Seattle Subsonic - January, 2009
The Department of Eagles (Grizzly Bear) & The Cave Singers @ Neumo's
Whoa, I don’t know about you, but I’m totally obsessed with The Department of Eagles‘ 2008 release, In Ear Park. Atmospheric, dreamy, blissed-out, and woozy—Daniel Rossen (of Grizzly Bear) and Fred Nicolaus’ music reminds me that sound is the only drug I actually need.
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Bonus pre-dosage: The Cave Singers, whose down-by-the-river campfire hymnals and twangy backwoods foot-stompers make me want to run away, live out of a van, and hug beautiful strangers with reckless abandon. (Or maybe that’s just my love for their album cover speaking.)
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Sonic-drugs and lots of hugs…what a splendid hump day this will be.
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Neumo’s
Wednesday, Jan 28
8:00pm
$13/21+
Anti Antony
Antony and the Johnsons
Ah yes, the newest bane of my existence. A & the J’s are the newest and truest in WHAT THE FUCK music. If you haven’t been exposed, do yourself a favor and stay behind the shield and I’ll give you the gist. Old Timey warbling voice of a dismissed chior singer over music being read from sheet music scraped from the forest floor that’s still more than a bit soggy. It’s like Morissy singing show tunes, only worse. This stuff makes me CRAVE Morissy… and I HATE Morissy. A & the J’s are what I would expect everything to sound like if I were drowning ing a vat of buttercream while overdosing on opiates. Or maybe what being slowly beat to death in a padded room with a toy poodle would sound like… Ugh.
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How did this make it onto the radio, let alone into heavy rotation? My head slowly seals itself up when I hear this and it takes 20-30 minutes before I can really experience anything audio again. Like pouring a mix of warm wax and cotton into your ears. Everyone move over, the death bus is making another pickup.
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Now I’m going to go bump some NWA at full stregnth to try and scrub some of this crap outta my head.
If you dare…
http://www.myspace.com/antonyandthejohnsons
The Ettes and The Purrs at The Sunset
So, if you’re a fan of the Stooges, or the Gits, or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, or even the Black Keys, you’re probably a fan of the Ettes. Or, at least you probably should be. The L.A. garage-punk trio walloped the Sunset Tavern this past Saturday night (1/24) with a gritty set of urgent rock reminiscent of those bands (a.k.a. some of my favorites). I’m new to the Ettes, so I wasn’t extremely familiar with their music aside from the pre-show internet sleuthing I’d done over the past few weeks. That, along with the dejected psych-pop musings of Seattle stalwarts the Purrs, was enough to hustle me over to the Sunset, however. (Which remains, btw, one of the best places to see a rock show in this city, hands down. Excellent sound and size, unpretentious atmosphere, and the great stage area always contribute to memorable shows.)
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The Ettes won’t blow your mind with a new vision or some sort of progressive, avant garde exhibition, but they smash so many raw, celebrated, and momentous rock obsessions together that it triggers all sorts of “who gives a fuck”-type reactions. The good reactions; the ones that elicit ardent fist pumping and feverish, hands-on-head “dancing”. The band is made up of two ladies and a gent: Lindsay “Coco” Hames on guitar and lead vox, Maria “Poni” Silver on drums, and Jeremy “Jem” Cohen on bass. All do their best to overpower and charm their instruments into a tight ‘n’ dirty punk extravaganza.
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They opened with a saucy blues number, as Hames eschewed her guitar for a harmonica. It was kinda sinister and kinda sassy. All three contribute vocals, but Coco’s riot grrrl-meets-Nancy Sinatra voice sets the tone for the band’s blistering attack. And while she’s setting the tone, the rhythm section is busy setting the pace. Cohen’s menacing bass is grimy and delicious; Poni ups the ante by absolutely abusing her kit (she seems to sneer quite a bit, too; proof that she’s a bona fide bad ass). They killed it.
