Blog Archives

August 30, 2012

My Most Anticipated Acts of Bumbershoot

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Key Arena Seattle Center Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival
Don't Talk to the CopsPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Don't Talk to the Cops

Lots of good things happening at Bumbershoot this year. When was the last time Jane’s Addiction played in Seattle? Does anyone remember that Porno for Pyros song “Tahitian Moon”? Were you there? Did they play “Mountain Song”?

Saturday 

Don’t Talk to the Cops (1pm on Fisher Green Stage) – A few weeks ago a reader berated me saying that Don’t Talk To The Cops are trash terrible. I disagree. For those out there who still aren’t sold on this charismatic group, you have to see them at least three times minimum. I promise by the third time you’ll finally understand what you failed to comprehend the previous two performances. Yeah, I drink coffee, so back up off me, bitch. You can send all thank you notes and haikus paying tribute to the song “Big Ass Head” to the following address: phil@soundonthesound.com

Polecat (1:30pm The Promenade) - I saw Polecat at the High Dive this spring and I thought they put on one hell of a show. A friend of mine begged to differ. He had to leave because, “This band is playing reggae shit that is my kryptonite.” I didn’t want to be responsible for the death of Superman so I trusted his words. Later that night a stranger asked me if I knew what clogging was. It was a weird night. Polecat aren’t reggae and they aren’t the kind of music that one would clog to. They are an amalgam of all things groove oriented in Bellingham. Are you into bluegrasscelticfolkreggaeamericanacountryjams? If that’s the case, I think this band is going to blow your mind.

Unnatural Helpers (1:45pm Sub Pop Stage) – A couple of years ago this band wrote my favorite song of the year. I’ll always be grateful to them for penning a tune that represents 98% of my brain activity. Sunshine and pretty girls.

Missy Higgins (1:45 Bumbershoot Main Stage) – I think we should all give this Australian singer/songwriter our undivided attention for the suffering she has endured opening up for Gotye on a recent. Can you imagine hearing “Somebody I Use to Know” on an every single night? Brutal. If I see anyone I know at Gotye I am going to capture them in a giant burlap sack normally meant for potatoes and throw them in the back of my trunk.

Black Breath (2:45 Exhibition Hall Stage) – I have been in Black Breath detox all year. I saw this band so much in 2010 and 2011 that something had to be done. If I am exposed to a band too often I begin to resent their music. Clearly something is wrong with me. I haven’t even heard Black Breath’s  ”new” album yet. Honesty, I am frightened it won’t be as good as Heavy Breathing and my affections for this group will wane dramatically. I can be a coward in more ways than you can possibly imagine.

Sera Cahoone (3:30 Sub Pop Stage) – Arguably the most calming voice in Seattle. This isn’t a snide remark, I am being serious.

Eyehategod (6:15pm Exhibition Hall) – Sludge metal from the Big Easy. Not to be confused with Virginia’s Lamb of God. Out of all the acts performing this weekend, I am looking forward to this and Tony Bennett the most. Maybe they’ll perform together? At Bumbershoot anything can happen….

Jane’s Addiction (9:30pm Main Stage) – Duh.

Sunday

Why? (1pm Exhibition Hall Stage) – A couple of years ago when I was a young man, eager to don an apron at Pasta and Company in the U-Village when I use to work at Pasta and Company, my co-worker would always play Alopecia on repeat throughout the morning. At the time I can’t say I had heard anything like it. I don’t say that because the music was incredibly innovative (although it was). I make that remark because if you stepped outside of the kitchen and into the front of the store, you were bombarded with adult contemporary crap and “rich people” jams. “Oh, is that Joni Mitchell playing somewhat audibly? I use to protest Vietnam before you were born, now I protest poor people. I’ll take 20 pounds of that $32.95 per/lb petite filet. My retired racing greyhound is hungry.” I haven’t heard Alopecia since. Why do I do this to myself? What pleasure can I possibly derive from failing to buy albums I already know I like? I did that for almost the entirety of high school to Lifetime’s Jersey’s Best Dancers. I need a shrink.  

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (1:45pm Main Stage) – One of the premiere acts of this contemporary “soul revival” that everyone is really into these days.

Tony Bennett (3:15pm Main Stage) – For all you young folks out there that aren’t familiar with this legend, let me contemporize his greatness for you in a jejune language that you can understand. Tony Bennett* was in a movie with Gwenyth Paltrow in which he sang a duet with her. The name of that movie was called “Duets.” Gwenyth Paltrow is married to Chris Martin. Chris Martin is friends with Jay-Z and Beyonce. Mr. Martin is also the frontman in Coldplay. How many of you remember Coldplay? Many blank faces.

In other words, Tony Bennett is a member of the illuminati by six degrees of separation in relation to Jay-Z and Beyonce.

