Summertime is warming right up, and not because of the obvious upcoming festivals and concerts. As the temperature rises in Seattle so do weekday shows. Today is no exception. There is a ton going on tonight in music of every genre, but here are a few of the hottest shows going down and get ready to call in sick tomorrow, unless of coarse your laid off, if which then you’ve got no excuse.
With dissonant female vocals, driving reverb-hall-filled guitars and long soaring instrumentals A Sunny Day in Glasgow pegs ambient-indie to a tee. The style adopted by guitarist Ben Daniels carries a Bjiork/Black Angels sound that reflects a transcendental nature and purity of spirit. Promoting the release of Nighttime Rainbows, which just dropped March 2nd, the group is scheduled to play a whopping eleven shows at SXSW this year.
Opening the night is local artist Perfume Genius whose fragile, airy approach to vocals and songwriting have earned him buzz in NW music. Mike Hadreas has adopted an uncanny approach that reveres post-crooner ambiance layered with song writing depth and balanced with piano and his tender voice to enable the song. This show should be really good, very laid back. Here’s a sample of Perfume Genius.
(Right click, “Save Link As” to download) Perfume Genius – Write To Your Brother
People Eating People, You Say Party! We Say Die! @ Chop Suey | 8pm | $10dos | 21+
This is one of the best lineups in the city tonight–especially for $10. Local stars People Eating People (Nouela Johnston of Mon Frere) are like watching a house burning down, you just can’t stop staring. That’s because they deliver a talent that would be like Amy Winehouse singing for The Dresden Dolls–unrivaled yet undiscovered. SSG has had a heart-on for Nouela (here), and for good reason. It’s only a matter of time before somebody sees this girl and carries her off to be more than just a Seattle star. In the meantime, go see People Eating People while the tickets are still $10!
Closing out the night is Canadian pop-punk You Say Party! We Say Die! and they deliver a 1-2 knockout for tonight’s show. Backing up the February U.S. release of their third album XXXX, they are packed full of energy, huge snyth-beats and ass-shaking songs. It’s actually believable You Say Party! We Say Die! is trying to kill you with their party music. The Chop Suey always has enough low end to drive you out of your Tuesday night shell, and along with People Eating People, you’ll be lucky to make it out alive.
SSG is going to have a giveaway for this show later today. STAY TUNED!!!
The Cool Kids are new prophets of Hip-Hop, dropping beats, samples, and rhymes like N.E.R.D. ate DJ Shadow and puked up the Beastie Boys.Combining old and new school sounds, The Cool Kids recreat one of the sickest styles in hip-hop with seemingly no effort. Listed as Rolling Stones top artists to watch out for in 2008 this show is going to go OFF. Guarantee The Showbox will bring in extra subs just to accommodate the shear apple-bottom-dropping bass that will crush the house into a finely ground powderto snort with a $1000 bill. Backing them up is So-Cal hip-hop brothers Pac Div, and If you got 20 bones this is the show to see tonight, no doubt about it. Here’s a taste of The Cool Kids teamed up with electro group Hey Champ. (Right click, “Save Link As” to download) The Cool Kids / Hey Champ – “We Are Champions”
For more concert ideas, visit our soul sistas at ReignCity.com
The most ambitious undertaking, however, comes courtesy of do-it-all production virtuoso, OC Notes. His Coffee Beans…The Glamour ReWorks is a complete and utter re-imagining of Fresh Espresso’s now seminal debut. Listening to it is like stumbling down a dimly-lit hallway, where sobriety is possibly compromised and every room you pass is a doorway into trip-hop psychedelia and fuzzed-out experimental music of Fresh Espresso’s original Glamour. It’s worth the trip, readers. And best of all, it’s free. Here are a couple tracks:
Having had Snoop Dogg present for almost the entirety of my pop-culture awareness, I was stoked to go to his show and see what Tha Doggfather had to offer in terms of a live show. The bass from Mash Hall’s opening set was audible from blocks away. When I made it past the rigorous search for weapons at the door, I hit the wall of weed smoke one would be disappointed not to find at a Snoop Dogg show.
The crowd was the most diverse I have ever seen at a Seattle show. There was no age level, race, or social group that was not represented in this Snoop Dogg crowd. Mash Hall was halfway through their set when I got in, and though they were giving it their all, the crowd was just not having it. Everyone was standing still, there were boos and big thumbs downs—the audience seemed more interested in Ludacris’ “Move B*tch” (the first track played between sets) than they were in anything Mash Hall had to say. This is surprising, since a lot of the things Mash Hall has to say … are about weed. What does a Snoop Dogg crowd love more than weed?
