Tag Archives: Radiation City

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Picking the Top 13 Among 2013’s Best Local Music

Pickwick’s Can’t Talk Medicine brought much happiness in 2013. (Photo: Tony Kay)

So before the clock strikes twelve and this lovely little website turns into a pumpkin for a (hopefully) brief winter’s nap, it seemed necessary to cobble together a list of the best Northwest music releases to cross my ears in 2013.

Narrowing down my picks proved tougher than I thought it’d be. Although I hadn’t heard quite as many different Northwest records this year as I had in years previous, the quality of what I heard in 2013 was uniformly–almost maddeningly–consistent. As always, the final arbiter for me was pure subjective enjoyment: the baker’s dozen below were the full-length local releases that occupied my stereo and earbuds, and generated my most relentless earworms, all year. Enclosed, please find my favorite Northwest releases of 2013, in descending order.

13) Bat Country, Love’s The Only Engine of Survival: Given the tragic loss of Bat Country bassist Joe Albanese in last year’s Cafe Racer shootings, it’s a minor miracle that this singular goth/cabaret/Americana band was able to complete its long-gestating first album at all. Even divorced from its bittersweet origins, it’s one hell of a farewell–a work of crushed black-velvet beauty that stares into the darkness without flinching, even as it raises a loving glass in salute to one of its own.

12) Brent Amaker and the Rodeo, Year of the Dragon: The Rodeo’s bad-assed, wryly funny take on black-hatted country has always floated my boat in a major way, and they’ve never been funnier–or more bad-assed–than they are on Year of the Dragon.

11) Mikey and Matty, Harbor Island: Seattle’s overlooked status as a wellspring of great pure pop diminished some with the breakup of Curtains for You earlier this year, the upside being this great collection of low-key and lovely songs by Curtains members Mike and Matthew Gervais.

10) XVIII Eyes, I’ll Keep You: They’ve shortened their moniker from Eighteen Individual Eyes to the more-portable XVIII Eyes, but this Seattle quartet remain masters of gothic math rock, anchored magnificently by Irene Barber’s alluring voice and a menacing instrumental backbone that kicks tweeness to the curb.

9) La Luz, It’s Alive: La Luz ain’t reinventing the wheel with It’s Alive’s collection of girl-group-gone-bad rock songs, but the concise sting of Shana Cleveland’s guitars (and La Luz’s brilliance at making even the prettiest pop songs swagger) spin that old wheel something sweet. And if a more unassailably cool video than the band’s “Big Big Blood” clip surfaced in 2013, I haven’t seen it.

8) Sweet Madness, Made in Spokane, 1978-1981: A slew of great reissues greeted fans of local music in 2013, what with deluxe editions of Nirvana’s back catalog and the overdue digital bow of Soundgarden’s still-potent Screaming Life and FOPP EPs. But the best Northwest reissue of 2013 came from a band that many didn’t even know existed. Spokane’s Sweet Madness purveyed a brand of sharp, hyperdriven new wave pop that sounds distinctively of its time, yet impossibly fresh and exhilarating today. “Concrete River” remains the most resonant ballad I heard all year–a haunting, smalltown evocation of young love whose wounded romance runs on par with David Bowie’s “Heroes.”  Huge bonus points for Light in the Attic’s lavish and loving vinyl edition.

7) The Physics, Digital Wildlife: There were splashier local hip-hop releases this year, but the South Seattle crew of Thig, Monk, and Justo combine their party ethos with imaginative electronic touches (and–go figure–a lot of real singing) to sublime effect here.

6) Sean Nelson, Make Good Choices: It’s been far too long since the erstwhile Harvey Danger frontman’s put his songwriting hat on, and this jewel of a pop album was worth the wait.

5) Hobosexual, Hobosexual II: My favorite straight-up rock record of 2013 found Ben Harwood’s mighty guitar and Jeff Silva’s lethal whomp of a backbeat serving an over-the-top concept album. Think OK Computer after two shaggy-maned vikings take bong hits and kick the shit out of it with Van Halen II‘s boots, and you’re only scratching the surface of its cartoon brilliance. Oh, and it rocks like holy Hell.

