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December 28, 2011

Our Favorite Photos of 2011: Tony Kevin Jr. and Friends at Conor Byrne

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Tony Kevin Jr. Practicing ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

There’s something special about seeing a song being born. To watch it practiced and tested and to then see the final outcome on stage. Seeing songs in their nascent form was one of our favorite parts of Conor Byrne’s open mic and this performance with Tony Kevin Jr. joined by a chorus of friends was one of those beautiful full-circle musical moments we were lucky enough to witness.

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Tony Kevin Jr. On Stage ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

December 28, 2011

Our Favorite Local Records Of 2011: #3 Zoe Muth and The Lost High Rollers – Starlight Hotel

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We’re counting down our 10 favorite records released in the Pacific Northwest in 2011, follow along! –

#3 Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers – Starlight Hotel (Signature Sounds)

My review earlier this year of Zoe Muth’s stirring sophomore album of new classic country classics was about timelessness. About the things that last in this changing world, the immovable in spite of it all and the main metaphor was the titular hotel of Muth’s record: the Starlight Hotel.

The Starlight Hotel sits on the corner of old Ballard Avenue and NW Vernon Place, a stalwart of “old Ballard” before the condos and sushi joints moved in. It’s a roach motel that has kept its curtains tightly drawn for most of my 30 years, with a door I’ve never seen opened. The Starlight Hotel has stood unchanged by time, a seedy mystery on a familiar strip. It’s a building whose presence conjures vivid stories of its inhabitants just by existing — people down on their luck in life and in love, chasing dreams, but settling for well whiskey and one-night stands. That the Starlight Hotel has survived, decade after decade, as Ballard has changed seems to scream: “You might look different, but you’re still making the same old mistakes.”

And wouldn’t you know it, not long after the review was published and its namesake album was all I wanted to play, the Starlight Hotel succummed to the seasons of change and became “Hotel Ballard.” A boutique hotel with gaudy black chandeliers in the lobby and crystal clear windows to replace the grimy shutters of the long-standing roach motel. I may have never stepped foot in the Starlight Hotel, I may have never wanted to, but damn if I don’t miss it.

So while the album’s namesake may not have lasted forever, I think Muth’s tribute to it will. Because Starlight Hotel is made up of songs that sound just as at home today as they would have 30 years ago and just as at home as they will 30 years from now. Because there has always been and there will always be an appreciative audience for songs about good women who fall for bad men, anthems for good people with bad jobs and tales about just eking by in life with good songs, bad choices and the comfort we find in both. Zoe writes some of the finest of these songs being written not just today, but ever. Her lyricism evokes the greats: the Willie’s, the Waylon’s, the Tammy’s and Dolly’s. And her backing band is, for my money, the best in Seattle. Country Dave Harmonson’s pedal steel work is some of the most personality-filled playing you’ll ever hear–it sobs and sneers and winks–and Ethan Lawton’s mandolin picking is both the delicate flourish and unrelenting workhorse of the album.

Starlight Hotel is a country album and it is an exceptional one. Its a country album for folks who think country died in the ’70s, when country was still country and pop was still pop. But it’s just as much a country album for folks who think they hate country music. Yes, the instrumentation is as classic as it gets, but so are the songs. These are songs that sound better every listen, but feel like an old friend the first time you hit play.

December 27, 2011

A Tip of the Hat – Our 2011 MVPs

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Allen Stone Bryan John Appleby Charles Bradley Pickwick
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Pickwick ::: photo by Christopher Nelson

 

We had another incredible year here at Sound on the Sound and it was in large part thanks to the following MVPs and, of course, you guys reading this. These were the artists, albums, labels, festivals and well, your dancing, that inspired and impressed us most and these are the people that remind us every day why we wouldn’t trade our local music scene for anywhere else in the world.

MVP Local Live Act: Pickwick

When a friend sent me an mp3 of “When Rosa Speaks” last summer saying he’d found my new favorite band, I wondered what on earth he was thinking. When Josh and Ty said they were going to film a new video series and start with Pickwick, I told them it was their time they were wasting. When Josh asked to book Pickwick for our 30th birthday show, I agreed begrudgingly. And when Pickwick took the tiny stage at The Blue Moon that January night, limbs and instruments and energy over-flowing, I proceeded to kick myself for the rest of 2012 for being so daft. That friend, Josh, Ty, they had been so right, and I had been so, so wrong. And to make up for that error I saw every remaining local Pickwick show of 2011, including the night I had surgery. I never once wished I was anywhere else seeing any other band. Because Jay Cox was right last August, he had found my new favorite local band and as evidenced by sold-out show after sold-out show, one of your favorite new bands too.

