Girl In a Coma at El Corazon a Standout for All Ages

Arriving late to the party as usual, we were amused to find Seth Green’s twin brother – smarmy look and gleaming white  flat-brimmed baseball cap and all – at the door to wave us in. Perhaps the guest list policy is looser down in the Cascade ‘hood compared to places on Pike/Pine or Madison, because Mister Disaffected Son of Dr. Evil barely looked up from his Blackberry to let us in to El Corazon on a quiet Wednesday night.

The women of Girl in a Coma were already a few songs into their set, and were settling into their groove at 10:30. The crowd? Possibly plucked at random from a group of shoppers at nearby REI: lots of late-teens, an rocker couple in the mid-30s, some parents (chaperones, surely) and even some pre-teens bopping to the rock of this San Antonio trio. Nearly all the kids were jumping, twitching, shaking their thang in approximate time while lead singer Nina maintained command of the room onstage. (It was more than just the Red Bull energizing them, I am certain.) I was taken immediately by her poise: all at once asserting control with her microphone and guitar but also anxiously taking in the room, her eyes wide and darting from left to right behind stringy, sweaty locks.
“How does someone seemingly so young sing so passionately about… well.. anything?” I thought. Get the album and you’ll find that her voice and poetry belies her age. I don’t want to get hung up on the age thing, but instead flip it into a compliment. Though much younger than me, these three women have confident command of their artistry and it bodes well for fans like me who are late to the game. They aren’t going to disappear into the pop music ether. With their second LP planned for release in the next year, and a spot on Tegan and Sara’s fall tour, I expect GIAC to return to our city with many more fans anticipating their arrival. I don’t wanna blather on about her vocal style or they way she carries her guitar what kind of bass Jenn plays, so check out their videos at the Blackheart Records’ Youtube site.

If you’ve rocked the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hammerbox, Joan Jett or even Social D, they will be a fresh update to your collection. They don’t ape the sounds of these comparative rock elders, but jump off from it and stamp it as their own with a distinct Texas flavor. The LP “Both Before I’m Gone” is available at all your favorite online music retailers. Amazon and iTunes have the download for $6.

Drummer Phanie has a series of video blogs up on her site on the YouTubes. Episode 4 even features a cameo from Oasis.  The excellent video for “Say”, which has been rattling around my head all week, is here.

Hip Hop Attack!

I am blown away this week. It’s been a little bit since I appeared here. Been inundated with new tunes, and this week has been no exception. If you’ve been spinning these albums, you’ve been offline, too:
First off, I got the second release from Gnarls Barkley, “The Odd Couple.” If you’ve seen “Austin Powers” you’ll remember those little goofy musical interludes (with the Posies’ frontman/part-time R.E.M. member Ken Stringfellow, don’tcha know?) with those goofy little early 60’s pop riffs. Producer/DJ Dangermouse appears to have been diving into those crates for inspiration. Fantastic album. And no “Crazy”-like song to be overplayed on every damned station. “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” is on KEXP and I don’t think I’ll get sick of it anytime soon. “Odd Couple” is in heavy rotation but it’s outshined by….

Lyrics Born’s “Everywhere at Once”. I tend to think the “where” in this case is the Eighties. And that’s no dig. He’s not chillin’ with Ronnie or Max Headroom or Spuds Mackenzie. I think he’s been tippin’ back cold ones with the Sugar Hill Gang and got Kool and the Gang or maybe Nu Shooz as his backing band. Give “Differences” a test spin at your fave music store. Longtime collaborator Joya Velarde (duh, she’s his wife) is there anchoring the song with the backing vox and keeping it sounding familiar, but there’s another vocalist (male) there. (Haven’t found his name yet – damned iTunes. -ed.) Tons o’ handclaps, funky deep background guitar riffs, snare hits, synth fills, all dope Casio keyboard stuff. ‘Cept in way higher fidelity than anything your older sister was rockin’ in ‘84. Spoiler Alert: Almost NO scratching. D-Sharp and DJ Shadow have LEFT THE BUILDING. Just like LB left Quannum.
This album is a natural, but totally unexpected, progression since LB started to implement the live-band show in the past few years. If I had been in town Sunday night, I would have been at the show. I really want to know how this new recording is performed live. If you’ve got his Quannum releases stuck on REPEAT, prepare for your mental CD to start skipping, because this is not “Send Them” or “I Changed My Mind”. His trademark rhyme delivery is here and just as fresh as when the first Latyrx came out, but it’s this new instrumentation. Totally unlike anything I’ve heard in the hip hop world. “Cakewalk” is spinning now, and I get the distinct visual of that last fade out shot in “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo” as the street’s full of dancers… Dunno, can’t shake that.

