After months of instrumental experimentation in a Ballard warehouse, indie bard Bryan John Appleby re-emerged with a host of emotive narratives, disguised as four-minute folk songs. Fire on the Vine, Appleby’s first full-length album, was released over two years after he first turned heads with the six-song EP Shoes for Men and Beasts in 2009. Using everything from conventional instruments to housewares, the songwriter creates a unified soundscape with a clarity that belies its complexity. Appleby’s delicate yet resonant voice drifts over carefully constructed guitar melodies, giving life to lyrics that suggest a restlessness only assuaged – or at least pacified – by the road. The culmination of that musical exploration is an album that should solidify his place in the region’s field of folkies.

Appleby will kick off a west coast tour in the new year, after an appearance at the Seattle Folk Festival on Dec. 10.

December 10 Seattle Folk Festival Seattle, WA

January 12 Neumo’s Crystal Ball Seattle, WA Reading Room

January 13 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR

January 15 Moe’s Alley Santa Cruz, CA

January 17 Slo Brew (all Ages) San Luis Obispo, CA

January 18 Bootleg Theater Los Angeles, CA

January 20 Mia’s Lounge Flagstaff, AZ

February 17 Neptune Theater Seattle, WA

 -Kate Shepherd

Glory – Bryan John Appleby – Produced/Engineered by Alan Matley

November 30 saw garage pop trio Dude York release their third album in as many months. Dewark follows on the heels of the four-track-deep Satanic vs., and delivers much of the same raw, pulsating energy offered by its predecessor. Grounded by the propulsive opening track “Fuck City”, the album’s six songs bring to mind surf rockers without a sunny beach, instead confined to an echoing garage. Crunchy guitars and elastic, thrumming bass lines recall fellow west coast denizen Ty Segall’s lo-fi surf-twang. Dewark’s penultimate track, “Comics” is a pop-rock hymn, with fuzzy, organ-like guitars leading into the finale, “Comix”, an ode to the paperback bible of the American youth. Still, Dude York denies any nostalgic sentiment: “we’re through with 2011, see you in the future.” The upbeat noisemakers are set to close out the year at the Funhouse on Dec. 30.

 -Kate Shepherd

Telekinesis recently released a new video for "Country Lane" from their latest album 12 Desperate Straight Lines, featuring footage of hi-jinks on their March tour, as well as live performance clips.  Telekinesis are wrapping up their year of touring including dates with the Love Language, Portugal. The Man, Deathcab for Cutie, and The New Pornographers. 

Telekinesis Tour (the end of):
Dec 6 Vancouver, BC  The Commodore Ballroom
Dec 8 Portland, OR  Crystal Ballroom

Toward the end of 2009, in a bedroom in Stockton, CA, a 21-year-old Justin Vallesteros began layering simple synth and guitar lines to create the sound that would become Craft Spells. What began as an experiment soon became a vibrant world of elegant guitar chords laced over looped rhythms, heavenly synth melodies, and pulsating bass. When Vallesteros recorded his first track "Party Talk," an outpouring of online enthusiasm led him to return to Seattle and flesh out a full band for the debut LP Idle Labor, released on Captured Tracks in Spring 2011. If you love Felt, The Smiths, Echo & The Bunnymen, and the beautiful monotone drone of Ian Curtis, Craft Spells are right up your nuevo-new romantic alley.

Something in the Water is a micro-documentary focused on the Seattle music scene and its continual abundance of innovative and talented artists.  Directed by Ward Serrill, the short served as an accompaniment to Pearl Jam Twenty, the Cameron Crowe directed documentary, which aired on PBS last Friday.  While mainly focused on the indie pop side of the Seattle scene, the doc touched on some of the biggest acts in the city, including clips of Pickwick, Shabazz Palaces, The Head and the Heart, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and Total Experience Gospel Choir.  Also featured are KEXP DJs John Richards, Kevin Cole, and Cherly Waters, as well as Megan Jasper and Jonathan Poneman of Sub Pop Records.  Watch the 13 minute video below via KCTS.  

Watch Something in the Water on PBS. See more from KCTS 9 Documentaries.

The B-side track "Mother" is out from Broken Water’s first 7" Whet.  It’s a stony, shoegaze gem.  The heavy sliding guitar style of My Bloody Valentine (the quintessential genre name drop) is very prevalent in the song, with melty vocals that seem to dissolve into the misty reverberating atmosphere.  I don’t think this band has released anything I’m not excited about.  Listen to it below, and get excited about it!  

Under the moniker Perpetual Ritual, Mitchell Saulsberry sings fragile pop songs that come across as both honest and reserved.  Standout track,  “Prayers to Invoke You,” features jangling acoustic guitars that evoke the Kinks and Peter Sarstedt and sparse, yet frantic percussion.  The vocals are well in front of the music, but still distant and reverb laced.  The blown out production should come as no surprise given that Saulsberry plays bass in fellow Seattle lo-fi outfit Grave Babies.  The two bands just toured together, including a Brooklyn date opening for Ganglians and Xray Eyeballs. Saulsberry has posted quite a few tracks on his SoundCloud site. I think the most interesting are among the newest, hopefully this is a sign of more to come. 

