Posts by Gabriel Scheer

Yoav…a star yet to be so named.  This young musician, who until earlier this year hadn't released a full-length album, has already had quite the trajectory, including scoring the opening slot for Tori Amos.

Morcheeba ruled a certain chunk of the mid-late 90’s. They had the English trip-hop/rocker/rave thing down to a radio-friendly 3-4 minutes (though, of course, there were the remixes…), “Trigger Hippy” perhaps foremost among them. And then they were gone, sort of…

A recent triple-bill at LA’s Spaceland showed three different bands in a similar orbit, with locals Hearts of Palm UK opening for Portland’s The Builders and the Butchers and the The Helio Sequence.

Yoav, though, is something different. The guy has a voice capable of – or perhaps pushed to be – all things: he sounds just as good singing in falsetto as in a gravelly, crooner-ish voice.

Tori Amos has a knack for picking male singer/songwriters with looper pedals types to open for her.  Thing is, she does a good job of it.  In a recent show at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre, singer Yoav (who has yet to release a full-length, and yet is somehow opening for Tori Amos) put on an excellent set.

The recent show by Maximo Park and Travis at Seattle’s historic Moore Theatre was one to remember – high-energy, with great music and even better performances.  Opener Maximo Park, already big in Europe, is relatively unknown in the States, despite regular recent airplay on KEXP (90.3fm/KEXP.org) and other college stations; if the show they put on opening for Travis is any indication, they will soon be much better known.

Master collaborator James Lavelle has arisen again as UNKLE, releasing UNKLE’s third album, War Stories, after a four-year hiatus since Never, Never, Land. Unsurprisingly, given that UNKLE is the work of a multi-person collaborative effort, War Stories is a mixed bag of quality tracks and songs that will be gone from your recollection as soon as they end.

Some musical pairings, in the form of openers and headliners, simply shouldn’t happen.  Others are matches made for memory.  The latter is the case in the current Eric Bachmann/Josh Ritter tour match-up, with the former Archers of Loaf and current Crooked Fingers frontman opening for Ritter and his band.

Spanish for 100 is yet another recent Seattle “buzz” band, securing a coveted designation as “your new favorite band” by KEXP’s John in the Morning. One can’t help but listen to their recent album Say What You Want To Say To Me with a mixture of doubt and the desire to not buy into the aforementioned hype – and yet, the catchy, driven album has a way of worming its way under one’s skin. Their formula is nothing new: two guitars, a solid rhythm section

Eat Me, Drink Me is fairly classic Manson, if perhaps lightened up a bit. His voice is every bit as crusty, dark, and angry as ever, and the synths, bass and drums pound out their usual aggressive anger, but the guitar work, in particular, seems to have lightened up, with occasional riffs that don’t sway too far from slack guitar while other guitar lines are straight-up rock ‘n roll.

One would have thought only Joanna Newsom could sound like Joanna Newsom…yet somehow, Anais Mitchell manages to sound like her.  Or at least, to take elements of her childlike, nasal voice, and combine them with the much more classically beautiful, neo-folk sounds of Edie Carey or perhaps a more robust Rosie Thomas.

Stars of Track and Field is a three-piece indie pop band from Portland, Oregon. Paying reference to their elders of indie genre, their name is in reference to the Belle and Sebastian song of the same name found on their 1998 album – If You're Feeling Sinister. Glide recently met up with the Stars of Track and Field after their Seattle date and had the chance to talk with frontman Kevin Calaba. The conversation spanned songwriting, life on the road, and politics.

After a nearly 30-year hiatus (his last album of new works was released in 1978), the man now known first as Steven Georgiou, then as Cat Stevens, and now as simply Yusuf Islam, has put out a new album.  And the new album, while clearly inspired and influenced by Yusuf’s spiritual journey of the last three decades, sounds remarkably like, well, Cat Stevens.

Boston-based Antje Duvekot recently opened a well-attended show headlined by Lucy Kaplansky at Seattle’s Tractor Tavern, and the two put on a wonderful show. The main complaint, particularly as related to Duvekot’s part of the show, was that Duvekot arrived late, having been on a later-than-expected flight, and was able to play only a few songs.

Few bands in recent memory have caught the ears of this reviewer like Stars of Track and Field.  This Portland-based trio has sprung into indie musical consciousness, with but one full-length to their credit, creating a repertoire of gorgeous, riff-laden, perfectly-crafted pop songs.

For the uninitiated, a Cloud Cult show is a thing of beauty: the music takes on a surprisingly aggressive, almost frenetic energy, complemented by both video show and live painters, the entire package an engaging event.  Their recent gig at Seattle’s Neumo’s was no different, with the six-piece group providing an appreciative crowd with music from their most recent album, The Meaning of 8, as well as from its predecessor, Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus.

What is it about Oasis?  They have a sound both comforting for its familiarity and obnoxious for its grating, Noel-and-Liam-fueled Brit-poppishness.  And while they have passed the apex of their fame – arguably, by over a decade – their sound remains somehow comforting.

Seattle band The X-Ray Eyes put on a solid show recently at Chop Suey, adroitly playing songs that were clearly familiar to the audience while still making time for newer material. Their sound grounded solidly in straight-ahead rock with just a tinge of folk, the three-piece act put on a polished show.

Ben Kweller recently opened for British stars Gomez at Seattle’s Showbox club, and the openers put on a show that, while technically skilled (and at times, even, intriguing), unfortunately did little to raise the heartbeat of this reviewer.

Playing against a simple yet intriguingly-utilized backdrop (including five flat-screen televisions showing various different angles on the trio throughout the show), Keane delivered a set with the polish of so many British pop/rock groups. Chaplin’s voice had the crystal clarity of their recordings, rising at times with the grace and power of Freddy Mercury, yet harkening often to the earnest soulfulness of Coldplay’s Chris Martin.