{"id":304,"date":"2011-02-11T16:28:02","date_gmt":"2011-02-12T00:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billchapin.net\/allthecitylights\/?p=304"},"modified":"2015-01-12T09:31:55","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T17:31:55","slug":"howd-they-miss-that-the-builders-and-the-butchers-construct-slaughter-folk-rock-at-san-franciscos-bottom-of-the-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/billchapin.net\/allthecitylights\/2011\/02\/howd-they-miss-that-the-builders-and-the-butchers-construct-slaughter-folk-rock-at-san-franciscos-bottom-of-the-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"How’d They Miss THAT?: The Builders and the Butchers construct, slaughter folk-rock at San Francisco’s Bottom of the Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s perfectly understandable. There\u2019s so much music happening in the Bay Area in any given week that there\u2019s bound to be at least one concert that deserves a shout-out but failed to get any press. This humble blog feature is the consolation prize. This is \u2026 <\/em>How\u2019d They Miss THAT?<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Builders and the Butchers' Ryan Sollee. (by Alegre Ponioros via thebuildersandthebutchers.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the constant stream of Decemberists updates<\/a> on this blog that I’d be all about a folk-rock band from Portland that makes full use of a assortment of strange and wonderful acoustic instruments (mandolin, banjo, trumpet, melodica, bullhorn) and embraces some of the more ghoulish tendencies of folk music. But while Colin Meloy & Co. tend to do jaunty little ghost tales, The Builders and The Butchers<\/a>‘ songs are more like gothic wailing from the bottom of some deep, dark well.<\/p>\n

The Portland (by way of Anchorage) band’s most salient feature is the jittery voice of frontman Ryan Sollee. I also can’t help but respect the way the group got its start: playing totally unplugged on Portland street corners. Within three years, it had been named Portland’s Best New Band<\/a> by one of its two established alt-weeklies.<\/p>\n

The group is currently touring with fellow macabre-peddlers Murder By Death<\/a>, including a show Saturday at Bottom of the Hill<\/a>. The Indiana rock band got a write-up from the Sacramento News & Review<\/a>, but I failed to find any mention beyond a calendar listing in the Bay Area press. Not that they needed it; the show is sold out. If you don’t have a ticket yet, you’ll have to console yourself with a few free mp3s until they return.<\/p>\n

[download “Golden and Green<\/a>” and “Barcelona<\/a>” from Salvation is a Deep Dark Well<\/em>]
\n[download “Bottom of the Lake<\/a>” and “Bringin’ Home the Rain<\/a>” from The Builders and the Butchers<\/em>]
\n[download “When it Rains<\/a>” from\u00a0Loch Lomond\/The Builders and the Butchers<\/em> split 12-inch]<\/p>\n

A new album, Dead Reckoning,<\/em> is due Feb. 22.<\/p>\n

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