One of the great things about all the Best of the Decade lists that have started circulatingly lately has been rediscovering records that you may have slept-on or too hastily dismissed the first time around. So it's been for me the past couple weeks with the Avalanches' sampledelic odyssey Since I Left You. Originally released in 2001, I errantly judged the record by the US single "Frontier Psychiatrist," which at the time—and recall, this was a crazy, pre-Girl Talk era in which people still enthusiastically employed the term "turntablism"—struck me as just another scratchy sample collage: a hip hop break, a big looming choral/symphonic part, a mess of spoken samples. (I also recall thinking that the video was annoying—it's in fact awesome.) And so I never really gave the record a chance.

So, yeah, it's an amazing album—crate digging as musical world tour, precursor of nu Balearica, etc, etc. Just the vocal on the introductory title track completely kills me. Or the chirpy dial cranking and ducking beat of "Radio." I've even really warmed to "Frontier Psychiatrist" in the context of the album, where it's pomp and chatter and humor land as not a relief but as kind of a detour from the half hour of breezy, beachy beats that precede it. I've come to appreciate the odd aleatoric effect of all those those dialogue samples (and they get bonus points for use of John Waters' Polyester).

I'm leaving on a little trip tomorrow night, and although I'm not sure how I'll be bringing my music with me—burn some CDs? buy an old, disposable iPod?—I know for sure that this record will be coming.

I want dozens of violin, cello, and viola players to be crowded so closely to one another that their bows come centimeters away from knocking into their neighbor's head. I want rows and rows of woodwinds, I want someone playing a harp and someone playing a bassoon, and I definitely want someone gleefully banging the shit out of a metal tea kettle, while the roomful of onlookers sing along to their favorite songs because they just can't help themselves.

The orchestra, conducted by Scott Teske, did an outstanding job—they hit every crescendo, handclap, and chime, and captured every ounce of dramatic, creative energy that Funeral has come to be so known for, so loved for.

Each song was sung by different guest vocalists from local bands, so they all had their own unique energy. Matthew Shaw, of the band With Friends Like These, opened by absolutely nailing "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)." "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)" (which has always made me think of the Pixies for some reason), was performed by both Danny Oleson and Jasen Samford of Exohxo, and "Une Annee Sans Lumiere" and "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" were mastered by Ian Bell of Black Swedes and singer/songwriter Shenandoah Davis (it was cute, they even had a few dance moves worked out during instrumental breaks).

Matt Bishop, the frontman of Seattle's own mini folk orchestra Hey Marseilles, was the absolute and perfect choice for two of the slower songs on the record—his smooth croon sounded especially nice while he sang the absolutely heartbreaking "Crown of Love."

And the highlight of the show, which is also the highlight of the record, was Alessandra Rose's performance of Wake Up. The song is traditionally sung by Arcade Fire's frontman Win Butler, but and with her deep and smokey voice, Rose delivered the song with just as much sincerity and warmth as Butler ever has.

She also did a fantastic job singing the adorable "Haiti," before quietly exiting the stage before the song's end to make room for Jima of the Purrs, who delivered an energetic rendition of "Rebellion (Lies)."

The show closed, of course, with Shenandoah Davis delicately singing the last song on the record, "In the Backseat." And after the song slowly, quietly, tiptoed out of existence by way of gentle plucks on cellos and violins, the room burst into applause and the crowd rose to their feet. And they continued to stand there, continued to clap, while the members of the orchestra smiled at one another and exchanged bewildered looks. The record was over. There were no more songs to play. But everyone wanted more. Clearly. They were never going to stop clapping otherwise. So the Seattle Rock Orchestra played "Wake Up" one more time, and it was even better than the first.

I wish the video could do it justice—to have been there in person, sitting just a row or two away from the mess of instruments, getting the perfect mix, and hearing every subtle shift of dynamics in each song... it was amazing.

The Seattle Rock Orchestra is going to do this again in February, when they celebrate the work of David Bowie.

More videos after the jump, including one from Exohxo, who opened the show (and did a phenomenal job themselves).

Holy shit, it's going to be epic.

Exohxo open the show, and in this week's Underage I spoke with the band's singer/guitarist Jasen Samford about rehearsing with the orchestra and hearing it all come together for the first time*. (Read that here.) I also got in touch with Scott Teske, the conductor of the Seattle Rock Orchestra, who took time from all the arranging and rehearsing to answer a few questions about the SRO and this ambitious project:

How long has the Seattle Rock Orchestra been around?

The SRO began as idea in the summer of 2008. I thought about it for months before it came to fruition. Then in November my friend and former sea.mine band-mate Ian Bell came to me with his new band's album, the Black Swedes' "Tempest," on which he had a string quartet perform. For our first show I adapted the quartet parts for string orchestra and that was the start of it. From there it just took off, with each show getting more and more ambitious. Since we started performing at the Fremont Abbey I feel we have really hit our stride. It's the first venue we've played in that has the space and acoustics to fully realize what I set out to do last year.

