Seattle Subsonic - February, 2009
Appleseed Cast @ Chop Suey
| Wednesday, February 18, 2009 | ||
| 8:00 pm |
Being from Lawrence,KS I am really looking forward to The Appleseed Cast show at Chop Suey on Feb 18th. They are Touring in support of their seventh full-length release called “Sagarmatha”.
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“Sagarmatha integrates the more anthemic sensibilities of Two Conversations (mainly in the very catchy vocal melodies) and the density and distorted rock moments of Peregrine with the experimental tendencies of both Low Level Owl records.”
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Sagarmatha is epic in scope and sound, evoking the horror and beauty of nature, the sublime. A band bred by the ocean and born in Kansas is unafraid to stare into the void of sea or sky. The Album will be available everywhere on 2/17!
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Make your way out to Chop Suey on Feb 18th and you will not regret it.
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$10adv / $12dos
8pm Doors / All Ages / Bar w/ID
Dirty Dozen @ Neumos
| Thursday, February 12, 2009 | ||
| 7:00 pm |
Since their humble beginnings in 1977 the Dirty Dozen Brass Band has championed the sound of lowdown horns from the streets of New Orleans to the entire world. Since then they have pumped out (over) 15 albumsm recorded with pretty much every influential jazz musician on earth, including Dr. John, John Medeski, Dizzy Gillespie, Branford Marsalis.. and on, and on… The Dirty Dozen’s line-up, while ever evolving, is always amazing. They tour tirelessly and always come to town with a huge and energetic show that’ll get we moss-backs up and dancing for sure.
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This time around we’ll be getting a tase of the following:
Gregory Davis – Trumpet & Vocals
Roger Lewis – Baritone & Soprano Sax
Kevin Harris – Tenor Sax
Terence Higgins – Drums
Jake Eckert – Guitar
Efrem Towns – Trumpet, Fluglehorn
Julius McKee – Sousaphone
Revert Andrews – Trombone
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Thu.Feb.12.09
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band,
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue,
Lilla D’Mone & Brazilian Lions
:: Doors at 7PM :: $18 :: 21+
Advance tickets on sale now at:
www.ticketswest.com, Moe Bar, Rudy’s Barbershops,
The Appleseed Cast @ Chop Suey
Being from Lawrence,KS I am really looking forward to The Appleseed Cast show at Chop Suey on Feb 18th. They are Touring in support of their seventh full-length release called “Sagarmatha”.
.
“Sagarmatha integrates the more anthemic sensibilities of Two Conversations (mainly in the very catchy vocal melodies) and the density and distorted rock moments of Peregrine with the experimental tendencies of both Low Level Owl records.”
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Sagarmatha is epic in scope and sound, evoking the horror and beauty of nature, the sublime. A band bred by the ocean and born in Kansas is unafraid to stare into the void of sea or sky. The Album will be available everywhere on 2/17!
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Make your way out to Chop Suey on Feb 18th and you will not regret it.
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$10adv / $12dos
8pm Doors / All Ages / Bar w/ID
The Cops Farewell Tour, Part Deux
And you thought that The Cops disappeared into the snowy night like so many chartered private planes …. Er, whoops, sorry. A Snowpocalypse-turned-Big Bopper reference gone sideways there. How about: The Cops didn’t fade into memory like the snowdrifts that put Seattle on lockdown back in December. No, those fine young rockers are holding up their promise to bid fans a fair adieu next month with shows scheduled to make up for the one that got snowed out.
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First up, a show for all you underage blog-readers and rock fans out there. Screw the opening of that Jason movie, come on down:
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Friday March 13th, at the Vera Project it’s a killer lineup of
The Cops, with:
Partman Parthorse
Battle Hymns
special guests
doors at 7:30 pm $10 / ALL AGES
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Saturday the 14th, at the Sunset Tavern out in ol’ Ballard, the bill looks like:
The Cops, with:
Spiral Stairs
The Sea Navy
Wallpaper
Doors at 8pm / Show time 9pm $10 / 21+
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Rip off your shirt and bow down at the feet of some rock ‘n roll legends, and party like Bush is leaving office all over again!
SOUND OFF!!!
Every year, the Seattle’s Experience Music Project hosts the area’s biggest and greatest under-21 battle of the bands – Sound Off! Bands from Vancouve BC, to Vancouver WA and from Seattle to Pullman gather in the EMP’s Sky Church, one of Seattle’s best venues (if not entirely UNDERUSED) to duke it out in round robin style.
