Photos: The Dirtbombs at Neumo's

All photos by Mackenzie McAninch.

The Dirtbombs
May 13, 2007
Neumo's

Topics: Shutter to Click

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Sasquatch I Heard This: Mates of State

So here’s the backstory behind indie-pop band Mates of State: Organist Kori Gardner and drummer Jason Hammel were involved with other people when they initially met 10 years ago. But sparks flew, daily e-mails were exchanged, and soon the two were inseparable. Then they got married... and they’re still happy. Blechhhh! LKDSFJALSF! I know, I know. But the grudging truth is that these kids are fucking adorable.

I had the pleasure of meeting Kori and Jason at Bumbershoot two years ago. They talked about music for say, 30 seconds, and then excitedly told me about their brush with fame: Ice Cube was on their flight to Seattle.

Okay, okay. The cheese factor is high. But Mates of State use it to their advantage. Their songs are filled with call-and-response verses, harmonized choruses, and swinging tempos. I don't care if you've got the heart of Cruella DeVille— I promise this googly-eyed couple will get to you.

Mates of State play Sasquatch! Wookie! Stage. 6 p.m. Sun., May 25.

Topics: Sasquatch 2008

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This Morning's Death Cab Email

Received this email from Matt, Reverb's Navy Yard City correspondent this morning. What do you think? Was Letterman genuine? And is Nick Harmer's hair/beard a little too Lucifer chic?

"I just finished watching the Death Cab performance on Dave. Good.
Smallified, "posses yer heart" or whatever. Look for it on the
YouTube, er somethin'. Note finishing shot of Bass Player looking
like the devil with horns. You can always tell when Dave likes the
bands on. He likes the Death Cab. Ya know he likes 'em when he's
always up front about the CD/record in the beginning of the show."

Topics: Grapevine

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Live Music Tonight: Tapes 'N Tapes

Get the free Short List Podcast sent directly to your computer featuring the night's live music recommendations, audio clips, show details, and priceless banter that's worth EVERY PENNY! Yes, you can subscribe via iTunes!

Tapes 'n Tapes, Showbox at the Market, $15, 8 p.m.

Topics: Happenings

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Last Night: Photos, Review, MP3 of Bucky Pizzarelli at Jazz Alley

Photos and audio by Chris Kornelis

John "Bucky" Pizzarelli
May 13
Jazz Alley
Note: Bucky Pizzarelli plays Jazz Alley again on Wednesday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $21.50.
MP3: Download Pizzarelli's Tuesday night performance of "Stompin' at the Savoy."

At 82, John "Bucky" Pizzarelli still greets every morning by running through a batch of songs on his seven-string guitar. But not this morning. But we'll give him a pass, considering he was up before 5 a.m. for a flight out of Newark, headed for a relatively last-minute, two-night stint at Jazz Alley that concludes Wednesday night.

The local headlining gig is something of a rarity for Pizzarelli, whose recent visits to Seattle have most often been at the side of his son, the guitarist/crooner John Pizzarelli, filling Benaroya Hall and week-long residencies at the Alley. While his son's set is rife with showmanship and Beatles covers, Pizzarelli's set last night was an intimate affair that felt more like eavesdropping on one of his early morning jam sessions.

As he ran through selections from the books of swing greats like Benny Goodman, he wasn't merely playing covers. He's the era's standard torchbearer, sans nostalgia. These are artists with which he cut his teeth. Now, more than 60 years after he began his career with the Vaughn Monroe band (1943), he's showing no signs of growing tired of the material or the routine of performing.

In fact, as he played rhythm during bassist Chuck Deardorf's solo, Pizzarelli locked eyes with the audience, grinning as if there was no place he'd rather be. My date looked over our martinis to say, "He's so happy!" Indeed, those eyes, and eyebrows, don't lie.

Topics: Happenings

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Sasquatch I Heard This: Jamie Lidell