Yelawolf (4pm Fisher Green Stage) – I don’t much about this cat except that he’s from Alabama and I get hyped to this song. I’m wondering if he’ll be the “Jay Electronica” of this year’s Bumbershoot (read: slightly under the radar, shows up and crushes all other mic grippers that perform this weekend).

Fruit Bats (5pm Sub Pop Stage) –  I haven’t heard tracks from the album Tripper but I am looking forward to hearing them this weekend. I’ve never seen a sub-par Fruit Bats performance. Never.

The Promise Ring (6:15pm Exhibition Hall Stage) – I can write millions thousands hundreds of trillions of words about this band. Some would be positive. Some would be negative. As of right now, I am only going to say one thing. If they’re too cool to play “E. Texas Ave” I am going to throw a multitude of footwear at their visages. I’m taking my size 12′s and they are going to land right between the eyes of Davey von Boehlen. Then I am taking your flip flops and I am tossing them at the drummer whose name I don’t recall. If any of you are planning on wearing heels (To a music festival? Do you masochist much?), please let me know so that I can make proper use of them.

Mudhoney (6:45pm Sub Pop Stage) – Duh.

Big Sean (8:15pm Main Stage) – 313 in the house! Straight from the D! Not Dallas, that’s Big D That’s all I have to say about that.

Mac Miller (9:45pm Main Stage) – This guy was born in 1992! How ancient are you feeling right now!?! Steel City’s finest if you ask me (in comparison to the young man who was at Bumbershoot last year, Wiz Khalifa).

(more…)

February 23, 2012

Thursday Night…Who Will Survive?

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Three venues. A handful of bands. And it’s literally impossible to enjoy all the potential music you could be enjoying in one night.

Do you want to try to find out everyone’s stage time (because you know…rock and roll is like clockwork) and calculate how many songs you can see being performed by the bands you prefer the best? Do you have friends in the transportation industry that can turn all those red traffic lights into a friendly shade of green, so that you may move swiftly from one show to the other? Maybe you can dig a tunnel from my window to yours and travel like a mole that has been blessed with the problem solving ability of a human? Is there any creature on this Earth that is more hideous than a mole? By the end of the night, all these questions (and more) will be answered.

Curtains For You, Pica Beats and Tomten at Neumos – Tomten has been receiving lots of love from Sound on the Sound over the last few weeks. If my memory serves me correctly, other staff writers have been comparing this band to The Kinks. I would love to corroborate these claims but I never listen to The Kinks (I’m not sure why). In the interest of remaining genuine, I’m going to tell you to check Tomten for yourself.  Curtains for You (who put out an album last year that I really enjoyed) are headlining this bill. Check out the video for their new song “Tear and A Smile”. Is this one of the best, most underrated pop bands honing their craft in Seattle? I certainly think so. Last but certainly not least are the Pica Beats. I’ve never seen them for myself but I know of others in this community who co-sign think this band is pretty fantastic. Doors open at 8pm. The show starts promptly at 9pm. Tickets are $8. SRG Presents: Absolute Monarchs, Strong Killings, Swayze and White Coward at the Highline – Absolute Monarchs have a long anticipated album coming out in April. Finally I can stop listening to “Killing the Old” on their Myspace. I’d give a link to their bandcamp but there is nothing there but an awesome press photo and the track-listing. How about you just go that extra step and come to the Highline tonight? Hear their songs with your own ears. It’s also their guitarist (Miki Sodos) birthday, congratulate her on riffage well done by buying her a new car. That’s the best way to listen to music, right? Buying your favorite bands’ new cars? If you’ve read this website at all, then you’ve read about Strong Killings. I suppose I could beat a dead horse and tell you about how awesome they are. How they write insanely catchy songs that I want the entire world to hear. Maybe I could talk about how come we don’t have local bands jumping on the Strong Killings inspired punk rock wave instead of this indie folk snooze-fest? Admittedly, the first time I saw the name “Swayze,” I thought it was in reference to some garbage pop act that existed for a few minutes a couple of years ago. Then I saw the name again and thought, “Maybe those dudes live in Seattle now and are trying to work their way back to the top?” Then I saw the name again and realized this group consisted of members of the bands Mico De Noche and Sugar Sugar Sugar. I can get down with tunes from those bands, you can too…right? White Coward are a “unicorn” to me. I only hear and see them on my computer but have yet to see them with my own two eyes. I’ve been admiring them from afar, hearing more and more locals gush about them as the weeks go by. With a name so cool and a pedal board I have wet dreams about, will this be the band I can’t stop talking about in 2012 (ala Mercy Ties in 2011)? Probs. Doors are at 8pm. Show starts at 9:30pm. Tickets are $7

