Line Out Music & the City at Night

Bumbershoot

Friday, May 3, 2013

Look Who's Playing Bumbershoot 2013: Death Cab for Cutie, Heart, fun., BASSNECTAR, Kendrick Lamar, the Breeders, Superchunk, MGMT, Crystal Castles, and...

Posted by on Fri, May 3, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Originally published at 10:30 pm last night, but moved up because LOOK! The Breeders! Superchunk! The Zombies! OH MY!

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Tonight Bumbershoot organizers have announced their 2013 line-up and I think it looks pretty great. Confirmed musical acts include Death Cab for Cutie (playing Transatlanticism in its entirety), Heart, fun., BASSNECTAR, Kendrick Lamar, the Breeders, Superchunk, MGMT, Tegan and Sara, Crystal Castles, Allen Stone, and many more.

THE BREEDERS! SUPERCHUNK! HOORAY!

This year there will also be a new, all-ages EDM stage that'll open at 7 pm each night—the line-up for that will be announced in the near future.

Here's the complete list, broken down by day:

Saturday, August 31

Heart, Kendrick Lamar, Crystal Castles, Gary Numan, Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience, Maceo Parker, !!!, Icona Pop, Joey Bada$$, Washed Out, Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires, Thao + the Get Down Stay Down, Robert Glasper Experiment, Watsky, ZZ Ward, Diamon Rings, the Physics, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, Lake Street Drive, Kris Orlowski, Cookie Monsta, Nacho Picasso, Ernie Watts with New Stories, Grynch, Gus + Scout, Davidson Hart Kingsbury, Total Experience Gospel Choir, Hyperfunk, the Flavr Blue, Sean Majors, Dave B, Human Spirit, Matt Jorgensen +451, Down North, Darrius

Sunday, September 1

Death Cab for Cutie (playing Transatlanticism in its entirety), fun., Tegan and Sara, Matt + Kim, the Breeders, Ra Ra Riot, Beats Antique, Vintage Trouble, the Zombies, Vicci Martinez, Eric Burdon, Bob Mould, David Bazan, the Duke Robillard Band, Mates of State, Sol, Charli XCX, FIDLAR, Tamaryn, Nikki Hill, Ramona Falls, Matt Pond, BRONCHO, the Redwood Plan, Ayron Jones & the Way, Kithkin, the Comettes

Monday, September 2

BASSNECTAR, MGMT, Allen Stone, Alt-J, the Joy Formidable, Trampled by Turtles, Deerhunter, Justin Townes Earle, Kinky, Baroness, Delta Rae, Superchunk, Bajofondo, Lissie, Redd Kross, the Men, Ivan & Alyosha, the Sheepdogs, the Mowgli's, the Lone Bellow, the Maldives, Kopecky Family Band, Aurelio, BellaMaine, St. Paul de Vence, Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands, Hot Bodies in Motion, Red Jacket Mine, Cascadia ’10

Three-day passes are $120, single day-specific passes $50, and a single any-day pass is $55. Tickets are available at bumbershoot.org/tickets.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Norwood Fisher at the NWFF

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 5:05 PM

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  • K.C. Fennessy
  • Only Norwood can pull off a baby blue velveteen baseball cap

I knew I wouldn't be able to catch Fishbone at Bumbershoot—or anybody, for that matter—so I was pleased when I noticed that "the band" would be appearing at the Northwest Film Forum for a Q&A after a one-time screening of the fine and forthcoming documentary Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone (I also knew that the guests would be founding members Norwood Fisher and Angelo Moore; the full and ever-changing line-up seemed a pretty unlikely prospect).

The film is available on DVD—you can also stream it via Netflix and iTunes—and it's played Seattle at least twice, so I wasn't sure what kind of crowd would show up at 2pm on Labor Day, but I gotta say: it was a good one. Not just because the house was full, but because attendees came armed with plenty of questions.

More pictures and notes below. Plus, a very SPECIAL guest!

