April Smith & The Great Picture Show ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

In the process of writing Sound on the Sound, I’ve discovered I am a total sucker for the following: pedal steel guitar, modern bands that employ a fiddle and accordion player, and bawdy female singers who sound as if they’re from another era, most especially when they’re backed by a kick-ass band and a stand-up bass.

MP3: “Colors” by April Smith & The Great Picture Show from Songs for a Sinking Ship

The latter explains my enthusiasm for April Smith & the Great Picture Show, whose rollicking retro circus will be pulling into town at the Sunset next Wednesday. When we saw her open for Fanfarlo back in February, she had the crowd in the palm of her hand and attempting to swing dance … at the Crocodile. The crowd might have come for Fanfarlo’s sweet orchestral pop, but it was April’s swinging set and her rich and rowdy belting that stole the show.

April doesn’t just sing, she performs — instantly transforming any stage she’s on into an impromptu cabaret. She radiates cheeky confidence, controlling the crowd with a wink and coy smile, more spunk than grace and truly infectious charm. With her tutu skirts and throwback sound April could easily venture into a realm of “too cutsie,” but while the material toes that line, her feistiness never allows it to cross.

April Smith and The Great Picture Show are playing the Sunset Tavern June 23rd (Wednesday) and we’re giving away a pair of tickets.

Drop a comment below by Monday June 21st at 5pm and we’ll pick a winner at random to have their name on the list plus one. And if you do win, be sure to bring your dancing shoes!

The Maldives and Moondoggies Sing-Along ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

2009 was an inspiring year for live music locally. My favorite shows ranged from intimate living room gatherings to huge festivals. They spanned genres from horror punk to hip hop to Ballard Avenue twang. They were almost all exclusively local, though I’ve seen a number of great touring bands in 2009. My hometown is where my heart is musically. Lucky for me (us all really) it was a banner year for local music, with a new found energy in the air and coming off the stages of Seattle. 

Seeing that we have a couple weeeks left in 2009, I’m hopeful there’s still another show in my near future that will be worthy of being dubbed a favorite. Considering how great 2009 has been, it would surprise me more if that didn’t happen. While this list isn’t ennumerated, it is in a hierachal order of most cherished towards the top.

David Bazan in an Edmonds, WA Living Room

Bon Iver at Sasquatch

Black Eyes & Neckties Final Show - Halloween in Bellingham

Doe Bay Music Festival

Nurses in a South Seattle Living Room

The Moondoggies at The Blue Moon

 The Maldives Three Night Stand at The Tractor

The Lonely Forest, Telekinesis, and The Globes at the Showbox

 Blue Moon’s 75th Anniversary Shows

The Rural Alberta Advantage at The Sunset

 The Ironclads Final Show Before Hiatus

Widower with Pearly Gate Music at the Sunset

 Fresh Espresso at Seattle Weekly’s Reverb Festival

Hey Marseilles and all of the Bean Room Shows at Cafe Vita During Capitol Hill Block Party

J. Tillman and Pearly Gate Music at The Sunset

A Gun That Shoots Knives and Doctor Doctor at Neumos

Mad Rad at Sasquatch

The Ironclads CD Release Show with The Whore Hands and What What Now at Holy Mountain

D. Black CD Release Show at The Crocodile

The Lonely Forest at Bumbershoot

Though I don’t have a photo to include with the list Regina Spektor’s sold out show at the Paramount is also one of my very favorite concerts  of 2009.

Widower ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

In a way, The Sunset has become one of the de facto centers of the Seattle music scene. You’re just as likely to see members of your favorite local band, from literally the largest bands in town to the smallest just formed bands, supporting their friends in the crowd and sometimes on stage in roles you hadn’t envisioned. Such was the case last Wednesday, when many corners of the scene were brought together to appreciate three of Seattle’s most promising bands. Every turn of the head brought into view a local personality of note.

