An Open Letter to DTR

Dear DTR,

I have been talking a lot about you lately. I thought you might like to know what people are saying, if for no other reason than to know you are not being taken for granted.

Where else is there the sense of community that exists here? I would wager almost nowhere else in the Seattle area. There is a sense of togetherness that is palpable and readily felt by anyone who comes to hang out. Everyone is saying that you are not intimidating or snobby like Downtown Seattle (no disrespect meant to our big sister), and not as bland as downtown areas in other outlying areas. People I have been talking to all weekend have been saying how much you have to offer, and they are happy they are getting in on it while you are still relatively unknown. You are truly becoming known as the place to go for things that are fun, unique, and inspired by community.

Just look at all your great stuff: great antique stores, great restaurants and nightlife, great indie stores for quirky and cool stuff, great coffee, great cupcakes (I personally prefer CG's cupcakes to anything at similar specialty stores and bakeries in Seattle--though those places are not without their own charms), awesome body art, bicycle wares, an amazing professional-quality dance studio (*wink*), music venues, a record store (*wink* again), a book store coming in the Spring, and so much more!

All this, and you are still coming up with new ways to surprise the people who are finding you for the first time, and the people who have known you for years. Some people have called you the "new" Belltown, or the "new" West Seattle, but I prefer to think of you as the "original" DTR. And I am starting to get the sense that you've been planning this all along. ; )

Thanks for everything you have done, and everything you are.

Your friend,

TRx

Track Review - "Who Makes Your Money" by Spoon

Ah, Spoon...*sigh*

There is so much press about this album already (Transference), that I thought it was kind of silly to throw more drops of brine into that particular ocean. Instead, I chose one track to review, because it seems to perfectly (and awesomely) capture the effect of the album as a whole.





Nearly everyone who has reviewed this album has called to the forefront the sheer self-reference inherent therein. At least two that I have read have actually used the word "Spoon-iness" as a way to conjure up a feeling for the sort of unique, one-off yet truly polished sound this band can seemingly deliver on command. It is a more-than valid point, and while for most bands this kind of self-reference would be akin to a form of narcissism, in Spoon's case one gets the feeling that these four musicians in a room simply can't not make music that sounds like this. It is such a unique sounds that draws from so much (70's soft-rock, folk-revivalism, minimal electro, etc. in varying degrees) that it rightly sounds like something else that no one has yet done--I'd even go a step further and say it sounds like something no other band has really attempted. These are good things.



But along with having such a signature sound come all the trappings of everyone knowing what to expect. That's what makes this band so unique and accomplished: we know what to expect, and they still manage to blow us away.



The song begins with a one-handed key melody. It is casual; it is refined. The same melody persists basically throughout and doesn't undergo any significant changes until the final minute. So you have your foundation. The percussion is steady, no heavy riffing or crazy fills; a classic timekeeping beat that wouldn't be out of place in any one of a number of rock or R&B songs. And if it weren't so well recorded and produced, it might be unremarkable. But it is that well-done, and therefore is quite remarkable. The bass slinks like a snake while somehow managing to bounce as well, lilting with the melody and thudding when it needs to, culminating in a guitar/bass breakdown in the middle of the song that is like riding a Jeep through the desert with your hand out, letting the wind raise it up and down. And then there is Britt. No one else in rock music today has a voice like this--so seemingly thrown-off, confident to the point of being cocky, raspy and conversational yet able to work a falsetto that could make a wolverine purr. The lyrics in this song are quirky and get kind of repetitive: the titular question is asked more than a few times in lead vox and backing vox, I've listened to it quite a few times and am still not sure if it is about a working-class romance, a jilted lover, or a stylish pimp named Japanese John. It is clear by the end of the song, it is not about the words, it is about how the words sound.



Speaking of sound: that's really the story here, in this song and the rest of the album. There is a choreographed "off"-ness here (check the way the backing vocals are filtered and chopped to almost ghostly effect, or the way the keys stutter in and out of tone and don't always perfectly match the beat). It's like some of Spoon's prior songs got together and had a baby (I'm thinking the percussive otherworldliness of "Paper Tiger" with the MoTown chic of "I Turn My Camera On"), and then the baby snapped its fingers and demanded a Tanqeray straight up. This song demands headphones, or at least room-filling speakers. So much goes on in the background that it would be near-impossible to catch the subtleties any other way.



Perhaps the most fitting way I can describe the quality of this track is like this: When I decided to write this review about forty minutes ago, I decided to play it on repeat as I came up with ideas and began to write. Not only is it still listenable, but it is still getting better each time.



Please do yourself a favor: Find this album. Take a listen.



Viva Spoon! Viva indie rock!



roar.

--TRx

Good People Doing Good Things

If you'll forgive me the lack of my usual mix of irony and (attempted) humor for just a moment, I wanted to let you all know that we are partnering with Rockin' Stan Records to help put on a benefit for the good people at Real Change (http://www.realchangenews.org/). You probably know what Real Change is all about, and that they help the homeless in many ways measurable and immeasurable throughout the Seattle area. Rockin' Stan Records has a history of doing good for the community, which you can read about here: http://rockinstanrecords.com/, not least of all by providing an outlet for the release and distribution of good ol' fashion, homegrown punk and rock music in Renton and South Seattle.

