Macklemore ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

I will always remember the first time I saw Macklemore. It was 2007 and curiously, he was opening for Omaha screamers Cursive in a lunchroom at the UW. Clearly the crowd wasn’t there for a hip hop smart ass, but within a matter of a song or two, Macklemore, his quick rhymes and his even quicker wit, had the crowd wrapped around his little finger. Going far beyond the call of duty as an opener, Macklemore kept the crowd entertained for well over an hour, leaving the stage and returning when it became clear that Cursive was running over an hour behind schedule. And when it was Macklemore who returned to the stage, donning a mask of then-President Bush, the crowd didn’t boo, they cheered. That night, Macklemore made a lasting impression and a life-long fan.

In the three years that have followed, Macklemore has grown from the skinny self-deprecating hip hop punk to one of Seattle’s sincerest and cleverest rappers. His humor and his rhymes have matured and his raps now look life and its trials unblinkingly in the eye. Still, there’s that mischievous glimmer in Macklemore’s eyes and plenty of the self-deprecating cheekiness that made him such an engaging performer when I first saw him. And as he proved with a large crowd at Capitol Hill Block Party, he can still handle his business as an opener. A crowd of a few thousand, who had bested the will call lines rested on every word that came from Macklemore’s mouth, heads bobbing and hands raised to the stage.

His sunny afternoon set gave me what I hoped I would receive from Atmosphere’s headlining set the following night. While Atmosphere’s often introspective rhymes were lost in the drunken drone of bros trying to start fights, not to mention his most recent album, Macklemore’s shone exposed in light of day, all his flaws on his sleeve. A decade ago I counted on Slug for heart-tugging hip hop and I was hoping he could still deliver. He didn’t. While you’d think that the fading of a hip hop hero would disappoint, thanks to Macklemore, it didn’t. It’s clear that torch has been passed and as the Block Party’s opener, Macklemore made it equally clear that he has what it takes to handle it.

Macklemore ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Macklemore ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

The Lonely Forest CD Release Show ::: photo by Abbey

I have to admit, not all my April albums are equal. For every time I listened to any other album, I probably listened to The Lonely Forest and Local Natives albums twice.

I spent a lot of time with both albums in April, especially The Lonely Forest’s  We Sing The Body Electric, which has been a joy to explore. It’s easy to get stuck on the first half of the album, especially the opening three songs, which is one of the strongest starts to an album I’ve ever heard.  The stellar trio comes to it’s peak  with “We Sing in Time,” which I think could become one of the biggest songs out of the PNW since Death Cab for Cutie and The Shins. I’ll echo the sentiment of Sound Northwest who said it could be one of the most important songs out of Seattle in a decade. “We Sing in Time” is an anthem, just waiting to be discovered.  Despite a hundred listens (probably more) the song gives me chills every listen and has made me cry, often as I sing along, more than I’m comfortable admitting. It’s powerful in its message and its melody. It’s the type of song that bands strive entire careers to create and rarely succeed. And it’s going to catapult The Lonely Forest from the Seattle scene in to the National eye.

* The Lonely Forest - We Sing The Body Electric
* Local Natives - Daytrotter EP
* Black Keys - “Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles”
* The Ironclads - The Space Between The Maps
* The Moondoggies - Record Store Day EP
* Telekenesis! - Telekenesis!
* The Thermals - Now We Can See
* Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
* The Traditionist - Season to Season
* Cursive - Mama I’m Swollen

I love Cursive, they are one of my favorite bands making music today and that’s been true for almost 10 years now, however they should never ever be lip-synched to.

It is unnerving to see Tim Kasher’s voice supposedly coming from anyone other than him. And even Tim himself looks strange and awkward lip-synching to his vocals. Cursive songs are meant to be screamed, not lip-synched in-between director’s cuts.

Witness the disconnected strangeness for yourself:

Cursive at Sonic Boom ::: Photo by Abbey

Saddle Creek has a pretty nice new promotion in the spirit of these economic times to get the new Cursive album, titled Mama I’m Swollen, for the measly price of the date, until it’s release on the 10th. So today, since it is only the 3rd, the price would be only $3. If you buy the CD or the LP, you also get the MP3 of the album right away, as seem to be the expected procedure these days. Not a bad deal to get the record early I’d say.

Go here to get the deal.

MP3: “From the Hips” by Cursive from Mama I’m Swollen courtesy of Saddle Creek Records

Note: Hopefully as this post ages, the graphic above will age with it. I’m not sure about that though.

