This is the first entry in a series of entries I'm writing called 'Throwback Tuesday" - in which I will review an older album by a local/regional musician. Some might be reviews of older work of artists who are still producing, and other entries might review albums by artists or bands that are no longer releasing material.
Got it? Good.
Later Days is the 2007 release by Asthmaboy, a Seattle (but at that time Bellingham) based duo, Glindon Marten & John Boone. Although it was self-recorded, the album has the same quality as an album that has been professionally recorded in a studio.
This Album Reminds of...The combination of acoustic guitar, piano and melancholic, almost dirge-like vocals reminds me of early Deathcab for Cutie.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
Fall 2013 - Listen to this!
Summer is over, fall is here, and a new season means new music recommendations. These are some of my favorite artists and albums at the moment, in no particular order. Some are new, and some are old.
1. Sera Cahoone - Deer Creek Canyon (2012, Subpop) - The third full length album by the Seattle based singer-songwriter
2. Neko Case - ....
3. Shelby Earl - Swift Arrows
4. The Moondoggies - Adios, I'm a Ghost
5. The Organ - Theives
6. Thao and the Get Down Stay Down - We the Common
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Festival Season is upon us... Here are my suggestions, feel free to suggest anything I've forgotten.
Its May, and you know what that means - festival season is upon us! Here, in no particular order, are my suggestions for this summer's music and arts festivals, feel free to make any suggestions in the comments section.
1. Northwest Folklife Festival, Seattle WA,May 24-27th 2013,
Certainly one of the cheaper (OK, the cheapest) festivals in the area this summer, admission is by donation, and it caters to a wide variety of musical/artistic tastes and interests.
Website and Full Schedule here...
2. Vancouver Island Music Fest, Comox Valley Fairgrounds, July 12th-14th 2013
This festival has previously been ranked one of the best outdoor festivals in North America. It often has While significantly more expensive than the other festivals I've mentioned, Its worth it if you're into more obscure or traditional folk music over pop-folk and indie rock, or if you want to attend a more rural festival.
Music Festival website
2. Vancouver Folk Festival, Vancouver BC, July 19-21st, 2013
The festival schedule hasn't been announced yet, but this is certainly one of the more affordable folk festivals in BC, especially for seniors and students. Weekend passes for university students (with ID) are $90 for the weekend, and $65 for seniors. I'll likely post about this again after the full schedule is announced. Vancouver Folk Fest website
3. Capitol Hill Block Party, Seattle WA, July 26th-28th 2013.
Single day passes (for $40) and weekend passes ($115) on sale now. Arguably, the major draw this year is The Flaming Lips, although the lineup includes well known indie bands such as STRFKR, Pickwick, and Hey Marseilles!, as well as lesser-known, but still good local bands like Katie Kate, and Unnatural Helpers.
Website
4. Bumbershoot, Seattle WA, August 31st - September 2nd.
For the last two years, this festival appears to have been heading downhill, as ticket prices increased, and the variety of musicians, artists, and performers decreased. Essentially, it seemed to be headed in the same direction as Sasquatch (poorly managed, overpriced, and overrated). However, this year's lineup has a significant number of well known artists (FUN, Tegan and Sara, Deathcab For Cutie) to as well as well known indie bands (Matt and Kim, Ra Ra Riot, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down) and a variety of lesser known local indie bands (Sol, Kithkin, The Redwood Plan)
Website
1. Northwest Folklife Festival, Seattle WA,May 24-27th 2013,
Certainly one of the cheaper (OK, the cheapest) festivals in the area this summer, admission is by donation, and it caters to a wide variety of musical/artistic tastes and interests.
Website and Full Schedule here...
2. Vancouver Island Music Fest, Comox Valley Fairgrounds, July 12th-14th 2013
This festival has previously been ranked one of the best outdoor festivals in North America. It often has While significantly more expensive than the other festivals I've mentioned, Its worth it if you're into more obscure or traditional folk music over pop-folk and indie rock, or if you want to attend a more rural festival.
