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October 14, 2012

Absolute Monarchs, Gaytheist, Constant Lovers Ticket Giveaway

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Goodness. Gracious. Great balls of fire.

Will Chop Suey be able to contain this spirited brand of rock and roll madness on Thursday? There’s only one way to find out. A ticket giveaway courtesy of your friends at Good to Die Records and this website. Three great bands (Check the title of the post, n00bs) and one cool DJ (Hannah Levin) want to make your night forgettable due to an alcohol induced blackout unforgettable due to all the good music you’re going to witness in such a short period of time.

Absolute Monarchs and their album 1 is critically acclaimed. It will be ranked highly on the KEXP “Best Albums of 2012″ list. You listen to everything KEXP tells you to do, therefore I know you will be at this show. Did I mention we’ll be giving away a copy of the Absolute Monarchs album? Now you know.

Constant Lovers and their album True Romance was one of the best albums of 2011. It also had one of the creepiest album covers I have seen in a long time. Anytime you see a male thumb penetrating a bar of soap, unsightly, violent imagery is probably the first thing that will invade your mind. What? The only thing you could come up with was a shower shaving session gone wrong? Dig deeper, pun intended.

Gaytheist, despite having a juvenile band name, are not adolescent in their songwriting by any means. Their album Stealth Beats has burrowed its way into my iphone playlist and hasn’t moved for solid month. One part Torche, one part Quicksand, this supergroup has taught me that judging a book by a cover is a cliche that should not victimize me this late in my life. “Post Apocalyptic Lawsuit”? Yes, please. I want my law firm familiar with the aftermath of a nuclear wasteland. “Pointless-Helpless” describes my personality in two words, hyphen not included.

In the comments section, tell me why you like Stars Wars more than Star Trek or vice versa.

 

May 30, 2012

Live at Rainy Dawg in its Third Volume

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Pre-Internet, if we can imagine “the good ole days”, college radio was the place to be exposed to underground musical culture. It kinda still is in Seattle with KEXP being a partly University of Washington operation and the official campus radio station Rainy Dawg Radio. Posted to a bandcamp page last week Live at Rainy Dawg Volume Three showcases a selection of in studio performances from the past two years emerging bands, among them Brian John Appleby, Monogamy Party, and a nascent version of Lemolo’s just released single “On Again, Off Again.” Like you might expect of the station, where the comp is the strongest though is in its punk and outsider rock picks, two of which from Wimps and Constant Lovers I’ve included for your review below.



April 1, 2012

My Favorite Songs and Records of 2011

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So originally I was going to post this around the beginning of the new year. Then extreme laziness mind-numbing force known as “life” took over and I couldn’t quite finish the task at hand. I had a arbitrary Valentine’s Day date set but I quickly decided that there was no reason to post this list in the middle of February. One morning at the end of February while I was doing dishes I decided I would wait until April Fools Day to post this blog entry. Why? Because I have a poor sense of humor and thought that these bands/musical acts should once again know of my appreciation. Bands, Musicians, Human beings that happen to do musical things, I just want you to know, I have a thing for you…..and I can’t let go. Some records I don’t discuss at length because they were already were talked about here on Sound on the Sound.

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Grenades/Mercy Ties Split 12″ on Echolalic Records – These delicately crafted songs remind me of autumn leaves slowly turning from a pleasant mixture of auburn, gold and chestnut to a darkened brown indicating their impending death.

Just kidding. For a majority of the year, this was my thoroughbred racing horse. When it wasn’t racing past the competition, it was mounting them to show absolute dominance.

I loved this record so much that I ended up doing the copywriting for it on Robotic Empire’s website. Grenades is currently in the process of mastering their new record should be releasing new material by the end of the year. Mercy Ties re-recorded some of the songs that appear on this split and recorded a few new songs as well. The newer tracks can be found here. You should be stoked on both. Let it be known, from the deepest crevice in the darkest depths of the ocean, to the mountain tops of some very tall mountain that none of you are athletic or determined enough to climb, THIS WAS PRETTY MUCH MY FAVORITE RELEASE OF THE YEAR 2011.