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Is Mark Arm the Iggy Pop of Grunge?

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 4:35 PM

I Wanna Be Your Superfuzz Bigmuff
  • Keith Johnson
  • I Wanna Be Your Superfuzz Bigmuff

For the first half of Mudhoney's set on Sunday evening, Mark Arm looked kinda stoic. He stood directly behind the mic stand and grunged-out with a straight face. Then something happened: the mic came off the stand, and Arm started making all sorts of weird faces. He staggered around vertigo-style and then whispered into the mic, kneeling into the stage as if he were about to conduct some sort of ritualistic sacrifice. Then he sprung up, and I was almost expecting him to conjure some broken glass then roll in it as he violently traipsed the stage.

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So You Want to Know About Skrillex

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 3:41 PM

Uuuunnnnnnkk skree skree skreeeee.
  • Kelly O
  • Uuuunnnnnnkk skree skree skreeeee.

Everyone kept asking me what Skrillex was. What it was like. What it meant. Who it was. Why it existed. I explained to two different adults on two different days at Bumbershoot, that Skrillex was a boy and not a girl. That is the only thing I knew with 97% certainty (which doesn't matter in the least, except for it seemed that people were more supportive of a girl being Skrillex than they were when they found out it was a boy being Skrillex). Other than that, I really didn't know what say. Kids started lining up at 5:30pm for Skrillex's 9:30pm performance. I asked them if that was really what they were in line for, and a rotten little tween said, "NO, were in line for Miley Cirus." The sarcasm was lost on me. I would wait in a line to see Miley. Maybe. For like, 20 minutes tops. But still.

Forlorn Canadians in the beer garden asked me for advice on sneaking into the front for Skrillex. I told them to be polite to security and door people, since it seemed like that alone might startle someone into allowing them to cut in line. I had yet to see a teen being polite.

When it was time, I dragged myself into Key Arena to see the action. And what was the action you ask?

EEEK EK EK EK SHRK SRKWWwwwwww whom whom whom whommmooouuuuwww eh eh eh eh skkkkkkkROMWEM MEH WUH WUH WUH WUHHHHH.....................................jvrrrrrrrWEHWEHWEHWEHWEHWE HWEHWWWWAAAA AAAHHHHHHHHHMPRRRRRUHUHUHUHUH.......DUN bum bummm bwaaaooooo ooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwba ba baba ba ba ba ba ba ba bababababababBAPPP WUM WUM WUM WUM WUMMMMMMMMbbbbb BU BU BU BU BU WUM BU WUM BU WUM BU BUBUuuuuuuzzzzzzssssskkkkkkkreeeeeeeeeee.......schjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjrrrrrrroooooom mmmmmmM WUB WUB WUBWUBWUBWUBUBWUBWUB x x x x x x x x x ...................................................WHOOOOMMPP
zizzzaza zizzzaza zizzzazazaza zizzzazazizzzazazzazazaaaa zazazazazazzzzzzziiiiiiizzzzzzzaazaZIZIZIZIZIZIZ

Wuuuubbbzzzzziiiiiii.....buh buh buh.
  • Kelly O
  • Wuuuubbbzzzzziiiiiii.....buh buh buh.

Complete with laser lights, smoke, seizurey video sampling, and ALL THOSE TEENS! It was actually quite the spectacle. I took a video, which caused my phone to die. Then I panicked! I didn't know where my friends were! Where my date was! What if I couldn't get home and I was trapped in the Skrillex vortex forever without a phone or a sweater! None of these rude teens were going to help me! I am actually still at Key Arena, writing this blog post from underneath a chair.

And I still don't know what to tell you. It seems to me, Skrillex is just a DJ with interesting hair (that he can never, ever change) who takes other peoples' songs and scrambles them with insect noises and whatever noise the skin condition eczema would make, if eczema were an insect. I mean person. I mean computer. SKREEEEEEEEEEE!

LADIES: You Gotta Stop This!

