Check out this  video from The Blakes, for their tune “Ramshackle Hearse.”  The song is a distinct departure from the bravado and swagger of “Two Times,” with a moody video to match. 

For their first video off of Souvenir, The Blakes  decided to share screen time with a number of other Seattle bands. Watch closely to see if any of your local favorites make a cameo.

People of New York City! Music bloggers who are lucky enough to be going to NYC for CMJ! Bookending this years CMJ festivities are two showcases featuring the talented bands and local labels of the Pacific Northwest, and we assure you, they are very worthy of your time. The Maldives, who tour minimally outside of Seattle are coming special for the Mt. Fuji showcase, so please don’t miss your chance to see them. And I think you’ve probably heard of a little Seattle label called Sub Pop and it’s offshoot Hardly Art…

October 20th at Bruar Falls, 245 Grand St.
Mt Fuji CMJ Showcase featuring
10.15pm Whore Moans
11pm Maldives
11.45pm Black Whales
(See the poster above)

October 24th at the Mercury Lounge
The Sub Pop/Hardly Art CMJ Showcase featuring
7pm Unnatural Helpers
8pm Dum Dum Girls
9pm Moondoggies
10pm The Dutchess & The Duke
11pm Golden Triangle
12am Pissed Jeans
1am Obits
2am Male Bonding

KEXP will be there broadcasting live performances every day and hosting a film festival. Locals the Blakes and the Moondoggies will both be stopping by to get in a session, in addition to bands like the XX. It’s actually a pretty wide ranging lineup, very much in the spirit of the fest.

There are a few other showcases which will will be featuring other Seattle area bands including:

October 20th at the Santos House Party Basement
10.30 Flexions
11.30 Unnatural Helpers

October 20th at the Suffolk
9.00 Tennis Pro

October 21st at Wicked Willies
9.00pm The Purrs

October 22nd at Googies Lounge
8.00pm Kasey Anderson

October 22nd at Union Hall
11.00pm Army Navy

October 23rd at Googies Lounge
7.30pm Kate Tucker

October 23rd at Crash Mansion (Downstairs)
9.15pm The Blakes
10.45pm Army Navy

October 24th at Union Pool
7.40pm Flexions

October 24th at the Gramercy Theater
10.10pm Blue Scholars

October 24th at the Suffolk
10pm D. Black
11.00 Champagne Champagne

This is your chance NYC to see a number of bands we’ve helped to get you to know and there’s plenty of talent to chew on from those listings alone.  Of course there is an insane number of other non-Seattle bands playing CMJ, you can find the complete schedule for the festival online.

The RUMBLE is a series of  monthly reoccurring  shows that have been happening around the West in major cities for a few months. Now the idea and Rumble have grown and seems to be centered on a full on multi-city tour at decent size venues for one lucky band, with handpicked supporting bands in each place they visit. U.S.E was in on it in September and they did the RUMBLE in 4 coastal cities. October brings the RUMBLE to Seattle’s Crocodile as a starting point that afterward it will take white boy soul group Fitz & the Tantrums to five more cities (for a total of six).

Our date has the special addition of Wild Orchid Children headlining:

OCTOBER 5 @ THE CROCODILE
21+, doors at 8pm & FREEEEEEE
WILD ORCHID CHILDREN
FITZ & THE TANTRUMS
THE SATELLITE 4
with DJs Valentine & Carly (of U.S.E)
You read that right - $FREE!!!!

In the future the RUMBLE is promised to be happening at the Crocodile on the first Monday of every month and traveling to even more cities. Any tour where it’s free, filled with thoughtful local lineups, and every show gets a poster as cool as this, I can get behind. See the RUMBLE’s well kept myspace for all the show dates and posters.

Seattle’s The Blakes who’ve just left on tour will be taking part in the the October 8th and 10th shows in Los Angeles and San Diego respectively.

The Return of Jesus Lizard ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Day One of Capitol Hill Block Party was a massive whirlwind of activity for us. Between taking pictures of the first three songs at the main stage, properly meeting a few of our local music writing and music photography brethren, and attending everything we wanted to see while staying hydrated and not getting burnt out on the crowds, it’s a wonder we managed to stay on schedule at all. But we did! Sweet, sweet audial victory!

