San Francisco-by-way-of-Connecticut singer-songwriter Sonya Cotton hails from the halcyon peaks of Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and Judee Sill: she’s a songbird of a soprano, given to praise though drawn to the dark side of folk song. She contemplates the corpse of a doe on the cover of Red River, but rather than dragging the dead deer of genre up a hill and into new turf, ala Grouper, Cotton prefers to pay her respect to the past and observe tradition with reverence and careful attention. Her immaculate footprints: the three-part harmonies on “Bear” and spare arrangement of “Hunters.”
Sonic Reducer Overage: Alternative Tentacles, Pixies, Paramore, Finches, R. Kelly, and more
By Kimberly Chun
You want to wipe away the gloom with some swoony, loony sounds, you know you do. More music than we could cram into ye olde newsprint.
Alternative Tentacles 30th Anniversary Incest-a-Thon
The proceedings kick off with Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine -- and it's going to be raging and ornery from the sound of the outfit's new The Audacity of Hype (Alternative Tentacles). The fun continues with Citizen Fish, Star Fucking Hipsters, and MIA (the hardcore band not the lady) opening tonight; Ludicra, Munly and the Lupercalians, and Knights of the New Crusade Friday, and Alice Donut, Victims Family, and Burning Image Saturday. Sounds like a good, loudly irreverent time for all. Thurs/5-Sat/7, 8 p.m., $20-$22 ($50 three-day pass). Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.
Hank IV and Celine Dion
Hank Sr. gets a hard twirl in his grave, as the Bay Area troublemakers’ hearts go on. With Blues Control. Thurs/5, 9 p.m., $7. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk St., SF. (415) 923-0923.
Dawes
The early-20-something LA foursome have been listening closely to The Big Pink -- namely the Band, not the UK 4AD duo. With Langhorne Slim and Austin Lucas. Fri/6, Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1422.
Sonic Reducer Overage: No Age, Soapbox, Emerald Triangle, Kawabata, and more
By Kimberly Chun
Halloween and NYE -- yes, it’s amateur hour once again for non-locals, gawkers, and ‘burb brats. Still, ya gotta fill the void -- here are a few more ways that didn’t make print.
Art Brut
Are the Anglo-Teutonic arty farties the next best thing to poppers like Fountains of Wayne? With Princeton Fri/30, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m., $16. Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. (415) 861-5016.
No Age
The LA twosome skipped the Grammys for the road (“Best Recording Package?”). With Residual Echoes and Magic Bullets. Fri/30, 9 p.m., $16. Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.
Photos from the 40th anniversary Woodstock celebration at Speedway meadow:
“This is righteous! It’s a part of history!” Terry Kennedy makes up the seriously daunting security behind the scenes at this year’s West Fest. He, along with many of his fellow security handlers and 2B1 record employees, lent a hand to the celebrations to commemorate the majestic memories from Summer of Love and Woodstock.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Pelican, Kid Sister, Le Loup, Sunset Rubdown, and more
By Kimberly Chun
We got places to go, people to see, crazy sounds to hear -- more for your show-going pleasure and more than we could fit in print.
BrakesBrakesBrakes
Cheney better watch himself when the Brighton, England, combo steps on it. With Ezra Furman and the Harpoons and Rachel Goodrich. Wed/21, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. (415) 861-2011.
Fu Manchu and Dirty Power
Heaviness is as heaviness does -- with the added oomph of the SF-bred Power brokers. With the Solid. Wed/21, 8:30 p.m., $21. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.
Skyler Fell, who performed at the SF Accordion Club's September gathering.
In an age of accelerating cultural fusion and mutation, it should come as no surprise that the accordion has undergone something of a renaissance. A staple of musical traditions from as far afield as Eastern Europe, Mexico, and Italy, the various permutations of the squeezebox has resurfaced with renewed vigor. The San Francisco Bay Area has become something of a hub for this rebirth, aided by both its location at the hub of cultural ley lines and its rich history as – believe it or not – an accordion exporting powerhouse.
Frank Montoro, president of the, San Francisco Accordion Club has watched accordion culture wax and wane with the times. Until the middle of the 20th century, there were at least five accordion factories churning out instruments in North Beach alone, Montoro says, mostly by Italians who’d brought generations of craft knowledge over from the Old Country.
“I watched my accordion being built, back in the ‘40s,” he remembers fondly. The advent of rock’n’roll and mass culture swept much of the accordion’s prestige (and visibility) away, Montoro says, until it seemed an ethnic relic, the obscure province of nerds, wedding music and Weird Al Yankovic. “Times have changed,” the octogenarian Montoro says. “If you like Swedish music, where are you going to go?”
He was “the Lone Cat,” for sure. Bay Area blues-folk 12-string guitarist and vocalist Jesse Fuller went by that moniker back in the day -- he died in 1976 at 80 -- when he plied his one-man band (including his fotdella, a foot-operated hammer-and-pedal string bass of his own invention, and harmonica-kazoo-cymbals-washboard setup) on the streets of San Francisco.
The self-described “folk songster” spent years riding the rails after leaving his native Georgia, arrived in SF to work its shipyards as a wartime welder, and later opened an Oakland shoeshine parlor. He also penned blues-folk standard “San Francisco Bay Blues,” which went on to be covered by everyone from Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan to Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney. Fuller certainly displays an inviting feline ease on the original version of that number on the lovingly assembled Move on Down the Line, supplemented by notes by music maven Joe Boyd and filled out with a number of tracks that aren’t on other Fuller discs in print. The songwriter’s version is the definitive ode to the city: brisk, breezy, driven by his evocative, supple drawl and bring-it-all-home kazoo solo. It’s the finale to a quirky, compelling, and essential document of a now-less-than-recognized piece of SF music history -- a part of the Southern blues tradition that carved out his own place by the Bay.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Hammer, Indian Jewelry, Rain Machine, MV and EE, and more
By Kimberly Chun
Keep your ears open for the sound of rolling thunder, and your heart dilated with the music of yesterday and tomorrow. Today? Well, here’s some of the musical worthiness coming down the pike right about now.
