Pilcrow

A few months ago, a friend of mine, trying to identify a song she'd heard, posted a video on Facebook that she said was similar. That video was an amazing remix of music and sounds from Disney's Alice in Wonderland, simply called "Alice", and I thought it was fantastic. The creator of "Alice" was an artist going by the name Pogo, and I immediately downloaded as many of his songs as I could find—many of them were at the time freely available through his Last.fm site (and are now "name your price" downloads on his own site). I was very excited when I found out at the end of January that he would be on tour and stopping at Chop Suey on Thursday March 10, and put that right on my calendar. Also on the bill that evening were Absolute Madman and Lynx.

Absolute Madman is a Seattle-based DJ who played a set of very heavy dubstep. He created his own dubstep remixes of other songs, such as the theme to "Dragnet", which was pretty cool. I also liked his smooth segues from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" into the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" into, of all things, Van Halen's keyboard riff from "Jump". I wasn't quite convinced that mixing everything into the same slow dubstep beat was a great idea, the risk being that it'd sound plodding, but he did it well and it was a fun set.

Lynx is a one-woman band, playing laptop/electronics with live guitar on some songs and a floor tom on others, as well as singing and beatboxing. She started out with slow soulful contemporary R&B-style songs, doing some interesting things such as drumming in a Middle Eastern style for "Tricksters & Fools" or modifying her guitar to sound more like a balalaika. Despite that, I found myself feeling bored simply because the contemporary R&B style doesn't interest me. Lynx was obviously a talented musician and singer so I couldn't find fault with her, it was just a matter of taste. But then, unexpectedly, she did a song that was just unaccompanied beatboxing—and it was amazing! Well okay then! She did a phenomenal job imitating record-scratching, using the drum visually as her erstwhile turntable, and just blew me away. She then showed further diversity with "Shout It Out", which was more hip-hop style with rapped verses and a little beatboxing. Although not the headliner, she basically got to do an encore, finishing with another beatbox, adding a little keys to it—which she said she was trying for the first time, though she did so with aplomb. Personally I'd prefer to see her focus more on the beatboxing and hip-hop style songs, but if contemporary R&B is your thing you should check her out for that, too.

I mentioned before that I learned about Pogo because a friend was trying to identify another artist; that other artist turned out to be Passion Pit, and I decided that Pogo's song "Alice" did sound something like Passion Pit's "The Reeling" as done by Seattle electronic musician Lusine. Much of Pogo's music though has its own distinctive sound precisely because he uses music and sounds from classic musicals and Disney films, which have a certain style to them. For that night's show, these included Alice in Wonderland ("Alice"), The Sword in the Stone ("White Magic"), Mary Poppins ("Expialidocious"), Snow White ("Wishery"), and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory ("Scrumdiddlyumptious"). But he also used a variety of other films too, from classics such as Casablanca to contemporary films such as The Terminator 2; several of these songs haven't been released and were being debuted on the tour. And he's also experimented with non-film sources such as recording video of his mom gardening or people out on the streets of the city, and simply creating his own music wholesale. To be clear, even on the remixes from films, he'd use words or whole phrases sometimes, but the resulting music was still entirely original, made out of bits from the soundtrack. It was also clear that he was recreating the mixes live for the concert, not just replaying the videos he'd posted to YouTube, and he intercut the videos as well without pause, one song into the next. A few songs toward the end and in the encore were on the heavy side, but mostly the music was blissful, wistful, and trippy. The whole show was really great, totally worth the wait and staying out late on a working week when I was tired and short on sleep. I'll continue to keep an eye on his site and check out songs as he releases them, and I highly recommend you do too.

I took just a couple photos of each act, not bothering to try capturing a shot of one of Pogo's videos along with Pogo (I sort of wish I had, even though I doubt it would've come out worth saving); you can see them in this set on Flickr.

I started off July 2010 with an impromptu show: I heard Fol Chen play live at KEXP on Friday July 9, and liked what I heard enough to go check them out later that evening at the Sunset Tavern. They were playing with Mostly Dimes and the Pica Beats, both of whom I liked well enough but found fairly unremarkable. In my notes I described Mostly Dimes as "the kind of band that uses a mandolin a lot", while the Pica Beats were an "oh, these guys!" band—it must have been the song "Shrinking Violets" that I recognized. Fol Chen I thought were rather Devo-esque at least in appearance, an impression brought on in part by their matching orange uniforms. Musically though they reminded me of (fairly obscure) Boston bands Think Tree and Count Zero, with their quirky experimental post-punk, though perhaps they were more like Deerhoof. I enjoyed their set enough to buy not one but two of their CDs, Part 1: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made and Part 2: The New December. 

