Live Perception – Andrew Harris
Thursday, August 23, 2012 13:05 — 1 Comment
With as much music as there is in Seattle, we can expect an endless amount of opinions about what style, bands, and venues are great, and which one’s don’t make the cut. In this piece, we’re turned onto the perspective of one local music fan who has some things to say about how bands present themselves live. Andrew Harris is an avid show-goer, music lover, DJ, and the Promotions Director at Seattle University’s radio station, KSUB. Here’s the scoop from the man who knows–or at least has some strong opinions. 1. Never abuse your audience–rather, engage us. Remember, I could […]
Touring With Bryan John Appleby
Thursday, August 16, 2012 22:31 — 1 Comment
If you don’t know who Bryan John Appleby is then, cool, most people probably don’t. But that’s a time in your life that’s destined to be over– starting now. Bryan is one of the northwest’s fastest rising stars, opening for bands like Deep Sea Diver and Lemolo, playing both Seattle’s Bumbershoot and City Arts Festival in the last year, and getting praised far and wide for his first full length solo album, “Fire on the Vine†(See a review here!). His music is dramatic, original, and best served with a cup of coffee and a cigarette in the morning, or […]
El Mago – Hounds of the Wild Hunt
Thursday, August 2, 2012 11:50 — 0 Comments
With a name like Hounds of the Wild Hunt and an album titled “El Mago,†it’s hard to know exactly what you’re going to get before you listen to this Seattle band’s first full-length record. Thoughts of folky, beard-inspired harmonies and rich guitar sounds whizzed around curiously in my head. Yet visions of a hardcore band looking to tear someone’s face off at every chord change circled in my mind as well. Or, “Maybe it’s going to be a pop album,†I thought. What I found out: with Hounds of the Wild Hunt, it’s all of the above, which is […]
Smokey Brights
Thursday, July 12, 2012 12:53 — 2 Comments
“Yes! Worth it! Worth the $12,†my friend Andrew said to me after Smokey Brights left Neumos unquestionably bumpin’ last Saturday. In case you haven’t heard of them yet, Smokey Brights are a Seattle 5-piece whose best description might be contained within the implication of their name itself. Songs that are soaked with warm, rich tones pouring out from a hollow body electric along with glistening melodies and vocal performances that command your attention throughout their time on stage. All backed with tight rhythms. At the show, lead singer Ryan Devlin quickly shook off any stiffness that lingered over the […]
“Hey, Who Has The Drink Tickets”
Thursday, June 28, 2012 13:28 — 6 Comments
As a musician, your life is fueled by a number of different things: the unique and strange people you meet, the absurd and beautiful things you see, an overwhelming desire to fulfill a purpose, or even something as simple as playing a song and someone telling you that you did a great job. All of these, and the timing in which these events occur, are essential to what makes musicians, myself included, tick. More often than maybe we’d like to admit, the effort of trying to push our art to its full potential feels like walking up the biggest mountain […]
My Goodness
Thursday, May 31, 2012 13:09 — 1 Comment
Seeing My Goodness at KEXP’s Hood-to-Hood event in Ballard affirmed two simple things: that highly intense rock music is still my favorite, and that this duo reigns as the unparalleled Kings of Gritty in that genre here in Seattle. My relationship with the band started skeptically, when I thought they were just Black Keys wannabe’s, but that feeling was soon put to rest when the first My Goodness show I saw left me sweat-soaked and high out of my mind with adrenaline from jumping and thrashing around for 45 minutes (I also hit my head pretty solidly on a monitor). Since […]
The Hoot Hoots
Thursday, May 24, 2012 14:47 — 1 Comment
As a fan of local music, it comes with the territory that some, or maybe even many, of the bands that I’m exposed to won’t touch my sensibilities, shake me, make me stare with fascination and awe. Simply, few bands make my feet thrash around the room. But that’s what one looks for, right? A band that inspires, leaves a grin on your face, summons up more adrenaline than a baseball fan seeing Luis Gonzalez hit a single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth of the 2007 World Series to beat the Yankees in 7 games—the home crowd […]
The Alabama Shakes
Friday, December 9, 2011 12:36 — 2 Comments
By now, even subgenres of music have subgenres. The disappearance of a mainstream relevant to many listeners’ tastes necessitates this, I suppose, but who can keep track? So it comes as a relief when someone can say something simple about the music they make: “People misunderstand the word ‘Soul’ and think it’s just a genre of music, but it’s a feeling. When you pour every ounce of feeling into your music, that’s soul music.” That’s drummer Steve Johnson of the Alabama Shakes getting to the point. One could attempt to categorize this band in wordier, pseudo-ethnomusicological terms, but it would […]
Spek and Duke
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 19:05 — 0 Comments
As fellow editor Evan Flory-Barnes likes to point out from time to time when the difficult conversation of genre arises, many of the old jazz masters preferred not to speak of their work as “jazz”, opting instead for the simpler word “music”. It was a response to classical music snobbery. Hip-hop suffers a similar snobbery, despite enjoying wide popular appeal, just as big-band swing did in its day. Spekulation cleverly rebukes this snobbery with his newest work, “The Ellington Project”. His work is Music, definitively. Using samples from Ellington’s band and snippets of the Duke talking, Spekulation creates new songs […]
Hip Hop is Dead(ly)
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 11:57 — 0 Comments
Jay-Z and Kanye West’s new record Watch The Throne went to number one in twenty-three different countries in its first week of release. Anyone still wondering if hip-hop needs a hearse should get a job at Kinkos. At the top, the best MC’s are all swag and chopped Maybach, bitches in the back seat happy to be nothing more. The American Id has found its ride, and there’s no shortage of pavement. I’ll leave the socio-political critiques for those on better terms with eternity. On the home front, the coach is a bit more humble, but the road is laid […]
The answer isn't poetry, but rather language
- Richard Kenney
