Never have I experienced a show like last Saturday’s at the Crocodile. Discs of Fury tell a mystical story of epic proportions and have serious musical chops to back it up. There’s a hero, the typical mix of mythical characters, guitar licks galore, and of course a talking tree. Really, what else do you need? I’m not a huge fan of classic hard rock, but their draw is undeniable. Death Star brought nerdcore goodness in the form of rap to warm up the stage; it was a hell of a good time.
A fantastic lineup played the High Dive on Saturday night: Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles and Past Lives. Dum Dum Girls have a massive summer ahead of them with dates in Europe, and you can see them in the NW when they have a date with Vampire Weekend at Marymoor Ampitheater on August 29th. Crocodiles have a new album coming out soon, and Past Lives play the Capitol Hill Block party. We’ve got some brilliant photos from Simon Krane here. I have a crush on these photos.
Dum Dum Girls
Crocodiles
Past Lives
High Dive
Katzenjammer, from Oslo, Norway – consisting of Anne Marit Bergheim, Marianne Sveen, Solveig Heilo and Turid Jørgensen – perform their circus-like show, utilizing ~30 instruments. Their new CD, Le Pop, will be released in the US this week.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre has been known for putting on wild shows ever since their 2004 collaboration with The Dandy Warhols in the documentary Dig!. Their Sunday night show at Neumos was much tamer than expected, despite the audience’s encouragement for someone from the band to speak or even crack a smile. Perhaps the only somewhat animated character on stage was the tambourine player Joel Gion; the rest of the band remained rather stoic in comparison. They more than made up for it in their world-class musical performance, which featured a good mix of crowd favorites.
Federale was the opener, and for a band that plays “Spaghetti Western soundtracks,” they were quite impressive. Decked out in cowboy gear complete with holstered (presumably fake) pistols, the band played an animated set of strictly instrumental country music that could orchestrate a Western film. Check out my images of both Federale and The Brian Jonestown Massacre below!
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Federale
All photos by Suzi
The Heavy played Showbox SoDo on Monday night and we got Alex Crick in there to get some photos. It is with great pleasure to post these! The band heads to Europe for several dates, including festivals this summer and fall.
Kelvin Swaby of the Heavy