Now that the 2008 Spring Membership Drive is over, it’s a time for us to say thanks to everybody who was involved, but this young man definitely summed it all up for us — six year old Jacob donated his hard earned allowance to KEXP!

One of Jacob’s favorite songs? “Business Time” by Flight of the Conchords!

Thank you, Jacob, and thank you, everyone who pledged their support, volunteered their time, and worked so hard to make the 2008 Spring Membership Drive a success!

If you missed out, remember that you can always support KEXP at any time on our website.

^{We’re almost out of here!}

^{The last pledge! [photo]}

^{It’s Over!}

^{Time for a break!}

New Faces - finalists in Sound Off! 2008
photo by Chona Kasinger

Last week in this space my friend and TIG colleague Imaginary Liz wrote about being torn between having to choose between going to see the Mountain Goats or the Hives last Saturday night. From even a brief scan of the show calendar it looks like this weekend is even more crowded with excellent excuses for not staying at home.

EMP Sound Off! Finals at the EMP/SFM on Saturday, March 1 at 8pm,, all ages
Since 2002, this competition has unequivocally found the best bands in the Northwest with all members under 21. Past contestants have included Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, Dyme Def, Schoolyard Heroes, Mon Frere, Idiot Pilot, the Sutures (then the Neons), and Asahi. This year, like all years past, includes no shortage of great talent.

The finalists this year include Man Down Medic, a five-piece indie rock band from Seattle that employs string instruments (violin, viola, cello) to compliment a traditional (guitar, keys, bass, drums) setup; The Nextdoor Neighbors a female electro-folk duo from Olympia; and New Faces, a powerpop band from Port Townsend.

All three bands show a maturity in their songwriting that goes well beyond their young age and have limitless potential. Regardless of who wins, I’m sure we’ll be hearing quite a bit from those three bands in the coming months and years.

Scream Club, Team Gina, the Trucks and Nicky Click at the Vera Project on Saturday March 1 at 7:30pm, all ages
If you’re a fan of electro-dance pop and lo-fi hip hop, this show must be a dream lineup. Team Gina (recent guests on Audioasis) have the same commitment to danceable beats and catchy rhymes that their predecessors from Scream Club have shown for several years (according to legend and their song “A Tribe Called Rocco”, Ginas Bling and Genius met at a Scream Club show).

Two weeks ago, I recommended the gay/lesbian-friendly dance party featuring Hey Willpower and MEN (Johanna and JD from Le Tigre) at Nectar, this is the show for everyone who wanted to go to that one but just weren’t old enough.

Visqueen and Quadrillion at the King Cobra on Sunday March 2 at 9pm, 21+
The King Cobra is the newest rock club in Seattle (located on Cap Hill next to the Comet Tavern) and this is their grand opening weekend. Judging by the booking thus far, they like their rock and roll with lots of guitars turned to 11. Beginning on Thursday and continuing through Sunday they have booked a solid weekend of rock. If you are going to any of them, please don’t forget your earplugs. Sunday’s show gets our recommendation because it features one of the best rock bands to call Seattle home.

Visqueen has long been a favorite of TIG and for good reason: they make addictive pop-rock songs and have the most charming and funny of lead singers in Rachel Flotard. Expect catchy songs and hilarious between-song banter (where good sport and even better drummer Ben Hooker is sure to be the butt of many of Flotard’s jokes). Visqueen’s shows never disappoint.

Unravel the daylight,
Chris Burlingame and Three Imaginary Girls

High iPod rotation:
Hey Willpower
Black Eyes & Neckties
The Mountain Goats

(Three Imaginary Girls is a Seattle-based website that showcases the great music of the Northwest and beyond to music lovers worldwide. We post a Seattle live show calendar to help you fill your day-planner with loads of great shows, as well as record reviews, live show reviews, and an imagi-blog to entertain you throughout the day.)

Karl Blau, Tin Angel, Philadelphia
photo by GAC

interview by Rachel LeBlanc

Last week, I interviewed a band (Kickball) who focus on community and prefers playing smaller shows, not sacrificing the close-knit feel of a house. My second subject is a musician who strives to build community as well, filling in many roles throughout the scene and drawing others together, pulling the smaller guys out of the woodwork. This week to continue the theme, I’ve interviewed K Records alum Karl Blau. Community-minded, Blau also looks out for the underdog, and talking to him you can tell his interest in what you have to say is genuine. As we met over tea, he chatted about the importance of the all-ages aspect of the music scene, creating music with what’s given to you, and Sunn 0))).

