Tag Archives: Down North Seattle band

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Your Live Music Bets for the Weekend of July 19 through the 21st

Dude York play Cairo on Saturday. (photo by Tony Kay)

We’re one weekend away from two big local music festivals, but this humble weekend’s no slouch in the live music department, either.

Tonight (Friday, July 19):

Black Flag, Good for You, Piggy @ El Corazon. 21+. $30 at the door. Show at 8 p.m.

If you’re not one of the 40,000-odd sentient beings packing Safeco Field tonight to see a certain reasonably-well-known singer-songwriter ply his venerated wares, Two smaller venues are offering nostalgia trips of their own for a fraction of the price.

California born-and-bred punk legends Black Flag are probably best known today as post-modern raconteur Henry Rollins‘ old punk band, but back in the day (the late 1970s through the mid-’80s) they exerted a massive influence on American hardcore by ladling on heavy metal crunch along with the usual ripsaw power chords. You won’t get Rollins at the mic tonight, but vocalist Ron Reyes is back after a 30-year-plus absence, and original guitarist Greg Ginn can still shred with the best of ‘em.

Peter Murphy celebrates 35 Years of Bauhaus, Ours @ Showbox Market. 21+. $40 at the door. Show at 8 p.m.

Then again, if hanging in the lovably grotty El Corazon with some grizzled old punks doesn’t appeal to you, feel free to jaunt over to the Showbox Market — and don’t forget the jet-black eyeliner. Peter Murphy, lead crooner for quintessential gother-than-Goths Bauhaus, jumps into the wayback machine for a set comprised of 100-percent classic Bauhaus tunes. It’s hard to imagine Murphy’s backing musicians possessing the chemistry of his old Bauhaus-mates, and it’s a little bit of a bummer that he won’t be playing any of the songs from his most recent (and pretty great) solo release Ninth. But Bauhaus’ songs remain some of the most durable in the Goth canon, and Murphy still sounds like David Bowie’s ravishingly sinister twin brother.

The Torn ACLs, Tom Eddy, The Wild Ones, My Body @ Neumos. 21+. $10 at the door. Show at 8 p.m.

The Torn ACLs provide a damn near perfect soundtrack for summer’s dog days — unashamedly wide-eyed, insidiously catchy guitar pop sung and played with the kind of youthful freshness that thaws jaded hipsters at fifty paces. Get there early for a solo set of wonderfully buoyant kitchen-sink tunes from Beat Connection lead singer Tom Eddy, sprightly Cranberries-style shenanigans from Portland’s The Wild Ones, and electronic-tinged pop from My Body.

Saturday, July 20:

Wimps, Satan Wriders, Dude York, The Narx,  @ Cairo. All Ages. Show at 9 p.m.

WIth their braying, bratty vocals, primitive guitars, and call-and-response chanting, Wimps sound like the really funny bastard children of Superchunk and Sleater-Kinney. They’re reputedly a kick live, too. Endearingly lo-fi combo Satan Wriders sounds like some lost K Records band, Dude York sport galloping art-punk tunes good enough to make you forget that damned goofy name, and The Narx are straight-up crude/funny punk. Your guess is as good as mine as to a cover charge (if any).

Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Down North @ The Tractor Tavern. 21+. $20 advance. Show at 9 p.m.

Ivan Neville, son of legendary New Orleans singer Aaron and nephew to the Neville Brothers, recorded one of the great overlooked psychedelic soul songs of the last twenty-odd years, “Why Can’t I Fall in Love.” His assured and powerful soul singing rivals that of any of his rock-royalty relatives, and if his backing band Dumpstaphunkleans a little towards over-slickness sometimes, they’re also ineffably in-the-pocket tight and should provide a sound dance party for the evening. Local funketeers Down North, however, could well steal the show with an amazing rhythm section and Anthony Briscoe’s show-stopping singing.

Sunday, July 21:

Hamilton Loomis @ Jazzbones. $15 advance. Show at 6 p.m.

