Over the last several years, Danish band Efterklang has been blending post-rock, folk, and pop in new and refreshing ways. Their first studio release, Tripper (2004), had prevalent female vocals and a static-ey Postal Service-esque feel to the instrumentation, which often toed the post-rock line. Efterklang’s 2007 release Parades leaned instrumentally toward the orchestral side of thingswithout completely abandoning their electronic roots. The tightly arranged music was seamlessly blended with downplayed and raw-sounding vocals, making for a beautiful, if not slightly jarring, combination.
Efterklang brings something new to the table yet again with their latest album, Magic Chairs (released Feb. 22nd on 4AD Records). Here the vocals take center stage, accompanied by more real live instruments than electronic ones. The album has a much stronger indie-folk-pop feel that the others, giving it more general appeal and palatability to potential listeners. Efterklang’s set looks very promising. This band of Scandinavian multi-instrumentalists is often ten strong on tour, and it should be fun to see how all of these songs come together live at The Triple Door, Seattle’s classiest venue.
Below is a video of Efterklang performing “Cutting Ice to Snow” (from Parades) with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra in 2008.
There is going to be a world class DJ at Neumos tonight. Mark Farina might not look like the coolest DJ on the block, but his reputation is solid. He has been rousing crowds and selling out clubs with his electronic goodness for a long time. Electronic music has taken many different forms in the past decade. It used to be when people would say electronic, the first thought to the listeners mind would be techno or perhaps house music. Nowadays when people say electronic the listener doesn’t know what their getting besides instrumentation in some form that isn’t organic such as a guitar or drum set. In this case, Mark Farina is bringing full on house music to Neumos, and he is guaranteed to be bringing the booze and scantily clad women. Show up at Neumos if you want that kind of party tonight. Here is a sample:
Are you one who dares to dream? As people go through life tying experiences to music, there are few times when one is able to do it in a grand fashion outside of their own making. Most of us don’t actually get to chronicle our lives, make movies, and choose said soundtracks but tonight is one of the nights when a few select people can have their life beautifully orchestrated in person, and whoever chooses to can join in from home. Keith Kenniff, aka Helios, is someone who creates music to accompany grand stories. In an ideally apropos setting, Kenniff will be play at a private home starting at 8pm sharp. You can stream it here for free. If you choose to stay in for this event, bring your stories for Helios to caress. This could be one of the best nights to stay at home. If you want more info on Helios and Kenniff before you decide to stay in on a Saturday night, check out SSGs previous content.
For more show ideas, visit our friends at ReignCity.com
Band Members
Jimmy LaValle
Matt Resovich
Drew Andrews
Gram LeBron
Tim Reece
Andrew Pates
The Album Leaf graced Neumos on February 6, 2010, and it was no ordinary show. Not an official album release show, but with A Chorus of Storytellers coming out only four days prior, Seattleites were in the mode of celebrating the long awaited record from one of our own native labels’ artists. Not only did the audience get to celebrate A Chorus of Storytellers with The Album Leaf in their full glory, there was also the added bonus of the Anomie Belle String Quartet–and what a beautiful, organic gift.
Before the music started, the room was dark and thick with anticipation. The Album Leaf always accents their sets with a grand backdrop to deepen their cinematic effect. As the soft inclines of “Perro” began, the room expanded with the reflected flecks of moving light giving a subtle, ominous tone to the evening. The mix of programed sounds, keys, sound bites, textures, and the visual show had the audience acutely engaged. Continuing with “Blank Pages,” the room was gradually lifted with strings to relaxation and elegant euphoria. The Album Leaf’s presentation of ambient electronica was well received.
As the set progressed, a highlight was “Falling from the Sun.” This song was one of the riskier ones out of the mind of Jimmy LaValle. Being such an important figure in the realm of ambient electronic music, avid fans of The Album Leaf have firm opinions about lyrics and standard structures being introduced into the The Album Leaf’s vernacular. Jimmy LaValle and his merry men performed “Falling from the Sun” with earnest, open hearts, and the audience ate it up. It was a beautiful interchange.