Rachel (KEXP): Are you inspired by a wide range of ideas?

Karl Blau: Musically I try to replicate everything I listen to, perform my own take on it. On this last tour I played with so many bands I love. There was this band Denver, or a band in New York, Hospitality, I’m influenced by them. Well, perhaps not influenced, but I love what they do. African music, Sun City Girls-they’re really out there. In regards to indie music, I don’t really listen to any. Except for the Death Cab for Cutie albums. I don’t what it is about that band. I love that band, they’re great songwriters.

Rachel: Do you use a lot of found sounds in your music — sampling and the like?

Karl: If I’m recording and a siren is heard outside, I won’t get mad. Or if the neighbor kids are outside playing, I’ll ask them to come in and jam. Whoever comes by while I’m recording, I’ll try to incorporate them. I have this fantasy of doing an album with found sounds, where I head out to the woods and interact with the woods, record it all. Do something with it. It could sound really beautiful, capture all the sounds out there. I’ll also do field recordings where I take a microphone out to the edge of the woods and get the frog and swamp sounds.

Rachel: What is the deal with the shell collection?

Karl: My friend Nathan Walker works for Double Scoop Productions, out in Anacortes. He came up with the idea to get fans involved with the album. Until the end of March fans are submitting their drawings and artwork of shells. It’s cool, it’s going to be beautiful. We’ll see what happens with it. The album is a reissue of my CD I put out in 1997-98. It was a collection of four-track recordings, from my first tape releases. They were songs I recorded and put aside.

Rachel: You also have a new album coming out this year.

Karl: Yes. The AM record will be coming out March 17th. It is being released by Whistler Records. Then the K Records 7″ will be coming out, That’s How I Got to Memphis, I’m excited for that. Then the Shell Collection, the reissue. Also a new K album, Nature’s Got Away.

Rachel: What do you think is an important element to have in a music community?

Karl: Obviously, all-ages spaces. I try to play exclusively all-ages spaces; try to make it known to fans, to get a hold of me and I’ll make special arrangements. I’m really against ageism in shows, the idea that people can’t come out to some shows. It’s lame that we don’t have it together in this country to trust people to be in the same room as alcohol. I think Seattle has a really thriving scene, with Vera, there’s great house shows. It’s just a necessity, people need to vent and experience community. We don’t have many places where community exists in this commercial world we live in now. It goes beyond the music, it’s more like the people getting together than what is happening. And the connections made at shows. I’m excited for the future when we’ve gone through punk music and we know that nothing is going to offend us, exactly. Some kid is going to throw a rock through the window, we don’t have to close the space down. We fix the window, and move on. Let’s have a conversation about it, have a dialogue. It’s silly, people are looking for excuses to close a place down. It’s weird.

Rachel: You just moved back from New York. What do you think would help bridge the gap between the Northwest’s underground music scene and the East coast’s?

Karl: I think it’s being bridged right now, with all these artists coming through and playing these smaller places. I don’t know, it would be really cool if there was some national standard of the Vera Project. You could tour through every town and play these places. If it got to the point where only certain bands get the privilege to play these places, there’d be offshoots.

Now that Karl is back in this corner of the world, catch him at upcoming house shows and look out for his upcoming album releases. More information is available at his MySpace. He is also planning on continuing his Kelp! Lunacy monthly series of handmade CDs later this year.

We thought we’d continue following John around as we wait for the 2nd Annual John in the Morning at Night Birthday Bash (on Friday, March 7th at Neumo’s) to arrive. Turns out, John possesses some pretty wicked technology. Watch out, George Lucas!

Day2:

At the beginning of the day, John spent 8 long hours of pitching on the air with Cheryl for our 2008 Spring Membership Drive, though he was a bit worn out from staying up late to watch American Idol last night.

… but he didn’t stop there! He cloned himself and answered phones for the drive!

John: “Man! I’m ready! When those phone rings I can’t wait to talk to callers! Man, it’s weird being a clone… but anything for KEXP!”

And, if that wasn’t enough, John’s piano practicing from the night before had already quickly paid off! He used his cloning trick again and doubled himself to go play dueling pianos at Chopstix Piano Bar! It was ladies night, as well… so the drinks were pink, just like John likes them, and cheap… John likes that too…

John 1: “Take that, clone! No one can top ‘Piano Man’!” John 2: “Take that, John! No one can top ‘Candle in the Wind’!”

Whew! What a long day for John! Maybe the clones will all be at the John in the Morning at Night show at Neumo’s on Friday, March 7th! You should be there too.

Thanks to everyone who has pledged their support to KEXP. We are in our final day of the 2008 Spring Membership Drive and still need your help. Any contribution you make will help keep KEXP listener powered. It’s your support that allows KEXP to remain commercial free and independently programmed!

And don’t forget about the City-to-City challenge! Chicago and and San Francisco are battling it out for opportunity to bring KEXP to their city for a broadcast, and Washington D.C. is not far behind! Get your pledge in now and tell us what city you want us to visit!

Every Friday, we deliver a different song from a Northwest performer as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Afternoon Show host Kevin Cole, is Zero Gravity by The Transmissionary Six from the 2008 album Cosmonautical on Tarnished Records.

Terri Moeller (vocals/percussion) and Paul Austin (multi-instrumentalist) both come from roots-influenced backgrounds and have had much success along the way. Moeller is still the drummer for the famed Walkabouts, and Austin previously contributed to the gothic folk of the Willard Grant Conspiracy. It’s no surprise then that they continue to use country guitar lines and the more-than-occasional twang. Although Cosmonautical, the band’s 5th release, has a bit more pop than their previous material, their stronghold on melancholy in the vein of Mazzy Star is as present as ever. Mixer Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Jesse Sykes) has assisted TS recordings for some time now and here achieves the perfect balance of crisp sounds and unchecked spontaneity that fills these tracks to the brim with emotional intensity. After having appeared in 16 countries (they wryly claim to be HUGE in Slovenia!), TS is still proud to call Seattle home. Tune your dial to 90.3 on March 6th as the band performs in our studio live@3pm. Also, their record-release show is going down 3/7 at the Sunset, a performance that is sure to include guest musicians. Pick up a copy of the album via their MySpace page, and don’t pass up this brand new video for Zero Gravity:

words by Corbett Cummins
photos by Heather Christianson

Get Loweded is a congress of hard-rock music, stand-up comedy, multi-media philosophy, inter-gender arm wrestling, and multi-cultural drinking held every 3rd Monday at Re-Bar. It is the product of Chas Roberts who is Re-Bar’s booking agent and the alter ego of Get Loweded’s gregarious host Jackson Lowe. He produces it with his crew Cotty James (Pravda Studios), Emmett Montgomery (Peoples Republic of Komedy), Deevious Silvertounge (co-host), Jackson Portwood, Brandi Bratrude (seattleDIRT), Josh Black, Nate Miller, Trevor Harmon and TV the bartender.

^{Cotty James, Andy Peters, Michelle Francis, Brandi Bratrude and Emmett Montgomery enjoy a light dinner.}

Roberts is the “Fonze” of Seattle entertainment. He’s good in a fight. He is constantly surrounded by swooning women. He walks with an impenetrable air of Zen coolness and he can fix a broken soundboard by snapping his fingers. Just like the Fonze, Roberts is friends with characters all around town, from wrestlers to musicians, dancers and comedians. And they all show up at Re-Bar to Get Loweded.

^{Michele Francis and Jackson Lowe are stunned by Jen Seaman’s glasses}

The true genius behind Get Loweded is that it’s really a drinking game held at a bar. According to Roberts, the game has the same two goals as any good party: 1. Get people to drink, and 2. Get people to hook up. The difference is that Jackson Lowe is not like some amateur party host who’d like to see you get a little tipsy and lock a few lips. He’s a seasoned professional with a strategic plan and an army of friends dedicated to accomplishing these objectives.

TV, the lovely bartender, makes the first step towards goal #1 by providing everybody with a lovely “communal shot” from her lovely repertoire of specialty drinks. Then, to seal the deal, the audience is ordered to take a drink every time a curse word is spoken into a microphone. This alone puts a serious dent in Re-Bar’s beer supply.

^{TV mixes up some amazing Mini-Bloody-Mary’s}

To achieve the second goal, Lowe picks out an audience member via lottery. Then with the help of the audience, Lowe finds them a mate in whatever gender-flavor they prefer. The random couple gets set up in the Get Loweded penthouse, situated in the DJ Booth, where they can get cozy, get comfortable and consider hooking up.

^{Hook-up or not they made a great couple}

Then the room is filled with enough music, comedy, video clips, burlesque, trivia contests, raffles and arm wrestling to ensure the successful completion of each goal.

