Blood Red Dancers ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

“We’ve come a long way together…through the hard times and the good…”

You begin your day with three other people sardined into your twin-size bed and a Fatboy Slim song blasting on your alarm clock radio. Who knew the Fruit Bats would be Seattle’s best aphrodisiac? I’m not saying anything happened with you and the other actors from last night’s dramatic play, but I’m not saying nothing happened either.  Someone from a small mid-western town might call you “godless” and that’s fine. Let them think what they want to think. Do you want to know what I call you? The first person on my Evite list…

You throw on your 3rd favorite pair of jeans and get ready for Day 2 of Block Party. It starts earlier than yesterday so you’re going to have to pace yourself. You grab a sharpie and scrawl “pace yourself” into the palm of your hand, forgetting that you’ll probably wash your hands about 90 times over the course of the day. This is not a good omen as far as your liver and kidneys are concerned.  That’s ok, vital organs take a backseat to Block Party, that’s a given. You make your way to Block Party…

What isn’t a given is how you’ll begin Block Party.  Do you want to dance with the Redwood Plan at the Main Stage? Or do your eyes and ears want to feast on Seattle’s latest darlings, the Head and the Heart, at the Vera Stage? Booty shaking, sweaty rhythmic fun or you hugging yourself and tapping your foot for 40 minutes? Tough decision on a Saturday afternoon. You spend a couple minutes frozen in place and unable to decide. Just then you come up with the unique tiebreaker of “Which group might have less annoying fans enjoying their performance?”

You find yourself enjoying the Head and the Heart for the first time. This isn’t the ideal setting for a band like the Head and the Heart to make their first impression but they are blowing you away nonetheless. The Vera Stage has been quite kind to you thus far during the festival. You smile the entire duration of the Head and the Heart’s set while the sun kisses your skin. Is this heaven or is this Iowa? You see no signs of Moonlight Graham or “Shoeless” Joe Jackson; you conclude that you are in heaven…at least for the time being.

The Head and the Heart end their set and you’re left with yet another decision to make. Do you want to stick around the Vera Stage and see the energetic rock n’ roll of Cold Lake? You’ve seen them before at the Black Lodge and they were an entertaining bunch. You could continue on your mellow journey and voyage to Neumo’s to see Beach Fossils.  You’re unsure whether or not to make a commitment to Beach Fossils because they are from Brooklyn. You’re currently boycotting all musical acts from that part of the universe. Your grandfather has also never forgiven Brooklyn for letting the Dodgers leave in 1958. He’s convinced that if the Dodgers never left for Los Angeles, people who currently live in L.A. wouldn’t be so annoying. You beg to differ but sometimes the grudges of your father’s father are too hard to overcome…

Even though you hate the Main Stage audience with absolute passion, you decide to go see Obits instead of Cold Lake and Beach Fossils. Upon your arrival you realize that you broke your boycott of Brooklyn but you make excuses for your hypocrisy. Rick Froberg was in Drive Like Jehu, which is not just one of the best bands to ever come out of San Diego; they were one of the best bands ever. There you go, your loophole is now big enough for an elephant to fit through. The only bad thing about rocking out to Obits at the Main Stage is that you’re missing out on My Goodness at Cha Cha. My Goodness churns out sweaty blues in a big way and would be perfect to see at Cha Cha. However, they gig in Seattle more often than Obits, you’ll just have to suffer through this blown opportunity. You vow to see My Goodness in a few weeks at Chop Suey.

Obits was enjoyable but in order to avoid the point when the Main Stage audience turns into a herd of cattle, you leave Obits when they are about to play their last song. You make your way to Neumo’s to try to catch the last few songs of the Drowning Men…

You arrive in Neumo’s utterly flabbergasted and disappointed. It’s not that the Drowning Men are bad; it’s just that you confused their moniker with legendary Burlington, Vermont hardcore band, Drowningman. You were hoping to lose face to “Condoning the Use of Inhalants” and “When People Become Numbers” but instead you got digestible indie rock. You conclude there’s enough indie rock on this earth that is easy on the ears and you don’t want anymore. You leave Neumo’s and watch scores of people enjoy the Drowning Men as you exit…

Still bitter from your indie rock let down, you decide to go to the Cha Cha to try and catch a few songs of the Blood Red Dancers. On your way over you buy a hip-hop CD from some stranger at a negotiable price. You don’t ever plan on listening to the CD but you feel good knowing that you’ve supported local music…

