Dude, Van Halen tickets went on sale at 10am. They were sold out at 10:04am.

Rage and the Machine Showcase - Neumo's

Decibel is a hell of a festival, but like any fest, it has its peaks and its pitfalls. Last night, Decibel suffered one unexpected low—Motor was denied at the border— but also one impressive high point in Truckasauras, whom I've most recently gushed about here. Seattle's resident A/V geeks delivered a fun, confident set as always. They debuted a new track made for Decibel that had more pulsing techno thump than anything the Truck has done so far—it was a more linear, less swaggering Truckasauras, a promising glimpse of the band's range and potential. They played two tracks with DJ Collage on the mic, the first of which, "Hold On," wins the award for best bass of the festival so far. Under the new Funktion 1 speakers (a welcome permanent addition to Neumo's), the low tones rumbled up through the ground, vibrating my whole body. You forget how much of a difference those physical tones make until you feel them running through you—that bass instantly liquefies bones and loosens limbs, and suddenly you're moving. It's a good feeling.

It sounds like I should've then gone up to Chop Suey for Jacob London, but I screwed up and stuck around for Kill Memory Crash's vintage goth industrial show. Kill Memory Crash has always kind of confounded me. They're on Ghostly International, one of the most prestigious, frequently forward-thinking electronic labels in the country, yet they are a total throwback. There's nothing about their sound that couldn't be done in 1992. The band has been around since 1997, and they met in the mid '90s Detroit rave scene, so maybe their just purists, rather than revivalists. Still, there's just nothing fresh about their sound, and, I'm not old enough or of the particular disposition to feel any nostalgia for industrial's first wave. I won't get into the band's aesthetic, 'cause whatever, for some reason I like the militaristic goth thing when Adult. do it (irony, maybe? maybe). I will say that the electronic drums (you know, the ones with the black rubber hi hats) were entirely unnecessary—they would've sounded better with traditional drums and just a Roland spd-20 (or similar drum pad) or sequencing for the electronic drum sounds. They did have one song with a pretty hot acid bass line, though. But I wish I'd seen Jacob London's electro wizardry, or at least checked out the party in the basement.

Finally, there was a DJ set from one half of LA's electro duo du jour, Guns'n'Bombs. Maybe it was the bad taste left in my mouth from Kill Memory Crash, the small crowd, or some lingering exhaustion from Thursday night's massive blowout, but I just couldn't get down with dude's "all-bangers" assault, so I split. That said, their remix and production work is fun, well worth checking out.

Ah, but today is another day of Decibel, with an Ambient Landscaspes at Town Hall, Sensory Effect's showcase of impressive local and regional talent at Baltic Room, and the always satisfying Dirty Dancing showcase at Neumo's. You can check out some recommendations here and here.

Two nights down, two more to go. This is yet another banner year for Decibel - the talent's been incredible. If you haven't made it to anything yet, tonights a good night to do so - it's sure to be another hot, sweaty mess down in the VIP Room. After the jump you'll find some of my pics thus far - more (and far superior) pics are available on Flickr.

Jacob London @ Chop Suey

Get thee to Decibel!

Continue reading "Pics From Decibel" »

This week's Setlist is the best Setlist Megan and me have ever recorded! Why would we make such a grand statement? Because it's true. We have a very special guest in the "studio": Kris K from Chop Suey! He picks all the songs, shares some booking wisdom, and gives us some tickets to an amazing show (Sea Wolf, Boat, and Fleet Foxes) that we are going to give to you. You can only find out how to win by listening, so why don't you do it already?

Songs Kris K picked to play this week:
Birdwatchers United - "Monsters!"
Sam Squared - "Puppies and Kittens"
Andy Werth - "Back to the Sun"
Don’t Tell Sophie - "Metal Detector"
The Snakebites - "Everybody Feels It When We Get Together"
Yogoman Burning Band - "Street Lights"
Fleet Foxes - "White Winter Hymnal"
Coconut Coolouts - "(Please Don’t Break Me Out of) Party Jail"

Click to listen.

This week's U&Cs highlighted tonight's Imperial Teen show at the Croc as being a worthy contender in your Friday night party planning. Now you can head to the Queen Anne Easy Street Records for your pre-show festivities--the band will be playing for free at 8 pm.

Barak Obama & Drowning Pool (minus that one dead guy):

(Hat Tip to our lovely little sister blog, Blogtown, PDX)

United Kingdom's Faze Action doesn't need any introduction. With their classic 12-inches In the Trees, Full Motion, and Turn The Point to the solid LP's Plans & Designs, and Moving Cities of the late nineties, these two brothers, Simon and Robin Lee have constantly been producing quality dance music. Their sound is a nice blend of disco, house, along with adding a touch of a downtempo jazz. Recently this group has produced some solid singles off their own self-released label, starting with last year's Keep It Coming 12" and this year's Stratus Energy 12". A few weeks ago, Faze Action released it's third 12" off their label, titled Disco Warrior. The A-side see's a special disco mix of the titled track, while the B-side includes a dub version. This two man operation fills out the song nicely with strings, driving percussion, guitars, bass, keys, and horns, making it sound as if the track was produced by a full on orchestra. This song is solid from start to finish, and continues to push Simon and Robin Lee to the top of the growing "disco-house" genre.

Faze Action - Disco Warrior (Special Disco Mix)

I'm sorry.

Happy Friday.

Rumor on the interwebs is that Motor has been "stopped at the border" and may not make their scheduled appearance at Decibel Festival tonight. More info as we get it.

I don't regret missing The Flaming Lips show.

I do regret missing Simian Mobile Disco and yet another Diplo show.

And you?

Holy fucking shit indeed! I didn't go to Decibel last night but I did get my mind blown in a different way when my fact-hoarding boyfriend told me the story about the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem.

Did you know about these crazy fuckers!?

The band was Euronymous, Necrobutcher, Manheim, and Maniac. After a few records and rising popularity, Manheim and Maniac left the band, being replaced by Dead and Hellhammer.

They were known for planting pig's heads on stakes and cutting themselves during shows. Their lyrics were mostly focused around death, depression, evil, and Satanism (no shit).