Why did you (and the Rock Orchestra) decide to cover Funeral? What is it about that record that is intriguing?

I chose Funeral because it is one of my favorite records. Definitely one of those "desert island" albums that I couldn't live without. I wanted to put on a show that everyone could could get excited about—myself, the performers and audience.

How many performers will be involved?

For this show there are 58 in the orchestra, plus another 13 with the guest vocalists and Exohxo. So 71 total. This will mark the first time we have had a true symphony orchestra, both in terms of size and instrumentation. All the families of instruments will be represented: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. I am excited because this is the first time we have used bassoon, trombone or tuba.

If this goes well, do you think you'll do anything like this again, with other records? (I can think of a dozen more I'd LOVE to hear get this treatment....)

I absolutely intend to continue this trend. For our next show we will be covering the songs of David Bowie, mostly off of Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust, plus a few other tunes on other records. I also really enjoy collaborating with local artists, so you will continue to see us share the stage with Seattle bands. I am really excited to perform with Exohxo; Danny and Jasen have been amazing to work with, both as the songwriters of Exohxo and the backbone of the Arcade Fire tribute band!

Finally, I heard the show is sold out. Do you think there might be a few tickets released at the door?

Yes, I believe all presale tickets are sold out, and there *maybe*, and yes that's maybe with a big asterik, a handful tickets at the door. For those that are searching for tickets, they can signup on a waitlist for tickets on the Fremont Abbey's blog at fremontabbey.org.

So it sounds like David Bowie is next. That should be good. What other bands/records/songs would you love to heard the Seattle Rock Orchestra play?

(*I was also very drunk when I wrote the column because not only did I say Exohxo's new record is self-titled when it's actually called Other Ghosts, but I also said the band was an eight piece, when there are really only seven members. In my defense, I was just really, really excited about tonight's show and could hardly sit still in my chair, let alone keep my facts straight.)

The full 60 sq ft map will be on display at Cairo Gallery on Nov 20th as part of that weekend's Expo '87 festival. The story behind the whole thing is here. Remember to always use pick guards and purell your hands, people.

I've been a Pixies fan for a while now, but I was too young to catch their first go-round, and I somehow stupidly missed their prior reunion tour, so their performance of great sophomore album Doolittle (plus b-sides!) at the sold-out Paramount last night was a real thrill.

The band came out to huge applause, Deal chirped that they were going to play some b-sides, and with they launched into "Dancing the Manta Ray" with a feedback-soaked riff and a little yelp from Frank Black. Their faces were darkened with shadow for the first song. They played "Weird at School," and you could see Kim Deal laughing after the songs two opening crescendos—the whole band looked to be having a good time, but Deal was smiling wide pretty much the whole night. She announced, "We're gonna play some more b-sides. Have you guys heard any of these b-sides? This next one we all had to learn," before launching into "Bailey's Walk," which Black sang with a mightily constipated howl. The finished their little warm-up b-sides set with the sing-songy, upbeat "Manta Ray."

And then! Doolittle! For this part of the set, I'm just going to update this song-by-song run-through with my reactions from the show. Here we go:

1. "Debaser": You can't start an album much better than with those 16 bass notes, that searing, circling guitar chord, and that annunciatory drum fill—and of course the whole song unfolds into something amazing, Frank Black howling mad (about Luis Buñuel, etc.), Kim Deal heavenly and weightless, rhythm relentless and upbeat, guitar hook simple and irresistible.

Deal's background vocals seem a little off-time, but this song is still unstoppably euphoric. Here is where I start wearing a grin that'll pretty much be beaming the entire show (I can't remember the last show that had me smiling so much.)

2. "Tame": Lots to love here—guitars flayed out over an anxiously groovy bass line—but best of all is Black's ragged breathing of the verses and on the bridge, so uncomfortably close and predatory that you can practically feel the hot, wet panting on the back of your neck.

Black's barks may not be what they once were, but this still rips.

3. "Wave of Mutilation": Morbid surf rock at its big, wide-screen best.

I have no notes on this song.

4. "I Bleed": Epic, endlessly climbing song, Deal's background vocals echoing Black's to chilling effect, lyrics typically gothic and surreal.

The guitars seem like kind of an aweseome/awful mess on this song, way more bloody and sloppy than on record. There are these sort of white Bucky Balls joined by tubes floating above and behind the band, and they sort of sag and hover and move around. Weird, but maybe not as weird as you'd expect from the pixies.

5. "Here Comes Your Man": The lyrics are something about hopping boxcars, but the sentiment and the song's gushing titular refrain sound like pure romantic love.

