On Thursday May 7, I went to Chop Suey to see Hotels, with Erik Blood and Silver Teeth. Oddly enough, I had just met Blood the week before through mutual friends at the My Bloody Valentine show, but had no idea who he was until a few days after the fact. Unfortunately the show began earlier than I expected, and I missed Silver Teeth. Chop Suey often seems to start weekday shows on the early side, with the first band playing at 8:30, and while that's a good practice for getting in a crowd who might not normally get to shows, it does tend to throw off the regular concert-goers. Still, I have more than one friend who'd appreciate seeing more clubs set earlier start times for shows.

Erik Blood is a member of Seattle band the Turn-ons, and created his "solo" album for music that didn't fit with that band. However, not only did all the members of the Turn-ons contribute to the album, most if not all of them also joined on stage along with three other musicians for the backing band, creating a seven-piece lineup. Musically, Blood started from a basic mid-'90s alternative rock sound, with influences from shoegaze and pop. His song "To Leave America," which I recognized from KEXP airplay, was a good example of this style. However, he soon showed his skill with a variety of styles and a knack for catchy tunes. Saying he was going to try something different, he played a slow R&B crooner that, most of the way through the song, unexpectedly broke into a lovely shoegazery guitar wash (reminiscent of Kitchens of Distinction, I thought). It was a neat juxtaposition of styles, as was a later song that clearly drew upon '60s pop music. I really enjoyed the whole set, and although I wasn't able to pick up the CD The Way We Live that night, I hope to do so soon.

Hotels are becoming a challenge for me: there are only so many ways to say "I love this band!", after all. Their music is dynamic and complex but fits together with precision; it sounds full, but not overly busy. Often it feels very joyful even when the lyrics are wistful or bitter, and as I've remarked before, it urges the listener to get up and move. Indeed, before playing "Hydra," lead singer Blake declared, "You ought to dance more!", and while no real outright dancing ensued (this was a Seattle hipster audience, after all), there was definitely movement in the audience. Their moodier pieces, such as "The Heart That Hears Like A Bat," have a grand sweep to them not unlike the cinematic cabaret sound of Mono in VCF; it's perhaps not surprising then that their next album, currently in the works, is to have a spy-movie "James Bond in space" theme to it. Much to my delight, they gave us a taste of that next album by debuting a new song, "The Bat Watusi," which was perhaps a bit harder-edged and sounded great. Expect to keep reading more happy reviews of Hotels from me; better yet, go check them out yourself.

On Wednesday Feb. 25th, I went to Chop Suey to see Annuals, back again and this time headlining their own tour. Opening for them was Jessica Lea Mayfield and What Laura Says.

I walked in just as What Laura Says were starting their set, and my immediate impression was that they were a long-haired Southern rock band. That may be technically true, as they are from Arizona and do have long hair, but as their set went on I realized they had a greater complexity than just simple blues rock. They had touches of country music, as appropriate for Southern rock, but also a strong strain of prog-rock as well; somewhere between Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Fleet Foxes, perhaps. The quintet had very nice vocal harmonies and also were quite good musicians, as they demonstrated in an extended instrumental jam leading into one song. I really enjoyed their set and picked up their CD Thinks and Feels after the show; I'll be listening for more from them in the future.

I had heard good things about singer-songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield and she definitely had a bevy of fans at the show. Mayfield played guitar and sang, and was was ably backed by a trio, including her older brother, on guitar, bass viol and bass guitar, and drums. However, her sleepy-weepy country rock did not win me over. I found that almost all her songs sounded about the same to me. Even when she covered a Buddy Holly tune, it was indistinguishable from the rest of her own songs and if she hadn't announced it I wouldn't have known. Despite this, the crowd was very attentive, and when she played one song solo the room was impressively quiet throughout, with barely a sound of chatting from the bar area. Finally, she had a rock-out moment with her last song, climbing up on the side of her brother's upright bass to play guitar while he kept playing the bass as well. It was a fun moment, but for my taste the whole set could have used 500% of that.

