Seattle Subsonic - June, 2010
To the Lighthouse, Bone Cave Ballet, Ohs in my Head
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The Funhouse. I arrived early to get a good seat at the bar. I wanted to settle in for a bit and perhaps read for a spell before the music started. I was there to see Bone Cave Ballet, a band I’d seen once before at an outdoor venue and was curious to catch them in a club in a more intimate and hopefully rocking and loud environment. It was my first time at The Funhouse which according to their website is Seattle’s Premier Punk Club. I couldn’t confirm or deny that, but I did know that Bone Cave Ballet wasn’t exactly punk so this could be interesting.
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I was reading To the Lighthouse which I’ve read a number of times but I just rebought it after I moved to a new apartment and realized my old copy had vanished as things tend to do. So I bought a new one and well I can’t buy a book just to replace an empty spot on the bookshelf so I took it to The Funhouse and read in anticipation of the rock to come. And therein was Mr. Ramsay feeding a wife and eight children on philosophy and repeating, “Someone had blundered,”, Lily Briscoe painting her picture, little James eager for the Lighthouse … or for an axe to deal with his father who dashed his hopes by saying of the weather, “it won’t be fine.” And then there was again Mr. Ramsay later bending over a hen and her chicks in the road and saying, “Pretty-pretty.”
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One might imagine the Gods of Rock and Roll doing such when they see the miniature Jacqui Gilroy ascend the stage and strap on an SG for there is indeed something fine about a woman doing such. And thus bending down from Rock Heaven they point their walking sticks and say, “Pretty-pretty,” in a condescending kind of way, at least until the music starts. Then they’d have to listen for Jacqui and the rest of the group would be doing their best imitation of Lily Briscoe painting her picture and refusing to paint to the fashion of the day, “But this is what I see; this is what I see.”
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And so the music goes at once up and then down. They have dynamics, delayed clean guitars, heavy parts that sometimes want of a little tightening but still balance well with the whole. The heavy parts do not overload either. They’re very controlled. They play Chewing Sand, my favorite, third in the set which makes me fear the rest will be anit-climactic since I love those Oh Oh Oh parts which I have labeled as “trading Ohs” between Gilroy and backup singer Kristie Werner. The harmonies are good. It’s the kind of thing that makes one want to be able to sing well. Jacqui plays guitar with her fingers rather than a pick which gives a plucked sound in the quieter parts and mixes well with the leads played by Everett Sarono. The beginning of Breakfast with Hate evokes thus a very kind of Pearl Jam Present Tense feel but not in a rip off kind of way. It goes a little into PJ territory and then comes back to BCB. Breakfast with Hate also brings back the Ohs with the additions of some Ahhs. I must say these guys like their Ohs and Ahs. I do too.
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They ended the show with Dry Divine which rocks admirably and makes the case for a band with their dynamics and softer elements to still be in a punk club on a Sunday evening. When done there was applause and a few calls for, “One more!” but with three other bands on the bill they couldn’t oblige. “Thanks,” Jacqui said stepping off the stage and unstrapping the SG. That was fine with me because I still had those Ohs in my head, and I wanted to linger on them for a while as I got back into my book in the space between bands. And therein again was Lilly Briscoe’s picture withstanding the critical gaze of the Rock Gods who pointed to a purplish triangle slightly off center and asked, “What do you mean by this?” and being satisfied thus when the band responds in unison, “That’s the rhythm section. You see this point here is James’ head, and this other bit here is Kelly’s kick drum.”
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“Ah, yes, of course,” the Rock Gods reply, “the rhythm section. We liked that distorted bass at the end of the first song. What was that called?”
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“Chrysalis.”
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“Ah, yes, Chrysalis.” They walk off singing, “Oh … Oh … Oh …”
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No, Bone Cave Ballet was definitely not punk, and better for it really. Their next Seattle gig is June 19th at The Josephine
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Dave
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Ladies Night 2.0
Since the original version went over so well, Neumos will have another Ladies Night 2.0 this Thursday, June 10th. Hosting duties will fall upon Ms. Lisa Dank, who played the first version with those crazy cats in Thee Satisfaction and has made modest waves with her flirting, flaunting and frisky electro-dance-pop. There aren’t many local outfits trying to sell what she’s sellin’, and I seriously doubt her role will be exclusively as emcee, but we’ll see.
