It’s such a great idea, you may actually want to hang out at the airport for extended stretches of time, especially today.
The Port of Seattle, the Office of Film and Music, Seattle Music Commission, and PlayNetwork have joined to create the Sea-Tac Airport Music Initiative. The goal of the project is to fill the whole of SeaTac Airport with locally-bred music of all genres, and that local color will seep into everything from the informational announcements to the overhead music to the video screens throughout the airport.
As you can probably gather, the overhead music in the terminal won’t be your run-of-the-mill muzak. The Initiative-created web player provides a great indicator of the scope and variety of artists being showcased. Give it a listen: It’s easy to get lost in any of the six channels. The urban/soul channel offers heaps of Wheedle’s Groove selections alongside the Ray Charles, and even the rock station augments the obvious touchstones (Hendrix, Nirvana, Pearl Jam) with tracks by Pretty Girls Make Graves, Head Like a Kite, and Pedro the Lion (among others). PlayNetwork’s also produced several overhead safety and informational announcements read by everyone from Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell to Sir Mix-a-Lot to Macklemore. And original video content by Light in the Attic Records, KEXP, MTV, the EMP, and others will play on monitors throughout the airport.
Best of all, The Initiative is presenting a free show at the Gina Marie Lindsey Arrivals Hall (that’s the south end of baggage claim, folks) today, replete with a line-up easily the equal of any paid-admission club show this weekend. Recess Monkey open things up at 3 p.m with great skinny-tie pop that happens to be totally family-friendly (they sound like Fountains of Wayne with lyrical contributions from Mr. Rogers). Carrie Clark and the Lonesome Lovers follow up at 4 with their much-cherished-in-this-corner kitchen-sink cabaret Americana . The 5 p.m. set by local electro-soul astronauts Fly Moon Royalty should turn baggage claim into a dance party, and Dusty 45s should keep up that pace with a wicked-cool swirl of rockabilly and lounge.
If you play your cards right, you can even get serenaded by local musicians on the way to Sea-Tac: ten different acts (including Kris Orlofski, Gabriel Mintz, and Quixote Radio) will be playing live sets on the Sound Transit Light Rail running between downtown and SeaTac. Think about it–you’ll totally be able to give your iPod a rest for the whole commute.
