Fans of all things Carrie Brownstein have an extra reason to rejoice this holiday season: having just wound up her amazing Wild Flag tour, Brownstein and SNL's Fred Armisen have recently announced they are taking their comedy hit Portlandia on the road with a six-city tour! The duo don't just star in the series, they also co-created and wrote everything too, accounting for the ease with which the characters interact onscreen. Can't you just imagine the pair sitting in a cafe together, brainstorming and kidding around?  There are so many great moments in the series, from the "Flyer Wars" skit, to one couple's quest to find out just "how local" their locally sourced meal is... whether you're a self-proclaimed hipster, cyclist, or groupie, there's sure to be a moment in the series where you find that you and your friends are gently laughing at yourselves (I, like many of us, have been known to "put a bird on it" myself).

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There's a sad-hearted party going on next Thursday, and you're invited.

Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter will be taking the stage down at the Showbox at the Market a week from tomorrow {8/4} in celebration of the new release, Marble Son. Already hailed a triumph by folks who've gotten their hands it, Marble Son is definitely cause for cheer, even though the content is shot through with melancholy leanings. Here's a little more about it from Jesse:

I liked the idea of something beautiful that may or may not be appreciated in its own time... of course, a statue comes to mind. They seem to last forever and are beautiful and viable even as they disintegrate. Some were built so well that their dissolution is almost more powerful because it exposes the process and the bare essentials are revealed - we are left with an arm, a torso - and sometimes those parts say enough. There's a line in the song "Marble Son" that goes - "Oh marble son why cant I love you more? I wish I'd found you beautiful before." Many things I didn't see beauty in when I was young, I find beautiful now, and visa-versa.

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You read that right: the Mountain Goats are coming back to the Showbox (yay!) and we've got a pair of tickets to give away (double yay!) to one lucky winner.

Lucky enough to have a Seattle stop on the schedule in the middle of a smattering of dates -- there's less than two dozen stateside shows on the docket from now until early August -- our fair city will be seeing some of our favorite boys down on 1st Ave. this coming Thursday, June 16th. They're this leg of the tour with openers Midtown Dickens, who are promised to be a stomping good time. And whether you're a fan of the recent release All Eternals Deck, or if your heart belongs to 2009's The Life of the World to Come -- from our experience, the show promises to bring a great cross-section of the Mountain Goats' current and back catalog to the gritty dirt of the stage.

But enough waxing on -- here's the details on how to win!

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at Showbox at the Market

Even though they are few and far between, every once in a while a band with lasting power comes out of nowhere. The Black Angels is certainly one of them. At this point, they have been around long enough to release three LPs while continuing to steadily grow in popularity, but they still seem like a recent discovery. The group was just here in November, but that didn’t stop fans from filling up the Showbox for their appearance. From the moment that they climbed aboard the stage on Tuesday evening, Austin’s best psychedelic entourage had the audience in a drugged out trance.

Amidst a black and white backdrop and heavy strobe lights, The Black Angels were captivating no matter what substances anybody was under the influence of. Their first record, the Velvet Underground meets Thirteenth Floor Elevators meets Spacemen 3 masterpiece, Passover, was well represented in the setlist. The filthy, droning “The Sniper at the Gates of Heaven” sounded as good as ever and the immortal dirge “Black Grease,” with its angry, loosely anti-war “kill kill kill kill” refrain was moving. Singer, Alex Maas, was pouring himself into this one, as always.

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Friday night was one of those nights we forgot we were working -- of course, Friday night being the sold-out show at the Showbox with The Head and the Heart, Lemolo, and The Devil Whale. In between the big-guitar feel-good riffs of the The Devil Whale, Lemolo's mesmerizing sparse brand of genius, and THatH's forty-five-minutes-to-the-minute (plus a three-song encore) professionally polished set, we managed to snap off a few shots -- you know, when we weren't dancing, swooning, tweeting, or singing along to every word coming off the stage.

We're happy to report that THatH's songs have evolved beautifully, and having been present at last summer's Sonic Boom and Comet shows, we can safely say that not one ounce of that thing they do was watered down by the size of the stage or the vibe of the room. Naysayers be, um, nayed! Instead, here's a big fat bravo, lady and gents. You've certainly earned it.

