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Another one found yesterday…very illuminating.
JMJPosted on March 5, 2010
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Healthy Times Fun Club Magma Festival Show, March 14 2010
Healthy Times Fun Club is the underground Seattle show space in the sky that’s ready to have you over for tea, dinner, the TV show LOST, or some arts and crafts. If you don’t know where it’s located, you can find it in Capitol Hill. That should get you close. HTFC has hosted shows at it’s current warehouse space for three years and provided good vibes for the entire city. Healthy Times describes themself in this manner: “We are always a party. No drinking, smoking or haters! You can have 1000X the most fun ever but in a friendly, community oriented and non habit forming way! We try to provide a tasty vegan meal for most shows and food donations, such as bread or juice, are greatly appreciated.” This show is curated by me, DJ Tape Deck, and I want you to have a good time!
Bouncing on through the midwest, Colorado, Bainbridge Island, WA and finally Seattle, WA, The Hoot Hoots are high energy music! They are full of distortion, robotics, hooks, sing alongs, and suburban backlash. I’ve heard that their new Missile Teeth EP sounds like “My Unicorns CD met your robot in an electromagnetic storm, and their brains got really big. Come grow your brain under our aluminum plumage.” They have all sorts of gadgets and pedals and amps and tricks up their collective sleeves. At least that’s what I’ve heard through the grapevine. They’ve played at Healthy Times Fun Club once before and it’s great that they’ll be playing again. It’ll be my first time seeing them play and maybe your first time seeing them too! Let’s spend this time together. We’ll spin circles and bop around all night long while they hoot like owls and swoop down to claw out your heart… in a good way.
Low Hums
A group of words to describe Low Hums in list form: methodic, slow moving, atmospheric, droning, fierce. It’s no surprise that Low Hums are into the legendary NW band EARTH. I have a feeling that they will be LOUD, bring your earplugs. Bring two pairs even. One pair for you and one for your sweetheart. Their songs powerfully manifest the darkness, bleakness, and despair of the winter in western Washington. This is music that would fit nicely overtop of a 16mm film projected on the side of a building. The group is lead by Jonas Haskins on guitar and vocals with accompaniment on drums, bass, steel guitar, cello, and who knows what else. Ancient rituals? Casting spells? Calling on a giant blue Avatar??? Gotta come to the show to find out.
Gene Pool
The man Jon Pontrello is the mighty GENE POOL. For some reason, I’ve always felt a sort of Neil Young vibe. He has a really strong voice with a similar timbre to it. Jon says “no matter how much other music I listen to, I will never be able to take a chunk out of pink floyds influence on me.” I am not really a Pink Floyd fan but I’m super amp’d on Gene Pool! You can find lots of natural reverb and echo in his recorded output that has a mystical quality that just isn’t found in other musicians work. Not only does Mr. Pontrello play his own music, he’s a music teacher, runs Burn Through The Fog Productions to host shows in Seattle, and is an acupuncturist. Really? Yes! Read all about it on his all Pontrello all the time website: www.pontrello.com/jon
Margy Pepper
Lovely ladies from Olympia, Washington! Touching on indie pop, punk, riot girl, and indie rock. They are the kind of band that makes you want to tap your foot and shake your booty. They have been described as sounding “like the raincoats selling lemonade during the apocalypse”. They host shows in Olympia and have a youthful 3-piece sound, reminiscent of the ol’ K Records. Why say that though? Olympia just has it’s own thing going. I heard that it has something to do with the water. That’s probably true. Anyway, what’s not to like about them??? They celebrate National Pie Day and Mountain Dew! Erica and I are even from the same area in southern California. Heck yes.
Margy Pepper at the Super Shed in Olympia, WA from Timefighters on Vimeo.
Posted on March 1, 2010
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Plays: 14[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Tonite at 8PM, the Leaky Pipes welcomes local bandish person The Graze! He’s been doting around town for a while now, lending his talents to numerous projects including Rosyvelt, An Invitation to Love, Mississippi Painful, Brent Amaker and the Rodeo, and probably a bunch of other stuff I don’t know about. He is good looking and a great singer. The Graze, as far as I understand it is basically his solo project, although for his CD release show this Friday at the Mars Bar with Mississippi Painful and Seth Howard, he’ll have a fully functioning and rocking rolling backing band. His new album Give/Sell is out now on J-Shirt Records, but one of my favorite tunes from the Graze catalog came from the Ball of Wax, volume 6 comp. It’s called “Sheep” and it’s so good it makes me cry and then throw up because I make myself sick I’m such a loser.
