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Live show review

Jigsaw Records: A grand opening with Math and Physics Club and D. Crane of BOAT

at Jigsaw Records

Jigsaw Records photo by Lori Paulson

This Saturday Jigsaw Records opened it's indie-pop doors to the public. The shop, located on the second floor of Resolution Audio in Ballard is a wee place full of indie-pop rarities that make my heart beat triple-time. No matter what your favorite indie-pop format, I am fairly certain you can find whatever is on your ebay seach list here (or owner guy Chris could connect with the record label to find a copy). There are scads of new and used cds (even 3-inch cds), delectable vinyl selections, cassette tapes (yep!), and even badges and zines to round out your packed indie canvas bag.

For the meek among us, the store might seem a bit intimidating to find. It is set in the far northeast corner of the antique-mall style second floor of the fancy audio shop. Once you make it through the downstairs shop to the carpeted stairs in the far back, pass the heavy metal / death metal record store, head straight back to Jigsaw where Chris will most likely greet you with open arms full of sweet jangly pop.

The best and most dangerous part? All of that rare and out of print stuff isn't priced as such. As our coolest Finest Kiss friend put it, the stuff is set at "90's prices."

Saturday night's show spotlighted the Seattle talent that fits right into Jigsaw's mission statement of featuring "indiepop, power pop, indie rock, lo-fi pop, twee, and pretty much any other kind of fun pop music that we fancy" with performances by Math & Physics Club and D. Crane of BOAT. It was MAPC's first appearance in two years and a very rare solo set by D. Crane of BOAT.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

by imaginary liz

Latest comment by: Neal: "Now I wanna move to Seattle!"

Live show review | Photo Essay | TIG Events

Photo Essay: SXSW Sendoff at Neumos

Photo: Lori Paulson.

at Neumos

The sold out Stranger / Three Imaginary Girls SXSW Sendoff Show at Neumo's on Friday was amazing. Here are some photos featuring our local loves: Fences, Mash Hall, Hey Marseilles and Visqueen.

Photo: Lori Paulson

See more after the jump!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

by imaginary lori

Latest comment by: John in Ballard: "Is that Shaun White? "

Live show review

Past Lives play new Sonic Boom!

at Sonic Boom

I present to you, dear TIG reader, a selection of photos from the Past Lives, Tapestry of Webs, album release show at the new Sonic Boom on Capitol Hill. Although it was a brief show (lasting maybe 25 minutes long), Past Lives were precise, fast and fun. AND they made light of the strange setup that Sonic Boom has concocted in their killer new store. Check 'em.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

by bobby mchugh

Live show review

Rickie Lee Jones at the Triple Door

at Triple Door

Perhaps Efterklang will thrill in the clink and clang of forks hitting plates at the Triple Door when the Danish orch-pop quartet plays the room on March 11th. But Rickie Lee Jones was bugged out by the din. "I wish," she said between songs early in her Friday set, "that you'd finish your goddamn dinner." The forks made a staccato difference. Jones played quietly, moodily, sometimes pixie-ish, sometimes, big-voiced and emphatic, sometimes world-weary and smoke-stained.

She's spent her career evading the crosshairs of mainstream pop songsmithing, favoring the fractures and broken-world stories that mark the work of Tom Waits, her long-ago partner in love (before he veered from Heart Attack and Vine to Rain Dogs). She's been a peripatetic indie road warrior, a coquettish singer of standards, and a torch-bearer for the same indie-aesthetic range that includes Cat Power, Vic Chesnutt, Victoria Williams, and umpteen others.

Monday, February 22, 2010

by Andrew Bartlett

Live show review | Festivals | Northwest Bands | Northwest News | Sasquatch

Holy Itunes! Sasquatch 2010 Announcement

at The Crocodile

My Morning Jacket/Massive Attack/Pavement/Ween/Vampire Weekend/MGMT/Band of Horses/The Nationa/LCD Soundsystem/Tegan & Sara/Broken Social Scene/Passion Pit/She & Him/Public Enemy/Nada Sur/The New Pornographers/The XX, Dirty Projectors/Ok, Go/Drive By Truckers/Kid Kudi/Deadmaus/The Long Winters/Minus the Bear/The Mountain Goats/Quasi/Camera Obscura/Fruit Bats/Brother Ali/Midlake/Dr. Dog/The Hold Steady/Caribou/Simian Mobile Disco/City of Colour/No Age/the Temper Trap/Vetiver/Miike Snow/Portugal. The Man/Telekinesis/ The Middle East/Mayer Hawthorne/Why?/Girls/Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes/Wale/The Lonely Forest/Japandroids/Boys Noize/Yacht/Laura Marling/Patrick Watson/Freelance Whales/Past Lives/Cymbals Eat Guitars/The Low Anthem/The Very Best/Phantogram/Neon Indian/Hudson Mohawke/Nurses/The Tallest Man on Earth/Fresh Espresso/Mumford & Sons/Jets Overhead/Tune-yards/Shabazz Palaces/Fool's Gold/Morning Teleportation/Z-Trip, Dam-Funk/Local Natives/Avi Buffalo/Booka Shade/A-Trak/Yes Giantess/Craig Robinson/Rob Riggle/Garfunkel & Oates/Luke Burbank & more.....

