Seattle Subsonic

Seattle Subsonic - Rants

9/11 Experienced from Afar: Korea, Guam, Home

Note: This has nothing to do with music, but given the date, I think we can put the music aside for a moment. There are certainly those who experienced actual loss when those planes crashed into the towers, and my heart goes out to them all on this day, but 9/11 reached out to affect us all, even those who were living overseas and knew no one in New York, who could do nothing but watch helplessly like so many who were actually there.

In April 1998, I accepted a job teaching English in South Korea. It was a one year contract, but I was open to more, two years perhaps, or three, as one can never tell how things will go, and at that time, the idea of “home” was a changing thing for me, a moving target. I’d departed Columbus, Ohio just four weeks earlier and spent twelve days driving west and living in a van. In Seattle, I had no job, no girlfriend, no band. I was staying at a friend’s on a friend’s couch and was completely unattached so it was rather easy to get on that plane even knowing that it wasn’t travel, that I wasn’t a tourist, that I wouldn’t be “home” in a week or two, that unlike the planned exotic vacation with points of interest in mind and itineraries and hotels and return flights not to miss, I had no idea where I was going. It was work, living, life, and I even had the thought somewhere over the Pacific with a beer in one hand and a coffee in the other that perhaps I was doing just that, going home.

I started teaching thus, got into Korean life, ate kimchi, dried squid, raw squid, silkworms, drank lots of soju, vomited lots of soju, and the weeks rolled into months in that first year overseas. My students both young and old wanted me to be more Korean and often told me I was becoming such as I had a healthy appreciation for their beloved kimchi in all its varieties, especially in stew. “Soju over whiskey,” I told my adult students. “You are becoming Korean,” they’d say. And there was bulgogi (fire beef), and rice, rice all the time. I was learning to eat again. “On name alone,” I told my early morning class of businessmen, “give me fire beef over a New York strip.” They laughed, exclaimed, “You are becoming Korean!” I met a woman too, and under the guise of teaching her English we went to bars and lakes and love hotels by the hour where the only English spoken was whispered and was in no way suitable for any classroom, and the rest was Korean. “Han bawn daw?” One more time? I married that woman, gave her my paychecks. She gave me an allowance.”See, you are becoming more Korean!” my private class of semi-lonely housewives told me.

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Drew Grow and The Pastors Wives Return! Friday At Columbia City Theater

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This Friday at Columbia City Theater Drew Grow & the Pastors Wives are back, after having to cancel recent shows due to a car accident that Drew suffered in January. If you haven’t bought your tickets BUY THEM NOW! because it will sell out. Drew Grow is quickly becoming a main NW attraction. Don’t miss your chance to see him in this quaint and gorgeous venue. It should be quite a great evening, with Baltic Cousins, and Portlands AgesandAges. Battle School will be opening this event playing in the Bourbon at 8pm.
9pm // $10 advance – $12 day of show // Tickets

Photo by Hilary Harris

James Murphy V. The Machine

Sorry to be all newsy today, but did you guys read the awesome rant that James Murphy posted on his website? He’s responding to all the “scalping scumfucks” who bought up all the tickets to LCD Soundsystem‘s swan song at Madison Square Garden April 2nd (yes, they’re quitting; get out from under your rock). My favorite line (confirmed by the wife): “then i kind of sat in my house, trying not to worry for 20 minutes, and made a very, very good coffee.” You might need the context for that one, so click on the picture to read the whole thing!

Good lord, I hope he starts a new band soon…

"What The Hell?" – Arcade Fire Wins Grammy For Album Of The Year

Let me first begin by saying that I have not watched one single telecast of the Grammy Awards in literally several years, including last night’s. It rarely has any bearing on my musical sphere of influence and I simply do not care about the “artists” it typically celebrates. I know full well that these “awards” are utterly worthless to audiophiles and high-discerning album consumers and that most of the musicians nominated are those who I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. (Except for maybe Gaga—she’d probably be a gas to lunch with.) I believe the winners are often mindless caricatures who don’t write their own material and amass fame by outselling everyone else and peddling to the lowest common denominators. I realize there were some notable exceptions last night, including the Black Keys, Cee-Lo, and Danger Mouse, but lemme just rant for a moment. I despise Kanye West and his pathological quest for acceptance. I loathe the media-made Justin Beibers of the world and their cattle-brand “entertainment”. I long for the day Detroit openly rejects Eminem and his angry, repulsive rap.

