Ball of Wax Showcase at Northwest Folklife 2012

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Levi Fuller

Our friends at Northwest Folklife have announced the schedule for this year’s festival (Memorial Day weekend, May 25-28) and, as usual, it’s a doozy. There’s a mind-boggling number of wonderful artists representing a mind-boggling array of sounds and styles, and it’s all free. Whether you go for an afternoon or the whole weekend, don’t miss it!

I’m thrilled to have been invited once again to put together a showcase of Ball of Wax artists for the Festival, and it’s a pretty sweet lineup. Join us Sunday evening, May 27th, for sets from Tito Ramsey, Robert Deeble, The Foghorns, and Heatwarmer. That’s a pretty diverse lineup that offers an interesting cross-section of what I’ve been doing with Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly over 27 volumes and counting, from Tito’s sweaty one-man R&B, to Robert’s subtle, lush introspection, to the Foghorns’ shambling world-weary barroom folk, to the prog-Muppet-showtune insanity of Heatwarmer. I’m proud to bring these fantastic artists together on one stage, and very honored to be given the opportunity by the fine people at Folklife.

As an added bonus, you can come back on Monday afternoon for a three-hour long tribute to Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, featuring many artists from the Ball of Wax Anthology tribute, plus many more fans of this wonderful collection of songs. I think we’ve got about 30 different artists playing songs from all 3 of the original volumes of the Anthology; you won’t want to miss a single one!

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Stellarondo’s Mash Note from Rick Bass

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Levi Fuller

If you’ve been hanging around here for a while, you know that I’m a fan of the intersection of literature and music. I think the resulting art is often enhanced by the exposure of musicians to books, or writers to music – or writers to musicians, for that matter. Stellarondo (whom I’ve covered here before a time or two) is embarking on an ambitious project, collaborating directly with writer Rick Bass on an album of “scored stories.” There is, as there so often is, a Kickstarter campaign. Of course there are a lot of excellent and worthy Kickstarter campaigns out there, and I’m not going to talk about all (or even most) of them on this blog. Continue reading →

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Genital Hospital Plays Their Last Show This Friday

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Levi Fuller

I’ve been meaning to write about Genital Hospital for a while now – and to see them live, as well. Apparently if I wait long enough on something like this, the band goes and breaks up, and I almost end up missing the opportunity to do either. (Not that I can’t write about bands that have broken up – in fact, it’s one of the reasons I started this blog – but you know what I mean.)

Genital Hospital are rude and hilarious (their 2011 EP is titled Ball My Children, of course). They are also loud and discordant and very good at what they do. The first transmission I read from them started: “Inspired by the sweaty house-party basements of their youth, 4 performance veterans in the Seattle area united to form Genital Hospital in the spring of 2011. Equal parts Jon Spencer, Shellac and Monorchid, Genital Hospital is on a mission to make you move.” Needless to say, my interest was piqued by the bands referenced, and I instantly went and listened to Ball My Children, which manages to justify such weighty comparisons. (I hear a little Jesus Lizard in there too, for what it’s worth.)

[wp_bandcamp_player type=”album” id=”4247252265″ size=”grande” bg_color=”#FFFFFF” link_color=”#4285BB”]

I didn’t know that I’d have less than a year to witness Genital Hospital live and see whether they can really deliver on their “sweaty house-party” aspirations, but something tells me this Friday will be the sweatiest the Seattle Elks Lodge 92 has been in quite some time.

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Andy Says So: Grave Babies

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Jon Rooney

Continuing the string of recommendations from Andy of Fensepost, let’s check out Grave Babies.  Seattle’s Grave Babies put out a 7″ on Hardly Art and have an EP called Gothdammit coming out on April 17th. Like Orcas, Grave Babies have enjoyed a string of discerning press coverage, both local and further afield. Despite the goth trimmings of their EP title and moody band photos, I found their sound to be more mid-’90s lo fi drone than late-’80s goth rock. Somehow the recordings sound both tinny and reverb-laden, propped up by driving bass lines and solid arrangements. Grave Babies seems to be taking to some pretty well-worn music roads, staying within range of well-regarded bands from the Jesus and Mary Chain to Wavves. Unlike scores of neo-fuzz rock bands, Grave Babies actually have well-constructed songs underneath the hiss and rumble. Synth flourishes and shoegaze guitar gestures pop in and out of the songs without dominating, distracting, or spilling into an ill-advised feedback odyssey, making Gothdammit a pretty taut, economical batch of songs. Take a listen:

http://vimeo.com/40161030

Now visit the Grave Babies on Facebook.