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This years event kicks off on February 14th with a series of 3 semi-finals continuing each Saturday of Feb (Feb 21 and 28th) until the culmination where winners gather for the final on March 7th to play for the title. This year, the finals will also include a “wild card” band selected by the fans from a list of each semi-final’s second place winners. Ooohh… the drama!
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Check out the lineup below for each semi-final and have a listen to each band – $7.00 students and EMP|SFM members, $10.00 general public. Call 206.770.2702 or 1.877.EMP.SFM1 to purchase tickets. (there are even FREE tix at the bottom here!)
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Semi-Final #1 – Saturday Feb, 14 8:00
Dearboy – “You Live in Your Head”
Dyno Jamz – “Come Out and Play”
Love Trucker – “Come On and Dance”
Schoolboy Gutbuster – “Too Tired”
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Semi-Final #2 – Saturday Feb, 21 8:00
Brier Rose – “I Thought I Was Much”
Free City Collective – “Twenty First Century Blues”
Makeup Monsters – “Calamine”
The Mission Orange – “Hammer Fever”
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Semi-Final #3 – Saturday Feb, 28 8:00
Cyrus Fell Down – “The Epoch”
Kids Get Hit by Buses – “r0ck3tdOwn
Razpy – “When Im Down”
SOL – “Road Is Rough”
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Sound Off! is a great venue for getting the community involved in Washington’s young music scene, and for giving these bands the foot-up they need to continue their trek. It’s proven over and over again to be a launching pad for the bands that make Seattle such a viable “City of Music.” Last year’s Sound Off! winners, New Faces, signed to Loveless almost immediately after their performance and already released an album. In the past, other now-known bands such as Schoolyard Heroes, Idiot Pilot, Mon Frere, The Lonely H, Dyme Def, The Lonely Forest and Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head have all battled it out in the finals and into our playlists.
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With a track record like this, it’s all I can do to encourage you to check any and all of the rounds.
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To help get you psyched about this year’s SOUND OFF!, Seattle Subsonic has s a killer Sound Off! package to give out that includes 2 Sound Off! 2009 T’s 2 Sound Off! 2009 CDs and a pair of tix to the Sound Off Finals. To enter, send an email here with SOUND OFF! in the subject (winner drawn Monday March 2nd)
Off With Your Heads!!!
It is not very often that a band with the energy of Off With Their heads comes around. Especially one that has so many adoring fans. But tonight and tomorrow, you certainly do not want to miss this Minnesota band on the Seattle dates of their tour. So come on out, and bring extra money to be sure to buy up some of the merch they have been offering on the road (I, myself, will probably pick up a hoodie). Take a listen:
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Off With Their Heads – I Hope You Know
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Fresh off of playing at the Punk Rock Bowling Tournament in Las Vegas (where, I can say as I was in attendance, they were amazing!), OWTH have toured up the coast to play two of the best shows you will see in a long time. Trust me, I saw them a few days ago down in Portland, and I wont be missing these two. The band combines raspy vocals with driving guitars and songs with drunken-fueled angst ridden lyrics about mistakes made in the past. OWTH has easily become one of my favorite bands.
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First, head on down to Squid and Ink tonight in Georgetown to eat some vegan food and see them in an all ages, super rowdy atmosphere. They will be playing along with local favorites Like Claws!, Snuggle, and more. Then, tomorrow, head on down to the Funhouse for some 21+ action…Success!, Neutralboy, and the Heatrays will also be playing. I’ll be there, and I hope to see you too!
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Monday Feb 9th–ALL AGES!
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS
SNUGGLE!
LIKE CLAWS
SHIT GETS SMASHED!
DEAN and the QUITTERS
@ Squid and Ink (1128 Albro pl gtown)
$5 7:30 pm SHARP!
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Tuesday Feb 10th–21+
SUCCESS!
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS
NEUTRALBOY
THE HEATRAYS
@ the Funhouse (206 5th Ave N)
$6 9:30 pm (Funhouse time…so I bet 10pm)
Black Francis + Wife = Grand Duchy
I think I’ll preface this with the fact that Pixies are my No. 1 Favorite Band Of All Time. Basically, in my eyes, Black Francis can do no wrong (outside of his tiff with Kim Deal, but they’re both crazy, so, really, whose fault was it?). I haven’t listened to every Catholics record (there’s EIGHT of them, for chrissakes), or heard every single solo album (there’s eight of THEM, for chrissakes!) Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV has released over the past decade and a half. The man is prolific, by every definition of the word. But when I heard about his new project with his wife Violet Clark, I was intrigued. And because they live in Eugene, my increasingly liberal interpretation of the word “local” has dictated that I write a little feature about them.