But it wasn't their on-stage antics or their music that made them infamous. It was what the band members did off-stage, which is a flurry of rumors that include suicide, murder, and making brain stew and skull jewelry.

Let's start with Dead (all quotes taken from Wikipedia, emphasis mine):

Dead had, over time, carefully cultivated a notoriety for strange behaviour; once burying a set of clothes underground for weeks so that he could later wear the decaying rags on stage. He had kept a rotting raven in a plastic bag so better to "inhale the scent of death" before going on stage.

About four years after Dead joined the band (replacing a guy who committed himself to a mental institution, no less), he killed himself:

By April 1991, Dead was found dead at the age of 22, having suffered a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head and several lacerations to the wrists, inflicted by a knife he had bought that day. Dead committed suicide in a house he was sharing in Kråkstad with the other members of the band, and left a note saying "Excuse all the blood." Other members of the band claimed it was more extensive, also saying "The knife was too dull to finish the job so I had to use the shotgun."

After Dead's death, Necrobutcher left the band, leaving only two--Euronymous and Hellhammer.

Euronymous was particularly cold and opportunistic about Dead's suicide; in interviews he claimed, speciously, that Dead had killed himself due to the rising popularity of death metal, the American movement Black Metal had risen against. Hellhammer claimed that Euronymous had taken pieces of Dead's brain and made a stew, in which he had put ham, frozen vegetables, and pepper: "He'd always said he wanted to eat flesh, so he figured this was an easy way." However, Euronymous later admitted that he had not actually eaten any part of Dead's body, though he had intended to. Euronymous also claimed to have collected and forged fragments of Dead's skull into necklaces, sending pieces to those he felt 'worthy' (amongst those rumoured to be in possession of such pieces are the members of Swedish black metal band Marduk & Abruptum). Hellhammer has said he made a necklace from Dead's skull fragments as well.

Attila Csihar and Kristian Vikernes (Varg Vikernes, member of Burzum) joined the band. That's when shit really started to fly:

On the morning of August 10, 1993, Vikernes traveled, along with 21 year old Blackthorn (Snorre Westvold, of the band Thorns), the seven hours between Bergen to Euronymous's apartment in Oslo. They created alibis, en route, by getting friends to rent a video locally in their names. Upon arrival, Vikernes fatally stabbed Euronymous with a knife, although Vikernes claims that Euronymous had been planning to kill him for quite some time, and that upon his arrival to Euronymous' apartment, Euronymous had attempted to attack him first. The autopsy revealed that Euronymous suffered twenty-three stab wounds: two to the head, five to the neck & sixteen to the back. However, Vikernes claims that Euronymous fell onto pieces of broken glass, from a lamp shade broken in the ruckus, which he says, attributed to the multiple puncture wounds.

Jesus Christ!

And now Vikernes continues to make records from prison under the name Burzum.

Jonah tells me that Vice Magazine did a story on them awhile back, so maybe I'm the only one in the world who never heard about this. I'm just a little blond girl from Lake Stevens, WA, my mom and dad kept this kind of shit far, far away from me. Thankfully. Good thing I have a corrupting boyfriend to keep me cool, though.

MetaFilter directed me to this gem—a performance by the eternal Husker Du on the short-lived late-night talk show hosted by Joan Rivers, complete with excessively klutzy follow-up interview.

Still, God, I love that band. (And I love how the gay-looking one is the only non-gay one.)

All photos by Morgan Keuler

Continue reading "The Flaming Lips in Photos" »

I couldn’t go to the Flaming Lips show last night, so I went into the bathroom and had my own concert:

I shotgunned a beer and poured syrup on the floor so it would be sticky. Then I shut the door, cut the lights, cranked a space heater, took my shirt off, and smoked a Swisher Sweet. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was in a boombox on full volume. I screamed and held a kick ball over my head like it was the Bubble Ball. There was a pen-light light show.

For the encore, I pressed repeat on “Flight", I mean "Fight Test.” Man, I couldn’t believe they played it five times in a row like that. I’d never seen a band do that for an encore before. But it ruled.

Decibel Kick-Off/Death of the Party Showcase - Neumo's

First off: Congrats to Decibel Festival. It's only my second year attending, so I can't speak to 2005 or 2004, but I can't imagine any previous year of the fest kicking off with as raucous a party as last night's. Neumo's was packed—sweat on the walls, etc, etc—the crowd was as energetic as most any I've seen in Seattle, the sound was top-notch, and the music was relentless.

I missed all but the last couple songs (the "Shoulder Lean/"No More Conversations" mash-up, "Percolator") of Fourcolorzack and Pretty Titty's 2x4, but they seemed to have the crowd warmed up nicely.

I was initially disappointed that Simian Mobile Disco wasn't playing a live set. The pictures of their live set-up—a giant modular patchbay, a Korg MS-20, rows and rows of knobs—make it look pretty impressive, and it would have been cool to see. But their DJ set was still a blast (I'd rank it as at least the second best of the night).

_{Simian Mobile Disco (and Angelina Jolie from Hackers) by Donte Parks}

They kicked off with Attack Decay Sustain Release opener "Sleep Deprivation," and throughout the set mixed about an even ratio of originals and other people's material. Highlights included the wildly fun "It's the Beat," the new Soulwax remix of LCD Soundsystem's "Get Innocuous" (as usual, a dance floor killer from the brothers Dewaele), and the one-two punch of "Hustler" and Laid Back's "White Horse" set to a montage of a slow-motion galloping white horse and several vintage shots of some serious-ass coke dealers. The duo's mixing was confident and tight, and they looked to be having some fun when they weren't gently arguing over their cd booklet. (Best overheard e-talking: "I've only known you for, like, an hour!")

