words by Bill Pearis, photos by Ryan Muir

Seattle band BOAT were in town over the weekend playing Friday (11/13) at Union Hall and Saturday (11/13) at Bruar Falls. The band were on at both shows, probably due in part to vocal and ready-to-participate crowds who did not want them to stop playing. BV photographer Ryan Muir was at the Bruar show and took the band out for a photo session after the show. Before the show, I sat down with them over dinner for a long, funny conversation that included such topics as not fitting in in today's indie landscape; how recycling would seem less important if we knew aliens were going to invade; and a quiz about 1989 (the name of the new album's lead track). You'd be reading all of that right now if I properly knew how to operate my digital recorder, which only managed to capture 54 seconds of the interview. I'm infinitely bummed... However, BOAT frontman D. Crane agreed to a little post-tour wrap-up Q&A to make up for it. More of those pictures and that interview below...

Continue reading "an interview w/ BOAT (and videos from Coney Island) "

"fanfarlo was amazing last night. the experience left me inspired to be happy!" - Christy Gurga

Fanfarlo @ Bowery Ballroom in NYC - Sept 21, 2009 (awakinglim)

"Given the mere nine or so songs they played [at Chop Suey in Seattle on September 14th], jet-lagged or no, an encore was definitely in the offing. Nobody was leaving and everyone was clapping and expecting something. Promptly arriving back on stage, plastic tubes were handed out to the crowd to twirl above their heads, an opportunity for the audience to whimsically provide the high-pitched background hum for "Ghosts." It worked out better than I could have imagined (though the taller members of the crowd were probably not all that endeared by a constant threat to their head from all sides). After some mulling over requests, "Fire Escape" was decided as the second song of the encore.

Even after the house music came up, earnest chants of "One More Song! One More Song!" rung out until the band came back for a second encore. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw something like that with a new band like this."
[Sound on the Sound]

Fanfarlo kicked off their US tour in Seattle last week and are now in the midst of a two-night NYC run. If you missed them last night at Bowery Ballroom (9/21), you have another chance tonight (9/22) at The Bell House in Brooklyn (tickets are still available). Wildbirds and Peacedrums opened last night, and they do again tonight. Jonsi and Alex won't be there again tonight though.

If you miss both, or even if you saw both, it won't be long before there's another chance to catch the London-based band in NYC. Fanfarlo are coming back for CMJ, and you'll have at least two chances to see them then. On October 21st they'll be at Bowery Ballroom again. That time it's with Midnight Juggernauts, The Postelles, TigerCity, Findlay Brown, and Freelance Whales (tickets). On Tuesday, October 20th (one night before Bowery), you can catch them at the official BrooklynVegan CMJ show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Full lineup for that one to be announced shortly (and tickets will be on sale soon).

A video from the above-reviewed Seattle show, below...

Continue reading "Fanfarlo played Bowery Ballroom - Bell House tonight then CMJ (BrooklynVegan official show @ MHOW + Bowery again) "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Intelligence - Thank You God for Fixing the Tape Machine (MP3)

If I wasn't so enthralled with the show, I would have gone out and dragged everyone of those pedestrians into the bar, because the Intelligence were putting on a clinic. They were tight, and tightly wound, piercing and fractured in all the right ways. Before blasting into Universal Babysitter, Lars Finberg, responding to someone's earlier comment that they sounded like The Ventures quipped, "now this one sounds like the Ventures." Along with a lot of other things, the Intelligence have a twangy surf sound that is reminiscent of that Tacoma band. Finberg also has this uncanny ability to write songs that are so out there, but seem to constrain themselves to the unwritten rules of the pop song. It's probably not a formula for becoming huge, but he at least has the undying fandom of like-minded warped-pop nerds like myself.
[The Finest Kiss]