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Aspiring neo-soul songstress Choklate (who already has two albums under her belt) looks to share headlining duties with electro-folk/trip-hopper Anomie Bell. SSS’s Tom Blog-itt did a nice interview with her in 2009 that you can check out here.
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Luxury AK, Dice, Marissa of Sportn Life Records, and DJ Colby B will also be in the hooooooooooouse. And if you’re into the ladies, this will be the first of two feminine-focused events in June here in Seattle. The other is on the 25th at the Palace Ballroom and you can check out more deets on that one over on our calendar (Sera Cahoone! Wine!).
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Doors at 8pm / $10 adv
Sera Cahoone, Star Anna & Others @ the Palace Ballroom
| Friday, June 25, 2010 | ||
| 7:00 pm |
The Palace Ballroom, otherwise known as the place where Conan O’Brien had his wedding reception, is hosting an interesting night highlighting some intriguing female musicians. Sera Cahoone, Star Anna, Kim Virant, and Betsy Olson, among others, will play a reception-style show that also features wine-tasting from some of the Northwest’s finest female vintners. Sounds like they’ll be singing covers of their favorite woman-written tunes.
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It’s Ladies Night, sophisticated and swanky. I guess “Wine, Women and Song” is an age-old adage, somewhat akin to the more popular “Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll”. Which, taken literally (or scientifically, I suppose), might mean the exact same thing as it’s aforementioned counterpart. I dunno what I’m talking about, just know that this is going on. That’s all I wanted you to know.
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25 bucks at Brown Paper tickets.
West Seattle Summerfest – July 9-11
| Friday, July 9, 2010 | ||
| 5:45 pm | ||
| Saturday, July 10, 2010 | ||
| 11:00 am | ||
| Sunday, July 11, 2010 | ||
| 12:45 pm |
The long-running music and arts festival in West Seattle happens the 2nd weekend in July. Some pretty good music acts are booked, such as Whalebones, Kristen Ward, Memphis Radio Kings, Massy Ferguson, Mark Pickerel & His Praying Hands, and Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter. See the full lineup with set times here.
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Friday July 9th:
Hell’s Belles, Midnight Idols, The Tom Price Desert Classic, The Fixers, Kim Virant, Trombone Cake, and a special, secret, surprise band announced later…
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Saturday July 10th:
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, Mark Pickerel & His Praying Hands, Caspar Babypants, Massy Ferguson, Whalebones, Curtains For You, Kristen Ward, Marc Olsen, Memphis Radio Kings, Gunn & The Damage Done, Bend, Rat City Brass
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Saturday July 10th evening Family Street Dance:
Cherry Cherry (a 10 piece Neil Diamond tribute band)
All Mixed Up (a Cars tribute band)
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Sunday July 11th:
Billie Joe & The Dusty 45′s, Kris Orlowski, Shelby Earl, Capping Day, The School Of Rock All Stars (performing Live Aid Remade, with songs by David Bowie, Queen, Judas Priest, U2 and more)
New Portrait Hangs In The Portland Mayor’s Office
I really wish that the city I am from had a mayor that was half as cool as Sam Adams, the mayor of Portland, Oregon.
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Just installed in Adam’s office is a gigantic portrait of the Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock, wearing a pair of lederhosen, standing in front of what looks like a stuffed boar. Classic.
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The painting was done by Portland artist Alexander Rokoff, whom apparently went to Brock’s home took a nice tour, snapped some photos of his belongings, then painted this masterpiece. Every detail in the portrait is connected to Brock, right down to the knife being held in the hand of the doll that is slumped on the shelf in the background (Brock’s father made knives).
I don’t know whether this is Adam’s way of showing his support for the arts in Portland or this is just his homage to Brock, but it is completely and totally awesome.
