Highfives and Handshakes Records

Christmas are from Olympia

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 06:33:00 +0000

Home at Highfives headquarters we've been hard at work getting our store streamlined, interns in place, new records out to you and now booking shows at the Pike Street Fish Fry.

Before we dig into all our newest, freshest releases and news for the spring, you should meet our new friends Christmas. They are the newest, singlest, raging garage band out of Olympia. One well received, and almost sold out 7" came out last year on Olympia label Endless Latino, you can pick it up here. Take a couple minutes to appreciate how much you want to see them live.

Listen to "Pies" by Christmas, Live in Seattle,

download their live set here,

and watch them Play "Gut" in Tacoma,

Gut from This Is Not A Record Label on Vimeo.

Christmas play April 17th at the Black Lodge in Seattle with Partman Parthorse and SPURM.

ALASKAS live at CAIRO

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:34:00 +0000

New ALASKAS material from the show at Cairo this past week is up! Dillon asked a couple friends to play with him and fill out a few songs and it turned out great. Check this video out.

ALASKAS Live at Cairo from Peter Lowe on Vimeo.

This Friday (2/5) at Cairo M. Women release their new 7". Wet Paint and Secret Colors support.

Sunday (2/7) Highfives and Handshakes continues our free monthly showcase at the Fish Fry with Eel Eater and Stickers

Cairo is at Summit and Mercer St. on Capitol Hill, Seattle, WA
Pike Street Fish Fry is on 10th and Pike tucked into the Neumo's Building

Mixtape #2 - Winter Version

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:10:00 +0000

Our new mixtape is out! Number two specializes in the weird, hazy, and the buried material of the Highfives vault. As always it includes demos, unreleased material, and remixes from some of our favorite artists. Available at Sonic Boom on Capitol Hill and in our Store.

Tracklist:
1)ASSS - I Am A Ship (live at the East End)
2)ALASKAS (U.S.F. Remix) - Unshackled
3)Wet Paint - Citrus Mess (demo)
4)Cut***Loose - Teenage Ill-Sport (unmastered)
5)LP&BB - The Fire (demo)
6)U.S.F. - New Cub (live version)

Wet Paint CD Release!

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:15:00 +0000

Tomorrow night at Cairo Wet Paint will have their new CDr EP DMM. Slippers (USA), with members of Secret Colors and ex-LP&BB, as well as Karl Blau will be joining in the fun.

Everything happens at 8pm at Cairo, located at SummitxMercer St. on Capitol Hill in Seattle, WA. The show is $5.

Here is Wet Paint at Cairo earlier this year:

Wet Paint Live from Peter Lowe on Vimeo.

Healthy Times, Saturday the 28th

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:46:00 +0000

Tonight ALASKAS and Brainfruit will blows minds at Healthy Times Fun Club performing differnet sets from last weekends blowout at Cairo. Aa reminiscent noise rockers ASSS from Portland, OR join the bill, as well as Matt Lawson's Secret Colors.

ASSS
ALASKAS
Brainfruit
Secret Colors

8pm, ALL AGES
Saturday, November 28th
Healthy Times Fun Club
$5 Donation

EXPO '87

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:25:00 +0000

This weekend, and starting tonight, is Expo '87. A collection of great local, independent musicians playing in tiny spaces the size of your apartment, or living room.

Friday night will top off with the presentation of the Seattle Band Map (1/6 above), created by Rachel Ratner and Real Fake, or in full "The Cartographic Study of Musical Incest" In it's 60 square feet the band map covers the Intelligence, to Mudhoney, to Botch, to Fastbacks and on, only connecting bands with shared members. Attendees are encouraged to make corrections and additions to the map.

Saturday is loaded with Highfives' artists and friends. Including our new addition to the family, Wet Paint. ALASKAS, USF, Brainfruit just to begin. It's all happening at the corner of Summit and Mercer this weekend. Check the schedule below for times, pricing, and such. Read the Expo '87 blog.

Unshackled Video, Remix

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:27:00 +0000

Alaskas - Unshackled from DILLON JAMES REGO on Vimeo.

Unshackled from ALASKAS' debut LP Set Yourself Free out now. Produced by A Place Called Yes

USF have also brought us another trippy ALASKAS remix: Unshackled USF remix.

Check him out on the east coast this month:

10/3 Boston, MA
at the The Whitehaus with Nameless, Many Mansions, Coralcola, Ming Ming Dance Co.

