Seattle music highlights of 2009 in 800 words or less

The '00s are such an ineffable decade we can't even agree on a name for them. The Internet, the cellphone, the reality-television show: These became ubiquitous over the past 10 years and nobody can tell if they're saving or sinking us. Ten years of transition is a long time and there's no end in sight.

In the spirit of "WTF, '00s?" (suggestion: "The Decade Which Cannot be Named") we offer a collection of subjective observations on the Seattle music community's last year of the decade — 2009 in 800 words or less, IMHO, FWIW, FTW.

Nontoken hip-hop props

A momentous year in local hip-hop culminated in early December with Go! Machine, two sold-out nights featuring 12 local hip-hop bands at the Crocodile. Overheard at Saturday's show, "This is the new grunge!" felt initially bogus but makes sense in a way.

With a knack for self-mythologizing, stage-diving and girl-baiting, They Live!, Mad Rad and Champagne Champagne are the most exciting acts to watch in the city. The music frequently takes a back seat to the spectacle, performance art in the age of the status update.

Requisite grunge mention

The old grunge, however, was alive and sorta well in '09. Pearl Jam released "Backspacer," their ninth album, to mixed reception and toured to universally high praise. Alice in Chains recruited some guy to replace OD'ed singer Layne Staley to much hardcore-fan chagrin; their album sold surprisingly well and was nominated for a Grammy (!).

Soundgarden reunited at the Crocodile in March with restaurateur Chris Cornell replaced by corpulent screamer Tad Doyle in a much-loved iteration dubbed "Tadgarden." Featuring a put-in-his-proper-place Dave Grohl on drums, Them Crooked Vultures supergrouped over the summer and wrecked the Paramount in November.

Post-grunge-wise, Murder City Devils played their first shows in years at the Showbox in February and looked like they were having fun doing it. Most artistically significant was Sub Pop's reissue of "Bleach," Nirvana's gripping debut, 20 years after its original release. Still relevant, still gone.

Yes 'Depression'

Still relevant and still here is No Depression, the alt-country bible formerly printed in Seattle, now put online in Seattle. Earlier this year, publisher Kyla Fairchild and editor Kim Ruehl transferred the 18-year-old magazine's entire archives online, a monumental feat, and drummed up an active Web-based community. Also a wonderful music festival: No Depression Fest hatched at Marymoor Park in July, a sun-drenched success at the Northwest's second-most beautiful small venue.

Pastoral is as pastoral does

First place goes to the Doe Bay Resort, where the Doe Bay Festival stepped auspiciously into its second year. Featuring the Maldives, the Moondoggies and the Lonely Forest, playing to 700 people on a sliver of forested land on Orcas Island, DB Fest was sublime and seemingly outside time, lazy and barefoot and buzzed on homebrewed moonshine and magic mushrooms. Like No Depression Fest, it'll be back next year.

Open and shut

Seattle was given back the Crocodile in March after the venerable venue was shut down for all of 2008. It's taken a lot of mileage to break in the place, and though it's yet to acquire the lived-in charm of its old incarnation, its sound and sightlines are better. The Tractor continued its run as Seattle's longest-run rock venue by celebrating its 15th anniversary with three nights of country-rock heroes the Maldives. R.I.P King Cobra and the War Room.

Shabazz Palaces

The city's most inscrutable hip-hop, otherwordly but earthy, organic but remote.

Past Lives

The city's most exciting rock band, a quartet of wiry art punks that just wanna jam. Look for "Tapestry of Webs" on local indie Suicide Squeeze in February of next year.

City of Music?

Outgoing Mayor Greg Nickels' olive branch to the creative community, the "Seattle, City of Music" initiative celebrated its first anniversary this summer. Consensus in the music scene and general public: Aside from a snazzy Web site and self-congratulatory awards show, few know what the heck it is.

In early '09 the initiative was key passing an admissions-tax exemption that helps certain venues retain more profits from shows and in opening the Artist Clinic, providing low-cost health care to artists and musicians via the Country Doctor on Capitol Hill. Both are exactly the kind of real-world services the initiative should aim for.

Rare 'Groove'

Case in point: Wheedle's Groove, a slew of unsung Seattle musicians, most in their 50s, 60s and 70s, who came together to record an album of brand-new stone-cold funk. "Kearney Barton" was released to not enough fanfare on local label Light in the Attic in September. These cagey veterans — Pat Wright, Overton Berry, Robbie, Hill, Ron Buford, and more — are the invisible backbone of Seattle's soul scene, then and now. Look out for the "Wheedle's Groove" documentary in spring of '10.

Private option

The organizers of the "Give" compilation took matters in their own hands, gathering tracks from 30-some local musicians, including Fleet Foxes, Common Market, the Saturday Knights, the Moondoggies, Grand Archives, and more. These were packaged as MP3s sold for $7 downloadable at giveseattle.org; every cent earned goes to local food charities.

Since its release last month, "Give" has raised over $15,000. Like the elections of President Obama and Mayor McGinn, "Give" demonstrates the value of grass-roots organization and the connective power of the Internet — one positive tick on the tally as we stumble into 2010.

Jonathan Zwickel: zwickelicious@gmail.com