4) Cumulus, I Never Meant it to Be Like This: The flush and exhilaration of youth is something that can’t be borrowed, bought, or faked. The winsome but refreshingly toothy pop songs on this scrappy Seattle band’s debut provide living, breathing, wonderful proof. Try not to be enchanted by the best single from a Seattle band all year, “Do You Remember.” I dare you.

3) Ravenna Woods, The Jackals: One of Seattle’s finest live acts crafts a long-player that captures their alchemistic combination of ferocious precision and surging acoustic grandeur with total fidelity.

2) Radiation City, Animals in the Median: Portland band Radiation City has obviously been beamed in from an alternate universe. The Andrews Sisters front a new wave band there, with Brian Wilson producing a stable of their lush electronic pop songs by cherry-picking from movie soundtracks, techno, swirly shoegazer music, and Motown soul. That’s the closest theory I can muster to explain this intoxicating album.

1) Pickwick, Can’t Talk Medicine: You can hear the seams all over Can’t Talk Medicine–songs rife with false starts, melodic fragments that trail off to nowhere, familiar Pickwick faves ever-so-slightly mutated. The end result is one of those beautifully messy records, where quirks intertwine with songcraft in thrilling and unpredictable fashion. In non-geek terms, that means it’s as ragged as it is gloriously right. My biggest local record crush of the year, hands down.

 

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Musicfest NW, Now Available in Convenient Recap Form

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Dan Vidmar
Danielle Sullivan
PDX

Katie Stelmanis of Austra performing for KEXP (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

John Vanderslice at the Doug Fir (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

Dan Vidmar of Shy Girls for the Red Bull Sound Select showcase at Mississippi Studios (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

Danielle Sullivan of Wild Ones at Bunk Bar (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

Only in Portland. (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

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As a born-and-raised Oregonian living in Seattle for the past year, I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Portland. Most of my friends live there, and most probably won’t ever leave there. But who could blame ’em? Portland is a utopia, rich with good-looking people, excellent coffee, and drool-worthy food. It’s Seattle without the “freeze.”

A mere three days after Bumbershoot, I drove down to Portland for Musicfest NW. The festival started on a Tuesday, but the recovery period post-Bumbershoot is at minimum of 48 hours. So here’s what I learned:

What to do:

  • VIP, baby. The lines are ridiculously long at nearly every venue. A press pass won’t do you any good, either, so be prepared to wait. Get there at least 45 minutes early.
  • The best shows aren’t on the MFNW “official” schedule.  Marmoset put on a killer Hott Summer Nights Party on Thursday with Radiation City, Surfer Blood, Shy Girls, and more. They also had Salt & Straw ice cream and an open bar – so it was impossible to have a bad time. Bunk Bar’s CD Baby Day Party on Saturday afternoon with Aan and Wild Ones was also a hit. Then there was a Blouse “secret” show in a warehouse somewhere that same night.
  • See Portland bands. There’s so much good music coming out of PDX lately. MFNW is the perfect opportunity to mainline it directly into your system. Indulge guilt-free.

What not to do:

  • Get stuck on the Westside. You could see Charles Bradley at the Crystal Ballroom or Animal Collective in Pioneer Courthouse Square, but do you really want to be downtown? The best venues are on the Eastside, anyways. If you can handle missing some of the headliners, you’ll save yourself the massive headache of parking and dodging tourists with those pink donut boxes.
  • Drive. Pick a spot and stay there. Unless you’re already playing DD, sit down, have a shot of whiskey, and enjoy yourself. Remember, we’re not in Kansas (i.e., Seattle) any more. Strangers will talk to you and you will make new friends. Don’t be scared.
  • Miss a Red Bull Sound Select showcase. I’m partial because Mississippi Studios is one of my favorite venues, but Red Bull curated some of the — if not THE — best lineups of the entire festival. A mix of local and national artists plus a (time-limited) open bar and free barbecue made it dually enticing. See where I’m going with this? Follow the free booze!

