Warning: swearing

Lots of Seattle music videos these days feature people wearing animal masks. Here are four by Perpetual Ritual, Brothers from Another, Avatar Young Blaze and Boomzzilla.

Photo by me

It was a "curtain show" at Neumos Tuesday night for nascent, local buzz band Pollens.

That means a red fuzzy cloth hung from the ceiling, cutting the floor capacity by a little under half, allowing about 200 people to feel like they filled the 650-person Capitol Hill club.

If the show had been at the 200-person space underneath the stage that Neumos says it will be opening later this year, it would have been a sweaty dance party. Instead, it was a mild affair with pockets of excitement, especially up front.

Trance is Pollens' strong suit. The clean, unique sound of its drones intensified to climaxes that sometimes came too soon, and begged the question: If you can do it so well, why stop? The best parts were when three female voices wove a pattern with drums, guitar and up to three synthesizers, establishing a thick layer of throbbing sound for extended periods of time. That was distinctive. The rest of time, the group sounded exactly like Dirty Projectors or Akron/Family.

The show was technically great, with deep bass notes that mattered when they hit, and careful, multipart singing that didn't sound like English at first because the words were more about being musical than intelligible.

Songs were culled from an EP recorded in part by Morgan Henderson of Fleet Foxes, and an album that came out at the end of 2011, "Brighten and Break." The music is available at pollens.bandcamp.com, and hasn't quite filtered through the city yet, as Pollens is still gathering a core audience.

The band's recorded music is derivative enough that something special had to occur in concert for it to stand out, and that didn't quite happen at Neumos. The audience close to the stage, where the dancing should have been captured for a music video, probably would have strongly disagreed. But on the periphery people were less engaged, and patrons by the bar seemed to not care about the music at all, talking loudly over the whole thing.

Still, it was nice to see Seattle check out a band with almost no reputation. If Pollens stays exactly as it is, it still has enough pristine dazzle to take it far in this city. The enthused group in the front row suggested a potential crossover into the jam band community: dazed women with big smiles, happily lost in major-chord layers and overlapping voices.

Craft Spells image via craftspells.tumblr.com

Each March at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival/conference in Austin, Tex., there's a day-long Seattle showcase called SXSeattle. This year's is the strongest yet, with top level rock (My Goodness, Craft Spells), hip-hop (Don't Talk to the Cops!) and a double shot from our current blue-eyed soul movement (Pickwick, Allen Stone). There's a kickoff party mid-February that costs money to attend, but the showcase itself is free. Go to facebook.com/sxseattle to RSVP.

Kickoff party (in Seattle):
Saturday, Feb 18
Tractor Tavern
8 pm, 21+, $10

Allen Stone
My Goodness
Pickwick
Craft Spells
The Young Evils
Sol
Don't Talk To The Cops!
Fly Moon Royalty
Hosted by Hollis

Warning: swearing

Directed by local man Brandon Peña, the video for "Navy Based" puts rappers Young Dollas, BenadriLL and Mo' Money on ferry boats and concrete in Seattle and Bremerton, over a beat by Keyboard Kid. Peña is one to watch. He also directed this recent heater by area 16-year-old Key Nyata, whose mixtape "Two Phonkey" should be coming out soon.

Seattle neo-folk band Fleet Foxes had a banner year in 2011, touring nonstop to great reviews and with its album "Helplessness Blues" nominated for a Grammy. The awards show is next week, but while we wait to find out if "Helplessness Blues" is indeed the Best Folk Album, enjoy new songs from two Fleet Foxes spinoff bands: Father John Misty, led by ex-FF drummer J. Tillman, and Poor Moon, including FF bassist Christian Wargo and keys player Casey Wescott. The image above is from Father John Misty's "Hollywood Forever Cemetery" music video, starring Aubrey Plaza from the TV show "Parks and Recreation." Watch the video here.

