Favorite Albums 2011

1) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

2) Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo

3) Girls - Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

4) Waters - Out in the Light

5) Bon Iver - Bon Iver

6) Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing

7) Davila 666 - Tan Bajo

8) Radiohead - The King of Limbs

9) The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck

10) Mister Heavenly - Out of Love

Favorite Songs

Atlas Sound - "Te Amo"

Fleet Foxes - "Sim Sala Bim"

Kurt Vile - "Baby's Arms"

Mister Heavenly - "Bronx Sniper"

Waters - "O Holy Break of Day"

Foster the People - "Pumped up Kicks"

Davila 666 - "Ese Nena Nunca Regreso"

Tom Waits - "Bad as Me"

Top 5 Records

I feel like this list needed to be done for the record. No particular order. It started at 5 but I wussed out. Interesting contrast to the last time I made a list like this.

Pink Floyd - Meddle

Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age

Blitzen Trapper - Furr

The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium

The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine

Metallica - ...And Justice For All

Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica

The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

Neil Young - Live Rust

Quasi - Field Studies

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

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

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.

Blitzen Trapper - "Heaven & Earth"

The Moondoggies - "Fly Mama Fly"

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.

Blitzen Trapper - Kennewick, WA (7/25/2009)

Alex and I drove down to the Tri-Cities to see Blitzen Trapper a couple of weeks ago. Great show in an intimate venue. The guys were really nice after the show. They even played a couple new songs. There is a great live recording of BT at the Picador in Iowa City a few days before this show. The setlist is pretty similar to the one we saw.

Tonight I'm going to Joel Smith's CD release show at Spokane's Masonic Temple. Check it out if you're in Spokane.




Flickr, Last.fm

Setlist:

1. Sleepytime in the Western World
2. Saturday Nite
3. God & Suicide
4. Fire & Fast Bullets
5. Stolen Shoes & a Rifle
6. Big Black Bird
7. Canyon's Edge
8. Furr
9. Country Rain
10. The Man Who Would Speak True
11. Not Your Lover
12. Black River Killer
13. Lady on the Water
14. Gold for Bread
15. Jericho
16. Love U
17. Echo
18. Wild Mountain Nation

Encore

19. Country Caravan

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 from Furr
Tracks 18, 19 from Wild Mountain Nation
Track 9 from Field Rexx
Track 15 from Cool Love #1 EP
Track 6 from Black River Killer EP
Tracks 7, 10 are unreleased

Here's video of Marty and rest of the guys performing "Canyon's Edge" at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee.

Blitzen Trapper : Blue Ribbon Vision #11 from Pabst Theater on Vimeo.

Blitzen Trapper at Pitchfork

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I'll say it. Blitzen Trapper is good.



Plus Hutch from the Thermals interviewing Blitzen Trapper at Pitchfork.

EDIT: video links dead

Marty Marquis (Blitzen Trapper) - "NCh'i-wana's Revenge"

Here's a video posted on the Trapper board a couple of days ago. It features Marty Marquis of Blitzen Trapper during his solo performance at the Ace Hotel for a PDX Pop Now! benefit. "NCh'i-wana's Revenge" is an unreleased track written by Marty. He supposedly has a whole bunch of solo tunes that may be released as an album someday. PDX Pop Now! was this past weekend at Rotture.

Speaking of Blitzen Trapper, they put on a great show at a small venue down in Kennewick, WA this weekend. It's been a busy concert week so I've fallen behind on pictures. Expect more pictures from the Decemberists, Sonic Youth, and Blitzen Trapper.

Marty Marquis from Asher Sandberg-Lewis on Vimeo.

PDX Pop Now!

Seattle may get Bumbershoot and the Capitol Hill Block Party, but Portland has been quietly developing their own summer festival lineup, plus the beer is better.

PDX Pop Now! (July 24th-26th)


This event is designed to showcase up and coming Portland bands. These Portland bands take over the Rotture for 3 days at the end of July. The fundraising events feature artists dedicated to Portland music like James Mercer of The Shins, Brandon Summers of The Helio Sequence, and Marty Marquis of Blitzen Trapper playing at the Ace Hotel. This Thursday the 16th YACHT, Point Juncture, WA, and Y La Bamba are playing outside Portland City Hall.