Standout Tracks: “Get Wise” and “Chrononaut” by Grenades || “Harla” and “Stretched Like A Drum” by Mercy Ties

“Owen Heart” by Earth Control…or is it “Earth Control” by Owen Hart…? (Whatever. It Rules.) I had to say “pretty much” in terms of “record of the year” because this record “totally slays.” I thought this came out in 2010 but apparently it came in January of 2011. I’m not going to lie. I slept on “Owen Hart” for two years because…they were called Owen Hart. For all of you old school WWE WWF wrestling enthusiasts, Owen Hart (the character, god rest his soul) was by far the weakest link of the “famous” Hart wrestling family. He was about ten percent of the wrestler his older brother (BRET “THE HITMAN” HART — deserving of all caps) was. Owen Hart wasn’t even as cool as his weird brother in-law Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart or his other brother in-law “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith. So when you’re an awesome hardcore band named after a third rate wrestler (You might even say fourth rate, he was tag team partners with Koko B. Ware for crying out loud!) that often plays shitty bills at El Corazon…how am I supposed to figure out how devastating you are? Anyway. Whatever you want to call this record, it is the most satisfying piece of “metal” that I came across this past year. It’s like Pig Destroyer grindcore combined with Pantera-esque breakdowns and Crestfallen’s, (Ask my old neighbor from Virginia Will from the Comet about his old band, so good.) “We’re going to thrash and not give a fuck about whatever” attitude. If you are into things that are dark, fast and heavy — then you must start and end your days with this record.

Standout Tracks: “44 Black,” “Poor White Straight Guy,” “The Vertigo of Murray Morgan” and one of my favorite songs of the year, “Fuck Morrisey. Fuck The Smiths. Fuck The Cure.”

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BOAT – Dress Like Your Idols

I’m guilty of not talking about BOAT nearly enough and I feel other writer’s are guilty of the same inexcusable act. For the first quarter of 2011, this record was in contention for my favorite record of the year. People, there are some pop gems on this record. “(I’ll Beat My Chest Like) King Kong” is not only a great first single, it’s a great single period. “Landlocked” is the strongest song on the record and reminds me of Nerf Herder in its nerdy frankness. However, my favorite song on Dress Like Idols is “(do the) Double Take.” The narrative pretty much summed up my life for a decent amount of 2011. Being fucking miserable in a bar Sitting quietly at the end of a bar, smiling at a girl as she walks by…and there’s where it ends. Do you know why? Because I didn’t have a job. Men who don’t have jobs should be taken out behind a bar and shot aren’t allowed to date. It’s actually considered a social felony in most states. BOAT plays their first show of 2012 at the Sunset on April 13th, with the Bismark and Police Teeth.

Police Teeth – Awesomer Than The Devil

I kept on telling my friends (the ones that didn’t like Police Teeth) that this was a dope record. They didn’t listen to me. They kept on insisting, “We don’t like pop punk.” I told them to shove it. I don’t like pop punk either. Eventually they actually listened to the record and saw things my way. Some great tunes on this record, notably “Rock & Roll Is A Pyramid Scheme (Parts 1 & 2)” and “Public Defender.” You know what? While you’re at it, you can also add “Send More Cops” to that list.

Strong Killings – S/T

Best local punk record of 2011.

Youth Rescue Mission – S/T

Carissa’s Wierd was my proverbial novocain for the soul in 2010. Youth Rescue Mission won this pretty handily in 2011. With songs like “Floorplan” and “Great White,” it’s easy to understand why. I spent a lot of time staring off into space with watery eyes, then pressing the “repeat” button because I’m really into emotional masochism.

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Sleeper Agent – “All Wave and No Goodbye”

I don’t really like this band or the the album Celebrasion, because the album is pretty fucking boring in all honesty but this is a good song. I’ll be interested to hear what the follow-up to this 2011 release sounds like. This band is currently on tour with Fun, they’ll probably make quite a few new fans.

