Austinitic tore it up. They deliver not just songs, but compositions. The shit is tight. Bass player Ross Martins' style is sick: the dude plays chords on his bass and not just 5ths.  He fluidly flips between strumming strange chords and then running odd melodic lines.  While sing/shouting. It is fierce. Drummer Kelly Mynes compliments with equal ferocity.  They are a force.    Did a couple covers: "Message In A Bottle" by The Police and "Anxious Mo-Fo" by The Minutemen. Both well chosen. Written about these guys before -- great to see em again.

Then Wax Fingers.  They were the analog to Austinitc: two guitars no bass.  Lots of hypnotic, syncopated songs. Layers of loops. Some loops from computer, some from pedals.  Usually no vocals. One song with megaphone into microphone, creating this disturbing rant effect.

By Sunlight played too, but left before their set.

Warm summer night in Seattle. Didn’t have ticket or press pass and didn’t know it was sold out. Scalpers looking for$80.  And then walks by Dan Boeckner. Started talking with him and he put me on the guest list – what a nice guy!

Got in to catch most of Moools. Japanese indie rock.  Singer letting loose with bravado singing anthems in the key of D, bouncing around and putting on a show.  Everything sung in Japanese. Occasionally would pick up a plastic flute or harmonica and eek out a few notes and then would abruptly discard them.  Bassist shed glasses midway through set.  Everybody playing Fenders. What a fun band. Reminded me of Toddle, who I saw in 2008 at house party at SxSW.  Really liked these guys. Moools rules.

No band sounds quite like Wolf Parade.  They have their own distinct sound.  Put on a helluva show, sweating and singing and generally giving everything. These guys are kind of intense. Cool to see Boeckner and Krug trade back and forth. Boeckner going for the indie rock anthems, like the indie Bruce Springsteen; Krug writing songs with creative keyboard riff stomps. Audience super into it, going wild between songs and fired up during the music, dancing, cheering, yelling. The Wolf Parade guys seems genuinely flattered – perhaps haven’t got this kind of reception during other spots on the tour.  Seattle represents, showed them the indie rock love!  They came back out for encores after extended stompin and hollerin. 

The Dead Weather had a lot to live up to, headlining the main stage of 2010's Capitol Hill Block Party. An event featuring bands like !!! dumping Coca Cola over themselves, Atmosphere enticing us with beats and rhymes, Holy Fuck performing with pure energy, and MGMT reminding us how overrated they are.

As the sun set on Sunday, the crowd rose with excitement. People climbed up walls, crowded the stubborn block, and huddled close to experience the Dead Weather. Girls were flashing their breasts just to move up and through the crowd.

And how did the Dead Weather respond to all the excitement? By putting on a fucking good show. They presented themselves like a real rock band; with attitude, energy, style, and flat out good song. Alison Mosshart is the ideal front woman, coming out with the punk rock look, smoking cigarettes between songs, and still belting out sharp vocals. Dean Fertita plays guitar and keys with concentration and still finds time to stare at the crowd as if he is trying to seduce us. And Jack White, the ideal pick for being the classic guitarist of our generation, played the role as the cool drummer. He came out and rocked us with power with ease. He showed us it was possible to be a front man behind the scenes. And he reminded us how awesome he really is. When he picked up a guitar to play their slow blues number "Will There Be Enough Water?" it looked like he was reconnecting with his third arm. I can't wait to tell my kids I saw Jack White live.

The band rocked through a solid set, opening with tracks from their first album, like "60 Feet Tall", "Hang You From the Heavens" and covering Van Morrison with "You Just Can't Win". After "I Cut Like a Buffalo" they tore up some new songs with "The Difference Between Us" and "Die By the Drop".

It was nice to see a real rock band move the hipster crowd on Capitol Hill.

After seeing Cataldo open for Rebecca Gates at the Sunset, got a chance to interview Eric, the force behind Cataldo:

artofthemix: So what is the story with Cataldo? How long have you guys been playing?  Who is in the band?

Eric: The band is, more or less, just me with many pal-laborators.  The first record came out in 2005, so I suppose 5 years or so.  We've always toured here and there but recently a bit more, our first time abroad, and our first time with a relatively static live unit in seattle.

artofthemix: Can you talk about the new album?  Where was it recorded? Who produced it?  When might it be released?

Eric: We're about 3/4 done with tracking.  We've been recording at a few studios in Seattle (Avast and Orbit) with overdubs at my house with my equipment.  I suppose it's "produced" by me.  We're shooting to be done mixing sometime late this summer/early fall.

artofthemix: A lot of performers don't talk between songs these days. But you do!  Can you speak to that? 

Eric: It really depends on the context.  Sometimes people are totally silent and into it--in which case I feel the need to talk a bit more while we tune/shuffle around.  I feel pretty comfortable in that setting, or at least aware of the weirdness of being on a stage with people watching you play music, and I feel like a little one-sided conversation feels a little more normal.

artofthemix: And, you asked the audience if they had any questions at your Sunset show. What's your thoughts on that?

Eric: I think I had to tune more...

artofthemix: "Tender folk rock:"  Tell me more.

Eric: Doesn't seem to be that trendy at the moment, but it's just what keeps coming out.  I'm hoping I get lumped more with Bill Callahan rather than, like, Ryan Cabrera

artofthemix: I see you are playing the Croc this month.  Have you played since the remodel? Before the remodel? Thoughts on the venerable Croc?

Eric: I have played there a few times since the remodel, never before.  I like that room, it feels a little big for where I'm at right now, but the sound is good, they're well staffed, and they have a big stage which is surprisingly important for lankier folks like myself.  In an ideal world it wouldn't be located in belltown, but you can't have it all.

artofthemix: Do you ever play solo? Or always with a band?

Eric: I do play solo, in fact I'm playing solo at Whitman College on September 3rd!

artofthemix: Three words that best describe Cataldo:

Eric: Shifty, Cautious, Tall

Maps on Fire with e-bow usage. Lots of play with digital delay. A song about a bird with a broken wing.  Drama.

Olivette mostly with two guitars no bass except a couple songs.  Some keyboard. Big vocals.

Walked by Michael Shrieve's Spellbinder set, guitarist shredding.

Here are the flyers from the High Dive show:

Been listening to Laura Marling's I Speak Because I Can.   The genre tag for the record states Alternative & Punk but don't think that quite fits the bill. More like dramatic folk.  Most of it is pretty damn serious, pretty damn somber. Ironically "Darkness Descends"  is the most upbeat track on the record.  Kinda dig that track especially once it kicks in. "Devil's Spoke" is pretty tight too.  A bit of an accent permeates through her husky tenor.  A lot of it seems to be a break-up record of sorts; that's a read on it.  The lyrics aren't cryptic: "I miss his smell..."  "I wrote an epic letter to him..." "And he blames me for every wrong ever he made..." "oh give me to a rambling man..."  you git the idear.

Here's an exclusive pic from of Laura on stage at Sasquatch 2010 :

photo by Adam Forslund

Sittin at the bar in the Blue Moon with the Mariners down 1-0 in the bottom of the eighth against the damn Yankees. Jose Lopez blasted a grand slam and then Felix Hernandez struck out two in the 9th to finish it and pitch a complete game. Applause in the bar as the Mariners made us feel good.

An auspicious start to a rare show by Trip Audrey. They played mostly tunes from their record Please Do the Needful with a few other songs thrown in that haven't been recorded but can be found as demos done by Hunior.  This included "Fertility", giving it a country twang, sounded great. And they also busted out "Twenty To One" also sounding good. Closed the set with a tune called "Mary Queen of Scots" the lead singer, Josh Lanza, letting loose.  These days, yr as likely to find Josh singing Russian songs as American stuff -- check out some of his Russian material up on YouTube. Nice to see these guys bustin it out.

Here's some footage from the show of them doing Hattie, another old school fav:

Hattie (Partial) from Erynn Rose on Vimeo.

Seattle Beer Fest a bit of a rip as the economics of tickets plus alcohol made for a racket. $2.50 a ticket -- beer served in 4 ounce portions -- beers up to 4 tickets. So, even at 1 ticket, you're paying $7.50 for a bottle of beer.  You can do the math for a 4 ticket beer. Ouch.

Anyway, under the Space Needle sipping the 1 ticket beer w/ highest alcohol content (Beer Valley Leafer Madness Double IPA) listening to Clarence Gallagher, who had the old timey thing going on, white kid trying to sound like a 50 year old black guy. Sorta worked, sorta didn't. And then Knut Bell and the Blue Collars, who was trying to sound like Johnny Cash. The Blue Collar guitarist ripped some nice solos. 

Blue collar, white collar: what's the new collar color?

Caught  Angelo Spencer. Songs sorta americana w/ blues licks. And folk rants. And there was a song in French. Also analog modulator device warping the sound. Last song was a practice. Like being in the basement with them.

Then Shenandoah Davis on piano with people gathered around all old-timey like. She let loose songs with songful chord progressions. A vocal style that could mesmerize. Heartfelt and tuneful.  And chatting between songs, various anecdotes and what not. 

 After catching Rebecca Gates and The Consortium at The Sunset, I got a chance to interview her:

artofthemix: Great to see you back playing and touring. Tell us about your latest work.

rebeccagates: thank you. the album has been in slow motion on back and side burners for a couple years. it's in the mixing stage. there's some info about it here:http://parcematone.wordpress.com/the-new-album. in a sense it's a mix of the spinanes albums and ruby series. worked towards silence and some balls out rock n roll. will see how it finishes.

artofthemix: Who exactly is The Consortium?  And how did you end up playing with them?

rebeccagates: the consortium is wide ranging and includes anyone playing with me. the group you saw the other evening is ji tanzer (blue cranes), rebecca cole (hungry holler, minders) and joanna bolme (jicks, quasi). i really enjoy playing solo, but have been craving a band experience. hit it in spades.

artofthemix: The drummer is amazing!  What is his story?

rebeccagates: ji is amazing. he is a time traveler who graces many forms of music and conquers continental divides. he names bands and also plays in blue cranes, a great 5 piece from portland.

artofthemix:  What are the plans for the new record? Where will it be recorded?  Who is producing it?  Sense of when it will be out?

rebeccagates: the record is tracked (see above). it was engineered/production assisted by howard bilerman (vic chestnutt, silver mt zion), stuart sikes (catpower, loretta lynn), mcentire, kendra lynn, mark greenberg. i've produced or co-produced all my records and this is the same. joanna is amazing to have around in a studio, super talented. regarding getting it out into the world i'm still figuring the best way to release it. it's looking like a self issue, but we'd like to do it proper and tour. might be time for a kickstart.

artofthemix: You seem to be embracing the internet -- Twitter, your Tumblr blog, etc. What are your thoughts on the internet here in 2010?

rebeccagates: recalcitrant, reluctant & slightly embracing. i find the internet amazing but not the cure-all/savior/answer it's heralded as. always loved
telegrams and whispers. thus i love twitter. i think if i spent as much time playing music as i have to spend on the computer re: music and all the web facets, i might be today's jimi hendrix.......

artofthemix: The Jimi Hendrix cover was cool. Why that cover?  Do you do many covers?

rebeccagates: not too many. i love that song and think his vocal is incredible. we wanted to make it about the lyric and vocal and give the bassist and drummer some.

artofthemix: How big a basketball fan are you? Celtics would have won if they have had Perkins in Game 7, methinks.

rebeccagates: i'm a doc rivers fan. don't follow basketball too much. i am, however, a complete cycling nerd.