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Sunday, November 30, 2008
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz Who Do You Like in This Fight?
Posted by Eric Grandy on Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 9:03 PM
Cadence Weapon's got the advantage of a clear leader, plus greater ethnic diversity, but Q and Not U has a drum kit and balloons...
Song Weirdest Paul McCartney Track Ever?
Posted by Dave Segal on Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Thanks to an article in Wax Poetics (No. 31, with Shuggie Otis and MF DOOM on the covers), I just discovered—better late than never—this wacky, weird Macca cut, “Check My Machine” (the B-side to the “Waterfalls” single and a bonus track on the CD reissue of the 1980 album McCartney II; I always had the vinyl, so was unaware of this tune—gah.).
"Check My Machine" appears to be a throwaway track in which a seriously stoned Paul, um, checks out his machine. Out came a falsetto-laced, banjo-riffed, white-boy reggae tune with odd little electronic elements flitting about it. If Lee "Scratch" Perry were an ex-Beatle, he might've concocted something like this. The only other work in Paul's solo repertoire that may be stranger is “Temporary Secretary,” a new-wave dance number that sounds like the multi-millionaire vegetarian’s attempt at a Kraftwerk-esque novelty song.
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Saturday, November 29, 2008
News New Talent Buyer at Chop Suey
Posted by Dave Segal on Sat, Nov 29, 2008 at 2:29 PM
Matt Moroni (a.k.a. DJ Introcut) has been hired by Chop Suey to book electronic-music and hiphop shows. A member of the Fourthcity crew and an outstanding DJ in his own right, Moroni already has made his presence felt by booking Module, eR Don, Electrosect, and Scratchmaster Joe on Dec. 10 (see next week’s Data Breaker column for more information) and Linda and Ron’s Dad, Pontius Pilots, Flexions, and others on Dec. 17.
A tireless promoter and one of the principals of Poster Midget, Introcut also spins at Lo_Fi’s Tuesday night weekly Stop Biting and Sunset Tavern’s monthly Trashy Trash dance party. He also provided cuts on track 1 of Truckasauras’ Tea Parties, Guns & Valor and for the Galactic Ionization Unit CD-R (Brushed Golden).
With his extensive connections and strong knowledge of electronic music and rap, Moroni should prove to be a valuable addition to Chop Suey's staff (which includes ex-Crocodile booker Pete Greenberg), enabling the Capitol Hill club to compete more seriously with Neumos for shows in those genres.
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Friday, November 28, 2008
Video I Just Can't Let This Go Unposted
Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 12:57 PM
RIP / Love John Spalding's Memorial Services
Posted by Megan Seling on Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 12:55 PM
There will be two services this weekend to remember John Spalding, a local musician who passed away last Sunday after a long battle with lung cancer. This Sunday, November 30th, there will be a candle vigil at Our Lady Guadalupe (7000 35th Ave SW) from 7-9 pm. There will be a benefit party afterwards at the War Room (722 E Pike St). Then, on Monday, there will be a morning memorial service at 11 am, also at Our Lady Guadalupe.
There will also be more benefit shows in the future, as well as an official release of John's record The Beautiful Truth. Details will be posted as they come in.
You can still donate to the John D. Spalding Medical Fund at any Bank of America. The money will be used to help John's family pay off the remaining medical bills.
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Tonight Tonight in Music: Love Battery! Portugal. The Man! The Pica Beats and Little Penguins! Hanson Brothers! More, more, more!
