Camp Revival

Pure

‘Odessa’

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Delicate Steve is the project of Steve Marion. I was immediately drawn towards Delicate Steve through the track ‘Butterfly’. The energy, driving-speed and addictive guitar melody would not exit my head days after a casual listen on Myspace. After returning to their page I listened to more of the tracks online and took a gander at some of their live videos. Hot damn, that looks like a fun show.

Delicate Steve’s album ‘Wondervisions’ came out in December of ‘09 on compact disc and iTunes, but will be reissued on vinyl this summer with some bonus tracks included on the record. Delicate Steve will also be playing an east coast tour in July, and just collaborated on a track with Dustin Wong of Ponytail/Ecstatic Sunshine, which will be out this summer.

‘Butterfly’

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‘The Ballad of Speck and Pebble’

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‘Attitude/Gratitude’

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A definition from the Miriam-Webster Dictionary tells us that potluck is a communal meal to which people bring food to share.  Where I brought delicious Olympia Beer and hoped for some food for thought in return.  I realized it was my lucky night when I sat down to eat with my buddy Christian.  Christian runs Propensity Design Lab and his work is seen in most neighborhoods around the Seattle area.  Above and beyond his work in design, he is an exemplary musician and I thought this would be the perfect time for a Mouth Breathers post. We talked about what was going on with the Seattle hip hop scene and the future of his mysterious band Dead Witch. He then told me about The War on Drugs. When I went home to listen, body and mind were finally full.

The War on Drugs bring all and more to the table. Their music is lush sonic waves and energetic emotion spilling over onto the kids table. They are the bread basket that is always full and the wine that sticks to the edge of the glass, making imprints on the mind. They are the record spinning during the after meal coffee that sticks on your breath. They are the reason we hate and love mouth breathers.

The War on Drugs – Taking the Farm

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Cradling, formerly Uesa Guilbe, is comprised of John and Davis. We filmed them on 4/20/10, yeah I know, in Davis’ Capitol Hill home. The filming of this video was less of a routine filming, and more of a gin-infused hangout; a hangout that took us well into the night and culminated with the band banging out songs in Davis’ kitchen. Press play and relive the day for yourself, with a soundtrack! Below I have posted some additional tracks from Cradling’s upcoming release, ‘Wild Runner’, which will be coming out this summer on Patient Sounds.

‘haul and form’

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‘alkaline movements’

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‘with grace’

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‘the waltz 2 (won’t rest)’

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Tune•out•cruise•r

‘Dark Cicadas’

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(Photo of Dave with his daughter Hazel)

Dave is a friend that I spend more time with than anyone else in my life. We are co-workers at a social marketing firm downtown and sit directly across from each other in an office of two. Awkward right? On the contrary, as Dave has taken it upon himself to soothe the awkward silence with the smooth sounds of Steely Dan,The Doobie Brothers, and sometimes when we are feeling crazy, a little Peter Cetera. Based off of this pacified playlist you may be shocked to learn that Dave used to be a fairly large player in the Northwest music scene. Dave founded the indie promotions company Nice Promo. If you worked in college music between 2003-2006 you may remember being called by Dave. He was the college promoter–with the great library of musicians– who wasn’t an asshole. One artist in particular that Dave worked and turned me onto is Luke Temple.

Luke Temple is now in the band Here We Go Magic (Secretly Canadian / Western Vinyl), but got his start in 2005 when he submitted a four song self-titled EP as a demo to Seattle’s Mill Pond Records. As Dave worked Luke’s first record he was able to share a couple tracks from the original demo EP with me to post to the blog. The last song is not one of the demo tracks. It is one of my favorite songs from Luke’s current band Here We Go Magic.

Bird

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In The End

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Radiation Blues

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Tunnel Vision

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Aaron has one of the most refined and discerning tastes in music of anyone I know. A tremendous musician himself, he knows his licks and knows when a song ticks. But his musical aptitude isn’t the only reason why I asked him to recommend a tune that have been doing it for him. It is because Aaron and I both enjoy being cynical. And when talking music during a dull lecture class full of Juicy Couture wearing co-eds, the potential for cynicism is endless.

So I asked Aaron for a tune, and he immediately dove into his backpack to produce his iPod. No hesitation. He offered “Close Chorus” by A Sunny Day In Glasgow, without any attached disclaimer. No modest “It’s pretty good,” or “You might not like it, but…” This was it. This was the jam.

I thought he was going to let me have a listen, but instead he queued it up for himself. Thus, I had to wait until later that night to hear the jarring chord progressions in “Close Chorus” that intrigued Aaron. Thanks buddy. Thanks for leaving me to listen to the discussion of approaches to analyzing cultural industries and whispers of scandalous Facebook photos.

Close Chorus

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