Two for one over on Three Imaginary Girls

The writing muse wooed me today and I wrote two articles over on the Three Imaginary Girls music site.

Pearl Jam back in the day
Seventeen years + 1 day ago, I started loving live music shows.
(Pearl Jam plays Seattle's Key Arena tonight and tomorrow night)

Girl Talk and a remix manifesto
Rip: A Remix Manifesto is a new-ish documentary film about the legality of remixes and mashups and features Gregg Gillis of Girl Talk as the poster child for open source licensing.
(Girl Talk played a show in Seattle on Saturday and a second one tonight)

A luxe date night on the cheap tonight

Tonight is the opening of a new art show hanging at Vermillion with local singer/songwriter PWRFL Power performing for the opening event. The art opening and performance tonight are free, so being broke is not an excuse to stay in. Get out and get on some art, music, and night air tonight.

This month's show at Vermillion, An Unfinished Edge, is about ambiguity, the spaces between, and what can happen when the observer is not supplied with the critical information of a story. Concerned with ideas of habitat, the work addresses conflicts and comparisons between the natural and human worlds.

Vermillion is an unpretentious space on Capitol Hill with art in the front and a comfortable, hip, and inexpensive wine and beer bar in the back. It's a great pre-func or meet up spot any time you're on the hill. The design of the space is lovely; the board games and 45s jukebox encourage lingering and hanging out. Although wi-fi isn't provided by Vermillion, I've been able to jump on neighboring networks easily enough.

Peeps are passionate about tonight's performer PWRFL Power: it's love or hate, with no middle ground. (More.) If you haven't heard him before, tonight's a no-risk chance to form an opinion.

Even if you aren't into the music, your trek to the hill is not a waste. There's lots of art to check out in the neighborhood: it's the monthly Capitol Hill Art Walk tonight. Capitol Hill Seattle created a handy walking map of participating businesses.

Vermillion
1508 11th Ave
Capitol Hill, between Pike and Pine

An Unfinished Edge, opening Thursday, February 12, 2009
Live Music by PWRFL Power And Guest DJs
6pm - Late, Free

Photo: where's he looking?

This picture I snapped of Crystal Castle's Alice Glass isn't great but it totally cracks me up. Look closely at fella at the bottom middle of the frame. Where's his eye gaze? Yep: right up the dress. You have been MADE, dude!

I'm still laughing about this, and it's been hours. Heh heh heh heh.

(You may need to check out the larger version to see it clearly. Click the pic to do so.)

Decibel Festival: Mercy!

After reviewing the Decibel Festival schedule and making recommendations for dB newbies (TIG), I'm ready to work on my own plan and decide whether to pay-as-I-go or just buy a damn pass.
Here's what I'm considering hitting:

• Deconstructing Pop (Tujiko Noriko, Jahcoozi)
• dB Conference, panel 1
• The Trinity (Jerry Abstract, Jeff Samuel)
• Dirty Dancing Showcase (Deadmau5)
• Native State Label Showcase (Nalepa)
• dB In the Park
• Detroit Techno (Carl Craig)
• Innerflight Showcase (Kadeejah Streets)
• Decibel Festival Finale (The Bug/Warrior Queen, SuperMayer)

Some of these are simultaneous which could make for some interesting and fast hill walking. Not to mention the number of ink stamps to collect on my inner right wrist.

The Carl Craig set at Opulent Temple at Burning Man this year drew a huge (I mean HUGE) crowd. If that is any indication, the Detroit Techno show on Saturday will be off the hook: sweaty people dancing as if wearing Hans Christian Anderson's Red Shoes, crying "Mercy!"



the outer edge of the crowd 100 yards from Opulent Temple, right before Carl Craig went on.

Blind Date with Okkervil River

I was invited to see Okkervil River at the luscious Triple Door on Wednesday. I couldn't actually name a song of theirs or even their genre, but sure! Why not? I'm open to trying something new.

Thankfully (despite what their name may imply) Okkervil River are not alt-country, or pop-harmony, or anything remotely fleet fox-y. Rather, they are confessional pop rock, fronted by a singer with mannerisms similar to young Paul McCartney. They rocked out, had a few ballads, and played a tight, fun set.

Pretty good hour spent on a blind date with a new (to me) band.



And here's one of their singles, which you might recognize.

photo: hip hop and rain at the KEXP bbq

rain worthy of the midwest
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

Saturday's weather included a downpour worthy of the midwest. With lightning, too.