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If you were lucky enough to catch The Head and the Heart's sold-out show at Neumos a few months back, you know just how excited we are about this Friday.

Back in January, THatH took the stage at Neumos with Lemolo and Curtains For You, one of the first shows they played where we stood with fellow "I saw the Sonic Boom set last summer" fans and realized we didn't know most of the people in the room. Well, as the nation's well aware (yes, the nation, not just the Pacific Northwest anymore), this band has been going onward and upward on a steady pace since -- up to and including the current west coast tour that has them playing two nights in Seattle this weekend. On Friday, April 29th, THatH will be playing to a sold out Showbox with Lemolo and the The Devil Whale, and the next night finds them at the Moore (yep, that's sold out too) with Grand Hallway and Ivan & Alyosha. Both nights are sure to make the mark, but we're definitely excited that we've got tickets in our hot little hands for the Showbox version of this latest breeze-through-town installment from one of our new favorite hometown bands.

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Yep, you read that right: we've got an exclusive presale for David Bazan's just-announced Showbox show, and you are invited!

Bazan + Band will be taking the stage down at the Showbox (Market, of course) on July 16th -- a ways off, of course but tickets are going on sale this Saturday, April 16th. BUT: since you're an ever-informed imaginary reader, you've got the chance to pick up tickets before everyone else! Kind of like having a backstage pass to the box office, isn't it?

On Friday, April 15th, from 10a - 10p, you'll be able to pick up your advance ticket by pointing your clicker-finger to a special link (we'll be providing it on Friday morning) and entering our secret password to get past the gate. Easy peasy!

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Foals and Freelance Whales are going to be tearing up the Showbox tonight, and you'd best head on down there to soak up all the awes- oh, wait. It's sold out. Right. Sorry about that.

Well, in case there aren't any tickets released at the door, here's a mini-montage of videosongs from these Sub Pop roster-ers for you watch -- and subsequently kick yourself after viewing, once you realize what a crime against your own humanity it is that you didn't pick up tickets:

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It was quite the Monday night earlier this week, when Rhett Miller and the Old 97's took over the Showbox with a little help from Langhorne Slim. 2011 has started off with a run of great shows: nights with the Head and the Heart, Damien Jurado, Lemolo, Cahalen Morrison & Eli West, and Jose Bold have packed the last twenty-odd days (and that's just naming a few). Not to mention last weekend's Crafternoon, where we listened to the new Radio Dept. album and made some of the cutest Valentine's Day cards this side of the sound.

Coming up, we'll be seeing what's sure to be stellar evenings from Say Hi, Cotton Jones, The Builders and the Butchers, John Darnielle, the Cave Singers, and the annual Dancing on the Valentine spectacular, which is coming our way on February 11th at the Crocodile -- save that date! What's coming up on your dance card in the next few weeks? What have you seen in 2011 so far that's knocked your socks off? Talk about it below, and visit our imaginary flickr pool to fawn over (or add) some photos.

{Big thanks to David J. Lee for the shot of our favorite serial ladykiller above!}

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Save the date - The Naked And Famous (NZ's breakthrough band of 2010) has just announced a looooooong list of shows, and they're playing Showbox at the Market April 11th!

It's no secret that I'm stoked - TNAF was astoundingly successful last year and it's been amazing to see their hard work pay off.  To bring you up to speed, in June their single "Young Blood" was the first kiwi single to debut at number one on the NZ charts in sixteen years, and then in September went on to win the coveted APRA Silver Scroll, awarded to the "best-written song on commercial release". Their debut album, Passive Me, Aggressive You was certified gold, and as if that wasn't enough of a success story, the band moved to London at the end of the year, having secured a record deal with Fiction Records, home to such bands as White Lies, Elbow, Crystal Castles, Snow Patrol and The Cure. Whew!

This innovative five-piece has a lot to prove, and you bet they're going to bring a pounding, synth-and-distortion filled show. In the meantime, you can score a free download of their cover of The Mint Chicks' "Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!" here, and watch the gorgeous video for "Punching in a Dream" on Vimeo.

 

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