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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The Genetic Spirit of Bob Marley

Posted by on Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 10:58 AM

(Marymoor Park) I do not much care for Stephen Marley's new dubstep remix of his father's classic "Buffalo Soldier" on Legend Remixed because he employs the American version of dubstep and not the earlier and more dubby (meaning much closer to the original Kingston dub) British version. But I will always have the deepest respect for his brother Damian's massive 2005 tune "Welcome to Jamrock." Indeed, I have often wondered if it can be considered the last great song by Bob Marley, because it is here that the genes he deposited in Damian are almost fully expressed. The mightier-than-god toasting, the deep dub-space between the beats, the elongated but hiphop-heavy bass line, the powerful political message—it all sounds as if the genetic spirit of Bob Marley had taken command of Damian's body and successfully communicated through the 21st century cultural medium that had conditioned it. The rastaman possessed the rastaman. Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley & Stephen "Ragga" Marley with Ghetto Youths Crew, and the Green.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The Crowd-Pleasing Quadron

Posted by on Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 10:21 AM

(Nectar) Danish electronic-soul duo Quadron have only been around since 2009, but in that four-year span, singer Coco O. and composer Robin Hannibal's crowd-pleasing combination of classic and modern vocals/production elements have caught the attention of everyone from punk-rap controversialist Tyler, the Creator (Coco O. is featured on Wolf standout "Treehome95" and joined him to perform the song live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) to Hollywood director Baz Luhrmann (who got O. to contribute to The Great Gatsby's original soundtrack). Their recent Avalanche picks up right where their self-titled debut left off, offering a short-but-sweet collection of sultry, soulful love (and anti-love) songs—and a Kendrick Lamar guest spot on "Better Off"—that should pack Fremont's Nectar Lounge with embracing, swaying couples.

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Friday, June 14, 2013

The Odd Trio: Mount Kimbie, Holy Other, Vinyl Williams at Neumos

Posted by on Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 1:46 PM

From this week's Data Breaker.

(Neumos, 8 pm, $15 adv, 21+.) Mount Kimbie—London producers Kai Campos and Dominic Maker—were post-dubstep media darlings around the release of 2010's Crooks & Lovers. Back then, I wrote in these pages: "The album abounds with strange but addictive melodies, cleverly tweaked vocals, artful frequency manipulating, and fluxy, funky rhythms that'll force you to invent new dance moves." However, Mount Kimbie's new Cold Spring Fault Less Youth album breaks with that approach; it features more emphasis on "song"-like tracks—meaning more guest vocalists, more conventionality, and more popularity (probably). Not sure yet that this change suits Mount Kimbie, but live, they always bring the hedonistic heat. Tri Angle Records artist Holy Other is one of the planet's preeminent witch-house purveyors. The Manchester producer's slithering tracks hover into earshot with halos of ectoplasmic synthesizers and spectral, warped voices of indeterminate gender. They're great for weeping rhythmically to. Vinyl Williams are an LA-based quintet led by Lionel Williams who play, in their words, "teal pop." Translation: They sound like Slowdive with a bit of energy drink in their tanks, augmented by the dreamiest, breathiest female vocals—courtesy of Nikita Arefkia—this side of Bilinda Butcher. Seems like an odd fit on a bill with Mount Kimbie and Holy Other, but I'm not complaining.

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Today's Music News: Weirdos, Reunions, and Lawsuits

Posted by on Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 1:30 PM

A Tasty, Grimy Little Treat: No Age just released a song off of their upcoming album An Object, due out August 20 on Sub Pop! Start this dauntingly gray Friday afternoon off right with a fuzzy noise-rock snack!

Your Favorite Odd Duck: A gaggle of R. Stevie Moore's albums spanning from the mid-'70s to the late '80s have been reissued on vinyl by the NY label Personal Appeal. This includes his 2012 double-LP comp Hearing Aid.

Pleased to Meet Me, Again: The Replacements will be reuniting (sans Chris Mars) in August as they headline Riot Fest, appearing on stage for the first time in 22 years - hope no one has been holding their breath! Looks like Christmas came early for Denver, Toronto, and Chicago.