Portland Seattle's The Intelligence will soon hit the road on a massive North American tour that will take them pretty much everywhere, including two dates in the NYC area: September 11 at Market Hotel and September 13 at Cake Shop. If you haven't heard their new album, Fake Surfers, you're missing out on one of the year's best albums. While lumped in with the surf/garage/trash scene -- they are on In The Red, home of Thee Oh Sees, Hospitals, Vivian Girls, etc -- the Intelligence have been doing it longer (10 years) and weirder than almost anybody else. Main brain Lars Findberg, who was also in the A Frames, has a warped sensibility that makes Intelligence records more than just catchy little surf jams with blown-out levels. (Not that there's anything wrong with that but one look at the new album title lets you know their aware of their genre.) Fake Surfers might not offer the immediate punch of the new Oh Sees and Ty Segall records (both of which are very good) but it will stay with you longer. Check out the MP3 of Fake Surfer's "Thank You God for Fixing the Tape Machine" at the top of this post. It would be too easy to say that The Intelligence are more cerebral than other bands doing similar things, but it would also not be wrong. They also rock.

The Intelligence actually have two new albums, the second being Crepuscule With Pacman on French label Born Bad which is a decidely stranger, more lo-fi affair than the comparitively-friendly Fake Surfers. And there's a new In the Red 7" coming soon featuring a different version of Fake Surfers' "The Unessential Cosmic Perspective" and three leftovers from the album's sessions.

Tour dates and a video (from thier 2008 album, Deuteronomy) after the jump...

Continue reading "The Intelligence - new album, MP3 & 2009 tour dates "

DOWNLOAD: Talbot Tagora - Internet Fixture (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Le Loup - We are Gods! We are Wolves! (MP3)

Hardly Art is an independent record label based in Seattle, WA. Founded in early 2007 by Sub Pop Records, Hardly Art is run by two full-time employees and is distributed by the Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) and Sub Pop. The label's name comes from a lyric the song "No Culture Icons" by [ex-Sub Pop band] the Thermals [who are in town], and the unofficial motto for the label is: Quality records for quality people since very recently. [Wikipedia]

The Hardly Art roster is now up to nine bands, the latest addition to which is Brooklyn Band Golden Triangle.

Golden Triangle @ NYU Strawberry Festival 2009 (more by Lauren Monaco)

Golden Triangle's upcoming shows include a gig on Saturday, May 9th at Rubulad with the Homosexuals. The band then plays a free show on Tuesday, May 12th at Southpaw with the Phenomenal Handclap Band. They're also scheduled to perform June 12th as part of the Northside Festival (again with The Homosexuals). All tour dates below.

Earlier this year when Golden Triangle were still unsigned, the group won the Dickies Battle of the Bands down at SXSW. The judges for that included Black Bubblegum, GZA, and Randy & Dean of No Age (who, being signed to Sub Pop, are now label cousins with the winning band).

Hardly Art intends to release Golden Triangle's debut full-length in early 2010. Other new signings by Hardly Art include Seattle bands Talbot Tagora and Unnatural Helpers.

Unnatural Helpers are a pretty righteous Seattle punk band with two former members of The Catheters, an ex-Sub Pop band of which I was especially fond and whose presence on the musical scene I miss dearly. Unnatural Helpers is ex-Catheters guitarists Brian Standeford (also of Idle Times and Tall Birds) and Leo Gephardt (Tall Birds), The Dutchess and the Duke's Kimberley Morrison on bass, though the band is the brain child of Dean Whitmore, who drums and sings. [Seattle Weekly]

A new track by Talbot Tagora (who named themselves after a type of car), "Internet Fixture," is currently posted at The Fader (and above). Their album Lessons in the Woods or a City will be released July 21st on CD and LP. From the label's more established acts, new discs are also planned for Le Loup and the Dutchess & the Duke by the end of this year.

Only one other Hardly Art band has an NYC date coming up: indie-pop trio Pretty & Nice play Union Hall on May 14th with the Dig and Middle Distance Runner. Tickets are on sale.

All upcoming Hardly Art tour dates below...

