Three Imaginary Girls - Seattle's sparkly indie-pop press

The Drums + Craft Spells = total dance party!

John in Ballard — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:47:32 +0000

9 May 2012

Seattle {by way of California} band Craft Spells took the Neumos stage a little before 9p to a packed and anxious all-ages audience this past Wednesday night, and they certainly did not disappoint. Between songs from their fantastic 2011 debut album Idle Labor, they mixed in some new material from their brand new EP Gallery, which comes out to next week.

My introduction to Craft Spells came at last year's Bumbershoot festival, where I was fortunate enough to catch their early afternoon set -- and I was immediately hooked. The songs were solid and catchy as hell, although they did seem a little tired and sluggish at the time... could have been just that early time slot. With that said, somewhere in the past 8 months or so their energy and confidence have picked up immensely: lead singer Justin Vallesteros was bouncing all over the stage, even stage diving-while still playing his guitar during their dance friendly closing number "From the Morning Heat." They even got a few screams from the crowd when they broke into their most recognizable song to date "After the Moment."

The Drums then took the dance party baton from Craft Spells and ran with it. Lead singer Jonny Pierce set the tone by enthusiastically dancing through each of their songs, at times moving and swaying like a young Morrissey. Pierce seemed impressed by the liveliness of the young and energetic Seattle crowd, at one point commenting, "You guys are rambunctious and naughty...and we like that."

They got plenty of screaming approval for their Portamento hit "Money" and their set closer "Let's Go Surfing" (featuring actual crowd surfing -- how appropriate!); but perhaps the biggest positive reaction of the night came courtesy of the day's political events, with Pierce dedicated their song "If He Likes It Let Him Do It" to President Obama for his statements earlier in the day regarding gay marriage rights.

Between the nostalgic pop of Craft Spells, and the fast-paced head bobbing tunes of the Drums, last night's show made damn sure Seattle had plenty to dance about.

{Photo courtesy of Facebook.}

Willis Earl Beal wows small crowd at Barboza

John in Ballard — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:11:30 +0000

4 May 2012

"Hey, people in the back, shut the fuck up!" That's how 27 year old Chicago native Willis Earl Beal started out his show at Barboza on Friday, imploring the talkative crowds in the back of the room to pay attention. He got his wish and took the opportunity to read a few lines from Bukowski before transitioning into an a cappella song, which he described as a "warm up." He explained his earlier outburst by saying "I'm not a mean guy, I just want to be listened to, just like everybody else." Fortunately for Beal, once he started singing he had no trouble getting people's attention.

All but a handful of songs Beal performed involved him singing over recordings being played from a reel-to-reel player set up on the back of the stage. Beal has spent time as a street performer around Chicago, so he has experience as a solo performer and working with little additional instrumentation. His money maker is his other-worldy voice, and he gets every last ounce out of it. He was frequently belting out his songs, so powerful at times that the room seemed to take a step back. As he sings in "Swing on Low": "Microphone is my ticket, microphone is my tool." He also showed off his range a few times, working his way up to a pretty high falsetto for one song, then apologizing afterwards that it wasn't as high as he usually likes to go. When he wasn't sitting and strumming an electric guitar for his few slower numbers, he was gracefully dancing around the stage with his Ray-Bans on, a leather glove on one hand, a toothpick in the corner of his mouth, swinging his hips and belting out songs that left the crowd thoroughly mesmerized. For one song he took off his belt, folded it in half, and slapped it against a plastic chair to create percussion.

Most of the songs sung came from his debut album Acousmatic Sorcery, which was released in April. While the songs on the album are frequently lo-fi, stripped-down guitar and piano songs, his live instrumentations sounds significantly different, a point that Beal acknowledged towards the end of his show. "You can buy my album in the back, but the songs on that album don't really sound like what I played tonight." His powerful voice doesn't have nearly the same effect on record either. While Acousmatic Sorcery is a solid album in it's own right, Beal might be better served releasing a live album at some point to really showcase his astonishing voice. With tons of charisma and undeniable talent, you get the sense that Beal has a bright future ahead of him.

It's worth noting that this show also happened to be the unintentional grand opening of Barboza, as construction delays pushed the opening back a few weeks. Barboza is located below Neumos, with a staircase right across from the Moe Bar side door leading to the entrance. The layout of the club is fairly narrow; there are booths in the back, a bar in the middle, and the stage up front, with bathrooms directly across from the bar. At a capacity of 220 people, it's roughly the size of the Sunset Tavern, maybe even a little bit smaller -- and a wonderful addition to our city's scene.

