If you drove out to EndFest today looking forward to seeing Snow Patrol… well, you’re in for an unhappy surprise. Late yesterday (which is why I’m posting this now), the American publicist for the popular Scottish rock ensemble announced that they would not be able to make their dates in SEA and PDX this weekend, due to heightened airport security in the UK and US.

AUGUST 11TH 2006: Due to the recent terrorist alert in London Heathrow yesterday which has caused a continuation of delayed and postponed flights throughout today, we regret to inform you that Snow Patrol will not be able to perform two scheduled shows this weekend in Auburn, Washington and Portland,OR. 50% of Snow Patrol made it into the country while the other half got stopped coming from Norway to Heathrow and are unable to complete their journey to the states due to missing connection flights and non availability flights to Portland and Seattle.

P Was For Press Photo

Touch & Go today announced the final addition to the already impressive line-up for their 25th Anniversary spectacular, happening in Chicago September 8th-10th. It’s The Monorchid, an amazing post-hardcore band that has been sadly defunct since 1998. The Monorchid’s Who Put Out The Fire? is a blast, even out of shitty stereo speakers. I can’t imagine how awesome it will be live.

Christopher Hong will be there. Will you?

I’ve been checking the site weekly, but it took a tip from Jerry Abstract (thanks!) to notice that the Movement - Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival archives are finally up. Right now it’s only the main stage, so there’s no Carl Craig, SunTzu Sound, Magda, James Holden, or dozens of others that wowed, but sets from Richie Hawtin, Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May, and the Orb are a good start (guess they couldn’t get permission for Nitzer Ebb, since that’s not up there either). I’d highly recommend the set by Tortured Soul for closing out your workday and starting your weekend.

In case you missed them the first time around, here are my braindumps on this year’s festival (so very very good - the festival, not the posts):
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 3

By now you’re likely well aware of Krakt, the techno monthly at Rebar. Unlike some other techno nights that often dwell in more heady territory, Krakt prides itself on destroying eardrums with its more aggressive stance. It’s fun, with people getting drunk and spazzing out on the dancefloor. In short, it’s exactly what you want out of a Saturday night (well, it’s what I want anyway). This month they’re bringing in Brian Aneurysm to hold it down on the decks. Here are a couple of mixes he’s done to whet your appetite for the set. The first is the harder-edged of the two, and I’m hoping that’s closer to where tomorrow’s set will be.

Eating well on a tight budget ain’t easy for touring bands. The execs at Taco Bell realize that; hence, they’ve cooked up this plan—Feed the Beat (catchy! I like!)—to help fill the bellies of struggling musicians.

Taco Bell is seeking four bands in Austin, Boston, L.A., and Seattle to feed during their summer tours. Each group will receive one month’s supply of Taco Bell “bucks,”� redeemable at any TB outlet nationwide. “We’re just giving them free food, we’re not asking the bands to do anything commercial in return (that means no tee-shirts, no bumper stickers, etc.),”� writes publicist Cynthia Elmastian.

To apply, bands in those four cities can logon to www.tacobell.com/feedbthebeat. The deadline is August 30.

What’s the catch? You’ll find out about an hour after you consume those meals.

Tonight Aqueduct is playing at the Vulcan-sponsored South Lake Union Block Party, which wouldn’t hit my radar if it wasn’t 1) so close to my office and 2) free ($5 suggested donation). I’ve never managed to catch Aqueduct, so I’m willing to take in that part of Paul Allen’s good will.

Aqueduct entered my music collection earlier this year or late last year when I bought a copy of I Sold Gold. It took over from Headphones as CD of the Moment, getting constant play in Winamp. The CD wasn’t great all the way through, and I was under no delusions that it was better than it is. That said, it was fun, and it felt like David Terry (sure, there’s a band, but Aqueduct is David Terry) left a little piece of himself on every song. These weren’t songs to change your life, these were songs to get you through the afternoon. And well, sometimes that’s enough. If some of that sincerity makes its way on stage, then the show will be worth my time - and yours.