This Shit Is BAD
Recently, I’ve been talking about how “Bad” is one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs ever. It just gets me “jacked”, so to speak. I dunno what it is, other than that creeping, climbing bass line, the organ/sax/guitar combo doin’ a funky Watusi all night long, the fey salaciousness of the background vocals on the chorus (“really really bad!”), the way the world has to answer right now just to tell you once again, and, of course, the pioneering music video.
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I’m sure there have been many attempts at recreating the Subway sachet of said video, but below is one of the better ones. To disclose, a real good friend of mine is featured as one of the background dancers (he’s the one in the track suit and pink Gilligan hat). No, he is not a dancer by trade (or hobby, for that matter); he’s a teacher. A teacher at a really, really hip school that decided this was the best way to entertain their students. WTF. Did your educational institution ever do anything this inspiring? FAME alumni need not respond.
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Sasquatch! Sunday: The Crowd, Odds and Ends
The Crowd: I could put up an entirely separate post on the elated delirium that everyone seemed to exude, but I’ll try to keep it short. Walking around, it was clear that most people were hella hammered and high, no doubt attributable to the surprisingly lenient security check upon entrance. I could’ve put a fifth of tequila in my belt and no one would’ve noticed. Other than that, the fact that it was just a really fucking great concert was reason enough to be lit. Feathers, neon warpaint and headbands (i.e. flagrant native culture appropriation) easily won the fashion theme of the weekend, along with superhero/animal costumes (the Green Man was popular). Blame Animal Collective and MGMT. And despite it being sold out, I never really felt suffocated or claustrophobic, as the Gorge is an incredibly huge venue. It did, as a friend pointed out, seem somewhat like a drunken Caucasian refugee free-for-all, as concert-goers paid little attention to normal codes of conduct. You know, other than being just super happy. Crowd surfing seemed to be the trick du jour, and THEY ALL SUCKED AT IT.
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Martina Topley Bird: Background music for our beer stop near the Yeti Stage. Ego-less piano-driven jazz, soul, and dub. She’s famous for working with Massive Attack’s Tricky and being unflinchingly annoyed with the volume of Local Native’s concurrent set over at the Bigfoot Stage.
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The Tallest Man On Earth: Hyper-sensitive skinny beardo with a quiet guitar seemed to draw a fairly sizable crowd. Has one of those warbling Dylan-esque voices and a lot of passion, but it didn’t particularly grab me. This guy knew all the words (I’m not joking).
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Kid Cudi: Ugh, BLECH. I could NOT get into this faux-emo-rap crap. About 10,000 other people disagreed with me, though.
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They Might Be Giants: I know these guys have been around a while, but, once again, not my thing. Too cutesy, too gimmicky, too silly. They played like 4 songs with hand puppets on lead vocals, fer chrissakes. (My wife tells me they do children’s albums now, but still.)
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Bands I Regret Missing (or, D’oh!): YACHT, tUnE-yArDs, Public Enemy, Massive Attack, Vetiver, Avi Buffalo, Simian Mobile Disco. So much to see, so little time.
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Sasquatch! Sunday: Pavement, the xx, MSHVB, Luke Burbank
Yes, despite my gushing, I saw more than Caribou and LCD Soundsystem at Sasquatch! on Sunday. Here I offer other impressions from that day.
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Pavement: The Sasquatch! reunion for these earnestly slacking alt-rock heroes got off on a pretty “pathetic” foot. At least, that’s how Stephen Malkmus described it when a myriad of problems cropped up at the beginning of their set, including the bass guitar shorting out and needing to be replaced. But the band’s tempo and lo-fi brilliance eventually picked up about 4 or 5 songs in, and their sloppy-by-design, gleefully gloomy pop/punk/garage rock shone through. Malkmus seemed in “rare” form—on his birthday of all days (we sung to him)—offering semi-sarcastic guitar solos, agitated interludes and half-slamming his Fender into the stage. Multi-instrumentalist Bob Nastanovich looked to be having the time of his life and was by far the most entertaining of the bunch. I don’t actually own any Pavement records, but I’m pretty familiar with their hits, and songs like “Stereo”, “Gold Soundz”, “Cut Your Hair”, and “Unfair” sounded great from up on the hill.
