Last week Hardly Art quietly posted to Amazon a sampler of 17 of the year’s more notable tracks from artists such as Le Loup, the Moondoggies and the Dutchess & The Duke, including a few special tracks that haven’t appeared anywhere else. Lucky us, they are offering it for free to the world.

It’s all here: a Dutchess & the Duke demo, an acoustic mix from the Pica Beats, and to my delight, as the final track, a song representing the fruits of the Arthur & Yu and Moondoggies live collaboration this summer. They chose to feature “Magic Mtn,” the B-side track from Arthur & Yu’s their 2009 Record Store Day EP Don’t Piss into the Fire, a track which garnered many repeated listens on my part. That being said, it’s also a track which I’ll admit I’ve relished even more as a live song with the backing of our fearless flannel fashionistas, The Moondoggies.

In short: 17 free tracks from one of Seattle’s best houses of musical talent. You know what to do.

Happy Monday.

The Pica Beats ::: Photo by Josh

Over the Sasquatch weekend I had a chance to get to meet the Pica Beats and do a short get to know you type interview crouched in the shade next to a dumpster. Please excuse the brevity of this interview. Unfortunately some of the interview was lost as sometimes happens with ad hoc recordings. (Read that as: I don’t know what the hell happened. The first part is there, then it just goes fuzz.) Thankfully much of the good stuff remains.

Band leader and songwriter Ryan Barrett (far left) has developed a rhetorical pop style all his own that’s wry and personal. While anyone with a loquacious story-telling style tends to inevitably draw comparisons to fellow Sasquatch act the Decemberists, the comparison with this band pretty much ends there. It’s music that’s sadder and more grounded in reality than the fantastical imagination of Colin Meloy. That they’ve incorporated eastern and sitar tones into their music will now forever make me associate maladroit pop with those instruments. (Which, I know, is strange.)

The Pica Beats are playing a Noise for the Needy benefit show at Chop Suey on Saturday June 13 with Pt. Juncture, WA, The Black Whales and Grant Olsen from Arthur & Yu.

—

SOTS (Josh): I feel like your songs focus on awkwardness a little bit.

Ryan: (Chuckles and nods.) Yep.

SOTS: Do you feel like life is awkward?

Ryan: It’s getting better. But that was kind of my MO growing up. I was like the nerdy outsider kid. I think it was inevitable that that would make it into my songs.

SOTS: I feel like it’s a theme in probably half the songs I heard today.

Ryan: Yeah, pretty much. I had kind of a rough start I think.

SOTS: Were you in band in high school? Or A/V club or something?

Ryan: No. I don’t know. I didn’t fit in with anyone. I had friends and everything, but by high school I was in a punk rock band. Back in Vermont, where I went to high school, we were the only band in the whole school basically, so I was very much just not the in-crowd kid. Nobody payed attention to us for the most part, so we were pretty much just playing for ourselves.

SOTS: How did you guys get hooked up with Hardly Art?

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Girl Talk ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

There is no question that day three of Sasquatch for us was all about Monotonix’ set, their last set in the U.S. for a while before heading back across the Atlantic to release a new record. Grizzly Bear’s main stage set came in a close second. I also had the privilege sneak in an interview and a Gorge portrait with Hardly Art’s the Pica Beats after their longish very good set at the Yeti stage, so look for that later today. We ended the day with Girl Talk’s non-stop dance party, which of course jumped off an expansive conversation on the legitimacy of sampling, legally and as an artistic device. See all of our day three pictures at our flickr page.

Other Lives ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

The Pica Beats ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

The Pica Beats ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Black Moth Super Rainbow ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Blitzen Trapper ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

School Of Seven Bells ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Grizzly Bear ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

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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|

Here is my list of what I consider to the be the “best” releases I’ve heard this year, full albums and EP’s, local and not, self-released or with a label. Regular readers probably won’t find too much surprising but there are a few that we may have not featured very much, probably because I just didn’t have too much to add to the already existing narrative. Most notable among that list is my number one choice From Emma, Forever Ago, by Bon Iver, AKA Justin Vernon. Each listen of this debut LP proffers a new detail to my ear and generates a renewed catharsis within my soul.

