Heavenly Van Stereolab

October 18, 2008 at 11:31 pm | In Gigs, Music, Seattle, Showbox, mp3 | Leave a Comment
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Stereolab with Richard Swift and Monade at the Showbox, Seattle | 17 October 2008

Around the time of Dots and Loops I was in the car driving on the freeway from Morgantown, West Virginia to Washington, DC.  For the drive, I had the new Stereolab single,  Fluoresences playing in the car. The last song on that EP is Soop Groove #1 which is one of Stereolab’s longer grooving songs like in the realm of Metronomic Underground or Jenny Ondioline. As I remember, it was kind of foggy going through the mountains when Soop Groove came on with its marching rhythm, followed by Tim Gane’s guitar and then the Sean O’Hagen’s short jazz-like bursts of horns. The entire 13 minute song builds on  a building repetitive groove that put me into some kind of trance. It was like some kind of white noise where your eyes flip to the back of your head and you’re out.  Somehow I continued to drive unconsiously following the white line with Stereolab guiding me down the road.   My favorite Stereolab music is where they develop and establish a hypnotic repetition that just keeps on seeming to build but never quite comes to a nadir. I came out of the trance somewhere near the end of the song that day, but I’d traveled 20 odd miles and couldn’t remember a single one of them because of the hypnosis that Stereolab had put me in.

Last night at the Showbox the band only entered into a couple of those trance inducing songs, but both times it was more than worth the price of a $20 ticket or any drugs you might have scored.  They did it once midway through their set with Lo Boob Oscilator and then again on the final song of the night Stomach Worm. On both songs the band put it into hyperdrive with Tim Gane at the back of the stage just bobbing his head back and forth lightly strumming his guitar and everyone else in the band with heads down on their instrument and locking into a groove.

For the other songs in the set, which was the majority, the band kept it short and sweet. Focusing a lot on Chemical Chords, their new album where most of the songs are short concise pop songs. I’ve since come around a little to Chemical Chords since kind of deriding it a few months ago. It is a study in catchy pop songs and doesn’t diverge into longer dirge and grooving songs that have been de rigeur of the past.  The band have come up with a handful of their best catchy pop numbers for the new album of which they’ve only teased fans with on previous albums. If you’re a fan of the shorter and to the point pop songs like Ping Pong, Percolator, John Cage Bubblegum, French Disco and Miss Modular then this album and last night’s show are right up your alley.

Laetitia Sadier looked positively radiant singing, doing her cute little dancing, shyly smiling each time some guy yelled something in French to her, and knowing her own discography (Before Lo Boob Oscilator she mentioned that the song originally appeared on Sub Pop single).  On the surface Stereolab may seem innocuous, with their easy lounge influenced sound and Saedier’s cooing and sometime sing-songy delivery.  But many of Sadier’s songs have a serious leftist bent to to them, and the band can seriously stretch out and rock  as was in full effect on Lo Boob and Stomach Worm.

My only complaints about last night’s show were that Sean O’Hagen’s brass and string arrangements were missed, especially from the Chemical Chords songs where they seem so integral. My second complaint isn’t really a complaint, it’s just that I really missed Mary Hansen’s backing vocals. Hansen was killed back in 2002, being run over by a truck while on a bicycle in London. Hansen with here backing vocals always gave the words a more forceful presence.  Last night Sadier’s vocals didn’t seem as powerful and prominent as when I’d seen them previously when Hansen was still alive.  Part of this perception may have had to do with me standing too close to the stage where vocals are always less prominent in the overall sound.

