NEW MUSIC & UPCOMING SHOW
I have a feeling that Seattle's best show in July is going to be MEN, the new electro/DJ project of LeTigre's JD Samson and Johanna Fateman. Based in Brooklyn, MEN retains the feminist ethos of Le Tigre, but their music is beat-centric ala Hot Chip. According to a Le Tigre blog post, JD and Jo were both working on side projects when the group organically formed :

"hello you guys, As you may or may not know, JD and JO started MEN in 2007 as a DJ, Remix, and Production duo. After a couple months of touring as DJs they decided to start writing original material. At the same time, JD was working on another project with Emily Roysdon (from LTTR), Michael O'Neill (from the Ballet) and Ginger Brooks Takahashi (from LTTR and the Ballet) called 'Hirsute'. All of the sudden some crazy tornado whipped everyone around in a circle and the two projects became ONE!"

MEN has been touring in Europe, and is wrapping up their US leg of the tour. I haven't found a place to buy their music yet (let me know if you find it), but I found some videos that can help you get a feel for them:
Off Our Backs Official Video
Be Like This Live in NYC
and my favorite dance track...
Credit Card Babies

EVENT REVIEW
Gay pride parade was great this year. I have a feeling, though, that the parade has grown up some how. Of 150ish floats, it felt like over half of them were made up of politicians, companies, or churches. It's good that they're there, but politics especially gets boring. Dykes on Bikes, the Rat City Roller Girls, and all of the random drag queens were way more fun.

The talk of the parade this year centered around Susan Hutchinson, the ultra-conservative, perfectly-coiffed former KIRO-tv newscaster who is running for County Executive. Susan, who recently claimed to be a moderate in the press, made a political statement by being notably absent from the parade. Moderate, my ass. Her opponent, the infinitely more qualified Dow Constantine, highlighted her attendance by displaying a few "Where's Susan?" posters.

Back to fun. Uncle Bob, a Pike Place Market friend and legend, celebrated his 85th birthday by attending the parade. He is an amazing man with a beautiful heart and lots of friends who love him. We helped him celebrate by decorating him with as many beads as we could coax out of the cute parade boys and girls. Happy Birthday Uncle Bob!

NEW MUSIC & UPCOMING SHOW
Music from Brooklyn is taking over the airwaves. The Dirty Projectors, who had gigs with both David Byrne and Bjork in May, are invading Chop Suey on July 2. A band with a unique electro/rock/experimental sound, their music relies heavily on driving percussion and smart vocal melodies. There's sort of a Talking Heads-esque feel to them.

Their new cd, Bitte Orca, is destined to blow up. KEXP recently released band's song, Stillness is On the Move, as their song of the day. Pitchfork says Bitte Orca is their best album. Paste calls it an album destined to be one of the "most singularly engrossing albums to be released this year."

It will be worth checking out for sure.

UPCOMING SHOW
The UK Subs are back at Studio Seven August 20th after
canceling a show earlier this year. An early UK punk band, their big hit, Stranglehold, hit the charts in 1979. I Live In A Car is also a classic. I haven't seen them live yet, but am looking forward to it.

The Bloodclots, a local punk band who opened for recent Germs's show at Neumos, are also playing the show. A kick-ass combination of LA Harcore and Oi, they have a big hardcore following in Seattle. They put on a great show, and they have amazing hair.

NEW MUSIC
Breaking news, kids! NPR has posted an exclusive preview listening of Icelandic Electro Goddess Bjork's new album, Voltaic. The album is a pressing of new recordings of earlier Bjork material, including my favorites I Miss You and Wanderlust.

Take a listen.

SHOW REVIEW
Au Revoir Simone, an electro-synth band from Brooklyn, is one of my favorite finds. The band counts David Bowie (you may have heard of him) and David Lynch as fans. In fact, I first heard about them on David Bowie's blog.

UPCOMING SHOW
OOoo, I just noticed that Bad Brains are playing El Corazon on September 19th. Punk and hardcore legends, these had to move to New York City when they were banned from clubs in their hometown, Washington DC. One of their most legendary shows in their early career was in 1982 at the CBGB.

Bad Brains has a new album out, called Build a Nation, which is their first since 2002. The album was produced by Adam Yauch, of the Beastie Boys, who cites the band as a huge early influence on their music. It has gotten pretty good reviews from Pitchfork and Punk News, although it must be next to impossible to review an album of Hardcore made by the guys who helped to define the genre. That's kind of like reviewing a bowl of ice cream made by the guy who invented it. Awkward.

UPCOMING SHOW
Tegan and Sara, the Canadian rockers and twin-princesses, will be playing July 3rd at the Showbox at the Market. They are noted for having sensitive lyrics that are delivered with a new wave-meets-folk sound. Here's their video for Call it Off, a single from their latest album, the Con. Speak Slow is one of my favorites, too.

SHOW REVIEW
The New York Dolls played their third electric show in recent memory at El Corazon on May 27th. They are perpetually one of my favorite live bands, and are always in my rotation. One of the founders of the Punk sound, there's no limit to their influence on modern rock-n-roll sound.

