Recent Stories in Music

There are one hundred or so lucky people in this city wandering around right now smiling. They are thinking back to their Saturday night and recalling things like s'mores, hot dogs, PBR, a bonfire, music, and a fantastic show. These smiling people were part of the first annual Jansport Bonfire Session.

The line began on the south side of Pike between 10th and 11th early in the morning. I spoke with the group that was first in line and they told me they had been waiting since 9:15 a.m. for their chance to get on a bus and ride to a secret location to enjoy more free stuff than you can shake a sharpened marshmallow roasting stick at. When they arrived, they told me that it was completely worth it.

The buses pulled in to Bear Creek Studio out in Woodinville at about 7:00 p.m. and offloaded the lucky hundred into the woods behind the studio. Bear Creek is a special place for me, since it's where my band put down our only studio recording. More generally, you might recognize former visitors like Soundgarden, Built to Spill, Lionel Richie, Foo Fighters, Harvey Danger and a ridiculous list of amazing bands who all recorded there. Visiting the studio before the crowd got there was an awesome treat.

It wouldn't be the only treat of the evening, as Jansport provided a wide array of food and drink for the lucky showgoers. I had a wonderful falafel sandwich from Hallava Falafel and cooked myself a S'more for dessert. Others washed down free hot dogs with free PBR and followed it up with watermelon slices. The crowd wandered between the two bonfires eating, drinking, and playing beanbag horseshoes to DJ Case0ne performing impeccable mashups of '80s and '90s hits. My guide for the evening remarked that each song was "exactly what I want to hear at that moment."... (more)

This is all that Marymoor saw of Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend were scheduled to play a show on Sunday night at Marymoor Park. Then a trip to the ER for severely inflammed vocal cords kept lead singer Ezra Koenig from the stage and resulted in a last-minute cancellation, wails of dispair, conspiracy theories, and a water bottle or two flung in the general direction of the poor guy who brought the bad news.

They've since found time in their merciless tour schedule to return to the area to make up for their unfortunate (and poorly handled) cancellation. This time they'll be within Seattle city limits for two nights at the Paramount on the 22nd and 23rd of September with the Head and the Heart. Ticketholders from the weekend will be able to trade their tickets for their choice of make up shows at no charge; those who opted to skip the outdoor non-performance will have two new chances to see the band. Tickets will cost $48 after all of the fees and handling and can be purchased online now.

If a weekday show doesn't work for your schedule or if the disappointment of waiting around for an hour after Beach House finished soured you on the Vampire Weekend Experience, refunds are available. The details for getting your money back, a regular choose-your-own-adventure based on the how and where of initial purchases, are included after the jump.... (more)

The Columbia City Theater (Facebook) is a music club to fall in love with. It re-re-re-re-opened (the old vaudeville hall has been around since 1917, in various guises) in June of this year, and vaulted into the Seattle Weekly's "Best of Seattle" list less than two months later.

Before we go behind-the-scenes, here's the lowdown. You'll find the Theater at 4916 Rainier Avenue South, which is just beyond the Columbia City Cinema. (Take the #7 or #8 bus or light rail--the last light rail train leaves SeaTac for downtown at 12:10 a.m., Monday through Saturday.) It's adjacent to the award-winning pizzeria Tutta Bella, who serve up the eats in The Bourbon, Columbia City Theater's bar. The bar is open seven days a week, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.

The bourbon-heavy cocktail list ($8-$10) features pre-Prohibition favorites (Mint Julep, Derby, Commodore), as well as some rye (Red Hook; Fratelli Cocktail, with Fernet Branca; Diamondback). Bar entertainment ranges from djs to karaoke to live music, and on nights when there's a show in the theatre, you can watch the show projected live on a screen. Happy Hour most of the week is 4-7 p.m., and all day Monday, and brings you such wonders as $5 pitchers of High Life and $3 wells.

Past the bar, on your left, is the entrance to the theater, which has a bar of its own. It's an intimate shoebox space, though it holds over 200, and the acoustics require no over-amplification. The ambiance--the curtained stage and brass lighting fixtures and brick walls--makes this unlike any other music club you're likely to step into in town.... (more)

The path of Rusty Willoughby's musical career has run parallel to the history of Northwest rock for the last 25 years. And often, that path's been a circuitous one.

