Calls of the wild
Bay Area players and observers place their bets on the exciting new releases, weirdest phenomena, and funniest trends in music 2005

Ben Chasny, Six Organs of Admittance

Predictions

The year 2005 will be the year of Townes Van Zandt, which means the dyed-black-hair kids of 2003, who are the bearded owl kids of 2004, will be the cowboy hat-wearing kids of 2005.

Eureka will become the next Brooklyn. Excuse me, I mean, become the next Finland.

Wolf Eyes will play on the Conan O'Brien show, and John Olson will be reduced to tears by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Then Wolf Eyes will burn the studio down.

The "folk revival" will suffer a major setback when someone in the audience at a "new folk" festival yells out, "Wait a minute! This shit sounds like Simon and Garfunkel!" and detonates a bomb hidden in his beard.

Music I am looking forward to

1. Townes Van Zandt documentary

2. Sunn o)))

3. Om on Holy Mountain

4. Wood Wand and the Vanishing Voice on Time-Lag

5. Anything on the labels Foxy Digitalis, Time-Lag, Eclipse, PSF, or Free Pocupine Society

Six Organs of Admittance's School of the Flower (Drag City) comes out Jan. 25. Ben Chasny is also in Badgerlore and Comets on Fire.

Mike, Knights of the New Crusade

1. The Mothballs will be recognized as the greatest band in the Bay Area. Whiny emo bands will all try to jump on the Mothball wagon.

2. Greg Lowery will sell the Rip Off back catalog to Sony.

3. Japan will continue to produce more great bands than you can shake a yakitori stick at.

4. Pharisees, false prophets, and evil men in high places will try to make this world less enjoyable.

Baby Jaymes

Musical predictions for 2005 in eights (the wills and the won'ts)

I predict

1. Goapele's major distribution debut will be critically acclaimed, and she will be recognized nationally as the Queen of the Bay.

2. E-40's new project with Lil Jon will turn 40 Water into the nationally recognized rap wordsmith he deserves to be.

3. The proposed Tony! Toni! Toné! reunion will finally not happen again!

4. Gwen Stefani's solo debut, Love Angel Music Baby (Interscope) will dominate nominations in the next season of music award shows.

5. American Idol's novelty will finally wear thin ... after the audition process, that is – which is always the best part.

6. Mary J. Blige will slowly creep into the "legendary" zone.

7. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' follow-up will not have another song nearly as magical as "Maps." (Life is just not that fair!)

8. Kelis's follow-up to the brilliant Tasty (Arista) unfortunately won't see North American release (which means I'll have to cough up 30 bucks for the import from Amoeba Music).

Trends I see coming and/or returning

1. A new Bay soul movement

2. More soul artists, less neo artists

3. Hip-hop's gentlemen's movement (à la Kanye West and Farnsworth Bentley)

4. More Mario, less Usher

5. Metrosexual pop movement (à la Maroon 5 and Franz Ferdinand)

6. More Michael Jackson, less Eminem

7. An independent artist movement

8. More live, less Memorex

The records I am looking forward to with bated breath are (in no particular order after numbers 1 through 4)

1. OutKast, tentatively titled 10 the Hard Way (La Face). I wish this were Andre 3000's solo debut, but I'll settle for another group effort, for now – the title sounds a little suspect though.

2. Ghostface Killah. Please drop something in '05, 'Face – hip-hop sucks without you.

3. Dirt McGirt (Ol' Dirty Bastard), posthumous Roc-A-Fella release. R.I.P, you crazy genius!

4. Beck, follow-up to Sea Change (Interscope). It can't come soon enough – I wonder if they will have this available at Moses Music in Oakland?

5. Errr-yy-kahhh! Ba-du! Wher arrrrre U?

6. Balance. The underrated mix tape king and creator of a controversial new Bay soul debut.

7. Coldplay's third album. Or did that already drop under the banner Keane? The industry makes it all so confusing sometimes.

8. LaToya London saying, "Yes" – oops, I mean her debut release. I can't help it. I just love the girl.

Baby Jaymes's latest release is Ghetto Retro.