After “Falling from the Sun” completed, LaValle addressed the audience saying, “Those were the first five songs off of A Chorus of Story Tellers that just came out on Monday.” The audience cheered. Accepting the adulation, LaValle said “And this song is … old.” with a giggle in his voice. With the first notes of “2214,” the audience went wild. More cheering ensued when the set continued with “Outer Banks” and “Shine.” “Shine” was another set highlight; the programed electronics were beautifully married with smashing cymbals from the snare drum set. Smash, smash, smash, the cymbals went, and the room filled with celestial sounds. Jimmy LaValle’s keys were bright, and the string quartet beamed.
The Album Leaf threw in a few more songs off of A Chorus of Story Tellers mixed in with some old goodies, and the energy of the room never wavered. The last time I saw The Album Leaf, it was disheartening to see so many people talking throughout the set. That was not the case on February 6, 2010. Looking around the room, I didn’t notice a single person who wasn’t enveloped in the set. It was a beautiful night from start to finish.
Please enjoy “There is Wind,” and an interview I did with Jimmy LaValle before the set.
David Sugalski, otherwise known as The Polish Ambassador, is setting a new standard for the disco house/electronica genre. He creates smooth beats ingeniously set under even smoother melodies. His melodies are at times more complicated than the beats, and he sure knows how to make it work. His melodic sense is uncanny and has a way of working from the top of your body to the tips of your toes.
His occasional journey back to the late 70’s and early 80’s grooves are encapsulated in the song “Fruit of the Boom.” It starts off with what can’t be mistaken for anything other than the era’s trademark disco shuffle and favored whistle to start things off. However, The Polish Ambassador adds his own brand of upstart electronica to make the sound modern and refreshing to the ears.
His personality is as zany as the bright yellow and powder blue jumpsuit he continuously wears. He also seems to never take off his head phones which are perpetually plugged into a small keyboard from which he creates his music. His personality is as over the top as his clothes, as witnessed in his videos.
You can earn diplomatic immunity to see The Polish Ambassador courtesy of Seattle Show Gal by clicking HERE or emailing contests@seattleshowgal.com with “The Polish Ambassador makes me wanna dance!” in the subject line to WIN FREE TICKETS to the show. Don’t forget to give the full name that the tickets should be held under at the door. Winner will be drawn at random at 3pm the day of the show!
If you are into keeping relations as smooth as The Polish Ambassador’s beats then get yourself on down to his show with Copy and Recess at Chop Suey on Monday January 25th. Your diplomatic dance pass awaits you.
Introducing himself with the excerpt from Ironside’s theme, made again famous by Kill Bill, Deepearth.void proceeded to play a set that was a mix of chiptune and more traditional electronic music. Deepearth.void (I still don’t know if I say the “dot” or not) is an underage act that played at the Kirkland Teen Union Building, and Nikki Benson recently introduced him on Seattle Show Gal on the “New Music” section.
The introduction was a bit cliché, but that first sting never fails to get an audience’s attention. Deepearth.void’s set started off a bit rough, with some minor buzz in the speakers and the sound engineer onstage trying to fix the problem while the music played. The problem was cleared up quickly, but throughout the set the engineer would run up onstage to fix something. Other problems occurred during the set, most notably as Deepearth.void was preparing for the song, “The Funk.” There was a gap of almost thirty seconds of complete silence and hair pulling frustration before any music played.
Despite those problems, Deepearth.void has some solid music. “The Funk” is a song that I felt a particular fondness for. It is essentially made of chiptune covers of four songs, “Turn Your Love Around” by George Benson, “Stayin’ Alive” by theBee Gees, “Hercules’ Theme” by Hercules and Love Affair, and “Pick Up The Pieces” by Average White Band. Chiptune covers can get old and annoying very fast, but Deepearth.void managed to combine them all to create a very fun dance tune that the crowd was actually reacting to. It was also great to see him move out from behind the laptops and Game Boys and get on the drums for some of the song. “The Funk” clocks in at just over seven minutes long, but it is a great song to move to. The rest of the half hour set was less chiptune, and more standard electronic. But every time those upbeat 8-bit tunes came out the crowd started moving.
