In August 2010, I volunteered once again for the KEXP Concerts at the Mural series, held each Friday evening at the Mural Amphitheatre at Seattle Center, as well as for the KEXP BBQ held on Saturday the 14th. It's kind of a shame that I didn't take more notes during the Mural concerts, as I enjoyed this year's series overall more than the 2009 series. But on the other hand I was responsible for managing sales of Live at KEXP Vol. 6 during the concerts, so that kept me in the booth a lot, which is probably part of the reason why I wasn't taking notes. In any case, I'll just list out the concerts and performers, with a brief note where I can, and links to the photo sets on Flickr.

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. 

Friday August 13 (photos)

• 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.

Saturday August 14: 8th Annual KEXP BBQ (photos)

• 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.

Friday August 20 (photos)

• 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.

Friday August 26 (photos)

• 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.

Regardless of how much I enjoy any of the particular bands, these concerts are always fun events, and I'm looking forward to volunteering again at this year's 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.