KEXP/MUSICARES Benefit (9/2)

As if there were not enough choices for Saturday entertainment. This just in from The Turn-ons.

Get your asses down to High Dive in Fremont this Saturday night!

The Turn-ons
Panda & Angel
Boat

Doors @ 9pm - $6

This show is a KEXP benefit for MUSICARES, who continue to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Don't be a dick! Come to the show.

Free Don't Tell Sophie gig on Friday

It looks like it's a free show kind of weekend. Earlier I mentioned the free Dept. of Energy/Young Sportsmen show on Saturday. And now I've learned that Don't Tell Sophie are playing a free show in Tacoma at urbanexchange at 7pm.

Stranger article on Portland/Seattle

There is an interesting article over at The Stranger about Portland being "Seattle's Hottest 'Hood." It presents the opinion that Seattle's rising rents and cost of living have pushed a lot of musicians, who need to rely on part-time income, to move to Portland.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Thee Emergency video & show

Thee Emergency are playing Bumbershoot this weekend at Skychurch. Here's their "Can You Dig It" video to give you a feel for their sweaty, pulsating live show. We can only hope there will be as many endearingly-can't-dance indierockers in the crowd live as there are in the video. :)

The Lashes "viral video"

This is a couple of months old. But, I stumbled across it again today and thought I'd share. It's a couple of young ladies named Jessica performing/lip synching to The Lashes "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody."

Live Long Winters mp3

The folks at Paste Magazine have posted an mp3 of John Roderick from The Long Winters performing "Shapes" in a live acoustic setting.

Monday Morning mp3

I had a good response from posting the IPO mp3s over the past few weeks. So, I'm going to change the series formerly called "song of the weekend" to "Monday Morning mp3."
Of course, this brilliant idea came after it was already Tuesday this week. But, really, what's a single day among friends. The alliteration was too good to pass up. :)

This week it's the Department of Energy with I Remember What the Light Felt Like. And, as I just posted, these guys are playing a free show this weekend.

Free rock show Saturday 9/2

Perhaps the best deal in rock-n-roll this weekend will be at the Skylark Cafe over in West Seattle. Because for zero dollars, that's right free, you can see:

Megasapien / Dept of Energy / Young Sportsmen
Skylark Cafe
3803 Delridge Way SW
West Seattle, WA

So you can see two of my favorite local groups (dept of energy & young sportsmen) and one that I don't know a thing about (megasapien) for free.

And now I'm absolutely torn, because at the same time over at The Croc The Riffbrokers and Lions in the Street are playing! I hope someone invents a cloning machine this week, because I need to be at both of these shows!

The Divorce live at Lake Fest

A number of bands played Lake Fest this past weekend. Here's some footage of The Divorce's performance.

Shows for week of 8/28

Here are some cool shows for this week.

Tuesday, August 29
Tim Rogers of You Am I and Tex Perkins of The Cruel Sea at The Crocodile

Wednesday, August 30
Llama, The Fallouts, and The Rheas at The Crocodile

Thursday, August 30
If anyone goes to the Def Leopard/Journey extravaganza at White River, I expect a full report on my desk by 10am on Friday.

Saturday, September 2
Liars Club, Lions in the Street, The Riffbrokers at The Crocodile.

Plus, Bumbershoot is Friday through Sunday. I don't have a clue of everyone who is performing. But, I know the New Pornographers are somewhere in there, as are Mates of State, English Beat, Badly Drawn Boy, and Tribe Called Quest.

IPO Blow By Blow: Fourth Night

My brain is officially toast. Having seen 28 bands over four nights, I can't remember much of anything at all at this point. So, here are my late night musings on tonight's show.

The Phamous Phaces were running late, but landed at the club just in time to treat us to their sound, which I think was like a mix of The Smithereens and Scruffy The Cat. This is their guitarist:


Phamous Phaces

The Glasses' brand of indiepop is endearing and mixed with some space/echo sounds. Their drummer rocks harder than most indiepop drummers. At times they reminded me of Small Factory, and that's a good thing. Here's a photo:


The Glasses

I really enjoyed Easterly's set, and they get the award for "most people on stage during the IPO" (beating even Tiny Volcano featuring Vanilla, and that's two bands playing at once!). Here's a photo of some of them:


Easterly

sea.mine was cool in that they've got some odd things combined into their sound. At times it was like a powerpop bounce mixed with DC bands like Jawbox. Here's a shot:


sea.mine

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get up for work in a few hours.... ugh.

