Detroit duo Adult. put on one hell of a great, creepy, danceworthy show Saturday night at Chop Suey.  Here's a few photos I shot:

 

Photo courtesy of Brooklynvegan. Click for more!

Here's Björk, being herself, in the phenomenal costume she wore on Friday night at Coachella. As you'll see if you click the link above, she came out for "Earth Intruders" looking like a character from Star Wars, but quickly stripped to reveal this skull bodice/multicolor hula skirt combo. Her backing band of female singers/horn players wore colored robes and similar alien markings on their foreheads, looking like the chicks in Logan's Run, or valley girls who got hold of too much neon sunscreen.

Björk sang the most rocking songs from her new album Volta (including "Wanderlust" and "Innocence"- I think...the one with an "Unh!" as a beat, the heaviest song she's made in years), and the rest was Greatest Hits territory. Fine for the diehards in the crowd, yours truly included, who pushed as close to the front as possible once Interpol ended. "Fucking Björk fans," somebody complained while going the other way in the clusterfuck. The thing is, most people seemed to be at Coachella this year to see Rage Against the Machine. I met men from NOVA SCOTIA who had traveled specifically for Rage, and when "Killing in the Name Of" came on while waiting for the Icelandic diva, the crowd reaction made me fear for the limbs of those in the pit during the real deal.

Other revelations? The crowd was a little too young to be appropriately crazed for the Jesus and Mary Chain, but was definitely not too indie-centric to lose their shit for Benny Benassi in the DJ tent. There was a lot more electronic music than I would've thought, and the crowd seemed open-minded going back and forth. The fire pod from Bumbershoot made a dazzling appearance, along with the mega-huge Tesla coils and other Burning Man-type art. Interpol was aight, ditto the Artic Monkeys. A slice of pizza cost $6.

And check it out, we still have The Most Beautiful Venue for a festival right here in this lil corner of the world. Coachella was easy to navigate and full of friendly folk, but for a sunset setting, nothing beats the Gorge. And luckily you can catch Björk (and some other bands) there during Sasquatch on May 26th!

Click the photo to view an audio slideshow of sets from What Made Milwaukee Famous, Aqueduct, and Speaker Speaker. Or click here to download an iPod-ready version of the slideshow.

Download live tracks from:

Speaker Speaker (Live at Easy Street, Friday)
Aqueduct(Early show, Saturday at the Croc)
What Made Milwaukee Famous (Ditto)

Iggy, Grand Archives, Sloan: lots of great shows last weekend.

I was able to peek into Speaker Speaker's in-store at Easy Street on Friday and Saturday's all-ages, after-school special with Aqueduct and What Made Milwaukee Famous. I'm all about the early shows.

I brought back a few live mp3s and an audio slideshow for y'all to check out, but I'll leave the "critic" work to someone else. See a good show? A bad one? Tell us about it.  

In Seattle we're now a bit spoiled compared to most cities and towns across the U.S. when it comes to all-ages action.  Vera, Studio Seven, El Corazon, Atlas and countless others tout under 21 options most nights a week- but, head outside the Pacific NW's emerald city oasis and you'll find it's not the same for under agers all over.  House parties and DIY basement scene's can flourish, but bonafide spaces that kids can call their own are tough to come by.

Not so anymore in Reno, Nevada thanks to Seattleite-at-heart (disclaimer: she's also one of my dearest friends) Brittany Curtis.  After living in Seattle and working in the music community here, she was inspired by the vibrant all-ages scene and venues like Vera that foster it by providing an epicenter for learning skills related to music and arts, being able to see shows in a positive environment.

Less than a year ago, she headed back to the biggest little city in the world, her home town- hoping to rally the troops and give something back to the kids there.  After many months of blood, sweat and tears, Holland - named in honor of the original all-ages space the the Vera Project is patterned after, Vera Groningen in the Netherlands- became a reality this weekend.

I was there for opening day this Saturday to witness all of the hard work and love that has been poured into the project- (and sell concessions! Her mom's home made brownies were quite the hit).  She and a team of dedicated volunteers have taken a cavernous, rundown warehouse, donated by the city and transformed it into a warm, welcoming place.  From the stage to the hand painted bathrooms (one even has white fluffy clouds hanging from the ceiling), each detail has been lovingly crafted and placed- the result is a venue filled with soul.

