Coming this Sunday (4/18) at East End there is another amazing set of bands to check out.
It’s hard to imagine how a line-up like this one will actually be scheduled. Such is the case with most of the shows associated with Zach’s Books, which only speaks to the ridiculous amount of talent he is able to bring together in a given show. Adding to this uncertainty is the fact that Zach’s own Burning Yellows will call this night their debut 7″ record release show. It’s being released on Hozac records, which is probably enough said as it is. You can listen to the whole thing on their facebook, (plus one newly added non-7″ track), and once you’ve become as obsessed with both sides as I have, you can purchase it all right here.
If that doesn’t provide reason enough to hit up this show, look no further than the other bands on the line-up to find a million more. Writing about Psychedelic Horseshit’s show at Doug Fir/Twilight nearly two years ago, I said:
“Like his hair, their set was a mess with the constant unplugging of cords and fumbling through lyrics. The thing though, is that they sounded amazing the whole time, capturing perfectly the aesthetic that only a band called Psychedelic Horseshit could get away with.”
Psychedelic Horseshit – New Wave Hippies
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted By David Hutchinson
Christmas is nine days away, but my present comes early in the form of a fantastic tour stopping through Portland.
Sic Alps was probably the group I was most excited about during this year’s SMMR BMMR, both before and after the actual show. Something about the earnestness of their demeanor coupled with the underlying pop-sensibilities of their music has me totally hooked. Even on their newest, a split with tour-mates Magik Markers, Sic Alps experiment with spoken word, melisma, jangle and distortion, all on the same track! The appropriately titled closing track to their side of the 12″, ‘The Greatest’, sees them experimenting with vocal pitch to create a track that would come off as a joke, if it wasn’t so well washed in their signature echoed agression.
So there’s that, but one critical component I’ve yet to discuss is the flip side to that 12″, the wonderful Magik Markers. Where some bands like Harlem propose to release a new track each month, Magik Markers put them to shame, releasing what feels like multiple albums per year. Thing with them is, they are as consistent as Radiohead or Animal Collective in their output, even if they release at three times the pace. Don’t even get me started on the amazing side projects. The bottom line is, no matter when you’ve decided to give them a shot, chances are you’ve picked up one of my favorite records from that year.
Geez, I haven’t even mentioned that Eat Skull are playing! Too much to say about this show… I suggest you just join me in experiencing it.
The show goes down at Eagles Lodge (4904 SE Hawthorne) this Wednesday. 8:30PM, and don’t be a minute late!
Posted By David Hutchinson
It’s been a week now since the beginning of this year’s SMMR BMMR, the appropriate time needed to wind down from such an exhausting event. Most of us probably didn’t catch the show from start to finish each day (yours truly included), but even in drifting in and out of the 40+bands playing, one is bound to become overwhelmed. There’s a certain lack of variety from band to band which can cripple those hoping to see it all, but I suspect that to those interested solely in punk rock and its subgenres, this last weekend was absolute paradise. There wasn’t a truly bad band to speak of, and even going into SMMR BMMR with no education on the bands themselves, you were bound to find a few to fall in love with.
For me these bands were Sic Alps, Eat Skull, Ganglians, Gestapo Khazi, Fergus & Geronimo, Christmas Island, White Fang and Personal and the Pizzas. I suspect had I made it to the early shows, and all of the evening shows, my list would be extensively larger. Thanks to those involved for an amazing weekend. We’ll spend the rest of the summer trying to match that intensity.
Check out some photos after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted By David Hutchinson
The very confusingly titled SMMR BMMR festival is happening this weekend at Rotture, and I’m far from bummed. Boasting probably the most pretentious line-up of any festival this year, SMMR BMMR proves to be the hippest place on earth this coming weekend. Hip for a reason however, as the artists they’ve brought together for this year’s festival are some of the best in SMMR BMMR history. The more I look over the line-up, the more I find that excites me. In an effort to illustrate that excitement I’ve thrown together a short hand list of bands (with MP3s) that I cannot wait to see. It’s rare to get so many small acts together in this city, and this is one of many reasons SMMR BMMR is not to be missed!
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted By David Hutchinson
The third day started off once again with a two-headed free set, this time by Britt Daniel and Built To Spill. Although I couldn’t stick around for Built To Spill, I managed to catch a great deal of Britt’s set which consisted mostly of solo-Spoon renditions. I recall a split record with Britt Daniel and Connor Oberst that had some solo things of Britt’s I really enjoyed. When I went to the show, I was expecting this kind of thing to make up the majority of the songs he would preform. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and all of the experimentation and musical tricks that made Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga so good were out the window. Familiarity still made for some fun though.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted By David Hutchinson
Starting today, and throughout the week I’ll be posting to the calendar shows you should probably be going to that correspond to this years MusicFestNW, along with MP3’s so you can preview the artists before the shows. At $50 for 4 days, there is no good reason not to make it out.
After the jump check out the list of performers as well as how to get into Ratatat, Les Savy Fav, Britt Daniel, No Age, Built To Spill and Battles free of charge.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted By David Hutchinson
Everyone Is In A Band
White Fang
Panther
Eat Skull
Parenthetical Girls
Starfucker
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
The Thermals
Fist Fite
AU
Brace Pain
Horse Feathers
YACHT
Colin Meloy
White Rainbow
Menomena
Southern Belle
M.Ward
Meth Teeth
Valet
What do they all have in common?
Posted By David Hutchinson
