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April 24, 2013

Kathleen’s Spring Playlist: Chaos and Calm

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Spring music in the past has been different for me. I always wanted something to evoke the riotous bloom of flowers, the world opening its clenched palms toward the jolly sun. The rain splattering on thirsty ground, and on the wet shins of kids running around in the park for the first time since October. I have always played music that’s about one metronome tick away from full on summer anthems. But spring is not summer. It is not blistering pavement and burying toes in sand, not sweaty nights spent on top of the covers, with naked permeable skin soaking up night breezes through thrown open windows. It is not the azure sparkle of summer days, or the smoky closeness of summer nights. Spring is its own being. And suddenly, this reluctant spring, I wanted to find its true voice.

In that way, this playlist completely anthropomorphizes spring. If spring could sing to you beyond the enthusiastic birds outside your window (BIRDS, WE GET IT, YOU’RE BIRDS) then this is what I think it would say.

I spent the past week examining spring. I have plenty of time, since summer doesn’t slather on sunblock and join the party until about July in Seattle. So far in March and April, Seattle has had buckets and buckets of rain. Not normal buckets, either. Buckets sent from Mount Olympus. Old Testament buckets. Buckets that even Roald Dahl’s BFG couldn’t hoist.

It’s been wet, is what I’m saying.

Also last week we had hail. So everyone stop making fun of the Mayans because I was sure the world was about to collapse in on itself for those ten minutes.

But we’ve also had sunny days. Days where I sat out on the deck and accidentally got a really weird tan line that I will still be sporting when I make next year’s spring playlist.

What I have noticed, though, is that spring is unpredictable. It hasn’t quite decided. One day you’re rushing out to Golden Gardens with perspiring beers in tow, giddy and sun drunk, and the next day you’re scowling at the sky as your boots fill up with about seven quarts of rain water. Spring is what summer needs. For summer’s show-offy splendor, we need the heavenly sky rivers and we need the days of sunny, growing rest. We need a gentle shake from the hibernation of winter. Also we need to have some time to find a spare hour to deal with the reality of showing legs again. Or perhaps that’s just me.

This spring playlist is dedicated to the necessary, annoying, totally separate spring identity. The indecisive, warm, chilly, stretched days that don’t really give a flying…kite whether or not we were planning on grilling. It is here to make you dance, and to make you rest. To be alone, and to entangle yourself in loving arms. It is a playlist of contradictions that work together, all bundled in the magnificent kinetic energy that is this transition season. Find the beat, sing a long, embrace the chaos. Summer will be here soon, and your tan lines will be just as funny as mine.

(Also, I danced like a fool at a wedding last weekend to “American Music” with Abbey, and it did wonders for my well-being and happiness. I suggest you do the same.)

January 19, 2012

Youth Lagoon’s “July” in January

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Weather permitting Boise-based Daily Choice baller Youth Lagoon is headlining Neumos tonight. With the also just announced spring tour where they’ll be opening for Death Cab For Cutie and wrap up in Seattle at the Paramount Theater on May 13th, Youth Lagoon’s Trevor Powers is already thinking out to summer.

Earlier this month for the song “July” Powers revealed that his imaginative video collaborations with director Tyler T. Williams who directed an earlier film for “Montana” are going strong. This latest entry’s visuals echo the record’s own capacity for describing an escape to otherworldly realities without entirely leaving the stress of real life behind. If resolution is elusive in the end, so to is it on the record.

May 24, 2011

My Sasquatch Storylines

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Fancy Photo for Computer Programmers? ::: Photo by Danny Clinch

The Gorge is something I do, it’s not a place I’ve been before. I almost dropped a mortgage payment on a ticket to see Motley Crue at Cruefest a couple of years ago, I didn’t end up going. It turns out that you don’t get to experience an Iron Man set from the Crue and you have to sit through influential bands like Disturbed and Buckcherry. I’m just going to wait another decade or so until the Crue plays the Funhouse on a Thursday night so I can save some cash. In the meantime, let’s focus on what’s happening at Sasquatch 2011 – the bands, the stages and the bizarre story-lines that only yours truly can create. In no particular order:

Pat Smear will make your band infinitely better than it was.

Welcome back. I could do the journalistic thing and consult interviews with Foo Fighters front-man Dave Grohl on why a Pat Smear/Foo Fighters reunion was necessary, but that would require me receiving a paycheck be boring. Don’t you think it’s strange how the last decent listenable interesting relevant Foo Fighters album prior to Wasting Light was The Colour And The Shape? Pat Smear writes one of the most memorable guitar “leads” of the nineties on the song “Everlong” and then vanishes from shlock rock radio for more than a decade. Gentle readers, it has been 14 years since that album came out! There are Foo Fighters fans that were born after that album was released! They own copies of Wasting Light and have no idea who that guy wearing gloves while playing guitar is. “Dave, what took you so long?” If I see him, that’s exactly what I’m going to ask him. If I see Mr. Smear, I’m going to ask him what’s up those gloves. Mr. Grohl is a hometown hero (Virginia represent) and is literally the first example of why I think a good drummer is the most important part of any band (I’m not talking Nirvana, you hear his drums on Scream’s Fumble? Good lord). Friday 9:30-11:30pm Sasquatch Main Stage

Will the international pop icon known as Robyn wish my friend happy birthday?