Mark Eitzel and Victor Krummenacher
Singles going steady? The American Music Clubber meets up with his Camper/Monk chum, who flies solo. Thurs/24, 8 p.m., $12-$15. Red Devil Lounge, 1695 Polk, SF. (415) 921-1695.
Hammer
He won’t hurt you -- though his parachute pants could cause damage. With Whodini. Fri/25, 8 p.m., $45.75-$65.75. Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph, Oakl. www.apeconcerts.com
Strap yourself in for more musical thunder as San Fran girds itself for fall - here’s more of what floats the city’s boat.
Glitter Wizard
Wah-wah wow. Hard rock meets glamazon psych in the paws of the SF-Oakland combo. Sat/12, 9:30 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.
The Honey Brothers
Adrian Grenier of Entourage yucks it up from behind the kit. With Soko and His Orchestra. Sat/12, 9 p.m., $15. Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1422.
Sonic Reducer Overage: AC/DC, Japanther, Invisible Ocean Gathering, White Buffalo, and more
By Kimberly Chun
Relaxing too hard this Labor Day weekend? Get the blood moving at these musical happenings – so much more than we could fit in print.
AC/DC
The Aussies are slipping on Black Ice and into the record books as the fifth best-selling band in US history. With Answer. Wed/2, 8 p.m., $92.50. HP Pavilion, 525 W. Santa Clara, San Jose. www.livenation.com
Sonic Reducer Overage: Woods at 'Pines', Os Mutantes, Baseball Project, Dirt Bombs, Foreigner, and more
By Kimberly Chun
So much to do and so many Mayyors ‘n’ Lamps hoedowns, Outside Lands night shows, and damaged prom benefits to attend. San Fran never disappoints. Here are the worthies still to come.
Big Sur Festival 2009/Party in the Pines
A mini-fest to rival Golden Gate Park’s massive -- with way coolios like Kurt Vile, who puts out his first Matador disc, Childish Prodigy, in October, and SXSW breakouts such as Woods. With Wooden Shjips, Vietnam, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Gang Gang Dance, Dungen, and Saviours. Sat/29, noon-11 p.m., $31. Henry Miller Library, Highway 1, Big Sur. www.henrymiller.org. Dungen also plays with Woods and Kurt Vile Sun/30, 8 p.m., $14, at Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.
Blue Sky Black Death
From Haight to the wide blue yonder, with estimable hip-hop sounds for all. With Boy Eats Drum Machine and Boy in Static. Sat/29, 10 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.
Death Angel
You can’t keep the Bay thrash vets down. With Skinlab and Kaos. Sat/29, 9 p.m., $15. Uptown, 1928 Telegraph, Oakl. (510) 451-8100.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Chuck Prophet, Fruit Bats, 'Audition,' and more
By Kimberly Chun
San Franwindy – that’s what we call you around the house while you’re busy blowing your butt off. It’s time to take refuge in musicland – here are some shows that didn’t get swept off our radar.
Foreign Cinema
Dreamy, chill, and, natch, cinematic – that’s the sound of the year-old SF trio and its trip-hop- and alt-rock-laced new debut EP. With Maggie Morris and Ghosties. Sun/23, 9 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.
Chuck Prophet
The SF singer-songwriter unveils his new long-player, live and track by track, alongside Ernest “Boom Boom” Carter, Rusty Miller, and Tom Ayres at “Let Freedom Ring.” Expect the proceedings to be properly documented, with Kelley Stoltz behind the wheels o’ steel. Oh, yeah, and kids wanna know: will there be Donkey Kong? Sun/23, 8 p.m., $10. Knockout, 3223 Mission, SF. (415) 550-6994.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Los Amigos Invisibles, Caroline Weeks, the Frustrations, and more
By Kimberly Chun
Wow, it’s far from freezing but way too foggy at the beach – so dry off, stop gawking at the sea lion near the Sutro Baths, and check the head at these worthy musical happenings. Black Francis’ acoustic show may be sold out at Hotel Utah tonight, but there’s still too much going on for you to get your grump on.
Concrete Jungle Meets the SF Classic
Yeah, I can tell by your itchy mod finger that you’re just dying to check out the scooter rally afterparty. DJs Selecter Kirk and Prince Omar take the pulse of the mob with two-tone, ska, rocksteady, and more. Sat/8, 9 p.m., $5. Knockout, 3223 Mission, SF. (415) 550-6994.
Frustrations
Wah-wah-wow. The Detroit-based slaves to the skronkadelic grind it up something fierce. With the Mindless Things. Sat/8, 6 p.m., $5. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Bowerbirds, N.E.R.D., Themselves, Dorkfest, and more
By Kimberly Chun
More music – you got it, SF. Just ‘cause you’re you. Here are a few worthy shows that didn’t make the jam-packed issue. (Psst, pass the tissue.)
Clip’d Beaks
The sometime SF-ers share their latest visions. With Boys IV Men, Vice Cooler, and Emily Hoof. Wed/29, 9 p.m., $5. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF. (415) 552-7788.
The Donkeys
Balking? The Dead Oceans combo from San Diego responds to the healing powers of Beach Boys-style harmonies. With Magnolia Electric Company, Val Esway, and El Mirage. Wed/29, 9 p.m., $12. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.
This in from the producers; exciting to see Okkervil River, Neko Case, Amadou and Mariam, Marianne Faithfull, and - gasp - Steve Martin, among the performers:
San Francisco, CA – June 30, 2009 - What began as Warren Hellman’s bluegrass fantasy in 2001 as a wonderful gift to the city has now grown into one of the world’s largest and most anticipated festivals for concert goers and musicians alike. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 9, the FREE festival in Speedway, Marx and Lindley Meadows in Golden Gate Park, will take place on Friday, October 2 – Sunday, October 4. Starting in 2001 with 2 stages and 9 bands, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass quickly grew by leaps and bounds over the next few years. Soon 3 stages quickly turned into 5, and everyone from Willie Nelson to Ralph Stanley to Dolly Parton has graced them. As the talent continues to impress, so do the crowds. Last year's attendance estimates were a staggering 750,000+ over the three days. For the first year ever, we are pleased to announce that the festival will be expanding to include SIX stages.