Self serving blog post

So, in general I avoid using my blog as a means to promote my own band. But, I'm going to temporarily break that rule by letting you know that The Scheme is having our Seattle debut tonight at the International Pop Overthrow. We're on at 9:30pm sharp.

But, we're not the only reason to come out. The Glasses, Terrene, sea.mine, Phamous Phaces and more are on the bill.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled non-conflict-of-interest blogging. :)

Department of Energy tonight (8/27)

Heads up! The good ol' Dept. of Energy are performing tonight at Chop Suey.

IPO Blow By Blow: Third Night

Well, I hit my saturation point on Saturday, because I'm having a hard time remembering each band and what they sounded like. So, instead of commenting on every group, I'm just going to talk about the highlights.

Bands that I enjoyed, but can't quite remember enough to comment fully:
- Girls Say Yes
- The Quags

Bands that felt like a living reinactment of VH1's "Bands Reunited":
- The Windbreakers
- True West

With the latter, I felt bad that more folks were not in the room to witness it. For anyone who was in college in the 1980s, these band names have meaning. I'm sure if there was some way to tap into that group of people via advertising (I'm assuming *most* people in their late 30s and early 40s are exactly spending their days on myspace), the room would've been packed. But, it wasn't, sadly. But, both bands really did a great job and I was happy to have seen it.... even though I was mentally fatigued from seeing 25 bands in three days.

Another unfortunate thing about last night's IPO was I didn't change the batteries in my camera. So, no photos today.

Racetrack, Jon Auer and others today (8/26)

I just got this message from the folks in Racetrack:

We are playing a show later today! We're playing at Lake Fest in Seattle on Lake Union. It is all ages, and all they are asking for is a $5.00 donation.

Also playing are The Divorce, Jon Auer, The Diamond Hand (feat. Shawn Smith), Patrol, and plenty of others. We are playing at 5:30 pm, exact.

Check out their website if you have any more questions: www.lake-fest.com

The bands seem to be running from 12:30pm until 8:30pm, with Racetrack specifically going on at 5:30, followed by Jon Auer at 6:30.

IPO Blow By Blow: Second Night (part 2)

So, continuing on into the second day of the Internationl Pop Overthrow, following Jon Auer was a unique experiment called My Brave Face. For those not familiar with those words, they are a song title of a tune co-written by Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello, and performing co-written songs by this duo is all that My Brave Face does. Interesting concept and well delivered. Here's a shot of them:


"Paul" and "Elvis" in My Brave Face

Gary Reynolds and The Brides of Obscurity then took the stage, and while I enjoyed them while they were playing, I'm sorry to report I can't recall that much in the way of specifics about them. I do know that Gary got some great sounds from a Nord keyboard and that I was tapping my foot a lot during their set. But, the details escape me. I can say they sold the second most merch of any of the bands (behind Jon Auer).

I would like to temporarily rename this page the Kurt Bloch Appreciation Blog, because last night during the Sgt. Major set, he experienced just about every equipment malfunction one could have (guitar strap kept falling off, cables coming unplugged, mic stand dropping in mid song), but the man just radiates joy and is fully commmitted to THE ROCK! The band rocked it out, Mike Musberger is a monster on the drums, and Carmella demands your attention at center stage with her vocals and Katrina and The Waves style dance moves. Here's a shot of them:



Sgt. Major

Closing out the evening was The Tripwires. I'm a fan. They do this cool powerpop with roots and twang, veering into a country feel with loud guitars thing that I love. Especially songs like "I Hear This Music" and "Arm Twister." Great stuff. At the end of their set we were treated to a Tripwires/Sgt. Major conglomeration that was silly and carefree and rocked out. I tried to capture this moment on my digital camera's "movie" setting. But, apparantly the rock overpowered it's ability to capture sound.

Tune in tomorrow, as there are 8 more great bands tonight.

IPO Blow By Blow: Second Night (part 1)

I'm going to have to really comb my memory banks to write this one up. Between seeing 8 great bands and working the merch table all night (which thankfully gave me a decent line of sight for photos!), it's a bit of a blur. So, this write up might seem less coherent and involve more gut response.

Up first was The Capillaries. Gut response: They got ripped off by being so early in the evening, as they were really on and did a great set for those who arrived early. Here's a shot of two of them:


The Capillaries

Next came The Craze, who confused the hell out of me a good way. At various times during their set I thought of Billy Idol, Duran Durhan, Duane Eddy and circa-1980s Rolling Stones. It was unique and interesting and had a good number of folks in the small crowd dancing.