A few days later on July 13, I joined a few friends at Chop Suey to see Quintron & Miss Pussycat. I missed the first opening band, but enjoyed the spooky dark lounge / surf rock of Puberty, though after several songs I found they were sounding a bit limited. Quintron & Miss Pussycat was unexpected for me; I'd thought that I'd heard them before, but I didn't recognize any of their songs and none sounded like anything that would've caught my ear. Bringing new meaning to camp, Quintron's keyboard stand was disguised as the front of an antique automobile, trailing an old camper that turned out to be a puppet stage. (The opening puppet show was indescribably odd, which is why I have no notes describing it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) Musically they played down-and-dirty surf punk and psychobilly, reminiscent of the Cramps mixed with the B-52s. I found the vocals a little too shrilly shouted for my taste, and between the aggressive sound and the crowd surfing and moshing, I started feeling rather anxious; one song, I decided, sounded like the point when bad things start happening in a horror movie. However, toward the end of their set the music became more dance-like, and I was amused when they covered Glen Campbell's hit "Rhinestone Cowboy", first warning the audience "if you're reviewing the show you should leave now, it's gonna get real fucking bad." Well, "Rhinestone Cowboy" wasn't the worst of the lot, and although Quintron & Miss Pussycat turned out to be not really to my taste, I certainly understood why they had an enthusiastic audience.

My third July show was one I'd been looking forward to for a little while: The Secret History played Nectar Lounge on July 21, with Bandolier opening and Hotels closing. Bandolier were a pop-rock quartet with that young-band charm, freshness, and roughness. They played a good set though without standout tunes, and I felt they still needed development; in fairness, it turned out they had substitutes for a couple of their usual members due to some schedule conflict. The Secret History are basically a re-formed version of NYC band My Favorite, adding two new vocalists (Lisa Ronson and Erin Dermody) in place of that band's former lead singer Andrea Vaughn. I adore My Favorite's last album The Happiest Days of Our Lives: The Complete Joan of Arc Tapes, and was crushed when I learned I'd just missed seeing the band's last Seattle performance before they broke up. So I was very excited to see the new lineup, and they did not let me down. As both bands are the project of songwriter and musician Michael Grace Jr., it's unsurprising that they have very similar styles, a strong dreampop feel with some Britpop influence. Also unsurprisingly, although a new band in name, they had a very polished sound, and the vocals sounded great. The songs featured repeated references to "Johnny" in a way that suggested their debut album The World That Never Was might be a concept album about youth in the '90s. I really enjoyed their set, and though I still regret missing that My Favorite show, I felt satisfied with the new version of the band. Finally, Hotels of course always make me happy, and with at-the-time new songs like "On the Casino Floor" and "The Bat Watusi", I was so eager for their new album (which just came out a couple weeks ago). Interestingly, although The Secret History was arguably the older band, I felt their music was very much about the angst of early twenty-somethings. In contrast, Hotels had a feeling of older world-weary ennui, anger, and regret, but also nuggets of hope and even joy, and even their ennui was dancy and dreamy. In all, it was an evening of great music.

Finally, I ended July by attending the Capitol Hill Block Party, doing volunteer shifts for KEXP all three days. Unlike most of the 2010 shows, I actually posted a writeup at the time, which you can read earlier in my journal as linked here. One thing I do want to call out, again, is how much ass the Redwood Plan kicks: they totally rock, and I do not understand how they're not one of the biggest things in the Seattle music scene. They've been preparing a new release though, so maybe this year will be their breakthrough; I'm looking forward to it. 