About the benefit: On Saturday, January 30th, there will be a huge show at the Rendezvous (http://www.rendezvousseattle.com/) in Seattle with seven (count 'em!) bands on two stages and raffle prizes and food and drinks and maybe a magical unicorn (OK, maybe not)! It's sure to be a blast, and it's for a good cause! Get your tickets here at TRx, or email me to find out more!

Happy Upcoming Birthday, Donnie D...

--TRx
roar!

Update-ology

Update-ology - n. 1. the practice of updating people on things that they care about, or may care about if they knew of the existence of these things. 2. the study of this practice. 3. a word I just made up. (example: "Susan is working toward a career in update-ology.")



Now, let's use what we just learned!



New in the store this week:



Suburban Vermin - 16th Nervous Breakdown EP : Remember when punk was just good, clean fun made by young people with excess energy and a penchant for playing fast and loud? Don't let the song title "Go West" fool you--this is punk with a hardcore bent most influenced by the great East Coast/D.C. scene of the mid-1980's. So there is lots of yelling, lyrics about homemade hand grenades, and lots of adrenaline. You should check this out. www.myspace.com/suburbanvermin





The Hugs - S/T and Again and Again : Popular in their hometown of Portland, OR, and nearly just as popular across the pond in Great Britain, The Hugs are set to go off like a powder keg. Combining some of the best musical qualities of indisputably amazing bands like The Strokes, Figurines, and The Lemonheads, they've already received lots of accolades from lots of very influential people. Just get used to it: if you like Rock and Roll, this is about to be your favorite band. www.myspace.com/thehugsgowild





So this weekend will be quiet on the live music front. It is probably a good thing, as I, for one, am still recovering from the amazing one-two punch from last weekend. But, don't worry: I will be good to go when Cock and Swan comes back to town next weekend, on Sat. 1/23 @ 5pm (w/ Brad Dunn)! And a week after that, Jukebone lays down the blues/punk law all over us (Sat. 1/30 @ 5pm)...



Stay tuned...always more in the works!



roar.



--TRx

New Year Resolutions (Or, Things I Will Forget Tomorrow)

1. Project more confidence ("TRx is In the House!!")

2. Stop saying things like "...in the house."

3. Lose some wait. What? Mis-spelled? Don't know what you mean.

4. Bring more LIVE MUSIC to DTR!! We've got a heck of a start on this one, if I do say so myself...

5. Exercise...patience...and Work out...deep-seated psychological issues.

6. Post to the blog at least once a week. Wait a minute...

7. Listen to lots of great indie music made in the NW and for the NW. Check.

8. Bring back the used vinyl section. Working on it...

9. Get more posters. Seriously, who couldn't use more posters?

10. Drop a few pounds.

So, "What's new?", you ask? Well, this week sees a new (er, new-to-us) title from Anacortes/Bellingham post-punkers The Oregon Donor (www.myspace.com/theoregondonor). Released on Seattle's own Burning Building Recordings (http://www.bbrecordings.com/), A Pagent's End plays with dynamics, juxtaposing stadium-sized riffs and hooks with moments tense and claustrophobic but never alienating. Fans of Muse and Minus the Bear will probably decide that they NEED this album; the rest of you should seriously considering owning it, or at least checking it out. Drop on by sometime and take a listen! Also gaining serious headway on our live music for February--shows booked so far for Post Harbor (www.myspace.com/postharbor) and Devin Moore (www.myspace.com/devinemoore) with more on the way; more details coming soon, so stay tuned!

Laterz, alligaterz...

TRx

Has it really been a week?

So I made a deal with myself when I started this whole "blog"-thing that I would try to post something new at least once a week. Holidays or no, I am here to do just that. But this one will have to be rather on the short side, as the end of the year is typically more filled with family time than new indie music.

I'm looking forward to January, as we begin our first full year in operation. Things should start off nicely with no less than 3 performances already booked for the first month of the year (Laura Jorgensen on January 8th at 8pm - www.myspace.com/laurajorgensen - Young Lions on January 9th at ??pm [still working on nailing down a time for this one, and a website...] - Cock and Swan on January 23rd at 5pm - www.myspace.com/cockandswan -). All of them should be stellar, and many more equally exciting opportunities to catch some live music in DTR should be forthcoming in February.

I've been listening to a lot of Zacharias Flynn's new CD (available here, of course) Irresolute Insight. You can check it out here: www.myspace.com/drzacharias. And I am even more excited that he is a Renton local. He clearly has his head in the clouds, judging by the daydreamy and somewhat random quality of this music--but for a musician, that is not always a bad thing...

