Wednesday 5/16
Shotty, Hot Seat, the Archelons
(Rendezvous) There's a string band from Richmond, Virginia, called the Hot Seats, and sometimes one of their guitarists performs in a ruffly pink dress, and that guitarist is a man with a beard. This is not that band! This is Hot Seat from Seattle, who describe themselves as "Sexy. Dirty. Rock. And. Roll." And we'll have to take their word for it, since they don't have music posted on the internet anywhere. FOR SHAME! But the Archelons do have music on the internet, and tonight is their first show ever! You'll definitely want to be there if noisy, fast rock music tinged with psych and punk is your thing. Plus, imagine how cool you'll sound in a year when they're playing the Block Party and you can be all, "Yeah, I was totally there for their first show." MEGAN SELING
Thursday 5/17
The Polish Ambassador, Glitch and Swagga, Sonny Chiba, TonzaFun
(Neumos) For me, calling yourself "Polish Ambassador" conjures up images of pierogi, Pope John Paul II, and polka superstar Frankie Yankovic (no relation to Al). What this Polish Ambassador, originally from Malvern, Pennsylvania, now living in Oakland really does is make self-described "electro-funked, glitch-tweaked, wobble-freaked breakbeats." Breakbeats that'll "have you dropping that bottom" like it's 1992. He claims the synthesizer is his primary weapon in annihilating all the bad beats from the earth. Could breakbeats be the new polka? More importantly, is "dropping bottom" the new "half-step-hop-step"? These are the important questions. KELLY O
Deadkill, Grenades, Battle Stations, Strap Straps
(Barboza) Deadkill are the latest to offer a recording on Nik Christofferson's Good to Die label. (Wait five minutes and the man will surely have snatched up yet another promising hard/heavy outfit from this city or, do I venture to guess, Portland?) Deadkill feature Absolute Monarchs drummer Mike Stubz on guitar, and they specialize in finding one or two jagged riffs per song and then suturing them into your brain. Add to that some brawny drums and Bryan Krieger running around in his underwear and screaming a bunch of shit, and you've got yourself one giant beer blast of a record-release show. GRANT BRISSEY
Branden Daniel & the Chics, Orca Team, the Apollos, Pleasure Beauties
(Chop Suey) For the past 800 months, "Chic Shit" posters have covered every inch of Seattle—from Ballard to Capitol Hill—constantly harping about the Branden Daniel & the Chics album-release show. Tonight is the night! Branden Daniel & the Chics release their new album, Chic Shit, and the local band will most definitely light Chop Suey on fire with their pulsating garage rock. With yowling, bratty vocals, plenty of tambourine, and jangling guitar riffs, the vibe will pick you up and drop you somewhere in the 1960s (wear a vest and tight pants, just so you don't confuse anyone). It's gonna be a hell of a dance party. If nothing else, we won't have to see the phrase "Chic Shit" plastered all over the city for a while. MEGAN SELING
Wiscon, Werebearcat!, Crystal Beth
(Rendezvous) Calling all tight-pantsed leaping lords and ladies: Polish your dancing shoes and stretch your hammies, it's time to cut a rug with Werebearcat! Pronounced by PETA as too ugly to save and cast aside by fur enthusiasts as too ugly to slaughter, this band of dejected miscreants turned to music to find love and salvation. The result, as the group describes it, is an "elixerous mating of rockpop rapswagger jazzxuberance," but that is because, like most of God's freak creations, they don't know what the fuck they're talking about. It's really more like drunk, upbeat elevator music that urges you to jump up and down for hours. CIENNA MADRID
The Blind Shake, Lindseys, Squib, the Chasers
(Funhouse) There's something about bands that are made up of brothers. They seem to have that lifelong connection that can really shine, and also that touch of sibling rivalry that can really drive a band (sometimes driving them to fisticuffs). There are some excellent brother bands—Ron and Scott Asheton in the Stooges, Ray and Dave Davies in the Kinks, Angus and Malcolm Young in AC/DC, and Sean and Erin Wood in the Spits. Two brothers—Mike and Jim Blaha—front the Blind Shake. They're garage-punks from Minneapolis who collaborated with noise-weirdo legend Michael Yonkers. Their live shows are no-bullshit and full of might and fury. Expect the unexpected. KELLY O
Ramona Falls, Land of Pines, Natural Selection
(Sunset) Ramona Falls' first album, Intuit, was frontman Brent Knopf (of highly beloved Menomena) asking 30 or so friends and family members to mess around with him making sounds to see what would happen. On the brand-new Prophet, Ramona Falls are a four-piece indie-rock band that co-created the album remotely, with Knopf combining their different musical ideas using a self-created computer program. Quirky, funny, smart, bright with a hint of darkness underneath, it's a good album for a summer dusk, and it's out there on the internet right now, so check it out. Locals Land of Pines recorded their EPs in a yurt, and KEXP calls them "Rilo Kiley with razor blades." Intrigued? ANNA MINARD
Friday 5/18
School Shootings, Apache Chief, So Pitted, Mark Sparkles, Sioux City Pete
(Josephine) See Underage.