I was pretty thoroughly exhausted by SMD's set, so I spent much of Switch's set watching from the sidelines. Switch stuck mostly to his own productions (as both Switch and Solid Groove), including his awesome remix of Spank Rock's "Bump" and his ridiculous, pleasure-center assaulting rework of "Apache," "A Bit Patchy," but also played some other choice cuts such as Digitalism's "Juptier Room (Martian Assault)." Switch's productions are flawless, boasting some truly sick beats (Sean Horton says the trick to Switch's solid grooves is that he builds house beats out of live drum samples, thus keeping a little swing and funk in his 4/4) and some of the gnarliest bass lines around. All that said, Switch is a better producer than a DJ—his mixing was functional, not impressive, but it was actually nice to hear him noticably adjust the occasional off beat, it gave his twitching robot house an affable, human element.

Then there was Diplo. Diplo's set last night wasn't the most technical I've seen out of him (his last Neumo's appearance, with his DVD scratching and beat-matching was probably more impressive in that regard), but it was definitely the most fun. Kids rushed the stage to a remix of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Diplo showed more Seattle love later dropping "Baby Got Back").

_{Diplo and crowd by Donte Parks}

He mixed Simain vs Justice's "We Are Your Friends" into the Hollertronix-released remix of Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al." He played technotronic. He played "Young Folks." He layered the Smashing Pumpkins' "Zero" over Bonde Do Role. He wrapped up with a mix of "Bombs Over Baghdad" into LE Tigre's "Decetacon." It was that kind of a crazy, populist party. And it was awesome.

There's so much more good stuff coming up at Decibel this weekend (see some recommendations here and here), so be sure to get your ass out.

In June, Starbucks stores across the nation simultaneously played the new Paul McCartney album, Memory Almost Full (which was released on the coffee company's new record label), on repeat for an entire day.

Back then, Sean Nelson visited a few of the stores and wrote a great piece about McCartney, the new record, and his ties with "the only demonstrable force left in the world of CD retailing":

But goddamn if I ever want to hear another word about music marketing. And goddamn if I feel the need to be confronted by his music—which I like more than everyone I've ever met combined—every time I want a cup of coffee. It feels like an aesthetic assault, not the way you want to discover anything. I went into a couple of Starbucks stores last Tuesday to see what it was like, and what it was like was this: Starbucks with Paul McCartney's new album on an endless loop. They all had to play it all day.

Now Starbucks is doing it again, this time it's with Joni Mitchell's new record.

LOS ANGELES, September 21, 2007– On September 25, Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) will host an intimate “Lunch and Listen” event to celebrate Joni Mitchell’s Hear Music release “Shine.” From 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, more than 6,500 Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada will participate in the event by playing “Shine” along with a retrospective of classics which have made Mitchell one of the most beloved singer/songwriters of our time.

“‘Lunch and Listen’ gets to the heart of the connection between Starbucks customers and music,” says Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment who also oversees Hear Music. “We’re very proud of this record and on September 25, Mitchell’s timeless resonance will be felt in a very profound way.”

"...will be felt in a very profound way"? Is playing Mitchell's records at 6,500 locations for three hours straight really "profound"?

And run amok (and get arrested) on the streets of Hollywood...

You can hear this song, "Look at Us," and some more new material at the band's MySpace, www.myspace.com/thelashes.

The Decibel Festival is still going on--check out Donte Park's picks as well as what members of the music community are looking forward to. Opening night left Eric Grandy temporarily speechless, and it's only going to get better.

Tonight's U&Cs suggest:

IMPERIAL TEEN, BELLA, DERBY
(Crocodile) Truly deep friendships can endure extended periods with little or no interaction; with best buddies, a half-decade apart seems like just a few days once you click back into sync. So it is with indie-pop rockers Imperial Teen. Five years have elapsed since the California quartet's last album, an interim filled with outside obligations—parenting, side projects, etc.—as the title of their latest, The Hair the TV the Baby & the Band, hints. But now they're reunited, and it feels... hell, great. "Sweet Potato" shimmies and shakes like a sock hop where the milkshakes are spiked with bennies, while "Room with a View" sounds wise and wistful, with the merest hint of silver at the temples. Welcome back. KURT REIGHLEY

NO AGE, SEX VID, TALBOT TAGORA, FLEXIONS (Vera) Los Angeles duo No Age consist of two thirds of the excellent, deceased avant-punk band Wives. While No Age are far less aggressively mind-tickling than the more spastic Wives, their music is also more winningly free-roaming. Their recent debut on Fatcat, Weirdo Rippers, is, appropriately given its origin (the record is a compilation of various small vinyl releases), pleasantly all over the place. It veers from watery expanses of guitar murk to post-Ramones jolts of pop upheaval to dusty, soul-bleached instrumentals. Undoubtedly, their next record (conscripted for local zeitgeist lovers Sub Pop) will be of a more thought-threaded focus, but even in the action art messiness of Weirdo Rippers No Age manage many moments of unusual beauty. SAM MICKENS

HOLY

SHIT!


(more to come, stay tuned)

_{Photos by Morgan Keuler}

Decibel is here. I make my recommendations in this week's paper (after adding to the Flaming Lips gushfest), but I also asked some of the artists and organizers what they were excited to see - I was curious. Here's a sampling of the responses. If you're looking to stalk any of these people, consider this your cheat sheet.

Rebecca West (Red Pony) - Artist: Mike Shannon, Biosphere, Harold Budd & Robin Guthrie and Switch are at the top of my list.

Kris Moon - Db Staff: In all honesty, I haven't gotten that excited about any particular act, because I'm probably not going to get a chance to see much...Speedy J fuckin' blew my mind last year, that's all I know...

Jeff Samuel - Artist: My nuts. And Frivolous. Not necessarily in that order. And home-baked cookies.

Patrick Hanaelt - promoter: Taal Mala - his set at Oscillate last year was off the hook and he almost won the Laptop Battle this year. Really good bass heavy,dubby electro. Very danceable but still deep.

Steven Severin - Neumos honcho: Diplo/Switch/Simian. Are you kidding me with this lineup? Quite possibly the best electronic lineup of the year. Justice is giving them a run for their money, but three, count them three killer acts. That's what I'm saying.

Recess - Shameless: Obviously, we're stoked for our afterparties. Knowing who the secret surprise headliners are just makes us even more excited.