The Blood Red Dancers are good and seem to thrive in the close quarters of the Cha Cha.  This band reminds of you of the bands Firewater and Morphine even though they sound don’t sound like either. Blood Red Dancers play the song “Sweetie’s Getting Robbed” and you think to yourself what an awesome tramp stamp that would make for that one girl at work that you don’t like. The Blood Red Dancers have turned the Cha Cha into afternoon sweat-fest. You get tired of the gym locker room vibe and decide to leave Block Party for a short period of time…

As you make your way to Cal Anderson Park you run into some old friends walking towards the entrance of Block Party. You convince them that it would be a good idea to go to Molly Moon’s for some ice cream. You crack a smile as you are reminded of that special moment in Fugazi’s “Instrument” when Ian Mackeye chastises an audience member for getting too rowdy. “Ice cream eating motherfucker…” You think of it as being one of the greatest moments in western civilization. The gods in the sky just think of it as foreshadowing…

After waiting in line for “a goddamn long time” (direct quote from one of your friends), you purchase some Maple Walnut in a cone and lick away. Delicious. Everything is right in the world. You’re with friends on a pristine summer day in the Pacific Northwest, enjoying music and being hedonistic. You would like to capture this moment in a time capsule and open it up some time in the distant future. Licking your ice cream, walking on the sidewalk, enjoying conversation, minding your business…

Fight breaks out and you’re caught in the middle. Just like that awful U2 song, you’re stuck in a moment and can’t get out of it. Strangers unexpectedly decide to come to blows. Your ice cream ends up all over your clothes as you seek shelter from the melee. The fight doesn’t last that long because cops are stationed right around the corner. You make your way to the entrance of Block Party as the police officers arrest the two men. You’re pissed about your ice cream. You keep in mind not to punch anyone in the face while inside; if you do you’ll soon share the fate of those two men…

The only thing you want to hear right now is Black Breath at the Vera Stage. They bring the kind of heavy aggression that will make one forget that they have ice cream all over them. As you make your way to the Vera Stage you keep your fingers crossed and hope they play “I Am Beyond” or “Unholy Virgin.” Without question this will be the most crushing set of the entire weekend…maybe even the entire summer. Throughout the set you make sure to give the “devil horns” sign as a tribute to Ronnie James Dio who just passed recently.

After your dessert catharsis courtesy of Black Breath, you take a look at your Block Party schedule and are unsure of what to do next. You think about giving Neumo’s another shot but you’re not even sure who is playing there. As your eyes make their way across the schedule, you notice !!! just got started not too long ago on the Main Stage. They’ve been a band a long time, you’re kind of surprised that they are still around and wouldn’t mind going to see them. Suddenly you remember what a pain in the ass it is to Google their name and decide against it.  This is the age we live in, where we hand down judgments based on search engine results. Besides you haven’t gotten your fix of hip-hop today (remember those bumper stickers from Day One?).  You decide to stick around for the Hip-Hop showcase at the Vera Stage featuring Grynch, Spaceman and State of the Artist…

After the Hip-Hop Showcase at the Vera Stage is over with, you decide that hip-hop can’t fail in a festival setting. You’ve never seen Grynch perform live before but he killed it as expected. You were completely unfamiliar with State of the Artist before this night but you’ll keeping an eye out for their future dates as well…

Now you’re faced with a great problem, a blessing of sonic proportions. There’s potentially four or five acts you want to catch by the end of the night and if you are fleet of foot, you’ll be able to see every last one of them…

You leave the Vera Stage and make your way to Neumo’s to see Past Lives. They play the kind of weird shit that you are in to. Plus they have this really cool t-shirt that you’ve been thinking about buying. While Past Lives are between songs you peek your head out of the side door of Neumo’s to catch a glimpse of Blonde Redhead on the Main Stage.  Every time you peer out, you think to yourself “Is that really Blonde Redhead playing the Main Stage at Capitol Hill Block Party?” Believe it mammal, it most certainly is. What other stage would they play? Exactly…

Before Past Lives can finish their set at Neumo’s, you make your way back to the Vera Stage to see Seattle’s favorite pocket sized orchestra, Grand Hallway. The last time you saw them was at Neumo’s with the Moondoggies and you thought they were amazing. The Vera Stage will prove to be kind to both Grand Hallway and all its spectators…

After Grand Hallway plays four songs (no more, no less) you will decide that this beautiful music is causing you to be too introspective. You conclude that your life is like an airplane stuck on the runway filled with a bunch of bitchy passengers. It’s not a good feeling. You need a different distraction.  You head to Cha Cha to see Feral Children…

