Seattle’s all-ages concert guide You don’t need fake ID to have fun.

I’m not going to say this isn’t a good album. I listened to Young Machetes, the newest Blood Brothers release, for most of my trip through Europe, tried to learn all the words, and was really excited when I got it. It was everything I’d expect from a Blood Brothers release. In fact, it didn’t stand out from their other works at all. And that’s where the problem was.

It’s not that the instruments weren’t decent - the sounds, the style, everything is done by talented musicians and fits together well. But it could have been better. Where was the chaos, controlled yet almost unintelligeable on the first listen? It lacked the unpredictability that made their older releases so fun. “Lazer Life” is melodic the majority of the track, with the most concessions to pop predictability than any other...

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The Rolling Stones are like a friend that you stopped hanging out with in 1981. You were best of friends from the day you met in 1964. You went out together every weekend and drank and smoked like there was no tomorrow. Later on you each started to explore different kinds of drugs together (they got more into it than you did, but you still tried them) while also exploring different sounds that you both liked: American country, hard-rock, and traditional blues. You accumulated so many crazy stories during those early years that it seemed like the good times would never end. Around 1975 everything started feeling a little bit monotonous, though. Both of you had heard all of each other’s stories and they weren’t quite as interesting the third time around. So you started hanging out less and less. They started exploring Jamaican music and you started hanging out pretty often...

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Nico is the epitome of cool. A tall, high cheek boned, blond, red, or black haired Germanic rose in the snow, who hid in bathtubs when bombs fell, Warhol superstar, lingerie model, she knew your dad’s favorite rock star quite well, spotted in Federico Fellini films, her dad died in a concentration camp, brought out the best guitar playing Jimmy Page ever did (“I’m Not Saying” single, 1965), and made some of the most harrowing music your ears will ever experience. Basically more traveled and experienced than one can imagine. You may, and most likely, only know her as that weird singer who did those songs on that Wes Anderson movie or those three tracks on the first Velvet Underground album that you always hated because they were so utterly foreign, and so different from Lou’s streetwise Dylan lisp. If you know more than that...

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“The Capitol Years are not a good band.”

No, that’s not a line from someone else’s review (well, not exactly); it’s a line from the Philadelphia band’s own song “Mirage People,” on their new album Dance Away the Terror. As you might glean from this line and the album’s title, the band has a dark, skewed sense of humor, which they put to admirable use in crafting their slightly disturbing pop songs.

I actually played a show with The Capitol Years a couple years ago, and I remember them being an upbeat, hook-filled rock band, with a strong 60s and 70s rock influence. At the time I could have easily seen them playing shows with bands like Ted Leo/Pharmacists or the Wrens (OK, I didn’t know who the Wrens were at the time, but you get my drift)....

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Tuesday, Oxford Collapse released their 3rd album “Remember the Night Parties”, an album that manages to bottle up the feeling of warm, liberating summers spent doing absolutely nothing but enjoying life without responsibilities. Oxford Collapse, a 3-man band from New York delivers an enjoyable performance, but lacks the spark needed to ignite passion for life, love, and summer within the listener.

With an initial listen, one finds that the music is upbeat, reminiscent of the vocals of early The Offspring (sans the shouting) and they have an overall sound of The Polyphonic Spree. After a few more listens of the album, one begins to realize that this is definitely not the type of album that can be kept on repeat for very long without suffering an eye twitch due to the irritating repetition of the guitar notes song after song. Although the lyrics are...

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That opening riff. You know the one. The two power chords that kick open “I can’t Explain,” the same ones that introduced The Clash to America on “Clash City Rockers.” It’s electric. It’s explosive. It’s concise, and they can’t wait to play it. Most importantly, though, it’s loud. But, that is only half of what The Who are all about.

They also happen to be one of the most influential groups in the canon of rock music. Anyone who has seen an episode of CSI knows how influential they are, but the point can still be stressed. Think about these three genres: hard rock, punk, and eurocentric mod-rock. Now, thank The Who.

On Wednesday October 11, 2006 The Who came through Seattle to ignite Key Arena with a collection of interesting, if unoriginal new songs and a bevy of hits from throughout their history. It wasn’t...

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Hey, did you guys know that KEXP has open internships? I didn’t - they all look really cool, and they’re open to anyone in or above their junior year of high school. You can help with the DJ, marketing, fund raising, and do all sorts of stuff at basically the best radio station ever. If you’re looking for an opportunity to dive into real music work, this sounds like a great opportunity (you can always just write for MercSound too!) Anyways, check it out.