Olympia

The PNW's underground capital. Kill Rock Stars, K Records, riot grrrl, and a DIY ethic that borders on religion. Evergreen State College pumps out a steady stream of kids who want to start bands and buy zines and book house shows. Unwound is the great noise-rock band of the whole operation. A decade of evolution from raw hardcore to the massive atmospheric double album Leaves Turn Inside You. Kill Rock Stars puts them alongside Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, and Elliott Smith which is frankly insane company. Olympia values politics and process as much as sound and Unwound's gradual, stubborn, uncompromising growth is the perfect embodiment of that ethos.