For second act Step Cousins, a local hip-hop super-duo feat. Xperience and Macklemore, it was an entirely different story. Xperience hit the stage first, accompanied by DJ/producer Ryan Lewis. Lewis was spinning some mad beats with some mad bass, and I had to bust out my earplugs for the first time in months. Lewis and Xperience got the crowd pumped before bringing out Macklemore, arguably one of Seattle’s favorite MC’s. Macklemore gets away with doing pretty much whatever the hell he wants: getting the crowd to repeat ridiculous noises, making a Snoop Dogg audience go crazy for a dark track warning about overdosing on drugs, performing a ballad for Irish folk, and even donning a wig, a fur coat, and bringing out back up dancers for his crazy closing track, “And We Danced” … though I’m not so sure the crowd got the joke on that last one.
Finally, after an hour long set change, most of which contained chants for “SNOOOPP DOOOGGGGGG,” a video popped up on the screen. The crowd roared with excitement, and from what I could see, the video mashed up clips of Snoop and weed, gunfights, pimp cups and 70’s era pimps, among other things.
Snoop finally came out in all of his ‘blazing’ glory (with a heavily blinged out microphone, of course), he launched straight into“Next Episode.” The crowd was singing along, and by his second song, clouds of weed smoke were so thick I could have cut them with a knife. Snoop Dogg played a lot of classics at this show, including “Gin & Juice,” “P.I.M.P.,” “Jump Around,” and crowd favorite “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” Snoop Dogg even busted out a little Marvin Gaye, singing “Sexual Healing” before launching into his own “Sensual Seduction.”
Snoop was digging the love from the crowd, and repeatedly thanked his fans for all of their support over the years. He finished his hour long set with “What’s My Name,” leaving the crowd begging for more. There was no encore, and the mostly inebriated crowd poured out of the venue, buzzing about the show. Though some parts of Snoop Dogg’s set felt a little forced and lackluster, I had a pretty great time overall. There’s nothing quite like spending your Saturday night with a hip-hop legend.
Since no video was allowed at this particular show, I bring you Snoop Dogg’s most recent TV appearance–a performance of new track “I Wanna Rock” and 90’s classic “Insane in the Brain” with special guests Cypress Hill.
Any group that’s interested in properly representing Left Coast hip-hop should first take a trip down I-5 to the Golden State, the place where the West Coast sound was originally developed, nurtured, and fully realized. Something about the combination of fresh Pacific Ocean air, perpetually sunny weather, and other (ahem) “natural” remedies, fuse to get the creative juices flowing something proper.
Seattle keeps losing some of its biggest and brightest hip-hop artists to California (THEESatisfaction, GMK, et al). Thankfully, the exodus for these groups has been temporary for the most part. State of the Artist (SOTA) had a brief dalliance with the home of the Dodgers this past Fall when group members Parker, Young TH, and Hyphen8d went south, looking to take advantage of all Southern California has to offer in the way of hip-hop inspiration.
They returned rejuvenated, sounding more focused on the brief (but still crackin’) Hank Moody EP, a three-track suite that felt like the last warm rays of sunshine reflecting on an endless Pacific Ocean horizon. The threesome’s July 2009 entry into the local rap game, Shapeshifters Mixtape, introduced us to the raw talent of these 206-natives, but the Hank Moody EP showed a glimpse of true progression in their craft.
Now, the SOTA boys have released the first track from their forthcoming debut album, SeattleCaliFragalisticExtraHellaDopeness. “Extrahelladope” (featuring also-set-to-blow local cats Helladope and Jarv Dee, both of the Cloud Nice camp) is a further chapter in SOTA’s coming-of-age story. It’s decidedly West Coast G-funk, updated for the 21st century. Parker handles production, doing his best imitation of Beacon-Hiller Tay Sean (one half of Helladope), with spaced-out synths, a danceable computerized beat, and licks of electro high-hat and bass.
“Extrahelladope” is a worthy successor to “Just So You Know” (Helladope’s already established hip-hop/funk Town anthem), and a further indicator of great things to come from dem SOTA boys.
Alright, this is another one of those moments where I talk about how I try to keep the blatantly commercial music off of SSG, but this song, like the above picture, was just too freaking funny to pass up.
Ludacris has got jokes! Tiger Woods seems to be the brunt of this months punch lines, but Chain Chain Luda Mang(Ludacris) has taken it to the next level–and as one of the funniest rappers, he’s the perfect one to make Tiger Woods satire. In the featured song “Sexting,” Ludacris has taken the hilarity of Tiger Woods alleged sex addition, slapped it on in first person, and sings about his perilous experience of getting caught and going to sex rehab. Ludacris is also pretty clever stringing together social networking acronyms and golf innuendos for your punny pleasure. This song is complete with catchy, thick beats. It’s fun for the whole (TV14) family. Download the song below, put it on all your mix tapes, shamelessly get your dance on, and send a sext out today as a nod to your close, personal friend, Tiger. Enjoy!
If you’re ready to sweat, get drunk, dance and be dirty, I’ll expect you to be at the ever classy Can Can cabaret tonight for their wildest show yet. As Pearl Dragon of Champagne Champagne tells me, “Thursday is the new Saturday,” and tonight is clearly going to be a night of continuing the raw energy and positive vibes that both groups have infused into the local scene. Tonight is Champagne Champagne and THEESatisfaction’s reunion and release of Magnetic Blackness on limited edition 7″. “Bird Lives,” their second collaboration, is premiering tonight at the party.
