popwreckoning

As the finale for a week-long benefit for Seattle’s premiere all-ages venue The Vera Project, the newly-remonikered Brite Futures (formerly Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head) played their first show with the new name, not to mention their first show in Seattle in 9 months. As singer Shaun Libman said during their set, “We could have had a baby in the time we were gone.” Guitarist Luke Smith replied with, “Maybe we did. The baby’s name is Shaun.” But in all seriousness, it was nice to see them playing in Seattle again.

As I stood in line outside the venue, this man – who was obvious inebriated – shouted, “who’s playing tonight, the Jonas Brothers?” Seeing that this was a benefit for the all-ages movement in Seattle, a large majority of the people who came out to see Brite Futures was underage. It made me feel quite old, but the one really good part about all-ages shows is that they’re never short on energy. And it was good for me because the people standing in front of me were considerably shorter than I so I had a perfect view of the stage.

Now, Brite Futures weren’t the only band to play at this “A Drink for the Kids” benefit show. They were preceded by Motopony and Sap’N, both Seattle bands, and both of which I’d never heard before. So this was a nice treat. Both bands were awesome, but in quite different ways.

Motopony started off with the understated indie folk rock vibe, but singer and guitarist Daniel Blue had far more soul than I would have expected to match with the music. After a few songs, I turned to my sister and mentioned that his voice reminded me of Cold War Kids. She agreed. And along with the building energy from song to song, Blue eventually got up from his chair (he had to sit because his guitar strap broke) and started to dance. Not just shimmy and trip around the stage, but really dance. Like spin and salsa and even possibly moonwalk. It was refreshing. Motopony’s set was short, but the heavy and groovy “Seer” was my favorite song of theirs. I say groovy because while staying current, Motopony had a bid of a retro feel, with kicking guitar licks and organ tones. The fact that keyboardist Buddy Ross was a playing a clearly retro keyboard could have contributed to that too, as well as lead guitarist Brantley Cady’s Hendrix-esque Afro.

After Motopony finished their set around 9:45, we had a short interlude before Seattle’s own electro-soul performance duo Sap’N took their place. They’d just come off the release of their debut EP, produced by another Seattle artist P Smoov (of Fresh Espresso and Mad Rad). The singing boy/girl duo, Mitch and Regina stepped out on stage, accompanied by their DJ Joan Law, all sporting glittering face paint, just to up the energy ante. Even though the glitter should have been some sort of clue, I had no idea what to expect. And with how excited the young crowd was already, they were really fun. A couple of the stands out tracks were “Special Services” and “Girl’s Name.” Again, it felt retro – not 70s retro like Motopony, but 90s dance pop retro. Just to express that further – the last song Sap’N played was “Pump Up the Jam.” As in Technotronic. I’m serious. After being told that they had two minutes left to play, Mitch said to the crowd of 17-year-olds, “This song might be a bit old for some of you.”

If you ever get the chance to see them – do it. You’ll be really sweaty at the end of it all. Because at this point, I was already sweaty. But we were about to pump up the jam even more when Brite Futures came out on stage. However, not before the owners of the Vera Project gave a little information about the benefit, as well as sending a couple empty jugs around the crowd for people to donate. You see, the Vera Project is Seattle’s only non-profit all-ages venue run by donations and volunteers, and this was their 10-year anniversary.

But at 11 p.m. sharp, the stage was littered with handmade paper cones covered with glitter, and one even designed like an ice cream cone. Brite Futures took the stage one by one – keyboardist David Price first, then drummer Liam Downey, bass keyboardist and bassist – heck I’m not even going to say what they play because they all shift around instruments. Then Claire England, Luke Smith and Shaun Libman took the stage all in matching white ensembles to a trippy intro that they listed as “Sister” on the set list. There were a handful of new songs on that set list, so I had a hard time deciphering which song was which.

The last time I saw Brite Futures…well they weren’t called Brite Futures, but they weren’t the headliners, so I’d never seen a truly loving crowd. All I have to say is: oh my god. I already loved this band so much, but being in a crowd of ridiculously excited and energetic teenagers made it all the more fun. The band started with their relatively mellow “Bedroom Costume” and “Slow Motion Tag Team” (and I stress ‘relatively,’ because in any other context, it wouldn’t be mellow). But after that, the dancing was full-throttle. “Holding Hands in the Shower” and “Me + Yr Daughter” came next, and since were two of my favorites I was overjoyed. I’m sure anyone walking down Pike would have been able to feel the heat radiating off the windows in Neumo’s, because it got sweaty in there. Like to the point where an the breeze from an open door never felt so good. I don’t know how they do it, but Brite Futures manages to bring sexiness to their music while still remaining youthful. And I love it. The band then led us all into a few of their new songs, including “My Funk” and “Dog Eared Summer” off the recently re-released Glistening Pleasure 2.0 (which they actually just released last Tuesday). England took the mic for “My Funk,” which she proclaimed was about ice cream. It had a bit more soul and polish than the older songs, so it was different, as was “Dog Eared Summer.” Actually when they started playing “Dog Eared Summer,” Smith grabbed an acoustic guitar for the first time.

