Headliner, Ascetic Junkies hail from Portland, Oregon and are ready to show Pullman their wild side.  Matt Harmon and Kali Giaritta originally met in Boston, MA where they decided to start up The Ascetic Junkies; this being only the beginning of their relationship (cute, am I right?)  In 2008 after wrapping up their debut album, they then decided to move to Portland where they picked up some new junkies.  Since then, they have been touring the west coast and have since released their sophomore album, This Cage Has No Bottom  on Timber Carnival Records in November of 2010.  From what I’ve read and watched of videos, The Ascetic Junkies love to have fun on stage and incorporate the audience; so don’t be afraid to dance along to their poppy, freak-folk.

You can stream This Cage Has No Bottom on their bandcamp.

Also, here is a little taste of what The Ascetic Junkies’ live sound is like with this acoustic treat: watch?v=18jcjOQpbEc&feature=player_embedded

We always love having Moscow originates, Holiday Friends back in Pullman.  Listen to their latest demo titled Chicks on their bandcamp as well.

Last but certainly not least, Pullman local super-group New Kaboom (formerly New Lagoon and featuring members of Moss Campions, Yarn Owl, Buffalo Death Beam, & Bart Budwig) will be opening.  They have not released any tracks yet, but isn’t that a darling photo?

Doors at 7PM, music starts at 8PM.  You can purchase tickets on our website or at belltowerpullman.com.  Tickets are $5 adv./$7 at the door.  Hope to see you there!

Written by Andi Wilson-  Stereopathic Music Intern

I love these guys. I got to hear Sub Pop‘s Vetiver at Pickathon this summer and it may have been my favorite show of the weekend. Just sublime music.

They’re here in Pullman, WA tomorrow night at BellTower as the 2nd show of our Birds on a Wire Mini-Fest. I wouldn’t miss it if I were you!

Here’s why:

Vetiver – Sister
Vetiver – Wonder Why
Vetiver – Cant You Tell
Vetiver – Another Reason To Go
Vetiver – Rolling Sea
Vetiver – More Of This
Vetiver – Worse for Wear

Vetiver – The Errant Charm from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Paste is streaming Blitzen Trapper‘s newest here.

Also – Blitzen Trapper’s co-headlining a tour w/Dawes this fall that I wish would stop at BellTower, but alas, it’s not.

But at least I can watch this cool new video:

James Vincent McMurrow – This Old Dark Machine

I’ve recently been tempted to think that perhaps the glory has departed from Bon Iver. And then along comes an email about James Vincent McMurrow and I think maybe the torch has been passed to James Vincent McMurrow? What do you think?

And by “torch” I mean – soulful, scratchy-throated tunes that make you long for the old days.

And by “glory has departed from Bon Iver” – I’m talking about what appears to me to be an over-infatuation w/Phil Collins and Kenny G. And maybe Kanye’s swagger has rubbed off a little too?

Well – either way, JVM’s doing some cool stuff and I like his music. Check him out:
On NPR
At Daytrotter
On his website

After a string of head-turning, critically acclaimed releases on Hush Records and a US tour with The Decemberists, Portland’s Loch Lomond has brought their unique brand of raw, symphonic, chamber-pop to Tender Loving Empire. Loch Lomond released their much anticipated, second full-length album, ‘Little Me Will Start A Storm’ earlier this year.

In addition to employing notable visceral and expert melodic acrobatics, the co-ed sextet of Loch Lomond distinctly incorporates the use of vibraphone, piano, guitars, mellotron, clarinet, flute, drums, bass, and other sonic treatments to foil the even more distinct and arresting voice of lead singer/multi-instrumentalist Ritchie Young. He’s able to switch from high-pitched fragility to alto thunder in the turn of a phrase, yet he knows the power of restraint intuitively, saving vocal tornadoes for emotional apexes buoyed by string swells and moving arrangements.

Loch Lomond brings their melodic acrobatics through eastern Washington with a stop at BellTower Concert House in downtown Pullman on Thursday, August 4th at 7 pm. They will be accompanied by the sweet sounds of Americana folk band, Terrible Buttons, from Spokane. The show is all ages with a full bar for those 21 and over. Tickets are $6 in advance or $9 at the door. Tickets are available at http://belltowerpullman.com/lochlomond.html , Atom Heart Music, Prune Orchard and Palouse Falls Brewing.

