Pilcrow

It's perhaps premature to be doing a concert summary that includes September. However, I've got just one brief note to make about a show in August that I haven't yet covered, and I've been to (technically) three shows so far this month and have little to say about them either, so I just want to do one summary post.

On Friday August 26, after the final Concert at the Mural, I went to Neumos to catch the final show by Sleepy Eyes of Death. Because I'd had my laptop with me at the Mural concert, I headed home first to drop that off. As a result, I missed the opening band Crypts entirely, and as I still needed to grab some pizza for dinner, I also caught just the last couple songs by Flexions. What I heard was kind of a '60s surf-space-lounge rock that I liked, so I'll have to be on the lookout for another chance to see Flexions. Sleepy Eyes of Death took a while to get set up, and then immediately after their first song they had technical difficulties that paused the show for another 15 or 20 minutes, which was unfortunate. Still, their epic space rock was worth the wait. They're the sort of band that recognizes even though lasers are now commonplace, we all still think they're cool. Listening to their music, I wondered, what if the Star Wars prequels had used this music? Or rather, what if you made a movie crossing the visual style of Tron: Legacy with the kind of epic space opera story that the Star Wars prequels were (ostensibly) reaching for (and didn't quite grasp)? Basically, someone should get Luc Besson to do that, and use the music of Sleepy Eyes of Death as the score. I've barely come to know of the band, but I know they'll be missed.

Last Friday September 9, I went over to Nectar to see Kinksi, opening for Sleepy Sun and White Hills. It's been over a year since I last saw Kinski, and they were good as always, though there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the performance. I didn't recognize some of the songs but I think they were older tunes I'm less familiar with rather than new ones. White Hills played hard rock, a bit psychedelic and a bit more metal in style; I thought they were fairly conventional, fairly good for what they do, but not really interesting to me. Sleepy Sun played roots/blues rock, like Black Angels or BRMC (or Seattle band the Purrs for that matter). They were also fairly good, more to my taste than White Hills, but again not as interesting as Kinski usually is to me. It was a decent evening of rock overall.

Last night, Tuesday September 13, I went back to Nectar to see Zuzuka Poderosa, an act I only knew as being highly recommended by DJ Chilly from KEXP. Opening were DJs Darwin, of Seattle band Mad Rad, and Chaach, who also DJed for Poderosa. This lineup, unfortunately, turned out to be not at all to my taste. Generally speaking, they all used hiphop-influenced bass beats with Latin music—Zuzuka Poderosa herself being a rapper championing a Brazilian style called baile funk or funk carioca—and while there's nothing wrong with that combination as such, I just found most of it to be too hard and heavy and loud for me. The DJs mixed in some other styles as well—Darwin for example dropped "Posse on Broadway" into the mix, while Chaach played some tracks by recently-deceased French DJ Mehdi as a tribute—but it just wasn't working for me. To be fair, I was also in a sour mood having nothing to do with the show. Still, I gave Poderosa about 15 minutes and then left, something so rare that I believe I can still count the instances using my fingers just once apiece. Although that sounds really damning, I want to emphasize again that it simply wasn't to my taste, and judging by the highly excited good-sized crowd of people dancing, Poderosa was doing a fine job for what she does.

On my way home, however, as I walked past the White Rabbit, I heard something much more interesting to my taste. The door person said the band, Uroboros, had just started their set, so I went in to check them out. The band featured a singer/guitarist (though her guitar sounded very low, I thought it might've been a six-string bass), a drummer, and another woman on backing vocals. They played bare-bones dark post-punk, with strong gothy vocals (versus ethereal floaty ones) and clean guitar lines with little distortion or other effects. Despite the tiny audience, they gamely played through a good set of songs and an encore of two which the singer said had never been played before by the drummer; the last one was supposed to be just the singer on acoustic guitar, but the drummer still improvised a bongo part on his tom that suited it well. I liked their set ever so much more than the Zuzuka Poderosa show, and it cheered me up immensely, so the evening was salvaged. Apparently Uroboros has been playing most shows with a fuller band lineup than just guitar and drums, so I'll have to look out for another opportunity to see them.

I went to five concerts in November 2009 and one in December 2009, but only took notes at two of them, and again not very extensive notes. So here's another summary post.