“Bird Lives” is classic Champagne Champagne/THEESatisfaction, and, is influenced heavily by the late King of Pop. Pearl Dragon commented, “[Champagne Champagne and THEESatisfaction] did this song together … we wanted to capture the energy of [how Michael Jackson's death] affected us.” “Bird Lives” is just more confirmation that these two groups are still continuing to up their game. Also making appearances are State Of The Artist, Dev From Above, DJ Darwin, and DJ Swervewon. Drink specials are available for those who are able to pick up a copy of the vinyl, so be sure to grab a ticket and get there early. Get limited pre-sale tickets here.
First of all, I must disclose that the actual credit for this song should read “Erykah Badu ft Lil Wayne.” It was too painful to admit that SSG is sharing something that has Lil Wayne in the title. That being said, this song is filthy, and if we started letting pride get in the way of sharing awesome new music, nobody wins.
Erykah Badu is scheduled to be releasing Part Two: Return of the Ankh on March 30, 2010, and the internet leaks of her new material are tough! The featured song, “Jump Up in the Air and Stay There” is full of soul and thick with rhythm. The bassy pulses start off strong and are accentuated with some flirty synth keys. Badu’s vocals resonate her signature je ne sais qua of a confident African queen. Badu stands proud, strong, and fierce; she could lure any listener to do her bidding. We have all known and loved Erykah Badu for her spicy, soulful flavor, and it looks like she is gracefully staying fresh while keeping true to her style. Enjoy, and keep your eye out for her new release at the end of March.
What do Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom, Keith Korg, Black Elvis, Kool Keith, have in common? They areall the same person. The Tracy Morgan/Jordan of Hip-hop will be at Neumos on Friday night with longtime collaborator Kutmaster Kurt. Kool Keith’s been making noise for over 20 years now, releasing record after record under various names. Most famous and influential of his many releases is the Dr. Octagon Octagonecologyst record, an album-length collaboration with Dan the Automator and DJ Q-Bert that turned thousands of hip-hop fans of all races and nationalities into sci-fi fans, at least momentarily.
Kool Keith has since distanced himself from Automator and Dr. Octagon in the media, only referencing him occasionally when rapping as Dr. Dooom, Dr. Octagon’s murderer. Last year, however, he came to Seattle as Dr. Octagon Vs. Dr Dooom. This year, according to the ads, it’s a Dr. Octagon show. Good for him. Dr. Octagon, out there fighting the good fight for space gynecologists everywhere. To get in contact with him, call 1-800-PP51-DOODOO. He’s in your corner.
For your chance to win tickets, CLICK HERE, or send an email to contests@seattleshowgal.com with the subject: “Half-shark/alligator half-man!” Be sure to include the name that should appear on the list at the venue. Winner will be drawn at 3pm on the day of show! Good luck!
Are you in the mood for some free-form jazz? If you happen to be hobbling around Beacon Hill by the hour of 8:30, walk into Beacon Hill Pub. Mucho Gusto has been around for several years, and it appears that they frequent their jazzy goodness on a regular basis to the fine folks in the south end.
Mucho Gusto comes at jazz with a laid back approach! You can ascertain from their recordings that they know what they are doing, and they do what they do for the fun and the love of it. If you fancy a frilly saxophone, some keys, electric bass, and some classic drums, pop in. Listen to their music here. “Pocket Fences” is a good song to start with. “TV Land” is also a fun one.
Staying in the jazzy realm but in a completely different spectrum, Movits! is going to be at High Dive tonight by way of Sweden. Movits! Fuses swing with hip-hop to make a Swedish cocktail you’re going to have to hear to believe. Swing dancing was born in “the roaring twenties” in the wake of WW-I when people thought life couldn’t get any better. The celebratory nature of swing still brings joy and a feeling of freedom to those who throw themselves in to it. Movits! mix of hip-hop and swing is nothing less than pure genius. It’s jazz, is swing, it’s European hip-hop. The audience might not know whether to watch the show, start grooving, or break into the Charleston, but this is going to be quite an interesting show–and quite rare at that.
As you may have seen in this morning’s new music post, SSG believes in informing you about music that champions important causes. Diplo of Major Lazer, along with most of the roster of his Mad Decent label, has produced a best of Gucci Mane’s Cold War mixtape remix compilation (can we get more b-side?) that demands “Free Gucci.” At SSG we believe that claiming you were jailed for a parole violation “because you blew your nose” does not constitute a notable cause.
On the other hand, Diplo puts together a hot electronic remix of Gucci’s hip-hop so we are therefore dedicating the “FREE Gucci” cause to the fact that shortly you will be FREE from the work week, that SSG is bringing you two FREE streaming tracks, and that you can go here to download the whole compilation for you guessed it… $FREE.99. Bon weekend!
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")