10/19 Brooklyn, NY
at Death By Audio with Nameless, MNDR, Ruffeo Hearts Lil Snotty

ALASKAS Record Release Show

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:31:00 +0000

You are all invited to come out this weekend for the ALASKAS' CD Release show at Healthy Times Fun Club at it's usual top secret location. Universal Studios Florida are fairly fresh off the road from their first tour supporting their new record Ocean Sunbirds. Heavy local duo Last Slice of Butter are playing for the first time in a grip, and are completely local for the time being. I'm happy to announce the appearance of Wet Paint on the bill, featuring members of Cut***Loose (RIP). They tore up my living room a week or so ago and everyone who saw them should be truly excited to see them perform again.

See you this Saturday!

ALASKAS
Universal Studios Florida
Last Slice of Butter
Wet Paint

Sept. 19th
Healthy Times Fub Club
8pm All Ages
No Booze

Set Yourself Free

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:15:00 +0000

SET YOURSELF FREE
ALASKAS

DUE OUT SEPT 15th

Tracklist
1)Send Them Off
2) Farewell to Them All
3) Let the State Lines Exist
4) Pronoun
5) Diving In
6) Easily
7) My Dance is an Orbit
8) This Cloud On My Side
9) I Am Yours
10) Unshackled

Listen to Unshackled...

ALASKAS is Dillon James Rego, a one-man power-house of primitive bliss, looped vocals and loose, slippery beat boxing. His debut full length, Set Yourself Free, out September 15th on Highfives and Handshakes, is a culmination of his vast musical past, combining the sonic fury of his live show with the glittering guitar sound scapes of his last EP. Featuring new recordings of some of his most rhythmically and lyrically memorable songs as well as new, reverb-drenched hymns, Set Yourself Free is a masterfully crafted experiment in layering and melody at once ferocious, meditative and wholly unique.

PRE-ORDER SET YOURSELF FREE in the Records section.

Words by Kyle Hargus

ALASKAS + Universal Studios Florida: West Coast Tour

noreply@blogger.com (ALASKAS) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:04:00 +0000

Dudes! It's Dillon/ALASKAS. I am leaving for tour this Friday. ALASKAS and Universal Studios Florida will be strolling up and down the West Coast for a little while! If you're breathing that Pacific Ocean air, then spread the word that we are coming to town!

AUGUST WEST COAST TOUR

ALL DATES

Friday August 7th

at The Icebox (Portland OR)

with Total Bros, Fuck You Safari, AS/SS

6355 N. Haight St, Portland OR 97217

Sunday August 9th

at BVP House (Santa Rosa, CA)

with Batman Vs. Predator, and The Girl With The Violent Arms

Monday August 10th

at Mama Buzz Cafe (Oakland, CA)

with Nero's Day At Disneyland

2318 Telegraph Ave @23rd
Oakland, CA 94612

Tuesday August 11th

at Ports O' Call Bedroom (West Covina, CA)

with Kevin Greenspon, Norse Horse, Mother's of Gut

2136 E. Deodar Ave., West Covina, CA 91791

Wednesday August 12th

at Acrobatics Everyday (UC Irvine, CA)

with Kevin Greenspon, Nicole Kidman

University of California, Irvine, CA 92697

Thursday August 13th

at The Smell (Los Angeles, CA)

with Tleilaxu Music Machine, Anthony's Revenge

247 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Friday August 14th

at BIKO Garage (Goleta, CA)

with TBA

6612 Sueno Road, Goleta CA 93117

Saturday August 15th

at House of Nostromo (Oakland, CA)

with Travis Brooks, Jonathan Sarenana, 100 Swans, J Irvin Daily, The Mountains, The Third Victim of Abigail Rutledge, Samuelroy, Magnanimous, Casey Chisholm, Zach Zeller

4 Fifth Ave, Oakland CA

Forever and TacocaT Thursday!

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Local favorites TacocaT will playing with Portland, OR tour mates Forever at Watertown Cafe this Thursday. This is one of Watertown's first of many shows planned in the future. If you check they're website you can link straight to Watertown's Facebook and be there friend over there as well as in person. Connecticut 4 will also be playing, the show is 21+, but not all Watertown shows in the future will be.

Here is a video of Forever in LA.

Forever - Untitled Live in LA 3/15/09 from Peter Lowe on Vimeo.

Three cheers for new venues!

