Portland, Oregon’s Onuinu had a great slot at the Capitol Hill Block Party sandwiched between Brent Amaker and the Rodeo and Reign Wolf. Onuinu is the project of one Dorian Duvall, who had a few other musicians with him, and played a titillating disco/funk/electro set. Next closest show to Seattle is a Bellingham date on October 20th.
Onuinu – all photos by Dagmar
George Watsky, Dumbfounded and the Breezy Lovejoy Band & The Unibroz @ the Crocodile, July 27th
Show Review & Photos by Abby Williamson
George Watsky
One month ago, I was in Anaheim, California for the 3rd Annual Vidcon, or YouTube convention. George Watsky was one of the headlining acts the second night of the convention and he blew my mind. The 25-year-old white kid with a slight lisp rapped so fast but still enunciating every word so that even I could catch it all. And I don’t even like all that much hip-hop.
Watsky is a different breed – he’s not what you hear on Top 40 radio stations or busting from most teenagers’ car speakers. Watsky started out as a spoken word poet, and his talent and interests expanded to include rap music. He spoke at a panel at Vidcon as well, and made a very poignant statement that still resonates with me now as a music writer – rap is just “rhythm assisted poetry.”
A month later, Watsky was on his first national tour and made a stop in Seattle at the Croc – for a sold out show. The line went around the block. For a kid from YouTube. Now that’s pretty cool.
Opening the show was local hip-hop trio The Unibroz, who had the energy and song topics similar to now defunct Brite Futures. They were perfect for the all-ages crowd, and made the most of the sold-out Croc. My favourite part was when they sang a happy birthday song to one of the members’ grandmother, who was hanging out upstairs. Standing near the front of the crowd downstairs I thought at first when the guy was like, “This is for you grandma,” and pointed upwards, I thought he was pointing to heaven, but his grandma was literally upstairs. It was precious.
The Unibroz
Next up was Dumbfoundead and the Breezy Lovejoy Band, who wins the award for the longest title of a hip-hop act ever. But they certainly put on a show. Dumbfoundead (DFD), the LA native, rapped about cell phones, immigrating to the US, and weed, and did a couple freestyles that wowed the crowd. DFD was the first Korean rapper I’ve heard of. He was very impressive, and if you’re interested, he’s on YouTube as well!
Dumbfoundead and the Breezy Lovejoy Band
Finally, George Watsky, rocking a plaid shirt and baseball cap, came out to the thrilled audience with the fitting “Energy.” He hit the chorus with everyone chanting, “I’m looking, I’m looking, I’m looking for energy everywhere!” Watsky’s stage banter was some of the best I’ve seen – he was gracious and humble and incredibly excited to be there – for a good reason. He spoke at Vidcon of how before he actually got the tour put together, he tried calling venues himself to get gigs. The venues wouldn’t take him seriously because he was giving them view counts and subscriber numbers rather than ticket and album sales. Eventually he got a tour manager that got through to the venues – and hopefully it’s a good sign for musicians in the future that gain their audience in the less than conventional way.
Dylan Saunders joined Watsky for most of his set on vocals. Saunders, if you haven’t heard of him, made a name for himself when he played Albus Dumbledore in A Very Potter Musical, a Harry Potter parody show by the University of Michigan theater group. Seriously. For more context, Darren Criss played Harry Potter in that production and now he plays Blaine on Glee. Saunders added so much to the show, especially in the Watsky version of “Mrs. Robinson,” which is so undeniably catchy that I have added a link to that video just so you can go listen to it.
Like DFD, Watsky did a couple of freestyle poems, both of which gave me chills. As much as I love music, I can’t do it. I can’t make it. And I can’t even imagine coming up with such great lyrics on the spot. The freestyles were some of the best moments of the night, as well as “Fuck An Emcee Name,” which turned into a sing-along. Everyone cheered in unison “GEORGE WATSKY DOESN’T NEED A FUCKING EMCEE NAME!” It was glorious.
So right now, if I’ve piqued your interest about George Watsky, take a gander at this video below “Watsky raps fast.” It has over 20 million views. Now tell me YouTube musicians aren’t legitimate.
George Watsky
Growing Pains: The xx @ Showbox Market, July 25th
Review by Blake Madden
In 2009, Oliver Sim, Romy Madley-Croft, Jamie Smith, and Baria Qureshi released their self-titled debut album as The xx. None of them were older than 20, nor had they heard many of the bands named as their obvious influences, but their songs displayed a maturity well beyond their years. The sounds were compact and efficient, the lyrics grown-up and intimate. The ideas were fully formed and delivered succinctly, Sim and Madley-Croft forming the best 1-2 male/female vocal punch since John Doe and Exene Cervenka. Hell, even their branding looked good.