In the mid-1980s he founded Pure Joy, a great (and criminally unsung) pop band whose British-informed atmospherics offered a sharp contrast to the Sabbath/Stooges/Sex Pistols trinity that seeped into the Seattle soil at the time. Then when Pure Joy folded, he bounced back as the principal singer/songwriter for Flop, one of the Northwest's greatest power-pop outfits.

Flop seemed poised to join Nirvana and Soundgarden at the vanguard of the Northwest music explosion of the '90s when Epic Records signed the band. The label allowed Flop's excellent sophomore platter Whenever You're Ready to die on the promotional vine, though, and Willoughby and bandmates were unceremoniously dropped.

Such a setback would have flat-out killed most mortals dead, but at his own easygoing pace Rusty Willoughby has continued to put out some of the Northwest's best rock music since Flop's 1995 dissolution. Throughout all of his ensemble and solo work, Willoughby's calling cards—a knack for melody easily the equal of any pop classicist, a smart and sometimes self-lacerating lyrical sense, and one of the most distinctive schoolboy tenor rock voices this side of Robin Zander—have remained constant, and his versatility as a songwriter continues to flower.... (more)

• On Thursday, September 9, Rufus Wainwright joins the Portland Symphony for an evening that includes excerpts from his opera Prima Donna, works by Berlioz, and song selections from his own albums.

"A heart of stone never goes anywhere," concludes Rufus Wainwright, in black, in feathers, in a 15-foot train. On a giant screen behind him, an airbrushed black eye slowly opens and closes and cries, reappearing in various sizes.

He repeats the line, alive to both the self-criticism and self-preservation in it. He explores the idea elsewhere, singing, "the earth just spins in place / throwing things away."

He's playing his album All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu right through, from "Who Are You, New York?" to "Zebulon," and aside from a few scattered, apparently irrepressible whoops at his entrance, the Paramount Theatre audience is obliging him in not clapping until the song cycle is through.

It's a Rufus Wainwright album with a mourning veil--familiar themes transposed to the register of loss--but it's also an artistic elevation. Written during his mother Kate McGarrigle's final illness, the music is rarely at rest. The piano's bass end is often emphasized, but the music flows out in charged, turbulent torrents of notes. Occasional high notes drop on top like petals, and are carried away.

It's art because it's not really for you, or me. The Shakespeare sonnets, the thorn-hooked "What Would I Do With a Rose?," the intimacy of "Martha," the sheer work of pitching your musical voice to these heights, and lows--it's a rush to say something before the loved one leaves. Well, a "rush" of sorts. Wainwright actually retards his already taffy-like vocal delivery that much more, in a superhuman effort to make more time appear. Yet, a chord repeats like the chime of a clock.

Though it's just him and his piano up there (sister Martha, who opened, joins him for a few songs), the stage becomes crowded with his family in the second part. It's the end of the tour, and he's feeling a little jaunty, initially, with the end in sight. Someone shouts, "We love you!" and he responds with a showman's "A-thank-yew."... (more)

Next time you're at the Croc or Neumo's or wherever and the tallest dude in the place is—if you share the phenomenon that plagues my 5'3" plus-one—standing right in front of you, it might be a Hall of Fame-bound pitcher. Because retired Mariners ace Randy Johnson, all 6'10" of him, is now dabbling as a rock photographer. And he has some local Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-bound friends: Soundgarden.

Turns out the Big Unit forged ties with guitarist Kim Thayil back when both the lefty's career and Thayil's band were just taking off. In 1989, Johnson spotted the bearded axeman on the big screen during a game at the Kingdome; he extended a batting practice invite to Thayil through the band's manager, and the rest is record book-rewriting history, now recounted by Johnson at Spin.com.

"We became friends," says Johnson, "and he'd take me to a lot of clubs, introduce me to a lot of different bands, and we'd drink and shoot pool and have a good time."

