Pilcrow

As I'm in the midst of a run of seven shows in two weeks, I'm just going to do a quick summary post of three of the recent ones. I didn't take a lot of notes at any of these anyhow, so it makes sense to group them together.

April began and ended for me with Hotels shows: the first on Saturday April 2 at the High Dive, which I wrote about already; and the last on Friday April 29 at the Sunset Tavern, with Blue Skies for Black Hearts opening and Yuni in Taxco headlining. As I noted when I saw Blue Skies for Black Hearts in January, they're a decent band and their song "Majoring in the Arts" is pretty catchy, but otherwise they just don't do anything for me. And although I really liked Yuni in Taxco when I saw them at that same January show and wanted to hear them again, this time they also just weren't holding my interest—maybe they were just playing a different set of songs, maybe it was an off night, maybe I just was distracted. Hotels, however, never fail to satisfy me, and they played a particularly sharp set that showed them ready to take on all comers at the Billboard Battle of the Bands in Las Vegas later this month. For some reason at this show I took particular note of Brendan Malec's guitar playing—it's really good! Fast-paced and intricate yet precise and clear. Drummer Aaron Voros has also settled in nicely from being "the new guy" not even a year ago, holding his own with the rest of the band. And now I'll be remiss if I don't mention the other two members, so another thing I noted at this show was how well keyboardist Kyle Frankiewich's backing vocals complement bassist and lead vocalist Blake Madden's own singing. (They're not too shabby at playing their instruments, either.) So now it's off to Vegas for Hotels—knock 'em dead, boys.

Next, a brief note about Junip, whom I saw on Monday May 2 at the Triple Door, performing a 40-minute set as part of the KEXP VIP Club concert series. Although I've never picked up any of his albums, I've enjoyed hearing José Gonzalez's music on KEXP, so I was looking forward to hearing him in the context of the band he began with, Junip, before the detour of his solo career. And I was not disappointed: they played a set of beautiful chamber/art rock, with an interesting way of working electronic instruments and devices into their organic sound. I did not go to see their longer show later that night at Neumos, but I would definitely like to see them again.

Finally, on Wednesday May 4, I went to see Zola Jesus at the Crocodile, with Crypts and Naked on the Vague opening. Crypts struck me as howling dark metal noise with a techno beat and bleeps. Apparently, at least according to The Stranger, they're part of the new witch house genre; I think I would've preferred more house, less witch. Tech trouble led to them stopping early, but I can't say I minded. Naked on the Vague played a set of early Cure-style goth rock, led by a rather deep-voiced female singer. Although I liked their music, I didn't care much for her almost monotonous singing style, and in the end I felt their set was a bit bland on the whole. Zola Jesus of course was a whole different story. She came out shrouded in a white sheet and crouched down on the stage with her wireless mic to start singing her first song, gradually rising and removing the sheet to reveal herself wearing a white hooded robe beneath, very priestess-like. Zola Jesus was also deep-voiced, but what an amazingly powerful and expressive voice she had. She was very energetic too, almost always moving about the stage, just occasionally crouching down dramatically and rarely standing at the mic stand. With barely a pause between each piece, her music ranged through grand dramatic songs, dirges, marches, and dances; her encore was a surprisingly dancey synthpop track, a funny contrast to her more serious-sounding songs that still fit in with the rest. Still a young artist just starting out, Zola Jesus will clearly grow into a major figure in modern music.

I didn't take any photos at the Hotels show, partly because the lighting at the Sunset is never any good for my iPhone and partly because I was too busy hanging out with friends and dancing. I have just three photos of Junip at the Triple Door, but as I was right up front they came out rather well. I also have a small set of photos of Naked on the Vague and Zola Jesus; it was hard to get good photos of Zola Jesus because the stage was mostly dark but she had a bright white light shining on her bright white clothing. 

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. 

My first show in February 2010 was on the 6th at Neumos, with the Album Leaf, Sea Wolf, and Anomie Belle. And honestly, I can't remember why I went to this show. I must've been hearing music by the Album Leaf on KEXP and decided to check them out, given what my very sparse notes say. I didn't jot anything down about Anomie Belle, whose style just doesn't work for me. Sea Wolf was an unremarkable but not bad Southern rock band—at least according to my notes—who turned out to be an "oh, those guys" band, as they finished with "that song". Having looked them up again on Myspace, I'm guessing "that song" was "You're a Wolf", which is actually rather good, and the rest of their songs on Myspace seem to be more folk rock than Southern rock, so I'm not sure what's up with my notes. Finally, the Album Leaf played cool prog/art rock on the mellow side, somewhere between the arty instrumentals of Do Make Say Think and the more pop-rock sound of Minus the Bear. 

My second show in February was a special event, the fifth annual "Dancing on the Valentine" benefit for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, held on Saturday the 13th at the Crocodile. These events feature a bunch of bands covering the songs of a particular artist or group, this year's being David Bowie. The line-up included Hotels, so naturally I went, but also had Lesli Wood of the Redwood Plan doing a set with Aaron Starkey, the bassist (edit: oops, not bassist) guitarist of Spanish for 100. The other bands at the show included Half Acre Day, Peter Parker, Legion Within, Exohxo, Motorik, and Sean Bates. I didn't take any notes at the show besides listing the line-up, so I don't have much to say besides it being a fun time, including a David Bowie look-alike contest. I did however take a lot of photos, which you can see in this set on Flickr.

