at The Tractor Tavern

 

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{Dave Alvin, Christy McWilson, Kasey Anderson, and Andrew McKeag are playing a benefit for Susie Tennant on Tuesday, October 11, at the Tractor Tavern.}

Susie Tennant is an incredible lady, having helped the Seattle music community in a gazillion different ways: from promoting Sub Pop artists with the verve and creativity of the artists and the owners of the label, and more recently running amazing literary and related events at one of Seattle's best night-life venues, Town Hall. She had recently been struggling with cancer therapy, and while things are looking great there's still a ton of medical bills. So giving back to Susie continues after the big Nirvana Live bash at the EMP (where dozens of local musicians helped out covering songs from the DGC album she publicized), with the next leg being tonight's must-see benefit show at the Tractor.

This will be a benefit I personally won't miss, as it is headlined by one of my favorite musicians of all time, Dave Alvin. You have to understand, and I can only quote Danny Bland {one-time Sub Pop co-worker of Susie's and guitar player for Catt Butt, Best Kissers in the World, and Dwarves guitarist} on this -- that Dave Alvin was in (and the primary songwriter for) the greatest band in the world: The Blasters. This was a rockabilly group signed to Slash back in the day of X in the early 80s, and their self-titled album and protest-driven Non-Fiction on that label are in my all time top twenty LPs. I was living in Hollywood in those days and the well-played sweaty revelry they inspired has never been quite matched at any other shows I've attended. Traditional musicians set loose in the cultural labyrinth of punk, they gave the scene rocking authenticity and more musical strength in their downtrodden upbeat anthems than any new wave dance band could muster.

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My love affair with Langhorne Slim began many years ago (sadly, 2005 is indeed 'many' at this point, definitely more than 'a few') in a tiny room at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City. KEXP was doing a live broadcast, and I'd taken the week off from work to hang out in the city, hand out swag, set up chairs, go on coffee runs, you know -- all that glamorous stuff. And somewhere out in the dusty corners of the interwebs there's several pages of blog posts about that week in the city, including this series of sunshine-through-the-window moments that made up Langhorne's set on John (Richards)'s show. You know. Back when every moment of every set warranted a three thousand word review:

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As is the case most every week in Seattle, our nights are filled with options upon options for amazing music to take in -- open mic nights, big theater shows, dirty little clubs, and everything in-between. Fresh off the Fleet Foxes / Cave Singers show Monday night, we found ourselves pressed to the front of the Tractor's stage on Tuesday for the double-set of gorgeousness that was Jessica Lea Mayfield and Nathaniel Rateliff. The combination of their performances was a true set 'em up, knock 'em down one-two punch that had us emptying our bank account out at the merch table at the end fo the night, snapping up everything there was to be had and begging the artists for a hasty return.

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Two things that are making Friday very extra Friday-y: A., This image is causing a full-frontal poster-gorgeousness coma. B., Goldfinch is playing the Tractor on Sunday night! Be excited. Be very, very excited for both of these things. (Especially since we have a pair of tickets to give away to the show.)

But before we get to the give, let's get to the get: Goldfinch is a hell of a band. First dropped oh-so-ceremoniously onto the Imaginary Radar by none other than the fair John Roderick during one of his Triple Door shows last summer, these guys (and gal) couple a painful level of lyrical honesty with a haunted undertone that's positively enrapturing. There's almost nothing they haven't done on stage that isn't pure gold, and seriously -- if they can pull something like this off on a whim at a rest stop at 3am, think about what an entire legit show must be like:

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Upon opening the imaginary inbox to read the Tractor's calendar email yesterday afternoon, I almost had an accident. Right there at the desk. Because two of 2010's heavy-rotation best-of-list abounding artists -- for me, at least -- are coming together for one show, on a tiny stage in Ballard, and it's my humble opinion that Seattle proper should literally be beside itself with excitement. Sweet-throated alt.indie.crooner Jessica Lea Mayfield is heading out on tour with none other than last year's Prince of Make-It-Hurt-So-Good Nathaniel Rateliff.

Neither of these artists needs an introduction, but in the event that you're not familiar, Daytrotter has radical sessions from each of them up on their site that will give you a good taste of their respective sounds. {Jessica's is here, and Nathaniel's is here.} While they share a common undercurrent of soul-bearing earnestness, JLM -- who will be headlining the night -- has a catchy, sexy, post-folk type of sound that contrasts nicely with Nathaniel's straightforward harmony-loaded achecore. She's traded her campfire sing-a-long undercurrent from the last release for a little-black-dress-sometimes kind of sound, and it's really winning for her. (If you want to play along at home, listen to the studio cuts "For Today" and/or "Kiss Me Again" from With Blasphemy So Heartfelt, and then hop on over to her website at http://jessicaleamayfield.com for a free download of the new single, "Our Hearts are Wrong.") It could be a next-album kind of maturity, or perhaps a different producer -- but whatever it is, her vibe has definitely shifted and started a new course.

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My favorite Earth era is 90's Earth: straight-ahead drone, somewhat melodic, altogether mesmerizing. I tend to not be the most generous music fan when bands I enjoy begin to incorporate elements and tweaking their sound, so when The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull came out, I was a bit disappointed. "What is this alt-country vibe? And Bill Frisell is on this? Say wha?" But don't listen to ol' stick in the mud me -- I would have to say that that LP was a great welcoming call to all the stick-in-the-muds who may shy away from genre labels such as "drone" or "experimental," but would be likely to check out something with a more accessible sound.

This may all sound like I don't really dig Earth anymore, which is not the case at all. I am ecstatic to have to chance to watch them perform material from their new album Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light: 1 at the Tractor on March 3rd. It's their album release show, and promises to be a magical night of music!

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Gird your weary loins, as you have approximately one day after Bumbershoot 2010 to prepare for a multi-genre mini-festival at the Tractor. Shonen Knife is headlining, and after recently watching their live DVD Live At Mohawk Place 2009 about a dozen times (featuring excellent work by new drummer Emi), I am anxious to see the Japanese punk pop trio of goddesses light a fire to classics such as "Banana Chips," "Giant Kitty," and the new, no-need-to-explain band anthem "Super Group." I highly recommend getting the DVD (on MVD) to see the band touring behind the album has that last song as its title track, as it lovingly captures the band lo-fi with delirious high energy and sass.

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I can guarantee you that tonight's show at the Tractor will be the best $6.00 you spend all week. Period.

I make no bones about the fact that my inner sad bastard has had a love affair going with Pablo Trucker since about five minutes after I met Seattle. Spending endless mornings before work at Victrola up on 15th for my first few months in town, I caffeinated across the bar from Andrew Rudd -- who I knew only as a raging barista who worked in a music shop. Come to find out, he was a percussionist (and then one-half) of the band Pablo Trucker, who write some of the saddest songs I've ever loved to be slain by. Doppio, swoon, ache. Lather, rinse, repeat.

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Dear Seattle: You do not want to miss Matt Bishop's set at the Tractor tonight. The end.

If you were fortunate enough to see our favorite local seven-piece indie.orchestra-pop band's frontman go solo at the last City Arts Song Show, you are familiar with the awesomeness of which we speak. Matt Bishop, of the highly-esteemed, new vinyl-releasin', fresh-off-still-kinda-mid-tour Hey Marseilles, puts on a solo show that does not dissapoint -- the City Arts set was full of stripped down full-band favorites and a few new takes on some sweet old covers. All that and a choice set of interview questions for a lovely evening did make.

Drooling yet? Well, fret not: if you missed Matt's last showcase showdown, you've got yourself a second chance. Perched in the opening spot for Peasant tonight sits HM's lead songsterer, doing a full solo set for the proverbial cause. He's been dropping love notes via Facebook invites that direct the masses to his newly ressurected MySpace page -- where four previously unreleased solo tracks have been put forth for our listening pleasure. And really good ones, at that: one of our new non-negotiable, can't-live-without tracks is Matt's gorgeous, sparse cover of "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS.

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