Pure Pop For Now People
When you say "Seattle sound," the first image that springs to mind is probably not accoustic guitars and light harmonies. However, in the burned-out ashes of our famously-overexposed grunge scene, new retro-pop groups are sprouting like weeds and filling the spring air with sunny, bouncy tunes. I just got back from an in-store performance by two of the most prominent of these groups, the Model Rockets and the Minus Five. Both have been around for a long time and feature some heavyweight local music veterans. The Minus Five in particular is something of a "legends of jangle-pop" supergroup, with REM guitarist Peter Buck on bass and members of the Fallouts and the Posies supporting Young Fresh Fellow (and sometime REM collaborator) Scott McCaughey.
The MO for these groups is pretty straightforward. Combine excellent musicianship, well-crafted songs, rockin' accoustic guitars, tight vocal harmonies, an encyclopedic knowledge of musical esoterica of the 60s and 70s, and a sensibility that allows the bands to perform covers like Todd Rundgren's "I Saw the Light" with a straight face and not send the crowd into fits of hysterics or running for the exits. As musical formulas go, it's not a bad one.
The in-store performance, celebrating the opening of yet another music shop in this already well-tuned neighborhood, looked like the cast party of "The Big Lebowski" held on the set of "High Fidelity." At this point in my life, I'm not sure if the presence of a roomful of people who were cool when I was 25 signifies a cultural event or a nostalgia trip, but those members of the Seattle rock aristocracy who were not present on the stage were well-represented in the audience. Still, it was nice to spend an hour and a half on a sunny Saturday afternoon doing nothing but bopping along to some happy songs, thinking back on simpler times.
5:40:48 PM 
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