HowEVER, another live-band-backed hip hop outfit is rockin’ in my earphones now:
The Roots‘ RISING DOWN just dropped. I am working my way through it. Stomping my left foot as I type. Goosebumps. This is the freshest, and not by virtue of being newest. It’s tight. I’ll save you the played out metaphors. I am gotta listen really close a few times through before I can say anymore than _go_get_this_album. Talib Kweli is here. Peedi Peedi is here. Mos Def is here. (I hear white people LOVE Mos.)

Overheard at Breakfast (File Under Non Sequitur)

Having coffee before class yesterday, I was doing some reading (last minute last minute!) and some chatty folks sat down at a neighboring table and had a lively conversation. Two highlights to share, then back to finishing my 1040A:

Regarding Radiohead’s latest, In Rainbows: “Radiohead’s new album is so good, other bands should just apologize…. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t at least like Radiohead.”
Turns out this was a paraphrase of another website’s critique/courtesy reacharound of this landmark release.
What is the deal with the ads for the on-sale date for the Radiohead appearance this summer? No show date, just “on sale Saturday 10am”. It just comes across as a little arrogant: “You know you want to come to the show no matter where or when.” Yeah, I am an adoring fan, but that’s a bit much.

“Dude, I heard Linda’s is closing!”
While not a music venue itself, it is a great pre- and post-show watering hole. I called a friend who is a manager for Linda, and have no fear, the official word is that Linda’s is here to stay.

An Idea for Radio Stations?

Ever hear a song on the radio that you want to know more about? While KEXP and KCRW et al have real-time playlists, my old-timey car doesn’t have the internets available on the dashboard like some of those high-falutin’ new automobiles out there. So I was thinking that some genius out there – more of a genius than me – should come up with a way to send a text message to a radio station, and a reply would include the little snippet of information just like the online playlist would provide.
For those that don’t mess around with SMS, Google has such a service for things as varied as airline flight info, translation services, 411, travel directions and a whole lot more. I find some of those services really useful, and would get something out of it if this could be integrated with radio.
Any takers on this little trivial daydream?

The Black Keys stole my face

I think it melted off by the third song in last night’s set.

I’ll be the first, but probably not the last, to say this: That was the best damned rock show I have seen in this town. That’s a credit to the band, and also the venue. The sound was dead ON. The crowd was into it and Patrick and Dan played like they really had to earn a paycheck.

More imagery to follow.

20Q with Jack White of The Raconteurs

The phone rang down here at NWMB World HQ this morning, and a strange voice was on the other line. “Hang on, I’ll get him for you. He’s just stepping out of the studio.”
“Huh? Who’s stepping out of the studio? It’s 7:30 in the morning!”
“Hang on… here he is.”
Clueless, I asked the caller again, “Hello?”
A new voice: “This is Jack. Go ahead.”
Wha?
After an awkward minute of getting acquainted, we were on our way. It was Mr. White, taking a break from some rehearsing in an undisclosed location.
Me: “So the new album sounds great. Where was it recorded?”
JW: “In my secret basement studio.”
Me. “How long did it take?”
JW: “Takes? It took two takes. About three hours. We really gel, we like to bang it out, you know?”
Me: “Wow! Three hours? Did you even have enough time to get a caterer over there?”
JW: “We subsisted on tater tots and beer. My mom brought brownies.”
Me: “What sound were you going for here? It sounds like you were listening to a lot of Bad Company/Paul Rodgers or something.”
JW: “How’d you figure that out?”
Me: “Title track, dead-on Rodgers vocal sound. Real throwback stuff. Nice…. So is ‘Rich Boy’s Blues’ autobiographical?”
JW: “Come on. That’s totally about Warren Beatty.”
Me: “Go figure. My next guess was Pete Townshend.”
JW: “Whomever you like.”
Me: “I guess I had a lot of Who and Queen on the brain, listening to ‘Consoler of the Lonely’. What’s going on there?”
JW: “Yeah, that was Brendan’s input. The harmonies on ‘Stones’ and ‘Top Yourself.’ Yeah, that’s what we were after.”
Me: “Can you elaborate a bit more on the other influences you had in the recording of this album?”
JW: “Uh, the Stones, Los Lobos, Meatloaf… Ravi Shankar.”
Me: “Shankar?”
JW: “I totally stalked him for a week in February. Had my ear pressed to the wall of Abbey Road while he rehearsed.”
Me: “Did you go to London just to do that?”
JW: “Nah, I ran into him while shopping for tapestries for our tour van. Followed him around. Had to change out of my red pantsuit just to absorb his genius. I bought a Utilikilt off a guy on the street, borrrowed an Oxford hoodie from a student in the square.”
Me: “Did you keep the Utilikilt?”
JW: “It was seized at Kennedy on the way back home.”
Me: “Hmph. What do you think of the new Dirtbombs?”
JW: “Sucks. No. Kidding. It’s outstanding.”
Me: “PBR or Milwaukee’s Best?”
JW: “The Beast.”
Me: “Barack or Hillary?”
JW: “Who? Next question.”
Me: “What else are you listening to?”
JW: “‘In Step’ by SRV [Stevie Ray Vaughan], Stones’ Brussels Affair bootleg. 1973? Awesome. And I pledged to PBS so they sent me the entire Monterey Pop Festival on DVD. Amazing!”
Me: “Last questions: will there be another Raconteurs album?”
JW: “Before you know it.”
Me: “Any last thoughts?”
JW: “April Fool’s, readers. I didn’t really call NWMB.”

The Police and Elvis Costello at the Gorge 12 July

I just heard tickets are now on sale for this rock show of old-timers. Maybe I am getting old, but this sounds like a solid bet. When The Police appeared in Seattle last year, Sting’s son’s band opened, and the show was at the Key Arena. This lineup and venue makes the $80 ticket seem a much better value, no?

This is what you came up with, Portishead?

Last week, I got an advance copy of Portishead’s upcoming release, “Third” and have been struggling to get through the album. Due for a 29 April release in the US, this 11-track showcase of darkness leaves me wanting more. Where the hell are the hooks in these songs? Beth Gibbons’ unmistakable sound is there, but the instrumentation has moved on in a new direction since their previous two studio recordings. “Silence”, the lead-off track, makes promises for the rest of the album but it never quite delivers. It’s followed by a very Mazzy Star-esque “Hunter”… it’s all very somber and chilling as we’d expect, but given the decade that the group has had to (potentially) create these songs, I am disappointed and frustrated.

I haven’t seen writing or musicians’ credits for “Third”, but I cannot help but think of Pink Floyd’s last studio offering, “The Division Bell”, which required some 409 writers to collaborate to “create the ‘Pink Floyd’ sound”. Yeah, that’s meant as some damning praise. (OK, it wasn’t 409… but there were a lot of people involved.) More recently, there was Massive Attack’s 2003 album “100th Window”, which had fallen on ears accustomed to the dark sounds of “Mezzanine” and Tracey Thorns’ unforgettable contributions to “Protection.” It was a fairly significant departure, perhaps due to the absence of long-time member of Grantley Marshall.

To this listener, the difference between Portishead’s sophomore effort and this one is just as significant. (The distinction is in the instruments and not the singers as Sinead O’Connor hasn’t replaced Gibbons.)
I’ll see if I can follow this up with something further and more encouraging. In the meantime, spin “Roseland NYC Live”, their last release, for a proper visit with P’head.

Q & A with CJ of Drowning Pool

Calling from a tour bus rolling through Colorado, CJ from Drowning Pool checked in with us here at nwmusicblog.com World Headquarters to shoot the breeze about the band’s upcoming appearance in Seattle. They are scheduled to play tonight at the Showbox with Saliva.

Q: What was your last experience in Seattle like?

A: The crowd was great, and we were stoked that the opening bands were so good. You know, sometimes you get some openers that just haven’t cooked long enough? Not the case here. And the people are great, they really respect music.

Q: Are you guys big in Germany, like Hasselhoff?
A: You know, we did really well there! Those crowds know *all* the words to our songs!

Q: No kidding? Is that your biggest fan base?
A: Actually the most amazing response we’ve ever had overseas was in Oz. Down under, they love us. But in the U.S., the people in Kansas City go nuts for us. Even bigger than back home in Dallas.

Q: So you’re in new towns all the time, being on tour. Who do you trust when you look for a place to go after the show? Because I don’t think you want to just ask a cabbie to take you “where the kids go”, right?
A: We’re surprised that more people don’t come up to us after the show and hang out. We’ll finish the set, go backstage, but when we come back out into the club, people are gone. It’s surprising. We’re pretty approachable. We’re at the merch booth, at the bar, whatever. Come say hi.

Q: Have you ever had big bands ever come to your shows? I heard Henry Rollins tell a story once about how Billy, Frank and Dusty of ZZ Top showed up at a Rollins Band show and how humbling it was.
A: Yeah, you know, Pantera showed up one time… ha ha. This was like ten years ago. One of the guys [in our band] owed Dime[bag Darrell] some money… We were stoked that they were there but at the same time, we had to go to him and say “Hey, could you hold off on kicking Dave’s ass ’til after the show?” It was pretty funny. I mean, it was a matter of like, a couple hundred bucks, and they were like, “uh, yeah, we’re here to see you guys play, man. Who cares about the money?” Ha ha. That was pretty funny.

Q: Does a guitarist from a big-time national touring band get to play his own guitars? Do they just hand you stuff?
A: Well, after our first album got big, I was approached by some companies… Fender, Gibson. They wanted me to play their guitars, and I said I would if I could design them. They said: “We have people for that.” So I waited til I found the right deal. Washburn was really cool in the beginning. So I play Washburn.

Q: What’s the rest of your setup like?
A: I really searched for the right gear. I mean it, I spent 8 hours a day, three days in a row at a convention hall, plugging into amps to try to find the right sound.

Q: And what’d you come up with?
A: Kustom was the one. From the second I plugged in. Instant rock guitar sound. In all the clubs we play, it’s just… set a mic in front of it, and turn it on.

Q: So what’s playing on your iPod this week?
A: Pantera, and Mudvayne. But then it’s like, Sade is singing the next song.

Hear CJ and the rest of the band tonight, 24 March, at the Showbox at 8pm opening for Saliva.
They’ll return to Kansas City a few days after that to face rabid fans. Their tour schedule is here.

Sasquatch Devoured by Canadian Cousin

Hot off of the internets:

Coldplay, Jay-Z, NIN Headline First Pemberton Festival

Billboard.com is reporting that Coldplay, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Jay-Z and Nine Inch Nails will headline the first-ever Pemberton Festival, set for July 25-27 in Pemberton, B.C. (Brace yourself: the three-day ticket is $240CDN and they go on sale Friday, 28 March. – ed.)

The festival is produced by Live Nation and Good Boy Productions. Live Nation Canada CEO Shane Bourbonnais will spearhead LN’s efforts on the event. Good Boy Productions is a joint venture between Coldplay manager Dave Holmes and Depeche Mode manager Jonathan Kessler.

Also on the bill are My Morning Jacket, the Tragically Hip, Interpol, Flaming Lips and Death Cab For Cutie, along with newer acts like Vampire Weekend, MGMT and Sia. The plan is to feature two stages, a dance stage and more than 50 bands.

Pemberton, a two hour drive from Vancouver, is a popular destination area due to its close proximity to Whistler ski resort, site for some competitions for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The event will boast a festival village, camping facilities, an RV Park and shuttle service to and from nearby Whistler, tickets for the Pemberton Festival go on sale through PembertonFestival.com beginning Friday, March 28.

Concert-goers will be able to camp on site or sleep in accommodations ranging from motels to top notch luxury hotels in Whistler.

The confirmed line up as of today (March 13) is:

Coldplay
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Nine Inch Nails
Jay-Z
Flaming Lips
Interpol
Death Cab For Cutie
The Tragically Hip
Serj Tankian
My Morning Jacket
Metric
Sam Roberts Band
Vampire Weekend
Black Mountain
Minus The Bear
Wintersleep
Buck 65
Secret Machines
MGMT
Brazillian Girls
SIA
Fiery Furnaces
Mates of State
The Airborne Toxic Event
Carolina Liar
Grand Ole Party
Monte Negro
Low Vs Diamond
Annie Stela
The Crystal Method
DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist
Junkie XL
David Seaman
Booka Shade
MSTRKRFT
M.A.N.D.Y.
Tommie Sunshine
Chromeo
Deadmau5
3 OH! 3
Kevin Shiu
Timeline
Tony Pantages

I have been to Pemberton, and the idea of this kind of event in a small town with one road in and one road out makes me wince. I imagine a traffic cluster**** on the scale of White River Amphitheater. So I think I will be bringing my bike to get to and from the venue.

Ghosts (I-IV) in the Machine

Today, I virtually slammed down five dollars for the internet-only release of NIN’s Ghosts (I-IV). The soundtrack for “daydreams”, so says Mr. Reznor.

So far, it’s excellent. Being an entirely instrumental affair, I don’t know where I am in it. iTunes says we are listening to “23 Ghosts III”. Whatever. Of note, the tracks are also free of ID3 tags that enumerate the genre to which one might assign them.

Find it at ghosts.nin.com

You can choose from a variety of entirely DRM-free versions of the album; from 9 free songs to $5 for a download code for all 36 compositions including wallpapers and album art, a 2 disc hard copy, to the already-sold-out $300 deluxe edition that entitles you to 10 free car washes at Brown Bear.

My car’s dirty and I heard that NIN was going to be playing the Sunset. Guess which package I sprung for?

Lifesavas – No Show in Fremont

In a weird deja vu kinda scene, I approached Nectar last night and was immediately wary for the lack of nightlife. No show. The ‘Savas cancelled – apparently three days ago – so I have no sweet “this free show was the best show I’ve ever seen!” or “this live band format was WAY better than the spectacle that is the Lyrics Born tour of the last few years” kinda feedback for ya’ll.

There will be a make up show Saturday featuring some of the opening acts (NOT THE LIFESAVAS), and it will be held at Jose Rizal Park on First Hill at 1pm.

Are YOU destined for Rock Band Greatness?

Ever the latecomer to the party, I just played “Rock Band” for the first time this month. I have never tried Guitar Hero and didn’t even use the guitar in this game, but damn! this game kicks ass.
Now, to my knowledge, it ships with a few dozen songs and 3 new songs are released a week that are available for purchase/download. And erstwhile internet-party-poopers Metallica are to release an album exclusively/initially available for this game. (Didn’t Suzanne Vega do this with Second Life?) How cool is this?
So I sang (I am tone-deaf and my sense of timing is pretty bad – just as Kevin… or my ex-girlfriend) and played drums. Though grateful that I don’t have this time toilet in my house, I am eager to get another fix. The game creators must be getting scores of requests for songs – I mean, who DOESN’T want to try to sing like Robert Plant?

Black Lips at Neumo’s: a different kind of review

The infamous Black Lips, in support of their rockin’ album, “Good Bad Not Evil”, played a Monday night at Neumo’s in early February. The show went kinda like this:

It’s not that they didn’t play their asses off. We just weren’t into it.
(p.s. someone STILL hasn’t sent me that King Kong track…)

Poll: What’s the most you’ve ever paid for a show?

This Ed Vedder tour gets me thinking… “Some shows are just *worth* the expense.” Maybe you’re a huge Stones fan, and you have $300 burning a hole in the glovebox of your Bentley. Maybe you’re a broke college student but flying to Chicago for the Soundgarden fan club show wasn’t to be missed. Maybe it was stealing a twenty from your roommate for a night at the Offramp, and it eventually cost you the relationship.

Not to play Ross Reynolds here, but what’s your story? What’s the most you’ve ever shelled out?
OR conversely, what’s the least you ever paid for the best show you wouldn’t have otherwise gotten into?

My answer: NIN/David Bowie “INSIDE” tour. Shoreline Amphitheatre, San Jose, CA. $45 before incontinence charges. That was a mountain of cash for my broke college sophomore ass in 1995.

And someone in front of El Corazon (or whatever it was called then) dragged me into the sold-out Queens of the Stone Age show in ‘01 or ‘02. I was trying to buy tickets but this guy had a +3 and only two people showed up. “Follow me,” he said, and I got to witness a kick-ass performance with Mark Lanegan on vox and Dave Grohl on skins. Free-ninety-nine.

What’s Cooking in the KEXP Kitchen?

Like many of you readers who are KEXP members/donors, I received a vague and unexpected message from Tom Mara at KEXP on 22 January which alluded to some upcoming collaboration. It instantly though maybe inaccurately reminded me of the change from KCMU -> KEXP and the “outcry” that followed.

So what of this message today? This morning’s email brings the news of an alliance with Radio New York and I am left with… “So what?”

I carefully read the Q & A and didn’t find an answer to “How does my listening experience change as a result of this news?” There was a lot of preemptive defense for the hand-wringing types: “How much will this cost?” “Is John leaving Seattle?” and most amusingly: “Did Paul Allen/Michael Bloomberg and Greg Nickels make this happen?”

So here I am, confused. But not terribly anxious or upset. I anticipate a lot of dialogue as this thing is brought to the table.

See: http://kexp.org/newyork/qa.aspx for more.

Sights and Sounds of The Valley

Just a quick and dirty posting. Last night, The Valley popped my Jules Maes cherry. I was doubly eager to check out the show because I had never seen a band there, and ever since I heard “Come Down” on 90.3, I have been chomping at the bit to see and hear the band’s thunderous assault. In between pints down at the 9LB, I caught a bit of Bacchus’ set and they made a fan out of me, too. Heavier, faster-tempo than The Valley, and possibly more sweat. What struck me most about their presence was how good they made the room sound. Thicker-than-Texas toast kinda sound, the way this kind of music should be expressed. When the headliners stepped up, the volume naturally increased but the fidelity remained. Too bad this isn’t the norm *everywhere*, right?  And while some audience members near me bemoaned the crowd’s fixed gaze and lack of any kind of activity (are we supposed to waltz? what the…?) I thought it was a perfect scene – dark, loud and full of people that were stoked to be there. As for the sounds/sights part, video is to be uploaded to YouTube and will be available later this weekend. In the meantime, visit thevalleyrules.com or pick up their latest EP. And catch them at The Comet on Friday, 22 February.

Thank you, Cops, for the Sunday Night Blackout

Much gratitude for the night off to get into a gen-you-wine rock and roll this weekend at High Dive. The Cops were in top form, and holy-crap-where-did-these-guys-come-from The Sunday Night Blackout. Much praise has been heaped on the beloved Cops, so let’s take this instant to gush about the Blackout.
I give you these ingredients: long hair, a flying V guitar, the totally mad woman, Miss Simona, channeling the very best of double-bass-pedal’d-Iron Maiden, a hai! karate headband and an AC/DC belt buckle that was just as over the top as the mic shenanigans of the frontman, Neil Of Steel. Mix this up with the amps turned up to fucking eleven and the $2.50 Pabst in your hand, and you have yourself a rock show.