The Golden Filter vocalist?

There is some mystery as to the identity of the vocalist from newest authentic disco/post-bloghouse project The Gold Filter. I think she sounds like Natasha Khan from Bat for Lashes. Some of the production flourishes and instrumentation of the two projects fit too. Go to the myspace to listen to the really solid demos.

PA MIX 1 Side B

Some of the production kinks have been worked out, so this mix sounds really smooth.

1. PA intro featuring the Ramones
2. Sally Shapiro - Time To Let Go (CFCF Remix)
3. Sébastien Tellier - Divine
4. Starfucker - German Love
5. Lake - Without Devotion
6. Mount Eerie - Wooly Mammoth's Absence
7. Generifus - Baby Drawing
8. Deerhunter - Never Stops
9. Talbot Tagora - Morning Secrets
10. Masters and Johnson - Winter Sucks

DOWNLOAD

Snow is dumb.

Because of this damn blizzard, I can't go to any fucking shows. Shit. So here's my "stuck inside, pissed off and cold" playlist.


1. Lync - "Perfect Shot" from These are not Fall Colors.
This song is amazing. Lync existed only for a super short time in the early 90's in Olympia, but profoundly influenced many future indie rock and lo-fi punk bands. This song is melodic and has a lot of soul to it, but at the same time is simply a punk song.


2. The Microphones - "Ice" from It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water.
It begins with noise and then a harmonized singing part with drums and other instruments, but ends quickly into Phil Elverum's soothing voice and quiet guitar parts. The song abruptly ends and the sounds of a fire play out.


3. Sonic Youth - "Teen Age Riot" from Daydream Nation.
This song is chill. It should make you feel at peace with the shitty weather, and ready to enjoy the sun when it ever comes out. It's snowy out, you might as well listen to Sonic Youth. Or at least, the relaxing but still hard Sonic Youth songs. You should also listen to Goo. Thats a good album.


4. The Raincoats - "No Side to Fall In" from The Raincoats.
I love the Raincoats. Its amazing songwriting but beautifully simplistic, with the violin hook and not-so-perfect voice harmonies, its a perfect winter jam. This whole album is really really good.


5. The Beach Boys - "In My Room" from Surfer Girl.
In this song, Brian Wilson sings about staying in and dreaming of his love, and escaping his worries and fears. In the snow, when you can't go out and see your boo, you can at least stay in and dream.


6. Wipers - "Over The Edge" from Over the Edge.
To me, this song represents pent up frustrations and anger at one person, or anyone, who is forcing you off an edge or into a corner. When your fucking stuck inside with nothing but your records and thoughts, you can thrash out with Greg Sage.


7. The Peechees - "I Don't Know Too" from Do the Math.
Snotty, fast and fucking fun. Chill, dance and smash up your room to this shit.







8. Wet Hair - S/T 12"
This record is tribal psych-noise from some dudes in Racoo-oo-oon, and it is amazing. Aside from having aesthetic beauty, the pretty but harsh sounds are fun to space out to. Turn off the lights and hide under a blanket and listen.



9. Sebadoh - "Magnets Coil" from Bakesale.
I love Lou Barlow, and Sebadoh is one of my favorite bands. Bakesale is my favorite album by them. "Magnets Coil" is my favorite Sebadoh song. It's super chill.





10. The Smiths - "Girl Afraid" from Louder than Bombs.
This is a beautiful song. Seriously.

Enjoy. Merry fucking Christmas!

Snow Show

Last night Little Party and the Bad Business played the Vera Project with YACHT-like Bay-Area rapper Hawnay Troof and Big Black-like Texan guitarist/vocalist The Wiggins. Outside, the snow fell with increasing vehemence, threatening to turn the intimate all-ages underground scene into a deathly-awkward sumber party.

Inside, LPBB's girl's bathroom set was ended by complaints from Key Arena fat cats who (apparently) were attemping to orchestrate the return of the Sonics in an ajacent office. Beaming, angelic post-jock, Casey Catherwood (LPBB) could have talked them down, but why mix it up with big wig loosers when you can move to the Vera gallery?

Hawnay Troof sweapt the floor of the mainstage with his rendering of pompus, suit-wearing white dude meets bitter, road-weary muscian/underachiver/rapper. With a description of his August to December adventure, he got me pretty hyped for not ever touring in a DIY band. None the less, his story about playing drums in the Raincoats (true, I assume) won everybody over.

Even with the snow coming down, I made it back to my parent's house early enough to swipe a beer from the fridge and watch SNL. I felt... not very punk. I think the holidays ruin rock and roll.

Public Access Mixtape (RAW!)

