Godzilla has been waiting for a Sunny Day to wake up

I haven't been bloggin' much. To be honest, I'm not sure if my blog will continue to be a big part of my web presence. With facebook, flickr, and plain-old email taking up so much time, and with my occasional writing assignments for actual print (you know, like words on paper and stuff, you might remember them), this here little blog is taking a back seat. Plus, you know there's the art, the job, the lovely Nicole, the friends and the family to spend time with (not necessarily in that order).

But I will do more, I promise.

It will just be in the sputtering installments that by now you all should be used to. And if you ain't having it, then stop reading, nimrod!

Still with me? Okay, here's a few things I have encountered:

You have only till Oct 3rd to see a lazy-ass GODZILLA sleeping between, well around really, Open Satellite's giant pillars. Go East. The artists in SIMPARCH have created a delightfully snoozy monster well worth the trip. Art can still be fun and actually create child-like responses that are honest, on occasion. 3.5 Molos.

Go see Sunny Day Real Estate's reunion tour! They are bringing it like they did in 1994, except with less hair. Or maybe that is just me who has less hair. I have seen them twice in the last 2 weeks and the first show, at Tacoma's Hell's Kitchen no less, was a spine-tingling, amazing experience. Plus, it got so loud i had to wear earplugs for the next show 2 days later, in Portland. So I didn't really get to hear the Portland show, but i briefly listened to their new song, that's right, they have a new song, and it was tight. Plus, you can get Diary and LP2 on Vinyl! Sing it! SDRE Tacoma Show: 5 Molos. SDRE Portland show 4.5 Molos. Diary reissue 5 Molos. LP2 reissue 5 Molos

Grand Archives released Keep in Mind Frankenstein which follows up last year's self-titled Subpop debut with another batch of happy/sad slightly folky mellow moody indie rock songs. This one is slower, darker, and a lot less eccentric than the debut. A far more enjoyable listen overall, everything on it just feels much more considered. Although it is lacking the punchy delights of songs like Torn Blue Foam Couch and Southern Glass Home. Still, like everything that is remotely connected to Carissa's Weird, from Grand Archives, to S, to Sera Cahoone and of course even Band of Horses it is full of sad, wonderful beauty. Even the failures that this group of artists have done are still better than most of the crap out there. Keep in Mind Frankenstein is no failure, it's a mature, record from a prolific songwriter searching for a new post Carissa's Wierd world to play in. 4 Molos

Time to break out the scarves people, winter's a coming!



thank you to slog/open satellite and the flickr photographer that i borrowed these images from. feel free to steal any of my pics from the web, anytime.

Pop-gazer

Hello dear readers, it has been a while! This post is all about music, and I'll try to keep it brief. Well, no promises on that. After all, I just turned in 1500 words for an article I'm writing on Sunny Day Real Estate's reunion tour, and it was supposed to be 1200, which, frankly, isn't so bad, only 300 words over. But I'll tell you, at one point that piece was at like 2600 words...any who, I'm rambling and you all don't give a damn.

So let's get to the music reviews:

Really, what is the big deal with Yacht? Sure they have a couple really catchy songs, but they are pretty much just standard pop-indie danceable rock songs. Okay, yes the guy is from Portland...well Astoria really. And the stuff sounds like it comes out of NY, so that ins kind of interesting. Are there a lot of Yachts in Astoria? I imagine more sea-going vessels in those waters, after all the entrance to the Columbia river, with it's currents and sand bars, is one of the most dangerous waterways in the world. This is true. There's an army of tug boats and such whose job it is to guide ships through the mouth. Any who, wasn't I going to talk about music or something? Yacht, oh yeah. See Mystery Lights. Okay it's a pretty fun album. I'm equally delighted and annoyed by this music. Couple of stellar tracks though and it's pretty cool that it's from Astoria. In short, it is excellent indie dance rock pop so if that is your thing you will not be disappointed. 3 Molos

John in the Morning is probably responsible, personally for like 36% of all album sales decisions in Seattle, that is, all those people out there at Easy Street, Sonic Boom, Everyday Music sitting there thinking, "I'd like to get some new music, but I just don't know what I want..." Well they remember that song that John has been playing lately, or that album that he recommends and pick it up. Nothing wrong with that, John has great taste. The man has turned me on to so many bands that I can't hardly imagine living without...bands that I might never have heard otherwise. KEXP in general is a godsend.

So upon john's recommendation and having never listened to it at all, I picked up the new album by The Horrors Primary Colors. And it's pretty damn good. The good people at Sonic Boom had left a label on the album, that read"Moody Brit goths overcome their awkward stage of being lame and concocted an excellent follow-up that is pretty awesome actually" I can basically agree with that. The lyrics are mostly standard love songs, juvenile even, but for what is lacking in the words, the band makes up for in the driving music. I hear a lot of Film School, The Doves, and My Bloody Album amongst others in the guitar and rhythm and if you like those bands, and can imagine a sort of lighter blended version of all those influences, you will enjoy this album. Definitely a surprisingly strong release, thanks John! 4 Molos

Combine Yacht with The Horrors, add a female singer/songwriter, and make it a bit more earnest in its pop-gazing rock (I totally just invented that term-pop-gazing. like shoe-gazer but your head is up and your foot is tapping...right?) and you have Metric's Fantasies. I enjoy this album. I've never paid any attention to the band before, so I'm wondering now what I have been missing out on, as this is ther 4th album. Probably more sweet, tight sing-able rock music. Okay, good stuff, not groundbreaking, but good. 3.5 Molos

What about the new Cave Singers album? It will surely be on top of a lot of lists at the end of 2009, especially around the PNW. Yeah it's good, real good. It's a more rock version of their stellar first album. Turned up the rock, and turned down the folk, but they still do keep it folky, so all you beards out there wont be disappointed. 4 Molos

Okay folks, all for now, although let me add that the live album by K'naan Dusty Foot on the Road is very well done. It does a great job of capturing what surely must a be a stellar live performance. Having never seen him live, nor being very familiar with the music I find myself very much enjoying this performance. 3.5 Molos


Later y'all.

The Portrait Challenge