the finest kiss

The entire day was a blast, but for me this was worth the price of admission…

Long Winters, the Cops and Boat at Showbox, Seattle | 5 July 2008

The Cops singer Mike Jaworski was ribbing John Roderick throughout their set, and in between songs he says, “John Roderick, I’ve got three words: Off the Grid” He did kind of look a bit mountain man like with his fully fuzzy beard, long hair, and erm…horn rimmed glasses? On second thought, he’s more part the Dude from the Big Lebowski and part tenured college professor. Roderick is kind of the tenured indie rock prof around town and something of a renaissance man, as evidenced in the column he writes for the Seattle Weekly, but music is his strong suite. He’s been around, put his time in with Harvey Danger and fronting a number of his own bands. He’s finally come into his own with the Long Winters and now he and his band are reaping the rewards. After the Long Winters‘ 2006 release Putting the Days to Bed, they seem to be on the verge of something big. The only problem is recording a new record, something they are about to do. But before going into the studio, the band have scheduled a handful of dates on the West Coast and one in New York. Saturday night’s show was a stellar Seattle line up featuring Boat and the Cops opening for them.

The night started off with Boat, and their first time ever playing the Showbox. It’s likely the biggest room they’ve ever played, and they seemed pretty chuffed to be playing. The regular four piece Boat were augmented by a fifth member this night who provided a third guitar and saxophone. The additional fifth guy really seemed to flesh out their sound. It gave them a little more polish, and I don’t think they’ve ever sounded better. They plucked songs from both albums, played all three songs from their new single Topps and even threw in a brand spankin’ new song at the end of their set that seemed like it was written especially for the night, name checking the afore mentioned man of the evening.

Second of this Seattle trilogy line up were the Cops. I wasn’t sure what to expect from these tightly wound post punkers. Their second album Free Electricity which came out last year is good. It’s Gang of Four crossed with Jawbox, loads of attitude and lots of hooks, if a bit same-y sounding at times. After seeing them I can tell you that the Cops totally bring it, and they leave nothing. From the first chord, these guys where whirling, jumping, posing and just totally rocking out for their entire set. I thought there was now way they would be able to keep up their energy for the entire set, but I was wrong. Guitarist John Randolph made me dizzy with his constant whirling and jumping, and singer Mike Jaworski punished the mic with his intense delivery. Their showmanship was made easy buy the super tight rhythm section of David Weeks and Drew Church. This band have the songs and the chops to go beyond their obvious post punk roots and to the next level, I’m looking forward to what comes next from them.
mp3: The Cops - N. 99 (from Free Electricity)

The Long Winters are Roderick’s show, this is very clear when you see them live. Roderick is the guy everyone is there to see. Numerous women around me could be heard squealing such things as he’s soo cute, and I just want to squeeze him, and I’m in love with him. That’s not to say his band are just session guys. Even though there seems to be a revolving door with band members, the Long Winters are truly a band who tour and play on the records. The band seemed to be having as good a time as the rest of the Showbox, laughing at Roderick’s banter. And why not, he is a gregarious fellow, engaging the audience between every song with bon mots a la Billy Bragg. In fact like Bragg, I would say he enjoys the between song part of shows just as much as playing the songs. He had some funny one liners like, ‘look at all these beards. What, is Ballard closed tonight?’ And he wasn’t afraid to put his hair into pony tails or break into classic rock songs from Pink Floyd and Van Halen. He had the place singing Wish You Were Here without even trying. As for the songs, I was expecting to hear some new ones, but they stuck mostly with stuff from the last two albums. There were many shouted requests, that didn’t get played, but I was happy to hear the hits from the last two albums, since it was my inaugural Long Winters show.

mp3: Long Winters - Fire Island, AK (from Putting the Days to Bed)

Three Imaginary Girls were there and have a set list, though somewhat out of order, and I have more pictures from the evening over at my flickr.

The Purrs at Neumos, Seattle | 21 June 2008
Green Pajamas at King Cobra, Seattle | 21 June 2005

Saturday night up on Capitol Hill the Paisley Underground came to life again for a brief fantastic moment. Not that any of those seminal Los Angeles bands like the Rain Parade, Three O’Clock, or the Long Ryders had reformed and were visiting, it was in fact two of Seattle’s very own in the Purrs and Green Pajamas. They weren’t playing together, that would have been nice, but they were playing across the street from one another. Both band’s websites said that they were on at 10:00 pm, poetentially making for a logistical impossibility to see them both. As I walked by King Cobra I spied on the door that the Green Pajamas wouldn’t be on until 11, so I hurried across the street to Neumos to see the Purrs who were in an opening slot for Tacoma’s Mono in VCF.