Annuals came out to a dark stage and played an extended percussion introduction, with four of the six members on drums that flashed red green and blue lights as they pounded away. I was surprised that this led into "Hot Night Hounds," a song they've been featuring as a show closer in part for its strong anthemic sound and for its repeated cries of "goodbye!" toward the end. However, though I wondered how they would follow that up, I had faith in Annuals and I was amply rewarded with yet another stellar show. Unlike their last visit, Anna Spence's keyboard and vocals were properly mixed and both sounded great; she had particularly pretty, ethereal backing vocals on "Hardwood Floor". In fact the vocals in general seemed to stand out more at this concert, such as the nice harmonies in "Sway" and "Chase You Off"; also, bassist Mike Robinson did some backing vocals this time, which I don't recall from previous concerts. Standout tunes for me included familiar tunes from Be He Me: "Complete or Completing"; "Brother", which featured a powerful and gorgeous extended musical intro; and "Carry Around", the first of two encore songs. However, the newer songs from Such Fun, including "Hot Night Hounds", "Hardwood Floor", and the final encore, the honky-tonk "Hair Don't Grow", also sounded great. For the main set closer, "Wake" (also from Such Fun), two members of What Laura Says joined the band to provide backing vocals, whistling, and drumming—because with Annuals, you can never have too many people drumming. With Annuals, you also can never see them too many times, and as I say every time they come to town, I'll be eagerly awaiting their next visit, hopefully this autumn.

I have a small set of photos from this show, starting here in Flickr.

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Although I've been quiet here for over a month, I haven't stopped going out to shows, and I have some reviews to catch up on: Hotels at the newly-renovated and re-opened Crocodile, and Black Mountain at Neumos, both from the last full week of March. However, I have one more review that's already written, for Tricky at the Showbox at the Market last Saturday; that review was written for the KEXP Blog, and should be posted there soon. Coming up in April, two shows that my sister Andrea pointed me to: Christy & Emily at the New Crompton (which apparently is someone's house in the U District) on Thursday April 9, and Franz Nicolay (whom you might know as the leader of The Hold Steady) at the Sunset Tavern on Friday April 24.

Last Friday I went to Nectar Lounge to see KJ Sawka headlining an electronica show to mark the release of his new EP, Undefined Connectivity. Opening for Sawka were the DJ group Shift Crew and electronic musician novaTRON, and DJ Flave wrapped up the evening. Sonic MC acted as host for the evening and also performed freestyle rap during each set. I felt that Sonic MC's rapping generally didn't really enhance the music, but it did fit in well with the flow.

Shift Crew are a group of DJs associated with Shift Recordings; this evening's trio included Shift Recordings founder Lukki, CB, and Dirty. They took turns spinning records on a pair of turntables, using a laptop and some other gear to mix the music. Their music was primarily dubstep and trip-hop, somewhat danceable but I felt it was more for background ambience than dedicated listening. I liked their set, but felt it went on a little long and the other two acts could have been given a little more time.

novaTRON creates live breakbeat music using a custom set of synthesizers and audio gear—no laptop, turntable, keyboard, or conventional instruments. His set was more engaging and danceable than Shift Crew's dubstep, although it also would've served well as club background music. Unlike the last time I saw him, it never sounded oppressively heavy or claustrophobic, it was groovy and fun.

KJ Sawka also creates live breakbeat and drum n' bass electronica, but where novaTRON takes an all-electronics route, Sawka starts from the basic source of beats, live drumming. That said, Sawka is as much an electronic artist as a drummer, and he spent almost as much time drumming one-handed as two, activating samplers and other electronic gear. Although he's thus capable of playing a full set by himself, for this show Sawka was joined on most of the songs by his frequent collaborator Kent Halvorsen on keyboard (and trumpet in one song), and also had Christa Wells on hand to sing vocals. Sawka played a near-continuous set of music, with the only real breaks occurring when Wells came onstage to sing, but the transitions from song to song were always apparent. The set featured a video projection, but due to Nectar's layout with the screen off to the side of the stage, I doubt anyone watched; all the excitement was up on stage. As a performer, Sawka was a real showman, often rising from his stool to make dramatic gestures without dropping the beat, and his drum kit included a set of lights flashing in sync with the rhythms. Wells also had a strong stage presence, using both her powerful voice and stage moves to good effect. Sawka finished his set by bringing out Blake Lewis on guest vocals; I'm only vaguely aware of Lewis as "that Seattle guy from American Idol", so it was interesting to hear him perform and learn he's a good vocalist. Sawka continues to be one of my favorite musicians in Seattle, and I look forward to hearing more from him.

I have a few photos of each act, starting here in Flickr.