What I probably should have done:

  • Attend more KEXP sets. Austra and The Dodos were the only two I caught. The sets are short and sweet, intimate, and also have excellent sound. Doug Fir also pours their drinks strong, so it’s a good place to get an early afternoon buzz going.
  • More. Brunch. Pass on Pine State Biscuits. I wish it were 10 a.m.–2 p.m. all day, every day, in Portland. Brunch should never end in this city, so don’t let it pass you by. It’s also completely necessary if you plan on listening to music until the wee hours of the night. Broder, Jam on Hawthorne, and Interurban are three of my favorites that I’m kicking myself for not going to.

Overall, MFNW is yet another opportunity to show pride for this incredible place we live in called the Pacific Northwest. It’s the neatly-tied, perfectly-placed bow to wrap up summer. Until next year.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

A Radiation City Interview at CHBP 2013

Cameron Spies
Cameron Spies
Lizzy Ellison
Lizzy Ellison
Patti King

Radiation City (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

Matt Rafferty (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

Cameron Spies (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

Cameron Spies (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

Lizzy Ellison (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

Lizzy Ellison (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

Patti King (Photo: Kelsey Kaufman)

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The best part of the Capitol Hill Block Party is that you know you’re seeing bands on the verge of something big. For example, I had no clue who The Lumineers were back in 2012 outside of “whatever that song was on the Bing commercial.” Next year: headlining Sasquatch. Grimes, Twin Shadow, Blouse…all had a similar year of success.

I know Radiation City through friends of friends. We’ve never officially met, so I was anxious to see just what made these five so special. Portland loves them, but did that mean Seattle would?

I sat down with Radiation City in Cal Anderson Park to discuss the Outkast cover at Mississippi Studios that people still can’t stop talking about, but also making music that’s “authentic and enduring.” We got offered weed cookies mid-interview (they politely declined), and also spent probably three hours in a hot tub together somewhere in Ballard later that evening. My conclusion? Radiation City is definitely on the verge of greatness, too.

Portland really loves you guys. What do you think the advantage is of being a band in Portland?

Randy Bemrose: The cost of living. And the quality of life is very high.

Matt Rafferty: There is an avid music scene and I don’t think there is a music scene that is as flourishing, but also as accessible, anywhere else.

Lizzy Ellison: There’s more camaraderie than there is angst.

Cameron Spies: The competitive spirit is almost a turn-off for people. There’s definitely a supportive thing going on. And anyone who is trying to blow themselves up too hard is shunned — well, maybe not shunned — but it isn’t encouraged behavior. There’s not the L.A. kind of thing…

Lizzy: It’s not perfect.

Cameron: Right — it’s not perfect and it does have its drawbacks. But it is great for fostering creative talent and people being supportive of it.

That brings me to A Different Animal, your collaboration with G-Force (Calvin Valentine). One thing I like about Portland is that you don’t see as much as a divide between artists in different genres as you do in other cities.

Cameron: Not divided? Well, that’s actually why we did the project in the first place because my impression was that it was different crowds going to different shows. And we wanted to do something that would hybridize them. The reason we met Calvin was in a basketball tournament about music and bands…so maybe there’s more of that crossover than we think there is.

Matt: I think it’s all relative. Like Yoni Wolf from WHY? I know has collaborated with a lot of hip hop and indie acts. I know Das Racist in New York has collaborated with a lot of indie acts like Chairlift.

Is there anyone else in PDX you’d like to work with?

Cameron: There is a lot of people that as inspiration strikes I’d like to work with. But it’s tough because they are making so little money playing music and trying to make a living out of it. It’s really hard to find time to collaborate on something meaningful.

Lizzy: Well, let’s say aside from that….

Randy: I’d like to work with the OBT (Oregon Ballet Theatre) or the Oregon Symphony. They’ve done shows in the past with pop groups. I know the Portland Cello Project is already doing that — earlier this year Blind Pilot did something with them.

Cameron: I actually just ran into JUMBO The Garbageman from Lifesavas the other day and it inspired me. I know we just did a hip hop collaboration but I want to work with that guy!

I was actually at your New Year’s Eve show at Mississippi Studios in 2011 when you covered the Outkast album. Is there anyone else you’d like to cover?

Lizzy: The Fleetwood Mac Rumours album would be so dope.

