Another 'awesome' blog review for Pants
Our man James Pants drops his Stones Throw Records full-length debut at the end of the month and he's getting a fair amount of buzz on the blogosphere.
Here's a very flatterying review from hipster blog Music For Robots: Click here.
Mistress minus one more Mister
One of Spokane’s favorite local bands, Mistress and the Misters, looks to be coming to an end, as charismatic frontman Seth Swift plays his last show with the band next week.
Swift is leaving the band because his fiancée’s father has terminal brain cancer, he said.
“I have some bigger things going on in my life that need my undivided attention,” Swift said. “Chris and Shane don’t want to publicize anything as MATM’s last show, so I’m just letting people know that it’ll be my last show in case they want to see me with MATM one last time.”
This is the second big chance for MATM in months as drummer Joe Varela left the band to tour with Paper Mache. He was replaced temporarily by Cyrus Fell Down’s Corey Mason-Phipps, who was recently replaced by former Vax Lavala drummer Vinnie Nickeloff.
There’s a chance the remaining members of MATM may take a new name. Time will tell.
Swift’s final show with Mistress and the Mistress is Thursday at 7 p.m. at Empyrean Coffee House, 154 S. Madison St., with team AWESOME!, HSE, and The Go Man Gos. Cover to be announced.
Stevie Wonder coming to White River
Motown prodigy and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Wonder's only Northwest performance - the first Northwest performance in more than 30 years in memory serves (I stand corrected... maybe first in the state.. anyone?)- happens July 11 at White River Amphitheatre south of Seattle.
Tickets range from $45 to $125 and go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster
Avril Lavigne postponed
Thirty-seven shows into the North American leg of her "Best Damn Tour," Avril Lavigne announced she is postponing six dates - including her show scheduled for Friday at the Spokane Arena - due to acute laryngitis.
Here's the official word from Lavigne via a Live Nation news release:
“My sincerest apologies to all of my fans. My intention was to complete the rest of the tour but tonight at sound check in Anaheim I realized this wasn’t possible. Even though I have been resting my voice for days, when I tried to sing nothing came out.” Lavigne said.
Lavigne's Saturday show at Comcast Arena in Everett is also postponed.
New live stream with Pour Soi
On the instrumental "Travis Hates Dogs and Babies," Pour Soi's drummer, Travis Hottinger, went off on an extensive and stunning drum solo to close out a superb night of progressive and experimental rock at The Zombie Room.
Singer/guitarist Jay T. Hottinger was battling a cold but it only seemed to make frantic screams sound. And his tag-team partner Joe Kelleher is as dexterous as ever on weebly-wobbly jams, especially stand-out cut, "The Gimp." And Caleb Frey still has his chops - and his skills on bass are razor sharp, too.
Also at the show was a spectacular rogue tambourine player who ran through the audience wearing a sleeveless button-up shirt with silver flames on the shoulders and a mullet that seemed to grow that way naturally. I don't think he's a part of the band, but with his enthusiasm and knack for keeping on beat with those odd time signatures, they should hire that guy for a song or two at every show.
Listen to live audio's of Pour Soi's anchoring performance at here.
Also new on The Hangover: Old school heads that remember Horrible Disaster will be interested to see the kids still have it as Portland's The Ax.
New podcast episode with Musee Mecanique
One keyboardist plays three synths, lap steel, glockenspiel, sings and whistles; another plays three synths, guitar, and sings; the guitarist sings and plays synths and the saw; the bassist plays synth and drums; and the drummer plays synths, glock and quadracep (he mikes he leg for lap-pat percussion). That captures an evening with Portland’s Musee Mecanique, whose sound has been justly described by hometown media as music-box orchestral folk.
Named after the mechanical museum in San Francisco, the band recorded its yet-to-be-released debut full length album with familiar names from PDX’s experimental folk scene, including players from Nick Jaina and Point Juncture, WA. But the touring band consists heavily of new recruits, including one who old B-Side heads may remember, Brian Perez from the now-defunct Tri-Cities phenom Mu Meson, and Matt Berger of Supermonster.