Kristina Childs - Db Staff: Phon.o & Chris De Luca are hands-down the artist I'm most excited about this year. Their latest mix bridges the best of so many genres... who'd have thought top 40 techno idm crunk could ever be married in such a fun way? It's like a funner version of Modeselektor, which is another thing I didn't think was possible.

and keeping it real...

Adam Swan of Truckasaurus - Artist: I think I can speak for the entire Truckasauras crew when I say we are excited to not only see, but drink the free beer Neumos has in their green room.

With that, it's time for me to step away from the computer and get down to the festivities. It's time for you to do the same.

The New York Times has an excellent conversation about the impending doom of the record industry.

Sound Off! is great.

I'm always impressed by some of the young talent that has popped up in Sound Off's final rounds over the years. A lot of great bands have won (and even lost) past competitions, including Schoolyard Heroes, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, Idiot Pilot, the Lonely Forest, Mon Frere, and Dyme Def.

EMP also focuses on including a lot of genres (rap, punk, rock, pop, indie, electronic, singer/songwriter) and the shows are always well-attended with fun and supportive audiences. It's a great chance for young musicians to get some exposure and experience in a positive way.

Plus, if you win, you get a shitload of prizes.

In 2008, EMP|SFM will present the seventh annual Sound Off!, the Northwest's largest underage battle of the bands competition. If you are age 21 or under and play rock, hip-hop, electronic, pop or any other kind of music, this is your chance to Sound Off! at EMP|SFM!

Past participants include Schoolyard Heroes, The Lonely H, Capitol Basement and Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, to name a few. With a judging staff comprised of movers and shakers of the Seattle music scene, this competition is a great chance for local, young bands to kick-start their music careers!

To enter Sound Off!, download and print out the application from empsfm.org. Complete the application and send it, along with a non-returnable CD of original music to:

EMP|SFM
Attn: Sound Off!
330 6th Avenue North, Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98109

Applications are due by Thursday, November 15, 2007. Please review the rules and regulations online prior to entry. If you have trouble downloading and printing the application, or have questions concerning the competition, e-mail soundoff@empsfm.org or call 206.770.2744.

More info at: http://www.empsfm.org/programs/index.asp?categoryID=27

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/empsoundoff

IMPORTANT NOTE: All participants must be 21 years of age or younger.

For all of the exciting music coming through town over the next few days, the one artist I'm most stoked to see is Jeff Samuel. That excitement has incredibly little to do with music, and more to do with the fact that for the months before he left for Berlin he was my regular lunch companion and we're looking to pick that back up while he's in town (current plans involve a tour of Seattle's Philly Cheesesteak spots).

The less lunch-centric among you should be excited to see Jeff for different reasons. His debut album Step was well-recieved by critics when it was released, as were the singles and EPs he'd put out prior. His DJ sets pull from the same minimal sound he's typically lumped with, but his crates have plenty of breadth, and he's not afraid to go harder or more mellow depending on what the room can handle.

Jeff Samuel @ Ovest (Oristano, Italy) - Pt. 1 - [mp3]
Jeff Samuel @ Ovest (Oristano, Italy) - Pt. 2 - [mp3]

Jeff Samuel plays the Dirty Dancing in the Bassment Showcase at the VIP Room, Saturday, September 22. With Mike Shannon, Mikael Stavostrand, and Drumcell.

If you love disco like I do, one of the albums you must own(Which I've said before) is Bunny Sigler's 1979 classic I've Always Wanted To Sing...... This record was released off of Goldmine Records, which is a Salsoul-distributed label, owned and ran by disco composer and producer Norman Harris. With club hits like, "I'm Funkin' You Tonight", "Simple Things You Do" and the much popular "By The Way You Dance (I Knew It Was You)", this LP is a solid addition to anyone's disco collection. The song that I find myself listening to a lot lately as well as playing out is the final track on the record entitled, "Glad To Be Your Lover". This song is definitely the type of disco song that can work up a dancefloor with it's call-and-respond vocals and build ups into the choruses. The song also makes a nice closing to an already amazing record. There's also an extended version of the song that was later released as it's own single, however, the song was reproduced and I feel that it lost some of it's dancefloor edge that the LP version possess. Anyways, it's a classic album that belongs in any disco lover's collection.

Bunny Sigler - Glad To Be Your Lover

PS- Yes, this is the best image I could find online of the actual album cover. I know, ridiculous!

It should be noted that You’re Lookin’ at Country, last Thursday’s program at Northwest Film Forum, was wonderful. Sirius DJ Dallas Wayne presented clips of live performances from country music’s heyday—basically the ’50s and ’60s. Most of the greats were shown (sadly, Hank Williams was nowhere to be found): Ernest Tubb, Webb Pierce, Lefty Frizzell, George Jones, Buck Owens, young and beardless Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Roger Miller, Loretta Lynn, Porter Wagoner, Little Jimmy Dickens, Patsy Cline, and more, including Pete Drake playing a steel guitar with a talk box. I was hoping there’d be a performance by oft-forgotten Faron Young, and indeed there was, his hit “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young.” Hello Handsome...

I tell ya, I could’ve stayed there all night watching those clips. When you listen primarily to music that was made 20 to 30 years before you were born, you’re really missing out on the live aspect of it. Just getting to see it up on a biggish screen was a real treat. And the anecdotes Wayne told of the performers and performances were priceless. I really hope they do this again sometime. (Suggestions for next time: Conway Twitty, Hank Williams, the Maddox Bros. and Rose, Ray Price.)

that the new Rex The Dog single is out and it totally rocks?

If you didn't know that, you should check out his myface page.

Circulate and Italian Blond are for people who like a little melody with their techno. Like me.

Really. It's good.

I like it better than The Flaming Lips new album. Just sayin'.

It's about catching catfish with your bare-motherfucking-hands!

People have died doing it, been seriously injured, and it's only legal in four states--catfish noodling is completely crazy. But what does it have to do with the Flaming Lips? Well, long-time Lips lover Bradley Beesley (Summercamp!, UFOs at the Zoo) did a documentary about catfish noodling a few years ago and the Flaming Lips did the soundtrack--it's called Okie Noodling, and if you haven't seen it, I suggest you do so.