My plan, if well executed, is to treat him like dirt during the interview portions so maybe he’ll think I’m better than him and therefore like me and we’ll end up being best friends sometime down the road and I can get rid of my current best friends who most certainly do not have my best interests in mind and I guess thought it would be hilarious to leave me passed out on the Bremerton ferry on Saturday night and so I had to spend the night at my 2nd cousin once removed’s place who I don’t know that well and who I don’t really like and who only wants me to play the 25% of “Hotel California” that I know on the guitar over and over again all night so he can play the dumb fills
on the drums and I had to eat gross brown spaghetti for dinner that tasted like a garden hose but I had to say that it was probably the best spaghetti I’ve ever had and there was no fucking coffee in the morning either which is the worst part of the whole thing.Like I said, he’s a great singer and is good looking.
Tune in tonight at 8P!
JMJ
Posted on March 1, 2010
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In anticipation of MAGMA Fest..
We’ll share some LIVE recordings
of a few of the artists performing this month.
Sleepy Workers 4th of July Show at Nic Curious’ house
Why I Must Be Careful at HTFC Carousel Fest 09
Karl Blau at New Crompton Carousel 08
Cold Lake @ New Crompton 12dec09
i, cordyceps @ New Crompton 12dec09
This Wednesday 2pm PSTPosted on March 1, 2010
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Shafer Baillie Mansion
The Magma Festival show on Saturday, March 20th, at Shafer Baillie Mansion is one I’m very excited about. We have an incredible pool of amazingly talented, internationally respected musicians here in Seattle, about whom far too few people are aware, and Hollow Earth is thrilled to present them in this intimate setting.
I’ve been a fan of Eyvind Kang’s since hearing his playing on the Bill Frisell album Quartet in 1996. I worked at a lot of different cafes in the years following that release, and I would pretty much play that CD into the ground at every single one - though I never got sick of it. Frisell’s interplay with Kang on violin (and tuba!), Curtis Fowlkes on trombone and Ron Miles on trumpet is thrilling, comforting, haunting and hilarious all at once (or at least in quick succession).
Here’s a slight variation on that quartet, with Hank Roberts on cello instead of Curtis Fowlkes on trombone. Imagine my surprise when I moved to Seattle and realized Eyvind played all over town, arranging and performing strings on albums by everyone from Mike Dumovich to Sunn0))). All these years later, I’ve still never seen Eyvind perform solo, though, and I am incredibly thrilled to have this unique chance to do so.
Lori Goldston is another local treasure, whom I first saw perform - along with pretty much the entire planet - along with Nirvana on their MTV Unplugged appearance.
She’s kept quite busy since then, co-founding the Black Cat Orchestra and Spectratone International and performing with Mirah, David Byrne, the Wedding Present and many more incredible musicians. I most recently saw her at last year’s Magma Fest, when she accompanied Mike Dumovich in a gorgeous performance at the Fremont Abbey. It is, yet again, a huge privilege to see her perform solo in this setting.
Lesli Dalaba and Jon Zucker’s names were less well known to me, but they are no less accomplished in their own rights. Lesli is a very well respected trumpet player, sharing credits with some of my favorite avant-jazz musicians (Fred Frith! Amy Denio! John Zorn!). You might have also heard her teaching Amber to bake bread on Hollow Earth. Lesli and Jon are both co-founding members of the Yellow Hat Band, “a 13-piece community brass band which plays frequently, without warning”.
Here’s where I first saw them:
Jon keeps a lower profile than some of these folks, but word is he spends a lot of time making his own instruments, some of which he should be performing on at Shafer Baillie Mansion.
See you there! ~Levi FullerPosted on March 1, 2010
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NW Queercore Spectacular : Not Your Average Hetero Honky-tonk
March 12th at 2020 Cycle 2020 East Union 730pm $8
First of all - You say - What the hell is Queercore?
Wikipedia defines it as the following -
Queercore is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk. It is distinguished by a discontent with society in general and a complete disapproval of the gay and lesbian community and its “oppressive agenda.” Queercore expresses itself in DIY style through zines, music, writing, art and film.
As a musical genre, it may be distinguished by lyrics exploring themes of prejudice and dealing with issues such as sexual identity, gender identity and the rights of the individual; more generally bands offer a critique of society endemic to their position within it, sometimes in a light-hearted way, sometimes seriously. Musically, many queercore bands originated in the punk scene but the industrial music culture has been influential as well. Queercore groups encompass many genres such as hardcore punk, synthpunk, indie rock, power pop, no wave, noise, experimental, industrial and others.
You say – Why would I want to go to this show? This has nothing to do with me.
I say – Because queer ass motherfuckers know how to rock, drink, and fuck harder than any heterosexual band in the world.
Now that you are smarter, lets look at the lineup.
