Live Around Town This Week

Sleigh Bells at Sasquatch! 2011 / photo by Alex Crick

A nice extended weekend (President’s Day), usually leads to a good week of shows. This week starts with Grimes at the Sunset Tavern on Monday night (sold out, sorry!). On Tuesday, Veronica Falls, Bleached, and Seapony are at the Tractor, and Damien Jurado plays a free in-store set at Sonic Boom Records in Ballard. Wednesday night, the extremely talented Cate Le Bon and Charles Leo Gebhardt are at the Crocodile, and Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express, and Red Jacket Mine are at the Tractor. On Thursday night, there’s a kick-ass Northwest show with Quasi, Unnatural Helpers, and Constant Lovers all at the Crocodile, Breathe Owl Breathe is at the Tractor, and if you feel like getting dressed up, Itzhak Perlman Plays Vivaldi at Benaroya Hall.  This weekend has a ton of great options, starting with one of the most hyped shows of the week: Sleigh Bells at Showbox at the Market on Friday night. We couldn’t think of a better venue for this show and anticipate it to be loud! If you don’t feel like jumping about, Craig Finn (of The Hold Steady) brings his age and experience (and new songs) to the Crocodile, Deep Sea Diver has their CD Release at Columbia City Theatre, Howlin Rain, Whalebones, and Wayfinders are at Sunset Tavern, and finally, Pierced Arrows, Nightbeats, and 1776 are at Comet Tavern. On Saturday night The Young Evils, Young Prisms, Grave Babies, and Fruiting Bodies are at Comet Tavern. Here’s the schedule of recommended shows for this week:


Monday, February 20, 2012

Grimes, Born Gold at Sunset Tavern (info)


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Veronica Falls, Bleached, Seapony at Tractor (info)

Damien Jurado (Free) at Sonic Boom Records (Ballard) (info)


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Cate Le Bon, Charles Leo Gebhardt at Crocodile (info)

Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express, Red Jacket Mine at Tractor (info)


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Breathe Owl Breathe, Cataldo, Kendl Winter at Tractor (info)

Quasi, Unnatural Helpers, Constant Lovers at Crocodile (info)

Itzhak Perlman Plays Vivaldi at Benaroya Hall (info)


Friday, February 24, 2012

Deep Sea Diver (CD Release), Daniel G Harmann & The Trouble Starts, Soft Hills at Columbia City Theater (info)

Craig Finn (of The Hold Steady), Mount Moriah at Crocodile (info)

Howlin Rain, Whalebones, Wayfinders at Sunset Tavern (info)

Sleigh Bells, Black Bananas at Showbox at the Market (info)

Pierced Arrows, Nightbeats, 1776 at Comet Tavern (info)


Saturday, February 25, 2012

The Young Evils, Young Prisms, Grave Babies, Fruiting Bodies at Comet Tavern (info)

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Song of the Day: Jonathan Wilson – Can We Really Party Today?

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased tracks, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s selection, featured on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, is “Can We Really Party Today” by Jonathan Wilson from the 2011 album Gentle Spirit on Bella Union.

Jonathan Wilson – Can We Really Party Today? (MP3)

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Live Video: Nada Surf

photo by Dave Lichterman (view set)

It’s hard enough to believe that Nada Surf has been making such great music for going on twenty years now, but to hear their vigor and vitality-infused new album, The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy, you’d think they were a new band of twenty-somethings who still thought the world belonged to them. Maybe it still does. If not, it should! Nada Surf has long been the band you needed to include on your mixtape or was the right fit for a soundtrack. Matthew Caws (guitar, vocals), Ira Elliot (drums, backup vocals) and Daniel Lorca (bass, backup vocals) create music you want to live with… or to.

Recently, the band performed an exclusive set live on KEXP from The Triple Door as part of our VIP Club Concert series. With Doug Gillard (Guided by Voices) joining them for more guitary goodness, Nada Surf performed a long set of songs from the new album and few older classics for the fans. Check out all of the videos from this session right here:

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Friday on My Mind: The Best Songs Done By the Presidents of the United States of America

John with The Presidents in 2008
photo by Ron Henry

It’s time again for Friday on My Mind, which is a weekly collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News.

