Think of slightly less composed vocal harmonies, yet more endearing lyrics, and the general girl group panache of The Vivian Girls but with a more punchy, punky edge, and you get TacocaT.  The band has been together for several years now without garnering the recognition they deserve to separate themselves from the milieu of their contemporaries, but they’re a very solid band who put on an up-beat, fun show.  Definitely my strongest recommendation for a live event in the next couple of weeks.  Anybody notice how the Rendezvous has been selecting some great bands to play their venue recently?  8:00 pm, Wednesday, September 7th- be there!

Released March 29th, 2011 by Perennial Records, Peripheral Star is an EP to be reckoned with, and its craftsmanship deserves more than a passive listen from the music community at large.  Broken Water, the three-piece from Olympia, Washington, consisting of Kanako-drums/vocals, Abigail-bass/vocals, Jon-guitar/vocals, have composed some of the most well-balanced, enthralling shoegaze rock to come from the Northwest, or the rest of the nation for that matter, in a long time.  

Seattle is not known for producing shoegaze bands of exceptional merit- traditionally, and oftentimes derisively, the Seattle scene has been depicted by music critics as the comically woodsy, rootsy home of acoustic guitar fingerpickers and gentle harmonizers belting out their forest-loving tunes in picturesque locales abundant around Washington.  The astronomical rise to international fame of The Head and the Heart do nothing in service of changing this image.     

The song "Kansas" opens with an ominous, vaguely foreboding bass riff that dominates the vibe as Jon’s sharp guitar slashes into life, follows a descending scale, and then cuts again.  In mood, this song, and much of what Broken Water do, is related to the whole of the very great album by Apse entitled Spirit.  What Apse failed to do at times that Broken Water is highly skilled at doing is adding enough muscle to their compositions, adding the split-the-sky eruptions that rise above the beautiful, warbling din, thereby breaking the listener through the tranquil or torpid threshold that can beset anyone listening to large doses of music.       

"Okane No" absolutely explodes with guitar-string-bending riffs swimming in reverb, and not just the placidly adopted reverb sounds of many bands in this genre, but the kind of labored over sound that has a specific place, is used for a specific purpose.  Broken Water’s sound teeters on a precipice that demands a high level of skill- their music is a tempered chaos, augmented by exceptional song-writing abilities that have a knack for movement within music, all combing to deliver high-impact listening bliss. 

Broken Water – Peripheral Star by pygmylion

Psych-rock specialists The Purrs will be headlining the Sunset Tavern on September 15th.  The Purrs, fronted by bassist Jima and celebrating their tenth year as a band, model their sound fairly closely to everything Dean Wareham’s been a part of, specifically Luna- which means high register vocals constantly threatening to be off key, cozy oohs and aahhs, and astral guitar riffs that seem to, in almost everyone composition, ascend into ethereal realms of reverb.  Basically, I think they’re awesome.  Sharing the bill with the Purrs will be Useless Keys and Hypatia Lake.  

The Purrs – Because I Want To by Jason Milne

Bumbershoot is right around the corner.  Next weekend a smear of local talent will be on display near the 74-acre Seattle Center park, and the band I’m most hankering to see right now would be Yuni in Taxco.  After years of admiring each others’ work in various projects, the five-piece assemblage of brothers Ross (vocals, guitar) and Bryce (drums), Sean (vocals, guitar), Jim (bass, slide guitar) and Isaiah (backing vocals, electronics, percussion) found themselves in a collaboration.  The band has been together for over a year now and are still playing on their very strong self-titled EP containing some of Seattle’s most inspired, shimmering, sepia-toned pop.  Animal Collective circa Sung Tongs and Feels are a fairly obvious influence on the band, and in the track "Eduardo Kac’s Dream Song" you can hear a bit of Smith Westerns derived vocal patterns, but this band does more than enough to separate themselves from their influences, which can be a difficult task to accomplish in any medium (See Harold Bloom’s "Anxiety of Influence").  They play September 3 at 12:45pm on the Fisher Green Stage.

With structural nods to local favorites The Head And The Heart, and some subtle Nirvana influences poking through the vocals, Pocket Panda are an exciting confluence of new and old Seattle.

There’s not much out there, but the six Pocket Panda songs I was able to find between their myspace page and iTunes provide a promising start for a new local band.  First thing you notice about the band is front man Eric Herbig’s gritty vocals and they way they contrast against hooky piano riffs and co-vocalist Megan Jade’s softer harmonies.  Sometimes this contrast arrives in something I would describe as Grand Hallway meets Nirvana (see "The Vampire"), but more so it comes to us in a folk-rock based package (see personal favorite "City").  It’s good music to throw down on a Sunday morning, and just as welcome on a Thursday night. 

With such a small sample size currently available, it’s welcomed news that Pocket Panda are planning to release a second EP around October, followed by a northwest tour in support of the EP. You can also catch them debuting new song "My Brother The Dreamer" at the Conor Byrne Pub in Ballard tonight.

