2014 BRIT Awards winner for Best Female Solo Artist Ellie Goulding played a sold-out show at the Paramount Theatre last week. Complete with a six-member band and three backup singers, the Seattle stop was in the middle of her spring tour in support of her most recent album, Halcyon.
Ellie Goulding
The mighty Canadian synth/electronic/dance/all-around awesome duo Chromeo headlined Showbox at the Market on April 16th, and brought Tokimonsta along for support. Chromeo’s fourth album, White Women, prepares to hit your ears and move your ass on May 12th, while Tokimonsta heads to Paris. Thank you to photographer Alex Crick for some ultra great photos of each band!
Chromeo
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Tokimonsta
Duo Karmin (Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan) headlined Neumos for Valentine’s Day. The musically eclectic pair, with their debut, Pulses, out now, brought a full band. Wonderfully, photographer Steve Campagna shared part of his Valentine’s Day enjoying the group.
Karmin
New music this week includes awesome tunes from Android Amaker, Ace Reporter and Pillar Point. When I heard each one of these songs I had one of those omg freak out moments.
Android Amaker, a collaboration including Seattle musicians Brent Amaker (Brent Amaker and the Rodeo), Vox Mod and P Smoov (Mad Rad, Fresh Espresso), gives us “I’m the One,” a sharp and slinky tune if there ever was one. They call it music “for fans of robots and westerns,” that’s fair! Mythos behind the band has stories of space bandits and alien overlords, with things we can all relate to such as the lyrics, “I can see you’ve got a problem, we can have that fixed by tomorrow.”
Android Amaker – photo by Frank Correa
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Chicago’s Ace Reporter released “Trouble,” a track off their debut, Yearling, which sounds as if it will be a hot hot hot record. They’re touring parts of the East Coast, and I so wish they were headed to Seattle. They’re melodic and moving. You can also listen to “Saints & Angels” below. Look for and extended version of Yearling, Yearling XL available on April 22nd!
Ace Reporter – photo by Chris Semel
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I’ve made no secret that I am massively in love with Pillar Point, and you can see why when he plays Sasquatch Festival, Neumos, and heads out on a May tour. I got to see Pillar Point at Neumos recently and can recommend that you see him. The album is perfect.
Pillar Point
If you were looking for a night of hard-hitting head-banging Metal, the Paramount was the place to be. Volbeat led a great lineup of bands with Digital Summer and Trivium easily holding their own. All three bands sounded terrific and they each knew how to work the crowd. Any one of these bands could headline their own show.
I’ve seen Volbeat three times in the past few years and I look forward to them every time they come to Seattle. Volbeat has such a diverse collection of music while never abandoning their core fans. You can hear rockabilly, thrash, and alt-country rock all in the same concert and you alway want more. They are such a tight band and they are real showmen. They seem like they really appreciate their fans and I know their fans appreciate them. I should know because I’ve been a fan since I first saw them at Gigantour with Megadeth and Motorhead.
This is the part where I would normally highlight their latest record. This time, I say check them all out because they are all great.
Volbeat
Trivium
Digital Summer
Photographer: John Rudolph