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July 19, 2012

Reverb Fest 2012: Bringing Super Groups & A Solid Local Line-Up to Ballard Ave.

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REVERB Music Festival

Cosmic Pantherland Band ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Josh reported this morning on Slack Fest as being our ideal version of a summer Festival. But when it comes to an ideal local music festival, I have to nominate Seattle Weekly’s annual Reverb Fest. Held every October on Ballard Avenue, Reverb Fest offers an inexpensive, curated introduction to what’s happening right now in local music. The festival transcends genres, offering a little something for everyone whether you like Ballard Avenue twang, hip hop, garage punk, power pop, or metal. For just $10-$15 you have the chance to discover a couple new favorite bands and see some old favorites, all within a convenient couple block radius. For this reason, it is, year after year, one of my favorite events and days.

This year’s Reverb will be held October 6th and features one of the Fest’s strongest line-ups to date. I’m especially excited to see a couple Seattle supergroups names on the line-up: “The Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the World” (featuring members of The Blood Brothers and Wayfinders) and Cosmic Pantherland Band (featuring members of The Moondoggies, The Maldives and more playing cosmic country). Other acts I’m eager to catch at Reverb this year include: Country Lips (traditional country covers and originals, that wowed at Slack Fest), Erik Blood stepping from behind the boards and on stage, Hardly Art’s Grave Babies, the sultry songs of Prom Queen, the heady raps of OCNotes, the psychedelic drone of Midday Veil, the sweet songs of Shannon Stephens and a trio of Good to Die bands: Brokaw, Monogamy Party and Deadkill.

Arrington De Dionyso / Ayron Jones & The Way / BOAT / Brain Fruit / Brokaw / Brothers From Another / Chocolate Chuck / Christina Bautista / Cosmic Pantherland Band / Country Lips / Deadkill / Erik Blood / Eugenie Jones / Full Toilet / Gabriel Mintz / Grave Babies / Haunted Horses / Kithkin / Lifestyles Of The Poor & Unknown / Midday Veil / Monogamy Party / Naomi Punk / No Rey / Noeula / OCnotes / Posse / Prom Queen / Rachel Harrington / Secret Colors / Shannon Stephens / Shelby Earl / Side Saddle / Soul Senate / Spoonshine / Sweet Pups / Sweetwater / The Chasers / The Crow Quill Night Owls / The Greatest Rock N Roll Band In The World / The Shivering Denizens / The Wheelies / Ticktockman

April 4, 2012

The Blue Moon Celebrates 78 Years with Five Nights of Shows

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We Wrote the Book on Connectors at The Blue Moon ::: photo by Abbey

We’ve had some of the most memorable nights of our show going lives at The Blue Moon. And certainly some nights we wished we remembered more of too. And with 78 years under their belt, the same must be true for countless folks and Seattle’s beloved Blue Moon.

As they do every April, The Moon is celebrating their anniversary with a string of shows and we highly suggest you check out Seattle’s best dive bar and raise a glass to toast its continued existence. In an industry and city where surviving 10 years is a milestone, inching up on a century is unheard of. While all five nights have their own unique spin and celebrate different aspects of the Moon’s history, we suggest getting there early on Saturday April 14th for secret headliners “The Everett Shitkickers,” who we first saw at The Blue Moon many moons ago and who we’ve seen play some of their most memorable sets on the stage, under a variety of names.

Here’s the full rundown of the anniversary celebrations:

APRIL 12 : Diminished Men, Corespondents, Prom Queen – $6 APRIL 13 : We Wrote The Book On Connectors, The Fabulous Downey Brothers, Shitty Dudes – $6 APRIL 14 : The Everett Shitkickers, Mystery Ship, Deception Past – $8 APRIL 15 : Grateful Dead Tribute Show with Kuli Loach – $5 APRIL 16 : Opera On Tap – Live Opera By Professional Singers! – $5

Happy Anniversary Blue Moon and here’s to 78 more!

February 16, 2012

Leeni Covers Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” with Real Video Games

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16bitlana


The Valentines day arrival of Prom Queen Leeni’s “Game Boy Cover” of Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” is about the only positive homage to Del Rey is likely to see any time soon the way things have been going for her on national TV. It was only a matter of time before a chip tune version arrived, yet even while crooning over a Rad Racer/Zelda theme backing in place of strings, Leeni’s still emanating her own take on an elegant “gangster Nancy Sinatra” and faithfully approaching the complex vocal melody with aplomb and probably more cold consistency than Del Rey herself.

