Checking In With Top Sound

November 28, 2011 at 9:44 pm | Posted in Albums, Bossa Nova, Sweden | Leave a comment
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Have you ever wished you could jetset back to 1964 and relive the bossa nova heyday? Or maybe you are a more practical dreamer and wish that the High Llamas still wrote pop songs. Maybe you just choose to sit at a Cafe Blue all day long and sip out of tiny cups while daydreaming about trips to Aja. Whatever the case, Sweden’s Top Sound have got you covered with their debut album.
It had been two years since the virtual single that they released on the Friendly Noise web site. I assumed the worst, figuring that they would never do anything else. It’s good to be wrong. Top Sound resurfaced earlier this month, self-releasing their debut album.

In case that single slipped by you in all its stealthy virtualness, both songs are reprised here on their self-titled album. A Matter of Precision has not lost any of it’s impact and still reminds me of the Style Council at their best, and Francophilie still brings to mind a jazzier Stereolab. Of the new songs, my favorite is Idiot City. It has a syncopated beat and an air of sophistication to it, but features lyrics like: “Now the rain is pouring down all over town and that’s good cause people throw up on the sidewalks.” I love a little juxtaposition in pop music.  A close second for album favorite, is the well done One Letter Bossa which brings the band’s bossa nova leanings to the forefront.

Those are the standouts in my mind, but other like Your Summer Was Over In June and Ruin a Good Thing ensure that there are no shortage of great songs on this album and more than enough to make it one of my favorites of the year. A thoroughly delightful record that doesn’t pay attention to current trends which makes it stand out all the more.

Stream: Top Sound

Off With Their Heads

November 22, 2011 at 11:18 pm | Posted in 7 inch, La France, Music | Leave a comment
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Do you like garage rock? Do you like France? How about French garage rock? If you answered yes to all of those questions then you must check out Les Guillotines.  Their single has just come out on brand new label Croque Macadam which is run by Alex  who does the excellent blog Requiem Pour Un Twister. What better way to inaugurate your label than with two sides of bone rattling garage rock? I totally love that they sing in French twisting the language of love into some demented freaky thing but still making girls weak in the knees.  This is one blistering single and makes 90% of 7-inch records seem like a waste of precious vinyl.

Stream: Les Guillotines

Reawakening the President

November 20, 2011 at 10:45 pm | Posted in Albums, Music, Scotland | Leave a comment
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For some reason I had the idea that Wake the President had broken up. You don’t hear from a band for a couple years in these days of instant information and you assume the worst. Actually they kind of did disband sometime after releasing their first album You Can’t Change that Boy in 2009. They may have temporarily disbanded but when the president and vice president are twins you regroup and make a second record anyway, and that is what Erik and Bjorn Sandberg did. The brothers have just released their second album Zumutung! on their own label We Can Still Picnic.

Being a band from Glasgow, Scotland they innately know how to balance jangle, twee and bombast into a record. Since this is their second record they have settled down from the impulsive adolescence of the debut. Zumutung is also not so obvious in revealing its influences. Before you could tell they loved Orange Juice, now it’s not so obvious. The bouncy Elaine is the one song that could easily have fit on their debut, but overall the mood of the record is darker and introspective.  They now have songs with the  paisley jangle of the Close Lobsters in She Fell Into My Arms and In Youth There Is Pleasure. They also have a newfound side to them which is more intense that reminds me of the Delgados on songs like E.T and Sort of Blonde.  Former Delgados drummer Paul Savage produced the record and it seems like he has brought his former band’s moodiness into the mix. It makes Zumutung! a more interesting and enduring record.  It isn’t as immediate as the their debut, but it has a plan and a pace to it that gradually wins you over.


Stream: Wake the President – She Fell Into My Arms (out now on We Can Still Picnic Records. Buy Digital or Physical)

Watch: Wake the President – Elaine

Full Time Punks: Wax Idols, Terry Malts and Wimps at the Funhouse

November 13, 2011 at 11:10 am | Posted in Funhouse, Gigs, Music, Seattle | Leave a comment
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Funhouse, Seattle, 10 November 2011:

One of the best punk albums to come out this year is Wax Idols‘ No Future.  The Oakland, California band’s debut is influenced by late 70′s early 80′s classic punk period bands like the Buzzcocks, and the Avengers. What makes it so great is that it isn’t just punk by numbers. The record is enhanced with a gothic influence that makes it not only rock, but haunt as well. It’s got punk style anthems with call response choruses, but it also has lighter side that is plain old classic pop. Wax Idols is band in name but really the moniker for the songs of the intense, passionate and always entertaining Heather Fortune.
Live Wax Idols are a four piece band with an all girl front line of guitars and bass and a guy on drums. Fortune demonstrated disaffected confidence as she and her band delivered punk their punk anthems fast and hard with barely a breath or word between songs. Even with a second guitarist, Fortune still played all the lead parts. Only putting down her guitar for their final song when the band was joined by Terry Malts guitarist Corey Cunningham for a cover of Christian Death‘s Romeo’s Distress. This allowed her to become more animated, grabbing a bar across the top of the stage and lean out toward the audience. If there were more people packed close to the stage I bet she would have dove into them. Fortune obviously know her history. She has even taken a punk moniker in changing her last name from the given Fedewa to Fortune the way so many of  the legendary punks of the past. Wax Idols are a product of the rich west coast punk history that remains largely unexplored by today’s current scene and they  give good cause to keep those history books up to date.

