Welcome back to Pop Loser! This week, the Crocodile announced that it’s up for sale, Bandcamp banned AI music, and Harry Styles revealed the name of his new album. Plus, I attended the opera for the first time, and coincidentally, electronic music diva Austra shares her early musical inspirations, from operas like Puccini’s La bohème and Mozart’s Magic Flute, in another edition of First Times.

This Week in Music

The Crocodile is up for sale. The owners announced on Tuesday that they’re selling the long-running Belltown venue through a receivership process, which is generally used as an alternative to bankruptcy. According to court documents, the Crocodile has $1.6 million in debt, with the vast majority owed to ticketing platform TicketWeb, and cites decreased attendance and alcohol sales, along with rising operating costs, for its lack of profitability. In the meantime, the venue and its upstairs hotel will operate as usual, booking future shows in hopes of selling the club as a “turnkey situation.”

Live local music is still alive and well at the Black Lodge. This weekend, the Black Lodge will host Susquatch 5, a two-day festival organized by local noise artist Fleetwood Snack. I highly recommend checking out fuzzy indie rock band Spiral XP and experimental rap project Lonelygirl15 on night one, and Tacoma garage rock trio Semisoft on night two.

Singer-songwriter Tucker Zimmerman and his wife, Marie-Claire Lambert, died in a house fire on Sunday at their home in Belgium. Zimmerman was best known for his ‘70s folk songs and, later, his collaboration with contemporary indie folk favorites Big Thief. His 1969 debut, Ten Songs by Tucker Zimmerman, was often cited by David Bowie as one of his all-time favorite albums. Zimmerman was 84.

Let the album rollouts begin! Harry Styles has unveiled his forthcoming album, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally., due March 6. BLACKPINK also announced their upcoming mini-album Deadline, out February 27. Mitski dropped a new song, “Where’s My Phone,” and revealed that her upcoming album, Nothing’s About to Happen to Me, will also arrive February 27. And Charli XCX dropped her second single from the highly anticipated Wuthering Heights soundtrack, “Wall of Sound.”

Bandcamp is the first major streaming platform to ban AI music. Last week, Bandcamp committed to “putting human creativity first” by prohibiting any music created using artificial intelligence. This comes amidst reports of AI slop climbing streaming charts, such as AI-generated “music creator” Sienna Rose, who has over 3.4 million monthly Spotify listeners.

Watch the heavily costumed heavy metal band GWAR cover Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.” The shock-rock band, who are known for spraying their fans with fake blood, urine, and semen, covered the pop hit on AV Club’s Undercover series on Friday. “‘Pink Pony Club’ is about embracing exile from a boring, shitty world and remaking yourself into whatever you want,” frontman Berserker Blöthar said in a statement. “Be who you are, be who you aren’t, piss people off, we don’t care!”

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First Times with Austra

Austra is the longtime electronic project of Toronto-based vocalist, composer, and producer Katie Stelmanis, whose career started on a high note with her Juno Award–nominated 2011 debut album, Feel It Break. Now, 15 years and four albums later, Austra continues to craft operatic pop songs, reminiscent of fellow dark divas like Zola Jesus, Carla dal Forno, Molly Nilsson, and US Girls. On her fifth album, Chin Up Buttercup, Austra pairs Euro-dance and late-’90s pop with emotionally charged lyrics about heartbreak and healing. I caught up with her ahead of her stop at the Crocodile on her first tour in eight years to talk about her early musical inspirations, from Boyz II Men to opera arias.

What was the first album you bought? Where and when did you buy it?

I think it was Boyz II Men because I loved the song “I’ll Make Love to You.” I believe I was 8 years old.

What was the first song you sang in front of people?

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by the Tokens. When I was in grade six, my teacher made everyone in the class choose a song from the ’60s and perform it, which, in retrospect, was probably traumatizing for most of the non-music-oriented students.

What was the first instrument you played, and what was the first song you learned?

I started singing and piano at the same time, joining a choir and also taking piano when I was 10. When I was really young, like under 5, I was obsessed with the "Queen of the Night" aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute and would sing it with my grandma, so maybe that was the first song I learned?

What was the first song that made you cry?

This would likely be something from Puccini. When I was a kid, I performed in the chorus of the Canadian Opera Company whenever they required kids. I loved La bohème, and I probably cried at some point while watching it.

Who was the first musician you idolized?

I never really idolized musicians in a pop way, but when I was 18 or 19, listening to Nine Inch Nails changed the trajectory of my life from being a classical kid to whatever I am now.

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Events Worth Your Hard-Earned Money This Week

Judy Collins Jan 22–25, Jazz Alley, 7:30 pm, all ages

Yarn/Wire Jan 22, Meany Center for the Performing Arts, 7:30 pm, all ages

Ice Goth IV: Vanilla Abstract, Deft Lips, and Cuvier Jan 23, Add-a-Ball, 8 pm, 21+

Popdefect, Girl Trouble, and Tom Price Desert Classic Jan 23, Clock-Out Lounge, 8:30 pm, 21+

Susquatch 5 Jan 24–25, Black Lodge, 5 pm, all ages

Austra Jan 27, Crocodile, 6:30 pm, 21+

Cate Le Bon Jan 27, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

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The Songs That Keep Me Up at Night

“The Four Sleeping Princesses” by Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore

After touring together for several years, experimental vocalist Julianna Barwick and harpist Mary Lattimore developed a “musical telepathy” that became the basis for their newly released collaborative album, Tragic Magic. The result sounds like what would have been if there were synthesizers in medieval times. “The Four Sleeping Princesses” is an ethereal new age lullaby, and it’s the standout track for me so far.

Daphne, Op. 82 by Richard Strauss

Over the weekend, I attended my first opera: the Seattle Opera’s concert rendition of Strauss’s Daphne. The hour-and-40-minute show—short by traditional opera standards—follows the Greek myth of a nature-loving girl who rejects her suitors until she becomes one with nature, in the end being turned into a laurel tree. I am obsessed with the queer subtext of this story, told through poetic lyrics, which were sung in German but translated above the stage. And there were no microphones in sight! In our world overrun with technology, it was incredible to experience live music with no amplification, just the pure, unadulterated human voice and acoustic classical instruments bouncing off the walls of McCaw Hall.

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