I was hoping to make it down to this festival, but having committed to SXSW I’m not going to be able to. The announcement of the final line up makes missing The 16th San Francisco Noise Pop Festival, an even more bitter pill to swallow. In addition to the headliner previously announced (Mountain Goats, Cursive, Magnetic Fields) the festival will also feature: M. Ward / Zooey Deschanel, White Denim,  The Rosebuds, Blitzen Trapper, Fleet Foxes, Quasi, Fuck, The Walkmen, Broken West, The Dodos,  Throw Me The Statue, Grand Archives, The Builders and The Butchers, Stellastarr, Birdmonster, Human Giant, Film School, Helio Sequence,  Mstrkrft, Working for a Nuclear Free City, Great Northern, What Made Miluakee Famous, & Tilly and the Wall.

What a line up! It’s espescially exciting to see local bands like Fleet Foxes, The Builders and The Butchers (PDX), Grand Archives, and Throw Me the Statues on the line ups. The festival runs from February 26th - March 2nd at various venues around San Francisco.

If you’re lucky enough to see a band more than once, you’re bound to see a range in quality of performances.  No band made this more painfully clear in 2007, than long time favorites of mine, Cursive. Both shows were enjoyable spectacles, but for completely different reasons, as you shall see.

February 2007: Tim Kasher with a fresh black eye, an hour, late, fall down drunk, and passed out on the mic at a sober show in a lunchroom at The University of Washington.

May 2007: Tim Kasher, as the world’s most affable front-man, playing an acoustic set at Sonic Boom Records.

I think the shots are equally fitting portraits of Tim… we all have our own Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

I was thinking nothing would detract me from SXSW 2008, but San Francisco’s Noise Pop just might derail my Austin plans.

The folks at the SF Noise Pop festival have started slowly leaking names for the forthcoming festival,  which takes place February 26-March 2, 2008 in some of San Francisco’s most storied venues. They’ve only announced a few performers, and I’m just about sold - The Magnetic Fields, The Mountain Goats, and Cursive have all been confirmed. Three of the finest front men making music today, each with their distinct quirks. There are few bands as tempting for a road trip as the above mentioned three. Plus, the Bay Area used to be my old stomping ground and Sound on the Sound’s metal correspondent, Sandeep, now calls San Francisco home.

So, don’t be surprised to see some live reporting by Sound on the Sound from 2008’s San Francisco Noise Pop festival!

Unlike the other three or four line up changes I’ve sadly noted on this site recently, this one doesn’t seem quite so heart breaking for all involved.

CLINT ANNOUNCES HIS RETIREMENT FROM CURSIVE

Cursive regrets to announce the retirement of Clinton Frederick Schnase IV from the band. After years on the road Clint has decided to spend more time at home in Omaha, NE with his happy family of Whippets. Clint has been a lover of Whippets and worked with them for a number of years. He feels it is his spiritual calling, “You can see your future (or whatever) in their eyes.”We will miss touring, playing, laughing, crying, driving, flying,
walking, talking and drinking with Clint and are making plans to love him forever. We wish the best for him and his Whippets and promise to visit him and hang out once a month until the end of time.

Clint’s heavy sticks have been passed to the wonderful Cornbread Compton who has travelled and played with the band for the last 5 months. Clint responded enthusiastically when Cornbread accepted the drumming position with a loud, “F***ING SWEET, MAN”. Well put.

From a myspace bulletin from the band this morning.

Cursive played a staggeringly lovely in-store performance at Ballard’s Sonic Boom last weekend. Veering from what they are known for, layered-heavy instrumentation and tormented screaming; Cursive performed a mellow all acoustic, drumless set. The show and audience was small enough that Tim Kasher didn’t even really need to use the microphone and he’d often step away from it letting his voice carry naturally.  Kasher’s voice was sounding better than ever and standing inches from him, the nuances of his voice were layed bare and beautiful.

Unlike my last Cursive Show, where Kasher was fall down drunk, unintelligible and sporting a fresh black eye; Tim was an incredibly affable front man. He spent much of his time making jokes and conversing with the audience and band members. When he messed up a song he joked about being mesmerized by the previous song’s flute interlude (which was a first) and joked about who’d been kicked off of American Idol the past week. (leaving most of the hipster audience scratching their heads.) For an in-store, I thought Cursive played a generous set of old favorites and songs off their current album. 

For an uber-fan, like I am of Cursive, this in-store performance was a true pleasure and something I’ll cherish for a long time coming. By far my best in-store performance ever.

For More Photos and A Set-List…

Read the rest of this entry »

Illinois at The Crocodile - 5/3/07

The Kooks at The Crocodile 5/3/07

Cursive In-Store at Sonic Boom in Ballard - 5/5/07

all photos by abbey