Deal, introducing the song: "We're still on the first side!" (All of her banter—and she was the only one who talked last night—was this kind of walking-the-crowd-through-the-record stuff.) For this one, the video screen behind the band shows the four band members in tight-cropped close-ups, bopping their heads or fidgeting along to a rhythm that doesn't match the one the band onstage is playing; at the end of the song, the four on-screen Pixies all stand up and walk off. This song is amazing, maybe the most romantic thing my 18 year-old self had ever heard.

The rest of the show and more photos (by Kelly O) after the jump.

This Friday the Stranger is hosting its annual Genius Awards Party at the historic Moore Theatre. There's no award for musical genius, but every year we get some outstanding acts to entertain the official brainiacs, runners-up, and hangers-on. This year the line-up includes indie-pop smarty-pantses Throw Me the Statue, hiphop cut-ups They Live!, chillwave up&comers USF, and soulful collectors/selectors Emerald City Soul Club.

USF (formerly Universal Studios Florida) are opening the Genius Awards Party this year, and you can read all about them, their unexpected buzz, and the already much-maligned micro-genre "chillwave" in this week's music lead, Triumph of the Chill:

U.S.F. began in earnest only after the two moved apart and began collaborating by sending tracks back and forth to each other. In December of last year, while snowed in at their parents' houses in Edmonds and Magnolia, they recorded many of the tracks for their debut full-length, Ocean Sunbirds, in this manner. U.S.F. released their debut EP and played their first show in January of this year, and released Sunbirds in late June. By October 26, they had been featured on Pitchfork four separate times, twice for tracks from Sunbird, once for a remix of like-minded Florida act Blind Man's Colour, and once for an interview in the site's "Rising" column.

"Pitchfork approaching us was really cool," says Hargus. "I think it started with getting friended on MySpace by Ryan—what's his name?—Schreiber, the site's founder, then he Twittered about us, and they asked us for the record. It was definitely really cool and very unexpected."

The Stranger Genius Awards Party happens Friday, November 13th at the Moore Theatre, w/ Throw Me the Statue, They Live!, USF (Universal Studios Florida), and Emerald City Soul Club, $5, 8pm, 21+. Win free VIP tickets here.

Which Britney Spears phase is your fave? Naughty schoolgirl? Snake charmer? Frappuccino-guzzling, umbrella-wielding, British-speaking babymama? (Personally, mine is the under-appreciated trucker-hat-adorning, K-Fed dating era.) Well, today you can celebrate all of Brit’s history with the release of (taking a deep breath) Britney: The Singles Collection (Deluxe Edition) [Remastered] now on sale on iTunes.

(At least when we post press releases, we ID them as such and put them in blockquotes.)

If this keeps up the rest of the week, I predict the site's readers jumping ship en masse. I know I will.

This Friday the Stranger is hosting its annual Genius Awards Party at the historic Moore Theatre. There's no award for musical genius, but every year we get some outstanding acts to entertain the official brainiacs, runners-up, and hangers-on. This year the line-up includes indie-pop smarty-pantses Throw Me the Statue, hiphop cut-ups They Live!, chillwave up&comers USF, and soulful collectors/selectors Emerald City Soul Club.

About ECSC, if you haven't been to their long-running, critically-acclaimed monthly soul night at Lo_Fi or its wandering sister night, Talcum—well, just what the hell have you been doing? ECSC consistently brings crates and crates of rad and rare soul 45s to their nights, making for that rarest of situation in which every song sounds warmly familiar (the soul sound is just in our musical DNA at this point in history) even if you've never heard many of the records before. Their nights fill up fast, their crowd is ever expanding, so the Genius Awards party, where they'll be DJing in the spacious Moore Theatre lobby (and maybe in the basement bar?), might be a nice chance to see them with a little more breathing room. Or, more than likely, it'll just as packed with swanky revelers as anything. (This weekend is also their annual Rare Soul Weekender, as per the flyer above.)

The Stranger Genius Awards Party happens Friday, November 13th at the Moore Theatre, w/ Throw Me the Statue, They Live!, USF (Universal Studios Florida), and Emerald City Soul Club, $5, 8pm, 21+

Following early sellouts and rave reviews the past several years, and hailed by SPIN as “a pick-your-poison selection for your party at the edge of the earth,” the Sasquatch! Festival returns for its ninth year May 29-31 (Memorial Day Weekend), 2010 at The Gorge in Quincy, WA. For the first time, a special discounted 3-day festival pass will be available in time for the holiday gift season on Saturday, November 7 at 10:00 A.M. (PST) via sasquatchfestival.com. There are a limited number of discount passes, which will be available through December 31, 2009. Recently reunited indie rock legends Pavement will be performing. The festival’s complete lineup will be announced February 16.