It had been two years since I'd last seen Kinski at their CD release party for Down Below It's Chaos, so I was very much looking forward to seeing them again at Chop Suey on September 11, 2009. Although this show was billed as their tenth-anniversary show, they were not actually headlining it, but rather a band called Lesbian, with Arbitron opening and Kinski in the middle. Arbitron played experimental post-punk noise rock that was very loud, raucous, and unmelodic, with guitar howls and feedback loops matched by the spoken, growled, screeched, but never sung lead vocals. Much of the set was just the lead screecher on guitar and a drummer, but later the drummer switched to playing bass and providing additional vocals, using a drum machine for the rhythm. I immediately liked the band better with the bass, as it gave them a firmer ground for the noise-art, but I also felt they'd be better as a trio with live drums.

Kinski played a solid set as always, though nothing special for the anniversary like a retrospective. They played several songs with vocals that I didn't recognize, and wasn't sure whether they were new or old. The first half of their set seemed to be straight heavy rock songs, and I did start to feel a bit bored until they suddenly finally went into a freeform drone/noise segment that they often use to transition between songs. That made me realize what I like most about Kinski is the contrast of control and chaos, the repeated rhythms that break down and then coalesce again; the straight rock tunes often just aren't as interesting by themselves. Still, it was great to see them again and they left me looking forward to their next ten years.

Finally, Lesbian, despite the name, was an all-male quartet. They started off sounding rather promisingly progressive-rock to me, with a long simple melodic introduction, but that eventually built up to heavy guitar rock that was so stereotypically testosterone-laden, their band name was seriously ironic whether intentional or not. I'd read a description of them as "stoner metal", but I didn't feel it was metal without croaked and screamed vocals; sure enough those came up in the second song, and that's when they lost me. Amidst the interminable indeterminate rambles of rock, they also fit in the obligatory metal guitar solo, and much later came back to playing the melody of the opening song (my notes say, sarcastically, "Ooh look, a motif!"). I wouldn't say they were bad—after all, I didn't walk out—but they definitely weren't my kind of music, not even when Kinski joined them at the end for a jam.

I have some photos from this show in a set here on Flickr.

A friend of mine wrote recently about needing to regularly spend some time alone in order to stay balanced, or else she gets irritable. She was even initially concerned that adopting a dog would leave her feeling like she never had any time alone; fortunately she adapted to the dog's presence, but still needs time away from other people.

I'm more at the opposite end of the spectrum. I've been living alone since moving out to Seattle eight years ago, and even before that, when I was living with roommates or still at my parents', I usually felt like I spent a lot of time by myself—if not too much, certainly more than I wanted to. When i first got my cat, I was worried that I might use her as a substitute for finding more human company. Instead, I think she helps keep me sane by giving me some kind of company, while still leaving me with a longing to spend more time with other people.

I try to go out to coffee shops regularly to do my work, or just browse the Internet, just to combat the feeling of being cooped up by myself all the time. Generally that helps, especially since I'm a regular at a few spots and get some recognition from and conversation with the baristas, but sometimes it just accentuates my feelings of loneliness. I might have a brief encounter with a casual friend, which is nice and good, but then feel morose when they go off on their business and I'm left still wanting to spend more time hanging out. 

As I mentioned back in July, I've been going out dancing somewhat regularly the past several months in part as an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends, and at the least to be out among other people instead of sitting around at home by myself. Yesterday I was at Bauhaus Coffee for several hours to do some work, and while there I fell into that morose feeling of loneliness. Tonight at Chop Suey is TRUST, a regular monthly dance event featuring KEXP DJ Kid Hops and Sun Tzu Sound as the resident DJs, with Decibel Festival sponsoring/hosting this month's event. I decided that I should probably go, because it'd be better to be there than sitting around at home by myself yet again. (Also, I haven't been out dancing since July.) While out for dinner earlier with the Dowlers, I mentioned this plan, and Farida asked me whether I'm extroverted. I answered that I'm not, I just like to go dancing; if I were extroverted, I'd also be talking to others often and making new friends more easily. Still, just being there helps me not feel so lonely, or at least ignore it for a while, and as I said back in July, I am at least meeting some people and perhaps slowly making some more friends. So with that, I'm heading out to go dance.

On Thursday May 7, I went to Chop Suey to see Hotels, with Erik Blood and Silver Teeth. Oddly enough, I had just met Blood the week before through mutual friends at the My Bloody Valentine show, but had no idea who he was until a few days after the fact. Unfortunately the show began earlier than I expected, and I missed Silver Teeth. Chop Suey often seems to start weekday shows on the early side, with the first band playing at 8:30, and while that's a good practice for getting in a crowd who might not normally get to shows, it does tend to throw off the regular concert-goers. Still, I have more than one friend who'd appreciate seeing more clubs set earlier start times for shows.

