August 7, 2013 by Dave
William Tyler is one of the more talented guitarists I’ve heard in a long time. One of those guys that you can turn on and just listen to him jam for an hour without getting the urge to change channels. As a matter of fact, here’s an hour+ recording of just that. Enjoy.
Category Live | Tags: capitol hill block party,girl talk,StrFkr,Waxahatchee,William Tyler | Comments Off on Capitol Hill Block Party Day 1, Part 2
August 6, 2013 by Dave
Glancing over my list of act’s to hit at block party my eyes immediately fell on Danny Brown. XXX was one of my favorite hip hop albums of 2011 and his recent single “Grown Up” reminded me of the XX/Biggie Mash up “Wait What? Juicy” in an almost eerie way. His performance was tight and his crowd was feeling it. What a killer way to start this festival. Listen below:
Category Live | Tags: capitol hill block party,Danny Brown,The Young Evil | Comments Off on Capitol Hill Block Party Day 1, Part 1
July 30, 2013 by Dave
Photos and Words by AJ Dent
Before the concert even began, I could feel the energy inside the Crocodile spilling out onto the streets of Seattle. Midwestern rappers in the birthplace of grunge on a hot Saturday night? I can’t think of a better venue in all the city for the intensity and intimacy that members of Doomtree always deliver. It’s no wonder that the show sold out.
As opener Aby Wolf began to croon, the already-slammed space inhaled sharply, with every person previously smoking and laughing outside suddenly rushing to get close. Wolf’s soul-baring voice seemed to almost shock the crowd with its richness, making us all simultaneously weak in the knees and whipcrack-ready for the entire evening. It was a treat to experience her bravado and vibrato twice, as she later joined Dessa’s set for quite the double whammy.
Following Wolf couldn’t have been easy, but Sims was all sizzle onstage. A perfect mix of swagger and silliness, he consistently made grins as big as his own break out across the audience. With his 2011 single, “Burn It Down,” the entire place was party central and kept begging for more.
More is exactly what they got when the powerhouse that is Dessa took over. As she and I both hail from Minnesota, I was extra excited to see her headline a packed house. Gone are the days when even my friends in the Twin Cities had hardly heard of her — and for good reason. Dropped on June 25th, her new album “Parts of Speech” slides with ease between pop-tinged ballads and her signature panache.
While the softer tunes scattered a few tender moments throughout the show, it was Dessa’s balls-to-the-wall rapping that marked the night like a branding iron. She read the atmosphere like a book, upping the ante with each lyric, drawing us more and more into the stories unfolding onstage. Talk about hanging on someone’s every word. She was breathing fire right in our faces, and when she jumped into the crowd, I felt the entire room swoon in the heat.
With great purpose, Dessa has proven her poetry slam prowess and hypnotizing jams worthy of national attention. So far, she’s still the sole woman in Minneapolis’ Doomtree collective, for crying out loud. And after all, she asks on her tune “Fighting Fish,” “If we all go round bowed heads, button-lipped — if none of us go for the bell, then who is?”
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July 29, 2013 by Tristin
Gold Wolf Galaxy is crazy. Their sound is unconventional to say the least: a mix of 80’s hair metal and disco, layered with an outrageous amount of synths that results in something reminiscent of a sci-fi movie soundtrack. With their self-titled album released in April of this year, this talented duo Spencer and Roger harkens back to an age of electronic music that I thought disappeared while MTV was still a station devoted to music television. “Freja” has to be my favorite song on the album, and it sounds like it came straight out of a Tron basement rave. The buildups are great and when the synths cut out for a split second before blasting off with renewed fury provided by Roger’s guitar, I can’t get enough. (more…)
Category Features, Live | Tags: 80s,capitol hill block party,Electronica,Gold Wolf Galaxy,Seattle | 1 Comment
July 28, 2013 by Dave
Here’s a first look at just a few of the amazing artists we saw at Capitol Hill Block Party this weekend (Danny Brown, Girl Talk, STRFKR, Young Evils, and Waxahatchee). More photos and reviews coming soon…
Category Live | Tags: capitol hill block party,Danny Brown,festival,girl talk,StrFkr,Waxahatchee,Young Evils | Comments Off on Capitol Hill Block Party: First Photos
July 25, 2013 by Guest
Photos by Chris Uncle, words by Tina Melati
A Saturday night. A cozy venue in Hollywood. A band whose sound feels like a warm hug. The up tempo instrumentals hide the sorrowful lyrics about lost loves, pain and sadness. Brass Bed crafts together down right good songs, assembled with layers upon layers of rock history spanning eras. They are energetic performers who, while still working out the kinks, put together a great set that keeps the audience engaged.
Hailing from Louisiana, Brass Bed masterfully blends instrumentals with dismayed storytelling. This past Saturday’s show at Hotel Café was a smooth welcome to the LA music scene. Attendees were gifted with two brand new songs, recorded just earlier that morning for their next album, still untitled. Their album released earlier this year, The Secret Will Keep You, has an all-around great sound that is deep and interesting enough to allot for repeat listening. Like the river that runs through Brass Bed’s hometown of Lafayette, this album meanders through from soft lazy melodic guitars to the fast water sounds closer to the playful quip of indie pop rock. Their album will definitely be going into my regular rotation for an early evening hangout in the backyard with some brews and buds.
Category Live | Tags: Brass bed,concert,Hotel Cafe,live,louisiana | Comments Off on Brass Bed Live at Hotel Cafe
July 25, 2013 by Tristin
If you go to the Capitol Hill Block Party this weekend and miss Theoretics, you should be ashamed of yourself. A seven piece group from Seattle that has labeled themselves an “alternative hip hop” band, Theoretics combines MC’s with a live band to create a sound that is silky smooth and unmistakably unique. The issue I have with most hip-hop/rap artists today is that they are seldom memorable live, as their music is usually produced first with a computer and on a mixing board. Leave it to a group from Seattle to shatter this mold, using drums, keyboard, and guitar to provide a base for the two MC’s to rap over. Mix this with some jazz saxophone and a badass upright double bass and you have a funky, fresh new sound that will make anyone move. It’s the type of music that you know has been practiced for countless hours and hammered to perfection, made by serious musicians with a passion for what they do. (more…)
Category Features, Live | Tags: capitol hill block party,Seattle,Theoretics | Comments Off on Capitol Hill Block Party Must See: Theoretics
July 24, 2013 by Cam
I have to confess, if I were lucky enough to be attending the Capitol Hill Block Party and The Grizzled Mighty came out and said something like, “We’re The Grizzled Mighty, have a good night!” and just walked right back off stage, I’d be astounded. I mean, it’s a helluva name and one I’m not even entirely sure makes sense, making the unconceivable conception of the name that much more mythical*. But, as you’d expect, with great band naming comes great songs. So, even if you’re less impressed with the band name than I, the encore of music they’ll (almost) assuredly play after announcing themselves should leave you with more or less the same sense of astonishment.
The guitarist, Whitney, is a former member of Deerhunter, a fact that is only apparent if you trace The Grizzled Mighty’s warbling, Southern-twanged sound to the geographical roots of Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox’s roots of Athens, Georgia. The southern region of our contingent 48 states has churned these classic rockers with modern influence out over the past couple years from the likes of Kings of Leon (circa 2007 standout pre-sellout Because of the Times), Alabama Shakes or Gary Clark Jr.. The Grizzled Mighty borrow the fuzz-rock of Gary Clark Jr., but the terrible-twosome inject it with a fearsome infatuation of guitar solos that the band describes as ones that “[bring] the erotic riffs of Hades to the trembling surface.” So, yeah, as you can see, the band is masterful at descriptions and it’s easy to see this knack bleed over into a formidable sound that’s sure to compose a show based a lot less on their kick-ass name and a lot more on the music’s ability to rile you up to kick some ass.
Category Features, Live | Tags: capitol hill block party,Fuzz rock,Seattle,The Grizzled mighty | Comments Off on Capitol Hill Block Party Must See: The Grizzled Mighty
July 23, 2013 by Steph
It’s bands like Land of Pines that remind me not to judge a band by their photo. It’s clear that this Seattle quintet spends little time worrying about their social media presence or band photos and instead just focuses on kicking ass. Which, in my book, is more than acceptable.
Their 2013 EP The Long Defeat harkens not to the increasingly overplayed and over-saturated dream pop of the 50s and 60s, but to the nostalgia of the era that saw indie rock at its peak – the late 90s and early 2000s. Yet, their sound isn’t outdated or a formulaic repeat of some of the greats by which they are influenced–Superchunk, The Anniversary, Manchester Orchestra, and even a little Built to Spill. The propulsive, groovy guitar licks straddle the line between intricate indie rock and pop sensibilities combined with earnest male and female vocals reminiscent of a personal favorite, 1997.
They balance the dark and light, complete with tempo changes, unexpected riffs, and weaving melodies most beautifully in the final track of the EP, “What Dust We Dote On” (streaming below). As KEXP so aptly described, they are “Rilo Kiley with razor blades.”
When paired with someone who can use a camera and someone who has some music business sense, this tiny local Seattle band has the potential to be find its way into the national consciousness.
They are a MUST SEE at this weekend’s Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle.
Category Features, Live | Tags: capitol hill block party,indie rock,land of pines,Seattle | 4 Comments