Third on the bill was Tiny Volcano featuring Vanilla. Really two bands smooshed into one, I was a bit disapointed. I just found Tiny Volcano a few months back (actually right when I started the blog), and I loved their piano driven, Jellyfish-esque bounce. I didn't get that from this set. It was solid, but different than my expectation.

Jon Auer took the stage in a solo setting and performed some tunes from his new solo record. The songs were compelling and hushed. Jon's a pro and his voice rang through the room and captivated everyone, who stood pretty much in silence listening. Toward the end of his set, he lightened the mood by playing Big Star's "thirteen." This woke the crowd up (to which Jon replied, "you guys are like shooting fish in a barrel," which was true in this moment). He also did Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him" and a humorous, crack-spoon referencing take on an Eddie Money tune. Here's a picture of Jon in the early goings of the performance.


Jon Auer

On that note, I'm going to split this blog post into two postings, because it's so darn long.

IPO Blow By Blow: First night

I was able to take in 5 of the 9 bands that performed at the first night of the International Pop Overthrow that's going on down at the Croc this weekend. I would've loved to have been able to stay for the remaining four bands.... stupid work. :) But, I digress. Here's my take on the first night.

Opening the night was a last-minute addition to the bill in the form of teenage rockers Blackout. I'm pretty sure the oldest member of the band is 12. According to their myspace page, the main kid started the band about a year ago after seeing School of Rock. If he only started playing guitar a year ago, he's got rediculous talent, because he is really good.

Next up was The Small Change, who I love, and they didn't disappoint. After sitting through about 5 minutes of "Doug is setting up his drums" (while David Bash stood kind of awkwardly on the stage waiting to introduce them), the rocking commenced and it didn't stop for 20 minutes until they ended their set. Even with a stand-in bassist (Heather from the most excellent The Riffbrokers) they didn't skip a beat. Great energy, great songs.

The Cheats were up third, and I wasn't moved greatly by their set. More punk than powerpop, I was hoping it would be a cool shift of energy. Instead I'm sorry to say I found them a bit monotonous. They were rocking and tight. It just didn't move me on this evening. Perhaps I was in the mood for more melody.

And that melody hypothesis was confirmed by Doll Test, who moved me a lot more than I was expecting them to. I had never seen them live, although I was familiar with their recordings. Before they began I said to my friends that I thought I was either going to love them or be completely underwhelmed. It turns out that I loved them. Well done, guys.

After a super-quick stage change, The Young Sportsmen took the stage. Damn, those boys were loud! I'd seen them previously and felt I knew what to expect. And, as expected, they were solid, together and rocking. In truth, I could've used some more dynamics. Their set was quite a bit like someone punched me in the face, but instead of pulling back and letting me see the damage they had inflicted, they left their knuckles pressed up against my nose for 20 minutes.

And, unfortunately, I had to head home before The Sterling Loons, Twink The Wonder Kid, the Lund Bros, and The Snakebites took the stage. Like I said before... stupid work. But, I'll be around for the remaining 24 groups of the weekend. Expect more reports (hopefully with photos) over the weekend.

Also, I'll be working the merch table tonight and tomorrow. So, if you read the blog, please come say hi to me. I'd love to meet you.

Death Cab documentary

There's a Death Cab documentary? Who knew? But, as it turns out, there is, and it's called Drive Well, Sleep Carefully: On the Road with Death Cab for Cutie. It appears to be a performanced based document, "spanning the band's career as well as bonus features including an acoustic performance, interviews, alternate versions, and behind the scenes footage. It is a compelling and candid snap shot of the guys."

I can't for the life of me figure out how to see said documentary, although that information is supposedly contained in this Starz page.

My picks for the IPO

There are 32 (scratch that... I just checked the schedule and they've added an early band tonight. So, it's 33!) great bands playing the four-day International Pop Overthrow, which begins tonight at the Crocodile Cafe at 7:30pm. The whole darn thing is going to rock. But, here are my picks for the weekend.