First up was Hotels at the Crocodile on November 2, with Alligators and Apes of Wrath opening. Alligators had a good modern art/pop rock sound; I spoke with their manager later, who aptly compared them to Supertramp. Apes of Wrath were on the punk side of upbeat post-punk rock, and played a tight, energetic set. Hotels of course were great as always, or at least I expect so; I didn't take any notes on their set, as there are only so many ways to keep saying I love their music. 

Next, I went with a few friends to check out KJ Sawka playing at Heaven on November 6, along with a DJ whose name I didn't get down. No notes for this show; I'm sure Sawka played his usual solid set, though I tend to prefer when he has guest musicians rather than playing solo. 

On November 18, I went to Nectar Lounge for an unusual show. Billed as a "musical journey," it began with Thione Diop & Yeke Yeke playing the music of West Africa ("departure), BeleBá playing Cuban rhumba ("layover), and finished with Tubaluba playing New Orleans funk ("arrival"). It was a lot of fun hearing great dance music from styles I don't usually listen to. I remembered writing something about Tubaluba, and thought I'd made a blog post, but no, it was just a comment on Twitter: "for a good old-fashioned N'Orleans party time, check out the band Tubaluba. Great stuff."

For another unusual show, Cairo and the Anne Bonney (now closed) held "Expo 87", a small three-day music and art event. I attended on Friday November 20 so that I could see one of my favorite local bands, CMYK, do their usual set of great soulful dance pop. I also went to see Rachel Ratner's "Seattle Band Map—A Cartographic Study of Musical Incest" project, a huge diagram showing the interconnections among as many Seattle-based bands as possible. Check it out, it's pretty cool. Besides the photos on that blog, I have a few photos of the map and my own contributions here on Flickr.

To finish November, I was back at the Crocodile on the 21st for Head Like A Kite, with Foscil and the Animals at Night. The Animals at Night not only had a full quartet of musicians, not only a trio of backup singers as well, but also brought out country-western musician Brent Amaker to sing a remix of his song "I've Got a Little Hillbilly in Me". The Animals at Night were groovy or soulful or even a little hillbilly, but they also brought the rock. Foscil was a band I saw back in 2005—or at least I thought I had, but I remembered them being a group of four guys at a table-full of synthesizers and electronic gear. This time, they were still a quartet but had a mix of electronic and acoustic instruments, including one player alternating on trumpet, clarinet, and bass clarinet. They played jazz/art rock with an electronic base, and I thought it was good but a bit odd placed with the other two bands. Finally, Head Like a Kite always put on a crazy dance party at every show, and did not disappoint this time with multiple guest backup singers and costumed dancers. Both Greg Markel and Brent Amaker came out for guest spots, as did a very heavily pregnant Barb Trentalange for lead vocals on "Daydream Vacation". From electroclash to funk, indie rock to trip-hop, Head Like a Kite played a killer set. I have a too-dark-and-too-far-off set of photos from this show here on Flickr.

Finally, December has proven to be a tough month to catch a show, even though there are often several good ones. 2009 was no exception, as i only made it out to the KEXP Yule Benefit on December 12, and only because I was volunteering to help. The lineup included Grand Hallway opening, followed by the Builders and the Butchers, the Cave Singers, and the Thermals closing. I wasn't particularly excited about any of the bands, but did like all of them well enough; unfortunately I missed Grand Hallway, the rest put on a good show. 

And that finally covers all the shows I went to in 2009. Now to get started on reviewing 2010… hopefully I can return to more timely reviews for 2011. 

Again, I'm catching up on my concert reviews, so here's a quick summary of June.

I've already posted before about seeing The Juan MacLean and The Field on Monday June 8 at Nectar Lounge; that review was written for the KEXP Blog and can still be read there. However, let me give a couple excerpts:

Last Monday night when I went to Nectar Lounge to see The Juan MacLean and The Field, I didn’t know that I’d be at the hottest show in town. These two groups played sizzling sets of electronica to a packed and enthusiastic crowd. DJ Nordic Soul warmed up the club with a solid mix of dance music.
[...]
The Field’s music is very cool stuff, and I could easily listen for a few hours; it seems tailor-made for airplane flights, and I’ll have to pick up the aptly-named album From Here We Go Sublime before my next trip.
[...]
While The Field kept the club simmering for an hour, The Juan MacLean brought it up to a full boil with their high-energy synth rock. ... They built up to a stunning conclusion with “Happy House”, extended to over 20 minutes and climaxing several times, and then cooled things down in the encore with the mellow and dreamy “Tonight”.

