing the opportunity to collaboratively improvise and create. They had many such opportunities to lock horns Friday night and the audience responded enthusiastically after each engagement.
One can’t help but notice and appreciate Isbell and the 400 Unit’s dexterity with and fondness for dense Southern Rock meets Crazy Horse style guitar centric jams. The connection was made abundantly clear Friday when the band launched the last of 3 rapturously received encore numbers, Neil Young’s ‘Like a Hurricane’. It was the perfect finale to an evening of thoughtfully conceived and well delivered rock & roll.