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Petits Fours is the debut record from Grand Duchy, and it’s plainly apparent that this a joint effort from both members, and decidedly not a Black Francis album. For starters, there are synths–SYNTHS! Secondly, Clark provides at least half of the vocal work. Third, there is a definite playfulness to these songs that hardcore Frank Black fans might not recognize, or even appreciate. Grand Duchy may be Francis attempting to appeal to a new fan base; it may be the effort of an artist stuck in a creative and stylistic rut; but, more likely, it’s the refreshing product of a man simply ready to have a bit of fun with his wifey.
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Four tracks are currently streaming on the band’s myspace, two of which will be released February 23rd as the three-song digital-only Lovesick EP from Cooking Vinyl. The full-length is due February 16th in Europe, but not until April 14th in the US of A. “Fort Wayne”, from Petits Fours, is apparently the first song the duo wrote together and opens with a high-pitched Francis rhyming to an easy drum beat and an acoustic strum. Clark jumps in with some tender la la la’s and a verse of her own. She might be singing in French. They threw in a crunchy monster bass flourish at the very end for kicks. “Lovesick”, featured on both the EP and LP, might be the first dance song Black Francis has ever written. Don’t quote me on that, but it certainly has an unfamiliar bounciness to it. Clark’s voice and keyboards, coupled with Francis’ peppy guitar, remind me immediately of Metric. I may be biased, but the couple just might be on to something here. No tour dates yet, but if and when that happens, I ain’t gonna miss it.
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The press release from Cooking Vinyl on the band’s “origin” contained this choice quote from Francis: “She was innocent. I hadn’t felt innocent for years. She digs the 80′s. I had spent the latter part of the 80′s doing my part to destroy the 80′s. Our second recording session involved a fair amount of shouting and throwing things…” Awesome.
Come for the show. Stay for the show. Album Leaf !
..If Bruce Springsteen was the best music you saw on Superbowl Sunday, please go sit in the corner. You missed a killer show at Neumos by the Album Leaf, with a live backing band, and two equally moving supporting acts.
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I wasn’t real familiar with the Album Leaf, so I have to applaud a band that wins me over at the show and leaves me chanting for their encore. Solo artist and multi-instrumentalist, Jimmy Lavalle, presented his music with a perfect four piece band, including an intense violinist located foremost on the stage, and minimal vocals. The back crowd danced expressively, lost in the music, as I in the front stood motionless absorbing the bass vibrations and panorama of ambient sounds. The live video projection was almost overkill to the rhythmic chaos already onstage.
How one person can learn to play a multitude of instruments, layer their sounds together for a compelling CD, and then organize a band to recreate this sound, is beyond my comprehension. But Lavalle wasn’t the only artist toting such skills, as the show opened with local artist, Toby Campbell’s project Anomie Belle. Toby displayed immense skill on the keyboard, guitar, and violin, as she warmed the crowd with her provoking instrument fueled trip-hop experiment which was further enhanced by her strong voice. She took her solo act to the stage with two other talented female vocalists, Aileen Paron and Anne-Lynn Willams, one of whom filled in on the keyboard as Toby rotated between instruments.
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Following Anomie Belle, was the intricate and moving band, Black Mamba, led by songstress and keyboardist, Aimee Sanchez. The six piece band rocked out wearing an array of clothes from earlier eras which matched their low key yet powerful vibe. The volume on Aimee’s vocals and the clarinet player could have been turned up, as they were lost in the mix. .If you laid the two opening band’s sounds over each other, your end result would be the Album Leaf (minus the vocals) and that’s a great way to lead into a show. An even better way to finish the show was to let all those great musicians jam together for the encore. Well done. 
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And so, the Album Leaf completed its tour of the west coast, last Sunday and now heads off to record, with the live band, before heading back home to San Diego. The album will be released under Sub Pop Records later this fall. Also, keep watch on Anomie Belle, which soon hopes to begin recording material written on tour and look forward to our interview with the group next week.