Pickwick simply puts on a hell of a show. They defy expectation with their sound, their Star Wars-centered banter, by getting Ballard Ave (and beyond) to dance, and the pipes on Galen Disston. Dark doo-wop and call-and-response songs about death and destruction both physical and spiritual, often inspired by musical heroes of the band (Sam Cooke, Michael Jackson, Richard Swift) — Pickwick writes smart songs and put on performances that manage to appeal to my two month old niece, my nearly 70 year old parents, Seattle’s alt-weeklies and the managers from all over the country who clamored to sign them this summer. On the strength of these shows, hooks for miles, and the broadness of that appeal, Pickwick has gone from opening shows to 30 people to being asked to summer festivals and headlining a sold-out 1,000 person Neptune Theater, in just a year. In 2012, with their first major tours on the horizon and their debut full length to be released (likely on whatever label is lucky enough to be chosen by the band), I foresee the same pattern playing out all over the country … only skipping that whole playing to 30 people in towns they’ve never visited and it happening much, much faster. (abbey)

 

Charles Bradley ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

 

 

MVP National Live Act: Charles Bradley

It’s hard to explain the true affects of a live Charles Bradley performance, much less three in the span of a magnificently hot September week, other than to say I will come back to these different nights of performances as some of the most personally valuable musical moments I’ve ever experienced. Unearthed by Daptone Records and matched with a time-tested soul outfit in an age of copy-and-paste pop, Bradley is a rare breed of performer with a life of loss, “heartaches and pain” behind him to provide a valuable perspective that’s coming from a place of pure love and will for a better world, no bullshit. “Why is it so Hard” chronicles his life story culminating in the tragic death of his brother whom he was living with at the time, and at this point it’s hard not to tear up as Bradley himself seems to do at turns while performing. With glistening eyes he’ll turn around, doff his sparkled stage coat and stun the audience during “Golden Rule” or another upbeat number with a series knee-drops, mic-swings, the occasional worm, and of course some scream-inducing hip-thrusting for the ladies. James Brown would be proud of the hip-thrusts but also the performance as whole I think. Various luminaries have come out of performances claiming this is as close to Otis Redding as we’re likely to see and I’m hard pressed to argue. Though I’m not sure Otis ever danced quite that well. (josh)

 

Wild Flag ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

 

 

MVP Performer (Female): Wild Flag

You have seen a band perform the same songs three nights in a row, what do you want to:

a) never see that band again b) see that band sometime next year c) see that band every night for the foreseeable future.

If you’ve answered c, lucky you, you’ve just enjoyed three nights with Wild Flag.

After three nights with Wild Flag this November, my only wish was for more. Why hadn’t I gone on the entire tour? Why wasn’t this the beginning of the tour, not the end? Wild Flag, despite releasing their debut record this year, are road-warrior veterans with a first class indie and punk pedigree: Sleater-Kinney, The Minders and Helium and with their forces combined, this foursome is unstoppable on stage. Wild Flag are masters of their instruments and craft, not “for girls” (even if this category is gender based), but for anyone. Janet Weiss’ drumming recalls the greats, Carrie Brownstein is an iconic rock vocalist with a knack for writing songs that sound familiar and forward-thinking at the same time, Rebecca Cole’s piano adds a spooky psychedelic edge that elevates the band and Mary Timony is Wild Flag’s not-so-secret weapon, she straight up (yet somehow subtly) shreds with riffs that will be stuck in your brain for months. It was she who I couldn’t keep my eyes off of night after night.

The real joy of watching Wild Flag though is not just the band’s technical chops, but how much fun they seem to be having. The kind of chemistry the band shares on stage isn’t something you can practice. It’s either there or it’s not, and watching Wild Flag you feel like you’re watching four talented friends have the time of their life. And you can’t help but want to join in.

Extra Bonus Points: their cover of Television’s “See No Evil” was my favorite cover of the year.

