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Sound Off!’s first semifinals brought a jam packed lineup

Saturday, February 16th, 2019: MoPop

Sound Off!’s first semifinals brought a jam packed lineup February 19, 20194 Comments

Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

King Sheim onstage during their Sound Off! set. // Photo by Peter Cozens

Smack in the center of all the action at MoPop sits the Sky Church, a vastly open space with toweringly tall ceilings and a giant screen that rivals the highest-end of movie theaters. Mesh, beige parasols float from the ceiling, and the tiles in the floor are interspersed with mini-exhibit shadowboxes. With something new to notice everywhere you look, Sky Church is a space that makes you feel like, well, the sky’s the limit. And it’s the perfect space for Sound Off!, MoPop’s annual battle of the bands for ages 21 and under.

Due to snowmageddon, the first round of semifinals, which was scheduled for February 9th, was cancelled. The four bands slotted to play were dispersed over the next two rounds of semifinals, bringing each round to a total of six performances. On the 23rd, the second semifinal will take place. On March 2nd, the first place winner of each round, the higher-scoring second place winner, and a wildcard chosen by MoPop’s Youth Advisory Board will duke it out in the finals for the ultimate title of Sound Off! 2019 champion.

Zoser

Opening the competition on Saturday was Zoser, a Seattle-via-Georgia acoustic singer-songwriter with a natural ability to command an audience. Stepping onstage with just his guitar and looper, Zoser’s songs were filled with fast-paced, intricate lyricism and full guitar chords. For his second tune, Zoser taught the crowd the pattern of his “oohs” and “ohs,” and everyone happily sang along. The kicker, though, was that when the second round of our part rolled around, everyone dove right in, without any prodding. 

Having that much control of your audience is a skill that many established bands struggle with. It was truly impressive to witness Zoser’s leadership.

Between tunes, Zoser disarmed the audience with stories about his songwriting and about his dog running around in the snow that postponed the first round of semifinals. His charm comes from knowing exactly who he is: a kid from Georgia that loves Ed Sheeran and John Mayer.

i///u

Next up was i///u, a local neo-soul band made up of UW students. The crowd was hyped up for their set long before they started playing (and, afterwards, their merch line was hoppin’). The septet clearly contains a smattering of incredibly talented kids, from lead singer Katyrose Jordan, who vacillated between vocals and playing a flute, to the band’s founder, Scott Elder, who colorfully charmed the crowd with his just-himself attitude and steady bass playing. The few tracks the band has recorded are wonderfully layered and complex, which explains why the crowd was so ready for their set.

Unfortunately, the group’s live performance sounded more cacophonous than intricate. The parts all jumbled together, making it difficult to hold down a beat or be pulled into their performance. While Jordan’s voice itself is beautifully reminiscent of Etta James, her mic control was fluttery at best, so oftentimes it was hard to hear her. The rest of the band seemed relatively flustered, and the whole set sounded rushed. With only a 20-minute set, it makes sense that bands would want to jam pack as much in there as possible, but a solid, four-song set with space to breathe realizes much better than a rushed, five-song plop.

The bright spot in this performance was Elder, who I would pay just to watch exist. His aura feels like a balloon filled with laughing gas slowly stretching its way over you. Even when his back was turned away from the audience, he was compelling as he funked out on his bass. i///u’s performance might have been helped had Elder taken center stage, as opposed to Jordan.

wilsonlikethevolleyball

When wilsonlikethevolleyball came up, the crowd erupted; this guy’s got friends. He plays electronic music and sings overtop, and, while EDM is certainly not my thing, he was able to pull me in with his honesty. In a literal sense, after his first track, he stopped and said “my name is wilsonlikethevolleyball, and I push buttons.” More figuratively, as he bounced across the stage, you could hear the passion and sincerity in him, and it was compelling.

Having first applied for Sound Off! At age 10 and now in his last eligible year at 21, it’s been a journey for wilson. He’s clearly working with some insecurities — emcee Troy Nelson introduced wilson by telling the crowd that he was doing pushups backstage to get ready for his set, and, when wilson walked onstage, he went up to the mic and said he wanted to make it clear that he’s not good at pushups, he’s just doing them to release anxiety — but it’s also clear he’s working through them. Before one song, he told us that he’d never played it live before, because he was embarrassed of it. wilson puts it all on the line, and he gets mad kudos for that.

