Friday August 6 (photos)
- Gabriel Mintz—He's really good, and I noted I "should pay more attention"; also, Trent Moorman drummed for him, prompting me to wonder whether there's any band in Seattle he's not drumming with.
- Grand Hallway—That week's "oh yeah, these guys" band; good stuff, also noted I should pay more attention to them.
- Elliott Brood—Didn't care so much for their folk rock at first, but warmed up to them and they had some good clap-along songs.
- State of the Artist—A hiphop group, apparently I thought their style was alright, but I don't remember what they sound like.
- Noddy—His new songs were great, made me wonder why I didn't yet have his first album; and I caught a photo of him levitating in the air suspended by his music.
- Brite Futures (formerly Natalie Portman's Shaved Head)—A fun pop band that still gets to be too shrill for me after a while, but their new name seems rather apropos.
- Victor Shade—A solo rapper who looked like an indie rock hipster. No real opinion on his music.
- Dinosaur Feathers—Sunny pop, good harmonies, "oh these guys".
- The Joy Formidable—Very good dark indie rock.
- The Lonely Forest—Sounded like the Long Winters and a dozen other bands.
- Suckers—Pretty good talented multi-instrumentalists; the lead singer had a crazy high clear falsetto. I recognized a couple of their songs too.
- Quasi—Embarrassingly, I spent a while before the BBQ wondering why they were headlining, only to realize that (a) duh, they're kind of a big deal in their own right, not just because they include Janet Weiss, formerly of Sleater-Kinney, on drums, and (b) I knew several of their songs already. Solid post-punk indie rock.
- Tea Cozies—All my notes say is "bratty rock", but I'm pretty sure that was a good thing.
- Head Like a Kite—Way too busy dancing in the crowd to take notes for this, but not too busy to take a bunch of photos.
- Say Hi—Umm, they played. I guess I thought they were okay, I really don't remember.
- Yuni in Taxco—Oh heck, totally forgot I'd seen them here, when I saw them again this past January (which I haven't written about yet). I don't remember what I thought at the time, but I definitely liked them in January.
- The Head and the Heart—Don't remember anything about them.
- Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band—Any set that begins with a dozen musicians onstage playing drums can't be that bad, and in fact they were pretty entertaining. Good conclusion to the series.
Edit: as an afterthought, I think maybe I actually like this format better for covering this series: one post, a quick point or two about each band, and done. Save the in-depth notes for concerts with fewer distractions.
