Tonight is shaping up to be a doozey with 2 senior portrait sessions followed by a trip to the Skylark in West Seattle to check out Show Me Your TIFFs: Ten Years of Music Photography by Jenny Jiménez and then a jaunt to the Tractor in Ballard to take in the music finery of Red Jacket Mine as they celebrate the release of their Lovers Lookout album. Here’s who, what and why:
15 votesvote as favoriteThe sessions were both challenging and rewarding as the material proved wonderfully diverse and the record was cut live. Cut live? Yes, cut live and to 2″ analog tape. In this day and age things are usually done in stages and it’s actually unusual for bands to play everything live together with the intent of keeping each performance as-is. While this poses a little bit of an additional challenge from an engineering and production perspective, it really lends itself to capturing real moments and harnessing a bit of magic, which I think are exhibited all over Lovers Lookout.
Le blurb official…
Cut live to two-inch tape with minimal overdubs at Seattle’s Soundhouse Recording with producer/contributor Ken Stringfellow (The Posies/Big Star/The Disciplines), Lovers Lookout is a work entirely more immediate and accessible than its predecessor. Touching on Hi Records soul (”Such an Easy Thing”), bracing guitar rock (”Childish Things”), snotty bash & pop (”The Pose”), and smoky balladry (”Fascinated”), the album finds Hello, Old Cloud’s often delicate, restrained tenor supplanted by a newfound passion and confidence.
As on Hello, Old Cloud, Eyvind Kang contributes several characteristically-brilliant string arrangements, but this time around, Kang’s contributions favor in-the-moment spontaneity over graceful composure. Nowhere is this more evident than on the hazy esoterica of “Apricot Moon,” where Kang’s viola wrestles fellow guest Ian Moore’s angular, Tom Verlaine-meets-Hubert Sumlin guitar for dominance, consummating in a glorious cacophony of wood and wire. Moore also lends his signature keening falsetto to this track, providing Lovers Lookout with one of its most haunting moments.
Official Site: http://www.redjacketmine.net
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/redjacketmine
Lovers Lookout on iTunes
2560 votesvote as favoriteIt’s funny… The Skylark is owned by Jessie Summa-Kusiak (I recorded her band Ripley), Damien Jurado is performing (I recorded his first 7″ and debut album), images of Sleater-Kinney are featured (I recorded The Hot Rock), Death Cab for Cutie is in there (I worked on Plans) and Beth Ditto is on the event poster (I recorded the Gossip). I can’t wait to see the images from the collection to find out who else I know or have worked with might be included in the collection.
There is a blurb on Jenny’s blog here and a more in-depth story about the show and some of the images is here at the Seattle Weekly site.
Get out and check out the good stuff, people and music our city has to offer… See you there!