Minor complaints aside, Stereolab seem to still be at the top of their game, pushing the proverbial envelope with their lengthy jams, but also recognizing that they are a terrific singles band and highlighting many of those three minute pop masterpieces last night was a delightful way to experience this band who have been touring and putting out records  for 17 years.

mp3: Stereolab – Soop Groove #1 (buy it on CD)


I walked in for the last chords of Monade, which is Laetitia’s other band, so I can’t really say much about them.  I did get to see Richard Swift and his band and he did not disappoint.  Dressed Up For the Letdown was one of my favorites albums of last year,and though his latest album, Richard Swift as Onasis is a bit harder to get your head around, it’’s certainly not a letdown.  Swift writes classic pop songs in a Randy Newman and Harry Nilson style, and his band is more than up to the task of playing them.  Swift was in fine form switching between playing guitar and keyboard.  The highlight of his set was the final song Lady Luck (from Ground Trouble Jaw which you can download for free) where he set aside his guitar and piano and sang in a soulful un-ironic falsetto sounding a bit like Prince.  It was pretty damn great and made me kick myself for not going to see him the last time he was in town at Chop Suey.

There are more photos and the set list over at my flickr.  There are also a few more Stereolab dates for the US, all with Richard Swift opening.
10/19: Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver
10/21: Fillmore, San Francisco
10/23: Henry Fonda Theater, LA
10/24: Belly Up, San Diego

The Long Winters Off the Grid

July 7, 2008 at 10:33 pm | In Gigs, Live Music, Seattle, Showbox, mp3 | 2 Comments
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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.

An Audience with Elbow at the Showbox

May 7, 2008 at 9:35 pm | In Gigs, Music, Seattle, Showbox, mp3 | Leave a Comment
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Elbow at the Showbox, Seattle | 5 May 2008

Elbow blowing their horns

Elbow is a band that tallies much more than the sum of it’s parts. Each instrument builds on the other to create a complex beautiful and at times stunning sound. The thing I remember most about Monday night’s show was how drop dead amazing it sounded. I get the feeling that Elbow is a band of audiophiles, and I for one thank them for their attention to the detail. They’ve augmented their line up with two violinists that double as back up singers to fill out the sound and even set up a Rush-like glass wall between the drummer and rest of the band so that the drums don’t bleed into the other instruments. Opening the show with Starlings from the new album The Seldom Seen Kid, each member came onto the stage with a trumpet. It was an impressive way to start things off, shocking us with the entire band contributing to the short trumpet blasts of the song.

And it really only got better from their, the songs, mostly from their last two albums, came in rapid succession only briefly and sometimes not so briefly interrupted by frontman Guy Garvey’s between song conversations with the audience. Garvey is a talker, but he’s got such teddy bear like demeanor, and comes across as a quite likable bloke. He lead a number of toasts, responded to I love you’s from the crowd with I love you too, and somehow got us to sing Louie, Louie to the band so they would come out for their encore. I don’t think Garvey had to work very hard to win us over though, people there last night were already big fans. It was cool to hear the audience over power Garvey on the chorus of Forget Myself, and provide the entire chorus for One Day Like This.

I was singing along to Leaders of the Free World and Newborn just like everybody else, but the highlight of the night for me was The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver. Not one of their more upbeat songs, it’s a moody number that has an eerie, noirish feel that reminds me of something from the Peter Thomas Sound Orchester. The rendition didn’t have the deep horn blasts but Mark Potter’s guitar was more than adequate, and combined with big booming drums and violins mad for 5 minutes of moody bliss. Elbow has really taken their live show to another level from previous performances I’ve seen. It’s not often a band can pull off an intricate sound, get the audience to sing choruses with abandon, and have a front man that is as engaging between songs as he is when singing them. Cheers!

mp3: Elbow – The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver (buy The Seldom Seen Kid)


mp3: Peter Thomas Sound Orchester – Apartmenthouse (ignore the beginning, it’s the middle part)


mp3: Peter Thomas Sound Orchester – Bolero on the Moon Rocks (used in Pulp’s This is Hardcore)

Peter, Bjorn, John and the Clientele

September 22, 2007 at 10:27 pm | In Gigs, Peter Bjorn and John, Showbox, The Clientele | Leave a Comment