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 3:37 PM

Dear Ladies of Bumbershoot: I couldn't believe how many of you were doing this. I'm not trying to be preachy, but I started doing it when I was 13 years old, and it has been a roller coaster of quitting and starting (and quitting) ever since. It's easy to roll your eyes at the lung cancer warnings, but I wish someone would have told me about the wrinkles, painful teeth whitening, and cellulite. You should stop while you still can! Stop now! LOVE, Kelly O

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  • Kelly O

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Was Ist Dubstep

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 3:36 PM

Nothing against Skrillex (really, he is not that bad), but when people say dubstep, I'm thinking of this...

The Vaselines are Immune to Neil Diamond Syndrome

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 2:52 PM

Not Neil Diamond!
  • Kelly O
  • Not Neil Diamond!

Ever since a nightmarishly disappointing Bob Dylan show I attended when I was 17, I’ve been afraid to see legendary musicians in concert. It takes time to become legendary, and too frequently musicians succumb to what my mom refers to as “Neil Diamond syndrome,” that is, sucking increasingly as time goes on. While Sex With An X, the Vaselines latest album, is fantastic, my Bob Dylan PTSD made me wary of seeing them live.

I shouldn’t have worried. After a slightly fuzzy-sounding performance of “Monster Pussy,” (resulting from too-low mic volumes) the Vaselines show was everything I hoped it would be. Nothing that detracted from the show, such as the giant, tacky video screen on the Sub Pop stage, could stop the Vaselines from keeping the entire audience euphoric until the sun set and the stars came out. They were a delight to watch because they were clearly so delighted to play. Frequently Frances Mckee grinned with what looked like the purest contentment when songs began.

Purest contentment.
  • Kelly O
  • Purest contentment.

After they played “Molly’s Lips,” a man in the audience yelled “Kiss my lips!” to which Mckee replied, “Oh, you’ve got a boner. That’s my kind of guy! Well, I think—I can’t see you.” The next song was dedicated to “The guy with the boner.” The show was peppered with such funny banter. When Eugene Kelly complained that the set list was the only thing he had ever gotten to choose, McKee said, “I always let you wear my high heels, and my frilly knickers.”

Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic made a surprise appearance to play accordion on “Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam,” eliciting cheers. Clouds of pot smoke filled the air. Many cell phone pictures were taken. Someone told me later they had also smelled crack, but that may have been the smell of collective excitement and a summer ending properly.

The Vaselines played their excellent cover of Divine’s “You Think You’re a Man” as an encore, and it occurred to me that John Waters was probably still in town and quite possibly in the audience somewhere. I hope he was, and that he had as much fun at that show as I did.

What You're Not Wearing: GIANT Bumbershoot Edition!!!

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 2:38 PM

These webs:

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This smile:

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This belt:

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M83: Crazed Lemming Scuffle

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 2:25 PM

Brittnie Fuller gives us her account of the desperate dancing incidents during M83's Key Arena show yesterday at Bumbershoot:

About halfway into M83's set Sunday afternoon, wild teens start leaping off the first mezzanine barrier by the dozens. They stormed a line of panicked security guards, who attempt to grab at and tackle them as they spree for the main floor dance party. I saw a girl in a fringe cut-off tank nearly derobed by the rough jostling of a guard. No one appeared to be seriously injured, although I did see two people laying on the floor at one point. It took several minutes for the guards to close off the most offending section and forced everyone to move further up, and even then lone runners from other sections continued to make a break for the main floor. Many were caught and kicked out, but even more were successful. Anthony Gonzales, M83's frontman, said "that's not very sweet of you" to the security guards (about the tackling) between songs. A dozen or so police were called in for back-up, though they don't seem to do anything. Now two-thirds full of raving teens packed in like sardines, the main floor moves in waves. And like lemmings crazed for dance, the leaping continued sporadically for the rest of the set.

Isnt M83 pretty mellow?
  • Whitman Dewey-Smith
  • Not mellow.