Alpinist - Minus. Mensch

This album actually came out in 2009 but it dominated my Ipods so much that I had to include it in this list. German hardcore that isn’t messing around. I suggest you get familiar.

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Duh. Wale ft. Rick Ross and Jadakiss – “600 Benz”

I think the new Wale album Ambition is garbage. Maybe I had set my expectations too high considering some of the slight work he had put in months prior to releasing that record. This song is some FI-YAH (pronounced “fire”) though.

Cat From Hue – “Never Again”

Cat from Hue actually re-released this song on their newer self-titled EP but I think the version found on Forgetters is infinitely more impressive. This is another one of those soul-searching tunes that I can play again and again without ever tiring of it. Be careful, you listen to this song too much and you’ll be stuck in reminiscing mode for the remainder of your day. This song makes you want to call someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time and tell them that they’ve forsaken your friendship tell them that you miss them. Great song.

Constant Lovers – True Romance

Admittedly, every time I listen to this record I wonder how the hell that poor chap on the album cover got his finger stuck in a stick of butter.

Helm’s Alee – Weatherhead

Duh.

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Nurses – Dracula

You know that guy or gal that shows up late to a party and then completely takes it upon entry? Dracula is kind of the musical equivalent of that.

Castevet – Mounds of Ash

This album actually came out in 2010 but I didn’t hear it until 2011 (so in my book it qualifies for this list). Do you like heavy and menacing with the occasional twisted time signature? Castevet are your band then. I’ve definitely misaligned my spinal column rocking out to this.  So much for fixing my scoliosis….

Matsuri - Endship

If it weren’t for that legendary self-titled Strong Killings vinyl, this would be my favorite LP purchased in 2011. The word “thoughtful” doesn’t do the packaging justice. It’s like holding a 12″ miracle of wax in your hands. This band reminds me of the reasons why I got into music to begin with as an adolescent looking for something to belong to. This is raw, pure energy that I want you to have.

OCnotes - Medicine

Duh. OCnotes is “the truth,” as kids say these days. He also does some pretty interesting stuff with “The Wiz” as well.

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Kelli Schaefer – Ghost of the Beast

When I was originally compiling this list, I asked myself the following question:

Who on this planet sounds like Kelli Schaefer?

I still haven’t found the answer.

Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Niggas In Paris”

I wasn’t even feeling this song until I saw that Youtube clip of the guy on the NYC Subway. Suddenly everything fell into place and I now go bananas every time I hear this song. All I can think about is, “Fuck. Fight. Win.” Literally. That’s all I want to do when the track hits my stereo, in that exact order.

Absolute, No Bullshit, I’m Not Kidding…Favorite Song(s) of the Year:

BOAT –  ”(do the) Double Take”

This song reminds me of my inability to communicate effectively women and sunshine, kind of like the 2010 winner “Sunshine/Pretty Girls” by The Unnatural Helpers. What can I say? I’m a sucker for sunshine, women and very brief songs. I have no attention span.

Owen Hart Earth Control – “Fuck Morrisey. Fuck The Smiths. Fuck The Cure.”

Honestly, this might be the most perfect song ever written. Clocking in at a fierce 80 seconds, it combines the best two elements of my all-time favorite bands (I have like twenty “all-time favorite bands”) Pantera and Pig Destroyer. The results? A goddamn electric masterpiece.

February 7, 2012

24 More Unmissable Records from the Pacific Northwest in 2011

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Remember when we said we’d share our list of 25 other unmissable records the first week of January? Whoops. Thing is, the first month of this new year, we were still listening to and falling in (and out) of love with records from 2011. Discovering albums we should’ve shared months ago and finding out what sounded good in summer, didn’t survive snowmageddon. We added and whittled and debated and listened and when it comes down to these 24 albums, all released in 2011 by bands from the Pacific Northwest, we loved.

