Line Out Music & the City at Night

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Tonight in Music: Max Tundra, The Lashes, The Moondoggies, Doctor Doctor, and More

Posted by on Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 10:37 AM

Max Tundra, Deastro, U.S.F.

(Nectar) Both Max Tundra and Deastro are prodigious, precious one-man electro-pop bands. But where Max Tundra is hyperactive (playing all parts himself, jumping from one of many instruments to another live) and arch (odd songs about internet romance, references to Kevin Blechdom and Maya Deren, a love song for his favorite synthesizer), Deastro is mellow (playing with a live band to flesh out his compositions) and earnest, singing more straightforwardly emotive songs. His productions are precise and pleasurable, though—busy, frequently beautiful things that take just slightly less careening turns than do Tundra's. Opening are Seattle chillwave duo U.S.F., whose ambient, tropical tones will be an easy warm-up for the show and a welcome contrast to the seasonal cold. ERIC GRANDY

The Lashes, Thee Emergency, Curtains for You

(Crocodile) Back before the haters and anonymous commentators set their sights on Mad Rad, the Lashes were the foremost targets of passive-aggressive lament in the Seattle music scene. But as Salvador Dalí said, "The thermometer of success is merely the jealousy of the malcontents." Success for the Lashes was brief—they released one album of bratty power pop, the John Goodmanson—produced Get It, on Columbia Records. Shortly thereafter, the label summarily dropped them when guitarist Eric Howk suffered a tragic fall that left him in a wheelchair for life. Tonight is billed as a "one-time reunion show" and will no doubt be attended by a sizable Seattle fan base. The haters will presumably be at home, firmly lodged behind their keyboards, spewing bile at anyone having more fun than they are. See the rest of you at the show! GRANT BRISSEY

The Moondoggies, Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs

(Showbox at the Market) All pretenses of creating innovative, 21st-century music drop with the Moondoggies; rather, they focus on writing memorable, sing-along-worthy songs that move in expected laid-back, 'bama-ambling ways (save for the tear-ass bluegrass of "Ol' Blackbird" and the burly chug of "Changing"). The Moondoggies' debut album, Don't Be a Stranger, eased its way into the pleasure centers of many people who like country-rock that doesn't suck. The new Moondoggies songs that have surfaced on YouTube via live on-air performances for KEXP suggest a redoubled reiteration of country-folk verities, with melodies rich and resonant enough to make Fleet Foxes shift nervously on their thrones. DAVE SEGAL

Doctor Doctor, Red Dress

(High Dive) Red Dress are a tiny local legend, one of those bands that should've made it but never did and whose members drifted off to other projects and have now drifted back together again. (You'll recognize some of them from the Moisture Festival house band and other vaudeville groups.) In the mid-'90s, nothing sounded quite like Red Dress and nothing still does. They're both jagged and melodic with some Talking Heads running through their songs and a little zydeco rhythm and flash hiding beneath it all—clearly the result of an original musical vision. Singer Gary Minkler squeaks and croons about awkward teenage pterodactyls, eating mice ("mousies"), and a dude who is actually a robot. They're not pretty young things anymore, but they still know how to jerk and groove. BRENDAN KILEY

Sex Panther, Luxury A.K., Taybot, Three Ninjas

(Skylark) Yo, so I've been getting hit up by a local group called Sex Panther (originally hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan) for a little while now. I wasn't sure it was gonna be my bag of schwag, especially when I saw that they sold branded thong underwear on their MySpace page. But upon further review, I can fuck with this. Infer-know and Action Jackson are kind of bro-gimmicky (see thong), but the beats are solid and the rhymes funny and well spit. Plus they have a yen for funny movie samples—there's the Army of Darkness—sampling "Boomstick" and the Old School jawn "Scorpion Woman" (incorporating a yelling Bruce Campbell or Will Ferrell into your hook is a plus in my book). If you're out in the West and want to see if they really do work every time (60 percent of the time), they're playing the Skylark (known to many West Side shitbags as the former Legends) on November 28 with Luxury A.K., Taybot, and Three Ninjas. LARRY MIZELL JR.

 

Comments (3) RSS

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1
Max Tundra cancelled
Posted by dildon on November 28, 2009 at 6:20 PM
2
Nope - the promoter cancelled the show due to low ticket sales. Max Tundra is sitting around in Portland and would LOVE to have played this show!
Posted by m_xt on November 28, 2009 at 10:42 PM
3
The former Legends is now a sports bar called Redline. Skylark, on the other hand, is right next to the West Seattle Bridge and used to be Madison's Cafe/Steel Sky Bistro.
Posted by it was a good show too on November 29, 2009 at 1:32 AM

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