First band on the bill was The Final Spins is the project of Joe Syverson, formerly of Throw Me the Statue, supported by many of the same crew who brought us Siberian, with Colin English of Hardly Art’s Pica Beats manning the drums. This particular Wednesday the band was celebrating the release of a new LP by playing three sets throughout Seattle in one day. First the traditional new release KEXP noon set, then a Sonic Boom Records all-ages set, before finally arriving at The Sunset for their last one.

The Final Spins are of a rock band in the mold of the Kinks supplying simply arranged and decidedly jilted and complex pop songs soaked in warm reverb. I almost feel like this band comes out of the thirteenth month of 1969, still feeding off of and reinterpreting the folk and rock traditions of that loomed large through the previous decade. Though a couple of those synthy intro’s even had me thinking on the Cars, if only for the intro.

Following a short smoke break on Ballard Avenue, where we caught a glimpse of Grizzly Bear member Daniel Rossen conversing quietly with Fleet Fox Robin Pecknold, we retreated back inside for the Zach Tillman led project, Pearly Gate Music.  With a band consisting of many of the same cast of Final Spins characters and big brother Josh Tillman on drums, Zach Tillman is now finally showing some confidence with his material and himself. We’ve been impressed with pretty much all of Pearly Gate Music’s material since their last appearance at the Sunset, so when on a tuning break Tillman revealed without ceremony that they had just finished recording an album, it was welcome news to our ears. Upon seeing the modestly large crowd, Tillman remarked that he was impressed to see so many people at the Sunset on a Wednesday night, declaring it “the last cool place in Seattle.” At least on this night, we could heartily agree.

Widower is fast becoming one of my favorite bands to come up from the Seattle scene. If their modern take on country delivers the mournful ballads and dysfunctional love songs expected of the style, wounded puppy lead singer Kevin Large would never pass muster in Nashville. His closed eyes and seemingly shy demeanor belie a songwriter and singer that makes me think of Wilco and Bright Eyes at the same time. Somehow he incorporates the turns of a phrase and even Tweedy-ish pronunciation like the former, while lyrically at times he matches the poignant and sometimes verbose sadness of the latter.

Next Week on August 2nd the Final Spins with Black Whales are opening for the Henry Clay People at the Crocodile. Pearly Gate Music is supporting Josh Tillman on a short California tour at the end of August. Widower will play next at the Comet on September 9th. That’s the Wednesday following Bumbershoot.

Pearly Gate Music ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

The Final Spins ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Flickr: Widower, Pearly Gate Music, and the Final Spins at the Sunset Tavern

The Rural Alberta Advantage ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Monday night marked the second show in what can safely be said to be the Rural Alberta Advantage’s first large scale tour. It marked the band’s first visit to Seattle, and as lead singer Nils Edenloff joked it also acted as a stateside CD release of sorts, being the night of before the Saddle Creek supported release of Hometowns hit stores everywhere. We didn’t know it yet but it was also the last day that they could claim to be just another small Canadian band, as the very next day, the all important Pitchfork dropped a favorable opinion and rating. And we all know what that means. Those of us present last Monday though, were blissfully unaware that the secret we were in on wouldn’t remain a secret much longer.

Hometowns (stream-able right now courtesy of Paste) was first self released, then released on eMusic last November, where it came to our attention and promptly monopolized our iTunes queue. Given the extremely warm welcome from a rather large Monday crowd, I’m suspecting we weren’t the only ones with that reaction. Monday crowds at the Sunset are usually the bands and their friends and that is pretty much it, yet this Monday there were many of those conspicuously not of that sort. By the time opening bands the Coyotes and Invisible Giants had finished and the RAA was tuning up, the crowd had not diminished in size by one soul. As the band started the hipster barrier between crowd and stage immediately broke down and the up-until-that-point reserved Seattle crowd decided to give up any pretense.