It started during the set change between The Saturday Knights and Common Market at the KEXP summer BBQ and continued throughout Common Market's set.

This picture was called quintessential of summer music in Seattle: drinking beer in the rain, rocking out, and smiling broadly. And less than half with umbrellas.

a lazy music review roundup: Smoosh, Tokyo Police Club, Dizzee Rascal and El-P

I am a tired girl from a hot and sunny weekend and a bunch of shows. So you'll get short and lazy reviews of the four acts I saw on Sunday and Monday.

Smoosh
These girls are growing up. Now 16 and 14, sisters Aysa and Chloe are already seasoned performers having started out four years ago under tutelage of Jason McGerr, the drummer for Death Cab for Cutie. The two sisters have that young teen coltish look -- check the forelock on one and and the pony tail on the other -- although lead singer Aysa is showing she has what it takes to hold on to the stage a few more years now that the age novelty has worn off. Smoosh offers straight up pop rock with some legs, particularly for a certain market segment. (Look out, Miley Cyrus.)


Demographics: A novelty sighting at Neumos: uncomfortable-looking parent- pairs. I'm guessing they were probably parents of the girls' friends, and were accompanying their own daughters to the concert in the big bad city. (Smoosh is from Seattle.) There were not enough of these oldsters to increase the average age however, which appeared to be around 19 years old. Those skewing older (and not parent-types) were there for the headliner, Tokyo Police Club.

Tokyo Police Club
Fun band with tasty pop punk tunes. They are on the last half of a death march of a touring schedule that runs through mid-June, followed by a few festival dates thereafter. Despite their if-it-Sunday-this-must-be-Seattle schedule, they sounded fresh and put themselves out there for the set.

Demographics: average age 24, half boys, half girls. Wearing clothes appropriate for campus walking and grocery store shopping.



Hip Hop: Dizzee Rascal and El-P
I don't usually go to hip hop shows, but I wanted to catch the classic stylings of Dizzie Rascal. He didn't disappoint. He has kept his sound fresh but wasn't afraid to do a little "old school" shit about 2/3 of his way through the set. Good show. He knows how to engage with the audience and didn't rely on a the ubiquitous call-and-response thing that every other rapper brings out of their bag of performance tricks when they want to energize the crowd.

El-P was something of a disappointment after Dizzee Rascal. His DJ is great, but El-P's tracks all started to sound the same to me after the first four or so. I'm not an uber fan of hip hop, so maybe the problem is more with me than with him because I just don't know enough to hear differences that perhaps a more knowledgeable listener would pick up on. Oh well, I gave it a try.

Demographics: Another all ages show. 90% boys with an average age of about 20. Some girls and some people over 25, particularly for Dizzee Rascal's set.



I had a heck of a time getting any pictures worth saving at Monday's hip hop show. Those dudes paced, raced, jumped, lunged, danced, and everything BUT stand still long enough for a picture without flash. Will someone please remind me of this experience the next time I am tempted to raise my hand when the call goes out to shoot at a hip hop show? I am not very pleased with this weeks results. Or maybe I should get right back on that horse and ride it again...

Does it Offend You, Yeah? Not me

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanineanderson/2474168440/
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

They didn't offend me, nor anyone else at Neumos on Tuesday night. This brit group was on my "list" to see at Coachella but when I went to the tent midway through their published timeslot, the tent was quiet. Damn. Yay for DIOYY coming out to the upper left corner to play. Much better and intimate venue than the Gobi Tent. So it all worked out, yeah?

Does It Offend You, Yeah play vibrant rock electronica with strong vocals from both this dude, Morgan Quaintance, and bassist James Rushent.
Although the room was only moderately full (why so?), they put full energy into their performance and were tight. Comparisons have been made to Daft Punk, Justice, and Digitalism. They are definitely on the upswing this year: touring with Bloc Party and NIN.

My favorite song of the night was We Are Rockstars, with its in-your-face, don't-look-away blast of pulsing goodness.

Demographics: 50/50 girls and boys. A few fashionistas at play. Average age was 28. I didn't see many dates: mostly same-gender clusters of 2-3 people.

