Photo by Heather Trimm special to The Seattle Times

...is three 14 year-olds who go by The Lost Episode. At the semi-hidden Georgetown stage in full-bore sunshine, Fergus Farley (drums), Daniel Perlmutter (bass) and Pete Michel (guitar; vocals; keys) won over a crowd of around 150 in a big way. People threw their hands in the air and made rap concert noise ("ohhhhhhhhhhhh!!!) for Pete's "hip-hop" breakdown using programmed sound samples from what he called "a thirty dollar keyboard." He pressed the buttons like he was scratching records. The band members are kids- skinny white kids with floppy haircuts in jeans and t-shirts- and when Fergus and Daniel laid down a a Fisher-Price My First Groove under Pete's fresh button mashing, it was funny watching them super-seriously play something so stitched-together and fun.

But that wasn't their "sound." The Lost Episode is dreamy Sonic Youth and Black Sabbath. Pete's a good guitar player, and Sabbath shows up in heavy minor-key guitar lines. He's also comfortable with guitar noise like Sonic Youth: queasy-sounding string bends hung in place to relish the dissonance; song verses were four chords but unpredictable and largely unresolved. Daniel and Fergus were just as much a part of the sound. The songs I heard were carefully composed pop but with multiple movements, and the rhythm section held things together nicely.

Okay, maybe they aren't the best band in Seattle, but The Lost Episode hit a soft spot for me. I will never not love a confident, slightly depressed, art-damaged band of 14 year-olds with good taste. The kids are alright, and it's warmed my heart. Almost as much as my skin, which is burning form the concrete's reflection of a very hot sun. June gloom, huh? Sleeves are rolled up at GMF- even the short ones.