THURSDAY 8/16
COCONUT COOLOUTS, ROCK THE LIGHT, TACOCAT, SHANNON AND THE
CLAMS
(Comet) See preview, page 49.
THREAT OF BEAUTY, NEPOTISTAS, DAS VIBENBASS
(Tractor) Local bassist/composer Evan Flory-Barnes is a truly
dedicated, inspired, and ambitious creator and organizer of what is, in
essence, modern jazz music. In a variety of local ensembles he
demonstrates a remarkable work ethic and the sort of wide-roaming
creative foci demonstrated by a lot of creative musicians in cities
like San Francisco and New York, but by regrettably few in Seattle. His
ensemble Threat of Beauty exists both as a quartet consisting of
upright bass, vibraphone, cello, and drums, and an extended
miniorchestra with multiple vocalists, harp, and horns. In both
incarnations they combine the sort of dramatic ostinatos found in
sample-based hiphop with a more new music–esque sense of
arrangement and dynamic placement, all in pursuit of ultimately
romantic and majestic musical goals. SAM MICKENS
FRIDAY 8/17
ORDINARY STATE, SPEAKER SPEAKER, THE FEMURS, THE
DIMES
(High Dive) If you like having your heartstrings tugged on, you
might just have a new favorite band. The Dimes hail from Portland and
somehow manage to balance that city’s dual (and dueling)
sensibilities—knit-pop vs. Brit-pop. Lo-fi enough to appeal to
crafty hipsters and epic enough to lure in fans of Coldplay and Keane,
the Dimes simply create really lovely, understated but sweepingly
beautiful tunes that burrow into your brain, take hold, and refuse to
leave. You won’t want them to. With a new album about to be released
and a work ethic that would make Henry Rollins proud, this is a band
you’re going to be hearing more and more about. BARBARA MITCHELL
PIERCED ARROWS, UNNATURAL HELPERS, THE WIRES, PURE COUNTRY
GOLD
(Funhouse) Earlier this year, the Pacific Northwest let out a
unified cry of anguish when perennial garage-rockers Dead Moon
announced they were giving up the ghost. Now, Fred and Toody Cole, two
of the members of that former ménage à trois, are back
with a new band, Pierced Arrows. It’s been 20 years since they started
a new project, and this is the Portland band’s first jaunt up I-5 to
Seattle, so it’s not to be missed. Don’t be nervous that the show is
going to be a bust if Pierced Arrows aren’t any good—Unnatural
Helpers are on the bill as well. The Helpers’ songs feature snotty
vocals over the catchiest of garage riffs, but they’re not punk kids,
they’re total punk grown-ups. ARI SPOOL
MF DOOM, N/NW, DJ DV ONE, DJ SEAN C, J.PINDER
(Showbox) While the marquee for this evening’s Showbox engagement
may read “Sneaker Pimps,” it does not entail a drowsy set by the ’90s
triphop also-rans, but rather the “World’s Largest Sneaker Display,”
capped by a performance by the tirelessly brilliant rapper/producer MF
Doom. Since the tragic accidental death of his brother Subroc in 1993
and the subsequent dissolution of their group KMD, after which he first
adopted the Doom moniker and mask, he has been a heroically prolific
and experimental artist. His own steadily excellent records aside, his
dizzyingly inventive beatmaking has been a quietly critical element in
Ghostface Killah’s recent creative resurgence and, apropos to this
night’s programming, he recently designed perhaps the illest-looking
rapper-branded sneakers ever for Nike. Tadow. SAM MICKENS See also
My Philosophy, page 57.
SONIC BOOM BAND NIGHT: NIGHT-LIFE, SUZUKI BEANE, TOY GUN,
SAME-SEX DICTATOR, LUCY MOREHOUSE, AND MORE
(Sunset) Remember that time the clerk at Sonic Boom gave you that
weird look when you bought that used copy of a Britney Spears record?
“It’s for research,” you explained (no really, it was). “Uh huh,” he
said with a grin, chuckling to himself. Well now it’s your turn to
judge him! Many Sonic Boom Records employees (who, I should say, are
always nice and helpful) are in bands, and those bands are playing
tonight at the Sunset. It’ll be an eclectic night for sure. For
example, Night-Life is a new drunken, dramatic, piano project featuring
local artist and former–Ambitious Career Woman frontman Adam
MacKinnon, while Same-Sex Dictator is thrashtastic hardcore with
guitars that swarm like locusts and bass as thick as mud. There’s
indeed something for everyone! No Britney, though. MEGAN SELING
SING SING W/TITTSWORTH, FOURCOLORZACK, PRETTY
TITTY
(The War Room) There’s often an unnecessary schism between the
“hardcore” electronic music fans and the hipster set, with the former
opting for academic deconstruction and the latter searching for their
next good time, which makes it refreshing when someone with dual appeal
comes to town. Tittsworth’s last Seattle appearance was at the closing
party for the monthly survey of ass-shakery Bootylib, and since then
he’s grown in stature on the DJ circuit, earning a spot on URB magazine’s Next 100 list and taking his ultraquick mixing style
international. Revered for his deep crates, Tittsworth, based in the
Washington, DC, area, switches up the Baltimore club regionalism with
hiphop, party jams, and whatever else he can fit into his overstuffed
track listing. DONTE PARKS
SATURDAY 8/18
SPORTN’ LIFE RECORDS FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY: D.BLACK, CANCER RISING, GRYNCH, J.PINDER, LIFE BEHIND BARZ, DJ JAKE
ONE
(Chop Suey) See preview, page 43.
