Last week we shared two new Maldives songs with you as part of the inaugural Doe Bay Session and today we’re happy to share another with you courtesy of KEXP at No Depression Fest.

We were treated to a similar acoustic solo rendition of the brand new song after filming The Maldives Doe Bay Session, but Jason asked us not to film it. We are so glad he changed his mind and let KEXP capture it. Around our picnic table at Doe Bay, a small audience sat silently stunned after he finished the delicate tune, before erupting in hoots, hollers and whistles. For a moment, we were dumbfounded by what we’d just heard … was it possible that The Maldives and Jason Dodson’s best songs are yet to come? All signs point to yes and “Muscle for the Wing” is a strong contender for the best thus far.

Take a listen for yourself and then see the band perform this Saturday at 3:00 on the Starbucks Stage (see: Mural Amphitheater) during Bumbershoot.

Drew Grow and The Pastors Wives on the trail ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

By asking bands to come and play some songs in the forest, we were asking them to strip their songs down to their most fundamental elements, to distill them into their most concentrated existence. For some bands that means a single person. For others, the emotion portrayed is more complicated than a single person can fully express.

Drew Grow and the Pastor’s Wives had to compromise nothing, in that it’s the human power of their songs that are the real strength. Amidst the boughs of 150 foot tall trees, in the middle of the trail, Drew, Seth, Jeremiah, and Kris proved they’re not simply a great rock band on stage, they’re intensely present and able musicians in any setting. The mossy surroundings would amplify the voices across the resort and deliver this Doe Bay Session to everyone as it happened, foreshadowing the incredible showing the band would deliver the following day and the larger impact their presence at the festival would amount to. It was glorious.

The Doe Bay Sessions - Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives from Sound on the Sound on Vimeo.

Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives play Columbia City Theater September 11th with Pablo Trucker and Yuni in Taxco. You can purchase tickets here and we recommend you do so early.

Watch the first Doe Bay Session with The Maldives.

Lemolo ::: Photo by James Elliot Bailey

Lately, I’ve found myself measuring my affection (and occasional addiction) to bands via how long I keep their bandcamp/facebook/chosen dissemination site open in my plethora of tabs. Double the points (for added difficulty and inherent distaste) if its a myspace page that keeps my attention.

By this measure, there’s few local artists I’m enjoying more than Lemolo, whose myspace player and YouTube videos have been pretty much on repeat in a never closed tab for nearly a week. When the rest of the blogosphere couldn’t get enough of Sufjan’s Bandcamp, I couldn’t bare to break myself away from Lemolo’s loveliness. A little sister to the sparse but potent blues of Cat Power’s Moon Pix and local songstress Kaylee Cole’s melodic melancholy, Lemolo’s songs leave the listener aching.

And in my case, Lemolo has left my aching for more. Lucky for me, the band is in the midst of preparing a CD single due out mid-September and they have a number of upcoming local dates. Check them out September 9th at the Tractor Tavern with Drew Victor and Lizzie Huffman or September 25th at the Q Cafe with Pablo Trucker and Conservative Dad. If you’re going to give Lemolo a first listen before catching them live, I recommend watching the video below before heading over to their myspace and queuing up “Buttons,” “Old Fashioned Lover” and “Renegade.” Okay, so basically all of them. But be forewarned, you might not close that Myspace page for a few days.

The Maldives Doe Bay Session ::: Photo by Dylan Priest

There was only one way to properly begin The Doe Bay Sessions, with a band who helped Doe Bay Festival get its start: The Maldives. Seattle’s own wrangler headbangers are the only band to have played all three Doe Bay Festivals and they hold the only life-long invitation to play.

The Maldives are more than Doe Bay veterans, they also embody the spirit of community and fun that permeate the festival. Many of the most memorable moments of Doe Bay, be it the Donald Duck rap battles, slip’n’sides, or drinking tequila out of sippy cups, were organized or led by a Maldive. Thanks to their sunny afternoon session, perched atop a mossy knoll off the trail, the Maldives were certainly responsible for some of our favorite Doe Bay memories. And we are so happy we get to share them with you today.

Be sure to check back every Tuesday from now through October to see whose Doe Bay Session we share next.

The Doe Bay Sessions - The Maldives “I’m Gonna Try” from Sound on the Sound on Vimeo.

Doe Bay Sessions - The Maldives “Go Back to Virginia” from Sound on the Sound on Vimeo.

It is hard to fathom that Bumbershoot is next weekend, but it is. Even if Seattle’s summer never fully got started, the event that signals its end is just around the corner. Despite boasting legends and international stars as headliners, one of the sets I’m most looking forward to is the homegrown Round. The Round is bringing its DIY ethos and celebration of Seattle’s rich artistic community to Bumbershoot on September 4th between 4:30-6pm.

Sharing the stage with Tomo Nakayma and Shenandoah Davis of Grand Hallway will be Tacoma’s sweetly earnest songbirds, Goldfinch. To celebrate and promote the Bumbershoot Round, the band made this stunning video at sunset, which also features a brand new Goldfinch song.

So, when you’re planning your Bumbershoot schedule, I highly recommend you take a break from the bustle and buzz and sit awhile with Goldfinch and the rest of the Round performers. It’s a single set that will encompass Bumbershoot’s multi-faceted celebration of the arts: music, poetry and art.

Grand Opening 7/3/10 -The Whore Moans from Columbia City Theater on Vimeo.

