It’s the 20th anniversary of Loveless by My Bloody Valentine. It may not be anybody else’s cup of tea, but I love Loveless (though I can’t claim to know it—it is a surpassingly strange album), but it is a landmark, and Stereogum puts it as well as anyone I know: Click here. – Tom Fredrickson …
I love this video. It is certainly my favorite Swedish hip hop video of all time. Curiously, it features a baseball bat. They don’t play baseball in Sweden, and, given their history of neutrality and rank civil order, I assume Swedes discourage the sort of aggravated violence which occurs when a baseball bat is used …
Today is the 40th Anniversary of the release of Led Zeppelin IV, the high water mark of the rock era. Thanks to Sir Tom Kipp for notifying me of this momentous release date anniversary. By “high water mark,” I mean the point where the wave crested and broke. It’s not that there would be no …
On Thursday, 11/17/2011, Portland’s supercool, cassette-only, indie label, Apes Tapes, will celebrate one full year in business and the release of a sensational new mix tape (Mixed Ape) of local artists with a celebratory show at Holocene featuring ONUINU, ADVENTURES! WITH MIGHT, (a reunion performance of) VANIMAL, XDS and PEGASUS DREAM with special mini sets …
“Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard Key Lyric: “Love is like a bomb baby come on get it on.” The Message: Do me. Everything you need to know is on the table by the second line of the song. Bluntly put, “Pour Some Sugar on Me” is about f**king. It’s the clever, we’re-talking-about-it-but-we’re-not-really-saying-it …
They’ve been around since 2003, but I just discovered Portland Radio Authority. Here’s how they explain themselves on their website: The PRA is a non-commercial, listener supported, online radio station. As a free form community media source, we are committed to bringing independent artistry and marginalized viewpoints into regional and international view. We aim to …
http://youtu.be/1fQT-GjKlLw
I’m from a little church that watched the choir dwindle, with words from the small audience of “God Bless Them”, meaning….Thanks for trying, but your better days were 20 years ago! Those older saints , who poured their hearts out of tired vocal cords and hung their choir robes up to rest, were now forced …
From last year, with love:
On November Sixth 2011 I made my first international call to Paris to interview Ken Stringfellow, a powerful creative force (along with Jon Auer) behind Seattle’s long-running, legendary, melodic power rock combo, the Posies. A full-time Paris resident now, Stringfellow has a thriving career as a solo artist, is writing music scores for films, and …
So much has already been written about The Joy Formidable that its nearly cliché to discuss the band’s size, sound, attitude, relationships, or comment on all the attention they’ve recently been paid by other musicians, the press, or the late night show circuit in America. However, one common theme that keeps being bandied about is …
Kina Grannis’ “Secret Crazy Project” is finally released:
The most emotional moment in the history of recorded music? I get emotional at “Un Bel Di,” and I’ve never even seen Madama Butterfly. At 2:39 you’ll find indisputable proof that there is some sort of Creator, as no mere mortal – not even Leontyne Price – could pull that off without otherworldly assistance. – …
Thanks to Charles R. Cross:
It was Halloween night and The Koffin Kats were headlining a show at Studio Seven in Seattle’s SODO District. Their psychobilly songs center on topics macabre, making them an appropriate band for the occasion of my favorite holiday. They even began and ended their set wearing crazy headpieces looking like Muppet faces on donuts. I …
I had never heard of, therefore had never been to the Horseshoe Saloon before. Woodinville is a bit off the beaten track for me. But when I learned Season of Nightmares, my favorite Seattle psychobilly band were headlining a Halloween show, I knew I’d have to lay trust in Google Maps to get me there …
Key Lyric: “I finally found the love of a lifetime” The Message: This is the Real Thing. For whatever reason, (and although I own the record) I always seem to hear “Love of a Lifetime” piped over the sound system when I’m shopping in the Mall. The song must trigger some kind of chemical reaction …
“Seeing Ministry live is comparable to being on a battle field, and that’s the closest I ever want get to going to war,” says Gail in The Worley Gig.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-vQ_VsTkn0
Seattle band Quickie trades in bikini baristas for latex-clad superheroes! “Got a Jones to be a superhero, rise like a phoenix, fight like DeNiro,” begins the cheeky new anthem from Seattle power-trio, and apparent Phoenix Jones supporters, Quickie. “We have a real life superhero patrolling the streets of Seattle. Fighting crime. How could we not …
This tune gets better as the years go by. The title is misleading, “Surf’s Up” generally means, “The swells have begun, the waves are cresting, let’s get out there…” but in this song the title is to mean, “Surf’s up, time’s up, the California dream is over,” and the music, the lyrics and the harmonies …
The bluesy intro sounds like Little Feat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8CMYDVCgaY
Originally I planned to see two legendary Seattle bands at Neumos, The Fastbacks and Mudhoney, but The Fastbacks cancelled so I saw just Mudhoney. When I arrived, the opener, Love Sick Empire, were in full swing. Front woman Alicia Amiri has an intense stage presence and gutsy pipes making her sound like a cross between …
A disaster of this magnitude should have been predicted in the quatrains of Nostradamus. Sonic leviathan, Pearl Jam, the greatest band ever named for neck-borne ejaculate, dipped into early sixties pop for “Last Kiss.” Written by Wayne Cochran about an actual Georgia car crash and popularized by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers in 1964, …