I walked in to the jangling buzz of She’s Got Chemicals from their latest self-released album the Chemistry That Keeps Us Together. The Purrs have a new rhythm guitarist who goes by Dr. Robert, and they seem all the better for it. Their short set really popped with ripping bass and vocals from Jima and shimmering beautiful lead guitar from Jason Milne. Go Cindy go and Miles Away were both just about perfect and hit that soft spot between Rain Parade and early Church, but it was the inclusion of a couple new songs especially the Fear of Flying, that have me anxiously awaiting a new release from one of Seattle’s best kept secrets.

The Purrs set was over in plenty of time to make it back across the street for the Green Pajamas who I had never seen before. They don’t play out too much and their website states that this date and one later this summer at the West Seattle Fair will likely be the only two live dates for them this year. The Green Pajamas are a band that for a newcomer, seem a bit daunting to get into. It’s not that their albums are spotty, on the contrary, most of them are pretty strong, it’s that they have so many of them. It’s like discovering the Fall or Robyn Hitchcock, where the hell do you start when you go to buy one of their albums? They have two best of cds, Indian Winter that focuses on their early career of releasing singles and cassettes and Through Glass Colored Roses which focuses on their later career, both are worth getting. If you want to start with an album I would recommend All Clues Lead to Meagan’s Bed. It’s from the late 90’s after they reformed, and is a solid album with good songs slathered in garagey psychedlia any of which would fit in nicely on the Children of Nuggets box set.

Since I am one of those newcomers. I wasn’t sure if I’d be familiar with everything they would play. At least I was pretty sure that I would like whatever they decided on, because of the quality of their albums. They ended up playing a good cross section of their later career. It seem like they picked something from nearly every one of their albums from the late 90’s and 00’s. She’s Still Bewitching Me from Seven Fathoms Down and Falling was a real highlight of the set with it’s Byrds sounding chorus and jangly guitar lead from Jeff Kelly. Joe Ross took his only lead vocal of the night on his song Dying to Love You from Strung Behind the Sun. Their wasn’t much dialog between songs, with the band preferring to play. They brought up a friend to play clarinet for Graduation Day which seemed to add a livelier dynamic to the stage. The biggest surprise of the night was Kim the Waitress as their final song. I figured that they’d never play it, since I’m use to jaded bands shying away from their old hit (especially since it was Material Issue that made it a hit). But that was certainly not the case with the band playing it without any irony whatsoever, and the small crowd totally lit instantly recognizing within it’s first chords. It was icing on the cake, especially for this newcomer to this prolific unsung Seattle band.

mp3: Green Pajamas - The Secret of Her Smile (from All Clues Lead to Meagan’s Closet)

mp3: Green Pajamas - Peppermint Stick (from Indian Winter)

Green Pajamas Set list:

Cut/Copy + Black Kids at Neumo’s | 30 April 2008

I used to think that any band that employed female back up singers was lame by default. It seemed to be quite a fashionable thing to do back in the mid 90’s, Electronic’s second album is an egregious example of this. I could never understand why a band would want to ruin their songs with session singers going all Maria Carey over top of it. Black Kids kind of have something like this going on in some of their songs with their two keyboard players singing backup. The thing is, it sounds so good. Maybe I should go back and listen to that Electronic record, or maybe Black Kids just know how to use the female backing vocal. It’s this kind of flying in the face of fashion that makes this band endearing to me.

You’ve probably heard about the hype surrounding the Black Kids. How last fall just before the CMJ Music Marathon, Pitchfork gave a very glowing review to their four song demo. A frenzy of music bloggers ensued and soon thereafter the backlash started. They played a couple shows at CMJ to less than glowing reviews and then things kind of quieted down. They have been quietly playing live and apparently getting much better if last night’s show is any indication. They’ve also recently completed recording an album with ex-Suede Guitarist Bernard Butler (deja vu) which sees the light of day 22 July (if not before then).

If the reviews from last fall’s CMJ are true, then I would say these guys have greatly improved. They were loose, looking totally comfortable with their next big thing status. The main thing I noticed about their sound was the bass lines that just jumped out and grabbed you. Maybe it was because I was standing directly in front of him, but this guy was pulling out funk riffs song after song, pillaging the back catalogs of Chic and Rockwell. It worked with most of the songs, only a few could have used a little less funk. The Black Kids sound is a curious amalgam of the disco era, tempered with an English pop sensibility that reminds me a bit of Ian Dury and Blockheads. Through in a bit of Terry Hall (Specials/Fun Boy Three/Colour Field), Prefab Sprout, or Bob Smith of the Cure, which comes across in the heartfelt vocals and guitar and you’ve got an idea of the uniqueness of these Jackonsville, Florida band.

