Wild Arms

GOD, Le Cancer, Loyal Kites @ The Rogue and Peasant. $5 at the door. Show at 9pm.

Fremont doesn’t sport nearly as many prominent live music venues as Capitol Hill or Ballard, so hats off to The Rogue and Peasant for bringing a strong local bill to their ‘hood. GOD are led by ex-Whiskey Tango leader Ian LeSage, a guy whose winning pop songs combine indie-rock snottiness with some imaginative instrumentation and a poetically-skewed lyrical sensibility. - The SunBreak

(Black Lodge) As unGoogleable as their namesake alleged entity is supposedly unknowable, Seattle band GOD are the one great surprise to come out of Lynn Shelton's $5 Cover: Seattle web series for MTV, which premiered here in March, but appears to still not be online yet. At the Seattle screening, if you missed the hand-drawn title at the top of GOD's episode, as I did, you likely would have had no idea who was that band onscreen wielding cello and synth to make their moody, intriguing indie rock. I vaguely recall some conversation in which I learned that, at the time of the series' filming, GOD didn't really exist; GOD was dead, or dormant, or just kind of a pick-up side project of the Corespondents—I can't exactly recall (and if I've written about it already, I can't seem to find that, either). It's all very mysterious, but I'm certain GOD is worth searching for. ERIC GRANDY - The Stranger

Seattle’s own Wild Arms will be opening up the show Sunday night. Previously known as GOD, Wild Arms has been together since 2008. A hybrid of unconventional pop and a little bit of punk, their love for sci-fi and sarcasm shines brightly through their music with songs like “anti-ROBOTIC” and “H.P Lovecraft killed Heironymus Bosch”. Primarily touring the West Coast, Wild Arms has also been successful in Japan, probably due to their fast-paced fun-loving attitudes and songwriting. - SSG Music

Dancy,fancy shmancy disco punk

Seattle’s God has released their first EP, a fun and strange collection of songs they call “SIN EP.” “No.No.No.Yes.Yes.” starts things off with frenetic disco punk rhythms, a catchy guitar and poppy vocal delivered with snotty enthusiasm by Ian Lesage.
It isn’t until 1:34 that we hear the strings come in, courtesy of cellist Tracy.
“I love love this generation, we got the best music, we got the best clothes,” Ian mocks, crocodile tears pouring from his eyes. A common theme in his music is deriding hipsters and trendy music fans.
There are moments of tenderness with only a glockenspiel and vocals, but they last only for a brief moment.
“How can we think that we are the best thing to ever come?”
“How Many Sleepers” almost sounds like a Radiohead b-side. Demonstrating some influence from Yes or Genesis? Is that a mellotron choir sample in there? Maybe Ian is mocking the 70s as well.
“Here’s my best shit: eat it!” ” The meaning is lost on you all!” are some more examples of these vitrolic lyrics that Ian flings at his listener.
“Spreading at the Legs of Cancer” is my favorite, the cello is really important in the mix and plays interesting textures, the lyric hook is even pleasantly catchy!
“recycle. rinse. repeat. end.” Is much more relaxed and spacey than the others. Delayed drum machines and synthesizers set up a spacey mood while icy cold guitars creep in. Here Ian finally relaxes his voice and sings in a gentle whisper.”Read directions, take instructions, tear apart this broken future.
“Anti Robotics” has hints of a narrative, maybe a future cd could be a concept album with a plot and characters? The dramatic delivery and instrumentation would lend itself towards that. “She’s smarter than me, she works in a lab.” Here, multiple layers of strings and synths provide a welcome, near shoegazer sound, but the vocals are firmly in the punk tradition, they couldn’t have been delivered with anything less than a Messerschmit grimace, the vocalist about to pass out from exhaustion.
The result is an engaging album with varied moods, the lyrics can feel excessively preachy sometimes, but we all like to hate hipsters… as long as he isn’t talking about us! That is the trouble with such lyrics, how to know how the audience will interpret them… listeners may find themselves asking, “is he talking about me, or the people I dislike?” I usually prefer to hear music where the vocalist has an optimistic message, but a little sardonic humor and anhedonia have its place sometimes. If you listen to just one angry album this year, make it SIN EP from GOD.

This band is also featured in a full length movie called “5$ Cover” by Lynn Shelton.
catch it on MTV or look it up on the internet. - Isaac Paris