I've seen a lot of live shows this year. Some of the national acts I caught were Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Mark Lanegan, Boris and Wolves in the Throne Room. Mostly though I checked out local artists. I probably saw half the gigs my friends in Anticulture played. Too bad they broke up. Fortunately a couple of them are also in Powerhitter which is still going strong. They are in the same vein as Melvins, Tool and Helmet. I don't think they have a last.fm page yet but you can find them here…

Last Saturday I was at El Corazón in Seattle for a good old fashioned crossover thrash show. My friend Glenn and his band anticulture were the openers. It was their second gig since reforming and they put on a great show. Here is a clip from their set. If you look carefully you'll see me make an appearance in the pit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lulGinp71M

In no particular order, the rest of the supporting bands (all local) were Misuse of Power, Regional Faction, local legends The Accüsed and Toe Tag which is led by former Accüsed frontman Blaine Cook. Here's a clip from…

Last Sunday I attended a charity concert called Autismpalooza at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, WA. Proceeds from the show went to the Academy for Precision Learning which specializes in education for kids who are on the autism spectrum. The set was a mix of dance and music, with Xolie Morra and the Strange Kind as the headline act. Also on the bill were Jason Kertson and the Immortals, Emily Randolph and a number of local artists.

I was really blown away by Xolie Morra. She has Aspergers Syndrome which is on the autism spectrum so the show was obviously…

A few months ago I signed up for the electronic Music Foundations program at Dubspot. It consists of a series of three online classes - Pads & Rhythmic Theory, Keys & Melodic Theory, and Electronic Music Appreciation. The classes are primarily streaming videos and homework (LOTS of homework) plus a few hours each week of group chat with the instructor and back/forth questions and answers via the class forum.

I just finished the Pads & Rhythmic class. It was a lot of work but I also learned a lot, especially from the homework and feedback from our instructor Martin Perna,…

A few days ago I saw Megadeth, Motörhead, Volbeat and Lacuna Coil at the Showare Center in Kent. I primarily went to see rock icon Lemmy Kilmister. The other Gigantour bands were an added benefit.

The opening act was Italian goth metal act Lacuna Coil. I have their Comalies and Karmacode albums, which are solid. Over the years I think they have evolved into more of an alternative metal / hard rock band than goth metal and this performance didn't change my opinion. I wasn't wowed, but on the plus side Cristina Scabbia's vocals and stage presence…

Last night I saw Wolves in the Throne Room at the Crocodile in Seattle. Due to the heavy snow warning I was pondering skipping the show but as 8:00pm rolled around the snow hadn't shown up yet. I was going to be taking my 4WD Dodge Dakota so I figured I might as well give it a shot. Good choice because the snow didn't actually show up until this morning.

The opening act was black metal trio Druden. I thought they were very solid, especially the drumming. Next was local music collective Master Musicians of Bukkake. I'd heard…

Just before my divorce (about 5 years ago) I was starting to get interested in home music recording/composing. Unfortunately some of the gear I'd started to accumulate went with my ex when we split so my recording/composing adventure never really took off.

I've decided to give it another go. I still have a pair of Behringer Truth B2031 near-field speakers that were sitting in storage, so for my birthday I bought a Focusrite 2i2 external audio interface. It's low latency, connects to my PC via USB 2.0 and has two inputs and two outputs so now I can connect up…

Last night I saw Agalloch, Atriarch and Sedan at El Corazon.

Sedan opened with a very heavy keyboard + effects set. I had never heard of them before but they did a good job. Deathrock/funeral doom outfit Atriarch was up next. A lot of good guitar tone and some great drumming. After the set I saw a couple of the members out on the floor talking to the audience and answering questions. I thought that was pretty cool.

Agalloch put on a fantastic show. They played a few songs from their latest album ("Marrow of the Spirit") but…

My girlfriend and I broke up last month. We are still friends but I'm still pretty down about losing her and am looking forward to eventually feeling better. I've been thinking about activities that might help jump start my cheer-up process. Since I haven't seen any live music in a while I thought maybe I'd check out a few local shows. I did a quick internet search and noticed Agalloch is playing this weekend at El Corazon. They definitely don't play "cheer-up" music but they are one of my favorite bands so I'm going anyway. Should be interesting. I'll probably…

Sat 30 Oct – An Evening with Ryuichi Sakamoto - Playing The Piano

This is the first time I've seen the great Ryuichi Sakamoto-san live, but it was the 5th time for my girlfriend Nozomi. She said he didn't seem up to his normal self and thought maybe he was tired or under the weather. Regardless of his physical condition, it was a great show. The first few pieces were from his newer work. Over the last 10 years he has developed a strong ecological conscience and that was clearly reflected in his music which touched on important issues…