Warning: There are some bad reviews out there about Aqueduct’s live show. I’m hoping tonight’s performance isn’t worthy of scorn, but we shall see.

I’m still waiting for my advance of Paris Hilton’s self-titled album, and while the few songs I’ve heard via crappy mp3 didn’t exactly set me salivating, this hilarious review from The Guardian almost makes me want to hear it. Songwriter-for-hire Billy Steinberg is responsible many of my karaoke favorites (“Eternal Flame” and “I Touch Myself” - wow, that’s a résumé… Scott Storch be damned), so hopefully there’s at least one or two moments of so-bad-it’s-brilliant musical carnage.

(Thanks Elisabeth for the link!)

photo taken from www.southern.com

Three years ago Matt Davis, the lead singer & guitar player of the relentless post-hardcore touring machine Ten Grand died suddenly at the age of 26, leaving behind a swath of friends, family, fans, and mourners across the country and international date lines. As the band zig-zagged across the states, I was lucky to meet and hang out with Matt after a few basement shaking performances and talk about everything from being a person of color in a subculture dominated by white guilt to the joys of dancing to Goth music. As a musician, he was absolutely ferocious and intimidating but in person he was unflinchingly sincere and warm. Matt always extended a hand and an embrace to the kid at the show who showed up alone.

Ten Grand were formerly the band known as The Vida Blue, their new name born out of a deal to sell their previous moniker to a band on Elektra headed by one of the hippies from Phish who happened to really like their name (which itself was the name of a left-handed American League MVP pitcher).

Continue reading "This Is The Way To Rule" »

AC Lewis in Detroit

Happening tonight at Baltic Room is Kitchen, a new weekly featuring some of Seattle’s most seasoned and flavorful DJs. Peep this lineup: AC Lewis (SunTzu Sound, City Soul program on KBCS), Rebecca West (Aural Fixations), Kid Hops (KEXP’s Expansions and Positive Vibrations), and Riz (KEXP’s Expansions, Phatso Friday at Re-bar). With their deep crates and epicurean tastes, this foursome should provide a gut-busting smorgasbord of dance-music buttah. Variety, after all, is the spice— [enough fucking food analogies, y’bastard!]. Suffice it to say, this night’s gonna be piping hot [oof!].

Riz

I’ve been slow to admit it, but now I’ll say it: I dig the Mountain Goats. As sweet as the cookies Megan Seling brought to our editorial meeting today, but as weird as the ice cream-flavored Skittles she was eating in the office a couple of weeks ago. Kurt B. Reighley loves them too, as you will see in his Border Radio column next week. They already made their tour stop here last month, but you can watch their new video now:

UPDATE: The Mountain Goats are doing an in-store appearance at the Queen Anne Easy Street Records on Monday, August 21. Why no live show? Beats me.

As much as I don’t care for Hawthorne Heights’ music, I dislike Victory Records even more, so this is the greatest thing to happen all week!

Victory Records superstars Hawthorne Heights have not only left the questionable independent record label, but they’ve turned around and are now attempting to sue them as well. In a “manifesto” they posted on their website, the band says:

Due to recent events we have decided to leave Victory Records. Our departure is anything but amicable. We have decided to leave Victory, in part due to the actions of the man who sits at the head of the label, Tony Brummel. Tony Brummel is a man that cares more about his ego and bank account than the bands themselves.

Oh snap!

At the spine of the split is Brummel’s shady marketing strategy during the February release of Hawthorne Heights’ album If Only You Were Lonely. At the time, Brummel hoped to boost HH’s chances of debuting at number one on Billboard charts by asking fans to hide the competition’s albums so people would not only not be able to buy them at select stores, but the store scanners would still show the record as being in stock and therefore they would not order more. His main target was Def Jam artist Ne-Yo.

As for Ne-yo, the name of the game is to decrease the chances of a sale here. If you were to pick up handful of Ne-yo CDs, as if you were about to buy them, but then changed your mind and didn’t bother to put them back in the same place, that would work. Even though this record will be heavily stocked and you might not be able to move all the stock, just relocating a handful creates issues: Even though the store will appear to be out of stock, the computer will see it as in stock and not re-order the title once it sells down and then Ne-Yo will lose a few sales later in the week.