Since the release of xx, Qureshi has departed, the band has played every major festival and been voted to every best-of list on earth, and beat-maker extraordinaire Smith has established his own name (albeit the moniker Jamie xx), producing high-profile collaborations with the likes of the late Gil Scott Heron, and tongue-in-cheek remixes of artists such as Adele. In short, The xx blew the hell up, and as they prepare to release their second album Coexist in September, they are faced with the impossible task of doing anything other than greatly disappointing fans and critics.
The xx
Returning to Seattle last Wednesday for the first time in two years, The xx are still skipping grades in their musical career, this time finding themselves in a position usually reserved for bands who have been playing arenas for a decade straight: they are getting tired of their own material. Every song performed off their debut seemed to differ from its recorded original, some with only nuanced changes, others completely re-imagined. The up-tempo Halloween quirk-funk of “Crystalised,” one of the band’s more ubiquitous tunes, became a dramatic, drumless dirge, awash with heavy synth and twice its original length. The songs hiccupped, the band often holding a few extra beats to emphasize a particular transition, trying to find different, even more mature ways of saying the same things they’ve already said thousands of times before.
The set also featured a good number of songs from the upcoming Coexist, and while some new directions in the music were evident, their theme was using more to do less. Jamie xx had a new bag of tricks, beginning the show behind a real-live drumset, focusing exclusively on synths during a few tunes, battling a wall of synth drums on others, even putting on the headphones for some old-fashioned DJing, but showed nothing he couldn’t accomplish just as easily with two fingers behind his customary Akai MPC 2000 samplers. The xx bill Coexist as a ‘club record’, but many of the songs were even more disjointed and pared down than xx’s reworked offerings, without being as direct or memorable. It’s the sound of a band reaching before they need to (and maybe before they really want to).
Oddly, the show’s highlight came in the middle of the set with a slower number, the Chris Isaak/ “Wicked Game”-esque “Infinity.” Bathed in stark white light, the band worked from sultry serenade to ferocious lather by song’s end, guitarist Romy Madley-Croft crooning “I can’t give it up/ to someone else’s touch/ because I care too much” over top, then falling into the instrumental sections with just the slightest of confident head bobs. This is the mixture of simple teenage immediacy and wise-beyond-their-years content that made the world fall in love with The xx. This is the challenge that will define Coexist and their career for the next several years: their ability to hang onto that charming youthful naïveté while simultaneously showing growth as people and as artists. If they can master that balance consistently, it’s a secret the rest of us would love to know.
One band lays waste to a house, another takes over, and one artist gets drunk with a cat. These can only be videos by The Grizzled Mighty, The Hives and Ed Sheeran.
The Hives’ video for their first single off Lex Hives, “Go Right Ahead,” was directed by artists of Bold Face. I like the look of this thing. I also like the idea of a Hives blimp. Is there a way this could actually be done? I hope so.
I don’t know where exactly the abandoned house is located for The Grizzled Mighty’s “Wallflower” video. Please, no one tell me. I just feel kind of bad for it. See why when you check out this video done by Collin Joseph Neal of Faith vs Fate Productions.
http://vimeo.com/42442728
Ed Sheeran finds a drinking buddy in a cat in “Drunk.” Hey, who doesn’t know that cats make excellent drinking buddies. . . and very good DJs.
Neon Trees @ Showbox Market, 7/27
Show Review & Photos by Heather Fitzpatrick
It’s not often that Seattle gets a national touring band to make a second stop in our city in less than two months. Having recently played at The Neptune in June, Neon Trees did just that and played to a sold out crowd last Friday night at The Showbox. Fans sporting the band’s tour shirts, and their iconic heart-shaped red sunglasses were evident throughout the crowd. And let’s just say by the time Neon Trees took the stage, they did not “start with a whisper”. Their energy and light show, not to mention the uncanny spirit that lead singer, Tyler Glenn (sporting his new platinum blonde “hair-do”) brought to the show, had everyone jumping, waving, and singing along with the band throughout their entire set. Tyler even crowd surfed toward the end of the show, and the crowd was eager to support him. It was no surprise that their hit song “Everybody Talks” was their encore song. Neon Trees’ US tour runs through the fall, and you can pick up their most recent full-length CD Picture Show here.
Neon Trees