Wednesday 4/13
Raphael Saadiq
(Showbox at the Market) See preview.
Wire, Nazca Lines
(Neumos) See preview.
Mary Anne Hobbs, Gonjasufi, Lorn, Take
(Baltic Room) See Stranger Suggests and Data Breaker.
The Bitter Roots, Barry Sebastian, Simon Kornelis
(High Dive) A few months back, Stranger freelancer and regular nut job Travis Ritter asked Line Out readers what artists they thought were regularly overlooked by this paper's music department. The post got like 80,000 comments, and an overwhelming number of them mentioned the Bitter Roots. While the band's thingâunderstated, guitar-driven rock with lyrics about things like deciding not to wait by the phone anymoreâisn't exactly my bag, it's clearly earned some ardent followers. Stay tuned for a tentatively planned show where we choose our favorites from that list and ask them to play Neumos. GRANT BRISSEY
The Whisky Swillers, Alejandro Garcia
(Can Can) I first saw the Whisky Swillers at a house party four years ago. They were all tucked in, jam-session style, playing music at one another while partyers danced in a near riot just inches away from their jutting, banjo-picking elbows. They're a unique bluegrass duo that way, bouncing the frenetic energy and olde-tymey nasal vocals off one another, amplifying it somehow, before sending it whipping out at the audience. You and I could argue about the authenticity of various bluegrass acts all day, but the great thing about the Whisky Swillers is that they feel like a front-porch bluegrass session you just happened upon somehow, with kazoo and washboard and whatever other instruments they have lying around playing a part. As far as I'm concerned, that's as real a bluegrass experience as I could possibly hope for. PAUL CONSTANT
Thursday 4/14
J*Davey, Malice & Mario Sweet, Shaprece
(Nectar) See preview.
Trentemøller, Nordic Soul
(Neumos) See Data Breaker.
We Wrote the Book on Connectors, the Resets, Bucket of Honey
(Chop Suey) We Wrote the Book on Connectors are a goofy local rock band that churns out songs with the frequency that other bands churn out farts after a late night of beer and burrito binging at the Cha Cha. In fact, while some of the band's members were recently enjoying a break from school, WE challenged themselves to write and record 10 new songs. They called it the Spring Break Challenge. The resulting tracks are not masterpieces, but there are some catchy and goofy tracks about sunshine, pizza, getting black eyes, and trying to find a job. You know, life's important shit. MEGAN SELING
Youth Rescue Mission, Smokey Brights, Sean Flinn & the Royal We
(High Dive) Seattle's Youth Rescue Mission have a folky sound that's built on solid Beatles-esque foundations of pop, like the Finches. So far as I know, there's not a name for this kind of swirly, propulsive, string-friendly folk music (in fact, Mirah and the Finches are the only two acts I can immediately place in this imaginary unnamed subgenre that I probably just made up). But they bring something new to the sound, too: an experimental, studio-friendly drive to layer found sounds and build diverse instruments to crashing crescendos that may or may not be the end of a particular song. Let's hope Youth Rescue Mission keep pushing at the imaginary boundaries of imaginary genres for a long time to come. PAUL CONSTANT
Feral Children, the Absolute Monarchs, Lozen
(Crocodile) Absolute zero is a theoretical temperature characterized by the complete absence of heat and motion, and clocks in around â273° C or â459° F. A system at absolute zero possesses a quantum mechanical zero-point energy, which is the energy of its ground state. The Absolute Monarchs have nothing to do with that, but they do move ground. They're a heavier Seattle rock band characterized by distorted and pressure-cleaning frontiers of guitar, bass, synth, and drums. Their system overheats with the quantum mechanics of Joel Schneider's precision-screamed, granite-splitting vocals. Update on the Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel issue: The tunnel has been built. The Absolute Monarchs practiced there earlier this week, and Schneider's vocals carved out the entire two-mile, four-lane tunnel. Cars can start driving through whenever. TRENT MOORMAN
Deftones, Dillinger Escape Plan
(Paramount) In 1997, Deftones' mixture of dual-rectified riffs, hiphop hat tips, and post-grunge lyricism was one pair of Adidas track pants away from Korn. Thankfully, they called bullshit on nĂź metal early in the curve and asserted their legitimacy by aligning themselves less with the meathead crowd and more with the studious music nerds. That same year, Dillinger Escape Plan voided any chance of mainstream appeal by merging Meshuggah's math metal with Naked City's free-jazz freak-outs on their debut EP. Since then, they've collaborated with Mike Patton, toured with System of a Down, and backed NIN onstage. Dillinger, rather than seeking street cred, are trying to prove their accessibility. These two acts, one reaching out to the underground while the other reaches for the big time, make perfect sense together. BRIAN COOK
The Suffering Fuckheads
(Seamonster) Seattle's the Suffering Fuckheads bring prog-punk rambunctiousness to jazz. Their music is a profusion of propulsive fusion maneuvers, equal parts virtuosity and feral power. A friend has been raving about the Suffering Fuckheads' Tuesday-night residency at the Copper Gate in Ballard, calling the sax/drums/Hammond organ trio one of the greatest live groups he's ever seen (dude's a seasoned musician and prog-rock head who's very hard to please, so this observation carries some weight). The Suffering Fuckheads mix originals with covers of songs by John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton, and other jazz titans. Ignore the deceptive, vulgar name and dig the provocative clamor that Suffering Fuckheads dole out with impunity. DAVE SEGAL
Friday 4/15
Yellingham Music Festival
(Bellingham) See Underage.
Pleasure Boat Records Showcase: Monty Luke, Jon McMillion
(Lo-Fi) See Data Breaker.