But something odd happened last night, something I didn’t anticipate (literally—I had no idea they were even nominated): Arcade Fire freaking won Album Of The Year for The Suburbs. Did anyone really see this coming? To quote Win Butler as the band took the stage to accept their award, “What the hell?” I guess if you followed “indie” music and were at the same time “stoked” for the Grammys, you might have put two and two together. But…this is shocking; just listen to the band describe it during their backstage press conference:

I can’t really say what the grand scheme ramifications of all this will be, and I can’t say whether this will change my own perception of Arcade Fire. I would prefer that the latter didn’t happen, but as I ruminated last September, that type of switch has happened before. I do believe this band is changing the face of the game, but will it be an immediate, jarring overhaul? Not likely. It will come in small doses, minor victories here and there. (Album Of The Year ranks as a large victory, btw). I doubt very much, however, that the greater American public will suddenly realize all the crap they’re listening to is obsolete and suddenly pick up a Deerhunter record. For fans like me, though, I guess it’s kind of cool in a novel sort of way. Like, “whoa, how’d that shit happen?” Perhaps you might feel smug or proud about it; that’s ok, too.

Some prevailing theories for AF’s win offer a perspective where the industry’s playing field has sunken due to technology, mp3′s and “the iPod effect”. I’m not sure I buy that argument, but I might listen to you try and convince me over a bottle of Chianti. Merge Records should see a windfall from this award, and maybe it gets the rest of their roster some additional exposure. As for the argument that says if they won for The Suburbs, then they should’ve won for Funeral, well, major awards across most entertainment industries rarely work that way. Should “Return of The King” have been the only LOTR film to win Best Picture? No. Should Felix Hernandez have won the Cy Young Award only in 2010? No.

So, as someone who loves this band and loves this album, I will shake my head and enjoy it for a time. The most sense I can make out of it at this point anyway is…what the hell?

Notes on the Open Mic Night at the Skylark Cafe, Lighting Up the Night

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1. I had someone ask me a long time ago, “Why does every metal band have a ballad or two? Why not just play metal?” The obvious answer is of course to try for the radio friendly hit single, and of course, to get laid. But there’s something more to it than that, and the first act I saw at the Skylark Open Mic was a reminder. They were a band, called Falling Blind, two acoustic guitars, bass, and bongo. While setting levels they played a few heavy riffs, chunked on some chords, plucked a thumping groove, all in a manner that made it obvious along with the name that they were usually a metal band, but up there on the Skylark stage without amps they were acoustic, soft, melodic. It was good, and they all sang. I liked that. It wasn’t four part harmonies, but that didn’t matter. It filled the sound. They were a different group, and the reason was obvious. They’re musicians. They like all manner of music. Why should a metal band not write a ballad, or step out for an acoustic night? It’d be nice to see more heavy bands do this. One of my favorite local bands is Witchburn. They’d be great this way. So I tried to explain that to my friend all that while ago, but he didn’t buy it.
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“Bullshit. They just want to get laid.”
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2. It’s great that people get up on stage and try to play, but really, some people just should not do such, EVER. Who told the guy with the out of tune guitar that he had any talent? I want to slap that person for not preventing their friend from getting on stage and making me suffer through fifteen minutes of hell. I played in a band once with a guitar player who liked to say, “If you’re out of tune, you’re out of business.” Agreed. And if you’re out of tune, please stay out of the spotlight.
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3. Only at an open mic night can one see a woman stand alone on stage with nothing more than a bass and her voice and croon about heartache over bass lines that ring out open stings with higher chords very much in the manner of “I Would for You” by Jane’s Addiction. The woman’s name was Lisa. I got her email address, and when she gets a band together, I will give more details.
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4. The second to last act of the night was a hip hop duo. They had music premixed pumping through the PA, and when they started in on their thing, I was reminded that Read the rest of this entry »

The Dilemma With Arcade Fire

Today, I’d like to ruminate on a personal issue that I hope some of you can relate to. You might have noticed, if you peruse the music headlines now and again, that Arcade Fire‘s third album The Suburbs hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart the week it debuted (8/10). Number one! For all I know, it’s still sitting there (I don’t subscribe to Billboard, thankfully). It also hit No. 1 in the UK, Canada, Ireland and Portugal. The band’s second album, Neon Bible, reached as far as No. 2 on that same chart back in 2007, so upper echelon territory is not necessarily a new thing for the orchestral popping Boss-rockers from Montreal.

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But what—in my mind—began back during their initial Funeral tour in 2004, the popularity of Arcade Fire has only escalated with each new album at an alarming rate. They’re playing at Key Arena in a few weeks for chrissakes. And, in the grand scheme of non-LB things, that’s a good thing: a talented band on an “independent” label making meaningful music that the masses can’t get enough of. It’s a small slice of Utopia. But when I boil it down to my personal biases regarding bands and their popularity and my subsequent perception of them, I run into a predicament. A predicament I’ve had a tough time reconciling.

