Local Natives @ The Empyrean in Spokane!!!

Actually, contra Keegan's post directly below, I haven't JUST been couchsurfing of late. I might have just gotten the last two tickets to the very first sold out show at what is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues, The Empyrean, in my hometown of Spokane, WA. From my vantage point in the VIP balcony (yeah, the one for players like me who know both the owners), I get to sneak through a secret door (which I call "Narnia") from a DIFFERENT, LESS COOL balcony and basically sit directly over the stage...which is exponentially more awesome when I bring my camera...

...AND IT'S EVEN MORE AWESOME WHEN THE FUCKING LOCAL NATIVES DEFY REASON AND PLAY SPOKANE!!! That's right fuckerz, for this week, I'm cooler than ya'll, because I got to see the L.A. indie folk upstarts play in my own backyard...and I sat close enough to touch the head of the bass player (I didn't touch him. Things might have gotten weird between us. I feel like we had a connection when we locked eyes before their set.) Anyway, here's some pics. Enjoy!

The show rocked, btw. I didn't have the money on me to snag their record on vinyl...but seeing as they're playing Sasquatch this weekend, I think I just might be able to swing that shizzit. In the meantime, if you haven't gotten into this band, fuck you, here are links:

Local Natives - OS|MS

The Globes

OK, I owe it to my hometown to throw my support behind this band. The Globes are a four-piece group from Spokane who have been living together in a house in Seattle for a few years, and have been getting noticed enough around the city that they have finally reverted back to calling themselves a Spokane band – which is fucking awesome, because I was worried that if (and, I think, when) this band finally makes it, they were going to say they were from Seattle. Boise might have Built to Spill, but as far as Spokane is concerned, the best they've been able to muster music-wise in the past 50 years has been........Bing Crosby. Yeahhh....

But fuck that, now Spokane can rock your face off. The last time I saw this group was at a winery in Spokane, when they still called themselves Four Years Blue. Since that time, their sound has gotten far more polished, they've had real studio time (complete with John Goodmanson, the producer behind several Death Cab albums, amongst other things), and have put out a couple solid EP's, the most recent of which is called Sinter Songs and features four borderline-hypnotic Radiohead-esque (and yes I find that term overused, but whatever) songs, each with a bitchsmack of post rock epicness mixed into their very distinctive eastern Washington-inspired soundscapes. It's a sound that them big city folks can bob their heads to, but also something that truly clicks if it serves as the background music to a trip through the alternately barren and beautiful landscape that is the eastern side of the Cascades. You can tell these guys have been living in Seattle for a while; but you can also tell where these guys are really from, which is a really tricky balancing act to pull off, and which makes me appreciate them as an awesomely genuine group of musicians that I truly hope goes places. The Cheetah salutes you, guys.

The Globes - A Stitch Couldn't Save the World

The Globes - Pretty Birds above our Heads

The Globes - MS

Tim's Track Of The Day

I don't remember how I discovered this, but I'm glad I did. It's "Tunnelvision," by Here We Go Magic, which is the solo project of folk singer-songwriter Luke Temple. It's a great song for doing things; I love songs that feel like they never stop moving forward, as I always imagine driving through one of Seattle's many freeway tunnels but never reaching the end. The video captures that feeling pretty well:

Here We Go Magic - Tunnelvision

Do Yourself A Favor And Get Into The Antlers

Sorry for the blog-clogging on my part, but this suddenly dawned on me when it randomly came back up on my iTunes: I forgot how much I love The Antlers, and how not nearly enough people know about them. I could go into detail about them, but I think watching a video of them playing two of my favorite songs of theirs in the back of a Parisian cafe will probably tell you more:

The Antlers - Two / Epilogue - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

The Antlers - MS

@ Neumos on May 5th w/Phantogram!!!!!!!!

Tim's Track Of The Day: "Kid Klimax" by Atlas Sound

I'm going to start putting up a short post every day with a link to or video of a track from an artist I have recently discovered, or who people might have overlooked. To keep it brief, I just discovered Atlas Sound. Which also means I discovered Deerhunter. Which all basically means I just discovered Bradford Cox. His ambient stream-of-consciousness style endlessly juxtaposes the staggeringly beautiful against the disturbed and fucked-up-ugly in a way that Animal Collective only wishes it could (although this album does feature an appearance by Panda Bear that I can actually stand). Anyway, this a really beautiful song, and I hope you enjoy it!

Cheetah luvs!!!

Atlas Sound - MS

Deerhunter - MS

Wilco Sandwiches, Anyone?

Wilco never looked so tasty.