KEXP BBQ: BLUE SCHOLARS, CLOUD CULT, PELA, THE CAVE SINGERS,
THE BLAKES
(South Lake Union Discovery Center) See Stranger Suggests, page
27.
JOULES, BRONZE FAWN, GRAND HALLWAY, KRISTIAN
GARRARD
(Ground Zero) Before “disbanding,” Joules teased us with the
fantastically dynamic, sonically jarring, and
recorded-in-one-continuous-take instrumental record Laser Cannon and
Street Thunder. The trio never officially said they were done, but
they never officially said they were going to keep playing either. They
eventually just ceased to exist as Joules, the members instead focusing
on other projects. Bryce Shoemaker is also in the Hungry Pines and
Bronze Fawn; Bob Roberts is currently playing in Tomo Nakayama’s new
post-Asahi project, Grand Hallway; and Kristian Garrard has been
showcasing his solo material around town for some time now. They’ve
been busy. But the three of them are wickedly talented musicians (as
their work in Joules and other projects attests) and it’s exciting to
see they’re playing together again. Whether or not it’s the official
end or the official new beginning, the band won’t say (although they
will have a new six-song CD available to buy at the show), so there’s
no knowing when this as-magical-as-Pegasus event will happen again.
MEGAN SELING
SUNDAY 8/19
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE, SEAN NELSON & HIS MORTAL
ENEMIES
(Neumo’s) It’s hard to imagine a better-matched bill than MTV faves
Fountains of Wayne and local pop impresario Sean Nelson & His
Mortal Enemies. Both parties are best-case scenarios of what happens
when really smart guys with a bull’s-eye sense of melody put that
grade-A intellect to use writing pop songs. While Nelson turns that
keen eye inward, crafting semi-baroque tunes of self-conscious
neurosis, the FOW team go long—spinning streamlined pop-rock
tales of suburban confusion. Misfortune, as it turns out, is lucky to
have such talented observers. In both cases, the result is guilt-free
listening for anyone who worships Elvis Costello but secretly sings
along to Kelly Clarkson songs. BARBARA MITCHELL
SAFFIRE: THE UPPITY BLUES WOMEN
(Triple Door) Recalling the vaudevillian bawdiness of
early-20th-century trailblazers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, the
acoustic trio Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women gets hilariously dirty.
In Hot Flash, an upcoming documentary about the group’s career,
sex gnome Dr. Ruth Westheimer parses songs such as “Silver Beaver” and
“There’s Lightning in These Thunder Thighs.” It’s unique to see this
grandmotherly group dishing out the double entendres: In the
sexagenarian category, all-male groups such as the Rolling Stones and
Aerosmith rule the raunchiness roost. However, Saffire’s steamy tunes
boast serious blues chops, allowing the group to transcend novelty-act
status. All three members sing and play acoustic ax, supplementing
their vocal harmonies, intricate picking, and sassy punch lines with
piano, harmonica, mandolin, bass, and kazoo. ANDREW MILLER
MONDAY 8/20
Shhh…
TUESDAY 8/21
LASER MINUS THE BEAR
(Vera Project) See Underage, page 71.
WILCO
(Marymoor Park) See Stranger Suggests, page 27.
AU REVOIR SIMONE, OH NO OH MY
(Chop Suey) For a minute there, I erroneously assumed Au Revoir
Simone were French. The signs were all there: French band name, a remix
by Franco/Anglo darlings the Teenagers, overwhelming cuteness. At some
point, somebody slapped me and made me immediately go rewatch their
namesake, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, until I stopped being such a
fuck-up. Au Revoir Simone are from Brooklyn (and, duh, they sing in
perfect nonaccented English). Their songs combine cool keyboards, Casio
organs, plastic drum machine beats, and pretty all-girl vocal
harmonies. The songs on their debut album, Verses of Comfort,
Assurance & Salvation, and their recent sophomore album, The
Bird of Music, range from sweetly melancholic ballads (“Through the
Backyards,” “Back in Time”) to bright, upbeat bedroom pop (“The Disco
Song,” “Fallen Snow,” “Sad Song”). ERIC GRANDY
WEDNESDAY 8/22
Born on this day: John Lee Hooker (1917), Dale Hawkins (1936), Tori
Amos (1963), and that Howie dude from the Backstreet Boys (1973).
Hooray! I think….