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Not to be forgotten (by this guy OR the rest of the town), the Purrs, who’ve toured extensively with the Ettes, played an inspired set of their biggest tunes (“Disconnected”, “She’s Got Chemicals”, “Taste of Monday”), plus a few new ones. I’ve always loved this band: Jima’s lyrics and Jason Milne’s Fender are the bedrock of their catchy and captivating shoegazing pop. Milne calmly plays in the stratosphere with his hands close together, and Jima just can’t seem to get a break (somebody sign this band!). Add in rhythm guitar and Keith Moon-style drums for the Purrs’ signature sound. If you dig Luna or the Flaming Lips or Galaxie 500, this band is for you. SRSLY. They’ll be at the Comet on February 28th with the Pica Beats. The Ettes play in Boise tomorrow night (1/27).
Split Lip Rayfield @ Tractor Tavern
02-24-2009
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8:00 doors
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Cost: 13.00
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Split lip is not to be missed! These guys put on a fantastic live show. Split Lip combines a traditional bluegrass sound with the blazing speed and energy of punk rock, and in the process manages to improve on the formula.
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Touring for the release of their new CD ” I’ll Be around”
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see more at
http://www.splitliprayfield.com/
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DJ Mark Farina at Neumos Jan 30th
To the un-initiated, Mark Farina is the master of the blend! The new album features new and unreleased material from the finest in Mushroom Jazz music (funky instrumental hip hop, downtempo, soul and blunted beats mixed together to perfection by Mark Farina himself), and on this sixth edition of this legendary series he includes a bumpin’ brand new Farina original track entitled “Life”.
He will be at Neumos this Friday Jan. 30th mixing together his latest concoction of danceable goodness… should be a good show.
Get To Know: Pearl Dragon
This is more of a personal interview than a music video (in fact, it’s quite far from a music video), but since I especially dig Champagne Champagne and its primary emcee, I thought you all should watch it.
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The video was produced by Gabriel Miller and Patricia O’Brien of the Seattle Channel (21), and debuted this past Thursday night on Art Zone in Studio with Nancy Guppy. It’s a well-done profile on one of the city’s musical gems, Laprell Nelson, aka Pearl Dragon. Part of the creative force behind Champagne Champagne, along with DJ Mark Gajadhar and Thomas Gray, PD is intent on denying the proverbial pigeonhole from everyday hip-hop fans. He has another project in the works with Phil Nelson of Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground, and you can even find a cover of the Replacements’ touching, acoustic guitar-driven “Skyway” on his myspace.
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What initially drew me to Champagne Champagne, aside from DJ Gajamagic’s inventively tight beats, was PD’s wide spectrum of influence (he counts Mos Def, Jimi Hendrix, Outkast, Kurt Cobain and Ziggy Stardust among his heroes). I imagine the tragic ending to his brother Samuel’s life from a police bullet wound—for which the song “Radio Raheem” is a tribute to—had a substantial effect on his artistic output as well. Born in Eugene and raised in Skyway, his Pacific NW roots give credence to the local swell in Seattle’s music scene, hip-hop or otherwise. If you haven’t seen these party-starters rock the house yet, consider yourself advised to do so.
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In PD’s own words, CC make songs about “love, hate, the police, hating the police, loving molly ringwald”. I guess John Hughes is one of his heroes, too.
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You can next catch Pearl Dragon and Champagne Champagne opening for pop-raucous duo Matt & Kim, January 29th at Chop Suey.
Stella! You're no Marlon Brando
So a few disclaimers right up front, cuz I know a lot of folks are going to jump to the defense of these jokers. But I love comedy. And I love seeing it performed live. And I’ve got a quirky sense of humor, to be sure. But I must be lacking a certain gene or something, because I don’t get Michael Ian Black. I first encounted Mike on I Love the 80′s. I don’t know why I paused long enough to watch the show, but I saw enough of Mikey to wonder aloud, “who the hell is that guy?! Where do these shows get these so-called celebrities or authorities or commentators or whatever you’d call them?!” Yes, that’s right, I speak in very weird sentences aloud to myself. Whatever. So I don’t get the guy. I get Woody Allen. I get Michael Palin. I get Mitch Hedberg. I get Scott Thompson. I get Brendon Small. I don’t get Michael Ian Black. So it’s probably no surprise that I didn’t quite receive, let alone get, Stella. I wanted to. I gave it the old college try. I brought a friend, and we were psyched to be going to a comedy show. We drank beers beforehand. We we’re ready to give ourselves to the moment. And it only took about 20 minutes of their ‘show’ for us to laugh. It might just be me, but that’s no comedy land-speed record.
