The Seattle Times: Matson on Music

Premiere: 'Seattle Party' by Chastity Belt

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 10:13:16 PST

"Seattle Party" by Chastity Belt

Chastity Belt is a band I've been hyped on since hearing their rowdy, primal pop-punk song "James Dean" last spring, about sex and self-esteem. Recently relocated to Seattle from Walla Walla, Wash., they've been playing and recording a lot, with the band Dude York and engineer/musician Jose Diaz, who recorded "Seattle Party." Listen above. Chastity Belt should have the song up for download soon at their bandcamp. I'm feeling Julia Shapiro's sarcastic lyrics:

your tattoos are so deep, they really make me think
and your life is so rough, you've been through so much

SPECIAL NOTE: This blog will not be updated in the foreseeable future. The Seattle Times has exciting developments ahead for arts coverage in print and online. I'll be in the mix. But Matson on Music is closed for business. Please follow me on twitter.

'Stop Biting' night at Lo-Fi now an album, mini doc

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 08:10:29 PST

Art by Specs Wizard

Stop Biting Beatmakers Compilation Vol. 1 (Care Package; download here)

Quiet as it's kept, one of the purest nights of music in the Seattle hip-hop scene happens Tuesdays at the Lo-Fi on Eastlake Avenue, a dark, long, wood-floored building with rapping/breaking in the back room and a bunch of drinking-age dudes (and some women) bobbing their heads to local deejays in the front. The deejays sometimes compete with each other for the best original beat. It's called "Stop Biting," which in rap parlance means don't copy anyone else.

Consider "Stop Biting Beatmakers Compilation Vol. 1" a greatest hits of the front room. The album starts with dusty, '90s-style hip-hop and gets dancier as it goes. Standout tracks are by OCnotes, Specs Wizard, WD4D and Arthur Russell Simmons, and there's a very lovely night-drive type song by Macros toward the end.

Some of these beatmakers/producers/whatever-they're-called got started in punk bands; some are in electronic groups; others have been rapping since 1979. They're an interesting, productive and mostly head-down community. Take a look inside their private studios on an attendant YouTube documentary, linked at carepackage.bandcamp.com.

Were you there? 'The Rolling Stones' and Shabazz/THEESat

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 17:01:06 PST

Not to be "that guy," but if you didn't attend the recent "The Rolling Stones" or Shabazz Palaces/THEESatisfaction concerts, you missed magic. They both started great and finished better. A few words and photos:

Justin Deary playing Mick Taylor/Ronnie Wood; photos by me

"The Rolling Stones" exploded the museum aspect of classic rock 'n' roll at the Tractor Tavern's holiday concert Friday, Dec. 22, and made old music feel vital again. The local punk-pedigreed cover band was uncommonly tight and loud and committed to playing the characters of the actual Stones, and the bar was decked out with lighted snowflakes, packed with boozy patrons who maybe didn't know the difference. The best song was "Tumbling Dice" early in the set. But the grandest moment came at the end, when a ton of sweaty people danced on stage, which felt illegal in a good way, and waved goodbye like at the end of SNL. Everyone left when it started to get scary-crowded — except electric guitarist Justin Deary and his dangly earring, who let the screaming audience play his instrument with a candy cane.

Ishmael Butler hands the microphone to OCnotes

After a fully-choreographed and musically interwoven set by local rap groups Shabazz Palaces and THEESatisfaction Saturday at the Neptune — kicked off by a stunning new Shabazz song where Ishmael Butler rapped the words "embroidered in flames" — the best moment came at the end, when Butler gave props. He called Stasia Irons in THEESatisfaction a "master lyricist," high praise coming from Butler, then ceremoniously handed his microphone to local singer/rapper/producer OCnotes, for his cool duet with THEESatisfaction, "Icing." It was inspiring to see Butler acknowledge his musical family around town, not just because he put his ego on the side after an hour and half of rapping some of the best-chosen words hip-hop has ever heard — and not to leave out Shabazz's Tendai Maraire, whose mbira solo on "An Echo" was transporting, or THEESat's Catherine Harris-White and her low singing on "Deeper" — but because it hammered home the point that in pulling these Seattle artists together, Butler is giving the city a rich musical moment.

Top 40 of 2012, Seattle and beyond

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 12:46:06 PST

Seattle area pop music had a world-class year in 2012. Our hip-hop scene remained on fire, rock resurged and electronic music hung over everything like a fog. The big story was Capitol Hill rapper Macklemore, who shot to national/international fame with his October album "The Heist," which hovered around the top of the (iTunes) charts on the strength of songs about gay marriage and thrift shops. He didn't make my top ten. But he's in my top 40.

Photo by me

Frank Ocean, "Channel Orange"
Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Ocean wrote musically fluid R&B songs on "Channel Orange" that had a moonlike pull, and nuanced storytelling. Fun fact: Bellingham native Malay produced almost all of them.

THEESatisfaction, "awE naturalE"
Clearly inspired by '70s/'80s soul/jazz but with a digital approach, local duo THEESatisfaction self-produced, sang and rapped a powerful, concise album.

Damien Jurado, "Maraqopa"
The godfather of Seattle's neo-folk movement swerved to the psychedelic side in 2012. His album was stately and spacey.

Naomi Punk, "The Feeling"
All hail the Pacific Northwest rock 'n' roll record of the year: brutal/elegant/ghostly tunes with zero machismo and pulverizing arrangements.

Kendrick Lamar, "good kid, M.A.A.D. City"
A tour de force of rapping/songwriting from a young Compton emcee with a huge heart, and a good ear.