DROP: [a]pendics.shuffle, Agaric
(Lo-Fi) See Data Breaker.
White Hills, Kinski, Low Hums, Terminal Fuzz Terror
(Comet) Never miss an opportunity to catch White Hills live, as they've been one of the country's most raw and feral psych-rock bands for the past few years. Their newest full-length, Frying on This Rock, is earthier and less spacey than the New York group's earlier efforts, often sounding like '80s trance-rock badasses Loop's crushing final album, A Gilded Eternity. The bill is rounded out by three local outfits whose output mirrors White Hills' high-impact, fire-balling approach. DAVE SEGAL See also Sound Check.
The Esoterics: Approaching ecstasy with Whim W'Him
(Intiman) Constantine Cavafy was a gay sensualist poet in Alexandria in the first part of the 20th century, though many of his poems were set in antiquity. Three years ago, just after two volumes of Cavafy's poetry were published in translation, a Muslim Brotherhood member of Parliament in Egypt told a Bloomberg reporter, "Cavafy was a one-time event in Alexandria. His poems are sinful." But (excellent) Seattle choral group the Esoterics will provide Cavafy a new home, by performing a choral ballet, with choreography by Seattle's Whim W'him, centered on musical settings of 18 of his poems. The performance will be in English and Greek, with movements for string quartet and harp, as well as voices and bodies. JEN GRAVES
Seattle Symphony: Mozart's Requiem
(Benaroya) There is scarcely any music more sadly beautiful and beautifully sad. Look out for the Lacrimosa: the steady, rhythmic, funereal rise of the chorus through segments of harmonic tension and resolution to a staggering plateau. You could emotionally hurt yourself. Brace. JEN GRAVES
Saturday 5/19
SpaceRock Saturdays: Kuma Tsukasaki, Ctrl_Alt_Dlt, Eugene Fauntleroy, Roddimus
(Electric Tea Garden) See Data Breaker.
Lindsey Buckingham
(Neptune) Lindsey Buckingham's weekly royalty statements probably surpass your yearly salary, but here he is, at the intimate (for him) Neptune Theatre, touring behind his latest album, Seeds We Sow. And it's not bad at all for a sexagenarian, just not on the pop-genius level of his 1970s Fleetwood Mac output, although "Gone Too Far" comes close. His compositions on Rumours and Tusk stand as some of the most melodically ingenious and beautiful ever penned. (Seriously, try to get through "The Chain" and "That's All for Everyone" with dry eyes.) Buckingham is a consummate craftsman—turn your ears to "Not That Funny" posthaste—and a wicked guitarist with gobsmacking dexterity, and you can hear flashes of his peak-time chops and melodic facility scattered on Seeds We Sow. DAVE SEGAL
7 Horns 7 Eyes, Stealing Axion, Idols, Spare Me Poseidon, Numbers
(El Corazón) After three years in the making, local shredmasters 7 Horns 7 Eyes' debut full-length, Throes of Absolution, has been released, earning favorable reviews from blogs like Metalsucks and No Clean Singing, and reputable extreme music magazines alike (Decibel, Terrorizer). It helps that the album is altogether killer, a sonic assault of both heaviness and beauty, weaving you through punishing death-metal-leaning moments and melodic bursts of guitar (featuring a guest solo by famed shredder Jeff Loomis)—all the while never letting up from the unrelenting intensity of vocalist Shiv's burly guttural lows. This is your first chance to check out these songs live, as all the band members currently live in different cities. KEVIN DIERS
Heather and James's Wedding Reception: the Revolutionary Hydra, NighTraiN, Mongrel Blood
(Sunset) Normally, we don't do wedding announcements in the pages of this birdcage-floor fodder, but the people in this wedding are my roommates. JAMES BURNS AND HEATHER SORRENTINO ARE HITCHED, MOTHERFUCKER. This joint is a few days before the actual wedding party, so they can have time to recover, and they'll need it after all their friends pack into the Sunset tonight for the bleary quirk rock of the Revolutionary Hydra, the soul revolutions of NighTraiN, and the blood-curdling dirges of Spencer Moody's Mongrel Blood. All that can wear out some soon-to-be-newlyweds. Hell, I might even do the dishes for once. (But probably not.) GRANT BRISSEY
Cream: Vitamin D, BlesOne, OC Notes
(Barboza) During the party for our paper's Genius nominees, one of whom is THEESatisfaction, I had an intense conversation about local hiphop with rap veteran/teacher/manager/activist Jonathan Moore, who manages THEESatisfaction and Shabazz Palaces. When asked who was next, he immediately said OC Notes. But after heavily praising OC Notes' work (Dap Confuser, Metal Chocolates, Secret Society) and imagination, Moore said, "Don't forget that Vitamin D is still doing great work. He hasn't gone anywhere." Vitamin D has made music for almost all of the important acts in town and, along with Jake One, produced the Gift of Gab's masterpiece, 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up. Tonight, you get to see the great producers, Vita and Notes, doing their thing on the ones and twos. CHARLES MUDEDE
Atomic Bride, Love Battery, Summer Babes
(Lo-Fi) It's still baffling why Love Battery never achieved the substantial following of, say, fellow Northwesterners Screaming Trees or Soundgarden. Ron Nine's group brandished a powerful psych-rock machete, as they satisfyingly balanced ear-warping textures and catchy melodies. Between the Eyes and Dayglo should be staples in your Seattle rock diet and Love Battery should be playing the Showbox to great adulation. Local quintet Atomic Bride rock in a somewhat similar vein; their dynamic, riff-heavy songs seethe with a fine tension and sometimes fray at the seams. They'll likely be busting out cuts from their new Dead Air album. Summer Babes dress all in white and play sincere, peppy, pre-psychedelic pop inspired by "beaches." DAVE SEGAL
Sunday 5/20
The Mallard, Koko and the Sweetmeats, Tellemeser, Origami Ghosts
(Comet) See preview.
Loudon Wainright III, Shelby Earl
(Triple Door) Loudon Wainright III is the singer/songwriter/humorist/actor with a soft spot for freakishly talented musical brunettes (his marriage to Kate McGarrigle produced Rufus and Martha Wainwright, his later relationship with Suzzy Roche produced Lucy Wainwright Roche) and a family tradition of hashing out family shit in song. Proud papa Loudon celebrated his baby son's breast-feeding with "Rufus Is a Tit Man"; years later, he paid tribute to his soon-to-be-departed mother with the fearlessly emotional "White Winos." Meanwhile, daughter Martha's song about her dad is titled "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole." Tonight, Loudon Wainwright III takes the stage with a set that'll likely blend tracks from his 2012 release, Older Than My Old Man Now, with older songs from all over tarnation. DAVID SCHMADER
ScHoolBoy Q, Ab-Soul, Logics
(Neumos) Don't get the name twisted: LA's ScHoolBoy Q is not some backpack-wearing conscious rapper. Though he earned the name from an older member of the Hoover Crip gang with which he was once affiliated for earning good grades and starring in multiple sports in high school, Q excels at gritty street raps with enough lyrical chops and flow switches to avoid the repetitive hole some of this stuff falls into. His second official full-length, Habits & Contradictions, was front-to-back solid and remains one of the strongest rap releases I've heard in 2012. Ab-Soul, who makes up low-key LA supergroup crew Black Hippy with Q, Jay Rock, and Kendrick Lamar, will open. MIKE RAMOS See also My Philosophy.
Monday 5/21
Jetman Jet Team, Golden Gardens, Your City Sleeps
(High Dive) See Data Breaker.
Darin Clendenin Trio
(Tula's) Almost immediately after downloading local jazz pianist Darin Clendenin's new CD, Revenir, I was deeply impressed by its even warmth, its effortless lyricism, and the sensitivity of its intelligence. It's exactly the kind of jazz you'd expect from a person who knows this city, who knows its moods, seasons, weather, bodies of water, quality of light, mixtures of cultures, and cosmopolitanisms. It's all there in the masterly way he arranges the music and plays the piano—Seattle as jazz. CHARLES MUDEDE
Tuesday 5/22
Best Coast, JEFF the Brotherhood
(Neptune) See Stranger Suggests.
Greg Lake
(Triple Door) Stints in prog-rock behemoths King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer make Greg Lake a musician you must respect. He played bass, sang, and wrote lyrics for King Crimson's first two excellent albums and then went on to be a crucial member of ELP, who are way more interesting than the haters want you to believe. On those records, Lake combined a versatile, expressive singing style with phenomenally creative bass maneuvers; dude played on "21st Century Schizoid Man," "Cat Food," and "Karn Evil 9," which grants him automatic prog-deity status. This "Songs of a Lifetime" tour will encompass many of Crimson and ELP's best-known songs with supplemental storytelling and commentary from Lake. DAVE SEGAL
