• Jan. 01: Soundgarden announces reunion plans
  Okay, so it was officially announced on Dec. 31, 2009 via Chris Cornell’s Twitter, but the old media folks are slow to pick up on this whole social networking thing (it’s a fad, right?) and nobody pays attention to the news cycle around the holidays anyawy.
• Jan. 08: Shabazz Palaces public debut
  It lived up to every iota of hype and The Stranger called it the concert of the year.
• Jan. 21: Mad Rad returns to Capital Hill
  Hispsters from all over the Hill rejoice as the ban on their favorite party band is lifted.

• Feb. 15: Sasquatch! launch party at the Crocodile happens
  Surfer Blood headlines the show announcing the Sasquatch! lineup but doesn’t play Sasquatch! Another Sasquatch! launch party is expected to happen again next year.
• Feb. 17: Hard Rock Seattle opens
  Finally, a place in Seattle where you can pay $20 for a cheeseburger, see live music and look at a Sean Kinney drum kit
• Feb. 28: The Hootenanny for Haiti happens
  Star Anna blows away a room of local music vets including Duff McKagan and Mike McCready, setting the stage for what should be a big 2011 for the Ellensburg native. The show also sets the stage for the Hootenanny for a Healthy Gulf which was held two days before Bumbershoot.

• March 01: MTV’s $5 Cover: Seattle screens for the first time
  Director Lynn Shelton’s love letter to the local music scene is a success, but MTV decides to shelve it for nine months.
• March 06: Great Waves wins Sound Off!
  The youthful battle of the bands gets a folksy five-piece from Sammamish for champions.
• March 26: The Crocodile turns one
  The new Croc celebrates successfully paying one year of rent. Continue reading →

The Head and the Heart

My pals at Sound on the Sound introduced the blogsphere (and in turn KEXP and the rest of the local music community) to this group whose beautifully poetic folk took Seattle by storm in 2010. From opening for Vampire Weekend to opening and sort of touring with Dave Matthews to a massive article in the Seattle Times, this is a band to watch for in 2011.

Viper Creek Club

Mat Wisner and Brandon Jensen built a name for themselves as a solid team of remix artists by putting their own spin on tracks by Blue Scholars (listen below), Mad Rad, Metric and others. They also managed to create quite a fantastic debut album in Letters and land spots on bills that will get them noticed, including a slot at Mad Rad’s album release show last earlier this month. Hopefully more remixes, shows and music will come from VCC in 2011.

BlueScholars “Lumière” (Viper Creek Club remix)

Sol

Sol, or Solzilla as he is sometimes known, has been working his grind all year long while coming into his own as a MC. The Dear Friends II EP (which you can get for free) shows lots of potential for this young and talented artist and his latest release, the track “Feed My Ego” (listen below), shows that his talent is continuing to evolve. Sol seems to continually tease his fans on Twitter and Facebook by mentioning collaborations with other artists and the prospect of new music so here’s to hoping he’ll deliver on his promises soon.

Sol – Feed My Ego (prod. Grumps)

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From Crosscut:

Shop local is a common phrase heard this time of year to encourage holiday shoppers to support local businesses. While you’re supporting local businesses you might also want to consider supporting local artists, especially if you’re picking up something for the music lover on your shopping list.

Since it’s no secret that Seattle’s music community is stacked with an abundance of talent here are some recommendations of records released by locals in 2010 to help you get going if you’re looking to live out that shop local mantra to its fullest.

The city’s youthful hip-hop scene continued to grow this year with several excellent albums any hip-hop head would appreciate. For starters there’s Jake One and Freeway’s The Stimulus Package which pairs local producer extraordinaire Jake One with Philadelphia underground rapper Freeway resulting in some of the best hip-hop of the year. You also can’t go wrong with Macklemore’s reissue of his Vs EP. The reissue includes the original EP along with remixes and unreleased tracks. You can legally download the original for free here if you want a sampling of what the reissue has to offer. Another choice for the more aggressive and bratty hip-hop fan is Mad Rad’s The Youth Die Young. Think License to Ill era Beastie Boys with more sexually explicit lyrics. Parents be warned, there is quite a bit of objectionable language on the Mad Rad record.

The city’s folk scene is picking up steam too and it spawned several amazing albums. The band that made the biggest splash in the scene this year was the Head and the Heart, which made its debut this year. There’s plenty of local hype behind these guys (not every new band gets a massive feature in the Seattle Times) and big things are expected from these Sub Pop signees. Another artist expected to have a big 2011 is Chris Mansfield, aka Fences, who has drawn comparisons to Elliott Smith with Fences’ self-titled debut. Also of note from the folk scene isTidelands, the sophomore effort from the Moondoggies. The campfire rock featured on that album is some of the best music Seattle had to offer in 2010.