Posted by Megan Seling on Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Love Battery, Tom Price Desert Classic, Bug Nasties
(Sunset) Whoa, Love Battery are back? (Oops, I see they played one show in 2006 when I wasn't looking. My bad.) Anyway, in Sub Pop's grunge golden days, Love Battery gleamed like a fluorescent, feathered serpent amid their earthbound brontosaurus brethren honing their Deep Led Sabbath riffs. The Ron Nine–led group's Between the Eyes and Dayglo remain psychedelic twin towers in the Seattle label's voluminous catalog. Love Battery's brand of psych rock eschewed that genre's more flowery aspects for a bruising, cruising approach that made mind expansion seem like a contact sport. It'll be interesting to see if Love Battery (with three original members in the lineup) can resuscitate the prickly tunefulness of their early-'90s peak. DAVE SEGAL
Portugal. The Man, Earl Greyhound, Wintersleep
(El Corazón) Portugal. The Man have developed into an orchestral-rock ensemble embracing classic difficult-third-album ambitions with the new Censored Colors. On the Portland-via-Wasilla quartet's last tour supporting 2007's Church Mouth, they plied a more raucous, punk-inflected style that favored flailing energy over finesse. Now they're stacking angelic and falsetto vocals over sweeping, baroque rock that fans of late-period Beatles and Pink Floyd—or even the Polyphonic Spree—might appreciate. P.TM have smoothed their edges, whittled away their blues proclivities, and inflated their songcraft to grandiose dimensions. It's a bold change, and one that may not endear them to their rowdier fans. Whether you think it's progress depends on your stance on progressive rock. DAVE SEGAL
Photo by www.ronhenryphoto.com
Pica Beats, the Little Penguins, Exploding High Fives, Red Sea Sharks
(Comet) Fun facts about the Little Penguins! Fact 1: The band are from Seattle and feature ex-members of Vista Vista and Fleet Foxes. Fact 2: The Little Penguins sound only a little bit like Vista Vista and nothing like Fleet Foxes. Fact 3: Erik Blood of the Turn-Ons both produced and occasionally played on the band's new album, Offer You This Cape, which is being celebrated at tonight's CD-release show. Fact 4: The Little Penguins also sound nothing like the Turn-Ons. Fact 5: Offer You This Cape is not as sonically bright as their 2007 debut, Welcome to the Celebration. It still holds a few moments of sunshine and warmth, but on their sophomore release, it sounds like maybe the Pacific Northwest weather got to them... just a bit. Fact 6: You can't be happy all the time, so it works. MEGAN SELING
Need another reason to head to the Comet tonight? Click here to find out what Eric Grandy had to say about the Pica Beats in this week's Stranger Suggests.
Listen to the Little Penguins!
Hanson Brothers, Neutralboy, Pirex
(King Cobra) Vancouver brothers Rob and John Wright are approaching the 30th birthday of their quintessential prog-punk outfit Nomeanso. And while those graying Canucks continue to hone their chops in their primary ensemble, age has not tempered their desire to rock in a more primal fashion. Under the banner of their alter egos—Hanson Brothers—the Wrights churn out traditional, rudimentary punk rock. Eschewing the rhythmic complexities and fretboard dexterity of Nomeanso in favor of Ramones-inspired three-chord anthems, the Wrights reveal the two groups' polar nature—which might disappoint the die-hard fans of either camp. Yet the duality works in the Hanson Brothers' favor. The complexities of Nomeanso legitimize the Bros' simplicity, and their base rock moments humanize their lead project's brainy tendencies. BRIAN COOK
There's also the Herbaliser, J Boogie's Dubtronic Science, and SunTzu Sound at Nectar, Future Collective at Gallery 1412, and so much more in our online calendar.
Happy Black Friday!
Radio / Upcoming The Herbaliser Live on KEXP Today
Posted by Dave Segal on Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 11:44 AM
This week’s Data Breaker subjects, British jazz-funk-spy-flick-soundtrack unit the Herbaliser, play live on the air at 3 pm today on KEXP 90.3 FM. DJ Alex Ruder, subbing for Kevin Cole, is hosting.
Check out the video to the title track of their latest album, Same As It Never Was.
MP3 "Don't Break My Heart on the Biggest Shopping Day of the Year"
Posted by Megan Seling on Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 10:00 AM
A song to add to your Black Friday playlist:
Tennis Pro - "Biggest Shopping Day of the Year"
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Dept. of Corrections I Was Drunk When I Built this Week's Edition of the Site...
Posted by Grant Brissey on Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 4:02 PM
...and therefore forgot to post this lovely No-Neck Blues Band album review by Mr. Segal. I regret the error.
Video Tonight in Music: There Is No Music Tonight
Posted by Megan Seling on Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 9:00 AM
It's Thanksgiving. Stay home. You'll probably feel too bloated to leave the house after that third slice of pie anyway. Tomorrow night, though, tomorrow night it's on. There's lots of great shit happening tomorrow night. Just you wait.
But for now, eat some more and enjoy another song about this magical day:
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz There's So Much to Be Thankful For...