Bands:

Thrones, Menomena, Grouper, Laura Gibson, Explode into Colors, Dirty Mittens, Au, Red Fang, The Minus 5, The Shaky Hands

last.fm

Pickathon (July 31st - August 2nd)

Pickathon takes place out on Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, OR ( a 15 minute drive from my old high school). This festival features some of the best indie bands playing folk and alternative country music.

Bands:

Blitzen Trapper, Dr. Dog, Vetiver, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, Justin Townes Earle, Elliott Brood, Horse Feathers, Alela Diane

Last.fm

Musicfest NW (September 16th - 19th)

This one isn't so much a festival since it takes place in multiple venues across Portland, but it definitely has a festival atmosphere and it brings a lot of great bands to town. Last year's was a lot of fun.

Bands:

Girl Talk, Explosions in the Sky, Monotonix, Bad Brains, Sunny Day Real Estate, Portugal. The Man, The Get Up Kids, Modest Mouse, Love as Laughter, more TBA

Last.fm

Blitzen Trapper was at the Crystal Ballroom for last year's Musicfest NW. Speaking of BT, they have a 4th live session up at Daytrotter. I've added the link to the other Daytrotter links.

Blitzen Trapper - "Black River Killer" (Official Video)

Next month, Blitzen Trapper is releasing their Black River Killer EP. This EP contains six songs only available previously on a tour-only EP and on some live recordings for Daytrotter. The title song appeared on last year's Furr. In accordance with this new release, they have released a video for "Black River Killer". They recruited Portland fans for filming at Portland's Artist Repertory Theater. The video is followed by a short making of, and here is a write-up of the shoot from Portlandesque.

State of the Trapper

It's no secret that Blitzen Trapper has quickly become one of my favorite bands. I really enjoyed last year's album Furr and enjoyed seeing them live at Bumbershoot, Musicfest NW, and Coachella. Guitarist Marty Marquis posted yesterday on the Blitzen Trapper forum about the "State of the Trapper". It is a very nicely written piece that thanks the fans and let's you know their status on recording and touring. Also check out their performance and interview in Juan's Basement for Pitchfork.

Coachella 2009 - Indio, CA (4/18/2009)

We pretty much stuck to our plan when we got to Coachella. We skipped the end of Dr. Dog and Henry Rollins to hang out in the beer tent and listen to Michael Franti & Spearhead. We took care of Record Store Day before got there and didn't look at the Coachella RSD tent.

Joss Stone
Blitzen Trapper

Fleet Foxes
MIA
The Killers
Last.fm, Flickr

Setlist

1. Human
2. Somebody Told Me
3. For Reasons Unknown
4. This Is Your Life
5. Joy Ride
6. Bling (Confession of a King)
7. Shadowplay (Joy Division Cover)
8. Smile Like You Mean It
9. Spaceman
10. A Dustland Fairytale
11. Sam's Town (Abbey Road Version)
12. Read My Mind
13. Mr. Brightside
14. All These Things That I've Done

Encore:

15. Bones
16. Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
17. When You Were Young

-setlist.fm


Tracks 2, 8, 13, 14, 16 from Hot Fuss
Tracks 3, 6, 12, 15, 17 from Sam's Town
Tracks 1, 4, 5, 9, 10 from Day & Age
Tracks 7, 11 from Sawdust

Record Store Day 2009 - The Haul

Record Store Day festivities at Rhino Records on the way to Coachella. Links updated as I find them.