The documentary talks to noodlers and their families, follows them on their fishing trips (special, seeing as how most guys like to keep their spots secret), and Beesley and his team even help start the first annual catfish noodling tournament in Oklahoma. The film is really weird, funny, and entertaining, as you could imagine a film about such a topic would be. And I can't think of a band more better suited than the Flaming Lips to have supplied the musical accompaniment.

The DVD can be special ordered through most local record stores if you can't find it.

Bach Vs. ABBA

Bach

The Hilliard Ensemble doing there best ABBA

Today's classical selection is from a CD called Morimur featuring Christopher Poppen on Violin, and The Hilliard Ensemble on choral parts. It's a pretty high-falutin' study of how Bach's infamously difficult Chacone for solo violin from his Partita in D Minor BWV 1004 is actually structured on choral music he composed for various religious ceremonies.

On the CD is the whole Partita played by Mr. Poppen on a baroque violin, which I think is ever so slightly larger and deeper-toned, then current violins. There is also quite a few selections of Bach's choral arrangements sung by The Hilliard Ensemble. Then at the end, the Chaccone is played alone, with the accompanying relative choral parts.

It's a bit abstract, but basically Mr. Poppen and his friends are making the world's first mash-up. From this study, I've sampled a choral piece called Christ Lag In Todensbanden (Christ Lay In Death's Bondage).

ABBA

If there is anything as structured, as baroque in the pop music of today as Bach was in his day, then it certainly is the exacting hit-making machinery that was ABBA. No single performer or band has had the ability to quantify what needs to be part of a song to work as a pop hit then ABBA. Which is why, for a decade, ABBA was able to rack up top ten hit after top ten hit, and why 30 years on, love them or hate them, we are still entranced by their talent.

But I've chosen a cheaters way to connection here, by giving you a cover version of their biggest hit, Dancing Queen, performed by a Swedish vocal jazz ensemble called The Real Group. Not just content to do a whole vocal arrangement of the song, the "group" becomes the band and back-up for Frida, who graciously joined them on this cover. I know it's not the original, but this version has just as much spark. You'll see.

The Hilliard Ensemble - J.S. Bach - Christ Lag In Todesbanden
The Real Group - Dancing Queen (Med Frida)

Ok, not "last night", but Tuesday night. Who went to see Big Business and the Melvins? If you missed it, you definitely missed the heaviest and best stoner metal show in the world. You really have to see it live to believe it. But I'm not good at writing music reviews, so let's look at some pictures.

Jared and Buzzo seem to be competing for The Most Fucked Up Hair in Rock title - Jared is quite a contender with his half-Amish, half-Hasidic Jew-braids, but Buzzo's still The King. He's a headbanging upside-down exclamation point.

Coady Willis stills wins for beating the drums to death, for BOTH bands, for almost three hours straight, with nary an oxygen mask... Ooh, and the crowd - the crowd wins several awards. Most livable mosh pit, best classic fist-banging, and BEST ol'skool Seattle style, complete with flannels, uh, chin beards...

and non-ironic teeshirts.

There was also a ton of musicians there. You couldn't throw a rock without hitting a Mudhoney, Tight Bro, or Murder City Devil. The highlight though, for me at least, was watching the chick in the garbage bag dress getting arrested outside for some sort of girl-on-girl fight in the pit. Girls don't fight in mosh pits anymore do they?

Ahh. Sweet, sweet nostalgia.

_{Original cover art by Wayne Coyne}

You might've noticed that this week's entire music section is devoted to the greatest show on earth, the Flaming Lips. There was simply too much to say about the band to cram into a simple feature.

From the Stones' eyebrow-singing pyrotechnics to Motley Crue's flying drum kit to GWAR's ejaculating space penis, rock bands have gone for spectacle to overload the senses and forge unforgettable moments. But nobody's done it with the love, the sincerity, the humility, and the confetti of the Lips. From the beginning, they've made their live shows unpredictable, dangerous encounters between volume and theater. Twenty years after their humble tweaker-punk begninnings, they've evolved into a full-blown, arena-sized circus, a little more predictable and a little less dangerous, but unquestionably, unfailingly awesome.

Hopefully you'll be at the show tonight to witness what they do so well. At a Lips show, the music works in service to the overall experience. And that experience is the greatest, most fulfilling, most-life affirming form of entertainment you can have. Be prepared for maximum elation for a full two hours.

If not, check out The Soft Bulletin, the first and greatest album of the new millennium.

Yes, it came out in 1999, but musically, thematically, it led straight into 2000 and directly to our current moment. Anxious with ruminations on war and death and technology and love but celebratory in its hopefulness and joy, the album explodes with ideas and fulfills all its promise. The production is ingenious, pristine, unprecedented, maxing out on humongous drums and alien sounds but never sacrificing warmth or subtlety. And the songwriting is Wayne Coyne at his best--allegorical, universal, but also heartbreakingly detailed and emotive.

If you haven't discovered the wonders of The Soft Bulletin, you owe it to yourself. It's never too late to discover a timeless classic. And if you've never been to a Flaming Lips concert, there's no way to explain what you're missing. You just have to be there.

Soundman / Engineer, Mike Todd, is genuine Seattle. He is an authority, a product of Evergreen State College, and protégé of the Crocodile’s Jim Anderson. People call Mike ‘Dr. Heavy’. You do what Dr. Heavy tells you.

For the 2003 Ozzfest, he tour managed and ran sound for a band called Nothingface. All the shows were outside, the first band of the day started at 9 a.m., they were allowed 5 minutes for set changes, and they were sponsored by Jägermeister.

Imagine trying to keep that in line. One would think the bands would be Nothing but Shitfaced. However, due to Mike’s firm hand, things ran smoothly, kind of.

Picture: Howard

Dr. Heavy speaks:

Sound outside is hard. We were setting up in parking lots and fields. The sound system would be different in every location. Somedays it would rain. Sound is funny in the rain, sort of muffled. The crowd loved it in the rain though.