Council of Lions– Starting off the show will be Bellingham all-stars, Council of Lions.
A 3-piece of scrappy genderqueer punks, hardcore feminists, and WWU students. Im not realy sure what you think you should be doing at 730 on a Friday night, but I can tell you that you shouldn’t be out eating sushi on broadway. You’re posses at 2020. Duh.
COLD LAKE– The band that Eric Grandy loves to hate. I’ll be honest. I’m in this band. We are a newly formed hardcore band from the NW. We all used to live in Bellingham, Washington. Now, none of us live there. And we are all glad we don’t. We are officially one of Seattles latest “buzz bands.” Megan Selling said that. I don’t know what the hell she is talking about.
EMERALDS – This is the band I am most excited to see at the fest this year. They are metal. Very metal. I’ve never seen them. I can’t wait!!!! They are going to make Cold Lake look like Pearl Jam. One of the members in their band does this - “Bare knuckle boxing and bear wrangling” according to their myspace.
My Parade - “An all People of Color dance punk band in Seattle. We’re not kidding.” Enough said. Seriously – SO GREAT. If you are still not convinced, then you don’t deserve this show. No, you deserve nothing.
Agatha – one of my favorite sons of theirs is - “queer as in fuck you.”
NOT GAY AS IN HAPPY, BUT QUEER AS IN FUCK YOU. These fuckers are headlining, cause they are about tear some shit down.
Elissa Ball - If all of these bands are not enough to make you want to come let your freak flag fly, fag the fuck out, dance, sweat, celebrate, and be the holwing at the moon dyke you were meant to be, then you may be that person who comes just to hear Elissa Ball tell you some crazy ass stories, read you vicious poetry, and melt your brain with her awesome prose between bands. Elissa has known me for about 10 years. She probably knows all kinds of dirt on me, if you just wanna come to shit talk me. That’s fine too.Posted on February 28, 2010
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Sunday 10am Pacific - as mentioned before (there will be a test babies!) - we are “under the influence” of Dusty Springfield. It is the eleventh anniversary of Dusty’s passing and we marvel at her body of work - lot’s of Dusty covers and interviews.
Also, if the saints allow, we will be joined by retro popster Mari Wilson by phone from London. Mari seen in the clip above was and will be forever known as the Neasden Queen of Soul. Combining killer vocals and a wicked campiness Mari and her Wilsations recreated the glamour of the 60’s pop scene that Dusty reigned to a T.
Also, Mari played Dusty in the London premiere of Dusty The Musical. So, this is not just me acting out some bizarre crush - Mari’s a Dusty expert y’all!
Posted on February 26, 2010
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Saturday, March 13th at the Fremont Abbey
Another amazing Magma Fest show coming to the wonderfully reverent and historic Fremont Abbey Arts Center on March 13th!
Firstly, we present the unique talents of Arrington de Dionyso! Based in Olympia, but spending most of his time on the road, Arrington’s most recent effort Malaikat dan Singa, out last year on K Records, is a blast of noisy primal rhythms, horns, guitar and voice. Also it is a really great party record to throw on if none of your usual boring friends has shown up and instead a number of wild parrots, alligators, and venus fly-traps overtook your home and started smashing and breathing fire over everything. He is also (to put it lightly) a bit of a multi-instrumentalist, but his music directs most of the focus on his wildly masterful saxophone skills and well-trained vocals, which, strangely enough, he uses as the incredibly expressive instrument it was intended to be. By someone/thing? I don’t know. Also, he’s in this band, of which you may have heard and which you probably already love with an unhealthy fanaticism. Here’s a creepy video from Malaikat dan Singa…
Continuing in the vein of perpetually traveling troubadours, we have rare treat of a performance from Jason Webley, one of our own hometown heroes, punk accordionist extraordinaire. A former busker who decided to make the move from the sidewalks of Seattle to performance stages across the world. Producing what he calls “music that tears itself apart”, Jason’s musical weapon of choice is the accordion, an instrument of which he tells he picked up by happenstance in preparing for a stage production at UW. I’ve read his voice described as gravelly in many places so I’ll just go along with that. His voice is gravelly (like gravel).
His songs remind one (me) of pirates and the long gone days of yore, the times when many people, for some unknown goddamn reason, didn’t have the right to vote. You know, the swaying waltzes and minor ballads and such. He also plays the guitar summu-time. His most recent effort, The Cost of Living, is out on his own Eleven Records, but he’s also a hell of a collaborator, if his currently in-progress series of eleven collaborative projects between him and his songwriter friends is any indication. We’ll have to see what fun things he’s got planned for this Abbey show. It will be a surprise, but it will be one of the good ones. Like a five dollar bill you found in the pocket of your jacket you haven’t worn in a while. Yes, that’s our Jason Webley!