We don’t give a fuck what they call themselves, we love Jason, Jonny, Ryan and Nikki. This video, filmed after the Whore Moans final show at Columbia City Theater shows us about a hundred of the reasons why we do. Here we recap a few of the most important reasons:

1. They slay on stage.
2. They are hilarious. “Did you hear that Stranger Bloggers?”
3. They describe playing Columbia City Theater like “doing a supermodel and finding out she’s not stuck up.”
4. They are still Seattle’s finest screamers.
5. They are doing their part to keep their promise of making sure Columbia City Theater remains an awesome rock venue for a hundred years to come, by taking the stage again on September 10th for a Sound on the Sound Presents show.
6. They are better every time we see them and we’ve seen them more than probably any other local band. We are positive this will be true in their new incarnation as well.

Hope to see you September 10th when Hounds of the Wild Hunt, Hobosexual and Baltic Cousins play a “Bill from the Ashes” at Columbia City Theater. You can pre-purchase your tickets HERE.

Whore Moans @ CCT - White Noise from Columbia City Theater on Vimeo.

The Head and The Heart Sunset Session ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

As you will soon read here on Sound on the Sound, Doe Bay 2010 was one of the most magical experiences of our lives. (Narrowly edging out last years’ Doe Bay Fest for “best weekend ever.”) Not only were we surrounded by friends, family and incredible local music in one of the most idyllic and jaw-droppingly beautiful places you’ll ever see, we also spent the weekend working on an exciting project we’ve spent much of 2010 organizing: The Doe Bay Sessions.

The initial idea was to rent a yurt during the Doe Bay Festival and record acoustic sets with a couple of our favorite bands who were playing. We pitched the idea to the fine folks who organize and who own Doe Bay and from day one to the last day of shooting, they all bent over backwards to make sure the project could happen. What started as a typical DIY Sound on the Sound project turned into a professional video shoot inspired by the work of Vincent Moon and Yours Truly, complete with videographer Tyler Kalberg on the camera and sound guy extraordinaire Chris Proff manning our “mobile” sound set up. What we thought would be a couple yurt bound sessions, turned into 10 different video shoots all over Doe Bay with some of the best bands in Seattle.

For those of us who were a part of it and those of you who stumbled on to our sessions while hiking the trails or following the sound of the songs, The Doe Bay Sessions felt like a festival within the festival. Over the next 10 weeks we will be releasing videos featuring a candlelit session from Fences, The Head and the Heart (and the Doe Bay All-Stars) singing down the sun, Ravenna Woods using trees for percussion, a mid-trail serenade from Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives, The Maldives on a mossy knoll, picnic table perching with Hey Marseilles and many more.

We are so excited to share these videos with you and to usher in a new chapter of Sound on the Sound content. For now, we wanted to share a few stills from the sessions, as well as offer our sincerest thanks to Tyler, Chris, the bands, Doe Bay staff and maintenance crew, Artist Home, Bob from The Ballard Mine and the Doe Bay magic that made these sessions not just possible, but also so much more than we would have ever dared imagine.

Check back here on August 24th to see whose session we’ll share first!

Fences Candle Lit Session ::: by Tyler Kalberg

The Maldives on “Hobbit Hill” ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Chris Proff ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Ravenna Woods Session ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

See more photos from The Doe Bay Sessions on our Flickr

The Head and The Heart ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

We can’t really review Friday night’s sold-out show at Columbia City Theater with The Head and The Heart and Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground. It would be like asking us to judge our own baby in a cute contest, it is impossible to have the objectivity to do so. What we can do, is say thank you.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the show, it sold out by The Head and The Heart’s second to last song. Thank you to The Head and The Heart and Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground for not just playing, but playing with inspiration and beauty. Thank you to Columbia City Theater for having us put on nights like this, where we get to watch our dreams unfold in a manner so big and beautiful that there aren’t words to express the pride and happiness they make us feel. Thank you to Kevin Sur who trusted my judgment enough to let me book a band back in early April that had never gotten an inch of press. Thank you to Josiah and all of you who cheered when my Mom and Dad were shouted out as members of the audience. And thank you to all of you who sang along to The Head and The Heart, hearing your sweet choir accompany the band made me feel like I was witnessing, and that I have been a part of something supremely special.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

See More Photos from the Evening on Our Flickr

Kevin Murphy ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

When it comes to local records I am most excited be released in 2010, there’s no competition: The Moondoggies’ Tidelands, due out October 23 on Hardly Art.

Last Saturday, we got a sneak peek of some of the songs when Moondoggies front-man Kevin Murphy played a solo set at The Blue Moon. It was a quiet night at The Moon, reminiscent of the first Moondoggies shows we saw there years ago, when the band was testing out the songs that would become Don’t Be a Stranger and before the delights of their drawl were widely discovered and lauded. Kevin’s set included old Moondoggies favorites like “Undertaker,” a solid rambling cover of Tom Waits’ “Pancho’s Lament” and a number of new songs from the forthcoming Tidelands and the just released You’ll Find No Answers Here EP.

My favorite song of the night was “A Lot of People on My Mind,” the final track on Tidelands and the last song Kevin played. Its a mournful love song, that shows Murphy maturing as a song writer and singer. I can’t wait to hear what the song sounds like with Caleb Quick on Rhodes and a full Moondoggies backing, but even in its skeletal solo form it is achingly beautiful and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the band’s best. Take a listen and a look for yourself:

This album has been floating around the old music box for a good few months now, and I’m still enraptured by it.

The video, as directed by Ben Chapel and Aaron Brown, feels toxic, but in an entertaining way. The song, well then, the song just feels like crunchy pop ice cream on a tin waffle cone.