Tonight in Seattle:  
back next

Record review

Tom Waits — Tom Waits: Bad As Me

Tom Waits has had an incredible career in that he has managed to somehow careen in the opposite direction of most artists: his first records are his lightest, most palatable ones -- for example, Closing Time almost sounding like The Eagles at moments -- and his later albums just get stranger and more uncompromising with time. (It is impossible to deny that if Waits heard Real Gone in 1973, he likely would have fallen over.) He has also achieved something that I cannot say any other musician of his age has done, which is span several decades without making one lousy or even mediocre album. This accomplishment alone sets him apart from nearly all of his contemporaries. And with this in mind, we have his new release Bad As Me, an album that explores the musical territory one would expect, but does not whatsoever translate as mundane. It will come as no surprise to state simply that this is yet another beautifully alien collection of songs from the now 61 year-old legend.

more...

Tuesday, November 29, 2011
by Andrew Boe
add a comment
check out the TIG flickr pool
Record review | Crushes

Dum Dum Girls — Only In Dreams

{On Sunday, October 9th, Dum Dum Girls are playing at 6 p.m. with Wavves at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Industrial Center, 2960 4th Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98134. And then later on at Neumo's the same night with The Crocodiles and Colleen Green, doors at 8 p.m., $13 advance, 21+.}

"I do not pray but tonight I am begging," she sings on "Heartbeat," five tracks into Only In Dreams, the Dum Dum Girls' second album. Dee Dee of Dum Dum Girls writes songs out of longing. For a boy, the feeling of when she first got high, the kiss that felt like a punch. All pop music is probably about longing, and I hate to bring authenticity into anything, but "Bedroom Eyes" (on the DDG's intimidatingly glistening, nervously adult sophomore set) sounds like she really wants (him/the love object/you) there.

She wrote the song when she was lonely, according to the bio, after returning jet-legged from a European tour, and lonely. Really fucking lonely. She says she was alone at home, and insomnia was grinding in her bones, and she read a poem by Rosetti, and she had to bum some zonk-pills off her pop and she scribed this aching, ennui-stricken anthem -- thus we have the audio-poetic equivalent of "Ambien zombie sex."

more...

Saturday, October 8, 2011
by Chris Estey
add a comment
Record review | New Releases

Cataldo — Prison Boxing

{Cataldo is playing Seattle Weekly's REVERB Festival this Saturday, 10/8 at 6pm} 

Initially, I was reminded of Hey Marseilles (an equally excellent band in which drummer Colin Richey does time) but that’s an oversimplification. Think Colin Meloy sans the prog rock and historical fetishes -- and you’re still not all the way there. The brainchild of Eric Anderson, Cataldo offers up an effortless blend of pop and folk immersed in elegant arrangements and radiant melodies. Thankfully, even when things get a bit simpler, the results are still fulfilling. On the masterful “Things You Need to Know” the proceedings are just as remarkable when Anderson’s voice is accompanied by a barely-there acoustic guitar. When the arrangement fleshes itself out past the three minute mark, the subtlety that reigned previously takes on even greater meaning.

The real jewel on the album is “Cash on the Barrel.” If there’s been a lovelier composition to release by a Northwest band in 2011, it’s been conveniently wiped from my memory. The keyboards gently echo across the speakers with nuance not unlike a Mike Mills piano part from some long lost outtake from REM’s Automatic for the People. When Anderson asserts “What is more infatuating than infatuation?", I dare you to keep your heart from falling to pieces. I, for one, contend that a song reaches elite status when I find myself unable to shut the hell up about it. So goes my relationship with this superb pop confection.

more...

Friday, October 7, 2011
by Imaginary Steve
add a comment
Record review | New Releases

Wild Flag — Wild Flag

Wild Flag is a quartet love affair smooshing Portland and D.C.-based warrior women together, combining the velvety and violent vocals/guitars of Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney), Mary Timony (Helium), and Rebecca Cole (The Minders) with the superb shuffle and stomp of mighty drummer Janet Weiss (S-K, Quasi, etc.).

Wild Flag is a rock album that needs to be in everyone's playlist this year, as it constantly excites and snuggles up to the listener with openly emotional attempts at romantic music-fandom bonding ("Romance"), twists and turns about feeling hot and cold with mysterious scratches ("Something Came Over Me"), whilst a whole lot of skittery guitars tweak and even psyche-chug above Weiss's skin-rattling fury. It's boss.

Sounding as fresh as a debut by a Go-Go's era femme-powered new wave band made up of grown-up punks, all of those great garage gal voices bringing to mind glories recent (e.g. The Woods, by S-K) throughout, but also the brutal, passionate art-pop rants of Lene Lovich ("Boom"), and even early 70s feminist rock ("Glass Tamourine"). Dub bass notes dangle with Elastica-sharp guitar tones ("Short Version"), and all out expansive American Patti Smith-esque rock anthems spill towards the end of the ten track full-lenth ("Race Horse," "Black Tiles").

more...

Wednesday, September 14, 2011
by Chris Estey
add a comment
Record review | New Releases

Fountains of Wayne — Sky Full of Holes

More than a great percentage of people I’ve met, I’m someone who likes things I can count on. This might explain everything from why I’ve worked only two jobs over the past decade to why I always pack my cigarettes exactly eight times. OK, “I’m nuts” might be a better explanation for the latter but I digress.

With all this in mind, Fountains of Wayne are, in many ways, the perfect band for someone like me. They figured out early on what they were good at and stuck to the script. When a new FoW record drops, you’re guaranteed to be treated to flawlessly constructed pop songs with tight yet exceedingly simple arrangements. They’re the most reliable three and a half minutes in rock n roll. Suffice to say, Sky Full of Holes continues in this vein.

That said, FoW’s fifth full length is hardly a carbon copy of their previous catalog. Most notably, they’ve dialed back the punchy electric guitar approach that has been something of a staple. Sky Full of Holes relies much more on mid-tempo, largely acoustic backdrops. About half way through, I found myself thinking a lot about The Get Up Kids.

more...

Tuesday, August 9, 2011
by Imaginary Steve
7 comments

Latest comment by: Imaginary Steve: "

Wow....and here I was thinking that, if anyone at all, it'd be Rush that I pissed off! Or maybe Dr. Phil. Nevertheless, I'm just flattered that any attention at all would be directed at the musings of an escaped mental patient with internet ...