stream: Wax Idols – Dead Like You (from No Future on Hozac)

Wax Idols are on tour with fellow Oaklanders the Terry Malts. Prior to becoming a punk trio they were the Magic Bullets. After some kind of catharsis they saw the punk light and haven’t looked back. They crashed through their highly melodic catchy Ramones like set. It was fun, but would have been more fun if there had been a pit of sweaty punks slamming. That goes for the Wax Idols set too. Hopefully if both bands keep at it they’ll start to draw enthusiastic crazy tatood punks the way the Spits and Thee Oh Sees do.


Stream: Terry Malts – Something About You (from the 7 inch on Slumberland)

The first band of the night was Seattle’s Wimps. Wimps are pretty new (so new they don’t even have a web site), but the band is made up of veterans. Singer and guitarist Rachel Ratner also fronts the duo Butts and is a member of Partman Parthorse. Bassist Matt Nyce is in Consignment who have just released their first album on GGNZLA. I don’t know if drummer Dave Ramm has another current band but he was a former drummer for the Intelligence, which is kind of like saying he was a former guitarist in the Fall. Wimps kind of sound like Ratner’s other band Butts mainly because she sings and plays guitar in both, but Wimps aren’t as jokey. Super catchy short punk songs with crisp guitar that sounds like it is influenced by early 80′s Dischord records. Good stuff.

I didn’t stick around for all of the final band Dude York. They’re from Seattle too. Their first song was called Fuck City and it occurred to me while they were playing it that Fuck City is a much better name for a band than Dude York.  They kind of reminded me of  Too Much Joy with their jokey banter and revved up power pop.

A House In the Country

November 8, 2011 at 10:44 pm | Posted in Crocodile, Gigs, Music, Seattle | Leave a comment
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Real Estate were solid playing to a comfortably full Crocodile last night. I was standing on the Alex Bleecker side of the stage, which I would recommend. His bass was more audible which added a bit more substance to the songs and kept the lighter airy aspects anchored to solid ground. Real Estate are a suburban New Jersey band that write songs that go perfectly with driving on six lane arterials, waiting at red lights late at night with no one in sight and wandering through office parks. Their edge city rock wandered off into more bucolic places a few times last night. A couple songs midway through their set seemed to float by causing a yawn or two, but for the most part they kept it interesting and chill, focusing on the songs from their much stronger second album Days. After a 40 minute set that left everyone wanting more, they shyly sauntered back on stage for an encore and let Bleecker take the reigns to sing his song Wonder Years. That song momentarily took them out of the suburbs and landed them in a California canyon. It was possibly the best song of the night.

Stream: Real Estate – It’s Real (from Days on Domino)

I saw Big Troubles a few weeks back open for the Pains of Being Pure At Heart and thought they were good. Last night opening for Real Estate they were downright great. Amazing what a few weeks of touring will do for a band. They confidently blasted their songs to an audience waiting for Real Estate. Co-singers/guitarists Ian Drennan and Alex Craig had it down. Perfect timing, nonchalantly delivering killer riffs and just generally doing everything right. These guys seem older and wiser than the young band that they are. From their Boo Radleys (Lazy Day) sounding Freudian Slip to getting the legendary Mitch Easter to produce their new album Romantic Comedy to choosing to cover the Go-Betweens‘ Bachelor Kisses (which they did at the request of some super-geek who tweeted at the band the day of the show asking them to play it). There were no let downs in their 35 minute set. I kept thinking: ok, the next song is going to be a let-down because they can’t have another one that sounds this good, but they kept delivering. This was one of those shows that changes how you feel about a record. Before last night I thought Romantic Comedy was a fine record. After last night, I’m in love with it.