In addition to bringing back those who have been with us from day one (such as Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris and Hazel Dickens) - we are excited to welcome new faces to this year's festival – Richie Havens, The Chieftains, Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers, Old 97’s, Marianne Faithfull, Amadou & Mariam and many more!
Sonic Reducer Overage: Sir Richard Bishop, Hospitals, David Dondero, Hightower, and more
By Kimberly Chun
Yes, you had to work like a dog for that Fourth of July hot dog - and to get ready for the long weekend. Wasn’t it worth it? Now’s the time to get out and get into trouble.
Sir Richard Bishop and His Freak of Araby Ensemble
The Sun City Girls son and Oakland resident also rises, this time in SF, with Oaxacan as his backing ensemble, on the closing show of his tour. For more on Bishop, go to this edition of Sonic Reducer. With Oaxacan and Rubber O Cement. Fri/3, 10 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.
Extreme Animals
The Pittsburgh-San Diego booty melters flaunt it at this light-show-bedazzled happening. With Nero's Day at Disneyland, Bulbs, and Teengirl Fantasy. Fri/3, 8 p.m., $6. Lobot Gallery, 1800 Campbell, Oakl. www.lobotgallery.com
Hospitals
The raging Adam Stonehouse project recently got a lotta love from UK’s Wire. With Photobooth and Baths. Fri/3, 9:30 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, S.F. (415) 923-0923.
Any show that ends with a bunch of people in a conga line has to be great. This past weekend, Pink Martini, a twelve-piece band hailing from Portland Oregon, joined the San Francisco Symphony for an electrifying performance that covered everything from classical concertos to foot stomping Brazilian street music. The range in styles of music this ensemble covers makes a single night at one of their concerts seem like twenty different musical experiences and then some. Being part Puerto Rican, I'm drawn to their more Latin based songs, like "Donde Estas Yolanda" and "Andalucia" but there's really no way not to love all their music, especially when they get a little help for our very own San Francisco Symphony.
Sonic Reducer Overage: BFD, Wale, Handsome Furs, Holy Fuck, and more
The grey can stay – it is, after all, summer in fog city – but you know you gotta get out. Leave home and get an earful of inspiration at, hey, maybe these worthwhile shows.
Parson Red Heads
The cute-as-a-button LA combo polishes up Cali folk rock for every parson, be it the preacher or Gram. With Cotton Jones. Tues/2, 8 p.m., $10. Cafe Du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. (415) 861-5016.
Rosewood Thieves
Going their way? The New York indie rockers are California dreaming and in love with the sun. With Mississippi Man and Lemon Sun. Wed/3, 9 p.m., $7. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.
Walking confidently on stage and decked out in tradition Japanese garb, the Yoshida Brothers took over the stage at Yoshi's SF in the Fillmore -- they'll be performing there until May 16th. The Yoshida brothers play the shamisen, a square shaped guitar like instrument with only three stings that twangs and resonates long after the stings have been plucked.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Dead Meadow, Steve Earle, Fracas, Loney Dear, and more
By Kimberly Chun
Could it be any prettier, any more delicately dewy, any more enticing, out there in this stone-beauty by the Bay? And when the sun goes down, you must go out to play - or watch others play. More worth-while sights, sighs, and sounds for you, more than could fit in print.
Steve Earle
Far from Nashville and an outlaw and songwriter-activist born a little too late, Steve Earle is rattling the chains of his past and looking back on the music of his late brilliant and damaged mentor Townes Van Zandt with the new Townes (New West). Thurs/14, 6 p.m., free. Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight, SF. (415) 831-1200.
Loney Dear
Dudes, make up your mind - comma or no comma? Ah, hell, none of it matters when the Loneys wash those sad-and-lonelies away with their sweet indie-rock melodicism. With Headlights and Audio Out Send. Fri/15, 10 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.
Sonic Reducer Overage: the Dead, Alela Diane, Myka 9, Destroyer, Ponytail, Brilliant Colors, and more
By Kimberly Chun
Rain-day women, overcast men - it's drizzling all over SF, but the music keeps coming. Here are more worthy shows than we could drip into print.
Brilliant Colors
The SF trio surfs the latest wave of girlish lo-fi pop with sweet, primal punchiness. With Abe Vigoda, High Castle, and No Babies. Wed/6. 8 p.m., $7. 21 Grand, 416 25th St., Oakl. www.21grand.org
Myka 9
Everyone seems to be borrowing from the rapid-fire Freestyle Fellowship fella, who has lent a hand to performers like Busdriver and Prefuse 73. Thurs/7, 9 p.m., $15. Independent, 628 Divisadero, S.F. (415) 771-1422.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Paris, Total Trash Weekend, Garrett Pierce, and more
Babes in Ty land: Ty Segall messes with ya as part of Total Trash Weekend.
By Kimberly Chun
Bay rap vets and raucous rock sprats - it all goes splat this week. I'm guessing you'll find plenty of trouble to get into - and musical artistry to appreciate - when you're not busy downing scrump-dilly-icious (and cheap!) pastor tacos at the Gallo Giro taco truck at 23rd and Treat.
Goapele
Oakland's own draws the curtain on new music: check her site for the spanking, sinuous "Milk + Honey." With Cody Chestnutt. Fri/1, 9 p.m., $27. Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1422.
Zion-I
This is the weekend Bay hip-hop stages The TakeOver. The local twosome takes it to another level in honor of its new long-player. With Kev Choice Ensemble and Trackademicks and the Honor Roll. Fri/1, 9 p.m., $19-$23. Slim's, 333 11th St., SF. (415) 522-0333.