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the xx: I’ve read a few different accounts lamenting the poor sound during this band’s Bigfoot set, but I have to disagree with that sentiment. Maybe it’s because we got there early and were packed tighter than a sardine tin near the front, but I thought the xx sounded as subtle, sexy, and soulful as ever. Their tunes just creep up and wash over you like a midnight surf. Oliver Sim wore a black turtleneck as usual, only this time it was short-sleeved. NICE. Unfortunately, my self-induced promise of new tunes was not realized, and the young British band kept more or less to the set list they’ve been using since they all blew up several months back. More technical difficulties here in getting their gear set up caused a slight delay, so we missed the last few songs (had to get to LCD Soundsystem on time, of course).
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Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band: This mercurial band was playing when we arrived for the xx, a late minute addition to the schedule when City and Colour canceled. The first two songs I heard were overtly stifled build-ups, and it seems to me the band is trying diligently to bust the mold they shaped with their chaotic first record (listen to the new single here). The quartet was physically and fashionably appealing and ended with a fine song in “Albatross”.
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Luke Burbank: Two words: pleasantly hilarious. I don’t really follow comedy that closely, but apparently this former KIRO radio host has a pretty popular podcast, Too Beautiful To Live. His routine in the Rumpus Room was a welcome respite to a busy day. Highlights included bits about his teenage daughter that he had when he was 17 (“people ask if we’re dating”), strip club Deja Vu’s tagline “100 Beautiful Girls and 3 Ugly Ones”, negotiating with a fan/stalker kneeling auspiciously at the foot of the stage, and getting “iced”. Or, the obligatory chugging of a Smirnoff Ice malted beverage at the precise moment it’s handed to you. At least he himself “iced” someone in the audience, too.
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My Sasquatch! photo gallery here.
Sasquatch! Sunday: LCD Soundsystem
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I think the first two things I said after Caribou’s set was a) how good it was, and b) that I fully expected LCD Soundsystem to one-up them. You know, in the personal enjoyment contest I often hold during such festivals. Well guess what? Apparently I can tell the future. I had high anticipation going in that LCD’s set would end up being my favorite given how much I goo-goo and ga-ga over the band, and James Murphy and his mates did not disappoint. Most people who attended Sasquatch! this weekend thought LCD Soundsystem’s time slot and set length were criminally undervalued. I am one of those people. They went on just after 7 pm, after yet another technical difficulty (a theme for Sunday), and only played for an hour. Might not seem short, but for a band whose average song length is around 6 1/2 minutes and has the ability to elicit large, unabashed amphitheater dance parties, it felt painfully truncated. I mean, during “All My Friends”, which ended their performance, nearly all 15 or 20 thousand people who were watching were moving and dancing in the same freaking direction, practically choreographed! As ridiculously shown below!
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It actually felt special, knowing everyone—all the urban neon-hippies, all the Chaco’d Gorge vets, all those Canadians in superhero costumes—were on the same drug and drinking the same tonic and buying absolutely whatever LCD was selling. Easily the high point of my day.
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The first song they played was “Us v. Them”, arguably the best track from Sound of Silver. Nancy Whang (keys/vocals), Tyler Pope (bass), David Scott Stone (wicked guitar), Gavin Rossum (gear) and Pat Mahoney (drums) all preceded Murphy onto the stage and it provoked this thought: I kind of feel like Murphy is our generation’s Dean Martin, a talented and entertaining boozehound crooner who commands an audience, only he writes club hits instead of lounge hits. Maybe it was the slacks and suit jacket. Anyway, that first song must’ve lasted 10 minutes. “Drunk Girls” came next and then “Pow Pow”, with Murphy taking some liberties with the lyrics. I filmed his mid-song FACT Magazine rant.
