This Week's Shows (5/2 - 5/8)

This is a particularly streamlined edition of TWS.  I could say it's because we all need to rest up for next week's Shaky Knees festival, but the truth is that I'm suffering some sort of internet connectivity problem that I can't quite figure out.  I can access some sites, like this, quite readily, but I can't get to other URLs, like every venue's website, despite multiple reboots, unplugging and re-plugging of modems, and all manner of other attempted fixes, and had to research most of this post using my iPhone.  But, still, there's some good shows this week that still deserve mention despite my problems (it's not about me), culminating in Saturday night's sold-out Animal Collective show at Buckhead Theater.  

As always, please keep in mind that musicians and night-club proprietors lead complicated lives and I'm prone to errors, mistakes, typos, and fubars; it's advisable to confirm any of the information below on your own before making plans.

MONDAY, MAY 2

Lupe Fiasco (Terminal West)

Lupe Fiasco is an acclaimed and uncompromising Chicago rapper whose lyrics take on countless political and social issues. 

Megadeath (The Tabernacle)

Led by Dave Mustaine, Megadeath are one of the most popular and important thrash metal bands, with music that contains strong social and political messages. 

TUESDAY, MAY 3

Woods (Purgatory at The Masquerade)

The underground psychedelic folk-rockers alternate between pastoral songcraft and otherworldly strangeness. 

Chelsea Wolfe (Heaven at The Masquerade)

A darkly distinctive singer/songwriter with nods to electronic, folk, and metal, Wolfe has attaracted an almost cult-like following. 

Chelsea Wolfe at The Earl, January 30, 2013

Bullet For My Valentine (The Tabernacle)

Welsh metal band who built up a large fan base by blending muscular riffs and emo harmonies. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 4

Wild Belle (The Earl)

Chicago-based brother-and-sister duo make folk, dance, and psychedelic-tinged indie pop. 

Wild Belle at Shaky Knees, 2014

Kamasi Washington (Variety Playhouse)

On paper, I should really like this saxophonist who has drawn comparisons to Pharoah Sanders and John Coltrane, and whose connections include Gerald Wilson and Raphael Saadiq, but somehow he just hasn't clicked yet with me.  But it's not about me.  A crucial part of L.A.'s progressive jazz scene, Washington released the expansive LP The Epic in 2015. 

Citizen Cope (Center Stage)

Cope creates a soulful blend of folk-R&B with laid-back reggaefied beats and the occasional hip-hop flourish. 

Queensrÿche (Heaven at The Masquerade)

This Seattle quintet constructed a progressive form of heavy metal drawing equally from guitar pyrotechnics and art rock. 

Mother's Finest (Eddie's Attic)

Two sold-out shows in one night by popular Georgia funk rock band Mother's Finest. 

THURSDAY, MAY 5

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (The Earl)

Freaked-out psychedelic madness by way of Melbourne, Australia. 

Larkin Poe (Terminal West)

Southern roots rockers who formed after the Lovell Sisters called it a day in 2009. 

FRIDAY, MAY 6

The Deslondes (The Earl)

Loose but lively country-influenced band featuring five musicians who found their groove in New Orleans. 

La Luz (Aisle 5)

La Luz are a Seattle-based quartet that mixes up doo wop, surf music, girl group sounds, and indie rock into one smart package. 

La Luz at Bumbershoot, 2014

Liz Vice (Eddie's Attic)

Elizabeth Lorraine "Liz" Vice is a gospel music recording artist and musician from Portland, whose music career started in 2015 with the studio album, There's a Light.

Bring Me The Horizon (The Tabernacle)
Popular U.K. metalcore band.

Disturbed, Rob Zombie (Aaron's Amphitheater)

Disturbed are a multi-platinum nü metal band from Chicago, bolstered by their songs' melodic complexity and by swaggering frontman David Draiman.  Rob Zombie was the lead vocalist of hard rockers White Zombie who went on to a solo career that blends gore-inspired lyrics with heavy, abrasive rock. 

Freddie Gibbs (Hell at The Masquerade)

Influenced by 2Pac, Biggie, and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, this Midwest rapper came up through the world of Internet downloads and mixtapes. 

