P.O.S.

I saw P.O.S. play Nectar last Thursday and wrote about it for the CAB here

From Wikipedia:

"P.O.S. began as a punk rock musician. In high school, [Stefon] Alexander and his friends played punk shows in a band called "Om," in which he first came to be referred to as "Pissed Off Stef." The abbreviation has taken on various and indefinite meanings including, "Product of Society," "Promise of Stress," "Promise of Skill," "Plain Ole Stefon," and "Piece of Shit.""

Definitely not Point of Sales. He's a great performer, go see him if you get the chance.

Off the Map - Kirkland Arts Center

Thursday after checking out great shows at Vermillion and Grey Gallery (see post below) I headed over to Kirkland arts center to check out a show by curator Jill Hardy called Off The Map. Here's a couple images from the evening and be sure to check out the City Arts Blog to read my full review.




Scott Bailey's Above Rainer installation, attacked by a young patron's arm


Curator Jill Hardy (back to camera) listens to an interpretation of Matthew Picton's Pakistan and the Indus River

Capitol Hill is the new Williamsburg

Two good shows opened up tonight at Vermillion and Greg Galleries on Capitol Hill. Go check 'em out. "BFF" Excerpts From The Friends of the NIB is at Vermillion throught March 7th, and features tons of work by the local cartooning scene, and friends. Curated by Jonathan Morris and Cait Willis.

Parallel Universe at Grey Gallery (through April 2nd) features some of Seattle's premier artists, Berk, Cowie, Elliot, Offenbacher, Veltkamp, Webb, Guerrero, Mitchell, Park, etc etc...but there's a catch. The works are not what the artists are typically known for. They are experiments, odd-ball pieces, changes in direction that were never followed up on, some doodle-like sketches that seem to be almost a release for the artists. The kind of thing you might do when you can't think of anything else you want to be working on. Or the kind of thing that might lead you down a different path altogether. Process, really, is the theme of this show. Process and freedom.

Grey and Vermillion continue to build the case as Cap Hill being the Williamsburg of Seattle's art scene with these excellent shows. Go check 'em out!


artist David Lasky next to his drawings

artist and curator Cait Willis next to her drawings at Vermillion

work by Joey Velkamp at Grey Gallery

Troy Gua's Monument

Check out my blog writing on Troy Gua's show on the CAB (City Arts Blog)

Sound Plans at Tacoma Public Library

Apologies to any readers of my blog, as I have not been keeping it up over the holiday season. However, stay tuned as I have a lot more robust art writing projects planned for 2010 and beyond!


Below you see images of the works I have in the show Sound Plans at the Handforth Gallery in the Tacoma Public Library January 13th-Feb 28.

50 BEST DAMN ALBUMS OF '00-'09

KEXP is asking listeners to vote for their favorite albums of the 00s. So, of course I participated, but the minute I started scanning the list, and realizing that I could only choose 5, my brain just started laughing at itself! Only 5 for 10 years of great music? And even if I could magically come up with 5 records, how could I ever possibly rank those 5.

Well, as a response to the KEXP list, and as a cathartic exercise, I present to you, my top 50 albums of 2000-2009, in ranked by “blew me away” factor combined with overall staying power and top-to-bottom strength. There are many other songs, or tracks, or downloads as they say, that I love, but we are looking at entire albums here. The only rule being, only one album per artist.

I’m sure in another ten years, if I go back and rank these same albums, the list will look very different. Hell it would look different tomorrow, but this is all just in good fun, so here you go

1. The Wrens The Meadowlands - Still blows me away.

2. Sigur Ros () - Still their best, most affecting work, listening to this album is truly a gorgeous experience

3. Carissa’s Wierd I before e - I'm cheating here, in a sense, since this is a live album, but it's so darkly lovely, so full of pain and beauty, and such wonderful, simple elegant and surprising songs