Twitter Battle, Fiddle Faddle: This past Wednesday, Amanda Bynes tweeted at Miley Cyrus "Ur ugly" in her continued attempt to punk the whole country. Everyone's going be pretty embarrassed for demonizing Bynes once she reveals that this has all been an elaborate acting exercise.

Prodigal Son Returns: Dave Matthews is set to perform in South Africa for the first time with his full backing band! Because it turns out there are dads in South Africa, too. Also he is from there.

Do You Wanna Sue Me: Joan Jett is suing Hot Topic for trademark infringement on her line of lingerie Blackheart. Hot Topic released a lingerie brand of the same title for ladies (pre-teen mall rats) that rock.

Television Debut: On June 19 the Postal Service will appear on The Colbert Report for their first-ever TV appearance as they gear up for their reunion tour - 10 years after their album Give Up was released on Sub Pop.

No Deal: Singer and bassist of the Pixies, Kim Deal, has reportedly left the band. Fingers crossed, selfishly, that it's only a temporary departure, so she can focus on the Breeders.

Heads Up: If you guys haven't already RSVP'd to a very tempting themed graduation party tonight or whatever you should definitely make your way to Highline to see Warm Soda, Ketamines, The Cry, Boom City, and Zebrasiers! The syrupy garage-pop wonders Warm Soda (featuring Matthew Melton of Bare Wires) recently released a new music video for Jeanie Loves Pop off their 2013 album Someone for You.

Underage: Secret Colors, White Poppy, Queen Scott Johnson, the Numbs

Posted by on Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 10:56 AM

Tonight is the hotly anticipated record release for local ambient craftsman Secret Colors (aka Matt Lawson) for his new LP, Days Off. The first single, "King," brims with fascinating, alien-like wonder and beats. The evening continues to spill into the beyond with White Poppy; on their latest cassette, I Had a Dream, pixilated, Cocteau Twins–y fairy sighs are backed with an ever-present dance beat nearly lost in the kaleidoscopic blur. The eight tracks make a prismatic pop soundtrack perfect for beach-bound sleepwalking, or just chilling exceptionally. Tonight's expansive sonic buffet also offers darker-hued tropi-synths from the Numbs (Seattle's Jeff Johnson) and Queen Scott Johnson, a Canadian mind-dislocator with a special knack for rearranging sound into ambient fields of ecstasy. Swoon! Cairo, 8 pm.

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Thursday, June 13, 2013

Don't Miss Golgothan Sunrise

Posted by on Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 11:49 AM

(Chop Suey) The totally fascinating running joke about Golgothan Sunrise, one of Seattle's most riveting metal bands, is that I keep arriving too late to see them perform. It's happened twice now, like some kind of narrowly focused Murphy's Law; it's especially frustrating because these guys rarely play out due to members' commitments in other killer bands (like Lesbian and Fungal Abyss). Maybe tonight I'll be fortunate enough to catch Golgothan Sunrise's forbidding doom-metal convolutions and heavy post-rock meditations. By the way, their 2004 album, Glimpse Paradise Through Sickness, still sounds wicked. Seattle trio Spacebag combine bonkers technical wizardry with refined power. The Stranger's Brian Cook triangulated Spacebag's reference points as Rush, Nomeansno, and Lightning Bolt, and he was spot-on.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

My Philosophy: KA.lil/Khingz, Malitia MaliMob, Geto Boys

Posted by on Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 2:31 PM

KA.LIL
  • KA.LIL

Twelve years ago, a young MC by the name of Khalil Crisis put out his solo debut, Mi Vida Negra (mostly produced by Vitamin D). South End gang life and fierce social consciousness equally informed his raps. And his rep for verbally eviscerating opponents IRL in competitive formats (both formal and informal) was well-known among heads on the scene—heads who trafficked between the few venues available at the time, among them RCKNDY, Sit & Spin, and the Paradox (all RIP). Changing times (sometime before 2007) brought a new MC handle to Khalil because, as he said, "the crisis was over"—and so Khingz was born. Under this moniker, which also was a nod to King County, he did his best work; chief among his fairly deep catalog was the 2009 monster From Slaveships to Spaceships. Now, if you read enough, you should know that now is the part when things go full circle—and so it goes, as Khingz has become KA.lil. Why the change, though?

