Musical Valentines from For All the Girls and Slow Skate

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Levi Fuller

Happy Valentine’s Day (also known as my mom’s birthday)! There are a couple of items I would have felt remiss not to post today.

Today is the official release date of For All the Girls’ self-titled debut. For All the Girls is, of course, the project not of a precociously brilliant 13-year-old named Damien Fairchild, but an age-appropriately brilliant 30-something known as Drew Danburry. Regardless, the tunes are great and the accompanying videos have been pretty excellent as well. Here’s the newest, for “Valerie”:

In addition, our very good friends Slow Skate have posted a free download of their (up to now) vinyl-only release “St. Valentine” over on their Facebook page. Go get it!

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The Bats Pajamas: “Sarai”

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Levi Fuller

The Bats Pajamas are a band from Toronto that I’m pleased to welcome to the Ball of Wax fold for Volume 27. You might say their song “Sarai” is not the usual BoW fodder, but its brash, aggressive strangeness could not be denied. Here’s the video for “Sarai,” which you might not want to watch at work if that’s the sort of thing you worry about:

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Check Out This Song: oh lo lo – “Laundromat”

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Levi Fuller

I’m listening to my playlist for the new volume of Ball of Wax. Surprise surprise, it’s awesome. As a little taste, here’s the first song, oh lo lo‘s “Laundromat”:

I’m very excited to present oh lo lo to the world on CD for the first time (I know, no one but me gives a shit about CDs, but let me have my moment here). Come out to the Sunset on the 23rd for the Ball of Wax 27 release show and see them play a special set tailored just for us.
ComScore

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[glocal scene] Albuquerque, NM

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Phil Heron

As a ‘treat’ for Blog of Wax turning 1 year old, I have decided to write a post that will take a year to read. Below is a tale from the Glocal Scene team’s journey to Albuquerque, NM. I hope you enjoy. Long live Ball of Wax.

Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Free Album of the Day, Glocal Scene, Live Music, Recorded Music | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ball of Wax 27! February 23rd at the Sunset

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Levi Fuller

Friends! I have some exciting news for you, but first I hope you will wish us a happy blog birthday. Yes, our first post on Blog of Wax was almost exactly one year ago! I am so proud of us, aren’t you? You are invited to pat us on the back. Here’s to many more years of whatever this is. OK, now on to the news:

Ball of Wax Volume 27 Release Show
Thursday, February 23rd, 9:00pm
The Sunset Tavern
With musical performances from Alicia Amiri, Kevin Barrans and Friends, The Music of Grayface, Oh Lo Lo, and Sun Tunnels.
Free copy of Ball of Wax 27 CD with entry.

Volumes 25 (Songs about Books) and 26 (Tribute to the Anthology of American Folk Music) were loads of fun, but I’m excited to get back to just putting out a disc of great music without any particular theme and having a kickass show at the Sunset to celebrate it. The newest volume features brand new tracks from old friends such as Alicia Amiri, The Music of Grayface, and Sun Tunnels; new friends, including Glass Tunnels (so many tunnels!) and Kevin Barrans; and old friends in new bands, like Fungal Abyss and Oh Lo Lo. Plus much more! Join us at the Sunset on February 23rd to hear some great live music and get a free copy of the CD.

See you there!

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Interview with Carlos Forster, Who Is Touring the West Coast

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Jon Rooney

I reviewed Carlos Forster‘s new album, Family Trees, last year on this very blog. A couple of years ago, I wrote a short, somewhat random posthumous tribute to Forster’s former band, For Stars, on Fensepost. Forster is about to set out on a quick West Coast tour (although, sadly, no Seattle shows) and graciously agreed to answer some questions about his new album, his old band, psychodynamic therapy, and the merits of Joni Mitchell’s ambitious, jazz-infused work from the mid to late ’70’s.  Here are the dates of his upcoming tour:

  • January 27, 2012 Make-Out Room, San Francisco, CA
  • January 28, 2012 The Blue Lamp, Sacramento, CA
  • January 29, 2012 Duffy’s Tavern, Chico, CA
  • February 10, 2012 Bipartisan Cafe, Portland, OR
  • February 11, 2012 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
  • February 25, 2012 Swedish American Hall, San Francisco, CA NOISE POP 2012

Continue reading →

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Blog of Wax Legal Corner: What Is This SOPA thing?

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Austin King

Image courtesy Flickr user ~Minnea~

Welcome, Ball of Wax listener. Today much of the web is protesting something called SOPA. It’s like the Internet declared a snow day.

What the hell is SOPA and what does it mean for Ball of Wax?

SOPA is proposed legislation from the US government to regulate the way the public Internet works. It is called the Stop Online Piracy Act. It would give centralized authority to the US government to censor your consumption of the Internet on a website by website basis.

That sounds crazy, right? Continue reading →

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Download Ollie Byrd’s Barrel O’ Fun for Free

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Levi Fuller

It’s been a long time since we heard from former Seattleite Ollie Byrd (Orlando, I hope you know how lucky you are). That’s not true, actually; I get e-mails and Facebook updates from him all the time. But it’s been a while since he’s been on Ball of Wax (see Volume 3, or his old band Yeek Yak Airforce’s track on Volume 5), or released much new music since 2006’s inspired Barrel O’ Fun. His web site shows evidence of new music coming out, though, which is great news. In addition, he’s decided to offer Barrel O’ Fun as a free download for a limited time via Bandcamp – perhaps to tide us over until a new album appears? Whatever the reason, grab it while you can.

[wp_bandcamp_player type=”album” id=”3112589588″ size=”grande” bg_color=”#FFFFFF” link_color=”#4285BB”]

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I’ve Been Had!

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Levi Fuller
Drew Danburry

Not thirteen.

In hindsight, I should have known there was something fishy about this whole “Damien Fairchild” story. The songs – however sweet and innocent and charming – were just a bit too good, too sharp and well-produced, to be the product of a barely teenaged artist. Never mind the logistical problem presented by the idea that this young man had already been in love so many times, with so many different girls, at such a young age. The whole thing was too good to be true, but it was sweet and adorable and I liked the idea that I was giving this young, budding talent some of his first press, in however small a venue.

Turns out it was all too good to be true. Continue reading →

Posted in Bands You Should Know, Check Out This Song, Meta, Recorded Music | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Johanna Kunin’s Prolific Boxing Day

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Levi Fuller

So, what did you do on Boxing Day? I had the day off and, while it wasn’t entirely unproductive, I don’t think I’ll remember anything I did that day in a few months. Johanna Kunin (Bright Archer) decided to make the most of her day and take part in a round of the 20 Song Game, the simple but daunting premise of which is to attempt to write 20 songs in 12 hours. I did this a while ago (I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t really remember when), and it was a truly rewarding and inspiring experience, but it never even occurred to me to share the results with anyone outside of my fellow players for the day (three other people who each underwent the challenge at the same time). Johanna is not just incredibly gifted, but brave and generous, so she shares her entire process and all of the songs she ended up writing this Monday on her blog. It makes for both fascinating reading and truly pleasurable listening. If there were a new Bright Archer album made up of these songs I would be all too happy to buy it.

[wp_bandcamp_player type=”track” id=”811045635″ size=”grande” bg_color=”#FFFFFF” link_color=”#4285BB”]

Reading and listening to this has inspired me to try and do a round of the 20 Song Game again soon. If you were thinking of sending in a submission for Ball of Wax 27 but haven’t gotten off your butt to write or record anything yet, perhaps you should go for it too?

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