Remember when Seattle was known for loud, cacophonous, flannel wearing bands? My ears hurt just thinking about those early Nirvana shows. Perhaps partial hearing loss is what’s led a whole slew of young Seattle bands to turn the volume way down from 11.

One Foxy Dude

Enter Robin Pecknold, founder of Fleet Foxes and a beardo pioneer. Fleet Foxes have been winning music lovers over to the quiet side with their gorgeous pensive tunes. They’ve been literally quiet for a couple of years working on their highly anticipated album Helplessness Blues, the follow up to their beloved self titled debut.

The disc is being released by the venerable Seattle label SubPop on May 3rd. Here’s a first glimpse that may conjour memories of Simon and Garfunkle or CSNY, but definitly not Mother Love Bone. Check out the album’s title track:

FleetFoxes_HelplessnessBlues

Be listening to Marty all this week at 4:20 to win tickets to see Fleet Foxes at The Moore in May.

We continue our study of what makes citizens of other countries – namely those whack Scandinavians – so happy.  One of our podcast listeners from rural Sweden joins us to answer questions about their idyllic life.

Plus, Marty provides a backdoor means for attending his Return to Radio Party, 6-8PM, Thursday, February 3, 2011, at the Hard Rock Cafe Seattle.

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Daniel Lanois is a legendary producer who worked on Peter Gabriel’s So and Us, Bob Dylan’s Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind, U2’s Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree, and All That You Can’t Leave Behind, and Neil Young’s latest, Le Noise, to name just a few. He’s also a guitarist/writer/singer who makes his own music, and his new project is called Black Dub. They’re coming in to the Carter Subaru Mountain Music Lounge for a New Music Tuesday session which you can watch live at 12:30 Tuesday right here on the main page of our website. The sound is haunting, funky, trippy, and soulful all at the same time. Here’s a preview:

The question seemed to baffle the Today Show crew back in 1994. Check out this video that’s been going around:

Poor Augustana! The first time the band ever visited The Mountain, things didn’t go very well. At the very beginning of their career, before anyone was playing their single Boston, they played in our conference room. A radio station conference room gig is not a gig any band looks forward to, but these guys seemed especially unhappy to be here. The lead singer made no eye contact with anyone as he strummed a couple songs on his guitar. The rest of the band sat behind him with their coats on, texting each other and rolling their eyes. In my mind, I thought, “somebody needs to send these guys to rock and roll charm school.”

Well someone read my little mind! Since that very first meeting the band has been back several times, played in The Lounge, played Earth Day, and they could not have been nicer! Their performance of Sweet and Low is one of my all time favorites. I don’t know if Augstana ever knew how we felt about that first visit, or if someone charmed the boys up, but  they really seemed transformed. We’ve kissed and made up! We’ve moved on! It’s a lovefest! The band is back with a very white album cover! Oh yes, and a new song. Check it out below, and then blow Augustana a kiss.

Steal Your Heart

Another Friday and another cause for Marty to champion. This time Marty takes issue with 21 and over shows. Stop the arcane liquor laws that segregate young people to their own seedy, alcohol-free (yeah, right) raves. Or at the very least let Marty in on the raves.

Today, on OUR all-ages show, live music from country-rock three-piece, The Ethan Freckleton Band (High Dive in Fremont, February 13, 2011 … 21 and over .. Ouch). As an esteemed former member of the Nashville Songwriters Association, Ethan casts light on the oppressive guidelines imposed by the industry on country music songwriters. We always suspected something was up with country music, but Ethan brings the proof. I mean, what are the odds that so many country stars have bad jobs and pickup trucks?

Ethan Freckleton Band and Marty & Drew Dundon

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The Beatles last manager, Ken Mansfield, commemorates the 42nd anniversary of the famed Beatles Rooftop Concert with vivid tales of that windy, cold, and historic day in 1969. Ken as the American head of Apple Records from 1968-1970 was one of the few Yanks in attendance on the roof easily identified in photos as the guy in the white topcoat, which he explains on today’s show.

To further commemorate the anniversary of that rooftop concert, the popular Beatles cover band Creme Tangerine will play their on rooftop show atop the Hard Rock Cafe in Seattle this Saturday, January 29, 2011, at noon. Their 2009 and 2010 rooftop concerts drew thousands to Seattle’s Pike Place Market and were hosted by Ken Mansfield, a witness to history. This year’s show is benefit for Northwest Harvest. Please bring donations!

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Due to a technical difficulty on Ustream, there is no WEBcast today.

I have stacks and stack of music to listen to, and I’m not complaining. But in a typical day, I don’t start listening to the new stuff until after I’m off the air at 2. Musical multi tasking is hard! Yesterday I put a bounty of new discs in the CD shuffler and let ‘em rip. I was in and out of the office. At one point I walked in and thought someone had switched on the station and Marty was playing a deep Lynyrd Skynyrd track. Simmer down, classic rock haters, I’m not ashamed of the fact that I love Skynard, I’m mean I am 1/2 southern. But I’m pleased to report I was mistaken. While Marty was spinning the New Music Tuesday discs, my shuffler had turned to the Drive By Truckers, who are doing their part to restore a little dignity to the Southern Rock genre (ie No tank tops made of pop tops).

The new DBT disc, Go Go Boots, is in stores February 15. Check out this rootsy song with a mighty message, “Everybody Needs Love”:

06 Everybody Needs Love

And if you think that sentiment is just too soft and silly, fear not, Crabby, the next tune on the disc is called A@#holes. Enter at your own risk:

07 Assholes

They were arguably the most inventive on-air radio promotions in Seattle history: The Stewart Street Money Mysteries, which ran off-and-on from 1979 to the mid-1980’s. Produced in the style of an old 1930’s radio drama, Stewart Street was a fictional Seattle gumshoe who challenged listeners to solve mysteries and win ever-growing jackpots of cash. Today on the podcast, the original producer of the series, Klem Daniels, dusts off one of the original Stewart Street Mysteries and gives you a chance to solve the crime. Let’s see how good you are.

Marty and Klem Daniels

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It’s the band’s twentieth anniversary year, and they’re celebrating big time.

First, already released, there’s “Live on Ten Legs” features 18 Pearl Jam tracks recorded over the course of the band’s 2003-2010 world tours, newly remixed by longtime Pearl Jam engineer Brett Eliason.

Next, from the PJ Facebook page, here’s the band’s guitarist, Mike McCready checking in from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, with an update on director Cameron Crowe’s upcoming documentary about the band, Pearl Jam Twenty:

Next it’s a preview of bassist Jeff Ament’s new musical project, Tres Mts., a.k.a. Three Mountains, on which he collaborates with a guy from the band Kings X and a guy from The Fastbacks. On the PJ website, Jeff says:

I first saw dUg Pinnick sing and play in 1989 with his band Kings X at the Central Tavern. Three years later, I asked them to open some shows for Pearl Jam and we quickly became friends. I always joked, “when are we gonna make that heavy R & B record, you and me?” In 2001, dUg joined Richard Stuverud and me in one of our yearly writing sessions in Montana and again in 2004 with McCready. After a few years of crossed up schedules, in 2010, we finally mixed the baker’s dozen songs that make up Tres Mts. These guys are all monsters and this batch of tunes is gonna be fun to play live.

Brace yourself; this thing rocks. I give you . . . Tres Mts.:

It’s going to be a good year for PJ fans!