Bad Religion 7"
Blitzen Trapper "War Is Placebo" 7"
Dead Weather 7"
The Decemberists "The Rake's Song" 7"
Fat Possum Records Sampler 7"
Flaming Lips / Black Keys "Borderline / Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles" 7"
El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez "Cryptomnesia" full-length LP
Flight of the Conchords "Pencils in the Wind" 7"
Gaslight Anthem "Live at 10"
Grizzly Bear "Live at KCRW" 7"
Heaven & Hell "Bible Black" 7"
Iron & Wine "Norfolk 06/20/05" CD
Jane's Addiction "Mountain Song" 7"
Jay Reatard & Sonic Youth split 7"
MC5 "Kick Out the Jams" 7"
Misfits "Walk Among Us" LP
My Morning Jacket "Celebracion de la Ciudad Natal" CD & double 10" w/CD
New Order "Temptation" 7"
Obits "I Can't Lose" 7"
Record Store Day Sampler LP
Silversun Pickups "Pikul" 12"
Slayer "Psychopathy Red" 7"
Sonic Youth & Beck split 7"
Sublime "Superstar Punani" 7"
Thermals/Thao Split 7"
These Arms Are Snakes & Russian Circles clear vinyl 12"
Vetiver "Wishing Well" 7"
Tom Waits "Live from the Glitter Dome" 7"
Whiskeytown "San Antone" 7"

EDIT: 6/25 more links

Coachella 2009 - The Plan

10:00 AM to 11:00 AM - Rhino Records (Record Store Day)

11:00 AM to 1:00 PM - Driving

1:30 PM to 2:10 PM - Cloud Cult

2:40 PM to 3:30 PM - Joss Stone

3:45 PM to 4:35 PM - Blitzen Trapper

4:35 PM to 4:55 PM - Dr. Dog

5:05 PM to 5:50 PM - Henry Rollins

6:25 PM to 7:15 PM - TV on the Radio

7:25 PM to 8:15 PM - Fleet Foxes

8:40 PM to 9:30 PM - Band of Horses

10:25 PM - The Killers

11:05 PM - Mastodon

Coachooser

Record Store Day 2009 - The Plan

As I previously posted, Record Store Day takes place on April 18th this year. Now this year, Becca and I will be attending Coachella on that very same day. Not to worry, there is still hope. Coachella is very aware of the importance of Record Store Day and will have their very own record store day market at the festival. Also, just in case, I have located participating stores in Palm Desert and Claremont.

Also with regards to my previous post, the number of record store day exclusive releases has grown exponentially. I mentioned a couple last time, but the list has grown quite large. I hoping to hit a couple of the stores I mentioned because you can't find all of the exclusives everywhere. The complete list can be found here. Some notable additions are singles by Blitzen Trapper, the Decemberists, Flight of the Conchords, Modest Mouse, Heaven & Hell, Slayer, and Grizzly Bear.

Record Store Day 2009

It's that time of year again! Of course, I'm talking about National Record Store Day. The day that we come together to celebrate independent record shops across the country. I first heard my favorite song of last year, "Furr", on a free Sub Pop compilation I received at last year's event.

This year Matador is releasing three exclusives records only for participating shops. Artists involved include Beck, Sonic Youth, Jay Reatard, and Pavement.

EDIT: The Thermals and Thao with Get Down Stay Down are releasing an exclusive split as well.

Local participating stores:

Spokane - Unified Groove Merchants, 4000 Holes

Portland - Everyday Music, Jackpot Records, Music Millenium

Blitzen Trapper - "Furr" (Official Video)

Blitzen Trapper have an official video for the song "Furr" from my favorite album of the year.



Thanks to Muzzle of Bees.

Blitzen Trapper Christmas Song

I don't normally like Christmas songs, but I do like them when they are free and by Blitzen Trapper. Amazon is giving away "Christmas Is Coming Soon" off of the recently released Christmas Compilation I'll Stay 'Til After Christmas for a limited time. The album has some Christmas tracks from other NW bands like Au and Arthur & Yu. Merry Christams!

2008's Best Music

Thanksgiving is also the time of the end of the year list. Largehearted Boy has page full of end of the year lists if anyone has the time to scour through them. Stereogum has started the voting on their annual Gummy Awards. My votes for top albums? These shouldn't be a surprise.

1) Blitzen Trapper - Furr (Review)
2) Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
3) The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost (Review)

Blitzen Trapper on Conan

Blitzen Trapper brought the title track of their September Sub Pop release Furr to Conan last night. Eric has been posting lyrics to "Furr" and "Black River Killer" in chunks at his Myspace blog. My earlier guess at the "Black River Killer" lyrics was partially incorrect.