Christopher Nelson

With over 50 bands and multiple stages making up this weekend’s Capitol Hill Block Party, it’s going to be impossible to not see a band you already love and find a new favorites. This year, the headliners on the Main Stage are so strong, you have to make sure to catch even just a few songs of each band (The Jesus Lizard on the Main Stage Friday night and Sonic Youth on Saturday). That leaves a schedule of 48+ other bands to wade through; Here is our preview of the other bands on the imaginary “must see at CHBP” list.

The Vera Stage brings L.A. lo-fi punk darlings Mika Miko screaming and singing in your face. I’m pretty amped to see them and Japandroids, the Vancouver, BC duo whose aggressive noisy guitar is accompanied by breakneck drumming and off key yelling. Their first LP, Post-Nothing will be released on August 4th in the US.

The Neumos Stage headlines Friday night with Sing Sing Reunion and Saturday night is Faux Punk, a Daft Punk cover dj crew whose performance is supposedly the closest thing to a recreation of the ALIVE tour that you’re gonna get this side of the decade.

And that’s only six out the scores that are going to blow your eardrums out. Some of the other bands I am personally unwilling to miss are the ever-ambient yet edgy Deerhunter, touring for their new and, poppy as they’ll ever be, EP Rainwater Cassette Exchange.

The bass-line country infused harmonics of Dutchess and The Duke are kicking off their tour for Sunrise/Sunset, their sophomore album. Black Lips never fail to give a crowd a good time and Band of Skulls will give you White Stripes flash backs that will be way better than that time you thought you were 16 on acid again.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have completely wooed me and I am ready to propose to the entire 80’s-era Pastel’s sweet, synthy, drum driven quartet. Them and Hey Marseilles‘ orchestral compositions will be a nice period of respite from the general raucousness before I check out Bow and Arrow, mayhem-making mathletes of Seattle’s punk noise scene. The Gossip will get me dancing and tired and by then I may be spent.

See you in the lemonade line,
Chelsea Wemer
*Three Imaginary Girls*

In high i-pod rotation:
The Weakerthans
The Thermals
Death Cab for Cutie

(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.)

The most anticipated album this week for KEXP listeners has to be The Eternal by Sonic Youth, who are headlining the mainstage at the Capitol Hill Block Party. KEXP is proud to sponsor this event especially when the lineup just gets better every year, so get your tickets now! Other notable releases this week come from Dirty Projectors, Deerhunter, Mos Def, Busdriver, Miike Snow (yesterday’s Song of the Day), Kasabian, Placebo, and Rhett Miller (of Old 97’s).We’ve been playing The Features‘ album for a while on KEXP and even had them perform during our broadcast from SXSW, but they’re finally getting a proper release. And Nacional put together a fantastic soundtrack to Rudo y Cursi, a Mexican film about brothers from a small village with big dreams of soccer stardom, featuring Juana Molina, Devendra Banhart, Nortec Collective, The Black Lips, among others, and Gael Garcia Bernal singing a Spanish version of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me.” Check it out:

Muy bueno. Check out the rest of the great new releases and Largehearted Boy’s list and head out to your favorite tienda de música.

• The legendary Queen of the Blues, Koko Taylor, died yesterday at age 80 due to complications resulting from her recent surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. Last month Taylor received her 29th award as a blues musician, making her the most honored artist in the genre and has shared the state with just about every other great blues musician during her long career. Read more about her life here.

• Tour dates have been announced for the Dan Deacon/ Deerhunter/ No Age extravaganza this summer. In addition to being an amazing billing, the shows will feature members of all three bands collaborating on stage throughout the set. As if they needed a gimmick to sell this one. Pitchfork has the full story and complete list of dates.

• Ten years ago this month Sean Fanning launched Napster and the ensuing P2P craze that has had the music industry on its head ever since. Billboard just sat down with Hilary Rosen who resided over the RIAA when Napster launched up until her resignation in ‘03. The Q&A session brings to light a lot of complexities involving the industries’ possible adoption of online music and is well worth a read and may give pause to anyone with blind anger towards the industries’ actions over the past decade.

• After merging with Atlantic five years ago and getting a time out, Elektra Records is back. Known mostly for housing staple rock acts like The Doors, The Stooges and The Eagles, Elektra is poised to make a comeback with an initial lineup that includes Justice, Little Boots and Cee-Lo. Since next year also marks the 60th anniversary of Elektra’s founding, expect to see some hefty reissues in the near future.

• In festival news, Calgary’s Sled Island Fest, set for June 24-27 (with some spillover), now has a complete lineup. Taking place at dozens of venues across the city, Sled Island consists of an overwhelming array of music, art, film and other media. The varied batch of bands includes HEALTH, Biz Markie, The Breeders, Final Fantasy, Seattle’s lost boys Japanther and a ton of others. Get thee to Calgary!

• On a sadder note, Exene Cervenka of the band X has revealed she’s been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Regarding her illness, Cervenka had this to say:

  My focus will certainly be on maintaining my health,” Cervenka, 53, said. “Many people remain strong and continue to live their lives as productively as they had before an MS diagnosis, and I plan to be one of those people.

  Regarding her near-future plans with X, Cervenka says, While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall.

• It appears Roger Waters has his own Road Map to peace in the Middle East. According to NME, Waters has offered to play Pink Floyd’s ‘79 album The Wall, in its entirety and on location, if the wall in the West Bank comes down. The performance would be a repeat of Waters’ show in Berlin following the 1990 bringing down of the Berlin Wall.

• Who says traumatizing little kids can’t be fun? Check out the brand new video for MGMT’s “Kids”:

Along with The Stranger and Caffe Vita, KEXP 90.3 FM is proud to present The 2009 Capitol Hill Block Party, Seattle’s Premiere Celebration of Independent Music on July 24 & July 25th.

The first part of the lineup has just been announced:

Get daily updates, videos, special promotions and more on their new website

Tomorrow, Tuesday April 28th, 10:00am, through April 30, is a special pre-sale (promo code is BLOCKPARTY)

After that, early bird tickets are available from May 1 through May 15: 2 day passes - $40 / single day tickets - $22