Pants continues to smoke!

I was glad to hear that James Pants was putting together a live band, but I was even more glad to hear that Justin Walter (Belt of Vapor) would be drumming. He is one of the best drummers in town period. They hit Europe in a few weeks.

His new single just dropped, and includes a remix from the ultra hipster team of XXXChange and A-Trak! Holy electro madness!

Rumor has it he's been cooking up remixes for Beck, Dam Funk, and a handful of other folks I'm not savvy enough to know about.

Here's a Pants mix he did over for the folks at Brooklyn Radio.

And here's a remix of KA$H!!!!

HOLY HELL!

At Least the Video's Clever

When I was a young(er) man, a rapper from Los Angeles named Joey the Jerk told me about a rap group called the Living Legends. He told me that they ruled LA underground hip hop. They would appear outside the clubs of shows they weren't playing, and would sling their records to fans waiting to get in. They ruled LA!

I never quite got into the Legends as a group, but I have always appreciated most of their solo/side endeavors, especially Murs, Scarub and Grouch & Eligh. But when the Legends get together, they put on a hell of a show.

They hit the Knitting Factory on Saturday, 9/20. The Bayliens (from the bay?), Portland's Sandpeople and the Spokane Bad Pen Crew are opening.

Automatic

I really loved Less Than Jake back when I was 14 or so... Their album Losing Streak was one of my favorites. I was young, ska was huge, and that angsty punk ska really did the trick for me.

I lost touch after that album, and a few years back I heard they ditched the horns after ska fell off the long cliff of trendiness. But as I perused their myspace page, I hear they've got horns (again?).

Dopeman wasn't really my favorite song from Losing Streak, but video-wise its quite superior to the others....

Less Than Jake plays with Rancid at the Knitting Factory on September 13.

Your Name Here

I had a hard time finding a picture of Velella Velella that did their live show justice. I mean, how do you capture the essence of such fun a show that even a sloth like me gets dancing? Its tricky, apparently.

But this is a given. Velella Velella will make you dance. Even you. Even me.

They've got roots in Spokane, as Andrew Means and Michael Burton strayed from the indie rock that they'd been playing and started working on a downtempoy experimentaly type of project with live instrumentation with analog gear (vibes, synths, wurly, among others) over sampled drum loops. As they moved to Seattle, a few members were added, and V.V. started incorporating vocals into their songs, which kept getting funkier, bouncier, dancier (danceyer?), hotter, funner, awesomer.

Their newer EP Flight Cub is five songs of soulful glory. Here's an MP3 of one of my favorites:

Velella Velella - Your Name Here

Velella Velella plays Thursday September 11 at the BLVD with Point Juncture, WA and La Cha Cha. Don't miss it.

Missing

I've been a fan of Onry Ozzborn and his crew Oldominion since my late teens/early twenties. He's grown into a very talented emcee/producer (peep his new Gigantics project) and I would argue that his Grayskul partner JFK is hands down the best rapper in Seattle.

Their new video Missing is one of my favorite songs on their new(er) record Bloody Radio. See if you can spot Spokane alum John Schirmer.

Here's a really old Onry MP3 (circa 1998-1999), from his album Owleye: featuring JFK, Pegee 13 and Foralax.

Onry: Matera 17 (f. JFK, Foralax & Pegee 13)

Grayskul plays at the BLVD on Sunday September 7 with Grynch, Phil in the Blank, Knothead and Bela Union.

No Woman No-Fi

Who doesn't love No-Fi Soul Rebellion? Maybe the dudes that don't like getting coerced into the electric slide by a sweaty screaming man? Maybe the girls who don't like getting hauled onto the dance floor to strap on a guitar for a sweet solo?

I've had the pleasure of playing with and/or seeing No-Fi quite a few times over the years, and every single time I've seen them play I've left fully satisfied. Mark is outgoing and hilarious, Andrea coy and subtle. Quite the duo.

A few of my favorite No-Fi (mark) moments.

• Mark gets a bunch of kids to sit on the floor of the Detour and sing rhythm section for "Just What I Needed."
• Mark takes a slice of pizza from someone (at the same Detour show), wipes it on his face like a towel, and gives it back to them.
• The numerous times I have seen beer dumped on Mark and/or Mark dumps beer on himself, with full enthusiasm.
  
• Mark at the B-Side during Hoopfest weekend runs outside to a closed off empty street, screaming at the top of his lungs.
• Mark's screaming bass solos. Wasn't there some Mozart in there?
  

No-Fi plays Friday 8/29 at the Zombie Room with the Makers and Pour Soi.

Democrats 1, Hockey 0

My condolences go out to Hockey, who have had some automotive problems in Denver.

I was really looking forward to checking them out last night with James Pants, but the Mile High City had another plan.... Damn you Democratic Convention!!!

I definitely slept on Hockey, who garnered all sort of press during their stay in Spokane. It wasn't until I got the chance to see them in Portland did I realize what I'd been missing. Fun hooks, dance beats and a fantastic voice fronting the whole show.

Their EP Mind Chaos is really fucking good. They've even managed to press vinyl. Fantastic.

Here's an MP3 of one of my favorite tunes from the album:

Hockey - Work.

You can buy their record CD here. Vinyl here.