KEXP DJs Kevin Cole & Cheryl Waters with Built to Spill

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Built To Spill @ Capitol Hill Block Party (photo by Hilary Harris)

All jokes about Axl Rose’s awful cornrows aside, it’s wet. It’s cold. The desire to hole up, not unlike many of our small rodenty friends of the animal kingdom (except with books / TV, and hot toddies) is overwhelming, but fight it for one more week! You know where you can find warmth and heat, besides under your camouflage Snuggie? That’s right! A rock show! We here at Three Imaginary Girls have a few suggestions that may make you want to poke your heads out of your burrows one last time before Groundhog’s day! Scurry out in your scarves and rain gear and gather up bits of indie rock, classic rock, punk, rap, and soul before Old Man Winter sets in. Stuff your metaphoric cheeks with the likes of these tasty kernels:

11/13/09 - Darren Hanlon / Rose Melberg / The Special Places @ Fremont Abbey: Darren Hanlon comes from the land down under, where indie pop flows and amps thunder…Well, he may not offer you a Vegemite sandwich, but he will offer you clever lyrics, sweet vocals, and charm from the land of plenty. Rose Melburg (Tiger Trap, the Softies, solo work) and The Special Places join him to make a twee parfait that will make you feel warm and snuggly on a cold fall evening.

11/14/09 - Gin Betty/Spanish For 100/The Fuzz @ The Comet: If the rain is making you feel a bit low, Gin Betty might just reflect how you’re feeling right back at you. Whiskey drenched and soulful, the music of Gin Betty has a dreamy quality to it that will guarantee an audience of swayers with the same sleepy glaze of enjoyment smeared all over their faces.

11/15/09 - KISS @ Key Arena: Pledge your allegiance to the state of Rock and Roll with KISS! They are coming to Seattle Rock City! You gotta lose your minds to the classic sounds of the Star Child, the Catman, the Demon, and the Spaceman. The KISS Army wants you! Interesting KISS trivia: Gene Simmon’s real name is Chaim Witz and he was born in Israel. Admit it; your mind is blown too, isn’t it?

11/16/09 - Raphael Saadiq @ Showbox SoDo: Singer, songwriter, actor, video game developer, label owner, producer, is there nothing this smooth, handsome brother can’t do? Back to finish stoking the fire he started in many hearts at Bumbershoot, he will be filling the Showbox SoDo with his velvety voice and his old school R&B slow jams. Hopefully, everyone will be able to hear him over all the lovesick sighs…

11/17/09 - Girls @ Neumo’s: If Elvis Costello and the Cramps made a glittery lo-fi baby and gave it to the Jesus and Mary Chain to raise, Girls might be that baby. They’re a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll, and thankfully not at all like an Osmond.

11/18/09 - The Fiery Furnaces/Cryptacize/Dent May @ Chop Suey: The Fiery Furnaces are like that cool artsy kid that everyone knew and liked in high school. They talked to everyone, but didn’t belong to any one particular group. They were cool enough to not get trashcanned or beaten up for lunch money, but “too weird” to be prom queen or class president. The Fiery Furnaces are clever, blippy, fun, and a little all over the map. Makes you wonder- do they smoke clove cigarettes in oversized black cardigans behind the gym?

11/19/09 - Built To Spill/Disco Doom/Finn Riggins @ Showbox: Trying to encapsulate anything about this well-loved, highly respected band in this limited space seems an exercise in futility. Just imagine how cool you’ll sound to co-workers and friends when you say “I saw Built to Spill last night” instead of “Hey, that episode of the Office was really funny, huh?”

11/20/09 - “Girls Rock Benefit-Goodness/The Redwood Plan/Eighteen Individual Eyes/Alicia Dara @ High Dive: According to their mission statement, “Girls Rock! Seattle is a non-profit organization dedicated to building positive self-esteem in girls and encouraging creative expression through music.” Nuff said. Embrace your inner Ginger Spice and be all about Girl Power! I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want is for this show to sell out and these young ladies to be able to continue to find their inner Joan Jett (what I imagine the polar opposite of zig-ah-zig-ah-ing is). Viva la chica!