"Partly because everyone called me Kalil, and not Khingz," he writes. "It also sounded elitist, which I'm not. Aaaand I wanted to repair myself, instead of the whole county, which is changing so much that I don't know if I have a place in it. As the city gentrifies further and further, I get this almost physical feeling that I'm not wanted here. So I rep me, and hopefully it inspires people to be themselves, regardless of what's happening around them. Plus: Andre 3000 uses his real name, and that's been my dood since freshman year of high school." Go see KA.lil run his whole cycle at the release party for his Between Saturday Night and Sunday Morning album at Barboza on June 12, with Abyssinian Creole, Gabriel Teodros, Hi-Life Soundsystem, B-Flat, and OTOW Gang (Mic Flont, Massiah, Uce Wayne).

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They Might Be Giants: Equally Committed to Music and Nerdiness

Posted by on Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 2:14 PM

(Showbox Sodo) OMG, TMBG! These intellectual rockers have a dedicated fan base, so y'all already know they're coming to town, right? My first-ever roommate was one of those; she spoke of the Johns (Flansburgh and Linnell, TMBG's two members) by their collective first name, and fondly, as if they were her close friends. I love the dudes because their commitment to nerdiness and music is nearly equal—for example, they played a cover, for years, of a 1959 song about science called "Why Does the Sun Shine?" Its opening lyrics are: "The sun is a mass/Of incandescent gas." Which, it turns out, is not technically true. So they wrote a follow-up called "Why Does the Sun Really Shine?" that starts, "The sun is a miasma/Of incandescent plasma" and fact-checks the original. NERDZ. (Note: This show is 14 and up—don't bring your baby.)

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Underage: Condominium, White Wards, Dreamdecay

Posted by on Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 1:57 PM

You might not know about Condominium yet, so here's your chance to earn bragging rights (what punk is about, duh) before they ascend into absolute hugeness. The St. Paul trio's new single on Sub Pop is a nihilistic hardcore dirge, coming to its prettiest/ugliest peak on "Carl," a punk incantation with a dirt-encrusted art sheen. Fans of noise, hardcore, and post-punk should be pleased. Support comes from White Wards, an Olympia band that crushes out carnivorous riffs that stab with icy fangs; their latest release (on Iron Lung Records) is one of the Northwest's finest recent testaments to hardcore punk. This well-booked bill also includes Dreamdecay, a Seattle noise-rock band that will pleasantly damage your ears. Black Lodge, 9 pm.

Hey, Hey He's One of the Monkees!

Posted by on Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 1:41 PM

(Triple Door) Yes! Another Monkee is coming to town! While Tork is my least favorite Monkee (that sounds harsh, but please realize that's like saying chocolate cake is my least favorite kind of cake—it's still delicious), his appearance at the Triple Door will be a wonderful warm-up to the Monkees concert at Benaroya Hall on August 17. Tork's show, "In This Generation: My Life in the Monkees and So Much More," features unseen footage, never-before-heard songs, and stories about how he became a Monkee and what happened during and after his blastoff into fame.

Eleanor Friedberger's Grown-Up-Lady Voice

Posted by on Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 9:59 AM

(Neumos) Half of the Fiery Furnaces, Eleanor Friedberger struck out on her own in 2011 with a solo album called Last Summer, and just a few days ago, she released Personal Record on Merge—a record that is, as advertised, very personal. Friedberger's got a grown-up-lady-from-the-'70s voice that surprised me after looking at every single one of her youthful press photos (I just like her beautiful bangs, OKAY?). That clear and straightforward voice sings stories—candid glimpses into her everyday life, thoughts, curiosities, and matters of the heart. The Bats are a New Zealand placid-pop band (formed in '82 and still consisting of the same four members) whose shimmering and melodic songs are coated in just the right amount of melancholy. With the dense and hypnotizing stony alt-rock of Brooklyn's TEEN (don't worry, not actually teens).