My last February show was the next Saturday, the 20th, at the Sunset Tavern, and again featured Hotels, this time with Black Mercies opening and the Purrs headlining. Black Mercies sounded pretty good, playing pretty straightforward guitar pop-rock though with very '80s-sounding synth. Their last song, "Sparks in the Darkness", had a groovy bass line and different feel from the rest, which was a nice contrast; I liked it the most of their set. Hotels debuted a new song, "On the Casino Floor," which of course made me very excited, and in all honesty it did sound very good. Finally, I'd seen the Purrs a couple times before, and they've grown on me each time. But here's the thing about the Purrs: half the time they sound like a (stereo)typical bar band, and don't hold my interest, but then they rock out more with a harder/darker sound, sometimes almost shoegaze, and then I think they sound great. That said, I do really like "Miles Away", a bright pop song with a great catchy guitar line. They also played "Taste of Monday", one of the darker ones,  and "Stay Here with Me", which is practically Britpop. 

I'm including March in this post because I went to only two shows, and I've already written one of those reviews: on March 20th I went to see Alabaster at El Corazón, and after a few months' delay got that review done back in August. The other show I went to, on March 4th at the Crocodile, had CMYK headlining, with Hotels, the Fascination Movement, and Noddy. I'd seen all the bands but the Fascination Movement before, so I didn't take many notes. Noddy sounded really good; I recognized that I should've picked up their 2009 release A Seed (which I've just found out is available for free from Noddy's BandCamp page), and this show left me really looking forward to a new release in 2010—Remora, Remora, which came out later in July. Noddy introduced the last song by jokingly claiming "I wrote this song when I was on a lot of coke… sing along if you know it," and went into a cover of Stevie Nick's "Stand Back," jumping down to the floor to sing the lines "in the middle of my room." The Fascination Movement had a strong New Wave feel, evoking New Order and Depeche Mode, and a lead singer who sometimes sounded like Mark Hollis of Talk Talk. They had a good sound and I liked them. Finally, of course I ended up not taking any notes about Hotels or CMYK, as I was much too busy dancing to their great music. I did take some photos, although for no good reason didn't get any of CMYK; you can see what I have in this set on Flickr.

Last Friday the 20th, I went to the Sunset Tavern to see two bands celebrate album releases: Heart to Elk, the third album by Point Juncture WA, and Where Hearts Go Broke, the second album by Hotels. Opening the evening was The Animals at Night.

I first saw The Animals at Night just last month, and I don't really have much to add to that review. Once again they played some great dance music, but the club was so packed there was no room to dance. The crowd did seem to be into the music though, which was good for the band. I have a feeling The Animals at Night will be popping up a lot around town and expect it won't be long before I'm seeing them again.

Hotels marked the release of their album by playing it straight through, down to maintaining the segue from "Near the Desert, Near the City" into "Leilani". They also had on hand singer Annie Alldredge to provide her lovely guest vocals on "The Heart That Hears Like A Bat". Unfortunately the sound quality at the Sunset is rather poor, and standing up front near the stage I found the mix lacking. The guitar was a little submerged when it wasn't taking the lead, and overall the crisp interplay of the various parts did not always come through. Still, that was the fault of the venue, and the band made up for it with their energetic and enthusiastic performance. I believe the club was sold out for this show, and I expect that as word gets out, Hotels will be moving up to bigger venues soon.

I've been excited to see Point Juncture WA ever since I started hearing their single "Melon Bird" late last summer on KEXP. The quartet of Amanda Spring (lead vocals, drums), Victor Nash (keyboards, vocals, and trumpet), Skyler Norwood (bass, guitar, vibraphone), and Wilson Vediner (guitar, added percussion) played a mix of indie pop-rock and shoegazer-influenced prog rock. Because Spring does most of the lead vocals, the band had the unusual setup of having the drums front and center on the stage. That setup also made it easier for the band to trade off parts, which they did a few times, Spring taking over vibraphone and bass while Norwood took drums and vocals; Vediner played some vibraphone too and occasionally banged on a cymbal or drum in the midst of songs. The set as a whole felt a lot lighter and more pop-oriented than I had expected, based on "Melon Bird"—which, to my disappointment, they did not play—and reminded me somehow of Imperial Teen. Later I found out that Heart to Elk is their third release, not their debut as I'd thought, so it may be that the more pop-sounding songs were older ones. They did play "Once Tasted Ever Wanted", the other single that KEXP has been spinning, and it had a cool psychedelic/Euro-rock feel to it; some of the others were on the heavier side too, with shoegazer-y distorted guitars. Even so, I was left feeling that had I seen them live first rather than hearing "Melon Bird" on the radio, I wouldn't have been so excited. However, Heart to Elk is a satisfying album and I look forward to hearing more from Point Juncture WA.