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The following evening, I went to see Supreme Beings of Leisure at Chop Suey. Also on the bill were DJ LA Kendall and electronic musician Carmen Rizzo; although Supreme Beings of Leisure were billed as the headlining act, they were sandwiched in between the other two artists. Kendall did not appear on stage, but played a good set mixing jazz and soul-influenced trip-hop and drum n' bass that set the right mood for Supreme Beings of Leisure. Rizzo used synthesizers, a laptop, and other electronic gear to make a techno mix ranging from ambient to drum n' bass; he sounded pretty good but I did not stay for the full set.

Supreme Beings of Leisure are the duo of Geri Soriano-Lightwood (vocals) and Ramin Sakurai (keyboard and electronics), with Sheldon Strickland (bass) and Jason Graham (drums). (They also have a guitarist, Geof Brandin, but he was not present.) They played a great set of groovy feel-good dance music mixing funk, jazz, and soul influences with trip-hop. I was surprised that nearly half their set came from their first album, particularly as I was under the impression that they were touring in support of a new album. However, it turns out their latest album (only their third) came out a year ago, and it was pretty clear that like myself, most of the audience was only familiar with the first album. So the band played up to their audience. Another surprise was that not only were they positioned as the middle band, they also did not get to do an encore. As their set list showed a planned three-song encore and they were getting (and returning) much appreciation from the audience, I believe this was not by their choice. Whoever did make the decision, it was a poor one, as the audience was clearly there to see Supreme Beings of Leisure and the fairly-full club mostly cleared out once it was clear the band was done. Although I did enjoy the show, the combination of the short set and the number of familiar old songs left me feeling that I could've passed on this one.

I took a few photos of Supreme Beings of Leisure, which can be seen starting here in Flickr.

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Coming up next week, I'll be at the Showbox at the Market on Friday Feb. 13 manning the KEXP info table for Lykke Li; if you're there, stop by and say hi! The following week on Friday Feb. 20, the Sunset Tavern has an awesome show with Point Juncture WA and Hotels, both of whom are celebrating album releases, and The Animals at Night opening. With such a great lineup, it's hard to imagine a better show happening any time soon; however, no doubt Annuals will at least match it when they headline a show at Chop Suey the week after on Wednesday Feb. 25. I've been so excited about these two shows, I haven't even looked ahead yet to March, but I'll let you know what I find when I do; one thing I do anticipate then is the grand re-opening of The Crocodile.

Monday night I went to Chop Suey to see Beehive opening for Digitalism, with The Long Ranger in the middle. Beehive of course have been a favorite band of mine since I first saw them last year, while Digitalism have been getting KEXP airplay recently and I knew by name at least one song of theirs ("Digitalism in Cairo"). The Long Ranger, however, were completely unknown to me.

Beehive played a rocking set that included a cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" as well as several songs from their new album Pretty Little Thieves and a couple from their first album Cycle A. They had some sound problems for the first couple songs, with some unintended feedback and excessive echo, the latter perhaps just a result of the sadly sparse audience - but more on that in a bit. However, the problems mostly cleared up for the rest of their set. One thing I enjoy about Beehive is their willingness to play around with the songs in concert and try different things, rather than attempt to recreate the recorded version every time. For example, in set closer "Better Than Lies", they cut the music back for the final chorus to just a simple beat, letting their vocal harmonies shine. With their fat beats and funky slide guitar, Beehive should be getting a lot of attention.

( a couple Beehive photos )

Which leads me into the audience problem. Granted that Beehive was the opening act on a Monday night, it's not surprising the audience was small at that point, but the people who had arrived were all sitting off the sides of the main floor rather than stepping forward to be closer to the band. Although this was disappointing, it didn't yet strike me as unusual for Seattle audience behavior. By the time The Long Ranger took the stage, a decent crowd had gathered - all at the bar or in the back seating areas, but notably not on the floor. Not until The Long Ranger's last song did some people start gathering on the floor, and it seemed they were split between a few people actually interested in the band and the rest who didn't want to stand with the now good-sized crowd on the sides and in back. Let's be clear here: the music of both bands was worth a good listen, and it was not a case of being seriously mismatched with the headlining band. Apparently, though, the crowd that arrived early was just too hip to be seen paying any attention to the opening acts, and the people that did eventually fill the floor for Digitalism's set were the dance crowd who don't come out before 10:30. I think it's a shame. Seattle has a lot of fine local musicians, of whom Beehive and The Long Ranger are just two examples, and they deserve visible support from the people who do go out to shows, not the cold aloofness of hipsters.

