Organizers for the Georgetown Music Festival, which will take place June 25 and 26, revealed the festival's schedule early this morning and as always it features loads of local talent. It's a bit smaller than previous GMFs, which have included national acts like Helmet and Okkervil River, but this year's focus on all local and loads of hip hop is perfect for the industrial and gritty hood of Georgetown. Plus it's free, so you can't beat the price.
There are plenty of Ear Candy favorites on the bill ranging from Victor Shade to Skeletons With Flesh on Them which should make this summer festival a great way to spend a (hopefully) sunny weekend at the end of the month. Other acts worth checking out include Tea Cozies, Hotels, Fatal Lucciano, Black Whales, Candysound, SOTA and more. The complete lineup is below:
The Heavy A crazy soul-funk dance party at noon on a Monday? I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't been part of it. I had more fun during the twenty minutes I caught of this set than I would have had at a two-hour MGMT show.
Girls After this set I grabbed a friend and demanded, "HOW HAVE YOU NOT MADE ME LISTEN TO THIS BAND BEFORE?" I still want to know.
Japandroids Watching five security guards struggle to hold up the barriers against the billowing mass of exultant Japandroids fans warmed my little rock-n-roll heart, and inspired me to stow my camera bag and run in to the crowd to participate in the fun.
The National Singer Matt Berninger finished The National's set balanced precariously on the edge of the stage, his eyes and voice haunted like a man standing instead on the ledge of a skyscraper. This sight was so intense and resonant for me I had to actually step away from the performances for a while to absorb and process it.
Pavement I had been waiting fifteen years to see this band, and I loved every sloppy, start-and-stop minute of it. I've seen a few negative reviews of this performance, but remember that messiness is an important part of the band's aesthetic. And even if the majority disagrees, there were at least two people in that crowd - me and some guy about fifteen feet behind me - blissed out and singing along to every single word.
The Seattle Art Museum is having one helluva fundraiser at the end of the month that will feature none other than Sub Pop legends Mudhoney. If you think Mudhoney and SAM sound like an odd combo, well wait until you hear the location of the fundraiser -- the Olympic Sculpture Park's Gates Amphitheatre.
The fundraiser, which will take place June 25, is being called SAM's Party in the Park and tickets cost between $75 and $125 depending on when you buy them ($75 if purchased before June 15, $100 after and $125 day of show). Tickets include food, a hosted bar with beer and one VIP ticket to the Kurt exhibit at SAM. All funds raised at Party in the Park will benefit SAM’s artistic programs including programming at the Olympic Sculpture Park.
Sure the tickets are a bit on the spendy side for a Mudhoney show, but hey it is a fundraiser for a good cause which makes the purchase well worth the cost. And how many opportunities will you get to see Mudhoney perform outdoors in front of massive pieces of public art? You can buy tickets here.
It's hard to believe that almost two weeks have passed since the wonderful weekend at the Gorge Amphitheatre that was Sasquatch! 2010. We're close to the beginning of the end of our Sasquatch! 2010 coverage here on Ear Candy (check it all out over here) and before things are all wrapped up some time next week I wanted to chime in with a few of the notable artists that made big impressions on me, and others, at the festival. Since the festival is all about musical discoveries, here's a list of seven artists I plan to spend more time with in the coming months thanks to my experience at Sasquatch! 2010.
The Heavy: This UK group got added to Sasquatch! late and they sort of got screwed by having a noon time slot on Monday. The main stage crowd was sparse for their performance but those who were there witnessed one of the most electrifying sets of Sasquatch! The band's dirty R&B garage rock was spiked with horns and featured an amazingly energetic and passionate frontman in Kelvin Swaby. It was impossible not to shake your booty in a dancetacular frenzy to The Heavy's highly polished modern take on retro rock. Catch them live when they come to the Showbox at the Market June 21.
The National: I missed most of their set at Sasquatch! a few years back and I had to miss most of their set this year because they were playing opposite America's greatest festival band, The Hold Steady. I heard some really great things about the entire set by The National so I plan to give The Boxer a good listen in the coming weeks and I also plan to check out High Violet. There has to be a reason why everyone seems to like these guys, right?