Blues guitarist/singer Hamilton Loomis is one of those absurdly-skilled axe-slinging prodigies that inspires slack-jawed awe from anyone who sees him live. No less a luminary than the late, great Bo Diddley recorded and played live with Loomis a few years back, and the guy’s fired off licks live at multiple jazz and blues festivals throughout the US and Europe. Sunday’s gig serves as a CD release party for Loomis’s newest long-player Give it Back, a slick modern-day blues record with flashes of mainstream pop and funk. It’s a capable showcase for the young Texan’s singing and playing, but like any absurdly-skilled axe-slinging prodigy, Loomis and his songs will shine brightest in a live setting.

Benefit for Keith Bailey: The New Originals, Load Levelers, LD and her Pretty Pretties @ Chop Suey. $10 suggested donation. Show at 3 p.m.

Beloved Anvil Tattoo artist Keith Bailey had his shinbones crushed in a nasty motorcycle accident, and the medical bills are doing him a number in a major way. This benefit at Chop Suey serves up no less than three terrific local bands. Sloppy-as-fuck-and-proud-of-it metal cover-band collective The New Originals barrel through vintage hard-rock classics like a woozy bull in a china shop, the venerable Load Levelers‘ rip-snorting brand of country-punk should be can’t-miss live , and you can’t dream of better summertime party music than the recently-reunited LD and Her Pretty Pretties’ potent brand of Runaways/Donnas-style power-pop .

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Your Live Music Bets for Presidents’ Day Weekend 2012

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This weekend’s musical offerings are so utterly plentiful, you’ll be faced with immeasurable Sophie’s Choices this Presidents’ Day Holiday. Happy hunting.

Tonight (Friday, February 17):

Cursive, Ume, Virgin Islands @ Neumos. $15 advance, $18 day of show. Doors at 8pm.

I’ve got all the respect in the world for Cursive’s influential variety of indie-art rock, and Ume’s femme-fronted pop possesses its rococo charms. But Virgin Islands, Seattle’s finest art-punks this side of The Cops (both of whom share lead singer/guitar attacker Michael Jaworski), could well steal the proverbial show .

Presidents of the United States of America with guests @ The Showbox at the Market. $2o advance, $25  at the door. Show at 8pm.

It says a lot about the lasting impact of Seattle’s comedic-rock clown princes that they can command the stage at the Showbox Market for three days (they’re also playing The Showbox Saturday and Sunday). Expect solid musicianship, rampant goofiness, and strong openers each night, but tonight’s warm-up roster includes The Fastbacks–assuming that legendary Northwest pop-punk combo haven’t imploded again, first–and as such should offer the most pre-Presidents’ bang for your buck.

The Coup, Theoretics, DJ Funkscribe @ The Crocodile. $15.50 (with fees) advance. Show at 8pm.

Only The Roots weave old-school funk instruments with the Here and Now as ably as The Coup, and their MC/Court Jester Boots Riley makes for one magnetic front-dude with his arch delivery and megawatt charisma (sometimes he sounds like a more politically-aware cross between Andre 3000 and Rick James). Expect to dance.

Saturday, February 18:

Saturday Family Concerts: THEESatisfaction @ Town Hall. $5 for adults with kids at the door, free for kids 12 and under. Shows at 11am and 1pm.

It’s not immediately obvious, but if you think about it, THEESatisfaction’s beats and melodies are more than catchy and playful enough to ensnare even the most attention-deficient moppet’s ears. And the notion of this politically-aware, very adult duo playing to an audience brimming with the small fry is a little like contemplating the late Gil Scott-Heron doing a guest shot on Dora the Explorer–which, if you think about it, is pretty damned cool.

 Afrika Bambaataa, Gravity Kings @ Washington Hall. $10 advance. Show at 8pm.

He’s an indisputable rap legend, with one of hip-hop’s cornerstones, the immortal “Planet Rock,” and it’s been a couple of years since he’s been in this town. Bambaataa also beat Run DMC to the rock/rap punch by a good two years in his collaboration with John Lydon (Time Zone), “World Destruction,” the introduction to hip-hop for many gawky white kids.

 The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Vacationer @ The Crocodile. $13 advance. Doors at 8pm.