Besides, it makes me feel self-conscious to be the only one standing out on the floor.

The Long Ranger are an electro-pop trio, including a male lead singer (and programmer, according to their MySpace page), a female backup singer and synth player, and a guitarist. They played mid-to-up-tempo dance pop that seemed to mostly be romantic love songs. Most of the music (besides the guitar) was apparently pre-programmed on the laptop, as the synth player did not spend a lot of time tweaking her two machines, but this left both singers free to dance along as well. The lead singer even jumped down to the main floor for some breakdancing during one song - which seemed to elicit some more attention from the otherwise stand-offish audience. As I mentioned, by their last song some people had started gathering on the main floor and were even visibly grooving along with the music, but there was still plenty of room for all three band members to jump down and rock out on the floor. I enjoyed their performance, and although their music was light and fluffy in comparison to Beehive and Digitalism, I thought it made a nice counterpoint.

( and a couple Long Ranger photos )

Digitalism are the duo of Jens Moelle and Ismail Tufekci. They used two tables of synths and electronic gear, as well as a drum pad and cymbal set, to create one big electronic dance sound. All the love that was lacking for the first two bands was showered down upon Digitalism, as the packed floor pogoed and fist-pumped, and even the hipsters on the sides could be seen bobbing their heads. And to be fair, Digitalism delivered a nearly-continuous hour-long set of hot dance music, neatly divided into three parts by a couple very short breaks. The first part featured live vocals and live drums, while the second part used only sampled or pre-recorded vocals as both of them focused on playing the synths. The final part was a mix, starting with the crowd-rousing MC-style spoken vocals of "Homezone", and included current singles "Idealistic" and "Digitalism in Cairo" (with its nifty use of the chorus from The Cure's "Fire in Cairo"). Despite starting late and being awash in audience love, they did not come back for an encore, which was a bit disappointing. I would expect a bit more out of them next time - and I would expect them to play a bigger club, instead of being bumped from Neumos by a private function.

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Still to come: New Young Pony Club at Nectar Lounge this Saturday, the 27th; Freezepop, also at Nectar, on Halloween; Battles return on November 3rd at Neumos; and Annuals will somehow crowd onstage at the Crocodile Cafe on November 10th. AND, I just found out today that Tara Jane ONeil is playing this Sunday, the 28th, at The Vera Project. My life has become full of music.

Working on my review of Monday night's concert - or rather, avoiding working on it for no good reason, but I should get it done later. In the meantime, I think this photo I took at the show is pretty neat.

Thursday I went to two different shows: first, an in-store appearance by Kinski at Easy Street Records; and then Freezepop, with Dandi Wind, headlining the monthly "Club Pop!" dance night at Chop Suey.

It's been over a year since I last saw Kinski, and I've been really looking forward to seeing them again. They were at Easy Street to promote the release this past Tuesday of their latest album, Down Below It's Chaos, and they played six songs from it. A couple of the songs featured vocals, a rare element in Kinski's work so far; however, they were all but inaudible, and it was hard to tell how much that was intentional and how much it was due to the store's sound system, or me being too close to the stage. Certainly the instruments were all quite loud, though still distinguishable and not just sheer noise. For this set, they had clear breaks between each song, unlike past shows in which they would break into freeform noise-making for a bit. All of the new songs sounded good and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. I'm also looking forward to the official CD release party next month on the 27th at The Crocodile Cafe.

"Club Pop!" is a monthly event at Chop Suey for the 18+ crowd that features dance music by regular DJs Colby B and Paco, as well as a couple live bands. Chop Suey was packed for this event - so much that shortly into Freezepop's set, both police and firefighters were checking out the scene, and apparently after that people who stepped outside the club were no longer allowed back in. That was too bad for the people who'd stepped out, but frankly made the rest of the show more enjoyable for me, not having the constant stream of people shoving past in both directions.

This month's event had DJ Glitterpants as a special guest, but as all the DJs worked from the soundbooth, I had no way of telling which DJ was spinning at any particular time. The music was generally good and they played some interesting remixes of both current and old hits, but a few times I was jarred by songs that had obviously been sped up a lot to match the beat.

Dandi Wind are an electronic duo on synthesizers and vocals. Their style was classic post-punk/new wave, with the vocalist tending to shout her lines as much as sing them. Although I do enjoy that style, I didn't find their set engaging, not hearing much to distinguish the songs from each other. However, they brought a smile to my face with their set closer, a cover of Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance".