UPDATE - Read another account from hot tipper Paulette Perhach, who wrote to us last night (but I needed her permission to post on the blog). After the jump!

Continue reading »

The People of Bumbershoot: "The Skrillex"

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 1:27 PM

This haircut is everywhere. Who wore it best, Bumbershoot 2012?

The Melancholy Pirate
  • kelly o
  • The Melancholy Pirate

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Fishbone: Sharp Hats and Shameful Drunks

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 1:23 PM

"I'm gonna drop a big beat poo-poo on your head!" - Angelo Moore, kicking off the Fishbone set.

Angelo Moore
  • Kelly O
  • Angelo Moore

The big beat poo-poo was indeed dropped, on the heads of the folks who crammed into Exhibition Hall. This was my first experience in the Exhibition Hall. The beer "garden" looked more pathetic than usual, quarantined off in the corner were the drinkers, their sad joker hats wilting under the shame of needing to "have a drink" instead of being able to "watch the show"—I hate how Seattle does this. Drinking an expensive beer and watching an expensive show go hand in hand, everyone knows that.

After I stopped gawking at the giant neon columns that obstructed much of the stage, I realized that Fishbone sounded fantastic! Way better than I thought they would sound! They looked great, too. Angelo was wearing a funky outfit (duh), and the dancing by all band members was top notch. I noticed more audience members were wearing hats than at any other Bumbershoot show thus far. Mostly fedoras. Fishbone and their fans LOVE fedoras. Wacky festival hats were also abundant (see: wilted joker hats in the beer garden), plus dad caps, animal beanies, and eccentric-lady gardening bonnets. Everyone had a great time bouncing to the ska antics of Fishbone. Except those drunks.

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  • Kelly O

Please Stop Underestimating Fujiya & Miyagi

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 12:50 PM

This next ones a real Klaus Dinger.
  • Timothy Rysdyke
  • "This next one's a real Klaus Dinger."

The four guys in Fujiya & Miyagi look like philatelists you can take home to mother. They are beyond a doubt the nicest British krautrock tribute band with a singer who channels Can shaman Damo Suzuki circa “I’m So Green.” F&M are motorik-obsessed minimalists who possess an incredibly deceptive funkiness. If you’ve paid them any heed at all, you’ve probably underestimated them. But they are fabulous group, and their first song last night at the dire Exhibition Hall was the best thing I heard all weekend outside of Hair and Space Museum’s Northwest Passage exhibit. Henceforth, please estimate Fujiya & Miyagi a bit higher.

Dig this Holger Czukay lick.
  • Timothy Rysdyke
  • "Dig this Holger Czukay lick."

So What Does "Let's Get Weird" Really Mean?

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 12:33 PM

Overheard at Skrillex: "Why is everyone saying they're 'getting weird' right now?"

Inflatable Elvis Bumper Edition

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 12:17 PM

THEElvis
  • T. Moorman
  • THEElvis

Tony
  • T. Moorman
  • Jumbotron Tony

Dirtbombs
  • T. Moorman
  • Dirtbombs

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Bumber Snippets: Monday

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 11:46 AM

First impressions in 15 minutes or less!

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The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Played a very pure and pared-down set live on the radio show, Too Beautiful to Live (live at the Vera Stage).

El Vez: Wins best pants at Bumbershoot, hands down. They were made of mirrors and sequins. I wanted to take a picture of them, but had roasted corn and friendship bracelets in my hands (sometimes you spend all your money at Bumbershoot in a delirious haze on the last day). El Vez said this is his last year running for President, due to the Mayan calendar ending.

Ty Segall: Loud! Yeah! You could hear him from anywhere in the festival!

Posse: Sounded great in the Promenade corridor!

Lights: Pretty girl playing pretty music.

The Vaselines: Awwwwww!!! So great. Just so great. Krist Novoselic joined them on stage with an accordion for "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam." He is very beardy these days! I got Frances and Eugene to sign my paper dolls after their show. Frances said [in her delightful Scottish accent], "well my boobs are bigger than that!" Eugene sharpied a penis on himself. It was the best.