He left the stage by saying he was going to go cry, and that was that.

Nora Meier

Starting up the second half of the lineup was Nora Meier, a high school senior out of Portland. A jazzy singer-songwriter, she opened with “Bluebird,” which drew an instant connection to Sara Bareilles (for me, at least). Sitting simply behind her keyboard, Meier was a stark contrast from the high energy of the acts before her.

Meier’s pure vocals and quiet confidence were mesmerizing, as her hands danced across the keys and her voice rang out through the room. There wasn’t much variety between her songs — all of them were relatively slow love ballads — but it worked for her 20 minute set. Commanding behind a song and girlish in personality, it will be exciting to see how Meier’s sound develops as she grows into adulthood.

King Sheim

King Sheim, an angsty, punk rock project fronted by Celeste Felsheim, brought a real-life, old-school prom to Sky Church. Felsheim herself donned a black, sparkly romper with black combat boots, and her bassist rocked a plaid suit with black suspenders. With songs like “Prom Heels” and Felsheim’s penchant for calling her friends out by name throughout the set, King Sheim made me want to dance the night away and stick it to the man.

While the band wasn’t super tight, it didn’t really matter. This group has all the makings of greatness, from Felsheim’s admission of looking at her “arm setlist” to the group’s bit about being thirsty to introduce their track, “Grape Soda,” not to mention the generally impeccable songwriting. Fuck being tight; this is punk rock, and this was the performance of the night.

Huey and the Inflowentials

Huey and the Inflowentials, a local, jazz-backed, hip-hop five-piece, closed out the first round of semifinals. A very close second to King Sheim, Huey’s main drawback was the massive amount of repetition in their choruses. The performance itself, though, was energetic and fulfilling. Rapping over phat beats from the band that made you just want to lean back into that groove, Huey had the crowd at his fingertips from the start.

The Inflowentials themselves were probably the tightest band of the night. The rhythm section knew how to hold down a beat, whereas, with some of the other groups, it was hard to lock into the vacillating groove. Their stage set up was also well thought out, with Huey up front, free to roam, and everyone else (besides the drums) spaced out on either side of him. With the bassist directly to Huey’s left, it was fun to watch the contradiction between the steady bass lines and Huey’s bombarding flow. These are some cool cats, and they know it.

And the winner is…

Third place: Zoser

Second place: Huey and the Inflowentials

First place: i///u

Quite frankly, i///u does not deserve this win. They’re a talented bunch, but their stage presence was highly lacking (besides Elder), and, for a battle of the bands style competition, it doesn’t matter how good your recordings sound. They need more practice before they come out and hit it hard. Hopefully, they’ll put in some work before the finals and really show us what they’re made of.

Zoser opened Sound Off! 2019. // Photos by Peter Cozens
Now based in Seattle, Zoser repped his home state of Georgia.
Zoser performed solely with an acoustic guitar and a looper.
Zoser commands the crowd.
Members of MoPop's Youth Advisory Board take a moment to explain the rules of the competition.
i///u was next up.
Katyrose Jordan, lead singer of i///u.
Jordan sang and played the flute throughout the set.
Bassist Scott Elder (far right) was the founding member of the band.
wilsonlikethevolleyball plays electronic tunes.
At 21-years-old, this was wilson's last eligible year for the competition.
wilson puts heart into his music.
wilson first applied for Sound Off! when he was 10 years old.
The crowd was with wilson the whole time.
Nora Meier is a singer-songwriter from Portland.
King Sheim's fans were easy to spot in the crowd.
King Sheim is a project of frontwoman Celeste Felsheim.
The group blasts their punk rock energy.
King Sheim has also performed at Upstream and Folklife.
Huey and the Inflowentials closed the evening.
The group creates jazz soundscapes filled out with Huey's hip-hop vocals.
Huey hypes the crowd as they close their set. // Photos by Peter Cozens

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Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).