The sounds coming from downstairs at Bimbo’s make the descent down the stairwell to Cha Cha feel like House of Leaves. It’s not the sound of the music; you’ve had too much to drink and not enough to eat. You reach the bottom of the stairs just as Feral Children begin to play “Kid Origami.” This means a lot to you because that song has been stuck in your head for the last six months. Now that you’ve witnessed the song once again in person, you can sleep without the night terrors that have haunted you for so long. A good pop song can do that to you…

Feeling free of your night terrors, you leave Cha Cha and head back to the Main Stage to catch Atmosphere, a true veteran of the indie rap game. At one point in your life God Loves Ugly was a favorite album of yours. Considering your love of that album, your surprised you never saw Atmosphere before or since it came out…

Wild Orchid Children at the Cha Cha - CHBP 2008 ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Just when you thought you didn’t have that many scheduling dilemmas for this years Capitol Hill Block Party, comes the Cha Cha’s CHBP line-up and it certainly complicates my plans. For me, it’s not really Capitol Hill Block Party without a set in the underground sauna that is the Cha Cha, a place that all but guarantees a hedonistic, sweaty time with an awesome local soundtrack.

In terms of up and coming local talent, the Cha Cha is as stacked as any other stage during this years Block Party. There are only a few sets all weekend at the Cha Cha that I wouldn’t be eager to check out. The line-up is a well-balanced mix of bands I know are great live (Blood Red Dancers, My Goodness, Feral Children, Helms Alee) and bands that I’ve yet to see but have only heard good things about from people I trust (The Young Evils, Spurm, and Absolute Monarchs). If you like it local and loud, it definitely looks like the Cha Cha is the place to be for this year’s CHBP.

Here’s the complete Cha Cha Capitol Hill Block Party Schedule:

Friday July 23rd:

5:45 - The Young Evils
6:45 - Modern Athletics
7:45 - The Absolute Monarchs
8:45 - Hairvest
9:45 - Helms Alee

Saturday July 24th:

3:45 - My Goodness
4:45 - Spurm
5:45 - Blood Red Dancers
6:45 - Born Anchors
7:45 - Virgin
8:45 - SK
9:45 - Feral Children

Sunday July 25th:

2:45 - Wet Paint DMM
3:45 - MK speed dial
4:45 - A Million Years Ago
5:45 - Constant Lovers
6:45 - Nazca Lines
7:45 - Aveo

Sleepy Eyes of Death ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Attempting to talk about Sleepy Eyes of Death is akin to “dancing about architecture,” a fruitless effort of useless comparisons and not-good-enough adjectives. Trying to box them into “post-rock” is lazy and incomplete. Technology can accomplish more now than ever before and the guitar is no longer the end all be all. In 2010 a synth isn’t just a hopped up piano, it’s a digital controller with tons of flexibility, something that most people barely realize.

Go up front, inhale a full breath of the smoke machine, stand right in front of the thundering bass drum, and watch guitarist Cassidy shred among the blinking lights in what appears to be a furious stop-motion. Then, I think, you might start to get an idea of what Sleepy Eyes of Death are all about.

Talkdemonic ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Feral Children ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Sleepy Eyes of Death ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Sleepy Eyes of Death ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Sleepy Eyes of Death ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Flickr: Sleepy Eyes of Death Record Release Show at Neumos

Feral Children ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Lately I’ve tried my best to avoid listening to any musical acts that I’ve never heard of prior to watching them upon some random stage about town. I accidentally broke this rule when I heard Feral Children on KEXP a couple of weeks ago on my way to buy some jeans. I don’t really remember what the song sounded like, I only caught the last 10 seconds or so. Until the Feral Children’s Brand New Blood album release party at Neumos last Wednesday, I equated their music with the feeling of buying a new pair of jeans because that’s all I could associate them with. Jackpot. They’ve already won me over. Oddly enough, watching their set was kind of like wearing those brand new pair of jeans and enjoying the experience but every so often thinking about another pair of jeans you once wore and wishing you had them on instead. Please, I’ll explain what I mean in a bit. But first, let me tell you about Jabon and John Atkins.