Peter Bjorn & John + Clientele | Showbox | 20 September

Alasdair MacLean of the Clientele, Showbox, Seattle - 20 September 2007

As I walked into the Showbox Thursday night, Alasdair MacLean was hanging out at the merch table.  I couldn’t resist ribbing him, saying that they’re always in Seattle and they should just move here.  The Clientele have been here no less than 5 times since 2005 and I think I’ve seen all but one of those times.  Alasdair laughed and said that they wouldn’t be back for at least 18 months.  He also had a funny story to tell about Louis Philippe coming over back in May for their Boston and NY dates.  They were at a truck stop and Philippe was aghast at the terrible food available, when offered some nachos, he wrinkled his nose and sniffed, what are these, tortilla chips?  Ok it’s not funny when I write it but it was funny when Alasdair told it in his mock French accent.

The Clientele were much better than when I saw them open for Spoon here back in 2005.  When they played with Spoon, they seemed to be swallowed up by the large room, whereas this time with the addition of Mel Draisy on keyboards and violin, they totally filled the room with their shimmering brand of pop.  Also, MacLean and the rest of the band seemed to be playing with a lot more confidence tonight, even though MacLean’s guitar was giving him problems (broken string and falling out of tune).  They still didn’t play enough from excellent God Save the Clientele for my taste, but I thought the set was descent.

Bjorn of Peter, Bjorn and John, Showbox, Seattle - 20 September 2007
There were a lot of choices Thursday night for the music fan in Seattle, the Decibel Festival was sporting DJ sets by Simian Mobile Disco, Diplo and Switch at Neumo’s and the Flaming Lips were over at the Paramount. Peter, Bjorn and John had no trouble packing the Showbox for their second trip to Seattle. This time though they fully represented their namesake, with drummer John Eriksson making the trip. He was conspicuously absent from their Neumo’s gigs back in May. I actually liked them better the first time I saw them, this time they seemed to use a lot more pre-recorded sounds, whistling included. Peter was still his energetic self, jumping around like a madman, but the set had a ramshackle feel that never quite made it off the ground. They borrowed Clientele drummer Mark Keen for bongos and Mel Draisy to sing Victoria’s part for Young Folks, which was quite nice aside from Peter faking the whistling parts. The krautish version of the Chills was kinda cool, though not as good as I remember it from the Neumo’s show and the Concretes cover appeared in the set again too. The only thing that may have been better was Up Against the Wall, which is their set ending freak-out song. It went on for maybe 10 minutes last night and had Bjorn playing his bass like a guitar while Peter ran around the stage with is shaker. It was kinda crazy. You can tell these guys love playing and are having a blast. Their enthusiasm is infectious and people seemed totally into it, I guess I’m too much a critic and enough of a fan.

Across the Street from the Lusty Lady

September 16, 2007 at 10:28 pm | In Gigs, New Pronographers, Seattle, Showbox | Leave a Comment

New Pornographers | Showbox | 14 Seattle 2007

New Pornographers at the Showbox, Seattle

Back in the Mass Romantic and Electric Version days I was a Carl Newman and Neko Case fan, and had yet to be converted into the Dan Bejar cult.  Mass Romantic and Electric Version had Newman sucking me into his high fructose corn syrup pop world with songs like Mass Romantic, The Slow Descent into Alcoholism and From Blown Speakers and Electric Vision.  On those album Bejar’s songs were always a welcom respit but they never hit home.  Either I’ve changed or the New Pronographers have changed, becuase Bejar’s songs have taken over as pop kings and now with Challengers, their fourth album, I count myself a full a member of the Bejar’s Destoyer army.  Don’t get me wrong Challengers has its Newman-Neko moments, but it’s the Bejar songs that carry this record.  Actually, the band seems to have taken on a new bent in their songs for the new record, they seem to be trying to branch out with the songs a bit more introspective and more multifaceted. 