Later skaters — I’m gonna go wail on my axe out in front of a church, or maybe dive through a wedding cake.
Mary Kwatkosky-Lawlor (Imaginary Mimi)
*Three Imaginary Girls*

In high i-pod rotation
Flight of the Conchords
The Feelies
Low Anthem

(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.)

One of the many reasons you love KEXP and would go out of your way to support us during our 2009 Fall Membership Drive (going on now!)? The fact that we go out of our way to bring you great music not just on the airwaves (and internet waves) but also for you to stream, watch and download on the KEXP Blog.

Just like every Tuesday, on Out This Week, where we scour the web to find the latest videos and legitimate MP3 links for your own guilt-free downloading, allowing you to sample each week’s new releases before you head out to your local record shop or online tone vendor. Not only is this a truly great resource for your own musical discovery, but it’s also smart thinking in these uncertain economic times. KEXP is here to help you!

And just look at today’s list of new releases! Yowza! Built to Spill (sorry, no MP3 but you can stream the whole thing here), Air, Lou Barlow, A Place to Bury Strangers, Dead Man’s Bones, The Dutchess & the Duke, Gossip, Califone, The Raveonettes, The Mountain Goats, The Very Best… and do I really need to keep going? Check out the complete list with links to buy from our friend Largehearted Boy, but don’t head out until you’ve had a chance to sample all of these fine tracks, compiled by the station where the music matters!

by Ben Funkhouser
photos by James Bailey

Audacity:
I spent some time at the Vera stage before the weekend got warmed up, just to enjoy an otter pop and feel the sun on my back. I chatted with some of the Audacity dudes, who turned out to be pretty nice guys. Their bass player told me all about their home town of Orange County, a fun but desolate place, where touring bands either played small house parties or moved on to L.A. I had high hopes for this band, I knew they were touring with legendary Los Angeles punks Mika Miko, and they did not disappoint. They took the awkward, sunny 4PM stage to a well sized but unprepared crowd. They tuned cacophonously for a few minutes and blasted into their garage-y styled punk music. Traditional dumb punk was what it seemed like at first, covered in distortion. While fun to watch, Audacity did not seem particularly memorable. But I stand corrected. Every few songs, a flash of pop genius would pull itself out of the noisy cluster of guitars and screaming. This band is about to write the best songs of their entire time as a band, I can feel it. The songs were simple, yeah, but they were able to convey the feeling that they needed to, making Audacity a far better band then I had originally pegged them as

Flexions:
This no-wave-y duo has been playing shows around the Seattle area for as long as I have been going to them, but I’ve never seen a better set than the one they played on Friday of the Capitol Hill Block Party. Their treble-y no wave sound is cushioned by samba and funk, as well as world rhythms, often played out on a simple drum machine, with the two members playing guitar and bass. Through the excellent sound set up, and the skilled work of the Vera Project’s Jeffrey McNulty, Flexions funk driven bass tones came through, in ways that their usual house shows didn’t allow. I got a feel for the complex and arty tones being repeated on the bass, and improvised and changed on the guitar. Flexions seem to be one of the only truly original bands in the city, the only influence I can directly decipher is hearing Devin Welch’s guitar playing, which is similar to the work in his old band, Shoplifting. It’s bleak in a post-punky kind of sense, but full in a way that is complemented by the fluid but simple bass lines played by Robin Stein. They recently released on the Journal of Popular Noise, which is quite a feat considering how picky that label seems to be. I felt that at block party, Flexions played so well, that I could soak in the no wave sensibilities of their sound, but also get down and dance to the funk bits of it.

Bow + Arrow:
I have been seeing Bow + Arrow for a long time. They started off as a two piece, jamming out quick changing but long-winded mathy emo songs. Amazing to see, and for the two years or so that they existed, Bow + Arrow were a common sight at Seattle house shows. They seemed to play every weekend. I went as many times as I could, I loved the power that I felt in Benji Rouse’s steady drumming, the ADHD math rock guitar styling of Lucas Thilman and the fluid and complicated bass lines that Jon Carr would play. Bow + Arrow seemed to evolve past where they could exist as the band that they were, and broke up. When I worked as the booking intern at Vera, and we were discussing who should play the Vera stage at Block Party, we decided to see if we could get Bow + Arrow back together to do it. I called Lucas, and we figured it out after a week or so. I was super excited, having not seen them for a good 6 months. The week before the show, Lucas told me to expect something different; two drummers and completely re-worked and new songs. Something more heavy and psychedelic, like an percussion oriented Gang Gang Dance. They took the stage and had some funny banter, like “this is our last show ever unless it’s really really fun, maybe.” Having two drummers definitely can mess things up, they can get off time, or screw each other up. This did not happen. Garrett Moore and Benji Rouse stayed perfectly on beat with each other, each covering the other for a fill or catching a missed beat (which rarely happened,) the two were amazing; it was super powerful and way well orchestrated. Instead of leading the songs, guitarist Lucas Thilman added reverb, and provided a rhythmic guitar base, for Jon Carr to cover with bass notes. It seemed almost as if the songs were being lead by the bass, with the guitar swooping behind it, or in and out of it. The bass playing was amazing though, I have to add, Carr was extraordinary. He played some complicated stuff, with an awesome fluidity and comfort. It’s a shame that Block Party was their last show ever. I’m sad that other kids who got into them after they broke up in January never got a real chance to see them. RIP one of Seattle’s best bands.

Built to Spill:
I saw BTS at the UW a few months ago; to my great pleasure, they played a nice mix of newer and older songs. These dudes have to be in their 40s or 50s, and they’re playing perfectly. They jammed their way through around fifty minutes of performance, each song going on longer than usual; the three guitars wove in and out of each other, loud and present but none over doing the others. The set drifted along quickly. I stood behind some older indie rock fans who seemed to be regular folks; they were talking about seeing Sonic Youth and Sebadoh back in the day. It made me wonder as to whether that’s what kids in the community will be like when they get older. Built to Spill played beautifully, there’s not much to tell!

The Jesus Lizard:
I never in a million years thought that I would get to see the Jesus Lizard. I thought that they were dead and gone, never to come back. So I settled with listening to them at my computer often. I really love the album, Goat, it really shows the abrasive and aggressive style of the band without becoming ugly. When I heard that they were playing Block Party, I freaked out and ran out to buy my ticket. I counted down the days until they played, getting more and more excited. When it came time for them to play, they didn’t disappoint. Singer David Yow was drunk, but he was walking, which is pretty good for him, from what I’ve heard. They dove into their set like a lemming dives off of a cliff. These guys are old, but they still seemed dangerous, the music was as chaotic as it was when the young noise rockers started in Chicago, over two decades ago. They definitely had the old guy precision that many bands of their age seem to get. The songs were played with a little more care than they used to be, the guitars are tuned carefully and everything is set up before hand. David Yow, however, was all over the place. He jumped with little warning into the crowd and managed to keep singing at the right times while he surfed for often entire songs. They blasted through their set with a fiery intensity that brought together noise rock and metal and punk fans of several generations. The pit was total chaos, and amazingly fun. The guitarist used minor key picking parts while a distorted bass lead the charge for Yow to scream his lungs out over. If you didn’t get to see this band, you seriously missed out!

Alex Crick

• The Capitol Hill Block Party just added to the already stellar lineup Built to Spill, The Lonely Forest, Fences, KEXP favorites Pela! Also added: Wild Orchid Children, Awesome Color, and a reunion of dance party masters Sing Sing. How many more reasons do you need to get your tickets now?