Erik Blood is a member of Seattle band the Turn-ons, and created his "solo" album for music that didn't fit with that band. However, not only did all the members of the Turn-ons contribute to the album, most if not all of them also joined on stage along with three other musicians for the backing band, creating a seven-piece lineup. Musically, Blood started from a basic mid-'90s alternative rock sound, with influences from shoegaze and pop. His song "To Leave America," which I recognized from KEXP airplay, was a good example of this style. However, he soon showed his skill with a variety of styles and a knack for catchy tunes. Saying he was going to try something different, he played a slow R&B crooner that, most of the way through the song, unexpectedly broke into a lovely shoegazery guitar wash (reminiscent of Kitchens of Distinction, I thought). It was a neat juxtaposition of styles, as was a later song that clearly drew upon '60s pop music. I really enjoyed the whole set, and although I wasn't able to pick up the CD The Way We Live that night, I hope to do so soon.

Hotels are becoming a challenge for me: there are only so many ways to say "I love this band!", after all. Their music is dynamic and complex but fits together with precision; it sounds full, but not overly busy. Often it feels very joyful even when the lyrics are wistful or bitter, and as I've remarked before, it urges the listener to get up and move. Indeed, before playing "Hydra," lead singer Blake declared, "You ought to dance more!", and while no real outright dancing ensued (this was a Seattle hipster audience, after all), there was definitely movement in the audience. Their moodier pieces, such as "The Heart That Hears Like A Bat," have a grand sweep to them not unlike the cinematic cabaret sound of Mono in VCF; it's perhaps not surprising then that their next album, currently in the works, is to have a spy-movie "James Bond in space" theme to it. Much to my delight, they gave us a taste of that next album by debuting a new song, "The Bat Watusi," which was perhaps a bit harder-edged and sounded great. Expect to keep reading more happy reviews of Hotels from me; better yet, go check them out yourself.

Last Friday I went to Nectar Lounge to see KJ Sawka headlining an electronica show to mark the release of his new EP, Undefined Connectivity. Opening for Sawka were the DJ group Shift Crew and electronic musician novaTRON, and DJ Flave wrapped up the evening. Sonic MC acted as host for the evening and also performed freestyle rap during each set. I felt that Sonic MC's rapping generally didn't really enhance the music, but it did fit in well with the flow.

Shift Crew are a group of DJs associated with Shift Recordings; this evening's trio included Shift Recordings founder Lukki, CB, and Dirty. They took turns spinning records on a pair of turntables, using a laptop and some other gear to mix the music. Their music was primarily dubstep and trip-hop, somewhat danceable but I felt it was more for background ambience than dedicated listening. I liked their set, but felt it went on a little long and the other two acts could have been given a little more time.

novaTRON creates live breakbeat music using a custom set of synthesizers and audio gear—no laptop, turntable, keyboard, or conventional instruments. His set was more engaging and danceable than Shift Crew's dubstep, although it also would've served well as club background music. Unlike the last time I saw him, it never sounded oppressively heavy or claustrophobic, it was groovy and fun.

KJ Sawka also creates live breakbeat and drum n' bass electronica, but where novaTRON takes an all-electronics route, Sawka starts from the basic source of beats, live drumming. That said, Sawka is as much an electronic artist as a drummer, and he spent almost as much time drumming one-handed as two, activating samplers and other electronic gear. Although he's thus capable of playing a full set by himself, for this show Sawka was joined on most of the songs by his frequent collaborator Kent Halvorsen on keyboard (and trumpet in one song), and also had Christa Wells on hand to sing vocals. Sawka played a near-continuous set of music, with the only real breaks occurring when Wells came onstage to sing, but the transitions from song to song were always apparent. The set featured a video projection, but due to Nectar's layout with the screen off to the side of the stage, I doubt anyone watched; all the excitement was up on stage. As a performer, Sawka was a real showman, often rising from his stool to make dramatic gestures without dropping the beat, and his drum kit included a set of lights flashing in sync with the rhythms. Wells also had a strong stage presence, using both her powerful voice and stage moves to good effect. Sawka finished his set by bringing out Blake Lewis on guest vocals; I'm only vaguely aware of Lewis as "that Seattle guy from American Idol", so it was interesting to hear him perform and learn he's a good vocalist. Sawka continues to be one of my favorite musicians in Seattle, and I look forward to hearing more from him.