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I was suprised to see the self-titled album get so much play, especially in lieu of new tracks from Happening. Case in point, the set list included “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House”, “Tribulations” and “Yeah”, all rip-roaring dance tunes that undeniably produced a joyful wave of jumping, jiggling, and jovial jostling. Murphy obviously wanted to get the party started (Stephen Malkmus commented during Pavement’s set on all the champagne they were drinking). The goofy love ballad “I Can Change” also made the set list. One final note: Stone’s guitar playing was kind of a game-changer, adding some real fire to LCD’s fun volcano.
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Sasquatch! Sunday: Caribou
As I mentioned last week, I opted just for one day of Sasquatch! mania (and mania it was) this year, Sunday. The wife, me and our one compadre left Seattle early Sunday morning and were treated to a rare traffic-less journey pretty much all the way to our staked lawn spot on the hill above the main stage. Other than a short wait at the ticket entrance, sailing was smooth. Given the murderous conditions I’ve read about driving over Friday night (~8 hrs from Vantage to Amphitheater), I’m glad we waited. I also read about a preposterous 27-mile backup on I-90 near Ellensburg Monday afternoon. I would literally kill myself.
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I thought about putting all my thoughts into one post, but I quickly realized that there was just too much for that and opted to break it up. Stay tuned for more.
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First up, Caribou. This was the first set I saw, and the reason I wanted to be there on time. Good lord, they were awesome. I suppose my heightened state may be clouding my opinion (get used to it), but I was (dance)floored at how organic and seductive Dan Snaith’s latest tunes came across on stage, especially during one of the windiest points of the day (an early indication that the mainstage sound was on point). Having never seen Caribou live, I wasn’t quite sure how it would play out. Snaith, in bright orange socks sans shoes, bounced between his Korg, a drum kit, the mic and various hand percussion. I expected some sort of cool, calculated cut chemist given his mathematics background and ensuing high-brow catalog of music production, but he was as affable and effusive as could be. Jovial, smiling, and offering high fists to the crowd. He was tightly surrounded by a very British-looking band—a guitarist, bassist, and drummer who were (necessarily) lock-tight in their collaborations.
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They played about 7 or 8 songs in their allotted hour, all from the eureka!-filled album Swim. I really, really like this album but I’ve been trying to reconcile my love of the wispy psych-pop of Andorra with Swim‘s liquid obsidian house beats. I reconcile no more. “Leave House” was first, with its insistent cowbell and ominous synths getting the tripped-out, war paint crowd moving right away. Where the album tends to dissipate into the ether, Snaith and his three mates pounded it straight into our ears. Next came “Kaili”, one of several songs where Snaith used his swimming experiences as inspiration to vacillate the sound between the left and right speakers, mimicking the way water plugs/leaves your ears when under/over water. That particular effect was lost, but I loved seeing Snaith belt out the lyrics on this one.
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The very Silent Shout-sounding “Found Out” was played, with those sleigh bells and that plucky guitar line cutting through pretty much everything else. So good; that guitar makes it almost funky. “Bowls” was a thoroughly-explored jam session that really brought the song out of its shell. His bassist sang well on the exultant “Jamelia”. They played “Odessa” somewhere in the middle of the set (I expected it to close). You can watch a pretty decent video of it I shot below (it’s a bit over exposed). The song is obviously excellent and there was nothing to detract from that, but Snaith really endeared himself to me with his recorder solo mid-song. You hardly ever see that and I just thought it was super cool. That and those four varied pulses that echo throughout the song’s chorus—yes! If there was music that sounded like it was created by an artistic mathematician, Swim is it.
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The set ended on a high note with a rousing, expanded look at the “Sun”, sort of a neo-primitive, solstice-hippie rave-up (hyphens!). Most of the lyrics are contained in the title, and despite the clouds reigning supreme for the day, Snaith did his best to summon the great orange orb of life. Entrancing doesn’t even begin to describe it.
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My Sasquatch! photo gallery here.
Beyond Ipanema: A Story of Brazil’s Musical Exports
Hey, we have a guest writer! Written by my friend Heidi ….