Def Jam, rightfully, got pissed, and the head of Hawthorne Heights’ street-team (who took the fall for the letter) even ended up resigning after the fact. Ne-Yo still debuted at number one that week while HH came it at number three. At the time, though, Hawthorne Heights was pleading with their fans via their website and Myspace to support “rock” and bring “rock” back into the countdowns and Billboard lists. Now, though, the band is less concerned with their placement on TRL and more worried about the money Brummel has kept from them.

Tony (Brummel, Victory Records founder), is a man whose greed knows no bounds. After selling more than 1.2 million copies of The Silence In Black and White and If Only You Were Lonely, we have never seen a single dollar in artist royalties from Victory Records. Tony will claim that we have not “recouped.”� In fact questionable accounting practices are the culprit and we are in fact owed substantial amounts of money.

Hawthorne Heights aren’t the first in Victory’s infamous history to take the label to task. Both Taking Back Sunday and Thursday are among the list of artists who have left the label and since spoken distastefully of their relationship with Brummel and his business practices.

Read Hawthorne Heights’ full statement below the jump. It’s pretty scathing.

Continue reading "Hawthorne Heights Sues Victory Records" »

As Ms. Seling has pointed out, this where all the cool kids will be:

KANE HODDER, FALL FROM GRACE, STALINS WAR (El Corazón) As senselessly hard as Seattle makes it, why does anyone bother throwing all-ages shows? This monumental effort is put forth because the people in the know realize that kids raised on great live music grow up to make it. Case in point, Kane Hodder, whose smart, sweet twist on Botch-tastic emocore have made them shining stars among generation Vera. Hey, you little punks, while you’re watching KH’s smoking new lineup bring the house down, please appreciate your right to rock. In the Midwest somewhere, kids your age are listening to “this great new band” the Killers and tipping cows. MA’CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR

But should you desire something quieter, Segal recommends you hang with the adults at the Crocodile:

AUGUSTANA, LUKE TEMPLE, ROBERT STILLMAN (Crocodile) Robert Stillman’s Horses captures the Portland, Maine, native’s intimate, graceful take on cool jazz tempered by a wistful Americana undercurrent. The saxophonist/pianist/drummer recorded and produced his album at Seattle’s Avast Studio with help from engineer Troy Tietjen, mixer Mel Detmer, and five sensitive musicians, including bill-mate Luke Temple on guitar. Understatement and dignified melodies prevail in this charmingly meditative album. Temple is a heartfelt singer-songwriter who makes soothing, morning-after music filigreed with subtle textural quirks and frail, Paul Simon”“oid vocals. One Ben Gibbard says Luke has “one of the prettiest voices in all of indie rock.” DAVE SEGAL

(photo by Ryan Schierling)

Before Kane Hodder leaves for a two-week trip through the West Coast, all Seattle fans should embrace the opportunity to see the band’s newish line-up tonight at El Corazon (all-ages show starts at 7:30). If you’ll recall, the band had a member shake-up back in May, but now they’re as stable as ever with Claymore’s Aaron Yost and Jerome Sauer taking the place of Nick Cates and Jeremy White. They’ve now packed a few months of playing together under their belts and I hear (I’ve yet to see witness the newness myself) that their performance is just as blistering and energetic as it ever was. (They may look sweet and nice in the photo, but when you take away their ice cream and put them on a stage, they turn crazy). Their next local show won’t be until Bumbershoot (September 4th at the EMP Skychurch), so don’t miss your chance for a quick fix this evening.

Bang, bang, bang, bang.

iTunes might get all the hype, but there is a growing scene of specialized digital download sites serving the DJ community, from Stompy down in San Francisco to Bleep, Kompakt and Clickgroove over in Europe. Specializing in independent, underground dance music, they catch the tracks the majors overlook, with features that make it easier (and cheaper) for DJs to indulge their track addictions without blowing through too much foreign currency or waiting by the door for the UPS guy to deliver your fix. (And the downloads are high bitrate and delightfully DRM-free.)