Capitol Hill’s own Dutchess and the Duke started the festival off on the main stage by introducing a new bassist and announcing they’ll have a new album out titled Sunset/Sunrise in October via Hardly Art. After taking in their set, bulging with enjoyable new songs; we stumbled upon Caffe Vita’s Bean Room, where KEXP and the Seattle Times’ Andrew Matson were hosting intimate acoustic sessions. Surrounded by bags of coffee beans stacked to the ceiling, Hey Marseilles brought the whole band in and impressed with a short four song set fit for a gloriously sunny Seattle afternoon.

Deerhunter’s set was a highlight of the day, despite a few early sound issues. I’m steadily being seduced by their music the more I listen to it. Throughout the set the band was slowly (and not-so-slowly) draining a bottle of Maker’s Mark. Black Lips guitarist Cole Alexander picked up the slack though for the one song he jumped stage for, taking moments to tilt steeply and chug between bouts of drunkened dancing in a green trench-coat and singing a lyric or two, leaving the bottle on stage with half the amount it had just minutes prior.

Built to Spill returned to Seattle on the CHBP main stage with a veritable “Best Of” set as voted on by the fans. With fans being involved, the set had a lot of conversation value, fans consulting one another as to their choice while declaring their own choice as the best Built to Spill song ever. “Car,” “Big Dipper,” “You Were Right” all happily made appearances. Given the festival setting though the band stuck to the script and played as many songs as possible with the time they had. Thus, rambling guitar solos were at a minimum and “Cortez the Killer” was not to be, no matter how much both Branford Cox from Deerhunter and I wanted it.

Jesus Lizard’s David Yow wasted no time in showing Seattle he hasn’t changed a bit in the 13 years since Jesus Lizard had been banned from the city. Within the first song, after a running start he had flown over the pit into crowd and spent the last half of the song floating on top of the crush. The songs he wasn’t in the crowd for, new crowd surfers sprouted with abandon. Yow himself menaced the stage, his body language doing as much growling as his lyrics. If I saw this dude looking like this on the corner I was about the cross over to on, I would probably decide cross the street on the other side.

After surviving the harrowing pit and crowd of Jesus Lizard we retreated to the back smaller stage to see if Starfucker had started the oh-so-difficult Seattle dance party. Not unexpectedly, the Portland foursome had riled up the kids, though with the crowd of this magnitude, it was fast becoming an uncontrolled bouncing and pushing frenzy that threatened to knock over the speaker stacks. By the last few songs, security had become a bit rough with the young crowd and brusquely pushed them back a safe distance so the stage would not in their words “tip over.” But by that point the party was already on and the kids were stopping for no one, no how.

As we hoofed it home after midnight we reflected on how nice it is to have the festival in our own neighborhood, what a mad man David Yow is, and how glad we were that Starfucker started a dance party that threatened to take down the stage. This weekend at least, it seemed Seattle was prepared to allow itself have fun with abandon.

The Dutchess and The Duke (now four members!) ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

The Dutchess and The Duke’s new bassist ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

The Best View on the Block? ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Read the rest of this entry »

Devendra Banhart makes a video for the song “Carmensita” with his GF Natalie Portman. Strange. (See above.)

The Blakes visited Daytrotter.

Cold War Kids debut a single on their myspace. “Something Is Not Right With Me” will appear on this foursome’s forthcoming second LP Loyalty to Loyalty, set to arrive September 23.

Speed of Dark interviews Josh Tillman, now drummer for Fleet Foxes. In the interview we learn that his next album, Vacilando Territory Blues, is set for release in Europe early next year but has no US release date, and he already has a batch of songs for another album titled Lady, Be Still.

The fork giveth, and the fork taketh away. And they aren’t apologetic for what they do. Usually. Until now. OUCH.

The Sound of Color is a project where five different bands are asked to write a song inspired by a color. Most recently the Blakes were asked to do the color blue. They wrote the song ”
Magic.” It’s hella good. Watch it here.

Download: “Magic” - The Blakes for Sound of Color

I’ve been to a few Blakes shows over the past year and this one was unquestionably the best. A sweaty packed house at Chop Suey saw Garnet, Snow and Bob return home from a month of touring the Western U.S. and gave them a hero’s welcome.

The openers were surprisingly well matched to the Blakes beer-swigging party rock, and admirably kept the energy rising throughout the night. Tacoma’s Paris Spleen led off with some well practiced stage moves and a diverse set of dance rock. I really liked their energy and the effort they put into making it a performance, and not just some dudes on stage playing instruments. I’m looking to hear more of and about these guys soon.