“You guys are probably wondering, ‘what is this wooden instrument I’m holding?’ And if you checked our website recently, you know what’s coming.” He was referring to when they released “Dog Eared Summer” for free on their website back when they first changed their name. Even though it was considerably light and beachy, the crowd still danced their little behinds off, and we all swayed our hands back and forth to the beat.

In fact, all the new songs that night showed that along with the name change, the band has grown up a bit. It’s always nice to see progression without too much change.

After this point, I’m sure we’d all made Neumo’s into a sauna, and my camera battery had also died, so I put it away so I wouldn’t risk damaging it. My industrial camera bag protected it pretty well while I was constantly jumping for the next twenty minutes or so. My knees are still sore. The fast-paced “Hush Hush” was by far the craziest part of the night, besides the latter half of the encore, which included the heavy and sexy “Malibu Highlife.” But that’s probably because it crescendos into a much quicker speed and the repeated line “I’m not in love with you! I’m in love with what we do!” So naturally, we all sang along.

And as it was just after midnight, there was one song their set was clearly missing at this point – “Beard Lust,” possibly the only song ever written about facial hair grooming. Multiple people from the crowd shouted “Beard Lust” before they started their final song, and I’m not gonna lie – I was one of them. As soon as Price started the opening notes, everyone went nuts and just as Libman instructed people to throw their hands up and give – essentially – spirit fingers, we all obliged. Libman took all the handmade paper cones off the stage and threw them into the crowd and balloons and confetti filled the air while we all had a super sweaty fun dance party.

Afterwards, walking away from Neumo’s with my friends and the paper cone I managed to wrangle from the stage, it was just nice to be in the fresh air away from the body heat sauna. But as uncomfortable as I was by 12:30, I had an inexplicable amount of fun seeing Brite Futures for the first time in nine months.

Welcome back, guys. Welcome back.

Set list:

1. Sister
2. Bedroom Costume
3. Slow Motion Tag Team
4. Holding hands in the Shower
5. Me + Yr Daughter
6. My Funk
7. Dog Eared Summer
8. Pig Bag
9. Hush Hush
10. Sophisticated Side Ponytail
11. Baby Rain
12. Iceage Babeland

Encore

1. Tell It To Me
2. Malibu Highlife
3. Beard Lust

Having not been to a proper show in Seattle in a month, I couldn’t wait to go see Portugal. The Man Friday night at Neumo’s. Not only because they rocked the Sasquatch Festival last month, but also the Builders and the Butchers were opening for them, and I’ve been really digging them lately. Morning Teleportation actually started the show, and if you’re like me, you probably haven’t heard much of them, but I strongly suggest you seek them out.

It was a night of Portland music, and all three bands rocked the house. I don’t think I’d been a show in Seattle with that much energy since January.

Morning Teleportation took the stage almost looking like they’d just stepped out of a time machine from 1973, sporting shaggy haircuts and fitted patterned button-ups, but they certainly didn’t sound like it. There are quite a few words to try and describe Morning Teleportation, but if I could think of one that might give you some idea without sounding overzealous, it would be funky. They were psychedelic, rootsy and jam band all at the same time. And normally I’m not much of a jam band kinda person, but Morning Teleportation surely put on a show. I mean, how often do you see a talk box these days? And a theremin? It shouldn’t make sense, but Morning Teleportation made me a believer. Thankfully they’ll be at MusicFest Northwest in September, so I’ll get to see them again for longer than 25 minutes. For now, head to their Myspace and listen to “Snow Frog vs. Motor Cobra.” It’s a perfect representation of their sound in hyper drive. And it’s really fun if you like to dance like a crazy person at shows.

It was nearing 10 p.m., and by that time Neumo’s was still a comfortable 75 degrees, if I could guess.

The Builders and the Butchers were up next. And on this particular night, lead singer Ryan Sollee picked up an electric guitar for the first time at a gig, because apparently his band mates had said he was getting too folksy. Either way, acoustic or electric, the Builders and the Butchers were awesome. With how many instruments they implemented on the tiny Neumo’s stage, they managed to make their banjo and mandolin-laden folk rock feel hard. But with how much power they put behind their music, I’m not surprised.

The Builders and the Butchers played for a good 45 minutes, and through most of the songs off their phenomenal 2009 album Salvation Is A Deep Dark Well. Ironically enough, they’ll also be playing at MusicFest Northwest, so that is one more show I’ll be anxiously awaiting. Also ironic – both the Builders and the Butchers and Portugal. The Man are originally from Alaska, and migrated to Portland. Fun fact!

All within their set, the Builders and the Butchers shuffled through instruments and tossed maracas into the audience. I think that there had to be at least eight maracas in the crowd by the time they finished. A couple of my favorites were the building epic “Golden and Green” and “Down in this Hole,” the latter of which turned into a grand sing-along that I’m sure everyone roaming around Capitol Hill could hear. Portugal. The Man surely had a tough act to follow.

