Another discovery via my boyfriend - I love, love, LOVE the way this Portland band rocks my socks off! I can’t really put a label on what they do (they call it indie/alternative/pop-post-punk, so I guess they can’t either), all I know is: it is awesome. Watching them live in this KEXP video at Bumbershoot last year makes me all giddy with anticipation.

I’m unsure if I’ll be able to make it to the show on Friday, but you absolutely should because it’s going to be a bouncy night of super-fun with The Thermals, Unnatural Helpers and White Fang. Swing on by Moe Bar to buy some tix, or pick them up online here.

Friday, 1.21 at Neumos
Doors @8pm
Cover: $12 (Advance)
All Ages, Bar w/ID

{Sailor Jerry presents Unnatural Helpers and The Intelligence @The Crocodile, Wednesday, 12/22. FREE WITH RSVP ONLY}

Chances are, if you live in Seattle, you may have played in the Unnatural Helpers. I hope to someday play in the Unnatural Helpers (note to band: slow the songs down 80% and I am so down). A few things I enjoy about this band: their songs are short, which means you get more rock for your buck - which is economical! They care about your wallet! Also, I heard Dean Whitmore likes to save baby seals from poachers in his spare time. And their songs make you want to fist pump  and jump around.

The Intelligence's Boredom and Terror is one of my favorite albums. It would do fans of sloppy post-rock (with a dab of noisy) well to check this band out. If you're a fan of the Helpers there's a good chance you will love The Intelligence. If you like music in general, there's a good chance you will enjoy them. Get what I'm saying here? The Intelligence + Unnatural Helpers = YES SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?

AND Sailor Jerry is bringing this all to you on Wednesday. For free. At the Crocodile. Doors at 8pm. If you can't buy booze without a fake i.d. then don't bother coming. You just have to RSVP here!

Oh! I almost forgot! Show up way early because you'll want to start the night off right with Seattle's own Dancer & Prancer. I heard there might be free pizza - which you will only get if you watch their set! Get in the holiday spirit! Surf rock Christmas jamz for all!

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As we told you last week, Seattle is gathering together to honor the memory of SubPop's Andy Kotowicz by putting together a series of benefits and auctions to raise funds for the Andy Kotowicz Family Foundation.

This Friday, {11/19} The Unnatural Helpers and Partman Parthorse will take the Sunset Tavern stage to benefit the Andy Kotowicz Family Foundation. If you haven't seen either band, you're in for a humdinger of a show {as evidenced by the above photo}.

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It is sheer madness that there are so many great live performers appearing at Bumbershoot 2010 this year. This is my personal schedule to see a cross-section of irascible indie-ness (be it indie pop-friendly Pac NW hip-hop, indie rock, Brooklyn funk, etc.) but mostly focusing on those TIG-sparking artists who either put out a great record recently (and may or may not have gotten the deserved acclaim) or have one coming right up.

So let's begin the plan, and bear in mind if you haven't heard the music that may already be available from these performers, we would recommend checking the releases hyped below out before you attend Bumbershoot 2010. This is not because you would be in any way disappointed with what you will see and hear when you hit the full-genre full-on phenomenon that is the festival this year; just the opposite, we want you to already have some of these songs down to sing/chant/rap along when they pop during the sets. All are recommended and approved.

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{CHBP-tastic photo from the Imaginary Flickr Photo Pool by Explosion 5000}

Just waking up after the Capitol Hill Block Party pre-funk last night at The Croc (such nice people) hosted by the awesome people behind the CHBP promotions, having caught excellent sets by the garage-growling Unnatural Helpers and the riff-fluent but near space rock level elastic Obits. (I missed the headliners Holy Fuck due to wanting to get up early to make the CHBP as soon as possible.) A very happy, partying crowd welcomed the free show put on by Dickies and Filter magazine.

Here are lists of the bands that are playing the annual inner city festival this year by, of all things, what they claim to be:

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(Unnatural Helpers play Neumos April 13 with King Khan & The Shrines and The Fresh & Onlys)

It's kind of appropriate that last summer in Seattle hometown kerosine-crunch bashers Unnatural Helpers assisted Billy the Fridge and the other Top Pot celebrities fete the sugary fried breakfast-death eating frenzy of a Top Pot donut eating contest. Garage punk veterans Brian Standefort and Leo Gephardt (two Mr. Hydes from Idle Times and before that the Catheters and Tall Birds) combine the caterwauling and string crunching at the center of the Kurt Bloch-produced Cracked Love & Other Drugs, due out from Hardly Art on April 27. The Unnatural Helpers are the sound of diabetes-inducing bubblegum rock of a Buddha label band fermented into a sticky, vodka like liquor-treat as sticky and savage as a Stooges rant. (Hence, forced feeding donut comparison, and what must be the resulting OD sugar rush.)

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Here is a little free association test for you: When you hear the expression "competitive eating," what comes to mind?

If the answer wasn't a Mexican Elvis impersonator, well, you're probably not the only one, but it feels kind of appropriate, no?

Indie record label Light in the Attic is hosting their 3rd annual donut eating contest on Saturday, August 1st at 1p at Top Pot Doughnuts (5th Avenue location). This event is free to the public. There are a few fun and exciting changes this year for participants and cheerleaders alike, including the participation of four other record labels (Barsuk, Sub Pop, Suicide Squeeze, and Hardly Art).

The name of the game is doughnut eating, and apparently this will be a tag team-type affair. Volunteers from the audience will be selected at random and teamed up with one of the five label representatives to scoff down as many rings of fried deliciousness as possible.

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