Freezepop are the synth-pop trio of Liz Enthusiasm (vocals), The Other Sean T. Drinkwater (synths, vocoder and vocals) and the Duke of Pannekoeken (programming (the famous QY70 sequencer), vocoder and vocals). The Duke unfortunately could not be present, and Alex Chen of Sean's other band Lifestyle filled in for him. They played a varied set of old and new songs, ranging from "Science Genius Girl" off their earliest EP and "Plastic Stars" from their first album, to "Brain Power" and "Pop Music Is Not A Crime" from their upcoming third album Future Future Future Perfect. The set felt a little short to me, but then as I recall last time they were here they started earlier and got to play a very long show. In any case, considering they came out from Boston and thus were onstage at the equivalent of 3 AM, they had plenty of energy and love for the audience and it was a good set. After the show, Liz said that they'll be doing a tour once the new album comes out in September, so hopefully they'll be back later this year.

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Next month's showing a lot of promise, and I haven't even looked over the full calendar listings yet. Editors are playing at Chop Suey on the 18th. Imperial Teen are at the Crocodile Cafe on the 21st; I don't know them very well but I like what I've been hearing of their new album on KEXP and want to check them out live. They Might Be Giants are at The Moore Theatre on the 26th, and as I mentioned above, Kinski's CD release is at the Crocodile on the 27th. Usually it seems that when I list a bunch of possible shows, I end up not going to any of them, but this time I just might make it to all of these.

Last Wednesday night I went to Chop Suey to see Asobi Seksu, playing with Tokyo Police Club and Pit Er Pat opening. I knew of Asobi Seksu from hearing a few of their songs on KEXP over the summer; I'd liked the songs enough to write down their album in my list of CDs to pick up, so I was looking forward to seeing them. However, the other two bands were completely unknown to me. Other people apparently were better-informed, as the club had a good crowd right from the start and was pretty full for both Tokyo Police Club and Asobi Seksu.

Pit Er Pat were a trio on keyboards, bass guitar, and drums. The band played art rock, not of the grandiose '70s progressive style, but the quirky and moody '90s indie rock style: more Yo La Tengo than Yes. They're the sort of band who come out on stage, pick up their instruments, and start playing as though they were still setting up, tuning, and checking sound levels; after a couple minutes you realize there's a regular beat and they're actually well into their first song. They had some kinship with the so-called shoegazer genre as well, both in performance style and somewhat in sound. Most of the songs were moderate in tempo, sparse and obscure in vocals, and occasionally fierce in volume. I enjoyed the set, and the audience was generally appreciative as well. They didn't seem to be around after the show so I wasn't able to pick up their debut full-length, Pyramids, but I'll add it to my list, and watch for their return.

Tokyo Police Club were a quartet including a lead singer and bassist, guitar, keyboards, and drums. The guys were all young and fresh-faced, full of energy and enthusiasm. For example, when the keyboardist wasn't intent over his keys, he was thrashing about with a tambourine or screaming backing vocals. An extra snare drum was set up in front of the drum kit, which the keyboardist played in one song and the guitarist played in a few others. The guitarist broke three sets of drum sticks on the snare, while the keyboardist knocked it off its stand and just kept beating it on the floor. The choruses were often shouted by the whole band rather than sung, but it wasn't grating the way screaming punk vocals generally are. Musically the band were in the indie rock camp, though with a strong punk edge. My only complaint was that all their songs came to the same abrupt end, as though they didn't know any way to finish a song other than just stopping. Still, they're a new band with talent enough to grow. Plus, they opened with a theme song, and I just can't knock a band that has a theme song. I did not end up getting their EP, A Lesson In Crime, but I'll definitely be listening for more from them.

Asobi Seksu were also a quartet, featuring female singer and keyboardist Yuki Chikudate and guitarist and vocalist James Hanna, with a fellow called Haji on bass and Mitch Spivak on drums. They had an additional keyboardist for this show, as well. Asobi Seksu played straight-up dream pop, complete with swirling guitars, distortion and feedback, and ethereal vocals. Chikudate sings in both Japanese and English; a first-time listener such as myself can't really tell when she's singing in which language, not because her English is bad, but simply because dream pop is all about the sonic textures, and the intelligibility of the lyrics is besides the point. I don't remember the last time I saw a pure dream pop band, but I'm fairly sure I haven't since I left Boston close to five years ago, and it was glorious to once again get lost in the wash of sound. I had been looking forward to their show at the end of September very much, and unfortunately wasn't able to make it, so I was thrilled that they returned to Seattle so soon, and they easily fulfilled my expectations. I bought both their first self-titled album and their new release Citrus, and I'm certain they'll stay on my iPod for quite some time.