4. Cold War Kids Robbers & Cowards - my favorite rock album of the decade

5. Rainer Maria Long Knives Drawn - my second favorite rock album of the decade

6. Sun Kil Moon Ghosts of a Great Highway - I never get tired of this album

7. Interpol Antics - Turn off the Bright lights almost beat out Antics, but basically they are both amazing

8. Radiohead Hail to the Thief - the most influencial band of the last 15 years.

9. Nada Surf Let Go - Fruit Fly is one of my all-time favorite songs...a great pop rock album

10. Devotchka How It Ends - suffered from being overplayed but still fantastic music

11. Modest Mouse The Moon and Antartica - the last great Mouse album

12. And You Will Know Us By The Trail of The Dead Sources, Tags & Codes

13. Danger Doom The Mouse and the Mask

14. Mclusky Mclusky do Dallas - My love is better than your love we take more drugs than a touring Funk band, SING IT!

15. The Walkman Bows + Arrows

16. Sonic Youth Murray Street

17. Explosions in the Sky The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place

18. Mates of State Our Constant Concern

19. LCD Sound System Sound of Silver - "Someone Great" top 5 songs of the decade

20. Deltron 3030 - I nearly forgot this came out in the 00s!

21. Spoon Girls Can Tell

22. The Postal Service Give Up

23. Stars Heart

24. The Doves The Last Broadcast - probably i'd rank it higher in the list if i felt like editing this thing more

25. Bjork Vespertine -

26. The New Pornographers Electric Version

27. Mogwai Happy Songs for Happy People

28. 764-HERO Weekends of Sound - how did i not know about this band when they were actually still a band? Unsung heros of PNW rock

29. At The Drive-in Relationship of command - one armed scissor

30. Sleater-Kinney All Hands on the Bad One

31. Silver Jews Bright Flight - fucking brilliant

32. M83 Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts

33. The Dirty Three Whatever You love, You Are

34. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

35. Beck Sea Change

36. The Streets a grand don’t come for free - This is one of the most underrated hip-hop albums ever, but maybe that's because its not really a hip-hop album but something else entirely. I love it.

37. PJ Harvey Songs from the City, Songs From the Sea

38. Sufjan Stevens Illinois - Oh, Sufjan, will the hipsters ever let you back into the cool club?

39. Busdriver Roadkillovercoat - what did he just say??

40. Ghostland Observatory paparazzi Lightening - beloved by many but now in danger of being forgotten about, can they ever get the energy back of their first two albums?

41. The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

42. Mark Lanegan Field Songs

43. Red House Painters Old Ramon

44. Death Cab For Cutie We Have the Facts and We are Voting Yes

45. Dan Deacon Bromst

46. Ulirch Schnauss A Strangely Isolate Place

47. Tapes ‘n Tapes The Loon

48. The Rosebuds Birds Make Good Neighbors - all their records are equally sweet and nice

49. Aloha Some Echos - probably the band you have not heard of on this list. You should.

50. TV On The Radio Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes - the first 6 songs of this album are the best thing that band has ever done

50.5 (Tie) Astronautalis Pomegranate, Shenandoah Davis We Camera, Huma We Are Here For You

Art Quickie #7 - Margie Livingston @ Kucera

When I was a young lad, recently BFA'ed and fresh on the Seattle art scene (by which I mean going to art openings, talking shit, and wondering why I wasn't getting noticed, like all young artists are supposed to do) I kept coming across Margie Livingston's work. SOIL, Greg Kucera were her main haunts, but she seemed to turn up everywhere.

To be completely honest, I never really got it, her work at that time...well I did get it, but I didn't understand really what it was that made her do these paintings of lines and shapes, seemed to be variations of variations of variations. Of course, at the time I didn't understand that Margie was painting these works from a sort installation-like structures that she assembled in her studio. Sticks, strings and the like, with a variety of light sources. Her entire body of STRUCTURE paintings was so damn painterly in process and subject and that alone should have gotten me. For I fancied myself a painter's painter. After a sort anyhow.

A few more years went by, and I started to see and understand things more, and my respect and interest grew in her work. But I always wondered, how would her work develop? How long would she keep painting those structures in her studio? Would her successes keep her repeating herself, or would she push things?

These are the kinds of questions that artists should be asking of themselves and their peers. However, the answers are not so simple. Morandi made a career out of painting the same 5 bottles for most of his life. But then again Basquiat repeated himself to no end, and was burnt out and dead by 30. Who's to say?

Any who, I'm getting off track, and this is supposed to be an Art Quickie. But all these thoughts are what went through my head when I walked into Greg Kucera the other night. Lo and behold, with this new show "Riff" Margie has taken her studio practice and rethought many aspects of what sort of art can be produced in such a setting. I don't wish to give too much away, I think that a certain delight is had in experiencing these new works in person. So go see it!