Platform Patrick calls Musee one of the best live bands he’s ever seen.
Think Man Man on Quaaludes.
Download the podcast with an exclusive interview and live concert audio here.
Sprinkler law looming
In case you haven't seen the front page of today's S-R yet, there's a story about the new sprinkler law that will require certain nightclubs to install costly sprinkler systems.
Read the full story here.
The new law effects nightclubs with 350 square feet of space designated for dancing and viewing shows.
The Spokane Fire Department lists 26 businesses in Spokane that have until April 30 to appeal, otherwise they will be expected to be in complaince with the new law by Dec. 1, 2009.
The list includes:
Alano Club, 1700 W. 7th Ave.
Alaskan Lounge, 5108 N. Market St.
Big Dipper, 171 S. Washington St.
Big Sky Tavern, 5510 N, Market St.
Bluz at the Bend, 2721 N. Market St.
The Blvd., 333 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
Brickwall Comedy Club, 105 E. Mission Ave.
CenterStage, 1017 W. First Ave.
The Comet, 5028 N. Market St.
Dempsey's Brass Rail, 909 W. First Ave
Double Dribble, 8108 N. Division St.
Elements, 21 E. Lincoln Rd.
Empyrean Coffee Shop, 154 S. Madison St.
Ichiban, 202 W. 3rd Ave.
Irv's, 415 W. Sprague Ave.
Peking North, 4120 N. Division St.
Raw Sushi and Island Grill, 523 W. First Ave.
Star Restaurant, 1329 N. Hamilton St.
Sunset Junction Restaurant, 1801 W. Sunset Blvd.
Sweet Old Bob's Restaurant, 3243 E. Trent Ave.
Talotti's 211, 211 N. Division St.
The Flame, 2401 E. Sprague Ave.
Thumpers, 718 E. Francis Ave.
Trick Shot Dixies, 321 W. Sprague Ave.
The Zombie Room, 230 W. Riverside Ave.
4320 N. Division (a vacant building)
Big Easy gets a new name (at last)
I just got the official word, the Big Easy Concert Houses in Spokane and Boise are changing names to "Knitting Factory Concert House," to better connect it with its new owners, Knitting Factory Entertainment.
The Knitting Factory is known for booking the sort of cutting edge acts that have skipped Spokane in the past.
KFE took full acquisition of Bravo Entertainment and Big Easy in the fall of 2007, and has since brought such acts to Spokane as Modest Mouse, Bright Eyes and Built to Spill.
The actual name change is slated for early summer, depending on the construction of new signs.
More Velella Velella video plus podcast
Here's some more V. Velella goodness.
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Head over to the P.A. System to listen to the podcast, including live show and interview audio: V. Velella on The P.A. System.
The Brakes Vol. 4.1: More Fairbanks fun
Karli added some cool videos and a new blog to her myspace. Don't miss her homecoming show. It should be quite an event.
The Brakes Vol. 4: Karli Fairbanks
Local acoustic favorite Karli Fairbanks returns from her April Brother/Sister tour to headline a P.A. System show with Portland's Breanna Paletta and Milwaukee's John Muther on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Caterina Winery, 905 N. Washington St.
Here's some links to Fairbanks' recent Myspace blogs from the road:
Surrounding Mountains (April 17)
Pleasant Inspiration (April 9)
Storytelling through street photography
One day, 7 music writer Isamu Jordan ran into Spokane photographer Bethany Mahan when she asked to photograph him. The final result was a video story about her work.
Mahan makes photos of people after meeting them on the street, emphasizing that everyone has a personal story to tell. She has no formal photography training. The resulting photo collection is on display at Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist during the Easter season. Mahan's goal is to donate half her profits to local community outreach programs.
This video features the song "Make Your Way in the Dark," by local singer-songwriter Dave Hannon.
