Sera Cahoone ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

“Pullman you say? A music destination you say??? Pffft…” Yes, I know you’re trying not to laugh. But Pullman resident, ardent Inland-Northwest music supporter, and the man behind Stereopathic Music Larson Hicks is gunning to make it exactly that. Looking at the lineup he’s confirmed for a weekend in late March for the 1st Annual Birds on a Wire Folk Festival, he looks to be on just the right track. Happening March 26th and 27th and taking place on three stages within walking distance of each other on Pullman’s main street, the festival is an outgrowth of a series of Birds on a Wire shows Hicks did last year with some success, which itself was an product of his need for his underserved area to realize it’s musical potential.

Hicks is not a corporation like Live Nation, just a guy with a dream to make his town as fun as it can be, and on the leading edge of a localism movement that is now even reaching the music business. Small local music festivals used to be cute getaways to take in some folk talent or something specialized like that. Now in many smaller markets it makes sense can put on a music festival that attracts current and in-demand talent. In our area: Birds on a Wire, Doe Bay Fest, Pickathon, Wintergrass (bluegrass and folk). There were a host of other Oregon festivals that many of the biggest local artists made a point of attending in 2009. I don’t doubt by the end of the year the size of that list of festival names will be doubled.

The lineup for Birds on a Wire looks like this so far:

Justin Townes Earle
Damien Jurado
Joe Pug
Rocky Votolato
Horse Feathers
Sera Cahoone
Frontier Ruckus
The Maldives
The Moondoggies
Cataldo
Laura Gibson
Al James (Dolorean)
Super XX Man
Goldfinch
Karli Fairbanks
Pablo Trucker
Mike Kelly
Hueco
Samuel Dickison
Tony Kevin Jr.
Low-Fi
more announced soon…

‘Current’ and ‘Northwest’ are two words that come quickly to mind when looking at this bill, and Hicks says he’s not done announcing national level touring acts yet.

Advanced tickets available via the birdsonawirefest.com site, and are $35, $25 for large groups. Day-of tickets are $45 at the door. Volunteering will get you an even better deal I’d expect. Since Hicks doesn’t a hefty amount of resources to put on this festival, he’s looking to make it happen smoothly and in a cost neutral way with local sponsors and a group of volunteers. He needs everything from sound and stage nerds to assist with shows, to people who are able to ferry bands from the airport day-of. It’s a great opportunity to be involved with a festival that is just getting off the ground.

Facebook: Birds on a Wire Festival on Facebook

I’ve just found out that Sera Cahoone is a barista at the closest coffee shop to SOTS HQ; I suspect just for the atmosphere of the place I’ll be spending a fair amount of time poking around anyway. Above you can find her new video for the song “Baker Lake” on of my favorites of Only As The Day Is Long.

Fruit Bats ::: Photo by Josh

As part of the Vera Project’s 8th Birthday Celebration, the Fruit Bats, Sera Cahoone and Moon Pulls the Ocean were on hand to entertain a sold-out crowd. We weren’t smart enough to figure out tickets ahead of time, so we not-so-patiently waited in line outside for an hour or so, hoping we’d make it in before the cut off. Just barely we got lucky and made it in. A host of others just behind us in line weren’t so lucky and were left out in the cold.

Each band appeared to have a large contingent of fans out for them, with even opener Moon Pulls the Ocean playing to a full room of young and old. The range of ages present was notable with a number of moms bringing their youngest ones to stand in front of the adults for Sera Cahoone, while for the Fruit Bats the crowd near the front became a bit older.

Sera Cahoone continues to impress each time I get a chance to see her live. Her easygoing manner and ready smile belie the melancholy stories of her lyrics, while the band’s warm melodies ensure us that everything will be alright at the end of the night. This band has the pulse of timeless American music, and I firmly believe they continue to be in the vanguard of the best of what’s new coming out of Seattle right now.