Also check out Loch Lomond’s latest video from their single “Elephants and Little Girls”

El Ten Eleven will be headlining tomorrow night’s show (Monday, April 18th) at The Belltower. Get ready for an instrumental night of post-rock from this heavy duo. El Ten Eleven consists of composer & bassist Kristian Dunn and drummer Tim Fogarty. Their latest album, It’s Still Like a Secret was released on November 9, 2010. They were also featured in some of Gary Hustwit’s soundtracks of his design documentaries including: Helvetica and Objectified. Don’t be disappointed that the show is instrumental; their exciting drum fills and looping of the bass is very different than any typical instrumental band, you are in for a bargain!

There will also be a special phone-in studio interview at KZUU 90.7 FM featuring KZUU DJs Austin Seale & Kelsie Brown interviewing El Ten Eleven at 3pm on Monday afternoon (4/18/11). Don’t forget to listen – you can also tune in online: KZUU 90.7 FM

Here is a video of a in-studio live KEXP performance of the song ‘Hot Cakes’:

Also, Jerry Joiner – an ex-Pullmanite will be joining the line up to perform in his self-formed band called Girlfriends. Girlfriends is out of Portland, Oregon and has a bit of that scream-punk feel, but not in a bad way at all. Joiner adds upbeat guitar licks to some danceable drum beats. He also has some softer acoustic songs with harmonizing vocals like in the song ‘The Apocalypse Made Me Brave’ which builds into a beautiful and almost symphonic sounding climax.

Here is the song ‘Brobocop’ off of Girlfriends’ self-titled album:
Brobocop

Tartufi is made up of Brian Gorman and Lynne Angel.  They started originally as a power-pop trio in 2001 and after 5 years, in 2006 became a duo.  The band has a had a lot of help from the successful Tim Green (Joanna Newsom, Melvins).  I was lucky enough to see Tartufi at the Promenade Music Festival in Boise, Idaho early last October where they were opening for Frog Eyes.  Tartufi incorporates so many different kinds of noises and sounds into their music.  When I saw them Gorman and Angel both sang while Gorman was on drums; and Angel switched off between guitar, bass, and synth all while looping many different sounds and vocals to make a very warm sound at times.  This band is definitely talented, you just have to be ready for some long tunes! Their ambiance reminds me more of feeling the actual experience; which can be so nice to close your eyes to and imagine where their music is taking you. According to their bio on the Tartufi website they are going to start experimenting with some new acoustic material, so I believe we are in for a surprise for their stop at The Belltower on this mini spring tour.

Here is their track: Fear Of Tall Giraffes, Fear Of So (from 2008)

By: Andi Wilson

Yarn Owl playing at Birds On Wire in 2010 (Photo taken by Adam Ward)

Pullman’s very own Yarn Owl will be releasing their new record with a bang! Come join them at The Belltower in downtown Pullman (located on 125 SE Spring St.) and hear tunes from their new album Montaña Y Caballo, since it might be awhile before they play again locally.

Yarn Owl is usually a four piece group made up of lead singer & guitarist Javier Suarez, guitarist Tyler Armour, bassist Tim Meinig, and drummer Ted Powers. For now Tyler is in Australia making yummy wine, so Curt Krause and Sean Knox of Buffalo Death Beam are filling in for Yarn Owl’s little PNW tour. You can expect to hear some 3 part harmonies and some tinkering of bells on ‘Yarn Blues’.

Their show at The Belltower in Pullman is Thursday, March 24th.  Doors are at 8:00 p.m. and you can get tickets in advance for $6 only through Stereopathic Music and it is $7 at the door.  If you can’t make it to this one Yarn Owl has a show on March 25th at the Ella St. Social Club in Portland, Oregon, and two in Seattle.  One at the Columbia City Theater on the 26th and on the 31st at the Sunset Tavern!

You can pick up Yarn Owl’s new album, Montaña Y Caballo here on their bandcamp.

