Seattle Subsonic - May, 2009
Cool Fundraiser at HTFC This Weekend
Cool show at the ol’ Healthy Times Fun Club this weekend (5/30), and a cool poster to boot (bison are “pretty much my favorite animal”). The Pica Beats will be playing along with Truckasauras, two stalwart Seattle bands that deserve your attention, if not your astonishment from them being on the same bill.
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The fund raising will benefit 826 Seattle, a local non-profit workshop aimed at blossoming the young’uns’ creative and expository writing skills. I like that kind of shit, writing. Cultivate away, good people.
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Here’s the myspace bulletin:
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We are having a show to benefit the young writers workshop 826 Seattle! It will be so fun!
- My Parade (dance punk, ft. members of Pillow Fight Fight and Bow & Arrow)
- Brain Fruit (psychedelic weirdness, ft. members of Bow & Arrow and Cut Loose)
- Pica Beats (local Beep Repaired heroes)
- Truckasauras (dance it up dudes!)
The doors will open at 8. Please bring a five dollar suggested donation for 826.
We love you!!
HTFC
Bumbershoot Just Became Worthy of My $80
I am always super stoked to spend 3 days in Seattle Center for one of the last weekends of the summer partaking in everything I love about this city…
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Great music, great people, great (local) beers, beautiful weather…anything else I’m missing? Yep, Bumbershoot never really disappoints. Year after year I go with pretty muted expectations (especially after the corporate takeover), and thoroughly enjoy the hell out of it. Pick a beer garden and just let the music come to me. Smoke a fatty, wander the grounds with ears wide open, ready to hop into a crowd if something catches my attention. I always find something new and amazing I’ve never heard, and the journey is 99% the fun anyways.
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I love 3 day weekends. I love Seattle in September. I love Bumbershoot.
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Well, Bumbershoot just announced more additions to their lineup and I’m sold once again. I was a little weary with the announcement of Sheryl Crow and Katy Perry, but they just dropped some serious heat with this latest group of artists (and plenty of local flavor!). Here are just a few of the groups I am geeked about peeping:
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De La Soul / Raphael Saadiq (!!!!!!!!) / Roy Ayers / Swollen Members / Kasabian / Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears / Janelle Monae (!!!!!!) / The Knux / The New Mastersounds (!!!!!!) / MSTRKRAFT / Reggie Watts / Wale ft. UCB / DJ Spooky / Keller Williams / Michael Franti
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and the list of locals is fucking stellar:
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Common Market / Dyno Jamz / Dyme Def / Handful of Luvin’ / D. Black / Spaceman / Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head / Macklemore / Reggie Watts / Truckasaurus
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And there is still another round of acts to be announced. Get your tickets HERE.
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See you in the Fisher Green beer garden.
Helio Sequence FREE SHOW @ Neumos
| Thursday, June 18, 2009 | ||
| 8:00 pm |
If you happen to be a cash-strapped, Helio Sequence-loving Seattleite, today is your LUCKY DAY, my friend: Neumos is hosting a FREE show for the band on June 18th. The occasion is the 5-year anniversary of the popular Capitol Hill venue, and all you have to do is buy a drink in Moe Bar sometime before the show (and, presumably, ask for a ticket). First come, first served, and it sounds like tickets will be available starting this Friday (5/15). Has it only been 5 years? Huh…
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No word on the openers yet, but the headliner alone should kick your salivary glands into fifth gear. Here’s a snippet of what I experienced last time I saw them, at Neumos coincidentally:
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“[W]hat stood out to me was the torrential thunder of [Benjamin] Weikel’s drumming, much more prominent on stage than on the album. It actually almost drowned out both his laptop and his partner, but [Brandon] Summers did a fine job of making his musical presence felt with poignant and precise guitar playing. Of course, he is the voice of the band, and the changes he’s gone through are definitely noticeable—vocally, he actually resembles Bob Dylan quite a bit. Maybe that’s the reason there are more than a few songs on the new record that sound like true folk music; acoustic guitar, weighty, lovelorn lyrics and all. Or not, who knows, but in my opinion the formula works.”
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8PM Doors
FREE with purchase of a drink in Moe Bar
Admittance to show is on a first come basis.
21+
Love Is All @ Neumos
| Monday, June 8, 2009 | ||
| 8:00 pm |
Back in January when all this fancy “sun” wasn’t part of my (or your) daily equation, I passed the dreary days and glistened my mood listening to Love Is All. The boisterous and sprightly Swedish dance-punk group—who has single-handedly made the rock saxophone cool again—released their excellent second album A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night to much critical acclaim. Tumbling and deft bass work, breakneck drums, breezy sax, slick, jagged guitars and a harmonious backdrop all dutifully take a back seat to the precocious pixie frontwoman, Josephine Olausson. Musing (nay, erupting) on the unexpected banality of luxury cruises or settling for the last dude at the party or the dizzying effects of weirdo apartment neighbors, Olaussen and her bandmates keep the pedal to the metal. Hundred Things rushes by so catastrophically fast that you’ll barely have time to dance. Barely.
