The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Line Out: Fleet Foxes

Are Fleet Foxes "Innovative"?

Dave Segal — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:12:39 -0800

Today I learned from reading a local weekly newspaper that Fleet Foxes are “innovative.” Now, you can say a lot of things about Fleet Foxes, but one of the last adjectives I would use to describe them is “innovative.” Pleasant, euphonious, earnest, gentle, rootsy, bucolic, technically proficient—yes. Innovative? No. Various dictionary definitions for "innovative" include “being or producing something like nothing done or experienced or created before; ahead of the times; using or showing new methods, ideas.”

But maybe I’m offbase. Perhaps Fleet Foxes are blazing new trails in rock and I’m too dense to discern it. So let’s do a poll to determine once and for all if Fleet Foxes are innovative.

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First We Let Fleet Foxes Loose on the Zoo, Then We Let Charles Mudede Loose on Fleet Foxes

Grant Brissey — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:52:46 -0700

Kelly O

Already the anonymous vitriol is boiling:

Obviously written by the same person

Join the fun here!

Photos: Fleet Foxes at the Moore

Josh Bis — Tue, 03 May 2011 12:34:52 -0700

Josh Bis
Robin Pecknold / Fleet Foxes

It didn't require an zoology degree to deduce that captive animals weren't the target audience for the latest Fleet Foxes album. Indeed, in a month that saw the band grabbing the cover of SPIN, front page of the the front page of the weekend Seattle Times, and a "best new music" badge, there weren't any signs of indifferent ocelots among the adoring crowd for the first of the band's two headlining shows at the Moore last night.

Instead, the night found the crowd warmed by an electrifying performance by the Cave Singers and ready for a couple hours from a hometown band on the eve of their latest album's release. From the opening wall of inarguable sparkling amber harmonies, the band wove new songs (which have been streaming at NPR music for the last couple weeks, granting fans more than passing familiarity) into a set that included plenty of material from their self-titled debut, follow-up Sun Giant EP, and even a quick Celine Dion riff for the people in the steerage of the upper balcony.

Aside from an odd moment of chatter interrupting near-silent tuning breaks, the band displayed striking sense of musicianship and onstage reserve (distinguishing them, a bit, from the rest of the current cresting wave of foot-stomping neo-folk revivalism), focusing instead on creating rich sonic environments. In particular, the addition of multi-instrumentalist Morgan Henderson certainly enriched the texture of the band's sound, including a bass clarinet freakout during "The Shrine / An Argument" that sounded too much like a sack of ducklings being handled ungently for comfort. With Pecknold opening the encore with a stunning solo performance, it's easy to see how the group could be tempted just to write songs to serve as playgrounds for his range of vocal gymnastics. To their credit, though, the band instead works more like a supergroup, merging the ample talents of each member into a greater whole.

If there's any minor complaint to be made about the show, it's that even with an eager guitar tech replenishing their arsenal, there were still a fair share of quiet moments between songs. Occasionally, this led to some funny personable moments — a few riffs on the Portland thrift scene, comments on finishing Portal 2, and a mumbled wish that OFWGKTA had stayed badass for a little while before signing to Sony (in response to a front row kid's repeated "swag swag swag" exclamations) — but it might do the band some good to train up a member in between song banter, if only to spare the rest of the crowd the ~~bizarre false~~ early birthday wishes and "Free Bird" requests. Still, it was a beautiful night of music that I was extremely glad to experience from the edge of the stage.

Fleet Foxes play a second (sold out) show tonight at the Moore. Their latest record, Helplessness Blues was released this morning. Even though the band is famously indifferent to file-sharing, it's hard to argue against the simplicity of buying it today for the obscenely low price of $3.99.

Photos of the Cave Singers & Fleet Foxes after the jump

the Cave Singers

Fleet Foxes

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Wall of Sound's Giving Away 2 Pairs of Fleet Foxes Tickets

Dave Segal — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:40:28 -0700

Between now and April 23, Seattle record shop Wall of Sound is giving you a chance to win a pair of tickets to Fleet Foxes' sold-out concerts at the Moore Theatre May 2 and 3. Visit the store and enter your name in the drawing; winners will be contacted April 24.

If you're unfamiliar with the esteemed Wall of Sound, please read this feature.

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The Current Top Five Songs Stuck In My Head

Charles Mudede — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:57:07 -0700

1) "Send Me" by Sam Cook
There is only one reason why this tune is stuck in my head at this time: Grant Brissey. He played it on his computer a week or so ago. The tune has not left my head since.

2) "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" by Kate Bush
The blame for this tune's stuckness is the hipster who played the Chromatic's version of it at The Unicorn on February 25, 2011 (I tagged it on my Shazam).

3)"Forget Me Nots" by Patrice Rushen
I will never get that wonderful tune out of my head, and nor do I want it go.

4) "Blue Ridge Mountains" by Fleet Foxes
The person who holds the blame for this dreamy tune is Ross Beamish, who plays with Yuni in Taxco. Ross played the tune while working at Caffé Vita in Pioneer Square. The line I can no longer get out of my head: "And the river was frozen..."

5) "Xanadu" by Olivia Newton John
I heard this tune two days ago while watching the splendid documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself. The documentary is 3 hours long; the tune might be in my head forever. If I had not heard it on Sunday, then "Rapper's Delight" would have been number five today: "The women fight for my delight." Indeed, a penis is a delightful thing.