–Wes McMahon-

 In this modern age, it sometimes seems almost too easy to learn all the pertinent details of a musical act’s biography with a simple click of the mouse.  Such is not the case with Seattle’s Broomsticks.  Very little information can be found about this project, and the facts that are available are somewhat contradictary.  The band may be the project of one Barry Whitehead, it may be a husband/wife duo featuring Ruben Mendez and Lacey Swain, or perhaps, all three are involved.  There is rumor of Broomsticks involvement with the so-called "pizza party scene."  The band may be on a label called Haunted Horse Records, if said label does exist.  What we do know: Mendez and Swain are former members of punk act Charming Snakes, and Broomsticks will be opening for Chicago’s Disappears and Brooklynites Obits tonight at the Crocodile.  If the dirty-garage track posted below, "Ghost," is any indication, this is a band worth investigating, so head down to Beltown tonight and see for yourself what Broomsticks are all about.  

Ghost by broomsticks

The Pharmacy are playing a string of shows around the greater PNW currently, but they’ll be home in Seattle September 11 to play the mysterious grounds of The Black Lodge.  If you can find this all-ages venue, it’ll be worth your while.  The band’s latest album, Weekend, is their most refined effort yet.  They have dialed down the psych-pop angle and focused their efforts on more precise, compelling compositions, both lyrically and musically. 

THE PHARMACY – JOSEPHINE by SEAYOU

Though Seattle’s folk favorites Dutchess & The Duke have folded, the beat goes on for frontman Jesse Lortz.  Lortz is back with a new solo album under the guise of Case Studies.  The World is Just a Shape to Fill the Night is a venerable attempt to instantiate Lortz into the upper echelons of talented songwriters who’ve struck it out alone- Leonard Cohen may be a stretch, but certainly Townes Van Zandt comparisons can be within reach.  Recorded with Greg Ashley (Gris Gris) and with help from friends including Crystal Stilts’ Keegan Cooke on drums and guitar, The World is Just a Shape to Fill the Night is a well-tempered solo debut that slowly sinks its hooks into you with repeated listens.  The album is out now on Sacred Bones.    

Seattle nerdcore trio Supercommuter will release its second album, Products of Science, on August 16th on the Burn the Stereo label. With this release, the band members have once again proven themselves to be masters of multi-tasking: the record was composed primarily during their daily commutes, the practice of which gave Supercommuter its name. To celebrate the release of Products of Science, the band will perform at PAX http://prime.paxsite.com/, a three-day festival for tabletop, videogame and PC gamers, on August 27th at the Paramount in Seattle. And, as the band did with its debut self-titled release, Supercommuter will donate all the net proceeds to Child’s Play, a game industry charity dedicated to providing toys and games to hospitalized children worldwide.

The sprawling orchestral pop assembly Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground is on the road.  Twelve members in this band.  Are they the biggest in Seattle?  Watch them fit onto a stage near you. 

DATE         CITY                        VENUE
08.09.11     Manchester, NH      Rocko’s
08.10.11     Boston, MA             The Middle East – Downstairs
08.11.11     Hamden, CT           The Space
08.12.11     Brooklyn, NY          The Knitting Factory
08.13.11     Philadelphia, PA     North Star Bar
08.16.11     Atlanta, GA             The Drunken Unicorn
08.17.11     Jacksonville, FL      The Pit
08.18.11     Tampa, FL              The Orpheum
08.19.11     Lake Worth, FL       Propaganda
08.20.11     Orlando, FL            The Social
08.22.11     Houston, TX           The Warehouse Live
08.23.11     Dallas, TX               The Prophet Bar
08.24.11     Austin, TX               Emo’s
08.26.11     Phoenix, AZ            Sail Inn
08.27.11     Pomona, CA           The Glass House
08.29.11     Los Angeles, CA     The Echo

Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground "World’s Entire" by IllegalPetes

Have you heard of or seen this guy?  Bill Campbell is Thee Midnight Creep, and underneath the patina of eerie/gothic music that his image belies, are well crafted, thoughtful lyrics and a deep nostalgic croon for a voice.  Nick Cave meets Castanets- that’s Thee Midnight Creep.  Usually, here on The Deli, we post about an upcoming event, or an album about to be released, but damn it, I can’t find any "news" item to post for this fellow other than I think he is magnificent and you should listen to him on his myspace, or see him live, or buy his album (does he have an album out?)!  If you have more information on this one-man-band, please comment.  His myspace info, which serves as an example of his ambiguousness, is below:

Bio: southern ex-patriot
Members: a Martin, a Guild and an Auto-harp
Influences:
Sounds Like: hollerin’ into a well   

-Here’s Thee Midnight Creep performing Lee Hazelwood’s "My Autumn’s Done Come"-