{photo by the lovely Victoria VanBruinisse}

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by the Crocodile on Monday!

It was *so so awesome* seeing you and boy oh boy did the double helpings of pizza make my tummy happy. I still have a couple of those wooden tokens for rum drink specials left over; I suppose I've kept them to remind me of the rum vanilla-y goodness for weeks to come.

Word from our interoffice email threads since the event confirms that every member of the DJ crew had an amazing time! Chris Estey, Amie Simon, and Victoria VanBruinisse really outdid themselves putting together their sets.

Some folks who couldn't stay the whole time (or perhaps redeemed one too many of those wooden rum drink tokens) asked for a recap of the set... so here's mine:

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Ahhh….summer. There's nothing quite like cranking up a bouncy, happy song on a sunny day - whether you're in a car with the top down, or taking a sunshiny sidewalk stroll with your earphones firmly in place. Sadly, once again this summer,  the sunny days in Seattle have been few and far between (Hello, July?). Here's to hoping this beach and BBQ-ready virtual mixtape I put together will keep you feeling warm!

1. The Drums - "Let's Go Surfing" - Summertime EP (2:55)
{tig} {listen} {buy}

2. Bow Wow Wow - "I Want Candy (Kevin Shields Remix)" - Marie Antoinette Soundtrack (2:40)
{listen} {buy}

3. The Submarines - "You Me and the Bourgeoisie" - Honeysuckle Weeks (3:22)
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{more tracks after the jump}

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at The Paramount

Since their breakup in 1999, it has been the dearest daydream of Pavement fans everywhere that someday they would reunite, bringing peace to the Middle East, and dogs and cats together to live in harmony. 2007 brought rumors of an appearance at Coachella, and then nothing. The 20th anniversary of the band and of Matador Records came and went in silence. Finally, reports from Brooklyn Vegan in September of 2009 announcing three benefit performance dates (in September of 2010) (which sold out in two minutes) allowed fans a glimmer of hope.

When non-festival dates were released, many wondered what exactly a reunion show for a band like Pavement would entail. There had been no recently released material, with the exception of the Quarantine the Past: Best Of album, and the band made it clear to expect neither subsequent tours nor future material. In the April Spin article “Inside Pavement’s Reunion,” lead singer Stephen Malkmus appeared to understand the desire for this particular tour and encapsulated the sentiment of his fan base perfectly: "Music is about nostalgia. From the minute you hear a song for the second time, you're reliving it.” There is no better summation for what was happening to fans seeing Pavement at the Paramount this past Sunday night.

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If you're anything like the rest of the free world, you haven't seen much of Pavement since sometime in the late nineties. Recording, releasing, and playing live music for the better part of a decade, Pavement firmly established themselves in the lo-fi pool of the 'alternative' world in 1989 -- that's just shy of pre-indie, kids -- and fizzled out after their final show almost exactly ten years later. Both fringe- and cult-level fans alike have been clamoring for live performances and speculating on reunion tours ever since, and for those of us lucky enough to have come across / stood in line for / offered our next-born for tickets, the time has finally come!

After a decade-long hiatus, Pavement finally hit the road again this year for a European tour and stateside festival circuit (including Sasquatch, Coachella, and Pitchfork Fest), toting along a best-of comp that was released back in March. They're playing twenty-eight dates in September, and we're lucky enough to have show number two this month taking place at our very own Paramount Theater on Sunday, September 5th. We'll be there with bells on, and we'd love for you to join us! Here's how you can win a pair of tickets to the show:

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at Gorge Amphitheater

Pavement (Courtesy: Victoria Vanbruinisse for City Arts Magazine)

Every Memorial Day Weekend, scruffy hipsters and hippies alike who lack the cash to drop on a desert jaunt -- complete with $5 bottles of water and scorching heat -- descend upon the Gorge Amphitheater in George, WA (yes, that's really the name) for the 3-day Sasquatch! Music Festival.  There are considerably less stages and less big names, but the views are gorge-ous (har har), and you can easily find all of the previous year's blogworthy acts and at least a couple legendary ones before the weekend is through.  And since this is Washington, the festival organizers provide a free water bottle refill station to save plastic.  And did I mention it's beautiful out there?

This year my Concert Companion (hereafter known as the CC) and I packed the car full of hoagies, Coronas, yogurt, fiber bars and a nice sturdy tent, and set out Friday night on the 2 1/2-hour trip from Seattle to George.  In the morning we woke up to sunny skies and a slew of young, unwashed, bleary-eyed yet still really attractive festivalgoers.  Everyone was friendly and out to have a good time.  Some entrepreunerial folks set up a grill with hot dogs, tacos and breakfast burritos in preparation for the drunk munchies.  Once you've all shared the same lineup of Portapotties, had a few beers, and brushed your teeth together in a makeshift sink, the camaraderie pretty much starts a-flowin'.

And now, here's a breakdown of noteworthy events, day-by-day...

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The big news over the weekend (if the Twitter feed of my local rock writer friends is to be believed) is that a) the Sasquatch Festival will once again be happening for the ninth time in nine years from Saturday, May 29 through Monday, May 31; b) 3-day passes are now sale for the discounted price of $170 and were as of Saturday morning (while the national unemployment rate dropped to 10.2% last week) and c) the recently-reunited Pavement is headlining (at least) one night.

The full lineup is set to be announced on February 16. Possibly NSFW video after the jump.

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You know Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Dan Deacon and other great indie innovators are getting textural and contextual inspiration from somewhere other than what's reviewed in Rolling Stone or Pitchfork, but where? In The Blink Of An Ear, written by Seth Kim-Cohen, subtitled Toward A Non-Cochlear Sound, might put you on their same journey outside the boundaries.

A cochlea is a the snail-shaped inner ear which receives sound, and this book is all about how we receive sound and what we do with it in our minds. The music business is an industry built on sound, but there are many people who build sound from industry for a livelihood and legend. Kim-Cohen is the Director and Assistant Professor of Art and Theory at the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, has taught art history at Yale and the Pratt Institute, and has had many art showings in places like Tate Modern and the ICA in London. 

Why is an academic and artist like this of interest to the music fan? Well, alternative rock has its roots in the art school scene -- the Sex Pistols and Talking Heads and Superchunk who have all done songs about the milieu, and bands like Wire and Gang of Four and many others would have never existed without it. That's where they formed (in their physical lives), but it wasn't just a location these young, potentially innovative people obsessed with change and culture came to, it's where a Brian Eno would teach the mutual joys of ambient noise and doo-wop, as recently described in the Wire Pink Flag 33 1/3. It's where ideas met sound, and that's Kim-Cohen's living and playground. 

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The potential for greatness was all here, but it didn't quite deliver. Two rock stars talking about rock and roll- slam dunk, right? Not so much...

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In celebration of the Croc reopening, for some reason, I spent more time than I probably should have this morning thinking about my favorite songs about reptiles. Please note- "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John was a deliberate omission, both for being obvious and trite and for the fact that I hate that high pitched laaaaaaaa-lalalala. Ugh, it's like a drillbit in my ear canal. Yes, I'm sure this makes me a heathen and perhaps, dare I say, a "Cold Hearted Snake" (ooh, ah, ooh, ahhhhhh...)?

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Limited edition vinyl releases from Jay Reatard, Sonic Youth, and Pavement!!!

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