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August 17, 2012

We Celebrated Six Years Online with The Hounds Who Have a New Record

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Hobosexual Strong Killings Hounds of the Wild Hunt Columbia City Theater Sound on the Sound Presents Sound on the Sound Presents
Hounds of the Wild HuntPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Hounds of the Wild Hunt

This August marks six years of Sound on the Sound covering the Seattle music scene and beyond, and for the last two years we’ve been sponsoring the first Friday of each month with handpicked lineups at the Columbia City Theater. Our most recent Friday featured a few familiar faces from that time showing in support of the release of Hounds of the Wild Hunt’s new record “El Mago”

Opening in the Bourbon bar, Lonesome Shack’s country blues vamps proved us to be sleeping until now on one of Seattle’s best roots talents, who I’m told was at one point a Cafe Racer Tuesday night regular sporting tacks on his shoes for percussion. Any party with Strong Killings on the bill we’d be pleased to be a part of as they epitomize the irreverent attitude that brought Seattle’s version of rock and roll into view with the Sonics, and then some two-some decades later with Sub Pop’s efforts. Up third, Hobosexual doubled down on that humor, the hair and the skillz to lay their claim as Seattle’s shreddingist two-piece.

With their latest record The Hounds of the Wild Hunt are now fully engrossed in their more pop oriented ego. Though they might have shed some of the punk irreverance I loved so much with the loss of their old name (The Whore Moans), they’ve taken more control of their tones and now display a matured irreverance a la Paul Westerberg’s Replacements. Rock & Roll culture is as much a slick mainstream fashion statement as advertising angle in 2012; now any notion of counter-culture leanings among popular rock music is pretty laughable. The Hounds continue to ignore the memo by remaining a little rough around the edges, and so on their own terms are delivering provocative performances with an anthemic everyman grit.

Hounds of the Wild HuntPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Hounds of the Wild Hunt
HobosexualPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Hobosexual
Strong KillingsPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Strong Killings
Lonesome ShackPhoto: Josh Lovseth
Lonesome Shack
July 20, 2012

Sound on the Sound Presents: Hounds of the Wild Hunt, Strong Killings, Hobosexual and Lonesome Shack

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Hobosexual Hounds of the Wild Hunt Columbia City Theater Sound on the Sound Presents Sound on the Sound Presents

Two weeks from today is a big day for Sound on the Sound and some important people and places in our lives. On Friday August 3rd we’ll be celebrating six years of running this website, two years of business and booking shows at Columbia City Theater and El Mago a brand new album from Hounds of the Wild Hunt. We’ll be doing so with Hounds of the Wild Hunt (of course), Strong Killings, Hobosexual and Lonesome Shack (playing a set in the Bourbon Bar). Its gonna be a night of kick ass rock’n'roll celebrating labors of love. and we hope you can come and raise a glass and a fist in the air with us to celebrate. Tickets are just $8. Here’s a taste of what you’ll be treated to if you attend, including your first chance for a full listen at Hounds of the Wild Hunt new album: Hounds of the Wild Hunt: Strong Killings: Hobosexual: Lonesome Shack:

April 1, 2012

My Favorite Songs and Records of 2011

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So originally I was going to post this around the beginning of the new year. Then extreme laziness mind-numbing force known as “life” took over and I couldn’t quite finish the task at hand. I had a arbitrary Valentine’s Day date set but I quickly decided that there was no reason to post this list in the middle of February. One morning at the end of February while I was doing dishes I decided I would wait until April Fools Day to post this blog entry. Why? Because I have a poor sense of humor and thought that these bands/musical acts should once again know of my appreciation. Bands, Musicians, Human beings that happen to do musical things, I just want you to know, I have a thing for you…..and I can’t let go. Some records I don’t discuss at length because they were already were talked about here on Sound on the Sound.

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Grenades/Mercy Ties Split 12″ on Echolalic Records – These delicately crafted songs remind me of autumn leaves slowly turning from a pleasant mixture of auburn, gold and chestnut to a darkened brown indicating their impending death.

Just kidding. For a majority of the year, this was my thoroughbred racing horse. When it wasn’t racing past the competition, it was mounting them to show absolute dominance.

I loved this record so much that I ended up doing the copywriting for it on Robotic Empire’s website. Grenades is currently in the process of mastering their new record should be releasing new material by the end of the year. Mercy Ties re-recorded some of the songs that appear on this split and recorded a few new songs as well. The newer tracks can be found here. You should be stoked on both. Let it be known, from the deepest crevice in the darkest depths of the ocean, to the mountain tops of some very tall mountain that none of you are athletic or determined enough to climb, THIS WAS PRETTY MUCH MY FAVORITE RELEASE OF THE YEAR 2011.

