review by Jason Kinnard
photos by Alex Crick

Sunday night was a great night out for an All Ages show at the Vera Project. I had finished all my Father’s Day activities earlier in the day and noticed the nice line-up; it was a perfect night to check out the new location and listen to a few bands. Noticeably absent from the initial bill was Viva Voce, who were just wrapping up a tour, their spot being replaced by one of my favorite local bands Thee Emergency. I was already excited to see Kiwi rockers Cut Off Your Hands again (we reviewed their first show back in February) so this new addition to the line-up was just icing on the cake.

Little did I realize just how much the kids must love their fathers – the place was absolutely dead for a Sunday Night. Dead enough that you start actually feeling bad for the bands. In fact, with a few other photogs and writers in attendance this may have been one of the most well documented small shows in Seattle history. Based on the lineup alone, the low turnout was surprising.  When the local opener went on, there were fewer than ten people on the dance floor — myself and a couple photogs included. The band managed a quick set of poppy tunes that wasn’t incredibly memorable (what was this band’s name again?), but not incredibly horrible either. What was funny is just how young they looked as they finished their set and took the front of the stage to watch veteran local soul rockers Thee Emergency. I had previously only seen Thee Emergency at bigger local 21+ venues where their throwback rock seemed to enhance heavy drinking; the kind of raucous band made for partying. It was going to be fun watching how frontwoman Dita Vox was going to handle the all-ages crowd. When the band started, I wasn’t exactly sure if Dita was pissed off or if this was her normal demeanor. Then I saw what caught her eye; it was the opening band busily munching away on a bag of Dick’s fries at the front of the stage. This elicited her first warning to the youngsters; “If you don’t put that bag of food down…” or something to that effect. Flash forward a few songs later and Dita had moved a couple of stage monitors out of the way so she could get closer to the crowd. This is when things started to get interesting. I noticed that the bag of food in question was now at the feet of the teen bandmembers yet they still continue to reach down and grab the occasional fry. Without skipping a beat, Dita reached down, grabbed the bag and launched it all the way across the venue: fries everywhere. In her own little way, she was saying this is what rock & roll is all about. She then did a great job of slinking through the crowd and making some of the kids uncomfortable, dancing on tables and singing dangerously close to some people. Most everyone smiled but a few kids looked like deer caught in headlights. For them, it was probably their first close encounter experience with a band as explosive as Thee Emergency. The intimate performance was over before we knew it and the band hurriedly exited the stage, leaving an incredibly raw and wonderful set in their wake.

Next up were New Zealand headliners Cut Off Your Hands . I’d seen them earlier in the year and wanted to see how they had progressed; plus they were a fun live band to watch. Alex had seen them play the previous night in Portland, so it would be interesting to hear his comparisons. I loved how they started too. Quick soundcheck, no warning. They immediately ripped into their set before anyone even had a chance to react. The floor was completely empty until they started playing, so it was funny to see everyone scramble. They played a near non-stop set of what you might call pop/punk with a dance twist. I thought it sounded much crisper than their earlier appearance, and Alex said it sounded even better than the previous night as well. Gone were all the thrashing stage antics from before; they seemed much more focused on sounding good than anything else. Nothing wrong with that; they sounded fantastic.

Despite the small size of the crowd, both bands gave incredible performances and taught the kids of Vera a valuable lesson. Always give it your best, even when it seems nobody’s watching. If you’ve never been to the Vera Project or don’t know what they’re all about, give them another look.

This weekend, the Northwest Film Forum is previewing Bjork’s Voltaic: The Volta Tour Live in Paris as it circulates through theaters around the country before the CD/DVD combo is released for purchase next week. On either Friday or Saturday night at 11PM, you can watch the concert footage from her performance at l’Olympia, Paris, during her Volta tour nearly a year ago to the day (6/25/08).

