KEXP: Seattle's Living Room

I needed to settle in with WiFi for a bit to catch up on work so I drove over to the KEXP studio public space.

Plenty of reasonably comfortable couches and chairs, KEXP playing over the nice sound system, espresso counter, this is Seattle's living room.

I got my usual coffee drink, settled in and took care of the electronic work. The WiFi worked fine, so I was able to get done in time to join the group let into the hall outside the studio to watch an interesting performance.

Gerald Collier, Friselle and John Doe each performed some Woody Guthrie material and spoke about Guthrie's influence.
The performance was mic'ed and produced extremely well, the sound we got through the speakers in the hallway was exceptional. A crew of 3 or 4 cameras operators stood and squatted in the middle of the circle of musicians, filming and taking pohotos. We had been warned not to try to take any photos or they'd remove us, so the photos available from KEXP are all I've got. They took enough footage and I'm sure they recorded the whole thing on multitrack equipment so with any luck they'll provide the performance video at some point. KEXP's videos have wonderful sound and clean clear video.
Not that this video has much to do with the performance we saw, but it's a nice example of KEXP's video ouput. Perhaps 30 of us, from geezers like me to 4 year olds being held by their dad all stood rapt and listened. Then the performance ended and we went back into the public area, Seattle's living room. I pulled the laptop out to get back to work in a better frame of mind than usual, I have to say I enjoy getting to hang out at the KEXP space.

Mudhoney plays the KEXP Friday in August Mural Amphitheater show

I managed to wander by and catch Mudhoney rocking out at the Mural Amphitheater. Awesome set, mosh pits breaking out here and there; the Clark bar samples were good too.

Mudhoney was in great form with powerful guitar riffs using distorted sustain to ring and growl, and the rhythm section more than keeping up their end of the sound with the bass frequently anchoring the melodic core of the song and always driving the tempo and the drums consistently playing hard, loud, fast and tight. Mark Arm's vocal's were somewhere between sung and screamed, plenty of attitude and power. Loud thrashy obnoxious feedback filled rock and roll on the Mural lawn on a nice Friday evening in Seattle - buy yourself a few microbrews in the beer garden and you've got the "it doesn't get any better than this" beer commercial. As I wandered off to catch the bus and looked at the sunset over Elliot Bay and the Olympics on the way home, it actually was a little hard to imagine life getting all that much better.

Way Finders, Absolute Monarchs and Love Battery at the KEXP Mural Amphitheater show

Stopped by the Mural Amphitheater to see another fun free show put on by KEXP. I was slightly sloshed and enjoying the music, so the videos were mildly unsteady. That's what happens when I try to video tape and dance at the same time. Love Battery was up first.Fun up tempo guitar rock, this is the sort of music I grew up loving way back when, and I still love it when it's done well - and Love Battery does it well.

The second band was Absolute Monarchs, a band I saw earlier this Summer at the Capitol Hill Block Party. They have a good heavy guitar oriented sound, perhaps a little slower than Love Battery, more screamish vocals, also a very nice approach. I was having fun dancing and drinking the occasional beer in the beer garden, I really enjoy these free KEXP Mural Amphitheater shows when the weather is so nice. Sadly enough, I think they're done for the year.

The final act was Way Finders, a band I'd never heard before. They immediately won me over with fast, intricate guitar oriented music - and I love the good wah-wah pedal. Fun show, great way to end the KEXP Mural Amphitheater series. They had one more KEXP free show the next Friday with Fresh Espresso and I like them quite a bit, but I was unable to make it to that show, so the penultimate show ended up being my final one for the season. It was a great night of hard rocking bands to end with and I'm glad I made it.

Fly Moon Royalty, Legendary Oaks and Sally Ford and the Sound Outside: No Depression

I managed to make it to the annual KEXP/No Depression free show at the Mural Amphitheater on August 3, 2012 and enjoyed the heck out of the 3 bands I managed to see. I wasn't able to stay for Shovels and Rope, but the acts I did see were great.

Local duo Fly Moon Royalty kicked it off. We saw Fly Moon Royalty last year at Bumbershoot and they impressed the heck out of us. Great songs, talented musicians, and the wonderful voice of Adra Boo turned us into immediate fans.

They had the early slot and were working hard out in the hot bright sun:

They closed their set with an awesome version of "Baby Got Back" and I wish I had recorded it but I was having too much fun bouncing around to it and enjoying it, maybe another time I'll get it, I definitely will go out of my way to see them again and again!

Next up was Legendary Oaks, a local band that I was unfamiliar with. They had a great rootsy sound that made me want to hang out in the beer garden and bounce around while drinking Redhook ESB, which worked out nicely.

The crowd was large and loving it, and the songs were instant classics, I'll definitely have to catch them again at some point, hopefully it won't be too hard since they're a local band.

The last act we saw was Sally Ford and the Sound Outside, not quite local (they're from Portland) but close enough. Another instant classic set, petty amazing stuff for a free show! They had an interesting vibe that I enjoyed, but I have no idea what you'd call it. The band was great, my inability to describe it is partially because they're unique and partially my own lack of referents, I don't know who you might consider similar and I don't really care. Check out the video and you can draw your own comparisons, they were creative and tight and fun as heck.

Sweet way to end the week, and when the weather gets this good in Seattle outdoor shows are so nice it's almost hard to describe. Free shows at the Mural Amphitheater in the hot sun with maybe a few ESBs - to hijack a different beer company's slogan, it just doesn't get any better!