Mudhoney ain’t so sweet

I was reprimanded  today by a certain KEXP DJ for falsely accusing Mudhoney of riding the coattails of the Grunge movement. Apparently they FOUNDED the grunge movement. I always thought they were just given a cookie and granted one song on the Singles Soundtrack… one song too many. I guess I would have known better had I been born here and forced through their droning sets at the Sit and Spin, nodding my head and discussing with my flannel-clad brethren, over steaming lattes, how progressive they are. Luckily, I’m not local. This gives me the distinctive ability to separate myself from the local bands and having an opinion other than “ALL-THINGS-SEATTLE-ARE-TOTALLY_AWESOME…”

Yawn.

Now note, I’m not ranking on all things Seattle. I just think that there is a line we need to draw between opinion and loyalty. As in, ditch your blind devotion for a second and listen to the sophomoric “Where is the Future” (found here) and tell me, HONESTLY, that this doesn’t sound like the runner up to the Ballard High Battle of the Bands. Try not to laugh. This is the song that was deemed worthwhile by our KEXP dj. Not only worthwhile of playing, but worthwhile of defending. Yikes. Where is the Future of indie radio..? I’m tempted to ask, but they get a little protective over there if you offer up anything besides praise.

And check out the lyrics”I want to fly with my personal jetpack. I want to visit my family on Mars.”
Ooooh, what futuristic vision. Where are the little green men? Didn’t Arnold go to Mars..? He must be awesome too. Please, someone explain to me what the hell the attaction is to this band… BESIDES that they’re from Seattle.

If you’re truly sado-masochistic, check out the brilliant repetition in Hard On For War on the same link above… (=shutter=)

Mudhoney and spice and everything nice. THAT’s what boring girls are made of.

Shins’ Album Release on Yahoo!

In a poke to the eye of my always-sensitive music taste, news of the Shins’ release Wincing the Night Away was today on Yahoo!’s home page.

The album, released midnight on Jan. 23rd, was — I admit — heavily anticipated. But Yahoo!? Without the midnight release it wouldn’t have gotten the press it did; I’m aware that that has a lot to do with it.

When is “alternative” music no longer alternative? Rhetorical question — I think that was answered in the early 1990s when grunge became Big Radio’s darling.

The line between alternative and mass market is a blurry one.

What’s Catching My Ear Lately

Larrikin Love — touring Great Britain through February (see below) — check out their music here (hover over the upper right bird on the TV set )

I should really go to sleep, but I’m listening to Six Organs of Admittance’s “Dark Noontide” which is some amazing spooky shit…

So…you’re sitting around and want to see a show this week?  Well it’s a good week…

Tuesday, 1/23 — Funhouse ::: Sean/Times of Despeartion/Fortress of Victory

Three slaying duos that will make you rethink that Black Keys or White Stripes have any legitimacy — a lot of good shit this night.  Sean — a great jazz drummer and a slaying keyboard player doing sick grind and the best jokes you’re bound to hear all year.  Rules to life…..always see Sean shows when you’ve got the chance.  Fortress of Victory — victorious victorious victorious.  Times of Despeartion I’ve never heard.  They’re from Portland. 

Wednesday, 1/24 — Rendezvous ::: Six guitar players doing solo sets!!!  This should be cool.  Highly recommended above all is the incomparable Brad Dunn.  He was recapping a guitar workshop of Nels Cline’s he went to in Vancover…something along the lines of this, “Thanks for all the wonderful advice and tips.  But I play a guitar with a screwdriver jammed underneath the 17th fret.  What do you have for that, Nels Cline?”  Check it out!

Thursday, 1/25 — Rendezvous :: The Quit — they’re lead guitar player is Nash McBride.  you’ve got to lvoe that name.  It’s also a benefit for cancer research or some such thing.  The Quit is catchy. 

 Saturday, 1/27 — Monkey Pub ::: Wah Wah Exit Wound/Noh-Suspend — Noh Suspend is from Japan.  For a bit of bad logic, here we go…Boris and Green Milk from the Planet Orange are from Japan.  They are two of the most incredible bands I heard in 2006.  Why won’t Noh Suspend be cool.  Yes, I admit it, Wah Wah Exit Wound IS my band, but whatever.  I’ve got a lot of objective confidence in us.  Prog-psych…check it out.  Buy Anthony’s poetry book…he’s the bartender. 