F is for F*cking Fab Freeland Friday: Coachella Music Festival

Coachella Music and Art Festival is the perfect spring festival for a sullen northwesterner: sun, music, art, grass, heat, and shiny beautiful people. There's big names (Prince, Roger Waters) as well as "who-is-THAT?" discoveries. The grounds are small enough to float stage-to-stage to catch as many acts as possible.


The festival kicked off on Friday with the to-be-expected stupid traffic jam to get into a parking lot. It's just part of the experience, yo. Note to self for 2009: remember to bring a cable to plug the IPod into the rental car stereo.
Due to the traffic I miss out on a shitload of groups I was hoping to see: Midnight Juggernauts, Rogue Wave, Dan Deacon, Les Savy Fav, Battles. Oh well. A housemate drives my rental car and we park next to another car full of our posse. Careful observation of where the car is parked pays off in the dark later since there are no row numbers or markers of any kind. Racing away from the cars, we are in a big rush to get to the meet up place inside for fun and games during peep Adam Freeland's set in the Sahara tent.

At the meet up spot, we don gold lame robes and are each handed a silver balloon of the letter "F." We are stunning. Truly. We congratulate ourselves on how fabulous we look, then the driver of my rental car says, "Do you have the keys?" WTF. No I don't have the keys. You drove. Shit. Where are the fucking keys? Bags emptied, pockets emptied, we come up empty. This puts a damper on our afternoon, but hey: let's just go with the flow and hope it all works out in the end. The fallback position is a cab ride back to Palm Springs (goodbye $175) and calling the rental company in the morning.

All in our shiniest, the 25 posse members walk across the grounds and enter the backstage of the Sahara tent. W00t! Backstage. Hey, there's DJ Mehdi. And Xavier deRosney! And Alicia Silverstone! And a bunch of other people I should probably recognize but don't! I'm the perfect person to bring to a party with celebrities: I won't recognize any and thus can converse without gushing. (Maybe one of them has our keys.)

We laugh and take lots of pictures of ourselves, the balloons, the backstage area: trying to capture what it feels like to live the fabulous life for a minute.


Then it is onstage for Adam's first song. He starts slow, builds up, breaks it down. We dance our asses off, then a few brave posse members stage dive. Holy crap! Off the stage, into the audience, dance madly, cheer for Obama, then get right up front to catch Adam as he stage dives. Yow! One of the funnest times, evah! End of set, backstage again (free water!), more pics, then back out into the teeming masses in our gold robes and balloons.



We get lots of love from the other Coachella-goers. We can find each other all day with those F'ing balloons. People use us as markers to meet up with their friends. "I'm by the shiny people."

The rest of my musical adventures on Friday? Here's the run down as I moved from stage to stage:

Tegan and Sara: 2 songs. Ok, but I don't hear enough to decide if I like them or not.
Dan LeSac and Scroobius Pip: 1 song. I'm not in the mood.
The Raconteurs: 3 songs. Jack White is an awesome rocker. I'm sorry I missed the show at Neumos.
Goldfrapp: 2 songs. The singer is an angel and the band is tight. I could listen to more, but no time.


Santogold: 3 songs. Energetic, great voice, great funk-sounding band. Need to see her when she comes to town.
Aesop Rock: 1 song. I like this guy lots but too much schedule competition and I've seen him before. Next time.
Aphex Twin: 6 songs. He has panda bears dancing on stage. Grreat show; good mix of crunchy techno dance shit.



Datarock: 3 songs. Boys in red tracksuits whip the crowd into a roaring frenzy. Fun, fun, fun. Packed tent. They are a must-not-miss when in town.
The Verve: 2 songs. They feel and play like a schedule-filler band. I won't be seeking them out.
Spank Rock: 1 song. I like his mixes but I'm not in the mood.
Fatboy Slim: 7 songs. Good, reliable, energetic, with an excellent light show. The tent is packed and crowds are overflowing outside. We hang out in the back with elbow room to move around (and dance!).

And the keys? Turns out they were left in the unlocked car. Unfortunately a purse was stolen out of the trunk -- but at least the douchebag didn't throw the keys into the bushes.

At 1:15 am we start the long, painful exodus from the parking lot. An hour later we are out of the walled-in rectangle of a parking lot and we finally roll into our Palm Springs house at 2:45. We are too bummed about the stolen purse to hit the after-party at the other posse house. There's always tomorrow. It's only day one, after all.

Crash a birthday party at Neumos tonight (stalker opp!)