Fuck! Yeah!

(Parts 2-6 are all lined up and waiting for you on Pitchfork.)

• Christian Coomer

"Darling" is a sexy, self-assured romp that politely tells someone to fuck off. "Supernatural Help" is more playful, light-hearted at first with a staccato, bouncing piano line, but what her voice does starting at the 2:15 mark, combined with the flurry of piano... I get goose-bumps. "For Now" got re-recorded and sounds just as good as ever (although I do miss the whole "I literally recorded this in my basement" kind of charm present on the demo). Basically, every song is good if not great.

And now you can hear for yourself—Miss Johnston gave me permission to post one of my favorite tracks. It's called "Rain, Rain" and I fucking love it and I dare you to listen to this song and NOT feel at least a little bit better about fall and rain and all the miserable stuff that comes with it.

People Eating People - "Rain, Rain"

People Eating People is playing the Rendezvous November 12th with Julianna Barwick, Flexions, and Bill Horist.

If you're feeling that, check this Shabazz Palaces story—the first piece written on this artist—from back in the day, and stay tuned for a local live date.

UPDATE: Shabazz will be performing Dec. 11 at Nectar Lounge along with Doodlebug's (aka Cee Knowledge's) new project, Cosmic Funk Orchestra, and Ish "Butterfly" Butler will end the night doing some classic Digable Planets tracks with Doodlebug.

Cue "Demons Out" ("how am I supposed to sleep at night/when no one likes the music we write"):

Halloween, with all its candy and kiddie costumes, makes light of a pretty serious aspect of the human condition: Ghosts are real. Maybe not in the form of ectoplasmic slimers or furniture-flinging poltergeists, but at least as a metaphorical means of explaining the memories we hold on to long after a person or thing or even a possibility is dead and gone. Who hasn't been haunted by such phantoms? There are plenty of places you can spend your Halloween this year, but if you want to hear some truly haunted music, there's only one show to see: Atlas Sound and Broadcast.

Atlas Sound is the solo recording guise of prolific Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox. Broadcast are the Birmingham, UK, duo of Trish Keenan and James Cargill. Both bands engage in what music critic Simon Reynolds, borrowing from Jacques Derrida, has dubbed "hauntology": music that explores "the paradoxical state of the spectre, which is neither being nor non-being." In general, this means lots of disembodied voices, echoes, blurry samples and hazes of sound, and a kind of sinister nostalgia or longing. But each of these acts takes a slightly different approach to busting out its ghosts.

Read and comment on the whole thing here.

The entire front section is being removed in front of the stage to contain a VIP area that can handle at this time 50 people. I hate to be blunt but at even the best Decibel events over the past three years a solid group of dancers numbering over 75 at any one time is as orgasmic as few and far between. Those that want to dance can and will be ensured more space and intimate contact with Matt than at any other Hecatomb tour date. Add in my belief that this will set a new standard for visuals and sound at the Triple Door, I don't see how a better more promising event could be made on any week night any where on Earth.

Between every section of dinner tables there is an aisle at least 5 feet wide that can handle at least 30 with an unobstructed view. Mix in how I wasn't content with my DEMF Hecatomb experience, Matt has learned to control all the visuals himself and that he continues to release at least one new single a month there was no chance I wouldn't put this in my cats litter closet and still be happier than fuk to experience the very edge in Modern American techno.

Well shit, that sounds just great! And truly, this show will look and sound awesome at the Triple Door:

I don't care how ridiculous the band has become over the years (more so than we could've ever imagined, surprisingly)—The Art of Drowning is still a great punk rock record and it always sounds best in late October.

Good god, does this band have a way with (wordy, twee, tragic) titles. Check out this tracklisting:

Romance Is Boring:

01 In Medias Res
02 There Are Listed Buildings
03 Romance Is Boring
04 We've Got Your Back (Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #2)
05 Plan A
06 200-102
07 Straight in at 101
08 Who Fell Asleep In
09 I Warned You: Do Not Make an Enemy of Me
10 Heart Swells/100-1
11 I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed, Just So You Know
12 A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show Me State; or, Letters From Me to Charlotte
13 The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future
14 This Is a Flag. There Is No Wind.
15 Coda: A Burn Scar in the Shape of the Sooner State

Yeesh! The album, the band's third, will come out on January 26th via Arts & Crafts, and features guest appearances from like-minded mopers Zac Pennington of the Parenthetical Girls, Jherek Bischoff of the Dead Science, and Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu. Says Los Campesinos!:

It is a record about the death and decay of the human body, sex, lost love, mental breakdown, football and, ultimately, that there probably isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel.

Delightful.

noddy.indiedino.com

He says that the new work's theme is "bad porn." As if there could be such a thing.

Listen!