"It [sic] just enjoyed hanging out with them, drinking a beer, and watching them do their thing, much like I've had Kim and a couple of the other guys come to watch me pitch. Two entirely different venues and different fans. Just a whole different setting. But I can appreciate what they do—they're really good at what they do—and I think that I've been okay myself at what I do. I think it's just a great trade off."

The pitcher and the guitarist stayed close throughout Soundgarden's 13-year absence, too, talking baseball, music, and early-age retirement. And when the band was planning its return earlier this year, Johnson, freshly cleatless, was right there.

... (more)

Last weekend I went to two birthday parties. Both sets of party-goers eventually found a ring of stones, filled it with wood, and set the wood on fire. A party is just not complete unless something is on fire, I guess.

Jansport, the backpack folks, are sponsoring a show this Saturday, August 28th, that will undoubtedly be quite a party, since they are planning a fire and free stuff is involved. This party will feature local indie/hillbilly sensation The Cave Singers and the 100 people that can correctly find the secret location where the bus will pick them up. Tickets are free, treats are free, and beer is free. I assume this leaves out the underage crowd.

Hints are located on The Bonfire Sessions Blog and don't appear to be too hard to figure out, so get there early. (Supposedly, the location of the bus stop will be revealed tomorrow, via the blog, as well as Jansport's Facebook and Twitter.) Then we'll all head out on a bus to a secret location, sit by a fire, sing some songs and enjoy the last days of summer. Hopefully there will be marshmallows.

On Saturday night I was lucky enough to be invited to join some friends on an 80-foot-long converted fishing trawler for a meandering circuit of Lake Union while musicians played on deck. The event was an annual tradition that began on a dock, graduated to a floating barge, and had finally grown into an occasion that required a real live boat. We converged at the designated meeting place, gingerly walked the plank onto the boat, and set off for an evening of musical adventure.... (more)

The No Depression Festival is kind of a big deal. "A musical education in Americana," says Jonathan Zwickel. It's this Saturday at Marymoor Park (though 520 will be closed, so set your GPS to work on that). Acts range from The Swell Season and Lucinda Williams to the Maldives and Cave Singers.

Tonight there's a pre-festival hootenanny at Ballard's Sunset Tavern ("with guests Mark Pickerel, Jason Dodson of The Maldives, Zoe Muth, Betsy Olson, Kevin Large of Widower, Jack Wilson, Lindsay Fuller and The Cheap Dates, Jeff Fielder, Gregory Paul and more!").

UPDATE: At the hootenanny in question, I was handed a postcard advertising Ear to the Ground, a No Depression compilation you can download for free at Limewire--songs from The Swell Season, The Maldives, Sera Cahoone, Chuck Prophet, and Justin Townes Earle, to name just a few.

Aficionados of roots music are far-flung; last night I met an Englishman at Watertown (No Depression's Kim Ruehl was providing a festival warm-up) who'd flown in specifically for the event. He sounded a little like Ricky Gervais, which I didn't point out to him, since Gervais is now one of the three famous Englishman that Americans think Brits sound like. That is, it's not necessarily uncanny.

But he did offer to stand me a drink, and when I begged off, explaining that I had to drive (here I mimed the steering wheel) home, his eyes widened a little.

"Oh, very good," he said. "You really drove that home there, with your mime. I wouldn't have got it, probably, with just the English, but I could see you meant driving, too. The point really sailed home." He broke off to mime driving as well. "That's quite good, that. It becomes unmissable."

I believe that is why god created the (really dumb, but, here, appropriately and winkingly used) word "rawk." And hey, fans, you can now pre-order various versions of Soundgarden's upcoming Telephantasm retrospective, on which "Black Rain" appears. Thirteen bucks (simple CD) to $110 (super duper deluxe limited-edition CD/LP/etc.). Help fill the band's coffers, people. Bassist Ben Shepherd's homeless.