Thee Emergency, Cali Giraffes, Black Nite Crash, PWRFL Power, Ade
(Comet) All hail Cali Giraffes, your new favorite band for Seattle Summer 2K11 (and beyond)! Cali Giraffes features the illustrious Kim Warnick and former Alien Crime Syndicate guitarist Mikey Davis; their crunchy and quick pop songs are bright enough to fill that Fastbacks-shaped hole in your heart. There isn't any music out there for you to grab on to just yet (aside from some demos that are floating around and have gotten some airplay on local radio), but they have had some recording sessions with Josh Freese on drums and Matt Bayles manning the boards, so it's possible an EP or full-length will be released very soon. Supergroup, indeed. MEGAN SELING
Saturday 4/16
BirthDIYfest: Wild Orchid Children, the Pharmacy, Kids and Animals, Iji
(Vera) See Underage.
D.Black, Candidt, Fly Moon Royalty, JusMoni
(Chop Suey) According to Dictionary.com, curtain call is defined as: "noun, appearance of the performers at the conclusion of a theatrical or other performance in response to the applause of the audience." According to D.Black, his label Sportn' Life Records, and Chop Suey, this is D.Black's "curtain call" show. I do not like this news! I like D.Black! And I like all three of his albumsâbanger debut The Cause & Effect, the more spiritual Ali'Yah, and also last October's The Blackest Brown EP. WTF?! What if we, the fans, the audienceâwhat if we don't offer any more applause? Would it mean no curtain call? No early retirement? Maybe we should go to this "last" show and show him that we don't want him to leave usâby not clapping! That'll show him! KELLY O See also My Philosophy.
Sunday 4/17
Paul Simon
(Showbox at the Market) This gold-plated, Kennedy Centerâhonored American treasure is always best when he gets weird: the Jamaica-bred "Mother and Child Reunion," the Brazilian drum racket of "The Obvious Child," the entirety of the miraculous South African experiment Graceland, where a collection of New York stories fit for a Woody Allen film were brought to life with music from the other side of the world. (Speaking of Woody Allen films, Simon's disco shuffle in Annie Hall is a thing of beauty.) Lately, Simon's been getting weird again, with 2006's Surprise finding him spinning his conversational tales over poppy Brian Enoâproduced soundscapes. The brand-new So Beautiful or So What allegedly boasts "bluegrass influences"âbut the first single sounds like another chunk of Surprise. Whatever. Tonight, Paul Simon will be in a room, in our town, playing music. DAVID SCHMADER
Lesbian, Portland Cello Project
(Sorrento) The dudes in Lesbian sure like to experiment. When the Seattle-based stoner-metal quartet isn't churning out 8- to 13-minute psychedelic sludge masterpieces or performing improvisational sets as their side project, Fungal Abyss, they're keeping people guessing with weird shit like this. Along with busting out covers of Pantera and a handful of other classic metal bands, Lesbian will be playing alongside the Portland Cello Project, integrating their orchestral awesomeness to make this affair that much more epic. According to Lesbian's members, they won't have a chance to practice with the PDX cello crew, which makes this gig the first (and possibly last) time these two forces shred side by side. Expectations? "It will be way quieter than we're used to," said guitarist Arran McInnis. KEVIN DIERS
Movits!, Miss Mamie, Lavona the Exotic Mulatta and Her White Boy Band, the Moonspinners
(Tractor) Movits! pretty much have the Swedish swing/hiphop niche all to themselves. Yes, they make novelty music, which is notorious for its frightfully brief shelf life, but while it's fresh, it packs a serious punch (line)âStephen Colbert's a fan, too. As gimmicks go, Movits!'s is ingenious: Three Scandinavian dudes in sober black suits, bow ties, and Malcolm X specs blending '30s jazz with banging, bulbous beats and Norse rapping is an idea whose time has come. Surely, it will go sooner rather than later, but in the meantime, revel in Movits!'s charmingly clunky and jaunty hybrid. You're gonna laugh long and hard about it in 2013. DAVE SEGAL
Monday 4/18
Holy Grail, Cauldron, Wildildlife
(El CorazĂłn) Holy Grail and Cauldron both recall the heyday of the new wave of British heavy metal. Soaring vocals? Check. Galloping guitar leads? Check. Denim jackets? Check. But it's been three decades since Maiden and Priest broke out, and tonight's two top-billed acts acknowledge and incorporate the permutations of metal that followed in its wake. But these forays and genre dabbles are nothing compared to the complete mindfuck of Wildildlife's absurdist take on heavy metal. Sure, there are vestiges of Van Halen's arpeggios and the Big Four's power-chord thrash riffs, but only after they've been filtered through psilocybin. The best metal always sounds like it's about to rattle apart at the seams, and Wildildlife's sounds like it's already fallen to pieces and been cobbled back together in some ghastly, semisatirical, nightmarish form. BRIAN COOK
Tuesday 4/19
Maserati, Sleepy Eyes of Death
(Sunset) Losing a drummer of Jerry Fuchs's magnitudeâhe died in a tragic elevator accident in 2009âwould cripple a lot of bands. Athens, Georgia's Maserati, though, have bounced back from that awful setback with 2010's Pyramid of the Sun (which contains some of Fuchs's last musical contributions). The album further strengthens Maserati's status as an instrumental group of exceptional cinematic grandeur, atmospheric creepitude, and rhythmic vigor. Their sound's blossomed into a panoramic extension of Goblin's vibrantly morbid disco, Neu!'s motorik fever dreams, and the heroic prog pyrotechnics of Zombi, whose bassist/keyboardist, Steve Moore, plays on two tracks here. (That group's drummer, AE Paterra, joins Maserati on this tour.) Maserati, aptly enough, make you want to get in one and speed down highways for hours (sorry, environment!). DAVE SEGAL See also Stranger Suggests.
