Houston Press

Tender Kurt. Kind of creepy.

Accroding to HP blogger Craig Hlavaty, Cobain, who would have turned 45 this year, might have found himself mixing house versions of Nirvana standards along side Skrillex; playing the grizzled, indie(and Pearl Jam)-critical metal warrior (one would assume along side Tad Doyle); hosting a folksy barnyard concert series as a reclusive, enigmatic singer/songwriter; or meeting a pseudo-Axl Rose fate as the lone original member in an increasingly unrecognizable band.

Touché, Houston, touché. Check it out here.

Mount Eerie's Cabin-Time Creation, Dawn.

The guy who recorded an album alone in the woods.This line might end up on Justin Vernon's tombstone. There's something irresistible about the thought of a bearded dude from small-town Wisconsin retreating, heartbroken, to a cabin to write some songs--especially when the result is a record that sounds as hushed and introspective as Bon Iver's 2007 debut, For Emma, Forever Ago. These days, Vernon is more likely to poke fun at the image, but it endures because it fulfills a fantasy for us as listeners. Even if we don't care for the outdoors, most of us occasionally want to escape our lives, be alone with our thoughts, and see if we can tap into something true. In a time of easy distraction, the idea of heading into a cabin at the edge of the world to create is alluring.

It's only a little shocking that Pitchfork didn't link in that review to this (too apt?) Onion article: "Man Just Going to Grab Guitar and Old Four-Track, Go Out to Cabin in Woods, Make Shittiest Album Anyone's Ever Heard." But it's worth remembering, as the price of rural cabins continues to skyrocket, that Anacortes/Olympia hero Phil Elverum (aka the Microphones/Mount Eerie) got there first--and got there farther . . .

In honor of 2010's halfway mark, NME has made a list of the 50 best bands to debut this year. In usual NME style, a good chunk of what the mag calls the "most exciting new acts" are from predictable places like London, New York, or California. (The No. 1 band, Best Coast, hails from Los Angeles; the other top nine are all from elsewhere in California or New York, London, Manchester, and Chicago.)

The only Seattle musician on the list--ranked at No. 33--is Perfume Genius, the alter-ego of Mike Hadreas, possibly the saddest bastard to ever make sad bastard music. (Avi Buffalo, a Sub Pop-signee from California, came in at No. 41.) I've got to agree with NME on one thing: Hadreas really is good. His piano keys and high-pitched voice manage to sound unique while still traversing well-known singer-songwriter terrain (i.e., Elliott Smith). The song NME uses as an example, "Lookout, Lookout," actually manages to use the word "murder" dramatically without sounding melodramatic.

Not sold on NME's verdict? Perfume Genius plays the Crocodile Sept. 22.

It’s been a tough couple of years for the Futureheads. Following the mixed reception to 2006’s ambitious News and Tributes, the British post-punk quartet was dropped by its label, and briefly considered packing it in. Instead, they soldiered forward, forming their own label and released their third album, This is Not the World. Over the phone from a tour stop in rainy Nottingham, U.K., genial singer-guitarist Ross Millard prepared to offer his take on some reviews of the new disc by promising not to be affected by “the red mist of rage”:

Minneapolis quartet Tapes 'n Tapes was one of the first examples of both the "blog buzz" and "Pitchfork effect" phenomena -- widespread online fawning made their 2005 debut, The Loon, an indie-rock success story. Now the band is back with the follow-up, Walk It Off. Over the phone from a tour stop in Florida, congenial frontman Josh Grier cheerfully commented on some recent reviews of the album:

Small combinations of songs seem like a mixtape mistake, clashing like plaid and polka dots . . . still, the album as a whole finds a strange homogeny, and Tapes 'n Tapes keep exploring hip, leaving everyone guessing as to whether they meant to make such a confusing outfit or the pieces were just on sale. (Billboard)

Well, it sounds to me like they don't necessarily vibe with albums where there's different styles going on. I have seen a few reviews where people say that, where people say we're basically ADD . . . I am kinda ADD in that I like to try a lot of different things, and if that means our albums come off as lacking direction, I dunno -- it's just a personal preference. I'm not in any way trying to compare us to this, but look at [The Beatles'] the "White Album" -- that album makes no sense if you're looking at it as, "What do these guys stand for?" But that's a record I love.

Photos by Michael Alan Goldberg

Bay Area rapper and Quannum Projects co-founder Lyrics Born, a.k.a. Tom Shimura, has a big, engaging personality, whether on wax -- as with his new disc, Everywhere at Once -- or on the phone. Noting that he reads most reviews of his albums, the personable LB was eager to give us his take on some recent write-ups...

Tristan Prettyman -- the San Diego folk-pop singer-songwriter, surfer and former Roxy model -- is back with her sophomore album, Hello. Over the phone from New York, where she was getting ready to board a plane to Nashville to continue her current U.S. tour, the genial Prettyman prefaced our "Reviewing the Reviews" session (in which some of our favorite artists respond to their critics) by saying, "I hope you quote the shit outta the Union-Tribune one, because I have a lot to say about that dude." Matter of fact, that was the first one on the list...