The accompanying video is it’s own magnificent cultural artifact, pieced together with it’s own found vintage video game footage just like the technicolor inspiration allegedly was, its 16-bit color scenes of old cartoon star ships and endless horizons are just as mesmerizing and evocative of decades past. The dance interlude with a nod toward more modern video game culture is where Leeni really wears her nerd-dom on her sleeve and jolts the song out of its precise stature for a moment.

Love Lana Del Rey or hate her, this is a damn good song, and one that’s likely to be repackaged for the meme machine to gobble up whole again and again. With this video, Leeni’s just rendered all of those efforts moot.


December 8, 2011

Shaprece, Lucas Field and Prom Queen at Columbia City Theater

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Columbia City Theater Sound on the Sound Presents
Shaprece

Shaprece ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

2011 was a year full of navel gazing about a time two decades past, a golden age that’s redefined the city’s identity for all time afterward. Seattle wants to think of itself as a music town. And it is, but probably no longer in the strict way most people imagine in their heads, a mecca of garages and long-hairs to damage your ear drums night after night. If anything Sub Pop ushered in an era of interest in music-making in Seattle, an era that hasn’t ended yet. Sub Pop itself in the last year has signed Shabazz Palaces and the Head and the Heart, two diametrically different local bands who are decidedly not grunge or anything close. This fact itself speaks to a local shift in interest away from any specific aesthetic; quality music and musicians are coming from across the board. Continuing to name other nationally notable acts from our area in the last five years reveals no particular pattern at all. Or maybe the pattern is that each artist has developed their own space to exist in, independent of expectations. Last Friday’s bill at Columbia City Theater was a chance for us to make a showcase that quality in the area of R&B and Soul, a local angle we’re admittedly still discovering so much about ourselves.

With a looper and a few backing tracks Prom Queen set a mood from the very beginning. Prom Queen Leeni’s covers were well adapted, “Wicked Games” to start and “November Rain” to close were sultry and just as likely to appeal to men as women. Next time I’ll be laying down my money to hear her do originals though. Presenting a stylized retro elegance with a fur-detailed pink gown, sparkling shoes and hair done up in a tower of jet black, the forthright topics of her own songs reveal hardly a delicate personality. Don’t let the pink guitar and dress fool you. There’s a shit-kicking songstress in there.

Lucas Field never quite had a proper CD release show for his debut solo record Conquest of Happiness that arrived two weeks ago, so this night acting as a proxy had him pulling in a healthy crowd to cut a rug. Bandleader, entertainer, songwriter, soul singer. Each of these descriptions were highlighted at various times as Field, sporting heart-shaped sunglasses, shined in the spotlight and had real fun with his music, his band, and his audience. The ace pipes of duet partner Tiffany Wilson has to be acknowledged as integral to his songs, but Field’s own energy is itself contagious as his Rhodes playfully vamps and his voice flits about Wilson’s rich and steady tones.

When Shaprece and her 7 piece band took the stage ‘elegance’ was once again the operative word, and she wasted no time in showing us what she was capable of with her new single “Dangerous.” Backed by a 7-piece mini orchestra, she’s got an accomplished Gospel voice with a sassy personality to match. Mid-way through the set she asks “Who likes 90′s R&B?” leading into to back-to-back covers of Erykah Badu’s “certainly” and Groove Theory’s “Tell Me” that afterward probably had the mum crowd re-thinking their underwhelming answer. (At least it should have had them rethinking. I always fully endorse 90′s R&B covers.) Shaprece isn’t afraid of ballads either, though her take on a ballad often still fits the bill for bump-and-grind. Ballads in generally aren’t usually my bag, but she kept me interested. “Man of My Dreams” and “Waiting” both had folks finding a solid groove as the night closed out and demanding an encore.

This night was about proving that the likes of cover boy Allen Stone and the rise of Pickwick in our area is just the tip of the iceberg, and that the now popular perspective of pigeonholing Seattle as dominated by an “indie-folk genre,” whatever that amorphous designation (or under-the-breath epithet in some cases) means, is a mistake. The night proved all of that and more. I’ve got to agree with Tony Kay’s lede in his fantastic and lengthy review of the night:

It’s too hasty to really say that Seattle’s in the middle of some sort of original soul-music renaissance, but the groundswell’s right there for everyone to see and hear.

Indeed.

 

Prom Queen

Prom Queen ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Lucas Field

Lucas Field ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Lucas Field

Lucas Field ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Lucas Field

Lucas Field ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Shaprece

Shaprece ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Shaprece

Shaprece ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

November 15, 2011

Take a Listen and a Look at Andrew Anderson, Ben Fisher & Le Wrens

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Andrew Anderson ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Last week I shared a killer cover of November Rain by Prom Queen from the fourth Best of the New. Today here are videos from the other three talented performers who took the stage: Ben Fisher, Andrew Andersen and Le Wrens joined by their older brother Noah Gundersen. And as you’ll see with Ben Fisher’s video, it wasn’t just Prom Queen who pulled out an unexpectedly awesome cover.