(posted by Thuy-Dzuong Nguyen, producer)
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Related stories:
Photographer finds solace behind the camera's lens (4/4/08)
Photographer wants to raise awareness of city's 'invisibles' (2/23/08)
Future Relics ready for tomorrow today
Here's an advance, extended interview with new local dynamos Future Relics, coming in this Friday's print edition:
ID: Future Relics is a two-piece project spearheaded by Limbs mastermind David G. (aka David Griffiths) and drummer Justin Walter of Belt of Vapor.
Style: Electronic and bass-driven real time overdubbing with live drums.
Origin: Future Relics started writing music in December but the project is three years in the making.
"We started talking about this when Limbs became my main project. We basically needed a facility to do what we’re doing right now. We were able to do the project once we bought this house and were able to build this studio and record and write and technology caught up with our imaginations," Griffiths said.
Songwriting: “We’ve talked about doing some Limbs stuff but everything we have now is all new,” said Walter, who is an illustrator for 7.
“In general, Justin’s not sitting in front of the keyboard or bass or anything, but there’s a lot of interjecting. We like to be complimentary of each other,” Griffiths said.
Limbs II: “I’ve waited on putting out the second Limbs record just because I know at this point we’re able to put live drum tracking to a lot of Limbs songs that I felt like it was worth being patient and waiting longer to put it out,” Griffiths said.
Broken silence: Before appearing as the mystery band at the Sommy Awards in January, David G. hadn’t played a single show since last year’s Sommys. A large part of the hiatus was, in addition to getting married and buying a house and building a studio, which he’s already begun using to record other bands.
“It was really perfect time to hit a good peak with Limbs and before I did another stint of eight shows a month, take a giant break and stop and not have any pressure to play a show and stop and go, ‘OK, what do I really want to play right now?’”
Recorded material: “Half the record is recorded, mixed and mastered, The other half is currently being recorded, mixed and mastered. It will definitely be getting released early summer/late spring,” Griffiths said.
Goals: “We want to be out of town touring this summer. We want to go and sit down with this record in an environment with people that want to hear and really take it seriously,” Griffiths said. “This is not a side project to just throw out there and see what happens. The overall goal is to run a studio together and write and record music on any level the benefits us financially and artistically and this group is the spawn of our creative efforts and self indulgences outside of what we want to do as a business. I hate to use the word ‘professional’ but if professionalism has a positive sense to it, which it can, then that’s what we want to do our hearts are as amateurs, which means “for the love of art,” but financially we’re going to be so much better as artists if we make our living as artists.”
“Right,” Walter cut in. “We can cut out the limitations of day jobs and we can travel and go anywhere we want and play anywhere we want. We basically trying to move forward as much as possible."
Next gig: April 25 at 9 p.m. at The Zombie Room, 230 W. Riverside Ave., with Pour Soi, The Ax, Wow and Flutter. Cover is $6
Future Relics’ 7 essential albums:
“At Action Park,” Shellac
“Crime In Choir,” Crime In Choir
“A New Machine For Living,” Turing Machine
“The Fawn,” The Sea and Cake
“()” Sigur Ros
“B EP,” Battles
“Futureworld,” Trans Am
It's Spring Again!
Mixtape Monday Vol. 28: Spring Again (Finally)
I had some time to take a leisurely stroll through Rolling Stones online Spring Music Preview and it is impressive. Here's some of the highlights I ran across, complete with sound sample, some of which are downloadable mp3s. But dont take my word for it, head over to RS online and check out full list of upcoming albums:
"4 Minutes," Madonna: As with many of the tracks on "Hard Candy," this one was co-written and co-produced by Justin Timberlake and produced by Timbaland.
"Get Busy," The Roots: Drummer and bandleader ?uestlove told RS "Rising Down was inspired by watching lots of CNN.
"Scare Easy," Mudcrutch: Described by Petty as edgy “country-rock,” the self-titled album by Tom Petty’s pre-Heartbreakers band was recorded in two weeks at Petty’s Malibu home studio.