Howdy folks and happy winter solstice to all druids and pagans. We've commissioned a mixtape of some of our featured acts. This is the first 30 minute side. More soon, including actual tapes.

1. REFLEX - Night Jam A [silver tongued synth line]
2. David Bryn + Brian Eno - Life Is Long [how-to live your life]
3. Miami Horor - Don't Be On With Her [how not to live your life]
4. YACHT - Summer Song [Oregon disco scene?]
5. Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts [distortion/forest/drink tickets]
6. Gang Gang Dance - House Jam (Hot Chip Remix) [foreign travel scene]
7. Jimmy Buffet - Cheeseburger in Paradise [more travel]
8. Herr Jazz - Olympia [teen road trip]
9. Girls - Lust For Life [bottle of wine in SF]

DOWNLOAD PA MIX 1 side A (Probably the clubin' side. Stay tuned for the woolier side B.)

Mix engineered by VACATION.

rolling stoned

I've really tried to get over my stigma towards Rolling Stone. But their recent Albums of the Year is simply too cliché and over-acknowledges a bevy of artists from bygone eras. Bob Dylan in your number two spot? Metallica? Jackson Browne? AC/DC? Bravo with Bon Iver, Hot Chip, No Age and the TV on the Radio nod at first, I guess, but it just feels like its only because they're an indie band that came out with a lauded album that they actually got there. I don't know what to purpose, but RS has got to either put down the bong, change its mission or stop trying to be relevant. 

Noise binge

So i've been going through a total noise phase. Cold, dark and wet days are filled with the epic reverberations of Raccoo-oo-oon and Pocahaunted. Before, I occasionally partook in the noise and drone stuff, but never too much. The farthest that I ever strayed was HEALTH and High Places. I made a goal for myself to expand my horizons a little more, to include the noise that come of my friend's liked so much. I downloaded Raccoo-oo-oon's "Behold Secret Kingdom."

It's definitely a really good record. Waves of psych-drone fill up the space over drumming and some subtle guitar and bass parts. The vocals that can be heard are super chanty and woodsy, pretty much incoherent. Unfortunately, this awesome band is not a band anymore. But sweet deal folks, two dudes from Raccoo-oo-oon have formed Wet Hair. Wet Hair is a little more quiet, less percusive psych-drone group. I missed their show at the Josephine on the 7th because neither I, nor my friend had enough money to get in, which was a huge bummer. But the next day at the Hollow Earth Radio local label expo, I picked up a copy of their latest 12", and it is musically and aesthetically one of the best things i've purchased this year.

This record is a work of fucking art. It cost me a big $11, and it was totally worth it. I came home, and turned all the lights off, putting it carefully on my turntable and had a massive spaceout.

On Saturday the 29th of November, I had the pleasure of seeing my old friends Casy and Brian play at the Holy Mountain with some other bands, and Religious Girls, with who they were on tour. Religious Girls turned out to be one of the best bands I've seen this year. Four dudes, like 20 keyboards, a ton of voice and sound manipulation pedals and everyone played drums but one. They had a sweet standard kit drummer, while 2 other members pounded on cymbals and floor toms set up next to their keys. Their music was beautiful and tropical, sort of an etheral haze of tropical noise with crazy rhythmic drumming. At one point, drums were moved, paint was poured on the heads. Then splattered with each stroke of their final song.

Check 'em out:
Religious Girls


Raccoo-oo-oon

STARFUCKER VIDEO

I'm a big fan of this song, ripe with Starfucker's stoner-pop melancholy, dripping with the snarky catatonics of musician-cool, and greening fallow fields of 60s rock, dance punk, and funk. Stupid, airy, adolescent vocals somehow sound justified behind the fattest baselines to come out of Portland... ever. They will play Seattle's Vera project on December 20th with Natalie Portman's Shaved head.
Starfucker - Rawnald Gregory Erickson The Second from epb21 on Vimeo.

throw me the statue, truckasauras - live at neumos (12/4/08)

I was very eager on thursday night, for I was about to finally see my favorite Seattle band, Throw Me the Statue. I'd tried numerous times, but I just couldn't ever seem to make it to one of their shows. However, I was not so excited about their opener, Truckasauras. After seeing them at Sasquatch!, I was left with a decidedly sour taste in my mouth. And so, my intentions were to arrive late and simply miss their set entirely. I wasn't so lucky. Or, rather, I was extremely lucky. 

Unlike the previous show, one of the guys in Truckasauras had switched from drum machines to a drum kit. And, holy shit, they were so good. Like, all of what I thought was simple and bland about the band last time became magnificent layers of electronics whriling above hip-hop, funk and sometimes even jazz, beats. If there is one thing to learn, it's that live drums always, always make things better. The grimy techno was unexpectedly pleasing and I'm glad to have my opinion changed on such a high-profile local band. 

Clad in all white outfits, Throw Me the Statue was celebrating their 100th show with this homecoming show. There was a three piece horn section, and Scott was busy between guitars, bass, drums and his singing duties. Everything about the show affirmed my love for these guys, and I can now say with absolute conviction that TMTS it my favorite Seattle band. They've got hooks upon hooks, amazing musicians, intelligent lyrics and unique vocals. It's strange, because Scott is probably a musician first and a singer second, but I seem to enjoy normal people who sing rather than singers who dominate the music. Highlights included "Yucatan Gold," "Your Girlfriend's Car," and of course, "Lolita." I hope that next near finds the guys getting even more positive press and media attention, as they've got potential to become a very popular indie band. An amazing show to end an amazing year. Welcome home guys. 

LAKE Digital Interview

PA: Dear Ashley, Eli, Lindsay, Adam, Mark, Bill,
whoever else might be around,
Hi guys. You may or may not remember me as a friend of Spencer Sult [Generifus].
I hope tour is going super well.

PA: What is being a band called LAKE like in places without water? Kind of
challenging?
Ashley: Well, during this last fall tour we all forgot how hot it would be in the southwest and forgot to bring clothes for very hot weather - hotter than it ever gets in (coastal) Washington. We were desperate to find thrift shorts and sandals for that week of sunshine. We're talking 100 degrees in late October. When I left for tour, I was already wearing wool and thermals. What a great big diverse country we live in. But anyways, even in the face of drought, there's still mountains of water in the sky to quench one's dreams of the Northwestern lakes.

PA: What's touring Europe like for LAKE?
Eli: Touring in Europe was very exciting, but we needed someone to wake us up in the mornings, and help us get from A to B. It was very stressful to travel in Europe as a group, with no help. We couldn't tell if people in England liked our band or not, or maybe they couldn't tell. But in places like Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Hamburg we felt quite liked, loved even? Scandinavia is incredible, but I'd really like to go back in the winter. We had a great time and made friends that i hope to keep forever. I liked all the bread and butter and cheese. and in Scandinavia all the pickled herring was great. In Norway we played a festival with Jars of Clay!

PA: How was working with Weston Currie?
Poor Weston was falling apart during the shooting of the LAKE video. At first, his back was killing him and getting worse and worse, which we were able work around taking the necessary breaks. Then, later that night, we went to a friend's birthday party and Weston sprained his foot dancing. Weston had to go to the hospital and the next day we were shooting again, but Weston was on crutches. I don't think our video would have turned out any differently though, had Weston been in better physical shape. He's really great to work with; very funny and imaginative and a he's good listener as well. It will be fun to work with him again.

PA: How is the new vinyl being received? I don't have it yet, but I saw the test
pressing when I came to that Eli show in Olympia last spring.
Eli: It was super fun. i just now read some of our press report and had the honor of reading my first negative reviews and it didn't even hurt. in general it seems like people who listen to the record intentionally, and cognizantly seem to like it. I have heard people complain that it is too short, which i agree with. i think "Oh, the Places.." fits nicely into many people's percepption of the northwest, lo-fi, k records cannon. [note: LAKE sold out of the record on their European tour]

PA: Does super aggressive dance music have chance against mellow NW pop?
Eli: Not a chance. but it's funny that in review after review pretty much every description of our band includes the word mellow. When we made this album, I thought it WAS super aggressive dance music. But I guess it's not. It is quite a bit more rockin' (in my opinion) than our other records. Maybe we need to have it remastered, so it jumps aggressively out of the speakers.

PA: I've been hearing about gnarly house parties from Sult featuring diverse music. What's the future for the Oly music scene?
Eli: It really seems to be growing. I live on Whidbey Island now, so when I come and visit Olympia or play a show, every time, it seems to have grown; especially in regards to the house show/all ages scene. It's crazy! I think Spencer Sult is a new powerful figure in Olympia and he seems to be inviting lots of people from the dorms to shows, which is awesome.

PA: If LAKE were a lifestyle brand, what would be the top three LAKE products for sale at Sharper Image[R.I.P.]?
Ashley: LAKE stoppers (for the bathtub), LAKE rain sticks, LAKE sandwich

PA: Thanks LAKE!

The new album is called Oh The Places We'll Go.
Get it here or any shop that sells K Records.



LAKE - Heaven from Weston Currie on Vimeo.