Seattle in the summertime is full of festivals … Capitol Hill Block Party, Bumbershoot, and this weekend, a triple header of smaller festivals that are just as worthy of your time and attention. Best of all, none of these festivals are going to set you back a day’s worth of work and they are purely local, highlighting hometown bands and neighborhoods.

Ameliafest featuring Hobosexual, What What Now and Greenriver Thrillers
Friday July 9th at The Blue Moon - $6

The festivities get started tonight at the Blue Moon for the so-called “Ameliafest.” While local photographer and super-fan, Amelia Gyde would probably rather we not refer to the evening as such, it’s a night that she’s organized to celebrate and promote a few of her favorite hard rocking locals. If you like your music loud and local … this is the only place in town you should be tonight.

West Seattle Summer Fest featuring Whalebones, Curtains for You, the Dusty 45s, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter & more
Friday, Saturday & Sunday in West Seattle (corner of Alaska and California) - Free

On the other side of town, across the industrial expanse of Harbor Island, West Seattle Summer Fest is happening all weekend long. The annual festival celebrates the bounty of (West) Seattle, by highlighting local businesses, artisans and bands. Over 25 local bands will be gracing the streets of West Seattle and Easy Street will be having a sidewalk sale during the festival, so if you’re a music junkie, West Seattle is where you should be heading to score this weekend.

Ballard Seafood Fest featuring The Maldives
Saturday and Sunday in Ballard (2208 NW Market St)

Last but not least, is the Ballard Seafood Festival. It’s not a music festival per se, though one of the biggest bands in Seattle, The Maldives, will be playing a set during the festivities. Seafood Fest celebrates the Seattle and Ballard of yore, when the Market Street was filled with Scandinavian Gift Shops and bakeries, not condos and boutiques. When Ballard was populated by fisherman, middle class families and old Swedes; it celebrates the Ballard and Seattle I grew up in and the bountiful harvest the docks around Ballard haul in their nets. If you’re a fan of salmon, fresh seafood and festivals with a real block party feel, take a stroll through Seafood Fest and make sure you do so on an empty stomach.

Thanksgiving is all about coming to the homeland and taking time with family, and this year many of our town’s recent favorites and up-and-comers are doing just that by joining forces to keep a usually quiet weekend very entertaining.

Black Friday at the Showbox at the Market is a doosie of an all-ages triple bill, with Anacortes based Lonely Forest headlining the venue for their first time, but certainly not their last. From the side of the stage at Bumbershoot, a fellow long-time respected music writer told us that the local adoration for and momentum behind the Lonely Forest reminded him of the buzz behind an early Nirvana. Joining the Lonely Forest will be Telekinesis, the Merge Records-supported band led by Seattle’s Michael Lerner, and fellow Burning Buildings Records signee’s the Globes. This group of bands is in a way a summation of this years list of the best young pop bands from our area, so you can’t go wrong hitting this one up.

Saturday at the Showbox at the Market might be an equivalent bill to excite another set of taste buds, tapping the list of Seattle’s strongest Modern American players. I think people are starting to get that the currently-recording Moondoggies are more than a bunch of slightly dorky, talented, flannel lovers. With their late-night blues jamming and repetitive lyrical themes they’ve struck a chord that now brings people out of the woodwork to dance and hoot and shout in enthusiasm at their shows, always. Local institution Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter along with Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs have the pleasure of warm-up duty, so treat a lady right, show some respect and show up early.

Friday November 27th at the Showbox at the Market
The Lonely Forest
Telekinesis
The Globes
All Ages, 8pm, $10 + fees at Ticketmaster

Saturday November 28th at the Showbox at the Market
The Moondoggies
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Here After
Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs
All Ages, 8pm, $14 + fees at Ticketmaster

Looking for a place to lose the in-law blues? The Crocodile’s Saturday show is an all Seattle band bill that’s an event in its own right due to the one night reunion of pop powerhouse the Lashes. Though they’ve been away you can be assured that Ben Lashes will have a gag or two up his sleeve and that you’ll leave with at least one Lashes melody stuck in your head even if you didn’t know it before. Because really that’s what this band is all about: infectious, person-to-person, fun. Thee Emergency, who knows a thing or two about how to entertain a crowd, and Curtains for You will both be opening, and considering our long time endorsement of the former and our recent endorsement of the latter, you know we’ve got an opinion about showing up late.

