May 18, 2012

A Friday Full of Choices: Ballard Bash, Deep Sea Diver, or Margot & Gang?

Happy Friday, music lovers! You’re in for a real treat, because tonight offers some fantastic shows.

First off, if you weren’t in Ballard for the Syttende Mai celebration last night, you should head over today for KEXP’s Hood-to-Hood 2012 festival. Ramona Falls kicks things off right now at 10:00 a.m., and KEXP will be broadcasting live from Bergen Park all day. You can also see Deep Sea Diver, My Goodness, the Maldives and more for free (or for suggested donation). For more information and a schedule of today’s festivities, visit: http://blog.kexp.org/hood-to-hood-2012/

If you can’t skip work to see Deep Sea Diver in Ballard at noon today, be sure to see Jessica Dobson and crew tonight at Neumos. You might recognize Jessica as the new and sole female member of The Shins. If you aren’t familiar with her own project, this is a must-see show.

(Cheers to our friends at Sound on the Sound for the awesome video below!)

Finally, if Belltwon is more your scene tonight, Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos will be at the Croc tonight. Their quirky, theatrical and whimsical brand of indie pop has earned them a spot in our regular musical rotation for the past 5 or so years.

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May 14, 2012

Seattle’s Best Music This Week

Our top picks this week.

5/17 (Thursday) – The Grizzled Mighty @ The Crocodile
A Seattle duo that mixes the bluesy rock of the Black Keys with their own twist on flannel rock.

5/18 (Friday) – Deep Sea Diver @ Neumos
The original project from Jessica Dobson – rising female rock icon and newest member of The Shins.

5/18 (Friday) – Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos @ The Crocodile
Whimsical, lyric-driven folk rock promoting a brand-spankin’ new album.

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May 9, 2012

Herd on the Hill: Roaming Herds of Buffalo CD Release at Barboza Tonight

As anyone who’s spent any amount of time on this blog likely knows, we’re fans of goofy, pop rock. While we’re obviously biased we’d argue Seattle has some of the best bands in this category including the reigning champions of “sloppy pop” BOAT. Luckily for us and you, another band has risen from the ashes of Skeletons with Flesh on Them and proudly takes that band’s place in the PacNw pantheon of pop greatness.

Roaming Herds of Buffalo is a brand new band dreamed up and fronted by Scott Roots with support from his fun-loving, talented friends from other local bands like the Torn ACLs.

In advance of the band’s CD release show at Barboza tonight, Scott was kind enough to talk to us a bit about the band’s first video.

Watch the video, scroll through interview and head over to the newest basement venue in town for the in-person experience.

5/9 Roaming Herds Of Buffalo, Quiet Ones and Hounds of the Wild Hunt @ Barboza, Doors at 8 pm, $10

Poppy nihilism isn’t a term we’d ever thought about writing until hearing the song. How far off are we here?

I think you’re right on the money!

What’s the song really about?

I was imagining the universe like an ocean, with people living on the ocean floor. Eventually everything that ever existed would float down on them. As they reinterpreted the falling debris they would create a new world of meaning. So they would take dead things and make them alive again. It’s a happy song after all!

What made you decide you wanted to share the starring role of your first video with the dancing undead?

Actually I didn’t want a starring role, hence all the zombies! I am clearly the worse actor possible.

It looked like you guys had a lot of fun making the video. True or are you all just really good actors?

We did have a lot of fun. Doing the macarena 100 times, while wearing blood-splattered clothes, is just plain fun.

Tell us about the album cover. What exactly’s going on there. We haven’t been able to figure out.

That’s a good question. Looks like some very hip monsters on a strange planet headed to a costume ball. The artist is Darin Shuler, by the way. Check out his flickr page for more of his work, it’s so effing good!

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May 7, 2012

One of 2012′s Must-Sees: Father John Misty at Neumos Tonight

We’ve been fans of Josh Tillman for quite a while. From his solo stuff (as the more mysterious and melanchonic J. Tillman), to his time on the throne with the Fleet Foxes, we’ve always appreciated his commanding voice and his unparallelled musicianship.

His latest project, Father John Misty, goes above and beyond all his previous contributions in our book. With tinges of psychedelic rock layered over thoughtful folk rock arrangements and signature harmonies, the result is an album full of songs that are sad and dark, yet catchy and accessible.

While we don’t often quote descriptors cited by press materials, SubPop offered some great ones we feel capture a few more obscure dimensions of inspiration perfectly. Along with other apt comparisons, SubPop asserts Father John Misty’s lyrics elicit “the hedonist-philosophy of Oscar Wilde and the dried-out wit of Loudon Wainwright III.”

With a confidence and swagger we’ve never seen from him before, Josh Tillman has come into his own. And musically speaking, that’s a great thing.

Watch the two videos below to get a taste of what’s in store and don’t miss the live experience at Neumos tonight. We expect it will be one of the best shows of the year.

5/7 Father John Misty / Har Mar Superstar @ Neumos :: Doors at $8 :: Tickets are $13 :: 21+

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May 7, 2012

The Best Live Music in Seattle This Week

Our top picks this week.

5/7 (Monday) – Father John Misty @ Neumos

A former Fox finds his swagger and star turn after ditching Seattle for L.A.