The first question that probably comes to mind is why would you want to sit in a movie theater and watch what you could possibly see for yourself in concert? Why not go out to an actual show, or wait for Bjork to come back to Seattle? Simply put: you’ll never get this close to Bjork in your life! Anyone familiar with the Icelandic superstar knows that her live shows are a visual feast unlike any other performer out there, and the costumes, dancing, stage arrangements and orchestration of the two-year Volta tour far surpassed any of the highest production concerts short of Cirque de Soleil. Yet, her performances in any given town are already rare enough, and when she does make it through and you manage to buy a ticket, you’re amid tens of thousands of people, and all you can make out from your seat is a flittering colorful speck. For as flashy a spectacle as a Bjork show might be, there’s plenty of nuance you’re missing from the crowd, no matter where you sit.

But that begs the next question: just how good is Voltaic? Plenty of other concert videos abound, and the best of them — The Last Waltz, We Jam Econo, The Road to God Knows Where — combine live footage with on-the-road excerpts to build a story. Voltaic is one long concert — no b-roll, no tour documentary, just director Russell Thomas’ dazzling editing and videography. Throughout the film, every colorful detail and visual idiosyncrasy is brought to you by bird’s eye view, stage hand’s view, front row view, side stage view, and, well, you get the point. If there’s a possible angle to be had, it’s covered. In contrast, at a live show, no matter where you sat, you’d never get a chance to see Damian Taylor working the ReacTable or drummer Chris Corsano tapping shells spread out across a drumhead. You’d lose sight of the kabuki-meets-anime-meets Native American warpaint makeup and the rainbow lionfish costumes. You’d miss the tribal dancing of Wonder Brass, the all-female 10-piece brass ensemble, and the nimble fingers of keyboardist Jonas Sen would be completely lost to you. But even were you blind, you’d still thrill at Voltaic’s lushly mixed sound, far better than than it must have sounded to even the attending crowd. All this presented on a full movie theater screen? It’s hard to image ever wanting to go to a live show again!

The last question to ask yourself is this: when the confetti fireworks explode on “Army of Me,” will you be able to sit down again for the rest of the film? If the rest of the audience has any sense at all — and you’ll be lucky if yours don’t get completely overloaded — it will be a dance party in the auditorium!

If you’d like to see either the Friday, June 26, or Saturday, June 27, show (both at 11:00PM), email now for a chance to win free tickets! Two lucky winners, chosen at random from all emails sent before 5PM (PST) today, will get a pair of tickets for the show of their choice.

Jon Vachon

The Staten Island band Cymbals Eat Guitars have been getting a lot of buzz and rave reviews on their live shows and debut, Why There Are Mountains — and no wonder: their sound checks indie rock icons like Modest Mouse, Pavement, Built to Spill, even My Bloody Valentine at various times without sounding exactly like any of them. At times explosive, pensive, melodic and jagged, the album shows a band matured beyond their, mostly, young years (bassist Neil Berenholz, 32, is the oldest of the still-in-college bunch). Last week, Berenholz along with Joseph Ferocious (vocals and guitars), Brian Hamilton (keyboards), and Matthew Miller (drums) performed an exclusive set on the Morning Show with John Richards. Here’s “Wind Phoenix” from that session:

recorded at The Cutting Room Studios NYC
video by Louis Sparre/Electric Tweed

more photos by Jon Vachon:

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Afternoon Show host Kevin Cole, is “Always the Same” by The Legends from the 2009 album Over And Over on Labrador Records.

A quick perusal of Labrador’s label page for The Legends describes the band as “nine persons that play drums, guitars, tambourine, organ, bass and sing… [many of which] have never before played their instruments. ” One must assume this is either painfully out of date or just a bit of Swedish tom-foolery as Johan Angergård (Acid House Kings, Club 8, Pallers) is the principle if not the real only member, and has released three proper albums and countless singles since the band’s inception way back in 2003. Even I could master the tambourine in six years!

The Legends earned national attention, and a high Pitchfork rating, with 2004’s Up Against The Legends (KEXP listeners are sure to remember “Call It Ours“). In the years that followed, they’ve released two more full-lengths and several EPs. Their latest release, Over and Over, is hazy and densely layered while remaining bright and melodious. While Angergård clearly draws from the 60’s — Beach Boys, The Beatles, and even Krautrock — he continues to mash these influences together with the experimental noise pop of bands like My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth to birth songs that are both familiar and unique.

“Always the Same” is a perfect example of this familiarity in action. The female vocals had me flipping through the mental rolodex for at least 20 minutes — trying to place the likeness… was it Isobel Campbell (Belle and Sebastian, Gentle Waves)? Rose Melberg (Go Sailor, Tiger Trap, The Softies)? Amelia Fletcher (Heavenly, Marine Research)? All three of these voices are somehow melded together here to create some three-headed twee monster (a cute kind of monster) reinforced by an army of distorted guitars and a seriously punchy bass line. Angergård’s understated vocals join the foray so delicately they’re almost imperceptible. “Always the Same” is (dare I say it) a juxtaposition of upbeat happy music and introverted lyrics. Sarcasm with a smile. And earplugs.

Typically, Johan Angergård is at home in Sweden running Labrador Records, but New York listeners are in luck because The Legends are performing at Santos Party House today, The Bowery tomorrow, and The Studio at Webster Hall on Friday. Check out their MySpace page for other dates. Catch ‘em while they’re in the U.S.! For the rest of us, there’s this new video for today’s Song of the Day:

Greetings, KEXPers. Michele Myers here. I produce KEXP Documentaries. Short radio stories on musical subjects. Our current series is all about the cutting edge in international music. It’s called The New World, not only because it’s new and world music, but also because it is about exploration and discovery…

This past week we featured Nortec Collective, a group of electronic music producers from Mexico. They started out doing strictly dance music, but then had an idea to mix Northern Mexican music (norteno) with the beats and loops they had gotten so good at. They also wanted their songs to incorporate all the music they loved growing up. Their home city of Tijuana, Mexico is close enough to the border to catch radio signals from the U.S, so they heard styles from all over the world on those stations.

Unbelievably, Nortec Collective has created trippy, jazzy, dance tracks by mixing Mexican sounds and beats with influences from bands as diverse as: Joy Division, Kraftwerk and Herb Alpert and the genres of disco, house and techno. How could this possibly work? Check it out.

KEXP Documentaries are produced by Michele Myers, with assistance from John Felthous and Leah Pogwizd. You can hear all our KEXP Docs series including: Punk Evolution, Masters of Turntablism, The Heart of Soul, Pop Goes Electronic and more in the On Demand section of kexp.org.

New album by Dinosaur Jr.! Not much more needs to be said about that. It should be on top of everyone’s CD stack this week. Never mind the bad band names on the rest — Lord Cut-Glass, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Amazing Baby, Spinnerette, Deer Tick, Sunset Rubdown, Pete Yorn (sorry, Pete!) — there’s actually a lot a great music landing in record stores today. Lord Cut-Glass, for instance, is former Delgados frontman Alun Woodward; God Help the Girl is a bunch of songs penned by Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian and sung by a variety of female vocalists; and you probably already know that Sunset Rubdown is a project of Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug. Deer Tick’s latest fits right in there with The Godfather, Part 2, and The Empire Strikes Back as one of those sophomore efforts that surpasses an already great original. Tom Brosseau, Foreign Born, The Antlers (remastered), Future of the Left, Patterson Hood, Hockey, Tortoise, and Regina Spektor are other artists of high interest this week. Grab Largeheared Boy’s list as you head out to your local record shop, but not until you’ve checked out these fine tunes:

by Chris Estey

This week in literature-friendly, music-loving Seattle we have two legendary rock writers, Gillian G. Gaar and Richie Unterberger, making public appearances for their brand new tomes: The Rough Guide to Nirvana and White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day-By-Day, respectively.

Gillian Gaar has informed and entertained local and national rock fans for years by freelancing for The Rocket tabloid (among many other publications), and has had a huge influence on national women writers in the music scene with books such as She’s A Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll. She wrote the 33 1/3 volume on Nirvana’s In Utero (one of the most well researched and balanced of the Continuum series) and knows enough about the band to have been consultant on their With The Lights Out box set.

When a record company brings in a critic to help put together an in-depth, luxurious anthology for an artist/group, they’re usually the kind of people that can tell you EVERYTHING about them. I think Everett True’s and Charles R. Cross’s books on Nirvana are both fantastic in their own ways, but The Rough Guide to Nirvana (Rough Guide/Penguin) is both the clearest gateway book for a history of the band’s music, social significance, and private struggles — and perhaps the most necessary. Kurt Cobain is only part of the story here (albeit a big part), and the insider’s care with which she describes what excitement and changes Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl went through as well with the band seems far more tied to the collective nature of Nirvana than on a specific speculation on the destructive nature of celebrity.

