STG Announces Upcoming Events: The Shins and More
By: Kelsey Denette May. 29, 2012
Seattle Theatre Group (STG) announces the following concerts going on sale this week.
Yeasayer
Date: August 30, 2012 @ 8:00pm
Venue: The Neptune (All Ages)
Price: $30.00 not including applicable fees
Seating: General Admission
On Sale: Friday, June 1, 2012 @ 10am
Ticketing Information: Available online at Tickets.com, in person at the Paramount Theatre box office (M-F 10am-6pm), 24-hour kiosks located outside the Paramount & Moore Theatres, charge by phone at (877) 784-4849, or online at STGPresents.org.
Since the release of their critically acclaimed 2007 debut All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer has been around the world and back again. While their first record was conceived in total artistic isolation, constant touring forced Yeasayer to finally engage with their contemporaries. Inspired by musicians hell-bent on sonic experimentation as well as those more comfortable in a pop context, Yeasayer find their domain spanning across the musical spectrum. Studied, road worn, and eager to begin phase two, Yeasayer retreated to upstate New York to begin work on their new album titled Odd Blood. Odd Blood plays out at a blistering pace, yet it never sacrifices depth or content. It is immediately evident the band has advanced in songwriting as well as sonic craft. Lyrically, it is a more mature and honest album than the first, as the band demonstrates a confidence to explore more personal themes alongside vividly depicted tales. One thing is certain: Yeasayer are accomplished audiologists who are willing to pilfer decades of pop sensibilities and cultural history to create something that is uniquely their own. If All Hour Cymbals was Yeasayer's attempt at global and ambient cultural mash-up then Odd Blood takes place in an off-world colony sometime after the Singularity. Glimmering reverb haze is eschewed and replaced by a cavalcade of disorienting pitch effects and flickering ectoplasmic wisps. Instead of layered vocal harmonies the processed vocals congeal into blots and blobs of otherworldly chatter. Many organic elements are left behind and replaced by sounds and rhythms that inspire the body as much as the mind. At times Yeasayer sound as if they would be at home playing live in scene from Blade Runner or inside one of Oscar Neimeyer's concrete modernist temples from the 1960s.
The Shins
Date: Saturday, September 22, 2012 @ 8:00pm
Venue: The Paramount Theatre (All Ages)
Price: $31.25 not including applicable fees
Seating: General Admission Flat Floor, Reserved Balcony
On Sale: Friday, June 1, 2012 @ 10am
Ticketing Information: Available online at Tickets.com, in person at the Paramount Theatre box office (M-F 10am-6pm), 24-hour kiosks located outside the Paramount & Moore Theatres, charge by phone at (877) 784-4849, or online at STGPresents.org.
The Shins are an American indie rock band founded and fronted by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, James Mercer. The Shins were formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but are now based in Portland, Oregon. At a San Francisco performance with Modest Mouse in 2000, Sub Pop's Jonathan Poneman asked The Shins to contribute a single to the label's Single of the Month Club, which eventually became an offer to release The Shins' 2001 single, "New Slang", and their debut album, "Oh, Inverted World". The group spent the rest of the year touring. The release of singles such as "Know Your Onion!" and "The Past and Pending" kept The Shins' success going into 2002, cementing "Oh, Inverted World" as one of the definitive indie-rock albums of the early '00s and The Shins as one of the genre's leading younger bands. It received critical acclaim for its lyrically deft and jangly pop sound. The song "One By One All Day" was featured in the 2003 film A Guy Thing, starring Jason Lee. Two other songs from this album, ("Caring Is Creepy" and "New Slang") were featured prominently on the soundtrack for the 2004 film Garden State, starring and directed by Zach Braff, exposing the music of The Shins to a much wider audience. Oh, Inverted World appeared at #71 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of 2000-2004. On August 1, 2011, Pitchfork reported that The Shins would be releasing an album in 2012 on Mercer's Aural Apothecary Label, via Columbia Records. The Shins also announced additional tour dates for their North American tour. The new band backing Mercer on this tour include singer/songwriter Richard Swift, Modest Mouse drummer Joe Plummer, Yuuki Matthews of Crystal Skulls and Jessica Dobson. Their latest album titled Port of Morrow and was released in March 2012. Port Of Morrow was released March 20 and has been lauded by THE NEW YORKER as an album that brings Shins mainman James Mercer "closer to the lineage he's been gradually writing himself into: the lush psychedelia of XTC, on an album like 'Skylarking,' or even seventies pop acts like Joe Walsh..."