April is Donte Parks' birthday month and he's celebrating his "I Ain't Dead Yet Mutha*%&#* Dirty Thirty Extravaganza!" along with Truckasauras and Sleepy Eyes of Death at Neumos on Wednesday. Go already; the show is free, it is hump day, and honestly now, you've got nothing better to do, right?

Sleepy Eyes of Death are the masters of lighting and fog. Good to catch 'em live. And Truckasauras? What can I say that you haven't already heard? Dance your robot heart out.

personal message to my stalkers: I've make it particularly challenging these past few months to track me ahead of time. So just because it is tax day +1 and you've had a stressful week, I'm throwing you this bone. Ignore and you may not get another for a very long time.

Le Loup: a Craigslist band

Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

Le Loup leader Sam Simkoff found his band mates through Craigslist ads in Washington DC. The band's website goes into precious detail about it.

I dropped in on the Le Loup show spur-of-the-moment after checking out the Blush Photo music photography show opening on Tuesday night. (Read my commentary on the photo show here.)

The seven-member band barely fit on the Chop Suey stage, and reminded me of a scaled down Arcade Fire with points for instrument variety: banjo, french horn, 4 guitars, keyboards, drums, synth, computer, ummm...did I miss anything? Probably.

I stayed for most of the set, but I just didn't hear anything that blew me away or made me want to run out and buy their self-released EP. (I don't own the Arcade Fire release either.)

Demographics:
60% boys, 40% girls. Average age: 28. Attire: the same clothes seen at the neighborhood market. No fashionistas in sight. It was a Tuesday, after all. Laundry night.

Urban art + jammy tunes = Foscil @ Blvd Gallery

Tripping with jammy tunes, urban art, and 3-D glasses.

Read more at Three Imaginary Girls.



Demographics:
90% boys, 10% girls. Average age: 27. Attire: mostly nw comfort (it was cold, yo). One lovely chica wore rad two-toned minnie mouse shoes and a russian fur hat. Wish I took a snap of those shoes! They were fab.

what MySpacers really look like...

...at the MySpace-promoted Justice tour, which landed in Seattle last night (Monday). It sure wasn't the usual collection of peeps who go to techno-dance-electronica in town.

War is over if you want it

Indie group Tulsa borrows from John Lennon and Yoko Ono.


The phrase "war is over if you want it" was a billboard event staged in NYC by John and Yoko in December, 1969. Read Yoko's 1998 commentary and a photo illustrating the restaging of the event in 1998.

Thursday dilemma resolved

For those keeping track at work home, I saw:

flamenco dance (Barrio Flamenco @ 619 Western)



and hip hop (The Physics @ Sole Repair)



and electronica (Truckasauras @ Sole Repair).



p.s. Barrio Flamenco is performing at Faire Gallery Cafe Saturday March 15th at 9:00 pm. No cover.

Thursday Dilemma

Oh, what to do...what to do...
Can I be three places at once? Can I fit all three in?

Here's what's going on Thursday, March 6th in Sea-town:

First Thursday Artwalk (free)
My new favorite activity in town. I love the 619 Western building and seeing what the cutting edge artists are up to each month. I missed February's open house so I really want to make it back this month.

Young Ones Showcase ($5)
Fresh music talent spotlight sponsored by The Stranger; performances at Neumos and Sole Repair. Lineup includes Dyme Def, Throw Me the Statue and Truckasauras.

Opening Reception for ByDesign 08 at Northwest Film Forum. (free)
Write up here.

Perhaps I can manage two out of three if I plan it right.

sparkly, indie, and imaginary

Excitement has overcome my innate reticence to talk myself up. So...um...here goes...
I've started contributing to Three Imaginary Girls, Seattle's "sparkly indie-pop press."



Three Imaginary Girls were voted "MVP of Seattle Music 2004" by readers of the Seattle Weekly, and were listed in Seattle Magazine's Most Influential People issue. In addition to publishing reviews of new music releases, live shows, film, theater, and books, TIG also publishes a calendar of upcoming live shows (with recommendations), plus books music showcases and contributes to other music publications. I am honored to be in such awesome (and sparkly) company.

Check the review for the live show with Holy Fuck and A Place to Bury Strangers.

Get drunk with John Richards

The next John-in-the-Morning-at-Night show will be Friday, March 7th at Neumos. It is also John Richard's birthday so there may be unicorns at some point in the evening.
Line up so far:
The Duke Spirit
The Voom Blooms
Tulsa
....and likely one or two more will be added to the bill.
PLUS: my favorite DJ Michele Myers will be spinning her show live from Neumos 9:00 pm - 1:00 am.