Everyone went nuts for I’m Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend how to Dance With You, but my favorite song from their set was Look at Me (When I Rock Wichoo) which is slated to show up on the album, it contained the infectious funk flavored bass line, a guitar freak-out and the female backing vocals that were kind done as a cheer and ended with and Go-Team-esque chant that turned me into a Black Kids believer.

myspace: Black Kids

mp3: Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Reasons to be Cheerful, Pt. 3 (from Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll)

mp3: The Colour Field - Pushing Up the Daisies (from Virgins and Philistines)

Continue reading Black Kids Opening for Cut/Copy…

Sons and Daughters at Neumo’s, Seattle | 29 April 2007

Sons and Daughters new album was a total surprise to me. After not really connecting with their first two albums, I’d kind of written them off. Hiring ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler to produce the record seems to have been a genius move. It reminds me of when XTC got Todd Rundgren to twiddle the knobs for Skylarking, Andy Partridge to this day hates Rundgren. Not that he doesn’t like the album, it’s one of their best, but the working relationship was difficult to say the least. Sons & Daughters Guitarist Scott Paterson has said that he and Butler had shouting matches over how the guitars should sound on This Gift. I don’t know who won, maybe it was Butler. But in the end it was Sons and Daughters who really won because the guitars literally snap and slither out of the speakers. Butler’s production and Paterson’s giant leap forward in songwriting and playing have combined to take the band to next level.

Last night Paterson’s playing was totally ace, dressed a bit like one of his heroes Johnny Marr and playing a bit like him as well (think the title track from The Queen is Dead). He’s got the cool guitar moves and poses down too, but not in a overly studied way, it just looks like he’s having a blast playing his songs up on stage. Not one to let by a mere guitar steal the show, Adele Bethel was equal to Paterson’s riffs. It was hard to take your eyes off of her. Her big blue eye liner, over-sized Patti Smith Group t-shirt, glittery wrist bands, and tights combined into a Deborah Harry meets Wonder Woman kind of thing. Bethel’s stage presence would be enough to hold your attention, but her voice seals the whole deal. Sons and Daughter were firing on all cylinders last night, so it was funny when they told us that they’d heard Seattle crowds were tough. Somebody yelled out, ‘that’s because those other bands suck’. The comfortably filled Neumo’s certainly knew these guys didn’t suck, responding with pogoing, a little slamming and lots of hollering.

The songs from This Gift were the highlights of the show for me, but they played stuff from all three. Starting the show with Gilt Complex they kicked the energy level into the red right from the start. They didn’t really slow down the entire set, I don’t think they have a song that you could classify as a ballad, choosing to channel the energy of the Stooges (the riff from Chains is a direct descendant of Iggy’s Lust for Life) and Blondie. Ending the night with a blistering House in My Head, I was racing a 100 mph as I walked out into a cold Seattle rain.

mp3: Sons and Daughter - House in my Head (from This Gift)

Ruby Suns at Chop Suey, Seattle | 1 April 2008

There are some bands that have to be seen live to be truly appreciated, their recorded output just never quite measures up to what they produce live. Then there are bands that seem to create magic in the studio, but have trouble recreating that magic live. The Ruby Suns (formerly known as Ryan McPhun and the Ruby Suns) unfortunately fall into that latter category. I was really looking forward to seeing them live, their first album made my 2006 best of list , and their new album is even better. Sea Lion expands on the the trippy Beach Boys thing and adds in some world music and 80’s synth band influences to catchy effect.

Live though it just wasn’t happening. Having only three people to replicate the menagerie of sound was a real disadvantage. McPhun manically jumped from drum to guitar to keyboard, to looped drum pad and back again throughout the set, and it made me tired just watching him. He had two women assisting on bass, keyboards, flute, etc., but he really needed at least one additional person for guitar and maybe another for drums. I doubt it would have recreated the symphonies from the record, but add two more players and simplify the arrangements and it would have been a much better show. They weren’t terrible, Amee Robinson’s There Are Birds was nice and Oh, Mojave came close to capturing a good vibe. Just don’t go expecting to hear anything close to what is on the record.

mp3: The Ruby Suns - There Are Birds (buy Sea Lion)

School of Language at Nectar, Seattle | 19 March 2008

So I’m in line at the bar to get a beer just before School of Language is ready to hit the stage. The guy in front of me orders an IPA. I ask the bartender what kind of IPA it is he’s got on tap, he replies Redhook. So I order a Guinness. The guy who ordered the IPA looks at me and says, what are you saying about my beer choice? I have been accused of being a beer snob among other things. Redhook IPA is ok, but Guinness wins hands down in that competition. So the guy that ordered the inferior IPA walks on stage and picks up his bass. Turns out it was David Stubbs who I was giving a hard time about his beer selection.

