Seattle Subsonic - October, 2009
The Formula Of The Raveonettes
By now, you’re either a Raveonettes fan or you’re not. You’ve either been sucked up into the hurricane or dutifully dodged it. Sounds trite, right? Maybe, but not entirely. Since 2003, the Danish duo (Sune Rose Wagner now spends most of his time in NYC and L.A.), has concocted four increasingly addictive albums that don’t differ terribly from one single-dose narcotic formula. That formula, for those caught unawares, is essentially created by dissolving an infatuation with lovesick, pre-hippie American pop into a trashy, drug-and-sex induced obsession with 80′s shoegaze storms. Maybe my favorite piece of trivia, in case you haven’t yet unearthed this little fact, is that their name is a combined salute to Buddy Holly‘s version of “Rave On!” and sweetie-pie 60′s girl group the Ronettes. Their name wins copious style points, let alone the leather-jacket-wearing, motorcycle-riding, pinup-loving image they played up in their early years.
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Wagner and his cohort, Sharin Foo (1/4 Chinese), suffered from inconsistency on their first two records until they hit pay dirt with 2007′s Lust Lust Lust. That record, with its ‘for whom the bell tolls’ kind of dread and incredible guitar ecstasy, turned on a light bulb in my head. “This shit is good,” I said to myself. Multiple times. Over and over. Its candy-coated arsenic (“You Want the Candy”, anyone?) ended up placing fifth in my illustrious ‘Favorite Non-NW Albums of 2008‘. No lie.
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So, no, the new LP, In and Out of Control, doesn’t bring any new toxins to the table, but Wagner and Foo sure as hell know what they’re doing. And they sound good doing it. Right off the bat, with “Bang!”, they’re singing (in the androgynous dual-harmony style they’re known for) about teens having summer sex. While the production is cleaner this time around, there are plenty of noise and reverb indulgences to swirl around their surf and garage tendencies. “Gone Forever”, something of a fist-pumping anthem to broken love, is a prime example. In an album with eleven tracks, its the 7-8-9 trio that really stands the album on its feet. The heartfelt “Suicide” encourages troubled young ladies to ditch the route of self-demise and run off to the big city for some trashy fun instead. “Your boyfriend’s mean / And your mom’s a bitch” is the exposition.
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The Raveonettes haven’t written many dance songs, but I’d wager “D.R.U.G.S.” is their entrant into that competition. Maybe a dance club in a John Hughes flick, though, with its stark “whoa oh oh whoa oh oh” refrain and morbid depictions of users. Sometimes I wonder what their actual stance on drug use is. I do know, however, they advocate “Breaking Into Cars”, which happens to be an awesome song about young lust as a catalyst for high-speed theft. And while chronicling the achy bliss of obsessive adolescent love is a generally accepted (read: common) principle in songwriting, Foo and Wagner have perfected their execution of it. From my seat, the tonic is sweet.
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Catch the band at Neumos next week, Friday November 6th, with the Crocodiles. I think it’ll be good. Get tickets.
Noah and the Whale @ the Crocodile
NOAH AND THE WHALEEEEE!!!!!!! NOAH AND THE WHALEEEEE!!!!!!!
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This was the chant heard over and over throughout the night. Screamed by what would appear to be NATW’s biggest fan.. and I do mean biggest. For a folk show their was plenty of drunk “fans” screaming and starting fights within the crowd. Something you would expect more from a rock show. At one point Charlie (lead singer and guitar) was asking fans to get in between a couple of girls about to throw punches in the middle of their set… when did folk music get so hard core?
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Other than those few crazy people the show was great. NATW set was fantastic. I was really hoping that they would be showing their new film “the first days of spring” since it is accompaniment to their second album. That would have been amazing to have a live score to the film… Next time.
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Hear more Noah and The Whale @ their Myspace here
Seattle Rock Orchestra Plays Arcade Fire @ Fremont Abbey
This is a rare occasion when the announcement of a funeral is a good thing. It is a night when the event will represent a rebirth rather than death. On, Tuesday November 17th the Seattle Rock Orchestra is deconstructing The Arcade Fire’s iconic album “Funeral” and recomposing it in it’s entirety to be performed by 50 piece orchestra at the Fremont Abbey. Not only is this a great opportunity for the chance to to dip into the classic side of Seattle’s music talent pool, but “Funeral” also lends itself perfectly to the genre with it’s hugely theatrical makeup.
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On stage will also be a backing band and a laundry list of guest vocalists including Matt Bishop (Hey Marseilles), Ian Bell (Black Swedes), Jima (the Purrs), Alessandra Rose (The Kindness Kind), Matt Shaw (With Friends Like These), Jasen Samford & Danny Oleson (Exohxo) & Shenandoah Davis.
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Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm.
Fremont Abbey – 4272 Fremont Ave N.
All Ages
Presale tickets can be purchased online on the Fremont Abbey blog for $12 (general) and $10 (students/seniors), or for $15 at the door. Purchasing tickets in advance is recommended as past shows have sold out and tickets have not been available at the door.