Today, Beatport launched a big ole’ refresh of its Flash-tastic site, with plenty of under the hood improvements like “subscriptions” to artists, labels or genres and “people who bought X also bought Y” recommendations to help you navigate through their catalogue (currently 2700 labels deep). Sites like this are a dream for lazy, anti-social people like me, who much prefer to slog through hundreds of new releases while doing the housework at home, rather than standing in line at a listening station.

Although physical record stores can’t be beat for their local flavor and helpful staff, these emerging sites are a good way to keep up on what’s happening and supplement your collection.

While I’m inexplicably charmed by the band name “Oops I Stepped in Some Christ”, I don’t think the time to check them out will be at “Methfest 2006”, where they will be appearing with, um, Fetal Distress, Arachnid Arcade, and Boostatali.

I’m guessing that “Methfest” was chosen for either its shock value or as a reference to the bands’ preferred tempos and song duration (ostensibly fast and unending), but it still seems like a poor marketing choice. Nevertheless, perhaps they could get some good ideas for flyers from this Just Say No-style banner I recently spotted outside a rural Montana high school:

Methfest transpires at the Rendezvous on Friday, August 18. Attend at your peril.

Goddammit! It’s so frustrating to love a record that no one else seems to appreciate as much as you do. You just want the rest of world to share in the awesome, you know? You just want to know that they get it! But alas, the ever-disappointing world keeps listening to crap like Coheed and Cambria and the Pussycat Dolls. This must be what it feels like to be a young Christian kid in a high school full of heathens who don’t want to hear your bullshit about how God is so great.

Sigh.

But despite your possible unwillingness to take my advice, I’m gonna keep preaching the good word. I could give a shit whether or not you save yourself, but I do think it’s time you expose your soul to a really, really great record that has been depressingly overlooked in the grand scheme of popular music. There are about 8,000 overlooked records that currently come to mind, and maybe some day I’ll tell you about them all, but today I’m going to start your musical makeover with Kind of Like Spitting’s Bridges Worth Burning.

Now I could never call myself a Kind of Like Spitting fan. I know nothing of the band other than this record. But this record is all I ever need from him (I say him because Kind of Like Spitting is actually just one dude, Mr. Ben Barnett). Bridges Worth Burning is, dare I say, perfect. Even when it’s about to fall apart at the seams, busting open with Barnett’s uncontrollable, undeniable mess of emotions, it’s perfect. Perfectly sad, perfectly pissed-off, perfectly depressing and sadistic. Perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect.

Continue reading "Bridges Worth Burning" »

The Whitest Boy Alive; Øye second from right

Kings of Convenience leader Erlend Øye has a new band called the Whitest Boy Alive. The Norwegian guitarist/vocalist dabbled with dance music (see his sporadically interesting DJ-Kicks mix, appearances on Røyksopp’s Melody A.M., and a remix album titled Unrest featuring Morgan Geist and Prefuse 73), but now he’s back to the mild-mannered indie rock for which KOC gained a middling amount of notoriety. (See Quiet Is the New Loud, around which some music journalists wanted to build an emerging trend in rock.)

Called Dreams and due out in the fall on Bubbles Records, the Whitest Boy Alive’s debut album is pleasant, Euro-wuss rock one can imagine making a soft-cushioned impact at the KEXPs and KCRWs of the world.

Øye’s cheeky group name spurred me to wonder: who is the whitest boy alive in music, radio, or music-oriented TV (I’m looking at you, Dick Clark)? Øye certainly is a contender. What do you think? Who has gone through his life seemingly with no exposure to music made by black people? Who exudes that mayo on Wonder Bread White essence to the nth degree, sonically speaking?

Would that I had known about this artist during the heat wave a few days back! Terje Isungset, a Norwegian experimental percussionist, composes and performs music on instruments made of Norwegian natural elements: granite, Arctic birch, and, particularly, ice. His latest album, Igloo, was recorded at the Ice Hotel in Sweden. You can listen to music samples and purchase the CD here or go to the web presence of San Francisco’s Aquarius Records and punch “Terje Insungset” into the Keyword search. My personal fave is “Morning,” which sounds like a cleverly manipulated recording of someone pouring warm tea over ice cubes in a frosted glass—instant back patio!