Without further ado… here’s the initial lineup for Pickathon 2011, which will take over Pendarvis Farm just outside of Portland, Oregon on August 5-7. Tickets are already for sale!

Mavis Staples
Bill Callahan
Lee Fields & The Expressions
Califone
Damien Jurado
Thao
Fruit Bats
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Vetiver
Laura Veirs
Brownout
The Wilders
The Sadies
Richard Swift
Pine Leaf Boys
The Builders and The Butchers
Danny Barnes
Sonny & The Sunsets
Whitey Morgan & The 78′s
Mike + Ruthy
Black Lillies
Strand of Oaks
Elliott Brood
Bruce Molsky
Ages and Ages
Joy Kills Sorrow
Charlie Parr
Old Light
Ted Jones and The Tarheel Boys
Buffalo Killers
Pokey LaFarge
Rock Plaza Central
Truckstop Darlin’
Cahalen Morrison & Eli West
Diane Ferlatte

In between living life and gearing up for an upcoming European tour, songwriter Al James took some time to give us an interview. It visits familiar Stereopathic interview themes—what’s it like trying to make a living for a little-known band, and how does the place you live affect you?—and tries to get into the marrow of some of James’ songs.

So, Al, these questions assume a few things which I’ve gathered from talking with other musicians: it’s hard to make a decent living playing music, you have to keep other jobs to stay afloat, toiling in anonymity is wearisome but is also alleviated by being in a particular scene in a particular city. What do you think of any of that?

Yeah I agree with some of that. It’s not really toiling or wearisome. Creating music is primarily an awesome challenge that you can spend a lifetime attacking in new and different ways. For me, it’s more about trying to live with a balance where you can create freely, pay bills, be a good partner to someone, be a good uncle to my brothers kids, write a little bit, etc… As far as a scene or city, I’ve definitely worked hard to avoiding being pigeonholed by being from Portland, because frankly there’s not much here that I can reasonably claim as my own. For better or worse, Dolorean has always just sort of moved along alone.

So, the new record is called The Unfazed. The band’s website proclaims that y’all’ve been “Unfazed since 2001″. There’s a “Who wore it better?” hat contest between Garth Brooks and “Al James The Unfazed” on the band blog. And I’m guessing you probably sign your rent checks that way. What do you mean by “The Unfazed”? It seems that you’ve weathered several professional and—judging by your lyrics—personal disappointments since 2001. You called your last record You Can’t Win. How are you The Unfazed?

Originally, being The Unfazed was just a mindset that I needed to adopt to get by. More recently, I’ve just been having a lot of fun with it as a way of looking at the world. After a full decade of trying to live in that fine balance (that I mentioned in the first answer) it can get overwhelming. It you pay attention to everything going on in music and culture it can get overwhelming and distracting. Being Al James the Unfazed just allows me to focus on long term goals and try to create something every single day.

Are things better, in general, than they were around the time of You Can’t Win?

Things are definitely better now than the years around the release of You Can’t Win. Mostly this comes from a much healthier relationship with music and a much deeper understanding of myself and what I value in making records and performing.

NPR big-upped “Country Clutter” recently, astonished at all the venom and acrimony you put into what might otherwise be a sad, pretty breakup song. I recall other reviews that were stunned at the kind of bitterness you could bring up in songs like “My Grey Life (Second Chances)”. The first song of yours I ever heard—”Hannibal, MO”—features a bitter father who’s gonna shoot you down if you don’t do it yourself. It seems that you find bitterness to be fertile songwriting ground. So, a few questions: is Bitterness the right word for it? If not, what is it? What are you trying to get at? Do you ever find it corrosive to your work? Is it something reviewers have blown out of proportion—are you just working through stuff and then you’re over it? Does your songwriting help you get past this stuff?

I don’t see it as bitterness necessarily. I think it’s more closely linked to what people say when you push them to their limit. A song gives me an opportunity to say the things that I’d never get the chance to say in real life. I’m a person that errs on the side of politeness and often has a hard time really saying what I truly want to say. Writing these fictional songs give me a chance to be someone else and say something I might never say in my own life. These are just pieces of fiction and I get to write the script.

