In other new-releases news, Seattle's Hint Hint join other indie electro punks and no-wave acts like Kill Me Tomorrow, Dance Disaster Movement, A Tension, and Gogogo Airheart on Death Before Disco, a recent comp by San Francisco label PrinceHouse Records aiming to capture the dark dance beats that are getting rock kids out on the floor--or something like that. Although the label throws a couple of odd curve balls (like some straight-up rock via the Pattern, and a few past-their-prime electroclash tracks), the overall selection contains some of the best keyboard-friendly/art-rock bands making noise now. (The comp also includes tracks from Numbers, Vanishing, and Broker/Dealer.) Thankfully, unlike all the other electroca$h comps that flooded the market this year, there's no Fischerspooner "Emerge" in sight.
And if the blend of indie/punk aesthetics and dance-club vibe is your thing, the French 75 DJ collective is throwing a Christmas party on Saturday, December 13. The event will double as a first-anniversary party for the group, which has DJed everywhere from the Crocodile, the Baltic Room, and Chop Suey to Bar and the Rendezvous. They'll throw down a mix of punk, hiphop, new wave, indie, and soul--basically a whole mishmash of stuff--at the Capitol Hill Arts Center, located at 1621 12th Avenue (near the liquor store at 12th Avenue and Pine Street).
The Hideaway opened its doors last week, adding another venue for punk/rock/ indie bands and their fans to play and congregate in Belltown. Although it's located in the old Sit & Spin space, the bar portion looks completely different from its previous setup (and to my mind, better--more like a real bar). The still-coming-together space has a cozy, long, narrow layout with bright red walls that opens up into a showroom generally similar to Sit & Spin's, although there have been minor changes--the sound booth has been moved over a bit, and the space has been opened up more. Celebrating the club's first show were the local garage rock stylings of Thee Flying Dutchmen and Thee Curses. Both played scruffy, sweaty, scrappy rock 'n' roll--a good way to kick-start the new place into gear. For the next month or so, the club's lineup shares a sensibility with the Fun House's, giving that crowd more shows to attend (along with 4 o'clock Punk Rock at the Sunset and weekend shows at the Lobo Saloon and the Monkey Pub, among others).
For the night you want to stay in and curl up with a mind-bender of a movie, check out Performance. I finally got around to renting the 1970 Mick Jagger cult film, and it's awesome. The art-house oldie is the story of a conservative gangster (James Fox) in London who has to disappear after he's fucked with his boss; he goes incognito with a bohemian musician (Jagger) and the rocker's female harem, all of whom live in a drug- and art-fueled bubble at the other end of town. Purposely shot to make you feel like you're reeling on the same psychedelics the characters are popping like candy, Performance captures the pop culture elements of the type of good drug movie (like The Trip and Naked Lunch) they just don't make the way they used to.