If you want to try making ice music at home, but don’t have the patience to fashion trumpet-shaped molds and let them set in your freezer, there’s an easier method detailed here.

Hat tip to Dave White, author of the screamingly funny Exile In Guyville: How a Punk Rock Redneck Faggot Texan Moved to West Hollywood and Refused to Be Shiny and Happy, for always spreading the gospel of weird-ass music.

Correction to a post I made yesterday: Sirens Sister’s video shoot is actually Sunday, Aug 13, at noon. Not Saturday as I stupidly posted yesterday. Go to Chop Suey Sunday at noon with bubbles and crazy clothes, and be a part of the band’s video magic.

KISS fans: Earnestly outraged.

New Orleans musicians: Still surviviving…sort of.

The Scissor Sisters: Coming to Seattle on October 2-3. Tickets go on sale this Saturday at the Showbox, but can be purchased in advance through the band’s website.

Tupac’s ashes: Headed for Africa.

Lollapalooza 2006: Well-documented in this blog.

Pete Dougherty: Successfully rehabbed and back with Kate Moss?

Limewire: On the ropes.

After seeing their new video last night on Youtube.com, I was going to wake up and write this Lineout post today.

I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ is now officially out in the UK. And it took a mere 3 days after it’s premier on Channel 4 for the Sisters’ new single/video to make it to Youtube.com. As always, it’s not just fabulous but also interesting. Enjoy.

However, while I was away today…. It seems their label didn’t like the video going out for free to the world. So now YOU MAY NEVER HAVE A CHANCE TO SEE THIS VIDEO.

God knows MTV has basically stopped showing anything but faux reality shows. Ditto VH1 with fucking I (heart) the [insert whatever decade here] crap. So with no other outlet for music videos, you may as well count all new singles which are not released to the public on Youtube.com or Google Video, two of the biggest tools in the world of free promotion/advertising, as dead in the water.

So EMI/Universalcould you ease up and let us, the record buying public, view your signees new work? Youtube is piss-poor quality, sound and visual. No one is going to “steal” it. We just want to watch it.

I mean, they aren’t called “Promotional Videos” for nothing. Let it Promote!

FREE THE NEW SCISSOR SISTERS SINGLE!

One of my favorite moments from the vastly underrated and short-lived Ben Stiller Show:

UPDATE: The shoot takes place this Sunday, not Saturday as originally posted. Sorry. I’m stupid.

Sirens Sister (the newish band featuring members of Vendetta Red) will be filming a video for their song “Hold On” this Saturday Sunday at Chop Suey, and they need help from all their fans.

Here’s what you need to do:

Everyone should dress outrageously and bring bubbles so you can blow bubbles while you rock out like crazy. This will be a great little performance video and it will be awesome if everyone knows the words.

The song, if you haven’t heard it yet, is posted on the band’s Myspace page, so listen to it while you find your weirdest clothes or last year’s Halloween costume. Then, show up at Chop Suey by noon on the 12th 13th. Shooting will start at 12:30 pm, and it’s expected to only take a few hours.

Who knows, you could be the next Courtney Cox! (You know, ‘cause she got her start by starring in a Springsteen video a long time ago… get it? Get it? Nevermind…)

An icon that’s intended to intrigue you about Conjuring Room

Wooden Octopus Skull finally has found a new all-ages venue in which to host its four-day experimental musick extravaganza: Conjuring Room. Described as “a performance hall and exhibition space established for consciously-minded folks,”� Conjuring Room is an all-ages space, which WOS organizer Wm. Rage had been hoping to secure from the start. The building’s located at 2203 Utah St S near Holgate and First Ave S, south of the Mariners and Seahawks’ stadiums. WOS happens Sept 7-10. In the meantime, you may want to invest in some of these.