Matisyahu & The Dirty Heads
Date: September 23, 2012 @ 7:30 pm
Venue: The Moore Theatre (All Ages)
Price: $27.50-$37.50, not including applicable fees
Seating: General Admission
On Sale: Friday, June 1, 2012 @ 10am
Ticketing Information: Available online at Tickets.com, in person at the Paramount Theatre box office (M-F 10am-6pm), 24-hour kiosks located outside the Paramount & Moore Theatres, charge by phone at (877) 784-4849, or online at STGPresents.org.
Since first emerging on the international stage in 2005, Matisyahu has established a reputation for following his muse-from the stripped-down roots reggae of the gold-certified Live at Stubb's to the trippy ministrations of Youth to the polished pop eclecticism of Light. Then, in 2010, he returned to the venerable Austin venue that introduced him for Live at Stubb's II, demonstrating that all those travels had somehow only strengthened his connection to his musical bedrock. Matisyahu blasts off yet again with Spark Seeker, a bold new studio album that finds the one-of-a-kind vocalist and songwriter exploring uncharted territory with help from an expansive cast of collaborators. "My musical tastes are all over the board," he says in reference to a record that mixes ancient traditional sounds with futuristic electro beats, rapping with singing, songs of the spirit with songs of the body. "And, besides, my music has never been about the outer garment. It's about searching out inspiration wherever it lies. This album is about seeking that spark within."For Spark Seeker-not just a collection of random tracks, but a complete piece of work made with one producer-Matisyahu spent a year recording with Koool Kojak (Nicki Minaj, Travis Barker, Ke$ha) at the latter's home studio in L.A. Then the pair went to Israel with an open slate. "We began to blend all of this live instrumentation to create a unique record, made by multi-faceted human beings who have many sides and many sources of inspiration." The result reflects that wide array of voices and experiences. In the hard-hitting "Warrior" Matisyahu describes feelings of frustration and desperation, while lead single "Sunshine" rides what might be the most uplifting groove in his catalog; elsewhere, "Searchin'" pairs a gritty digital-dancehall beat with chanted lyrics and "I Believe in Love" exemplifies the album's deep melodic streak. Throughout Spark Seeker you can hear Matisyahu embodying the album's title-and embracing its humble promise. The album has a depth to it as well as a lightness, which alludes to the most essential theme of the record--that everything in life, especially music, exists in mixtures and blends. "This is definitely pushing the boundaries of what I've done before," he acknowledges. "It's a new kind of record for me." At this point we'd expect nothing less.
Radiolab
Date: Friday, August 24, 2012 @ 8:00pm
Venue: The Paramount Theatre (All Ages)
Price: $36.00-$46.00, not including applicable fees
Seating: Reserved Seating
On Sale: Saturday, June 2, 2012 @ 10am
Ticketing Information: Available online at Tickets.com, in person at the Paramount Theatre box office (M-F 10am-6pm), 24-hour kiosks located outside the Paramount & Moore Theatres, charge by phone at (877) 784-4849, or online at STGPresents.org.
Radiolab is a show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience.Radiolab is heard around the country on over 300 stations. Check your local station for airtimes.
In The Dark:
We're really excited about our new live show In the Dark--it's got science, suspense, rock and roll from Thao Nguyen, and modern dance troupe Pilobolus--no joke, we've got dancers for the radio! You don't want to miss it. Jad and Robert will explore the dawn of sight and the evolution of the eye, hear from two blind men who couldn't disagree more fiercely about what it's like to live without vision, and relive a harrowing spacewalk with an astronaut.
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