Blame those chipper Swedes in ABBA for giving birth to this delicious Danish Electronic pop ensemble. With hooks that gleefully plunder everything from funk to psychedelic rock to good ol’ disco and a lead singer who’s a dead ringer for Heidi Klum in Barbarella gear, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour provide the best dose of uber-pop sugar this side of the Spice Girls.

 Anvil, Vultures 2012, Skelator, Motorthrone, Dominus Sabbata @ El Corazon. $15 advance, $20 say of show. Doors at 8pm, show at 8:30.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a wonderful Spinal-Tap-gone-Real-World documentary, but beyond that novelty, this Canadian trio continues to stomp out the heaviest metal, with streaks of meanness and velocity that changed the lives of people like Metallica.

 My Goodness, The Young Evils, Don’t Talk to the Cops, TacocaT @ The Tractor Tavern. $10 advance. Show at 9pm.

If you’re surprised at the high-powered line-up at the Tractor, don’t be. The gig’s a sendoff to all four acts as they journey down to Texas for South by Southwest. I’ve already blathered on about the magnificence that is My Goodness’s two-pronged live garage-rock attack, but Don’t Talk to the Cops offer some of this ‘burg’s most party-centric (and hilarious) beats and rhymes, and TacocaT’s magically sloppy, spitfire continuation of the Go-Go’s retro-pop can’t fail to charm.

Down North @ The Seamonster Lounge. Free admission. Show at 10pm.

Yes, you read right. One of the Northwest’s most potent funk bands (it must be true–the SunBreak said so!) is playing at the U-District’s Seamonster. See ‘em for free before they’re packing big houses where you’ve got to, like, pay money and stuff.

Sunday, February 19:

The Budos Band, Project Lionheart @ Neumos. $14 advance. Show at 8:30pm.

So what happens when a bunch of Staten Island high school band kids ingest too much Curtis Mayfield and middle eastern music? Well, if they’re lucky, they’ll sound like the backing for some Soul Train version of a Turkish belly dancer. In other words, a lot like The Budos Band. This outfit’s combination of alien influences and stone-cold danceability radiates to the crowd in a big way.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Musical Diamonds in the Rough: Five Northwest Music Acts to Watch in 2012 (Photo Gallery)

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Down North.
Justin Deary of Whalebones.
Shaprece.
Prom Queen.
Sugar Sugar Sugar.

Anthony Briscoe of Down North. (photo by Tony Kay)

Justin Deary of Whalebones. (photo by Tony Kay)

Soul singer Shaprece. (photo by Tony Kay)

Cult Stardom's only one evocative soundtrack away: Prom Queen. (photo by Tony Kay)

Lupe Flores lays down a hot-pants backbeat for Sugar Sugar Sugar (photo by Tony Kay)

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Justin Deary of Whalebones. thumbnail
Shaprece. thumbnail
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In the last twelve months I’ve seen dozens of Northwest acts play live, and it really feels like this region’s rolling in more great music now than it has since the early 1990s. Seriously.

Dizzying variety seems to be the key to this embarrassment of sonic riches. The national media’s been atwitter about Seattle’s post-Fleet Foxes neo-folk/Americana movement, but there’s an incredible groundswell of soul, punk, hip-hop, and straight-up rock bubbling furtively around here, too. It’s made wandering into Seattle music venues in the last year a truly exciting, rewarding, and unpredictable experience.

With all the great local artists out there, it only felt right to go out on a limb and point out a few lesser-known acts with the potential to forge a major mark in 2012. Truth be told, this list could be ten times larger than it is: I could easily summon up forty or fifty worthy bands/artists here. But the five musical entities below, great as they are,  haven’t yet generated the press they deserve. Whether any of them will capture the kind of attention that’s recently been bestowed upon The Head and the Heart or Allen Stone, I don’t know. From this vantage point, though, they damn well should.