 The moral to the story?  Never pay more than $10 for a show and you’ll see some great stuff.  Most of all — go see Fortress of Victory and Sean!!!! Tomorrow!!!

 Also — if you haven’t heard Six ORgans of Admittance go pick up an album.

Monolators and Upskirts

Lobo Saloon saw a superb lineup last Friday with LA band the Monolators and Seattle’s The Upskirts plastering the Lobo’s tight quarters with bushels of tight punk-pop. Check back here for reviews on these bands.

rbally: Live Music Feast… and Mogwai

[editor's note: rbally.net has closed its doors. See my comments below.]

rbally.net is the best thing since iPods and 42″ plasmas, and it features (free) mp3 tracks of live shows. I recently dug into Mogwai at the Gothic Theatre. [As I write this that URL is down. I'm hoping this situation is temporary.]

I’m going to turn this into a Mogwai thread somehow starting… well, now.

After listening to this live version of Glasgow Mega Snake (from their mostly-brilliant 2006 release Mr. Beast), I’m just shaken to the core. The song is all business; it’s an instrumental earthquake of the highest order. It’s brutal, melodic, stunning rock music.

It’s good on the studio album, but it’s even better live IMHO. And it the show just happens to be at the venue where I saw the Pixies in 1990 and 1991 on their Bossanova and Trompe le Monde tours, respectively.

Incidentally, the sound on this live recording is outstanding.

Interview with Ill Papa

Desmond Dunmore, aka The Black Diamond Pearl, aka Ill Papa is a self-described “countrity soldier” (1/2 country — born in Button Willow, California, near Bakersfield — and 1/2 city). The 34-year-old Seattle singer is shy of even one album, but is putting out solid tracks without aid of a studio. He is an ex-member of mid-1990s Seattle band Kill a Crop.

Listen to Ill Papa’s Carpet Ride [mp3]

Ill Papa on Soundclick

How do you write music?
I’m not a beatmaker. Beats just come to me, put them to a rhythm that I hear in my head. This is what it would sound like if it was a live band. I use Sonic Foundry Acid Pro.

Describe your music
Truth is there. There’s nothing fictitious about the lyrics. I call it “atmospheric journey”. If people listen to the lyrics, what’s being said, they’ll hear the journey.

Current bands you’re into?
Incubus, metal, Roots, Snoop Dogg, Floetry, Kanye West, what people call conscious hiphop. I love Outkast, Goodie Mob, Eric B & Rakim, EPMD, Wu Tang Clan, Method Man Red Man. Punk? Green day. Growing up in foster homes forced me to have an open mind.

Likes?
Old kung fu flicks.

People?
I listen to whatever people have to say.

Did you have any musically influential people in your life growing up?
I got my influences from listening to classic rock n dicso, Joplin, Hendrix, Buffalo Springfield, and the Doors. I grew up in group homes and foster homes. Nobody that did music that I knew influenced me personally. My music is diverse because I was in a diverse atmosphere. A lot of the heart and soul of music came from where I grew up, Charleston South Carolina and Kern County California.

Album Cover Quiz

This is probably very difficult for anyone under thirty, and even difficult for anyone under forty. Many of the bands are 70’s and 80s rock, classic rock, prog rock, and metal. Click the image to take the quiz. There’s 54 covers on the quiz.

credit

Johnny Marr Joins Modest Mouse

Johnny Marr, ex-guitarist of 80s pop legends The Smiths, has joined Seattle’s Modest Mouse, and recorded with them on their soon-to-be-released album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. He will tour with the band in the spring.

Modest Mouse singer Isaac Brock:

“I took a long shot really. I was like, ‘You know, I really like that guy’s guitar playing. There’s no chance in hell he’s going to say yes, but why not give him a call?’”

This is really interesting to me. I grew up listening (wearing-out-tapes-style listening) to The Smiths. And while not all of Modest Mouse’s repertoire speaks to me, I consider them a damn good band. This should be good.

Easy Street Records

The West Seattle Easy Street Records is not your average cafe.

Besides serving breakfast and lunch (“solid grub“), the store features CDs, vinyl and a tickets to area concerts. Oh, and Pearl Jam played there for a surprise 10-year anniversary show on April 29th, 2005, for about 125 people who were lucky enough to show up for a regular party.