A Funeral to Look Forward To
This is a rare occasion when the announcement of a funeral is a good thing. It is a night when the event will represent a rebirth rather than death. On, Tuesday November 17th the Seattle Rock Orchestra is deconstructing The Arcade Fire’s iconic album “Funeral” and recomposing it in it’s entirety to be performed by 50 piece orchestra at the Fremont Abbey. Not only is this a great opportunity for the chance to to dip into the classic side of Seattle’s music talent pool, but “Funeral” also lends itself perfectly to the genre with it’s hugely theatrical makeup.
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On stage will also be a backing band and a laundry list of guest vocalists including Matt Bishop (Hey Marseilles), Ian Bell (Black Swedes), Jima (the Purrs), Alessandra Rose (The Kindness Kind), Matt Shaw (With Friends Like These), Jasen Samford & Danny Oleson (Exohxo) & Shenandoah Davis.
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Since December of 2008 the Seattle Rock Orchestra has accompanied local artists Jeremy Enigk, Jesse Sykes, Damien Jurado, Rosie Thomas, and bands Black Swedes and Grand Hallway. Comprised of some of Seattle’s best professional & amateur classical and pop musicians, SRO collaborates with bands and artists to produce one-of-a-kind symphonic shows. SRO is directed by bassist and orchestrator Scott Teske.
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Exohxo opens the night with a set of fully orchestrated indie-pop tunes incorporating classic stings and piano with the typical rock trio of guitar bass and drums.
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Check out the vid from Seattle Show Gal for an idea of what you can expect from SRO performing at the Abbey with Grand Hallway.
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Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm.
Fremont Abbey – 4272 Fremont Ave N.
All Ages
Presale tickets can be purchased online on the Fremont Abbey blog for $12 (general) and $10 (students/seniors), or for $15 at the door. Purchasing tickets in advance is recommended as past shows have sold out and tickets have not been available at the door.
Le Loup And Nurses @ Chop Suey
There’s a transformation that occurs between studio and stage for pretty much every band. Of course, there are those that replicate their studio sessions on stage very well, and vice versa. On the flip side, there are also many bands who have trouble replicating their live sound on record, and vice versa. Some bands simply don’t give a rat’s ass. Le Loup seems to fall into one of the two latter categories, and I’m pretty sure it’s a case of having a difficult time translating what’s a very lovely and spacious record in Family to a small venue like Chop Suey.
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Last week, I had some nice things to say about Le Loup‘s sophomore record; today I have some not so nice things to say about their recent performance. Family is a record crafted and built with significant beauty and space between its separate parts, floating, lilting, pounding and finally coalescing into a very enjoyable sum. Unfortunately, the album didn’t translate well to the stage. Not from my vantage point, anyway. From the first song, “Saddle Mountain”, through the next several including “Beach Town”, some older ones, “Grow”, and “Family”, each instrument was muddled and the spirit was drowned in a mess of a mix. There seemed to be too many (guitar) samples for a band with five guys, and Sam Simkoff’s vocals were utterly lost. They never quite hit the sweet spot until the set ending triage of “Forgive Me”, “Sherpa”, and “A Celebration”, which was fun and clearly indicative of their potential.
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The set from Nurses was a bit different. I’ve listened to their latest Apple’s Acre a handful of times, but had never seen them live. Color me impressed. The transients who now call Portland home run a three-man operation of soulful psych-pop and jittery freak folk. Extra points for ample RATATAT-esque robotic jungle flourishes. Aaron Chapman provides the majority of the Gibb-style vocals while strumming a beat up old guitar. John Bowers sported a hippie headband and bounced between an old Rhodes electric piano and a card table full of noise-making gear. James Mitchell minded his own drum business off to the side. There were no obvious deviations from the recorded versions of their songs, letting their bubbly, off-kilter melodies shine through. The eclectic crowd bobbed and waved along with the music, especially the fun and wandering “Man At Arms” and the old-timey jazz serenade of “Lita”. Check ‘em out.
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More pics here. Big ups (people say that, right?) to Nikki Benson over at Seattle Show Gal for the tickets. We’re buds. Would it kill ya to check out her website once in awhile?
Minus The Bear's New Single
Forgot to post this a few weeks ago. It’s Minus The Bear‘s new single, “Into The Mirror” from their upcoming untitled 4th album. You can listen over at imeem. I like the keyboard.
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The album’s press release from Suicide Squeeze after the jump/cut/fold/whatever:
You'll Love KEXP's Yule Benefit 2009
This year marks the 7th annual Yule Benefit show, Saturday, December 12th at Neumos. The organizers at KEXP must have been listening because the night is chock-full with local Subsonic favorite artists with performances by The Thermals, The Cave Singers, The Builders and the Butchers, and Grand Hallway. Its like a winter wonderland dream! Except inside…without any snow…and much noisier. But that’s a good thing.
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Tickets will be available at ticketswest.com but KEXP is doing a special presale on Monday Oct 26th (yesterday). I know I’m a day late, but not to worry, there are still lots of tix available for you and yours. Just head here and get to clickin’
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The show is 21+, all proceeds benefit KEXP, and sponsored by Car Toys, Whitefish Mountain Resorts and Skyy Vodka
Broadcast, ATLAS SOUND @ Neumos on Halloween!