What better way to commemorate President’s Day than celebrating Seattle local heroes The Presidents of the United States of America? I’m sure NO ONE has had this idea before me. I’m the first. I am, right?

Childhood friends Chris Ballew and Dave Dederer formed the Presidents in 1990 and gained a small but loyal following as a duo. Jason Finn of Love Battery became their drummer in 1993 and that was right around the time the band started to pick up steam. They released their self-titled debut the Spring of 1994.

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Agitated Atmosphere: No UFO’s – Soft Coast

As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosphere hopes to pull back the curtain on a wealth of sights and sound from luminaries such as No UFO’s.

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Live Video: Kings Go Forth

Milwaukee soul-funk jam band Kings Go Forth stopped by KEXP last September and tested the carrying capacity of our studio to play a fantastic set of songs off of their newest release, The Outsiders Are Back. The 10 piece outfit is busy, eclectic, and dizzying, but their songs are meticulously assembled to funk perfection. Performed live, these songs sound almost identical to their LP counterparts, and The Outsiders Are Back is a fantastic record on a couple levels: the songwriting and arrangement is unlike anything on the scene today, and the production was designed to sound like the 60s and 70s records that Kings Go Forth are influenced by. The band’s sound goes everywhere from soul to reggae to funk and almost to Latin and disco at times. Kings Go Forth may be a throwback in some senses, but if they are, then they are one of the best things that came out of the era. Grab The Outsiders Are Back on Luaka Bop Records now, and watch the Kings Go Forth live on KEXP now:

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Live Review: Bruise Cruise Festival 2/10-2/13

review by Suzi Pratt
all photos by Marianne Spellman

During the dreary Seattle winter chill, two Seattleites were lucky to escape to the other side of the continent for the second annual Bruise Cruise Festival, sailing from Miami to the Bahamas. The three-day escapade is hardly your retired grandmother’s cruise, although there were plenty of those on board as well. Instead, Bruise Cruise is like summer camp for some five hundred tattooed, cigarette-smoking indie rockers and hipsters who devoured fruity drink concoctions and action-packed music sets all weekend long. Unlike other huge, multi-stage music fests, Bruise Cruise’s 13 performers stick to a schedule rotating around a single stage, ensuring no tough choices had to be made.

Official Bruise Cruise 2012 fliers.

The party kicked off two days earlier at The Stage in Miami where local Florida band Jacuzzi Boys jazzed up the crowd and The Togas, a super band consisting of Ty Segall, Ryan Sambol of The Strange Boys, and Shannon Shaw of The Clams, played their first live set ever. Festival highlights Thee Oh Sees, King Khan and the Shrines, and Fucked Up also played explosive sets, whetting our appetites for what was to come.

The Togas play their first show ever in Miami.

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Song of the Day: Posse – Sarah

photo by Julia Salamonik

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased tracks, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s selection, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Sarah” by Seattle locals Posse.

Posse – Sarah(MP3)

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Album Review: Sleigh Bells – Born To Lose

I know, I know. You are probably thinking that a KEXP review of the new Sleigh Bells album is entirely unnecessary, but trust me. If you haven’t been listening to the album constantly on the New York Times stream, then you need to start now – especially if you weren’t a fan of their first album, Treats. Reign of Terror, the sophomore effort by the New York dance-metal band, comes from a different starting point and makes a different journey than does its predecessor. With Treats, Sleigh Bells hit you with endless waves of clipping riffs and hooks that made your equalizer look like it was celebrating the Chinese New Year. But with Reign of Terror, Sleigh Bells aren’t trying to outdo themselves. Rather, they take what they know, perfect it, then add something new.
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Review Revue: The Cult – Sonic Temple

Sometimes you need to just be totally uncool. As you put away that Cults CD you’ve been listening to, your eye might catch the one right next to it – dusty and maybe a little scratched, but still as capable of making you pump your fists in rock and roll glory as it was upon its release in 1989. Of course, I’m talking about Sonic Temple, by The Cult. Go with it. Pull it out, stick it in the CD player, and whip your rock and roll hair back and forth, as Willow Smith might say (though odds are she wasn’t thinking of Ian Astbury and the boys when she penned that particular number).

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