Emeritus: Kelli Schaefer

 

Allen Stone ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

 

 

MVP Performer (Male): Allen Stone

Allen Stone’s flagrantly funk visage calls Seattle home, and though 2011 is the year he became a cover-boy and prime-time name, he’s been making small moves nationally for years now. Splitting his time between New York, LA and Seattle Stone built up a quality collection of tracks recorded with some soul heavyweights and waited for over a year to release his self-titled second record until the timing was right. Early in the year with the addition of an ace touring band representing as much young personality as Stone himself does the 25-year old Chewelah-bred pastor’s son was able to tour, capitalize, and make it all come together so that when Bumbershoot, City Arts Fest, and then Conan came calling he was prepared. Stone’s thick glasses and northwest-sheik aren’t exactly uniform attire for a classic soul sound, exemplifying that neither is his approach, but the bottom-line is he and his band have no trouble getting entire rooms dancing and the finer sex screaming. In a recent conversation Stone remarked about the new found attention, “It’s crazy. Less than a year ago I was playing the High Dive.” Having to add a second show because your first ever time headlining a 1000 cap room sold out a month of time says it all. Kinda like what happened to our previous winner of this MVP Macklemore did just about this time last year (eventually adding a total of three Showbox shows). (josh)

Emeritus: Macklemore

Read the rest of our MVPs including festival, debut album, 6th man & every writer’s personal MVP of 2011 (more…)

December 27, 2011

Our Favorite Local Records of 2011: #4 – Cataldo Prison Boxing

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We’re counting down our 10 favorite records released in the Pacific Northwest in 2011, follow along! –

#4 Cataldo – Prison Boxing (Red Pepper Records)

“Let’s begin, at the end, of bad year, with bad things at my back. The tragic truth I’ve been slow in learning, is there are certain breaths you simply can’t retract.” – Deep Cuts

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a hopeless romantic, with an emphasis on “hopeless.” Hardly untrod ground as far as music goes I know, yet the the lyrical imagery and presentation of Cataldo’s latest self-released record Prison Boxing seems to do so convincingly and with intriguing results. Those first words of “Deep Cuts” feel like the ominous opening lines to a novel, setting the stage with expectations for troublesome consequences. Following shortly after the refrain ”the songs I spend on her never stop repeating“ perfectly preludes a record documenting a life of struggles in love. Along with “Deep Cuts,” “Don’t Lose that Feeling,” “Reach out And Touch Someone’s Hand” and “Prison Boxing” are all multi-dimensional portrayals dressed up as some of this year’s catchiest pop songs, personal and detailed enough to conjure up vivid pictures of complex relationships and the forces that might define them.

With acoustic guitar and a philosophical streak, lead vocalist and lyricist Eric Anderson could be that intimate companion to help you pull yourself up off the couch. A friend to over-analyze your bullshit with and put it in sober perspective, he’s someone with just the right story or thing to say to help you get over yourself and courtesy of his cohorts just the right orchestral chorus to bring up your mood. The soaring horns of “Rock of Calvary” join “Fog on the Glass” and “Don’t Lose that Feeling” as the standouts in this regard. The quiet moments carry no judgement, only staring truth in the eye and the resolve to move on with grace. “Moving on” is a thematic thread that’s woven from the fist note of the record to the last, and its realization is at constant odds with the connections we won’t or can’t ever leave behind. That “Prison Boxing” was chosen as the records name and thus representative track is no coincidence I think.

Any trouble alluded to earlier that our hero is moving on from probably stems from being too honest, too attached, and too open with his feelings. Sure that might be romantic, but as this record tells the tale, it does him no favors either. It makes encounters with your past awkward as hell and brushes with heartbreak a regular fact of living. When “searching for the heart of a thing” he accepts in ‘Deep Cuts’, “so it goes.” Midway through the tracklist “My Heart is Calling” takes a vacation from Anderson’s usually loquacious TMI and goes emotionally overboard delivering a vintage sounding stalker pop track that’s paired in dark possessiveness with the song directly after it “The Things You Need to Know.” Among a album largely populated by clear-eyed remainders these songs represent exactly the opposite. In professing love so desperately this interlude represents an unusual low for the our emerging antihero.

That the record is then book-ended by the largely upbeat “Fog on the Glass,” “Don’t Lose That Feeling,” and “Reach out and Touch Someone’s Hand,” feels a realization of that sought after grace. In getting over that “[feeling] when your looking back it would make you sick to get past the past” as ‘Fog on the Glass’ so concisely frames the tension, were coming to terms with that which he can’t divorce ourselves from. This record culminating with statements of personal redemption wasn’t assured based on those opening indications from “Deep Cuts.” That our protagonist remained a hopeless romantic assured that redemption would be inevitable.