"Hollywood Forever Cemetery" by Father John Misty

"People In Her Mind" by Poor Moon

Fresh art from Seattle hip-hop group Shabazz Palaces: a video for "Are You... Can You... Were You? (Felt)," the wavecresting anthem from 2011's "Black Up" album, and a remix of a song by British artist Foe. The video was directed by local maker Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes, and depicts a family household drama that appears to encapsulate generational conflict, spliced with quick cuts of bright flowers and close-ups of wooden masks. I suppose you could hear Shabazz's music in the fashion of the young daughter character: expressive to the point of being impossible to deny, caught up in beauty and connections in the world. As for Foe, Palaceer Lazaro takes her original pop song and scissors it into something darker and more industrial. Learn more about her here.

Via

If you missed its one-off SIFF screening last month, "SpokAnarchy" returns to Seattle for a weeklong run at Grand Illusion Cinema in the University District, Feb 10-16. The documentary about the locally thriving, widely ignored punk rock scene in Spokane, Wash., in the 1980s is worth seeing to appreciate not only that punk happened in a big way in Eastern Washington, but as this reviewer points out, weird, art-y styles persisted there alongside more straightforward iterations, making for a varied and open environment. As a random music fan, it's interesting. As a Washington State resident, it's something to be proud of. Writer/publicist Chris Estey will interview filmmakers David W. Halsell and Jon Swanstrom at Grand Illusion at Feb. 11th at 8:30pm. Screen times for the movie:

Mon-Thur: 7pm
Fri: 7pm & 9pm
Sat: 5pm, 7pm & 9pm
Sun: 5pm only

Warning: swearing

The latest best reason to celebrate the current phase of Seattle producers working with Bay Area rappers: Sam Fuller's gorgeous video for "Cloud" by Mondre MAN of Main Attrakionz, produced by Keyboard Kid. The music-box beat is exactly what Mondre chants, "that cloud rap, with that bass in it," and Fuller's quick cutaways are somehow a perfect match, Mondre rapping in the booth then suddenly floating on his back on a skateboard, spliced with frames of a remote-control car flipping over itself in the leaves outside, in slow motion. When a dramatic wall of black smoke hits at 1:40, the whole thing takes on an archetypical quality. Cloud rap for the ages. The song comes from Mondre's "M A N" album, available for pay-what-you-will here. Seattle is also connected to "M A N" by the "Can't Live Without You" remix, produced by local duo Blue Sky Black Death, which you can listen to here.

Warning: swearing

Two free albums: a duffel bag of hip-hop instrumentals from Spokane-bred producer James Pants and a short album from Seattle's rap/skate collective Lake House, "Dollas & Some Change," led by emcee Young Dollas. The Pants beats make me think of how influential he is in the music of Odd Future and THEESatisfaction. The Lake House album peaks for me on the pimpish, funky "Finer Things" and rippling "Goods Wave," below. Download the Pants beats here, the Lake House album here.

"Money Jump" by James Pants

"Goods Wave" by Lake House Ent.

Art courtesy the artists

Warning: swearing

Capitol Hill dance-rap group Don't Talk to the Cops! is releasing its album "Let's Quit" on Valentine's Day, and performing Feb. 4 at Baltic Room with Portland R&B duo Purple & Green. The video for the single from "Let's Quit," "Swag Treated Treated Swag," is above. My favorite lines are DJ blesOne's cool-guy announcement, "I got an overseas call — I gotta take it," and emecks growling "I know you like my glasses!" El Mizell doesn't vocalize beyond wordless "ho"s in the song but gives a great people's eyebrow in the video. And DtttC's incorporation of local punk is welcome as always — Rachel Ratner on vocals, TacocaT in the video. I see the whole thing as a fresh spin on the Cap Hill scene-within-a-scene/third wave, which DtttC seems to be riding on a surfboard made of "why not?"

Credits from YouTube:

Also featuring:
El Mizell
Bree (TacocaT)
Dash EXP
Buffalo Madonna (Mad Rad)
Sean Majors (Trashed)
Hollis (Canary Sing/The Heartfelts)
Trent Moorman
Emily (TacocaT) & Derek Erdman

Image courtesy Keyboard Kid

"5e@++L3 N!9h+" by Keyboard Kid

Seattle producer Keyboard Kid is on a roll with his instrumental night-bus* hip-hop right now and "5e@++L3 N!9h+" is more excellence, from the upcoming "Based Treasure" album. The song title spells "Seattle Night" if you don't speak glyph. Also on the way for the Kid: a tape with New York City clothing store/music concern Mishka, and possible collaborations with producers Zomby and Clams Casino, according to this interview.

*Night-bus is the genre of music you listen to at night, on a bus.

Above and below: the image and video in question

The video above was circulated via email today by Nils Bernstein, publicity director at the New York label Matador Records. It's a short advertisement for the new Perfume Genius album "Put Your Back N 2 It," which we care about because the music is good and Mr. Genius (Mike Hadreas) is from Seattle. It comes out in February and Perfume Genius plays the Crocodile in April. Check my profile on him from a few years ago here.

Bernstein says the ad was rejected by YouTube/Google on decency grounds that he thought were homophobic. He quoted YouTube's reasoning, which I tried to confirm at press@youtube.com but heard no reply (bolds mine):

"The ad has been disapproved because it violates our Adult Image/Video Content policy. Per this policy, video content, audio, static imagery, and site content must be family safe. Any ads that contain non family safe material are disapproved. I noted to the team that the people in the video are not entirely unclothed, but the overall feeling of the video is one of a more adult nature, including promoting mature sexual themes and what appears to be nude content. As such, the video is non family safe. In order to have this video ad approved, you will need to bring it into compliance with our policy."

The same-sex embrace in the ad is excerpted from PG's "Hood" music video, which is milder by far than several popular videos I can think of on YouTube. But "Hood" is on YouTube, too. Policies on the site are apparently different for music videos and ads. Check out YouTube's ad policies here.

I'll update this post if I hear back from YouTube/Google. Without a statement from them, it's hard to know what's going on.

Photo by Issue

"With the Pipes" by Issue feat. Droop-E (prod. Giorgio Momurda)

It takes a bugged rapper to challenge E-40 for uniqueness, but the Shakespeare of Bay Area hip-hop has a worthy competitor in his high school student son Issue. While papa's streetwise songs slap in car stereos worldwide, Issue swerves into his own lane and speeds off into the distance, rapping/tweeting constantly about drinking tea, driving Dodge Vipers and the superiority of a drug-free lifestyle. His music combines Oakland's mentally free "#based" hip-hop with ambient/industrial/psychedelic influences, mostly from the UK. For being drug-free, it all sounds very drugged. Some might call it "not very good." I would counter with "brilliant and open," especially his stuff with Seattle producer Giorgio Momurda.

Below is our very lightly edited interview. I tried reaching Issue by phone but he insisted on email, to be more careful with his answers. His new album "Moonroof 2" is available with several others ("Pig" being my favorite so far) at iheardissue.com.

Congratulations on "With the Pipes" featuring your brother Droop-E and a producer from our neck of the woods, Giorgio Momurda. I truly think it is next-level hip-hop.

Thank you brother, Giorgio sent it to me and it was amazing. Droop-E and I were already in the studio so we decided to rap on it. It took only a couple minutes honestly. Hopefully we can do it again someday.

You've been on a crazy free download mixtape spree over the past few years — with the three-part "E" series, "Mopar," "Moonroof," "Pig" and now "Moonroof 2." What's behind the productivity?

Just pure drive, trying to get my name out there by doing the weirdest sounds I can find. I do sip tea while I record. It calms me down and makes my voice real lazy. I will release the "Moonroof Part 2" very soon, then "Chief". The "Moonroof" series has a theme to it. I try to get the smoothest songs I can find and then rap on them. The "Vintage Series" ("Pig" is this series) is basically a free album. There was a couple of samples but Schwarz, Giorgio Momurda, Babe Rainbow, and myself did all of the production on the tape. Really soon I will start selling my albums after these series are done with.

When did you first get active, musically?