Magic Bullets out of the Bay Area have been touring with the Blakes for this month, and they had clearly come to adore their tour mates. Magic Bullets have got a distinct indie pop feel to them, even their slow songs have strong and catchy rhythms a la the Shins. At their best, Magic Bullets are a booty shakable dance party. “Will Scarlet” had to be my favorite song of the night, a full bore Killer’s styled power pop anthem. Snow came out to sing backup for a song, and every damn one of them had a huge smile on their face; I could really feel the love in the room. A Magic Bullets fan kept the momentum going in the crowd, and ended up getting some much deserved attention from lead singer Philip Benson who joined the crowd to dance during the last song.

As the Blakes took the stage a rowdy swarm of excited ladies had emerged at the front of the crowd. The masses cheered the band’s arrival and eagerly got down to the first notes of the first song. “Pistol Grip,” “Don’t Bother Me,” and “Two Times” each elicited a full crowd sing-and-dance along, a feat I can’t say many bands can muster for one song much less three. They also played a few new songs from a recording session they mentioned they had done last week in San Fransisco, so it sounds like we’ll be seeing some new stuff from these guys shortly.

I say this is the best Blakes show I’ve seen yet for a number of reasons. They fed off of the crowd and the crowd fed off of them in a way I hadn’t seen happen before. They essentially sold out Chop Suey (with a huge drinking crowd) and delivered a focused and fun set of what the people came to see. They seemed relaxed and comfortable with the material and the spotlight. The Magic Bullets were up on stage throughout the show, dancing, guesting on bass for “Don’t Bother Me” (allowing Snow to play keys), and offering a backup vocal here and there. At the end of the encore, Snow just couldn’t seem to leave the stage, and played a song solo with just his bass. It all just seemed like a super joyous affair and a wonderful way to cap off a long tour.

The Blakes will be spending some time in Austin and Europe over the next month. Right now they have no dates scheduled for Seattle, but I don’t think that will last too long.

Paris Spleen

Magic Bullets

The Blakes

Flickr: The Blakes with Magic Bullets at Paris Spleen at Chop Suey in Seattle, February 15, 2008.

Where’ve they been you might ask? Since mid January the’ve been touring the Western U.S., and on Friday they return to Chop Suey to cap off their month long journey. The Blakes will then go international and head to the UK and France for a week of shows prior to their March 1 scheduled Noise Pop date in San Fransisco. At SXSW on March 11 they’ll be playing a pre-party at Emo’s with the Hands and White Denim, and right after SXSW they’ll be returning to France for another week of shows. Busy boys so far this year. Let’s hope they can keep up the momentum.

This Friday along with Bay Area openers the Magic Bullets , Bob, Snow and Garnet will bring it all back home, and treat Seattle to the PBR-drenched party-rock rhythms of their self-titled full length. Check their most recent video “Don’t Bother Me” which was featured on MTV’s Subterranean last week and then plan your Friday night accordingly. They haven’t got any other Seattle dates lined up in the near future, so this may be your last chance to see them for a little while.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/QZ4WBue9bPU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
The Blakes just released a video for their single “Don’t Bother Me” off of their debut self-titled record. I really like the camera work in this video, staged in a recording studio as though they were recording the song. It’s filmed as sort of personal scrapbook of memories: goofy moments, resting moments, playing moments, and I think it does a good job of characterizing them as likable funloving fellows, which I think, they in fact are.

These gents will also be on a month long Western States tour of the US beginning the end of next week in San Fransisco and ending up here in Seattle at Chop Suey on February 15. The tour dates are below the fold (and are lifted from myspace).
Read the rest of this entry »

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

25. Dept of Energy - Held By Waits

24. A Gun That Shoots Knives - Miracle

23. Das Llamas - World War

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

21. Aqueduct - Or Give Me Death

20. Solvents - Manresa Castle

19. Rocky Votolato - The Brag & Cuss

18. The Shaky Hands - The Shaky Hands

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

16. The Lonely H - Hair

15. Laura Viers - Saltbreakers

14. Feral Children - Eternity Emergency EP

13. Ms Led - Shake Yourself Awake

12. The Blakes - The Blakes

11. Ghost Stories - Quixoticism

10. David Bazan - Fewer Moving Parts EP

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

8. Whalebones - Morning Man EP

7. Siberian - With Me

6. Ice Age Cobra - Brilliant Ideas from Amazing People

5. Tiny Vipers - Hands Across the Void

4. The Whore Moans - Watch Out for this Thing

3. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

2. Cave Singers - Invitation Songs

1. Menomena - Friend and Foe

Give a listen. Buy an album.

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