This Month in Photos: October 2013

October was a great month for music, starting with the new Macefield Music Festival in Ballard. Macefield was held at the Tractor, Sunset, and Conor Byrne, and featured bands like Children of Kids, Lures, Princess, and many more! Then there was a great series of in-store performances at Everyday Music. We visited a couple Capitol Hill venues we haven't been to before: Cock Pit and Velocity Dance Center. To top it all off, we saw the dynamic band Haim. DAMN, those girls rocked Neumos. Looking forward to what November has in store for us!

MACEFIELD MUSIC FESTIVAL

Children of Kids

Hounds of the Wild Hunt brought the noise.

Special Explosion.

USF

The Fame Riot were very fun.

Lori Goldston

Vox Mod

Sonic Boom hosted some free shows earlier in the day and had their own little Macefield house.

Princess, killing it.

Learning Team came down from Bellingham to perform before they got back to studying.

Young Fresh Fellows

Afro Cop

Constant Lovers

Lures was the last band we saw for the night. We heart Lures!

Tjutjuna at Chop Suey. 10/9.

Lazer Kitty played an in-store at Everyday Music on 10/12.

Earring played the next day for another Everyday Music in-store. 10/13.

Perched over Killer Ghost at The Cock Pit. 10/21.

Mural at the Cock Pit.

Tyler Carson and Sean Morse. Velocity Dance Center. 10/22.

Haim at Neumos. 10/23. Talk about a killer set! These sisters seriously rocked.

SWL #43: Lures, "Vacant"

The last track of the 1992 reissue of “Living in Darkness”, the essential debut from surf-punk gurus Agent Orange, has always stuck with me. It features a 1981 interview where the band describes their sound, saying, “We’re not from the beach; we have to take the bus to get to the beach.” The point of course is that is doesn’t matter anymore; in the post-Pulp Fiction world surf rock is more than just a novelty, and certainly capable of being evocative…with or without the woodie.

In Seattle, we’ve fallen head over heels for the lovable, woozy antics of La Luz, but here at NGD we’ve been increasing impressed by Seattle’s Lures as well. The threesome of Sam Peterson, Spencer Miller, and Dillon Christopher (formerly Ambulance) made a splash back in June with their Dizzy 7” on Fin records, (and we were excited to include B-side “Closer” on our SeattleDIYPop Mix), but since then they’ve been hard at work on their debut full-length scheduled for release in January.

“Vacant” is the lead single off the record and it provides a promising glimpse of what’s to come. The song has a traditional pop structure, alternating between verses and chorus, but that what I really love here is the transitions. Whereas the verses are somewhat morose, filled with a driving, slippery wet surf ambiance and Peterson’s trademark half croon/half drawl baritone, the chorus finds the band flying high on an indie/dream rock sound that’s more akin to Wild Nothing than Dick Dale. It’s dangerous but relatable, and ultimately, just one more reason to keep an eye on the young band.   

Download "Vacant" for free from their bandcamp and check 'em out when they open for fellow NGD favorite Tangerine at Barboza on the 27th 29th (next Tuesday).

This Month In Photos: September 2013

hey hey hey! September had some great shows featuring a great local talent, the multi-talented visuals maestro Randall Skrasek (who also performs his own music as Rainbow Wolves). Check out the gorgeous colors at the Jetman Jet Team show at the Josephine and Ecstatic Cosmic Union show at Cafe Racer! Also, the new venue Atlas Space, associated with Atlas Clothing in Fremont, is booking more great shows, and Beats and Bohos opened up a new shop in Greenwood (moved from Ballard). Enjoy the photos, see you out there in October!



Tangerine CD release show for their new EP, Radical Blossom. The Comet. 9/6.

LURES

Marika Justad of Tangerine

Land of Pines had a very energetic set

Vaudeville Etiquette. Fundraiser for Water For People at Carpenter Creek winery. 9/13.

Grand Opening party at the new Beats and Bohos at 7200 Greenwood Ave N. 9/13.

Jetman Jet Team, Snowdrift, Clear Black, and The Blinding Light at The Josephine. Visuals by Randall Skrasek. 9/13.

Snowdrift.

Quinn, drummer for Jetman Jet Team.

Cory Brewer at Heartland. 9/19.

Erik Ryan at Atlas Space. 9/20.

Lou Lou Hernandez at The Josephine. 9/21.

Golden Gardens with special guest Suzanne Perry of Love Spirals Downwards. Barboza. 9/22.

Waysayer at Atlas Space. 9/24.

Ecstatic Cosmic Union, Rainbow Wolves, Perpetual Ritual, and Sacred Signs at Cafe Racer. 9/27.

Perpetual Ritual

Rainbow Wolves, aka Randall Skrasek, aka THE guy to go to for awesome visuals!

Ecstatic Cosmic Union.

Eleanor Murray at Heartland. 9/28.

Festivals of October

Summer's over, but there are still a few great festivals left! Check these two out in October.

The new Macefield Music Festival is more of a mega-show than a festival, as it is only one day long. However, it'll be quite a packed day! Plus, wristbands are $10 advance, $15 day of festival. Not bad! If you're 21+ (sorry, minors), head down to Ballard on October 5th at 4pm and catch the following acts (NGD suggestions are bolded):

Kick it off with these free performances at Sonic Boom:

1pm- Lori Goldston

1:45pm- Marc Olsen

2:30pm- Davidson Hart Kingsbery

3:15pm- The Blakes 

	Tractor Tavern	Sunset Tavern	Conor Byrne
4 pm	Hounds of the Wild Hunt	Children Of Kids	TBA
5 pm	Special Explosion	USF	TBA
6 pm	The Fame Riot	Kid Smpl	Lori Goldston
7 pm	Young Fresh Fellows	Vox Mod	Afrocop
8 pm	Princess	Keyboard Kid	Learning Team
9 pm	Constant Lovers	Key Nyata	LURES
10 pm	The Blakes	Jarv Dee	Courtney Marie Andrews
11 pm	The Intelligence	ILLFIGHTYOU	Ganges River Band
12 am	Polyrhythmics	Funky 2 Death	Davidson Hart Kingsbery

Named for Edith Macefield, the persistent little old lady who refused to sell her house to the developer of the Ballard Blocks (Trader Joe's, LA Fitness, etc.), this first annual Macefield Music Festival is a strong start. Let's hope they keep this up, considering we have already lost Seattle Weekly's Reverb Fest (note, the would-be Reverb Fest lineup is now what you see here with Macefield Music Festival, which is no coincidence), and we lost City Arts Fest this year, too (this is what they're up to instead).

Hypnotikon is (also) a new two-day festival celebrating psychedelic rock, held October 11-12 at the Triple Door and its associated Musicquarium. This venue is gorgeous and I'm so excited this festival is here. The festival ends on a high note with Silver Apples, "analog-synth pioneers...whose two late-'60s albums still radiate timeless melodic and rhythmic brilliance." Good times. With visuals by Christian Petersen (I Want You) and Aubrey Nehring (Portable Shrines). $25 per night, or $40 pass for both nights; or just come for the Musicquarium shows, because those are free!

	Main Theater	Musicquarium	DJ’s on Both Nights
Friday	Cave	Tokyoidaho Ecstatic Cosmic Union	Explorateur Veins Skyler Mamma Casserole Self-Administered Beatdown
	Lumerians
	Midday Veil
	Fungal Abyss
Saturday	Silver Apples	Brain Fruit Karnak Temples
	Cloudland Canyon
	Night Beats
	Jetman Jet Team