Lastly, but not blah blah blah, we present the honorable Sir Richard Bishop. Long running member of the storied Sun City Girls, Sir Richard Bishop brings his solo repertoire to our Magma Festival, fresh off a solo tour of Europe. Although he’s been based out of Seattle for a while now, he originally hails from the state of Arizona, as do I. This leads me to conclude that we must actually be best friends.
As far as the music goes (that’s what we’re talking about, right?), his most recent effort, The Freak of Araby, was released by Drag City in 2009. This one “features 5 original pieces and 5 traditional Middle Eastern songs all with electric guitar, bass and percussion.” Here’s some of that cool shit…
Then there are his solo efforts. As always, Wikipedia vaguely nails it by saying “his solo recordings and performances are largely improvised and draw on influences from Indian, North African and Gypsy styles, among others.” Here’s a great video for illustration…
They don’t sound improvised to me. They sound like they were imagined by some lesser known but more laid back multi-appendaged deity back in the times when nobody even knew what suffrage was because there were no countries and therefore no centralized democracies. Anyhoo, whether Sir Richard Bishop broke one of Newton’s Laws to obtain these tunes or whether he’s a more modern, extemporaneously inspired guitar-smoking genius I just can’t begin to guess. Maybe he’ll drop us a hint at the Abbey.
Doors are 7:30p and tickets are $12. Alternatively, you could buy a Magma pass here, which would be even better and get you into 10 different shows all throughout March! Actually buy two and give the other one to me so I can go to this awesome show. It will not be a date so don’t get any funny ideas but I will let you buy me dinner at Paseo…
Sorry, JMJPosted on February 25, 2010
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March 5, VERA Project: Kick off this years Magma Fest with some of my favorite bands!
In putting together a kickoff show, we considered the following:
1. We needed beatboxing. And 2.
We needed a special band. A band to show us all that joy is not dead and that young people are amazing. Most of us spend our time worrying about heartache, work and lunch. We live in a bubble. Once in a while, some band comes along that bursts that bubble. In my case, it was Deception Pass.
Deception Pass is a rowdy band of youth. They rock hard, they are not afraid to play loud and scream, and they are in my best estimate, four boys between the ages of 11-13 years old. They play block parties in their hood, and once I saw a video of one of them playing on the side of a trail while people competed in some kind of long distance run. He was there to inspire the runners.
What I can tell you is that I know Ians (the lead singers) parents. Ian is the product of experimental director/animator Eric Ostrowski, and Connie Jones, a woman who helped start The Showoff Gallery, a critical all-ages space in Bellingham, Washington history. If this is any inclination of where these young people are headed, I doubt you want to miss this. All I can say is, I saw modest mouse open for the purdins at the redmond firehouse in 1995. Don’t you want to be able to say, Well I saw Deception Pass at Vera back before they headlining at the WAMU theater.
Alaskas
I met Dillan in Seattle. He used to live a few blocks away from me. He played WhenDovesCry, and beat the hell out of a floor tom. I loved it right away. He does a lot of looping. Its entrancing.
Grr Indie kids doing lo-fi posi-core rap songs – Im the B in your PB, Youre the J in my Jam. OK I don’t think those are actually the lyrics, but its something like that. They beatbox, they rap, they have only one guitar. Only one. Get ready to feel good about everything.
Thao (of Thao with the Get Down Stay Down) I could tell you about one million things about Thao. I met her in Virginia when I was on tour. That was about 25 years ago and since then we have made many music videos together. Last year I got to go on tour with her for about 6 weeks. It was the GREATEST tour I have ever been on. We did this soup challenge one night where the bass player in the band had to cook us dinner using ONLY THE TOOLS PROVIDED IN A HOTEL ROOM IN NEWPORT, OREGON. We ate an incredible soup. It was potato and thyme based with all sorts of veggies marinated in the wine we salvaged from the show the night before. There was a slight aftertaste of coffee, but that’s how he heated the water for the soup. Then we toasted the bread slices between 2 irons. You heard me. Irons! The ones that your grandma uses to flatten her shirts. Thao is one of the greatest songwriters today. Heartbreak is her specialty. Get ready to be DESTROYED emotionally. Plus, she can beatbox and hum a tune at the same time. No one else can do that. Try it. I bet you can’t.
- DJ KalidoskopePosted on February 25, 2010
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Is anybody already on this boat? Found today in a newspaper box at 3rd and Pike. There was another copy of this same page there. I don’t recommend doing any “research” unless you’ve got a few mind-boggling hours to kill. Apparently, they come in editions of some sort… see here and here and here.
JMJPosted on February 24, 2010
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