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Fleet Foxes Auctioning Helplessness Blues Test Pressing to Help Japan

Dave Segal — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:41:30 -0700

Fleet Foxes lead singer/guitarist Robin Pecknold has put up on eBay a test pressing of the band's forthcoming album, Helplessness Blues, to help raise funds for the GlobalGiving Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund. Helplessness Blues comes out May 3 on Sub Pop.

"This is a double vinyl, so you'll receive two records, one with sides A & B and one with sides C & D," Pecknold explains on the eBay page. "We'll include a little note with like tracklisting and other information."

The total is currently at $1,525, with a little over six days to go in the auction (it closes Mon. March 28 at 1:02 pm Pacific Time). Go here to bid.

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Caperin': The Long Arm Of Mark Arm

Derek Erdman — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:09:49 -0800

Last Friday instead of going to the Nobunny show, Sarah Moody and I drove to Port Townsend, WA. When I moved to Seattle, nobody at all informed me of the totally weird and ruling music scene in Port Townsend. We arrived in town and went directly to a bar called Sirens. It was around midnight and we were just in time to see a G.G. Allin spacerock cover band called GG ALIEN. Essentially it was 3 dudes and a girl and they had fake crummy G.G. Allin tattoos and they played G.G. Allin songs but would medley them with Hawkwind, Von LMO, Zolar X, Jobriath, etc. Also, they'd punch each other in the face in the middle of the songs. The bar was 1/2 full and nobody really seemed to understand what was happening. I saw a flier for the show and apparently we'd missed another band called TOMBS FROM THE CRYPT which was a Rocket From The Crypt / Rocket From The Tombs cover band. I fully intend to move to Port Townsend to finally start a Motley Cure cover band. "Too Young To Fall (Friday I'm) In Love," ETC.

Always Was Is and Always Shall Be(ings from outer space).

Hot Food News Tip: The best burger in drizzleville is moving to White Center! Owned by Blaine Cook, one time member of the Accused, Zippy's Giant Burgers is switching locations because White Center is the best place in America to have a business. Last month the Belle & I bought 30 hamburgers from Zippy's to take to Suzie Strait's birthday party and the guy at the register seemed mad that I ordered so much food. When I tacked a Cheerwine onto the order he became absolutely livid. Just imagine what will happen when the totally wasted patrons of Marv's Broiler stumble over to Chez Zip! It will be a total battle, with fists!

Mustard Splatterhead's Grumpy Counterperson.

Rad Podcast Alert: If you like hardcore punker music played and talked about by handsome older men, you'll just love TOTAL POSEURS, the newest and best computer music file radio show on the Internet. It is made by Dave Hernandez & Derek Erdman with this week's guest Ruben Mendez & Lacey Swain. It is so good, we play Raw power and 0DFX & Lacey tells a story about a baby with a back-piece tattoo. That rules of curse, DUH.

Great Moment In Caperin' History: Sometimes when I have to send a lot of big things in the mail, I really need boxes. Last week Lacey told me I could get some boxes at Sub Pop. I went to Sub Pop and helped put 843 CDs into envelopes. Afterward I sauntered through the mail room (hey, James Bertram!) and spied a mountain of boxes that I thought were for the taking. NOT SO, declared employee Mark Arm. "I like to put the little boxes into the big boxes," he explained. My disappointment must have been obvious as he allowed me to have some boxes out of pity. You can't find boxes in the garbage in Seattle, they are always wet.

Boxes: don't keep them out of my face!

In Chicago during 1987 some people with an extra strong TV transmitter broke through an episode of Doctor Who on the WTTW network:

Well known writer Michael Azerrad wrote regarding about last week's Fricke / Moore / Rollins debacle. During our emails he didn't request that I make a drawing of Red Sox-era Dennis Eckersley dressed as a woman and renamed Denise Eckersley. I borrowed his Nirvana book from Kerri Harrop when I went to her house to give her an owl painting and eat chili. She played me Talulah Gosh, OMG(OSH):

Well, HELLO Denise Eckersley.

Old, rare & totally weird book to read to your children alert: The Story of Little Kettlehead - An Awful Warning To Bad Babas or The Story Of Little Degchie-Head By Helen Bannerman.

Is it illegal to scan a dog named Chuy? I reckon we'll find out.

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"This popular band we've produced and the whole world loves? I wholeheartedly support it!"

David Schmader — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:33:46 -0800

To fulfill the wish of Line Out commenter ndrwmtsn, I post the sentence in the subject line.

And seriously, let me repeat, deep congrats to Fleet Foxes and Sub Pop and Phil Ek for writing, creating, and releasing a record that thrilled the shit out of people all over the world and will, for many music fans, be the record to remember 2008 by.

(Also, the perverse flipside to nrdwmstn's claim that not enough folks are willing to admit to enjoying Fleet Foxes is the fact that Fleet Foxes are immensely enjoyable. Your sulky teenaged niece will love them, your Dylan-loving dad will love them (if he isn't overly bugged by the too-diffuse ren-faire lyrics), and if you're looking for an easy way to support local businesses and local artists this holiday season, you could very well buy a copy of Fleet Foxes for every single person on your shopping list.)

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Pitchfork's Album of the Year

David Schmader — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:06:19 -0800

It's the splashiest win yet in the Fleet Foxes' year-end victory lap. Congrats to the bearded wonder boys (as well as Sub Pop and Phil Ek) and confidential to everyone who believes Fleet Foxes has more to offer than Dear Science: You're insane.

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