Boy are we lucky! San Francisco's Orange Peels are gracing our fair city with not one but two shows in Ballard on Friday! You may remember how much we loved them in at San Francisco popfest last year (we really, really did).

Here's a video of "Something Strange Happened to Me Last Night" from last year's set.

more...

My mind is being blown as I look at my calendar pages for today and tomorrow. On top of the intoxicating sunshine the weather folk have predicted for the weekend, the indie-gods have bestowed a packed schedule of wonderfulness:

APRIL 16-18: EMP Pop Conference
It's going to be full of great sessions around this year's topic of sounds and the machines that make them. This year I'm most excited about hearing Tim Quirk and his look at "The Quiet Revolution: From the Walkman to the iPod, How Portability and Infinite Storage Have Changed the Way We Listen, and What We Listen To" on Friday at 10.45am. Catching Mike McGonigal moderating "Identity Projects" and Michaelangelo Matos on the "Interrogating the Digital" - both on Sunday - will rock 33 1/3 socks off as well.

APRIL 17: Record Store Day
Empty out your canvas bag and your bus pass, it's time to take Seattle record stores by storm on an all day tour picking up a slew of very special limited edition releases to remind us all how important it is to support out local independent record stores.  I am most looking forward to getting to Jigsaw Records in time to pick up each release in their LTD RSD-only series (only 25 will be pressed!) with floppies by Math and Physics Club and BOAT. (full scoop)

{even more amazing things to do this weekend after the jump!}

And I'm sure I missed something... what else is going on this weekend? All this fun must be a thank you for getting our taxes done on time, right?

more...

There have been rumblings all over the internet of the special Record Store Day-only releases that will hit the shelves on this most holy day.  Personally, I've mapped out my route from Jigsaw Records (Ballard) to Sonic Boom (Ballard) to Damaged Records (Belltown) to  Easy Street (Queen Anne) to make sure my canvas bag is full with the celebratory bingeing and I catch all the special instore performances and swag they have planned for the big day.

I've had a hard time finding a list of everything that will be available on RSD, but thanks to an indie shop in Michigan (Sound It Out) who kindly listed a bunch of really special RSD releases, I have the start of a skeleton wishlist of things I want to pick up:
1. R.E.M. Chronic Town 12″ EP (Previously out of print debut; limited edition blue vinyl, individually numbered)
2. The Thermals/The Cribs Split 7″ single
3. Superchunk “Misfits and Mistakes”/”Misfits and Mistakes” 7″ (Meatwad version, picture disc release; autographed by the band)
4. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists “The Oldest House”/”North Coast” 7″
5. Telekenisis “Dirty Thing”/”Non-Toxic, The Drawback” 7″ (2 songs exclusive to this RSD release)

One stop I'm most excited about is the newest of independent stores around town, Jigsaw Records (remember their cute opening party?). Jigsaw has arranged to have some ultra-limited-edition floppy records cut featuring songs by some of my favorite indie-pop bands: Math & Physics Club, BOAT, and Mill Kids. When I say limited, I mean like only 25 of each release will be in circulation.

more...

at Jigsaw Records

This Saturday Jigsaw Records opened it's indie-pop doors to the public. The shop, located on the second floor of Resolution Audio in Ballard is a wee place full of indie-pop rarities that make my heart beat triple-time. No matter what your favorite indie-pop format, I am fairly certain you can find whatever is on your ebay seach list here (or owner guy Chris could connect with the record label to find a copy). There are scads of new and used cds (even 3-inch cds), delectable vinyl selections, cassette tapes (yep!), and even badges and zines to round out your packed indie canvas bag.

For the meek among us, the store might seem a bit intimidating to find. It is set in the far northeast corner of the antique-mall style second floor of the fancy audio shop. Once you make it through the downstairs shop to the carpeted stairs in the far back, pass the heavy metal / death metal record store, head straight back to Jigsaw where Chris will most likely greet you with open arms full of sweet jangly pop.

The best and most dangerous part? All of that rare and out of print stuff isn't priced as such. As our coolest Finest Kiss friend put it, the stuff is set at "90's prices."

Saturday night's show spotlighted the Seattle talent that fits right into Jigsaw's mission statement of featuring "indiepop, power pop, indie rock, lo-fi pop, twee, and pretty much any other kind of fun pop music that we fancy" with performances by Math & Physics Club and D. Crane of BOAT. It was MAPC's first appearance in two years and a very rare solo set by D. Crane of BOAT.

more...