Archive for February, 2011

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February 28, 2011

The Concretes Bring Sweet Swedish Pop to Neumos Tonight

We’ll just come right and say it. We’re suckers for Swedish indie pop. In addition to Loney Dear, Marching Band, and yes, even Peter Bjorn and John at times, tonight’s Neumos headliner tops our list of favorite exports from the land of ABBA, Saab and IKEA.

With a sound that’s akin to a more upbeat Camera Obscura and in turn, a female-fronted Belle & Sebastian at times, The Concretes produce infectious pop gems with simple but sweet vocals coupled with lush instrumentation.

Head to Neumos tonight to experience the band for yourself with Florida’s Millionyoung and local pop punk enthusiasts Speaker Speaker.

2/28 at Neumos: The Concretes, Millionyoung, Speaker Speaker :: Doors at 8PM :: $13 adv

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February 26, 2011

Things Could Get Heavy: Arbouretum Take on Jung at the Comet Tavern Tonight

While the majority of artists turn to (often) trivial interpersonal issues as fodder for their work, others turn to external sources for (often) denser inspiration. While Neutral Milk Hotel was famously captivated by Anne Frank and The Handsome Family fill their songs with true-life melancholy, tonight’s Comet headliner interestingly turned to the pages of Freud’s friend turned nemesis Carl Jung.

Head to the Comet tonight to hear Arbouretum‘s musical take on Jung’s The Red Book as well as other songs from their previous three albums. The Baltimore purveyors of heavy, folk-ish rock will be joined by Endless Boogie.

2/26 at The Comet Tavern: Endless Boogie :: Arbouretum :: Eternal Tapestry :: 9:00 pm :: $8

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February 25, 2011

High Culture Night: Gregory & the Hawk and Ted Leo at UW Henry Art Gallery

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Looking for the perfect way to end a hectic week and kick off the weekend in style? We think you should add some high culture to your life by visiting the UW Henry Art Gallery tonight. Sure, there are art exhibitions to look at, but even better, there’s going to be music to enjoy as well.

UW’s own student radio station, Rainy Dawg Radio, presents a show at the gallery this evening featuring one of our favorite heartbreaking musicians, Gregory & The Hawk. Fronted by Meredith Godreau (whose vocals are reminiscent Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer), Gregory and the Hawk turns despair, abuse, heartbreak and other sad subject matter into gorgeously crafted acoustic folk songs. But don’t expect this to be a sob session – she’s opening for the much livelier Ted Leo.

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2/25 Ted Leo/Gregory & The Hawk at UW Henry Art Gallery :: Doors at 8:00 :: Tickets are $8 for students, $12 for the rest of us :: All ages

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February 24, 2011

Snowpocalypse Disappoints, Thursday Night Shows Excite: Deerhoof and Gimme Shelter

The snowpocalypse turned out to be a pretty big disappointment for Seattlites who like snow. However, there is one good thing about the stark absence of snow blanketing the city: you can still make it to the two awesome shows that are happening tonight!

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First up is the “Gimme Shelter” event at Showbox tonight. It is a benefit show to end homelessness, and during weather like this, ending homelessness is more important than ever. The Gimme Shelter lineup is quite impressive if you like raucous, boot-stompin tunes: The Dusty 45s, Kasey Anderson & The Honkies, Star Anna, Tom Bennet & The Rolling Blackouts, Masy Ferguson, Rachel Flotard & Rusty Willoughby, Vince Mira, Zoe Muth, Mark Pickerel and Kristen Ward. Enough said.

 

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For those of you who are feeling a little more quirky and experiemental, the always-entertaining group Deerhoof will be at Neumos.

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February 23, 2011

Out of the Blue: Motopony at High Dive Tonight

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Every once in a while, an amazing band pops up out of nowhere and we think to ourselves, “How have we not been hearing about this band for ages?” These bands tend to produce a sound that is much more mature than the years that the band has actually been in existence.

One such act is Motopony, fronted by Daniel Blue of Tacoma. He hasn’t been a musician for long, however his music consists of smoothly constructed, bluesy pop songs. By being catchy without being cheesy and relying heavily on Blue’s own one-of-a-kind vocals, we became immediate fans. Record label tinyOGRE was apparently also infatuated, since they signed Motopony earlier this month. Motopony is headlining at the High Dive tonight, supported by The Directory and Zach Fleury – the perfect Wednesday night lineup if you ask us.

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2/23 Motopony/The Directory/Zach Fleury at High Dive :: Doors at 8:00 PM :: Tickets are $6 at the door :: 21+

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February 22, 2011

The Curse of the Mummy: Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band at Showbox SoDo

Robotanists recently reported that they had covered Radiohead’s new album, King of Limbs, in its entirety in 24 hours. On the opposite end of the songwriting spectrum, it took Josh Ritter two years to complete his latest release, which he has admitted is “the most difficult album [he’s] made so far.”