“There’s no doubt, it’s time to make some new plans, so reach out, and touch someone’s hand” -The final lines to “Reach Out and Touch Someone’s Hand”

December 27, 2011

Our Favorite Photos of 2011: Fitz and the Tantrums

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Fitz and the Tantrums ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Damn if that is not sassiest photo we have ever snapped.

Fitz and the Tantrums are bringing their sass and their danceable soul to the Showbox on January 20th and next week we’ll be giving away a pair of tickets to a lucky reader. Stay tuned and dust off your dancing shoes.

December 26, 2011

Our Favorite Local Records of 2011: #5 Bryan John Appleby – Fire on the Vine

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We’re counting down our 10 favorite records released in the Pacific Northwest in 2011, follow along! –

#5: Bryan John Appleby – Fire on the Vine (self-released, with the help of Kickstarter)

The first thing I wrote about for this blog was a Bryan John Appleby house show I ventured into nervously on one of my very first days in Seattle. At the time he had only an EP out, Shoes for Men and Beasts, that spins with such beguiling poetic prettiness that I could not take it off repeat until the release of Fire on the Vine. In only a few songs I was captured, and from that first house show, I could see others were as well. He has the quiet ability to still even the most easily distracted prisoners of the bright digital age, and send them wandering into the rare storybook stanzas he sings – more Whitman than Pecknold, more Thomas Hardy than Head and the Heart.

When Appleby released Fire on the Vine, he took those charming stories and blew them up as big as the sky. An album with swelling harmonies and lush adornment that floods the room to the rafters, it begins with the whir and click of slides going by, and behaves as a beautiful sort of score to an unidentified slideshow of someone’s (maybe everyone’s?) gorgeous and faded memory.

Dealing abstractly with issues of God, of the heart, of the mortality we all face even when young and dizzy, the songs touch on every question without offering definite answers. One of the songs that comes back to me especially on crystal December nights is “Honey Jars”, the second to last track on the record. Opening with callouses on steel and a single deft muted beat, running like a gentle and stubborn pulse, the story of an old man at the end of his life unravels. A sparse, hushed love letter to his departed companion and the yellowing corners of nostalgias, Appleby sings from the other end of being:

Though I’m blind my dear, I see The parade goes on without me My body aches, my mind it weeps For you, for you

Fire on the Vine’s stand out verse isn’t the only element that places Appleby far outside the amalgam of folk driven singer songwriters. The album has an cleverness of arrangement to it, with impeccable rhythm holding the vocals and lacing melody tight together. It’s a record that stands at the intersection of intelligence and feeling, comfortably and confidently. Appleby has opened his lungs and blown the dust from the worn grooves of the singer songwriters tiredly muttering over the necks of their guitars. He has made everything we remember brand new again.

December 26, 2011

Our Favorite Photos of 2011: Summer Bonfire Series

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Ravenna Woods at the Summer Bonfire Series ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

One of our favorite new things in 2011 was Artist Home’s (the fine folks who put on Doe Bay Fest and Slack Fest) summer bonfire series at Golden Gardens. A free outdoor show and bonfire with surprise performers, we got to see Bryan John Appleby, Ravenna Woods, Joseph Giant, Curtains for You and more with our toes buried in the sand and admiring the view. Some of the best bands in Seattle, with the Olympics for a backdrop, the sun setting into the Sound … every bonfire a reminder how lucky we are to call this place home.

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Curtains for You at the Summer Bonfire Series ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

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Artist Home Summer Bonfire Series ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

December 23, 2011

Our Favorite Local Records of 2011: #6 – Radiation City – The Hands that Take You

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We’re counting down our 10 favorite records released in the Pacific Northwest in 2011, follow along! –

#6. Radiation City – The Hands That Take You (Tender Loving Empire)

Turn it up loud on the Hi-Fi and dive into the aquarium with me. Let the stereo sound wash over your entire body and put you in this room with these four instruments and as many voices. Close your eyes. You are in that room. The music bounces back and forth between your ears and the voices echo forever against the tall walls. Randy’s drum is just to your right but pointed away from you, Cameron Spies’ guitar a little further back on your left and Lizzy Ellison’s Rhodes is dead center, the bass stands in front of a set of stacks of speakers behind her. You are in the same room. This is certainly pop though like none I’ve heard, and this use of stereo is just one of many elements distinguishing Radiation City’s effort on The Hands that Take You.