Gucci Mane, "Trap Back"
Legally troubled rapper and self-proclaimed "king of East Atlanta" Gucci Mane tatooed an ice cream cone on his face and went to rehab. Then he released a brilliant street-rap album, with a gothic/gaudy sound everybody copied. So who's crazy now?

Burial, "Street Halo / Kindred" EPs
Like an everlasting coal in the ashes of electronic dance music, South London producer Burial just keeps producing heat, mastering the art of using vocal samples like shadows and drums like subway echoes.

Actress, "RIP"
British ambient/techno producer Actress continued his romance with white noise on "RIP," shading his music into a sibilant singularity.

Tame Impala, "Lonerism"
Sorry for the shorthand, but if you ever wanted trippy-Beatles music with florid drums and a Krautrock influence, here's your dream record. Thank you, Australia.

Flying Lotus, "Until the Quiet Comes"
As hip-hop regains its vision for the future (last held strongly around the turn of the millennium), Los Angeles' Flying Lotus is at the fore, making cosmic, electronic music that slides and slaps.

Giorgio Momurda "Paintings Vol. 2"
Chromatics "Kill For Love"
The xx "Coexist"
Sleigh Bells "Reign of Terror"
Killer Mike "R.A.P. Music"
Stephanie "One Glove"
Lil B "White Flame"
Solange "True"
The Jacka "DJ Fresh Presents the Tonight Show with The Jacka"
Metro Zu "Mink Rug"

Jarv Dee "Dopamine"
Macklemore "The Heist"
Chimurenga Renaissance "Pungwe Mixtape"
Chief Keef "Finally Rich"
Grave Babies "Gothdammit" EP
Erik Blood "Touch Screens"
OC Notes "Moldavite / Pre Future Post Modern Love Songs"
Chastity Belt "[explicit] Chastity Belt"
Nacho Picasso "Exalted / Black Narcissus"
TNGHT "TNGHT"

Truckasauras "2012"
Rustie "Essential Mix"
Kingdom Crumbs "Kingdom Crumbs"
Keyboard Kid "Based Treasure"
Future "Pluto"
Nicki Minaj "Roman Reloaded"
Key Nyata "Two Phonkey"
Kung Foo Grip "Indigo Children Tales from the Otha Side"
The Physics "Tomorrow People"
Main Attrakionz "Bossalinis and Fooliyones"

Video of the Year
"Until the Quiet Comes" by Flying Lotus (dir. Khalil Joseph) tied with "Sparkles/Recollections of the Wraith" by Shabazz Palaces (dir. Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes) tied with Frank Ocean on SNL

Producer of the Year
Erik Blood (Stephanie, Crypts, THEESatisfaction, Erik Blood)

New Artist of the Year
Pussy Riot tied with Chief Keef

Radio Station of the Year
Songza.com (for their "indie R&B" channel) tied with Hollow Earth Radio (for their public concert-broadcasts)

Music Article of the Year
"Earl Sweatshirt is Back From the Wildnerness" (The New York Times/Jon Caramanica)

Anticipated for 2013
Hausu album
Shabazz Palaces album
Earl Sweatshirt album
Arthur Russell Simmons album/mixtape
Gunplay "Medellin"
Danny Brown "ODB"

Shabazz / THEESat: a history of high-concept Seattle shows

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 08:16:03 PST

Local rap groups Shabazz Palaces and THEESatisfaction, who play a double bill at the Neptune Theatre Friday, are making some of the most exciting and creative music in their genre right now. Shabazz's "Black Up" album was exalted in The New Yorker; THEESatisfaction is one of NPR's "10 Artists You Should Have Known in 2012."

But here in Seattle, we have another special reason to love them: they do shows jointly with a conceptual edge that the rest of the world doesn't see. And you never know what's going to happen.

In 2011 at Neumos, they blended their sets into a theatrical production structured like a late-night TV show, with Ishmael Butler from Shabazz Palaces playing a combination Johnny Carson/Huey Newton. The year before, they performed a concert-as-ritual-incantation at the Moore, donning custom headdresses (a version is currently on display at the Frye Art Museum).

Will they go the extra mile when they play together again this Friday at the Neptune Theatre?

"It's wa-a-a-ay more than likely," says Butler on the phone, not giving anything else away.

The concert was originally supposed to be a two-night stand for Butler, who was going to perform Saturday with his old, Grammy-winning group Digable Planets. But he says another rapper in the group, Ladybug Mecca, "in all her royal inglory," canceled the show, continuing a string of difficulties between Digable and Mecca that makes Butler feel like Digable is finally finished.

"It's a heartbreaker," he says.

Mecca did not respond to emails asking for her side of the story. Danny Brown is the replacement on Saturday, a hard-rhyming Detroit emcee Butler likes and selected.

"We've been working on getting him out here anyway," says Butler. "It was the logical next step."

For Shabazz, the special-show idea is something of a philosophy. Butler and percussionist/vocalist Tendai Maraire have a song where they chant "was you there tonight?" as if to ask whether you noticed the freshness of their show.

THEESatisfaction also prioritizes the live experience by giving the audience one-off remixes: new beats to existing words.

"I performed with [THEESatisfaction] in Zurich, Munich, Berlin and Fribourg," says Seattle producer/singer-songwriter OCnotes, who joined Shabazz/THEESatisfaction on tour in November. "It was crazy watching them improvise."

Whatever their motivations for stepping it up on stage — perhaps to set themselves apart from other hip hop "artists" who rap over their own CDs? — what really distinguishes Shabazz and THEESatisfaction is their looseness and mental effort, which makes their music similar to jazz, where nothing is set in stone.