I have a few photos of each act, starting here in Flickr.

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The following evening, I went to see Supreme Beings of Leisure at Chop Suey. Also on the bill were DJ LA Kendall and electronic musician Carmen Rizzo; although Supreme Beings of Leisure were billed as the headlining act, they were sandwiched in between the other two artists. Kendall did not appear on stage, but played a good set mixing jazz and soul-influenced trip-hop and drum n' bass that set the right mood for Supreme Beings of Leisure. Rizzo used synthesizers, a laptop, and other electronic gear to make a techno mix ranging from ambient to drum n' bass; he sounded pretty good but I did not stay for the full set.

Supreme Beings of Leisure are the duo of Geri Soriano-Lightwood (vocals) and Ramin Sakurai (keyboard and electronics), with Sheldon Strickland (bass) and Jason Graham (drums). (They also have a guitarist, Geof Brandin, but he was not present.) They played a great set of groovy feel-good dance music mixing funk, jazz, and soul influences with trip-hop. I was surprised that nearly half their set came from their first album, particularly as I was under the impression that they were touring in support of a new album. However, it turns out their latest album (only their third) came out a year ago, and it was pretty clear that like myself, most of the audience was only familiar with the first album. So the band played up to their audience. Another surprise was that not only were they positioned as the middle band, they also did not get to do an encore. As their set list showed a planned three-song encore and they were getting (and returning) much appreciation from the audience, I believe this was not by their choice. Whoever did make the decision, it was a poor one, as the audience was clearly there to see Supreme Beings of Leisure and the fairly-full club mostly cleared out once it was clear the band was done. Although I did enjoy the show, the combination of the short set and the number of familiar old songs left me feeling that I could've passed on this one.

I took a few photos of Supreme Beings of Leisure, which can be seen starting here in Flickr.

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Coming up next week, I'll be at the Showbox at the Market on Friday Feb. 13 manning the KEXP info table for Lykke Li; if you're there, stop by and say hi! The following week on Friday Feb. 20, the Sunset Tavern has an awesome show with Point Juncture WA and Hotels, both of whom are celebrating album releases, and The Animals at Night opening. With such a great lineup, it's hard to imagine a better show happening any time soon; however, no doubt Annuals will at least match it when they headline a show at Chop Suey the week after on Wednesday Feb. 25. I've been so excited about these two shows, I haven't even looked ahead yet to March, but I'll let you know what I find when I do; one thing I do anticipate then is the grand re-opening of The Crocodile.

Working on my review of Monday night's concert - or rather, avoiding working on it for no good reason, but I should get it done later. In the meantime, I think this photo I took at the show is pretty neat.

Last Wednesday night I went to Chop Suey to see Asobi Seksu, playing with Tokyo Police Club and Pit Er Pat opening. I knew of Asobi Seksu from hearing a few of their songs on KEXP over the summer; I'd liked the songs enough to write down their album in my list of CDs to pick up, so I was looking forward to seeing them. However, the other two bands were completely unknown to me. Other people apparently were better-informed, as the club had a good crowd right from the start and was pretty full for both Tokyo Police Club and Asobi Seksu.

Pit Er Pat were a trio on keyboards, bass guitar, and drums. The band played art rock, not of the grandiose '70s progressive style, but the quirky and moody '90s indie rock style: more Yo La Tengo than Yes. They're the sort of band who come out on stage, pick up their instruments, and start playing as though they were still setting up, tuning, and checking sound levels; after a couple minutes you realize there's a regular beat and they're actually well into their first song. They had some kinship with the so-called shoegazer genre as well, both in performance style and somewhat in sound. Most of the songs were moderate in tempo, sparse and obscure in vocals, and occasionally fierce in volume. I enjoyed the set, and the audience was generally appreciative as well. They didn't seem to be around after the show so I wasn't able to pick up their debut full-length, Pyramids, but I'll add it to my list, and watch for their return.

Tokyo Police Club were a quartet including a lead singer and bassist, guitar, keyboards, and drums. The guys were all young and fresh-faced, full of energy and enthusiasm. For example, when the keyboardist wasn't intent over his keys, he was thrashing about with a tambourine or screaming backing vocals. An extra snare drum was set up in front of the drum kit, which the keyboardist played in one song and the guitarist played in a few others. The guitarist broke three sets of drum sticks on the snare, while the keyboardist knocked it off its stand and just kept beating it on the floor. The choruses were often shouted by the whole band rather than sung, but it wasn't grating the way screaming punk vocals generally are. Musically the band were in the indie rock camp, though with a strong punk edge. My only complaint was that all their songs came to the same abrupt end, as though they didn't know any way to finish a song other than just stopping. Still, they're a new band with talent enough to grow. Plus, they opened with a theme song, and I just can't knock a band that has a theme song. I did not end up getting their EP, A Lesson In Crime, but I'll definitely be listening for more from them.

Asobi Seksu were also a quartet, featuring female singer and keyboardist Yuki Chikudate and guitarist and vocalist James Hanna, with a fellow called Haji on bass and Mitch Spivak on drums. They had an additional keyboardist for this show, as well. Asobi Seksu played straight-up dream pop, complete with swirling guitars, distortion and feedback, and ethereal vocals. Chikudate sings in both Japanese and English; a first-time listener such as myself can't really tell when she's singing in which language, not because her English is bad, but simply because dream pop is all about the sonic textures, and the intelligibility of the lyrics is besides the point. I don't remember the last time I saw a pure dream pop band, but I'm fairly sure I haven't since I left Boston close to five years ago, and it was glorious to once again get lost in the wash of sound. I had been looking forward to their show at the end of September very much, and unfortunately wasn't able to make it, so I was thrilled that they returned to Seattle so soon, and they easily fulfilled my expectations. I bought both their first self-titled album and their new release Citrus, and I'm certain they'll stay on my iPod for quite some time.

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Next month I get to see more dream pop, as Portland band The High Violets come to The Comet Tavern on Friday December 8. I'll also be keeping an eye on the WZBC Boston concert report for shows during Christmas week, as I'll be back at my parents' for the holidays. Generally that's a dead time because of the holidays, but I just might get lucky - hopefully more so than last year, when Freezepop played in Boston the day before I left NYC to head up to my parents', and Elysian Fields played in NYC the day after I left.

The standout band of the March concert was Beehive. When I spoke to David Miller of Beehive after the show, he mentioned that their next show would be tonight (March 26) at Chop Suey; I enjoyed their set so much that I decided I should try to catch them again tonight.

Unfortunately, I misjudged - I knew they were on first and that the doors opened at 8, so I thought they'd go on at 9. If I'd been smart enough to check their website, I'd have known they started at 8:30. As a result, I only caught their last three songs, though that was better than nothing. I nearly didn't go in to the show, too, doubting whether I wanted to spend the money to get in when I'd knew I'd already mostly missed the set I wanted to see. Once again, though, I learned that it's always worthwhile to go to the show, as I discovered yet another cool new band.

First though I had to sit through Bobcats, a duo who may not have even been born when the 80s synthpop they play was at its height. It was a little freaky, actually, just how perfectly their sound and dress style was 25 years out of place. They were quite competent and enthusiastic, but their shouted vocal style grated on me, and I also felt they weren't bringing anything of their own to the music. Still, they deserved some cheering on just for getting up there and doing their thing, particularly in the face of a sparse, disinterested audience - a bunch of people who'd obviously come for Beehive left during the Bobcats set, and only a dozen or so people remained for the rest of the evening.

Next up though was a band new to me, The Bethurum Collective, and they proved more than worth sitting through the Bobcats' set. They appeared as a trio, featuring Didi on vocals, Evan on acoustic bass viol, and Benjamin on keyboard/sequencer/samples. When I spoke to Didi after the show, she mentioned that they usually have a DJ/turntablist as well, Jacedo. Their style falls into the acid jazz/downbeat subgenres - which is to say either hip lounge jazz with an electronic breakbeat and samples, or else jazz-influenced breakbeat. (This is probably a good place to recommend Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music - on the main page click "Downtempo," and then over on the right in the "Chillout" group you'll find both downbeat and acid jazz.) Didi has a lovely singing voice that's perfect for their musical style, Evan's bass pizzicato is impressively fast and precise, and Benjamin's keyboard riffs and sequencing are spot-on. I'm curious to hear what turntablist Jacedo adds to the mix. I really enjoyed the set and will be looking for future show dates by the band.