Saturday November 28th at the Crocodile
The LASHES for one night only!
Thee Emergency
Curtains for You
21+, 8pm, $10 via the the Croc

In recent years Seattle has called itself home to a number of stellar producer/wordsmith duos participating engaging collaborations: Blue Scholars and Common Market who’ve been holding it down for ages, last year’s White Van Music via Jake One, and this year’s breakout act Fresh Espresso all quickly come to mind. For this year’s list it looks like we’ll need to add the latest collab between Seattle’s Macklemore and producer/filmmaker Ryan Lewis, called Vs. The first single “Otherside” weaves a RHCP bassline into a horn section backing a Macklemore rhyme that takes me back to the early days of Slug & Abilities. Looking at the lineup for tonight’s two show EP Release party at the Nectar, you can count on this being the hip-hop center of gravity this weekend.

Friday November 27th At the Nectar Lounge

The VS. EP Release Party! featuring:
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Early All Ages Show w/
Hella Dope
The Next Door Neighbors
Kung Foo Grip
DJ Sabzi
Hosted By Grynch
All-Ages, Doors at 5.30pm, $8 adv. at TicketWeb

Late 21+ show w/:
The Physics
Symmetry
Xperience
The Next Door Neighbors
DJ Terry Radjaw
Hosted by El Mizell
21+, Doors at 10pm, $8 adv. at TicketWeb

In short, this really complicates my usual post turkey day sleep schedule.

Iron & Wine ::: Photo by Brandrew Dice Clay

[ Editors Note: A local musician offered to write up his trip the No Depression festival on Saturday, and we accepted his offer. For now he and his photographer are using nom de plumes. -josh ]

By Sebastian Rootwell

It was a sunny and sticky Saturday afternoon at Marymoor Park for the brand-spanking debut of the No Depression Festival. Named after a current blog online music community and recently defunct magazine, the festival seems like a genius plan to spark some life into the now fourteen year old enterprise, what with the blossoming alt-country scene in Seattle. The crowd tends to be thirty-something and composed, a plastic cup of micro-brew affixed firmly in hand. We step over babies, blankets, and beers on our way to a spot front and center of the stage, where we would spend a majority of the next seven hours.

I arrive at 2PM with my partner in crime Brandrew Dice Clay. We missed out on Zee Avi’s set but arrive just in time for the No Depression All Star Revue, which is like a fantasy country rock team, put together by coach Don Slack. Mr. Slack is music director at KEXP, host of Swingin’ Doors, and an ubiquitous feature on the local music scene; a man whose tastes are bedded in a exhaustively deep knowledge of anything country and honky-tonk. Each song featured a different vocalist, ranging from the wounded, stark warble of Zoe Muth to the high-octane jug-thumping twang of the Maldives. The star of the set had to be Star Anna, pride of Ellensburg, Washington, and her rendition of “Joy” by Lucinda Williams. Note to whoever took the joy away from Star Anna: please, please give it back. She is quite incensed over the whole matter, and I fear for your life, and in fact, everyone’s life.

Jessica Lea Mayfield from Kent, Ohio was next to take the stage. I had heard her described as a hybrid between the alt-country and hipster scenes, and judging from their look and sound, I wouldn‘t disagree. She starts strong with the single “Kiss Me Again,” a song with lovely and detached ‘ahh ahh ahh ahhs’ in the chorus and outstanding guitar work by Jessica’s brother David, who gets both bass and guitars sounds as well as a formidable, mood-setting wash of reverb and feedback. But overall, her relentless apathy and clichéd lyrics suck the life from the stage. This is especially apparent when she plays a couple of songs alone, exposing some uncomplicated little ditties delivered with no particular charisma. We retreat to the shade.

