Coming from a small town in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, you don’t get a lot of variety when it comes to music. It was close enough to Philly that if I really wanted, I probably could have but, for the most part, it’s all country music where I live (which is fine but not always the best). Once I moved to Olympia, it opened up a huge window in the music scene. Probably one of the best things about Oly is that instead of your raging frat parties, we have house shows. House shows are fantastic if you’re like me and want to just hang out with friends and listen to some killer music. We have a pretty big punk music scene here so you can even head bang in a crowd if you feel like it!

House shows are really great because it usually consists of a few local bands coming together at a house in town to perform for the community. Most of the shows are all ages and theres always a variety of music being performed so everyone can enjoy them! The shows are usually donation based to give the bands a little something but no one is gonna be turned away for lack of funds which makes it accessible even if you’re a broke college student like I am. Sometimes it won’t be houses that are hosting the shows, but rather one of the stores, bars, or restaurants downtown. These can often have a fee or be 21+ but they usually have slightly bigger artists performing which makes it worth it. Dumpster Values on 4th ave downtown hosts shows every once in a while; they’ve hosted people like Chastity Belt as well as more local bands, like our own Cedar Sap.

Cedar Sap was founded by Sydney Blanchard during her freshman year at Evergreen in 2015. They describe their music as “post modern folk influenced jazz fusion dream pop with whispers of psychedelia dripping in molasses.” In other words, it’s a beautiful, dreamy, mix that I highly recommend listening to! Cedar Sap usually consists of Syd on vocals and guitar, Wilson Cicada on electric guitar or drums, and Nic Christ often appears on Violin or banjo. Cedar Sap often has other drummers and bassists who join them during their shows but, no matter what, it always sounds beautiful. Cedar Sap has played many different venues around Olympia, including Dumpster Values in February. The show was phenomenal and if you like dreamy music, you should be sure to check them out at the link below.

http://cedarsap.bandcamp.com/releases