I understand you have to hold down various day jobs to make ends meet. Is that just a fact of life for the indie folk crowd in Portland?

It has nothing to do with Portland or indie folk. Musicians all over the country (and world) work jobs outside of their music for various reasons (not all of them financially motivated). I would wager that most of your favorite musicians right now do something in addition to their career in music. Like I said before, to me it’s about trying for that elusive balance. The flip side of the coin is that many of the musicians I know that live exclusively on their music often feel trapped and don’t necessarily enjoy the endless cycle of record, release, tour. If you use money as one of the primary factors in the equation of an artist’s success it becomes a very slippery slope.

It seems to me that many indie musicians struggle with a tension: while many are suspicious of “success” and its trappings, it’s also just hard to make a living cutting records and touring. Have you experienced that tension? Or am I off my rocker?

I think the tension is just being comfortable in your own skin and having the courage to say “I’m doing this the way I want to do it.” That mostly has to do with taking control of small decisions. There are promoters in Portland who I don’t like doing business with. For the longest time I felt like we still needed to do business with them, because other bands were. When I finally just said to myself and the band,”Hey, we’re not working with this promoter or club because it makes me feel like I’m compromising.” I felt great. Just small choices of control can go a long ways. If there’s one thing the music industry has shown us over the last decade is that there’s always another way to do it.

Closely related: what would professional or vocational or musical fulfillment look like for you? Would that simply be making records you’re proud of? Would that mean making a living off of records you’re proud of?

I’ve talked about this with a number of artists that I’m close to (writers, photographers, musicians). I like to think of success as this—Is what I’m making something that someone will pack and unpack every time they move or will it end up in the discard pile. My hope is that whatever I make or write will be brought along in some way.

Do you read? If so, who? What do you pick up from it? What have you read in the past that did something for you?

I try to read as much as I can, but I don’t make as much time for it as I’d like. For me, books are the blueprint for storytelling and creating genuine characters. Lately, I’ve been enjoying Willy Vlautin, Raymond Chandler, Scott Nadelson, James Salter, Richard Ford, and Jaimy Gordon.

You used to write more from the perspective of various characters; your songs are now written from the 1st-person-singular perspective. Why the change?

Yeah, I’ve moved away from third person. I realized that in most cases I don’t want the perspective of omnipotent on-looker or storyteller. It was just another layer that didn’t need to be there. Why not communicate directly from the speaker’s heart? I think it’s more believable.

Tell me about “The Search”, from Violence in the Snowy Fields, where you sing a good portion of Job 28. Is this your “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season)”, minus the Billboard-charting? Did you feel like Job at the time? Did you just dig those words? How does that song hit you nowadays?

That song was a simple exercise that turned out cool. One of the most amazing, creative people I’ve ever met is Glen Galloway from the San Diego band Soul-Junk. (He was an original member of the legendary noise band Truman’s Water). What Glen does is take verses directly from the Bible and just sing and play them spontaneously as he feels moved. The results are amazing and beautiful works of spirituality no matter what your beliefs. I tried this with some various passages in the Bible and this is the one that stuck for me and worked as a song. It’s a fun song to play live and I enjoy springing it on the band when they’re least expecting it. It’s funny because that guitar solo that I played in the middle of the song is very Byrdsian. It was a first take that we tried a bunch of different ways before we realized my first instinct was my best.

You live in Portland, you’ve been in that scene a long while—being a musician, what does it mean to have a home? Does being from somewhere affect what you do and what you write? Does it ground you in ways that you’re at all aware of?

For me it’s actually the opposite. I get further and further away from what’s going on in the music scene in this city, because it doesn’t interest me. I have my close friends and family, my band mates and business contacts, outside of that I enjoy what Portland has to offer—fly fishing and camping nearby, fresh produce, trail-running in Forest Park, healthy and diverse food options, proximity to the ocean for crabbing and clam-digging, etc… I actually don’t think my song-writing would be too different if I lived somewhere else. It’s more rooted in relationships than ‘place’ or ‘home.’ My hunch is that I’d write the same type of songs anywhere.

Fools Gold Ring from The Unfazed