Before I start opining any further and get out of control (we’re saving that for next week’s official Northwest-themed lists), here are my favorites from the past year…

Josh’s Top 25 Releases of 2008

1. Bon Iver - From Emma, Forever Ago |myspace|
2. Dead Confederate - Wrecking Ball |myspace|
3. The Moondoggies - Don’t Be A Stranger |myspace|
4. J Tillman - Vacilando Territory Blues (Digital Release Only) |myspace|
5. The Whigs - Mission Control |myspace|
6. The Dutchess and the Duke - She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke |myspace|
7. Wild Orchid Children - S/T EP |myspace|
8. Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground - S/T LP |myspace|
9. Starfucker - S/T LP |myspace|
10. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours |myspace|
11. The Notwist - Devil, You + Me |myspace|
12. Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down |myspace|
13. Land of Talk - Some Are Lakes |myspace|
14. Fleet Foxes - S/T LP |myspace|
15. The Dodos - Visiter |myspace|
16 See Me River - Time Machine |myspace|
17. Jake One - White Van Music |myspace|
18. Whore Moans - Hello From the Radio Wasteland |myspace|
19. The Pica Beats - Bring Back the Claws … |myspace|
20. Thee Emergency - SOLID |myspace|
21. Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off the Lavender Bridge |myspace|
22. The Saturday Knights - Mingle |myspace|
23. Army Navy - S/T LP |myspace|
24. Horse Feathers - House with No Home |myspace|
25. Crystal Stilts - Alight of Night |myspace |

The album I listened to the most that was actually from last year but didn’t discover until this year…

The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism |myspace|

You’ll notice TV on the Radio, Of Montreal, Portishead, and Deerhunter aren’t in there. Nor Lil Wayne. I’m sorry (but not that sorry) to say I’ve listened to all of these records and they just didn’t do it for me. Dear, Science is certainly an innovative record, but I didn’t connect enough to warrant the repeated listens of those listed above. Vampire Weekend’s record is another that fits that profile, a well realized album that unfortunately for me is without any lasting impact. And I’ve diligently searched for the quality in the Deerhunter album that has everyone shouting, but I’m just completely missing it.

Today you can buy the MP3 album of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago from Amazon for 5 bucks. After my ringing endorsement, and at that price, you have no good reason not to go get it.

I know, I know, I’m sort of a Hardly Art sycophant.  If you put together every blog post/column/concert I’ve attended over the last two months, sixty percent of them would have something to do with the little Sub Pop shingle that could.  I can’t help it, everything these guys have put out so far taps in to something deep within the icy confines of my soul.  I promise I’m not a plant, I just really love Hardly Art.  Oh oh, for like eight months I was convinced that I hated Le Loup and Arthur & Yu (for whatever reason), even skipping an amazing Ruby Suns show ’cause Le Loup was headlining to show my dislike, but then actually sat down and listened to both … and well, like them, a whole lot.

Thus, it’s no surprise that I’m already sort of in love with The Pica Beats’ debut album Beating Back The Claws of The Cold.  It’s, to be honest, a little bit Decemberist-y in it’s narratives and the lead singer’s very pretty noise, but there is a jumble of instruments (none of them I can really decipher, a terrible trait of mine, the inability to distinguish a guitar from a harmonica from a melodium) thrown in, and sort of fragility to the timber of the vocals that differentiates them.  The harmonies and melodies of their music seem simple, but there’s a interwoven feel to them that really stands out, really adds a different, sort of weighty layer to what could be described as stereotypical acoustic rock.  I’m sorry I didn’t get out and see these guys at their release party two weeks ago, I bet it was fantastic.

Don’t blame me, but there might, MIGHT be another Hardly Art artists showcased here … this week.  I’m an addict, somebody set up an intervention.

The Pica Beats - Poor Old Ra