Daughter‘s music eases hearts wide open with vulnerable lyrics and a quiet force of emotion. But the shinning star during their set at Neumos last week was Elena’s giant smile and many sweet “thank yous” to the crowd. In fact the whole band was full of gratitude and gave a true blue encore which are few and far between these days. (Encore of choice? A cover of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”.) Thank you Daughter, Seattle would love to adopt you!
It’s no big secret that I fill my life with music. And when I find music that fills my heart with inspiration it’s nearly impossible for me to keep quiet about it. Cue Lord Huron, who I had the pleasure of seeing in October both at Barboza and at KEXP when I photographed their wonderful in-studio session. During my travels to Bolivia, Thailand, and Myanmar these melodies were in my arsenal, and they also stay close at home in Seattle. A girl can only hope she’ll be a catalyst to love songs like these one day.
Lord Huron played a sold out show at Neumos to a sing-a-long swaying crowd and I took my post as in-house photographer mixed with fan. If you haven’t gotten lost in day dreams with their music yet I high suggest you trek into the wilderness (woods, beach, or mountains are all acceptable options) and do so. Better yet, catch them live and dream away.
One musician that I doubt I’ll ever get tired of photographing live is Father John Misty. He rolled through Seattle performing twice at The Neptune Theater recently and I was at his second show to photograph for the Seattle Weekly. The review only needed one photograph but with FJM’s showmanship I can’t help but share a little extra Misty love.
Read about his “flamboyant, hipster-Elvis-meets-Elton-John-glory” in Keegan Prosser’s review of the show on Seattle Weekly Blog. And if Misty rolls through your town go ahead and drink the Koolaid. Or maybe I should say, the whiskey?
Black Hills, a Seattle band formed by David Totten (The Quiet Ones), Erin Tate (Minus the Bear), Eric Sturgeon (The Lonely Forest), and Matt Benham (Black Swedes) spent time in the studio recording their new full length album with Matt Bayles between the holidays. The guys had me down to snap some photos of them at work, as well as get some new press material.
Check out a review of their recent show at The Comet Tavern by Lindsey Bluher featuring photos I took on SSG Music (here) to get to know them a little better.
Black Hills also currently has a 7″ of Sterile Eyes available on Porchlight Records. Make sure to catch their next show and keep your eyes out for more from them – they are wonderfully easy on the ears.
December is the month to gaze back over the year and compile “Best Of” lists. As a self proclaimed music junkie I’ve kept track of every show I’ve attended for the past six years, but this year took an interesting turn as I started photographing shows for press reviews, music festivals and live performances at a local radio station. It has been incredible combining two of my passions and so in leui of a photo list or Favorite Albums (See the bottom) I’ve decided to share what I’ve been up too when I wasn’t photographing love birds at weddings.
A big thanks to Lindsey Bluher, my music blogger in crime and now PR Director of SSG Music, who saw me at Pretty Broken Things and said “hey, can I use you your photos?” If you click on the reviews following the band names 80% of the words are written weilded by her keyboard while you’ll find photos I took from the shows.
Thank you to CultureMob, Neumos/Barboza, SSG Music, KEXP, Capitol Hill Block Party and City Arts Fest for getting me out and posting my work. It’s been a healthy mix of work and pleasure (okay, mostly pleasure) I’m looking forward to getting out again in 2013! I’m also officially launching Band Press Kit packages so keep your eyes peeled and email hello@amberzbitnoff.com if you’d like to make some magic together!
Key!