Though it's cooled off considerably now, Monday night a hot and sweaty Neumo's played host to a packed crowd for Freelance Whales and Tokyo Police Club.  I've seen both bands before, and came into the show with my own preconceptions.  While I feel that Freelance Whales has its moments, some of their lyrics are downright cringeworthy, and while they've got good chops, the lead singer is so overtly geeky that it is occasionally painful.  As in, I ache for him, not with him.  Our own Josh is much more generous: Freelance Whales remain one of those bands with acres of potential. I mean, aside from the player-hater lyric, that song ["Hannah"] is fine Mates of States-ish girl/boy vocals. Tons of people seemed genuinely entranced. To the point of arm-dancing even!

As to Tokyo Police Club, the first time I saw them is going on four years ago (!), and oh, how much the boys have grown.  As in, now the Ontario quartet can legally drink--but they have just as much energy as ever. They brought the clap-happy super-short songs from their first two EPs, as well as the (relatively) more mature work from their two full-lengths, including new album Champ's near pitch-perfect, near power ballad "Breakneck Speed." Says Josh: I very much appreciated how well suited the venue was for that band. They really brought it, light and soundwise, in a way that few other mid-level indie rockers do.

Surprisingly, there were a lot of bros at the show (some of whom should've been straight-up iced), so I'm guessing that the TPC discography is getting heavy airplay at the frat house.  Keeping with the bro theme, the band itself always has some tender bro-to-bro moments (broments), and Monday night's show was no exception, as it included some guitar playing to each other whilst on bended knee, as well as a playful cross-stage tambourine toss.... (more)

Yesterday, I described "You Won't Let Me Down Again," the second track on Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan's upcoming album, Hawk, as "strangely uplifting despite its rather downbeat, but hopeful?, lyrics." Hours later, the duo issued a video for the song, their first for Hawk:

Downbeat despair on the open road? Check. Glimpse of hope? Yep. Pretty Isobel? Uh-huh. Stony Mark? Nope. He's one elusive dude. You'll definitely see the guy if you grab tickets for the pair's October 26 Neumo's gig.

Three albums into an initially very surprising collaboration, the sandpaper-and-velvet duo of Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan is finally cozy enough to play live in the U.S., including a stop at Neumo's on October 26. The third album, Hawk—following the acclaimed Ballad of the Broken Seas (2006) and Sunday at Devil Dirt (2008)—hits shelves August 24, but can be streamed via Campbell’s Facebook page now.

If you know Lanegan from his days fronting Ellensburg's Screaming Trees and have (ignorantly) tuned him out since, these atmospheric, South-souled songs will surprise you. If you're familiar with his eclectic, smoky solo catalog and/or work with the Soulsavers and Greg Dulli (as the Gutter Twins) or Campbell's Snuggie-soft voice (going back to 1996 with Belle and Sebastian), you'll be pleased. Either way, their latest work, though similarly fit for a long-forgotten, remote Texas tavern, is even more of a sonic—and somehow almost tactile—joy. (Campbell, the musical pants-wearer of the duo, produced.) Think salted caramel ice cream. First you wrinkle your nose, then you lick your lips.

Here's a quickly-penned reaction/review of Hawk's thirteen dusky, scene-setting songs, eight featuring Lanegan's awesome rasp, two surrendering the mic to young folkie Willy Mason (not actually featured on the Garden State soundtrack; more on that below), and one with fretwork from former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha.... (more)

It's been a great week for fun in Seattle. Wednesday's Hercules and Love Affair is the best time I've had at Neumos in ages and Thursday night's Holy Ghost!/Chromeo bill at the Showbox kept the good times rolling, with a crowd so raucous there was worry that the headliners' gear would topple over from the all the bouncing. Sure, the jackass quotient was high, but not even being crushed in a mob of folks unable to handle their booze and pills well could put a damper on my spirit.

I was in the minority and most excited about seeing openers Holy Ghost!. They've been around for years as DJs and remixers for the likes of MGMT, Cut Copy, Moby, and LCD Soundsystem, but they've only this year put out their first EP, Static on the Wire, in anticipation of their debut full-length due later this year. It gives them a larger spotlight than they would have if they were arriving as a totally new act.

As it was, you could tell they're still new to this. As DJs, Holy Ghost! have a Brooklyn swagger, fully aware that their "nu disco" selections are, as the kids would say, "the shit." Joined by a keyboardist and guitarist in their live edition, they don't have anywhere near the same presence, seemingly unsure of how best to position themselves onstage.