Also, I was right next to the stage for The Juan Maclean's set, so I was able to get some pretty good photos, including John MacLean in action rocking the theremin. See the whole set here in Flickr.

I went to two other shows that week: KJ Sawka at Nectar Lounge on Friday June 12, and Hotels at the High Dive on Saturday June 13. I had already decided I wasn't going to blog about those shows, so I didn't take any notes. However, I can tell you that Sawka's show was to promote the release of his DrumBanger app for the iPhone (read more about it in this post on Line Out, The Stranger's music blog), and that while I still enjoy his music, I found that I'm getting a little tired of hearing the work from his two recent albums and would like to see him pursue a new direction. Oh I forgot that opening for Sawka was first DJ NoiseMaker, who I can't recall anything about, but then DJ Crime, billed as "Las Vegas's #1 VJ"—he mixed videos, using both music videos and other footage, which was fun to watch as well as hear.

As for the other show, Hotels played third in a set including Anomie Belle, Born Anchors, and (ostensible) headliners Furniture Girls. I reviewed Anomie Belle for the KEXP Blog when she opened for Tricky back in March, and I don't really have anything to add to that: she's got talent and potential, but despite her use of live violin loops, her music currently is kind of bland soulful trip-hop. I can't remember anything about Born Anchors, which suggests I didn't find them that interesting, but I know I didn't dislike them and really I'd have to hear them again to give any kind of review. Hotels were awesome of course and I danced like crazy through their set; I've really just about run out of things to say about them until they release some more new music, which is why I had decided I wouldn't blog about this show, but here I am. Finally, my opinion also hasn't changed much on Furniture Girls: they're fun, the band is really solid, but they just don't quite win me over somehow. However, they did have a strong-voiced guest backup singer for most of the set, which made a real difference as the original Furniture Girls synth-player/backing vocalist doesn't have a voice strong enough to match the lead singer (that original member hasn't been replaced, just moved back to focus more on the synths).

The other two shows were good overall, but I do have to say The Juan MacLean and The Field were a phenomenal bill, definitely one of the best shows of the year.

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.

Last Saturday night I went to Nectar Lounge to see DJ Spooky (That Subliminal Kid). I know DJ Spooky from a couple original tracks I have on compilations as well as a few remixes, and I was very curious to hear what his live show would be like. Also on this all-electronica bill were eR DoN and M'Chateau, both of whom were solo artists as well. All three built their music from sampling others—M'Chateau and DJ Spooky as DJs relying primarily on turntables and records (or CDs), eR DoN using his own original sound recordings—but each had his own style.

M'Chateau opened with a mellow chillout groove, not too loud, not too fast, but still good for relaxing or dancing. My impression was that he layered and looped different tracks and samples to create continuous dance music, borrowing parts from different songs without ever playing the full original version of his sources. When I arrived, just after M'Chateau's set began, the club was resoundingly empty, and although people gradually trickled in as he played over the next 90 minutes, only a very few people danced and not many more stood to listen. This is often the fate of the opening act, particularly if it's a DJ, but it still seemed unfortunate that he never had much of an audience. However, after eR DoN's relatively short set, there was a brief pause as the club went to prerecorded rock music, and then M'Chateau came back onstage and started playing a second set. I thought he was just filling in for a few minutes while DJ Spooky set up, and I still don't know whether that was the intention or not, but he ended up playing another 75 minutes. This time he played to a packed house that was ready to move and shake, and correspondingly his music was a little more upbeat. I enjoyed both his sets very much and was happy he got to do a second one to a large and appreciative audience.

eR DoN differed more from the other two than they did from each other. Using only a laptop, sampler, and sequencer, eR DoN crafted his own original songs from an eclectic set of instrumental sounds. Whereas M'Chateau had a continuous groove for dancing, eR DoN played distinct songs with notable shifts in tempo or instrument sounds from one to the next. The songs didn't always have obvious structures, resulting in some abrupt ends and awkward pauses before the next started, and they were really not for dancing, despite the best efforts of a lone goth to prove otherwise. Also, it was a little weird to watch the performance, as there was no obvious correlation between the sight of eR DoN busily pressing buttons or twisting knobs and the music being produced. However, the songs were enjoyable to listen to, and reminded me of Tortoise or Brokeback although not being very similar. I did enjoy the set and it made for a good contrast to the other two DJs without being too different to fit in to the evening.