Yesterday, the Showbox had a small fire on the venue’s rooftop due to a faulty air-conditioning unit. Luckily, the flame was quickly extinguished and no damage was done to the inside of the building.

In an e-mail today, the venue is happy to report that everything is okay and the highly-anticipated Peaches and Herms/Eagles of Death Metal show is still a go for tomorrow night. “We are undergoing a few minor fixes and expect to be fully operational for the Peaches show on Wednesday.”

Get Up Kids fans take note, Blackpool Lights are in town tonight. You care because the band is Jim Suptic’s new labor of love, and Suptic is, of course, former guitarist/co-vocalist for the beloved but defunct Kansas City band.

I wrote about them in this week’s Underage column, but incase you missed that, Blackpool Lights are like Something To Write Home About with a little less broken heart and a little more country flare (in some parts, at least). It’s catchy, it’s fun to sing along to, and it’s Get Up Kid’s-esque, but not in obvious ways.

The band will play a free in-store performance at Silver Platters today at 4 pm, and then they’ll headline an all-ages show tonight at El Corazon with House of Heroes, Days Away, and Poorsport. Tickets are still available and cost $10 at the door.

Neumo’s ““ Sunday 8/6. Pictures and such to see.

The Coup came and overthrew. To Neumo’s the Oakland funk was brought. Seattle was the last show of their tour. Boots Riley preached and pranced with his usual lyrical surgeoncy. Yes, surgeoncy. Surgeon + urgency. Boots operates. He cuts, and his message is urgent.

Pictures by: Troy Critchlow

Continue reading "Brang It Did The Coup & Common Market" »

I haven’t opened up one of these discussions for a while, so I’d say it’s high time for another roll call of Line Out readers’ opinions.

I’m not generally inclined to introduce gender as a categorical caveat, but when it comes to vocals and stage presence, there’s no denying that being male or female is a distinguishing trait (we’ll get to the boys next time). When it comes to ladies who deliver the goods, either behind a studio mic or in a live context, there a few that instantly come to mind, starting with the two critical British Pollys, this one:

And this one:

If you’ve never had the pleasure of watching Sharon Jones ignite the stage she shares with the Dap Kings, then you simply haven’t lived a full life:

Even though I was one of the responsible parties for this issue of The Stranger, I still stand behind my assertion that the live sets I saw her deliver in 1994 were some of the best I’ve ever seen:

Paybacks leader Wendy Case doesn’t fuck around when it comes to owning the stage and her gravel-and-honey voice is incomparable:

Lastly, any discussion of fierce female bandleaders would be woefully incomplete without a mention of Mia Zapata. Believe it or not, it was 13 years ago today that she was taken away from her family, friends, and community. I only hope her work with the Gits is still influencing other young women (and men) today:

I could go on and on, but now I want to hear from you guys—please share your favorites in the comments section.

Mondays are mad hectic for me, so all I’m gonna do here is cut and paste this press release for a show that will interest many of you, if I may make a brazen assumption: DJ Shadow with Lateef at Showbox, Sept. 20. Tix go on sale Friday Aug. 11 at noon. Shadow’s forthcoming album, The Outsider, has been getting much hype about its hyphy-ness (see the cover story of the new Urb). I haven’t heard it yet (if you have, let us know what you think), but am very curious.

More info after the jump.

Continue reading "The Return of DJ Shadow" »

Grant Robertson over at the Digital Music Weblog has put together an interesting summary of what goes down when the RIAA sues people who use P2P networks to illegally share copyrighted music. Their tactics are controversial for many reasons, the most entertaining of which is that some of the defendants don’t own computers or are dead.

Jazzkammer (John Hegre and Lasse Marhaug), experimental noise/metal duo from Norway, will be on the West Coast in October, and it appears as if they have yet to nail down a Seattle show. I know about five people in this town, most of them belonging to the hoi polloi. But surely, some of you Line Out readers must have friends in high places (promoters/ venue owners) who can land these boys a show… Seattle needs Jazzkammer! Go here for mp3s of a few live performances, or go here for a download from their new Metal Music Machine album.