TacocaT
Forever
Connecticut 4

9pm, 21+
Thursday July 23rd
Watertown Cafe
550 12th Ave Seattle, WA 98122
(between jefferson and cherry)

Explode Into Colors, Gun Outfit KILLER POSTER

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:33:00 +0000

EXPLODE INTO COLORS
GUN OUTFIT
BRAIN FRUIT
BROKEN ENGLISH
AS/SS

July 25th, Black Lodge
9pm $6 All Ages

Art By CM RUIZ

New Braidstorm Home Video!

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:29:00 +0000

In the wake of their death in the living room under my office, Braidstorm continue to eerily echo the halls of our home. Maybe its the drums that have sat their since that fateful day a month or two ago, or maybe somebody else is listening to ESG next door at full volume, no one can say for sure. Braidstorm will have a video for their #1 hit Grand Fur in the Backyard Games DVD compilation coming out this fall on Highfives and Handshakes. Most or all of the videos are by the illustrious R. Wolfe and will include music from Seahouse, Masters and Johnson, Abe Vigoda, Tinsel, Last Slice of Butter and more.

This video for the song Building Blocks which was available on their assumed to be sold out cassette tape appears to made from band hangout clips and use of the mozilla download helper which can pull streaming internet video onto your hard drive (brilliant! use it!). I think I might be guest push-upping in there somewhere, can't say for sure. See if you can pick out any old friends picking up the change and throwing it to there homies!

Braidstorm "Building Blocks"

RIP

Gun Outfit, Explode Into Colors July 25th!

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:56:00 +0000

Highfives and Handshakes is proud to offer yet another evening of local auditory excellence. Featuring PPM (Abe Vigoda, Mika Miko) rockers Gun Outfit hailing from Olympia, WA. They're Dinosaur Jr. rock sound touched with bluesy deadpan alt-rock, drooled over recently by Seattle's Only Newspaper. Explode Into Colors, playing in Seattle for their second time only, are prepared to tear the house down with dubbed out ESG derived sound. Driving, creative rhythyms produced by Lisa Schonberg's (Kickball, The Strangers) intense drumming, supplemented by Heather Treadway's percussion and keyboard. Claudia Meza accepts baritone guitar duties growling and shreaking through layers of reverb and delay, laying heavy baritone lines.

Supporting this evening of out of towners are local synth-proggers Brain Fruit, dub-tempo bossanova delights Broken English, featuring members of Flexions, and Portland's wierd-ass noise-kickers AS/SS who may be backed up by the Explode Into Colors rhythym section.

Gun Outfit
Explode Into Colors
Brain Fruit
Broken English (ft. members of Flexions)
AS/SS

Black Lodge (Eastlake & Republican)
July 25th, 9PM
$6 at the door

Ocean Sunbirds from Universal Studios Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:12:00 +0000

I'm pretty certain that anything dripping with gooey reverb these days will catch my loving ear. Given space in the chambers of echo and reverberation the tracks from Universal Studios Florida (USF) new release Ocean Sunbirds glow in the softly setting sun over the sea, boats rolling in the most distant plane burning up against vibrant blue-blocked orange and yellow clouds. The rhythym and keys, tripping and glitching in places, pointy synths run quick lines all the while a driving beat holds the swelling arpegiating drones in place.

This Seattle duo requires high volume or headphones and comes highly recomended for summer jamming purposes which, of course, leads this record to being H+H approved. Originally a bedroom project, the two were coaxed out of their homes and into my garage for their first show earlier this year. Receiving much local love, worldwide bloggage, and selling out of the first self titled EP from Little Fury Things shortly after that.

In this new track from USF's new album, Sun Glyphed Comanche Kissed, reminiscent of a slow motion flight over seas and jungles, you can hear the ocean slapping, gurlging, and surging underneath. Sparkling overtones and a light rhythym drops dropping close to the 2 minute mark, this is one of favorites from the record. Stream it out!

The new album, Ocean Sunbirds, is available on CD from Little Fury Things and on Cassette on Animal Image Search. Which just so happens to be an almost equally impossible name to search for as Universal Studios Florida, so enjoy this link.

Live pic from a screen cap of live set, filmed by Filmed in Stereo.

ALASKAS Covers Foot Village

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:30:00 +0000

Deathbomb Arc has a Foot Village comp coming out soon featuring many different artists covering their already collaborative song Chicken & Cheese.

Stream the ALASKAS dubbed out space version below for the first time ever. Check out ALASKAS/USF tour dates upcoming here.