The Balky Mule rides to brilliance on rickety romance
By Todd Lavoie
THE BALKY MULE
The Length Of The Rail
(Fat Cat)
Stubborn? Who's stubborn? Don't be thrown by the Balky Mule name -- Sam Jones might have selected his pseudonym in honor of an unyielding beast of burden, but his newest release is quite an amiable fellow, actually. The formerly Bristol, England-based musician (known for his stints in Flying Saucer Attack, The Third Eye Foundation, Movietone, and Crescent) relocated to Melbourne, Australia and focused on crafting wobbly-footed D.I.Y. pop and alluring folk/electronica collisions. In spite of a resume flush with hazy spin-drifts of guitar feedback and creeping atmosphere, Jones' Balky Mule project is a considerably more playful affair; The Length Of The Rail is a bubbling, bleeping romp of toy-shop psychedelia and likable shy-boy vocals. On this sophomore release -- though best of luck to you in finding its predecessor, as it appears to have been a limited-run and self-issued -- the English ex-pat clearly seems to be having a grand ol' time, picking up every instrument in sight and banging upon every available surface in pursuit of finding the right combination of curious ping-pings and plunkety-plunks.
Still, the disc is very much a bedroom creation, and one can almost imagine Jones skipping and grinning from behind the safety of his teetering piles of instruments; behind that wall is a bashful, boyish warble, pitched somewhere between Robert Wyatt and a more lucid version of Syd Barrett. It's a thin, sweet, incredibly vulnerable tenor -- perhaps not always perfectly-pitched, but channeled wisely for tremendous emotional impact. Set against sputtering electronics and delicate guitar textures, Jones' innocent rambles trigger both the sad sighs of nostalgia and the cheerier heart-flutters of childhood memories.
The Bay's Grass Widow sounds out mesmerizing shapes
By Michael Harkin
Grass Widow's harmonious post-punk tension is fostered below SF street level, in a former meat locker containing, among other things, a very charming quilt with the band's name patched into it. In anticipation of an impending record release -- the band plays Thursday at ATA -- I met there with bass player Hannah Lew and drummer Lillian Maring (guitarist and trumpet player Raven Mahon was overseas), who, although living far apart — Maring is on the East Coast at present — were clearly very happy to be together.
"It's not like there are any dispensable characters," explains Lew. After the dissolution of Shitstorm, Lew's former band with Mahon, the two started playing together in 2007 with Maring, who was in the city for the summer from Washington state. Though Maring went back up north for a bit, she says she quickly returned and the trio "got really serious" — serious enough to tour the U.S. the following summer after cranking out a wonderful demo CD-R/ cassette that makes up most of their upcoming self-titled 12-inch on the local Make a Mess label.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Vivian Girls, Ghost, Spinal Tap, How to Destroy the Universe, and more
Take the wheel: Vivian Girls' "Tell the World."
How to destroy a weekend - or, for that matter, a weeknight? Sticky, sweaty, and sill up for fun - SF knows how it's done. Telling ya, there's so much more to see and hear than we could fit into print.
Dry Spells
Folk rock gets another angelic kick upstairs when the Bay Area band gets onstage. With Pillow Queens and Vultures. Wed/22, 9 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.
The Pets
The Oaktown garage-rock threesome preps for its European journey. With International Espionage and Master Volume. Wed/22, 9 p.m., $5. Kimo's, 1351 Polk, SF. (415) 885-4535.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Silversun Pickups, Bloc Party, Atmosphere, Kylesa, free shows, and so much more
Manic panic: Silversun Pickups' "Panic Switch."
Lucky you, you aren't broiling in the desert at Coachella - you're keeping your cool in SF, and boy, you've got a lot to keep your bad self outta trouble. So partake in the Coachella spillover - and then some...
Intelligence
"Icky Baby" is in the eye of the beholder - and the mind of the Intelligence, those hard-driving, gristly lo-fi smarty-pants. With Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall. Fri/17, 9 p.m., $8. Annie's Social Club, 917 Folsom, SF. (415) 974-1585.
Loop!Station
Loops, vocals, and cello are Robin Coomer's and Sam Bass' tools, arriving now with a new CD.
Fri/17, 8 and 10 p.m., $10. Yoshi's, 1330 Fillmore, SF. (415) 655-5600.
Text and photos by Ariel Soto. Devendra Banhart performs again Thu/16 at Yoshi's SF
"You're a sexy beast!" someone shouted from the crowd, as Devendra Banhart made his way onto the stage of the Independent to a sold out show, Tuesday, April 14th. After the openers, The Healing Curse, left the stage, Devendra started with an acoustic set and then later was joined by his band, serenading his fans with songs of about sweet little birds, wild wolves, and Latin love.
Live Shots: Yonder Mountain String Band at the Fillmore, 4/10
Text and photos by Ariel Soto
Yonder Mountain String Band has serious groupies. I mean really hardcore groupies. I talked to several String Band fans in the audience before the show. For one person it was his 36th time seeing Yonder Mountain and he has plans to follow the band through California and then up to Oregon for their tour. There was another woman in the audience who said she saw them at least 70 times ... how is that even possible? By then I was excited for the show to get started -- who were these string strummers? Once the band made its way to the stage the Fillmore was thoroughly saturated with sweet smelling smoke, feet were stomping, and hippy skirts were twirling as the folksy, bluegrass notes weaved their way between the band's eager, dare I say, obsessed, devotees.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Brit, Devendra, Japanther, Fleet Foxes, and more
Brooklyn cheer: Japanther's "Challenge."
"Rising above the smoke and debris" - yes, we can. More to do, see, and hear...
Undebateable: Eef Barzelay's "I Love the Unknown."
Clem Snide Hungry Bird (429), the latest release by the Boston-born band, almost succeeded in killing Clem Snide. Yet Eef Barzelay carries forth - sweet Snide 'tude in hand - alongside Brendan Fitzpatrick and Ben Martin. With the Heligoats and Pepi Ginsberg. Wed/8, 9 p.m., $10-$12. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.
Love X Nowhere
Immaculate shoegaze and anthemic pop stream from the SF fivesome's new self-released High Score Blackout. With Headlights and the Love Language. Thurs/9, 9 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.