Friday, June 7, 2013

The Maldives' Live Score for Silent Film The Wind

Posted by on Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 2:56 PM

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  • HAYLEY YOUNG

This year's SIFF features two showings of the 1928 silent film drama The Wind accompanied by live-score performances from Seattle's plains-rolling seven-piece the Maldives. The film portrays the prairie-town strife of naive and deprived Letty Mason (played by striking silent-film sovereign Lillian Gish). Letty moves from her Virginia home to Sweet Water in the western prairies to live on the ranch of her cousin Beverly, his wife, Cora, and their three children. But Sweet Water, as it turns out, is not so sweet. Cora hates Letty (especially in the beef-carving scene), thinking Letty is there to steal her husband, and all the men are overbearing, overaggressive assholes. Then there's The Wind, the incessant, somewhat demonic wind. Letty is isolated, beautiful, and pained. She's also longing and pure, and you want good to befall her—all facets the Maldives' sound conjures so well. The band's Jason Dodson, Jesse Bonn, and Faustine Hudson broke down some of their scoring process.

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Too Dark, Too Strange: Cut Hands and Black Rain Make Rare Appearance at Chop Suey

Posted by on Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 2:40 PM

This potentially amazing show is happening tonight. From this week's Data Breaker column:

(Chop Suey, 9 pm, $15 adv, 21+.) Everyone who missed Cut Hands (English gentleman William Bennett, of extreme-chaos ranters Whitehouse) destroy at Decibel last year can make amends tonight. Don't blow it. With Cut Hands, Bennett opts for a raw, brutalist rhythmic approach that borrows—some say too heavy-handedly—from vaudou and Central African sources and disperses scarifying textures over them. It's some of the most harrowing, intense dance music going (imagine eight scare quotes around dance music). Opening are Black Rain, a New York City duo featuring Stuart Argabright of post-punk iconoclasts Ike Yard, hiphop mavericks Death Comet Crew, deviant disco unit Dominatrix, and other envelope-shredders. Now with Shinichi Shimokawa, Argabright takes Black Rain into postindustrial desolation and devastation that updates his Ike Yard sound. It's apt that their label is Blackest Ever Black. With SH6RL6S6 and Actual Pain.

Seattle School of Rock Cover Beck's Song Reader For a Good Cause

Posted by on Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 2:38 PM

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(Fremont Abbey) In the olden days, if you wanted to hear your favorite song, you'd get sheet music and play it yourself. Of course, in this age of Spotify/YouTube/iTunes/downloads/ instant gratification/overstimulation, that idea comes off as straight-up radical. So when Beck wrote his latest album, Song Reader, and released it as a 108-page book of art and sheet music instead of an actual recording, he left a grand experiment for fans to attempt to "cover" any of the 20 songs on the album. You can't buy the record for Song Reader, but you can check out this show put on by the amazing School of Rock, who have taken on the challenge of arranging Beck's compositions in their own style. Plus, all proceeds will go to benefit 826 Seattle.

Roscoe Mitchell Performs Nonaah

Posted by on Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 2:19 PM

(Benaroya Hall) When modern jazz came to an end in the mid-'60s, the leading musicians of that movement had to make one of three choices: stick with modernism, which meant sticking with the past, or go forward with either jazz fusion (jazz and rock/funk) or free jazz (jazz meets Schoenberg). Miles Davis famously chose jazz fusion, and John Coltrane chose free jazz. There were some musicians, however, who more or less began their jazz careers at this important historical point—the end of modern jazz. One such musician was Roscoe Mitchell, a talented saxophonist who in his mid-20s began the Roscoe Mitchell Sextet, which released a free-jazz classic, Sound (1966), and later evolved into the Art Ensemble of Chicago (a group that produced one jazz celebrity, Lester Bowie). Tonight, Mitchell performs music from his strange and beautiful 1977 album, Nonaah.

Mikal Cronin, Shannon and the Clams, and Dude York. Need I Say More?

Posted by on Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 1:37 PM

Whoa!