Ted Edwards, the Music Lovers

1. Emotional pop (not emo) will make a big return in the form of the Czars, Dears, Autumns, etc.

2. The Bedroom Walls will be the next breakout group from Los Angeles.

3. A new Scott Walker album is due in the fall.

4. The Fall will release another 37 albums this year.

5. Antony and the Johnsons will beautify us. See them at Great American Music Hall in March, before they get huge.

6. Parchman Farm will blast out of the Bay Area, spreading evil and going on to headline at Reading in '06.

7. PJ Harvey will retire ... oh, already happened!

8. Hamilton Bohannon and Salsoul will be the new-old club sounds.

9. Lil' Fuzzy.

10. Really good San Francisco bands will stop moving to New York (Lowater).

The Music Lovers play Feb. 16, Make-Out Room, S.F., and are currently recording a new Le Grand Magistery/Marriage album for 2005 release.

Keith Knight, Marginal Prophets

I'm married and old. I don't go out anymore. I don't listen to music anymore. My only guarantee is that there will be another Tupac album in 2005.

Keith Knight's The K Chronicles is available at www.kchronicles.com.

Manny Ponce, Skiffington

Some of the things I think will happen in 2005

• The Pixies will record a new album and break up (again) in the process.

• Tim Green (Louder Studios, the Fucking Champs) will start to be called "the next Steve Albini" by the mainstream press as more and more albums recorded at Louder begin to get more and more attention.

• Virgil Porter (www.rawk.org) will start a record label totally by accident.

• In an attempt to boost sagging CD sales, the major labels will start remixing and remastering works by their back catalog artists (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, etc.) for rerelease in DVD audio format.

• Brian Krepshaw will become the new Long Gone John as Dollar Record Records becomes the next Sympathy for the Record Industry. "The female bass player" will be superseded by "the female singer," and "the female singer" will be superseded by "the gay male singer."

• Getting coked up and singing karaoke will become the new evening-out of choice for the white-belt-hipster-with-the-$100-haircut crowd. Karaoke will also replace the ironic T-shirt for the $10-haircut crowd.

• "Garage rock" will be replaced by "garage new wave" as cheap synths become easier to buy and play than cheap guitars.

eric bauer photo by kimberly chun• John Dwyer, Eric Bauer, George Chen, and Weasel Walter will each start yet another new band. If they all start a band together, the world will end.

• Ajax Green will come out of rock retirement and start a musical comedy duo à la the Smothers Brothers. He will quit music again after three months.

• The next wave of "reunion rock" will be hair metal bands. Lots and lots of hair metal bands. Spandex sales will rise dramatically.

• The power duo will replace the power trio. A couple of local duos you should look out for: the Odd Bodkins, Hospitals, Moggs, Black Ghost, and I Will Kill You Fucker! (I saw IWKYF for the first time on New Year's Day, and they're fucking great).

• It will be the year of the Oakland warehouse party. More great shows will take place at places like French Fry Factory, Grandma's House, and Lobot Gallery than in clubs.

• Bay Area concertgoers still won't dance.

Mochipet

• Things I would like to see in 2005: anything not retro.

• Things that will probably be popular in 2005: everything retro.

• Some albums I look forward to in 2005: Cookie Mongoloid, Blood and Cookies (self-released); Good for Cows on Asian Man Records; Mike Patton's new album produced by Richard Devine; Ellen Allien's new techno extravaganza; Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Of Natural History (Mimicry); and any Rick Rock Beat mixed by SBC's Dragon Style Rick Lee.

• I am probably not the best person to ask about musical trends, considering I made up polka-electronic-death-country and jiggy-death-metal, but if it were up to me, I would like to see more blending of cultures and scenes. There's a lot cool stuff the Asian kids are doing in S.F., D.C., the E.B., and the S.B. And I like the psychedelic rock resurgence. But I really think it needs to go to the next level before it is going to pop the heater. That might be tough, though, with all the silos destroyed and all.

Mochipet is currently working on new albums for Tigerbeat6 and Bpitchcontrol and runs Daly City Records (www.dalycityrecords.com).