M83 at the Paramount Theater

John in Ballard — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:00:00 +0000

26 Apr 2012

I shouldn't have to tell any of you this, but if you missed M83's sold out performance at the Paramount Theater this past Thursday night, you missed one hell of a show.

Backed by lighting effects that at times looked a lot like giant multi-colored neon glow sticks, M83 started their performance the same way they did at their Neumos show this past November -- with Hurry Up, We're Dreaming's opener "Intro" -- and they never looked back. Half of the balcony where I was at was standing from the very start, and midway through the set, the lead single from HU,WD (and probably their most popular song to date) "Midnight City" got pretty much everyone who was still sitting down up on their feet and dancing. One of my minor qualms with their Neumos show last November was the lack of any saxaphone solo during Midnight City, since it's such an energetic, climactic moment in the song, and as cheesy at it sounds, I just wanted to hear that saxaphone kick in at the right time. This time around, they brought in a live sax player to belt out the solo, and people seemed pretty excited about it.

Considering that their Neumos show was just a little over five months ago, moving over to the Paramount Theater was a big step up for the band. Gonzalez seemed a little overjoyed and grateful to be playing a sold out show at such a massive venue. He even took a moment between songs to voice his amazement at it all saying "This is such a huge fucking venue for us, it's exciting!" Towards the end of the set, Gonzalez asked to have some of the lights brought up so he could take it all in, which he did briefly before emphatically collapsing to the floor, almost in disbelief.

While most M83 songs lend themselves well to dance parties and occasional fist pumping (yes, it did happen), when they slowed things down a bit with the HU,WD track "Wait", none of that energy was lost. Sure, the instruments may have gotten quieter, but the cries of the chorus "no t-i-i-i-me" reverberating off of all corners of the building made up for all that and more.

M83 closed the show with a couple tracks from their fantastic 2008 release Saturdays=Youth, and the encore started with another slow burner "Skin of the Night", with keyboardist and vocalist Morgan Kibby wowing the crowd with her vocal theatrics. They followed with the fun and bouncy HU,WD track "Year One, One UFO", before finishing with an extended version of the S=Y techno/instrumental track "Couleurs". Couleurs even brought the return of the saxaphone player, which prompted Gonzalez to bounce around the stage dancing with different members of the band.

Those who got there early enough got to see opener I Break Horses, a Swedish electronic band who set the tone nicely with their synth heavy, feedback laden melody laid over a rythmic tribal drum beat. Lead singer Maria Linden even sported a very dazzling long red cape. At times they sounded a bit like an electro version of Jesus and Mary Chain with female vocals, at others a bit like Phantogram without all the hip-hop beats.

I shouldn't have to tell any of you this, but if you missed M83's sold out performance at the Paramount Theater this past Thursday night, you missed one hell of a show.

Backed by lighting effects that at times looked a lot like giant multi-colored neon glow sticks, M83 started their performance the same way they did at their Neumos show this past November -- with Hurry Up, We're Dreaming's opener "Intro" -- and they never looked back. Half of the balcony where I was at was standing from the very start, and midway through the set, the lead single from HU,WD (and probably their most popular song to date) "Midnight City" got pretty much everyone who was still sitting down up on their feet and dancing. One of my minor qualms with their Neumos show last November was the lack of any saxaphone solo during Midnight City, since it's such an energetic, climactic moment in the song, and as cheesy at it sounds, I just want to hear that saxaphone kick in at the right time. This time around, they brought in a live sax player to belt out the solo, and people seemed pretty excited about it.

Matthew Sweet and Summer Twins

Imaginary Amie — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:51:00 +0000

25 Apr 2012

{Apologies for the crappy cell phone pic, you guys!}

Was this my most anticipated show of the year? So far—YES. I think it was. And so I was a little worried when my friend told me that Matthew had stumbled a bit during his Portland show, but I needn’t have been: The Girlfriend Tour was exactly what I wanted it to be.

Opening band Summer Twins (from Riverside, CA) took the stage, and I was pretty much immediately taken with the two sisters at the heart of the band: Chelsea and Justine. First off, Justine plays DRUMS, and I’m a sucker for a female drummer. Second, Chelsea has one of these awesome sultry-cute voices, and plays the guitar in an adorable sway-dancing way that is almost too twee to handle.

Rounded out by Marcia Rivera on guitar (who stood completely and totally still the whole set) and Levi Audette on bass (who bounced around the other side of the stage in stark contrast), Summer Twins played a bunch of really solid, utterly danceable super-fun indie rock tunes that mixed a hint of of surfy-garage rock with retro pop.