Continue reading "Golden Triangle & other bands signed to Hardly Art (like Talbot Tagora & Unnatural Helpers) - 2009 tour dates & stuff "

The 2009 Capitol Hill Block Party takes over Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood July 24-25. The Block Party is an annual music festival that draws upon and showcases the best indie and underground rock in the US, with a special focus on its Northwest artists. Launched 12 years ago, the Block Party has evolved into Seattle's most anticipated outdoor party. With over 40 bands on 3 stages, great food, and plenty of cheap beer, this is by far the best party of the summer.

Initial lineup (including Jesus Lizard) and more info below...

Continue reading "Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle - initial 2009 lineup"

DOWNLOAD: Grand Archives - Torn Blue Foam Couch (MP3)

Sera Cahoone @ Sub Pop SXSW 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)

"How far will this thing go? And what the heck do we call it?

To answer the first question we need to look at the scene's origins. In the beginning, there were two bands.

The first is Carissa's Wierd, a Seattle "sadcore" band whose members included Sera Cahoone, Mat Brooke and Ben Bridwell. (Brooke and Bridwell went on to form Band of Horses, from which sprung Grand Archives). They were true originals, quiet, mournful and eerie; were briefly signed to Sub Pop; and were local favorites from the mid-'90s until their 2003 demise.

The second is Beachwood Sparks, a Los Angeles collective whose music was a clear and proud homage to the Byrds, Neil Young and Buffalo Springfield, the very same godfathers of the Moondoggies, Fleet Foxes and Grand Archives. Beachwood Sparks was also signed to Sub Pop, somewhere around 1999 until the band's dissolution in 2002."
[The new Seattle sound is pretty, pastoral and mellow]

Grand Archives @ Sasquatch 2008 (more by Chris Graham)

Grand Archives is an American indie rock band, formed in Seattle. The band, originally called Archives, is composed of several noted musicians from that city, led by Mat Brooke, former guitarist and vocalist for Carissa's Wierd and former guitarist for Band of Horses.

The band emerged, under their previous moniker, to little fanfare in March 2007.... [Wikipedia]

Grand Archives are on tour with Sera Cahoone. That's a lot of Carissa's Wierd. This Friday the 13th they'll be at Bowery Ballroom in NYC - part of a four band bill that also includes The M's and Centro-Matic. Then the next day you can catch both of them again at Union Hall in Brooklyn. All tour dates and some videos below....

Continue reading "Grand Archives & Sera Cahoone (a Sub Pop Seattle mellow double bill) - 2008 Tour Dates (Bowery & Union Hall)"

Sub Pop is now confirming a lot of the rumors and then some.....

Continue reading "Sub Pop Anniversary Festival - SP20 initial lineup announced"

DOWNLOAD: The Decemberists - Perfect Crime (Junior Boys Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Page France - The Ruby Ring Man (live at the Crocodile Cafe) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nirvana - talk to me (crocodile cafe 1992) (MP3)

"I think it's a blow to the scene," said David Meinert, a local promoter and publicist. "Part of the side effect of the mayor's downtown development plan, which seems to have no room for live music in it. The Croc is an institution. At the same time, things change, and keeping a venue open as long as the Croc has been, through all the changes the music scene has been through, is a very difficult job. I feel for any club owner trying to make it in Seattle."

Local musician Chris Martin, a guitarist in local rock band Kinski, called the Crocodile Café "the most exciting club to play in town." [The Seattle Times] (thx Renee)

David Bazan played the last show. Nirvana played there. Beth Ditto fell there.

According to the schedule that is still posted on the club's website "Bobby Bare Jr. and the Decemberists" were supposed to play there on January 26th - which, according to the Tractor Tavern where the show will now take place, is actually Bobby "with members" of the Decemberists. The Decemberists have played with Bobby before, and they're (all of them) scheduled to play Seattle twice just four days later - two of four West Coast shows they have scheduled. It will be the first time they play since cancelling a whole tour due to illness.

Also on the Croc schedule: Atlas Sound, Black Mountain, A Place to Bury Strangers, Tilly & The Wall, Beach House, and Born Ruffians. All Decemberists & Bobby Bare dates below...

Continue reading "Seattle's Crocodile Cafe closed, the Decemberists are back"