If you follow me on Twitter (@eyesoredown — wise decision during festival season), then you might already know I’m on a spectacular quest to get Robyn to wish my friend happy birthday. During the earliest stages of this quest I have also discovered that Robyn has changed quite a bit since we first met (I was 14, listening to Local H. She was 18, singing R&B). This Body Talk trilogy is really good. I’m not just saying that because I am going to send this blog post out into the twitterverse, hoping that she sees it. Ladies and gentleman, this woman built condos on the top of the Swedish music charts for a reason, she owns it. This promises to be one of the best sets of the weekend. Saturday 9-10pm Bigfoot Stage

Who is Death Cab For Cutie? I’m being serious…

Josh, Abbey and I have all decided to do separate interpretations of Death Cab’s set at Sasquatch. This should be interesting. Here’s what I know about Death Cab for Cutie, they have an album called Transatlanticism that I once owned by accident. As far as the music goes, that’s the extent of my knowledge. Over the past four years I have noticed that those who live in the Pacific Northwest have a completely different opinion of Death Cab than those who hail from where I am from. I think it’s time for me to figure out what all the fuss is about. Saturday 9:45-11:30pm Sasquatch Main Stage

Will another couple get caught having sex to the Decemberists?

What an odd choice of music to have public sex to. Lightning rarely strikes in the same spot twice, so I don’t foresee this happening again (unless you want it to. Ladies, twit pic me some bare wrist action  — @eyesoredown — #raycharlesmethod #heroinandlevitra). Copycat “crimes” happen all the time. What performance will inspire two young souls to sexually satisfy themselves (as well as some lonely third party who likes to masturbate to fuzzy videos on the internet while indie rock plays in the background)? I’m going to guess Sleigh Bells (there’s a blue ball joke in there somewhere). Saturday May 28 10:10-10:45pm Banana Shack

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February 7, 2011

Sasquatch! 2011 Line-Up

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Sasquatch Sunset ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

With the Sasquatch! line-up just announced we are inching ever closer to spring. We’re giddy for days when the sun doesn’t set at 4 and to see so many local names, big and small, make Sasquatch’s 10th anniversary line-up. Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, The Head and The Heart, Macklemore, The Moondoggies, Wheedle’s Grove, Dan Mangan, The Globes, Young Evils, Mad Rad and more. Much more so than recent years line-ups, 2011′s seems to have a Northwest bias and you know we love that. Plus, we’re excited to share that The Head and The Heart will be playing The Gorge’s hallowed Main Stage for their first Sasquatch set.

Of course, Sasquatch is much more than a local festival and we were pleased to see that lots of our national and intentional favorites including Local Natives, Sharon Van Etten, Deerhunter, Fitz and the Tantrums, Best Coast, Wye Oak, Wilco, Bright Eyes, Noah and the Whale and Wolf Parade will be Washington bound come May. Like all festivals, its not perfect. And the most confounding name on the line-up has to be Pink Martini, which is more a “your parents attending Bumbershoot band” than Sasquatch suitable, but all-in-all the announcement makes us very eager for May.

Here’s the full line-up as announced thus far. And here’s the day-by-day line-up. What do you think?

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And if that font’s too small for you, I feel your pain so, I included the official line-up announcement video and it even comes complete with a Moondoggies soudntrack.

January 14, 2010

Ben Gibbard Performs ’405′ For One-Shot Seattle

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Check out this just-released gorgeous stripped down acoustic performance by Ben Gibbard of the classic Death Cab for Cutie tune “405″ filmed at the Crocodile for One Shot Seattle:

July 13, 2009

Night After Night: July 13th to the 19th

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Black Eyes & Neckties Play The Comet July 19th ::: Photo by Abbey

Remember when I said not every week would have seven nights of recommended shows…? This is one of those weeks.

However, for most of the night’s that have recommendations, there are numerous pleasing possibilities. Looks like another week for some heated internal debates on which shows to attend.

Monday 7/13:

Who – So Many Dynamos, Police Teeth, Cast Spells Where – VERA Project How (Much) – 8$/7$ with Club Card Why- So Many Dynamos mathematic, energetic, angular, and infinitely danceable approach to indie rock is a perfect way to start the week with momentum.

