Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Favorite Metal Albums 2010



1) Black Breath - Heavy Breathing
2) Holy Grail - Crisis in Utopia
3) Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
4) Ihsahn - After
5) Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini
6) Melvins - The Bride Screamed Murder
7) White Wizzard - Over the Top
8) Withered - Dualitas
9) Twilight - Monument to Time End
10) Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Favorite Albums 2010


1) The Moondoggies - Tidelands

2) Fitz & the Tantrums - Pickin' Up the Pieces
3) Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void
4) Wavves - King of the Beach
5) The Budos Band - The Budos Band III
6) The Black Keys - Brothers
7) The Thermals - Personal Life
8) No Age - Everything In Between
9) Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
10) Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Friday, July 30, 2010

Elks Blood

Elks Blood sound like a promising metal band from Seattle. Their website says they have a demo. Check out "Dune" on their myspace.

The Maldives - "Go Back to Virginia"

Since I heard Jason play this song back in March, I've been looking for a recording of it. Not great quality, but I love this song.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Elkfest 2010 - Spokane, WA (6/4-6/6/2010)

The Booze Fighters

Finn Riggins


La Cha-Cha


The White Buffalo

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Blitzen Trapper - Spokane, WA (6/2/2010)



Both the Moondoggies and Blitzen Trapper were selling their new releases at this show. Blitzen Trapper played a lot of songs from that new album. Setlist was a little different than the one above.


The Moondoggies



Blitzen Trapper




Last.fm

Setlist:

1. Black River Killer
2. Laughing Lover
3. Fire & Fast Bullets
4. God & Suicide
5. Love and Hate
6. Destroyer of the Void
7. Evening Star
8. Heaven and Earth
9. Below the Hurricane
10. Lady on the Water
11. The Tree
12. The Man Who Would Speak True
13. Not Your Lover
14. Furr
15. Sleepytime in the Western World
16. Dragon's Song
17. Sadie
18. Wild Mountain Nation

Encore:

19. Jericho
20. Blackbird

Tracks 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 16, 17 from Destroyer of the Void
Tracks 1, 3, 4, 10, 13, 14, 15 from Furr
Track 18 from Wild Mountain Nation
Track 19 from Cool Love #1
Track 20 from Black River Killer

Monday, May 24, 2010

Metal Genres Explained

This is a pretty well done video. Too bad he stopped at ten.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Elkfest 2010 Lineup



Friday, June 4th
The Booze Fighters
Finn Riggins
SHIM

Saturday, June 5th
Blood Hot Beat
La Cha Cha
Real Life Rockaz
Son Dulce

Sunday, June 6th
Whiskey Dick Mountain
The White Buffalo
Space Opera 77
Mt St Helens Vietnam Band
James Pants

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Blitzen Doggies



Blitzen Trapper and the Moondoggies both have new songs and new albums coming out. Blitzen Trapper will be releasing Destroyer of the Void, their fifth full length on June 8th. The Moondoggies are releasing an EP, You'll Find No Answers Here, on the same day. Both bands will be at the Knitting Factory on June 2nd.





EDIT: Another new Moondoggies song performed live. Full length album called Tidelands.

The Moondoggies "It's a Shame, It's a Pity" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The Booze Fighters - Spokane, WA (5/14/2010)

The Booze Fighters played at the MAC on Friday for BeGin at the MAC. They are also playing at Elkfest this year.


Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Cosmic Panther Land Band


I would use the term supergroup to describe Cosmic Panther Land Band. From their myspace:

"Founded in 2009 to meet the ever-growing need for the development of quality musical entertainment, the Cosmic Panther Land Band has quickly skyrocketed to becoming one of Seattle's largest and most alluring bands. Comprised of three parts Maldives, equal parts Moondoggies, Widower, Shim, Pica Beats, and one part intergalactic freakazoid, CPLB defends the summertime universe with their own brand of Mungo music, hot Jerry jams, and Canned country rhythms. Get in the van, man!"
Jason Dodson of the Maldives played a song he wrote for the band with Kevin Murphy of the Moondoggies at the Empyrean last month. No songs yet on their myspace and the band hasn't figured out when they are going to release anything according to Jason. The Maldives and the Moondoggies are both playing at the Birds on a Wire festival in Pullman this weekend (at the same time), so maybe we'll hear more about the band.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Birds on a Wire Festival 2010


