For 14 years, EMP’s Sound Off! has served as a platform for

For 14 years, EMP’s Sound Off!

has served as a platform for 21-and-under artists hoping to share their work and connect with the local music scene. Starting this week, the all-ages fest will host three rounds of semifinals each Friday leading to the finals. There, the semifinal winners and one wild-card band will compete for the 2015 title and the chance to perform at a major regional music festival. In the past, Sound Off! has featured then-up-and-coming acts including The Lonely Forest, Sol, and Sam Lachow. This year, the event presents a whole new batch of semifinalists:

Semifinals 1 • Friday, Feb. 13

Bleachbear This all-girl ensemble—two sisters, Tigerlily and Annabella Bird, and their cousin, Emiko—came together as a band after a summer of music lessons when Tigerlily discovered her love for guitar, Annabella gravitated toward drums, and their brother decided to stick to Minecraft. In need of support, the sisters called the more outgoing Emiko to “shake a shaker egg and sing some harmonies” for them, and Bleachbear was born, Emiko on bass. Bleachbear is one of the youngest acts in this year’s fest, but don’t let that fool you. These girls are sure to deliver, with a breezy sound they like to call “dream-pop grunge.”

Childhood friends from Orange County, Calif., the guys of Champagne Babylon didn’t become a band until members Cody and Paul figured they should try to learn to play the guitars they had lying around. After recruiting Ryan from their middle-school music class and Bryce from down the block, the band was in full force. Now based in Seattle, you can find them jamming out in the old Rainier Brewery. Drawing on influences from Harry Nilsson to Kanye West, Champagne Babylon creates a synthy kind of disco pop that sets a rhythm for groovin’. Their name, inspired by a sons-and-dads camping trip involving popping champagne at Joshua Tree, fits their sound: natural yet luxurious.

From production to vocals, lyrics to album art, Bailey Skye single-handedly creates an experience for all the senses through his haunting electronic performances. Under the moniker Nightspace, he crafts music that’s a direct product of his own emotions in a sound that varies from soft and slow to aggressive and distorted, staying sincere throughout. The term “Nightspace,” though originally the result of “just putting two words that [he] liked together,” has taken on a life of its own for both him and the audience. Through dark vocals and ambient instrumentals, Skye’s sound is reminiscent of that moment when you’re lying in bed on the edge of slumber, reflecting on your life, right before you drift into the dreamscape.

Friends Kevin and Joe have been practicing music together since high school; their original band dwindled slowly, leaving just the two most devoted members as Super Soaked. Initially inspired by garage-rock acts such as Fuzz and Thee Oh Sees, the duo has come to find inspiration in a wider array of music. Joe says their music’s bouncy energy is meant to be contagious: “We just want [listeners] to dance. If you’re not moving, what’s the point?” They envision themselves touring in a van with their “only responsibility for the day [being] getting to the next show,” according to Joe. That happy-go-lucky attitude will likely be stirred within listeners after hearing their music.

Semifinals 2 • Friday, Feb. 20

After a summer of busking at Pike Place, sisters Jordan and Rebecca and their childhood friend Gracia had so much fun making music, it was only natural to continue as a band, which they dubbed Charlie and the Rays. All with musical backgrounds, they went on to teach themselves guitar, practicing in the bathroom for the “better acoustics,” says Gracia: standing in the shower to rehearse their harmonies and using a vacuum as a mike to practice their stage presence. The band’s music is as down-to-earth as its members, channeling the likes of the Beatles and Elvis Costello to create an oldies vibe with a new-school twist. A self-described underdog in the Sound Off competition, they’ve come a long way from their improvised mikes to make it to the semifinals.

Hailing from Oregon, Hemlock Lane’s music brings a distinct PNW vibe, evoking those of the Decemberists, Death Cab, and Minus the Bear. According to drummer Nate, “there’s a commonality that musicians from the Northwest have,” and this is evident in the band’s bright yet fuzzy sound. All four members are in school for non-music-related fields, managing to work across the distance from Portland to Eugene to create their music. One of the last times these guys were in Seattle, their van broke down after what turned out to be an eerily prophetic photoshoot: The members posed as stranded kids around a broken-down van. This time, Hemlock Lane hopes to make it to Sound Off! in one piece and share its sound.

The members of Honcho Poncho feel the band is something worth returning to. Though busy with individual pursuits and split between Seattle and Walla Walla, the guys still regularly meet halfway in a small town called Tieton to practice “in this warehouse overlooking the Yakima Valley in the middle of nowhere,” according to lead singer Sam. Through working on their music, the artists hope people come away from one of their songs thinking, as Sam puts it, “That wasn’t an unbearable way to spend five minutes.” Fortunately, listeners have more than that to look forward to, with Honcho Poncho’s dreamy sound inspired by Euro-psych and ’60s folk music.

Grant and Henry have been friends since preschool, but as 5-year-olds, they probably wouldn’t have predicted they’d start a band in high school. When bassist Gianni joined them, they became Naked Giants, named for a sighting of Henry’s big brother wearing “tiny underwear,” as Grant tells it. With a blues-infused garage-rock sound, the band is reminiscent of artists like Ty Segall and Jack White. A Barboza bouncer once deemed Grant’s vocals “a mix between Mick Jagger and Prince” before giving the guys a hard time about being underage, escorting them to and from their show.

Semifinals 3 • Friday, Feb. 27

Music has always been in the family for singer/songwriter Emma Lee Toyoda; she can remember piano and violin lessons with her older brothers dating back to elementary school. Since then, Toyoda has gone from learning music to making it, using the process as an outlet for her personal feelings and experiences and composing heartfelt lyrics atop an intimate, nostalgic sound. She’s taken this dedication to the next level, taking a break from school to do music full-time. “I’ve recently had a point that’s been a rediscovery of who I am and what I’m doing,” she explains. With a spot in the semifinals, her commitment seems to have paid off.

Mystery Machines It should come as no surprise that this group of punk rock-loving guys from Gig Harbor makes music with an intense energy similar to that of kids trying to escape the suburbs. Vocalist Jacob says he and drummer Austin connected after becoming close in high school and surviving a “failed geometry class.” Together with guitarist Peter and bassist Alec, the four are Mystery Machines. What they lack in mathematical knowledge they make up for in musical skill, inspired by genres from heavy metal to R&B to ’90s rock—flavors which come together to form an accessible brand of punk.

The guys of One Above Below None have known each other since Renton High School, gathering at an afterschool program that linked them with a music studio. Since then, they’ve been cooking up beats and lyrics inspired by legendary artists from Nirvana to Hendrix to Daft Punk. They thus intend to create a sound that transcends and evolves past the strict hip-hop realm while staying true to hip-hop culture. “In the Northwest in general, we don’t really have a hip-hop sound,” notes rapper/producer Devante. “We want [people] to hear that this is Seattle.”

Hip-hop isn’t just music for Vancouver-based collective Righteous Minds, it’s a lifestyle. The members treat their music like a whole other job, starting practice right after work until about 2 a.m. almost every night for the past year and a half. Driven by the desire to switch the focus of mainstream rap and disprove the misconception that “rap is ignorant,” Righteous Minds brings forward what they call a conscious style of hip-hop, loaded with clever rhymes and hard-hitting instrumentals intended to help the audience realize the importance of staying true to one’s self and to “solidify the individuality” of listeners, says rapper Dob. That’s what Righteous Minds sees as a step toward change in the hip-hop game. E

music@seattleweekly.com

SOUND OFF! FINALS EMP Museum, Sky Church, 120 Sixth Ave. N., 770-2700, empmuseum.org. $8 EMP member and youth/$12. 8 p.m. Sat., March 7.