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Today I had the pleasure of viewing Beyond Ipanema at the Seattle International Film Festival. This film is a music documentary that transcends barriers of classification due to the fact that is less a love letter to Brazil than it is a sharing of musical ideas and influences between the United States and Brazil. Many musicians who became well known and influential for their impact on the styles had to do so outside of their own country to be recognized on a larger scale. Carmen Miranda was the first major influence from Brazilian culture to impact Hollywood and was a smashing success as an export from Brazil to the United States. Next came the Tropicalista movement, and musician David Byrne, unearthed many names from Brazil including Tom Ze.
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“I found myself becoming more intrigued by how these artists all influenced each other and the evolution of their craft.”
This was all leading up to the biggest explosion….Bossa Nova. This came in to its popularity when American Jazz was really on its way out due to the increasing popularity of rock music by the Beatles and Rolling Stones. This Bossa Nova had a bass line that incorporated new rhythms that nobody had heard before and it took off like lightning! Sergio Mendes, Caetano Velosa, Joao Gilberto and the Mutantes were all huge exponents of this nuevo style. It was also really beyond music in that it was about politics, culture, technology and the development of a real “world music” — whereas before it seemed to be music you couldn’t fit into any category. There are so many musicians I learned about in this film that I would like to discover for myself through hearing their music.
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The film also introduces viewers to the Frederick Douglass Academy, where Samba is part of the regular music program. Hundreds of students have mastered Brazilian rhythms under the guidance of (non-Brazilian) music teacher Dana Monteiro. From the regular classes, a group of about 40 kids was formed and they have been performing under the name Harlem Samba. The public high school has also organized educational trips to Brazil, where students were exposed to Samba masters.
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Director, Guto Barra, does a fantastic job of melding together the different and varied stories of Brazil’s musical exports and tells us about the many projects that take place when people from different cultures get together to create new styles. Actually, this is when the most fascinating part of the story takes place. I found myself becoming more intrigued by how these artists all influenced each other and the evolution of their craft. Now with the advent of the internet and the global nature of our world it is not so necessary to travel so far to get the real influence of the culture. I recall a line in the film where someone said (I don’t recall who it was), “Geography is not so important now but rather it is the artist’s essence”. That stayed with me.
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There’s one more showing of this film, June 4 @ 5 pm at the Kirkland Performance Center
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Beyond Ipanema: An Exploration of Brazilian Music at the SIFF
| Saturday, May 29, 2010 | ||
| 9:00 pm | to | 11:00 pm |
| Monday, May 31, 2010 | ||
| 1:00 pm | to | 3:00 pm |
| Friday, June 4, 2010 | ||
| 5:00 pm | to | 7:00 pm |
The Seattle International Film Festival is in full swing. And with showers in the forecast all weekend, going to a movie sounds like the perfect treat. This coming Monday, aka Memorial Day – I’ll be heading on over to the SIFF Cinema to check out Beyond Ipanema. It’s an exploration on how Brazilian music has made waves across the global culture. Also what’s so great about seeing a SIFF film is that the director, Guto Barram will also be in attendance. Rainy Day, Brazilian music… I’m sure I’ll be craving a Caipirinha after!
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More from the SIFF website:
“For decades, music has been the prime cultural export of Brazil—not something that can be said about just any country. From samba and bossa nova to tropicalia and baile funk (as recently documented in SIFF 2009 film Favela On Blast), Brazilian music has made waves globally since the 1940s when Hollywood went bananas for Carmen Miranda and her fruity hat. After Miranda hit the stage, Astrud Gilberto’s breezy hit, “The Girl from Ipanema” launched a bossa nova craze that infiltrated suburban cocktail hours all over America in the 1950s. And, more recently, a renewed interest in tropicalia hit the indie rock sphere, from inspiring Beck’s album, “Mutations” to the reunion of Os Mutantes at the Pitchfork Music Festival in 2006, playing to a crowd of thousands of dancing hipsters. Beyond Ipanema features interviews with musicians like David Byrne, Caetano Veloso and M.I.A. for a thorough, stylish, and breezy exploration of Brazilian music and the waves it’s made in global culture.”
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Screenings:
SIFF Cinema
May 29, 2010 9:00 PM
May 31, 2010 1:00 PM
Kirkland Performance Center
June 4, 2010 5:00 PM