Bounciness was in abundance, my friends. I bought their self-titled debut CD at the break, resisting the vinyl…but only temporarily. Because I bet they sound AMAZEBALLS on vinyl.

{Summer Twins photo from
their instagram account. Adorbs, non?}

Admittedly, Matthew’s set was a bit messy at the beginning—but he straightened it out quick and played AN AWESOME SHOW all-around (plus, I will cut the guy some slack because I’m sure it’s not easy playing songs you’re haven’t played in forever 20+ years later).

I was also wondering where the hell all the power pop fans in Seattle were since The Triple Door wasn’t even half full at 8, but it turns out they were just doing the typical Seattle thing: having drinks in the bar, skipping the opening band, and wandering in just in time to see the main act (ATTENTION people who do this: You are missing some really great bands! Just sayin’).

Anyway…by the time Sweet arrived on stage, it was a mostly-packed house full of enthusiastic Girlfriend fans—as well as two ladies who stood up and danced with wild abandon during the two 100% Fun songs. Don’t worry, they checked behind them first to make sure they weren’t blocking anyone’s view.

If you’re familiar with Girlfriend, you know he started with Divine Intervention, but instead of ending on the last track of the original vinyl record, he actually included the CD “bonus tracks” and ended with an achingly beautiful rendition of “Nothing Lasts”. I swear I heard some sniffling! Somewhere. It wasn’t me—I just had something in my eye. And then our lovely Matthew realized it wouldn’t be cool to leave people mired in depression for the rest of the evening, so he ripped out “Sick of Myself” to end the set with, leaving us in an upbeat mood with which to urge him back to the stage for an encore.

The encore was just three short songs, including “She Walks the Night” from his new album Modern Art, which sounded similar to the stuff on Girlfriend with maybe a bit more country twang added in. I dug it, and I’ll probably download a copy and check it out.

I left The Triple Door in a happy daze, so pleased that I got to see him finally play it live, and I highly recommend y’all check out the second show tonight!

Now I’m just kicking myself for not ordering the special edition Girlfriend Vinyl, because it was sold out at the show and on site—and the Internet is not helping me find it. Jerk.

Set list:
{Girlfriend + Bonus Tracks}
Divine Intervention
I’ve Been Waiting
Girlfriend
Looking at the Sun
Winona
Evangeline
Day for Night
Thought I Knew You
You Don’t Love Me
I Wanted to Tell You
Don’t Go
Your Sweet Voice
Does She Talk?
Holy War
Nothing Lasts
Ready
Sick of Myself {100% Fun}

Encore:
Time Capsule {Altered Beast}
She Walks the Night (Modern Art}
We’re the Same {100% Fun}

{Apologies for the crappy cell phone pic, you guys!}

Bounciness was in abundance, my friends. I bought their self-titled debut CD at the break, resisting the vinyl…but only temporarily. Because I bet they sound AMAZEBALLS on vinyl.

The Round 83: Damien Jurado, Jonathan Russell and friends

imaginary victoria — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:18:20 +0000

10 Apr 2012

I'm almost not quite sure how to begin recounting last night's show at the Fremont Abbey {Round #83, with Damien Jurado, The Head and the Heart's Jonathan Russell, and members of Pretty Broken things, two painters, and a poet} in a way that conveys it with proper justice. So far as layperson's terms go, it was just a show: two forty-five minute sets on a stage, three lead singers trading off turns, with active art creation on the side and yes, even the poetry was good. But when you take two powerful frontmen and put them in such an intimate setting -- you're bound to win big. And I think I can speak for the entire sold-out room when I say that everybody won last night.

Between getting to see Damien Jurado's work showcased at such a tangible, stripped-away scale {both through selections from Maraqopa and long-standing favorites like "Sheets"} and Jonathan Russell's raw-yet-polished abandon {several new-to-me songs, a Bill Withers cover, and an incredible closing number about getting postcards you don't want that's been rattling in my brain since The Head and the Heart's Easy Street set last year}, we were taken on a collective journey through the soundscape that engaged both the audience and the other members on stage in a way you just don't see at a one-band-at-a-time rehearsed show. Such is the beauty of seeing performers in the round.

The stage was rounded out beautifully -- and towards the end of the night, almost show-stealing-ly -- by members of Pretty Broken Things, who will be doing a full-band opening set for tomorrow's Sons of Warren Oates show at Columbia City Theater, if you're looking for more of what they've got. Damien Jurado leaves this week for a west coast tour {dates here} and you can keep up on all things Head and the Heart on their website here.

{Photos by Victoria VanBruinisse.}