Victor Krummenacher

Bands will continue to oversaturate touring markets because they're not making any money from record sales. Clear Channel and other big-name and midlevel regional promoters will continue to dominate a weak touring marketplace, but venues will close because of lack of revenue. Smart bands will try to find a way around this mess.

More boutique fests like All Tomorrow's Parties, the Mission Creek Music and Arts Festival, and the DIY Fest will show up. Corporate rock will keep trying to co-opt the real indies. Bush's reign will make for some really great art. Being a lefty will be hard. Cross-cultural bands will keep growing in stature, but the flavor of the week will still win out over long-term careers.

Victor Krummenacher is the bassist for Camper Van Beethoven, a local singer-songwriter, and art director of the Bay Guardian.

Mason Jones, Numinous

With my focus on what's coming out of Japan, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out some of the folks from there who made brief appearances in the United States during 2004 and will, I believe, make some huge splashes in '05.

DMBQ made some heads spin last year, and with a huge nationwide tour happening in spring '05 to support a new album on Estrus, DMBQ will be a household word (among cool households, anyway).

Afri-Rampo blew through S.F. late last year, and their psycho-stomp, together with a real album release and U.S. tour plans, should open more eyes.

And after a great West Coast tour and a new album in the spring, Green Milk from the Planet Orange will deserve a large, enthusiastic audience. Outside Japan and locally, in fact, I must mention SubArachnoid Space's upcoming album, The Red Veil (Strange Attractors), as their best yet and an intense, beautiful listen.

For more on Mason Jones, go to www.charnel.com/mason. Numinous opens for Appreciation Wed/19, Hemlock Tavern, S.F.

Johnny No Moniker

'Musical' predictions for 2005

1. Many important local musicians will be lost to deadly kidney stones as the first wave of Sparks casualties rolls in.

2. Having worn out the new wave of new wave, physically attractive bands will start to rip off the dirtier underground music of the '80s like Scratch Acid and Black Flag. They will marry these influences with the current '70s hard rock resurgence, and will cast off the strictures of fashion by wearing a uniform of proletarian flannel. These bands represent a whole new ... oh, oops.

3. Fuck, Dirty Dirty rules. And they don't even have a tape out yet!

4. Just as the major labels get a handle on this whole MP3 thing, all the kids will discard their iPods and stop file-sharing in favor of the hands-on, totally DIY, rad, new wax cylinder format.

5. It will finally be OK to hate New York again.

Johnny No Moniker is in Fleshies, who are currently locked in their archaic eight-track half-inch tape studio, Sugar Mountain, hard at work on their third full-length album, tentatively titled Nevermind. No, they can't play your benefit show next week.

John Vanderslice

I'm looking forward to records by these artists: Geto Boys, Midlake, Spoon, Minus Story, Mountain Goats, and Okkervil River. I would love to see records by these artists: Immortal Technique, Jason Molina, Radiohead, Viktor Vaughn, and Destroyer.

I believe we're in a musical golden period; 2004 brought us dozens of excellent albums and some brilliant reissues. If you don't have one, get a used turntable in 2005. Buy tons of used vinyl. Happiness!

John Vanderslice's next album comes out in August on Barsuk.

Blevin Blectum, Sagan

Artists

• Phase Chancellor: This is an all-new all-synthesizer wonder trio made up of MC Schmidt (Matmos), J Lesser (Lesser-Sagan ignominy – and he is also my husband!), and Nate (Men Against Mountains).

• Retrievers: Greg and Satomi from Deerhoof, in which they both play guitars and sing!

• Danielle Degruttola: Her electric and nonelectric cello can be heard on the soundtrack of Werner Herzog's documentary Grizzly Man, which will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this month.

Trends

I discussed this with Sagan, and we decided that this is what the future, and possibly next year, holds (if science fiction is worth its weight): Skintight jumpsuits, faster-than-light travel, crappy electronic music made by strumming some sort of harp-looking thing, and cybertinkers. Robots that chase you, musical time travel, immortality, and dying stars and huge hyperintelligent parrots with good senses of humor. And at long last, a composition/compost machine that inputs/outputs sheet music/living animals, and vice versa.