 

Tuesday 7/14:

Who – The Girls Guide To Rocking Where – VERA Project, 7:30pm How (Much) – Free Why – Because in 2009, rock’n'roll is still a boys club. Books like The Girls Guide to Rocking and places like the VERA Project help encourage and teach girls to find their rightful place in rock.

Equally Awesome Alternatives: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone at HTFC Team Gina at Chop Suey

 

Wednesday 7/15:

Who - Jack Wilson and the Wife Stealers  Where - The Comet, 6pm   How (Much) – ? Why – If you like what bands like The Maldives and Widower are doing, it’s time for you to check out Jack Wilson and the Wife Stealers. Wilson is a pleasant addition to the burgeoning bearded Seattle-Twang song-writer sound.

Equally Awesome Alternatives: GMK at Nectar Lounge Tea Cozies, Devices at Tractor Tavern

 

Friday 7/17:

Who - WE Prom Featuring: We Wrote The Book On Connectors, M. Bison, Tennis Pro Where - The Crocodile How (Much) – 10$ Why – Because this is what Sweet Dreams are made of. Or at least, that’s the theme of this prom, which is guaranteed to suck 100x less than your actual Prom. There will be photos, formal wear, a balloon arch, and  few great local bands playing from their own catchy catalogs, as well as the promise of some classic Prom songs. Slow dance, anyone?

Equally Awesome Alternatives: The Metal Shakespeare Company at The Blue Moon The Sea Navy at The Comet Tavern The Decemberists, Andrew Bird, Blind Pilot at Marymoor Park

 

Saturday 7/18:

Who - Laura Veirs, Cataldo Where - The Crocodile How (Much) -  15$ Why – To spend a night with one of the Pacific Northwest’s most gifted lyricists and song-writers, Laura Veirs.  2007′s Saltbreakers is a quintessential Pacific Northwest album, so evocative of the surroundings that inspired the album, you can almost smell the damp salty cedar air.

Equally Awesome Alternatives: What What Now at Cafe Racer Death Cab for Cutie, the New Pornographers, Ra Ra Riot at Marymoor Park

 

Sunday 7/19:

Who - Helms Alee, Black Eyes & Neckties, Red Fang Where - The Comet Tavern, 9pm How (Much) – 8$ Why – You’d be hard pressed to find a stronger all-local hard rock bill. In spite of being on a Sunday, the sheer weight of rock and spectacle of this line up may actually leave The Comet in ruins.

Equally Awesome Alternative: Death Cab for Cutie, the New Pornographers, Ra Ra Riot at Marymoor Park

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May 11, 2009

Death Cab for Cutie Talks Lonely Forest and Telekinesis to CNN

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The Lonely Forest: Chris Walla loves this band ::: photo by Abbey

Chris Walla and Nick Harmer of Death Cab for Cutie recently sat down and chatted with CNN about music. Once you get over THAT mind fuck — I mean first Brian Williams, and now CNN are trying to become music bloggers?!? Leave a corner of the internet for the little guys!! Right, back to the story at hand, while chatting with CNN Chris Walla gave some major love to Sound on the Sound favorite’s The Lonely Forest and Telekinesis! Glad to hear that Chris Walla and I were kept company by the same great local music  as of late. And a huge congrats to the buzz that will come to both The Lonely Forest and Telekinesis after this Death Cab name drop, it’s well deserved.

March 30, 2009

Second Death Cab Show Added in July

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Due to large demand for the single show they had planned for Marymoor on July 18, the band has added a second show to happen the next day, Sunday, July 19 at 6:00pm.

Tickets for both shows are available online.

HT: NWMB

March 23, 2009

DCFC unveiling a track a day from new EP at Stereogum

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Death Cab for Cutie have a Narrow Stairs B-Sides EP coming out titled The Open Door EP, and it arrives on Atlantic Records on March 31 digitally, and in physical form on April 14. This week they’ve enlisted longtime buddy’s Stereogum to premier each song, one each day, of the week, all five songs. Today, day 1, is the first of the five tracks and it’s titled “Little Bribes.”

March 16, 2009

Death Cab Plots 2009 Tour, Caps it by Playing Marymoor in July

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Death Cab For Cutie at Sasquatch 2008 ::: Photo by Josh

Just announced today, starting April 5 Death Cab For Cutie will take to the college stages of North America as well as some larger ones later for their second tour in support of last years Narrow Stairs, and it’s soon to be released accompanying 5 song EP of songs also recorded during the same sessions. The Open Door EP will be available digitally only March 30 in all the usual places.

In addition to two college dates in Bellingham and Spokane midway through April the band will be finishing a string of amphitheater dates during the month of July with a show at Marymoor Park on July 18, with the New Pornographers and Ra Ra Riot. On July 5th the band plays Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic. Too bad it wasn’t July 4th with the Fireworks. I guess the LA Philharmonic might be busy that day though.

The complete list of announced tour dates are below the fold.

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