Dave Johansen has still got it, and the band is solid. My favorite New York Dolls quote of the night: "If we don't come back to Seattle, you can look us up on the Oujia Board."

For more of my thoughts on the NY Dolls, check out my previous reviews of their shows in 2008 and 2006.

LIVE SHOW REVIEW
Seattle loves the teaches of Peaches.

A former school teacher from Toronto, Peaches began performing as her alter-ego the 1990s. Her fearless character "Peaches" enabled her to stage bold shows, and freed her from societal norms around women's behavior. Flipping the bird to the inequalities in society is just one aspect of Peaches, though. Her songs are melodic, catchy and danceable. The beats she chooses are fresh and innovative. An electroclash alchemist, she mixes rock, electro, metal and rap into an entirely new sparkly tough concoction.

Turn about is fair play in the world of Peaches. Her lyrics are loaded with ideas that scare frat boys at night: songs like "Fuck the Pain Away", and "Rock the Shocker" transform the sexualization of women into something powerful. After years of listening to dance hits with "me so horny" type hooks, we find ourselves dancing to our own sexually-charged anthems. It's about f-ing time. And incidentally, there's nothing better for clearing a dance floor of handsy, drunk, annoying, homophobic jocks like "Two Guys for Every Girl." It's my favorite trick when guys are over-the-line-harassing the girls on my dancefloor. Try it sometime.

Peaches never disappoints in Seattle, where her fan base is growing. Three years ago, when she appeared at the Showbox, the club was full but not anything near to the sold-out crowd this time. The crowd was great, by the way, full of people from all walks of life in Seattle. I saw diva gay boys, rocker chicks, rad women of every sort, and even some metal dudes. The crowd danced almost the whole time, and it was incredible, liberating vibe. Everyone said it was one of the best shows they've seen.

Peaches costumes this tour were seriously worth noting. One harlequin-patterned outfit (pictured above) looked extraordinary dramatic onstage when she pulled up the hood. The hood covered almost her entire face and her mullet-mohawk hairstyle, making her look like a clown monk in a leotard. It was an indescribable powerful blend that once again gave her an other-worldly appearance.

Oh, and one final tip about Peaches you lame f-ing male fans: don't touch a woman's crotch without asking. She was onstage, and some idiot grabbed her goods. She looked right at him and said, "if you want to touch my p**ssy*, you have to ask first." Then she promptly jumped into the crowd and surfed it.

As usual, Peaches defies description.


*Incidentally, I have dcided to stop spelling out the world p**ssy because I will get hits on it for weeks by horny fatherfucking porn fans.

**Another review from the bloggers at The Seattle Weekly. I haven't found any others, if you see them, could you post them in comments? Super huge sugar-on-top thanks.

SHOW REVIEW
In the afterglow of the Camden Crawl, we slipped into the Monarch, a pub in
Camden. It's a small, intimate pub with luxurious wallpaper, chandeliers, with taxidermy decorating the walls (think stuffed foxes, small creatures, and deer heads).

We needed the Monarch. We'd just been slogging through stacks at record stores and our feet were covered with blisters. We settled into a huge booth with our Rough Trade bags, and settled into a comfy black vinyl booth.

It was an interesting night to visit. An ancient, very-drunk British couple sat in the booth next to us and glanced at us as they continued to down pints of ale. In the booth across the way, a crowd of soccer hooligans celebrated an electro show that they had just watched at The Roundhouse. In the DJ booth, two female Cherry Cola DJs were kicking out an interesting mix of Prince, Michaeal Jackson, LCD Soundsystem, and electro hits. At the bar, two bartenders wiggled as PYT pumped through the room.

As the old couple in the corner stared at me, I amused myself by staring at the soccer hooligan crowd who rapidly took over the dance floor. It was such a contrast to Seattle, where you almost have to dose someone with an illegal drug to get them to dance to ANYTHING.

You hear that Seattle? London doesn't stand there with perfectly coiffed hair, cross their arms, and act tough when bands play. They do the appropriate thing: they dance.

Thanks, Cherry Cola DJs. Thanks, London. Thanks, Monarch. Thanks, soccer hooligans. Thanks hot bartenders who kept the ale flowing like honey. Thanks weird old drunk couple who survived the war to creepily stare at me while you bobbed your heads to "Let's Get Crazy."

You were the tops.

*Image source: bauergriffin online photo of Amy Winehouse's DJ gig at the Monarch.

The 2009 Camden Crawl featured Madness as a surprise headliner, which is only fitting because they played their first gigs at the Dublin Castle.

Turns out, they performed on a double-decker bus as it drove through the streets of Camden Town. I caught a glimpse of them when I looked up from perusing the punk stacks of a record store.

I also missed their impromptu show at the Dublin Castle. Lame.

Here's a video and description of the Dublin Castle show from UK's Elbow Blog. Welcome to the House of Fun.