Music Festival website
2. Vancouver Folk Festival, Vancouver BC, July 19-21st, 2013
The festival schedule hasn't been announced yet, but this is certainly one of the more affordable folk festivals in BC, especially for seniors and students. Weekend passes for university students (with ID) are $90 for the weekend, and $65 for seniors. I'll likely post about this again after the full schedule is announced. Vancouver Folk Fest website
3. Capitol Hill Block Party, Seattle WA, July 26th-28th 2013.
Single day passes (for $40) and weekend passes ($115) on sale now. Arguably, the major draw this year is The Flaming Lips, although the lineup includes well known indie bands such as STRFKR, Pickwick, and Hey Marseilles!, as well as lesser-known, but still good local bands like Katie Kate, and Unnatural Helpers.
Website
4. Bumbershoot, Seattle WA, August 31st - September 2nd.
For the last two years, this festival appears to have been heading downhill, as ticket prices increased, and the variety of musicians, artists, and performers decreased. Essentially, it seemed to be headed in the same direction as Sasquatch (poorly managed, overpriced, and overrated). However, this year's lineup has a significant number of well known artists (FUN, Tegan and Sara, Deathcab For Cutie) to as well as well known indie bands (Matt and Kim, Ra Ra Riot, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down) and a variety of lesser known local indie bands (Sol, Kithkin, The Redwood Plan)
Website
After a long departure - re-incarnating this blog.
I haven't updated this blog in months nearly three years. Instead of starting from scratch, I'm starting where I left off. This blog is still going to be focused on bands from the Pacific Northwest (BC/WA/OR, also known as "Cascadia") but I'll have the odd article about other bands and artists as well.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Camas 3rd Folkin Anniversary - Victoria's Five Dollar Cover?
Sunday night, after moviing into my new place, I decided to go to the 3rd Folkin Anniversary at Camas books. I decided to go partially because it was affiliated with the Victoria Anarchist bookfair, and I hadn't been able to go to it. Plus, who says no to a $5 concert? if its bad, its bad, who cares, it only cost $5, if its good, its a bargain (especially around here). When I got to the bookstore, there were a few people milling around outside, with their dogs, smoking, talking, hanging out, and some people inside. I went inside and found a seat, and slowly people began to wander in, and the store was full of dirty, grungy anarchist kids. they had to keep the doors closed because they had been busted for having shows before - the smell, and the temperature in the store were sort of...uncomfortable.
I can't tell you what the bands were called, partially because I have a feeling most of the bands that played were loosely organized groups of friends, but also because I can't remember. (each really only played for 10-15 minutes) What I do remember was this
- there was a woman who sang and played guitar, she hard blue hair and the most amazing voice. I asked the grungy looking kid next to me what she was called, I think he said Starla. I could be wrong though
- An older couple, the woman who played clarinet while the guy played guitar, both would sing. their songs were political folk, poking fun at government, pharmaceutical companies, and a host of other issues.
- Buffalo Buffalo - a four piece band, there was a fiddle, a guitar, and some other instruments I cant remember. they were pretty good.
I left after that, even though there was an hour or so left before it was finished. The cops were starting to drive around the block, and some (very) drunk people were starting trouble, spilling outside of the building, and making a racket.
I left then, because getting arrested was not high on my list of priorities, and I had class to go to in the morning.
I learnt something that night - Victoria does have a music scene, albiet a small one, and not even close to the size of the music scenes in Vancouver or Seattle. The scene here is also closed, for lack of a better word - its difficult to find out abotu things, to find what is worth seeing, unless you know artists, or people who are involved in the music scene.
I can't tell you what the bands were called, partially because I have a feeling most of the bands that played were loosely organized groups of friends, but also because I can't remember. (each really only played for 10-15 minutes) What I do remember was this
- there was a woman who sang and played guitar, she hard blue hair and the most amazing voice. I asked the grungy looking kid next to me what she was called, I think he said Starla. I could be wrong though
- An older couple, the woman who played clarinet while the guy played guitar, both would sing. their songs were political folk, poking fun at government, pharmaceutical companies, and a host of other issues.
- Buffalo Buffalo - a four piece band, there was a fiddle, a guitar, and some other instruments I cant remember. they were pretty good.
I left after that, even though there was an hour or so left before it was finished. The cops were starting to drive around the block, and some (very) drunk people were starting trouble, spilling outside of the building, and making a racket.
I left then, because getting arrested was not high on my list of priorities, and I had class to go to in the morning.