The first band would start at 9:00am, so things got going right away. For set changes we were only allowed five minutes. That included setting up the band. The stage techs would set up the drums and amps behind the stage and during the set change they would move the gear up and stack the amps three deep. When one band finished the next set would move forward and reset the mics. There were three drum risers that rotated. Each riser had its own set of mics and they would switch snakes between each set. The monitor crew also had two monitor boards that they would switch between. After the first few shows it was clockwork, if you went over your set change time, you would lose a song from your set, so we learned to move quick.

Continue reading "Ozzfest – Jäger & Leather at 9 AM" »

Tonight! Tonight? Well tonight a band called the Flaming Lips is playing at a place called the Paramount.

Photo by J. Michelle Martn-Coyne

In case you haven't noticed, the entire music section has been taken over by the Flaming Lips this week--there's a conversation between Wayne Coyne and Adam Goldberg (you can listen to it here), an interview with the 22-year-old guy in charge of making their shows magical, and CD reviews of a few of their records. They're everywhere.

But, if you're like Eric Grandy, who's not really that into the band, you have a few other options for the evening:

*The Decibel Festival starts tonight and both Grandy and Donte Parks are stoked about that.

Decibel Festival
(Music) Seattle's fourth annual Decibel Festival offers four days of world-class electronic music at various venues, but tonight's Death of the Party showcase is a definite highlight, featuring Diplo's polyglot party jams, Switch's twitchy house, Simian Mobile Disco's raucous electro, and the DJ skills of Seattle's Fourcolorzack and Pretty Titty. It's going to be a hell of a party, but it's also going to be an ecstatic and exhausting weekend, so try to pace yourself. (Neumo's, 925 E Pike St, www.dbfestival.com. 8 pm, $15 adv/$17 DOS, 21+.) Eric Grandy

*Peter Bjorn and John play the Showbox at the Market after guest cashiering at Sonic Boom's General Store.

PETER BJORN AND JOHN, THE CLIENTELE, MARISSA NADLER
(Showbox at the Market) What is it about Sweden? The socialized health care? Liberal funding for the arts? Good genes? Constitutional monarchy? Herring? Whatever it is, the country seems preternaturally gifted at churning out ace pop music, from ABBA to the Knife to the (International) Noise Conspiracy. Peter Bjorn and John are no exception. The eponymous trio's most recent album, Writer's Block, continues to burn itself into my brain and dominate my MP3 rotation a full year after its international release (and six months after its official stateside debut). Every song is gorgeous and catchy—the anthemic graffiti of "Objects of My Affection," the whistling romance of "Young Folks," the stoned drag of "Amsterdam," the cagey dance of "Up Against the Wall," the cool kiss-off "Let's Call It Off"—and the band is pitch-perfect and fun live. ERIC GRANDY

*And Low plays their second night at the Triple Door.

LOW, SIR RICHARD BISHOP
(The Triple Door) For me, Low have always been about the slow, gray days of late autumn, when rain-slick leaves stick to your windows and the heavy sun barely climbs past the horizon. That's when the rich, complicated harmonies of Alan Sparhawk and his wife Mimi Parker (two-thirds of the Duluth band, with Matt Livingston on bass) strike just the right balance between hope and despair. The veteran band produce complex, textured soundtracks perfect for chilly afternoons when the streetlamps flicker on at four o'clock. The literate, precise vocals of Sparhawk and Parker dance like rain in the feeble light. For those sick of summer, this is your show. CHRIS McCANN

Need more? Go over to Get Out, and find your own damn fun.

Another one of those live videos from http://flyingclubcup.com/, this one for "Forks & Knives (La fête)":

The Flying Club Cup comes out Oct 9th. Is someone gonna bring him to Seattle or am I going to go crazy?

Also, did you hear the one about this guy?

The best lyrics ever written* come from the Hoods' song "Don't Fight, Let's Party Tonight!"

Saturday night and we're ready to go
Grabbed some 40s on the way to the show
Parking lot pimpin' every thing's all right
Slammed a pint of jack and we're ready to fight!

Don't fucking fight... let's party tonight!
If you're straight edge don't worry, hey, I'll buy you a Sprite!
Don't fucking fight... let's party tonight!
Fuck it!

_{*Statement only valid for the next 24 hours.}

This just in from Sonic Boom:

PIZZA, BEER, AND JUICE WITH PETER BJORN AND JOHN
Thursday, September 20 at 7:30PM, Sonic Boom General store (3416 Fremont Ave. N / 206.633.BOOM)

Join us this Thursday Sept. 20 from 7:30-8:30pm. Peter Bjorn and John will help celebrate Sonic Boom's 10-year anniversary by guest cashiering at the Sonic Boom General Store (3416 Fremont Ave. N). We'll have plenty of copies of their fantastic album Writer's Block in stock on CD and LP and if we're lucky they might play a song or two. www.peterbjornandjohn.com

Personally, I appreciate that there will be juice there since I'm all straight edge and shit and don't drink beer. But I love pizza.

As for Peter Bjorn and John, I've only heard one song--it was playing in the H&M on Fifth Ave when I was in New York last week. "This is Peter Bjorn and John," my friend Starr said. Then she started humming along. For the life of me I can't remember how the song went. But with pizza, beer, and juice, it still sounds like a hell of a party.

The NY Times reports:

Jay-Z, the rap superstar and president of Def Jam Records, has quietly returned to the studio to record an album of new songs inspired by the forthcoming movie “American Gangster,” his first “concept” album and second CD in less than a year.

I was just telling Grandy how a few tracks on Kingdom Come have grown on me, but overall it's a pretty lackluster come-back release, especially as a follow up to the Black Album.

Here's hopin' American Gangster sparks something in Jay.

(Confidential to Mr. Carter: Stay away from Dre's tired-ass robot beats this time.)

Said by Trent Moorman in response to this post about Barry Manilow:

There is a story from back in the day of Barry calling a Seattle studio to talk to the producer. One of the lowly engineers picked up the phone. Barry was a huge cock to the engineer on the phone. In retaliation, the engineer said, "Yes sir, Mr. Manilow, I'll go get the producer." But he just put the phone down and never went and got the producer.

I've always wondered how long Barry sat on hold for.

(I know, maybe it's not completely kosher to choose someone who posts on Line Out as the author of Comment of the Day, but I can't help it if Trent's story about Mr. Manilow being on hold for eternity is effing hilarious and worth the spotlight.)