Full of bold and sometimes unexpected melodies and yes, harmony-thick choruses, each song finds its own 3-dimensional texture. Instead of relying on predictable verse patterns with obvious changes or simply being a guitar-focused band these are songs by a symphony of four traversing movements and themes in the grandest possible way. The mix itself brings the audience in closer to Ellison as an intimate song might require and then has them step back to the center of the room to really realize the sound bouncing in every direction. This type of attention to detail is another hallmark of this record, this varied development of mood as each individual theme dictates.

Track One “Babies” is exactly what you think it’s about, the uneasy thrill of fresh motherhood, the relieved and excited but frightened feeling that there is probably a special literary word for in French, but Radiation City has so kindly translated for us in their own way. “Summer is Not an Act I” was the first track to emerge from this record, and as if Grizzly Bear were fronted by Portishead’s Beth Gibbons this track caught my interest immediately and kept it. Track 6 “Salsaness” changes pace entirely as the band visits the dancehall with a playfully produced pop song, one of a Latin American vintage not usually expected this far north. “Park” then turns 180 degrees again with guitarist Spies taking the lead vocal and its ever transforming shape in a constant state of teasing its heart-swollen hook of “Ba! Ba! Ba dada da’s” and “Ooooh-aaaah-oooh’s.”

Though not married to any of pop’s obvious frameworks or tried-and-true ingredients, and seemingly not dedicated to any particular formula at all for that matter, these songs aren’t lacking in their capacity for catchiness. Instead those moments that do hew to familiar interpretations of pop stand out that much more, the catchiness is condensed for maximum effect. Instead of wearing out their hooks by over use and draining the listener’s energy (or tolerance), when they do appear the hook is that much more effective, when they end it abruptly you already want more. A clever use of layered voicings, the use of “Oooohs” in general, the doubling of vocals, and a hefty dose of reverb amounts to it’s own ever-present hook of sorts, providing Ellison with her own virtual choir of forty as vocal accompaniment instead of just three others. Impressively, aside from the overused “Ba Ba” and the like (that’s admittedly fun a hell to sing along to), each song on The Hands that Take You succeeds in representing its own distinct identity. The record as a whole is varied, and engaging front-to-back in that unpredictability. It’s an impressive sound to count as Radiation City’s debut, and our favorite record out of Portland in 2011.

The Hands that Take You arrived via Radiation City’s DIY label Apes Tapes thanks to Portland’s Tender Loving Empire.

December 23, 2011

North of Northwest: Top 10 Canadian Albums of 2011

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Dan Mangan North of Northwest

 

 

Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital

In a year filled with stories of oppression and uprising in the Near East and the simply near, this album inspired by the political situation in East Asia began to feel very close to home. The lyrics articulate the creeping fears of the disenfranchised, while the angsty beats help dance those cares away.

Dan Mangan – Oh Fortune

In a year of growing-up albums, this one stands a growth spurt head and shoulders above the rest. The introspections of Oh Fortune are as unflinching, apt, and often hilarious as the societal observations Mangan’s previous release, Nice, Nice, Very Nice, while Mangan’s growing musical confidence offers him more varied and nuanced ways to express emotion.

 

 

Bry Webb – Provider

The erstwhile Constantines frontman finds his inside voice on this quiet, heartfelt collection of songs about marriage, parenthood, and other things that happen when you stop going on tour and start making (long term) plans. The delicacy is a surprising contrast to the bruised and bruising loudness of his work with the Cons, but also a remarkable success.

The Rural Alberta Advantage – Departing

The Rural Alberta Advantage bring an adult’s wisdom and weariness to their sophomore release, examining the past with a mix of relief and affection and bringing sophistication to both their narration and sound. The raw dance-folk that made 2008′s Hometowns such a striking debut is tempered with quiet moments and bursts of delicate orchestration. But though the medium is slightly changed, the message remains the same: who we are is where we come from, and no matter where we go, we can never really leave those old haunts behind.

For the rest of Brittney’s Top 10 Canadian Albums of 2011 (more…)

December 23, 2011

Our Favorite Photos of 2011: Kevin Large and Kaylee Cole

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Kevin Large and Kaylee Cole ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

We love it when two of our favorite voices decide to join forces and make something beautiful and 2011 has been a pretty wonderful year for that. Robin Pecknold and Ed Droste. Damien Jurado singing with Pickwick. And most definitely, Kaylee Cole joining Kevin Large to sing his sad songs during Widower shows all year long. The two married their mournful tones again for a sweet, silly kitchen table Christmas Cover of Wham!’s “Last Christmas.”

We hope you and yours have the happiest of Holidays.