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w/
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8PM Doors
$12 ADV
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“Sea Sick“
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“Big Bangs, Black Holes, Meteorites“
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Kick It in the Sun with Built to Spill
This Friday afternoon whilst the sun is blazing, get an extra dose of face-melt by pedaling on over to the UW for some free rock and roll in the sun. Legendary PNW rockers Built to Spill will be joined by Ra Ra Riot on the fresh green lawn in front of the HUB from 3-7 tomorrow. Though our pals over at RainyDawg Radio tout the show being “open to UW faculty and students”, it’s like, a public institution and stuff.
If they don’t play “Kicked It in the Sun”, I’ll buy you a ham sandwich.
Rye Rye, Champagne Champagne & Tigerbeat @ Neumos June 2nd
| Tuesday, June 2, 2009 | ||
| 9:00 pm |
If your familiar with M.I.A. then you already know who Rye Rye is. Rye Rye is the first artist signed to M.I.A.’s record label N.E.E.T. Her debut album was set to come out in March 2009, but has not been released yet. Rye Rye collaborated with several artists on the LP which is set to feature artwork by M.I.A. With DJ Diplo, she worked on a song called “Wassup Wassup”. “Hardcore Girls” with The Count and Sinden, and “Reasons”. “Hardcore Girls” appears on the Hardcore Girls EP by The Count and Sinden via Domino Records. She has described her sound as “unique, hard-hitting,” saying “anything thrown I can handle it.”
Along with local hero’s Tigerbeat and Champagne Champagne? Oh this is gonna be good.
Double Tee and Neumos Present: Rye Rye, Champagne Champagne, Tigerbeat :: Doors at 8pm :: $12 adv :: Advance tickets on sale now at: www.ticketswest.com, Rudy’s Barbershops, Moe Bar, select QFCs, [Buy Tickets Online] :: 21+ :: MIA’S PROTEGE
Rye Rye, Champagne Champagne & Tigerbeat @ Neumos June 2nd
If your familiar with M.I.A. then you already know who Rye Rye is. Rye Rye is the first artist signed to M.I.A.’s record label N.E.E.T. Her debut album was set to come out in March 2009, but has not been released yet. Rye Rye collaborated with several artists on the LP which is set to feature artwork by M.I.A. With DJ Diplo, she worked on a song called “Wassup Wassup”. “Hardcore Girls” with The Count and Sinden, and “Reasons”. “Hardcore Girls” appears on the Hardcore Girls EP by The Count and Sinden via Domino Records. She has described her sound as “unique, hard-hitting,” saying “anything thrown I can handle it.”
Along with local hero’s Tigerbeat and Champagne Champagne? Oh this is gonna be good.
Double Tee and Neumos Present: Rye Rye, Champagne Champagne, Tigerbeat :: Doors at 8pm :: $12 adv :: Advance tickets on sale now at: www.ticketswest.com, Rudy’s Barbershops, Moe Bar, select QFCs, [Buy Tickets Online] :: 21+ :: MIA’S PROTEGE
Fischerspooner Lights Up The Showbox
You ever hear so much hype about a show that there is no way that it can live up to the expectation preceding it? Well guess what? That was Fischerspooner last night.
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An obviously Memorial Day 3-day-weekend-hung-over Seattle crowd slowly crept into the Showbox market last night to watch the New York based electro-duo throw down dancing, beats, and a lighting show that was… how do you say?… Eh? Don’t get me wrong its actually not Fischerspooner’s fault at all, its everyone who told me how over-the-top awesome the show was going to be that left a pair of impossible shoes to fill. Regardless, the show was pretty spectacular with props, dancers, lights, mirrors, costumes (between every song) and video projected into the backdrop.
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First, before I get into Fischerspooner’s actual performance, let me make a few comments about how the sound person (I don’t know if they worked for the Showbox or Fischerspooner) managed to fuck-up a world class act for at least 2 or 3 songs. And if your wondering why I drop the F bomb so many times throughout its because that’s the only way I can accurately describe in words how shitty it sounded.
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Second song, SECOND SONG! The clipping that was cracking through the speakers was so bad that you could barely stand it. People who don’t understand what was going on were looking around at each other and trying to get into the music but couldn’t, because the extra distorted cracking that was coming out of the mains was almost un-fucking-barable. I kept looking back toward the board to see if there was a look of shear panicking “OMG I’m totally fucking this group out of their show” look on the face of the sound person… but no. The dude was just moving sliders, tweaking knobs, and basically hoping it would go away… which it did, and then came back sporadically throughout the rest of the show. I know its a hard job running sound, but I know for a fact they run 45 minute sound checks for every show hours prior, I dunno what happened, but it fucking sucked!