Pullman, I know you can't believe. Pullman, you have a folk festival. It's a pretty good one too. The first annual Birds on a Wire festival takes place on the streets of downtown Pullman March 26 and 27. They were able to get a nice group of NW folk and alternative acts, including the Maldives and the Moondoggies. They also grabbed a couple Spokane acts like Joel Smith and Karli Fairbanks.

In Spokane, tickets can be bought at the Empyrean. Also at the Empyrean tonight, Jason Dodson from the Maldives will be playing a solo show with Kasey Anderson and Matthew Ryan.

Lineup:

Justin Townes Earle
Damien Jurado
Joe Pug
Rocky Votolato
Horse Feathers
Sera Cahoone
Frontier Ruckus
The Maldives
The Moondoggies
Cataldo
Laura Gibson
Al James (Dolorean)
Final Spins
Stephen Ray Leslie & the Crooked Mile
Super XX Man
Avians Alright (Jenna Conrad)
Goldfinch
Karli Fairbanks
Pablo Trucker
Mike Kelly
Joel Smith
Hueco
Samuel Dickison
Tony Kevin Jr.
Low-Fi

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Joel Smith - Spokane, WA (2/13/2010)

Joel Smith put on another great show. Rauelsson, a Spanish folk artist, was a pleasant surprise. I was excited to see Nick Jaina again since I last saw him 2 years ago.

Rauelsson


Nick Jaina


Joel Smith and the Hands of Plenty


Flickr, Last.fm

Mon Chéri - Spokane, WA (1/16/2010)


Who knew that the Sunset Junction had concerts? They might have started having concerts after the trouble with the Swamp. Whatever the reason, the Sunset Junction has been having pretty good concerts every weekend since January.

Le Train Train Quotidien

Lower Lights Burning

Mon Chéri

Flickr, Last.fm

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Metal As Art Tour - Spokane, WA (1/27/2010)


Despite many bumps in the road, the Metal as Art tour made it to the Cretin Hop in Spokane, WA. After a dinner of hot pockets and ketchup, the bands took the stage.

Local openers were Odyssey. They played 3 or 4 of their spacey prog-metal jams. A very solid set with surprisingly good sound for such a small venue.

The Binary Code from New Jersey was next. They brought a fast tempo with technical riffing. The riffs were the spotlight mixed in with a couple slow pieces off their Metal Sucks sponsored album.

The highlight of the show was Boston's Revocation. Last year's album, Existence is Futile (stream), should probably be on my year end list. They play an aggressive form of thrash metal that bludgeons you without getting monotonous. Quick time changes and unique leads keep you enthralled. They do not shy away from humor either, with song titles like "None Shall Be Spared (All Shall Be Speared)" and "Exhumed Identity". The guys from the Binary Code matched their onstage energy, getting up front in the tiny space to support their tour mates.

Headliners Hypno5e from France were the Art in the tour. They mixed their riffs and growled vocals with spoken word samples. The Binary Code once again provided support for their tour mates when others seemed confused about what to do.

Revocation - "Dismantle the Dictator" (MP3)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Vultures 2012


Vultures 2012 is a new sludge metal/stoner rock group from Seattle. Check them out if you like High on Fire, Doomriders or Kyuss.

I first heard them on the new KEXP metal show "Seek & Destroy". Host Hannah Levin had a write-up on them at the Seattle Weekly website. They will be playing live on KEXP on January 30th at 8 PM. Their 4-song demo is a free download at Last.fm.



"Burn All Your Own" (MP3)

"Hang Up Your Guns" (MP3)

"With Heavy Hearts We Dig Our Holes" (MP3)


"Cast Your Shadows Long" (MP3)

Speaking of High on Fire; Stereogum has the premiere of their new song.