Spawned from a dream about a mummy falling in love with a Victorian archeologist (what? who hasn’t had that dream before?), So Runs the World Away tackles themes of vividly described exploration. The album was written in conjunction with Josh’s first novel, tentatively titled Bright’s Passage, and the lyrics are rich and colorful. The album ranges from droning guitars and gentle vocals to hard hitting, repeatitive beats that nearly overpower Josh’s shouts. Overall, the album is true to it’s theme of exploration and it is clear Josh stretched the boundaries of his musical comfort zone.

Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band are headlining at Showbox Sodo tonight with support from one of our favorite Scottish songsters, Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit.

2/22 Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band/Scott Hutchinson at Showbox SoDo :: Doors at 8:00 PM :: Tickets are $27 at the door :: All Ages

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February 19, 2011

A Royal Evening: The Decemberists at The Paramount

Though everyone and their favorite music sites are talking about some other king-titled album from some British band, tonight’s Paramount’s headliner actually put out another king-titled album that didn’t do too shabbily in the buzz and/or sales game. While we’re on the topic of kings, did you read Glee has more hits than Elvis??? These are strange times, friends…

Topical, somewhat-related references aside, we recommend heading to the Paramount tonight to see Portland’s beloved veterans of experimental-folk, The Decemberists.

The band will take the stage this evening to support their most harmonically-heavy to date and one of their best in years, The King is Dead. Head to the ‘Mount early-ish to see excellent opener Mountain Man.

2/18 at The Paramount Theater :: Decemberists :: Mountain Man :: 8:00 PM :: $35

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February 17, 2011

So Good You’ll Forget They’re from Jersey: Don’t Miss Yo La Tengo Tonight at Showbox

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Unfortunately with the advent of MTV’s Jersey Shore phenomenon, the Garden State’s reputation has become even more tarnished than previously imagineable. It seems that no one can take Jersey seriously, except, of course, those who live there. Snookie jokes aside, there remains a bright spot in Jersey’s bad rap: the Hoboken-born experimental indie pop group Yo La Tengo.

Yo La Tengo has remained a bit of an anomaly for almost 30 years. While they’ve consistently been a favorite of music critics everywhere, they’ve remained largely under the mainstream radar while garnering a devoted cult following. Their sound ranges from fuzzy alt rock to trancey indie jams and everything in between. The trio is also known for their repertoire of cover songs of other popular yet unconventional artists like Daniel Johnston, the Kinks, Neil Young and The Velvet Underground.

The Corin Tucker Band will be joining Yo La Tengo tonight at Showbox at the Market. We guarantee Yo La Tengo’s set will even make you forget they are from Jersey.

2/17 Yo La Tengo/The Corin Tucker Band at Showbox at the Market :: Doors at 7:00 PM :: Tickets are $20 at the door :: All Ages

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February 16, 2011

Portland’s Finest: The Builders and the Butchers at the Tractor Tavern

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Portland is good for a lot of things, like shopping (no sales tax!), filling the car up with gas (they actually have people that pump your gas FOR you) and doughnuts (VooDoo… need we say more?) But one of our favorite things about Portland is The Builders and the Butchers.

With a raw falsetto that is not unlike the vocal chops of Brian Molko of Placebo, frontman Ryan Sollee leads the quintet in vivid Americana rock, making them one of the most talked about PacNW bands in the late 2000’s. Known for lively performances and lyrical storytelling, The Builders and the Butchers thrives on connecting with their audience.

The group’s third album, Dead Reckoning, releases next Tuesday, but tonight they’ll be playing the Tractor Tavern with Murder By Death and Damion Suomi & The Minor Prophets.

2/16 Murder By Death/The Builders and the Butchers/Damion Suomi & The Minor Prophets at Tractor Tavern :: Doors at 9:00 PM :: Tickets are $15 at the door :: 21+

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February 15, 2011

One Mountain Goat Amongst a Sea of Dawgs : John Darnielle at Meany Hall

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There’s something about hanging out on college campuses that just makes you feel smart. Smart and a bit more OK with the fact you’ve been wearing pajama pants for the past three days straight.

Regardless of your preconceived affection (or dislike) of higher learning settings, tonight’s one night we wholeheartedly recommend bypassing Earl’s on the Ave and spending time in a UW building.

The reason: Indie Rock’s poet laureate John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats will be playing Meany Hall with Tiny Vipers.

Darnielle will bring his lo-fi narrative-driven folk as a solo act tonight, though we expect to hear plenty of songs and stories from the bands, most notably the M. Goats, that have spread his hyper-literate lyrics through venues, iPods and dorm rooms across the globe.

2/15 at Meany Hall UW :: John Darnielle :: Tiny Vipers :: 8:00 PM :: $12 UW students w/ ID :: $20 everyone else

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