Prayers to Invoke You by Perpetual Ritual

Kicking off their tour with Viva Brother on Oct. 13, glitch folk band Motopony will have their song "Seer" make its TV debut on  HBO’s "How To Make It In America" this Sunday at 10:30pm.  The Seattle-based group has quickly gained momentum since they debuted their self-titled LP in May,  which is available now on tinyOGRE Entertainment.

MOTOPONY TOUR DATES

October 13        The Horseshoe Tavern          Toronto, ON*
October 14        Le Petit Campus                    Montreal, QC*
October 15        DeLuna Fest                          Pensacola Beach, FL
October 16        Johnny Brenda’s (21+)          Philadelphia, PA*
October 17        The Middle East (21+)           Cambridge, MA*
October 18        The Met                                 Pawtucket, RI*
October 19         Bowery Ballroom (19+)         New York, NY*
October 21         Rock and Roll Hotel               Washington, DC
October 22         The Club at Water Street       Rochester, NY*
October 24          The Basement                       Columbus, OH*
October 25          Lincoln Hall                           Chicago, IL*
October 26          Triple Rock                           Minneapolis, MN*
October 31          Turner Hall Ballroom             Milwaukee, WI?
November 9         Marquis Theatre                   Denver, CO?
November 10       The Black Sheep                 Colorado Springs, CO?
November 14       Café du Nord                        San Francisco, CA?
November 15        Belly Up Tavern                   Solana Beach, CA?
November 16        Bootleg Theater                     Los Angeles, CA?
November 19        Aladdin Theater                      Portland, OR?

Lotte Kestner has the quiet, understated intensity made possible by her bare bones production.  She is reminiscent of Seattle’s Tiny Vipers, but even more closely related to the likes of Grouper with her wonderfully thin, beautiful, reverb kissed vocals.  Her compositions in general, at the heart of them, are melancholy folk meditations.  Rather than evoking woodsy, finger-picked platitudes, they manifest feelings of dissolution and isolation.

China Mountain, Kestner’s last release in 2009 named after a mountain range in southern Oregon, was recorded over a year in her basement bedroom, and mixed with Trespassers bandmate Matt Brown.  Recently, on September 27th, Kestner released a cover of The National’s "Conversation 16", which with her stripped down means, lays bare the effectiveness of the vocal pattern and lyrics, acting as a kind of distillation showcasing what makes the song function in its essence. 

Although Grant Olsen wrote all the songs, calling Gold Leaves a solo project is a misnomer.  Olsen had a great deal of help making The Ornament, which is out now on Hardly Art. Jason Quever of Papercuts was by his side through most of the recording process, serving as co-producer, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist. Quever helped guide editorial choices, keeping scratch vocals when Olsen wanted to go back into the vocal booth and try again, and laid down the four-in-the-morning cello part that haunts "Hanging Window." With a résumé that encompasses tutelage under Motown veterans and credits with Beach House and Brightblack Morning Light, Ben McConnell was an ideal percussionist to anchor Olsen’s amorphous musical ideas. Thao Ngyuen (Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Thao & Mirah), Amy Blaschke, and members of the Moondoggies all contributed backing vocals. 

With its roller rink organ and rumbling timpani, the title tune is propelled forward by the sort of ambitious yet calculated D.I.Y. production associated with legendary ’60s British pop producer Joe Meek. From opener "The Silver Lining," with its sense of a life teeming with possibility (and a deft lyrical borrow from Steinbeck and some 11th century poetry), to the rising strings and keyboards of the dramatic finale "Futures," The Ornament sounds full but never overstuffed. This is a record full of judicious choices.

Although Grant Olsen wrote all the songs, calling Gold Leaves a solo project is a misnomer.  Olsen had a great deal of help making The Ornament, which is out now on Hardly Art. Jason Quever of Papercuts was by his side through most of the recording process, serving as co-producer, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist. Quever helped guide editorial choices, keeping scratch vocals when Olsen wanted to go back into the vocal booth and try again, and laid down the four-in-the-morning cello part that haunts "Hanging Window." With a résumé that encompasses tutelage under Motown veterans and credits with Beach House and Brightblack Morning Light, Ben McConnell was an ideal percussionist to anchor Olsen’s amorphous musical ideas. Thao Ngyuen (Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Thao & Mirah), Amy Blaschke, and members of the Moondoggies all contributed backing vocals. 

With its roller rink organ and rumbling timpani, the title tune is propelled forward by the sort of ambitious yet calculated D.I.Y. production associated with legendary ’60s British pop producer Joe Meek. From opener "The Silver Lining," with its sense of a life teeming with possibility (and a deft lyrical borrow from Steinbeck and some 11th century poetry), to the rising strings and keyboards of the dramatic finale "Futures," The Ornament sounds full but never overstuffed. This is a record full of judicious choices.

New Seattle band Sad Face have an upcoming show at the Tractor Tavern on October 18th.  The five piece make introspective, well balanced tunes.  At their best, the band is actually reminiscent of Radiohead circa In Rainbows.  Melodic guitar interplay and general noise ambience coalesce into a fine ethereal sound for the group.  They are definitely worth keeping on your radar.  Their first release, Gosh Darn!, a multifarious 7 track compilation, is out now on Groovehouse Records.   

Postscript by wearesadface