Lowlands Album Release Show with John Heart Jackie and Ghosts I’ve Met at the Columbia City Theater – Lowlands are putting an album out. Click on their name and decide if you want to download their track “Give Me Love” for absolutely free. When was the last time you turned down something that didn’t cost you a penny? OK, besides those crappy “sample” cups you get from the food court in Southcenter Mall? Exactly. I haven’t seen Ghosts I’ve Met in more than a year and the last time I saw him (them), it was on this very same stage. The whole night consisted of local folk acts and I thought they stole the show. Would I be surprised if this happened again? Not really. If you’re friends with me (and you probably aren’t) then you’ve seen me wear my John Heart Jackie shirt on a fairly regular basis. It’s one of the most comfortable t-shirts that I own. Besides being a grown man that wears t-shirts too often, “You’ve Been On My Mind” and “Deep As Whales” are incredible songs. I’ve spoke about this band before, walking a very thin line between hyperbole and fanaticism. They tend to write somber songs that make a broken heart feel whole again. Check out the remix for “Deep As Whales,” and the rest of their tunes while you’re at it. Show starts at 8pm. Tickets are $6.

October 26, 2011

That’s What I Want to Hear: A Tribute to Phil Ochs and a Book Drive for Occupy Seattle

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Sound on the Sound Presents
philochsbenefit

 

 

With protesters being cleared out by tear gas in Oakland and Occupy encampments spread across cities all over the world as I type this, it feels as if the world is on the edge of something big and hopefully something better. And I, for one, want to do more than sit idly by as it happens.

Inspired by the Occupy movement and the legacy of Phil Ochs, one of the 60s strongest voices of protest, callers to revolution and hope for change, we along with Mark Baumgarten are organizing an evening of Ochs covers and a book drive to benefit the library of Occupy Seattle.

That’s What I Want to Hear: A Tribute to Phil Ochs and Book Drive to Benefit Occupy Seattle Friday November 4th at 9pm Columbia City Theater – $10 at the Door (All profit from the evening will go to Occupy Seattle)

We ask that you bring a book aimed at social, political or economic enlightenment that is currently acting as decoration on your bookshelf to donate and we’ll make sure the library of Occupy Seattle receives it. All ideas and political leanings are welcome for library donation, all knowledge encourages discourse. And within discourse and knowledge, lies power.

On stage singing some of Ochs’ most beloved and potent protest songs—including “I’m Not Marching Anymore” and “The Ringing of the Revolution”—will be: Sam Watts (of Ghosts I’ve Met), Shannon Stephens, Ben Barnett, Ali Marcus, Ben Fisher, Lukas Williams (of Youth Rescue Mission), The Gloria Darlings, Stepehn Nielsen and more. As we’re being reminded by the Occupy Protests, the more voices that join in, the more likely we are to be heard.

If you’re not familiar with Ochs’ and his powerful protest songs, this evening is sure to be a wonderful introduction. His songs may have been written in and about another era and cause, but they have rarely sounded more prescient than they do today.

 

 

Also be sure to check out the excellent Ochs’ documentary There But for the Fortune, its available for streaming on Netflix right now.

Whether you’ve been sleeping at Westlake, sharing links on your Facebook or silently believing in the cause, we ask you to join us next Friday to show your support.

August 24, 2011

Win Tickets to See Pearly Gate Music, Dolorean and Ghosts I’ve Met this Saturday

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One of the things I love most about a sad song is: they sound good all year long.

In Seattle, summer anthems feel appropriate about 3 months of the year (if we’re lucky) and the rest of the year, those upbeat, dance tracks that I loved in August seem to taunt me. Not so with the sad song. Whether it’s 80 degrees and sunny or 40 and in a perpetual cloud, a sad song feels to me like a favorite wool sweater: comforting in its weightiness, a trusted companion in its minor chords.

This Saturday at Columbia City Theater, it’s all bands that feel like that favorite sweater, that all make you want to weep in your whiskey. And that might be a bummer of a way to spend a summer weekend night, if it weren’t that they also all happen to be some of the Pacific Northwest’s most gifted song-writers. Lucky for you, and that whiskey that has no interest in being watered down, they are. Dolorean is responsible for one of my favorite local records of 2011 and restoring my face in Americana as a genre, Pearly Gate Music (the talented Zach Tillman) released one of our favorite albums of 2010 and everything we’ve heard from headliner Ghosts I’ve Met (Sam Watts), we’ve loved.

If you’re a lover of sad songs, even in the summertime, leave a comment below and enter to win a pair of tickets to the show this Saturday. We’ll choose a lucky winner at the end of the work day Thursday, so you still have time to make weekend plans, and we’ll see you in the front row Saturday. We’ll bring the tissues, just in case.