Thursday, August 24
7:30pm - The Small Change
9:00pm - The Young Sportsmen

Friday, August 25
7:30pm - The Capillaries
8:30pm - Tiny Volcano
11:00pm - The Tripwires

Saturday, August 26
10:00pm - The Windbreakers
11:00pm - True West

Sunday, August 27
8:00pm - Phamous Phaces
8:30pm - The Glasses
11:00pm - Terrene

Day 16: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

Well, we've reached the final day of the Two mp3s Per Day For 16 Days series. Hopefully you've been introduced to some new great bands and are excited to see them live at the International Pop Overthrow, Seattle edition. Closing out the Sunday schedule at the festival are out last two bands:

sea.mine's "Deny"

Terrene's "Fifty One"

Day 15: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

Well, we're coming close to the end of the Two mp3s Per Day For 16 Days series. By now, you all no doubt know that the International Pop Overthrow is starting on Thursday with all these great bands. Today is "full disclosure" day, though, because I will be posting an mp3 of my own band, The Scheme.

The Scheme's "Sidewalk Soundtrack"

Jim Basnight Band with a song with a title I don't know.

Shows for week of 8/21

Here are some shows of intrest for the week of 8/21. The biggie, of course, being the International Pop Overthrow Thursday through Sunday.

Monday, 8/21
The Mountain Goats are doing an Easy Street instore

Tuesday, 8/22
It's a David Lowery kind of night at The Croc with both Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven performing.

Wednesday, 8/23
The Decemberists are at the Woodland Park Zoo

Thursday, 8/24
The International Pop Overthrow begins at The Croc

The Clevers are at the Nectar Lounge

Friday, 8/25
The International Pop Overthrow continues at The Croc

Saturday, 8/26
The International Pop Overthrow continues at The Croc

Sunday, 8/27
The International Pop Overthrow continues at The Croc

Boat performance video

Here's a live performance by Seattle's favorite goofy popsters, Boat. For some reason, Boat's main guy reminds me of Alexi Sayles. They really don't look alike at all. So, it's something about his movements. I keep waiting for him to sing "Doctor Martin's Boots." :)

Song of the weekend (8/19)

This week's song of the weekend comes from some new friends north of the border in Vancouver called Lions In The Street and their song "already gone." They found the blog over the weekend, and I'm glad they did. This track is a rollicking blues rock number in the vein of the Stones. Good stuff.

You can catch them live on Sept. 2 at the Croc.

Day 14: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

Day 14 of the Two mp3s Per Day For 16 Days series takes us to the 8pm hour on Sunday at the International Pop Overthrow (this weekend at the Croc!). Two great bands, who are perhaps a little more in the indiepop vein, in this hour.

The Glasses' "Unglued"

Easterly's "Lover Is Fine"

Note: In some cases in this series, such as with The Glasses above, I must download an mp3 and place it somewhere that is linkable. If bands don't want this to happen, feel free to tell me and I will redirect to a link of your choice or remove completely.

Day 13: Two mp3s Per Day for 16 Days

We've reached the first bands on the Sunday schedule for the Seattle edition of International Pop Overthrow! That means we're in the final stretch -- the festival begins this Thursday (8/24).

Jim McIver's "Sweet Petunia Modern and the Holograms of Düm"

Phamous Phaces' "She Won't Have It"

Ghosts & Liars

I recently posted a few blogs about Some By Sea splitting up. Well, what seems like only moments later there is already some good new "post-Some-By-Sea" music from Chris Du Bray, under the name Ghosts and Liars. Head over to the myspace page and check it out.

Young Fresh Fellows tonight (8/19)

If you're at home reading this, looking for something to do tonight, I recommend heading down to the Croc for a set by the Young Fresh Fellows. Also on the bill are the Paul Lynde Fanclub and The Need Machine (and I will show my ignorance by saying I have no idea who the other two bands are). It's $8 at the door.

Day 12: Two mp3s Per Day for 16 Days

Good day and welcome to Day 12 (anyone get that joke?) of the Two mp3s Per Day for 16 Days series. We've reached the end of the Saturday August 26th schedule for the International Pop Overthrow.

Don Dixon's "Roommate"

True West's "Steps to the Door"

Note: This is True West's first show together in approximately 20 years! Along with The Windbreakers and Don Dixon's set, this night of the IPO represents a real opportunity to dig into some "past generation" powerpop (and I mean that in a respectful manner).

Also note: In some cases in this series, such as with True West above, I must download an mp3 and place is somewhere that is linkable. If bands don't want this to happen, feel free to tell me and I will redirect to a link of your choice or remove completely.

Day 11: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

Random milestone -- this is the 80th post on the Seattle Powerpop Blog.