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Next month I get to see more dream pop, as Portland band The High Violets come to The Comet Tavern on Friday December 8. I'll also be keeping an eye on the WZBC Boston concert report for shows during Christmas week, as I'll be back at my parents' for the holidays. Generally that's a dead time because of the holidays, but I just might get lucky - hopefully more so than last year, when Freezepop played in Boston the day before I left NYC to head up to my parents', and Elysian Fields played in NYC the day after I left.

Last Saturday I went to Chop Suey to see KJ Sawka, with Solovox and Squid Leader. Bethurum was on the bill as well, but unfortunately had to cancel for some reason, which was too bad as I was really looking forward to seeing them again after the last time. It turned out to be a night of heavy electronic dance music, and Bethurum's downbeat/acid jazz would've made a nice contrast to the other acts.

Squid Leader is an electronic artist, using a laptop as his instrument. He didn't appear on stage, rather he worked behind the sound board and served as the opening and between-set music for the night. It turns out he's also half of the duo Tekgnosis, which I saw in action back in March. In that review of Tekgnosis, I said I'd recommend going to hear them especially if there was a dance floor; that proved somewhat prophetic, as Squid Leader's heavy electronic dance beats certainly set the tone for the night. Although there wasn't much in the way of dancing during his opening set, he did still warm the crowd up and prepare them for the other two acts.

Solovox is another solo electronic artist, but he uses a more "traditional" setup of keyboard synthesizer and other electronic gear rather than just a laptop. Solovox displayed some charming, self-deprecating insecurity at the start, saying he'd play a couple songs and see how we liked them, but if the insecurity was a pretense he needn't have bothered; the crowd was eager to hear him from the start. His music was more melodious than the occasionally harsh electronic squawks of Squid Leader, and quite a few people in the crowd responded to the groove by dancing. He paused between the first couple songs, but soon gave way to a continuous stream that kept the club hopping. At the end of his set, Solovox was joined by Sawka on drums for an improvisational jam that went on for ten or fifteen minutes in an impressive display of musicianship on both their parts.

KJ Sawka is yet another electronic artist, except that his primary instrument is the drum set: he plays live drum'n'bass/breakbeat electronica, which is an amazing thing to see in action. He uses a laptop, sampler, sequencer, and electronic drum pads to set up and play the tunes and samples and loops, but he does the primary work of bringing the rhythms himself on regular acoustic drums and cymbals. What's more, he kept up the near constant stream of breakneck breakbeat for over an hour and a half (not including the fifteen minute "warmup" with Solovox). There was much less dancing by the end of his set simply because he'd worn everyone else out. Back in the summer of 2002, at the first show I went to in Seattle, I saw his previous project Siamese, and their six-song sampler CD is still one of my favorites. It was great to finally see him in action again and hear that he hasn't lost anything over time, and also great to finally pick up his first "solo" full-length, Synchronized Decompression.

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September has turned out to have several choices for shows. Heart are playing tomorrow at the Paramount Theater; it'd be interesting to hear what they're like now, but not at those ticket prices. This Friday, Mission of Burma and 50 Ft. Wave are playing at the Crocodile Cafe, and Telefon Tel Aviv are in the lineup at Neumos. I'm probably going to pass on both of those, although I really ought to go to one of them. On September 30, Asobi Seksu are playing an early show at Chop Suey; I've been very interested in what I've heard by them on KEXP, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to go check them out. Next month I'm most likely going to see Ladytron again, they're playing The Showbox on October 13; and KJ Sawka plays in Seattle again on October 29 at the Nectar Lounge in Fremont.

The standout band of the March concert was Beehive. When I spoke to David Miller of Beehive after the show, he mentioned that their next show would be tonight (March 26) at Chop Suey; I enjoyed their set so much that I decided I should try to catch them again tonight.