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Fischerspooner however, did not. Casey Spooner danced and sung around onstage through the entire performance, being catered to, and handed off multiple props and wardrobe changes by his fashionably equal dancers. Four giant mirrors (like if one broke someone is loosing a limb and 100 years bad luck) on wheels were spun into different positions all night as the choreographed show crooned from song to song. Several times Spooner stopped to talk to the crowd, asking if everyone was confused enough yet, and asking what city was he in… to which the crowd cheered and wailed as if nothing that came out of his mouth would ever be offensive enough to stop the glee.
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Soon it came time for the hit single “Emerge” to which he obviously has played so many times he’s over it, but instead of faking a show to the audience, he played up to it. Saying things like “you really want to hear this? This song is so cliche, so 2000, you really want to hear cliche?” Finally yelling “YOU REALLY WANT CLICHE!” and the crowd went nuts… and that was probably the best song of the night.
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Look, its no secret I like electronic music, but if you’ve heard Fischerspooner before and are expecting more than what you hear, your probably going to be disappointed. Some of the material is fairly ambient, so its not as hard hitting as whassay… good hip-hop, but harder than the cool down room at a rave. The lights and entertainment factor were huge for the show, but honestly, they needed a bigger venue. The Showbox stage just was not big enough to really cater to the magnitude of show they were trying to bring. All in all it was really entertaining, but nothing really went “POW” at the show, I kept waiting to be blown away, and I just wasn’t. I do however recommend you see them next time they come through as its definitely entertaining, just not get off your ass and shake it till the sun comes up entertaining.
Heads Will Roll
Have I professed my love for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs yet? I think I have, but I’m ready to do it again. They are, quite simply, one of my favorite bands working today. I love every record they’ve put out: the booze-and-sweat-soaked sexy savagery of Fever to Tell, the rock-heavy grandiose intimacy of Show Your Bones, the jagged rawness of Is Is, and the gothic-disco fever that now dominates their latest, It’s Blitz!. I stand behind any of them. Karen O is probably my favorite woman in music; her style, her persona, her lyrics, her antics, her voice all captivate me to no end. Nick Zinner is one of my favorite guitarists, and isn’t given enough credit for the band’s success. Not only can the little man shred big, but he’s a talented photographer, PETA activist and MicroKorgist (apparently) to boot. Brian Chase gets few kudos for his mechanically brilliant drumming, but his prodigious thumping bulwarks the band.
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Below is the YYY’s brand new video for “Heads Will Roll”. It features a breakdancing, backflipping, moonwalking, showboating werewolf. Coupled with the Handsome Furs zombie-inspired video for “I’m Confused” and the Kills’ vampiric turn in their video for “Black Balloon”, B-movie monsters are apparently all the rage, at least with bands I dig. Zinner commences with a cadaverous synth, while Karen (in a tight red ensemble with a puffy plastic outer shell) emphatically proclaims, as only she can, “Off with yer head! / Dance till yer dead! / Heads will roll (x3) / On the floor!”. “Glitter on the wet street!” as Chase hits a snare topped with…glitter. The aqueous imagery runs deep: “The river’s all wet” and “Dripping with alchemy / the shivers stop shimmering”. Zinner has his Stratocaster now and his icy riff trademarks the song. I’ll stop here, but the ending’s pretty good.
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Heads Will Roll:
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I also thought you might like to watch the video for “Zero”. This one opens with the trio in a dressing room playing to their stereotypes and sees the spazzy frontwoman gleefully prancing around NYC, wreaking innocent havoc. The whole thing exemplifies their goofiness, with a silly shopping cart escapade and tons of confetti.
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Zero:
Handsome Furs, Cinnamon Band and Feral Children June 5th @ Neumos
Next Friday night, at around 8pm, drop what your doing, put cloths on if you don’t have them on (or don’t), and go to Neumos. If you don’t know why? Well I’m about to educate you, Handsome Furs, Cinnamon Band, and Feral Children are going to team up to fight the evil powers of bad music with deliciously bonafide super powered indie rock-n-roll. Well maybe that’s stretching it, but not by much. The Handsome Furs Sub Pop signed duo made up of Dan Boeckner from Wolf Parade and his wife Alexei Perry deliver some serious modernistic messages along with some fantastic songwriting in their latest album Face Control. You can read more about it from LB in our music calendar here. Along with our own local Feral Children, (who’s latest release on Sarathan can be found here!) and touring with HF is Cinnamon Band, this is gonna be a hell of a show.
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Handsome Furs – I’m Confused
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21+; $15 adv; Advance tickets on sale now at: Moe Bar, www.ticketswest.com, select QFCs, Rudy’s Barbershops
Black Joe Tore It Up!
