membersonly206.bandcamp.com

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Artist: Thaddeus David
Album: Maven
Label: Members Only
Release Date: January 27, 2012

State Of The Artist/Helluvastate representative Thaddeus David (AKA Thadwick Tristen Trevor III) has just released Maven, a sixteen-track grouping of songs that show off his razor-tongued raps as well as ever. There's a fair helping of tasty production on the album's front half as well: name-brands like Kuddie Fresh, Dj Semaj, Ski Team and Jester are represented; all of whom register A-grade performances. The remainder of the album (which you can hear here by the way) is filled in with second hand beats, and internet finds that are surprisingly clean in quality, and provide an apt playground for his various lyrical thoughts, yet they also serve as a reminder of how awesome Thad sounds over his Helluvastate teammate Tay Sean's smokey funk instros. Last year's Adventures in Helluvastate was outstanding, and a genuine chemistry was discovered. Though Thad has proven here that he can handily hold down a full-sized project, having TS (who appears on AIH as Swan Coltrane) to toss the mic to really only makes him better. Their styles are similar enough to make sense, and unique enough to keep things fresh.

To sum things up: Maven finds Thaddeus David rapping quite nicely, and toying with some interesting song ideas; and speaking of interesting songs, I can't wait to hear more Helluvastate.

Check out Thadd's video for "Crown Royal" from Maven after the jump...

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John Roderick is the singer and songwriter responsible for Seattle's the Long Winters. Send your questions to jroderick@seattleweekly.com.

​John: Do you really walk naked around your yard? If so, EXACTLY when?
-- Duff McKagan, co-founder of Guns N' Roses and a Reverb columnist.

Roderick: I consider my garden to be a sovereign nation, and it's written in our Constitution that the whole great state of Roderickania is clothing-optional. Also, my street is a migratory pathway for certain rare breeds of South-end gangbangers, so whenever I see a Caprice Classic on 22s roll by real slow with the bass thumping, I go out to the garden naked and practice sword fighting, (our national sport is not "fencing", it's sword-fighting). It reminds everyone who the REAL gangster is.

​Following in the footsteps of guitar greats like Joe Perry and Zakk Wylde, Local axe whiz Phil Wandscher (Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, Whiskeytown) has something cooking for his fans. No, it's not a new record or side project, but something just as zesty.... salsa. Yesterday on Facebook, Wandscher posted about his endeavor into the world of rock 'n roll condiments:

"In an effort to be creative and make some $$$, I made an incredible batch of salsa and canned it tonight with my friend Tracy !!! Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have some skills in the kitchen !! That all being said ......Filthy Phil's Hot ASS salsa will be sold for $7.50 a pint. Help a brother out and enjoy this good ass sh*t. Taking local orders now !!!!"

Though we haven't tried it ourselves, it's safe to assumed Wandscher's creation will most likely be as hot and in your face as his guitar work on JS&TSH's latest Marble Son. Contact Phil on Facebook for a jar of your own.

​Reverb Questionnaire is a list of (mostly) static questions we pose to folks outside the music industry. The questions are all answered via email. Previous participants include Michael Chabon, Michele Norris, and Janeane Garofolo. This week, before coming to the Moore, Saturday, with Whose Live Anyway, Greg Proops took a few minutes to tell us about Count Basie, Tears for Fears, and why he wasn't ready for a commitment from Lykke Li.

What music have you been listening to today?

Ambient Space Music on the computer.

Did you like it?

It is sublime.

What's your preferred method for listening to music (iPod, car, home stereo, etc.)?

1) Record player; 2) iPod; 3) Loud as f**k in the car.

When was the last time you heard "Stairway to Heaven"?

Coming from a suspicious van in Hollywood last week.

Did you turn it off?

I gave them a wide berth for my own mental health.

Do you play an instrument?

Just my dulcet nasal vocal tones.

Do you still listen to anything you were listening to in high school?

Hells, yes.

If so, what?

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​The Soft Hills
This Bird Is Coming Down To Earth
2/14, Tapete Records:

The Soft Hills are a Seattle based four-piece rock band who have found a home in Germany on Hamburg based Tapete Records, a venue devoted to their rich, rockin', harmony-heavy sound. On their debut, the group brandishes great sonic texture and reverb-soaked harmonies much like the Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, and the '70s sounds of Neil Young, but their lyrics fall short of dazzling.

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Woodward Brenton

​The Pharmacy
Dig Your Grave EP
Kind Turkey Records

The Pharmacy's newest EP is a righteous punch of bang-up garage-rock, beginning with the exclamatory title track and moving swiftly into the twinkly, harmonic "Pines" and the instrumental "Lazy Bones" before closing with the beautifully bitter "Burn All Yr Bridges," which moodily reflects, "Burn all your bridges down/Sink them in the Puget Sound/And all the seagulls gather 'round/To shit while burning bridges drown."

(BTW, you can download "Dig Your Grave" for free right here).

Check out the barnstorming music video of ultra-violence for "Dig Your Grave," filmed by the Pharmacy drummer Brendhan Bowers, after the jump.

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​There's been a lot of talk on Reverb lately about internet piracy. Duff's recent piece on intellectual property and copyright infrigement set the comment forum a blaze with responses, including one from our own Jesse Sykes who was given her own platform on the subject here.

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​Sub Pop released the latest Shabazz Palaces video last Thursday, and I tracked it down today. It's for the song "Are You... Can You... Were You? (Felt)" from last year's transcendent full-length Black Up. The six-minute video is more relaxed in pace than the group's previous visual offering, the short film simply called "Black Up", which used rapid-fire visual techniques to accompany the multi-song soundtrack. Also notable: this time around, SP chose to present only a single song, which was entrusted to Seattle visual artist Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes (with assistance from local guy Futsum Tesgai). Although the group went with a different production team for this video, Alley-Barnes retains the same feeling of visual poetry that Kahlil Joseph had harnessed on "Black Up" and "Belhaven Meridian", and it fits the artful sounds and ambiguity of lyrics well. As with all of the videos (and songs) that emerge from the SP camp, it begs to be discussed rather than explained.

I've asked SP lead man Ishmael Butler about working with visual artists before (at that point, I was asking him about working with Dumb Eyes on the ornate patchwork that accompanied the group's first two EPs, but I think it applies here as well), and he explained that he prefers to let the artist present their own interpretation of his music, rather than come to them with a fully-formed idea. It's a truly poetic approach that exemplifies the group's artistic mind state, and continues to yield amazing results. The music is simply the potion in the water.

Video after the jump.

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Jaret Ferratusco

Casey Neill and his rat pack.

​Renegade String Band, Casey Neill and the Norway Rats, Sassparilla
High Dive
Friday, January 27

If Fremont really is the Center of the Universe, from the looks of things Friday night, the High Dive houses a good portion of the Irish contingent, and a boisterous, thirsty crowd with a taste for everything from Irish Death Ale to Irish coffee assembled for the venue's triple bill of shanty singing folk bands from Portland.

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​Pickled Okra
Sounds Like Chicken
Out now, self-released, getokra.com:

"Un-traditional bluegrass" band, steadfast buskers, and husband and wife based Pickled Okra return with their third full length release Sounds Like Chicken, a jumpy, carefree 12-song collection of original string tunes. Offset by banjo picker Tony Markey, Todd and Paisley Gray weave a bygone-era bluegrass sound through spirited harmonies, instrumentals, a murder ballad, and a little whimsy. This rootsy team plays with verve and sings with glee, and their bubbly style will have you humming right along.

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