Lidell headed to Los Angeles to make his sunny-sounding record. Jim is indeed a heartfelt existential celebration, beginning with the earnest lyrics. “Another day, another way for me to open up to you,”� he sings on the album’s opener, “Another Day,”� sounding like a man in love. (After living in Berlin for eight years, Lidell is moving to Paris to be with his girlfriend.) Helmed by Lidell and frequent collaborator Mocky, the album’s organic, ground-up style production reflects an evolution in his recording philosophy — but the album doesn’t skimp on the rump-shakers. The electro-tinged, Jamiroquai-recalling “Figured Me Out”� boasts a retro-futuristic beat, while the almost surf-rock “Hurricane”� is a prime example of the California sound Lidell traveled halfway across the world to obtain. But the album’s Motown and soul-style ballads are perhaps what stand out the most. The only problem is that in an era of endless irony it’s almost hard to accept the songs’ sugary honesty. Lidell’s ecstatic yelps and the disco-bass on “Little Bit of Feel Good,”� for example, feel like a dead-serious take on Snoop’s “Sensual Seduction,”� while ”�Green Light”�’s relaxed, rollerskate synths feel only a half-step removed from the smirking R&B that was Beck’s Midnite Vultures album. BY BEN WESTHOFF

Jamie Lidell plays Sasquatch! Wookie! Stage. 7 p.m. Mon., May 26.

Topics: Sasquatch 2008

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No Flow Wreckin' Permitted

I realize saying "fuck you, Pitchfork!" is the indie rock equivalent of heckling for "more cowbell" at a classic rock reunion show, but it simply must be said in response to their review of the Dirtbombs ridiculously brilliant new album, We Have You Surrounded. They gave it a 7.1, which isn't exactly atrocious, but this line really disturbs me:

"Surrounded" was originally slated to be a five-song EP, and I have the sneaking suspicion that "Wreck My Flow" and "Pretty Princess Day" weren't among them, nor were odd transitions like "They Have Us Surrounded" or an eight-minute noise track. "Wreck My Flow" is a leaden litany that's like a garage-punk "We Didn't Start the Fire."

Comparing Mick Motherfucking Collins to Billy Joel?? May the god of your choice strike you down!

I spent last Saturday evening at a birthday party for a local musician, and the guests in attendance (among them, two non-profit music organization administrators, several musicians proficient in range of genres, a museum curator, a sound engineer, a local filmmaker, and one budding hip hop impresario) have what I'd call finely-tuned and historically informed musical tastes.

The one song that went into serious repeat mode during the inevitable dance party was "Wreck My Flow." It's so insanely catchy and addictive that even when we were on rotation number six, everyone's asses kept shaking. Billy Joel does not do that to people. At least not my people.

The Dirtbombs play Neumo's tonight. Be there, or stay home and listen to Storm Front or something. Just don't wreck our flow.

Topics: Rant

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Live Music Tonight: The Dirtbombs

Get the free Short List Podcast sent directly to your computer featuring the night's live music recommendations, audio clips, show details, and priceless banter that's worth EVERY PENNY! Yes, you can subscribe via iTunes!

The Dirtbombs, Dan Sartain, Terrible Twos
Neumo's, $12, 8 p.m.
Detroit's Dirtbombs are back with their first full-length in five years. That's big news for Mick Collins fans; they're more obsessed than a wolverine devouring a pack of rancid pork chops. Of course, the guy sounds a little older, a little less aggro these days. We Have You Surrounded, the band's latest, trades the sandpaper punk-soul of High Octane Salvation-era Dirtbombs for more of a quirky indie funk/disco-wave aesthetic. On tracks like "Sherlock Holmes" and "La Fin Du Monde" (great beer), Collins and his buddies rely more on mood and atmosphere than sweaty groove research. It's a pretty nifty album overall, although it's not nearly as mind blowing as his work with the Gories. But hey, how many classic records can one man produce?
— JUSTIN F. FARRAR

Topics: Happenings

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Flipper Confirmed at the Funhouse

Funhouse proprietor/booker Brian Foss has just confirmed that Flipper will be playing his club on Friday, June 27. Former Nirvana bassist and current SW blogger Krist Noveselic now plays bass with the band; he'll be speaking at EMP early that evening and playing the Funhouse afterwards.

Topics: Concert News

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Last Night: Cake at The Paramount

John McCrea working the crowd early in the show. McCrea's apple tree, center, killed the show. Photos by Joshua Lynch.

Cake
When: Sunday, May 11, 7:00 p.m.
Where: The Paramount Theatre

"Yes, Cake is still in existence!" screamed Cake front man John McCrea at last night’s show. But, sadly, these self-proclaimed "90s geek-rockers" have forgotten how to put on a good show.

After local band Throw Me the Statue opened with a short set (they explained they just found out they were going to play four days before the show), Cake left the show-goers to their drinking for more than 45 minutes. (Good thing they left the chairs in on the main floor so the throng of 30 and 40 year olds in attendance could give their bunions a rest.)

Continue reading "Last Night: Cake at The Paramount"

Topics: The Morning After

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