5/8 (Tuesday) – Black Keys @ Key Arena

Everyone’s favorite mainstream blues rock duo from Akron, OH

5/9 (Wednesday) – The Drums @ Neumos

Brooklyn-based retro-loving youthful rock

5/9 (Wednesday) – Roaming Herds Of Buffalo @ Barboza

Goofy, fun-loving pop rock from Seattle

5/10 (Thursday) – Beach Fossils @ Neumos

Another excellent reverby young band from Brooklyn

5/11 (Friday) – Allo Darlin @ Vera Project

London-based, fun-loving twee pop group playing the 10th anniversary fête of fun-loving “sparkly indie pop” blog Three Imaginary Girls

5/12 (Saturday) – The Moondoggies @ Tractor

The finest purveyors of Seattle-based Americana

5/13 (Sunday) – Great Lake Swimmers @ Tractor

Quite possibly the finest purveyors of “melodic folk rock” around today

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May 4, 2012

A Night of New Directions and Old Themes: Delta Spirit at Neumos Tonight

Much like Damien Jurado‘s drastic evolution with Maraqopa and J. Tillman’s creative rebirth as Father John Misty, tonight’s Neumos headliners had grown so tired with the over-abundance of “folk” references from critics, fans and everyone in between they decided to try something new.

According to Delta Spirt‘s press materials, the pigeon-holing was especially jarring to the band as they never set out to be a band who would attract broad descriptors like “rootsy Americana” or “twangy folk.”

The band, fronted by “former unabashedly vocal busker,” Matt Vasquez, just released their third album that attempts to thoughtfully and gradually strip away those elements that attracted such terminology in the first place. According to lyricist and multi-instrumentalist Kelly Winrich, “the intention was to introduce the album with something that hints at what we used to sound like. We wanted to ease people into it.”

If the mostly positive reviews are to believed, they’ve certainly succeeded. As Consequence of Sound aptly puts it, “Delta Spirit’s breadth still demonstrates a natural quantum leap from their earlier work, and the band itself is stronger for it.”

Whether you’re a fan of their older sound, are curious about the new one or are just up for a night of high-energy rock that walks the fine line between unbridled passion and control, head over to Neumos tonight for what will promises to be one of the best Seattle shows of the month.

5/4 Delta Spirit, Waters, Tijuana Panthers @ Neumos, Doors at 8 pm, $13

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May 2, 2012

Make Yours a Washed Out Wednesday at the Neptune Tonight

For some reason, we’re partial to acts who start out as bedroom recording projects. There’s a certain intimacy and innocence that comes from music that never left the house.

As the hazy electronica project of 28-year-old Atlanta-based songwriter and producer Ernest Greene, Washed Out is part of this proud and largely private tradition. While the songs don’t have the built-in vulnerability of other bedroom projects like Mike Hadreas’ Perfume Genius or Colin Caulfield’s Young Man, Greene layers murky, ambient vocals onto dance beats and textured instrumentation to create a dream-like and sometimes melancholic effect.


5/2 Washed Out / Memoryhouse @ Neptune :: Doors at 7:00 PM :: Tickets are $16 :: 21+

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May 1, 2012

Leave the Expected Behind: Lambchop at the Tractor Tonight

Kurt Wagner’s Lambchop is arguably the most unclassifiable band to have gained widespread adoration and critical acclaim in the past thirty years, if not ever. Combining Lou Reed-esque speak-sing vocals with instrumental elements and stylistic cues from country, jazz, soul, post-rock and many other genres, Wagner and his rotating cast of bandmates have cranked out at least eleven official studio albums and a handful of cassette releases since the band’s genesis in 1986.

Whether you’re a longtime fan or just curious to hear something entirely different, head over to Ballard’s Tractor for a night with the band allmusic.com calls “arguably the most consistently brilliant and unique American group to emerge during the 1990s.”

5/1 Lambchop, Alina Hardin @ Tractor Tavern, Doors at 8 pm, $18

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April 30, 2012

The Best Live Music in Seattle This Week

Our top picks this week.

5/1 (Tuesday) – Lambchop @ Tractor

A genre-defying blend of jazz, country and more experimentation from legendary Nashville speak-singer Kurt Wagner

5/2 (Wednesday) – Washed Out @ Neptune

Hazy pop electronica expands to fill one of the city’s best revived venues

5/3 (Thursday) – Benjamin Francis Leftwich @ The Croc

Contemplative acoustic pop from a young, but rapidly embraced English singer-songwriter

5/4 (Friday) – Delta Spirit @ Neumos

Raw, folk-infused rock from the lauded San Diego band fronted by former busker and emotive lyricist, Matthew Vasquez

5/5 (Saturday) – Brian Jonestown Massacre @ Neumos

Retro-leaning rock from Portland-based psychedelic pop enthusiasts

5/6 (Sunday) – Torn ACLs @ Neumos

Usually simple, often goofy and always fun Seattle pop rock

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April 27, 2012

Re-live Your Not-So-Distant Youth with Ben Kweller at Neumos Saturday

We’d guess anyone who’s been in college or of college age or has spent any significant amount of time with someone in one of the first two categories in the past decade is familiar with Ben Kweller, in at least a cursory kind of way. The Austin singer-songwriter’s become something of a legend for his song “Wasted & Ready,” which for better or worse, became the anthem of many teens and twenty-somethings since its release in 2002.

Since that time, Ben’s been pounding out the albums that explore different aspects of his power-pop loving-, usually upbeat singer-songwriter sensibilities. 2009′s appropriately-titled Changing Horses saw Ben introducing slide guitar and other elements you’d expect from his Texas upbringing while retaining the brand of bittersweet fun that’s been his trademark since his early days as an on-stage teenage Weezer enthusiast. This past February, Ben put out his fifth album that falls back to his straight-ahead power-pop-infused roots and adds maturity through broader instrumentation and richer harmonies

Whether you’re a longtime fan or are just looking for something to break your Netflix addiction, we encourage you to head over to Neumos Saturday for a fun night you won’t soon forget.

4/28 Ben Kweller, Sleeper Agent, Noah Gundersen @ Neumos, Doors at 9:15 pm, $16 in advance

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