Who is the shy girl casting her eyes downward on the cover of Little Hells (Kemado)? Here in Hell, Marissa Nadler could be a damsel who has tumbled from a frayed tapestry in search of her unicorn, a crystal doll who has escaped from her vitrine, or a tubercular maid who has slipped out of her Victorian deathbed photograph to traipse this earthly plane. She's the dark, downbeat cousin of the enormous-eyed cameo cutie gracing The Saga of Mayflower May (Eclipse, 2005), the sunlit warbler singing in the lawn at the first Arthur Fest, and the whimsical Rhode Island School of Design-educated artist I spoke to around the time of Songs III: Bird on the Water (Kemado, 2007).
With her fourth full-length, Nadler enters a new, more synthetic, and increasingly richer musical realm than that on her previous recordings — one outfitted with its own exquisite troubles and terrors. The almost imperceptibly swooping faux strings that strafe "Heart Paper Lover" sound like tiny planes dive-bombing a cruel sweetheart. The goth muses slumbering within Nadler's out-folk also come to light, blinking: one imagines Mary Shelley waking to find herself in Frankenstein's grave-dirt-encrusted shoes on the harpsichord-strewn, almost Sisters of Mercy-like "Mary Comes Alive." Still, Nadler's voice has never sounded so fine — catching itself on miniscule beads of longing on "Rosary" and fading, delicately detuned, like a dying darling on "Ghosts and Lovers."
MARISSA NADLER With Eric Shea. Wed/8, 9:30 p.m., $10-$12. Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. (415) 861-5016, www.cafedunord.com
Sonic Reducer Overage: Snoop Dogg, Eugene Mirman, Jeremy Jay, Skin Horse, and so much more
San Francisco just can't, just won't stop. More musical - and comedic - worthies than one can jam into print.
The Get Up Kids
These lesser-known monsters of emo, progenitors of punk-pop, are back. With Approach. Thurs/2, 8 p.m., $26-$29. Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.
Don't fear Bonnie "Prince" Billy - 'Beware' marks his most accessible effort to date
BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY
Beware
(Drag City)
After multiple career tangents, name changes, and rambles hither and yon, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, ne Will Oldham, appears to have finally arrived. The accolades are pouring in from NPR to small-town daily newspapers -- a marvel when one considers the fact that the Louisville, Ky., post-punk scene that Oldham sprang from was so roundly ignored during its most vital years in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when Squirrel Bait, Slint, and later Oldham and brothers Ned and Paul performed as Palace (Brothers/Songs/Music).
The most accessible, clean, and least eccentric recording to date from Oldham, Beware might be considered the recording in which the songwriter assumes his rightful place in the current rock canon as the music-maker who prefigured the so-called freak/out-folk scene and the enabler and encourager of such talents as Joanna Newsom and Dawn McCarthy.
This time, his roving sensibility finds its soothingly smooth fit with help from Josh Abrams of Town and Country, Emmett Kelly of Cairo Gang, Akita Youssefi, Jon Langford of the Mekons, Rob Mazurek of Isotope 217, and renowned pedal steel session player Greg Leisz, among others - likely his most accomplished set of contributors to date. Still, despite Beware’s full-bodied, country-soul sound, I feel almost nostalgic for the humanizing glitchy folk Palace and early Bonnie “Prince” Billy was known for - perhaps that’s just my indie rock values rearing their scruffy heads.
SXSW: Petering out with PJ Harvey, AIDS Wolf, Moriarty, Sons of Albion, and more
By the light of the moon: PJ Harvey and John Parrish at Stubb's.
South by Southwest peters out with... Peter, Bjorn and John. Actually, not really - I dig those Scandinavian whistle-bait popsters and they were playing multiple shows - but there were other less familiar artists and rare diversions to seek out on Saturday, March 21, in Austin, Texas.
The sweet 'n' sunny Saturday morn started with slowly with some quality, low-price thrifting at Texas Thrift Store (Joanna Newsom and folk-psych gals would have appreciated the dusty rose, homemade patchwork vest and nautilus-shell purse) and a visit to western wear superstore Shepler's, both off I-35. Then off to the Convention Center - which, by the end of the week during each SXSW, starts to seem a little like home (that is, if home was strewn with fat bundles of The Austin Chronicle and free bottles of Fuze green tea). There, Neil Young's famed manager Elliott Roberts and his documentarian Larry Johnson talked up Young's forthcoming series of box sets, starting with Neil Young Archives Volume 1 (1963-1972), on BluRay, DVD, and CD. Pretty amazing stuff - the BluRay edition will offer interactive components that will allow Young and company to offer up new photos, music, and film when they become available (one example, Robert said, are the Mynah Birds recordings made by Young and Rick James, which aren't the now-locked box set - they just managed to license the tracks from Motown so when they're available the BluRay owners will be notified and can likely download them directly).
SXSW: Quick fixes with Flower Travellin' Band, Fleet Foxes' J. Tillman, Garotas Suecas, and more
Funky love: Brazil's Garotas Suecas seduces at Emo's.
SXSW memories - fading now, but hey, it's only Friday. Among the highlights yesterday, March 18: Brazil's Garotas Suecas - the bright-eyed, fun 'n' funky heirs to Booker T. or at least Sharon Jones. My Portuguese is a bit nonexistent, but we got the picture loud and clear, thanks to the ensemble's hyper-expressive vocalist.
Even more mind-blowing: Flower Travellin' Band at Smokin' Music. The band sometimes best known for its nekkid, motorcycle-riding album shot finally made it to the states for the last of five shows on its first U.S. tour. Previous sojourns have been scuttled for various reasons, but wow! Deeply eccentric power-centered psych-stoner rock - Hideki Ishima's huge sitarla is only part of the story, generating resonant, almost boomingly bass-like sounds. Have to see more of them if/when they get to SF.
Massive massive: Hideki Ishima wields his mighty sitarla.
More Mochi: 215 the Freshest Kids hurl some words at Daly City Records' Pre-SXSW/St. Patrick's Day Party at Beso Cantina March 17. All photos by Kimberly Chun.
Or is a whimper more accurate. Yes, the signs are in the air and in the program, as we scan the pages of the official guide and the unofficial day party lists. Welcome to South by Southwest on the downlow, rocked by the turbulent winds blowing off a global economic meltdown.
