at Capitol Hill Block Party 2009

As I approached Block Party from Broadway on day two of Block Party, I heard the rising wave of Hey Marseilles on the main stage. Upon entering, my half hung over self was immediately swept up in their orchestral swell. Their performance only got better and better until the last song where their improvised musical meanderings became overwhelming.

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Only one more day until the Capitol Hill Block Party!

To prep, I've been perusing the  to see what I have in store.

One of the most talked about Seattle bands as of late is the New Faces. They may be one of the younger bands on but they have the kicks to keep up with the likes of the much more seasoned bands. They remind me of a young Kinks with their heaps of serious hooks and solid songwriting. Make sure to head over to the Vera Stage at 4.45p on Saturday (July 25) to see for yourself.

What are you going to see at the CHBP? Want some ideas? Check out Chelsea's Capitol Hill Block Party preview.

(Photo by Chona Kasinger from the Sparkly Indie Pop Flickr Photo Pool)

 

This year's Noise for the Needy festival starts tonight! We're so excited for the five day fest. The organizers have really put together a slew of great bills from now until Sunday.

Tonight's batch of shows kick off the festivities with a bang. I have a hard time choosing between tonight's two shows.

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Wow there was a lot to choose from this weekend, including just hanging out in your friend's back yard pondering how to make it to all the shows happening this summer (yay warm weather tour season!).

By the looks of Amelia Gyde's photos from Friday's Lonely Forest / New Faces show at Vera... that *might* have been the place to be Friday night. It also sounds like Bloc Party was stellar on Saturday night and last night, Redwood Plan tore it up at the Crocodile with Ida Maria.

What did you see / do this weekend?

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at The Crocodile

"The Crocodile is alive again," I thought, as opening act The Globes pounded out rhythms like a heartbeat: BAH-BOOM, BAH-BOOM, BAH-BOOM. As drummer Marcus Ourada led the percussion into the first song of the night, the revived rock club on the corner of Second and Blanchard came to life once more with the sounds of great local music.

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Aside from the trial run last week, this will be the first entirely local show to take place at The Crocodile - and it's a good one, with four solid bands filling out the bill.

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Upset. The word of the our 2008 Best Northwest Releases of 2008 Readers' Poll is upset.

With the Fleet Foxes winning readers and critical polls alike, who would've thought they wouldn't get top honors in our humble little Northwest poll? But they didn't -- they placed a distant second to New Faces, another debut record from some very talented, very young Northwest fellas.

We had other surprises as well, with unsigned newcomers such as Hey Marseilles, the Kindness Kind, and Kaylee Cole cracking the top ten, beating out Northwest heavyweights such as Death Cab for Cutie. We did not expect that. And we love it when you surprise us, dear readers.

We imaginaries like to champion the up-and-comers from the Northwest, and our results indicate that you do as well. We think you all also have fabulous taste, as always. Thanks to everyone who participated in our poll. We couldn't be more proud or thrilled to present the top 50 winners on your behalf...

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at Bumbershoot 2008

Bumbershoot is a musical extravaganza, spanning the three-day Labor Day weekend with more bands, arts, and elephant ears than anyone can possibly capture. We had a posse of imaginary writers (ChrisB, Chris Estey, imaginary elle, imaginary dana, and Cory), and photographers (Chona, Kyle, Nathan, and Andrew) all over Seattle Center, trying to capture the frenzy and mayhem of Bumbershoot 2008. Below you can see and read about our adventures during the first day, which kicked off with local electronic duo Beehive and ended with superstar Beck, and covered over 20 other bands in-between.

Enjoy!

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This is timeless alternative rock as meaningful as the Stranglers in the 70s, the Call in the 80s, or any other sort-of dark philosophical group with a crisp lyricist and a deep danceable sound.

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at Capitol Hill Block Party 2008

The New Faces are good. Maybe even very good.

They're not rewriting rock or doing anything innovative (but who is these days anyway?). They borrow liberally from The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, and Interpol and are not subtle about it. To be fair, though, those bands also cribbed extensively from the Velvet Underground, Gang of Four, and Joy Division while finding their own sound. But hey -- the New Faces shouldn't be penalized for listening to CDs, and they certainly shouldn't be penalized for listening to the right ones.

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