August is the perfect month to see outdoor concerts and KEXP is sponsoring 4 evenings full of free music. The Mural at Seattle Center is the spot every friday this month from 6-8pm. Tonight August 6th features music by Elliott Brood, Grand Hallway, & Gabriel Mintz. Bring a blanket and come early to get a good spot.

…Chelsea Conboy, a talented Seattle-based Graphic Designer.  I can’t wait to see what she does with this years Bumbershoot poster and festival materials. Also, Bumbershoot tickets are available now at discounted prices. This year you can get an economy ticket for only $22 bucks!

Make sure you go to your local record store Saturday April 17th for the official Record Store Day celebration. There is an amazing list of new music releases arriving on that day plus many in-store concerts.

This movie trailer gives even more insight into Seattle’s Funk & Soul scene from the 60′s and 70′s, which was featured on the Wheedle’s Groove Compilation from Light in the Attic Records. This is an incredible project and I can’t wait to see the completed feature film.

I just finished a new mix featuring electro disco songs from 1977-1983. You can read about the song selection and download the MP3 and cover art here.

Seattle super producer Jake One teamed up with rapper Freeway on the new release, The Stimulus Package. Freeway’s gruff voice commands you to listen and Jake’s production is top notch. The CD packaging is as strong as the music. The liner notes are huge dollar bills in a bank sleeve wrapped around the packaging like a big stack of money. After removing the sleeve and the bills you see the CD is inside a cardboard wallet, complete with a download credit card for the instrumental versions. This is by far the best CD packaging I’ve seen in 2010. Art Direction and Design is by Brent Rollins Design Explosion.

Seattle band Head Like a Kite have a new video titled “Director’s Cut” featuring Tilson from Saturday Knights. Seattle  Photographer Chase Jarvis did a great job directing this video. The track is in support of giveseattle.org.

What were some of your favorite songs of 2009?

My favorite radio station, KEXP 90.3, now has it’s own iPhone app. You can listen to the station on the go and see the live playlist. It’s simple to use and FREE!

Harry Smith’s compilation of music from his record collection let to the American folk revival in the 1950′s and 1960′s. KEXP’s Greg Vandy gives a talk on Dec 3rd at the Frye Museum about how this collector effected that era’s music.