The community came out in full-force with kids, parents and babies running around all day and night for double dutch, a  poster show featuring a selection of different artists rederings of prints commemorating Holland's opening day and performances by local bands. Psychedelic rockers Groove Box Replica were mind-blowing with the lead singer writhing around onstage, oozing sexuality in a Jim Morisson like way, with a voice like Robert Plant- he's still in high school by the way. I would have thought them a tough act to follow, but the opera singer that did had the crowd thoroughly mesmerized, most had probably never seen a live performance like that, let alone sandwiched between down and dirty  rock and roll, folk band Buster Blue and Who Cares, the socially conscious hip hop that closed the night.  Skater kids and punk rockers packed the place till the end, bobbing their heads side by side with huge grins on their faces.

They spilled out into the night afterward looking elated- and looking forward to the next time. Congratulations to Brit and the Holland crew for making it all happen and giving such an enormous, important contribution to Reno's music and arts community.

 

 

Grocery shopping is more fun when the Divorce's Garrett Lunceford is pushing the basket. Garrett and I met at Safeway and here's what's cookin':
The death of the Divorce, the start of a new band, and a whole lotta casserole.

 

AD: So what's in the basket?

GL:  Casserole stuff. A lot of veggies, I grabbed some black beans, kidney beans, some corn... A can of enchilada sauce, tofu, corn tortillas, soy milk, brown rice, green peppers, apples, cheese, onion, veggie stock, diced tomatoes. oh yeah, red lentils as well, I have a bag of those.

AD: You are making a casserole?

GL: A few of them I hope! I think I will be able to make three and a half. One of the recipes I have is supposed to be microwavable. I don't trust it.  
 
AD: So now that the Divorce broke up, you really have a lot of time to focus on your casseroles...

GL: Yeah, a lot of that and a lot of Six Feet Under and Deadwood these days.

AD: Everyone really freaked out when you guys broke up. Have people been hard on you guys or do people understand?
 

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Last night United State of Electronica played a "secret" reunion show to a sold out Comet Tavern. The band hadn't played a show in over a year, and it was hard not to notice the heavy wave of excitement buzzing around the crowded bar.

U.S.E were predictably awesome. The power did go out a few times during the show but there was enough confetti being thrown around by the band that the lack of electricity just added to the chaotic fun.

I was lucky enough to score a front row spot for U.S.E's set and was able to get some pretty alright photos that I will post after the jump.

I've also posted a video of last night's show that you die hard fans can view here.

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Two nights ago at Neumo's, in front of a couple hundred people, long-running local shoegazer/noise-rock quartet Kinski demonstrated once again how great and powerful a live act they are, and now much larger crowds are gonna get the same opportunity.  Starting Monday, they'll be spending an entire month hitting the nation's big ol' arenas as the opening band for prog-metal giants Tool.  Wowzers!  Knock 'em dead, Kinski!

Every time anyone's asked me who my all-time favorite musical artists are, I always say something like, "Man, there's no way I could narrow it down to just a couple -- I love so much music."  Which is true:  I listen to and love such a huge amount and variety of stuff, and much of it means a lot to me, so it's hard to put just a couple select artists at the top of the heap.  But fuck it, for once (and after a bit of consideration) I'm gonna list my five all-time faves:

John Coltrane

Jawbox

Mogwai

The Clash

DJ Krush

 

OK, your turn!

Click the photo for a slideshow of the set. All photos by Renee McMahon.

The Books, Todd Reynolds
When: April 26
Where: Neumo's 

There weren’t any pocket protectors or taped-up eyeglasses spotted on anyone in the packed house at Neumos last night, but The Books and Todd Reynolds definitively and exuberantly championed an A/V club member’s dream come true with conceptual, highbrow, synesthetic multimedia performances – where the music cohesively intermingled with stimulating visual media. A collaged musical kaleidoscope, if you will.

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Aja isn't in the office today, so it's up to me to tell you what shows are worth checking out. So yep, that up above will be happening at the WAMU Theatre tonight. And if you're not doing anything before that...head on over to Easy Street Queen Anne to catch Speaker Speaker playing our Seattle Weekly Local Music Showcase. And if dancing onstage with Iggy ain't yer thing, you can head to the Croc to see Welcome and Grand Archives, two great local bands. Heck yeah.