Posted by Eric Grandy on Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 8:00 AM
...in this week's music section:
There's Headbangers Brawl, in which resident metal-heads Jeff Kirby and Shane Mehling go head to head regarding the Sword, Metallica, and the meaning of True Metal:
"Evidently we're Lars Ulrich's favorite band," says Sword frontman J. D. Cronise.And rightly so. I've said it before: I want the Sword to rule the metal world. And even though it's harder to admit now that it actually costs $80 to see them play in a basketball stadium, I still want this. Which is why opening for Metallica is the perfect gig for the Sword: No matter how much Metallica declined over the years, their crowds never dwindled (apparently they don't need us critics to fill stadiums), and Metallica fans should be Sword fans.
After only two records, the Sword have gained a massive mainstream fan base by shamelessly cribbing High on Fire, Sleep, Kyuss, Orange Goblin, Pentagram, Electric Wizard, Saint Vitus, Acid King—I could go on. For a while. Nothing in their half-assed pastiche resembles an original thought or riff. There has been a near-constant output of stoner/doom metal for the last 40 years, but aside from genre godfathers Black Sabbath, the Sword are singular in their popularity. Why?
Heavy.
Then there's Triumh of the Shrill, in which Sam McPheeters tears into Guns'n'Roses' 17-years-in-the-making mastershit, Chinese Democracy (and with no Kirby analog to argue the "pro" side):
Let's take just a moment to mourn the death of "Chinese Democracy" as a phrase. For those of us not sold on the brilliance of Guns N' Roses, those two words have long served asshorthand for a kind of averted disaster, like "Y2K" or "2006 transatlantic aircraft plot." For the last decade, Chinese Democracy (the album) existed only as a concept; a joke about its own unlikelihood; a statement about writer's block, perfectionism, obsession, and reclusion. The reclusion part was nice. It was nice not hearing from vocalist and franchise-owner Axl Rose for a while.
It gets better.
There's me on the Hold Steady and Vivian Girls's Drinking Problems, Dave Segal on the Herbaliser's Head-Nodding Hedonism, plus all the usual columns, Up & Coming listings, and Album Reviews. It's all right here.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
News New Record Store Alert
Posted by Dave Segal on Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 4:31 PM
Going against all notions of economic common sense, Eric Lanzillotta from the Anomalous label/mail order business and Ri Be Xibalba and Tanith Lanzillotta from the band Forest of Grey have just opened a shop called Dissonant Plane. A music retail establishment. That doesn’t sell popular music. In late 2008. Ballsy.
Dissonant Plane is located inside of Resolution Audio at 5459 Leary Avenue NW in Ballard. (DP doesn’t have its sign up yet, so look for Resolution Audio’s. Call 206-784-5163 for more information.)
From Eric’s email:
What you will find here is a store selling things [CDs, DVDs, books] you won't find in other places in Seattle. [We specialize] in black metal, free improvisation, avant-garde classical, experimental, ambient, and many other regions. Our stock is small so far, but growing all the time and includes a lot of special items, including many out of print items from the archives of Anomalous Records.
My wallet just wept a little.
Love The Very Best
Posted by Charles Mudede on Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 4:16 PM
From me to you, the best Christmas tune in the history of beings that are human.
Video Happy Thanksgiving from Joey McIntyre
Posted by Megan Seling on Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 4:02 PM
With only an hour of work left before a long holiday weekend, I leave you with this video of a New Kid on the Block singing a song about turkeys and pumpkin pies:
You're welcome.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
They're Crazy 'Bout Romance and Illusions
Posted by Eric Grandy at 10:52 AM in Last Night / Love
Tonight in Music: Kraak & Smaak, Henry Rollins, A.H. Kraken
Posted by Megan Seling at 9:00 AM in Tonight
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Spalding's Friends Make Sure LoveLand Gets a Proper Release
Posted by Megan Seling at 2:13 PM in Love
Oh, Another Thing...
Posted by Eric Grandy at 1:39 PM in Last Night / Politics / Shit Talk
El Guincho, Copy, & DJ Kid Hops @ Nectar
Posted by Eric Grandy at 11:24 AM in Last Night
Old Funk Obscurity of the Year (At Least)
Posted by Dave Segal at 11:21 AM in Classic / Dust Bin
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