Seattle’s Calico Beach Party is perhaps my favorite form of melancholy - wrapped in the trappings of sunny pop, the tears and misery mulling just below the surface. Alexis Hope’s voice, warm and sad on a beach blanket of lo-fi throwback pop, aches with the duality of trying to keep it together in the face of another day and just wanting to break down and throw a few chairs out the window.

You can currently snatch Calico Beach Party’s self-titled EP at Bandcamp. If you like what you hear, and I’d love to hear your reasons if you didn’t, toss them a little dough via Kickstarter to fund their vinyl release.

Calico Beach Party - You Got Me Bad

Seattle’s summer might still be two months away, but the summer music season has certainly begun, as evidenced by this jangly head-bopper of a love song from Halifax’s Wintersleep.

True, there are undertones of creepy - “I took my bike, I broke the lock on your door / I wanna stay if it’s alright” - but you can ignore them if that’s what you’re into and just let the simplicity of the chorus catch you. “I can’t live my life without you babe / Nothing is anything without you babe / Nothing is anything without you babe.” Summer lovin’, happens at last.

___

Wintersleep plays the next Sound on the Sound Presents show at Columbia City Theater on June 1.
Their fifth album, Hello Hum, comes out June 12 on Capitol/EMI.

Seattle summer may just be starting, but today we get a peek at what the end of summer will look like with the Bumbershoot line-up announcement. Last years “Decibel After Dark” Fest will continue (and this time is included in the cost of your tickets) and some new additions have been made to the Fest, including a Sub Pop sponsored stage, a new stage called the Promenade where local bands and singer-songwriters will be featured, a to be announced Metal showcase, and a North of Northwest dream, a Canadian showcase called “M is for Montreal.”

We’re still mulling over the line-up but a few names jump out. If you went crazy for Charles Bradley last year, do not miss Lee Fields and the Expressions on Sunday and we’re excited to see that the legendary Wanda Jackson will be backed by Seattle’s own Dusty 45s. And then of course, there’s the local names we love: Mudhoney, Damien Jurado, Deep Sea Diver, Bryan John Appleby, Sera Cahoone, Gold Leaves and many more. Here’s a video sharing the line-up, but you can check the full (in text) list after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hannah Lew’s newest video for Wax Idols eschews her lo-fi, John Waters-loving style for a more polished, deftly edited bit of magic. The song, all good-hearted thrash is a winner on its own, but the video, dealing with desire as experienced by women is downright genius. I can only imagine that Ms. Lew’s star, alright burning bright due to her presence in Grass Widow, is only going to get brighter.

Pull it Together is Shannon Stephens‘ third solo release for Asthmatic Kitty Records, and by the sound of it the title isn’t so much an admonition for herself or anyone else but a mantra of self-determination. Now well into parenthood and her thirties the lead single “What Love Looks Like” is emblematic of a confident identity as a 21st Century frontwoman and protagonist, an angle shared by fellow Ballard breakouts Star Anna and Zoe Muth. The record features a band made up of “Her Fabulous Friends,” six-string All-Star Jeff Fielder (also of Sera Cahoone) and fellow Sufjan Stevens troupe veterans James McAlister and Steve Moore and with their help “What Love Looks Like” has Stephens not for the last time on the record flirting with pop country.

Even with ringers in support, Pull it Together (recorded by Grammy winner Kory Kruckenberg) is exceptionally restrained with all of the effort simply going to support Stephens as a vocalist, a task for which she’s undeniably gifted. Now with maturity and years of wisdom to draw on, Stephens is resolute in that voice and her identity. “Girl” resonates with the knowing protection of someone who’s been there but knows one can hold on to naivete for only so long. A piano and guitar duet with Will Oldham on “Faces Like Ours” is bittersweet in its loss of innocence but beautiful still, their voices are so well matched as to leave me wondering what past life they shared in chorus.

Pull it Together arrives in stores May 22nd on Asthmatic Kitty Records. June 8th Shannon Stephens headlines the Sunset Tavern with Cataldo.

Perhaps the scrappiest band I’ve heard out of Seattle in ages, The Wimps sounds something like The Intelligence strung out in a Hotel 6 on a lonely stretch of Aurora. The track sounds, strangely, skinny to me, stripped of all the bluff and bluster that so often buffets the music pushed upon us, leaving only a handful of lean aggressive guitars, and the nasal whine of disaffected youth.

Download The Wimps demo tape at Bandcamp.

The Wimps  - Stop Having Fun

Father John Misty Montage, proof I have too much time on my hands

Musical performances on late-night TV shows are usually unworthy of commentary, but its been nearly a week since Father John Misty’s coming out on Letterman … and its still all I can think about. Talk about seizing a moment. Instead of a bland, watered-down, less-than performance, edited and scrunched to fit inside TV’s tiny box — the performer formerly known as J. Tillman pranced and danced and sang beautifully — in a way that astonished those of us who’d followed his career for years and viewers who’d never heard of him before.