Standout Tracks: “Get Wise” and “Chrononaut” by Grenades || “Harla” and “Stretched Like A Drum” by Mercy Ties

“Owen Heart” by Earth Control…or is it “Earth Control” by Owen Hart…? (Whatever. It Rules.) I had to say “pretty much” in terms of “record of the year” because this record “totally slays.” I thought this came out in 2010 but apparently it came in January of 2011. I’m not going to lie. I slept on “Owen Hart” for two years because…they were called Owen Hart. For all of you old school WWE WWF wrestling enthusiasts, Owen Hart (the character, god rest his soul) was by far the weakest link of the “famous” Hart wrestling family. He was about ten percent of the wrestler his older brother (BRET “THE HITMAN” HART — deserving of all caps) was. Owen Hart wasn’t even as cool as his weird brother in-law Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart or his other brother in-law “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith. So when you’re an awesome hardcore band named after a third rate wrestler (You might even say fourth rate, he was tag team partners with Koko B. Ware for crying out loud!) that often plays shitty bills at El Corazon…how am I supposed to figure out how devastating you are? Anyway. Whatever you want to call this record, it is the most satisfying piece of “metal” that I came across this past year. It’s like Pig Destroyer grindcore combined with Pantera-esque breakdowns and Crestfallen’s, (Ask my old neighbor from Virginia Will from the Comet about his old band, so good.) “We’re going to thrash and not give a fuck about whatever” attitude. If you are into things that are dark, fast and heavy — then you must start and end your days with this record.

Standout Tracks: “44 Black,” “Poor White Straight Guy,” “The Vertigo of Murray Morgan” and one of my favorite songs of the year, “Fuck Morrisey. Fuck The Smiths. Fuck The Cure.”

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BOAT – Dress Like Your Idols

I’m guilty of not talking about BOAT nearly enough and I feel other writer’s are guilty of the same inexcusable act. For the first quarter of 2011, this record was in contention for my favorite record of the year. People, there are some pop gems on this record. “(I’ll Beat My Chest Like) King Kong” is not only a great first single, it’s a great single period. “Landlocked” is the strongest song on the record and reminds me of Nerf Herder in its nerdy frankness. However, my favorite song on Dress Like Idols is “(do the) Double Take.” The narrative pretty much summed up my life for a decent amount of 2011. Being fucking miserable in a bar Sitting quietly at the end of a bar, smiling at a girl as she walks by…and there’s where it ends. Do you know why? Because I didn’t have a job. Men who don’t have jobs should be taken out behind a bar and shot aren’t allowed to date. It’s actually considered a social felony in most states. BOAT plays their first show of 2012 at the Sunset on April 13th, with the Bismark and Police Teeth.

Police Teeth – Awesomer Than The Devil

I kept on telling my friends (the ones that didn’t like Police Teeth) that this was a dope record. They didn’t listen to me. They kept on insisting, “We don’t like pop punk.” I told them to shove it. I don’t like pop punk either. Eventually they actually listened to the record and saw things my way. Some great tunes on this record, notably “Rock & Roll Is A Pyramid Scheme (Parts 1 & 2)” and “Public Defender.” You know what? While you’re at it, you can also add “Send More Cops” to that list.

Strong Killings – S/T

Best local punk record of 2011.

Youth Rescue Mission – S/T

Carissa’s Wierd was my proverbial novocain for the soul in 2010. Youth Rescue Mission won this pretty handily in 2011. With songs like “Floorplan” and “Great White,” it’s easy to understand why. I spent a lot of time staring off into space with watery eyes, then pressing the “repeat” button because I’m really into emotional masochism.

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Sleeper Agent – “All Wave and No Goodbye”

I don’t really like this band or the the album Celebrasion, because the album is pretty fucking boring in all honesty but this is a good song. I’ll be interested to hear what the follow-up to this 2011 release sounds like. This band is currently on tour with Fun, they’ll probably make quite a few new fans.

Alpinist - Minus. Mensch

This album actually came out in 2009 but it dominated my Ipods so much that I had to include it in this list. German hardcore that isn’t messing around. I suggest you get familiar.

Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

Duh. Wale ft. Rick Ross and Jadakiss – “600 Benz”

I think the new Wale album Ambition is garbage. Maybe I had set my expectations too high considering some of the slight work he had put in months prior to releasing that record. This song is some FI-YAH (pronounced “fire”) though.

Cat From Hue – “Never Again”

Cat from Hue actually re-released this song on their newer self-titled EP but I think the version found on Forgetters is infinitely more impressive. This is another one of those soul-searching tunes that I can play again and again without ever tiring of it. Be careful, you listen to this song too much and you’ll be stuck in reminiscing mode for the remainder of your day. This song makes you want to call someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time and tell them that they’ve forsaken your friendship tell them that you miss them. Great song.

Constant Lovers – True Romance

Admittedly, every time I listen to this record I wonder how the hell that poor chap on the album cover got his finger stuck in a stick of butter.

Helm’s Alee – Weatherhead

Duh.

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Nurses – Dracula

You know that guy or gal that shows up late to a party and then completely takes it upon entry? Dracula is kind of the musical equivalent of that.

Castevet – Mounds of Ash

This album actually came out in 2010 but I didn’t hear it until 2011 (so in my book it qualifies for this list). Do you like heavy and menacing with the occasional twisted time signature? Castevet are your band then. I’ve definitely misaligned my spinal column rocking out to this.  So much for fixing my scoliosis….

Matsuri - Endship

If it weren’t for that legendary self-titled Strong Killings vinyl, this would be my favorite LP purchased in 2011. The word “thoughtful” doesn’t do the packaging justice. It’s like holding a 12″ miracle of wax in your hands. This band reminds me of the reasons why I got into music to begin with as an adolescent looking for something to belong to. This is raw, pure energy that I want you to have.

OCnotes - Medicine

Duh. OCnotes is “the truth,” as kids say these days. He also does some pretty interesting stuff with “The Wiz” as well.

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Kelli Schaefer – Ghost of the Beast

When I was originally compiling this list, I asked myself the following question:

Who on this planet sounds like Kelli Schaefer?

I still haven’t found the answer.

Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Niggas In Paris”

I wasn’t even feeling this song until I saw that Youtube clip of the guy on the NYC Subway. Suddenly everything fell into place and I now go bananas every time I hear this song. All I can think about is, “Fuck. Fight. Win.” Literally. That’s all I want to do when the track hits my stereo, in that exact order.

Absolute, No Bullshit, I’m Not Kidding…Favorite Song(s) of the Year:

BOAT –  ”(do the) Double Take”

This song reminds me of my inability to communicate effectively women and sunshine, kind of like the 2010 winner “Sunshine/Pretty Girls” by The Unnatural Helpers. What can I say? I’m a sucker for sunshine, women and very brief songs. I have no attention span.

Owen Hart Earth Control – “Fuck Morrisey. Fuck The Smiths. Fuck The Cure.”

Honestly, this might be the most perfect song ever written. Clocking in at a fierce 80 seconds, it combines the best two elements of my all-time favorite bands (I have like twenty “all-time favorite bands”) Pantera and Pig Destroyer. The results? A goddamn electric masterpiece.

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.

February 7, 2012

24 More Unmissable Records from the Pacific Northwest in 2011

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Remember when we said we’d share our list of 25 other unmissable records the first week of January? Whoops. Thing is, the first month of this new year, we were still listening to and falling in (and out) of love with records from 2011. Discovering albums we should’ve shared months ago and finding out what sounded good in summer, didn’t survive snowmageddon. We added and whittled and debated and listened and when it comes down to these 24 albums, all released in 2011 by bands from the Pacific Northwest, we loved.

Here’s what you won’t find on here: records we wrote about in 2010 (The Head and The Heart, Beat Connection, Joseph Giant, Baltic Cousins), just okay releases from bands we’ve loved before, collections of 7’’s made into best of EPs, EPs in general and plenty of records that you loved with your whole heart and we just, didn’t. But, after hundreds and hundreds of hours of listening and seeing these bands live, slightly fewer spent talking about the albums amongst ourselves, we’re confident these are 24 records you’d be remiss to miss from 2011.

Here’s what you will find on here: bands from Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and Boise. Psychedelic symphonies. Menacing metal. Four-Eyed Soul. Modern R&B. Party Punk. Folk confessionals. Hip shaking hip hop. These albums are self-released, funded by fans and put out by labels big and small. They are debuts and albums that defied sophomore slumps and career defining work. Albums that have been loudly lauded and others who’ve been mostly ignored. Its a sample of what makes being a music lover in the Pacific Northwest right now so exciting, there’s a little something for everyone and we hope you find something you love too.

 

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AgesandAges – All Right You Restless (Knitting Factory)

Agesandages fills up a room. With no fewer than seven people adding harmony to the airtight, country-funk rock that spins off Alright You Restless, the debut record enthralled me with the desperate joy that permeates its entirety. Playing with the bog of loneliness and defeat, and inviting the world into that dark fold to find comfort in each other, it’s music that offers salve in stomps and hope in runaway choruses. (Kathleen)

Allen Stone – S/T (Self-Released)

“I’m sick and tired of soul music looking so clean and proper! Cause my soul… my soul… my soul is just a little big greasy!” This is how Allen Stone introduces himself to the crowd from the stage. Obviously steeped in tradition but not married to its dictates, Stone’s four-eyed soul is unrepentant in both its influences and its willingness to disregard them entirely. Repping the Northwest he’s more than likely on stage in a flannel or Sonics jersey instead of any Detroit mandated button-up uniform like most of his current peers. This un-buttoned attitude extends to the dynamic mixture of straight R&B ballads and kinetic pop and funk on display in this record. If nothing else, just like the live show, Allen Stone represents Stone being unapologetically himself. (Excerpted from Josh’s full October review.)

 

 

 

Case Studies – The World Is Just a Void to Fill the Space (Sacred Bones Records)

It’s plausible to say that every music fan in Seattle cried a tiny tear when Jessie Lortz and Kimberly Morrison decided to end their tenure as The Dutchess and The Duke a few years back. Yet, if any and all knew that Lortz would take the new found freedom and put an album as poetic and gorgeous as Case Studies’ The World Is Just a Void to Fill the Space, I wonder, how sad would we all of been?

I discovered Case Studies during a two week period where I was living out of a hotel room in Dubuque, Iowa. My girlfriend was in the midst of a two-week intensive dog-training course and I’d signed out to drive out there and then “focus on my writing” for two weeks in a thrifty Day’s Inn a few blocks from the Mississippi River. To say the least, the smell of old cigarettes and scratchy linens inspired nothing in me and I found myself grabbing my keys and drifting through the Midwest in a chrome-green Honda Element. The Midwest is a strange, lonely place for a city dweller, and with no destination in mind I’d pick a spot on the map an aimlessly cruise towards it. It was on one of these roads with the green blur of farmlands speeding by in the background, the thin snake of the Mississippi my only landmark, that I not only discovered Case Studies but fell wildly in love with it.

It starts with “You Folded Up My Blanket Like We Were Already Lovers,” a deceptively upbeat story about love in a car, on the stairs, in a garden. The road will numb you, and my musical selections weren’t cracking the shell, but “You Folded Up My Blanket…” with it’s beautifully simple lyrics slipped in and I played it on repeat, memorizing every word like a smitten teenager. From there “My Silver Hand” squeezed in to the gap, Lortz’s deep, whiskey-soaked voice rising above the simple violin and guitar, the words full of heartbreak and the need for redemption just peppering my emotional core. Somewhere between Dubuque and Hazel Green, Wisconsin, I fell wholeheartedly in love with the album as a whole. I pulled over the car and sat and stared out in to an endless stretch of green and felt lonely and a bit sad and completely won over by everything Lortz was crooning, every simple beat that stretched out from the door behind me. (Noah)

Cave Singers – No Witch (Jagjaguwar)

I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on why or how, but every moment on No Witch seems suffused with joy. Maybe it’s the way Derek Fudesco’s guitar notes dance like afternoon sunlight on the living room wall, or maybe it’s the honest, folksy feel of the foot-stomping energy. Whatever the case, No Witch has become my go-to cheerup album, my foolproof impetus for dancing around the kitchen with gleeful abandon. It’s not that there’s no darkness – “My mind wakes me up every night sir, see devils in my backyard,” Quirk sings on “Black Leaf,” but the bleak and the bright are bundled up together in little boxes of hope. Weather moves in dark patterns, but as Quirk espouses in “All Land Crabs and Divinity Ghosts,” “It’s too big of a world to give up now.” (Brittney)

 

 

 

Constant Lovers – True Romance (self-released)

When Macklemore said “My city’s filthy,” this wasn’t quite what he meant, but as its cover art indicates, True Romance listeners are in for a low-down dirty ride. This album is a tribute to sybarite pleasures of all kinds, from the warm burn of whiskey in your stomach to the red memory of teeth marks on skin, from the hip-thrust of the drums to the thrust of, well, other things. Conveniently, it’s also the perfect soundtrack for the unbridled enjoyment of these recreations. (Brittney)

Dan Mangan – Oh Fortune (Arts & Crafts)

I recently turned thirty. Not long after, I found myself looking back on the 20s version of me and thinking, “What an ass.” 28-year-old Mangan (who, incidentally, is incredibly polite and charming) seems to be going through a similar process a couple of years early, and has done us all the favor of turning it into a delightful album. With endearing honesty and trademark wit, Mangan crafts carefully textured odes and confessionals that reward with every listen. (Brittney)

 

 

See the rest of our 24 unmissable records from 2011 after the jump (more…)

October 28, 2011

Your Halloween Weekend as a One-Sided Conversation

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We Wrote the Book on Connectors as Beastie Boys ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Some traditions die hard should have never been started. Last year I gave you a Halloween weekend preview that was basically a third party eavesdropping on a hipster having a conversation on his cellular phone. This year will be a different. You will hear from a great white shark that has political ambitions that may involve the Oval Office…

Yes, you read that correctly.

The object of man’s darkest water related fears will give a political speech directly related to the blessed conundrum of having too much music to see and only one pair of eyes to experience it with. You come to Sound on the Sound for respectable writing and you get this!?! It’s Halloween, my parents aren’t around and I can do what I want!

[Scene shows a large fish tank at the entrance of Wild Waves. The tank has a spiderweb of microphones hanging above it, the audio machinery is hoping to capture the sentences of this politically savvy deep sea predator. The Sound on the Sound camera pans around the parking lot and spots an abundance of media trucks with its lens. Suddenly the shark stops "pacing" the tank, anchors itself in one place and begins to speak.] Mr. White: Some of you may wonder why I have called this press conference all of you here today and I’m here to answer the question that I’m assuming is on your human mind. I’m here to make a speech that addresses the issues.

[Mr. White stops speaking and does a methodical lap around the tank.]

Mr. White: I’m a shark, when it comes to media relations I am mostly ignorant. Is it proper to call a press conference in order to make a speech? I’m really not sure. All I know is third party candidates don’t have the luxury of debates leading up to primaries and presenting State of the Union addresses to a doting nation. This event is actually paid for by “Sharks Against Campaigns to Give Human Rights to Orcas.” PETA is a fascist organization that does not give equal consideration to sharks. My contentious relationship with that agency is neither here or nor there. Like I said I’m here to talk about the issues.

[Mr. White stops to swim to the surface and to see if there are any PETA protesters in attendance.]

Mr. White: This weekend is Halloween weekend. Many of the events that are taking place and are related to the every day lives of the voters. If you did not realize this, now you do. If you are below the age of 18 I suggest you turn your Ipod off and tune in, shit is about to get real even though you are not old enough to vote. For instance, the Black Lodge is having a benefit show tonight that features Numb and Mercy Ties. I tell you this because I am pro-small business and independent industry. The Black Lodge has done many a service for being a great DIY venue that routinely has all ages shows. If something were to happen to this place, what would you do? Where would you go? You tell me you’d hang out in Belltown but I don’t believe you.  Sharks may not be chimpanzees but we are not dinosaurs either. Literally. Don’t let those other two political parties tell you they are for all-ages shows when I think their record speaks for itself. They are for money and that’s it. Personally I don’t care about monetary symbols, I care about blood in the water. That is my priority and that my friends, is a selfish agenda you can trust.

[Mr. White stops speaking to detect if there is indeed blood in the water.]

Mr. White: Did you see that? I already fulfilled a campaign promise. Also happening tonight is the ten year anniversary show of Glenn or Glennda? happening at the Croc. Individuals like myself that are big-time players in political shuffleboard can appreciate the innovate legacy that the aforementioned act has crafted over the past decade. They took an old idea and twisted gender-bended it into their own creation. They tested the market and passed with flying colors. People want to talk about raising taxes and job creation, what about shifting chromosomes in order to achieve annual entertainment for nostalgic punk rockers? Glenn or Glennda can’t resign just yet, they are a pillar of the ghost and goblin community. I propose another term. I also believe that Strong Killings and Steel Tigers of Death second that notion by offering their support for this anniversary engagement.

[The affable great white stops to contemplate what he meant look like as a cross-dressing member of the Misfits. These are the kind of thoughts that go through politicians minds during media events. Duh.]

Read the Rest of Phil Mr. White’s Halloween recommendations (more…)

October 19, 2011

Recommendations: City Arts Fest on Thursday

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The second annual City Arts Fest gets the weekend started early this Thursday with something for just about everybody: punk rock at the Comet, a soulful sold out show at The Triple Door, some of Seattle’s finest songwriters at the Showbox, a dance party at The Paramount and more.

We’ll be sharing our daily City Arts recommendations with you for the rest of the week. First, Thursday.

Long Winters, Campfire OK, Cobirds Unite, Cataldo at The Showbox:

Even if this weren’t The Long Winters only show in 2011 (it is), this show would still come with the highest recommendation. Not only is it a four-band bill of headliners, its also a showcase of some of Seattle’s most skilled wordsmiths. There’s a reason folks have been patiently anticipating The Long Winters next album for five years. John Roderick’s wit, wisdom and penchant for penning pop songs that burrow in your head and heart are worth waiting for. I’m particularly pleased with the pairing of Cataldo with The Long Winters, as Eric Anderson’s songs have filled my need for smart melodic melancholy in between spins of Roderick’s contemporary classics like “Shapes,” “Carparts,” and “Cinnamon.” Campfire OK, who is better every time I see them, and the power duo of Rachel Flotard and Rusty Willoughby as Cobirds Unite, only sweetens the bill. (Abbey)

Strong Killings ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

The Cops, Birthday Suits, Nazca Lines, Strong Killings at The Comet:

Yeah, I know the Cops are “headlining” and everyone in Seattle everyone who pays utility bills can rally around the idea of Free Electricity. However, I’m here to give you the lowdown on what’s really shaking cool cat. Can you dig it? Don’t tell your friends, this is on the q-t, very hush hush Grab your muskets and prepare for a midnight ride to the center of the blogosphere. By the time we’re through, your fingers will be covered in gunpowder and blood (by hyper-tweeting and Facebook “liking,” of course). Onward young soldier, brace yourself what is about to come.

Strong Killings! Scream it from pit of your burning stomach. Possible “Album of the Year”?! Possible “Song of the Year”?!? Did I already mention this band is a “Live Performance of the Year” nominee? These are not requirements to perform on any stage of Seattle, let alone this cool festival. Yet Strong Killings have earned these purple hearts with years of practice and a blue-collar work ethic by eating the flesh of lesser bands and growing stronger from their unimpeeded cannibalism. ARGH. This is the best band that you don’t listen too, what the fuck. I can’t wait until your grubby hands are Tivo’ing their performance on Saturday Night Live while I’m homeless in an alley in some unnamed city, sucking dick for heroin but still managing to yell from the side of my mouth, “This blogger told you fuckers! Strong Killings!” Birthday Suits didn’t get here by cannibalism. No folks they got here by living in a van down by the river and living in a van and then living in a van again. Every time I wake up and walk down to the corner to grab a cup of coffee, this band is back in Seattle on-tour. I commend them, whatever vehicle they use to circumvent the earth and whatever is missing them back in Minneapolis. Who said that a two-piece can’t do what four-piece rock outfits can? Psshhhh. Now is not the time for Local H jokes, we’re in a war-zone soldier. If you like the Cops, the Blind Shake or any guitar driven rock with a danceable groove, this is your band.

Show starts at 9pm. (Phil)

Allen Stone ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Allen Stone with Fly Moon Royalty at The Triple Door:

Single tickets for this fun & funky night at The Triple Door have already soul’d out, so you’ll have to have a wristband to attend. Considering The Triple Door may be the smallest room you see Allen Stone perform in for years to come (and the rest of the Fest line-up), we urge you to do so.

“Allen Stone cultivates a thick-rimmed suave, his toothy grin comes easy and he’s very interested in making sure everyone is getting “funked up.” His overwhelming enthusiasm is just that, overwhelming, and since it’s all in service of having a good time, it consumes the room in the best way possible.”

Other Excellent Thursday Night Options:

Robyn ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Robyn with Yacht at The Paramount

The Felice Brothers, Shelby Earl, Gabriel Mintz at The Crocodile

Hedwig and the Angry Inch Movie Sing Along at SIFF Cinema

School of Rock: Live Laser Grunge Show at Seattle Center Laser Dome

August 2, 2011

My Most Played: July 2011

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Dolorean ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Dolorean – The Unfazed (yes, again) Gardens & Villa – s/t Bryan John Appleby – Fire on the Vine Dillard & Clark – Through The Morning, Through The Night Richard Swift – “Broken Finger Blues” Strong Killings – s/t Shenandoah Davis – The Company We Keep Case Studies – The World is Just a Shape to Fill the Night Radiation City – The Hands That Take You Wild Ones – You’re A Winner EP PDX Pop Now! 2011 Comp Charles Bradley – “Stay Away” (Nirvana cover) Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter – Marble Son Fly Moon Royalty – s/t Lemolo – “Letters” Pickwick – “Window Sill”

July 15, 2011

Stream Strong Killings – Strong Killings

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Strong Killings ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Once upon a time, long before the glitz and glamor of blogging for Sound on the Sound, long before I began raising other people’s children at local non-profits, long before I donned a white apron at Pasta and Company and batted my long eye lashes at alluring housewives, I was a teenage shithead.

Not just any teenage shithead, I was one of the best.

My pals and I use to work at Sam Goody (remember that place?) in the Reston Town Center (the blueprint to your “Bellevue Square” and “University Village,” I’m not even kidding. You pricks stole your idea of suburban hell directly from Northern Virginia). We had one store manager who was really into Kenny G (native Seattlite) and we had another store manager who would pay me to find him pot while I was on the clock. The rest of my co-workers were teenage shitheads just like me. We would steal CD’s, DVD’s, posters etc. in trash bags at the end of the night (rallying against big corporations our excuse, of course). We would smoke cigarettes and “white boys” out by the trash compactors in grey retail corridors. If our store was packed with customers eager to buy the new Backstreet Boys or Handel’s Messiah compilation, we’d blast Motley Crue and Ratt until our store was empty. These are somewhat wholesome examples of what we did, the adolescent debauchery goes much, much deeper gentle readers.

I could tell you exciting tales of a young Philip Douglas Bouie, watching his friends snort coke on a picnic table behind a police station before I had my learner’s permit (and the like) but that would be uncalled for (I guess we’ll have to hangout sometime).

The point is, all teenage shitheads need a soundtrack and if Strong Killings existed during the latter half of the 1990′s, they would’ve been my favorite band for sure. Combining humor with “punk rock ethos” (whatever that means to you, poser) and rocking good tunes, how could they not be every young misguided souls favorite soundtrack?

Yet, the year is 2011 and I’m an able-bodied adult that has mostly underachieved and I still think this album is amazing. This is no attempt to throw breadcrumbs at the feet of corporate sponsorship but I’d be shocked/outraged/disappointed if none of these songs ended up on the X-Games or the next Tony Hawk video game. If I don’t see Strong Killings competing on Wheel of Fortune, I’m going to shave Pat Sajak’s head. These tunes are so good and catchy, how can they not be available for mass consumption in the near future? This is already the most “fun” album I’ve heard so far this year. I know most Seattle musicians haven’t seen that word since they learned how to spell and that’s fine. That just means less of a competitive playing field for Strong Killings.

Tonight they have their album release show at the Rendezvous with Hounds of the Wild Hunt and Boom City. Right now, we have the album streaming on our lovely website. Listen to the whole thing over and over again. My favorite tracks are “Annals of Animals,” “Licked, Nicked” “Too Cool,” “Minimum Wage,” “Stupid Punk” and “(You Never Wanna) Dance With Me.” If you haven’t noticed, that’s basically half of the album. I could have kept on listing songs but I didn’t want to get carried away with naming every song by accident.

A proper album review (as it is justly deserved) will be coming soon, but today (and for the next week) you can stream the album in its entirety above.

June 23, 2011

Feel Me?

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and this is why i speak to you in parables by White Orange

In honor of Tupac Shakur’s 40th birthday (actually took place last Thursday) and one of my favorite hip-hop ad-libs (my favorite being Young Jeezy’s “YEAHHHHHHHH!”) of all-time, I am here to share some of the things I have been “feeling” over the past six months. Some of these things are related to the current calendar year, some of them aren’t. Youth Rescue Mission “S/T” – One of my early front-runners for local album of the year, I have spent an incredible amount of time with this record. The music is great but it’s the fiercely personal stories behind the songs on the album that resonate with me personally. Tales and dynamics so close to the heart that I don’t feel comfortable sharing them with you. To paraphrase the press release, this is a family of individual songwriters that have combined their shared experiences and the end result are ten poignant, revealing songs. If I owned this on vinyl, the grooves on tracks “Floorplan” and “Great White” would be so worn from overplay that I would have to resort to cassette digital download for their audio alleviation. Might I also add that “Dark Star” is the most metal, un-metal song that has ever existed in Seattle. OK, that might be a reach. Nevertheless, I have learned how to play it, and as a result turned it into a beast that only Kim Thayil and members of His Hero Is Gone would recognize. Righteous. Catch them tonight at the Comet with the Foghorns + others.

Femi Kuti at Neumos – It’s not often you get the chance to dance, have a one-sided conversation about social injustice and get sex advice all during the course of the same event (there’s a political fundraiser joke in there somewhere), but that happened when Femi Kuti ended his North American Africa to Africa tour in Seattle. Like a charismatic, manic composer he orchestrated Positive Force through a two-hour set that made sure newly converted fans (like myself) will be counting down the days until he returns in Seattle. This set is in the top five of the “best sets of 2011″ so far.

Good Rock n’ Roll Comes in Three’s (Three good albums, all totally different in content. I’ll have reviews of all three posted shortly) -

and this is why i speak to you in parables by White Orange – From the opening phase shifter (possibly flanger?) drenched riff of “Where,” you are a wayfarer, trapped inside a brobdingnagian 1982 ghetto blaster that is peculiarly placed in the middle of a sandy oasis.  This sequence would be fantastic if you were the protagonist in a Beck video directed by Spike Jonze. Instead your end is near because you have no access to food or water. The only item that you have at your disposal is the Queens From the Stone Age/Kyuss split EP on cassette tape. As you hold the tape in your hand, fond memories flood your mind, feel good hits of the summer transposed over an idealistic youth. Suddenly you realize the obvious and the smile your memories have crafted is removed from your face. What good is a tape if you’re trapped inside a boom box? Where is the cruel god that has done this to you… Weatherhead by Helm’s Alee - “Why not be oneself? That is the whole secret of a successful appearance. If one is a greyhound, why try to look like a Pekingese?” – Edith Sitwell

This release feels like a band fully entrapped in the throes of self-realization. Night Terror, for all its sullen triumphs, (and god bless you, there were a great many) lacked something that I currently cannot find the proper words to describe (hopefully by the beginning of next week, this is not the case). Perhaps it was because you knew that no matter how effervescent a song might have started, a tempest was coming to make short work of its vulnerable beginnings. In the case of Weatherhead, what is ethereal remains that way, choosing to stay beautiful despite what you might expect. “Music Box” and “Anemone of the Wound” could not have existed on Helm’s Alee aptly-named previous album. I think fans of this band will be pleasantly surprised upon first listen (don’t you worry, Helm’s Alee still rock). Put to rest any potential fears by clicking on the soundcloud link.

S/T by Strong Killings -  The morning buzz off my grumpy neighbors lawnmower, a woodpecker that only visits my house on the sabbath in order to serve as a terrifying alarm clock for my baby sister, the beckoning call of the ice cream man, watching fireflies coexist with bats, often meeting their end in the process — these are a few things that remind me of summer. Now added to the list of dog day admonishments is the self-titled album by Strong Killings. I know, we really haven’t hit summer quite yet, but in my mind it’s been summer for months and I’ve been nodding my head to this album for weeks now. If Once If summer does make an appearance, mark my words, you’ll agree with me.  “Minimum Wage” and “Licked, Nicked” are bonafide anthems that won’t leave my ipod unless someone puts a gun to my head. Even then, depending on what’s going on in my life, I still might refuse. Gentle readers, the wait is almost over. I can’t wait for you to have this…

Other songs that remind me of summer. Some good, some not so good. “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey (f. Ol’ Dirty Bastard) “Natural One” by Folk Implosion “Comin’ Home” by Hum “Street Dreams” by Nas “Slow RIde” by Foghat “Frankenstein” by Edgar Winter Band “Overnight Scenario” by Rare Essence

Actually, I lied. All those songs are awesome. medicine by OCnotes – The strongest argument for our government to implement universal health care. Performing at the Electric Tea Garden tomorrow (Friday) night. Mercy Ties/Grenades Split 12″ on Echolalic Records -So good. I’m actually tired of telling you how good this is. Ride The Fader by Chavez - A classic. I listen to this album all the time. One of the best albums of the 90′s that nobody talks about. I can’t remember how I heard about Chavez (I think a Jawbox interview? Or maybe it was John Angelo also produced  Triple Fast Action’s Cattlemen Don’t — another criminally underrated group) but I am very fortunate that I did. Not many bands can claim that they have their own sound, yet Chavez can boast about this achievement and I wouldn’t go against their words. Just about all the songs on this record are good. The opening riff to “Lions” will make you wake up in a cold sweat. “All I want to do is open my barrage,” sings a sweet yet irratated Matt Sweeney on “You Must Be Stopped.” Ever been in a hurry to get somewhere but know your efforts are futile? That is what the song sounds like. “Ever Overpsyched” is the best Beatles song that the Fab Four never wrote.