The lineup for the annual West Seattle Summer Festival was announced earlier this week. The festival, which takes place in the West Seattle Junction (California Ave SW & SW Alaska Street), goes down on July 9th, 10th and 11th and will include tons of local bands all playing for free. Here's the initial lineup with a few additional acts to be added soon, including a "special, secret, surprise band.".
The annual Noise for the Needy festival kicks off tomorrow night and to celebrate the folks over at Neumos have given Ear Candy two pairs of tickets to give away to the fest's two headlining shows this weekend.
The first show goes down Friday night and it features San Diego rockers The Delta Spirit. They are being supported by openers, and Brittney Bush Bollay favorites, Ezra Furman and the Harpoons and The Romany Rye. The second headlining show happens Saturday and it includes the one-two Sub Pop wallop of headliners The Album Leaf and noisemakers Kinski. Also on the bill is Baths.
To win tickets, send an email with the subject "Needy" to travhay@gmail.com and include your name along with the name of the show you'd like to attend in the body. Winners will be chosen at random and will be notified Friday at noon. Oh, and while you're at the show be sure to give a few buck for Noise For The Needy, who are putting on a series of shows this weekend that will benefit Teen Feed, an organization that serves hot meals to homeless youth. After all, you'll be getting in to the show for free so why not give some money for a good cause. Good luck.
Remember the last time you heard a band for the first time and thought "Whoa, this is exactly what I've been looking for?" When everything you're hearing is so perfectly placed, so well-executed that it's like they wrote it with you in mind? The songs get stuck in your head for days, the lyrics become more clear and relevant with each listen, you even start picking up on subtle parts you didn't hear before. Pretty soon you find yourself buying everything said band has released, Googling them, lurking their MySpace and Wikipiedia pages and talking about them to whoever will listen. It's that wonderful feeling that only comes with finding a new favorite band.
This happened to me a couple years ago when I heard a little ditty called "Foxes Mate For Life" by a trio of Canadians that call themselves Born Ruffians. A simple, plucked acoustic intro coaxed me in as layers of stuttering keys and an intriguingly off-kilter barre chord progression were added, and as more elements were brought in I had no choice but to see where it was going. The drums finally kicked in and the barre chords took prominence until frontman Luke LaLonde urged me to "make a point of having fun" in a caterwauling yelp, nearly unintelligible with his deliberately and delightfully sloppy delivery. I was immediately hooked, but it didn't stop there. Each track on their debut Red, Yellow & Blue seemed better than the next - almost literally, as the stellar "Barnacle Goose," "Hummingbird," and "I Need a Life" appear in succession. The dynamic, shifting tempos, peppy, bouncy rhythm section, shout-along gang choruses, and flawless vocal melodies that blend perfectly with it all create a truly fresh sound that stands out among a legion of indie wannabes. Years (and hundreds of spins) later the album is still in my regular rotation, and would likely be on my All-Time Top 10 list as well.
After a rather lackluster Friday night for music venues around town, tonight brings it with two viable options.
At The Crocodile there is another School of Rock collaboration that will leave you impressed with their ages and skills depressed with your own (honestly, these kids are damn good at playing instruments). This time around the Schoolkids will be joined by local electro-drone "cybergaze" gearheads Sleepy Eyes of Death for a tribute to Radiohead, with both groups kicking out favorites (and maybe a few oddities) from the British alt-rock titans. These youngsters' traditional rock instrumentation will be beefed up by the layers upon layers of thick synth buzz, ear-splitting cymbal crashes and clouds of fog that usually accompany a SEOD show, but to the familiar tune of Thom Yorke's lush compositions. These kinds of shows are always a lot of fun - both groups bonding through their mutual love for a great band and playing music, the kids thrilled that they're playing with legit local musicians and the big guys stoked on the kids' chops. Get a piece of the action for $12, it should be a great time.
The Heavy A crazy soul-funk dance party at noon on a Monday? I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't been part of it. I had more fun during the twenty minutes I caught of this set than I would have had at a two-hour MGMT show.
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