But I will say that some of the art produced is from her STRUCTURE series but these new paintings are somehow more loose and yet tighter and take the series to a more vividly robust realm. The other works in the show could be roughly described as painting deconstructions. Call them painting sculptures, sculptural paintings, paint installations...call them what you will, they are delightful and interesting to look at, which is no easy thing. Check it out.

As a bonus, Greg Kucera is also showing a selection of nice, trendy-looking works by Whiting Tennis, and some delightful, whimsical, cat vs paper bag sculptures by Edward Wicklander.

It has been a privilege to watch Margie's work develop through these years.

We Built This To Leave

Our show is up! We Built This To Leave opening reception November 6, 6-11pm. Show runs through November 29 at Vermillion gallery. Come check it out! Me, Trevor Johnson, and Sharon Arnold.

Art Quickie #6 - Karen Sargsyan

Firstly, sorry for the very gray photo. this work is much more vibrant and pretty, but my cell phone is not a good camera. Look here for better pics: Karen Sargsyan or search.


Ambach & Rice is the new hot gallery in town, if you haven't heard. I stopped by with Nicole on Saturday to check out this show Abroad Understanding, by Karen Sargsyan. Very strong show! My first impression of the work was that the figures had a very NW coast Salish and also Inuit feel to them...I thought it likely this was a local, maybe Vancouver artist...however I was off base on that.

Karen hails from Armenia, by way of the Netherlands. His figures tell the story of a usurped king. Clearly borrowing on myth and legend from several sources. Really I didn't get too into the story so much, I just enjoyed the beauty and craftsmanship. Karen is a master of cut paper, a trend in recent contemporary art that is getting more and more sophisticated. I can only imagine the challenges of trying to pack up and ship these fragile creations!

Okay, this is an art quickie, right? So i better cut it off here. However, let me add that A & R are starting off strong in Ballard (they've taken over the OKOK space) and they might be a strong start of making a case for Ballard (and Cap Hill) to become replacements for the Pioneer Square scene, as downtown continues to push galleries further and further away. This show is one of the stronger gallery shows I have seen in recent memory, it's a museum quality exhibition, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out in Ballard.

ElectroPopShoeGazerIndieHipHopRock 1

Am I dying a blogger death by only updating every 3 weeks? Probably. Oh well, who cares.

I keep wanting to steer this blog towards art related subjects only, but I just don't think it will happen, and for now, I'm going to stick with my random eclectic musings on music, film, "culture" and occasionally art. Which pretty much means lots of reviews of music and film. Sorry if that bores y'all! I'll try to get stronger content on here in the future.

Speaking of stronger content, have you seen the latest City Arts Magazine? There's a nice piece in there on Sunny Day Real Estate by yours truly.

One more thing, before I get to my reviews "ElectroPopShoeGazerIndieHipHopRock" is going to be the name of all my music posts, joining Art Quickies and The Current Cinema as repeating columns.

New Built To Spill?!!! How come I didn't know this was happening until I saw the record in the store? Have I lost touch completely? Wait, don't answer that. There is No Enemy is excellent. Easily their best album since Keep It Like A Secret. Doug and the guys seem to have settled comfortable into the organic jam session song writing style that they used exclusively on the last release. This album brings more flowing, nice pretty songs with that strongly familiar BTS sound, but it's tight and strong front to back. It's a mature work from one of the most honest bands working today. 4 Molos

I have to admit that I don't really understand what Islands are all about but they have released one of the catchiest pop indie rock albums of recent memory. I had some of these songs rolling around in my noggin almost immediately after first lesson. The album, in question, is called Vapours and it is very good. It's a bit glam, almost silly, but somehow smart and sentimental too. A couple of misses on the record (like the song with the voice-effect that as Nicole says, only belongs on Daft Punk records) but even the misses are really damn catchy. Something must be in the water in Quebec because Montreal has been one of the best music scenes in the world over the last few years. 3.5 Molos

Local darlings Grand Hallway released their second album Promenade not long ago. Tomo Nakayama is one hell of a song writer. There's no getting around it. Sometimes listening to this band makes me think of a more humble Elton John with quirky orchestral elements. All indie pop sweetness. Love songs. Will bands ever tire of writing love songs? Would any one want them to stop? Likely the answer is no. 3.5 Molos

Kittens and puppies.