Started when I was 11 years old. I always wrote music when I was younger but at first it was just all beats. I made 250 beats on Reason and then I switched to GarageBand and then after that I switched to Logic. All in all I probably made 400-500 beats. As for my songs I made 5 concept mixtapes before the "E" Series. I felt like I wasn't supposed to give my music out just yet. Then I turned 15 and sent out my first mixtape, "The E." Got a lot of feedback and that's how it started.

You have a song called "Got My License." Did you make that when you actually got your license? I feel like I'm watching you grow up through your music...

Yeah haha. I love cars, so as soon as I got my license I HAD to make a song about it.

Is the Dodge Viper your favorite car?

Yes, the design on it is ungodly. It looks like a snake from the front and it is as fast as snakes strike! Something about them is amazing. I do love Ferrari and Lamborghini but they're overpriced. The new 2013 Dodge Viper will show its face in April at the New York Auto Show so I might go there to check it out.

Your music goes through many moods. One is silly. Would you describe yourself as a class clown in school?

Haha not at all, I'm very quiet in school. Music is where I release all of my amazing words to the public, through songs.

All your tapes have a strong Aphex Twin/Boards of Canada vibe. How'd you get into that electronic hip-hop type music from the '90s/'00s? You would have been in elementary school when their albums came out...

Yeah it doesn't make sense but I listened to Daft Punk, Kraftwerk, Peaches and Moby. All of them are legends in their own way. I look up to them because they're extremely different and that's what I am trying to do. I found Aphex Twin while I was hearing some music in the background at school. It was "Windowlicker." I heard it while I was younger but I forgot what it was called and who it was by so I used Shazam to record it. Then I went home and fell in love with it. Boards of Canada came while I was doing some serious research on that type of sound and then I found them!

"Pig" has guest rappers from England and Wisconsin (Akira the Don and Juiceboxxx) and producers from Seattle. How did you meet them?

I met Akira The Don through Twitter. He heard my music and followed me, then I heard his music and had to get him on a song. We did two songs "17 Year Old Blond Girl And A Bottle Of Acid" which was for his project and then we did "The Lamborghinis" which was for my project and it all worked out. We will drop our project "World's Finest" in a couple of months so I'm very excited about it! Schwarz and Juiceboxxx are real close so I found Schwarz on my Facebook music page and we linked up. Found Juiceboxxx the same way with Akira, through Twitter. They were exactly what I was looking for, that club dance/pumped music, quite amazing.

What is the Luns? It's a group you've mentioned to me before that I don't know.

I found Luns on a blog, I think I typed in Electronic music and that popped up. I found his/her/their Bandcamp and it was amazing. Chopped up sample from the 70's or 80's. I loved it and then that gave me the idea of making "Moonroof." Luns aren't popular but it sounds amazing. I just wish I heard more from them.

"Resarte" by the Luns

I think it's funny when you use different accents to rap. You do a good "surfer dude" and "idiot man." Are those people you know?

Haha no, but there's a guy named "Dude" in real life and I try to speak like him. Dude either shows up in the beginning of a song or during the breakdown of the song or even at the end. I try to make him a former stoner that turned to tea for his high. I try to make it part of my Drug-Free movement.

Do you have a favorite song you produced?

At the moment "Mars (Everything)" off of "Moonroof 2" is my favorite right now. But that I actually produced might have to be "The Lamborghinis" with Akira The Don.

"The Lamborghinis" by Issue feat. Akira the Don

I heard you drink tons of tea. True? Can you prove it by taking a cameraphone photo of tea cups or a can?

I LOVE TEA BROTHER! It's the liquid wisdom!

I heard you don't drink beer and are drug free. True?

Never did a drug in my life brother and never will. No beer in this system! All tea.

Your dad raps about cheap wine a lot, and your brother raps about it, too. I have this vision that you all go to the corner store together and they get Carlo Rossi, but since you aren't 21, you get AriZona. Then you all go outside and "cheers" each other. Has this happened?

Haha we haven't done that yet but I got a feeling it will happen soon.

Warning: swearing

If you can get past the rampant misogyny, this otherwise sublime 2 Chainz song reminds me that I would love to hear more hip-hop sampling Seattle's Kenny G: