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Chona Kasinger

Last Saturday, we hosted the 7th Annual KEXP BBQ with six great bands, each bringing something different: Champagne Champagne brought the grungy party rap, Born Anchors the straight up indie rock, Japandroids a double punch of guitar/drum punk fury, Cymbals Eat Guitars sprawlingly epic rock, Viva Voce the Portland-bred indie pop, and Dinosaur Jr. more decibels of sonic squall than you could possibly handle without protection. We’ll be featuring photos and videos from the BBQ all week, but here are a select few to help you remember or make you wish you were there:

Brittney Bush Bollay

Ideally summertime is all about getting sweaty and silly at free outdoor music shows. And guess who sticks to their ideals? Our provider of independent, new music, KEXP. Their summer concert series at the Mural Amphitheater in Seattle Center is running over the next few weeks to bring you a plethora of pitch-perfect bands for free. This Saturday, the 8th happens to be their annual BBQ from 2-9 pm and you know it’s going to rock your socks off.

Headlining is Dinosaur Jr. whom I have never had the pleasure of seeing live despite listening to them for years now. But what I’m really excited for is the New York City based Cymbals Eat Guitars. Their album Why There are Mountains, came out earlier this year and seamlessly blends Isaac Brock-esque yells and softer meandering ambience full of stinging guitar riffs and carefully placed complex time signatures that you fall in to like a waterbed, creating your own ripple inside of a contained and packed sound.

Portland’s Viva Voce is playing as well. Their new album, Rose City is the husband and wife duo’s most blatantly sincere release. They’re expanded lineup delivers a larger musical framework for their intimate songs to thrive within. And if you’re looking for intimacy, check out Japandroids for two Vancouver boys who love making their particular brand of yelling and racket together.

Born Anchors and champagne champagne will be kicking the day off so get there early, eat food, stay hydrated and don’t miss what’s sure to be the coolest BBQ to attend this summer.

See you front and center for Cymbals Eat Guitars,
Chelsea Werner
*Three Imaginary Girls*

In high i-pod rotation:
Cave Singers - Welcome Joy
Discovery - LP
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I wish I were a horse

(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.)

Brittney Bush Bollay

As you may have heard, KEXP has combined forces with the Seattle Center this summer to present the 2009 Concerts at the Mural series.  Things got off to a grand start at last Friday’s opener, with some memorable performances from the mighty Blitzen Trapper and native sons Throw Me The Statue.  The free and all-ages series continues this weekend with local ill-rhymers Dyme Def and Fresh Espresso set to go Friday evening, followed by the 7th Annual KEXP BBQ from 2-9pm on Saturday.

A special inclusion to the Mural series, this year’s BBQ features an incredible, fuzzrock-heavy lineup—Dinosaur Jr., Cymbals Eat Guitars, Viva Voce, Japandroids, Born Anchors, Champagne Champagne — and is now a free (yes, free!!) event.  A full beer garden will be on hand for the over-21-and-thirsty crowd, along with food available for purchase from Ballard Bros, Korman, Whole Foods, and Big O’s Barbecue.

Check out the tunes and video footage below from some of the performers, and don’t miss what is sure to be one of the musical highlights of the summer!

Dinosaur Jr. - I Want You To Know (MP3)

Viva Voce - Octavio (MP3)

Born Anchors - In Disguise (MP3)

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Cold Spring (MP3)

Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire (MP3)

Champagne Champagne - Magnetic Blackness (MP3)

Kyle Johnson

Need a little spice in your Friday evenings? Ticketmaster service fees got you down? Well, my friend, KEXP has got just the prescription for you.

Starting this weekend, KEXP is teaming up with the good people behind Seattle Center to present a weekly series of free, all-ages concerts on the lawn of the Mural Amphitheater. Come bask in the warm glow of Seattle summer and enjoy live performances from some of KEXP’s favorite artists, every Friday from 5-8pm, July 31st through August 21st.

The series opens this Friday with the country-fried power pop stylings of Portland’s Blitzen Trapper, followed by the lyrical indie-rock of local outfit Throw Me The Statue. Other upcoming artists include the 206’s own Dyme Def and Fresh Espresso -- two of the most forward-thinking groups in hip-hop today — along with down-home rockers The Moondoggies and percussive-folkies The Dodos.

As special inclusion to the series, the 7th Annual KEXP BBQ will also be taking place at the Mural stage and is now a free event. This year’s BBQ lineup includes breakout bands like Cymbals Eat Guitars and Japandroids, as well as a special headlining set from the legendary Dinosaur Jr.

For the full mural series and BBQ lineup, see below. You’ll also find some free tunes from some of the performing artists — check em out!

Friday 7/31, 5-8pm
Blitzen Trapper
Throw Me the Statue

Friday 8/7, 5-8pm
Dyme Def
Fresh Espresso

Saturday 8/8, 7th Annual KEXP BBQ! 2-9pm
Dinosaur Jr
Viva Voce
Cymbals Eat Guitars
Japandroids
Born Anchors
Champagne Champagne

Friday 8/14, 5-8pm
The Dodos
Army Navy

Friday 8/21, 5-8pm
Fruit Bats
The Moondoggies
Johnny and the Moon

Throw Me The Statue - Lolita

Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation (MP3)

Dinosaur Jr - I Want You To Know (MP3)

The Dodos - Fools

Fresh Espresso - Big or Small (MP3)

Alicia J. Rose

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. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s featured selection is “Octavio” by Viva Voce from their album Rose City available through Barsuk Records.

Today’s offering is from our neighbors to the South, Portland’s own Viva Voce. Rose City, an album named for their adopted hometown, is the fifth full length release from this band (and second with their current label) which for the bulk of their career was a husband and wife duo. Known for their dynamic stage presence, these two rockers originally from Huntsville, Alabama were able to make their songs sound fuller by utilizing a variety of looping techniques. I remember seeing them at EMP’s Sky Church and wishing I had earplugs. Rose City is the follow up to 2006’s well received Get Yr Blood Sucked Out which afforded Kevin and Anita Robinson the opportunity to tour almost non-stop in support of it. New to this album is the addition of two more performers who were recently added to their official line up: Evan Railton (Swords, and also joined them in their country rock band Blue Giant) and Corrina Repp a vocalist and songwriter from Portland. It was written, arranged, and recorded in 30 days which reflects the furious pace at which this group tackles any project. They wanted to capture more spontaneity and sonic experimentation on this album and tracks like today’s song “Octavio” with its anthemic beats reflect that urgency and immediacy.

Viva Voce recently performed at the Sasquatch Music Festival and won’t be back to Seattle for awhile. They are currently on tour with fellow Portlanders Cutt Off Yr Hands. They will be playing a homecoming show at The Wonder Ballroom on June 20th to end their tour. Check out their website to get dates and hear about their various escapades on the road. Here’s a conversation they had with DJ Sharlese during Sasquatch:

James Blackshaw, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Wand (aka James Toth of Wooden Wand), Sir Richard Bishop, Bachelorette, Sharon Van Etten… what’s everybody smoking these days? This week’s list of new releases contains a kind stash of of avant folk and psychedelia. Even perhaps the most anticipated album this week, Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest, fits in nicely with this hazy bunch. Other great releases this week come from Phoenix, Viva Voce, The Intelligence, Naomi Shelton, Lindstrom & Prins Thomas, Dave Alvin, Joyo Velarde (debuting solo from her usually work with Lyrics Born), and James Yuill, who will be live today on KEXP at 3PM! Crib a sheet from Largehearted Boy and head out to your favorite record dealer:

Gregory A. Prez

• Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be at a festival curated by Spoon in the band’s birthplace of Austin? Apparently Britt Daniel and the band have, so they’ve turned your dreams into a reality. SPOONX3 is barnstorming Stubb’s Amphitheater July 9-11. Headlined by Spoon each evening, the shows will feature differing opening acts and the promise of new Spoon Material. Joining the group during the festivities will be Trail of Dead, Low, Atlas Sound, Dale Watson, Black Joe Lewis, and The Strange Boys.

• In the ever-increasing amalgamation of American and Latin culture, the upcoming Rudi y Cursi soundtrack will feature the likes of Devendra Banhart, Dios Malos, and Juana Molina providing their own takes on regional Mexican classics. The film’s star, Gael Garcia Bernal, also contributes a Spanish-infused version of the Cheap Trick classic, “I Want You to Want Me.” The OST hits iTunes May 5th with the physical release slated for June 9th.

• Sample surgeon Girl Talk — who chooses the mild-mannered moniker Gregg Gillis by day — tells Billboard that his current malleable material flirts with the idea of creating actual songs rather than focus on clipped mash-ups. Please, save you Negativland and Paul’s Boutique vitriol for another time.

• In advance of a new single, a new album, and their upcoming Sasquatch appearance, Portland group Viva Voce are sharing the first track from Rose City (May 26 on Barsuk). Check it out now:

• Oklahoma has little going for it. Aside from some beautiful landscapes and basketball bragging rights for stealing Seattle’s mediocre basketball franchise, the true beauty of Sooner state shines in the music of The Flaming Lips. It turns out the people of Oklahoma, voting on a new state rock song, resoundingly voted for the OKC-based band’s “Do You Realize?” to represent them. Their elected officials in the State House, however, had other plans. But decreeing it the rule of the people, Governor Brad Henry vetoes the House’s nay and gave the people what they wanted: a song about accepting death.

• Webzine Tiny Mix Tapes has delivered the site’s first compilation, Tiny Mix Tapes Vol. 1: Darfur. Featuring Jim O’Rourke, Frog Eyes, WHY? and Dan Deacon (among others) the CD/LP is a fundraising apparatus, with 100% (you are reading that right) going to the International Rescue Committee. To find out more or to buy the compilation, click here Good music for a good cause — you give and you get!

• Apparently there’s more milking to be done to the Nirvana legacy — this time in the form of a live DVD chronicling the band’s 1992 set at world-renowned Reading Festival. The November disc will also contain unseen footage and the dollar sign eyes of Courtney Love.

• The musical guests on the late night talk shows this week are mostly reruns, but it’s definitely worth staying up or setting your DVR for Antony and the Johnsons on the Late Late Show, Bat for Lashes on Letterman, and most definitely The Decemberists‘ return to the Colbert Report for a rematch after guitarist Chris Funk was out-shredded by Stephen Colbert himself. If you missed their first appearance, you can witness their shame now:
  
  

  The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
  Chris Funk
  colbertnation.com

  Here are the rest of the week’s highlights:
  

  Monday, April 27

  Jimmy Fallon: Morrissey (R 3/23/09)
  Last Call: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (R 4/3/09)
  Colbert Report: The Decemberists
  Jimmy Kimmel: Franz Ferdinand (R 4/16/09)
  Tavis Smiley: Prince

  Tuesday, April 28

  Last Call: The Duke Spirit (R 3/20/09)
  Ellen DeGeneres: Prince

  Wednesday, April 29

  David Letterman: Manchester Orchestra
  Late Late Show: Antony and the Johnsons
  Jimmy Fallon: Gomez (R 3/31/09)
  Last Call: Ben Harper & Relentless7 (R 3/27/09)

  Thursday, April 30

  Jay Leno: Starsailor
  Jimmy Fallon: Santigold (R 3/3/09)

  Friday, May 1

  David Letterman: Bat for Lashes
  Jimmy Fallon: Cold War Kids (R 4/3/09)
  Last Call: The Duke Spirit (R 4/15/09)