It’s always great to see young acts, and in the face of the problems of that night, Deepearth.void performed admirably. It would be very interesting to see him again in a few months and performing a set with much fewer problems. Most of Deepearth.void’s music is split between his myspace and 8bitcollective, and you can also download three songs compliments of SSG. The chiptunes are all on 8bitcollective and everything else is on his myspace.
Here is some video from that night of Deepearth.void at KTUB
Here is another video of Deepearth.void in action that had to be posted.
Dense, melodic, and important sounding, Danish band Mew is a fantastic band. I won’t mince words here: Mew make really lovely music. It’s indie rock with dreamy, poppy vocals to be sure, but there are elements of prog and dance that are integral to the experience. If Jaga Jazzist got together with a shoegazy version of Yes to make a record, this would be it. No more stories / Are told today / I’m sorry / They washed away / No more stories / The world is grey / I’m tired / Let’s wash away (yes, they used the entire poem for their fifth album’s title) is as epic and thoughtful of an album as it’s title would lead you to believe.
Mew themselves make jokes about being “pretentious art-rock,” but hugeness aside, No more stories… is an accessible album to its very core. The vocals are reverb-heavy and the music is hard to play, but anyone can go to the Mew show at Neumos this week and have a good time. There have been comparisons of Mew to Rush, but the danceable poppiness of Mew is what makes them entirely unlike Rush in most respects.
Still, the progressive aspects of the band are what set them apart and will serve to make their show an interesting one–this is a band that won’t mess around when they get on stage. Clearly, Mew is a band to be taken seriously.
Check out our Mew contest! Click HERE, or e-mail contests@seattleshowgal.com with “Mewwwwwwwww!” in the subject line for your chance to win a pair of tickets to the event. Don’t forget to include the name that the tickets should be held under at the door. Winner will be drawn at random at 3PM on the day of the show so don’t sleep on this one because it’s a gooder!
FINALLY!! To say this is one of the most anticipated shows in the last few months would be putting it lightly. Since releasing their debut self-titled album in the UK in August of this year, The xx have been proclaimed as one of the best new acts and albums of the year. How four 20 year-olds can convey such sophisticated yet simple, sultry-sexy but still understated music is somewhat inconceivable and entirely refreshing.
Case in point, the I-tunes bonus track album includes a cover of Aaliyah’s “Hot Like Fire”. Yes the title and lyrics of the song are obviously….well, hot. However what makes the song, and all of The xx songs so coy is that instead of emphasizing overt sexual lyrics, the sensuality is expressed through the gentle layering of guitar, keyboard and synth married with the trading vocals from Romy and Oliver.
As of November 11th, The xx is now a 3 person group; keyboardist Baria Qureshi has left the band citing exhaustion. It will be interesting to see what kind of dynamics exist during a live performance within the band. Specifically, how will the moods and emotions that define the album translate on the stage? Check out the clip below of The xx playing Crystalised for KEXP at CMJ in October.
The xx are opening for the Friendly Fires as part of the NYLON magazine Winter Music Tour
You can also catch them at the Ballard Sonic Boom for an in-store performance at 3 pm FOR FREE and ALL AGES!
Band Members:
Josh M. Carter – Vocals,Guitar
Sarah D. Barthel – Vocals Keyboard
With so many music genres and bands dipping their fingertips into electronic and synth sounds, it can be difficult to tell apart the GREAT from the “Great-but-only on cd Great.” Phantogram, comprised of Sarah and Josh from Saratoga Springs, fall into in the first category. Actually they fall more into the FANTASTIC category after the gush worthy show they put on at Vera earlier this month. If you don’t like gushing, you probably won’t want to read the rest of this review.
