I’ll never understand the practice of having an official Record Release Party without actually having the record available for purchase. This is an obvious outcome of The World We Now Live In, where people listen to music through zeros and ones and rarely, if ever, purchase music in physical form. These “record-free” release parties still happen rarely — thankfully — but this was indeed the case on Thursday night at Neumos, where Seattle indie-rock super group (yes, I said it) Iska Dhaaf was playing to a packed house. It was a great show, and I would very much have liked to walk home with a copy of the band’s awesome debut album Even the Sun Will Burn in my hands.
The album was released in digital form this past Tuesday, March 11, and it is still available for free streaming on their Bandcamp site. Iska Dhaaf is a duo, with Nathan Quiroga on lead vocals and alternating between guitar and keyboards, and Benjamin Verdoes on backing vocals, drums and keyboards, all played simultaneously. You will recognize Verdoes from Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, the critically-acclaimed band he helmed for five years with his ex-wife and adopted brother. And Quiroga may not be as recognizable, but that’s only because he has his shirt on and glasses. He’s otherwise known as Buffalo Madonna, one of the vitriolic vocalists from Seattle’s somewhat notorious hip-hop group Mad Rad.
As Iska Dhaaf, the duo doesn’t sound like their past triumphs. This is Seattle indie acid rock at its finest. Both Verdoes and Quiroga are forging ahead, crafting amazing songs, having learned plenty from their Mad / St. Helens days. The two are close friends, having playing separately yet together for the past few years in various incarnations. I can remember seeing Verdoes on the small Yeti stage with Mad Rad at Sasquatch in 2011. The band has enabled the two of them to meet in the middle of their endeavors. For Verdoes, the rhythms are tighter, less chaotic than his MSHVB work. And Quiroga is using the new freedom that being in a duo allows, actually singing rather than screaming, as was his wont in Mad Rad.
I expected to see the two of them with a full band on stage, and was pleasantly surprised to see otherwise. They had a friend play bass in the very first song and the very last song, but otherwise it was just Verdoes and Quiroga, along with some sporadic video visuals being blasted onto the rudimentary props staged behind them. They spent most of the show silhouetted against these projections, letting your mind fill in the details of what their faces were doing on stage.
You should really check out Even the Sun Will Burn. I have a feeling it’s going to grow in popularity very quickly, and will soon be seeing a proper, physical release, to be sold in record stores. It’s full of hits, songs you can get lost in, an indie rock beauty. There are hints of Radiohead, Dick Dale, Modest Mouse, the Doors. But this is a unique creation, one that needs to be heard and seen. The duo isn’t playing a full tour, yet, with only two upcoming dates scheduled (Treefort Music Fest in March, and opening for former Murder City Devils lead singer Spencer Moody at a show in LA). But there will be more, that’s guaranteed. Get out and hear them, buy the album, and enjoy.