Recordings

Katamari Damacy 2 soundtrack

Oakland artist Blevin Blectum recently released her third solo album, Magic Maple, on Praemedia (www.praemedia.com or blevin.lsr.com). She is also a member of Sagan, which recently put out their debut CD/DVD, Unseen Forces, on Vague Terrain (sagan.lsr1.com).

Gabriel Mindel, Yellow Swans

The ubiquitous "noise" genre, which only last year was dubbed the new "emo," will find itself in the midst of further genre-fication, with "drone" becoming the tag du jour for record clerks across the Bay. A mid-January residence by New Zealand's Birchville Cat Motel will be the defining moment of this shift. New seekers of the weird will find themselves in Finland listening to the emerging Huppa scene. Expect the mushroomlike emergence of local psychedelic folk ensembles tinkering with bells, drums, and stringed unmentionables. This turn to the acoustic rock-and-twig thing is just in time for the economic collapse of the United States around June as the world switches to the euro and countries start collecting on our debt.

This leads to four major trends:

1. Less dependence on electric instruments (see mushrooming scene above);

2. Less touring (Google "Peak Oil" sometime);

3. The collapse of the music industry, leading to a complete consolidation of the media under two or three state/corporate monopolies (and yes, Clear Channel is one of them);

4. The Internet and cassettes become the only viable formats for new music.

The latter leads to an explosion of new independent teen music movements including digi-grind, indie break-core, and punk noise. Another thing on the horizon: the West Coast hardcore revival becomes the fun train calling, "All aboard!" Check out XBXRX, Wives, Wrangler Brutes, Ass End Offend, and Mika Miko for a preview.

Lastly, there will be a stepping up of San Francisco's deconstructo-rock scene. Sure, added vice has uglied the infamous "party" of late, but with new records from Numbers and Burmese, and a February return of Total Shutdown, the Class of 1999 is back, and they mean it. Oh, and the next Erase Errata record will be their best yet ... take that!

Bay Guardian staffer Gabriel Mindel is also in Crop Circle Pit and Treehugger.

Mark Thomas, Project: Pimento

Due to globalization, we see the United States beginning to have a reduced influence on the music scene worldwide, and with the exponentially increasing sophistication of music marketing, we predict greater exploitation of the millennium generation through more derivative and formulaic pop music. Artists we do look forward to hearing more from in 2005 are: Gotan Project, Bebel Gilberto, Jill Scott, Radiohead, and local fave Etienne De Rocher.

Project: Pimento will release their next CD this spring and do a European tour this fall.

David Paul, Bomb Records

Crunk music will die after the summer of 2005. More mortar-and-brick stores will close as music consumers turn to mail order through the Internet as well as purchasing MP3s online. I predict Apple will invent a disc jockey iPod that will feature BPM speed adjustment and scratching by rotating the control disc.

Hot albums of '05 will be:

Dan the Automator's solo album. A few years ago Dan played me a track over the phone that was a remake of "Microphone Fiend" with a woman from Europe (or the U.K.) rapping the lyrics. If this song is on the album ... look out!

The solo album by AG (Andre the Giant from Show and AG and DITC) on Look Records will also be a hot one, with production by Jake One, Super Dave West, Madlib, and DJ Design.

apsci photo by clay enosAlso, Apsci (who just signed to Quannum) are a group to look for. This female-male duo from Australia and New York are sure to break ground on the alternative hip-hop tip.

Oh yeah, I'm sure we'll get a new ODB album in 2005 and for every year after for at least five years to go along with all those new Tupac albums.

Nedelle Torrisi

In 2005, local bands Readyville, Chicken on a Raft, and Blanche Deveraux will acquire much fame and fortune.

Biff Rose will go on tour, pouring his magical genius into the luckiest of ears.

Why? will be crowned after the release of an EP and a full-length.

The spring release of a Deerhoof EP and their subsequent tour will leave us in awe.

Earnestness will be increasingly revered, and most important, no one will die.

Nedelle Torrisi's solo album, From the Lion's Mouth (Kill Rock Stars), comes out Feb. 22.

Tom Marzella, Hard Place

Friends of Hard Place, the Ponys, have recorded with Steve Albini, and it's going to be a great record. It's really going to put them over the top.