We’re not into the month of February yet but I may have seen the most interesting set that I’ll see all year courtesy of Jabon. Children, gather around, let me tell you what I saw and I promise, I tell no lies. I entered Neumo’s to find what looked like a heavy plume of rising smoke coming from some incense. Upon closer examination, I found it was a smoke machine. A shitload of lit incense would have been more fitting perhaps. Obscured by the smoke was a tall, thin robed figure that was whack-a-moling up and down to the droning music he created. He would leap off the stage and kind of puppet around on the floor amongst the spectators before returning back to the stage. On his face was a luchador mask. I couldn’t help but think of Jabon as some religious zealot who wrestled in an amateur wrestling league in Pigfuck, Iowa. It was pretty awesome. Things got even more amazing when Jabon’s set entered a segment called “Stomach Noises of the Stars.” Some moons ago Jabon used to be an engineer for books-on-tape recordings. He had all this edited footage of people like Kirk Douglas and Arte Johnson coughing, making weird guttural noises, butchering words and successfully reading sentences. Jabon presented this footage in a way that it is unbelievably weird and funny. Some of the puzzled souls who left during all of this were called out by Jabon in a pretty amusing manner. Honestly, there were moments I wanted to dip out as well but I thought, “When is the next time I’m going to witness something as bizarre and hilarious as this?” Official stamp of approval.

John Atkins, you are a singer/songwriter. You are given the unenviable task of following a dude in a mask who did “Stomach Noises of the Stars” and playing before a band that has two drummers, how will you respond? Not so well. Songs about girls, structurally predictable and uninteresting. It’s hard for me to get excited about bedroom guitar players, there numbers are infinite. Long after human beings have died and gone away, there will be roaches and bedroom guitar players. Mr. Atkins had his moments, but those were far and few in-between. He didn’t seem too excited to be there or maybe I’m projecting? I was kind of bored and kept on glaring at the lights above the stage like a moth. And then suddenly, what’s this? A song that I’m genuinely enjoying. Dare I say it’s memorable? I wish all his songs were like…what’s the smell..? Fuck. Someone is wearing “Sex Panther” or just let a dead body like fart somewhere in close proximity. All the good things in my life get marred. The worst part was I was lone guy near a half dozen girls, you know who took the blame for that one.

“You should stick around for Feral Children,” I heard some girl tell a complete stranger. “They’re really good, they have two drummers!” Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids. If only it were that easy to be a good band. I’ve got a joke for you. What do you call a band with two drummers that suck? A band with liabilities. That’s liabilities, plural. That’s not to say Feral Children is a band with two drummers that suck, I’m just saying that girl had no idea what the fuck she was talking about. These Feral Children, in from the wilderness and frontier of Maple Valley, I applaud their supposed weirdness, inhale their scene cynicism, and am tickled at their disdain for imaginary big cities. Watch that marketing boys, you’ll get Hall & Oates’d. Maneater. Big city snobs might make you freshmen dorm room almost famous one day. Luckily for you, Seattle isn’t a big city. Feral Children’s set was good and energetic. The kids were into it. I was pretty into some of the jams as well. “Kid Origami” and “Universe Design” are my two favorite tracks off of Brand New Blood and they were solid live. “Enchanted Parkway”, a song that I don’t particularly like on the album was surprisingly awesome at Neumo’s. But remember when I was babbling about jeans earlier? How sometimes we can’t enjoy the moment of now because we’re too busy longing for the past? That kind of describes me during Feral Children. There were occasions during their set where I was thinking about Black Eyes, a now defunct DC-based band that were amazing noisemakers who wrote catchy pop songs when they wanted to. Seeing Feral Children’s two drummers and hearing the high vocals of Jeff Keenan made my heart long to see Black Eyes once again. Sigh. Chances are I enjoy my new pair of jeans more than the existence of Feral Children. But hey, I bought a damn good pair of blue jeans.

Brand New Blood is available via Amazon, or if you live in the Seattle area, your local record store.

Feral Children ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Flickr: Feral Children CD Release at Neumos, January 27th, 2010

Feral Children at SXSW 2008 ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Seattle band Feral Children have been pounding out spooky visions on local stages for a few years now, developing a percussion-heavy repertoire of dark indie rock that I’ve declared on more than on occasion is destined Pitchfork-dom sooner or later. The band’s 2010 effort Brand New Blood via Sarathan Records only strengthens that suspicion and showcases a group that’s had some time to really grow up to their own expectations. One could certainly point to elements of Arcade Fire in their sound, what with the “Oooh, Oooh” harmonies and all, but I also strong find a strong association in Brand New Blood with an emerging local trend in pop for end-to-end song development care of bands like the Ironclads, M Bison, Navigator vs. Navigator, Skeletons with Flesh on Them, Alligators, Curtains for You and many others. Boring and predictable songs get old fast and this group of songs is hardly predictable or boring.