The show Friday night didn’t take on the introspective-mellow nature of the new album, it was a full on happening/party/New Pornographers appreciation.  The 21+ show was full of die-hards singing every word, shouting for their favorites, swooning for Neko and chanting Destroyer.  Bejar made himself scarce, coming on stage for his songs and then disappearing until his next song.  He acted kinda like the band’s muse, bringing handfuls of beers one time, shakers the next, a guitar another time.  Bejar’s songs were all great, and they did all three from Challengers (btw, Myriad Harbour is my song of the year thus far) plus Jackie, Dressed in Cobras, but it was the songs that never really caught my attention on cd that were some of the standouts from the night.  The Neko-Kathryn Calder dueting of Failsafe was brilliant, and the set closing, The Bleeding Heart Show, was the epiphany, the final chorus had Neko belting it out, bringing the show to a true climax worthy of an encore. After that, the encore was somewhat of a let down, but with the final song, the Slow Descent into Alcoholism Newman reminded me with his sharp pop hooks why I liked his band in the first place. 

Setlist from New Pornographers at the Showbox, Seattle

I’ve got a few more photo’s from the night over at flickr.

Spoon Seattle Showbox Episode

September 6, 2007 at 9:46 pm | In Gigs, Seattle, Showbox, Spoon | Leave a Comment

Spoon | Showbox | 5 September 2007Spoon at the Showbox, Seattle
It’s been a while since Spoon has been in Seattle to headline a show. They seem to be always playing the festival du jour around town (Bumbershoot, Capitol Hill Block Party, Sasquatch). We finally got them back at the Showbox Wednesday night, playing to what seemed to me to be hard care Spoon fans. The show was sold out, no surprise there, since their new album has been gaining accolades from around the music world with a general consensus that it’s the best thing they’ve put out thus far.

I overheard many Spoon conversations last night, covering the spectrum of best record, best song on ga ga ga ga ga, how great a drummer Jim Eno is, etc.  The conversation in my little group was a little less visceral, since we were debating whether Don’t Make me a Target was about the current administration or rant against big box stores.  Whatever the conversation, they were shunted when the band sauntered on stage, and launched into Small Stakes and then straight into (my favorite song from ga) Don’t you Evah.  This opening one, two punch was followed up by bringing out the horn section from opening band Black Joe Lewis, for Cherry Bomb and Stay Don’t Go.  They should seriously think about getting a full time horn section, and I can’t help but think this is one reason why Black Joe Lewis were chosen as openers.  Whatever the situation, the horns kicked butt, and they returned later for the Underdog and Jonathon Fisk. 

Britt Daniel is a great front man, totally at ease and having a genuine good time, telling everyone how he’s trying to relocate the entire band to the Pacific NW and asking a girl in the front row where she got here purple Prince 1999 shirt (his favourite Prince album).  This show was easily one of the best Spoon shows I’ve seen.  The band was on last night, and the sound was pretty amazing as well, with every instrument coming through the PA distinct and clear.  We also got a good cross section of all the albums (except for Telephono which Daniel has all but disowned), I was aghast to hear Quincy Punk Episode and Mountain to Sound, from Series of Sneaks and Soft Effects respectively. 

They ended the main set with Black Like me and came back for an encore that made me wish they could have played for another hour.  Me and the Bean was amazing, easily better than the Girls Can Tell version and making me hope someone recorded this show.  Fitted Shirt closed out the night and it totally rocked the house.  Brit pining for the days when people said ma’am and yes sir, not only had the entire joint getting down, he had the entire Showbox on their way over to the Nordstrom to find a shirt that fits right!
Spoon Set List…that’s my thumb.

They didn’t play everything on the set list but enough to make me happy.  I’ve got more pictures over at flickr.

Jarvis

May 1, 2007 at 9:41 pm | In Gigs, Jarvis Cocker, Music, Seattle, Showbox | 3 Comments

Jarvis Cocker at the Showbox, Seattle | 30 April 2007

Jarvis Cocker at the Showbox, Seattle

The man, the myth, the legend made his first ever appearance in Seattle last night to packed Showbox.  It’s quite amazing how at 43, this guy can make grown women (and some men) act like teenage girls.  He does look better than ever, if I do say so myself, sauntering on stage with his signature glasses, wool sport coat, big belt buckle and skinny trousers. It reminded me of the those heady Brit-pop days when going to see a UK group was truly an event.  

