Capitol Hill Block Party 2011: Pre-Festival Picks

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

grave babies

Dark imagery, light visuals, light moods, dark noise… Grave Babies, Hardly Art’s latest signees, are dingy and marvelous at the same time, easily embodying and employing contradictions in sound, image, and context.
4:00PM, VERA

boat

Fun, unpretentious indie rock for those who really, really don’t care about looking “cool”.
5:00PM, VERA

craft spells

These perfectly adorable and perfectly loose dance jams paint the backdrop for a Seattle summer evening.
7:00PM, VERA

fucked up

Canada’s best import isn’t whiskey; it’s the wildly intelligent hardcore stylings of Fucked Up. It’s like listening to a Mensa version of Black Flag.
9:00PM, NEUMO’S

the head and the heart

People rave about them. People rave against them. Regardless of how you feel, The Head and the Heart put on a show that makes your heart melt just a little bit.
9:15PM, MAIN

absolute monarchs

This four-piece is up there in terms of best local bands to see live. Most of CHBP will probably be a hot, sweaty mess, but this show will probably be a sweatier mess than others.
9:45PM, CHA CHA

yuck

These UK musicians combine the noisy and the rosy into one concise and fun package.
10:15PM, NEUMOS

ghostland observatory

A Ghostland show is best seen to be appreciated, so watch the video below for the full effect. Their brand of spazzy electro is bound to make even stoic of Seattlites move.
10:45PM, MAIN STAGE

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

sports

Sports make dance music, but there’s a reason they’re blowing up the Seattle scene. They’re filling the void locally better than anyone else, and have a series of singles that make them stand out on a national level, as well.
3:45PM, CHA CHA
To Catch a Thief by SPORTS

handsome furs

Saturday at CHBP seems quite the day for electronic dance rock, and Canadian duo Handsome Furs show off their years of veteran skill in the arena.
6:00PM, MAIN

ravenna woods

Three clever bearded lads from Seattle who play some foot-stomping acoustic jams. The guitarwork alone puts this band a notch above the competition.
6:30PM, VERA

austra

People sure can’t get enough of dark dance rock right now, and who better to bring that to a CHBP crowd than Toronto band Austra?
7:45PM, NEUMO’S

akimbo

With the amount of noise they make, you wouldn’t expect Akimbo to be just a trio. But the Seattle band brings monster rock riffs to the forefront for the entirety of the set.
9:45PM, CHA CHA

baths

In the hands of Will Wiesenfeld, glitched out beat-and-synth soundscapes take on endlessly fascinating forms.
10:45PM, VERA

my goodness

This duo takes the Black Keys approach of guitar/vocals and drums. But the origins of Seattle take hold as the band is less blues-oriented and more steeped in punk.
2:30PM, MAIN

lumerians

Oakland psych rockers Lumerians are a must-see, must-see, must-see, must-see. Must-see. The video below shows more than you should ever need to know to be convinced of this fact.
3:15PM, NEUMO’S

battles

Rock’s most complicated band is like trying to watch solve calculus theorems. The trio of Battles are some of the finest musicians you’ll ever see, even if you don’t understand the math-rock being played.
5:00PM, MAIN

grand hallway

With eight members and a diverse slew of lush instrumentation, Grand Hallway are a brilliant live band to see, and vocalist Tomo Nakayama may have one of Seattle’s most fascinating voices.
7:30PM, NEUMO’S

explosions in the sky

The Austin quartet is more synonymous with the widely thrown around genre “post-rock” than anyone else. But if the shoe fits the bill, than Explosions in the Sky are the masters of the grandiose, instrumental crescendos.

pink mountaintops

Those who love Black Mountain will find relaxing comfort in the shoegaze-psych of sister band Pink Mountaintops.
9:00PM, NEUMO’S

mad rad

Seattle’s glam rappers aren’t for everyone. In fact, they aren’t for a lot of people. But the people they are for love the party that accompanies the live act.
11:30PM, NEUMO’S