Feral Children are having a Brand New Blood Release party at Neumos this Wednesday January 27th. They’ll be headlining, and in support are John Atkins, and Jabon. Tickets are $8 adv (+ fees) via TicketsWest.

Update: Snag a free MP3 of “On A Frozen Beach” courtesy of Sarathan Records.

It’s funny that Apollo Sunshine and Feral Children are playing together tonight, as what I recall from both of their live shows is a good deal of time spent beating drum sticks on the tinny side of a keg ‘o’ beer.  Aside from that I remember an alkie-haze and my ex-girlfriend yelling at me on New Years during the Feral Children show and me yelling, “What? You’re not coming in? I can barely hear … <click>.”  Well, at least the music was good.  Feral Children put out a great, weird self-titled album last year, and though I can’t recall exactly what Apollo Sunshine sounded like, their lead singer is like seven feet tall and might weigh 140 pounds, and I spent the majority of their show drunkenly inquiring to my friend if that’s what “heroin addiction” looked like.  I think that plus Feral Children plus Dead Confederates is just about reason enough to head on down to Chop Suey tonight.  Alas, I will not be there to drunkenly shout things at you, as I’ll be on my sweet way to The Big Apple.  Tooooodles.

Feral Children - Spy/Glass House

Common Market at Capitol Hill Block Party ::: Photo by Josh

Common Market played KUBE on Sunday, played KEXP today at noon, and Easy Street Queen Anne later tonight. If that weren’t enough, on Tuesday for the actual release date of their record Tobacco Road, they’re playing Silver Platters.

On Thursday at Neumos they’re kicking off a western tour, calling the show the “Tobacco Road Show,” inviting a few notable Seattle openers along on the bill in Feral Children, the Tallboys and Thee Emergency to contribute to the fun. For their own set the hip hop duo will be joined by a live band and the Total Experience Gospel Choir, so it should be an interesting and special night that won’t be seen any other time. (See the complete details on the poster below.)

For those of you who like to sample before you buy you can listen to the new record for yourself, in its entirety, over at Common Market’s myspace page, where all the tracks are streaming for free (160000+ plays on Sunday!). On my initial first listen, I’m hella impressed. If you like what you hear, you can get it right now, before it hits the stores, on iTunes. Although, I bet if you showed up at Easy Street for the in-store, you could probably buy it there a day early too.

Feral Children at SXSW ::: Photo by Josh

Feral Children are having a big 2008, that’s about to get infinitely bigger with their debut album released on July 8th. Josh is convinced these boys are destined to be the Fleet Foxes of the Seattle rock scene, embraced by Pitchfork and the rest of the musical intelligentsia…and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it happens.

Before the Feral Children are the next big thing on everyone’s lips, take a listen for yourself and download their EP for FREE.

This weekend provides a bevy of offerings for your aural pleasure. They include but are not limited to:

Friday April 11

The Shackeltons at Easy Street Records (6pm, $FREE)

Cat Power at Showbox SODO

Saturday April 12

The Avett Brothers at Neumos

Katharine Hepburn’s Voice at the Blue Moon Tavern ($FREE)

Sunday April 13

The Rock Lottery at Neumos ($10) - 25 musicians are broken up into five bands, given 12 hours to come up with a 3-5 song set with a limit of one cover, and then asked to perform said songs in front of a crowd.

Whalebones, Feral Children at the Cha Cha ($FREE)

In addition to that, the EMP Pop Conference is going on at the EMP at Seattle Center through Sunday.

Unsurprisingly, my favorite sets at SXSW were brought by Seattle bands (or bands with Seattle connections). Every Seattle band I saw at SXSW brought it in a big way and south by audiences were eating it up. People stopped on the street and stared at Iceage Cobra’s performance, a fellow photographer came up to me after a Thee Emergency set and ecstatically said “I used my entire memory card on those kids!” Locals The Hands, Wild Orchid Children, Feral Children, and Portugal the Man were lauded to me by every person who had the chance to see them. Fleet Foxes were the buzz of the folk lovers and Blue Scholars put Seattle hip-hop on the map to a national audience at the festival.

Here are a few photos of the Seattle bands who made a big impression on South by Southwest audiences this year.

Portugal The Man (joined by some Wild Orchid Children)

Wild Orchid Children (joined on stage by Sonic and Nick of Thee Emergency)

Thee Emergency

Fleet Foxes

Feral Children

Holy Ghost Revival

Iceage Cobra