New (?) Music First ( ?)

Ok, so we have been hella busy up here in the Pacific Northwest, including heading back to the Midwest, so I have barely been able to take care of my life, let alone this blog (I think that may have happened to everyone, but you know, I don't think this blog is dead, just on vacation.)

So this is just a quick post to say what's I've been finding lately and hopefully prompt some others to post some new music as well. Hopefully our lives will slow down more and I can really get back to this, and maybe we'll get some momentum back before the end of the year lists.

So, items of note:

Went to Bumbershoot, which was incredible. The crowds were exhausting, I must admit, but we saw some GREAT shows, and a lot of partial shows as we walked around, too, including the Old 97's, Del the Funkee Homosapien, Battles, and Death Cab for Cutie, (and a pretty surprising performance from the Offspring). But the real show stealers for us were Vince Mira and Mike Doughty.

Vince Mira is a teenager from LA who was playing on the sidewalk near Pike's Place Market in Seattle when the local news evidently caught wind of his playing and gave him some PR. Even though he is under the voting age, his voice is a spot-on copy of Johnny Cash. Although this is somewhat gimmicky, there's no denying his skill, and he does a lot of great oldies, not just Cash. His EP was produced by John Carter Cash, Johnny Cash's son, which is interesting as well. When we saw him live we were totally impressed-- his voice was great, his guitar playing was good, and it was a very strange experience to hear Johnny Cash's voice singing in fluent Spanish (Mira used to sing classical Mexican music before his voice changed at the age of 13). Anyways, check him out, he'll be picking up more steam in the future I'm sure.



So my main goal was to go see Mike Doughty, formerly of the band Soul Coughing. Drew, John 87, and I saw him back in... hmmm, 2003 or so in Cleveland and were thoroughly impressed. His stage banter is hilarious and his "gangadank" guitar playing is pretty flippin' cool. He always gives the crowd a spiel about how he is about to lie to them and tell them the show is over, and then they are going to turn around momentarily, and then turn back around for the encore. Pretty funny. Anyways, he had a pretty big crowd considering Death Cab was playing at the same time, and he put on a great show with his new band (he has had a rotating group of touring members) and really had a few more jam sessions then he did last time, which was cool. Anyways, I'm biased because I love Doughty's work, but if he ever comes through town, I highly recommend checking him out, especially if you like any of his Soul Coughing stuff, because he does play a lot of older songs (Janine, Soft Serve, St. Louise is Listening). Even my wife was really impressed, and I had hyped it up majorly for her, so yeah, check him out. Oh, and stand by for a rant coming up about how Soul Coughing is one of the most underrated alt-rock band of the '90's.



Ok, that's more than I had time for today, but I have a few more posts I want to get out about some great new songs I've heard, so look for more later this week.

Concert Review - The Lonely Forest

So I went and saw The Lonely Forest at Washington Park in Anacortes on Wednesday, and I have mixed reviews. Don't be confused, though, because the band was AWESOME! The reason for my mixed review was because I found out about the concert on the bands myspace page, and all it said about it was time and place and a list of bands. Unfortunately when we got there we realized it was sponsored by a youth development center, and the average age was probably around 14. Soooooo, we kinda hung out around the outskirts and just enjoyed the park.

All of the bands we saw were good (The Globes and The Oregon Donor), but we got a little closer to watch The Lonely Forest perform. The musical ability of the band is definitely not in question, as both drummer Braydn Krueger and bassist Eric Sturgeon wailed on their instruments, and singer John Van Deusen's vocals ranged from a decent falsetto coo to a larynx ripping scream. The band opened with "We Sing in Time," which is the song that really hooked me on them, and it was almost a picture perfect copy of their studio version, which was all the more impressive when Van Deusen went to his loudest and raspiest. We were actually a little taken aback by the volume and emotion that blazed out of the speakers at first. They did a few other songs I really enjoyed, too, including "Tomato Soup"," Two Pink Pills," and a cover of XTC's "Statue of Liberty." I think they are much more impressive live than on record, which will hopefully help them generate some more press outside the local area.

The band's sound is a little hard to pin down, but I think they sound a bit like Dismemberment Plan in the way their melodies sound, and Van Deusen's voice is like a more rocking Colin Meloy of the Decemberists. But there are plenty of elements that remind me of Jimmy Eat World, Muse, or Weezer, and other bands as well. Anyways, I encourage you to check out their myspace page, see them live if you are in the Pacific Northwest, and look for their sophomore release when it comes out. I think this band has all of the tools it needs to make it big. If so, you heard it here first!

Bands to Hear - Local bands

Hey, so I almost went to a show last night in Seattle-- we realized by the time everything went down it might be a bad idea since there is a 15 page Neuroscience paper due on Tuesday, but I was really excited because all the bands are from our local area, so here are a few that I thought sounded really good and I hope to see playing closer to home in the future:

The Lonely Forest: Basically just down the block in Anacortes, WA, this trio is one of the best things I've heard lately and they are getting a lot of attention and working with producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden) on their new album. Great indie rock-- check out "We Sing in Time" on their myspace page.

The Mission Orange: From a little further down the road in Mount Vernon, WA, the Mission Orange is a two-piece band, but sound nothing like the duos I've been listening to lately. They are very Built to Spill in a garage-band kind of way.

The Nextdoor Neighbors: I can't say this band is from down the street, since they are from Olympia, which is on the other side of Seattle from me, but they are local and they are fresh. Not really my style, but I'm still impressed and I know Dan and John J will enjoy it. Sort of a mashup of Smoosh and the Fiery Furnaces, with a voice similar to Regina Spektor.

New Artist: Jens Lekman

I don't have much to say about one of my new favorite artists except if you're not instantly wooed give it a few tries. I'm posting a quick list of my favorite songs, but I suggest if you like these that you seek out more.

The Black Keys play "Secret" show in Cleveland!

Hey Cleveland denizens, local rockers the Black Keys are playing a mySpace secret show at Beachland Tavern on May 7th. Obviously not a secret, so you might want to get there EARLY since it is FREE and FIRST COME FIRST SERVE. Doors at 8pm. And in case you happen to be a Black Keys fan, you might be interested to know they have a song in Grand Theft Auto IV-- "Strange Times" from their newest album, Attack & Release. Good to see these guys getting the publicity they deserve! Also worth checking out is a live interview the keys did on public radio. Look for it under the Take 5 archive.



Black Keys Website
Black Keys MySpace