Three Imaginary Girls - Das Llamas

Das Llamas, RIP

imaginary dana — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:17:24 +0000

Seattle band Das Llamas just announced that they will "take an indefinite break so that its members may pursue other life interests."

Das Llamas: holy mother of God

Jeanine Anderson — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:04:23 +0000

12 Apr 2008

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The Wildrose seemed an odd venue for a Das Llamas performance but I couldn't pass up the chance to finally catch this local rock band live. I listen to Das Llamas when I'm in the mood for a little head-banging smarts. These guys deliver full-on throttle.

Saturday night's performance was a short set featuring songs from the upcoming release Class Wars: K-12 on Aviation Records. I particularly liked "The Rules." That is some smart song-writing there, boys, with it's fast and aggressive build-up of tension. Catch it on their MySpace.

Kerry Zettel's ability to simultaneously vox, axe, and bang on the keyboard is rad. His keyboard stands just to his right so he can switch between guitar and keys in a fraction of a flash. I doubt many even noticed - - that's how smooth and seamless it went. And the vocals? Holy mother of God.

I appreciated the foursome's delivery style: fully engaged, yet avoiding the tendency of greener bands to overperform to the point of distraction from the music. Das Llamas presents a perfect balance.

Das Llamas produces tight, smart, driving music, can deliver it live, and are absolutely ready for the next thing. Go get 'em.

Das Llamas produces tight, smart, driving music, and can deliver it live.

Join us Friday night for the second "Unscrew the Croc Employees" benefit show at Chop Suey

imaginary liz — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:09:10 +0000

Join us at Chop Suey this Friday (January 4th) for a second "Unscrew the Crocodile Employees Benefit Show" featuring stellar Seattle bands Coconut Coolouts, The Intelligence, The Girls, and Das Llamas.

Another UNSCREW the Crocodile Employees benefit in January

imaginary liz — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:44:15 +0000

It's good to know that there's a ton of folks who loved and miss the Crocodile and it's employees as much as we did.

Glory be to this town and the folks that have gathered the recent benefits to help the Crocodile employees who have found themselves suddenly and fairly inexplicably without jobs in this holiday season.

There's already a benefit planned at Chop Suey on 12/30, and Three Imaginary Girls is proud to help sponsor a second one, for Friday, January 4th at Chop Suey.

Les Savy Fav, with the Dodos & Das Llamas

heather b — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:40:14 +0000

30 Nov 2007

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Upon arrival at Neumo's Friday night, we found that the (unannouced) first band has already hit the stage, local Seattle band Das Llamas. Apparently they only found out they were playing this show two days beforehand, and they weren't even on the poster. My first impression of them was The Fall meets Animal Collective, but as the set went on I realized they draw from so many different influences, channeling the Black Angels and Wolf Parade at times. There was a lot of Joy Division in there, with heavy drums and heavier bass lines, with lots of good energy, and also a decent crowd for this band, considering it was so early in the set.

I was honestly surprised at how much I really really liked Das Llamas; it's not often that I'm so into an opening act I've not heard before. The majority of the guys in the band looked very young to me, but then I realized the lead vocalist is that dude I've been seeing at the Cha Cha for so many years. Ok, I knew he was in a band but I never saw them and honestly never expected it to be this good! My friends all agreed, Das Llamas is a very together outfit and they should go pretty far.

Next were the Dodos, who I also didnt know from Adam. They started out with just a single trombone (there just aren't enough horns in indie rock today), then the drums came in, pounding steadily and fast, like a rapid heartbeat. Dude was just tomming on the drums, it wasn't a full kit. Trombone kid then switched to accoustic guitar, both guys were singing different parts. The second song was more fast-paced than the first, again with the steady, fast drums and a little classical guitar influence creeping in. The fourth song, "The Vault" has really nice vocals, some afro-carribean beats and nice harmonies. Their last song started out really scaled down with minimalist, hollow vocals. It developed into a rangy, bluesy guitar bit and eventually it dropped back to a no-scale, single note guitar and then the drums kicked back into a frenetic pace. The song went on and on like this, swelling and subsiding, swelling and subsiding, and the audience really seemed to get off on it. It was great. The set got better and better with each song and I was simply amazed that they were only two guys.