DJ Spooky did not start his set until 12:30 AM, which at first made me feel slightly disgruntled: starting so late, he'd get only about an hour or so at most to play. It wasn't until I checked the time well after the first hour was over and saw that, impossibly, it was 1:15 AM, that I remembered this was the night Daylight Saving Time ended and realized that we were in fact getting over two hours of DJ Spooky. Like M'Chateau, Spooky played a continuous set of music, but he seemed to focus more on playing and remixing singles, though I only recognized a few tunes in the mix. I was particularly excited when he dropped "Message in a Bottle" by the Police into the mix. However, he only played it through the first two verses/choruses before extended the bridge as an outro, leaving out the final hopeful verse, and it kind of broke my heart a little—but also inspired me to listen through my entire Police collection later that weekend, which I hadn't done in far too long. The first half of Spooky's set tended to be on the rock and hip-hop side, while in the second half he moved into soul, jazz, and reggae as he featured his work in progress, a tribute to Stax Records featuring footage and audio from the documentary film Wattstax. The whole set was very cool and kept me and a lot of the audience dancing throughout. I'm glad that I did not miss this opportunity to see DJ Spooky in action, and I hope to see him again.

I grabbed a few photos of DJ Spooky spinning his songs, you can see them here. 

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Coming up this Sunday Nov. 9, Halou presents Stripmall Architecture, a new experimental project by the group, at Nectar Lounge. I don't really know what that is but it should be interesting. In a couple weeks, My Brightest Diamond are at the Triple Door on Wednesday Nov. 19; I may skip that show as my budget's getting tight. However I will certainly be at two other shows that week: Yeasayer at Neumos on Thursday Nov. 20, and Minus the Bear with Annuals at the Showbox at the Market on Saturday Nov. 22. I'll have to give a good look through the calendars for December soon, as due to holiday travel I won't have much time to catch a show (whether here or back East), but let me mention again that Hotels are playing the Comet Tavern on Sunday December 7, and they deserve your love and could use your support.

I am so far behind in my concert blogging that I'm just going to do a single summary post for the five shows I went to in September.

First, on September 3 I went to Nectar Lounge to see Hotels, a band I'd discovered when they played the KEXP Volunteer Appreciation Party in August. This quartet immediately became my new favorite local band. They have a strong New Wave/New Romantics sound that mixes in some dreampop too, evoking both early New Order and late Talk Talk. Their songs tended to feel longer than the album versions, but this was a good thing. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing Hotels at more shows. Also on the set that night was Motorist, another local quartet that played moody indie rock. Although they didn't blow me away like Hotels did, they did sound pretty good - I noted in particular that the lead singer had a nice voice - and they may be a band to watch.

On Saturday the 6th I went to the Showbox SoDo to see TV on the Radio. This band plays idiosyncratic modern rock, on the side of prog/art rock but influenced by alternative bands of the '80s and '90s rather than classic progressive of the '70s. In a sense, TV on the Radio sounded as if the Talking Heads had anticipated the '90s. They mixed in funky bass and drums with guitar distortion somewhere between shoegaze and wall-of-sound; the songs were moody, often ominous, but sometimes more upbeat. There's a lot going on in their music, but unfortunately it was not served well by the poor acoustics and muddy sound mix at the venue. Still, I was glad I got to see them, at the least because it's made me pay more attention to them on KEXP and realize they're a great band that I should watch more closely.