Right now.

Decibel Festival starts tomorrow!

At a performance in Sydney, Australia three days ago, Nine Inch Nails frontperson Trent Reznor berated the "greedy fucking assholes" at Interscope, his label home for over 10 years, for gouging Australian fans on the price of CDs.

"Has anybody seen the price come down [since the last time I was here]?" he asks.

The crowd responds with a resounding "NO!"

"Well, you know what that means--steal it! Steal away! Give it to all your friends and keep on stealing!"

In the unresolvable, hopelessly vague debate over illegal downloading, music industry fatalism, and artists' rights, it's refreshing to see a certified rock star giving a huge middle finger to the pretty hate machine he rode in on.

His rant is somewhat hypocritical--Reznor's already made his millions, so why fuck it up for the little guy? But it's also heroic--he's not encouraging piracy, he's encouraging his fans to get his music by any means necessary. Doing so from the stage, during his own concert, is the only way to legitimize it (though who knows how much Australian fans had to pay for the show).

Reznor's relationship with Interscope is unclear--his own Nothing Records was long a subsidiary of Interscope, but some reports claim they split a few years ago. Interscope, however, released this year's Year Zero. Either way, Reznor is, as usual, forging his own way through the quagmire of the record industry, which is respectable.

Stealing music isn't wrong if the musician told you to steal it. Right?

It's another two for one today, courtesy of 3 Channels, a duo I appreciate simply because I didn't have to scour the far reaches of the Internet to find these recordings.

The two members of 3 Channels hail from Poland, bringing some techno attention a little farther east of techno's current Berlin capitol. The pair initially met because of their shared musical tastes and started throwing parties together before they started producing. There was initially a third member (the third channel), but he was booted for what sounds like creative differences. In any case, the duo have releases on Trapez, Crosstown Rebels and their own Channels label. Another reason I like these guys (besides their minimal tech-house productions) is their sense of humor. Here's a snippet from a Resident Advisor interview:

Besides electronic music, what else do you channel your energies into?
We both like sports such as: sleeping, sitting in front of a computer, catching a train. We especially like extreme sports like taking a big record bag to the airplane as hand luggage.

(You'll have to be patient with these links - both are pretty sluggish)
3 Channels - Live at Watergate - [mp3]
3 Channels - Catz & Dogz September Mix [mp3]

3 Channels play the Dirty Dancing Showcase at Neumos Saturday, September 22. With Speedy J, Robert Babicz, Alland Byallo, and Jerry Abstract.

Face to Face - "Disconnected"

Daniel G. Harmann's songs drift and ache, sad but uplifting. I’d say they’re brave, but they’re more subdued than that. Feels like fall.

His latest release, Anthems from the Gentle War, came out September 4th and was recorded at Recovery Room Studio in Greenwood. If the Cure were from the South, they’d sound like Harmann.

Anthems rolls scenes from your memory back to when you used to lay on the grass and look at the sky. When you used to run away and roll marbles down a path of tamped earth. It's muted and loud. A match to a moth wing.

In “The Trouble Starts” he sings:

Burn this valley out save the edge of town we tuck ourselves in the crease of maps and long for the time when we're fine knowing there's no going back we scream out our names with bruised bloody lungs.

Harmann plays Tractor Tavern - Oct. 27th w/ Carrie Akre.

The real story here is the numbers: 957,000 is an astounding number of albums to sell the first week out these days. Hell, even 691,000 is pretty good. Also, 50 Cent's no dummy (no, seriously)—he only ever promised to stop making solo records. Even if 50 follows through on his threat/boast/wonderful promise, we can still expect a lot guest appearances, G-Unit posse albums, and the like.

But, say, have you heard this rumor—courtesy of Jonah's stoner buddy—that 50 Cent supposedly purchased hundreds of thousands of copies of his own record to inflate sales? True or not (ok, probably not), that could be a revolutionary new business model for the famously ailing music industry: Let the millionaires buy all their own albums to keep the major labels afloat, and the RIAA can stop suing poor downloaders for relative pocket change.

According to AP:

Graduation widely outsold 50 Cent's Curtis in first week sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan: 957,000 copies to 691,000 copies.

So now 50 has to stop making music, right? RIGHT?

Thanks to my mom, I grew up with a strange appreciation for Barry Manilow. I'm no Manaloonie, but I think he's a hell of a showman and c'mon, guy has mastered the art of writing catchy melodies. (I also sometimes leave rock shows early to go home and do arts and crafty sorts of things--I have a little bit of housewife in me.)

ANYWAY...

I'm less embarrassed to admit my softspot for Barry when something like this happens:

In a message posted on his Website Monday, the pop icon announced he has scuttled a Tuesday appearance on The View because he did not want to take a seat next to Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

"I wanted to let you know that I will no longer be on The View tomorrow as scheduled. I had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy [Behar], Barbara [Walters] or Whoopi [Goldberg] but not Elisabeth Hasselbeck," he wrote. "Unfortunately, the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request, so I bowed out."

There are a lot of reasons to steer clear of The View, but that's a really good one.

And now:

Photo by Chris Van Wick

Kane Hodder hijacked last night's Schoolyard Heroes CD release show by (surprise!) releasing a collection of their own new material. The five song disc, Fly Comet Fly, is a long time coming--the band hasn't released anything since the 2005 re-release of The Pleasure to Remain So Heartless.

The CD was available for free at last nights show, and the track-listing goes like this:

1. The Use of a Tourniquet is Not Advised
2. Kane Hodder Body Armor
3. St Augustine Was Bitter & Impotent
4. Eat Lead, Slackers
5. Hey Cortez, Ever Catch a Hurricane With Your Teeth?

My favorite thing about Kane Hodder's music is that it's unclassifiable. The band chaotically shifts from thrashing hardcore to bright pop within a single song. "Kane Hodder Body Armor" opens with hand clapping and whistling that reminds me of the opening credits to Disney's Robin Hood. Singer Andrew Moore croons over the drums that start to speed up, the guitar twitters faster, and then the melody swirls into a storm of cookie-monster vocals and pulsating guitars before breaking down into a Copacabana-inspired breakdown of la las.