I certainly would not give David Brewis of School of Language a hard time about his choice of musicians he’s chosen to play his songs on tour. The afore mentioned David Grubbs of Gastr del Sol, and Squirrel Bait playing bass and Ryan Rapsys of Ambulette and Euphone on drums are his rhythm section. Having given up Field Music last year, the band he was in with his brother Peter, Brewis was first out of the gate with his one man School of Language project. Like the album, the live show was bookended by Rockist, the four part song that features a looped recording of Brewis repeating a Cornelius-esque ahh-ee-oo-ahh.

Playing to a sparsely populated Nectar, the show kind of felt like we were guests in their practice space. The atmosphere was laid back with Brewis getting a little sympathy for being under the weather, and the band sounding practiced and loose. Grubb’s bass had some great fuzzy effects going on, while Rapsys drumming made the songs really pop, much more than they do on the record. Brewis guitar playing was pretty cracking, he really get’s a great sound that has elements of XTC, but at the same time a warmth that reminds me of Eric Mathews.

They played most of Sea from Shore and threw in a cover of Roxy Music’s If There is Something. The band didn’t seem to mind playing to so few people. Maybe they could tell that, I like most people there was excited and stoked that Brewis brought his School of Language all the way from Sunderland to Seattle, especially since Field Music never made it out to the Pacific Northwest.

Atlas Sound at High Dive, Seattle | 6 March 2008

I was walking home from the bus last night right around dusk and the sky over the Olympic Mountains was dark, but it was cracked open with bright sky showing through. I was listening to the Atlas Sound album Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel and it was the perfect soundtrack for that ominous and majestic sky. Cut to the High Dive later that night and Bradford Cox saying ‘can you change the lighting, I feel like I’m in a sewer’. Cox comes across as a funny, amiable guy on stage. At one point he asked the audience what kind of music they were into, someone yelled out Slowdive, and then somebody yells Souvlaki Space Station. Cox, says, I don’t know them, and then the guy yells, “It’s a Slowdive Song”. Bradford deadpans, “I’m not really into shoegaze.”

Atlas Sound definitely has Slowdive like sound, but I thought it was the dub-like bass lines last night that kept reminding me of Slowdive. Don’t get me wrong the soaring effects laden guitars last night were very plentiful, but Atlas Sound were firmly grounded with an ace all girl rhythm section which made the songs really get into some hypnotic grooves. Between songs the band was all about goofing off, playing parts Collective Soul songs to hilarious affect and giving us a bit of a Chicago House Music send-up. They kicked off their set with post-rockish Cold as Ice and then stepped it up with an excellent version River Card, which was anchored by an excellent dub-bass line. Getting lost in the haze of guitar, I found the show coming to an end just as it seemed to be starting. I looked at my watch and realized that they’d played for a little more than an hour, essentially playing their entire album.

mp3: Atlas Sound - River Card

buy it: Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel

mp3: Slowdive - Souvlaki Space Station (from Souvlaki)

I caught opener White Rainbow, which is Adam Forkner. He also plays guitar in Atlas Sound. Watching White Rainbow was kind of like watching paint dry. Forkner sat cross- legged on the floor cradling his guitar and surrounded by effects pedals and a small keyboard. He stayed in that position the entire time. He started off with an ambient hum, gradually adding sampled effects from his guitar and keyboard, and finally looped beat. The entire set was one long piece of music, kind of cool to hear, but watching it wasn’t the most exciting thing.

British Sea Power at Neumo’s, Seattle | 4 March 2008

Arriving on stage at about 11:30 last night, British Sea Power looked like they’d just come in from a grueling hike up in the Cascades. Hamilton sported an orange rain coat and huge shit-kicking hiking boots, guitarists Yan and Nobel, though not wearing lederhosen, had their pants cinched at the knees along with knee-high socks. Everyone had scarves, flags or bandannas tied around body parts, or hanging out of pockets. British Sea Power know how to accessorize! In the past it’s been the stage that had the accessories, foliage ripped from trees or bird statues, this time it was to a lesser degree themselves.