On Saturday the 13th I went to Neumos to see Balkan Beat Box. Also on the bill was The Bad Things and DeLeon, and the common thread of all three bands was playing traditional folk and klezmer music from Eastern Europe and the Middle East in a modern context. The Bad Things were the most traditional, using only acoustic instruments, and they were joined on some songs by three brass players from Orkestar Zirconium. DeLeon brought electricity into the mix, starting out with a rock style heavy enough that I was afraid it'd be a set of metal folk, but they lightened up a bit and proved to be just as fun as The Bad Things. Finally, Balkan Beat Box lived up to their name, playing Balkan and Middle-Eastern folk music as hip-hop. Their set was mostly instrumental, though some songs had lyrics and they also did the hip-hop call-and-response frequently. The absolutely packed crowd was a bit too much for me, though I felt better when I finally found a bit of space off to the side and I ended up mostly enjoying the show, which ended with a big onstage dance party.

On Wednesday the 17th I was back at the Showbox SoDo, this time for the show I'd anticipated the most so far this year, Goldfrapp. Eschewing their glam-rock image from the last tour, this time Alison Goldfrapp dressed as a harlequin, Will Gregory and the backing musicians wore all-white, and the stage had a traveling-circus look to it. Musically, the set begain with a moody quiet song and stayed that way for much of the first half, presumably reflecting the sound of their latest album, Seventh Tree. However, older hits were mixed in too, and the set gradually built to a resounding finish. They brought it down again for two more slow songs in the encore before finishing, as I expected, with "Strict Machine". Being familiar with Goldfrapp's music, I was better able to judge the sound quality at the Showbox SoDo this time than with TV on the Radio, and the space is definitely not friendly to nuanced music: even in the middle of the room beside the soundbooth, the mix still tended to be muddy and was worse during loud busy songs. Despite that, it was still a good show, but the band felt pretty laid back and casual this time, and I believe their last show in 2006 had more energy and enthusiasm and was better overall. Hopefully when they come to town again, they can recapture that excitement.

Finally, on Friday September 26, I went back to Nectar Lounge for KJ Sawka. This was an evening of drum 'n bass and breakbeat electronica, starting with DJ NoiseMaker playing a full set as well as spinning in between the other acts. NoiseMaker lived up to his moniker, as I thought he kept the music too loud when playing between the other acts. His set was bass-heavy and relatively slow rhythmically, inspiring some lurching about on the dance floor. He was followed by EOTO, a duo on keys/synths/guitars/voice and acoustic/electronic drums and congas. EOTO picked up the pace, bringing a groovy beat that got everyone moving, and played a solid 90 minutes of excellent dance music. Only the relatively subtle changes in tempo and sound indicated the transitions from one song to the next. KJ Sawka finished the night with his slightly heavier breakbeat, joined by Kent Halverson on keyboards. Sawka and EOTO's sets were mirrors in an interesting way, as EOTO built complex melodic layers with the keys, synths, and guitars over the solid drumming base, while Sawka's set was naturally and mainly drum-driven, with the keys and other electronics providing color and accents. Perhaps it was the harder edge to the music, or just the lateness of the hour, but I felt more like just listening than dancing and there seemed to be less dancing in general. Also, weirdly, a fight broke out, I believe caused by someone flailing about too wildly near the stage, but the perpetrator was quickly thrown out. Besides that moment of alarm, it was a good show and I had a good time.

I didn't get many good photos at any of these shows, but what I've got are all up in my Sept 08 shows set. 

In December, I planned to attend a Beehive show but missed out due to being ill. Fortunately, Beehive have been busily scheduling shows, so last Wednesday night I was able to catch them at Nectar Lounge for my first show this month. Also on the bill was Furniture Girls and SXY; however, SXY cancelled and their place was taken by a musician named Aaron Daniels.

I arrived late at Nectar and walked in about halfway through Aaron Daniels' second-to-last song. Daniels was onstage with a couple microphones and no instruments; he used one microphone to sample himself beatboxing for backing vocals, and sang into the other. He reminded me of Reggie Watts, singing in a mixed style of soul and hiphop. Although I heard only a song and a half, he sounded pretty good and I wish I'd been on time for his whole set.

Furniture Girls performed as a quintet: the original "Furniture Girls" duo on lead vocals and backing vocals/samples, and a backing band of guitar, bass, and drums. Their music mixed funk and rock styles to produce a groovy, dance-oriented pop sound. The lead singer's strong voice was not matched by her backing vocalist, and sometimes the latter's part was hard to make out. This problem was brought into relief when they invited a friend called Mia up onstage to sing an additional part; Mia's own strong voice made a striking counterpoint to the lead singer, and the song sounded much more impressive for it. Overall the band sounded pretty good and were enjoyable, but didn't leave me eager to hear more.