Andrew Anderson:

Ben Fisher Covering Kelli Schaefer:

Le Wrens a capella with brother Noah Gundersen:

November 15, 2011

Sound on the Sound Is Presenting R&B in December

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Columbia City Theater Sound on the Sound Presents
dec2-500

 

Since the beginning of 2010 we’ve been trying to widen this blog’s scope, at first attempting to give due coverage to the burgeoning 206 hip hop talent and now making an attempt to pay proper attention to our area’s R&B players. Admittedly we’ve got a long way to go in both areas and can’t claim too much authority in either yet but Friday December 2nd at Columbia City Theater we’re putting our money where our mouth is by bringing the quality to the people in our first ever R&B offering.

Headlining the night is REVERBFest standout Shaprece, who backed by a full band was a standout singer. “A standout singer.” Sadly, I don’t get to say that often. With that full band adding flute, violin, backup vocal and DJ layers in support of that rich and confident lead, Shaprece has built her own shapes-hifting dancehall sound that isn’t retreading any MTV norm. Her performance of “Waiting” (minus the recorded autotune) was the showstopper for me in the Sunset, and with her new single called “Dangerous” and produced by Jay Battle, Shaprece is now heading into Robyn territory:

 

 

On Sunday night Shaprece stopped by KEXP’s street sounds for a live performance. Plugin 8pm at 11/13 to get right to it.

In the solo figure of Lucas Field who’s got a new record called Conquest of Happiness out today, November 15th, we’ve found an ideal act to warm up the room. Formerly of Low vs. Diamond, the past year has seen Field developing his own take on modern dance-worthy R&B from a houseboat and honing it in the back lounge of Indian restaurant Laadla of all places. Having some fun with catchy boy-girl choruses and modern electronic layers, Field’s approaching R&B with a bit of personality but without any strict rules. Stream this week’s Featured Song “Givin It All You Got” on our frontpage this week and peep the video below for “Two Lovers” to get a glimpse into the Laadla lounge parties Field’s been presiding over.

 

 

Prom Queen (who we featured a cover of “November Rain” from last week) will open the night. Tickets are $10 advanced.

November 8, 2011

Prom Queen covers “November Rain” & Our Month Has a Theme Song

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Columbia City Theater Sound on the Sound Presents

 

Prom Queen ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

 

 

Lana Del Rey is being touted (or at the very least talked about) all over the world for her “gangsta Nancy Sinatra” approach to singing and styling.

Seattle has its own answer to those who crave songs reminiscent of the 60′s sex symbol, and thankfully she’s less LA lip injections and more leopard-print guitar strap, stilettos and pink electric guitar. She is Prom Queen and last Thursday, as part of the the 4th Best of the New, she thoroughly enchanted the audience with her retro sass, technicolor orchestration and this show-stopping, set-ending cover of Guns ‘n’ Roses “November Rain.”

 

 

 

 

You can pretty much bet we’ll be listening to and watching the video on repeat all November. If you missed Prom Queen last Thursday, we were so impressed by her sultry songs we’ve asked her to open our December 2nd Sound on the Sound Presents show with Shaprece and Lucas Field. More info and a link to buy tickets coming for that very soon.

October 24, 2011

Best of the New Four Happening November 3rd

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Columbia City Theater Sound on the Sound Presents
collective

 

 

Just over a year ago we introduced you to The Collective, a small group of kindred spirits in the Pacific Northwest music scene, made up of Artist Home, The Warehouse and us. And hopefully, The Collective and our quarterly “Best of the New” Showcase has introduced you to a few of your favorite artists. These free showcases, highlighting hand-picked bands by each of The Collective’s members, are held to introduce promising bands to a larger audience and to encourage those bands that people are indeed listening and loving them. Past Best of the New picks have included Lemolo, Bryan John Appleby, Land of Pines, Youth Rescue Mission, The Solvents and Fort Union — names you’ve hopefully become much more familiar with since their showcase sets.

With Best of the New Four just around the corner it’s time to introduce you to four new bands that there’s reason to believe you’ll be hearing lots more from in the coming months. We here at Sound on the Sound are especially excited because on November 3rd we’ll also be being introduced to these bands as well. We’ve only had the pleasure of seeing Ben Fisher, our pick (a stand-out picker himself) live before.

The Collective Presents Best of the New Four with Ben Fisher, Le Wrens, Prom Queen and Andrew Anderson November 3rd at Columbia City Theater FREE!

Ben Fisher

Le Wrens

Prom Queen

Andrew Anderson