Coming to the rescue was Nashville’s Justin Townes Earle, who’s got the kind of pedigree you can hardly shake a stick at. A no.2 pencil wrapped in a stone gray suit, a greaser’s hair and sunglasses, JTE’s swagger and style was pervasive from the moment he sauntered to the middle of the stage. Smiles abound as he absolutely rips through the set of honky-tonk tunes, keeping the energy piqued with his finger-picking, sing-along choruses and sly banter. Here is a born performer, an entertainer, a seducer, a story-teller. He is joined on stage by Cory Younts, mouth-harper extraordinaire, and their chemistry is unforced and fun, a beautiful thing to watch. A high point comes near the end of the set, when JTE remarks that his thumbnail is being held on by super glue. He recalls a phone-call with festival staff, where they asked whether he needed anything for the show. “Guitar strings, and, uh….super glue,” he says, grinning. And to us, winking, “That’s a good one, eh?”

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Jesse Sykes ::: Photos by Josh

Yesterday evening was a glorious time to lay out on the lawn and enjoy some of the best Seattle music has to offer. You can do it again tonight with Rocky Votolato or next weekend with some other great bands.

The Maldives ::: Photos by Josh

Flickr: The Maldives and Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter at the Mural Amphitheatre August 15, 2008

Starting today and going for the next two weekends prior to Bumbershoot, KEXP is sponsoring what they are calling KEXP Concerts at the Mural, featuring some great local acts playing at Seattle Center’s Mural Amphitheatre on Friday and Saturday evenings. In our humble opinion the first night is the most exciting, featuring some local Americana all-stars in bothJesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter and the Maldives. The bands will be gracing the stage between 6pm and 8pm, with a KEXP DJ to warm things up in the hour leading up to 6, which this time of year, is the best time to be out. It’s the reason we love Seattle unconditionally and don’t bitch too much during the winter about the weather. We can not think of a better place to be to extend our Friday happy hour.

The schedule:

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15th:

5pm DJ Don Slack
6pm The Maldives
7pm Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16th:

5pm DJ Shannon Sauter
6pm Palodine
7pm Rocky Votolato

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22nd:

5pm DJ El Toro
6pm Remarks
6:15pm Carter Tanton
7pm Pela

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23rd:

5pm DJ Lisa Wood
6pm Ms. Led
7pm Goodness

For the purposes of this list the Northwest includes Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. I’d like to include Vancouver B.C. but I just don’t know enough to really say too much about it. Notable bands who hail from the northwest and released an album this year include but are not limited to the 25 chosen for this list. Should I have aggregiously missed an album that deserves attention, leave a comment.

25. Dept of Energy - Held By Waits

24. A Gun That Shoots Knives - Miracle

23. Das Llamas - World War

22. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

21. Aqueduct - Or Give Me Death

20. Solvents - Manresa Castle

19. Rocky Votolato - The Brag & Cuss

18. The Shaky Hands - The Shaky Hands

17. Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter - Like, Love, Lust

16. The Lonely H - Hair

15. Laura Viers - Saltbreakers

14. Feral Children - Eternity Emergency EP

13. Ms Led - Shake Yourself Awake

12. The Blakes - The Blakes

11. Ghost Stories - Quixoticism

10. David Bazan - Fewer Moving Parts EP

9. Shane Tutmarc and the Traveling Mercies - I’m gonna Live the Life I Sing About in My Song

8. Whalebones - Morning Man EP

7. Siberian - With Me

6. Ice Age Cobra - Brilliant Ideas from Amazing People

5. Tiny Vipers - Hands Across the Void

4. The Whore Moans - Watch Out for this Thing

3. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

2. Cave Singers - Invitation Songs

1. Menomena - Friend and Foe

Give a listen. Buy an album.

Abbey will have her list of the best local Seattle releases shortly as well.

A whole lot of tour news today.

Bright Eyes announces tour. Conor and friends will be at the Showbox on March 11.

TV On the Radio, who were the darlings of music bloggers and critics alike in 2006 will be at the Moore on March 25th.

The Roots have added a second show after their first sold out. It will be at the Showbox on February 3.

Sparklehorse will be at the Showbox with Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter on February 14.

Sebadoh, with the “original line-up for the first time in 14 years,” will be at Neumos on March 4.

Xiu Xiu and Sunset Rubdown will be at Neumos on April 19.

Rocky Votolato will be at Neumos on April 20 with Drag the River and Street to Nowhere.

Not sure if I noted this before but Grizzly Bear will be at Neumos on February 16.

I also just noticed that New York band Robbers on High Street will be a Chop Suey on January 22.