I learnt something that night - Victoria does have a music scene, albiet a small one, and not even close to the size of the music scenes in Vancouver or Seattle. The scene here is also closed, for lack of a better word - its difficult to find out abotu things, to find what is worth seeing, unless you know artists, or people who are involved in the music scene.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Hole. Not what I expected
On the festival guide for the Sunday night at the Mainstage, the listed bands were Rise against, (which I didn't see) Hole (which was amazing) and Weezer (which was good, despite stoping half an hour before their set was finished, taking a break, where it was unclear whether they were finished or not, and then starting again). Having Hole listed as playing Bumbershoot may have been a little bit misleading - Courtney Love is the only remaining member of the band, so it might have been more appropriately listed under Courtney-Love-and-a-backup-band-playing- Hole - songs.
I wasn't sure what to expect, since an article in The Stranger had said there were three possible Courtneys - Robo Courtney, Crazy Courtney, and Amazing Courtney.
I was pretty sure it was going to be a complete disaster, but surprisingly, it wasnt. It was really, really good. They nailed all the songs, and she put on a show.
I wasn't sure what to expect, since an article in The Stranger had said there were three possible Courtneys - Robo Courtney, Crazy Courtney, and Amazing Courtney.
I was pretty sure it was going to be a complete disaster, but surprisingly, it wasnt. It was really, really good. They nailed all the songs, and she put on a show.
Monday, September 6, 2010
I saw Bob Dylan, But I'm not sorry
Bob Dylan was an icon of a generation, his songs spoke to the political turmoil of the 1960s, the war in Vietnam, racism, and the civil rights movement. He falls into the category of musicians you have to see, even if its only to say that you have seen them in concert. I’d heard that Bob Dylan hadn’t played a great show last time he was in Seattle, but I bought the ticket for Bumbershoot anyway, because well…it was Bob Dylan, and who wouldn’t like to be able to see they’d seen Bob Dylan in concert? Besides, it was a festival, even if Dylan was awful, at least there would be other bands, and I wouldn’t feel like I’d been ripped off..
The mainstage had sold out in advance, although people trickled in slowly during The Decemberists, and during Neko Case, the majority of people didn’t show up until Dylan was about to play.
He opened with “Everybody Must Get Stoned”, although it wasn’t recognizable until halfway through the song. Although Bob Dylan has never had a strong voice, and his songs have often seemed more like spoken word set to music than actual songs, his performance at Bumbershoot was worse than I expected. His voice was gruff and gravelly, like a smokers’ voice, and was nearly impossible to understand – the only way my mother could identify‘Just Like A Woman’ was by the one guitar riff in the chorus.
He was supposed to play for an hour and a half, but we (my mom and I) didn’t stay until the end, we couldn’t. He’d already destroyed two of his better known songs, and after 45 minutes, I turned to my mom and said “If he attempts to play Mr tambourine man, I’m never going to be able to listen to that song again. He’s going to ruin it.”
Maybe It’s unfair of me to expect an elderly man to perform at the same level as he did 30 years ago – but if he can’t perform anymore, then why is he still touring?
Although the songs were nearly unrecognizeable, and the show was so bad, there was a steady stream of people leaving even though the set was barely halfway through, I'm not sorry I went. After all, now I can say I've seen Bob Dylan in concert, and even if he isn't good anymore, his music was the voice of a generation.
The mainstage had sold out in advance, although people trickled in slowly during The Decemberists, and during Neko Case, the majority of people didn’t show up until Dylan was about to play.
He opened with “Everybody Must Get Stoned”, although it wasn’t recognizable until halfway through the song. Although Bob Dylan has never had a strong voice, and his songs have often seemed more like spoken word set to music than actual songs, his performance at Bumbershoot was worse than I expected. His voice was gruff and gravelly, like a smokers’ voice, and was nearly impossible to understand – the only way my mother could identify‘Just Like A Woman’ was by the one guitar riff in the chorus.
He was supposed to play for an hour and a half, but we (my mom and I) didn’t stay until the end, we couldn’t. He’d already destroyed two of his better known songs, and after 45 minutes, I turned to my mom and said “If he attempts to play Mr tambourine man, I’m never going to be able to listen to that song again. He’s going to ruin it.”
Maybe It’s unfair of me to expect an elderly man to perform at the same level as he did 30 years ago – but if he can’t perform anymore, then why is he still touring?
Although the songs were nearly unrecognizeable, and the show was so bad, there was a steady stream of people leaving even though the set was barely halfway through, I'm not sorry I went. After all, now I can say I've seen Bob Dylan in concert, and even if he isn't good anymore, his music was the voice of a generation.
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