"Do the Panic," Phanton Planet: Frontman Alex Greenwald dunked himself in music by David Koresh and Charles Manson while writing "Raise the Dead."
"In A Cave," Tokyo Police Club: The hype has been building and TPC is at last releasings its debut full-length album Click here to down this track.
"Konichiwa Bitches," Robyn: The dance piece by the Swedish popstress was originally released three years ago internationally but is only just become available in the U.S. (Love the Wu-Tang referece in the song's title.)
"Ladies Time," Flight of the Concords: This New Zealand comedy folk duo won a Grammy for last year's mini-album and are set to release a collection of songs fro mthe first season of their HBO show. Click here to download this track.
"L.E.S. Artistes," Sontogold: RS described this track "Cars Strokes," mash-up.
"Nina Simone and HR from Bad Brains are two biggest vocal influences," Sontogold said.
"Love in This Club," Usher: The song opens with Usher speaking these words "I do it for the ladies. I gotta keep it hood." And then goes on to ask "whatchyou sippin' on cuz I'm gonna keep it coming all night long," in hopes of making love in the club. After getting married having a son, Usher tells RS he's dealing with "manhibitions."
"I Will Posess Your Heart," Death Cab For Cutie: RS calls Death Cab's new stuff jangly '60s-style pop, moody Leonard Cohen-esque musing. This is only a 30-second clip of the eight-minute jam, but there's also a link to an exclusive interview with Death Cab about the making of the album.
"Take Your Time (feat. Corinne Bailey Rae)," Al Green: Produced by ?uestlove, this piece mainstain's Green essence with assists from Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend, among others.
"In Love With a Girl," Gavin DeGraw: If this track in any indication, and apparently it is, DeGraw is back with a more grit and guitar. He told RS, "Sonically, it's more rock than my first album."
"The Slowdown," T Bone Burnett: The spooky, lilting track is part of a collection of songs written for Sam Shepard's play, "The Tooth of Crime." The songw were shortened for show but the album restores them to full length, including "Kill Zone," which was written with Roy Orbison weeks before his death in 1988. Click here to download this song.
Velella Velella video tease
Here's a sample of Friday's Velella Velella show at The Blvd:
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Stay tuned on the blog for a full podcast with V. Velella plus more video.
No Pants on Friday
I got word from the man himself, James Pants is off the bill tomorrow at The Blvd. with Velella Velella and Locke.
He's got some family matters to tend to.
According to Pants' myspace, the turntable wizard is scheduled to play April 17 at Prago; April 18 at The Baby Bar; and April 26 at Empyrean.
Birdmonster video clip plus more WigBash action
A tad late, but here's a tasty snippet of the Birdmonster show from WigBash...
Get the Flash Player to see this video.
Here's the two-part podcast episode with Birdmonster, complete with live show and interview: Birdmonster at WigBash on the P.A. System.
Plus...
More live concert streams from Wig Bash '08:
Radiohead tickets presale tomorrow
Headsup, presale tickets for Radiohead's Aug. 20 show at White River go on sale on Thursday at 10 a.m., through Ticketmaster.
Rolling Stone's spring music preview: Nas' 'Nigger,' Death Cab's 'Stairs,' and The Roots' 'Rising'
I was perusing the new issue of Rolling Stone (the one with Rolling Stones Mick and Keith being all buddy buddy with Jack White) when I got excited by the spring music preview.
It gives descrptions (including summer releases) of anticipated albums such as Nas' "Nigger," Coldplay's risky "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends," and the from-the-gut "Narrow Stairs" of Death Cab For Cutie.
On the controversial 'Nigger,' Nas attacks racism and sexism in America. "This album is like talking to your child about sex," Nas told RS. "It's uncomfortable but it's important."
Coldplay enlisted the help of producer Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads) for "Viva La Vida...," which finds Chris Martin using deep-register vocals to lacei Afro-pop guitars, glitchy loops, and Middle Eastern percussion around CPs expected piano-driven melodies, according to RS.
During the recording sessions on Death Cab's "less cerebral" "Narrow Stairs" things got "weird and a little dangerous," Death Cab producer/guitarist Chris Walla told RS. "It was like, hit 'record' and see what happens."
Other upcoming albums in the 60-plus preview include "Rising Down," by The Roots; "Evil Urges," by My Morning Jacket; "Hard Candy," by Madonna; "Stay Positive," by The Hold Steady; and "Here I Stand," by Usher.
Read the full spring music preview with sound samples on rollingstone.com.
Radiohead tickets on sale Saturday for White River show
It was just announced that Radiohead is coming to the White River Amphitheatre on Aug. 20.
Tickets are $35 and $55, through TicketMaster, and go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.
Also on sale through Ticketmaster on Saturday is tickets for RZA at The Showbox (June 24), Suen Kuti & Egypt 80 at Moore Theatre (June 28), and Chris Rock at Paramount Theatre (Aug. 27).
'Wizard Rockumentary' coming to a Garland near you
In case your hankering for some wizard rock - Harry Potter style - here's a peek at the trailer for the 'Wizard Rockumentary' documentary, which premieres Friday at The Garland Theater:
Produced and directed by twin sisters Megan and Mallory Schuyler, the documentary follows wizard rock bands through libraries and other kid-friendly venues in Spokane and across the U.S.
The midnight premiere happens Friday at The Garland Theater, 924 W. Garland. Admission is $5, with 20 percent of the proceeds going to youth literary program Page Ahead, with an on-site book drive.
The daylight premiere happens Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Spokane Public Library downtown. Admission is free and there is a concert with Spokane's Hogwarts Trainwreck and San Diego's Marked As His Equal before the film.
The daylight show is followed by a concert at 8 p.m. at Eastern Washington University, adding Michigan's Tonks and Aurors to the band lineup.
Pillar ready to rock hard to the core
Rob Beckley, bandleader of worship rock outfit Pillar explains how to keep it real by bypassing mainstream success for core love in a recent interview regarding Pillar’s latest release, “For the Love of the Game.”
Read the full interview here.
Pillar appears Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at The Service Station, 9315 N. Nevada St., with Wavorly, Brooke Berrettsmith, Manic Drive, and We As Human.
Tickets are $14 in advance, $17 at the door, through TicketsWest, www.ticketswest.com, (509) 325-SEAT.
Mixtape Monday Vol. 27: Duck Down
Militant underground hip-hop from the enduring Duck Down label, Boot Camp Clik calls themselves Wu-Tang before Wu-Tang.
Falling on the military metaphor, this crew continues to drop albums, solo and group projects, and collaborations. The Clik's general, Buckshot, is working on another collaboration with 9th Wonder, titled "The Formula," due at the end of the month, as well as a full-length collab with KRS-One due later this year (word to Tony Touch).
This lead-off video to the mix features Charlie Murphy.
Charlie Murphy explains the origins of "backpack rap."
"Who Got The Props," Black Moon
"Stay Real," Black Moon
"Here We Come," Boot Camp Clik
"Trading Places," Boot Camp Clik
"Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka," The Fab 5
"Blah," The Fab 5
"Hurricane Starang," Originoo Gunn Clappaz
"Dirtiest Players in the Game," The Fab 5
"BK All Day," Boot Camp Clik
"And So...," Boot Camp Clik
"King Kong," Sean Price
"Let's Get It On," Smif-N-Wesson
"Gunn Rap," Smif-N-Wesson
"Black Trump," Smif-N-Wesson feat. Raekwon
"1, 2, Pass It," DJ Premiere, Mad Lion, Doug E. Fresh, KRS-One Fat Joe, Smif-N-Wesson amd Jeru The Damaja
"5 Buroughs," KRS-One, Buckshot, Keith Murray, Cam'ron, Killah Priest, Prodigy, Redman and Rev Run
Telemundo
Song Fight club
A prolific songwriter and a member of the soon to be dismantled local band The Half Raks, Glenn Case is likely Spokane's most active member of Song Fight, an online songwriting competition in which participants duke it out by vying to write the best song about a specific subject in a very limited amount of time.