Tickets go on sale Saturday... so, erm, what do ya think?

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

by bobby mchugh

Latest comment by: ChrisB: "Naomi at 9, we should be friends.

Josh has pretty much nailed why I'm likely to stay in Seattle that weekend: there aren't any decent hotels close (and the terrible ones in the middle of nowhere cost the same as what you could get in a 4-star hotel in a big ...

Live show review | Northwest News

Parson Red Heads' residency at the Comet

at The Comet

I've been wondering whether the Parson Red Heads' (PRHs) Residency was going to work out. I mean playing weekly shows for four consecutive weeks, up and down the west coast, without losing the magic is a pretty tall order.

Monday, February 15, 2010

by bobby mchugh

Live show review | New Releases

Terri Tarantula and Trespassers William cast a beautiful Sunset

Terri Tarantula at the Sunset

at The Sunset

Early shows are always fraught with a wee tension: Will fans turn out early to hear the bands, while many people are just finishing up their happy hours and lining up the soirees and situations for later in the evening?

The music of Terri Tarantula in particular seems to call for deep dark past midnight status, but that's because on craggy trouble in mind maps of alternate Seattle like "Mulligan" and pendant whispers like "Bag Of Bricks," this is all precise biomapping. Vocalist and new-keyboard enthusiast Terri Moeller has taken everything brisk and bitter about her last band Transmissionary Six and freshened it with a creamier, less heavy sound.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Live show review | Northwest Bands

Feral Children CD Release Madness!

at Neumos

With a mixture of haunting melody and intense syncopated rhythms, Feral Children played a captivating set at Neumos for their CD release show, last Wednesday. Their new album, Brand New Blood, is already known for soaring tracks that carry listeners headfirst into dreamy soundscapes.

Monday, February 1, 2010

by bobby mchugh

Live show review | Northwest Bands

AA Bondy and Fences at the Tractor Tavern

at The Tractor Tavern

Photo: Jason Tang

{Photos by Jason Tang in the TIG Flickr Photo Pool}

I've been doin' the blogging thing for this here imaginary blog since around 2005, but living down in LA I don't get to see many (or any) Northwest shows. So when I booked a weekend trip to Seattle, and my concert buddy suggested a night at Tractor Tavern, I was -- as we say in California -- "totally stoked."

We arrived at the tail end of Willy Mason's set, and waited about fifteen minutes for local act Fences to take the stage. From listening to their Myspace beforehand I was looking forward to some breed of acoustic folk/pop -- unfortunately for the live show, something got lost in translation. Tattooed lead singer/songwriter Christopher Mansfield's acoustic guitar was backed at various times by a banjo, bass, guitar, drums, xylophone and synthesizer, but either I was too far to the side or the mix just wasn't great for his set, because half the instruments were drowned out by the other half. The band started off strong with a couple banjo-based songs, but about halfway through I was more than ready for the next set.

Monday, February 1, 2010

by Diana Salier

Latest comment by: ig viva: "gotta back ben up on this one. fences not only played a great set, they also held the biggest crowd over the course of the night. *side note -- the upcoming show with st. vincent is this friday (feb. 5th) -- & I'll see you all there!"

Live show review

The Soft Pack at the Showbox

at Showbox Sodo

For an up-and-coming young band, the Soft Pack definitely has serious potential. They're punchy and tight and draw from a lot of atypical influences. During the set, I heard strains of Reverend Horton Heat, Buzzcocks, Yo La Tengo, Suicidal Tendencies and The Pixies. They managed to pull off a fairly extensive set for an opening band, presenting eleven songs in all (I counted 12 but the set list says otherwise!).