And it's day 11 of the Two mp3s Per Day for 16 Days series.

Enjoy!

Tim Lee's "Speak Up Girl"

The Windbreakers' "Time Machine"

(the latter will be especially interesting for me, since I grew up in the south in the 1980s and never got to see them back in the day, even though I was a big fan of DB Records releases back then -- Uncle Green, Right As Rain, Guadalcanal Diary, Pylon, etc.)

Day 10: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

We've reached double digits in the Two mp3s Per Day For 16 Days series, and these additions take us about mid-way through the Saturday schedule for the International Pop Overthrow, Seattle edition.

Girls Say Yes' "Don't Call Me"

The Quags' "Cobblestone Groove"

Q&A with David Bash of the IPO

Although I dont mean to turn the Seattle Powerpop Blog into a non-stop promotional machine for the International Pop Overthrow, I thought it would be interesting to throw some questions about the IPO Seattle to main guy David Bash. Here's our email conversation in its entirety.

Seattle Powerpop Blog (SPB): IPO has been happening for almost a decade. What's different now from when you started? Anything better or worse, in your eyes? What's changed?

David Bash (DB): I guess the main thing that's different is that IPO has expanded to several cities since we first started. From 1998-2001 we did the festival exclusively in my home base of Los Angeles, but at a panel conference in 2001 several bands who had been travelling a long way to come to LA for IPO asked that I take the festival on the road. I had thought about doing it for awhile, but wasn't sure we were ready. The bands' enthusiam and reassurance convinced me to take a chance. I'm glad I did!

SPB: What's the experience like moving the event to different cities? How many cities has it been in total?

DB: As of now we're doing IPO in nine citiesl: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Boston, Nashville, Seattle, Vancouver, and Liverpool, UK. The experience has been very positive, and each city has its own scene and vibe, which adds to the variety.

SPB: What do you consider when picking a town to host an IPO?

DB: First and formost, the city has to have a strong local pop scene. I wouldn't have a problem with doing the festival in a city that didn't necessarily have a strong scene, but, like it or not, the reality is the shows must be able to draw a crowd sufficient to ensure that the venues will have us back next year. The only way this would be possible is if there are enough local bands on a bill.

SPB: This is the first year it's been held in Seattle. How did you go about finding the bands for the four nights? How many of them have you seen in person versus hearing recordings?

DB: Many of the bands at IPO Seattle were found on myspace, which has been a godsend! Others were bands with which I had been familiar through hearing their CDs. I haven't seen too many of the bands play, but we've had a few of them at previous IPOs.

SPB: Anything unique about hosting IPO in Seattle?

DB: I'm sure there will be something very unique, but I won't really know until the festival is over. However, it is certainly interesting for me to hold the festival in the city that has been traditionally known as the Mecca of
Grunge. I still get people asking me if there are any good pop bands in Seattle, as they assume that grunge is still happening there! I get similar queries about Nashville, with "country" being substituted in that sentence for "grunge". Stereotypes always die hard, but hopefully IPOs presence in Seattle will help to eradicate this.

SPB: What's your perspective on the state of powerpop in general and in the Northwest specifically?

DB: With the proliferation of home recording devices and various avenues for exposure on the internet, there are more powerpop bands now than there ever have been. Of course, there is good and bad in that: good in that there are more capable bands than at any time in music history, and bad in that there are more incapable bands than at any time in music history! The northwest has a healthy powerpop scene, but nothing will beat the scene in the Chicago area, which has traditionally been home to the best and most prolific power pop.

Day 9: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

Today in the Two mp3s Per Day For 16 Days series we reach the Saturday schedule for the International Pop Overthrow (Aug 24-27 at the Croc). The first two bands that night are:

Crack City Rockers with "I do alright"

Jet City with "Bully"

Day 8: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

We're officially half way through the Two mp3s Per Day For 16 Days series. I hope folks are enjoying it.

Sgt. Major's "Underneath It"

The Tripwires' "I Hear This Music"


The Tripwires

Shows for week of 8/14

Wednesday, 8/16
Daylight Basement at Tower Records (7pm)

Friday, 8/18
Thee Emergency and The Boss Martians at High Dive -- update: Boss Martians are no longer on this bill!

Saturday, 8/19
The Young Fresh Fellows (see photo) at the Crocodile
Harvey Danger and Slender Means at Redhook Brewery (Woodinville)

If I missed something cool, please feel free to add via "comments" below.