Unfortunately, I misjudged - I knew they were on first and that the doors opened at 8, so I thought they'd go on at 9. If I'd been smart enough to check their website, I'd have known they started at 8:30. As a result, I only caught their last three songs, though that was better than nothing. I nearly didn't go in to the show, too, doubting whether I wanted to spend the money to get in when I'd knew I'd already mostly missed the set I wanted to see. Once again, though, I learned that it's always worthwhile to go to the show, as I discovered yet another cool new band.

First though I had to sit through Bobcats, a duo who may not have even been born when the 80s synthpop they play was at its height. It was a little freaky, actually, just how perfectly their sound and dress style was 25 years out of place. They were quite competent and enthusiastic, but their shouted vocal style grated on me, and I also felt they weren't bringing anything of their own to the music. Still, they deserved some cheering on just for getting up there and doing their thing, particularly in the face of a sparse, disinterested audience - a bunch of people who'd obviously come for Beehive left during the Bobcats set, and only a dozen or so people remained for the rest of the evening.

Next up though was a band new to me, The Bethurum Collective, and they proved more than worth sitting through the Bobcats' set. They appeared as a trio, featuring Didi on vocals, Evan on acoustic bass viol, and Benjamin on keyboard/sequencer/samples. When I spoke to Didi after the show, she mentioned that they usually have a DJ/turntablist as well, Jacedo. Their style falls into the acid jazz/downbeat subgenres - which is to say either hip lounge jazz with an electronic breakbeat and samples, or else jazz-influenced breakbeat. (This is probably a good place to recommend Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music - on the main page click "Downtempo," and then over on the right in the "Chillout" group you'll find both downbeat and acid jazz.) Didi has a lovely singing voice that's perfect for their musical style, Evan's bass pizzicato is impressively fast and precise, and Benjamin's keyboard riffs and sequencing are spot-on. I'm curious to hear what turntablist Jacedo adds to the mix. I really enjoyed the set and will be looking for future show dates by the band.

Finally the evening ended with DJ Collage, who turned out to be a rapper, not a DJ. I don't understand that either. He raps in the reggae/dub-influenced style, which isn't normally my thing (I'm not much into rap in general, though I do appreciate a lot of it now). However, I'd stayed that long already and I didn't want to walk out on him, with so few people left in the audience, and after a bit I found that I was getting into the groove and enjoying it. Although I won't be looking for further performances by him, I'll be willing to stay through future ones should he be part of some other show I'm attending.

Coming up in April, I'm definitely going to see Ladytron at Neumos on Wednesday the 26th; I haven't yet checked the listings to see if there's anything else I'll want to catch in April. And I'm really excited that Joe Jackson has announced tour dates, and will be coming to Seattle on Tuesday, June 20th, playing the Moore Theatre. Can't wait for that!

I started an update last night, about the concert I attended Wednesday night, but then I had to call my friend Milo whom I haven't spoken to in a couple months. So I should have a longer update later today - I'll probably just edit it into this post. EDIT: And so I am...

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Wednesday night I went to Chop Suey for my August concert: Beehive, Saba, Library Science, and The Epochs. John joined me for this show, as he'd never seen Library Science and wanted to check them out. It's hard to fit four bands into one evening, especially when the club doors don't open until 9pm, and sure enough the first three bands all had shorter than usual sets, playing less than a half-hour each.

The Epochs had a pretty good, tight sound; John was reminded of the Smashing Pumpkins, apparently because of the singer's style, but I didn't really hear that. They did remind me of some other bands but I couldn't think of any examples; I can say that there was something of a jam/groove feel to their songs, but they were definitely structured, not just aimless noodling. They had a free promo EP available, and I did like them enough to pick it up.

Library Science played next, and although they seemed to have a few technical problems, they sounded good overall. They've been reworking some of their older songs, adding new interest to them by changing the instrument sounds/effects or improvising some parts more, and they also played a new song that was a nice solid addition to their material. One song was marred not by them, but by the club's soundboard guy accidentally turning on the between-set music in the middle; because Library Science do have some chaotic noisy parts in their songs, it took a little while to realize something was playing that shouldn't have been there.

Saba played an uneven set this time, alternating from slow ballads to upbeat dance music - that can work, but in this case changing styles each song just seemed jarring, as though the band was trying to play for two different audiences at once. They also didn't seem quite together, the songs just weren't tight. I was disappointed, as I remembered them being better the first time, and I do like their CD a lot; but everyone has off nights.

Although I wanted to check out Beehive, whom I've never heard, it was getting late for a weeknight and we decided not to stay for them.