Finally the evening ended with DJ Collage, who turned out to be a rapper, not a DJ. I don't understand that either. He raps in the reggae/dub-influenced style, which isn't normally my thing (I'm not much into rap in general, though I do appreciate a lot of it now). However, I'd stayed that long already and I didn't want to walk out on him, with so few people left in the audience, and after a bit I found that I was getting into the groove and enjoying it. Although I won't be looking for further performances by him, I'll be willing to stay through future ones should he be part of some other show I'm attending.

Coming up in April, I'm definitely going to see Ladytron at Neumos on Wednesday the 26th; I haven't yet checked the listings to see if there's anything else I'll want to catch in April. And I'm really excited that Joe Jackson has announced tour dates, and will be coming to Seattle on Tuesday, June 20th, playing the Moore Theatre. Can't wait for that!

February's concert was Mates of State, Aqueduct, and Smoosh, at Chop Suey. I knew at least one track by Mates of State and I'd been wondering what their other stuff was like. I had no idea they were so popular however; when I arrived at 6:30 there was already a long line to get in (doors at 7), and by the time I finally got into the building, I'd completely missed Smoosh's set and Aqueduct was just about to start. That was too bad as I'd been looking forward to hearing Smoosh live.

The venue was completely packed but I managed to find a decent spot to stand at the back with an okay view of the stage. Aqueduct, sadly, was blah. Mediocre alterna-pop, and the singer sounded to me just like the singer of the Long Winters, another mediocre alterna-pop local band. I was somewhat amused that their last song was the expletive-laden "Damn It's Good To Be A Gangster" - it seemed a poor choice for an all-ages show with the 10-and-12-year-old Smoosh as the opening act. Mates of State I did enjoy. They're a husband-and-wife duo on drums and keyboards respectively, with a lot of harmonized singing. I did not end up buying a CD though.

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March's concert was Kinski, Oneida, and Black Mountain at the Crocodile Cafe. This turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable show, and once again demonstrated that showing up for the opening act is always a good idea, because I never know when I'll discover a good new band I'd never heard of before.

Black Mountain is a five-piece out of Vancouver BC, with a guitarist/lead singer, female backup/sometimes lead singer, bassist, keyboardist, and drummer. This band seemed to have been transported directly from the early 70s - the guitarist even had that shaggy hair/beard look. There was a little funk influence in one song, but mostly it was straight-up classic guitar rock, in that style between blues and progressive. Their record label cites Zeppelin, the Velvet Underground, and Meat Loaf among the influences, and it's accurate, but here's the thing: Black Mountain sounds like themselves. That is to say, they're not just copying their influences, they have their own original take on the classic rock sound. And they were really good at it.

From the early 70s, the show jumped to the early 80s with Oneida. A three-piece on keyboards, guitar/bass, and drums, they had the look and sound of nerds for whom Devo and hardcore punk were divine revelations. Most of their songs were fast, loud, and raucous, with unintelligible vocals shouted or mumbled by the guitarist or keyboardist. The drummer also sang three songs, and his songs were slower and more like straight-up hard rock - and less enjoyable for me, as it happened. One thing the band did was announce before each song some variation of, "this next song was written by a band called Oneida out of Brooklyn NY; we're Oneida." It actually got more amusing each time, and late in their set when they paused and didn't actually make that announcement, I helpfully called out, "who's this song by?" They replied, "all the songs tonight tend to be by a band called Oneida."

Finally, the show concluded with the art rock of Kinski. It would be neat to complete the pattern and say their style was that of the early 90s, but that's not really the case; at least, not the early 90s of grunge and Nirvana. Rather, Kinski follows in the traditions touched on by Black Mountain and Oneida: classic driving guitar rock; lengthy instrumental prog rock; loud, chaotic, experimental rock. Don't let "art rock" or "prog(ressive) rock" fool you, either: Kinski are ferocious and overwhelming, not trippy and self-indulgent. This was my second time seeing Kinski, and I was just as impressed by their powerful sound as the first time. I need to buy more of their CDs; I highly recommend Airs Above Your Station, their last full-length album from 2003, and I'm looking forward to their new album due out this summer.