Acapulco Lips sink ships. (photo: Tony Kay)
For a good deal of this weekend, Seattle’s slated to bust out a veritable highlights reel of mild springtime goodness, and there ain’t nothin’ like quality time at a local music venue to cap off a clement (or even not-so-clement) spring evening.
Friday, April 29 (tonight!):
The Shivas, Acapulco Lips, Charms @ The Tractor Tavern. 21+. $10 advance. Show at 8:00 p.m.
That I heart Portland’s Shivas is nothing new in this neck of the woods. Better Off Dead, their latest long-player, does nothing to change that assessment. It’s a radical but lovely departure from their usual psych-rock guitar attack, with sweet and woozily-sunny sixties-tinged pop dominating things this time out. I suspect they’ll still bring the noise live, though: They’ll have to, with Seattle trio Acapulco Lips plying a way cool dose of psych-surf rock that pours on the fuzz and the attitude without losing the melodies. Local post-punks Charms, meantime, play so fiercely you’d swear they were setting themselves up for a whiplash lawsuit so (repeat after me) arrive early, dude.
The Specks, Hellbat, On the Make @ Victory Lounge. 21+. $8 at the door. Show at 9:00 p.m.
Two gritty and greasy garage rock bands form the bread of this sonic sandwich. The Specks are a lo-fi garage sorta-supergroup including members of the Primate 5 and The Statics, while On the Make sounds like a vicious Nuggets-era garage-psych band that’s been yelping in pain while marinating in radioactive waste. The meat in the middle is Hellbat, who deliver their deceptively goofy collision of X-Ray Spex and Motorhead with concise punk power, infectious energy, and plenty of snort-your-milk-through-yer-nose chuckles.
Hellbat, being all Hellbatty. (photo: Tony Kay)
En Canto album release show @ the Royal Room. All ages until 10:00 p.m. $10 advance, $12 at the door. Doors at 7:00 p.m., show at 8:30 p.m.
I’ll ‘fess up to relative apathy about most so-called world music, but local septet El Canto’s Brazilian samba and choro-inspired tracks possess playful sexiness and character to burn. Sometimes, they sound like Astrud Gilberto, if she shook off her reserved cool and dragged a lovestruck Antonio Carlos Jobim across the dance floor to really work up a sweat. Other times, it’s a straight-up party. At all times, it sounds real and gloriously, almost defiantly female-fueled.
Woody Guthrie’s Pacific Northwest Legacy with Greg Vandy and Charles R. Cross @ Town Hall. All ages. $5 advance. Show at 7:30 p.m.
In just over 200 pages, Greg Vandy’s and Daniel Person’s recently-released book 26 Songs in 30 Days covers a lot. Folk music godfather Woody Guthrie’s composition of several commissioned songs for a documentary on the Grand Coulee Dam is the peg for an involving history of early 20th-century America in general and traditional music in particular. The book’s also a tactile chronicle of the timeless friction between art and commerce. KEXP Roadhouse mainstay Greg Vandy knows his stuff, so his chat with veteran Northwest music scholar Charles R. Cross should be fascinating. Singer/guitarist Mike Giacolino of local Americana band Ole Tinder and roots musician Cahalen Morrison will be on hand to perform some of Guthrie’s songs.
Saturday, April 30:
Erik Blood album release show, Wall of Ears, Fruit Juice @ the High Dive. 21+. $8 advance, $10 at the door. Show at 9:00 p.m.
Erik Blood is one of this ‘burg’s most in-demand producers, with efforts behind the boards on behalf of everyone from Tacocat to Shabazz Palaces. He’s also been crafting ravishing, densely atmospheric records of his own for years now. The four evocative tracks on his recent EP Transom serve as an enticing taster for his latest full-length, Lost in Slow Motion, which drops today. Wall of Ears’ terrific, left-of-center dreamy pop and Fruit Juice’s charmingly weird Sparks-on-acid psychedelia are genuinely fab as well, so (broken record time) arrive early.
Acapulco Gold @ Highway 99 Blues Club. 21+. $20 advance. Show at 8:00 p.m.
Acapulco Gold are not cool. They’re a bunch of recently-reunited old guys playing old-school funk and soul originals at a club frequented by a demographic that wouldn’t know indie rock from Indiana. But set aside your too-cool-for-school baggage, and you’ll hear a pretty great (and solid-tight) group of home-grown funketeers who began throwing down smoking sides when Tricky Dick was still in office. Near as I can tell, they’re only one Wheedle’s Groove compilation appearance away from revisionist music-geek adulation.
Sunday, May 1:
Key Nyata, ILLFIGHTYOU @ Chop Suey. All ages (bar w/ID). $12 advance, $15 at the door. Show at 8:00 p.m.
I’ve always been a sucker for Key Nyata’s dark, hazy variations on the dark, hazy Raider Klan school of hiphop. The hazy is still there in the lazy, implacable grooves of his newer material (and “Lemme Know” brings the shadows on), but Key balances that darkness with rolling/bouncing party jams that compliment his distinctive, cannabis-infused flow. Tacoma crew ILLFIGHTYOU adds a lighter, leaner electronic backdrop and delivery to the party.
Napalm Death, Melvins, Melt-Banana @ The Showbox Market. 21+. $25 advance, $30 at the door. Show at 8:30 p.m.
Napalm Death has been around (in some form or another) long enough to become elder statesmen of thrash metal. They still bring the high-velocity noise in spades. And if the mighty Melvins didn’t give direct birth to grunge, they were sure as hell in the delivery room when the roaring down-tuned brat took its first breaths in the late eighties. Finally, Japanese mad genius legends Melt-Banana still sound like the world’s most abrasive yet strangely perky art/noise band on helium, making this the most stacked bill of the weekend. Put your earplugs in at least a block before entering the Showbox Sunday night, on account of shit is gonna get loud.