Cameron: We were going to cover Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life but it didn’t work out. We did one song from it but it didn’t quite work. It was really hard.

Patti King: I would like to do Peter Gabriel. I would love to do “Sledgehammer.”

Lizzy: Oh, my god, me too!

How long did it take you guys to prep for the Outkast thing?

Lizzy: It should have taken us a month and a half — it took us two weeks. It was like cramming for a final basically.

Cameron: A very stressful two weeks.

Lizzy: Honestly, I think people’s expectations really weren’t that high because of what we were trying to do. But once we met that, it didn’t matter about the perfection of it because it was just so fun.

How have you all grown with Animals in the Median? How is it different from past records?

Cameron: It’s more collaborative. We took a longer time to make the record and massage things in a more careful manner. We mixed it with somebody else as opposed to mixing it ourselves — which we’ve done before.

I read that some soul and R&B inspired you guys as well.

Cameron: Definitely. We started reaching into different territories.

Lizzy: We started off with our first record just easing people into the idea that we were going to be making music like this. It’s ambitious being like white kids from Portland who want to make R&B and soul music. Now we’re not only trying to do that but were also learning a lot about ourselves as musicians. We’re also looking to incorporate possibly more bossa nova and soul combined on the next record, as opposed to separate tracks having those sounds. Even though we had a lot of time and worked with other people, we also learned more about our own capabilities.

What would you always like your music to communicate? 

Randy: Goosebumps. For me that’s the gold standard of a good at home listening experience or even in a live setting. If somebody gives me goose bumps, I’ll follow them for a long time.

You don’t have a certain type of sound you’d like to stick with?

Cameron: No — that’s one thing I think we always strive for. To always be progressing and doing something slightly different. Even if there’s a common thread throughout the whole arc of the project, I want us to always be pushing ourselves to try new things.

Lizzy: I think we choose the type of music that we’re referencing because it gives us goosebumps and it’s super heartfelt.

Cameron: It’s authentic and it’s enduring. I think it’s an important quality.

Moving here from Oregon — it seems like there’s the feud between Portland and Seattle. Portland people hate on Seattle and vice versa. I’m trying to end the feud. Do you guys have a good memory from here outside of today?

Cameron: It took us a long time to be embraced here. It took us like five shows or so where we had no more than twenty or thirty people. But then we did Doe Bay Fest thanks to Kevin Sur and all those guys. And after that, it took off from there.

I’m interviewing Pickwick tomorrow and I know you guys have toured with them. Is there any question I should ask them?

Lizzy: Yes!

Randy: Ask them about, “I shit you not.”

Lizzy: You have to ask them! Just say, “Tell me the story behind ‘I shit you not.’” That’s all, just open with that. (Laughs)

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Picking the 12 Best Northwest Music Releases of 2012

THEESatistfaction in action. (photo by Tony Kay)
THEESatistfaction in action. (photo by Tony Kay)

So what rocked your socks off this year? For me, there was a lot.

I won’t bother with clucking on about how so many great releases sprang from regional musicians in 2012 that I almost gave up on even compiling a list (even though it’s true). And as far as some far-reaching, all-encompassing summary of the Year in Northwest Music, here goes: A lot of really good two-person bands popped up in town, an exceptional bumper crop of local hip-hop releases surfaced, and a fair amount of bands looked to the sounds of the past (be it way back in the era of the original Girl Groups of the 1950s and ’60’s, or the retro pulse of 1980s new wave) for inspiration, with sterling results.

Enclosed, please find the twelve Northwest releases I listened to the most in the 2012 calendar year–the ones that stirred me most, and to which I’ve continually returned to since their release(s). That means it’s also subjective, informed by what I like and what I’ve been exposed to (much as I heard this year, I didn’t get around to every significant recording by every musician in the Pacific Northwest, for Pete’s Sake). Listen, thank me later, and discuss.

12) Atomic Bride, Dead Air: If you’ve ever wondered what The Cramps and the B-52’s knife-fighting in an alley with Cheap Trick, Dick Dale, and Alice Cooper would sound like, you need to hear Dead Air. Hell, even if you’ve never pondered said scenario you need to hear Dead Air. It’s the best soundtrack for a nonexistent B-movie that I heard in 2012.

11) The Good Sin, The Story of Love X Hate: Not every hip-hop record needs to be stuffed with empty posturing or gaggles of production tricks. Sometimes, all you need is a smart and charismatic MC with a knack for storytelling, some phat beats, and melodies that won’t leave your head. Good Sin delivers refreshingly honest lyrics in a resonant baritone that’s one of the best hip-hop instruments in this town right now. He’s got enough radio-ready tunes to back that voice up, too.

10) Absolute Monarchs, 1: Most new bands plumbing the depths of post-punk music lean towards tweeness, dutifully trotting out jerky rhythms and spiky guitars with precious little substance. Here’s to the Monarchs, then, who turbocharge those elements with undisguised ferocity and jackhammer force. Between his blues-rock growl with My Goodness and his unhinged screaming here, you’d think there were two different Joel Schneiders singing in two great Seattle bands.

9) Tea Cozies, Bang Up EP: Bang Up opens with one of my favorite singles of the year, “Muchos Dracula,” a quintessential slice of Tea Cozies hard-candy buzz pop replete with roller-rink keyboards and stuttering rhythm guitar. The band also deviates from their signature sound to wonderful effect on this EP:  the sweeping psychedelia of “Cosmic Osmo” and the anecdotal melancholy of “Silhouette in a Suitcase” work so famously, you can’t help but ache for a full-length release something fierce.

8) Eighteen Individual Eyes, Unnovae Nights: There’s not much more to say about EIE’s terrific debut that I didn’t say earlier this year–except maybe that Unnovae Nights‘ dark animal passion and jagged power remain undiminished after God knows how many listens.

The Young Evils, Foreign Spells EP: Yeah, there are only four songs. But they’re great pop songs with teeth to compliment the earworm hooks, and they serve as a clarion call for the awesomeness that’s sure to come.

6) Erik Blood, Touch Screens: Blood’s impressive production credits in recent years have obscured his gifts as a musician and songwriter. This dense, swirling concept album about vintage porn–equal parts shoegazer headiness, pulsing electronic danceability, and gothic throb–brings those gifts back into sharp focus.

5) Radiation City, Cool Nightmare EP: I was going to make this year’s list all-Seattle, but then this amazing Portland band forced my hand. Somehow, they toss together cushions of gorgeous harmonies, Beach Boys-style kitchen-sink symphonic bursts, new wave keyboards, bouncy bossanova, and dreamy psychedelia to create catchy, haunting, and utterly indelible songs. If this were a full-length release and not an EP, it’d probably be my favorite Northwest recording all year.

4) Hounds of the Wild Hunt, El Mago: The hooligans formerly known as the Whore Moans have delivered a great rock record, sung with take-it-or-leave-it snarl and delivered with ambition to match its fury. How does a punk band reach for the stars, yet not come off like a bunch of sell-out wimps? This is how.

3) Tomten, Yesterday’s Children:  Tomten leader Brian Noyeswatkins may wear his influences (Village Green-era Kinks, The Zombies, Pulp) on his paisley-print sleeve, but his catchy pop songs and playfully surreal lyrics cast a spell all their own. End result: a record that glitters like Seattle on an unexpected Indian Summer day.

2) Soundgarden, King Animal: Bigger than life, loud as hell, and long overdue, Soundgarden’s newest obliterates the notion that only youngsters can pull off epic, irony-free, truly heavy rock.

1) THEESatisfaction, awE naturalE: Nine months after its initial release, awE naturalE continues to shake my booty, activate my brain, and seduce my ears like nothing else I heard this year. It’s a treasure trove of surprises, packed into a lean 30-minute run time: Smooth Afro-and-female-centric rhymes that make their point without preaching, impossibly luminous singing, and a stripped-down production that nonetheless gains depth and nuance with each listen. Oh, and it grooves like hell. Most critics and fans point to the incomparably cool rubberized funk of “QueenS” as awE naturalE‘s high point–and it’s great–but me, I’m partial to “Deeper,” the most hypnotic and sensual three-plus minutes anyone, anywhere, committed to recorded posterity in 2012.