Two weeks of semifinals down and two bands out of eight have
advanced in EMP’s annual Sound Off! competition: New Faces and
last weekend’s winners, the Nextdoor Neighbors. This weekend’s
third round will send one last band to the finals on March 1, where
they’ll compete with New Faces and the Nextdoor Neighbors for a grand
prize that includes a performance at Bumbershoot along with some gear
and studio time.
This week’s lineup: Deer City, Kusikia, Shotty, and Man Down
Medic.
Deer City is a name you may already be familiar with, as the
Issaquah kid’s gotten a couple mentions in The Stranger lately.
Deer City’s Jeff Stillwell is a talented, one-man, teenaged band armed
with a gamut of keyboards, drum machines, and other noisy toys. His
thoughtful electro-pop tunes have the honesty of a young Bright
Eyes minus all the debilitating depression.
Man Down Medic from Seattle share Deer City’s electronic
inclinations (in that they also have keyboards), but instead of lo-fi
bedroom lullabies, Man Down Medic play power pop dripping with
oversized emotions. They’ve got the kind of explosive, anthemic
choruses that Reggie and the Full Effect rock, but Man Down
Medic add dreamy male vocals, bright female harmonies, and subtract the
lyrics about midgets and fictional Swedish metal bands.
If you’re a fan of more traditional alternative rock, then
Kirkland’s Shotty‘s the band you’ll be rooting for. Their
influences include Loudermilk, the Smashing Pumpkins, and “loose
women and broken hearts.” They’re perhaps the most straightforward
rock band in this year’s Sound Off!—though sometimes they throw
in a little pop (“Blue Bom”) or some dirty guitars (“Deep Fried”) to
keep ya guessing.
Finally, from Tacoma, is a duo called Kusikia. They do
experimental jazz-meets-blues stuff by way of drums and
guitar—it’s not all instrumental, but there are very few vocals.
Their sometimes-psychedelic songs really sound more like
sessions—a couple of musicians jamming after listening to some
Hendrix records. It’ll be interesting to see how their loose
compositions stand up to, say, Man Down Medic’s pop outbursts.
We’ll find out Saturday, February 23, at 8:00 p.m. at Level 3 of
EMP. Then next weekend, on Saturday, March 1, all three finalists, the
best of the best, the cream of the Sound Off! crop, will play at the
EMP Sky Church, and Sound Off! 2008’s champion will be declared.