The Dodos are only a simple two-piece band but they really pulled off some complex arrangements together. Alarmingly, this band also really reminded me of Animal Collective, although much less esoteric. The Dodos are from San Francisco and signed to French Kiss (same label as Les Savy Fav) only a couple of days before this show. Once again, another opening band I wouldn't mind seeing headline.

Ok, so I'm sure everyone knows at this point, but Les Savy Fav really tore up the crowd at Neumo's. They played album-quality good and the crowd was crazy for them. They have a huge fan-base in Seattle apparently and they didn't disappoint the kids. Frontman Tim Harrington took the stage wearing a stuffed unicorn on his head, which was hilarious. They started out with "The Equestrian," which my non-Savy friend even said reminded him of riding horses. During this song, we actually had to hide upstairs, the crowd was so intense. They followed "Equestrian" with "Patty Lee," which is my favorite song and it couldn't have sounded any better. People were dancing and singing everywhere, even in the balconies, which is unusual for a Neumo's show. The band remained true to form all night: creative, energetic, degenerate, and cacophonous, with lots of chunky beats and bouncy, rolling guitars, high energy and just a lot of fun in general.

Les Savy Fav really have their shit together, as they should for having been together for so long. Dude was all over the audience and even up into the sound booth; he's like a cult leader with his wacky, mad-scientist hair and it seems like a lot of this crowd would follow him anywhere. The venue was packed to the gills and it was easy to get carried away by the fever pitch swelling all around me. I don't think I've ever seen an actual mosh pit in the normally tame Neumo's. They encored with "Who Rocks The Party," which was great and seemed to go on forever, and at the end the guitarist was high-fiving all the audience members up front. It was hilarious.

The band remained true to form all night: creative, energetic, degenerate, and cacophonous, with lots of chunky beats and bouncy, rolling guitars, high energy and just a lot of fun in general.

Bumber-preview: KEXP interviews

elle — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:10:53 +0000

My feature over on the KEXP Blog for Audioasis this week is an enormous interview feature from eight local bands: Mono in VCF, Seaweed, Das Llamas, Shake Some Action, Fleet Foxes, Sneaky Thieves, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, and Saturna.

World War

NYC Kelly D — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:56:01 +0000

7.5

http://www.amazon.com/World-War-Das-Llamas/dp/B000RJSCNG/wwwthreeimagi-20

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On their third release, World War, Das Llamas mix hammering hooks, dub bass lines and propulsive percussion to craft gritty music that reflects post-punk and goth influences while incorporating elements of electroclash and no-wave. At times the instruments blend into a cacophonous blur of sound, but the music never veers into grating or atonal territory. Throughout the album, the band enigmatically manages to strike a balance between frenzied, speedy riffs and danceable melodies.

Lead singer Kerry Zettel’s voice combines high-octane intensity with full-bodied blues and his vocals are simultaneously velvety and venomous. He delivers a full range of screams and drones, but even at his most angst-ridden moments there is a melodic (albeit acerbic) tone to his voice.

His baleful bellow adds a shadowy undertone to “Whoa Oh Oh,” a playful and catchy collection of synthesizers and jagged guitars. Throbbing rhythms share center stage with Zettel’s vocals, and full-throttle drumming complements his frantic delivery on “Wood on Bone.” This song is the first cut on World War, and it introduces the listener to Das Llamas’ menacing guitars and malicious lyrics: “We took the money just for fun, but broke their legs so they won’t run.”

“The Wedding Song” begins sedately, and during the opening bars it’s easy to assume that the song may even be a ballad. But gloomy guitars and aching, angry vocals quickly make it clear that this is not a tune triumphing marital bliss. “The Others” is an eerie, but harmonic combination of the Das Llamas' quintessential sound, with spastic guitars, fat bass lines, and rich vocals.

Das Llamas’ music could never be described as joyful, but amidst all the growling, guttural savagery there is always a jocular levity that keeps you gleefully bopping to the beat while you barbarically bang your head.

JITM at Night lineup announced on the JITM show

imaginary dana — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:32:06 +0000

Happily, this morning John Richards (aka John in the Morning) announced the lineup for his next John in the Morning at Night show, and played a song from each artist.