There is no shortage of awesome bakeries in Seattle. I have favorites scattered around town. “Well, since I’m in West Seattle, I have to stop at Bakery Nouveau.” Every time I stray north of Market I feel like hitting up Larsen’s. On the other hand, I never just happen to be in Black Diamond, but I love the Black Diamond Bakery. Some bakeries in remote places still thrive because people make excuses to drive out to them. These are the destination bakeries that you go out of your way to sample. I found one such bakery in Flåm.
Music writers love to proclaim “This year’s summer jam.” My summer jams tend to repeat from year to year (cough*Allman Brothers* cough). Just like some music begs for cold wind and drizzling rain, there is no denying that some music just seems more at home in the sunshine with the smell of sunscreen and the taste of beer. I usually listen to the former, but now that summer is officially over, here are a few of the latter that I like.
Chris Forsyth
Chris Forsyth‘s vocals occasionally veer unfortunately close to Kurt Vile territory, but it’s okay. Because most tracks on All Time Present the guitar has that Allman Brothers at the Fillmore vibe that makes everything okay. While on “Dream Song” it sounds like Cowboy Bebop on a hot desert afternoon where nothing is okay. I’m a fan.
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Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend are none of the things I usually look for in a band, but I love everything they’ve done. December drinkers of horchata Vampire Weekend have always got a summery sound. And even though it’s usually winter at my house, they never drop out of high rotation. Even a wedding-themed double album doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm.
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Alex Lahey
Australian Alex Lahey released her hooky sophomore album in May. That’s autumn where she lives, but these sun-drenched pop songs are bright and energetic enough to make even me want to hit the beach. Bonus points for unironic use of sax.
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Death and Vanilla
Death and Vanilla sounds like the name of a drizzly day band, but Are You a Dreamer sounds like the starbursts of light behind your eyelids when you look into the sun.
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Young Guv
Young Guv II by Young Guv is just the kind of laid back jangly punk pop that says, “Summer Jams.” It doesn’t work too hard, and you shouldn’t either. Just enjoy.
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Mr. Silla
I saw Mr. Silla at Iceland Airwaves in 2012. They didn’t have an album out yet. I waited and waited and eventually forgot about them. Then Grapevine featured the video for their new single “Naruto (say you wanna run away)” in advance of the release of the album Hands on Hands. It’s a summery escapist dream. My favorite season may be autumn, but sometimes when the day starts to shrink and my feet haven’t quite adjusted to boots instead of sandals yet, even I want to run away chasing eternal summer.
A while back I posted about how the real life things you see when you travel don’t always live up to expectations. I’m okay with that because I’d rather experience something real, even if it is a little grimy. But it was also a bit unfair. Because even though things aren’t always as perfect and picturesque as our dreams, sometimes they are. On the same day that I saw the dirty little bird cage on the sidewalk surrounded by cleaning supplies and garbage, I also saw this avian social hour. A picturesque little collection of songbirds hanging near a miniature garden cultivated on a city sidewalk.
Personally, I find both discoveries worth the effort of going someplace new.
Giuseppe Altomare makes his Seattle Opera debut as the title character in Rigoletto.
Sunny Martini photo c/o Seattle Opera
Some people dislike modern productions of old operas. These are often the same folks who think Shakespeare should always be performed in Elizabethan costume (but curiously, not by men in drag). Personally, I don’t agree. I mean, I can understand the appeal of a period piece. I adore reconstructions of historical costumes, houses, and technology where every last detail is true to the original. But the appeal is usually more intellectual than emotional. Dressing a story in historical costumes and sets doesn’t necessarily distance viewers from the humanity in the story, but it often does. And rigid conformity with past practice is literally the opposite of art. Plus, the original productions were usually anachronistic themselves. How a director chooses to frame a production is an artistic choice that can fundamentally alter viewers’ understanding of the story.
Some people listen to music for the beats, others for the melody. Some people like to sing along. Apparently, I go for atmosphere. Here are some bands I really like – mostly metal – that take atmosphere to epic levels.
Ultar
Usually I listen to a track by the band while I type up their blurb. But every time put on Ultar, I forget to stop listening and move on to the next band. And every time I do, my husband walks by my office and says, “Ooh, who’s this?” Often bands write atmospheric passages that abruptly shift to more traditional black metal. Ultar does both beautifully, but the real magic on Pantheon MMXIX (that’s Pantheon 2019, BTW) is in how you almost don’t notice the transitions.
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Vous Autres
One problem with writing about music is that the same descriptors work for a great many bands that don’t actually sound the same. Words like majestic, beautiful, mystical or intense apply as much to other bands in this post as they do to Vous Autres. But Champ du Sang is the only album that drew my 10-year-old into my office with her biggest anime smile. “Pretty!” she declared with two thumbs up.
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Droneflower
A dream-folk singer-songwriter and heavy metal shredder? As my teen would say, “I ship it!” And what a beautiful ‘shipit makes in Droneflower, the collaboration between Marissa Nadler and Stephen Brodsky. Not nearly as heavy as other albums on this list, Droneflower nevertheless transports you just as effectively to a dark and mysterious place buffeted by chill winds.
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Nightgrave
There is an atmosphere of majestic beauty and also danger in both post-rock and in black metal, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by hearing them combined in Nightgrave. With “atmospheric” right there in the title of their album IX: True Death Atmospherics, it’s not like they’re trying to surprise anyone. Not to mention that I was already following the band’s page on Bandcamp when they released it. But you never really expect to be caught up in an album like this. I think I could live here, if it weren’t the soundtrack for the end of all things.
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Wear Your Wounds
I don’t really listen to Converge, so I had no particular interest in this side project by Jacob Bannon. Wear Your Wounds popped up in a blog post somewhere, and I idly listened to an embed, and I really liked it. I probably should have put it in my Dark Moods post, but it’s too late for that, so I’m going to file it under atmospheric. Any way, I love the how the dark atmosphere, dragged down by intentionally sluggish pacing, acts like an anchor to the seriously old school trad metal guitar that sometimes borders on classical. It feels like the guitar solos on the title track Rust on the Gates of Heaven are soaring above the song, straining against that rhythm anchor.
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