Thank you and hello again, everybody.  This week our pop-spotlight song of the week comes from a young Los Angeles, California trio calling themselves WAVVES.  Essentially a project of San Deigo native, Nathan Williams, the first two releases from the lo-fi punk outfit were recorded behind the home of Williams‘ parents, launching the young man into the forefront of America‘s burgeoning Garage Rock resurrection.  For the current incarnation, Williams has recruited the late-Jay Reatard‘s former rhythm section, Stephen Pope (bass) and Billy Hayes (drums).  Together they have released the high-energy 12-track gem, King of the Beach, that all the kids are bopping their heads and tapping their toes along to.  Today our spotlight shines on one particular song from this release and it’s corresponding video, which focuses on extra-terrestrials and skateboarding.  Ladies and gentleman, please enjoy “Post Acid“. (more…)

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MiiKE SNOW

To avoid any confusion right off the bat, I think it’s important to clarify that Miike Snow isn’t the name of a man.  It’s actually the name of a Swedish electro-pop trio.  I first became aware of the group, thanks to friend of the site, Sean “Har Mar Superstar” Tillmann, whose personal tweets and Facebook postings expressed an appreciation of their recent self-titled debut.  Much like Har Mar, the trio has managed to gain a solid level of popularity in the UK.  Although Miike Snow are arguably still more recognizable overseas, I believe that, if they aren’t on your radar yet, they will be soon enough.  In fact, Miike Snow isn’t unfamiliar with the concept of “Radar“, because 2/3 of the group actually helped to produce a hit song of the same name for Britney Spears.

I use to be a barista at a place where I was lucky enough to work with someone who had similar musical tastes as myself.  Sometimes, our co-workers didn’t feel as lucky about that situation as we did.  A lot of Silver Jews, Dungen, Pavement, Ween, Tortoise, Talking Heads, Sonic Youth, free jazz, etc, was played during our shifts, but one day Josh brought in the Britney Spears Blackout album and everyone was so pissed off that they lost their minds over it.  Both of us, on the other hand, got really into playing it more and more.  It’s extremely popular to trash pop-stars like Brit Brit, especially at that time, but there was something really intriguing about that album.  Once you get past the ideas of commercialism, shallow marketing tactics, and Total Request Live tweens buying scrunchies at a Claire’s in a Westfield shopping mall, it contained some brilliant layering and production work throughout.  Above all, “Radar” had a super catchy hook and was the one track that I couldn’t shake.  It turns out that, along with “Piece of Me” and two other tracks from Blackout, “Radar” was produced and co-written by the Swedish duo of Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg (aka: Bloodshy and Avant).  In 2007, Karlsson and Winnberg teamed up with American frontman/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, Andrew Wyatt to form Miike Snow and did so without any real expectations.  Bloodshy and Avant had already achieved a high level of success from their production work with vagi-centric pop acts like Spears, Kylie Monogue, Madonna, J-Lo etc.  In fact, these guys even produced and co-wrote the song “Toxic” which was credited by multiple publications as being one of the greatest songs of the Two-Thousands.  So, although their names as artists may not be as recognizable as the acts whose careers they helped to boost, most people are still very familiar with their work.  With Miike Snow, the production duo is now stepping out into the forefront to endure any risks and rewards which may come along with it. (more…)

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GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED!

We love Frank Zappa… a lot. This also means that we take it seriously when someone decides to cover his music. We are sure that his son Dweezil loves him too… a lot, but that doesn’t mean that he’s capable of covering his father’s work and doing it justice. When I heard about the Zappa Play Zappa project that Dweezil has embarked on, in which he tours with a group of hand picked musicians to cover his father’s music live, I was incredibly skeptical.  However, after speaking to some of the biggest, most hard-assed, and critical Zappa fans that I know, every response that I’ve heard has been incredibly positive.   It sound like this kid has taken this project as seriously as anyone could have ever hoped and that the resulting effort is beyond what could have ever been expected.  When Zappa Plays Zappa makes it’s way to Seattle on Monday June 14th with a performance at the Moore Theater, it will be our first opportunity to catch this critically acclaimed tour for ourselves and see if it lives up to the hype. T he good news for you is that, we’ve teamed up with the Seattle Theatre Group yet again, to offer that same opportunity to some of our readers, for free!

Our friends at STG Presents have offered us 20 pairs of tickets to give away!   Yep, that’s 40 total, and were’ not fucking around.  This is no joke my friends.  In fact, it looks like we will probably have even more than that, when it’s all said and done, so pay attention to the rules and act quick if you’re interested.   If you do this right the first time we shouldn’t have any problems.

HOW TO ENTER

We’re doing this shit real simple like. (more…)

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The Black Lips have been scheduled as contenders in Converse‘s BAND OF BALLERS basketball tournament being held on May 1st in their hometown of Atlanta, Ga.  This is the second time that the event has been held, with the squad of rapper Jim Jones taking the championship crown the last time around.  This year, The Black Lips have not only issued a challenge towards the other celebrities and musicians on the courts, but have directed one towards their pockets.  This post is pretty straight up, so I’m just going to post the majority of the press release directly:

BAND TO DONATE THEIR EARNINGS FROM THE EVENT TO CHARITY, CHALLENGE OTHER PARTICIPANTS TO DO THE SAME

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Fred Cole is like some sort of musical version of High Lander or a vampire.  Since 1964, at a mere 16 years of age, Cole has been an enduring force in the music industry.  By organically adjusting, adapting, and adding to his signature sound, he has been able to move inconspicuously amongst mortals throughout the many passing decades.  Few others can lay claim to having performed shows with the likes of the Doors and Janis Joplin in the Sixties, as well as with Punk legends like Ramones in the Seventies, and bands like Black Lips of today.  Fred Cole has been there and transitioned admirably through all of it.

Fred met and married his wife Toody before he was out of his teens and they have been together ever since.  Through the births of their children, playing in various bands together, running a music/general store, and even living in the unforgiving elements of the Yukon, the Coles are like the Zan and Jana of sonic onslaughts.  From the garage rock/psychedelia of The Lollipop Shoppe, to the punk of The Rats, to the country-influenced The Range Rats, and the mashed up rough punk of Dead Moon, Fred has remained a vital voice in the music industry and Toody‘s has increasingly grown stronger and stronger.  After almost 20 years and being the subject of a documentary, Dead Moon disbanded in 2006, when the couple parted ways with drummer, Andrew Loomis.  Now, with the addition of drummer, Kelly Halliburton (Severed Head of State, Defiance), the Cole‘s are about to head out on tour with their most recent musical project, Pierced Arrows.

I caught Pierced Arrows during their last appearance in Seattle and they were an impressive live act; incorporating new tracks with classics from projects of the past.  Their sophomore album, Descending Shadows will be released by VICE Records on February 2nd.  The following video of the trio performing their new song, “Let It Rain” in the yard of their Oregon home. (more…)

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I used to work the graveyard shift as a night auditor at a pair of shitty hotels, across the street from a crack park in downtown Seattle.  I was eventually, and intentionally, fired but, like most shitty jobs, this one had some Pros mixed in with its Cons. The pros were the comical wingnuts and crackheads, the fact that I met my girlfriend there, my free pizza hook ups every night, and that it was not uncommon for patrons to kick me down free weed.  Among the cons were the not-so comical wingnuts and crackheads, my incompetent and self-important dipshit of a boss (who was over-compensating for his secretive, yet discovered, history for having a taste for man wiener), that I was constantly scheduled as a security guard (not my “job”), and the time that the vato with the dress shirt and neck tattoo tricked me into smoking a sherm blunt with him at 3 in the morning.  The most frustrating situations were the ones where the Cons actually canceled out the Pros all together. One example was when I had learned that the Swedish psych band, DUNGEN, was staying in the hotel and had offered the entire staff free tickets to their local performance.  Sure, it was a “sweet” bonus for having a shitty job, but the problem was that I was actually working at that shitty job during DUNGEN‘s performance.  It would take almost 4 more years before I realized to what magnitude I had missed out. (more…)

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