- Young Fresh Fellows

Day 7: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

It's monday, which means that it's day number 7 of Two mp3s Per Day For 16 Days -- the series that features the bands from the upcoming Seattle edition of the International Pop Overthrow.

My Brave Face's take on "Playboy To a Man"

Gary Reynolds and the Brides of Obscurity's "Instant Happiness"

NOTE: In some instances, like the one above with My Brave Face, I may have to pull songs off of myspace and put them into a linkable source (in this instance, it's putfile.com). If any of the bands don't want this to happen, let me know and I can redirect to another mp3 of your selection, or remove completely.

Song of the weekend (8/12)

Song of the weekend honors this time around goes to Central Services and their song "Tear Me Down." According to a recent blog post, the song will be track number four on their upcoming album, to be released on Sept. 5.

The record cover that you'll be looking for when you rush out to buy it apparantly looks like this:

Day 6: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

Good day and welcome to Day 6 of Two mp3s Per Day for 16 Days. Today I bring you:

Tiny Volcano's "Loaded Gun"

Jon Auer's "The Perfect Size"

"Blog of the day" props

A totally random surprise came yesterday in the form of the Seattle Powerpop Blog being named "Music Blog of the Day" at blogoftheday.org. Thanks for noticing SPB!

New West Motels live snapshot

I caught the New West Motels set at the Crocodile last night (It was a great set by the fellas, even with a new drummer and a substitute lead guitarist!) and snapped a few photos. I can't say that I've got my new digital camera dialed in yet, because most of the shots sucked. But, I did like this ghostly image of main guy Rob.

Daylight Basement tonight (8/12)

I just realized that Daylight Basement is playing tonight at the High Dive. Go if you have the chance!! It sounds like perhaps one of just a few chances to see them for the remainder of this year.

And if I'm interpreting their blog correctly, perhaps it's one of a few chances left to see "this incarnation" of the band. Not sure exactly what the full implication is there, but sounds perhaps like new members are on the horizon. Anyone got the scoop?

Day 5: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

With today's mp3s, we begin day two of the International Pop Ovethrow. If you show up early on Friday the 25th, you'll get to see two great bands.

The Capillaries' "Moving To Waterloo"

The Craze's "Turn On My Radio"

NOTE: In some instances, like the one above with The Capillaries, I may have to pull songs off of myspace and put them into a linkable source (in this instance, it's putfile.com). If any of the bands don't want this to happen, let me know and I can redirect to another mp3 of your selection, or remove completely.

Some By Sea video

In honor of their last show tonight down in Tacoma (see previous blog post), here is a video of Some By Sea performing at Sonic Boom.

Speaker Speaker/Some By Sea in Tacoma

Tonight is Some By Sea's last gig ever (they played their last Seattle gig a few weeks back). They're at Hell's Kitchen in Tacoma with Speaker Speaker (shown below). Go show 'em some love.

Day 4: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

Today's mp3s bring us to the end of the Friday line up for the International Pop Overthrow (aug 24-27 at the Croc). So, without further ado, let's continue with Two mp3s per day for 16 days.

Lund Bros. "Hide Away Today"

The Snakebites don't have an online mp3 for me to link to (nor are their myspace songs set to allow downloads for me to put it somewhere for a link). So, instead you'll have to visit their myspace page directly.

Day 3: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

Here we are at day three of the mp3s series titled Two mp3s per day for 16 days. Our next two bands are:

The Sterling Loons with "All Aboard"

Twink the Wonder Kid with "Peach Blossom Gal"

Sirens Sister video taping

Screamed, apparantly, from their myspace page:

HELLO LOVELIES. WE ARE SHOOTING A VIDEO FOR OUR SONG "HOLD ON" SUNDAY AUGUST 13TH AT THE CHOP SUEY IN SEATTLE AT 12PM. IT WILL BE A VERY SURREAL AND FUN PERFORMANCE VIDEO. WE WANT EVERYONE TO BRING BUBBLES SO YOU CAN BLOW BUBBLES WHILE YOU ROCK OUT LIKE CRAZY. ALSO ITS IMPORTANT THAT EVERYONE IS GOING TO BE DRESSED TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUSLY.BRING YOUR COSTUMES OR WIERD OUTFITS AND FREAK OUT. WE WOULD LOVE IT IF YOU COULD ALL MAKE IT OUT. ITS ALL AGES SO BRING YOUR FRIENDS AND SPREAD THE WORD. LOVE LOVE LOVE

Day 2: Two mp3s per day for 16 days

It's day two of the cumbersomely titled Two mp3s per day for 16 days series! In this series, you'll get two mp3s per day in the same order in which the bands are performing at the International Pop Overthrow later this month at the Crocodile Cafe.