• While it may be a stretch to call themselves the Monsters of Folk, it isn’t a stretch at all to put lofty expectations of the upcoming release of Jim James, M. Ward, and Conor Oberst. The trio have traveled together in many forms through the years, so the supergroup’s self-titled album, due September 22nd, should provide fans with many jaw-dropping and goosebump inducing moments — or at least 15 songs of bliss.

• Merge continues to celebrate its 20th year in existence with the recently announced release of the book, Our Noise. Written by John Cook, with help from label founders Mac McCaughan and Laura Balance as well as an introduction written by Ryan Adams, Our Noise will map the label’s beginnings while exploring its continued success. Thrown in for good measure will be artist profiles on many of Merge’s biggest and brightest, including Spoon, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Arcade Fire.

• Label anniversaries abound! Warp Records, home to a wealth of ambient, electronic, and avant releases in its 20 years of existence, is putting the finishing touches on a five disc, five 10-inch box set, Warp20. Featuring some of the label’s seminal releases and a heavy dose of unreleased material, the set also comes with a 192-page hardbound book with the artwork of every Warp release through August 2009. The set will be ready by the end of September.

• The on-again off-again rumors or a Blur reunion are definitely back on and there’s now proof! In fact, only a mere 150 people got to witness their return (their first performance in nearly a decade) at the East Anglian Railway Museum in Essex on Saturday. Four more warm-up gigs are expected before they take their act to the big stages of the world. Read the review here and enjoy this snippet courtesy of Blur themselves:

• Clear Channel and Frontline Management, in a stab to take a bit of the audience away from the personalized and homogenized satellite radio crowd, is introducing A.P.E. (Artist Personal Experience). The program promises 24-hour online radio stations produced by musicians. Beginning in the July, the inaugural stations will consist of Weezer, The Eagles, and Christina Aguilera. The stations can be heard from any local Clear Channel radio station website, will feature advertisements, and the favorite selections of the namesake artists involved.

• On the heels of last year’s Black Wooden Ceiling Opening, Phil Elverum (AKA Mount Eerie) is taking his black metal sound — kindly dubbed “black wooden” by Mr. Elverum — into the full length album spectrum with the August 18th release of Wind’s Poem.

• South African band BLK JKS are preparing to follow up their critically acclaimed Mystery EP with their full-length debut, After Robots, produced by Secret Machines’ Brandon Curtis and featuring Chicago’s Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. You can preview a song here from the album, due September 8 on Secretly Canadian:

• For those of you who ignore Twitter (and no one blames you), you may be missing a chance of nabbing free music from your favorite musicians. A few artists have decided to spring new material on unsuspecting fans via the 140-character driven hype site, with The Raveonettes bequeathing demos to fans via the site. Not to be outdone, Roberto Lange (Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas) has released tracks from Tuitero Roto, his latest mini-album.

• Need more free music? How about a heavy dose of early 90s computer graphics? Sub Pop is giving you both with the downloadable label mix, Cybersex.

• It’s a very slow week on the late night talk show circuit this time around. Spinal Tap are “Back from the Dead” with Conan tonight while Camera Obscura is performing songs from their beautiful new album on the Late Late Show. Thursday’s the night you really need to park it on the couch, though, as Phoenix, The Dead Weather and Metric will all be live. There are only a few other highlights and your weekend is free and clear, that is, unless you want to stay home for the Jonas Brothers on SNL.
  Monday, June 15

  Conan O’Brien: Spinal Tap
  Late Late Show: Camera Obscura
  Last Call: Doves (R 5/26/09)

  Tuesday, June 16

  Last Call: Diane Birch

  Wednesday, June 17

  Last Call: Zee Avi
  Ellen DeGeneres: Keane

  Thursday, June 18

  David Letterman: Phoenix
  Conan O’Brien: The Dead Weather
  Late Late Show: Metric
  Last Call: Peaches
  Jimmy Kimmel: Ben Harper

  Friday, June 19

  David Letterman: The Sounds
  Last Call: The Ting Tings