by Gary Miller

If Death To Palaces, the 2007 full-length by Seattle powerpoppers Young Sportsmen, was a gas guzzling muscle car, then their newest release, titled If You Want It, is a high-end European sportster. While both can get your heart pumping, the latter is equally likely to impress you with its detail and handling.

That’s not to say they’ve lost their oomph. Indeed, tracks like “The Deadenders” and “Sesame Street Fightin’ Man” are prototypical YS with drums-a-bashing, bass-a-churning and guitars-a-grinding. But, under the guidance of producer Johnny Sangster, they’ve taken their trademark power and added more depth, more shading and more texture. The results are completely effective at both the highest highs and the slowest burns.

The opening salvo, “Girl Pants” begins with pounding toms and bass. But, in place of the expected crashing guitars, you instead get melodic interplay that is reminiscent of something Bloc Party or even XTC might bring to the table. A triumvirate of indierock “super” bands (Supergrass, Superdrag, Superchunk) are good reference points across other tracks like “Marion’s Nova” and “Summer Ace.”

Also of note here are the evocative lyrics. I’ll admit to mostly not understanding exactly what Wesley is singing about. But, he is a master of setting a mood and evoking a feeling without beating you over the head with his intended meaning. Whether it’s the hypnotic chant of “through the eye we’ll go” at the end of “Metropolitan” or the refrain of “everything we have today is resting on the shoulders of a maybe” in “Tomorrow Disappears,” it seems providing the ability to apply your own experience to his phrasing is exactly what he’s going for.

The true success of this record is the perfect balance between a clobbering energy and a nimble melody. In short, this album soars. If this record doesn’t show up on numerous 2008 best-of lists, I’ll eat my hat.

photo by Ben Haley

by Gary Miller

After a relatively short run, this will be the last in the Rock n’ Roll Pest Control series. Due to some family issues, my wife and I are relocating to North Carolina, and it’s difficult to be a Northwest reporter when you’re more than 3000 miles away. So, before I dive into this week’s edition, I want to thank Sharlese from Audioasis for asking me to join the KEXP blogging family and Jim, who always kept my posts looking correct and staying within the lines. You both rock.

I plan to continue blogging for KEXP. But, since this will be the last one that is truly focused on the Northwest, I think I want to do a Top 3 list of things about which Seattle people should be proud and (more importantly) should take advantage of.

Number 1: It may already be apparent to most anyone reading this blog, but Seattle and the greater Pacific Northwest is still a serious hotbed for musical talent. The rest of the world might only think “grunge” when they think Seattle. But, there are so many flavors. Think about it — I was able to start a blog focused only on Seattle powerpop, which itself is a relatively small genre, and I had a veritable ton of great bands to cover. If you glean nothing else from my posts, please note that anytime you see any of the following band names on a bill, you should go: The Small Change, The Tripwires, Slender Means, Young Sportsmen, Ghosts and Liars, Llama, PRIS, The Boss Martians… and about a dozen other great powerpop bands.

Number 2: It’s a cliche to say, “support your venues.” But with the sudden closing of The Crocodile Cafe this past year, I think we all know better than to take venues for granted. My personal favorite is the Sunset Tavern. I think you should go there right now, spend $25 on drinks, tip well, and enjoy the music.

Number 3: Having spent time in Nashville, Atlanta and Chapel Hill prior to moving to here, I think Seattle should be proud that the vibe here has more in common with Chapel Hill than the other two. Although Seattle is significantly larger and more musically diverse than Chapel Hill, it shares an artistic spirit that is propagated throughout the city (not just the music community). Too often when I met bands in Nashville and Atlanta they seemed to be more interested in commerce than art. I’ve got no problem at all with bands making money. But it mostly feels like “music first/commerce second” here.

Is any of this new or useful to you? Probably not. But, my final thought for this post is to really encourage you to make the most out of what’s available in Seattle. It’s incredibly easy to take this stuff for granted, and if you do that you’re going to miss a host of quality music.

My dog and I wish you and the Seattle music community all the best.

Gary Miller started the Seattle Powerpop Blog, which focuses on all things powerpop in the Pacific Northwest. SPB features album reviews, recommended shows, videos, mp3s and more. That blog will live on with new writers as Gary moves to North Carolina and no doubt gets into other music-related adventures.

By Gary Miller

I first discovered SHIM in the fall of 2006, when they shared a bill with local faves the Young Sportsmen. I instantly dug their old school rock and roll approach. That was only furthered by their actual performance at that show, which was replete with smoke machines and strobe lights.