Garr is a tenaciously coherent reporter with a fan’s desire to scurry together every wild and weird detail about what she loves, and tends to report multiple viewpoints on any topic or situation. Here, for example, you will find the tightest and funniest anecdote on the Cobain Vs. Axl Rose incident at the MTV Music Awards; richly focused sidebars on “Grunge hype,” “Nirvana’s UK TV shows,” “The lost videos,” and the very appreciated “Unreleased tracks”; and a killer assessment of all the musicians’ releases, before and after and in and out of Nirvana. It is the best Nirvana (and related) record guide there is, and simply adds to the exact reporting and disturbing revelations of True’s and Cross’s books, without repeating the information from either.

Do we really need another Nirvana book? Yes, if it’s in this “Rough Guide” format, which through maddening editorial skill on the part of the author condenses everything meaningful about the band into one sweet, dense study. But a similar question could easily be asked about the Velvet Underground, a band I’m even more personally fond of, but just as bored with reading about.

I have been a fan of Richie Unterberger’s for many years, relishing his must-have volumes on marginal pop music artists Urban Spacemen & Wayfaring Strangers: Overlooked Innovators & Eccentric Visionaries of 60s Rock, and Unknown Legends of Rock ‘n’ Roll. But I wasn’t so thrilled with the idea of an immense and intense chronology of everything related to the band, since it seemed that previous works like All Yesterday’s Parties (an anthology of contemporaneous rock write on the Velvet Underground) seemed to be scraping the bottom of the barrel a little. Now comes (here it comes, yeah yeah, here it comes) White Light/White Heat (Genuine Jawbone) and it is fucking beautiful and just wipes out most of the other books about the band in terms of depth and relevance.

A ginormous, elegant, exhaustive extrapolation of intimate moments and many years in the lives of Reed, Cale, Tucker, Nico, and the others, it is like a “Extreme Expanded Rough Guide,” hitting VU significance day by day for years on end, in the 60s till just recent times. It draws on all the books you may know of and/or read, and tons of fanzines, long forgotten record reviews in regional press, and very rare quotes you’ll be amazed to encounter for the first time. There are new interviews too, and every barnstorming show and b-side decision is put under the microscope. The photos of the band alone in this coffee table extravaganza are many most have never seen before (Moe Tucker in particular comes more into visual focus, and I want to frame several shots of her from here), but along with the cherished recording trivia we now we have years of barbed wire assessments and tender losses to gorge our passion for the VU with. This is THE Velvet Underground book, kids, bar none.

Seattle-based Gillian Gaar will be doing two public appearances promoting The Rough Guide to Nirvana — today, Tuesday, June 23, at Capitol Hill’s Bailey/Coy Books (7 to 9 PM, 414 Broadway E.), and then a signing party at Feedback Lounge, in West Seattle on June 25, from 7 to 9 pm. From the PR: “Books will be for sale (courtesy of Bailey/Coy), and this establishment comes equipped with a full bar and pinball machines. Feedback is located at 6451 California Ave SW, 206 453 3259. This event is 21-and-over!” Gaar is very charming and knows how to party, so don’t expect any academic standoffishness. Come hang out with the local scribes and their friends!

Unterberger is making a rare Pacific NW appearance on Wednesday, June 24, to talk about the mammoth Day-By-Day. It’s slated for 6:30 PM at the downtown Central Library (located on 1000 Fourth Avenue). This would be a good time to bring your coveted editions of Turn! Turn! Turn! or Eight Miles High to get signed — and he might have a copy of his VU masterpiece to show off too.

photos by Chona Kasinger and Tracy Cilona

On Sunday, Father’s Day, KEXP families and friends gathered for the 4th Annual Kids Dance Party, hosted by John Richards, at the Showbox Sodo. DJs Darek Mazzone, Kid Hops and Riz provided the beats for the kids and their parents to dance and have fun. Plus, there was break dancing lessons by Massive Monkeys, cupcakes from Cupcake Royal, face painting, crafts, coloring, and a whole lot more. Check out the photos:

see more photos of the Dance Party by Chona Kasinger and Tracy Cilona

Amanda Lopez

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Afternoon Show host Kevin Cole, is “Continue to Call” by Nino Moschella from the 2009 album Boomshadow available on Ubiquity Records.

Like a lot of gifted musicians, Nino Moschella was surrounded by music at an early age. He even describes his own family as “typical loud Sicilian folks” who were always singing. In fact, at the age of five, Moschella was already learning to keep time on drums for his father’s rhythm & blues band. Years later, he had set his course on being a traditional jazz drummer. Eventually expanding his skill set to include bass, guitar, strings, and piano, the Bay Area multi-instrumentalist now plays just about every instrument he can get his hands on in the new album.  Influenced by soul, funk, and gospel, Moschella with his gritty vocals and distinct sound puts a new twist on some seriously classic genres.  Today’s Song of the Day, “Continue to Call,” almost has an electronic/dance feel to it, but is definitely more strongly rooted in funk than anything else and fits right into the roster of Ubiquity Records, which since 1993 has always been a specialist when it comes to forward leaning funk and soul. Nino Moschella is no exception.  Just his sophomore release on the label, Boomshadow, takes on amazing new heights, he still manages to pay tribute to his older funk predecessors.

In the past, Nino Moschella has performed at Bumbershoot and SXSW; however, there are currently no scheduled shows posted on his MySpace page. However, you can go there to listen to additional tracks or read more about him on his website.

by DJ El Toro

I have notoriously flawed instincts when it comes to popular music. Before the release of Mariah Carey’s first album, I famously told a Sony executive his label was wasting time and money because the public would never go for such an obvious Whitney Houston knockoff.

Naturally, with such keen acumen, I became a professional music critic.

As Brian Eno observes in the documentary Scott Walker: 30th Century Man, many folks who write about music for a living are desperately trying to recapture the excitement of their teenage years. Which is, in part, a large part of why I remain fascinated by the enigmatic Walker. Most of the heroes in my pantheon acknowledge him as a huge influence. Eno, David Bowie, Gavin Friday, Marc Almond, and Jarvis Cocker are just a few of the talking heads who weigh in on Walker — his dramatic baritone, enigmatic lyrics, an approach to songwriting that owes more to European classical music than pop or rock — in this film (which has just been issued on DVD).

30th Century Man traces the trajectory of Walker’s career from teen idol to today. His origins as one-third of California ’60s pop trio the Walker Brothers (who became huge UK pop stars on the back of hits like “Make It Easy On Yourself” and “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)”), his sudden fall from grace with an album now regarded — even by a dolt like me — as a masterpiece (1969’s Scott 4), and the mystique that has risen up around him in the 40 years since. Mythology paints Walker as a shadowy recluse, but the man in Stephen Kijak’s film is candid and affable. Then he steps back into the control booth and talks his percussionist through punching a side of beef to create a rhythm track. Seriously.

Much of this film was shot during the making of Walker’s most recent release, The Drift. Which brings me back to my own shortcomings. When that disc was released, back in 2006, I gave it a middling review. A man spends a decade making a record, and I dismiss it with two stars. Heck, I’m still wading through Walker’s previous studio album, 1995’s Tilt. Watching 30th Century Man, I did the math and realized The Drift should start making sense to my ears right around my 50th birthday. Hopefully by then I’ll have finally accepted that my adolescence is in the rear view mirror — and Walker will be issuing another long-player that does my head in.

As a music reviewer, I have my shortcomings. But as an armchair film critic, I give Scott Walker: 30th Century Man very high marks (just look aside during those occasional musical passages where the graphics seem better suited to a TV advert for a yoga studio or some sort of new age tea beverage). I’d stake my professional reputation on that — but you should watch the DVD regardless.

DJ El Toro is the host of the overnight show In Between Sleep & Reason, Wednesday mornings from 1 AM to 6 AM on KEXP 90.3 FM Seattle and kexp.org. His column, Weird At My School, will be going on hiatus while he is researching and writing a new book, but will resume in earnest later this year. You can now follow DJ El Toro on Twitter!