Luckily Seattle isn't completely corporate-run, and new indie efforts are as much of a constant as the money giants moving at a standstill. There's a new basement space in Beacon Hill called Drone Hill opening to the public this week. I've yet to check it out, but Drone Hill's Craig Mueller e-mailed me that the place is warm (a plus after this week) and "set up small and club-like with tables, chairs, lights, paint, and couches." He says it'll cater to the noise/experimental crowd, and that it's definitely on the cozy side. "The space can probably only hold like 50 people, so it's somewhat 'intimate,'" he writes. "We share a lot of friends that are in bands in PDX like Yellow Swans and Point Line Plane and the like, so we might be doing a lot of shows with our PDX homies in the future." On Thursday, January 8, you can check the place out for yourself when Black Japan, Silentist, Arranged Marriage, and Malibu Falcon perform (with a possible appearance from a Shoplifting side project). Silentist is Mark Burden (ex-Get Hustle), whom I've yet to see, but about whom Julianne Shephard at the Portland Mercury writes, "He pre-records his gorgeous, dramatic compositions on piano, bass, and guitar, and plays live drums in the dark, lit by a strobe. It lands somewhere between pioneering avant-garde composer Henry Cowell (on the particularly piano-centric parts) and black metallists Cradle of Filth (when Burden screams lyrics like an encroaching harpy). At points during his performance, he'll ditch the drums and go straight-up bananas on metal guitar solos, obliterating any notion you might've had that he can't do everything." Check it out at 7:30 p.m. at Drone Hill, 2711 14th Avenue South (donation of $3 requested for touring bands).
Sometimes all a group has to do to catch my attention is come up with a really silly/stupid pun for a name. Such is the case with Missouri Loves Company, an Arizona act playing an all-ages show on Saturday, January 10, at 8:00 p.m. at the Milkbar (Shoreline YMCA, 1220 NE 175th St; the lineup includes Mobile Sex Priests, Agent Apathy, and Levi Fuller & the Library). The group should tempt those who like the post-hardcore sound of bands like These Arms Are Snakes, Q and Not U, and the Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower, as well as fans of D.C. punk/mathrock. Their melodic, angular mid-tempo punk collapses two different vocal deliveries--the bratty, quick-fuse tantrum style favored by bands like the Blood Brothers, and a softer emotional wail, both of which are fitting for their dynamic, vibrant musical energy.
Seattle music geeks will soon have a place to swap and scavenge for those rare out-of-print 7-inches and first editions--and do it over brunch--when the Pop Shoppe Record Swap starts up next month. Beginning February 15 and continuing on the second Sunday of every month at the Crocodile, record labels, bands, and overburdened individuals will hawk their wares in an event for casual collectors and serious vinylphiles alike. To add more entertainment to the experience, there are also plans for guest "celebrity DJs," displays of rare video footage, and small acoustic showcases. Says Pop Shoppe coordinator Curt Doughty (also of Ants Invasion), "I've been collecting and buying records at swap meets for about 20 years now, and there're always those Beatles/Elvis old guys with fanny packs and no idea of what's cool and new (or cool and old) selling. So the idea came to me that we need a swap meet for indie/punk/rock and roll with a modern, hip, urban slant to it. Our motto so far is 'No Beatles, Elvis, or Rolling Stones,' after the Clash song, but it sums up our intent. We won't allow guys with tables full of Metallica bootleg videos to take this over." Something tells me Metallica wouldn't allow it either.
