It's finally here. After the long Winter Doldrums of 2014-2015, March Madness now descends upon us, starting with the tours of several bands from the Pacific Northwest (aka, Cascadia) passing through this "rotten hub of the Ol' American South." But first, before the Cascadians arrive, we've got Episode 5 of Better Call Saul on Monday night,
According to the official episode recap, "When his efforts to drum up new business are interrupted by alarming news, Jimmy is pressured to make a difficult choice."
Then, on Tuesday night, we have Episode 7 of Justified on FX. The recap for this one says "A visit from his baby daughter threatens to pull Raylan away from the hunt for a dangerous fugitive; Boyd takes Ava on a hunting trip that she may never come back from."
Dangling participles aside, once we get all of that television out of the way, March Madness finally gets a proper kick-off on Friday night, when Seattle's best young surf band, La Luz, come to town for a set at The Earl.
La Luz are set to release their second album. Produced by former tourmate Ty Segall, the new album, as yet unnamed, is getting some touring support by La Luz as they make their way to SXSW. Here's a set by La Luz in Reykjavik as a part of the Iceland Airwaves festival as a preview:
According to the official episode recap, "When his efforts to drum up new business are interrupted by alarming news, Jimmy is pressured to make a difficult choice."
Then, on Tuesday night, we have Episode 7 of Justified on FX. The recap for this one says "A visit from his baby daughter threatens to pull Raylan away from the hunt for a dangerous fugitive; Boyd takes Ava on a hunting trip that she may never come back from."
Dangling participles aside, once we get all of that television out of the way, March Madness finally gets a proper kick-off on Friday night, when Seattle's best young surf band, La Luz, come to town for a set at The Earl.
Opening for La Luz will be The Shivas. The Portland quartet released their fourth album, You Know What To Do, on October 28. The album was recorded at Dub Narcotic Studios and is indebted to early-'60s rock n' roll. Here's a little taste:
The next night, Saturday, Seattle's Craft Spells will be playing at 529, just down the street from The Earl.
Craft Spells’ new album, Nausea, follows a nearly two-year dormant period. After moving to San Francisco but finding it difficult to fit in with the garage rock and insular DJ scene there, Justin Vallesteros fell into a creative slump and retreated to his parent’s house with a severe case of writer's block. There, in a limbo between the city and the suburbs, Vallesteros experienced actual nausea, added to by his admitted semi-addiction to social media. Away from the city, he eventually unplugged from the world as much as possible, put down his guitar for a full year, and trained himself on piano, the instrument from which all the tracks for Nausea were written. The demos came together in early 2014 and Vallesteros flew to Seattle and recorded a whole and complete work, full of ideas and a new found maturity in both songwriting and recording sophistication.
The changes can be heard within the first few seconds of lead single Breaking the Angle Against the Tide. This is a bold, beautiful and lush new sound, emphasizing the songwriting abilities that Vallesteros always had.
The beautiful Komorebi with it’s piano chord progression and sorrowful string accompaniment emphasizes Vallesteros' new found maturity and confidence as a writer. While Nausea could easily have been a record rife with indecision and anxiety, Vallesteros was able to turn the chaos and disillusionment into a work that provides ammo against that very thing, with beauty, vision and melody.
Opening for Craft Spells will be the The Bilinda Butchers, a dream pop group based in San Francisco who take their name from My Bloody Valentine's guitarist and early inspiration, Bilinda Butcher. The group experiments with genre-blending and dramatic themes to create sprawling, cinematic music.
Their new album, Heaven, is a soundtrack set to the diary of Nakajima Ume, a young woman who lived in Japan from 1836 to 1864. The diary's entries catalog her catastrophic marriage to a cruel nobleman, and her later introduction to a young, idealistic poet whose expressions of sympathy inspire her to escape from her unfortunate circumstances. When her friendship with the poet is discovered, Ume is sent away to a distant village, where she falls into a deep depression and eventually learns of the poet’s death. Though the news of the poet’s death initially disturbs Ume, she soon discovers within herself a new sense of clarity and motivation. Her diary ends with a final pronouncement: she will drown herself in order to reunite with her fallen lover. You can stream the entire album below.
Their new album, Heaven, is a soundtrack set to the diary of Nakajima Ume, a young woman who lived in Japan from 1836 to 1864. The diary's entries catalog her catastrophic marriage to a cruel nobleman, and her later introduction to a young, idealistic poet whose expressions of sympathy inspire her to escape from her unfortunate circumstances. When her friendship with the poet is discovered, Ume is sent away to a distant village, where she falls into a deep depression and eventually learns of the poet’s death. Though the news of the poet’s death initially disturbs Ume, she soon discovers within herself a new sense of clarity and motivation. Her diary ends with a final pronouncement: she will drown herself in order to reunite with her fallen lover. You can stream the entire album below.
Not to leave anything or anyone out, Friday's show will open with Atlanta's Shantih Shantih and Small Reactions, and Saturday's show will open with Atlanta's Twin Studies.
So that's the first week of March Madness. Things really pick up next week, but we'll get to that later.
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