Here’s what you won’t find on here: records we wrote about in 2010 (The Head and The Heart, Beat Connection, Joseph Giant, Baltic Cousins), just okay releases from bands we’ve loved before, collections of 7’’s made into best of EPs, EPs in general and plenty of records that you loved with your whole heart and we just, didn’t. But, after hundreds and hundreds of hours of listening and seeing these bands live, slightly fewer spent talking about the albums amongst ourselves, we’re confident these are 24 records you’d be remiss to miss from 2011.

Here’s what you will find on here: bands from Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and Boise. Psychedelic symphonies. Menacing metal. Four-Eyed Soul. Modern R&B. Party Punk. Folk confessionals. Hip shaking hip hop. These albums are self-released, funded by fans and put out by labels big and small. They are debuts and albums that defied sophomore slumps and career defining work. Albums that have been loudly lauded and others who’ve been mostly ignored. Its a sample of what makes being a music lover in the Pacific Northwest right now so exciting, there’s a little something for everyone and we hope you find something you love too.

 

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AgesandAges – All Right You Restless (Knitting Factory)

Agesandages fills up a room. With no fewer than seven people adding harmony to the airtight, country-funk rock that spins off Alright You Restless, the debut record enthralled me with the desperate joy that permeates its entirety. Playing with the bog of loneliness and defeat, and inviting the world into that dark fold to find comfort in each other, it’s music that offers salve in stomps and hope in runaway choruses. (Kathleen)

Allen Stone – S/T (Self-Released)

“I’m sick and tired of soul music looking so clean and proper! Cause my soul… my soul… my soul is just a little big greasy!” This is how Allen Stone introduces himself to the crowd from the stage. Obviously steeped in tradition but not married to its dictates, Stone’s four-eyed soul is unrepentant in both its influences and its willingness to disregard them entirely. Repping the Northwest he’s more than likely on stage in a flannel or Sonics jersey instead of any Detroit mandated button-up uniform like most of his current peers. This un-buttoned attitude extends to the dynamic mixture of straight R&B ballads and kinetic pop and funk on display in this record. If nothing else, just like the live show, Allen Stone represents Stone being unapologetically himself. (Excerpted from Josh’s full October review.)

 

 

 

Case Studies – The World Is Just a Void to Fill the Space (Sacred Bones Records)

It’s plausible to say that every music fan in Seattle cried a tiny tear when Jessie Lortz and Kimberly Morrison decided to end their tenure as The Dutchess and The Duke a few years back. Yet, if any and all knew that Lortz would take the new found freedom and put an album as poetic and gorgeous as Case Studies’ The World Is Just a Void to Fill the Space, I wonder, how sad would we all of been?

I discovered Case Studies during a two week period where I was living out of a hotel room in Dubuque, Iowa. My girlfriend was in the midst of a two-week intensive dog-training course and I’d signed out to drive out there and then “focus on my writing” for two weeks in a thrifty Day’s Inn a few blocks from the Mississippi River. To say the least, the smell of old cigarettes and scratchy linens inspired nothing in me and I found myself grabbing my keys and drifting through the Midwest in a chrome-green Honda Element. The Midwest is a strange, lonely place for a city dweller, and with no destination in mind I’d pick a spot on the map an aimlessly cruise towards it. It was on one of these roads with the green blur of farmlands speeding by in the background, the thin snake of the Mississippi my only landmark, that I not only discovered Case Studies but fell wildly in love with it.