Down North: Down North could be the most unapologetically throw-down funk band in Seattle right now, and yet they’re barely registering a blip on the music-press radar. Anthony Briscoe, Down North’s lead singer, possesses an astonishing, roof-rattling voice–a room-filling sound capable of going from gravelly anguish to nimble falsettos on a hairpin turn–and he commands a stage like nobody’s business. His bandmates, meantime, match his fireworks slug-for-slug: Conrad Real’s muscular jazz-tinged drumming and Brandon Storms’ liquid basswork, in particular, form one of this town’s most fiercely funky rhythm sections.  If their incendiary live shows, several stellar new songs, and a forthcoming music video don’t send this band’s stock way up in the next 11 months, something ain’t right with the world.

Whalebones: Forget (or at least set aside) the Neil Young comparisons this Seattle space-rock trio’s netted from a few local journalists. Whalebones’ self-titled 2011 full-length provided the best interstellar musical hit I received all last year. Lead singer Justin Deary snarls and drawls with the snotty offhanded charisma of a less-unstable Anton Newcombe, and the garage and the galactic converge gloriously in his heady guitar playing. Whalebones have always sounded great live, but Deary’s onstage confidence has grown by leaps and bounds since the first time I saw the band at the West Seattle Summerfest last July: That extra push of personality could well take these guys to some serious heights.

Shaprece: Stage presence? Check. Expressive and distinctive singing? Check. A catalog of truly catchy, mostly self-written songs that combine old-school warmth and the rush of a forward-thinking future without sounding like a slave to either? Check. After being a vocal gun-for-hire for everyone from Blue Sky Black Death to Mad Rad, this talented but heretofore-untouted local singer’s moment in the spotlight is long overdue.

Prom Queen: Seattle musician/comedienne Leeni doesn’t sit still for very long, having dabbled in everything from video-game-fueled dance ditties to some wonderfully winsome pop with her duo, Romeo and Juliet. She’s struck a truly sublime vein, though, as Prom Queen. Accompanying herself on guitar with occasional self-recorded symphonette backdrops, she croons haunting originals and masterfully-retooled covers (Madonna’s “Justify My Love”, Guns ‘N Roses’ “November Rain”) that create their own dusky pocket universe. It’s a sound that straddles the perfect balance between arch theatricality and all of the deeper emotions that swirl beneath such artifice, and it’s captivating enough to connect with anyone who’s ever sat in a lonely bar contemplating the darkness. Cult stardom’s only one evocative soundtrack appearance away.

Sugar Sugar Sugar: This region could use a funny, sexually-charged, larger-than-life rock collective about now, and this Bellingham groove-rock trio looks like they’ve more than got the goods from this corner. Andru Creature’s stuttering David Johanson-gone-horndog vocals, Lupe Flores’ stomping kickdrum, and Justin Verlanic’s gloriously greasy glam guitar are just made for cranking at top volume.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Your Live Music Bets for the Weekend of December 9th to the 11th

There’s some sublime–and some ridiculous–in Seattle music venues this weekend, so let’s jump right in, shall we?

Tonight (Friday, December 9):

Bushwick Book Club with The Seattle Rock Orchestra present: Music Inspired by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas@ Town Hall. $15 at the door. Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm.

Born in Brooklyn, the Bushwick Book Club delivers one of those novel concepts that nearly always yields nuggets of sonic gold. The Schtick: Give a classic work of literature to several local musicians. Said musicians digest said work, write songs about it, and perform those songs live. This time out, the Book Club takes on Hunter S. Thompson’s  gonzo journalism masterwork, replete with accompaniment by the awesome Seattle Rock Orchestra. The ace line-up of performers includes angel-voiced Youth Rescue Mission singer Hannah Williams, roots treasure Jason Dodson of the Maldives, and Mike Votava of Seattle clown princes We Wrote the Book on Connectors (who, happily, play the Sunset Saturday night).

Smokey Brights, Fort Union, Guests@ The Comet Tavern. $8 at the door. Show at 9pm.

If you’re a fan of Hannah Williams’ late great pop outfit Friday Mile, it’s a Sophie’s Choice between Town Hall and the Comet tonight: Williams’ former bandmates Jace Krause and Jake Rohr play with their new band Fort Union at the latter venue. FU’s combination of alt-folk prettiness and ghost-in-the-machine electronics suggests a more vocally-rich version of Grandaddy, with a little Wilco thrown in, meaning it’s as haunting as it is beautiful.