At this point I remembered how hot Neumo’s got during the summer time, because the few open doors that the security guys guarded were like a cracked window in a hot car at noon. Thank goodness I had a water bottle, or else I probably would have lost consciousness.

It also didn’t help that the smoke machine seemed to be on overdrive.

I had a perfect spot standing up front, and right before Portugal. The Man took the stage these two guys who were considerably taller than I planted their feet in front of me and the much shorter girl to my left. But eventually the front of the crowd moved around so much I had a much clearer view. Portugal. The Man came out on stage amidst the thick fog and started off with their heavy prog rock, and as frustrated as I was with the smoke and lighting, the band sounded awesome. It was as good as I remembered from…okay it was only a month ago at Sasquatch, but the crowd received Portugal much better than at the festival.

After awhile, I forgot that I couldn’t get any decent photos and just rocked out, because it was kind of a requirement for being up front where I was. We got to enjoy some tracks from this year’s American Ghetto, last year’s The Satanic Satanist, and all the way through their five-album-five-year catalogue. I didn’t realize before that Portugal. The Man has released an album every year since 2006. That’s quite a feat.

As it’s also hard to describe Portugal. The Man; it makes for a diverse live show – with southern rock anthems like “People Say,” sexy psychedelic tracks like “60 Years” and soft ballads like “Created,” which was one of the closing songs from the night. But at that point it had gotten so stuffy in front that I had to scurry to the back of the venue to avoid passing out.

By far my favorite moment from the night was during “And I” where everyone in the crowd joined in with the “ooo ooo oos” during the chorus and danced together, if you could call it dancing. More like moving. People moved a lot. Which was part of the reason that Neumo’s was at least 85 degrees by midnight.

There is one thought that I took away from that night – of all places for awesome bands to come from – Alaska?

Apparently Alaska breeds bands the right way.

Finding myself in Seattle on a night before I have a seven page paper due is not a common thing, but on this particular Tuesday, I ventured to Neumos in Capitol Hill to see Scottish band We Were Promised Jetpacks, accompanied by local sweetheart band The Lonely Forest and Bear Hands of Brooklyn.
I hadn’t been to Neumos in a good two years, so I forgot how intimate the venue was.  But it was quite obvious that a majority of the 16-year-old girls and boys were there to see The Lonely Forest, and the older crowd came out for We Were Promised Jetpacks, but Bear Hands held their own, truly being the opener.

They played songs off their debut EP Golden, as well as their second EP, What a Drag, released last month. “Can’t Stick Em” from the latter EP was my favorite of their set, with a driving tempo and vocalist Dylan Rau building from the softer harmonies at the beginning to getting stronger and louder to meet the gritty guitar riff. Actually listening back to it now, Rau’s voice reminds me a little of David Portner of Animal Collective, how it teeters on the edge of notes. So if you like fuzzed out guitars and multi-layered harmonies, check Bear Hands out.

After Bear hands finished their set, it was close to 10, so the anticipation for Lonely Forest got to build for 20 minutes. Surrounded by crazy fangirls and one even crazier fanboy, I filtered through my pictures from the last hour. Then at about 10:15, The Lonely Forest got on the tiny stage and immediately thanked the all-ages crowd. Playing a selection from last year’s debut critically acclaimed We Sing the Body Electric, as well as some new songs, The Lonely Forest kept the energy going throughout their set. By the 3^rd song, front man John Van Deusen was already sweating profusely from his temples, switching from keyboard to guitar. It’s just a testament to how passionate this band is about their music and about their fans. And it doesn’t hurt that they’re great musicians too. The Lonely Forest closed out their set with “We Sing In Time,” which made the whole room sing a long, especially the crazy fangirls standing up front with me.

I liked what I heard of the new songs, and they were more upbeat and sunnier than We Sing The Body Electric, but I didn’t grab the set list, so I have no idea what the titles were. Just keep your eyes peeled for their new songs, and possibly a new album in 2010.

By 11:20, my feet were sufficiently aching. Every so often when the security opened the side door the gust of wind provided a sudden bit of relief from hot and sweaty venue. After a very long intro of “A Half-Built House,” with dozens of loops of the same voice repeating numbers, We Were Promised Jetpacks finally came on stage and dove into “Keeping Warm” off These Four Walls. I haven’t been listening to We Were Promised Jetpacks for long, but I loved how casual they were. The four guys just walked up on stage and started playing. No grandiose entrance or anything, and they were awesome. It could be my bias for UK bands, but for some reason, the Scottish accent makes all songs sound so much cooler.

After the first few songs I made my way out of the crowded front to get some water, and I noticed that the crowd had completely changed. The young fans that came to see The Lonely Forest had dissipated and most of the people I weaved through were older, who’d come to see We Were Promised Jetpacks. It was almost midnight, so that could be why, since it was a school night. And still as I stood off to the side, We Were Promised Jetpacks had the same impact in this tiny venue as if I standing right up front.

Bravo, Scotsmen. Bravo.