I suspect—with the aid of several clues, including interviews, records and blog posts—that Bradford Cox has a rampant imagination. The kind of imagination that would make inventive children jealous. And in some ways, the Deerhunter frontman and Atlas Sound wizard still creates his music through the kaleidoscopic mind of a child, albeit a melancholic one. It’s this sense of sadness and internal strife, stemming from an awkward, diseased (he suffers from Marfan Syndrome), sexually confused childhood, that has manifested itself quite plainly in much of his work. But he also has that creative brain power we all crave, and you know what that imagination is good for? Dreams: those blurry, nebulous brain reflexes that confound us during our sleep and enchant us during our day. Logos, the new offering from Atlas Sound, essentially plays out like one shifting, streaming dreamscape, filled with a thousand different snippets of sound and image, unfamiliar characters making brief appearances, jarring jubilation and drifting despondency, all buoyed by Cox’s trademark hypnotic rhythms and doo-wop desires. Listen/read more here.
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Atlas Sound performs on Halloween (!) with the inimitable Broadcast, an extremely “curious” bill at Neumos. I haven’t listened to much Broadcast since the excellent lo-fi electro-psych of Tender Buttons, though word on the street is that their recent collaboration with the Focus Group is pretty bizarro. It’s entitled (get this) Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age. Check out the audio trailer below and read a bit more about the project here; it’s a vintage radio show-sounding amalgam of lyrics, music and found-sound. Seems like a perfect fit for a Halloween show. Other band Selmanaires have been providing backing band duties for Cox on this tour and will play a set of their own. Maybe Broadcast’s Trish Keenan will provide vocals for Atlas Sound’s “Quick Canal” in Laetitia Sadier’s stead?
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Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age Audio Trailer
[audio:http://warp.net/scr/download.php?id=772]
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Doors at 8pm
$13.50 Adv
Logos Is Dreamy
I suspect—with the aid of several clues, including interviews, records and blog posts—that Bradford Cox has a rampant imagination. The kind of imagination that would make inventive children jealous. And in some ways, the Deerhunter frontman and Atlas Sound wizard still creates his music through the kaleidoscopic mind of a child, albeit a melancholic one. It’s this sense of sadness and internal strife, stemming from an awkward, diseased (he suffers from Marfan Syndrome), sexually confused childhood, that has manifested itself quite plainly in much of his work. But he also has that creative brain power we all crave, and you know what that imagination is good for? Dreams: those blurry, nebulous brain reflexes that confound us during our sleep and enchant us during our day. Logos, the new offering from Atlas Sound, essentially plays out like one shifting, streaming dreamscape, filled with a thousand different snippets of sound and image, unfamiliar characters making brief appearances, jarring jubilation and drifting despondency, all buoyed by Cox’s trademark hypnotic rhythms and doo-wop desires.
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Atlas Sound’s previous record, and Deerhunter’s Microcastle to a large extent, revealed the Athens-bred musician to be astonishingly adroit at wrestling with and reconciling his internal struggles in the public eye of the music world. As if we were all flies on his bedroom wall. Here on Logos, Cox is still listening primarily to his own head and heart, rather than his critics or his surroundings, but has generously waved us inside with a slight smile.
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The first two to show up are the unfamiliar characters of Noah Lennox of Animal Collective (“Walkabout”) and Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab ( “Quick Canal”) and help create two of the album’s most stunning songs. “Quick Canal” is an 8 1/2-minute cloud ride with a foggy, entrancing beat, a comforting white-noise squall and Sadier’s heavenly vocals. Everything about it reminds me of white billowy masses of suspended water. The recurring line “I looked in the dirt / and found wisdom is learnt” rings crushingly true. “Walkabout” is almost completely different, with a bright and bouncy keyboard paving the way for a 50s-inspired pop tune. Lennox (aka Panda Bear) illustrates his own fixation with adolescence during his lead vocal turn, singing “to go ahead and change your life / without regard to what is said / and everyone must do the same / you find yourself lost again / forget the things you left behind / for looking back you may go blind”. Written by both Cox and Lennox, these lyrics are evidence that maybe, just maybe, things are looking up.
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“Shelia” is similar in mood to “Walkabout”, with a contagious hook and a message that’s heartbreakingly sweet: “Sheeeee-lia! / we’ll die alone together”. There’s a somber beauty that is illuminated in the guitarless “Washington School”, with a glockenspiel (one of Cox’s favorite instruments) twinkling and shimmering randomly behind a keyboard syncopation. As if singing while sinking to the bottom of an ocean, Cox continually pleas “Shine a light on me”. It’s an easy request to grant.
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Atlas Sound performs on Halloween (!) with the inimitable Broadcast, an extremely “curious” bill at Neumos. Other band Selmanaires have been providing backing band duties for Cox on this tour and will play a set of their own. Get tickets.
Grand Hallway, Maldives Puget Sound Benefit @ the UW HUB