The Fruit Bats made their live return with a two week tour up the West Coast that wrapped up in Seattle, before heading off to record a new album at the end of the month. Many of the new songs made appearances, each one already sounding classic Fruit Bats, with a few new twists and turns. The crowd wanted vintage Fruit Bats, and old songs like “Canyon Girl” and “When You Love Somebody” and “Born in the ’70s” all arrived to cheers, though each sounded as though it had aged a bit and grown long hair just as front-man Eric Johnson has in the time that he’s been off being paid to do other things instead of Fruit Bats. And all in all that ended up being a good thing from my perspective. From the sounds of these new songs, the new record is going to be something to look forward too.

Sera Cahoone ::: Photo by Josh

Head on over to the Sly Oyster to see some youtube’s of the Fruit Bat’s Portland set, including some new songs and a great cover of Neil Young’s “Helpless,” which they unfortunately did not play in Seattle.

You can also get a listen to a few of the new songs on the KEXP live archive as they did a live session for KEXP that aired January 30 at 1pm. It’s only going to be up for a couple more days so listen while you can. Check a video from the session of one of the new songs titled “Blessed Breeze” below.

Fruit Bats - “Blessed Breeze” ::: Live on KEXP in Berkeley

 
Here it is folks, the end all and be all…our Top 25 Northwest Albums of 2008. While numbers 6 through 25 were highly contentious, there was unanimity as to the Top 5 Northwest Albums of 2008 and their order. There’s no doubt in our minds, that no band deserves the accolades more than The Moondoggies. Their album Don’t Be A Stranger is an instant classic in the vein of Music from Big Pink. We expect 2009 to be even bigger than 2008 for The Moondoggies, and we can’t wait to see what comes next from them, as well as the other great bands that made this years list.

1. The Moondoggies - Don’t Be A Stranger |myspace|
2. J. Tillman - Vacilando Territory Blues |myspace|
3. Wild Orchid Children - S/T EP |myspace|
4. The Dutchess and The Duke - She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke |myspace|
5. Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground - S/T LP  |myspace|
6. Fleet Foxes - S/T LP |myspace|
7. See Me River - Time Machine |myspace|
8. Whore Moans - Hello From the Radio Wasteland |myspace|
9. Starfucker - S/T LP |myspace|
10. Jake One - White Van Music |myspace|
11. Blind Pilot  - 3 Rounds and a Sound |myspace|
12. Thee Emergency - SOLID |myspace|
12. Sera Cahoone - Only As The Day Is Long |myspace| 
13. Horse Feathers - House with No Home |myspace|
14. The Pica Beats  - Bring Back the Claws |myspace|
15. Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams |myspace|
16. Das Llamas - Class Wars: K-12 |myspace|
17. The Builders and The Butchers - S/T LP (re-released nationally 7/08) |myspace|
18. Saturday Knights - Mingle |myspace|
19. The New Faces - S/T LP |myspace|
20. Damien Jurado - Caught In Trees |myspace|
21. Bark Hide and Horn - National Road |myspace|
22. Grand Archives - S/T LP |myspace|
23. Hey Marseilles - To Travels & Trunks |myspace|
24. The Hands - S/T LP  |myspace|
25. A Gun That Shoots Knives - Future of Love  |myspace|

Since there were so many incredible local releases this year, it would’ve been negligent to not have a solely local Best Songs of 2008 list. I expanded the idea of ‘local’ to go beyond Seattle and include our musical neighbors to the south, Portland. Hope you enjoy my first Best of list of 2008, more lists coming soon!

