“You can’t study the darkness by flooding it with light.” —Edward Abbey
It was a moment of private wonder, like a short, intense walk in a concealed garden that remains locked most of the year; an evening with Mamiffer (Faith Coloccia and Aaron Turner), at The Business, in Anacortes. The sheer power of their tube amps and dream-metal songs in this small space was enveloping, stopping time. If you don’t know this band, you need to. They played a few songs from “Statu Nascendi” (Sige Records, 2014), a career-defining album, which is far more lush on vinyl than as a digital download, but follow your heart. A note about my pictures: I had to shoot in almost total darkness (no flash, of course), which is why these pictures appear so grainy. But the darkness fit their music and the mood of the evening, and the challenge was good. Life isn’t always lit the way you want it to be.
What should we talk about when we talk about Katy Goodman? (Seen here, at The Shakedown, opening for King Tuff.) La Sera? The Vivian Girls? Energy? Her ability to throw together cool bands with equally gifted musicians who can all do what they do on stage and in studio, every day, like it’s no thing? Like it’s what everyone does when they’re bored, on tour, or broken hearted? Releasing everything on vinyl? Like it’s 1972, and it’s the only way we can release music, duh. Motion; her dancer’s moves? Her smart, subtle, spooky prolific songwriting… like it’s no thing to be funny and sad on the same record, just because a girl wants to be. Her singing, modern torch yet playful, innocent, and sweet? The girl next door, cuddling with her Musicmaster Fender bass. No, we must talk about her ability to dance and play the bass, on stage, on a small stage, with cables running everywhere! Come on, can you do it? Dance, sure. Bass, sure. Both, most of us would pitch head first right off the stage into someone’s Rainier, ruining the entire room’s retro cool. If she was a scientist, she’d be a dancing physicist. Higgs boson, sure. Dance, of course. Both? Pretty rare. Not one of the six physicists working on the boson-particle mystery is ever described as a cool dancer. Not one reference to snake hips, just tons of glowing prose about decades of tireless attention to particle-decay theory, blah blah blah, which you can’t even see, nothing about dance presence. If they did, we’d be talking about it. A lot. Check it out, you’ll see I’m right. I’m just saying. So buy “Hour of the Dawn,” (Hardly Art, 2014), vinyl of course, and let Katy’s art, her soundscapes, sweep over you. Marvel. Dance, even, if you must. But,… leave the bass, and experimental physics, to the gifted professionals. It’s not as easy as it looks. Safety first. Be cool. Avoid the sorrow.
I don’t think I’m betraying any secrets by pointing out that Griffin House’s latest LP, “Balls” (Evening Records, 2013) is available for free (100% legal) on NoiseTrade, the artist-driven promotional site. You can share the love with the man and leave a tip, or buy the CD, like I did, for the artifact of it all (I wanted vinyl, because the heart wants what it wants, but there just ain’t none). House is currently on tour. I photographed him at the mighty Tractor Tavern, in Ballard, Washington. A seated show, the first I’ve EVER done at the Tractor. Seemed weird to me. Like texting in church, or something; just not done. Bars are for standin’. Still, standin’ or seated, House is spooky cool live, doing that thing he does, and well worth catching in the act, if you can.
From my archive, Maps & Atlases.
Holy Fuck! Whose punk love children are these people? From whose musical loins did they spring forth? What part of this great land produces such Alt-R promise? Oh! They’re from here, the Pacific Northwest? Well, why then are we not bowing down before the might of their guitars and their tsunami stage presence? I have been asleep. Asleep I tell you! But now I am awake. Wide awake! You, reading this, you need to wake up, too! The Tractorites didn’t want Ravenna Woods to leave the building. The genre-bending Helio Sequence was on deck, the Sub Pop headliner, and the crowd was still buying RW drinks as they stowed their gear and cleared the stage. Expensive drinks! Love was in the air. Real, lasting love, the kind that only guitars played until they blaze can spontaneously generate in the hearts of true believers. It was the long moment, the evangelical tent-show conversion, the first kiss, the burning man burning it all up on his last night in the cool desert air knowing it meant becoming ash by morning, but choosing the flames anyway. I’m not making any of this up. Look at these pictures! I’m a professional! Go on up to Bandcamp, listen, and know what “we” now know. Go, now, and be amazed.
If you haven’t had the singular pleasure of listening to The Cave Singers on vinyl, you should make the time. Slow down, and make the time. I had thought their latest record, “Naomi” (Jagjaguwar, 2013), was out of print on vinyl. But just the other day I saw copies in a local record shop.
I made some notes about the band’s recent Shakedown set, so I’m posting them here, just because. Every Cave Singers LP has a complete LP feel to it, so exploring more than the top track or two is a rewarding analog adventure. This is also a band that writes songs with haunting, layered lyrics. Having the artifact in hand, whether it be a CD or LP, gets you into the song lyrics as much as the entire sonic landscape (with my Rega turntable, they be sonic). The Shakedown set was, by my reckoning (I might have missed a song title or two), mostly built from their earlier records, which are out of print on vinyl. Still, treat yourself. Buy “Naomi” and let this amazing band speak to you.
Leap (from “Welcome Joy“)
Clever Creatures (from “No Witch“)
Summer Light (from “Welcome Joy”)
At the Cut (from “Welcome Joy”)
Shrine (from “Welcome Joy”)
Helen (from “Invitation Songs“)
Swim Club (from “No Witch”)
Haller Lake (from “No Witch”)
Beach House (from “Welcome Joy”)
Faze Wave (from “No Witch”; I LOVE this track, which you can see performed live here)
No Prosecution If We Bail (from “No Witch”)
Black Leaf (from “No Witch”)
Our next LP from Untide Records is officially at the plant, a double LP reissue, first time on vinyl, of Chris Pureka‘s haunting “How I Learned to See In the Dark.” This collection will include the full CD release, mastered for vinyl, and one side of bonus live-studio tracks done at the legendary Daytrotter Sessions studio. A modern master recording artist, this is a career-defining record for Chris. Vinyl is good.
And here’s a video of Chris performing “Wrecking Ball,” which is on “How I Learned to See In the Dark.”
Cave light, with disco ball.
The first time playing The Shakedown Tavern, and indeed Bellingham, by the band’s own admission, last night we were treated to a rare sighting of The Cave Singers in a very small house. Holding just 88 patrons, The Shakedown is small-bar country, and it still wasn’t a sold-out evening. But for the faithful, it was an almost unmatched pleasure seeing a band of their mastery playing up close, on a hot summer night. If you’ve even listened to one of The Cave Singers LPs you’ll have noticed their full sound. And it’s just fours guys (three last night; Morgan Henderson wasn’t present, but we still got Pete Quirk, Derek Fudesco, and Marty Lund). Recording artists running with the big-dog labels Matador and Jagjaguwar. Tonight they play the New Frontier Lanes Lounge in Tacoma, another tiny shop. If you’re into last-minute screaming road trips down I-5 hell-bent on seeing top-tier talent in a small venue, saddle up. Do it now! Hell, I might even do it, too. Call me. We can share gas money.
The Music of the World Is Never Dead 