The band came out and launched into Fat Children, while Jarvis put down his newspaper and threw candies to the audience like some grandfatherly character giving candy to his grandchildren.  It reminded me of the time I saw him on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.  He came out in a tweed suit hobbling around on a cane.  Jarvis has this aura or style about him that is half urban hipster, half old pervert.

His band sounded great with two guitarists, though no Richard Hawley who played most of the guitar on record, and former Pulp bassist Steve Mackey who also played bass on the record.  The Jarvis banter between songs was ace, he went on a rant against air hockey, was very curious about the Lusty Lady, wondered if intelligencer as in Seattle Post-Intelligencer was a word, and wanted know where the hell all of the much publicized scantily clad baristas were. 

He played most of his solo record, but a couple of the stand outs from last night were b-sides.  One Man Show is a funny song about a hot date with a baked potato and Cocker did his own one man show for us with some killer Jarvis dance moves and lots of shimmying that caused much swooning over where I was standing.  The other b-side he did was Big Stuff, which he said was written for Lee Hazelwood which Hazelwood had declined to sing.  No matter, the Jarvis version had a Girl, You’ll Be Woman Soon vibe going on that built to a massive crescendo.  That crescendo crashed into the showstopper of the night; with it’s Crimson and Clover sample, Jarvis jumping around in fits of panic and the crowd in a frenzy with him, Black Magic totally killed!  Cunts are Still Running the World closed the set with everyone singing along to the chorus.

They came back out for the encore and totally nailed Purple Haze.  On paper it doesn’t sound possible, but ask anyone who was there and they will tell you Jarvis knows Jimmy.  My favorite part of the night was during Purple Haze when he sang “Exuse me whilst I kiss the sky.”  No Pulp songs, no Pulp songs needed!

More pics and the set list after the click. Continue reading Jarvis…

Classical Indie

December 5, 2006 at 10:44 pm | In Gigs, Joanna Newsom, Live Music, Music, Seattle, Showbox | 2 Comments

Joanna Newsom at the Showbox, Seattle | 4 December 2006

Joanna Newsom in the clouds

A Few things about the show last night…

  1. I wasn’t sure how long a harp could hold my interest, but man if it didn’t.
  2. After opening with a few songs of just her + harp, she was joined by her band to play the new record in it’s entirety. During the first song, Emily you could hear a pin drop in the Showbox. Everyone seemed to be simply mesmerized by the sound coming from the stage.
  3. That voice…is a bit too much on Ys, If you ask me. I don’t think Steve Albini was the best choice to record her. Too much quirkiness is captured in her voice on record, almost as if it was intentional to make her voice difficult to appreciate . Live, her voice was much smoother, as if she forgot to add in all of the yelps and squeaks, and the songs were much better because of it.
  4. As my friend Mike pointed out, who new you could replace and entire string section with an accordion? Actually she had 5 other musicians with her to recreate the Ys sound.
  5. Bjork has got nothing on Joanna Newsom. Actually if Bjork played the harp, you might not be able to tell the two apart.
  6. This would have been a great sit down show! If her popularity continues on its current trajectory, I may get my wish.
  7. I can’t believe I got to see someone play the saw twice within four days. Amy Millan now Joanna Newsom, the next thing I know Pitchfork will be giving a 8.9 to some record by an indie rock saw player.
  8. The show was sold out, not bad for a harp player that writes 15 minute songs with no choruses.
  9. Opener Smog/Bill Callahan has a cool, smokey, gunslinger kind of a voice. I just have never been able to get into his stuff. His performance tonight was good, but didn’t make me convert.
  10. She came back out and performed solo for her encore. Peach, Plum, Pear astonished me with her playing both bass and guitar with the harp, and oh yeah she sang at the same time too.

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