Saturday April 2nd, Three Imaginary Girls stopped by the KEXP studios to play some tunes during the local Northwest music show, Audioasis. This time our gracious host was DJ Abe Beeson who, in addition to having a fabulous DJ voice {which we already knew}, is a super-nice fella with a passion for cassette tapes {and Sabre!}.
Here's our set list, with a bit of off-the-air imaginary commentary. If you want to hear the songs and our on-air ramblings, go to the KEXP Streaming Archive, and select April 2, 2005 at 7p to hear our set. Listen soon as the archive will only be up until April 15,2005 {give or take a day}.
{7:04} Pomeranian – "Pom Pom Pow"
Any band that names a song "Pom Pom Pow" deserves a listen, and when the remaining tracks sound like Pomeranian, you're gonna giggle and dance and maybe throw something breakable and then laugh as it shatters. Pomeranian offers dance beats, screams, and catchy riffs, and the resulting sound is much like their canine namesake: yappy, brash, loyal, and cute. And their website kicks ass.
The funny thing about Pomeranian is that we keeping judging them. And, erm… they keep losing. Not because they aren't winners. We first met them at the Seattle's Cutest Band competition, where they were really cute, and really good, but didn't win. Then we encountered Pomeranian front-guy Emory Lu at Iron Composer last year. He was competing against Paul Jensen {of Dudley Manlove} and we were the three judges… and again, we voted against the man from Pomeranian.
But the thing is — we love the Pom!
{7:06} Panda and Angel – "The Disco Song"
Panda and Angel is a super-group of sorts, featuring, among others, Josh Wackerly {of the band S}, Carrie Murphy {of the band Touchdown Eagle}, and Sera Cahoone {of the band Carissa's Wierd}. Their songs roam from brooding lo-fi {"Woolfe"} to shimmering lite-electronic instrumentation {"The Disco Song", which we played tonight}. They're gonna be opening for Horses {another Carissa's Wierd alumni band} and S at Neumo's on April 7th.
{7:10} Corbin Gets It Right – "Bottom of My Closet"
Bellingham's Corbin Gets It Right play infectious indie-pop on their self-released album The Color Scheme, which was produced by Cameron Nicklaus of the Pale Pacific. This track is called "Bottom of My Closet."
{7:16} Luke Temple – "Someone, Somewhere"
Singer-songwriter Luke Temple releases his debut full-length Hold a Match for a Gasoline World on Mill Pond later this month. The song we played, "Someone, Somewhere", shows off his gorgeous vocals and stellar pop-folk song-writing skills. Talents such as these elicit {fair} comparisons to Sondre Lerche, Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon. As one brilliant writer once said, "With his perfect (and I do mean perfect) vocal pitch, and his crisp-linen songwriting, Luke explores his relationship with himself, others and his maker in a way that shows wisdom beyond his years."
HEY! That quote came from the review of Luke's EP that ran on Three Imaginary Girls.
You can't quote our own website!
That's like Internet incest!
I can, and I just did. I can't help it if Salvatore Santos is so much smarter than I am.
{7:20} The Cloves – "Ignored"
Anyhoo, next up we played The Cloves' song "Ignored" from their recently self-released their debut album Waiting for the World to Be. Fans of Doves, Travis, and all things Brit-radio-pop flavored should pay attention and pay their respects. Even their cover-art looks all retro-70s British. We all just missed their Seattle CD release show on April 1st {boo!}, but you can catch the Tacoma CD release on April 10th at Jazzbones, with Doxology {yay!}.
{7:23} Love Hotel – "Ahoy Supercool"
Love Hotel is the band with a most impressive Northwest pedigree, with band members hailing from Harvey Danger, Severna Park, and the Typing Explosion. Love Hotel write smart pop-songs in the vein of Exile in Guyville-era Liz Phair. The track we played tonight {"Ahoy Supercool"} even references losing a lighter and a map, a clear reference to Phair's "Divorce Song". Front woman Sarah Paul O'Campo's smart-mouthed, independent — yet vulnerable — lyrics, and her husky, clear vocals remind me of Jenny Lewis {Rilo Kiley, Postal Service}.
{7:27} The Senate Arcade – "Problem"
We played a sneak-peak demo from the Senate Arcade, called "Problem." No, you can't get this song yet. No, they don't have a release date. Or an album title. Or a label — yet. So don't even ask me. 'Cause I don't know.I do know their next show is at the High Dive on Fri, May 20th with Verona and Juhu Beach.
After a six-song monopoly of the airwaves, Abe took a turn, playing us "Sever Heavy Hands" by Psychic Emperor. Each of us oooh'd and aaah'd over the new project from Tristian from the Vells and Jeremiah from Modest Mouse.
{aside to Imputer Records: your imaginary friends would very, much love it if you would send us a copy for review. T
hankyouverymuch.}
OK, out with the new… in with the cassettes! Because April is local music month at KEXP, each Audioasis show will have a special theme'd portion to celebrate a particular piece of Pacific Northwest music heritage.
Abe chose to focus on late 1980's – early 1990's cassette phenomenon. With that direction, we sniffed around and found boxes of contenders to bring with us. It was difficult, but we narrowed it down to four songs that deserve their own altars at the EMP.
{7:48} Oklahoma Scramble – "Mine"
Oklahoma Scramble was an Olympia, WA band that existed for a brief time in the mid-1980's. The band, consisting of Jennifer Seymore and Argon Steel, only recorded five songs {which pretty much only saw the light of day via fortuitous friend-to-friend tape exchanges} and played two shows during OS's 1986 to 1987 lifetime, but still made an impression.In 1987, Calvin Johnson {K Records, Beat Happening and Jenny's neighbor}, released some Oklahoma Scramble songs {including "Mine"} on one of K Records' first releases – a compilation cassette entitled Birdcrash in 1987. Besides the OS songs, the cassette also had tracks from Spook & The Zombies {featuring a pre-Seaweed Aaron Stauffer} and instrumental tracks by Calvin Johnson's the Go Team {see below for more information on the Go Team}.
You can find another Oklahoma Scramble song {"Boy"} on the first Yoyo studio compilation Throw which was released in 1992. Other reasons to pick up Throw sampler include rare tracks from Heavens to Betsy, Bratmobile and Crayon.
{7:51} Kicking Giant – "Teen Angel"
There were a few Kicking Giant songs that were in the running to bring with us, but this one won out because no matter who was in the room, we'd all be on our feet spazzing out by the end of the first verse.This song, "Teen Angel" was recorded at Yoyo Studios and originally released in August 1991 on a hand handmade cassette, Drum Girl Dream {a short run that was primarily given to friends and such} and later released for public consumption on tape as Secret Teenage Summer in late 1991 on Loose Leaf.
In the band consisted of Rachel Carns {who has also played in The Need}, and Tae Won Yu {who has moved on to solo work under the name the KG}. You may also recognize Tae for his designing accomplishments – most notably for designing your favorite Built to Spill cover art.
{7:55} Rich Jensen – "Nice Pagan Go!"
The oldest pull from our Cassette Closet, "Nice Pagan Go!" was released on a tape entitled The Animal Box in 1984 {during the cassette-only days of K Records}. Although Rich Jensen released a series of tapes around this time, nothing beats the line "Beacha-beacha-beacha-beacha-Steve" of this song, "Nice Pagan Go!". You might also recognize Rich's name from his grunge-era days at Sub Pop, his co-founding of Up Records, or his founding of Clear Cut Press.
I like nice Pagans too.
{8:02} The Go Team – "Keep-A-Way"
Last song — and we barely got to play it, so thanks again to Abe for letting us sneak this one in — was the Go Team.
Nope, not *that* one… not the newfangled, "I'll add an exclamation point after the second word and I've got my own original band name" folks… this song, "Keep-A-Way" was brought to us by the Go Team that doesn't have an awkwardly placed exclamation point and were the original GTs.
The Go Team was:
Calvin Johnson, Tobi Vail {Bikini Kill drummer}AND, during the course of their history, a rotating cast of characters including: Kurt Cobain {Kurdt Kobain}, Rich Jensen, Lois Maffeo {Lois, Courtney Love – the band}, Billy Karren {Bikini Kill guitarist}, David Nichols {The Cannanes drummer}, and Louis Olson {who was in one of the earliest incarnations of Some Velvet Sidewalk}.
"Keep-A-Way," was released in 1989 on the cassette-only / never reissued on CD album Archer Come Sparrow and features a minimalist line-up of only Calvin and Tobi.
I have old cassettes too. They're by Def Leppard and the Scorpions and I think they're melting in my mother's garage in South Florida about now.
That's probably for the best.
Indeed. And KEXP is the best! We can't wait to go back on the air. Our next appearance will be May 7th, again at 7p for Audioasis.