The Nextdoor Neighbors

Congratulations to the Nextdoor Neighbors! The young ladies from Olympia charmed the panel of judges with their playful, lo-fi pop songs and earned a spot at the Sound Off! finals. - The Stranger

Jumping from hiphop into singer/songwriter territory, this weekend's show also has two folk-influenced artists. The Nextdoor Neighbors, from Olympia, are a pair of young women who accent their quaint, lo-fi pop songs with electronic flourishes that sound like they come from kids' toys. - The Stranger

Kathy Coté and Jessie Hill were literally neighbors who started jamming in Coté's walk-in closet only a year ago.

They play a genre they call "electro-folk-hop" that overlays folky vocals with spacey hip-hop beats (www.myspace.com/theenextdoorneighbors).

"We were desperately trying to create some sort of new sound, something people can feel, because that's how we listen to music," said Coté, who is influenced by everything from Björk to the Roots.

The two hope Sound Off! will give them the opportunity to tour. "It's hard to find time and money to focus as much as we want on our music, because music costs money, unfortunately," said Coté, who until recently worked three jobs, now two. The 20-year-old currently resides in Olympia and is raising money to move to Seattle. Hill, 19, attends Seattle Central Community College and lives on Capitol Hill - The Seattle Times

Being in the spotlight is a big incentive for these young musicians.

"Clearly we entered this competition to get noticed," said Kathy Cote, 20 of The Nextdoor Neighbors, an electronic-folk-hop duo from Kirkland and Vancouver, Wash.

Cote is an Evergreen State College alum who's working at Starbucks and saving to move to Seattle. Her bandmate, Jessie Hill, 19, is a graduate of Juanita High School currently attending Seattle Central Community College and studying French, cultural anthropology and social philosophy.

"We feel we've got some new sound to spread and know that by playing in the Sound Off!, a good deal of people are going to hear it, " said Cote. "That right there is probably worth it all." She added that the band is the center of their lives. "All we want from this is a chance to show the world what we can do, maybe get some kids to dance, maybe get some kids to howl." - The Seattle P.I.

For the Feb. 16 show, all-female duo Nextdoor Neighbors, which boasts a brand of angry coffee-shop-girl lyrics tempered by synthesizers, imported a dance club's worth of their Olympia friends. Hip-hop acts KnowMads and Scribes, as well as singer/songwriter Pat Goodwin, won over the judges. (One tip for Pat Goodwin's bassist, Ryan Kim: don't practice your rock-out moves before the show. We could see you from the balcony. Took some of the spontaneity out of your show for us.)

Nextdoor Neighbors lead singer Jessie Hill, whose voice shows hints of a baby Bjork and Regina Spektor, and whose countenance resembles Leslie Feist, showed a charismatic stage presence beyond her 19 years, while the other keyboardist, Kathy Cote, danced as she played. Cote, 20, later took to the djembe with brushes for percussion. - The Seattle Post Intelligencer