Tillman’s new album, released under the moniker of Father John Misty, is a study in multiple personalities and shedding heavy expectations as if they were light as feathers. Gone is the introspective, sad, solo artist J. Tillman and in his place, a psychedelic peacock. Plain spoken, with as little pretense as an album who calls out Sartre by name can be, Fear Fun explores the facets of Tillman that were repressed as he tried to fit his acerbic wit, dirty mind and slicing sarcasm into the mold of the mysterious singer-songwriter. On some listens I’m convinced its the most ballsy, brilliant album I’ve heard in years. On others I find myself cringing wondering if its so over the top its awful. It moves maniacally between country, loungey numbers and fastidiously orchestrated ballads. Unlike his other records and the projects he’s been part of, Father John Misty is anything but background music. This is an album and a character that makes you stand up and take notice, listen closely, think and listen again. In a world of albums so easily digestable they’re instantly forgotten, Fear Fun and Father John Misty sticks with you.

After nearly a decade of seeing Tillman hiding behind long-locks, a giant beard, an acoustic guitar or a drum kit — seeing him on Letterman in a closely tailored suit, newly shorn hair, a handsome as hell, confident frontman — it was enough to give you whiplash. Within the first minute as he has brushed off the Rolling Stones, thrust his hips, gestured grandly, shot shade at Letterman when claiming his fondness of the Dodgers; I found my jaw literally, physically dropped. Was he mocking us? I’m still not sure. What I’ve come to decide, after a week of replays and conversations with others who’ve had Father John Misty on the brain, is that he was personifying the character. Tillman became the titular ladies man he sang of. He was woman kind’s first husband — flamboyant, sexual, devious, smooth.

But the ladies man is only one of 12 personalities and facets explored on Fear Fun — and I’m curious to see who all comes out to play tonight at Neumos. I’m still not sure whether I’ll land on brilliant & ballsy or too over-the-top, but I am sure I want to see and hear more from Father John Misty. So I’ll be the girl in the front row with the neckbrace on, just in case there’s even more whiplash inducing moves in store.

You see, I was only supposed to be here for a week, five shows to be exact, but somewhere around Louisville (show number three), I realized if I didn’t do everything I could to stay for the whole tour, I’d regret it for the rest of my life. I’d never been on tour before, (unless you count following Phish when I was 19, but that’s a whole other confession) and having already driven halfway across the country, seeing old friends, making new ones, and witnessing a couple local bands I love live out their dreams in a means that exceeded even their wildest — I was full-on hooked.

By the end of my adventure with Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives, we had driven 7,000 miles, through 30 states, played 22 shows, visited two countries and the van only broke down once. I watched proudly as the Pastors’ Wives played shows to 3,000 people and as they played shows to six, because the passion they put into the performances never waned. I watched in wonder as The Head and The Heart debuted new songs and played old songs in new ways, and as every city knew every word, even the ones they’d never been to before. I personally saw new places every day but two, and new faces every night, and was astounded to find they knew the songs and stories we know here in the Pacific Northwest. I spotted fans in collegiate Ohio wearing Bryan John Appleby t-shirts, shared a table at a tiny pizza joint in Portland, Maine with a Maldives fan, and met viewers of the Doe Bay Sessions in Athens, Georgia. There wasn’t a day I was there long after I was supposed to be back home in Seattle that I didn’t stand jaw-dropped and wish you all in the 206 could see what I was seeing.

Because I watched what’s happening here in your backyard (whether you like it or not) being embraced from coast-to-coast. I witnessed first hand, a band on the rise being gracious to their fans, great to their openers and so proud of the place they call home. They talked about Seattle like a smitten suitor, and when the bands announced they were from the Pacific Northwest, it was always one of the loudest cheers every night. Maybe there really is something in the water here; maybe we don’t realize how lucky we are to call this place home. Maybe we do and we forget it sometimes. Nothing has reminded me how lucky I am to have been born and raised, and to have settled as an adult in Seattle than to be away from it. Every night at the merch table when someone spotted my Washington State tattoo and wistfully said, “lucky…” I knew that I was in every fiber of my exhausted, elated being. I loved the road, but it is so very nice to be HOME.

I first caught a glimpse of Grimes Grieves back at the Paramount Theater during City Arts Music Festival back in 2010. Brother Ali and DJ Snuggles took a brief break from putting on one of the best sets I saw that year to bring Grives up on-stage to perform a song. My memory might be deceiving me but I believe Benjamin Laub (Grieves) had just released his Rhymesayers debut (88 Keys and Counting) earlier that year. I’d never heard of the guy (Forgive me, I’m still in “buffering” mode as it relates to Seattle hip-hop. I’m hoping to change that this year, East Coast snobbery be damned.) but the crowd seemed to enjoy him enough. Despite the brevity of his performance, you could tell Mr. Laub had mad skills. He wasn’t doing the “human beatbox” thing like Snuggles, but Grieves was puppeteering syntaxes and syllables in a way that made him seem like a veteran of the game. It was as if while you were hanging out at the mall as a teenager, waiting for your parents to pick you up from the movies, Grieves was ghostwriting for an aspiring hip-hop star on an independent label.