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Let me explain. I have this internal switch that’s triggered the moment (or moments) a band I’ve invested emotionally in “gets big”. I actually don’t like to admit it sometimes, but an appearance on TV or inflating record sales can often be a turn off for me. A “new, streamlined sound” with “pop sensibilities” makes me cringe. Ever the loyal Taurus, how is it that I can turn my back so frivolously, so casually, so flippantly? I write about musicians I like, so shouldn’t I be happy when they finally reel in that bigger paycheck? It happened with Modest Mouse. It happened with the Shins. It might be happening with Interpol.* In my eyes, these bands altered their MO to appeal to a larger audience, to transform in such a way that more people would hear them. As it is, I’m not exactly cool with that, as is probably the case with most diehards.

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You see, I’m not a big huge fan of Neon Bible. Never was. Oh sure, it’s a fine, authoritative testament, but it had nowhere near the impact on me that Funeral had. I thought it anticlimactic and a bit heavy handed. I expected less out of the band going forward, and with their fame skyrocketing, I did what any stilted, overly sensitive music fan would do. I shrugged myself silly and said, to no one in particular, “Good luck with that.” But when I come to The Suburbs, my problematic trigger switch fails to fire. I honestly don’t know if I can say that Arcade Fire “altered their MO”—maybe they did, maybe they didn’t—but perhaps they’ve somehow transcended this imaginary tipping point I’ve invoked. Because as luck and the universe would have it, The Suburbs is an exceptional, moving record, despite the fact that it’s currently blasting out of Best Buy speakers all over Manitoba. It’s graceful and intense and brooding and raw and rollicking and flawlessly composed. In fact, I can’t stop listening to it.

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Of course I can’t, with the band’s popularity higher than ever, with me and my shrugging and my non-expectant poo-pooing. My blatant adoration for the band has utterly been reinstated in the face of prolific record sales and my quandary is again at hand. But how can I shun a band whose music I hold so dearly? How can I ignore such a poignant, persuasive, well-arranged record? The answer is, I can’t. I CAN’T. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD I HAVE TO LOVE A REALLY, REALLY POPULAR BAND. And for once, that’s just fine and dandy.

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* I’ll refrain from any nuanced stories about how these bands disappointed me. I still “care for them”, by and large, but the relationship broke somewhere along the line.

Don't Fuck With The Horse

Haven’t heard me yappin’ about PartMan PartHorse for awhile? Well, lucky for you, the band—er, frontdude Gary Smith rather, is doin’ aaaaaaaalllll the yappin’ necessary in this new “incendiary” video for “Emerald City Dollar Bin”. It’s a new song from their upcoming third record Emerald City Dummies, which will be released June 11 via GGNZLA Records. The song is—how should we say—an “indictment”, albeit a cheeky one, against a slew of local bands that may or may not be friends with PMPH. I’m guessing the former, BUT YA NEVA KNOW.
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So let’s see, who all does Mr. Smith incriminate in this homemade slideshow of hilarious still photos? Well, there’s: the Saturday Knights, HLAK, Idle Times, Red Sea Sharks, Fleet Foxes, Mad Rad (“just a stupid fad”), the Moondoggies, TacocaT, the Dead Science, the Dutchess and the Duke (“make me wanna puke”), Kinski, Past Lives, Broken Knives, Police Teeth, Man Plus, Chk Minus, Helms Alee, AFCGT, Team Gina, Akimbo, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band (who are “bland”, apparently), Blue Scholars, Skullbot, Minus the Bear, and Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head. So, in theory, if your band made this list, the beef has officially been broughten.

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Musically, PMPH has about 20 songs that are better than this one, but the comedic finger-pointing is pure gold. Would we expect anything less from these party-punk brats? The release show for Emerald City Dummies is June 11 at the Funhouse.

Lame

You know what I hate? Not being able to listen to myspace at work all of a sudden. This is, unquestionably and without a doubt, the lamest thing ever. I’m living in Lamesville on the continent Lamerica on the planet Lame in the universe of Lameality. It’s also this:
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Speaking of Kim Thayil, hey, did you hear Soundgarden was back together??

New Band Of Horses Album Art Is Boring

Skyrocketing, Seattle-spurning folk-rockers Band of Horses revealed the artwork for their third album today. It’s called Infinite Arms and will be released on May 18th on a label that is currently TBD (and not Sub Pop). The dudes are curiously still using the calligraphy-type font for their records; which is weird, cuz they (Ben Bridwell) just don’t seem to be the calligraphy type (ha!). BORRRR-ing.