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The Helio Sequence on Small Town NW Tour
Hey all you Helio Sequence lovers. Should you be living on the “fringes of society” in such far-out, enigmatic places as “Spokane”, “Bellingham” or “Salem”, today is your lucky day. The percussion-heavy, electro duo is bringing their excellent catalog to the outskirts of the Pac NW (calling it, unironically, “The All Northwest Tour ’09″) before heading out for some international festivals and another full US tour (TBA).
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According to the band, they wanted to play “a bunch of cities we’ve never been through and coming back to some we’ve been meaning to play again for a while (Hello, Bellingham!)” If you’re wearing out your sneakers shufflin’ around one of these isolated outposts, mark your calendar appropriately. Their live show is a sight and sound to behold.
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Feb 12 2009 W.O.W. Hall; Eugene, Oregon
Feb 19 2009 Biltmore; Vancouver, British Columbia
Feb 20 2009 Viking Union Room; Bellingham, Washington
Feb 21 2009 Ike Box; Salem, Oregon
Feb 26 2009 Red Room; Kennewick, Washington
Feb 27 2009 The BLVD; Spokane, Washington
Feb 28 2009 The Nuart Theater; Moscow, Idaho
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Here’s a couple ditties off the sublime Keep Your Eyes Ahead to whet your whistle.
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*Unrelated Note: I shamelessly admit that part of the motivation for this boring entry was to bump that shitty TV on the Radio post off the top spot. Hey, I have my opinions too. (Update: don’t be mad at me, Kev.)
Please focus on the Radio Part
So I’m sitting here watching TV on the Radio perform songs from their latest “Dear Science” on SNL tonight and I can only say that it’s continuing to make obvious the fact that they are one of the top 2 most overrated bands of 2008. Now, I’m far from denouncing them as a great group. Far from it. I thought (and think) their album Desperate Youth and Bloodthirsty Babes to be one of the best releases of all times. Of ALL TIMES!! In my top 20, I assure you. But why the frig did everyone jump all over this latest effort, “Dear Science, “ like a roofied cheerleader? I’m confused. It lacks something.. let’s see…I think it’s… SOUL. Yes, entirely. It’s got all the heart of a cigarette ad, it’s boring and uninspiring and yet, every music rag in the nation needed a fucking kleenex to mop up after their reviews. What the fuck prompted these reviews? Where the hell was the support when these guys were making piles of incredible music for the sake of music? Music that made me reconsider the idea or what music was.
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If you think I’ve got a low opinion of TV on the Radio.. I’m not surprised, but fact is, I hold these guys in the highest regard. I’m just pissed that they are being jammed down my throat now that they seem to have the right backing, the right advertising, and the right money geared to getting them played on Jack FM.
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I suppose at the end of the day all I’m trying to ask is that this album be weighed against all of the other TV on the Radio albums. You’ll see it’s a kind of a turd. Even more, I hope you all recognize that most of what is pushed on you for music is done so not because it’s good but because it’s profitable. I don’t think this is bad music, I just think it should be reconsidered.
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* Update.. here’s a little sum-sum to prove my point. Tragic.
Lykke Li at the Showbox and we’ve got free tix
Lykke Li’s debut album Youth Novel made ‘best of 2008′ lists on MTV.com, Spin.com, Stereogum, Pitchfork and most importantly, SEATTLE SUBSONIC. Come next Friday, she’ll be playing all your our favorite Youth Novel tunes at the Showbox MKT. Li’s wonderful pop hooks, and sugary, complicated melodies are a perfect cure for the winter doldrums, an antidote for any Friday the 13th.Watch the video of her song “Tonight” HERE.
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According to her myspace, this show is sold out, but Ticketmaster says otherwise. It don’t really matter though because we’ve got a pair to give you here. Just send an email to us (info at seattlesubonic.com) with LYKKE TIX in the subject to enter the drawing. Winner will be notified Tues Feb 10th at noon.
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Lykke Li @ the Showbox W/ Wildbirds and Peacedrums;
Fri Feb 13th @ the Shobox MKT
$20.00 ADV-$22.00 DOS
With the demise of fuzz.com there still comes some good
Even though fuzz.com may have been handed the equivelent of the internet pink slip…all is not lost. Until feb 12th 2009, THE SAFE PASSAGE CLAUSE will be giving away their new record, Titans put down your swords for free on the site. (Link here) On the 13th, fuzz dies. but free music is always awesome.