A diversion from music

I’ve been on a mission lately to find a movie that I have a memory of watching while I was a kid in the 70s. I could swear it was Journey to the Center of the Earth but to my dismay, when I watched it last night, it was not the movie that I remembered so fondly. So I went on a quest today to my co-workers to see if they knew (Dan, you were going to be back up b/c you have that friend who knows all things movies and music — you can still quiz him though.) Here’s my memory: “There was this vehicle that had a drill-shaped thingy at the front. It carried an expedition (a group of people) down thru the middle of the earth where they found a lost civilization that included dinosaurs.” You would think “journey to the center of the earth”, right? However, I was told after 5 minutes of deliberation, it could be “The Land that Time Forgot”. I’m going to rent it from Netflix ASAP.

Here’s some other very memorable childhood movies — do any of these ring a bell? What are yours?

1. Logan’s Run

2. Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger – the one with the skeletons that attack

3 The Bermuda Depths (made for TV movie on ABC that even Scarecrow doesn’t have a copy of)

4. The Land that Time Forgot

5. Clash of the Titans

6. The Time Machine

7. The Omega Man

8. Barbarella (well this is more a current sci-fi fave rather than a childhood as it’s not fit for a child!)

9. And my MOST favorite of them all: Flash Gordon Oh it’s so good and a must see for everyone who loves trashy sci fi. It’s the movie with the Queen Soundtrack.
That’s all I can think of now!

Breaking News: (1 hour later) — ok I think I REALLY found the movie that my description matches — it’s “At the Earth’s Core” — sounds horrible but now I have to check it out for sure.

Heard today…

…Sirens Sister today at Solstice Coffee on the Ave.

When I walked in, the baristas were bumpin’ Blue Scholars and it sounded RICH. Their sound system is as good as any PA system I’ve heard in a record- (or dare I say) stereo shop, and it was up to like eight!

Soon after, this Bono-like voice came over the speakers, and after about three tracks, I had to ask who was playing. I’m not a huge U2 fan (unlike Jules), but this was catchy and I was just in the right mood for something a little more upbeat.

I’ll be dipped if they don’t sound like Achtung-era U2 with updated production and a dash of faster-paced latter-day Pearl Jam.

According to the barista, they are the remnants of now-defunct Vendetta Red. Said he: “They’re my girlfriend’s best-friend’s boyfriend’s band…” in fine small-town Seattle fashion. And according to the ever-informative MySpace Music page, they are playing 5 Jan in Bellevue at The Rock Bottom.

(Holy cow. As I write this, Pandora just selected Blue Scholars’ “Freewheelin’”.)

http://www.myspace.com/sirenssister

Apologies to Jules for the sarcasm.

Coming soon!

My boyfriend will be playing at nuemos on Jan 19! I’m so excited. Ya’ll should check out him and his band. They’re pretty good. Though it gets sort of annoying when the crowd gives him flack about not playing any Pavement songs.

Quick Thoughts

• Seattle local band The Earaches sound good. Check them out.

• Arctic Monkey’s The View From The Afternoon video is outstanding.

[quicktime width="320" height="240"]http://66.98.234.71/files/mov/arctic_monkeys_the_view_from_the_afternoon_high.mov[/quicktime]

• Beirut had to cancel their fall tour only 5 weeks in due to exhaustion of member Zach, who was hospitalized.

The next morning Zach got lost in the Louvre. “Cubism is a farce,” he whispered to a overweight Dutch tourist. Under the English Channel, en route to London, Zach noted the relative comfort of being “chunneled”. In a dank Soho apothecary he sought a remedy for exhaustion and aversion to French bedbugs. The apothecary tried vainly to quote Prince Charles recent royal address to the greater public of Britian: “In light of having seen my wife unrobed and wigless in the disingenuous florescent light of a cheap hotel room, I do apologize to the nation and myself for unquestioning faith in her eternal beauty. She is old and ugly and so am I.” That is funny Zach dourly noted, but it does not help me at all not one bloody bit. “I must return to New Mexico to decompress.” Parliament was eerily quiet. One cannot argue with the plain truth.

Wolfmother Photos

The Silversun Pickups/Wolfmother show took place a month ago. One helluva lineup – I had turned down tickets back in September when the show was announced as it was rumored to be $40+ with “convenience” charges. But day of show, the ticket genie appeared and seven of us stormed the Nite Lite for drinks and merriment pre-show, only to discover that the drink fairy was a friend of Mike, the ticket genie… Somehow I still got pictures….and here are some small-res versions: