Follow up to last weeks post. The Fun Police released their first music video at Doyle’s Pub Saturday night in front of a full house. The song is ‘Temporary Lapse of Sanity’ from their debut album, ‘You Better Run’, which was recorded at Egg Studios in Seattle, and produced by Conrad Uno. The video is now available on YouTube, and it would be here, but apparently the only blog that I cannot figure out how to embed YouTube video on is this one. You will have to click the link.
The Fun Police are kicking the year off in high gear with plans for a new disc, their first tour, and their premier video release from their 2009 release You Better Run. A surreal adventure that invites existential questions, A Temporary Lapse of Sanity is an appealing, madcap, indie production that is rich in creativity. But hey! Decide for yourself at the video release party at Doyle’s Public House, 9 PM Saturday February 13th. 208 St Helen’s Avenue, Tacoma, WA, or here is a link to a map.
Ever the pranksters, The Fun Police promise good hearted St Valentine’s mischief and if you don’t know The Fun Police, you should know the zaniness is all a part of the fun. Be ready for anything, and keep an eye on their website for future developments on further videos and recording updates.
Come check out Portland, OR’s Loaded for Bear at Plan B in Portland Feb. 4 or at the Skylark in Seattle on Feb. 5. The music is moody piano-based rock with baritone vocals backed by guitar, rhodes, bass, drums, and violin. The songs range from playful and dancy to mellow and melodic to sometimes just plain raucous. Here are three focus tracks from Loaded for Bear’s debut album ‘A Following Sea.’
The former bandmate of members of Death Cab for Cutie (they shared a third band back in the day) has no label, and is assembling a band. We’ll have the latest if/when he’s going to play live, and maybe another track. I love this single.
On April 20, NPR.org will stream the highly anticipated St. Vincent album ‘Actor’ (May 5, 4AD) for 2 full weeks as part of their exclusive “First Listen” series. Hear the entire album.
Starts tonight April 20, 2009 at 11:59 PM ET (8:59 PM).
The Montreal-based band Patrick Watson will drop Wooden Arms on May 5. In the meantime, check out “The Storm” and “Close to Paradise”:
May 4 New York, NY City Winery
May 8 Los Angeles, CA Hotel Cafe
May 9 San Francisco, CA Cafe du Nord
May 11 Portland, OR Doug Fir
May 12 Seattle, WA Crocodile Cafe
I go by the name of LPTrax. I started making music when I was in the 7th grade with a Casio keyboard. I would loop the ends of songs to create a instrumental when the beat was naked at the end of songs. I also sampled a Star Wars game from the Nintendo 64 and dubbed the drums over it. I did many bassment recordings. Being that I loved music I started to work with local artists such as Flossy, Peerless Tempo Records, Eastwood of Bossmind Records, Traq Addicc, JMR, Playboy, Da Association, Ajax, StereoTypeGroup (Washington D.C.), Noeledge, Rob, Billy The Kid & The Franchize from my 9th grade year at Garfield High School (Class of 04) to this present date.
I use Fruity Loops 8 XXL Producer Edition & cool edit to chop samples. In the past two years I was apart of 2 mixtapes We Are The Streets & Free N.E.C. I remember going to Guitar Center with my Mini Disc recorder to record drums sounds from the Trinity & Triton’s when I was younger. Now the internet is a major tool to my sound library including VST’s. I know that I’ve come along way from where I use to be thanks to technology!
I’m unheard of when it comes to production & rapping in the Northwest but i’m patient & I know my time will come! My music is unique and for the soul. I write songs too. I want the world to be touched by my music. Everybody listens to music. Music is the soundtrack to life & I want to contribute to help people going through hard times, happy times, & everyday life!
Opening for Seattle’s Purty Mouth is country/folk darlings Starlings. I’d see Purty Mouth for their name alone.
South Tacoma
She Plays Rugby (I Play Hard To Get)
KEXP.org on the Starlings: “The Starlings’ vocal harmonies, acoustic goodness and sweet blend of folk and country set the stage for the band’s storied original songwriting and the compelling presence of vocalist Joy Mills.”
Wednesday, April 15, Purty Mouth w/the Starlings at the Highway 99 Blues Club, 1414 Alaskan Way, Seattle, 206-382-2171. Happy Hour 4-7pm, music starts 8:30pm, cover: $7
While Olympia’s Letters works on the studio follow-up to last year’s “In Case we Lose What We Have”, they have been releasing various teasers. Last month they had a song on the latest Ball of Wax compilation (#15), a Seattle quarterly compilation put out by Levi Fuller. The track is called “Grand” and features Seattle’s Kieran Harrison-Buehlinger (Corespondents, Hecka Ar, etc) on the one-stringed Chinese instrument, the don bao. A version of “Grand” will be on the new album.
Grand
Last month they also did a cassette tape-only release of improvised compositions called “Insta”; the album uses a ridiculous array of instruments and covers some serious genre ground. “Ground” is among the ground covered.
We get a ton of press releases from all over the country, and do our best to pick through them to find bands from the NW or who are touring the NW. We’ll be doing a sporadic series of posts just throwing the releases out there (here) regardless of origin/desination. Without further ado, here is NWMB Press Release Roundup #1.
We’re excited to be working with DUBIOUS RANGER (www.dubiousranger.com). They are a San Francisco-based band with a funky new sound that mixes David Bowie, Pavement, Talking Heads and modern indie rock. We hope you’re excited about them too. But, so far, we’ve not gotten your feedback. Hence, this email because inquiring minds want to know.
Our take: Nice tight 80s sound, “Weapon” slightly reminiscent of Duran Duran.
Toubab Krewe have added another exciting festival to their summer itinerary. The Asheville-based quintet, which Jambase calls “the next surefire stars of our scene,” are set to play the second annual Rothbury festival (July 2-5), after the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival (June 11-14).
Our take: Not our cup o tea, but we “get” why they’re successful.
The new single Disguise from the BORN ANCHORS upcoming album “Sprezzatura!” is available for free download for a week before its CD release! Here’s a special link to the fully mastered album, available in full before the official March 23rd street date: http://www.last.fm/music/Born Anchors/Sprezzatura
For more info about the band, here’s last Friday’s Song Of The Day interview at the legendary KEXP Blog: http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2009/03/13/song-of-the-day-born-anchors-in-disguise/
Our take: These new tracks are excellent. Catch Born Anchors at their Record Release Show @ Cha ChaApril 5.
What do Silversun Pickups, Rogue Wave, Earlimart and Great Northern have in common? They’re all featured in GOOSEBERRIES, the new limited-edition book from Sterling Andrews, photographer and mastermind. This one-of-a-kind collection will be available in a 12″ hand-painted gatefold featuring the 12 individual band portraits along with a bonus DVD of time-lapse videos documenting Sterling’s painting process during the shoots coupled with exclusive artist interviews.
If ever there was a musical act guaranteed to put a smile on your face, The Juan MacLean is it! In fact, so confident of their intent and ability to bring joy to the world, they actually called their latest dance jam “Happy House,” which nobody could dispute. The track had music lovers like our friends at The Fader “drooling like babies”, and Pitchfork noting that the song’s “dozen never-wasted minutes” were “happy and housey as all get out.”
Check out this track by 
On April 20, NPR.org will stream the highly anticipated 