Part of that might have been due to the technical issues they were dealing with (gear getting unplugged, a finicky mic), but overall it was immediately apparent that this is largely uncharted territory for the crew, having only made their live debut in May. They played Static on the Wire, a few older tunes, and that was that.

I don't mean to sound overly critical here, as I (and others) danced and enjoyed their set thoroughly ("I Will Come Back" just kills every time I hear it), but at this point I'd rather see Holy Ghost! DJ than live. However, I'll be right up front next time as well--these guys have too much talent (and too many more seasoned friends to guide them) to think their live sets won't improve at a quick clip.

In contrast, Chromeo closed things out with swagger to spare. The tour veterans had the crowd in their hands from the moment they hit the stage. Things were already a bit on the sweaty side, but things got wild with the opening strains of "Tenderoni," with the crowd's bouncing causing everything on the stage to sway precariously. Things stayed just as hectic for the rest of the set, forcing my old bones back to the still-dancing 21+ area.

Only a few trickled away before they finished with their cover of The Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why." Chromeo was in fine form, as was Seattle, with Chromeo tweeting "Livest show of the whole tour so far. You win, Seattle." Nice work, everybody.

You've heard that Eat Pray Love, the August 13 film adaptation of a memoir by the same name, stars the ever-gorgeous Julia Roberts. And that it's about eating and loving and stuff. But did you know the soundtrack (out now) features two songs by Eddie Vedder? That one of them, "Better Days," is a new track penned for the film by the Pearl Jam frontman? Like his mellow, soaring songs for Into the Wild, this one pairs well with Roberts' character's apparent quest for self-definition:

You've also heard about Soundgarden reuniting earlier this year, yes? Well, they showed Chicago how a rock reunion is done last weekend. Tearing through a heavy set of hits ("Spoonman," "Outshined," "Black Hole Sun") and old-school fan favorites ("Flower," "Get On The Snake," "Slaves & Bulldozers") at the Vic Theatre and Lollapalooza (video below), the band proved that they've lost nothing in the intervening years (unlike Stone Temple Pilots and others). No future shows have been announced...yet.... (more)

On Sunday afternoon, as the Blue Angels were cross-stitching the sky above Lake Washington then hurtling off to turn and regroup, they passed a few times over a church named St. Joseph on Capitol Hill, inside which the choral group The Esoterics were rehearsing for a two o'clock concert. As timing had it, the air show would finish up just as the group launched--in front of about 60 listeners--into Thomas Jennefelt's "Music for a big church; for tranquility" ("Musik till en stor kyrka; att vila till" in Swedish).

You might suppose this was a study in contrasts, but it's also a lesson in unexpected correspondences. The Esoterics, led by Eric Banks, are an adventuresome group; their last concert visited ancient Persia and this time it was contemporary Sweden. Jennefelt the composer was born in 1954. And the descriptive vocabulary of flight--the leaping, soaring, and mid-air acrobatics--is shared in part with singing. Voices ascend and descend, with as great a requirement for accuracy and coordination.

As it turned out, Jennefelt also likes, occasionally, to counterpose against a sweet vocalic burbling a soprano pitched to just under and off a shriek, not that different from how the FA-18 Hornets on their solo runs play off the formation.... (more)

This is the latest installment of "The Love Hate Society" from Brian A. Boone, our occasional summer contributor. Boone's musings on music and pop culture can be seen on his website the Love Hate Society; his first book, I Love Music/I Hate Music, is due out from Penguin Perigree in winter 2011. With the recent news that Soundgarden is releasing a "retrospective" album and DVD in September, today we're looking back on their early days.

In the early Nineties, exactly two things made an otherwise hard rock band a "grunge" band: if they were from Seattle, and if they had at least a slight sense of "us vs. them" humor. One example of this is Nirvana's sarcastic screaming of the lyrics of the hippie anthem "Get Together" at the beginning of "Territorial Pissings" off Nevermind.