If there is a punk rock fan on your list there is a trio of albums you should be on the lookout for at the record store. First there’s Unnatural Helpers’ Cracked Love and Other Drugs which boasts a track list of 15 blazing songs that play out in a fiery 27 minutes. The band is a modern day punk rock Mudhoney. On the more experimental side of the punk spectrum is The Lights’ Failed Graves, an album that mishmashes rock subgenres and blends them into an excellent stew of punk rock potpourri. Somewhere in the middle of those two lay The Cute Lepers and their album Smart Accessories which at times comes across as a new-wavey Ramones record.

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According to the British rock rag NME the new album from metal legends Anthrax will include a cover of Alice in Chains’ “We Die Young.”

The album, which is expected to be released next year and is tentatively titled Worship Music, will also include former Anthrax frontman Joey Belladonna. It will be Anthrax’s first album since 2003 and its first with Belladonna since 1990.

The documentary Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story will be released on DVD March 15, 2011 by Universal Music Enterprises packaged along with two CDs of music written by Wood, including unreleased Malfunkshun material.

The film is a look into the life of Mother Love Bone frontman Andrew Wood and it includes live footage from both MLB and Malfunkshun, the band he was in with his brother Kevin prior to joining Mother Love Bone. There are also interviews with grunge figures including Chris Cornell, Stone Gossard, Jack Endino and other details about Wood and his impact on local music.

Although it has a tragic ending (Wood died of a drug overdose in 1990 and the film begins with his father reading his eulogy at Wood’s funeral) it shines a mostly positive light on Wood’s life. Aside from concert footage and hearing Cornell, Gossard and others talk candidly about Wood, highlights include seeing Mother Love Bone in the studio and getting a glimpse into the glam rock side of Wood. Most all grunge enthusiasts will especially enjoy watching Wood work with a group of children while recording “Stardog Champion”

The film has only been shown publicly twice. It debuted at the Northwest Film Forum in 2005 and was screened at Hard Rock Seattle earlier this year. It’s on par with Hype and Tad: Busting Circuits and Ringing Ears as one of the best documentaries focusing on the local scene I’ve watched.

For more information about the film, listen to this interview with Kevin Wood I conducted earlier this year.

MTV’s $5 Cover: Seattle, the pseudo-reality film that depicts the local music scene, will be released online Dec. 15.

Directed by Lynn Shelton, the 12-part web series follows 13 local bands during a scripted series of events that take place during a weekend in Seattle. While the film was scripted the events were based off real life experiences. $5 Cover: Seattle made its debut at SIFF Cinema in March (read my impressions here) and was originally scheduled to be released in June.

Clocking in at about an hour in length the film features several notable local bands including THEESatisfaction, The Lights, Champagne Champagne and the Maldives. While the film focuses on several local bands the main story centers around the Moondoggies.

A separate series of shorts about various aspects of the local music scene called “Amplified” were also shot as part of $5 Cover: Seattle. No word on whether they will be released Dec. 15 as well. Update: There will be more than 60 behind-the-scenes features and video clips, including the Amplified series, released on Dec. 15 as well. The Amplified short about the Moondoggies is below.

The holiday season is a time for traditions and for the pop music fan who listens to commercial radio there’s no bigger tradition than holiday radio concerts.

Wednesday night’s annual Deck the Hall Ball,  put on by 107.7 The End (KNDD) at WaMu Theatre, continued that tradition with a show that featured a few buzz bands (Sleigh Bells, Temper Trap), some alt-rock staples (Cake, Jimmy Eat World), rising stars (The Black Keys, Broken Bells) and a holiday surprise in the form of Christmas songs sung by the Presidents of the United States of America. If this mishmashing of musicians sounds unusual it shouldn’t because for the most part it nicely reflects the cross section of commercial radio The End represents.

Broken Bells,  the collaboration between The Shins’ James Mercer and Dangermouse, headlined the show but the 50-minute set by the Black Keys which happened before the Mercer and Mouse performance was the night’s main event. Drawing heavily from this year’s Brothers, one of the best rock records of the year, the Black Keys played a powerhouse set that got the biggest response and drew the biggest crowd of the night.

Drummer Patrick Carney displayed amazing precision and force behind the skins. His drum hits sounded like thunderclaps from the Gods providing the perfect backbone for the bluesy, fuzzy and distorted goodness of vocalist and guitarist Dan Auerbach’s songs. For his part Auerbach held his own, showcasing chops that would make Jack White blush especially during a fiery rendition of  “Ten Cent Pistol”

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