Bold Names = Band featured in the photo directly below the name
***s = Favorite Performances of the year
^ = Off Duty / Sans Camera
JANUARY
***17th – ^ City and Colour at Neptune Theater
FEBRUARY
17th – ^ Damien Jurado, Bryan John Appleby at The Neptune Theater
MARCH
26th – ^ Of Monsters and Men at Showbox Sodo
APRIL
***9th – ^ Radiohead at Key Arena
12th – Pretty Broken Things at Columbia City Theater – CultureMob Review
24th – ^ The Naked & Famous, Vacationer at Showbox Sodo
MAY
4th – Delta Spirit at Neumos – CultureMob Review
***7th – Father John Misty, Har Mar Superstar at Neumos – SSG Music Review & Blog
8th – The Black Keys at Key Arena
13th – Death Cab For Cutie with The Magik*Magik Orchestra, Youth Lagoon at The Paramount Theater
JULY
20th – 22nd Capitol Hill Block Party
Day 1: Father John Misty, Gold Leaves, Youth Lagoon, Thee Oh Sees, Allen Stone, Constant Lovers, Fitz and the Tantrums, Fresh Espresso – Blog & Allen Stone Review on CultureMob
Day 2: Nude Pop, Beat Connection, Hot Bodies In Motion, Twin Shadow, ***ReignWolf, Grimes, Aesop Rock, Major Lazer – Blog & Reignwolf Review on CultureMob
Day 3: The Lumineers, Blouse, ***Phantogram, Neko Case, Porcelain Raft – Blog & The Lumineers Review on CultureMob
25th – ^ Fiona Apple at The Paramount Theater
27th – Neon Trees, BattleMe, Penguin Prison at Showbox Market – CultureMob Review & Blog
AUGUST
***8th – Sigur Rós, Julia Holter at The Paramount – SSG Music Review & Blog
12th – Twin Shadow, Poolside at Barboza – Barboza Photo Set
15th – Cold Specks at KEXP – KEXP Blog
20th – Three Mile Pilot at The Tractor Tavern
***27th – Minus The Bear, Helms Alee at The Comet – CultureMob Review & Blog
SEPTEMBER
3rd – Bumbershoot Musical Festival for KEXP: Seapony, Reignwolf, Noah Gundersen, Ty Segall, M83, Bryan John Appleby, LIGHTS, Passion Pit, Skrillex at Seattle Center – Blog
***5th – Purity Ring at Neumos – Neumos Photo Set and Blog
6th – Silversun Pickups, School of Seven Bells, Atlas Genius at Moore Theater – SSG Music Review
21st – Father John Misty at Neumos – Neumos Review & Blog
22nd – ^ Cold War Kids, Portugal The Man at Redhook Brewery
24th – Zambri at KEXP
25th – Sera Cahone at KEXP
26th – Alt-J ∆, GroupLove at The Moore Theater – CultureMob Review
OCTOBER
3rd – Beach House at Showbox Market – CHBP Photo Set
6th – ^ The xx at The Paramount
***9th – Ben Gibbard at the Smith Tower
16th – Grimes at Neumos – Neumos Photo Set
17th – 20th City Arts Fest in Seattle: ***Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, Pollens, ***Ghostland Observatory (Laser Dome and Showbox Sodo), Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, Lemolo, Land of Pines, DeVotchKa, Motopony, ***My Goodness, St. Lucia – City Arts Fest Facebook Page
21st – Lord Huron at Barboza- Barboza Review
***22nd – Lord Huron at KEXP – KEXP Blog
***22nd – ^ Ben Gibbard at KEXP
27th – Daughter at Barboza – Barboza Review
NOVEMBER
21st – SSG Black Party with The Tempers, blackdiva as La Tigre, Two White Opals at The Crocodile – SSG Music Photo Set
30th – Deep Sea Diver, Wild Belle, Pretty Broken Things at Neumos – Neumos Review
DECEMBER
***8th – ^ Sufjan Steven’s Christmas Sing-A-Long Tour “Seasonal Affective Disorder Yuletide Disaster Pageant On Ice”
13th – Lavender Diamond at KEXP
17th – Alt-J ∆, Wildcat! Wildcat! at the Crocodile – CultureMob Review
21st – The Comettes at KEXP
21st – ^ Noah Gundersen Family Christmas at Fremont Abbey
22nd – The Comettes at Barboza – SSG Music Review
22nd – Black Hills, Black Whales at The Comet
31st – ^ Pickwick at Showbox Market
If you are curious what my are my Top 10 Albums of 2012, you can check out my list on the KEXP blog: http://blog.kexp.org/2012/12/19/kexp-staff-volunteers-interns-top-ten-albums-of-2012-part-2
Seriously Amber, your music work is killer. Such a beautiful collection of your stuff right here in this post.