Easy Answers from These Are Powers

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:42:00 +0000

I've oft heard critics or press people claiming artists to be "of the future" in what ever tense you have. Tin can garbage punk bands, garage chambered soundscapes echo devastation and nuclear apocalypse. These Are Power's cultish future is of colorful excess, there is no vast deserted plain or cities sunk into swamps. Conventional rock instruments synthed and triggered to make this futuresque party trio blind you with what they have brought back with them.

The video for Easy Answers from their most recent LP "All Aboard Future" (which is H+H approved) is costumed by the diabolical duo Ruffeo Hearts Lil Snotty who continue to supply Highfives and Handshakes, as well as the world, with mind mowing reclaimed dress for the underground.

Local Wierdo's Tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:40:00 +0000

Another brilliant installment in the Healthy Times Fun Club bills happens tonight. If you havn't had the chance to experience Secret Colors in Seattle yet, I would recommend them highly. Casey of LP&BB and group's founder Matt Lawson take you on a pysch-pop excursion, stoning the hooks and harmonizing the riffs.

Universal Studios Florida just might have their new record Ocean Sunbirds, their second release for Brooklyn's Little Fury Things. Animal Image Search from Denton, TX is releasing the cassette. Their name makes it impossible to find them on the interweb, if anyone has a link hit us back! USF is for fans of Animal Collective, High Places, or any of you out there into popped bliss and reverbed jungle jams.

Jam on this track, Haze Coasting. Its from USF's Ocean Sunbirds which will be able available tonight, and for sale online by next week.

Hurry Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:44:00 +0000

From the depths of Seattle an arpeggiated monster throbs and swells in its mutant form. The winners of Seattle's Newest Band to Deserve A Lazer Light Show and Fog Machines Award. Spurring the music editor of Seattle's Only Newspaper to stumble grammatically in their overwhelming, wall of 8x10 cab glory. This is the kind of shit that makes a 20 Jazz Funk Great, makes every head in the room bob, bow, and twist. You can feel this shit on the inside.

They play at The Comet Tavern on Capitol Hill in Seattle, WA July 5th with Baltimore's unruly Double Dagger.

Brain Fruit's attraction:

Video By Pelle
Photo By TC TC TC TC Bonerz

Interview on Hollow Earth!

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:37:00 +0000

I'm still recovering from King Khan and his Shrines soul revival in Portland Monday night. If you're still recovering from having to drive down to Portland to see the bands that Sasquatch thieved from Seattle, have I got an activity for you! Hollow Earth's DJ Rachel invited me to her show last week for an interview, and to play some music I've been listening to and have coming out in on the Highfives and Handshakes imprint soon. At 5 o'clock today the show will replay, you'll have the chance to listen to us chat, fumble, and myself go on about bands and refuse to shit talk on air.

Listen online from 5-7pm today at Hollow Earth Radio Dot Com . Remember, get in the van.

DJ Pete Highfive Tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:05:00 +0000

I will be DJing tonight at Linda's on Capitol Hill (707 E. Pine, Pine x Bolyston). Set starts around 9pm and goes until they make me leave. Lelah Taco and or the mighty mighty Chris Totten will be assisting my still broken ass flip vinyl, press buttons, and cut my steak. Expect local hits, trashy punk pop, classic rock, quarter bin singles, and maybe some dancehall beatz. We'll take requests, but no promises.

No Age Perform Original Music For SIFF

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:37:00 +0000

Since becoming mildly involved as a seasonal staffer at the Seattle International Film Festival three years ago, SIFF has never ceased to lure me back. The Festival, its wide range of attendees a, diverse assortment of local to international quirky film buffs; and surprising programming choices that oft bring unexpected delight. Among the delighted, LAs No Age who's been all over the fucking place this year after their 2008 release of Nouns on Sub Pop, will be performing original music to The Bear, a french film from 1989 with english subtitles. This is what SIFF has to say:

When a rockslide kills a mother bear, her cub Douce becomes an orphan in the threatening Canadian Rockies. Luckily, she encounters Bart, a full-grown male bear on the run from hunters after mauling their pack animals. Though the ill-tempered Bart initially rejects Douce’s companionship, the cub wins his affection by licking Bart’s gunshot wounds. Psychedelic mushroom trips and a rendezvous with Doc (the effeminate male bear who plays Bart’s love interest) are woodland fun at its finest, but the invasive fear of being hunted drives The Bear forward. Staged with trained bears and filmed in the Italian Dolomites, Jean-Jacques Annaud’s film seems like realism in drag as documentary.

This event is at the Triple Door in downtown Seattle, its 21+ and will run you a worthy $20. Happens on June 12th and there are two showings, at 7pm and 9:30pm.