Having listened to Phantogram’s self-titled EP for a few weeks before the show, my expectations were pretty neutral. Many electro-synth fusion-esque groups sound great on record but fail to meet expectations during live shows and ultimately leave the audience let down–much like a disappointing sexual experience. Phantogram definitely dispelled any precognitions that the show was going to be a watered down, poor sound quality, muffled version of their album.
For an all ages show on a Friday night, it was surprising at how tuned in the mostly younger crowd stayed with Phantogram through almost the entire set. As Phantogram took the stage, it seemed they were going to get the “oh it’s only the opener” stand off from the crowd. Once the first note hit, the floor filled with bodies and everyone stood to attention to watch. Besides the synth and electronic element of the set, both Sarah and Josh’s vocals were strong and audible. Sarah manned the beat making while assuring the crowd that it was okay to dance. Moving about the stage, playing guitar Josh resembled a mellow Dan Auerbach, but maybe it was just the beard. Honestly the only bad thing about this show as the number or ridiculously tall teenage boys that travelled in packs. Trying to see over their 6’2’’ and taller heads was frustrating!
A great bonus to Phantogram’s show was hearing songs off their full album Eyelid Movies which is currently only released overseas. The good news is that shortly after the show at Vera, it was announced that Phantogram signed with Seattle’s very own Barsuk Records. Eyelid Movies will be released here in the states early 2010. Phantogram is currently in Europe. Hopefully we’ll see them next year promoting their album release. Check out a clip from the show as well as an interview with Phantogram
Band Members
Benjamin Tyler - drums, vocals, mixing…EVERYTHING!
Stepkid is a one-man show, and by that, I don’t mean a guy with a microphone and an acoustic guitar or a DJ. Okay, maybe Stepkid is like a DJ in the sense that he certainly makes beats and dances like a one. But in addition to mixing his own sound clips and electronic beats, he does his own drumming and vocals and manages to put together a song that sounds like it has at least two other dedicated musicians in it. I immediately likened Stepkid’s sound to that of the band Holy F**k–a mix of electronica and experimental. As a plus, Stepkid adds in versatile vocals that can be smooth to match the beat of an ambient song, or almost screamo-like for an electro-rock song.
Stepkid was the first of three musical acts that played at the Josephine in Ballard for a crowd of not more than twenty folks, all of whom seemed to be either members or friends of the other bands playing that evening. The combination of the crowd and the venue, which featured as odd assortment of couches and an unmarked entrance, made me feel like I was hanging out in a garage waiting for my teenage brother’s band to play their first gig. The biggest annoyance for me was the extreme lack of stage lighting. The only light onstage for Stepkid was a dim light bulb that made it hard to see him and follow his constant movements; the artist was even stumbling around as he searched for his equipment. I think Stepkid’s stage presence during this performance was laidback and at times a bit sloppy, but I also think that these qualities went in hand with the informal venue he was playing in. At the same time, Stepkid seemed awkward as he transitioned between songs, and maybe he could use some bandmates to lighten his load and improve on his stage presence, but I also think that part of his appeal is the fact that he CAN do everything all by himself. Either way, this kid could use more experience playing at mainstream sites for larger audiences before he’s ready to successfully headline a major show.
There are a couple of recorded albums by Stepkid and he is currently in the midst of recording a new one now. If you want to know more about Stepkid, don’t try to Wikipedia him, because there’s not a whole lot of media on him yet, but SSG’s got you covered with the Internet’s very first interview with Stepkid, and a few clips from his live performance. Again, this kid’s still growing up, but do give his music a sampling and try to catch him live the next time he’s in town!
Seattle Show Gal is in hot pursuit of undiscovered talent! How many great bands are out there that are slipping through the cracks? Seattle is saturated with so much music, it would be nearly impossible to sift through it all to find the good stuff. The Seattle Show Gal staff is not so proud to think that we can bring you all of it, but we are actively pursuing all different types of acts to give you a pulse on what is going on--right here in Seattle! (See more in "About")
