Former Selves is a man, a self described myth and an iconic-Twitter related Batman expert. On top of his great personality makes fuzzy bedroom pop music. It’s sometimes cheesy, sometimes funky, and sometimes silly, but there continues to be some lingering genius. He’s an Olympian soul who is stuck in Lynnwood. Yes, the Ducktails and Atlas Sound inspiration is obvious but Selves continues to break personal ground with Northwestern stylized melodies.

Clearly his music is amateur but pointing that out misses the point of the bedroom pop. Selves has a quirky sound found in a restless soul. He has a familiar weirdness about him; a daring imagination that exists like a child inside of our past. Former Selves has tapped into something and it sure is fun to hear what he’s found.

“Running For The Bus” is what happens when you smoke weed during a meant-to-be-productive afternoon. “Coffee With Gaddafi” has all the material to be a hit- with its polarizing harmonica and demoralizing message, we’re on a catchy high-rise drinking mochas with one of the world’s most recently deceased evil dudes.

His new album can be found at www.formerselves.org and can be downloaded for free. In the meantime check out his music video for “Dust In The Cartridge”

Terry Malts is a three-piece punk rock band from San Francisco. When they first debuted there was a mysteriousness about who they were. They were known for showing up to a gig, getting rowdy, amazing the crowd and disappearing. They avoided interviews or providing any known information. It turned out Terry Malts is kind of a side project/spin off of another San Fran band, the popular Magic Bullets. The mysteriousness was a ploy to distance Terry Malts from Magic Bullets. The story is that the members of Magic Bullets traded instruments, morphed their sound, and created Terry Malts.

Their music is really fun. Its a dirty garage pop punk sound, full of noisy guitars, catchy riffs, tangible vocals, and “eiy eiy eiy eiy eiy” sing alongs. They’ve released the spunky ‘I’m Neurotic’ single and the recent ‘Something About You’ EP on San Fran’s Slumberland Records. I personally recommend the song ‘No sir, I’m Not a Christian’ off of the latter release. Terry Malts is a band to check out if you’re looking for a revival of dirty Power-Pop and a fan of loud/fast/fun concerts.

Here some pics by Adam Forslund:

The guys from Real Estate might be some of the chillest people in Indie-rock. They make sunny day relaxed pop punk, ideal for a lazy morning or a slow afternoon. As a five piece their music is simple but not minimalistic; their songs sound like they were written on a bright summer day inside of a beach house full of pot smoke. I personally enjoy these kinds of songs in the fall, when the grey winter is approaching but the sun still sparkles through the changing colors on the trees. It is the warm reminder in cold weather that the sun is going to come back.

On stage their music is almost like a lullaby as it relaxes you to the core. They play their songs with energy and enthusiasm but they’re not songs that are going to make you jump around, they are songs that are going to make you feel good with a certain pleasantness. Their front man Matthew Mondanile, who also releases chill-wave music under Ducktails, looks like a the nerd of Indie-rock. They shoot the shit on stage, bantering with the audience and striking me as guys who would love to kick it with their fans. They’re not pretentious or whiney- just laid back cool guys whose music will make you feel happy.

Their single “Its Real” is their most upbeat song and contains an incredible catchy chorus. Here’s some pics by Adam Forslund:

The opening band was Big Troubles. I saw them about a month ago also at The Crocodile but opening for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They’re very similar to Pains in the sense that they’re trying to be the new past. Their guitarist slides his instrument as if he is emulating Johnny Marr of The Smiths. Their vocals are the sappy whiney sound that exploded in the early 2000s that bands like Pains are still holding onto but the singers in Big Troubles lack the confidence or power to make their sappiness worthwhile.

Their newest album is called “Romantic Comedy” which seems completely fitting. While they played I noticed all of the girls occupying The Crocodile. They smiled and danced, completely infatuated with Big Trouble’s tunes. I stood trying to hide the look of boredom on my face. Its kind of like a romantic comedy; girls swoon while guys tolerate.

EMA commanded the stage. She stood with her bleached blonde hair and tight leggings as the dream punk rock girl, the girl who could kick your ass but you still want to take home to mom and dad. EMA and her band made dreamy experimental noise pop. Pretty much they got loud and quiet, turning distortion on and off, jumping around through spaztastic lighting, making surprisingly shocking music.
EMA stands for Erika M. Anderson but this is more than a solo project. The rest of the band puts as much on stage as she does. Her violinist used incredible looping effects and would put it on its side and play the violin like a guitar. At points I was sure the drummer was going to break her cymbal she was hitting it so hard. But EMA is Erika Anderson. She was sexual, repeating in a melodic hum “I wish that every time he touched me it left a mark”. She was goofy with stage banter, asking for sexy and weird lights. She put it all on the stage, making her music represent her insides, with blasts of energy and noise mixed with entrancing melodies and hymns. Her music is a stimulation, the quiet jealous internal desire.


Wild Beasts are like Muse but on depressives. Hailing from Kendal England they use heavy guitars, moody electronics, and falsetto vocals to make rock music. They’re touring off their 2011 release Smother which has a much more minimalistic sound than some of their other records. Smother is a quiet album built around electronic ambience and the transmuted guitar echo. This explains their stage presence at The Neptune. They never really let loose with their songs. Instead of expanding a song or pushing it to a climax they crafted it, molding their songs to specific tones and feelings.

This was still a rock show, even if the band wasn’t trying to rock out. What is the opposite of moshing? The answer is Swaying. Guys sway-dance with girls. You can sway by yourself. You can sway in a large crowd of people. You want to move, you feel something, you can sense the music, it’s eating you slowly, but there is not burst, there is no command to dance, there is just the feeling. Wild Beasts had this down last night. They used the symmetry of their instruments to create an awe effect. They weren’t looking to build up into a grand explosion; they were showing us the inside of the heavy nothing.
I personally would have liked to have seen their songs reach a new plateau. It seemed like whenever they were close to a climax the song would end. I was never caught off guard or brought to a new level. It might be because the material on Smother is better on the album.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are nostalgic at a young age. They grew up with their ears in the airwaves, being raised to the sounds of the 80s and early 90s. When they picked up their own instruments the music that came out was the emulation of their heroes; catchy pop songs with energetic instrumentation and semi-sappy vocals. Their self-titled debut album could have came out in the 80s while their 2011 release Belong sounds more like the 90s with the distortion turned up to almost My Bloody Valentine like levels.

If you have a soft spot for reminiscence both of their albums are worth listening to. I was surprised to find The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are better live than on their recordings. Compared to their live sound their albums sound compressed, somewhat filtered. When they play live their music runs free and they became much more than a band living in music’s past. The songs from Belong were a lot cleaner and more open than they are on the album. “Heart In Your Heartbreak” and “Heavens Gonna Happen Now” sounded like different songs. My personal highlight was when they played the sweet and romantic “Even In Dreams” but with an edgier push. They still turned on the distortion and rocked out on songs like “Come Saturday”.

Their lead singer/guitarist Kip Berman showed that he clearly loves being a front man by using his semi-sappy voice with complete confidence while standing in a rock star stance and jumping around the stage. Berman demonstrated how to sing with power even with a soft voice.

By the end of the show the crowd couldn’t help but dance to “Terrible Friend” with all of its bouncy pleasantness. After the show I texted my friends who grew up with young parents and told them to check out The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Their albums will be great for 80s kids who dream about Echo and the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon” and its sliding synch. For a modern guy like me, I could use their albums for long drives with my girlfriend because The Pains Of Being are just sweet and catchy enough for us both to enjoy. I’m just glad that last night at The Crocodile they showed a free and energetic side.
- @Moffman23