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I have another review to write, for Annuals at Chop Suey last Wednesday, and I'll have that up soon. Meanwhile, March is upon us, and I'm currently looking at two shows: Asobi Seksu at Chop Suey on Tuesday March 10, and Simian Mobile Disco at Neumos on Friday March 13. I still need to go through the full listings to see if there's anything else I want to catch. Oh I should mention Hotels are doing an in-store gig at Easy Street Records in West Seattle on Friday March 20. Also noteworthy, the Crocodile has been booking shows starting in late March, and I look forward to seeing the newly-renovated club. Finally, KEXP's Spring Pledge Drive is going on this week; I wouldn't know about so many great bands were it not for them, so I highly recommend making a contribution.

Last Friday I finally got to see Film School, who played at the Sunset Tavern. I've been meaning to catch them for a while now but had unfortunately missed a few opportunities, so despite feeling tired I made the effort to get out to the club and once again found that my saying is true, "It's always the right decision to go to the show." Opening for Film School was Blue Skies for Black Hearts and The Purrs.

Blue Skies for Black Hearts are a typical rock quartet of two guitars, bass, and drums. Given their name and that they were opening for Film School, I was expecting their style to be goth/shoegaze. I arrived pretty late to the show and came in to discover they seemed to be just an ordinary indie blues-rock band. I didn't hear anything remarkable, but as I missed most of their set I really can't say too much more about them.

I first saw The Purrs a little over a month ago in June, and at the time I felt that their music was pleasant but uninspiring. At this show however, I found that their music is growing on me. It ranges from moody, shoegazer-y songs such as "Disconnected" and "Taste of Monday", to the brighter pop rock of "She's Got Chemicals" and "Miles Away" (which I was disappointed that they didn't play). Although The Purrs rarely seem inspiring, they do seem to be dependable for solid and enjoyable rock, and I think next time I catch them I'm going to pick up one of their albums.

Film School are a quintet led by Greg Bertens (vocals/guitar), with Dave Dupuis (guitar), Lorelei Plotczyk (bass), Jason Ruck (keyboard/synth), and James Smith (drums). They played a solid set of classic shoegazer rock. I don't actually have much to say about it, I just drank in the swirling guitars with a grin on my face. They did do an awesome version of "11:11", the single from their previous, self-titled album which first caught my attention. Although the vocals did seem a bit weak live, they made up for it with an extended opening that began with a beatless wash of soaring guitar sounds, eventually bringing in the opening drum rhythm. It'd be easy to compare Film School with a band such as My Bloody Valentine and say well, they're doing nothing new. But you don't have to be innovative to be good, and Film School are quite good. I'm glad I finally got to see them and I look forward to their next show.

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I know I just recently went over the list of upcoming shows, but I'm excited about them so I'm going to run through it again:

• Bumbershoot is Saturday August 30 to Monday September 1; I'm going to see Beehive and Mono In VCF on Saturday, Sons and Daughters on Sunday, and Battles on Monday, along with whoever else sounds interesting.
• Also Saturday August 30, Freezepop are back in town at El Corazón (as well as at the Penny Arcade Expo on Friday night Aug. 29).
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are at the Showbox (at the Market) on Sunday September 7.
• Balkan Beat Box make another attempt to play in Seattle, this time at Neumos on Saturday September 13.
• Goldfrapp are making one of their few North American tour stops in Seattle at the Showbox SoDo on Wednesday September 17. I'll be getting tickets for Goldfrapp very soon; they did one of the best shows I saw in 2006, and I have no doubt this show will be just as awesome.

Just got back from seeing Tara Jane O'Neil's show tonight. Small club, almost no audience - maybe a dozen people plus the three bands who played. Little sad to see the lack of audience, but you know, that meant no one standing in front of me blocking my sight.

She only played six or so songs, three with a backing band (violin, guitar, bass, drums, she switched between acoustic and electric), one with her, the violinist, and the guitarist on backing vocals, and one with her and the drummer which involved some rocking out old school Sonora Pine style.

And then she announced she was going to do one more - just her with the electric guitar (accompanied by her own guitar loops) - and it was a cover song, but a song she wrote. Now, she was the producer for the CDs of the two bands that were on before her, and I know she's done stuff with a bunch of people, so I figured it'd be something by some other band.

Then she started playing. And it was something by some other band, and I recognized it. It was "Goldmund" by The Sonora Pine.

I told her afterwards that I knew about her because a friend of mine had seen The Sonora Pine play (I think that's it - I can never remember if he saw them or just heard a track on some compilation), and she was surprised anyone had heard of them, and surprised and pleased that I'd recognized the song.

I realize this journal entry means nothing to any of the few people who actually read my journal, but take my word for it: as I told her after the show, she makes some of the most beautiful music I know. And you're all missing out by having no idea who she is. (I'd go so far as to provide sampler CDs for the curious, but if you are really interested, you should still be able to find her 2000 album Peregrine in better CD stores. I cannot recommend that album enough.)