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Album Review: Kat Terran – Lion & Blue

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Louis O'Callaghan

Kat Terran – Lion & Blue
(2002, Little Roar Records)

I acquired this CD in Neenah, Wisconsin after playing with Southerly, and with Kat Terran’s band Snowdrift. Snowdrift — who are from Seattle — didn’t have much recorded at the time, but they had some of these, so a trade was effected.

This album is great, and I feel dumb that I didn’t even take the wrapper off until recently. I judged it by its cover, which to me looks a bit like psychedelic folk art from the ’70s . . . not entirely unlike a Cloud Cult album cover, but with more Middle-Earth runic-looking type, the sort of thing I’d seen too many times color-ink-jet printed and mailed to me when I used to run acoustic folk concerts. I also expected it to be a lo-fi solo singer-songwriter solo effort, which is the sort of thing I generally like, but for whichever reason (the cover, my trademark laziness, etc) I wasn’t inspired to open it up. Continue reading →

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Andy Says So: Orcas

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Jon Rooney

Since I’ve struggled a bit lately to stay on top of new bands, I enlisted the help of music blogger and all-around good guy Andy Fenstermaker of Fensepost to direct me to a handful of up-and-coming Pacific Northwest artists. Challenging the Ball of Wax principle of focusing on super underground artists rather than those with higher profiles, Andy’s list included a couple of bands that have already received a fair amount of press and have releases on notable labels.

Take Orcas, an ambient pop collaboration between Portland-based Benoît Pioulard and Seattle-based Rafael Anton Irisarri. They have an album coming out this month on celebrated German label Morr Music, have been profiled by both the Stranger and Mercury and even got a great review (7.7) on Pitchfork. So what do they sound like? Continue reading →

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Blues Revival through Seattle: GravelRoad Carrying on Harry Smith’s legacy

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Bart Cameron

T-Model Ford & GravelRoad(photo via GravelRoad's website)

On April 6, 2012, two different strands of the newest blues movements will be on display in Seattle. Seattle’s own GravelRoad, promoting their excellent progressive/ acid blues album Psychedelta, will be at the Funhouse, and Portland’s Tango Alpha Tango, whom I covered in this forum and who have just released an outstanding new EP, Kill and Haight, will be at Comet Tavern.

This occasion gives me an opportunity to point out the brilliance of GravelRoad– and how they are the heirs of local legend Harry Smith’s best intentions. If you don’t know Harry Smith yet, you will. This Memorial Day Weekend, the recognition of local anthologist Harry Smith continues with a tribute at Seattle’s Northwest Folklife Festival. The Harry Smith concerts, which DJ Greg Vandy and our own Levi Fuller seem to have a large part in putting on, have been building steam. I am more and more impressed with how Mr. Vandy and Fuller have changed the dynamic of a group of songwriters, building collaboration and changing the critical voice, with this focus on classic material. Continue reading →

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Deelay Ceelay: “Feather Lightning”

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Levi Fuller

Video art is deeply entwined in Deelay Ceelay‘s output as a band. Their live performances are fully immersive experiences, generally consisting of the two members playing on two full drum kits, backed by pre-recorded synths and other instruments and a synchronized video projection. So I was somewhat surprised to discover that the newly released video for “Feather Lightning” – seemingly a documentation of the weirdest camping trip ever – is their first official stand-alone music video. It’s worth the wait, and leaves me wanting more, greedy soul that I am. If you’re lucky, your weekend will be half as fun as this song and video.

Download the full Sunset Drumsets album for free right here.

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Rejoice! Mike Dumovich Has a New Album! Release Show 4/3 at the Royal Room

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Levi Fuller

Mike Dumovich has, for several years running, been one of my favorite singers and songwriters – if not my very favorite – in Seattle. There is a strange gravity to his music – beautiful without being sappy, serious without being overly earnest, perfectly executed without being showy or precious – that pulls you in and will not let you go until it’s damn well done with you. One of my biggest regrets of the first 27 volumes of Ball of Wax is that I have yet to have a Mike Dumovich song on one (though he was involved in the Harry Candy project, and lent his distinctive voice and playing to the Purple Ether Molasses track “Bones Triptych”).

Continue reading →

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More Free Music from Eyes

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Levi Fuller

Man, Eyes are like the Tupac of 21st century psych bands or something. A year after I last wrote about them, letting you know about two free posthumous releases from these San Francisco noisemongers, they send word that they have released yet another collection of sounds, this one entirely improvised and called White Ash. I really wish Eyes were still a band so we could have them come up here and share a bill with Fungal Abyss (see BoW 27) that would just tear the tops of all of our heads off, but alas we’ll have to make do with listening to their generously provided recorded output and imagine what might have been.

Listen to or download White Ash via Bandcamp. It’s pay what you will, so feel free to throw a few bucks in the hat; I’m sure they’d appreciate it.

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