1. The Moondoggies - Changin’

2. Wild Orchid Children - Birth of a Cabin

3. The Dutchess and The Duke - Resevoir Park

4. Kay Kay and His Weathered Undergound - Night of The Star Child’s Funk

5. The Whore Moans - Nerve Tonic!

6. J. Tillman - Steel on Steel

7. The Fleet Foxes- Mykonos

8. Sera Cahoone - Only As The Day Is Long

9. See Me River - Don’t Pray For Blood

10. The Hands - Praying Hands Make Fist (Or Be Chopped Off)

11. Blue Scholars - Butter & Guns

12. Bark Hide and Horn - Trumpeter Swan

13. Thee Emergency - Hopped Up For The Git Down 

14. The Builders & The Butchers - Bringin’ Home The Rain

15. A Gun That Shoots Knives - Stay in School

16. Shy In Sunshine - Recognition

17. We Wrote The Book on Connectors - Mimosas

18. Starfucker - Pop Song

19. The New Faces - Impulse

20. Hey Marseilles - Rio

(p.s.) According to my Itunes, my most listened to local track of 2008 is Kay Kay’s: Night of The Star Child’s Funk.

Eric Johnson, AKA the Fruit Bats, has started a new blog and let us know the band will be back in action in 2009 for a west coast tour in late January and Early February and will be joined by Sub Pop compatriot Sera Cahoone. He says:

Songs have been written. Recording dates have been written in permanent ink. To prove that I’m serious about this, Fruit Bats will be touring the west coast of the United States of America. How ‘bout it? Other parts of the country, as well as other nations, will be visited later in the year.

It’s fair to say this news makes my month.

West Coast tour dates are below:

Jan 27 - Eugene, OR - John Henrys
Jan 29 - Sacramento, CA - Luigis Fun Garden
Jan 30 -San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
Jan 31 - Visalia, CA - Cellar Door
Feb 2 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah
Feb 3 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
Feb 5 - Salem, OR - Ike Box
Feb 6 - Portland, OR- Mission Theater
Feb 7 - Seattle, WA - Vera Project

An enthusiastic hat-tip goes to the Sly Oyster for keeping us informed.

If hell exists, we hope it has an especially hot and uncomfortable corner for people who steal musician’s gear.  The latest musician to fall victim to gear-stealing scumbags is Seattle’s own Sera Cahoone, who’s van was broken into in New Jersey. According to Sera’s myspace post on the event her guitar and Jeff’s banjo and Dobro were stolen. Fast acting fans have already arranged a benefit to try and help Jeff and Sera cover the cost of replacements. Including a benefit dinner/raffle/Jeff look-a-like contest at the Station Bistro.

Sound on the Sound has five nights of concerts in a row this week! Usually August and the weeks before Bumbershoot are slim pickings in Seattle, but not this summer. For every night we’re already promised to a show, there’s at least one, often two other shows that we’d also love to go to.  Here’s how the week is looking.

Tuesday:

We already told you we’re heading to the Blue Moon for a special night of Acoustic Sets.

Bloodhag ::: photo by josh

If we weren’t going to the Moon, we’d be headed to the Funhouse to pick up a couple new books and get our dose of beloved literary metal from Bloodhag. And before the metal began, we’d be heading over to see The Moondoggies at a free In-Store at 7pm at the Queen Anne Easy Street.

Wednesday:

Builders and the Butchers ::: photo by Josh

Is the night I have been waiting months and months, actually years, like five of them to come…the return of Radiohead. However, if i wasn’t going to be driving to Auburn to see one of my favorite bands of all time, I’d be happily checking out one of two shows in Seattle.

We are still miffed we missed the Builders and the Butchers apparently incredible set at Capitol Hill Block Party. So we were super excited to see they would be playing Seattle soon, and then crestfallen when we realized we’d be missing them. If it were anyone other than Thom Yorke, I’d eschew the long ride to Auburn and head over to Ballard to catch these guys. If the Sunset is sold out, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was, head over to Chop Suey to check out Tacoma’s The Black Whales. We haven’t seen these guys yet, but they sound promising as hell.

Thursday:

The Moondoggies ::: photo by Josh

Thursday we will be celebrating a nearly perfect local line up and the release of a great new record, with The Moondoggies and SOTS favorite Whalebones at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard. If you’re not feeling some dusty rock’n'roll songs, head over to Fremont to catch H is for Hellgate, who will hopefully debut some of their killer new tunes from a their forthcoming record.