And that's only one song. Kane Hodder are a mindfuck--but they're interesting, and after a few listens, the songs start to make sense and they'll get stuck in your head with just as much tenacity as any catchy Top 40 hit.

They played some of the new songs last night and the crowd (mostly there for the Birthday Massacre and Schoolyard) looked confused by the bands genre-stomping style, but they were fully engaged too. They just didn't know if they should mosh or dance, jump or sway, sing or scream. By the end of the band's set, they finally wrapped their teenage minds around the new sound, clapping along with Charley Potter's booming bass drum and the bands anthemic gang vocals.

The CD will also be available (for free) this weekend (Saturday, Sept 22) at the Old Fire House when the band celebrates the beloved teen center's 15th Anniversary with These Arms Are Snakes and Akimbo. You can also hear some of the new stuff at the band's MySpace.

A few weeks back, I was asked by Bobby from the Talking in Stereo blog to make an exclusive mix of many of the songs I play in my DJ sets, write about, and enjoy on a regular basis. I finally got around to putting together this mix, and I thought I would share it on this blog as well. The mix is a collection of some really great rare disco that can be heard at Pony's italo/disco night Circus!(last Thursday of the month) and at the Solo Bar's Club Cabana(First Friday of the month). Hope you enjoy!

TJ Gorton's Sept. 2007 Cabana Mix (download)

Total Time = 44:25min 192 kbps
---------------------------------
01. Cerrone - Living on Love
02. First Choice - Great Expectations
03. Voyage - Souvenirs
04. Fantastic Four - Got To Have Your Love
05. Teddy Pendergrass - Do Right (Lee Douglas Re-edit)
06. Don Ray - Standing In The Rain
07. Loleatta Holloway - We're Getting Stronger(Backing Acapella)
08. TJ Gorton - Club Cabana
09. Brass Construction - Movin'
10. Crown Heights Affair - Say A Prayer For Two
11. Best Friend Around - It's So Good To Know
12. Bee Gees - You Should Be Dancing (Tangoterje Edit)
13. The O'Jays - I Love Music (Dim's Dancefloor Touch Up)

I'm not sure which part of this Metro Times article deserves more attention--the Detroit-focused look at the Motor City boys behind Seattle's Decibel Festival, or the excruciating premise that the writer uses before getting to the real story.

At Pike Place market, sleazy vendors peddle Nirvana T-shirts just like they would Statue of Liberty snow globes in New York. In a Seattle bar, Mudhoney, Soundgarden or Pearl Jam will come on the jukebox in one drink's time. In that bar's bathroom, expect a Sub Pop sticker emblazoned on the stall door. Because of grunge, Seattle went a decade without a major music movement.

I'm a relatively fresh transplant to Seattle, but even I can smell the burnt wafers in this dude's logic (though I'd like to know if someone is peddling Tad merch at Pike Place). After that open, though, the rest of the piece is interesting enough, especially since people still feel compelled to compare Decibel to Detroit's Movement Festival...and especially since this line about the meeting of Decibel's Sean Horton and Jerry Abstract cracks me up:

"I remember him bringing down a six-pack of Pabst. It was one of those rare male bonding moments that only the combination of beer and techno can really facilitate."

Should I really write a post about a show I saw over three weeks ago in a different state? Yeah, why not.

I was in San Francisco last month, and one of my favorites, Look Back and Laugh, were playing at Gilman on Sunday, August 26, so I hopped BART and headed to Berkeley. One of the openers was Government Warning, from Richmond, Virginia. I hadn’t heard of them, so before the show, I listened to a few MP3s on their MySpace page, and at first I thought it was a joke: Instead of putting up some of their own songs, did they post MP3s from the Circle Jerks or Adolescents or Reagan Youth or some other ’80s hardcore band? Or are they an actual ’80s band going back on the road? It turns out those are their songs and they’re young guys—younger-looking than me—who just happen to have that 20-year-old sound down pat.

My fella and I got to the show just after Government Warning took the stage. They played great—tight, straight-ahead, perfect ’80s hardcore—and were unstoppably energetic. They’re not like a reimagining of the sound; they simply are the sound. The kids went crazy for them, creating the biggest circle pit I’ve ever seen (which we later determined was because there wasn’t enough people in the crowd to keep it reined in). They played a short, sweet set. Then, out of nowhere, a young skinhead got knocked the fuck out with one punch to the face and bled all over the floor.

Aside from Government Warning's set, the show on a whole wasn’t great; it was pretty tame (um, aside from that skinhead bleeding all over the place) and there weren’t a lot of people there. It was a Sunday night, after all, and I overheard some teenagers talking about having to go to school the next morning. Look Back and Laugh played after Government Warning, but their set suffered because of the small crowd and the resulting lack of energy. Which is too bad, because they’re great (and so is two of their member's grind side project, California Love).

Government Warning have an uninformative MySpace page and that’s about it. I can’t really find out much else about this band, but they do have several records out, one of which, No Moderation, I have just ordered. And sorry, but they played Seattle on August 17 (and Portland with Tragedy on August 18), but I wasn’t paying attention at the time. Go listen to some of their MP3s. Now.

The man himself will play Nectar on Tuesday, October 16!

Ayers is a soul-jazz master, one of groove music's great innovators; he provided the bridge between jazz and disco and has been sampled and referenced over and over again in hiphop and house music. His breezy vibraphone compositions swayed between jazz, funk, downtempo, disco, and lounge well before they were picked up by a new generation of producers searching for a sound light on the ears but heavy with soul.

Ayers is not a young guy anymore (he's in his late 60s) and tours infrequently. Major props to Colin Johnson at Nectar for scoring his only NW gig. Says Johnson, "I shat myself when he confirmed. Jazz-soul heads and hiphoppers unite!"

Tickets will cost $22 advance, quite a deal to see a jazz legend in action. Download Ayers' disco classic "Running Away" here.

Stranger Suggests suggest:

I just noticed that Kelly asked how the Yo Majesty show was Saturday night. It was great and e