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What can I say? The venue was fine. No seats for geezers like me, and we made the mistake of watching from the (I didn’t notice) ‘all ages floor’–no drinks there. Which might’ve helped. But Neumos is as fine a place as I’ve seen comedy, and I love it for bands, so no issue there. And I was duly impressed with the 4 bldg-long line of people (who I guess were kids who grew up thinking Micky Ian Black is ‘edgy’). And I wasn’t elbowed in the ribs by a frat boy or given lip by some condescending bar troll who thinks she’s hotter than her 35 years betray. I was predisposed to hilarity. None ensued. At least not for me, or my geezer buddy I brought along. The kids laughed a bit. Sometimes they heckled in nice ways. But here’s where my bitching gains some credibility. Regardless of how you feel about MIB–their whole set, and encore (if you could call it that), is painfully scripted. As if they think that it’s ironic and wry to be blatantly choreographed and by the numbers. I kept waiting for that shtick to fall away, kept waiting for the other laugh to drop. But they just kept playing along like the retarded younger brothers of Trey Parker & Matt Stone (in other words, egotistical, but just a bit more on good behavior). As I said, it took them awhile to get going, to where it didn’t feel like they were on cruise-control. Then once they did it was like they were a car with only two gears. There was no triumphant moment where they’d won over the crowd. And the best point of the evening (judging by the crowd’s reaction) was when they played a fully produced video skit and the actual comedians took a break. Seriously! How weak is that? A video? What are they, the Cure circa Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me?! At least the Cure’s video began the show and the band took it to another level. These guys peaked while they weren’t even in the room. And again, seriously–this country’s seen too much American Idol to overlook the weak musical comedy effort lamely trotted out on this night. Flight of the Conchords could fart something more musical and funny than David Wain. I about called my dentist to schedule a checkup when Wain started to sing Billy Joel’s ‘Movin’ Out’ with a bunch of nonsense lyrics. Pulling off the broken backend of my cracked molar is a party out of bounds compared to the singular song-stylings of David Wain et al.
You get the picture. Crusty old fart fails to dig the hip young has-beens’ hoo-hah. Big deal. It’s a shame. With the world going to heck in a hand-basket, I so wanted to laugh.
A sad return to the Ether…
It’s always sad when a great internet idea gets it’s pink slip.
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San Fransisco based music visionaries, FUZZ.com, is/was a site dedicated increasing the collaboration of artists, fans, and others in the music industry. Funny good ideas can fall so hard.
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Fuzz.com sent this email from their Goat Headquaurters. Sadly, we are contacting you to announce that Fuzz.com is shutting down on February 13, 2009. Between now and then you may want to take the opportunity to post your forwarding information to fellow Fuzz users. It was with a heavy heart that we finally made the decision to turn off the lights, but because of increasing operating costs and flat revenues it simply no longer makes sense for us to keep Fuzz.com running. We offer our heartfelt thanks for being a part of it, and we’d like to give a special added thanks our avid, core users — true music fans who made Fuzz their home-base, and created a real sense of community.
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That is all.
Past Lives, Crocodiles @ The Comet
Do it. $8 / 21+
Listen to Merriweather Post Pavilion on NPR
If you’re still one of the few people who haven’t pilfered this album from somewhere dark and murky (or simply like to buy vinyl, or are super proactive with CD releases), you can currently hear Animal Collective‘s fantastic brand new record, Merriweather Post Pavilion, streaming on NPR. Go here, you giddy little music fan, you.
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You can also hear the band chat with All Things Considered, happening NOW, here (audio won’t be available until 4pm PST, 1/21). NPR’s Exclusive First Listen series is pretty cool, they currently also have Springsteen’s new one up, as well as Andrew Bird’s latest (Noble Beast).
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That is all.
