Waxwing

I've been a fan of Rocky Votolato, the frontman of Waxwing, since 1995-ish when I saw him with the band Run Away Laughing. A year or so later he was fronting Lying On Loot. After Lying on Loot, and either after or during a stint drumming for the band Kentucky Pistol, came Waxwing... and there are not enough words in existence for me to be able to sufficiently express my love for Waxwing. Their shows, like their music, always contained an amazing blend of both beauty and chaos. Rocky's voice has this pained quality that made it so their mellow tunes came across with the same raw intensity as the harder tracks. Waxwing were beyond great and in my opinion they were one of the best bands of the whole late 90's/early 2000's Seattle music scene and I know many other people who feel the same way. Alright, I'm done gushing.
Here is one of their early releases:
Self-titled 7" (with front & back cover scans)

An early Waxwing demo can be found here at Pukekos.

The Powers of Darkness Shall Rain Blood Upon This City For 500 Years

The Powers of Darkness Shall Rain Blood Upon This City For 500 Years are probably best remembered for having an extremely long band name. But, if you actually had a chance to see them perform live, you most likely remember them for their keyboard driven crushing noise grind and their wild and varying stage costumes. The members of the band were Travis Nakamura (drums), Cindy (keyboards), TJ (vocals), Thomas Cowgill (guitar, vocals).

The Powers of Darkness 7" (includes a scan of the cover and lyric sheet)

If anyone out there has a copy of their song "Poised For Sculpting" from the KXLU 88.9 FM Los Angeles Live Vol. 7 compilation, or any other material by them, please upload it somewhere and send me a link.

Rat Cat Hogan - Part 1

"In the fall of 1997, I put an ad in The Rocket, a now defuct music publication in Seattle, Washington, looking for a drummer. Exactly one drummer answered that ad, the fugitive Iowan Robbie Skrocki. A few weeks later we were Rat Cat Hogan, and thus we've been ever since, more or less." - Herbert Bergel

Rat Cat Hogan was a two piece band composed of Herbert on guitar and vocals and Robbie on drums. The sound of their music is pretty lo fi and simple. The lyrics to their songs are mostly about mundane everyday things and read like short stories/diary entries, the vocal delivery is off, the guitar is angular but the drums sort of keep the whole thing together. This stuff definitely isn't for everyone. The two times I saw Rat Cat Hogan live they were heckled by assholes through their entire sets, but I've always found something charming in their quirky tunes.

The We're Bicoastal album features Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie playing piano on the fourth track and Sean Nelson formerly of The Long Winters & Harvey Danger singing background vocals on tracks five and seven.

We're Bicoastal

Our Apologies to Walla

Peter Parker - Semiautobiographical

Peter Parker's second album is an almost entirely different affair than their first record Migliore!, which was an impressive but fairly by-the-numbers take on 90's indie rockin' power pop. While they manage to retain some of their initial pop sensibilities, Semiautobiographical shows a band that had matured a great deal between albums. With a much darker and more unconventional edge, and a strong post punk vibe, this album is light years beyond what my brain was expecting for their follow up. I will go so far as to say that Semiautobiographical is Peter Parker's Pinkerton to Migliore's Blue and, coming from a huge Weezer fan, this is both a massive compliment and a heartfelt endorsement.

Seminautobiographical

Neon Blonde

When I was in high school, The Blood Brothers were one of the more popular up and coming bands in the area. I had all their 7"s and must have seen them live a dozen or more times before they even put out an album. My love for them was strong enough that over the years, I not only continued to follow their career but I've also followed all of the side projects the guys have been in as well. From Head Wound City to Champagne Champagne, I've found something to like in all of these projects... except for one. For some reason the output of Neon Blonde, the duo of Johnny Whitney & Mark Gajadhar, has continued to baffle me over the years despite repeated listens. I will admit that I enjoy some electroclash music, Hell, I even like listening to Jaguar Love's Hologram Jams sometimes when I'm running on the treadmill. But when I listen to Neon Blonde my brain screams "DOES NOT COMPUTE". To me they just sound like a boring version of Soiled Doves with occasional synth and drum machine. That's not to say they're bad, I just don't really dig them. But you might...

So here it is:

Neon Blonde's Discography

Suffering & The Hideous Thieves/The Hush Hush - Split

Here are the Suffering and the Hideous Thieves tracks from their split double disc with The Hush Hush. While not as polished as the tracks on Real Panic Formed, it still sounds amazing

Joughn't Stop Believing

I know I don't update this thing too often but I should probably say that I recently started a new job and have been spending a lot less time on the internet these days. I still plan on keeping the blog going, I've even got a few things in mind for upcoming posts but, until I can find the time for those plans can come to fruition, this will have to do...

2 tracks from Jough Dawn Baker that I wasn't able to include in the original post. A track called Bridgework from The Excursion compilation & an [untitled] track of unknown origin.

Also, I re upped the Soiled Doves album with a bonus track I pulled from my ipod.

Suffering & The Hideous Thieves - Real Panic Formed

Suffering and the Hideous Thieves were an ensemble cast lead by the mighty Jeff Suffering formerly of 90 lb Wuss & Raft of Dead Monkeys. Though I don't think they ever really broke up, Jeff joined the band for their "first show in three years" back in January,2009. The concert was a benefit for former Raft & 90 lb Wuss guitarist John Spalding who had passed away the previous November. Since that time, some of the members are apparently still operating as a band, though the new incarnation is now know simply as The Hideous Thieves and does not feature Jeff Suffering in the lineup. The album I'm posting here, Real Panic Formed, came out in 2002 and has always reminded me of a combination of Thoroughlev-era Raft of Dead Monkeys along with the the darker, more confessional material of Pedro the Lion.

Real Panic Formed

Yeek Yak Air Force

Happy new year, everybody! (especially to my one follower & to the blogs that have linked me) I, for one, am very glad that 2009 is finally over. It was a great year for personal growth but it seemed pretty destructive & sad on a global scale. Seeing as it is now January of 2010, I am reminded that the blog's been around for almost a year. It's true, I didn't get a chance to post as often as I'd have liked to but I am pleased with the handful of responses I've gotten on some of the things I've chosen to post.

I never got a chance to see Seattle's Yeek Yak Air Force live, but after reading & hearing about them for a year or two and being intrigued by the various descriptions, I decided to buy their album & give 'em a listen. I must admit, based on what I'd read, I expected a more abrasive, noisy album, but the sounds on this disc were almost anything but. I don't listen to a lot of "math rock" but YYAF are a band I can really get into. They've always kind of reminded me of a mellow version of Jawbox or Sharks Keep Moving, with vocals that make me think of the Flaming Lips... this is probably a terrible description but I'm not very familiar with many bands that sound like this. So, you should probably just do yourself a favor & check out this album

Yeek Yak Air Force