In the mood to visit far-off corners of the globe but short of cash and time? Feel free, then, to take musical journeys to Iceland and China this weekend, all without leaving Seattle city limits.
We laid out the big picture regarding A Taste of Iceland earlier today, but the musical component to this year’s Icelandic takeover, Reykjavik Calling, is an event all by itself. It makes its return to the Emerald City for the sixth time in as many years Saturday night at Neumo’s (free of charge, 21+ only). As per usual, two Seattle acts pair with two Icelandic ones to create and play their collaborative music for the show. Hearing any of these artists do a set on their own would be pretty great, which makes the collaborations on display all the more intriguing.
Local kids Midday Veil form the Seattle component of one of these pairings. Their newest release, This Wilderness, finds them mining fertile, organic dance rhythms from their epic prog-goth-krautrock, and they’re never less than phenomenal live.
Mammut, their Icelandic co-conspirators, play sometimes haunting, sometimes flat-out menacing, sometimes gorgeous post-punk—Bjork and PJ Harvey in black eyeliner, cranking their guitars when the urge strikes them. Both bands share a flair for careening theatricality in their sound, so this looks to be a combustible mix in the offing.
Equally amazing should be the collaboration between DJ Flugvel og Geimskip (DJ Airplane and Spaceship, in slow American) and Sassyblack.
DJ Airplane and Spaceship accompanies her playfully retro-futuristic soundscapes with a wonderful cartoon chirp of a voice. Sassyblack, the solo identity of THEESatisfaction’s Cat, contrasts with a nuanced butter-toffee croon, a sharp ear for spare and funky grooves, and a pronounced social conscience (the fact that much of Sassyblack’s original material sounds like a loose-limbed extension of THEESat’s recent full-length EarthEE is a bonus to these ears). It’ll be exciting to see the resulting yin-yang play out Saturday.
Opening the party will be Briana Marela, a Seattle singer whose airy dream-pop surely sounds ethereal enough to have been delivered from the glacially-lovely wilds of Iceland.
While Reykjavik Calling is an old friend dropping in for the latest of several visits, the Modern Sky Music Festival arrives for the first time in Seattle this coming Sunday. The fest, sponsored by Beijing-based promoter Modern Sky Entertainment, presents an all-day lineup that sees Chinese and western rock bands trading off sets at Seattle Center’s Mural Amphitheatre.
Modern Sky offers a fascinating glimpse at rock and pop music, filtered through the culture of mainland China. The universality of some of pop sub-genres becomes evident with one listen to Song Dongye, an earnest and unpretentious neo-folkie. Setting aside the fact that his Chinese lyrics won’t really register with an English-speaking demographic, when translated they display a smart and reflective sensibility that’s endeared him to millions.
Miserable Faith, meantime, began life as a metal band, but they currently serve up a polyglot mix of styles that befits the all-things-to-all-people school of music, combining Coldplay-style mainstream alternative rock with pinches of world music.
The most fun Chinese act on the bill should be New Pants, a new wave-tinged rock band adept at busting out compact power pop songs alongside pogo-worthy dance tracks: “Sex Drugs Internet,” in particular, sports some pretty subversive, almost industrial rock teeth, and they’re reputedly a show-stopping live act.
Even if you’re not particularly interested in the Chinese acts on display, though, the western portion of Modern Sky’s programming represents a pretty great roster all by itself. The four acts run the full stylistic map.
Finnish-by-way-of Ethiopia singer Mirel Wagner plays raggedly-strummed gothic folk that’s as dark—and as darkly beautiful—as fresh-cut obsidian.
Ariel Pink’s lo-fi psych-pop sifts through hooks and production weirdness with the haphazard spontaneity of a vagrant going through a cultural recycling bin. At his best/worst, he’s funny as hell, gleefully unrestrained, and possesses a shambolic charisma that should be something to watch as well as hear.
And while their days of onstage vomiting and rampant nudity are most likely behind ‘em, Georgia garage rockers Black Lips can still kick up a hell of a ruckus on a stage.
Post-punk warhorses Gang of Four (named, ironically enough, after a group of Chinese dissidents) play Modern Sky’s final set, and I for one am intrigued to see them. The original incarnation of the band carved out a unique and influential legacy: Their combination of jittery punk and throbbing funk music rubbed off on everyone from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Franz Ferdinand. Only guitarist Andy Gill remains from the original lineup (prompting the obligatory Gang of One jokes), and the band’s newest record What Happens Next can’t begin to pack the wallop of their fiercely vertebrae-snapping early work. That said, there’s a perfectly acceptable modern rock band buried beneath all of the historic baggage, and their only liability may be their use of a familiar (and very heavily-weighted) name. Here’s hoping that the young blood currently coursing through this veteran band’s veins infuses some freshness into the live proceedings.
Tickets for Modern Sky Music Festival can be purchased here.