( Furniture Girls photo )

Beehive, the duo of Alethea Eichhorn (laptops, keyboards, and vocals) and David Miller (electric and slide guitars, and vocals), brought a little sunshine to the cold grey winter night with their infectious mix of rock and breakbeat electronica. Large yellow paper flowers bedecked the stage, setting the scene for Beehive's bouncy beats and rocking riffs. They played a slightly longer than usual set, getting in a full hour of music, and that allowed them to play around with extended improvised sections on a few songs. The audience hung back through most of the set, but by the end they were more than willing to oblige when David demanded that everyone move up front and dance. Beehive seemed slightly unprepared for the extra time, as they chose to repeat "Better Than Lies" for their finale, but it was clear they wanted a song to make people dance and it worked. Their set was solid overall and the crowd enjoyed it. As always, I recommend catching Beehive whenever you can; their love of music and delight in performing make every show worthwhile.

( Beehive photo )

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Beehive are playing two more shows this month: Friday the 25th at Studio Seven as part of the Supernova "Out of the Garage" band competition series, and Thursday the 31st at The Comet Tavern. I'm not sure if I'll make it to the former show, but I know I've already got other plans for the latter one: also on Thursday the 31st, Black Mountain and Yeasayer will be rocking Neumos, along with MGMT. Looking ahead to February, the upcoming show I'm most excited about is the CD release party for Mono In VCF at The Triple Door on Saturday the 9th. Also in February, Editors are headlining The Showbox on Monday the 4th, while DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist, with Kid Koala, are at The Showbox on Sunday the 10th. I don't know about these shows: I'd rather see Editors at a smaller venue (and wish I hadn't missed them last time they were in town and played Chop Suey); and although I expect the DJ Shadow show will be amazing, it's also expensive for me ($30 + fees) and it'll be completely packed (I'm a bit surprised it's not already sold out). I guess I'll see how I feel about it next week.

Last Wednesday - Halloween - I went to Nectar Lounge to see Freezepop. Also on the bill were Solvent, who unfortunately were delayed by weather in Amsterdam and couldn't make it, novaTRON, and Electrosect, none of whom I was familiar with. Electrosect turned out to be the between-set DJ for the evening, playing a mix of classic and obscure songs from the early '80s. Unlike the previous show at Nectar, there was not an extra-long delay because of the missing band; the doors opened at 9, and novaTRON went on just after 10, as you'd expect. Freezepop had been scheduled to go on at midnight, but with little stage prep necessary, rather than keep the audience waiting they went on at 11:30 after a short set by Electrosect.

novaTRON is an electronic artist who plays breakbeat dance music live on synthesizers. Appearing with him was DJ Shapeshifter on turntables, adding scratches and samples. They played over an hour of heavy electronic dance music. The music was more for dancing than listening, and quite a few audience members were actively dancing, not just bobbing up and down. After a while, though, the relentless heavy loud sound started wearing me down and made me feel claustrophobic - or perhaps that was just a combination of my cold and the spectacle of all the club-goers costumed for Halloween. In this case I'd have preferred a more typical band with regular songs - I'd love to see Freezepop appear with Beehive or IQU - but still novaTRON wasn't bad and would be great at a dance night.

( novaTRON and DJ Shapeshifter )

Freezepop are the synth-pop trio of Liz Enthusiasm (vocals), The Other Sean T. Drinkwater (keyboard and vocals) and the Duke of Pannekoeken (programming, keyboard and vocals). I know I said this about the last Freezepop show, but it bears repeating: Freezepop were real troopers, and despite flying out from Boston early that morning and going onstage at the equivalent of 2:30 AM, they put on a high-energy show that had the packed club screaming and bouncing with enthusiasm. This time I got my wish for a longer set, as they played for over 90 minutes. Although touring in support of their new album Future Future Future Perfect, they played an even balance of songs from their three albums. Both Sean and the Duke were sporting keytars for this show, indicative of their music growing beyond its origin in exploring the capabilities of the Yamaha QY-70 sequencer. However, the QY-70 has not been left behind, and the Duke brought it out twice, for the older songs "Plastic Stars" and "Get Ready 2 Rokk". The Duke also had a theremin with his gear, but I never actually saw him using it during the show, and I forgot to ask about it afterward. I'm not sure all the new songs are as strong as the older ones, but there's no denying the power of "Less Talk More Rokk", which brought the house down as the final encore. I also really liked the other encore song "Afterparty", which featured Sean and the Duke exchanging keyboard riffs and Liz doing spoken rather than sung lyrics. All together it was a fantastic set that left me giddy with joy, just the kind of show I'd been needing to see for a while. Afterward, Liz said they want to come out to Seattle more often and hope to be back next spring, which would thrill me no end.