Also, on a local level, look out for the new Cuts record coming out this spring and featuring more songs by keyboardist Dan Aaberg. And Citizens Here and Abroad made a huge splash with their debut – they're only going to keep their momentum going in 2005 as they've done a huge amount of touring.

Bart Davenport will put out Maroon Cocoon on Oakland's Antenna Farm label. There's record-release party Jan. 29 at Bottom of the Hill. This is his second recording for the label, and he's toured Europe and the United States garnering the same kind of support he receives at home, especially in Spain, where labels like Siesta are flipping out over Bart.

Look for Tuxedomoon to be recording a new album in San Francisco this February and keep your fingers crossed for a show.

As for predictions, there's going to be reissue comps of all the great '90s indie bands. Tiny Idols (Snowglobe), coming out of New York, will feature obscure DIY '90s groups like Chotchke and Panic Ear Service! Finally, a decade late.

Hard Place's self-titled mini-album is out on Antenna Farm.

Covergirl prediction

Liza Thorn, So So Many White White Tigers

• Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, The Doldrums (Paw Tracks)

• My rap group, No Condom Whatever, is going to blow up huge. We've been playing out a lot, and we'll perform the second Friday of February at Lipo Lounge at a new club called Secret. I always wanted to be a rapper, and we're going to be on some compilation on Tigerbeat6.

So So Many White White Tigers play Tues/25, Hemlock Tavern, S.F.

More boldfaced names
Sean Lennon, cross-platform multimedia performances, Gypsy punk, folk, and corduroy pantsuits – what's going on in 2005?
By Jeff Ray

A FEW WEEKS ago I stepped into New York City's Tonic Lounge to see Bay Area electronic-multimedia acts Wobbly and Sagan. I was ready to see their mixing of glitch electronica and film projections but instead got the bad news that they had already played earlier, and Sean Lennon was set to play a "secret show," to support his new album.

Not being a big Sean Lennon fan, I cursed the club for not printing the show times in the Village Voice, but the doorman was nonplussed and unfazed. So I combated his New York attitude with my mellow San Francisco trip and turned my frown upside down, paid my $10, and decided to chill with the kids, albeit very famous and rich kids, which included Julian Casablancas, who sat next to Yoko Ono. I was witnessing the past and future colliding.

Many of the kids in the audience, as Lennon pointed out during his set, were there from a Rolling Stone photo shoot they'd done earlier in the day, about kids of rock stars who have, in turn, become performers. Many mimic the sounds of their parents, as Lennon does with his pop music. This time around, though, he played mostly folk songs – a simple sort of set with Lennon on acoustic guitar, Yuka Honda on piano and backup vocals, Harper Simon on electric guitar, and a special guest tabla player, Suphala. Folk has even steeped into the star child scene.

So, in 2005 I predict:

Devendra Banhart will continue his meteoric rise, as folk or fake folk, or neo-folk or nonfolk, anti-folk, psych folk, old folks, black metal folk, basically anything having to do with folk, including folk-style corduroy pantsuits with cute stitching, will rise in popularity. I think this is a good thing. Especially if it means Fourth Street, N.Y.-style coffeehouses will be sprouting up across bohemianlandia. The favorite folk player of the past will be Elizabeth Cotton.

Along for this ride will be lovely local talents Jolie Holland, Six Organs of Admittance, Fiji Mermaid, Sean Hayes, OCS, Nyles Lannon, Octomutt, and many others – and not so local Christina Rosenvinge, Stina Nordenstam, and of course, many others.

joanna newsom photo by lori spearsJoanna Newsom and Björk will be in the same room, and some sort of strange transformation will take place, and the surroundings will resemble the elf scene in The Lord of the Rings. A high-pitched shinggggggg will ring out, and there will be some sort of glowing torch or sword passed on from Björk to Newsom.

Black folk mentalist Nate Denver will tour with Slayer. His stage props may include an elephant, a bear, and a falcon, among other proud animals. These animals will be treated with respect and not in a weird Ted Nugent way.

Rogue Wave will be featured house party band on an OC episode.

Local weird pop genius Marty Anderson (Howard Hello) will release his incredible new album on Absolutely Kosher. People will listen, be amazed, and smile.