The big conference keynote names like Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Robert Plant, and Lou Reed? This year we get the uber-talented and esteemed but nonetheless much less sexy - sorry, Quince - Quincy Jones. Instead of the Stooges and Morrissey, we will have onstage interviews with Carlene Carter and the Hold Steady. The corporate banners are still here, but with a not-quite-as-splashy, diminished presence - just where is that MySpace South By Party Bus? The major labels and glossy publications are quieter than usual - whither the Vice party? Is there a Vice party?
Instead Rachael Ray - wholesome indie rock fan incarnate - is serving up the New York Dolls and the aforementioned Hold Steady at her showcase. Hey, after all, we're all eating in these days - we can use some new recipes. This is SXSW on the cheap, forced onto a low-budg diet by a still-suffering music biz. Yes, music continues unabated, but can its makers afford to make it out here this year? The underground bashes around SXSW appear to slowing down or maybe they just aren't on the public radar - in any case I still want to make Todd P's Ms. Bea free all-ages shows and the French Legation outdoor bills - now Arthur-free (R.I.P.). We'll see if there's anything as fun as Dan Deacon and Fucked Up's guerrilla throwdowns shaking up the university campus and the bridge, after hours.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Farflung, MSTRKRFT, Eleni Mandell, the Homosexuals, and mo'
Men at work: MSTRKRFT's "Work on You."
Yes, San Francisco, you're unstoppable. As usual, the city by the Bay bays - nay - howls at the moon. More worthy sounds that didn't make it to print.
Judgement Day
The Bay Area band is using the tools of Bach and Beethoven for... devil horn-throwin' eve-ill! Wed/18, 8 p.m., $10. Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. (415) 861-5016.
Eleni Mandell and Victor Krummenacher
The LA singer-songwriter strikes an arch, jazzy note with her praised **Artificial Fire** (Zedtone) and the ex-**Guardian** art director digs deep with **Patriarch’s Blues** (MagneticMotorworks, 2008). Thurs/19, 8 p.m., $12-$15. Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. (415) 861-5016.
Last Days climbs "North" into shimmering electronic shoegaze
By Todd Lavoie
LAST DAYS
The Safety Of The North
(n5MD)
Keep your best headphones handy -- you're going to want them for spins of The Safety Of The North, the third and most recent full-length release from Edinburgh, Scotland-based Graham Richardson and his ambient/electro-folk Last Days project. As ominous as the artist's AKA might be, the disc is nowhere near as fearful or nightmarish as one might expect. Rather, the music found here is intimate and ruminative, frequently glowing from ripples of electronics and shoegaze-y guitar textures. Delicate acoustic finger-picking and understated piano meditations add further flair to these largely-instrumental womblike pieces, and the occasional insertion of the human voice into the mix helps immensely in making this a thoughtful, emotional listen.
And while the proceedings sometimes veer towards melancholia, it's a strangely comforting, sit-around-and-ponder-on-a-grey-day stripe of melancholia we're talking about here -- a little maudlin and wistful, yes, but ultimately cathartic in the end. Even the cold chills which bluster forth from the disc's lower register from time to time offer their own curiously cocooning sensations to the listener -- especially with the help of a good pair of headphones. The Safety Of the North is something worthy of surrender -- of succumbing to its many hums and whirrs and whipping auroras of shimmering light.
There's a back story to the album, though it isn't required knowledge for appreciating its many charms: Richardson composed these 15 songs around the themes of of change, struggle, and hope. Specifically, it concerns a young girl, Alice, and her family. Disenchanted with city living, they decide to “move north” (the Arctic Circle, judging from a couple of contextual clues provided along the way) to find a simpler, quieter day-to-day life. Such major upheavals usually don't come about without their share of challenges, however. Thus Richardson has constructed a story-arc which from sadness to hope to struggle to sadness to hope once again. More or less so, anyway. Again, since this is mostly an instrumental recording, the itinerary on this emotional journey is up to the listener, I suppose. Still, the prevailing themes of The Safety Of The North -- change, struggle, hope -- remain palpable, even without too much assistance from lyrics. Forgive me for trotting out the “cinematic” tag (I know that the label gets used quite regularly for any sort of wordless music which manages to create vivid, stirring images) but it honestly does apply to Richardson's music. Even if concrete images fail to come to mind, the creation of particular moods is tough to miss.
Feel spiffy: the country slicks of Fancy Dan Band apply tongue to cheek
FANCY DAN BAND
Born Fancy
(self-released)
By Andre Torrez
"I bet you clean up real nice, fancy as can be, but I'm sorry to say, you'll never be as fancy as me." Ouch! Mr. Fancy Pants. With such confident lyrics set to a boom-chic-a-boom rockabilly beat, the Fancy Dan Band's debut, Born Fancy, is a winner. Frontman Fancy Dan is a Midwest-meets-West transplant, and his Bay Area band plays with enough barn-burning energy to make grandpa wanna hoe-down. No, really. The lyric is a throwback to the style of country pioneer Hank Williams, with the musicianship of Junior Brown and the flavor of Chuck Berry.
After realizing his dream was to be a country-folk vocalist, Dan decided to pack his bags and head out to the coast. Along the way, he made this album - the fruit of a three-day whirlwind Nashville pilgrimage last summer, boasting first-rate musicians on drums, upright bass, and electric guitar.
Sounds pretty traditional, I know, but in the realm of country, stars often take themselves far too seriously. It’s refreshing to hear these guys employ a bit of playfulness and what I hope is a pseudo-cockiness. For instance, the song “Wake Up Fancy” hinges on a wonderfully silly, self-referential double entendre concerning Dan's greatness. I imagine him pulling away the sheets in the morning, already wearing a pristine pressed white suit and cocking his feathered hat just so in the mirror. Much like the picture on the album cover. Fancy.
FANCY DAN BAND
March 21, call for time and price.
Café International
508 Haight, SF
(415) 552-7390
Let 'em roam: SF singer-songwriters Anna Laube and Davis Jones raise their voices at Hotel Utah
Island girl: Anna Laube singing “Kihei Blues.”
By Todd Lavoie
The Hotel Utah Saloon promises a lovely showcase for Bay Area voices Thursday, March 12: four local singer-songwriters will hit the stage, all of whom are deserving of serious attention. Berkeley vocalist Courtney Nicole and 515-representing folkie Rebecca Cross will bring their savvy strumming and thoughtful lyricism to the evening's proceedings. Joining the roster will be two other songwriters who call San Francisco home: Anna Laube and Davis Jones. Both have excellent new CDs out - be sure to visit the merch table between sets!
Laube describes herself as a bit of a roamer in her press materials, and that wandering spirit tends to flavor her just-released second album, Pool All the Love * Pool All the Knowledge (Gingko), a comfortingly rootsy collection of songs that evoke memories of road trips and visits to quieter, less bustling locales than her current place of residence.
The setting: Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a young American, and Céline (Julie Delpy), a young French woman, have just met on a train. The duo disembark in Vienna, where they spend the day discussing life and love and getting to know each other. In this scene they are in a record store filled floor to ceiling with vinyl.
Jesse: This place is pretty neat.
Céline: There is even a listening booth. (Céline pulls out a record embellished with a black-and-white profile. The name spread across the top is indiscernible in the distance.) Have you ever heard of this singer?
Sonic Reducer Overage: Ghostly, M. Ward, Har Mar Superstar, and so much more
Woof! Har Mar Superstar's "DUI."
You're stormy, San Francisco - yet you still partay like no other city. Here's even more worthy music - more than we could squeeze into print.
Har Mar Superstar
Sean Tillmann, Sean Na Na - hey whatever your name is: we know you got the stuff to write songs for the Cheetah Girls. With the New Trust and the Limousines. Wed/5, 8 p.m., $12. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. (415) 861-2011.
M. Ward
She and Him? No, him! The former South Bay teacher has made a pretty swell name for himself - though I'd love from him to break out of his Hold Time (Merge) shell.
Wed/5, 8 p.m., $29.50. Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon, SF. (415) 563-6504.
Color me evocative: Christopher Willits' "Colors Shifting."
Ghostly International Live
Michna, Tycho, Christopher Willits, and other phantoms party like it’s the label’s 10-year anniversary. With the Sight Below, Lusine, Kate Simko, Deru, and Eliot L. Fri/6, 10 p.m. doors, $15-$20. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. (415) 820-9669.
Noise Pop: Port O'Brien, Odawas, Afternoons find safe harbor at Cafe du Nord
Plucky: Port O'Brien at Cafe du Nord. All photos by Ariel Soto.
By Ariel Soto
Deep from within the depths of Cafe Du Nord came sounds of ships and seafarers, as Port O'Brien took the stage Friday, Feb. 27, for a concert that could have literally rocked a boat. They shared the stage with Afternoons, who got the whole house dancing, and Odawas, who told the audience "We may not be what you want... but we're what you need."
Noise Pop: Giddy with Thao Nguyen at Swedish American Hall
Dippin' dots: Thao at Swedish American Hall. All photos by Ariel Soto.
By Ariel Soto
Her dress was pink with black polka dots, and she got it just for us. Thao Nguyen only had one dress, and she had already worn that one on the cover of the Guardian last week and figured we'd all remember it, so Nguyen went out and got a new dress for her sold-out show on Feb. 26 at the Swedish American Music Hall. We all screamed and hollered and clapped like ridiculous school children, giddy beyond control as our rock star sung song after song of irresistible, delicious hyper-goodness. We'll never forget that night and that perfect little dress.
Lauren Dukoff has been photographing her friends since she was 13. It was simply serendipitous that they became famous. As a result, her photos have appeared on the cover of everything from Rolling Stone to the Guardian.
On Feb 20, at the Eleanor Harwood Gallery, Dukoff's intimate to obscene portrayals of Devendra Banhart, Matteah Baim, Joanna Newsom, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and others went on display along with artwork by those featured in the photographs. The exhibit runs through March 7.
Noise Pop: Take two with Thao - the SF singer-songwriter on watermelons, crazy Eights, and the 'burbs
There’s a lot more to Thao Nguyen of Thao with the Get Down Stay Down than meets the eye: watermelons, missing cowboy boots, wash-and-fold duties, and missing mini-vans. Here’s more of a talk with her; for the rest of this interview, go here. Nguyen performs as part of Noise Pop ‘09 on Feb. 26.
SFBG: You just got back from Portland? How’s the recording of the new album going?
Thao Nguyen: It’s a pretty slow process. Everything has to be of a higher standard than you’re used to. With our producer, he’s really into details. It’s still Tucker [Martine, who recorded We Brave Bee Stings and All (Kill Rock Stars)]. He’s awesome. He has an incredible ear and has higher standards than I’m used to. He’s always asking me for more.
Sing of Iron and Wine: Tickets go on sale today at 10 a.m. for Swedish American shows
This in from Cafe du Nord:
"We just announced a two-night run with Iron and Wine at the Swedish American Hall on May 6 and 7. The shows are going to be very special, intimate evenings, with set lists being determined by fans via the Iron and Wine Web site.
"Tickets are going on sale this Friday, Feb. 20, at 10 a.m. and are of course expected to go very quickly. Tickets are available at www.cafedunord.com. Tickets are will-call only. They are non-transferable. No hard tickets will be issued at any point. Purchaser must present ID at the door to claim tickets.
IRON AND WINE
With Yogoman Burning Band (May 6th only) and Magic Leaves (May 7th only)
May 6-7, 7:30 p.m., $25, all ages
Swedish American Hall
2174 Market, SF
(415) 861-5016 www.cafedunord.com
Fiddling around: Andrew Bird and Loney, Dear at Fillmore
Surfin' bird: Andrew Bird. All photos by Ariel Soto.