Bad Ideas Poster Show

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:11:00 +0000

Tomorrow night local notorious poster designer Carlos Ruiz will unveil his xeroxed designer zine at Society Co.'s new space in Ballard. The content of the zine will be shown in their true to life color versions, as well as available in their lo-fi take home form. Hand destroyed Bad Ideas t-shirts and a compilation from local musicians featured in most of the posters being shown.

The show begins at 8PM and includes a live performance Charles Leo Gebhardt IV and is free, but bring a few dollars to pick up the original art and compilation. Society Co. showroom is located at 2221 NW 56th Suite 203, Seattle WA 98107.

Make the right Thursday night choice and head out to Ballard. Support yr local artists, we're all hungry.

Poster Designs by:
Art Chantry, Frida Clements, Shana Cleveland,
Travis Coster, Katheryn Cox, Andrew Crawshaw,
Nat Damm, Jason Thomas Faulkner, Rick G,
Demian Johnston, Mike Klay, Jeff Kleinsmith,
Shane J. Long, Dan Paulus, Joel Romero,
C.M. Ruiz, Brian Standeford, Junichi Tsuneoka,
Devon Varmega, Keith Whiteman, Isabel Yasui...

Bad Ideas Compilation tracks by:
B-Lines
Charles Leo Gebhardt IV
Coconut Coolouts
Dead Ghosts
Dunk
Elder Mason
Idle Times
Mode Moderne
Partman Parthorse
Red Sea Sharks
Shim
Sorry
Tacocat
Unnatural Helpers
Yes, Oh Yes

Crystal Stilts, Wavves, AFCGT, Idle Times Play UW Friday

epfriem@u.washington.edu (Liz) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:13:00 +0000

RAINYDAWGCRYSTALSTILTS, originally uploaded by lizpfriem.

Even if I didn't work for RainyDawg, this would be a show worthy of discussion. I saw Crystal Stilts and Wavves play back to back at SXSW and the kids went ape shit crazy! The flow of the two bands fuzzy sounds blend well and Idle Times and AFCGT will only add to the lo fi power house bill. Embrace your inner college.

From The Press Release:

The University of Washington's campus radio station Rainy Dawg Radio is celebrating its sixth birthday with a night of pop-infused underground noise. On Friday April 24th at 7pm Crystal Stilts, Wavves, and Idle Times will play a one-night-only show in the North Husky Den located in the HUB on the University of Washington Campus.

Crystal Stilts are an underground garage punk outfit hailing from New York City. Their debut self-titled EP has garnered praise from numerous review sites, including a Best New Music nod from Pitchfork Media. Their unique aesthetic has given them the buzz of being arguably the hottest band coming out of New York City today.

Wavvesis the relatively new lo-fi noise/punk project of Nathan Williams, a native of the San Diego. Touring with drummer Ryan Ulsh, Wavves delivers pop songs that are drowned in layers of noise and dissonance. A noise which has also warranted the Best New Music recommendation from Pitchfork.

Idle Times is the project of Brian Standeford, the Seattle native. Brian Standeford self-records all his songs, giving them a genuine touch of imperfection. Idle Times has been acquiring a good deal of press and quite a following. You can find Idle Times' most recent 7" on the notable record label Woodsist.

AFCGT is the baby of two Seattle underground bands: A-Frames and Climax Golden Twins. "AFCGT still throttle conventional rock niceties with white-knuckled intensity, sending the VU needle vibrating into the red like a stressed-to-the-max forehead vein" (Dave Segal, The Stranger).

Tickets are $6 will a valid UW student ID available in the HUB ticket Office. General Admission tickets are available via Tickets West for $10. For more information, directions, & need to know contact st@rainydawg.org. A Map to HUB and The North Husky Den is available http://www.rainydawg.org/findus.php.

See you there doggies!

Could Be Worse

noreply@blogger.com (Pete Highfives) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:50:00 +0000

I usually am pretty clumsy and have awful timing when it comes to personal injuries. Big surprise that I would go and break a couple fingers right as spring had sprung, just as my birthday had landed, right when my new drum set showed up and band practices were supposed to start, right when I'm short on cash and back from tour and I've got lots of typing to do.

Here I am, gimpy and all. I'm going to do my best to keep up with emails, orders shouldn't be a problem. This you're fair warning and yes, that's my preferred right arm in the sling. If you wanna help me out pick up a record or two from our store! I miss riding my bike already (splint count day 3).