Pitchfork

All photos by Jim Saah

Whether you look at it as a profound meditation on impermanence or just a collection of sweet, unique live performances, the Burn to Shine series is a pretty wonderful thing. Conceived by filmmaker/director Christoph Green and producer/Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty as a means of visually documenting the sound of a city's scene in a space slated for demolition, Burn to Shine sprung to life with the 2005 release of its inaugural DVD, set in DC.

Subsequent installments included a slice of Chicago with Wilco, Tortoise, and Shellac, and a Chris Funk-curated Portland roundup featuring the Decemberists, Sleater-Kinney, the Shins, the Thermals, and more. For volumes four and five, Burn to Shine heads to Louisville and Seattle with its eyes on two more vital music scenes.

Death Cabbie/Postal Servant Ben Gibbard continues his Pitchfork news page dominance, lining up some ace Pacific Northwest talent for the Seattle edition of Burn to Shine; technically volume five, it will likely hit shelves prior to volume four, Louisville. Among the Seattle highlights: Eddie Vedder solo performing "Can't Keep" (from Pearl Jam's Riot Act LP), ex-Pedro the Lion principal David Bazan, math-poppers Minus the Bear, Gibbard's former Barsuk labelmates the Long Winters, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, and Harvey Danger, Sub Pop post-rockers Kinski, and Gibbard himself, here tackling "Broken Yoke in Western Sky".

Curated by Lucky Pineapple's William Benton, the Louisville edition of Burn to Shine will feature performances from Will Oldham, Rodan/June of 44-descendants Shipping News, David Pajo's metal band Dead Child, and Magik Markers, among others, all sharing their musical wares in a particularly eye-opening space.

"The Louisville house was the most insane house yet," director Christoph Green told Pitchfork via e-mail. "It was hand-built by a man whose wife died of cancer when he was halfway done with the construction. The whole house is completely random, rooms oddly spring up out of other rooms, a laundry room will have an ornate skylight/turret, etc. Of course, by the time we got there it was really fucked up and kind of dangerous."

Like previous installments, Burn to Shine four and five will culminate with footage of the performance space undergoing demolition.

Neither DVD has a definite release date yet, and Louisville's tracklist is not yet finalized, so keep your browsers tuned to Burn to Shine's Trixie DVD website and MySpace for details. Check out more of Jim Saah's photos ahead.

EDDIE VEDDER


DAVID BAZAN


JESSE SYKES


LOUISVILLE HOUSE


Burn to Shine 4: Louisville:

01 Dead Child
02 Commonwealth
03 Shipping News
04 Ultra Pulverize
05 Verktum
06 Liberation Prophesy
07 Parlour
08 Lucky Pineapple
09 Will Oldham
10 Magik Markers
11 Lords

Burn to Shine 5: Seattle:

01 Spook the Horse - "Another New Year"
02 Harvey Danger - "Little Round Mirrors"
03 Tiny Vipers - "On This Side"
04 Blue Scholars - "Morning of America"
05 David Bazan - "Cold Beer and Cigarettes"
06 Benjamin Gibbard - "Broken Yoke in Western Sky"
07 Eddie Vedder - "Can't Keep"
08 Minus the Bear - "Arctic Knights"
09 The Cave Singers - "Called"
10 The Long Winters - "Departure"
11 Kinski - "Japan"
12 The Can't See - "Bar Fight"
13 Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death - "Big Bed"
14 Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter - "The Air Is Thin"