( Freezepop photo, also the full set list )

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Still to come, a review of Tunng from last Friday, also at Nectar Lounge. Unfortunately I missed the Battles show at Neumos last Saturday, as it sold out; however, I will be seeing Annuals at the Crocodile Cafe this Saturday. I haven't done a full look through the calendars for December yet, but I'm sure something will turn up.

Unfortunately I didn't seem to get any really good shots of Freezepop, as I was able to with New Young Pony Club last Saturday.

And speaking of NYPC, I'm hoping to get both that review and the Freezepop review written tomorrow. It's been a busy week - and I've been dealing with this wretched cold too.

I did not end up going to see Yo La Tengo two Sundays ago, as I mentioned I might. I got up pretty late on Sunday and had a bunch of things to take care of. However, last night I did end up going to Nectar to see KJ Sawka again, opening for Pnuma Trio and their guest Ryan Burnett of Single Path.

I'm not sure what to add to my previous review of KJ Sawka. The man maintains impressive levels of energy and enthusiasm throughout his hour-plus set of nearly continuous drumming. It's definitely the kind of music you have to know well to pick out discrete tunes; some transitions are broad and obvious, but others blend seamlessly. The only bit I recognized from last time was a vocal sample that I know from DJ Shadow's song "Six Days" (although I'm not sure whether it's original to that song), and that sample doesn't appear on his album, Synchronized Decompression. Actually, I don't recall hearing any of the vocals that are on his album, but again, I'm not yet familiar enough with the material; he may have left those tracks out, or just not used the samples, or I may just be forgetting. After all, breakbeat is less about the recognizable single and more about the continuous beat for dancing, and there was definitely dancing going on.

The dancing continued with Pnuma Trio. The Pnuma Trio play a fast, heady mix of funk, jazz, and drum-n-bass. Their instrumentation included several keyboards and synthesizers, a PowerBook, a five-string bass, and a drum set; their guest Ryan Burnett played guitar and also used an iMac. The foursome demonstrated their virtuosity with tight arrangements, precise tempo changes, and some breakneck (break-finger?) playing. Initially their tempo seemed surprisingly fast for their funky sound, but they ended up varying the tempo frequently, both within the songs and from one to the next. The fast tempo didn't stop the dancers, either; if anything even more people got up and danced. The band also made good use of stage lighting, featuring four multi-faceted moving spotlights (I'm sure there's a short technical name for them, I just liked the alliteration there), and a little machine smoke to make the lights stand out. Unfortunately, I did not bring enough cash to pick up their CD, Live From Out There, but it's available online at the Homegrown Music Network. The band's from Memphis, so I suppose it'll be a while before they're back, but I'll be keeping an eye out for them.

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I've got a couple shows in mind for November. On Sunday the 12th, Tahiti 80 are playing the Crocodile Cafe, and also doing an in-store appearance at Sonic Boom Records in Ballard at 6 pm - hmm, maybe I'll just go to the in-store appearance, as it's free. Then on Wednesday the 15th, Asobi Seksu return to Seattle and Chop Suey, where they played back on September 30. I meant to go to that show, and actually was anticipating it quite a bit, but then fate intervened and I wasn't able to make it. So I'm very pleased that they're returning so soon, and I'm expecting it to be pretty wonderful. Hmm, there are quite a few good bands playing in November - for example, Kinski's playing the Crocodile this Friday the 3rd, I see Reggie Watts is doing another show at the Triple Door on the 16th, and a bunch of other big-name acts. As always, take a look at the calendar on the Three Imaginary Girls site for upcoming shows; The Stranger's listings are more comprehensive, but only for the current week.