The persistent drizzle-and-chill of Northwest winters has lengthy served as each a legendary and sensible clarification for the area’s musical prodigiousness — outdoors sucks, so all of the musicians keep in and jam 9 months a 12 months. There’s seemingly some fact to this oft-repeated notion and even for music followers, it’s in all probability simpler to spend a couch-bound night with a shared Netflix login than enterprise out to a present when doing so requires extra layers than a fleece-wrapped mummy.
However after lastly turning into a shawl man, these brisk, dampened nights that settle in across the holidays are my favourite time to go see music, significantly at smaller, extra intimate venues. There’s one thing cozy about stepping out of the chilly and right into a kinetic rock membership or bellying up at a jazz membership bar to thaw with one thing neat.
Within the curiosity of combating chilly climate with sizzling reveals, listed below are among the greatest December live shows coming to Seattle’s small and midsized golf equipment.
Marcus Miller
An estimable aspect participant and movie scorer who’s labored with everybody from Miles Davis to Michael Jackson, this ace on the bass is not any slouch as a Grammy-winning solo artist both. Between soundtrack work for Disney’s “Security” and the Chadwick Boseman-starring authorized drama “Marshall,” Miller earned reward (and his sixteenth Grammy nomination) with 2018’s “Laid Black,” a complicated mix of jazz and grown-folks R&B. The bass virtuoso and composer/producer settles in for six reveals in 4 nights at Jazz Alley. Instances differ, Dec. 1-4; Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave., Seattle; $50.50, jazzalley.com
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
There’s a three-day interval in December after I’ll be residing at Neumos, throwing a cot within the merch desk nook and subsisting solely on Bok a Bok and PBR (you’re all invited, too, simply don’t inform the bosses). It begins with a house state date with this Orcas Island-reared digital composer, whose freed thoughts is liable for the dizzyingly stunning modular synthscapes heard on this 12 months’s “Let’s Flip It Into Sound” LP. Anybody who dismisses electronic-based music as chilly and soulless has by no means heard Smith’s kaleidoscopic work with heat, analog synths that come to life in her experimental sound worlds. 7 p.m. Dec. 7, Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., Seattle; $20-$22, neumos.com
Courtney Marie Andrews
Night time two of my Neumos sleepover options this onetime Washingtonian who’s not so quietly put collectively an immaculate three-album run courting again to 2018’s soulful “May Your Kindness Remain.” Following her Grammy-nominated breakup album “Old Flowers,” the nomadic singer-songwriter pivoted from extra stripped-down tunes, as a substitute casting echoes of ’60s folks into extra up to date, percussive settings, together with her layered vocals at occasions sounding like a haunting one-woman choir. Flyte opens. 7 p.m. Dec. 8; Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., Seattle; $20-$22, neumos.com
Bartees Unusual
After rising as certainly one of indie rock’s most enjoyable new voices on 2020’s “Reside Without end,” Bartees Unusual adopted it up with an equally sturdy sophomore displaying, deftly embedding hip-hop cadences and whirling digital passages into his amorphous rock tunes on this 12 months’s “Farm to Desk.” If the brand new songs sound half as candy as those he teased on the Paramount Theatre opening for native heroes Automotive Seat Headrest earlier this 12 months, his Neumos headliner is to not be missed. With Pom Pom Squad and They Hate Change, a Florida rap duo mixing their dwelling state sounds with underground U.Ok. dance music. 7 p.m. Dec. 9; Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., Seattle; $18-$20, neumos.com
Open Mike Eagle
After rising as a part of revered L.A. collective Challenge Blowed, Open Mike Eagle has been probably the most revered and constant artists in underground hip-hop over the previous decade. On this fall’s soul-searching new album “Element System with the Auto Reverse,” the veteran emcee, who’s additionally ventured into comedy and podcasting, weaves deeply private reflections with considerate social commentary over boom-bappy, sample-heavy productions that attain to the previous whereas creating one thing recent. With Serengeti and Video Dave. 7 p.m. Dec. 16; Barboza, 925 E. Pike St., Seattle; 21-plus, $18-$20, thebarboza.com
Deep Sea Diver — A Very Particular Christmas Present
If we’re to imagine the whimsical flyer, this “large Christmas extravaganza” with Seattle indie-rock favorites Deep Sea Diver shall be simply that. Lead Diver Jessica Dobson and band host a festive two-nighter on the Croc — the primary is a 21-plus affair with cinematic indie rockers BYLAND, whereas a second all-ages present options assist from Racoma. 8 p.m. Dec. 16-17; The Crocodile, 2505 First Ave., Seattle; $25, thecrocodile.com
Artist Residence New Yr’s Eve
Half the Seattle music scene can be in the home when the great of us behind Timber! Out of doors Music Pageant (and a bunch of different cool occasions) throw this NYE blowout on the Tractor. The night time’s full of a deep roster of native all-stars — together with ace singer-songwriters Tomo Nakayama, Kate Dinsmore and Lisa Prank, plus members of Smokey Brights, Thunderpussy, Breaks and Swells, and lots of extra — becoming a member of a home band for a free-wheelin’ send-off to 2022. 9 p.m. Dec. 31; Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., Seattle; $45, 21-plus, tractortavern.com