Case is a part of a local Song Fight show that goes down tonight at Brooklyn Nights. He's an interesting, from his dabblings in nerdcore hip-hop to his song-of-the-day blog.
Here's the extended version of a interview with Case that runs in the forthcoming issue of 7:
Origin: My step-grandmother gave me her Casio keyboard when my grandfather passed away in the mid 80's. I was mostly self-taught, but I do remember learning a few chords from a guy that was playing oldies songs at a county fair in Sacramento, Ca. I picked up bass guitar in the early 90's when my friend Tracy Aronson needed a bass player for a Halloween house party. I had never touched the instrument before, and we had two days to learn 17 songs. Somehow we pulled it off.
Background: I work behind the scenes in radio. The pay isn't stellar, but I feel like I make a positive difference when I am here. I've only been in two local bands that people might have heard about: The Half Racks and Buffalo Jones. I'm an internet geek musician.
I have created songs and made friends with like-minded musicians as a result of Songfight. org, and I've also been spending a lot of time on thesixtyone. com recently.
Multiple positions: I'm starting to focus more of my time on being a basement musician that puts his music online for anyone that cares to hear it. I just have a terrible track record as a band member. People might have heard about the Grammar Club through the internet, but I recently walked away from that project. I was the bass player for Buffalo Jones, and I quit that band too. The Half Racks will be done when Justin Combustion sells his house and moves to Portland, but I wasn't giving enough of my attention to the band anyway. I had the idea of putting together a compilation with friends called "I joined the band, we sound great and I quit!" It would be a bunch of one song collaborations using fake band names. Then again, I'm also notorious for coming up with some fun ideas that either never happen, or don't materialize until years later.
Recorded material: Right now I have 383 free mp3 downloads available on my website. I have them sorted out by year, and it shows that my output has been slowing down a lot. I hope to rectify that very soon.
The Captain S Soundtrack is available for sale on pbc-productions. com and that's the only merchandise I have for sale right now.
Live shows & touring: I don't really seek out live shows, but sometimes they find me, and I'm fine with that. Up until the month of April I think I may have played out once this year. Then five shows fell into my lap within the first 15 days of April. I've got an acoustic show coming up that I am really excited about! A friend on thesixtyone asked me if I had any suggestions for where Levi Weaver might be able to play in Spokane on April 15th. I wasn't even planning on playing the show myself, but Levi suggested it. So, I got in touch with Chris from Papa Bear Promotions and he set up a show at the Emperyean on April 15th. So, it's going to be me, Mordekye Layman, and Levi Weaver.
Local Scene: It's embarrassing to say this, but I am not nearly as familiar with the local music scene as I should be. I'll get out of the house now and then to see a friend's band play, and sometimes that gets me exposed to some other great music, but it doesn't happen very often. If you want me to see your band, book a show with Kite. I don't write the same kind of music, but they inspire and amaze me to no end.
Goals: I don't see myself getting rich or famous from doing this. I'm not the greatest artist you've ever heard, and I'm not the worst either. Sometimes I get it right, and the feeling is euphoric when I do. I just love to create music, and I will continue to do that for as long as I have the ability to do so.
Glenn Case's 7 essential albums:
Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen
Maktub - Khronos
MF Doom - MM..Food?
Minus the Bear - Planet of Ice
Odds - Bedbugs
Paul Simon - One Trick Pony
Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
Glenn Case's 7 honorable mentions:
3rd Bass - Derelicts of Dialect
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
Billy Joel - Glass Houses
Elvis Costello - When I Was Cruel
Liam Lynch - We're All Nighters
Stevie Wonder - Fullfillingness' First Finale
The Clash - London Calling
Fun with links:
Glenn Case
Song Fight
The Sixty One
