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Madison, WI

I'm looking into potentially moving to the Seattle area.  Everett, maybe.  I was wondering how active the area is currently.  I know CrunchyCo was a big name n the past, not sure if they're still going as strong as they were a couple years ago.

Also, for those of you in WA or OR, I'd love to hear what you think about your respective hometowns.  I'm trying to get a more authentic feel for what the area's all about and put my utopian Tom Robbin's-fueled fantasies aside.

Anyone out there have an opinion?  Sound off, I'd love to hear some insider info!

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Matthew Joseph Payne

Seattle is getting pretty rad. Pink Gorilla is hosting regular shows, and trying to open a chip specific venue. Every time I'm up there, it seems lie there's more artists than last time!

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portland

I agree. There are a lot of us up here. In PDX we have shows every once in awhile but up in SEA... "dey got shit movin"... as far as the chip scene goes.

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Westfield, NJ

I'll be in SEA from Dec. 20-26, pm me if anyone is doing shows smile

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washington

I live about an hour's drive away from seattle, I haven't been to any chip shows yet (still fairly new to the scene) I've talked with chipmusicians in the area, and they're really cool. And Non-chip musicians also.

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Tacoma WA

Seatle has a lot going on.  Tacoma used to have more but after ovenrake moved there is less. I'm to lazy to set up chip shows and just do drone and noise stuff

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Seattle, WA US

Things are on the right path in Seattle. We are booking monthly shows under the promo company X Bit.. we've brought in A_Rival and Rainbowdragoneyes in september. We're flying up IAYD for december, and flying more dudes in for the following months. We are actually making some money as well.

Circuits Ole is another almost-monthly show series we have going on.. I played the last one and it was fucking crackin.

I personally consider Crunchy Co. to be a thing of the past.. yes, they've been booking monthly shows at the video game store Pink Gorilla (which are fun) but Crunchy Co as a label is done according to da boss.

Yes, we sadly lost Ovenrake (to the east coast he's not dead).. and Fighter X has been on hiatus (which is supposedly ending this coming month), but we still have artists out the yang.

Active guys in Seattle are Electric Children, Bright White Lightning (chiprock band on Data Airlines,) McFiredrill (doing less chippy stuff lately but still active in the scene,) Live Animals, Turtlesaur, Orbital Strike, G Diffuser, Abducted by Sharks, and yours truly. If you haven't heard of some of those guys, you will soon. A_Rival is moving here at the start of the new year (I think he had a lot of fun) and Nicklepunk moved out here for a couple months just based on how much he liked the chip scene.

Couple hours south (in Olympia) we have Deepearth.void and Awesomecat who are playing regular shows, and a couple of other dudes I have not yet met (sorry guys).

Can't speak for Portland.. I haven't seen a lot of activity going on down there artist-wise or event-wise lately.


In Seattle, we've also got a yearly festival (Folklife) which we've had a chiptune showcase at for the last 3 years. Brought in Sabrepulse, Trash80, and USK for those shows.


We've got some pretty big plans as well that I'm not gonna delve into because I don't want to jinx them.. but if things continue at this rate, they will happen.


Get in touch and try to come visit while we're having an event smile I could keep talking, but you'll be more impressed if you come out and see for yourself lol

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Seattle, WA US

As far as the city/area itself goes, I am very happy here. Granted, I've never lived anywhere else, but things are nice around these parts. Seattle is pretty safe as far as major cities go.. I haven't spent a lot of time in Everett, but lived in between there and Seattle for half a year and I liked it. Homes/communities up north are not too fancy for the most part from my experience. The east side suburbs are upscale and fancy in comparison to north/south/inner Seattle.. it is where I grew up. This is where all the highest rated public (and private) schools are, and it's considered a great place to raise your kids. Having been raised there myself, I would disagree with that. People are very skindeep and disconnected on the east side.. but it's safe as shit (hardly any crime).

Yeah it rains a bunch, this is not a myth. With that said, when it is clear and sunny, I can't think of another place as beautiful. Lots of trees as well.. I like trees. Only takes an hour or two to drive up to the mountain passes (great skiing). Lots and lots of pretty lakes in essentially every city surrounding Seattle.



Anything in particular you were wondering about?

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Seattle, WA US

Oh and people are passive aggressive as fuck as well.. I've only seen a few fist fights in my life

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Washington / California

I think boaconstructor did a pretty good job of summing up the scene and the place, or at least to the extent at which I understand it from being an hour's drive south. There's pretty much always something going on it seems

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Westfield, NJ

dude I heart turtlesaur

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matt's mind

i'm totally about to go to seattle or portland too.  somewhere in the NW.

also am looking forward to reading more comments in this thread!  everyone....  expand as much as you can.

cost of living considerations compared with elsewhere?
things to expect that may be unexpected?
i've also heard that seattle has the fastest recovering housing market in the USA, atm.  so, is rent low there now?  or, is everything still pricy?  i'm assuming homes are a bit much... hopefully average rent isn't...
are the eastern parts of these states as conservative as i've heard (compared to the coastal areas)?  (spokane has a much different rep than seattle, for example)

also, in terms of community events (i.e., free fun things to do in town)...  whats the deal like?  currently i live in a black hole, it takes money to go out and do pretty much anything.  i'd really like to avoid this and be in a place with some sense of community.

being able to go to timbers or sounders games regularly really is sort of a cool prospect...

edit -- also, re: the weather....   i've heard the winters in the NW really aren't that bad, its a more moderate winter with less frigid temps and heavy snows.  so, is this true?  or, does winter kick ass there?  (i think it was something to do with the current off the coast keeping the air a little warmer)

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Ballard, Washington

I'm ashamed to admit I had no idea so much was happening in my own city.  I feel like 15-20 years ago this sort of thing was viewed as a novelty.  It sounds like that is changing.  I'm looking forward to checking out some of these events.

Rents in Seattle are really high right now.  Craigslist is rather shit.  You'll find better deals through local neighborhood papers.

There's a lot of new construction that should come on the market next year.

Seattle drivers are the worst.

Public transit is OK here, maybe even pretty good.  As long as you don't need to go East-West.  There are a lot of hills.  Many people bike or walk.

Ballard has a lot of cool shops and restaurants but it can feel like it's out of the way.
Capitol Hill is where all the cool kids want to live.  Usually they view the other neighborhoods as provincial.
Crown Hill is kind of meh but it's close to Ballard and Greenwood.
Fremont has lots of bars.
Greenwood is getting better, making a case for living up North.
Magnolia, on the top of the hill, is like the suburbs.
Maple Leaf is kind of far from anything.
The U-District has really gone downhill over the last 10 years.

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Seattle, WA, USA

Come on over guys.

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Seattle, WA US

Eastern Washington is nothing like coastal Washington (I think the east would become their own state if they had the chance). Things are much more rural over there and farming/produce bring in the most money. Once you get east of the Cascades, things flatten out fairly significantly.

I speak from much experience; my grandparents live in Spokane and Yakima. They and all of their friends are fantastically conservative.. so, if you're fantastically conservative, you will like it out there tongue

Winters in western washington are mild. Last few winters have brought snow, but not much. It will not go below 0.. not even close.

Eastern washington gets much much more snow. Still not SUPER cold, but snow is consistently on the ground.

Rent in the actual city/east side is super expensive.. unless you find a shitty spot.

Traffic gets bad. Sorry. Its made me a more patient person though.. which is good?

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Marseille

Legalizing weed in the state of Washington will clearly help the indie music community to flourish.