Another new thing I have been digging is ProGrammar's latest, Somaphone 4: Heartbreak, which reimagines old pop songs (themed around heartbreak, naturally) with the only instrument being the human voice (specifically, one human voice: that of ProGrammar himself). He is online at www.programmar.net, and the CD is available for your listening pleasure at TRx. Check out the cover of Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry," or The Moody Blues' "Your Wildest Dreams", and then remind yourself that all those sounds are made by one guy singing and beatboxing. Now try not to be amazed. I dare you. ; )

So now I am closing up shop. Getting ready to start thinking about my New Years' Resolutions. Upcoming blog-post perhaps?

(yeah, that's called foreshadowing...)

--TRx

The "Hassle With Real": A Conversation with Bobby Burg

We recently had a chance to speak with Bobby Burg, a veteran of indie legends Chin Up Chin Up, currently rocking out with the up-and-coming Chicago band Vacations. Their newest release on Record Label (best label name ever!), I Was Bikini / But Rain Afraid, has been grabbing lots of attention, and the band is sure to gain more momentum in the indie music press after their inclusion on the new Polyvinyl-released Joan of Arc presents: Don’t Mind Control, due in January. I have been spinning I Was Bikini… for about a week now, and the syncopated rhythms and off-kilter vocals get better with each listen, from the otherworldly chanting of “New Friends” to the disco-riffing of “Solar Tongue”. They have a lot of world-music inspiration throughout, and their songs generally don’t veer too far from being light, air-y, and perhaps a little tongue-in-cheek. The whole album sounds like getting away from standard blues-based rock, like an excursion from the seriousness of nü-folk. It sounds like…well, a vacation. Check the interview below. Make sure you give the band some love via the internets, too, here: www.myspace.com/vacationsmyspace, and/or here: http://www.recordlabelrecordlabel.com/.

Tyrannosaurus Records: Can you tell me some of the sources of inspiration for the lyrics all over I WAS BIKINI...? Some of them get kind of weird, not in an off-putting way, but in an intriguing way. I'm curious how they come about, in a general sense.

Bobby Burg: It was really fun the way we would work on lyrics. Jeremy would email me a version of him mumbling over the music and I would give him a possible translation of what he was saying. He would then revise it further a combination of his original lyrics and the interpreted ones. Sometimes I would remake a version of how I envisioned his phrasing and melodies and send it back to him. We worked very closely together on the lyrics and melodies.

TRx: How do you see a band's locality/geography affecting their sound, in this day and age, with such fragmentation of the scene as a whole? Is it your experience that bands feed off each other when they are close together, or is it more of an "arms-race" within a given locale for each band to claim an individual identity?

BB: I guess I would say it totally depends on the band or day even. Both of the examples you've given can be true. In the case of Vacations specifically, we wanted to write songs that made us feel warm and summery in order to combat the freezing fucking cold winters in Chicago that we were sliding through to get to and from practice.

TRx: In researching some other press on you guys, I found more than one comparison to Vampire Weekend and Abe Vigoda. From your perspective, are these comparisons accurate?

BB: Jeremy DJ's that Vampire Weekend record. I liked what I've heard and I like some of Billy Joel's songs too. I saw a video of the Vampire Weekend guy singing with Fucked Up, they did "Parents" by the Descendents and I thought that was significantly better than any song written by Billy Joel, Vampire Weekend or Vacations. Abe Vigoda is pretty killer, I saw them in Texas and loved it.

TRx: Can you tell me about the greatest rock show you have ever seen? Or at least one of the top contenders if you don't have a favorite...

BB: Dead Milkmen at Metro in October this year as part of Riot Fest. It was my first time seeing them and they are one of my favorite all time bands. They totally delivered. I was in the pit the whole show and knew almost every word.

TRx: What can you tell me about "Record Label"? How important are small/independent labels to the music landscape?

BB: 'Record Label' is my way of putting out records. I started it to release Love of Everything and Chin Up Chin Up's first releases. I'm not sure how important small labels are. I don't even understand what a small label could offer a band anymore. They could offer to take half of the bands money in exchange for paying for them to record an album. That seems fair I suppose considering they will most likely never sell enough copies to pay for the recording.

TRx: Since we're nearing the end of another 365-day cycle, can you give me any favorite albums or songs from the year that was?

BB: That is a good question.

TRx: Looking to the future, what is the plan of attack for Vacations in 2010? Recording? Touring? World domination?

BB: Hopefully we can record some more this winter. We are still trying to figure out how to do it. Vacations is still in a huge debt to 'Record Label' for paying for the first recording. We only did 10 shows out of town to promote the record. I'm learning from my mistakes, before 'Record Label' pays for any band to record again I would want the band to agree to do a minimum of 60 shows out of town over the course of the year following the release. I thought Vacations would naturally do this so I didn't even ask the other guys about it. So that was my mistake.

TRx: What's your favorite dinosaur? (No, it does not have to be a tyrannosaurus...) ; )

BB: Stegosaurus the plant eater.

We forgive you, Bobby.

"ROOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!"

--TRx