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Haven’t seen/heard any new tunes yet, but they’ll be sure to debut them at Sasquatch! on May 31st.

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Update: Reverb apparently has word that the record will be released in conjunction with three different labels: Brown Records, Fat Possum Records, and Columbia Records.

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What's With All The Super-Random Comments Lately?

We do OK here on Subsonic with the comments: an isolated friendly one here, a gracious one there, some annoying (but somewhat interesting) Russian prostitute spam. Mostly, though, they just come from our little community here, made up of friends, family, and the few faithful regulars. Lately, however, either a season changed or there’s something in the air, because we’ve been attracting some of the more colorful comments we’ve ever seen. Let’s take a look.

1. From Fran Wilson: “Is this Ahndrea Nicole Wilson, daughter of Howard? If so, please contact me. Thank you, Fran” Astonishingly, we get quite a few of these types (just check out this post on Molly Shannon, Molly Shannon), wanting to communicate with someone who’s apparently estranged or ignoring them. Fran, I have no idea if this who you’re looking for; our Ahndrea hasn’t contributed to this website since that post 1 1/2 years ago, and her email last name was not Wilson.
2. From anthony on a Mickey Avalon concert review by Big Rob, who triumphantly proclaimed himself A NEW WRITER and then bailed after just 6 posts: “its ridiculous how many people insult mickey Avalon and never have actually heard a verse he has said . he doesn’t rap about what people want to hear , he raps about his life not worrying about lyrically being the best . Yeah he may be disguising but when u become a hooker u can say whatever u want about your body” Honestly, I know little about Mickey Avalon other than he seems to be some douchebag “rapper” from Hollywood living off the same shallow and vapid MTV fans that think that channel’s programming has only improved over the years. But thanks for your 2 cents, dude.
3. From Matt Wallace (and this one’s a doozy, so I’m only posting portions of it. Go read the entire thing.): “Hey- I was at the Whale show- actually, I think it was my wife chanting, “NOAH AND THE WHALEEEEE!!!!!!! NOAH AND THE WHALEEEEE!!!!!!!”. That night was such a trip for my wife- she was asked to “tone it down!” by the bouncer, and later was kicked out for stumbling. She is very embarrassed and humiliated by the whole thing. I think she wanted to feel the music, dance, and connect with other lovers of NATW, and instead it seems like she irritated and annoyed the other fans. … I hope I am getting your message wrong when you refer to my wife as “what would appear to be NATW’s biggest fan.. and I do mean biggest.” I believe you mean “biggest” in reference to her weight. That is hurtful- I hope she never reads your review as it will likely cause a depressive episode and reinforce an irrational, innate sense of worthlessness that she harbors. I love her very much. Perhaps my wife’s behavior detracted from your experience to such a degree that you felt compelled to make a petty jab. You would be doing me a favor to respond to this. I am hoping for a brief dialog. I am hoping to learn something from our misadventure at Noah and the Whale @ the Crocodile. Sincerely, Matt” Ok, this is kinda sweet, but really? That tiny vague implication will send her into a depressive episode and reinforce an irrational, innate sense of worthlessness? From our worthless blog that barely anybody reads? I think you’re giving us too much credit, Mr. Wallace. Dylan, you better get down here and respond to this guy! He WANTS A DIALOG!
4. From jimmy jazz on a Hardly Art interview almost a year old. C’mon, people, in terms of internet time, that’s like me commenting on the “new” King James version of the Bible: “Too bad thermals couldn’t take the ‘independent’ nature of pseudo-indie Sub Pop when it came time to renegotiate and left for an actual independent label in Portland. Sub Pop and Hardly Art are both half owned by Warner music group. To mythologize them as anything other than this lacks journalistic integrity, detracts from the music communities education/empowerment, and puts truly independent local labels at a disadvantage.” Ok, I see your point, I do; but this type of armchair idealism is unrealistic and impractical. First off, I don’t get why them switching to Kill Rock Stars is “too bad”, seeing as how you apparently loathe any label with financial support. Second, there was no “mythologizing” going on; it was simply a little Q&A with the man in charge of a local record label whose artist lineup is actually quite good. In today’s 21st century music landscape, having a respected label like Sub Pop distribute your record is far more important than whether or not Warner Music has a stake in them. Third, we are not a journalistic operation: we don’t act like one, and we don’t get paid like one. Bother yourself with the rest of the site and you’ll see the majority of posts (mine) are unabashed fan-boyism. I bubble with irrational euphoria. And finally, jimmy jazz, you’ll recall that every album by THE CLASH FOR CHRISSAKES was released by Sony/Columbia/Epic. Last I checked, they were pretty major.