Alright, so first of all, I’m an idiot. Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears were the opening band for Lucero. Not the other way around. But I’ll claim ignorance on this one, on numerous fronts. Didn’t know either band well enough to know who should be supporting who. Oh well, I knew from listening to a sampling of both that they both had a good amount of good stuff to offer. I was not disappointed. Let me just say, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears tore it up! The crowd was a bit slow to fully recognize the whirlwind of a band before them. But damn, when you’re that tight, even single-celled organisms gotta give it up. They ratcheted up the energy with each song and by the end of the set, Black Joe Lewis and his stellar band had the crowd screaming for more. You can’t ask for more than that. An opening band who is not only worth showing up for, but who leaves you wishing for an immediate reprise of a headlining show? Goddamn! They were good tonight.
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And yes, I was surprised–I truly had no idea BJL&TH were the opening band. Regardless, a short break later, Lucero took the stage and launched into their gritty, no-pretense set of well-crafted southern-tinged rock-n-roll. These guys are not pretty boys, they’re not gonna be anyone’s camera darlings. But that’s not to say they’re ugly dudes–they’re just normal dudes. Talented, skilled dudes, no less. And they played to a room of fans and friends. And it only woulda been better if I’d stumbled upon this show at an Elks club in Boise, Idaho, or something. It was that kind of ‘miller beer’ commercial feeling nights. Not commercial as in product, but as in the comfy, common-sense vibe you get from an ol’ skool Miller commercial. Definitely not a bad thing. That’s very nearly the exact type of welcome I’m sure either of these bands could only hope for.
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So it took me a few days to get this up, but I’ve taken the long (and lovely) weekend to listen to each bands’ latest recorded efforts. And no apologies, I immediately love, and need, Black Joe Lewis’ “Tell ‘em What Your Name Is”. This is the serendipity of a perfectly-timed album and season. And with the weather Seattle’s having right now, there could not be a more celebratory album, that also manages to fade comfortably into each dusky evening. Just awesome.
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I’ve given an equal listen to Lucero. Not my requisite 10 full listens, but a good solid listen to the full album. It’s good. Much better than I, or most others, could do. But it doesn’t grab me much–mostly for the same reason the show didn’t stick with me…Ben Nichols’ voice is one flavor of gritty, barroom rockin’ growl. It’s just that I’ve gotten that for years from Social D, Mark Lanegan, and Tom Waits, and Ben just sounds like their younger brother. The band doesn’t seem to stretch out enough to take advantage of Rick Steff (recently of Cat Power’s “The Greatest”) keyboard additions, and despite the legion local Lucero fans, the show didn’t seem that energetic to me. I’d still go see Lucero anytime I stumbled upon them in some convenient, unsuspecting locale. I just wouldn’t go much out of my way. But I bought their latest, and I’ll listen to it. Maybe I’ll regret the missed opportunity of seeing them before I really appreciated them. We’ll see.
Black Joe Lewis & Lucero at The Tractor TONIGHT!
Neil Young sang, “tonight’s the night”, and in that one phrase he expressed both a feeling of looking forward and a kind of resignation to what was likely to go down. But tonight, there’s no need for resignation. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears are rockin’ the Tractor Tavern, and I am looking forward to it! Now if that isn’t enough to get you off your couch, add that opening band, Lucero, are set to bring their amped-up bar band sounds of southern/punk rock to get the crowd warmed up and the night goin’ right.
Tell 'em what your name is!
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Let’s set the scene here–imagine if you will, an opening band that sounds a bit like hometown heroes, Supersuckers, crossed with alt-country faves, Uncle Tupelo. Now I’m gonna come clean–I’d heard of Lucero, maybe even heard some out of the corner of my ear on KEXP, but before this morning–I hadn’t really heard their stuff. But dammit, I like it. And I don’t give a ratsass if you do or don’t. But I’d suggest you give it a listen, and why not do that at the Tractor tonight?!
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Now Lucero is one thing, but Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears, well that’s a whole nother thang entirely. If I told you you could see James Brown & the J.B.’s at the height of their energetic prowess, and you could see ‘em at an intimate little place with great sound and great energy, would you even flinch before saying LET’S GO!!? If you would, please excuse yourself from this evening’s festivities. These bands are the real deal, and the deal tonight costs $17 at the door. Party starts at 9pm, and plan to bring your thirst, cuz these bands are gonna get you movin’ and tah thinkin’ ’bout drinkin’. SPOILER ALERT, tune in to KEXP at 4pm this afternoon to catch ‘em live and in studio.
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Man, the weather’s great, the music’s pumping, the venue’s perfect, it’s Friday of a 3 day weekend. GODDAMN, ain’t life great?! Check ‘em out tonight or be sorry tomorrow. Don’t say Tyrone didn’t tell you so!
