Heard of Fastback? I wouldn't be surprised if you said no. For someone with as much talent as this guy, it's impressive how little popularity he has. My first exposure to this guy was on a Daft Punk fan message board, where he became a hero with his uncanny inside knowledge on the French Touch scene (do we still call it that? I don't know I'm so out of... touch). He threw us all for a loop by going by the screen name Akchote, and slowly deviating from the trap style productions he had been posting into things like... this. [...]
In the winter - Fastbacks Download: 05-in-the-winter.mp3 And here's one of those first seven songs. So goooooood...
Set me free - Fastbacks Download: 10-set-me-free.mp3 I feel so dumb. For years i've felt that the Fastbacks' first album would be a thing of perfection if not for some weird shift and [...]
Rachel Flotard of Visqueen at Bumbershoot Music Lounge / photo by Jim Bennett Recently, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn declared February to be Seattle Women Who Rock Month . The announcement was spurred by a new play and history project created by Gretta Harley (Maxi Badd, Danger Dens), Sarah Rudinoff, and Elizabeth Kenny called These Streets , a fictionalized story heavily inspired by the lives and music of the women of the Seattle grunge scene of lat 80s and early 90s. Last Friday, KEXP Morning Show host John Richards wrote about some of [...]
Goodness at Mural Amphitheatre in 2008 / photo by Rich Britton It’s Friday again so it’s time for Friday on My Mind , our weekly blog post we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News. With a sound more accessible than, but derived from metal and punk, grunge took the world by storm during the early 90’s. The way was paved by bands like Green River and Soundgarden at the end of the 80’s and the commercial breakthrough of Nirvana in [...]
Eric's Trip - Songs About Chris (1993) With our pocket computers running Shazam, Spotify, YouTube and Google, it's nearly impossible to lose a song due to a lapse in human memory any more. This wasn't always the case. In the '90s, my pants pocket often held one very important, folded up piece of paper. This piece of paper, it could have been been a bill or a piece of homework, really deserved a more permanent place on my self, one not so prone to washings, would have been ideal. For on this piece of paper was a list of [...]
The light's on you - Fastbacks Download: 02-the-lights-on-you.mp3 There's this thing about Kurt Bloch's guitar playing with the Fastbacks, especially on their first album, where it seems so excessive and anomalous [...]
DJ Riz in The Rocket circa September 1992 ...to Power KEXP during its Fall Fundraising Drive ! Digging in the vaults, I unearthed this print ad for a September 1992 issue of The Rocket , featuring our own DJ Riz ! Back then, Riz was responsible for the drive time shift on weekday afternoons. What might you have heard? Well, I couldn't find a playlist for September 1992, but according to an issue of Feedback ("the only newsletter that matters from KCMU 90.3 FM") dated July/August 1992, the artists at [...]
In the Winter - Fastbacks Download: 05-in-the-winter.mp3 [...]
"I remember everything ... I remember everything ..." This past Saturday, the Bottom of the Hill club in San Francisco capped off a week of 20th anniversary celebrations with a lineup that could've been beamed in from 1995: Fastbacks , Muffs (Facebook group), and Uncle Joe's Big Ol' Driver . Don't misunderstand me, I wasn't there. I was at La Zona Rosa in Austin having my face melted off by Wild Flag . But, for those of us who were paying attention in [...]
Sep 28, 2011, 7:58am
DOA
An unprofessional display of lackluster musicians trying desperately to re-capture their heydays while stumbling their way through unrehearsed, heinous renditions of Nirvana songs.
Watch videos of every song on Nirvana's 'Nevermind' played in Seattle last night.
Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic has announced plans to perform the band's hit album, ' Nevermind ' in is entirety to celebrate the record's 20th anniversary. Novoselic will perform the album on September 20 at the Experience Music Project's Sky Church venue in Seattle. Joining the bassist on the bill, and performing one track off the album, will be Fastbacks , Vaporland , the Long Winters , Visqueen , Campfire OK , Valis , and Ravenna Woods . Tickets to [...]
The light's on you - Fastbacks There's a moment in this song around two and a half minutes in when it comes to the line " and keep it all safe inside " that might be the Fastbacks' most glorious moment. It takes it from a three minute song to a four minute one, and for once that's not a band thing. " Insiii-iii-iiide ." Kim and Lulu's voices in their concert, descending with each drawn out syllable. It happens four times over four [...]
Whether by coincidence, folly or serendipity this weekend brought two classic acts to Seattle. Both west coast micro phenomenons from way back, one wonders would they get any attention given today's clogged internet arteries of bands. Like elephants, old people never forget, and they tell the youngsters about how the music from back in the day was so much better. Some of the youngster must actually listen to their elders, or maybe they just find out for themselves? It had been ten years since Seattle's very own Fastbacks called it a day. [...]
In the Winter - Fastbacks Our Winters are pathetic. Although i live in one of the colder parts of this country, it's nothing to hole up away from. Complaining about the cold seems such an affront to those who live long, dark months trapped inside with snow-covered streets, frozen lakes, bare trees bending under the weight of ice - real Winters. Winters that necessitate infrastructure to deal with: Snowplows, salt, antifreeze, tire-chains, furnaces, long johns, the warmest of coats. Our stupid house doesn't even [...]
Slack Fest isn't the only local music festival happening this weekend. If you're not heading North to Stanwood, or even if you are, you can still catch some of Seattle's best bands this weekend in two uniquely Northwest festival settings ... and thanks the annual West Seattle Summer Fest and the Ballard Seafood Fest, [...]
Released in 1967, the Ray Davies penned 'Waterloo Sunset' is one of Britian's most revered songs. The Kinks version sets the bar high, but these five covers are all worth checking out.
Longtime HT faves the Felice Brothers have announced the details for the first round of 2011 tour dates. The upstate New York-based act will kick things off with a high profile appearance at SXSW on March 19, where they will play a showcase gig at the Auditorium Shores, that will feature Bright Eyes, Man Man and Middle Brother. The band will then head out for a cross-country headlining run, which will include their debut performance at Coachella, as well as their first-ever tour down under with dates scheduled in New Zealand and Australia. [...]
Seven days - Fastbacks Again with the Fastbacks? Their first album, on which this is the first song (and yesterday's the second), might be one of my favourites of all time. It is just everything i want, done at levels so perfectly and wonderfully excessive. Even towards the end, where the songs go places unsought and unexpected from the album's beginnings, it's still something great. And not only this first album. Everything. And again with Kurt Bloch! Pop punk with [...]
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Noteworthy (Stream): Kanye West – Black Skinhead (SNL Performance)
Watch Fred Armisen’s SNL farewell with Carrie Brownstein, Kim Gordon, J Mascis, Aimee Mann
Kanye West Performs “Black Skinhead” & “New Slaves” On ‘SNL’ Season Finale: Watch
Watch Kanye West on Saturday Night Live, performing “Black Skinhead” and “New Slaves”