With a large cast of rotating friends and performers, every month is different and it’s impossible to know what the next one will be like. But to help illustrate, here is what the February the show looked like:

The night began with the hard rocking Imperial Legions of Rome, who laid out a beautifully loud and tight set which helped everybody to loosen up for the revelry to come.

Later we were treated to local star Andy Peters, who really enjoyed the curse=drink rule. As soon as he realized that everybody had to chug their booze when he dropped an f-bomb, he put out a blue streak that would make sailor blush.

Matt Brennan, the self-proclaimed inter-gender arm wrestling champion, provided the most delightfully unP.C. moment of the evening with a spectacle sure to make the ghost of Andy Kaufman smile.

Then, Michele Francis regained the stage for the ladies. Her performance raised the room temperature by about 20 degrees, and she didn’t even have to touch anybody.

To help the audience cool down from Francis’ act, Lowe introduced a clip from video artist Flash Hayes called “Ask Machiavelli.”

If you think Machiavelli can help you, go to his MySpace page and ask a question. Hayes makes a point to respond to each inquiry he receives.

Every month. Get Loweded hosts a segment called “Are You Smarterer Than…” in which an audience member pits his or her trivia knowledge against local personalities. This month featured members of the Rat City Roller Girls, which was great because nothing balances out Machiavellian politics like Roller Girls. After three rounds of questions about presidents and Playboy photo shoots, they emerged as the winners.

^{The Roller Girls triumphed with their knowledge of Playboy Bunnies}

After completely overwhelming his audience with fun and drink, and possibly sparking a romance Jackson Lowe gathered his stumbling performers up on the stage for the final performance. In a fashion not unlike a 4-way car wreck, they performed the traditional closing song, “You Are My Sunshine”:

WARNING: the following video contains material unsuitable for people who can hear:

And at the end the onslaught, Jackson summed up the night in true Fonzie fashion:

As it nears the 2nd Annual John in the Morning at Night Birthday Bash (Friday, March 7th at Neumo’s), we thought we’d follow John to find out what John in the Morning really does on a typical night after being on the air all morning and at KEXP all day.

Day 1:

BUSTED! We caught John watching American Idol and eating Cheesy Poofs. Which 70’s cover did he like best? Carly Simon or Olivia Newton John?

John: “Dang that girl got pipes! Simon! Paula! Randy! No! You’re all so MEAN!”

John: “Man, they ripped her to shreds! I thought that girl had a chance!”

After a disappointing episode of American Idol, John decided to work on his DJ skillz:

John: “Hmmmm, maybe a mashup with Billy Joel and Hall ‘n Oats… yeah, baby, that’s what I’m talking about!”

After a few mashups (Hall and Oates w/ NWA, Hall and Oates w/ Sly Fox, Hall and Oates w/Justin Timberlake… mmm… Hall and Oates…), John remembered that what he really wanted to do was practice a few jazz standards on the keys:

John: “Auditions for noon gigs at Tula’s are next week! I should cut this DJ business and practice my solo for ‘Girl from Ipanema!’”

Somewhere you’ll definitely find John in the Morning is at the 2nd Annual John in the Morning at Night Birthday Bash on Friday, March 7th at Neumo’s with The Duke Spirit, The Voom Blooms, and Tulsa.

Look for more days in the life with John in the Morning at Night right here on the KEXP blog!

• At first it was hushed whispers among music industry insiders and State Park Rangers. Soon those whispers turned to rampant rumors, but finally — a confirmation! The 2008 Sasquatch Music Festival will be certified carbon neutral! Carbon Dioxide is a greenhouse gas (shudder) and is one of the major causes of global warming and climate change. You think we’re making a big deal out of this now — but we’re no bandwagon jumpers, pal. Listeners know that KEXP’s efforts to combat global warming have been ongoing, and continue to be an issue we take seriously. Tickets for the Sasquatch Memorial Day Weekend musicfest go on sale March 8th, and you can celebrate an event that, despite being named after Bigfoot, leaves no carbon footprint. The lineup seems to be confirmed as well. Here come the names, looks like you’ll recognize a few: R.E.M., The Cure, The Flaming Lips UFO Show, Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse, M.I.A., Flight Of The Conchords (OMG! OMG!), Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Michael Franti & Spearhead, The Breeders, Built To Spill, Tegan & Sara, Ghostland Observatory, Ozomatli, New Pornographers, The Blue Scholars, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Thao Nguyen with the Get Down Stay Down… uh, let’s stop there because it goes on and on. The full lineup is available at the festival’s official site! Start shopping for a new tent to camp out in, and prepare to get your sustainable freak on!

• Speaking of Thao Nguyen, check out the “My First Time” feature over at You Ain’t No Picasso, including a segment featuring Thao. Other performers who’ve submitted to the “your musical firsts” line of questioning include KEXP favorites Holy Fuck and Caribou, but somehow Thao’s is the most endearing. What was the first record that changed her life? “Sarah McLachlan’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy,” says Nguyen. “Fantastic album… I stand by it still. Did I just lose any indie cred I had?”

• YANP also offers up a musical rarity you won’t want to miss grabbing: The Flaming Lips (Sasqatchers! We’ve got a theme going, apparently) covering a John Lennon song. “Nobody Told Me” is from John and Yoko’s 1984 Milk and Honey album, and it’s an easy guess why the Lips chose this one to cover — the lyrics reference UFOs.

The Flaming Lips - Nobody Told Me (MP3)

• Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals making a cameo appearance in a Brazilian Zombie Rock Opera? Sounds good to us! Thanks to Paste for the tip that the entire soundtrack to Zombieoper (two CDs worth) can be downloaded for free right from the creators’ official site. If you want to save bandwith and head straight for the track featuring Honorary Zombie Rhys, visit the Zombieoper MySpace page and crank up the selection “Anghenfil Y Nos.”

• It’s feast or famine for Mark Lanegan fans, and right now it’s pretty much feast. Just as the Gutter Twins — his musical partnership with Greg Dulli — are releasing their new Saturnalia CD comes the news that Lanegan has renewed his collaboration with Isobel Campbell as well. Sunday at Devil Dirt will continue what they started with 2006’s Ballad of the Seven Seas, and it’ll hit U.K. shops in May. Don’t forget to tune in to KEXP on Tuesday, March 4th at 1:00 PM PST, when the Gutter Twins themselves will be performing live in-studio with host Cheryl Waters!

• A shout-out to KEXP’s many listeners in the Twin Cities (or listeners who get deep airfare discounts and just love this band!): Cloud Cult will be filming a video this Sunday, March 2, and are looking for as many extras as possible. The requirements? Eerily similar to many Presidential cabinet job descriptions: “No experience necessary, so long as you can stand and look expressionless, and jump on command.” Yes, that is a quote, and you can see for yourself over at More Cowbell. Hey, speaking of Minneapolis/St.Paul… we’ve got a KEXP pledge drive in full swing right now! How y’all doin’ in the City to City Challenge?

• So it’s your first time in the Big Apple, you nutty French pop sensations — how many New York style pizza slices do you order for lunch? One? Two? Do toppings enter into it? The Teenagers have been researching this, according to Prefix. Allow them to present their findings to you via a video interview. (It’s all rather informal — apparently the Powerpoint presentation didn’t arrive in time for the taping.) While checking out their MySpace page, I couldn’t help but notice that in the “influences” section, right after Red Bull, is Ham Rollz. Obscure Parisian punk band, or tea time snack? It all adds to the band’s mysterious allure.

• One of the greatest bands ever to be spawned by the City That Never Sleeps is, of course, the Velvet Underground. And the big news for VU fans is the discovery of a never before heard song by the band, titled “I’m Not a Young Man Anymore”. It comes from a five song recording that purports to be the only (read: only) VU live recording from 1967 ever to surface. You can shake Velvet booty (and download Velvets booty — not only this new song, but also included is the first ever live performance of “Sister Ray”) over at Dead Flowers.

OK, everybody: this is the one you’ve been waiting for. Haven’t you always wondered what the powers at KCMU thought about this whole Nirvana thing as it exploded around them? Being as I was in high school and 3,000 miles away at the time, I’m going to just go ahead and assume that by the first time I ever heard Nirvana, everyone here was totally sick of them. But in this edition of Review Revue, we get to see the initial reaction at the station to The Album that Changed Everything Forever, along with the usual running commentary as its tenure in heavy rotation ran on and the big commercial stations (and even AM talk stations apparently) start catching on.

One note that should explain one of the comments below: DJ Michelle explains to me that KCMU used to have — in addition to the yellow and red dots to denote indecent and obscene tracks — a “white dot” system for marking tracks (or albums) that were getting too much commercial recognition, and thus not worthy of airplay here. I have mixed feelings about this, but my inner high school music snob thinks it’s kind of awesome.