It starts with “You Folded Up My Blanket Like We Were Already Lovers,” a deceptively upbeat story about love in a car, on the stairs, in a garden. The road will numb you, and my musical selections weren’t cracking the shell, but “You Folded Up My Blanket…” with it’s beautifully simple lyrics slipped in and I played it on repeat, memorizing every word like a smitten teenager. From there “My Silver Hand” squeezed in to the gap, Lortz’s deep, whiskey-soaked voice rising above the simple violin and guitar, the words full of heartbreak and the need for redemption just peppering my emotional core. Somewhere between Dubuque and Hazel Green, Wisconsin, I fell wholeheartedly in love with the album as a whole. I pulled over the car and sat and stared out in to an endless stretch of green and felt lonely and a bit sad and completely won over by everything Lortz was crooning, every simple beat that stretched out from the door behind me. (Noah)

Cave Singers – No Witch (Jagjaguwar)

I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on why or how, but every moment on No Witch seems suffused with joy. Maybe it’s the way Derek Fudesco’s guitar notes dance like afternoon sunlight on the living room wall, or maybe it’s the honest, folksy feel of the foot-stomping energy. Whatever the case, No Witch has become my go-to cheerup album, my foolproof impetus for dancing around the kitchen with gleeful abandon. It’s not that there’s no darkness – “My mind wakes me up every night sir, see devils in my backyard,” Quirk sings on “Black Leaf,” but the bleak and the bright are bundled up together in little boxes of hope. Weather moves in dark patterns, but as Quirk espouses in “All Land Crabs and Divinity Ghosts,” “It’s too big of a world to give up now.” (Brittney)

 

 

 

Constant Lovers – True Romance (self-released)

When Macklemore said “My city’s filthy,” this wasn’t quite what he meant, but as its cover art indicates, True Romance listeners are in for a low-down dirty ride. This album is a tribute to sybarite pleasures of all kinds, from the warm burn of whiskey in your stomach to the red memory of teeth marks on skin, from the hip-thrust of the drums to the thrust of, well, other things. Conveniently, it’s also the perfect soundtrack for the unbridled enjoyment of these recreations. (Brittney)

Dan Mangan – Oh Fortune (Arts & Crafts)

I recently turned thirty. Not long after, I found myself looking back on the 20s version of me and thinking, “What an ass.” 28-year-old Mangan (who, incidentally, is incredibly polite and charming) seems to be going through a similar process a couple of years early, and has done us all the favor of turning it into a delightful album. With endearing honesty and trademark wit, Mangan crafts carefully textured odes and confessionals that reward with every listen. (Brittney)

 

 

See the rest of our 24 unmissable records from 2011 after the jump (more…)

July 20, 2011

Choose Your Own Adventure: Capitol Hill Block Party — Friday

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THEESatisfaction ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Plebian Paradise is back.

Everyone’s least favorite music festival is back and possibly better than ever! Keeping with a tradition that dates back hundreds of centuries to exactly this time last summer, the preview for Capitol Hill Block Party will be written in the style of everyone’s favorite book series. In reality, there exists an almost incalculable amount of possibilities that could happen once you enter the festival gates on Friday afternoon (get off of work early). However, I am from the future. I have already seen your festival going experience unfold days in advance and now I am going to share it with the entire world six other people. Read about it now in blog form and perhaps you can alter your fate (maybe you don’t want to do that because my writing is stellar and you want my words to be your life). Enjoy? (all complaints can be sent to phil@soundonthesound.com)

You leave work early on Friday afternoon even though your dictator of a boss gave you an eyebrow raise that indicated you might want to reconsider your decision. “In the future you’ll pay for this in blood,” you hear your boss mutter under their breath as you walk out the door. As the sunlight hits your eyes upon your escape, you finally realize that freedom is not free after all (How many ounces of blood will your bloodsucking boss take from your veins? Time will tell).

You arrive at the festival gates at a quarter-til-five, leaving you only a few minutes to make a decision on how to start your weekend. Your options are BOAT at the Vera Stage and….well, that’s it. Festival planners have given the native Seattle band the ultimate monopoly on everyone’s favorite drinking start time. You missed BOAT’S Daytrotter Session and haven’t seen the band since their album release show at the Tractor. Your inner nerd is screaming with glee because you’re about to be reunited with a band who truly understands you.

Read the rest of your Friday Block Party adventure (more…)