British Sea Power are one of those bands that must be seen live to truly appreciate them. You just can’t get that wild half insane gaze from Hamilton, or dizzying heights of Nobel and Yan’s guitar playing and the massive mid-song freak-outs from the recorded versions. A British Sea Power show often makes you think that the songs are on the verge of crashing down, but don’t let the insane looks from the band or Nobel climbing into the balcony fool you, these guys are a total rock and roll machine and make you realize why you go to see a band live instead of staying at home a listening to the cd. The core band has augmented their lineup for the road with the addition of a viola player and keyboard/horn player. The viola player seems like a good idea on paper, but I could hardly hear her, only when there was no guitar could I actually hear the viola(This could have been where I was standing, as Neumo’s seems to have very spotty sound).

Last night was an amazing show, easily the best British Sea Power show I’ve seen. The set list was just about perfect, heavily favoring the new Do You Like Rock Music and their debut The Decline of British Sea Power. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the instrumental The Great Skua, displaying elements of Mogwai and Cocteau Twins, easily besting the album version. For me, the band’s early singles are the high water mark. Childhood Memories and Spirit of St. Louis, Fear of Downing and Remember Me setting the bar so hight that they’ve yet to actually deliver on the promise of their early work, though album number three DYLRM? comes close. All of the above songs were present and accounted for last night, save Childhood Memories. Spirit of St. Louis was especially sweet with the band going into one of their tangent freak-outs in the middle and then bringing it all back together with Yan yelping like a mad man Louis, Louis, Louis, Louis at the end. They Closed the night with Rock in A, which essentially is a frame for them to improvise, chanting, singing into their guitar pick-ups and climbing into the balcony from the stage which Nobel did with as much as ease as his inspired guitar playing. British Sea Power records may not be immediate to many listeners, but come and see them live and you will definitely ‘get it’. Go see them if you can, because they mightily surpass their recordings on a nightly basis.

mp3: British Sea Power - The Spirit of St. Louis (from The Lonely single)

buy: British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music (new record and their best to date)

Seattle’s very own undiscovered treasure, Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground started the night off in grand style. Playing select tracks from their record amazing debut, lengthening a lot of the songs out to really highlight the dub/reggae influences to their sound. I count every time I see these guys a privilege, and tonight was no exception. The middle band of the night was the white clad Colourmusic. My guess is that one or all of these guys went to art school, because they were all dressed in identical white uniforms, hell, even their amps were white. At first I thought they were a bit goofy, as in between songs, they would have a recorded voice come on and talk about the bass part for the next song. But as their set wore on, I was smitten by their geeky, hyper grooves and the songs with two drummers, interesting to say the least.

Kelley Stoltz and the Essex Green ended their mini west coast tour in Seattle last night to a pretty empty Crocodile. It certainly couldn’t have been the rain keeping people away. Stoltz seems to be one of those numerous under-appreciated solo artists making his way through the hyper trendy indie world. Sauntering on stage looking like he just woke up, with his messed up hair and half a beard.  His personality is dry and deadpan, but his songs are earnest and very immediate. 

About half of his set consisted of brand new songs, which he said would be on his new record sometime this fall.  Two or three of the new ones he played had killer pop hooks, and he seemed genuinely excited to play them. The new songs seemed to be done in a bit more of a straight forward style, with a couple sounding bluesy.  The rest of the set came from his last record Below the Branches with the exception of Are You Electric from Antique Glow.  I could hear Memory Detector and Birdies Singing every day and never tire of them and both were worth the price of admission.  His band was tight musically though a bit stiff otherwise, I guess they figure it’s Stoltz’s show.  The band did loosen up for the last number, bring members of the Essex Green back up to join them in the Theme from Welcome Back Kotter.

The Essex Green sounded so good, you could tell that they have been touring these songs for over a year.  Sasha Bell has a great voice and it goes so well with Jeff Baron’s mellow croon.  They covered nearly all of Cannibal Sea which was fine with me since it was one of my favorite records last year.  The opened with the same one-two as the record, This Isn’t Farm Life and Don’t I Know Why.  Mrs Bean from Everything is Greencould have been the highlight of the show with the band kicking off the dust and really making a jam of it, but Sin City and Rue De Lis were also very beguiling.  They ended their set with a cover of Flying Burrito Brothers’ Older Guys and closed with the funky Cardinal Points.  Live it seemed like the Essex Green’s country influences came out a bit more and it really added to the songs.  They must be really big Flying Burrito Brothers fans, doing the Older Guys cover and also naming one of their songs Sin City.  It’s funny how seeing a band live can make you like and appreciate them so much more, and that’s what seeing Essex Green did for me.

Check out a few more photo’s from the show after the jump. 

Continue reading Kelley Stoltz + Essex Green at the Crocodile…