Vice Records will start a bidding war on any of John Dwyer's music projects.

Where Pink Floyd, Laurie Anderson, Christian Marclay, Cut Chemist, Meat Beat Manifesto, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and many others (yes, including the rave scene) have already gone, new musicians will follow and multimedia, multigenre, and cross-disciplinary, cross-platform music performances will take place as laptops and digital projectors become cheaper and more accessible. Sets will feature multiscreens and video projectors, along with the likes of modern dancers, puppeteers, and angry mimes. New Genre meets music, or whatever you want to call it, will become more substantial and will continue to see the light, from small stages to large halls. Finally, experimental video artists will have gigs outside the insular world of art crit and will be able to show their brilliant Bruce Conner-influenced work in a small clubs in Des Moines.

Already on the trip, as mentioned before, is Sagan, as well as locals Tarentel and Wetgate.

In 2005 you'll be able to see Sonny Smith perform his multidisciplinary project of one-act music plays, The Dangerous Stranger, while in residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts.

These somewhat obscure names in arty garage electronic music will become less obscure in 2005: Liars, Hot Snakes, Les Savy Fav, Oxes, Leafcutter John, Dwayne Sodahberk, Sunn O))), the Yellow Swans, Rubber () Cement, Big Techno Werewolves, and Eats Tapes.

interpol photo by jelle wagenaarThe less obscure arty garage electronic acts – Animal Collective, Wolf Eyes, Black Dice, TV on the Radio, US Maple, OOIOO, Ghost, the Notwhist, Interpol, etc. – will continue to blow our minds. My wish for 2005 is that Animal Collective works with Chicago multimedia artists Animal Charm.

Pharoah Sanders, one of the greatest living jazz players, as well as Alice Coltrane, also one of the greatest, will release the greatest jazz records of 2005.

Jetsons moment of 2005: Venues will begin to have Sims-like simulacrum bands you'll be able to program with your favorite act. Type in "TV Party," and you get a 3-D performance of a pre-Henry Rollins Black Flag. Local virtual reality genius Jaron Lanier will have something to do with this invention.

The totally mainstream but totally brilliant Lauryn Hill will finally release another album.

Andre (Ice Cold) 3000 of OutKast will continue to remain the greatest entertainer alive.

On the mainstream trip, Slash will start some lame rock band with the ex-singer of Stone Temple Pilots, called the Killers, and they'll sing cliché songs about heroin.

Tindersticks will replace Guided by Voices in the old-guys-done-good category.

Finland will be the next Sweden, as folks such as Killa, Aavikko, and Circle gain recognition across the land, while Swedish music continues to awe (thanks to the Hives, the Concretes, etc.), while other Swedish acts continue to arise, such as the Knife, Jose Gonzalez, Paddington Distortion Combo, David Grubbs, Hans Appelquest, Hello Goodbye, and Lars Blek.

The obvious beating of the dead horse of punk into a soulless commodity, as well as prepackaged-with-a-bullet-hole gangsta rap, will finally get on everyone's nerves, and as a result of the effort to find some sort of political antiestablishment music with integrity, Gypsy music, and Gypsy music mixed with punk, à la Gogol Bordello, will continue to explode across our continent. Gypsies will become celebrated once again. Django Reinhardt's ghost will turn over in his grave, but we'll hopefully have some hope for the hopefully hopeless once again.

The exception to the above rule will be Latin punk and Chinese punk. There are Los Violadores (Argentina), Manganzoides (Peru), Blind Pigs (Brazil), Ya Chole (Mexico), Las Ultrasonicas (Mexico), and many others. From China there are Hang on the Box and Brain Failure.

Last but not least (speaking of scenes): along with the folk coffee shops, many small venues, college and pirate radio stations, righteous grassroots organizations such as Black Dot Collective, and other innovative underground music scenes will continue to grow, like little termites eating away at the foundations of huge conglomerates such as Clear Channel, until they topple into the sea of lameness. Happy 2005!

Jeff Ray is the director of multimedia performance collective Extraordinary Forest, founder of the Mission Creek Music and Arts Festival and Productions, and a member of neo-folk duo Radius.