The Royal Pick: The Life and Times @ Barboza (Saturday, June 13)

As a kid growing up in Kansas City, I cut my teeth on the dissonant noise of a lot of our local bands; Season To Risk, Molly McGuire, Boys Life and Shiner (amongst others) were all in constant rotation around the house during my high school years. Shiner, in particular, seemed the most malleable of all of those bands, able to stretch their legs comfortably over the chasm of brutal noise and sparse, ethereal beauty. After Shiner's breakup in the early 2000's, singer Allen Epley's newest project (The Life and Times) carried on the torch into a bit more stripped down/spaced out territory alongside bassist Eric Abert (formerly of St. Louis' Ring, Cicada) and drummer Chris Metcalf (Stella Link). The result isn't terribly dissimilar to Shiner (who are back together again), but a bit more atmospheric and anthemic, bubbling over with melancholia laid atop deliciously dark hooks and some absolutely crushing drumming by Metcalf propelling it all. 

I'm always thrilled to have some folks from my hometown brightening our Northwestern doorstep, but I'm particularly thrilled this time to be playing in a band (Ghost Pains) opening up for some good Kansas City folk up here in Seattle. Come out and let's talk Royals baseball. 

The Life and Times & Ghost Pains play at Barboza on Saturday, June 13th. Early 21+ show (7pm). Tickets are $10. 

The Royal Basement Podcast #10: Tony Ruland and Kyle Holland (SOFT SLEEP) is up!

Episode #10 of The Royal Basement podcast is up! This go-round, we chat with Tony Ruland and Kyle Holland about their new project SOFT SLEEP, featuring former members of The Lonely Forest, Cumulus, The Globes, and Death Cab For Cutie. Tony tries on my Guy Fieri costume and the band debuts its new single "Unravel" from their forthcoming 7". It's worth a listen. Head over to the podcast page and get soft. 

I also just recorded a new podcast/basement session with Trapper Schoepp when he was through Seattle. That should be up in the next week or so. Keep your eyes and ears peeled! 

The Royal Basement Podcast #8: Alex Robert (BLACK WHALES) is up!

I've been playing catch up down here in the basement, and finally getting around to editing and posting this podcast and Basement Session that I recorded in December with Alex Robert of the Seattle-area band Black Whales. Run over to the podcast page and give it a listen and download some exclusive Basement Session songs that Alex recorded with me.  Black Whales are playing this Friday, February 20th at the Columbia City Theater in Seattle along with The Mama Rags and Prom Queen. 

I just recorded a couple new podcasts this past week, so be on the lookout in the next few days for episode #9 (Eric Slick of Dr. Dog) and #10 (Tony Ruland and Kyle Holland of the new band Soft Sleep, featuring former members of The Lonely Forest/The Globes/Cumulus/Death Cab For Cutie). Good sounds a-comin'. Keep hitting refresh. 

Video Of The Day: The Weather "1983"

If you're a fan of Seattle's Campfire OK, you've probably been curious about the band's whereabouts for the past few months. After quite a few years under that moniker, changes in membership and artistic direction seem to have instigated a name change. If their first single ("1983") is any indication, the band now known as The Weather seem to have kept a lot of the same melodic sense as Campfire OK, but with the gloss knob turned up to 11. Trust me, that isn't meant to come across as snarky; singer Mychal Cohen's musical world has always had a beautiful and dark atmospheric side, but hearing that vision fleshed out into more explorations with electronic elements (and not so rooted in organic instrumentation) literally makes the songs shimmer like fever dreams. 

The Weather's forthcoming album "Waters Electric" will be released in early 2015. They play Neumos on Saturday, January 17, 2015. 

Jeremy Enigk announces New Years Eve show in Seattle

Just when I made plans to do something other than be in Seattle for New Year's Eve, Jeremy Enigk (the reclusive solo artist/frontman of Sunny Day Real Estate/all around incredibly inspired creature) announces a New Years Eve show at El Corazon. Enigk has been pretty quiet since I moved to Seattle 6+ years ago; aside from the Sunny Day Real Estate reunion tour, I've seen Enigk play one solo show (complete with small chamber orchestra), where he proved to still have that same charisma and otherworldly possession that he's always had. Here's hoping we see a bit less reclusiveness and more new material out of Enigk in the new year. Tickets for Jeremy Enigk's New Years Eve show are available here. 

The Royal Pick for Nov. 1, 2014: PISSED JEANS at Barboza

As you get older, you can glide comfortably (or acceptingly) into the adult world, accepting the tedium and monotony that life often gives you when you accept that comfy office job. Pissed Jeans is an embracing of those jittery voices of daily dissent, celebrating those moments of dark discomfort and adult awkwardness while occasionally tossing a gladly-welcomed splashing and screaming trantrum in the kiddie pool. The four piece from Pennsylvania come from a background full of East Coast hoodie-hardcore, but piece those frenetic elements into concise, well-structured blasts of chuggy, chaos ridden sludge pop. Add frontman Matt Korvette's manic personality and self-effacing observational lyrics and half-serious/half-sarcastic Iggy Pop-isms into the mix, and you have one of the most compelling live bands on the planet right now. Given that the band has embraced the office/family life, they don't tour much, so any chance to see Pissed Jeans (especially on the West Coast) is a "do not miss" affair.  

Pissed Jeans plays at Barboza tonight. Stickers and Vexx open. Show is at 7pm. Tickets are $15.

The Royal Pick for October 16, 2014: CONSTANT LOVERS

For a while there, Seattle, it looked like the folk rock movement was going to win. Much like the cranes that dot our city skyline, building up yet another squared-off concrete and glass mixed-use monstrosity, the sincere "beardo with acoustic guitar" thing threatened to flatten out and homogenize Seattle's music scene for a while there. Sure, that sort of thing is fine when it's well done (and in small doses), but there's so much more to this place than coffee shop rock. 

Thankfully, there are bands like Constant Lovers who gnash and claw through the beige clutter. Sure, there's a definite tip of the cap to the sound of early 90's Seattle in there (along with a nice melding of some of the finer bits of the Amphetamine/Reptile catalog), but Constant Lovers manage to retain their urgency and freshness, all while writing frantic anthems for the restless and frustrated parts in all of us. This is the soundtrack to our condo apocalypse, Seattle. 

Constant Lovers play with Unnatural Helpers, SSDD and Corey Brewer at The Sunset Tavern tonight. Tickets are $8.