Friday:

Sera Cahoone ::: photo by abbey

We’ll be spending another night in Ballard Friday to catch our favorite Bay Area musician, Bhi Bhiman play his second Seattle show at Conor Byrne’s. If we weren’t so head-over-heels for Bhi we’d be heading to see my favorite Seattle chanteuse (take that Jesse Sykes) Sera Cahoone. No, no hate for Sykes–I just happen to think Cahoone and her velvety haunted vocals are criminally under-appreciated in this town.

Saturday:

Starfucker ::: photo by josh

Saturday Sound on the Sound will be out of town rocking out on a river for the day, but if we were staying in the city we’d be loving every act of the Carousel Festival  we could catch. While all of the DIYvenues are hosting some great acts, we’d hang around our favorite, the Greenhouse and catch a few locals we love too — Bloodhag (9:40-10:20pm), Chk Minus (11-11:40pm), and Champagne Champage (11:40-12:20pm). The festival goes all week long, at a number of local diy venues with a ton of other great bands — Starfucker(pdx), The Pharmacy, Wah Wah Exit Wound, and many more.

Sunday:

Sleep. Sweet Sleep.

Sunday ended up being my favorite day of the festival. Not unexpectedly, the bands that we hyped did well. And another band who we were thinking and hoping might steal the show did.

We started the day early, making the veteran move by going to the short ticket line and promptly being let through. So we were in before the first act, Seattle band Awesome on the mainstage. The first thing I thought to myself was “Finally! A stage that the entire band will fit on!” They joked R.E.M. were actually the ones opening for them, albeit with a 13 hour interlude.

A local band I’ve been bumping for the past month or so on my iPod and have been ready to see is the Maldives. As we walked up to the Yeti Stage it was obvious we made the right decision in coming up. Vintage sounding folk-rock at its finest. Not long after them Truckasaurus emerged and stirred up the Yeti Stage field with a generous dollop of dance.

J Tillman was the winner of most sets played at Sasquatch this year, clocking in at three, one solo, and two as the new drummer of Fleet Foxes. For his solo set to a lounging crowd in the Yeti field, he told us he realized it was “a tall order” hanging out there instead of being at Blue Scholars, who’s beats occasionally overwhelmed Tillman’s sparse strums. Tillman still managed to deliver a set of his best though, powering through the occasional swell of sound from the mainstage whilst remaining the consummate quiet performer.

As suspected Cold War Kids broke out no less than five new songs, starting the set with “Avalanche” and naming a few other new cuts as “Mexican Dogs” and “Every Man I Fall For”. Perennial favorites “Hospital Beds” and “We Used to Vacation” also made an appearance.

The set of the day though had to be Death Cab’s sunset entrance on the mainstage as they opened for the Cure. Ben Gibbard, garbed all in tight black remarked “I wear black tonight for two reasons. I wear black because of the way I feel on the inside. And I’m wearing black because I’m so effing psyched to see the Cure tonight!” Yes he really said that. They engineered a pretty rockin’ set that included many new numbers, but also a few of the fan favorites like “Sound of Settling” and “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.” No more “405″ kids, sorry. My personal pick of the night though was a pretty rad rendition of “We Laugh Indoors.” These guys have really grown into the arena rock mold. I am genuinely happy for their success.

While Ben might have been super excited for the Cure, I was interested but mostly just indifferent. Indifference seemed to be the word of the day for the Cure too as they simply were bored and boring. They had pristine guitar tone and played the music well. They just seemed uninterested and like they didn’t want to there. And as a result I just wasn’t very moved. The light show was cool I guess. But that was about it. Blue Scholars or M.I.A. should have headlined instead. I heard they both killed it.

Death Cab For Cutie ::: Photo by Josh

Flickr: Sasquatch Music Festival at the Gorge, Saturday May 25, 2008

…could sing me to sleep any night of the week.

Her new album is absolutely gorgeous.

I think my first lullaby request would be the album’s title track, Only As The Day Is Long.
mp3: Only as The Day is Long

The other tempting tune would be the album’s lovely end song, “Seven Hours Later.”