The Young Sportsmen's Under The Rocks and Stars"

Doll Test's "Gasoline and Banks"

NOTE: In some instances, like the one above with Doll Test, I may have to pull songs off of myspace and put them into a linkable source (in this instance, it's putfile.com). If any of the bands don't want this to happen, let me know and I can redirect to another mp3 of your selection, or remove completely.

Two mp3s per day for 16 days

Maybe this is a random thing to do. But, I realized that we're 16 days from the International Pop Overthrow and there are 32 bands playing the festival. So, without further ado, I present to you the first installment of:

Two mp3s per day for 16 days!

I'm going to do this in the running order of the festival schedule. Thus, we begin with...

1. The Small Change's "Too Busy Lovin' You"

2. The Cheats' "Getting Older"

NOTE: in some instances, like the one above with The Cheats, I may have to pull songs off of myspace and put them into a linkable source (in this instance, it's putfile.com). If any of the bands don't want this to happen, let me know and I can redirect to another mp3 of your selection, or remove completely.

Updated Schedule: International Pop Overthrow

We're only a few weeks away from the first ever Seattle branch of the International Pop Overthrow, and it's shaping up to be a doozy. I reported the schedule a while back, but there have been a few changes. So, here's the latest edition:

Thursday, August 24
7:30 The Small Change
8:00 The Cheats
8:30 Doll Test
9:00 Young Sportsmen
9:30 The Sterling Loons
10:00 Twink The Wonder Kid
10:30 Lund Bros.
11:00 The Snakebites

Friday, August 25
7:30 The Capillaries
8:00 The Craze
8:30 Tiny Volcano featuring Vanilla
9:00 Jon Auer
9:30 My Brave Face
10:00 Gary Reynolds and The Brides Of Obscurity
10:30 Sgt. Major
11:00 The Tripwires

Saturday, August 26
7.30 Crack City Rockers
8:00 Jet City
8:30 Girls Say Yes
9:00 The Quags
9:30 Tim Lee
10:00 The Windbreakers
10:30 Don Dixon
11:00 True West

Sunday, August 27
7:30 Jimm McIver
8:00 Phamous Phaces
8:30 The Glasses
9:00 Easterly
9:30 The Scheme
10:00 Jim Basnight Band
10:30 sea.mine
11:00 Terrene

Shows for week of 8/7

A few interesting shows to recommend this week. What else is going on that I'm missing?

Tuesday the 8th: The Cloves at the Kirkland Marina Park, 7pm

Thursday the 10th: American Treatment, The Boss Martians and The Hot Rollers at the Sunset Tavern.

Saturday the 12th: South Lake Union Block Party has a great line up featuring Ghost Stories, Heather Duby, Mon Frere, Siberian, Fruit Bats.

Saturday the 12th: The Lund Bros and Static Radio at the Central.

Saturday the 12th: New West Motels and the Memphis Radio Kings at the Croc.

Song of the weekend (8/5)

I really liked The Jeunes. So, when they broke up, I was disappointed. But, since former members are now playing with Daylight Basement and Shake Some Action, both of whom also really like, then I suppose in the end the break up wasn't a bad thing (at least for me!).

Shake Some Action is the name under which James Hall (former main guy of The Jeunes) is operating. If you've been keeping up with the Shake Some Action recordings on myspace, then you know it's really good Hoodoo Gurus-influenced stuff. And James is from Australia, so he comes by the influence honestly.

The myspace page was just updated to include a few new tracks, and "Sound of Your Mind" is a strong, poppy track that will no doubt jump out of the pack when the record is released later this year.

The Riffbrokers at The Funhouse

Word just trickled my way that The Riffbrokers are playing an early show at The Funhouse with several other bands. The show begins at 4pm (early show for a school night!) and is $5.

The Riffbrokers's rootsy brand of powerpop would have a tendency to rock my world. Check out the sounds on their myspace page.

The Capillaries @ The High Dive

FYI to all: Last week's profile band here on the Seattle Powerwpop Blog, The Capillaries are playing at the High Dive this Thursday (8/3) with The Plains, Tilted Blue and Analiese.