(Tractor) After listening to Mikal Cronin's second album, MCII, I have decided you are going to like him. In fact, you, reader of this blurb, are going to like this whole entire show! Mikal Cronin is a thoughtful garage-rocker who sometimes plays with fellow Californian Ty Segall. Though buzzing riffs and fuzzed-out sound-walls occasionally hang in the background, Cronin's solo musicianship is cleaner and bouncier than Segall's more blown-out tendencies. Next we have Oakland sweeties Shannon and the Clams, who recently released an exquisitely packaged album called Dreams in the Rat House (you have got to get a load of the mystical golden-glitter explosion that is the cover!). Rat House is packed with dreamy, '60s-ish surf grit and, of course, the voice of Shannon Shaw—a magical wail like none other, dipped in velvet, rolled in rhinestones. With the happening pop of Seattle's Dude York.

Today's Music News: Misogyny, Abbreviations, and a Prayer

Posted by on Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 1:21 PM

More Like Tyler, the Berate-r! Ha!: In Australia Odd Future head honcho Tyler, the Creator is under investigation after he spewed a series of hateful, misogynistic comments directed at a member of the feminist group Collective Shout that have been lobbying for the revocation of the artists' visa. A Twitter fight ensued.

Fighting the Good Fight: Neko Case has announced that she's releasing a new album with the hefty title The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You. Or, more simply: TWTGTHIFTHIFTMILY.

Three 5 Mafia?: The mafia is mobilizing once again to put out a new album! Only without Juicy J because he's busy.

Rah Rah Riot: The Pussy Riot documentary, "Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer," is set to be aired on June 10th on HBO. Mark your calendars and start buttering up your friend with a television/disposable income for premium TV channels!

His Majesty: Kurt Vile just released his video for the track "KV Crimes" in which he is wheeled around the streets of his hometown of Philadelphia on a throne! A very fitting display because August 28th will now be "Kurt Vile Day" as decreed by the city's mayor!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Underage: Hausu, the Numbs, FF

Posted by on Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 11:54 AM

Seattle music prodigy Ben Funkhouser departed for school in Portland a few years back and formed Hausu. An early EP from the band showcased sparkling guitar pop, but by all accounts, their upcoming debut record for Hardly Art will be a change of pace. "Leaning Mess," a teaser track from Total, is a dissonant avalanche that evokes incredible excitement, abject despair, self-loathing, huge swells of arrogance, life doldrums, death of self, and catharsis. Or what's otherwise known as "growing up." With the Numbs and FF. Black Lodge, 9 pm.

Update: Here's Hausu's new sinlge "Chrysanthemum," released yesterday! -Emily Nokes

You'll Definitely Want to Show Up Early to Tonight's Casey Veggies Show

Posted by on Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 11:33 AM

UPDATE: This show has been canceled. Crocodile talent buyer Alicia Amiri says that it may be rescheduled. Stay tuned.

(Crocodile) LA's Casey Veggies came up in the same lane as Tyler, the Creator and Odd Future, appearing all over the first Odd Future Tape (the first OF release ever) and even Tyler's acclaimed debut, Bastard. Since then, Veggies has distinguished himself from the punk-rap anarchists with his smooth, easygoing delivery and positive outlook on life—displayed from his first mixtape, Sleeping in Class, to his most recent, Life Changes (his Tyler-produced, Earl/Hodgy/Domo–featuring banger, "PNCINTLOFWGKTA" shows he hasn't burned any bridges, though). Travi$ Scott, whose name and Auto-Tuned voice have become more ubiquitous in the last several months, appears to be a sort of Kanye/Future–derivative hybrid (and possibly the newest servant of a dark illuminati agenda), judging from his "Quintana" video, in which he raps over a Young Chop–jacking beat and bursts into flames while wearing a strappy leather vest with a giant pentagram on the chest. Seattle's Dave B made noise by winning this year's EMP Sound Off! competition, but proved himself even further by going the fuck in during his KEXP Street Sounds in-studio last month. Show up early for this one.

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Wednesday, June 5, 2013

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Monday, June 3, 2013

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Friday, May 31, 2013

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Thursday, May 30, 2013

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Psych-Pop Purr-fection

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