Another is Soundgarden's 1989 Louder Than Love cut "Big Dumb Sex," a thorough skewering of the rape-tastic, sex-obsessed cheesy hard rock--basically Guns N’ Roses--popular at the time that bands like Soundgarden would eventually render passé. Sample lyrics: "don’t you, don’t you want to thrill me / don’t you be afraid to tell me," and "I’m gonna fuck fuck fuck fuck you, fuck you."

Guns N' Roses did not quite get the joke. In 1993, Axl, Slash, Duff, and the other guys with names befitting American Gladiators covered "Big Dumb Sex" in a medley with T. Rex's "Buick Mackane" on its 1993 album The Spaghetti Incident? Meta? No, just big dumb obliviousness.

The album is called All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, and on tour it's just Rufus Wainwright, his piano, and his moody album for the first half of the show. "In the second half," he told Philly.com at the outset of his 2010 tour, "we come out and sing the old favorites and have a good time."

He'll be at the Paramount on August 25, holding everyone spellbound with that burnt-caramel baritone and songs like "Zebulon," above, written while his mother was sick. (Kate McGarrigle died in January of this year, of cancer.) He's also adapted three Shakespeare sonnets (10, 20, and 43). I don't need to tell Rufus fans that it will be a memorable performance--there's more than a little Judy (or Lulu) in Wainwright. The show will go on.

Every autumn the post-summer, pre-holiday tour schedules converge into a glut of awesomely overscheduled live music that fans embarrass themselves by calling Rocktober. This year, City Arts magazine contributes to festival sprawl and makes that term a reality in the form of a four-day citywide set of music and arts events close to home. 

From October 20th to 23rd the following bands will be playing at venues large (the Paramount, Benaroya Hall), medium (Showbox, Neumos), and smaller (the Crocodile, the Triple Door, the Sorrento Fireside Room) under the umbrella of Heineken City Arts Festival:

Belle and Sebastian • Blue Scholars • She and Him
Gogol Bordello • Big Boi

Blitzen Trapper • The Vaselines • Roky Erickson • Brother Ali • Foals • James Carter & John Medeski • Dum Dum Girls • Macklemore with Ryan Lewis • The Weepies • Chase Jarvis’ Seattle 100 Project • Fresh Espresso • Pat Graney Company’s Triptych • The Maldives • Alloy Orchestra Scores Metropolis at SIFF • DBR Featuring Emeline Michel • Sera Cahoone • Atomic Bombshells Burlesque • Head Like A Kite • DJ Spooky with Joshua Roman and the Odeon Quartet • Late Night Piano Bar with Festival Artists • Our Lady J • Sarah Rudinoff, Nick Garrison, Sara Edwards and • Paula The Swedish Housewife Present Guys n’ Dolls • Brent Amaker and the Rodeo • Seabear • Paul Rucker • Tilson • Theresa Rebeck • Seattle Opera & Pacific Northwest Ballet Present the Encore Ball • Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies • Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs • The Head and the Heart • Esben and the Witch • Pica Beats • Mash Hall • Massy Ferguson

(Yes, just take a moment to revel in the implications, a.k.a., OMFG Belle & Sebastian finally added a northwest spot to their tiny tour schedule and it's at Benaroya Hall on 20 October! I die.)... (more)

First, the disappointing news: Telephantasm isn't a new studio record. It won't include a single new song from the reformed Soundgarden. It'll have just one previously unreleased tune, "Black Rain," shuttered since the Badmotorfinger sessions. (Which means it's probably thunderous.)

Second, the excellent news: Telephantasm is a Soundgarden record and Soundgarden is together. And, in the same announcement (below), the Lollapalooza-bound band revealed that it will also soon be issuing its first DVD. Undoubtedly that will include footage from Soundgarden's April 16 Showbox return de force, captured in these stills.

Here's the band's official announcement, posted last night:

It is with great pleasure that we can finally let you all know what we have been working on. On September 28th, we will be releasing a new retrospective called Telephantasm. It includes songs from all of our albums and E.P's, including "Black Rain", an unreleased track from the Badmotorfinger sessions. Plus, we are releasing our first ever DVD which will include never before seen videos, and much more.