It seemed like SHIM was playings as if they were in an arena, although they were actually at the considerably smaller High Dive. The show was big. It was sweaty. It was rock. But, not in an ironic way. It was true, authentic big rock without the schlock. Good stuff. At the time I described them thusly: They rock like some sort of mad, out-of-control rocking machine that was set on high and left outside in the rain. Hyperbole? Sure. But, nonetheless a good description of my feeling at the time.

A little over a year later, they’re holding their CD release party at the Tractor Tavern (Saturday, February 9), and their rock power alone makes it a worthwhile show. But, in fact, Slender Means is on also on the bill and it seems to be the only show they have currently booked. So, there’s a second reason to take the trip down to Ballard.

SHIM has something of an “introduction” video online that includes some interview-ish conversation about pirates and sandwiches, as well as a studio performance and random use of the f-bomb. It’s not as big and rocking as their actual live show. Note to SHIM: You should get some footage of your actual live show on Youtube or something. It’s a serious selling point.

Gary Miller runs the Seattle Powerpop Blog, which focuses on all things powerpop in the Pacific Northwest. SPB features album reviews, recommended shows, videos, mp3s and more.

Enjoy a West Seattle sunset (& a kitty) with Throwback Suburbia
photo by Whiteteeth

by Gary Miller

One of the funny things I’ve experienced since moving to Seattle four years ago is that local residents have a low tolerance level for travel. Having lived in Atlanta prior to moving, I was used to having to drive at least 45 minutes to get just about anywhere in that city. When my wife and I bought a house in Edmonds after moving here, our Seattle friends felt we had moved practically to Canada. Of course, the 10 ten mile commute was no problem for us.

I tell you this to acknowledge that, to some, West Seattle might as well be Oregon. However, one of my favorite little hang outs, the Skylark Cafe, is located in West Seattle. As for the commute, we’re really only talking about a handful of miles from Seattle proper. In fact, the Skylark just barely over the West Seattle bridge. And you should know about the Skylark Cafe because not only do they host really great band line ups, every show is free.

So, tonight (Friday, February 1) when you’re looking for something to do, I recommend that you and some pals hop into a car or jump on a bus and head over there to catch a line up of The Riffbrokers from Seattle and Throwback Suburbia from Portland. The Riffbrokers (two of which have just gotten married) mine the border between Americana and powerpop, where as Throwback Suburbia are a poppy and rocking but also little more modern and polished — think Cheap Trick meets All American Rejects.

Here is a video from each:

Throwback Suburbia - Circles

The Riffbrokers - Fix It If You Hate It

Gary Miller runs the Seattle Powerpop Blog, which focuses on all things powerpop in the Pacific Northwest. SPB features album reviews, recommended shows, videos, mp3s and more.

Although I’m not sure how my editors feel about it, I don’t always feel the need for my posts here to be related to any particular current event — a show, a festival, an album release, etc. So, this is one of those posts that serves simply to help make people more aware of a particular artist just because they’re good. The artist in this instance is Steve Pearson.

If you’ve been around the Seattle music scene for a long time or are just particularly tuned into the local powerpop world, Steve’s name might sound familiar. If not, you might be a bit more atuned to the name of his well-respected 1970s/1980s Seattle outfit, The Heats (aka the Heaters). They were bar scene gods and also played on some high-profile tours with the likes of Heart and The Knack. I love this photo of them playing an arena on one of those tours.

Here’s a video of The Heats back in the day.

But, you don’t have to only live in the past to enjoy some of Steve’s music. In fact, he’s still actively making music and playing shows with his current group British Racing Green. Although British Racing Green is a touch more mellow and draws on a few folkier influences, it’s still got a great pop sound (think The Byrds mixed with some Tom Petty) that you should go hear. In fact, several tunes are downloadable on their MySpace page. So, you can grab some to go, as well.

Gary Miller runs the Seattle Powerpop Blog, which focuses on all things powerpop in the Pacific Northwest. SPB features album reviews, recommended shows, videos, mp3s and more.

photo from MySpace

by Gary Miller

Powerpop as a genre has always been pretty amorphous. Sure, there are the staple bands of the genre. But, over the years there has been a tendency for those who write about it to include a pretty wide variety of bands, influences and sounds. Thus, with no pause I include groups like Andy Werth and Curtains For You, both of whom performed at the Chop Suey last night, among the bands I cover at the Seattle Powerpop Blog.

I’ve never particularly cared for tight genre definitions anyway, and if I’m going to include Andy Werth’s bright sunny pop, then why not include others standing under than same umbrella?

That brings me to the subject of this post, one Sarah Shannon. In the 1990s, I was a huge Velocity Girl fan. Having released music on Sub Pop with Velocity Girl, Sarah already had Pacific Northwest connections. But, it was only a year or so ago that I realized that she actually lives here. She also put out a darn fine solo record of bright sunny pop music, as evidenced in the video below for her song “City Morning Song.” It veers a bit into Broadway territory at times. But, is an altogether pleasant listening experience.

She’s bringing her live act to the Triple Door this Saturday, January 19, and her live band includes some familiar Seattle names like Katie Freeze, Sonny Votolato, Paul Pugliese, Adam Fream, and Sarah Nelson.

Gary Miller runs the Seattle Powerpop Blog, which focuses on all things powerpop in the Pacific Northwest. SPB features album reviews, recommended shows, videos, mp3s and more.

The Greatest Hits (photo by Julie Boolie)

by Gary Miller

In last week’s post I mentioned that Central Services, Friday Mile and Brides of Obscurity are in what I think of as an affinity group of organic pop bands. As is likely true in every music community across the country, there are a number of such affinity groups in the powerpop community, often based around friendships and shared band members. A good example would be the Unsmashable Records clique that’s made up a core of The Riffbrokers, Young Sportsmen, The Doll Test and The Small Change

To some degree I think of the Sunset Tavern as ground zero for much of that part of Seattle’s powerpop scene. Equally, I think of the Comet Tavern — mostly thanks to Mamma Casserole’s good taste in music — to be the primary place to find powerpop’s dirtier, rougher, glam-influenced brethren.

This amalgam includes bands like The Cute Lepers, The Greatest Hits, Avenue Rose and others, as well as, to a lesser degree, The Pop Machine and The Boss Martians. Like the more melody-driven powerpop bands around town, these bands pull liberally from 1960s and 1970s influences. But, they’re much more likely to rely on punk rock and Sweet and Phil Spector’s girl groups than The Raspberries or Big Star.

But, where these various groupings of bands overlap is their dedication to the simplicity of pop songs played with power. Here are some videos from the glammier side of the Northwest.

Seattle’s The Greatest Hits

Olympia’s Avenue Rose

Portland’s The Soda Pop Kids

Gary Miller runs the Seattle Powerpop Blog, which focuses on all things powerpop in the Pacific Northwest. SPB features album reviews, recommended shows, videos, mp3s and more.

Brides of Obscurity

By Gary Miller

Maybe it’s a post-holiday stupor or something, but I struggled to figure out what to write about this week. But, after parsing through a dozen different kitschy themes and oddball angles, I decided to simply focus on a particular show that is happening on Friday, January 4, at the Tractor Tavern and give some MP3s to tantalize you.

The bill consists of three bands that are solidly mining what I think of as “organic pop.” There’s something earthy and comfortable about the sounds from all three. Although they are distinct in their approach from one another, they fall within what I like to think of as a musical “affinity group.” The line up is The Brides of Obscurity, Friday Mile and Central Services.

The Brides of Obscurity live, work and play in the long shadows of classic pop bands. I hear a lot of 1960s and 1970s influences their songs, as demonstrated on songs like “Sleep.” But, they have a quirk and a delivery of their own, primarily from bandleader Gary Reynolds’ vocals, lyrics and piano playing.

Friday Mile has long been a favorite of mine (in fact, they were the openers of the first show I ever produced in Seattle). The band is a living, breathing, authentic slice of emotional melody incarnate. Their song “Curtain Call” from their latest record is a good example.

I have a funny relationship with Central Services, having almost been their bass player on two separate occasions. Relationships aside, these fellows churn out consistently good music that is detailed and memorable — sometimes rocking (”4 Letter Word”), sometimes delicate (”Getting Better Lately”), and always poppy.

This is a good bill to see if you’re interested in solid, non-ironic, melodic music and good songwriting.

Gary Miller runs the Seattle Power Pop Blog, which focuses on all things powerpop in the Pacific Northwest. SPB features album reviews, recommended shows, videos, mp3s and more.

Paul Lynde Fan Club (source)

I must admit this week’s blog post deadline completely snuck up on me. Likely due to the xmas holiday, this past week flew by. With only a week or so left in 2007, it seems that this entire year has flown. In fact, this entire decade is speeding past me at an uncomfortable rate. When I was a kid, I assumed that by 2010 we’d all be cruising around with jet packs eating space food. We better get focused in the next few years!

Since last week’s post was dedicated to looking back over 2007, I figured the logical next step was to look forward into 2008, Nostradamus-style. I’ve got big expectations for the future. So, here’s an chronological list of things I completely assume will happen in 2008:

• Just after midnight on New Year’s Eve, Greg Collingsworth of The Small Change will burst into flames on stage at the Sunset Tavern. I can’t see the exact moment that it happens. But, if I had to guess, I would say it would be when he jumps on stage with The Tripwires to sing backing vocals on a Chuck Berry song during their encore.
• In June the fellows of Central Services will abandon the recording process for their new record to dedicate their attention full-time to the Board of Education side project after Nickelodeon offers them a television show.
• In the autumn, Scott Sutherland (The Doll Test, The Riffbrokers, Llama, Paul Lynde Fanclub) will be granted the Nobel Prize for his work in the obscure field of Overinvolvement.
• Just before 2008 comes to a close, your favorite band will reunite for a one-off show. Unfortunately, it will conflict with this work thing that you have to do. You’ll be bummed. But, you’ll forget about it in a day or two, because you got to see some clips on YouTube. It looked pretty crowded anyway, and the singer wasn’t as cute as you remember.

To avoid this post being 100 percent fluff, allow me to point you to a website that has the entire Llama recorded catalog available for free download. That includes the newest record in its entirety, and it isn’t even release yet.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope all your 2008 dreams come true.

Gary Miller runs the Seattle Power Pop Blog, which focuses on all things powerpop in the Pacific Northwest. SPB features album reviews, recommended shows, videos, mp3s and more.

Sgt. Major, Seattle Powerpop Blog Anniversary, Sunset 6/29/07
photo by Chris Force

I recently submitted my votes on Three Imaginary Girl’s Best of 2007 Reader’s Poll and I’ll use my ballot there as the starting point for my thoughts on:

Albums of the Year.

1. (tie) The Tripwires - Makes You Look Around
1. (tie) Young Sportsmen - Death to Palaces
3. The Color Bars - Kairos at Infinity
4. Andy Werth - Seeing Stars
5. Kurt Hagardorn - Ten Singles

The Tripwires and Young Sportsmen each released albums that are not only among the best Northwest releases of the year, but also deserve to appear on a lot of national “best of” lists, especially those that are in anyway related to powerpop. Without exaggeration, I wouldn’t trust a powerpop best of 2007 list that doesn’t include these two.

The Color Bars‘ record came out of left field, smacked me across the cheek and took me out into left field with them. I’ve often described the record as “Matthew Sweet and the Beach Boys drop acid in the middle of a Hello Kitty store.” But, that really doesn’t give the full picture. It’s melodic, and it’s poppy. It’s danceable in some places and brooding in others, and it somehow manages to look backward into pop music history and forward into pop music future at the same time. It was also sorely overlooked by nearly everyone, which may be partially because the band lost a few members at the same time that the album was being release. Thus, no shows were played to support the record.

Of all the unsung songwriters in the Northwest, Andy Werth and Kurt Hagardorn are two of the best. Neither of them are “singer/songwriter” types, per se. But, they are both very driven by writing evocative and compelling songs. Andy sounds like he’s coming from a world in which 1970s AM radio is still the place to go to hear the sounds of today, and Kurt hearkens even a little further back, with seemingly-primary influences like The Everly Brothers, Buck Owens and The Beatles just about equally.

On the live-show front, thinking back across the last twelve months (and re-read my reviews, since memory is faulty), three performances really stand out for me. Coincidentally, they all took place at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard.

Live shows of the year

1. Sgt. Major headlining the Seattle Powerpop Blog anniversary show
2. Amateur Lovers reunion show at the International Pop Overthrow Festival
3. Young Sportsmen CD release release show

All three shows involved great energy from the packed house and inspired performances from the stage. The number one live set of the year for me was Sgt. Major’s last show before taking a break of indeterminate length, and they came out with guns blazing and didn’t let up until the entire room was exhausted. Amateur Lovers were giddy from the audience love they received during their reunion set, which gave the room a great “group hug” vibe to go along with their sing-a-long pop. Young Sportsmen simply tore the roof off of the club with their energy, passion and volume to promote the release of their record, and with this show they finally had a sold-out crowd to match their enthusiasm.

I’d like to close out this “best of 2007″ post by declaring a song of the year:

“Song of the Year” is, of course, a completely subjective and debatable mantle. But, of all the great songs coming from the Pacific Northwest this year, this is the only one that grabbed me immediately upon listen and still shakes me by the shoulders after dozens of passes on my mp3 player.

Gary Miller runs the Seattle Power Pop Blog, which focuses on all things powerpop in the Pacific Northwest. SPB features album reviews, recommended shows, videos, mp3s and more.