SATURDAY, MAY 7

Animal Collective (Buckhead Theater)

Their best LPs are apparently now behind them, but this innovative and acclaimed indie band with a penchant for experimental electronics, childlike campfire folk, and a warped take on Beach Boys harmonies can still be counted on for a wild and interesting live show. 

Animal Collective at tHe Tabernacle, October 2012

Old 97s, Heartless Bastards (Terminal West)

Led by Rhett Miller, Old 97s are a second-wave alt-country band from Dallas that mixes twang-filled rock and power pop. Heartless Bastards are a smart, scrappy, and muscular roots rock band led by Erika Wennerstrom that fuses blues, hard rock, punk, and country. 

Old 97s (with Nikki Lane), Shaky Knees 2015

Heartless Bastards at Shaky Knees, 2015

Steep Canyon Rangers (Variety Playhouse)
This band of young souls plays old-time bluegrass music.

SUNDAY, MAY 8

Secret Sisters (Eddie's Attic)
Secret Sisters are a Muscle Shoals-based country-folk duo.

California Honeydrops (Park Tavern)

Formed in 2007 by playing in the subway stations of Oakland, California, The Honeydrops are a blues and R&B band whose sound is tied to their instrumentation, vocal harmonies, and NOLA style.

Bumbershoot, Day Three

The last day of my last Bumbershoot, and I have to admit it: this was my most enjoyable Bumbershoot yet.  Here's a late-night recap of the bands we saw today:

GOLD & YOUTH

Gold & Youth came on early, taking the stage at 12:30 and only being allotted a 30-minute set, but kicked off the day nicely with their moody anthems.  Highlights included, naturally, their closer Time To Kill.

LA LUZ

La Luz took the stage at the same early hour as Gold & Youth, but were allotted a more luxuriant 45 minutes to play, so I was able to catch the last few songs of their set after Gold & Youth were finished.

HOBA HOBA SPIRIT

Going through the schedule, I did not plan on seeing any band named "Hoba Hoba Spirit" or have any interest in hearing any band named "Hoba Hoba Spirit," but as I had some free time after La Luz, I wandered over to the Fisher Green Stage and to my surprise found myself enjoying the funky set of Moroccan punk ("Moroccan roll" as the band put it) by Casablanca's Hoba Hoba Spirit.  Even though one of the singers wore a Clash Sandanista t-shirt, sadly, they still had to sing a song called I Am Not a Terrorist to dispel any Western suspicions about them.  Later in the day, Jonathan Richman would say that the most promising thing he saw during a recent tour of the Middle East, the only promising thing in fact, were joint Israeli and Palistinian punk-rock bands. After they got the audience up and dancing, no small achievement in Seattle, Hoba Hoba Spirit even got them singing along in Arabic, an even greater achievement in these polarized times.

CAMPFIRE OK THE WEATHER

I saw Campfire OK in 2011 at my first Bumbershoot, so I noticed that they had a new and different lineup when they took the stage today.  However, I was still surprised when their front man, Mychal Cohen, announced that this was their very last set as "Campfire OK," and from now on they will be called "The Weather."  Anyway, still a fun set from an up and coming band.

DAKHA BRAKHA

This was the real surprise of the day.  Just like with Hoba Hoba Spirit earlier in the day, I did not plan on hearing any band named "Dakha Brakha" today as I was going through the schedule.  But as it turned out, this three-women and one-man band played native music from "the free Ukraine," and featured otherworldly harmonies, interesting rhythms, and exotic-sounding instruments, reminding us how far east the Ukraine really is.  It's not rock, but fans of bands like Dirty Projectors and Bjork should find them interesting.  I was mesmerized.  

ROSE WINDOWS

Psychedelic blues rock from a band that sounded like they could have opened for Janis Joplin or Grace Slick at the Fillmore West back in the 1960s.  Some people might mistake that remark for a criticism, but I mean it as the highest compliment.

MEXICAN INSTITUTE OF SOUND

Funky electronic hip-hop-influenced dance music straight from the heart of Mexico City.  The infectious beats had your humble narrator up and dancing, despite his sore feet from two-and-a-half days of Bumbershoot.