We have partnered with Guitar Hero 6 to launch Telephantasm simultaneously with the launch of the new game. Which means if you buy Guitar Hero 6 for the week of September 28th you get a copy of Telephantasm as well. Of course, there will be vinyl, collectors editions, deluxe packages and more.

He will possess your heart, homeless youth. Photo of Ben and Zooey at the Grammys care of Larry Busacca/Getty Images.

Say what you will about Ben Gibbard (and believe me, I do), but along with writing occasionally cringeworthy lyrics, Zooey Deschanel's better half is also capable of doing some good.  For the children, even. 

The proof? See the Death Cab frontman's just-announced intimate performance at the Crocodile Wednesday, November 3rd to benefit Teen Feed, a local nonprofit that provides meals to homeless youth and young adults in the U District.  Unfortunately, the show is 21+; sorry children!

Tickets are $30 and go on sale this Friday, August 6th at the Croc box office and all Sonic Boom locations.  Full details after the jump.... (more)

The Fleet Foxes' mini-tour documentary (14 minutes) is up on their website (not embeddable, sigh). Sean Pecknold filmed it while Robin solo was opening for Joanna Newsom. They also have some pleasantly large videos to enjoy. Robin and Joanna play the Moore next Wednesday, and looks like some balcony tickets are still available.

The Capitol Hill Block Party kicks off today and stretches through Sunday evening. A few festival updates via their twitter news feed to note: will call opens at 11 a.m. in case you want to beat the rush, the music starts at 3:30 p.m., and single tickets to today's festivities are gone baby gone. While this is sad for procrastinators, it's somewhat good news to those who purchased tickets early: according to LineOut, they restricted themselves to selling fewer tickets than the last year's crowd-crushing Frizzelle-lifting peak attendance (Sonic Youth). Finally, to make more room for meandering, food carts will be sparse within the fences (appropriate, given their sparseness in the city); so plan on patronizing one of the restaurants within the grounds or stepping out of the festival to stimulate the local economy via your hunger and thirst.

Sure, some of the biggest draws may be from out of town, but the festival is also a great place to sample a bunch of local (and locally-connected) bands. The lineup promises a overflowing smorgasbord of Seattle bands on all of the stages, but to catch up with your friendly neighborhood musicians, be sure keep an eye on the Kerry Zettel-curated stage at the Cha Cha. You can also check out the eclectic interests the kids at the Vera Project by visiting their stage, situated away from the lure of the beer gardens. There's also a not-quite-secret stage at Vita's bean room, for those who secured the right credentials (hint: visit the AT&T store).

Below, a few day-by-day reminders of sets to consider, complete with a few videos to help you pass the time until the gates open. As usual, take advantage of the vast comments section to let us know who you're dying to see.... (more)

So there's your taste of how the new Brad record, Best Friends?, sounds and what the band thinks about it, courtesy of shaggy guitarist Stone Gossard, drummer Regan Hagar, and frontman Shawn Smith. It drops on Pearl Jam's Monkeywrench label, half a dozen years after it was recorded, on August 10. (Yes, it was worth the wait.)

More welcome news from the on-again, off-again band: A High Dive record release show on the day it's issued, and an in-store gig at Queen Anne's Easy Street Records two days later. And, for an appetizer, why not tune in to KEXP on August 4 (at noon) to hear a live studio performance?

There's no telling how long Brad will keep the live shows going—due partially to PJ's success, Brad has never been a full-time gig—so catch them while you can. And pick up the new record to show Shawn, Regan, and Stone you want them to continue making time to make new music.

Looking at the Capitol Hill Block Party schedule, I came to the startling conclusion that this year's festival has substantially more stages than I remember. And by substantially more, I mean that it has five of them: in addition to the usual mainstage, Neumo's, and Vera, the Cha Cha's underground showcase of locals has gone official, as has a selection of evening DJ-type sets at Havana, dramatically expanding your options for making like a sparkleface vampire and avoiding sunlight during the warm weekend.

But today, we continue our march through the mainstage acts, in the hope that a crash course via YouTube will help you decide whether to brave the crowds for the big names or to retreat to smaller stages during the peak festival hours. After the jump, a video-based peek at Saturday and Sunday's headliners.... (more)