Stream: Big Troubles – Minor Keys (from Romantic Comedy on Slumberland)

Here are the remaining dates for Real Estate/Big Troubles tour:
11/11 San Francisco, CA Slim’s
11/12 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex
11/13 San Diego, CA Sunset Temple
11/14 Tempe, AZ Sail Inn
11/16 Austin, TX The Parish
11/17 Dallas, TX Club Dada
11/18 Memphis, TN Hi Tone Cafe
11/19 Lexington, KY Cosmic Charlie’s
11/20 Pittsburgh, PA Garfield Artworks
11/21 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
11/23 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom

All Corners Are Still

November 3, 2011 at 10:50 pm | Posted in Gigs, Music, Seattle, Sunset Tavern | Leave a comment
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Still Corners, Ganglians and Witch Gardens at the Sunset Tavern, Seattle | 1 November 2011


The record that got Still Corners noticed was their Don’t Fall In Love 7-inch on the Great Pop Supplement from last year. It was stark, icy and sounded like it came from a band wise beyond its years. Singer Tessa Murray had a haunting voice that sounded like Julie Cruise and the band sounded like they existed on a diet of Broadcast, Ennio Morricone and Peter Thomas. That record got bought up as fast as they were snatched up by Sub Pop after its release.  Fast forward a year and Still Corners have released their first album Creatures of an Hour on Sub Pop and are in the United States for their first big tour.

The band ably replicated the rich sound of their studio creations at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard Tuesday night. Tessa Murray spent part of her time behind a small keyboard and the rest to the side with just a microphone. Guitarist, main songwriter and sound architect Greg Hughes was off to her right coaxing all kinds of ethereal sounds from his guitar and effects pedals. The highlights of their set were the afore mentioned Don’t Fall In Love and Cuckoo which was another 7-inch single. Both of those songs generate a haunting cacophony that hits just the right nerve in me to generate a wave of euphoria. During those two songs it was as close to as good as Broadcast were when I saw them for the Noise Made By People tour. Broadcast kept it going for their entire show, Still Corners still have a little ways to go. They played a cover of Bruce Springsteen‘s I’m On Fire which was ok, but didn’t seem to quite fit and then played a couple other songs without any drums that veered too close to Cowboy Junkies territory for my taste.
Neither of those two things were showstoppers. Murray is easy on the eyes and commands attention. The band were addept and excelled at making the most of their somewhat quiet songs. Hopefully this is the Still Corners laying the groundwork for a run of impressive future records and shows. They’re off to a good start for this only being their first album.

mp3: Still Corners – Cuckoo (from Creatures of an Hour on Sub Pop)

I thought I like openers the Ganglians, but like Brian Eno thinking about his laundry when he was on stage with Roxy Music, I found myself thinking during their set about how I need to insulate my attic before winter arrives. I also waxed nostalgic about the Alarm. When I was a kid use to hate how they always were dismissed as a lesser U2. I also did some math, calculating that by the 2060′s the Ganglians would be in their 70′s, the 1960′s would be a hundred years in the past and would people still remember what hippies look like in the future.

mp3: Ganglians – Jungle (from Still Living on Lefse)

Seattle’s Witch Gardens played a short set with limited commentary from guitarist Casey Catherwood. It had been a few months since I last saw them, but time has been kind. They still posses ramshackle K-like qualities, but they seemed like they knew what they were doing this time, in a vague sort of way.

Stuff To Do When It’s Dark Out (Brave Irene, Sea Pony, Orca Team, Detective Agency)

November 2, 2011 at 9:38 pm | Posted in Music, Previews | Leave a comment
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Rose Melberg has been in a quite a few bands. Tiger Trap and Go Sailor were reved up C-86 fueled rock records. After that things mellowed out and have stayed that way. The Softies were gentle and sugary and here last few solo records kept the minimal sweet and soft songs coming. After going solo for the last few records, she’s got a band together again that goes by Brave Irene. They released an eight song self-titled album on Slumberland earlier this year that brings back some of the energy from her Tiger Trap and Go Sailor days with its organ soaked and harmony drenched songs. Brave Irene play a rare live show this Saturday, November 5th at the Vera Project here in Seattle. Opening the show will be the city’s very own indiepop hero’s in the making Seapony. It’s great to have a band like Seapony in Seattle. They’re active, playing out a lot and make shows like this happen with their enthusiastic support. The band have a new 7-inch coming out on Hardly Art, so I’m guessing we’ll hear some new songs along with the gems that adorned their album Go With Me.

stream: Brave Irene – No Fun (from Brave Irene on Slumberland)

stream: Seapony – Sailing (from Sailing 7-inch on Hardly Art)

While we’re talking shows, Orca Team are playing the tiny Rendezvous Thursday night. The former Portland band seems to have defected and now officially call Seattle home.  They are still playing that 50′s dance party music from 20 leagues beneath the sea and are garaunteed to be wearing matching outfits. Opening are Detective Agency who are pretty new to Seattle. So new, they only have two songs posted over on their facebook page. Both are drenched with noise and DIY. I’ve been kind of obsessed with their song Daggers for the last couple days. I’m hoping they’ve got a bunch more stuffed in a duffle bag that are just as good.

mp3: Detective Agency – Daggers

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