The Soft Pack took the Sodo stage right on time Saturday night and burst promptly into characteristic garage-y, speedy surf sounds. I barely had time to absorb their first song before it was over, but they quickly burst right into the short and punchy "C'mon." I will admit that initially I thought they were singing "Octomom" but realized my mistake later. Ha.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Live show review | Crushes | Indie Pop | Photo Essay

Nana Grizol. The Band Can Play a Show

at The Vera Project

Nana Grizol played The Vera Project on Tuesday, Jan. 19th along with Max Levine Ensemble, iji and A Million Years Ago. If you didn't already know about this show... see here, here, here, here, and here.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

by bobby mchugh

Latest comment by: Mary: "They must be showmen on stage according to comments by those who have seen them. So, I'm going to have to trust you and go to a concert. Don't disappoint me!!! casino online"

Live show review | Beard Alert | Northwest Bands | On The Road

The Moondoggies and Magic Mtn at the Tractor Tavern

at The Tractor Tavern

Magic Mtn, the newest project from Arthur & Yu frontman Grant Olsen, had their first ever show last night at the Tractor Tavern. Basically just Olsen with a backing band of the Moondoggies, Magic Mtn sounded a great deal like Arthur & Yu. That 60's dreamy pop vibe was there, the lilting lyrics tripping along at an easy gate. Olsen's vocals were softened down to a pleasant lo-fi hush and the easy swagger of his songs and stage presence resembled so much of his previous project. His style is ethereal, meandering pop a little bit outside of it's time. It's pleasant, woodsy and at it's best when a lazy guitar jam creeps in and draws it all out.

Don't Be A Stranger has been a new favorite album of mine for the past year or so. Their sound hearkens back to what feels familiar to me: the outdoors, dusty roads and the beer-soaked nights of the country. It feels like the southern classic rock that was to become the soundtrack of my childhood, and to which my love of music has it's very base. They were fortunate enough to open for Sera Cahoone two nights in a row last week, and I was fortunate enough to be in attendance at the Saturday show.

Monday, January 18, 2010

by Imaginary Shrie

Live show review | Northwest Bands | Recommended shows

Grand Hallway packed the Tractor

at The Tractor Tavern

Tomo Nakayama (and all of Grand Hallway for that matter) is a pleasure to watch perform. The eight piece orchestral indie-pop band played to a bursting Tractor Tavern, last Saturday, with headliners Black Whales andAmateur Radio Operator. Having never caught Grand Hallway live before, I was surprised by Tomo's ability to alternate between intensity and composure, while weaving together delicate songs that tug at the heart and mind in equal measure.

If you missed it, you have a chance to catch them again at the Triple Door, March 6th, backed by the 50 piece Seattle Rock Orchestra and the Perkins School Children’s Choir. I can't imagine a better place to experience their brand of sweet orchestral pop in it's full glory. Bam.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

by bobby mchugh

Latest comment by: JD: "I'm gonna kind of, have to, sorta disagree with you Bobby that Grand Hallway were the reason for The Tractor being full to capacity. Although I am a big fan of all the bands that played that evening, most of the people I met and talked to during the sets were there to see ...

check out the TIG flickr pool

Live show review | Northwest Bands | Photo Essay

Japanther and Champagne Champagne at The Comet, New Year's Day style

at The Comet

Japanther shows are pure fist-pumping fun. The Brooklyn duo, consisting of Ian Vanek and Matt Reilly, ripped through a spicy set at the Comet, New Year's Day, with Champagne, Champagne, They Live! and Hair Envelope. If you missed it or couldn't snag a ticket because it was very sold out, check out the fuzzed-out photos I snapped while dodging a variety of flying human appendages. Mental!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

by bobby mchugh

Live show review | Festivals

Deck the Hall Ball starring Metric, Visqueen, Vampire Weekend and Phoenix

at WaMu Theatre

Photo by Dave Lichterman

Deck the Hall Ball started a little late. The excellent opening band, Visqueen, started their set about twenty minutes later than the posted start time of 5:10. All was mostly forgiven the minute they took the stage, though, blowing through a short, twenty-minute set mostly of songs from their latest album, Message to Garcia. Their catchy power pop most of us here find irresistible (myself included) was accentuated by frontwoman Rachel Flotard’s hilarious banter. This time she asked for the lighting guy to turn off the lights for one second for everyone in the huge crowd to have a quick make out session. It didn’t happen (was it just me, or did the lights actually get brighter at that moment?) but they followed through with their set, closing out with their old hit “Vaxxine”. When I got there during soundcheck, bassist Christina Bautista remarked that the crowd was the biggest she’s ever soundchecked before. It was good to see the big crowd of listeners of 107.7 The End taking to this really great local band.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Latest comment by: gagh: "Ah, well I'm sorry you missed them, then. Hope all is well!"