Fast forward to May 3, 2012. Grieves is playing a sold out show at the Croc tomorrow night. He’s continuing to globe-trot and jet-set in support of his latest album Together/Apart, even though it was released approximately a year ago.

When it comes to show previews and album reviews, I like to educate myself about the artist if I am not already familiar with them. As much as I like surprises (and not knowing what the hell I am talking about), sometimes exposing myself to an outside perspective initiates the creative process and allows me to fill cyberspace with more words than I had previously planned.

In familiarizing myself with some of Grieves songs, I came across a lot of insightful commentary internet drivel. People saying that Grieves is only popular because he’s a “white rapper.” His recognition comes from his appeal to “White America.” Other conversations included accusing Rhymesayers as “selling out.” (This indictment never gets old, apparently.) While there were additional voices that applauded Rhymesayers and concluded that the Twin Cities based label could destroy mainstream hip-hop as we know it.

If you’ve ever read internet comments (no matter what they pertain to), then I don’t have to tell you that they have a tendency to make you hate humanity or extremely sad. In this instance, I found myself contemplating what it might mean to be a “white rapper in a mostly black world.” After all, I can relate in an adverse way. I am a black music writer that usually ends up at shows in which I am the only colored face (Like the Bowerbirds show I should’ve reviewed a thousand years ago but will be finishing up today or tomorrow.).

Fans of hip-hop probably write Grieves off as soon as they see his face. They dismiss him once their eyes hit his album cover. I was trying to think of other master linguists hip-hop artists lyricists that I could compare him to. I felt pretty ashamed when Macklemore and Atmosphere kept on invading my thinking space.

Am I comparing him to Macklemore because he’s another white hip-hop artist from Seattle? Or do I find Grieves is reminiscent of Macklemore because of the content of his lyrics and the way he tells the details of a story within his songs? Is it because of the tone of his voice? Do I compare him to Atmosphere because of the Rhymesayers connection? Maybe it’s the instrumentation that Grieves uses? Or do I make that comparison because it’s an excuse to not dig deeper? I’m still struggling with this.

On the flip-side of this,  if Two Chainz recited some of Grieves’ verses, does that legitimize Grieves as an artist to the non-believers? This would never happen because Two Chainz isn’t capable of stringing together words over the span of 16 bars like Mr. Laub can.

It always puzzles me when people say race doesn’t matter, because it’s not just a bold-faced lie in all caps, it’s a fucking lie. Here in America, race always matters. Pretending race is passe is the equivalent of saying money doesn’t matter. You may not like the concept of money, it might make you feel uncomfortable, but I’d love to see you survive in America without it. Let’s see what happens to your life when you actively abstain from all forms of credit and currency under the watchful eye of Uncle Sam. You let me know how that goes.

If you say race doesn’t matter then you’re probably someone who surrounds themselves with people who look just like you, phenotypically speaking. You probably go out of your way to not socialize or associate with anyone who doesn’t look like you. An act of “cultural insulation” such as this is not only embarrassing, it’s a travesty. I almost look at it as a crime against humanity, as we are all here to learn from one another in an attempt to become better people. It’s funny how much damage a sociological concept (with no grounding in science, if you “believe” in science that is) can do.

Ask Brother Ali if race matters or not. Ask Jay-Z or Pharell Williams what those inaugural boardroom meetings were like when they tried to make the leap from the hip-hop world to the corporate one.  Ask Grieves, who faces a type of discrimination that I am completely familiar and unfamiliar with, how people look at him for the first time when he grips the mic in a foreign environment.

But before you ask him, watch him rock the crowd at the Croc on Friday night. If you got tickets that is, because it’s sold out.

We’ve taken a few months off from booking and hosting Sound on the Sound Presents showcases, but we’re back! And we couldn’t be more excited for our first show of 2012: Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band’s Official EP Release, June 1st at Columbia City Theater. Joining the newly stripped down and better than ever MSHVB, will be North of Northwest favorites Wintersleep and You Are Plural, an intriguing duo from Olympia experimenting with classical and pop influences, to make a lovely, looped symphony.

Tickets go on sale RIGHT NOW at Brown Paper Tickets.

And we recommend you get ‘em. If you do, you’ll be treated to a night of unexpected pop, passionate performances and we hope we fulfill our mission statement of introducing you to your new favorite band:

Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band:

Wintersleep:

You Are Plural: