April 1, 2013

Sub Pop at 25

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“Once upon a time, Seattle opened it’s legs and fucked the world, YES! Loud powerfuzz and muff shagging hair action!” – Bruce Pavitt on the back cover of Fuck Me I’m Rich, a compilation collecting the first five Sub Pop singles

Twenty-five years ago today Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt moved into the top floor of the Terminal Sales Building, and Sub Pop Records became official. The watershed singles of “Touch Me I’m Sick” from Mudhoney and then Nirvana’s debut “Love Buzz/Big Cheese” would emanate from those walls in the following months and the world would never be the same. From the modest space where they were required to use the bathroom as the stock room and hoof it up an extra floor since the elevator didn’t go all to the top, they launched a campaign of “World Domination,” and in no small measure succeeded, albiet nearly going bankrupt in the process multiple times and alienating many of the bands they sought to bring to the masses.

Sub Pop Records is still going strong in 2013 having actually grown into the “large multinational entertainment conglomerate” that the upstart rabble-rousers who could barely keep it together for so many years originally touted themselves as. In the interest of healthy business the label’s history as the house of grunge has in the last few years been eclipsed by it’s recruiting of band’s of all stripes, though it’s kept its original LOSER brand and a strong ear out for those bands challenging convention. No longer precisely an indie, the now international powerhouse still remains grounded in the Northwest and has been laying claim to some of Seattle’s finest in recent years including Fleet Foxes, Shabazz Palaces, the Head and the Heart, and most recently Rose Windows.

This summer Sub Pop takes over Georgetown in celebration of their “Silver Jubilee” on Saturday July 13th. For Record Store Day on April 20th Sub Pop is releasing the Sub Pop 1000 Compilation, inspired by Sub Pop’s original vinyl offering the Sub Pop 100 compilation.

Follow me below the fold for a few of the best of those early Sub Pop singles: (more…)

October 18, 2012

The Daily Choice: King Tuff – Screaming Skull

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I haven’t been able to exactly pin down King Tuff yet. In the past the artist has crafted palatable gutter rock. The sort of snot-crusted, infected stab-tat rock and roll that doesn’t leave you with bloody ears and black eye. Blame it on Sub Pop and their fold of polish happy producers, or just call the next step in a difficult-to-classify artist’s musical progression but this track, “Screaming Skull” sounds nothing like the grimy pop King Tuff has put out before. Instead, “Screaming Skull” sounds like the last song played in a John Hughes film from the glory days of teen-comedies. Lessons have been learned, unexpected relationships have happened, and with a slo-mo shot of someone pumping their fist or throwing a gummy bear, this song snaps on in the background, screen cuts to black, credits roll. Which, cinematically, works fine, well even, but in the oeuvre of King Tuff, I can’t say I’ve settled on my thoughts yet. Something about it feels to have the sort of douche-bag sincerity of a The Boss mixed with the sort of cruisey beach rock any hipster worth his/her salt has grown used to in the last two or three years. King Tuff, if this is the next step on your voyage, I don’t know if I’ll be joining you, if instead this is just a dalliance with a bigger label looking to expand the scope of your audience and sound, well, here’s to you coming through at the end.

“Screaming Skull” is a 7″ release from Sub Pop, out now.

September 20, 2012

The Doe Bay Sessions: Blitzen Trapper

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Blitzen Trapper Doe Bay SessionPhoto: Joshua Lovseth
Blitzen Trapper Doe Bay Session
 

Penning odes to a disappearing America, Blitzen Trapper’s Eric Earley writes of open roads and broken barstools, and of the characters drawn to both. Filmed at the intersection of two trails in single takes ”Stolen Shoes and a Rifle” and ”Black River Killer” encompass when the word America had Wild West cachet, with the concomitant hazards of unlimited freedom and the promise of starting over. These bare renditions serve to highlight the very visual nature of Earley’s lyrics and also the subtle intent with which they’re sung in harmony. You could say this session represents a well-developed emotional side to a band best known for macho guitars and macho themes, a side they’ll definitely want to show more of this fall as they hit the road on two long support tours.

Blitzen Trapper just began two months of touring this week supporting label-mates The Head and The Heart. After three weeks with fellow Doe Bay Session alumnus HATH, Bryan John Appleby and Curtains for You, Blitzen Trapper will meet up with Brandi Carlile for another month of shows. Abbey will be slinging t-shirts at the merch table for every single one of these shows, so please come say hi.

 

June 7, 2012

The Daily Choice: King Tuff – Bad Things

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King Tuff lived, and then it died, and then it became Happy Birthday, and then it reemerged, the trials and tribulations of its lengthy return seemingly unnoticed. King Tuff has returned, and with it the sort of fuzzed out goofy grin style garage rock we’d come to expect from this scruffy little band. “Bad Things” feels like 70s radio feel-good rock that got kicked in the stomach by a street punk and then dragged through oil-stained city water in the gutter before standing up, shaking it off and reaching for a guitar.

King Tuff’s new album is out now on Sub Pop.

King Tuff – Bad Things

May 7, 2012

The Multiple Personalities of Father John Misty, Tonight at Neumos

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Father John Misty Montage, proof I have too much time on my hands


Musical performances on late-night TV shows are usually unworthy of commentary, but its been nearly a week since Father John Misty’s coming out on Letterman … and its still all I can think about. Talk about seizing a moment. Instead of a bland, watered-down, less-than performance, edited and scrunched to fit inside TV’s tiny box — the performer formerly known as J. Tillman pranced and danced and sang beautifully — in a way that astonished those of us who’d followed his career for years and viewers who’d never heard of him before.

Tillman’s new album, released under the moniker of Father John Misty, is a study in multiple personalities and shedding heavy expectations as if they were light as feathers. Gone is the introspective, sad, solo artist J. Tillman and in his place, a psychedelic peacock. Plain spoken, with as little pretense as an album who calls out Sartre by name can be, Fear Fun explores the facets of Tillman that were repressed as he tried to fit his acerbic wit, dirty mind and slicing sarcasm into the mold of the mysterious singer-songwriter. On some listens I’m convinced its the most ballsy, brilliant album I’ve heard in years. On others I find myself cringing wondering if its so over the top its awful. It moves maniacally between country, loungey numbers and fastidiously orchestrated ballads. Unlike his other records and the projects he’s been part of, Father John Misty is anything but background music. This is an album and a character that makes you stand up and take notice, listen closely, think and listen again. In a world of albums so easily digestable they’re instantly forgotten, Fear Fun and Father John Misty sticks with you.

After nearly a decade of seeing Tillman hiding behind long-locks, a giant beard, an acoustic guitar or a drum kit — seeing him on Letterman in a closely tailored suit, newly shorn hair, a handsome as hell, confident frontman — it was enough to give you whiplash. Within the first minute as he has brushed off the Rolling Stones, thrust his hips, gestured grandly, shot shade at Letterman when claiming his fondness of the Dodgers; I found my jaw literally, physically dropped. Was he mocking us? I’m still not sure. What I’ve come to decide, after a week of replays and conversations with others who’ve had Father John Misty on the brain, is that he was personifying the character. Tillman became the titular ladies man he sang of. He was woman kind’s first husband — flamboyant, sexual, devious, smooth.

But the ladies man is only one of 12 personalities and facets explored on Fear Fun — and I’m curious to see who all comes out to play tonight at Neumos. I’m still not sure whether I’ll land on brilliant & ballsy or too over-the-top, but I am sure I want to see and hear more from Father John Misty. So I’ll be the girl in the front row with the neckbrace on, just in case there’s even more whiplash inducing moves in store.


January 31, 2012

Father John Misty is J. Tillman (And This is His New Video)

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We loved J. Tillman as the introspective singer-songwriter who tore our hearts to bits with arguably the prettiest voice in the Pacific Northwest. We loved J. Tillman as the wise-cracking drummer for the Fleet Foxes where he elevated the band’s already gorgeous harmonies. So its no surprise we love J. Tillman as Father John Misty, his new solo project, Tumblr and Twitter.

Sub Pop announced today they would be releasing Father John Misty’s debut album on May 1st and Entertainment Weekly debuted his new video for the project. Entertainment Weekly debuted it because a Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Recreation stars in the video, but they got to share a hell of a song too. “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings” is stoned and sexy and sad. Pulsing with swagger and self-doubt, the feel of the song is summed up well in the line, “You came. I think.”

Father John Misty sounds like trouble. And we like love it.

For your email, you can download the single from SubPop:

January 23, 2012

Fleet Foxes and The Head and the Heart visited Austin City Limits

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With the Fleet Foxes wrapping up their final shows in Japan last week and having fulfilled their contract for Sub Pop, their future as an entity for the short term and long term is uncertain. The gentlemen of Fleet Foxes will hardly go missing though. Josh Tillman is now FATHER JOHN MISTY with a soon be announced record on Pop Bus Records. (Think about it.) Poor Moon is the new project of Foxes’ Christian Wargo and Casey Westcott who are similarly signed to Sub Pop and sounding a whole lot like the second coming of Crystal Skulls. Yes please!

Though we in the Northwest seem to be woefully out of the scheduling loop and have to wait until late February for actual TV airtimes on PBS of Austin City Limits, the internet provides us a way to keep the love going as PBS has made available online both Fleet Foxes and the Head and the Heart’s half-hour performances. Though too short for my liking, the prestigious 25 minutes above might be the best video document yet of the Foxes’ performance of Helplessness Blues, which we voted the strongest Northwest record of 2011. Headbanging at an upright? Oh yeah!

Check below the fold for an appearance by fellow Sub Pop band The Head and the Heart who apparently made their own splash at the adjunct Austin City Limits Festival in 2011.

 

(more…)

January 16, 2012

Bargain Bin Beauties: My Favorite Finds of 2011

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2011 was the year of the record for me. Not a single collection of songs, but rather a physical entity and a format. When 2011 started, my record collection fit in a corner of a bookshelf. As 2011 ends my collection fills three full shelves, three empty boxes of cat food for 45s, organized by loose genres and alphabatized within collections: Pacific Northwest, Pre-War Blues & Jazz, Country and Folk, Post-Genre (New), Dance Party and my “Most Played” section so I didn’t have to debate what a “classic” was (and if a bad Ringo Starr record was a classic, because he’d been a Beatle). Last time I tried to count the records, I stopped near 400, having not even begun to touch my crammed 45s, and I realize this is just the beginning.

These are ten of my favorite finds over the last year of crate digging. What was your favorite find of 2011?

10. Dillard and Clark – Through The Morning, Through The Night Found: Sonic Boom – Ballard

Here’s why taking the time to comb through your local record stores is better than the instant satisfaction of buying your holy grail record online, beyond the whole supporting a local business. This out of print Dillard and Clark record goes for over $40 on sites like discogs and ebay, if you can find it, but if you patiently thumb through used bins, you might find an impeccable copy for $8. You also might yelp in excitement and frighten Sonic Boom browsers around you … but for this little known classic, it’s totally worth the embarrassment.

If it weren’t such an obscure record, I’d think it was seminal listening for anyone playing Ballard Avenue twang today. Featuring the duo of bluegrass banjo virtuoso Doug Dillard and original Byrd and country rock forefather, Gene Clark. At the forefront of what we now call “Americana”, Through The Morning, Through the Night is full of great original songs, traditionals like “I Bowed My Head and Cried Holy” and “Rocky Top” and perhaps my favorite Beatles cover ever, a down-tempo twang rendition of “Don’t Let Me Down.”

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09. Numero Group #17: Eccentric Soul – The Deep City Label Found: Mississippi Records – Portland, Oregon

I’m kind of cheating on this inclusion, as I bought it brand new … but it is cover-to-cover all-killer, no-filler and if you ever see it at a record store forsake all other purchases and pick this one up. The price tag may seem a little steep, as most Numero Group releases do, but remember it is a double LP and it is worth every penny spent. Put this record on when you’re alone and its an instant, soul and booty shaking party. Put this record on when you’re not alone and its a make out soundtrack extraordinaire.

08. Arthur & Yu – Don’t Piss in the Fire Found: Everyday Music

With Grant Olsen’s latest project Gold Leaves being one of my most listened to albums of 2011, I was giddy to find this dreamy creamsicle colored Sub Pop single from his last project Arthur & Yu in the used bins. My find was confirmed as victorious by the nodding approval of the guy behind the counter, followed by a grumbling, “Damn, I wish I’d seen that first.”

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07. Gene Clark – White Light Found: Twist and Shout Records – Denver, Colorado

After Greg Vandy recommended picking up this record on his excellent blog American Standard Time, I wasn’t the only vinyl lover who went looking for it in Seattle. Store after store, a perplexed clerk would tell me that I was the third or fourth person coming in to look for Gene Clark’s stellar second solo album and that no, they didn’t have it. So I was delighted when a gorgeous copy stared back at me in Denver’s cavernous Twist and Shout Records. White Light is a hidden classic and on it Clark helps invent what is known and loved now as “Americana” and cosmic country. It rambles at all the right places, like the cover of Dylan and The Bands “Tears of Rage” and the original songs that have inspired local bands like The Moondoggies and Sons of Warren Oates leave you wondering why Clark isn’t recognized as one of his generations finest songwriters. An album like White Light is ripe for a reissue and however you get your hands on it, even if it takes leaving the state, I recommend you do.

06. S – I’m Not As Good As You Found: Sonic Boom Records

Coming in at #7 on our 25 Favorite Northwest Records of 2010 and #4 on my personal list, finding a copy of the import only I’m Not As Good As You was a bit like discovering unicorns exist by stumbling on one in the wild. I had no idea this beautiful bummer was ever pressed to wax and while $18.99 was a bit steep for the reality of my bank account, there was no way this record wasn’t coming home with me. Because I’m Not As Good As You has only gotten better with time, more devastating in its honesty, more lovely in its loneliness. And were I writing that Best of 2010 list today, I would fight for it to be ranked much higher. Since her days with Carissa’s Wierd Jen Ghetto has been writing the best sad songs in all of Seattle, if not the country. She continues to do so solo as “S” and I’m Not As Good As You is equal parts heartbreak and stunner.

See my top five vinyl finds of 2011 (more…)

December 29, 2011

Our Favorite Local Records of 2011: #2 Shabazz Palaces – Black Up

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We’re counting down our 10 favorite records released in the Pacific Northwest in 2011, follow along!

#2 Shabazz PalacesBlack Up (Sub Pop)

“Just another….” review of Shabazz Palaces critically acclaimed, seminal demiurgical creation entitled Black Up.

What can I possibly say about this album that hasn’t already been offered up to the blogosphere universe in the most hyperbolic, inquisitive, sometimes misguided, corner office with a nice view of a city park, “Can Ishmael Butler’s third eye see my innermost thoughts?” analytical, tooth and comb way imaginable?

I have no idea. That’s why I’m going to be as direct (doubtful) and brief (you’re kidding right?) as I can possibly be. Gentle readers, good luck connecting the dots.

When I was a pre-teen I saw an interview with Thurston Moore on a television program that I can no longer remember. During the interview Mr. Moore spoke of how he looked to find melody in ordinary, everyday things, because there are melodies all around us. Items such as the creaky sounds from a wheel barrow, lawnmowers cutting the grass and windshield wipers defending your windshield against trying precipitation. I tried my best to accurately ride the jock of Thurston to emulate Thurston’s words and write songs based on microwave sounds and people falling down/up the stairs (this didn’t happen often). However, I did not have the mental capacity then (and arguably now) to be inspired enough to compose and craft anything that anyone would wanted to be bothered to listen to.

As soon as I hit play on Black Up, Thurston Moore’s words awoke in my mind after a cicada-like slumber and it all made sense.

Hear me out.

This album is based on melodies you don’t hear but feel. It’s a pretentious, vague sentence but one that is totally applicable. Sure, you hear the rhythm and melody in an audible fashion. Yet, when you think of the creation of this music as a listener (ie. the accusatory synthesizer chanting of “An Echo From the Hosts…”), it’s extremely hard to understand how one arrives at the end point when you’re starting from thin air radio silence.

If I could choose a solitary word to define this album (impossible) it would be “otherworldly.” There are celestial/outer-space references littered throughout almost every song. When I listen to Black Up, I think of George Clinton fronting Parliament-Funkadelic. I am reminded of the autonomus, uplifting groove of Sly and the Family Stone. Even though the aforementioned imprints are a bit obvious (in my opinion), I may be alone in reminiscing about my love fo Radiohead’s Kid A or Bjork’s Vespertine while Black Up is emerging from my sound-system. For me, it’s all there in plain view, Afrocentric spaceship funk.

I’m not going to explain what this album sounds like if you haven’t heard it. It’s not out of laziness, it’s because it’s not really possible…

Screw it. I’ll give it a shot.

“Endeavors for Never….” sounds like heroin inspired android jazz in the throes of Harlem in the 1930′s 3030′s. At first listen I could not fit all the elements of this song into a cohesive structure, but upon further review this might be the most “normal” back-beat on this album. Keys operating close to conventional timing, smooth as silk female vocals, a stirring sample of a lazy jazz drum fill, “forever and ever.” I don’t mind if you do, play it again Sam.

“Are you…” has an intro that reminds me of the greatest album of all-time! has an intro that sounds like a Kid A/Amnesiac b-side. The mantra “it’s a feeling,” takes over the song, reiterating that this album is much more than just sounds, it exists purely in the way that your body responds to the rhythm.  Those verses paint a story and trick your hips into a predictable lull. However, by the end of the song you’re grooving to beats that would not be out of place on Of Light or the self-titled release. Finally, the line “That’s why, I won’t be back a long time….” is placed conveniently in the apex of a dance hall collapse. No smoke, no fire or panic, just a clear-cut explanation.

The words on this album carry more weight than before (and they were already on the shoulders of Atlas to begin with). “A Treatise Dedicated..(1000 Questions, 1 Answer)” is an example of the interpolation (very literal when you hear the story told within the song) of a theme that was largely absent on prior Shabazz Palaces releases, love. When I first heard this song, I thought of another unconventional “love” song in Outkast’s “Toilet Tisha.” The music, the story, the promises that are made are spectacular, but what really makes the song are the unanswered questions at the of composition. Internalized and all too real, whether posed from across a crowded room or while you’re lying in bed alone at night. It’s amazing how little things make a song.

But what about the meaning behind the album’s title, Black Up? Is there any meaning there or is it something that I’ve imagined after dozens of listens?

The theme of being genuine is a consistent one throughout the entire album. Butler asks the listener who they think they are on the album’s second track and does not stop asking until the album is over. “Youlogy” serves as a curtain call for materialism and the feigned. “Yeah you” is a St. Valentine’s Day Massacre for artists and industry personalities that have made a living off of posturing. “My hand’s so flush/You’ll have to fold/The played out rhthyms that you told/For all the priceless things you sold..you corny nigga.” You can’t tell if that sample is money being dropped into a piggy bank or slaves’ chains are clanging in unison. Either way, there might not be a difference between the two.

But what does this have to do with being black per se? When Butler says “…Things are looking blacker but black is looking whiter,” is he talking about how corporate America is attempting to adopt hip-hop culture in order to push product (nothing new)? Is he refering to the fact that many of these hip-hop artists are running around wearing skinny jeans and starring in wholesome family movies? Or maybe he’s speaking about Obama and the fact that blacks are “more accepted” by American culture across the board?

I’m not sure, I feel it’s up for the listener to decide. One thing I do know is this, there is really nothing more infuriating, agitating, aggrevating, insert many other unfavorable synonyms here than when someone questions your blackness. If you’re black, it’s happened to you more times than you can count unfortunately. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or where you’re going, someone is going to level those systemic accusations in your general direction. It might arise from your educational background, your demeanor or a myriad of cultural factors that may be mired in preconceived stereotype or ignorance. The worst part is, not just black people question your blackness, everyone feels like they are entitled to express an opinion on how black you are or aren’t. I could write a thesis on this topic (again) but this is an album review and I’ve already said too much. I’ll leave you with this….

Black Up is saying, “Black folks, be you, whatever ‘you’ that may be. You are beautiful.” Many, many albums have expressed this type of sentiment before, but I can’t recall any that presented it in the type of fashion Shabazz Palaces have done so on Black Up. Just think, the fact that I thought of Thurston Moore, Bjork and Radiohead (I could have even said some Boards of Canada as well) during the initial moments of this album and none of those artists have ever had anything to do with being black or black empowerment, is a remarkable achievement in itself.

You don’t have to listen to the last minute and a half of “Swerve…” to comprehend what is going on here.

(Writer’s note: This applies to listeners of all races but, hey, I’m black so……)

August 8, 2011

The Daily Choice: Shabazz Palaces – Swerve … The reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)

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No one has to tell me how late to soiree I am on the whole Shabazz Palaces-being-the-reinvention-of-hip-hop train.  Don’t you worry, I already know.  But after a weekend of deafening my eardrums, bass-thumping my heart beat in to EKG readings never before recorded on a mammal, and splintering two vertebrae from vigorous head nodding I couldn’t start the week without a healthy spoonful of this game-changing band.  This album isn’t just a space-odyssey through hip-hop, this is an entire galaxy squeezed between synth drops, bass slaps, and some beyond-reality raps that will, I promise, leave your brain psychedelically scrambled.  Sit up right now from whatever faded thrift store couch you’re ensconced upon, shuffle yourself to the record store and buy two copies, one for you and one for your friend who doesn’t believe the hype.

Sub Pop I thank you for releasing Black Up in late June.  Go get it kiddies.

Shabazz Palaces – Swerve … The reeping of all that s worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)

In less interesting news, The Daily Choice is now on Twitter.  Join the parade!