JULIANNA BARWICK

Wisely, the organizers set Julianna Barwick up in an indoor venue, so her quiet, ambient soundscapes wouldn't have to compete with the backbeats and noise from the other stages.  Still, it was quite a transition from the dance-oriented sound of the Mexican Institute to Barwick, but the sheer artistry and brilliance of her playing rewarded the effort, and the audience hung in there in total silence through her spell-binding set.

BOMBA ESTEREO

Back to the dance.  It was only 100 yards but it felt like a whole different universe coming from Julianna Barwick's ambient set to the latin-infused hip-hop dance music of Columbia's Bomba Estereo, but in this case, it was the desination and not the journey that mattered.  A great set and a whole lot of fun.

NADA SURF



Finely crafted indie-pop by 20-year veterans of the scene.  

JONATHAN RICHMAN

Not unlike with Julianna Barwick earlier, I wondered how Jonathan Richman's music would fare in a festival setting.  As it turns out, his improvisational and spontaneous approach is the perfect tool for keeping a large audience's attention, and he had the crowd in the palm of his hand through his hour-long set, which seemed to fly by far too quickly.

REAL ESTATE

Real Estate are one of my favorite bands, and a perfect nightcap to end my last Bumbershoot.  At one point, bassist Alex Bleeker asked the audience if anyone had been lucky enough to catch Jonathan Richman earlier and asked what he had played, and when someone offered Egyptian Reggae, guitarist Martin Courtney spontaneously launched into a note-by-note, perfect cover of the song's main riff.  Just from that episode alone, you can tell how much these guys love their rock, and wouldn't it be so much fun to just hang out with these guys, talking music and going through their record collections?  In any event, they played a wonderful set of their layered, jangley music, and it was all so lovely that at times I even forgot where I was, or that the festival was ending, or how much my feet hurt from standing on them for three days. 

So that's it.  Best Bumbershoot ever.  At least for me.

And now it's over.

Best Songs of 2013

As for the best songs of 2013, far be it from me to try and pick them.  My favorites change day to day, mood to mood, and I'm psychologically and emotionally incapable of singling out the individual "best" songs of the year and saying, "Here, these songs are better than those songs."

So instead I'll leave it up to the KEXP Seattle DJs, who know a thing or two about music, to pick out the favorites.  Above is a podcast of DJ Kevin Cole's "Greatest F'ing Songs" of 2013. Cole's picks, and the tracklist to his podcast, are:

1. John Grant - GMF 
2. Phosphorescent - Song For Zula
3. Sin Fang - Look At The Light
4. Thee Oh Sees - I Come From The Mountain 
5. Mind Spiders - Inside You 
6. Parquet Courts - Borrowed Time 
7. Lucius - Turn It Around 
8. The Dirtbombs - Jump And Shout 
9. Cloud Cult - Good Friend 
10. Courtney Barnett - History Eraser 
11. Foxygen - No Destruction 
12. Volcano Choir - Byegone 
13. Laura Marling - Where Can I Go?
14. Julianna Barwick - One Half

I've got no quarrels with that list, but if your taste runs more to blues and traditional American roots rock, here's DJ Greg Vandy's "favorite things" from 2013, which includes some bona fide rockers, some blues, some folk, and even a few murder ballads:

1. Preservation Hall Jazz Band - That's It!
2. Courtney Barnett - Avant Gardener
3. Case Studies - Driving East, and Through Her
4. Parquet Courts - Stoned and Starving
5. La Luz - Morning High
6. Foxygen - No Destruction
7. The Foghorns - Ain't I A Man
8. Banditos - Lone Gone, Anyway
9. The Crow Quill Night Owls - On The Road Again
10. Deer Tick - In Our Time
11. Los Colognes - My Doorway's Open
12. Andrew Combs - Emily
13. Cass McCombs - There Can Be Only One
14. Laura Marling - Master Hunter
15. Phosphorescent - Muchacho's Tune
16. Valerie June - Twisted & Twined
17. Luke Winslow King - Ella Speed
18. Kacy & Clayton - Henry Martin
19. The Deep Dark Woods - A Voice Is Calling
20. The Moondoggies - One More Chance