Charging through the bulk of Hometowns for a strong hour, I think the mood was not lost on the band themselves, who seemed at least slightly overwhelmed at their response. If frontman Nils fumbled over a story or two, it only came across as cute modesty, of a band just coming into the notion that people they don’t know outside of Toronto are actually really appreciating their music. Following a nice finishing touch of a “Goodbye Song” done among members of the audience, and after a feverish call for an encore, the band obliged the with two songs, Nils solo on “Eye of the Tiger” (yes, that “Eye of the Tiger”) and a full band version of “Sleep All Day.”

Right now the RAA is on a tour of the western U.S. and also in the process of getting funding from fans for their next EP. While they’ve just met their goal, they do however have more slots to donate and reserve one of the limited edition 7″ prints that they’ll be making. I doubt you’ll find a more worthy investment to support a budding band right now.

The Rural Alberta Advantage ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Flickr: The Rural Alberta Advantage at the Sunset Tavern

Sure, I’ve been a bit disparaging about Husband Love Your Wives in the past on Sound On The Sound - it’s just not my type of music.  Yet, for undisclosed reasons, Ms. Spiess has spent a considerable amount of time in the hospital as of late, and as we all know the American health care system doesn’t turn its head at milking the uninsured for all their worth, so, it seems Spiess has racked up a good deal of debt.  Lucky for her, and honestly, us a great group of local musicians are coming together at The Sunset to help raise her some money.  For the suggested price of 8 dollars (you kind people can donate more or you stingy pricks can pay less) you can see The Moondoggies, The Maldives, Grand Hallway, The Final Spins, and The Banyans.  It’s a great deal and the low price of admission actually goes to a good cause.  You my friends have no reason not to be out there.

The Moondoggies - Changin’

Hopefully, you’re already planning to be in Ballard for the CD release party for soon to be local legends The Moondoggies (and Whalebone, recommended HERE!).  Well, say you’ve got a bit of time to kill prior to that show, I recommend this my swarthy friends: head on over to The Sunset Tavern and check out Levi Fuller’s Ball of Wax live series.  It features short, acoustic sets by a bunch of great bands (Virgin of the Birds - someday I’ll transcribe the interview).  Each band will be performing at least one song off the most recent Ball of Wax release (which you get for free with the low 6 dollar admission price), with each song connecting to the theme of George Carlin’s “Seven Words” sketch.  This means there will be much profanity.  Jon Rooney of Virgin of the Birds promised me his was “laced with f-bombs”.

Oooooooh weeeeee, I love cussing and ‘coustic gee-tars.

Starts at 8 and if you know Levi Fuller, the man likes a timely show.

Alright, alright, I know some of you lucky bastards are making the trek to, uh, Auburn to partake in a magical evening of Radiohead (promptly followed by a magical six hours sitting in your car waiting for the traffic to decongest).  And yes, a few of us non-Radiohead attending folk are a wee bit jealous (read: self-loathful for not mustering enough brain power to, you know, buy a ticket) but to be honest, we’ve got something equally as exciting to look forward to:

The motherfucking Builders and The Butchers at The Sunset.

I already heralded them as the best show of Block Party (even though I was a little too drunk to actually see the concert) and now I’m telling you again: slide your greasy ass of your mom’s futon and get yourself down to The Sunset Tavern tonight to see one of the better live performing bands in the Northwest.  Dented bullhorns, TWO drummers, hollered lyrics about dirty girls in dusty towns doing dastardly deeds - this band has everything.

I missed them once and am still kicking myself, repeatedly, in the ass over it.  I will not miss them again, and neither should you.

This week’s show of the week is this Friday (2/9) at Ballard’s very own Sunset Tavern at 10pm.  The night’s music will be made by The Broken West, Heroes and Villans, and Seattle’s own The Maldives. The Broken West’s “So It Goes” is our myspace song for this week, and is definitely worth a listen (or nine).

The Broken West’s Myspace
The Maldives’ Myspace 
I’m not sure that Heroes and Villans have a reference page…if the Myspace page that came up under a mispelling of the band is legitimate: it’s going to be a VERY weird night of music.