Quentin Rowan Is Very, Very Sorry He Wrote an Awesome Mash-Up Novel

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 11:04 AM

1. Yesterday, writer Quentin Rowan spoke at a Words & Ideas talk titled Remix, Theft or Plagiarism? Kirby Ferguson, who made the wonderful web series Everything Is a Remix, was supposed to talk too, but he wasn't there. One in five people made a painfully noisy exit from the theater when this news was announced.

2. There are two schools of thought around "remix culture" nowadays—pro-remix and anti-remix. Pro-remix folks want artists to draw from everything and everywhere, and not apologize. Anti-remix thinks pro-remix is full of shit.

3. In 2011, Quentin Rowan wrote a spy novel called Assassin of Secrets. Within months of its release, internet sleuths discovered that it had been composed almost entirely from quotations of passages from other spy novels. People freaked out, the publisher recalled the book, and Rowan's world was temporarily fucked.

4. Before its publication, Assassin of Secrets was widely praised by a number of critics and authors. Spy novelist Jeremy Duns called it an "instant classic."

Continue reading »

What Was Your Favorite Thing at Bumbershoot This Year?

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 10:55 AM

For me? It's obvious. The motherfucking Promise Ring were the best thing about my weekend.

The band sounded so, so great, and they all seemed really happy to be there, playing songs that are well over a decade old, to a crowd who refused to forget them.

But enough about me. What did YOU love most at this year's Bumbershoot?

Omar Souleyman Wailed "EEEYYYOOO" a Lot; Hysteria Ensued

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 10:29 AM

When Omar claps, you dance.
  • Kelly O
  • When Omar claps, you dance.

I’ve never seen somebody do so little to trigger so frenzied a response as Omar Souleyman did yesterday at Fisher Green Stage. Looking like the stoic, ’stached, and shaded badass who’d give you a speeding ticket in Damascus, the Syrian vocalist wailed in Arabic tales of romantic heartbreak and triumph, with frequent “EEEYYYOOO”s that were delayed to create the effect of several Omars in agony and ecstasy. He took many breaks from vocalizing to daintily clap and nonchalantly urge the crowd to dance, but ultimately he didn’t seem to give a damn if you did (I mean, I’m sure he did care, but his demeanor suggested he’s not going to weep if you remain stationary; it’s also safe to say Omar did not recognize Mark Arm standing front and center during his whole set, and if he did, he remained unruffled by the Mudhoney legend’s presence).

Rizan Said: Another day at the synthesizer bank.
  • Dave Segal/The Stranger
  • Rizan Sa'id: Another day at the synthesizer bank.

The real star of any Omar Souleyman live show is keyboardist Rizan Sa’id. Working a couple of Korg synthesizers, Sa’id wears the sort of dour expression seen mainly on post office workers. But he coaxed his instruments to wild flights of whirling glee and headlong, oblong rhythms that could pass for techno, even though this is technically called dabke: Syrian folk and pop and wedding music.

Mark Arm: Hes a Soul(eyman) man.
  • Kelly O
  • Mark Arm: He's a Soul(eyman) man.

The dominant sound is a warped, melismatic, saz-like bleat that fibrillates with strange, serpentine charm. Ragged, rapid beats and hand-drum ratatats kept asses moving all set in the perfect summer weather Monday. It didn’t matter that Sa’id only seemed to have two vocal samples in his hard drive: “come on” and “bring it down.” The crowd went mad for Omar and Rizan’s action-packed compositions, even though it was doubtful anyone understood a syllable the former sang. This was one of the highlights of 2012 Bumbershoot.

FUCK HIPSTER FUCK HIPSTER

Posted by on Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 12:49 AM

FUCK HIPSTER FUCK HIPSTER
  • FUCK HIPSTER FUCK HIPSTER

Monday, September 3, 2012

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