John writes, "On top of THAT the first people to get Presale tickets will get a special invite to my private birthday party that night in the VIP room where we'll have djs and a full on bar."

Presale on now, here. Public sale starts Thursday, February 7th at noon.

Previous JITMAN shows have featured Silversun Pickups, Vampire Weekend, The Black Angels, Jamie T and others that later broke out into bigger venues and festivals. You can always count on fresh sound and whenever you hit a JITMAN show.

Stalker Opportunities Feb 1 - 15: Updates!

I'll be eating my (and your) share of sushi over the next two weeks in the land of the rising sun.
Sayonara, peeps. Represent, and carry on without me!

new! Friday, Feb 1: DJ Steve Aoki at War Room for Sing Sing night. Premier LA party man and producer, Mr Dim Mak brings it fo' sho'.

new! Friday, Feb 1: Shameless' My Bloody Valentine party (not the band), Hengst Studio. Check Donte's write up in The Stranger.

update! Saturday, Feb 2nd: Closing night party for the Free Art Seattle Exhibition @ the Wayward Cafe, 6 - 9 pm. Art in the exhibition will be given away (limit of one per person). First come, first serve. Imagine Best Buy on Black Friday: street artists and fans queuing up on the sidewalk starting at 6 am. Ha! I've called dibs on one but won't be there to collect. Poor me. If you go, please be sure to wish Kinoko a very happy birthday.

update! Saturday, Feb 2nd: Inner Flight vs. Danger Inc. NW djs collab to bring you all-night dance. Location: Church of Bass, 920 Elliot Ave W

Thursday, Feb 7th: First Thursday art walk. Check 619 Western. I promise you'll see something interesting.

Friday, Feb 8th: New gallery show openings @ BLVD Gallery, Roq La Rue, Suite 100 Gallery.

Friday Feb 8th: Broken Disco @ Chop Suey. Friendly monthly dance party. Always a variety of styles and skilz. Check local chicas Kris Moon and Jenn Woolfe.

Friday Feb 8th: Uberzone and Bassbin Twins @ Last Supper Club. Check Bassbin Twins' remix of Evil Nine's Crooked for a taste of what Pete brings to the table. Plus, he's a street art guy so + + + to him.

new! Saturday, Feb 9th: BLVD Project Room at TRIPLE - opening reception, with performance by The Saturday Knights. BLVD Gallery owner Damion opens a new work/project space in Ballard, featuring artists in residence. First up is "Arterial Lines" by Nhon Nguyen, a Seattle-based artist who is using the opportunity to create a mural that reflects his experience living in Osaka Japan.

Sunday, Feb 10th: DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist in Hard Sell tour, plus Kid Koala @ Showbox Market. Powerhouse lineup. Get ready to get sweaty.

update! Tuesday Feb 12th: Holy Fuck @ Neumos with Super Furry Animals. Holy F*ck rocks my world with Super Inuit, The Pulse, and other tracks from their 2007 LP Young Turks. SFA is the headliner, so don't go too late. Pssssst: the "very special guest" expected at Chop Suey on 2/26 with A Place to Bury Strangers is very likely to be a band whose name rhymes with "rolly duck."

Wednesday Feb 13th: Los Amigos Invisibles @ Neumos. "A blend of disco, acid jazz, and funk mixed with Latin rhythms." [wikipedia]

new! Friday, February 15th: Artifakt show @ Neumos. Fresh spotlight on board culture. Includes custom skateboards and snowboards, photography, premiers of two videos, and DJ spinnin' action. Mingle with luminaries in nw boarding.

Catch Yeasayer @ Neumo's tonight

Yeasayer is a group out of Brooklyn which offers up kickin' rock harmony with a mountain-y sway to it.

check Sunrises

and 2080


I'm hoping to see an odd instrument or two trotted out: sounds like they have something unusual going down in the corners of the 2080 song. However, a long set from these guys might too much for me if they don't vary up the tempo a bit.

You can snag these free mp3 files from their website, which says "we'll get some jewelry for your mama" in the window name. Ok.

Also on the bill tonight: Black Mountain, MGMT, and Howlin Rain. Bands which I know nothing about. Which is just fine. Bring it on!