How the Grouch Stole Christmas Tour with The Grouch, Zion-I, Eligh, Evidence (of Dilated Peoples), Scribes @ The Crocodile. $18 at the door. Doors at 9pm.

I won’t pretend that my pale ass is anything resembling an authority on hip-hop, but Dilated Peoples’ 2000 debut The Platform is still one of the leanest and best rap debuts ever. Evidence (one-half of that legendary crew) shares the stage with Living Legends head honcho The Grouch and a ton of other MCs. They all sound more than solid to these relative neophyte ears. The geezer in me’d love to hear Evidence give the awesome “Work the Angles” some stage time, but his newest full-length, Cats and Dogs, sports production as imaginative as (and, honestly, more expansive than) The Platform. It should sound great live.  

Down North, Philana, DJ Leopold Bloom @ the LoFi Performance Gallery. $8 at the door. Show at 9pm.

Looking for some funk? You could do a helluva lot worse than heading to South Lake Union to take in Down North, a hard-soul combo with scrappy throwdown energy. Fireball lead singer Anthony Briscoe apparently has Prince, James Brown, and Terence Trent D’Arby sharing harmonic space in his pipes, and he’s a wonder to watch (and hear) in action.

The Taj Mahal Trio@ Jazz Alley. $32.50 advance. Shows at 7:30 and 9:30pm.

See Saturday’s entries.

Saturday, December 10:

The Taj Mahal Trio@ Jazz Alley, December 9-11, December 13-18. $32.50 advance. Set Times Vary.

For damn near fifty years, Taj Mahal’s augmented his style of blues-rock with journeys into reggae, Caribbean, and soul music. And if he’s leaned towards a brighter, more laid-back output for ahwhile, there’s no denying his skills at the fretboard and the sublime rasp of his voice. It’s not just anybody who can pack a fancy joint like Jazz Alley for nine nights of shows.

 Angry Snowmans, Neutralboy, Rat City Ruckus @ The Funhouse. $6 at the door. Doors at 9:30pm.

 Angry Snowmans come from the frozen North (Victoria, BC, to be exact). They play funny punk songs about eggnog, presents, trees, snow, and being pissed off about eggnog, presents, trees, and snow. Neutralboy are a bunch of Bremerton punks who’ve been kicking and spitting, drunk-and-sloppy-like, for nearly twenty years, and Rat City Ruckus are the only hardcore punk band I know of to proudly claim White Center as their home. Look, you need some sort of antidote to all of the forced-smile perkiness and consumer gorging that is the Holiday Season.

Me Talk Pretty, Madina Lake, New Years’ Day, Avion Row, Hell or Highwater, Alabaster, Anchor the Tide @ El Corazon. $14 advance/$16 day-of-show. Doors at 7pm.

It’s practically a nu-metal Lollapolooza at El Corazon tomorrow, with seven bands playing to an all-ages house. I’m not much of a fan of the subgenre, but this is undeniably a lot of bang for your buck. Three of the bands on the bill stand out: Seattle’s Alabaster hits the Paramore epic-femme-fronted-guitar-rock notes with undeniable polish, and Hell or Highwater offset their generic choruses with a bit of rockabilly twang. Headliners Me Talk Pretty invite serious guilty-pleasure status, though, with a high-gloss but extremely hooky melange of At the Drive-In noodle-rock, herky-jerky new wave, and power pop. Lead singer Iulia Preotu looks like an Eastern Bloc mallrat drawn by anime artists, and there’s an arch strangeness to her delivery that’s sometimes painfully, ridiculously strident–but never dull. If they played through busted amps and weren’t so damned fresh-faced and catchy, they’d probably be indie-rock megastars. 

Sunday, December 11:

Supernaughty, Stand Up and Shout @ The Comet. $5 at the door, doors at 4pm.

Pick up some lunch somewhere on Capitol Hill, then mosey on down to the Comet for some tribute band goodness. Supernaughty is a Black Sabbath cover band, while Stand Up and Shout pays homage to the late great heavy metal elf himself, Ronnie James Dio. And you know the latter’s just gotta play this one.