By Ariel Soto
Last night, Feb. 19, the Fillmore turned itself into a fantasy fairyland filled with gentle creatures as the sweet, whistling Andrew Bird and endearing Loney, Dear took the stage. Loney, Dear, a band from Scandinavia, was able to get the crowd to sing along and even harmonize, as they strummed their guitars and tapped the piano keys, creating an incredibly lovely and mellow sound. Headliner Andrew Bird removed his shoes as soon as he got onstage, fiddled like a mad man, and kept the audience wistfully engaged for every song. If only I had known to wear my snow white dress...
ANDREW BIRD
With Loney, Dear
Fri/20, 9 p.m., $32.50 Fillmore
1805 Geary, SF
(415) 346-6000
Raising Lazarus, contemplating the SF band's dirty-faced realism
By Brandon Bussolini
To borrow from writer Jessica Hopper, the nature of the Internet is to refer. Before I encountered San Francisco's Lazarus as a Web entity, I'd seen them open for Beach House at the Swedish American Hall and had met the band's vocalist-personality, Trevor Montgomery, a couple of times.
He's super-tall, not a giant but approximately when dressed in a too-small trenchcoat buttoned up all the way to the top as he was when I first met him through my friend Yoni. A long face with attenuated features, he's like a half-remembered Æon Flux character. The music I later heard Lazarus perform - the band started as a collab with Marty Anderson, but the lineup live and in the studio now includes Sacto natives Kelly Nyland and Kathryn Sechrist - was harrowing and gooey. Spacemen 3 can make opiate addiction sound like a religious experience. Lazarus, on the other hand, makes music where using, being broken down and waiting for redemption isn't any more attractive or transcendent than, like, a John Ford rewrite of Waiting for Godot.
If you know the Gourds, you know them prolific Texan folk don't take things lying down - especially when there's a frenetic album-a-year quota to be maxed out around these parts. Alternative country, progressive bluegrass, or whatever you want to call it, the Austin, Texas, honky-tonk veterans have been making sweet music since the dawn of the '90s, when multi-instrumentalists Kevin "Shinyribs" Russell and Jimmy Smith formed the group alongside drummer Charlie Llewellin and accordionist Claude Bernard. A bit of member reshuffling later, the band emerged with a new drummer and Max Johnston of Wilco fame manning the banjos, and has kept that rotation ever since.
Does Coachella or Bonnaroo have the better lineup?
By Danica Li
It's about time that the lineups for the two biggest of the bigwig music festivals on the continent, Coachella and Bonnaroo, leaked online, precipitated by a now traditional annual flurry of bizarre Internet rumors, faux photo-manipped posters, and jittery, cross-fingered posts on Stereogum. Naturally there's plenty of cross-pollination between the two, and no stunners, except that Phish hasn't played Bonnaroo ever before, where most of the bands on both lineups are religious frequenters of music festivals as well-established as South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, and as far-flung as the Roskilde Festival in Denmark and Punkkelpop in Belgium.
The big names aren't so dimunitive, but then Coachella has a long and storied history of luring in bomb marquee reunions that it's struggled to live up to since the legendary Pixies jammed together onstage in 2004. Paul McCartney headlines on Friday, the Killers on Saturday, and the Cure on Sunday. My Bloody Valentine's playing on Sunday, too, while Leonard Cohen, Superchunk, Okkervil River, Morrissey, MSTRKRFT, Franz Ferdinand, Girl Talk, Crystal Castles, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Throbbing Gristle, and Lykke Li are all scheduled to play during the fest's three days of music, California sunshine, and wacky art installations.
Beyond apathy: Todd Snider to deliver 'Peace Queer' musings at Great American
By Michelle Broder Van Dyke
Nashville singer-songwriter Todd Snider has been making folk-rock croons since 1994, but his last three albums have shown an evolving sound that lends itself more towards protest cries than an apathetic hipster generation is used to hearing.
His most recent eight-track EP, Peace Queer (Mega Force, 2008), springs an attack on Dubya (it was released on Oct. 14 before we knew who his predecessor would be), war, and the state of the nation with clever, literate lyrics that Snider says are meant for him (“I share them with you because they rhyme / I did not do this to change your mind about anything / I did this to ease my own mind about everything”). That statement seems as true as this non-commercial album - in title, cover, distribution strategy, spoken word pieces, and length - and reinforces Snider’s sincerity.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Social Distortion, SF Bluegrass Festival, Eagles of Death Metal, Chinese NY dance party, and more
Wanna see my 'stache: Eagles of Death Metal's "Solid Gold."
Confucius may not have approved of 1015's big ole Chinese NY beat-down - but, hey, he never really knew how to par-tay. Here's more fun schtuff that shoulda, coulda, but didn't make it to print.
Delta Spirit
Northern soul and indie rock - just the combo for the San Diego unit. With Other Lives and Dawes. Wed/4, 8:30 p.m. doors, $12. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.
Origami Ghosts
Raul Sanchez hosts the contemplative Seattle indie-rockers at his monthly semi-acoustic Penny Arcade showcase. With Eyes, Il Gato, and Floating Robot Familiar. Wed/4, 8 p.m., $7. Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St., SF. (415) 647-2888.
“Normally known as the man who brings you the fabulous Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park each year, this weekend you will have the chance to see Warren Hellman in his other guise: that of humble banjo player. Warren will be sitting in with the inimitable Ron Thomason (leader and humorist of Dry Branch Fire Squad) and Heidi Clare (fiddler and clogger extraordinaire, formerly with old-time band Reeltime Travelers) at their show in Sausalito on Saturday, Jan. 31. A good time is guaranteed by all so get there early to get a seat!”
RON THOMASON, WARREN HELLMAN, AND HEIDI CLARE
Sat/31, 8 p.m., $15 donation
Sausalito Presbyterian Church
112 Bulkley, Sausalito
(415) 383-8716
Sonic Reducer Overage: Metronomy, Bored Stiff, Extra Action, and so much more
Color blogged: Metronomy's "Radio Ladio."
Hey, get out! Here are a few more shows that make it worth missing - or recording - the new episodes of Lost and Battlestar Galactica.
Tippy Canoe
Let the uke revolution carry on - thanks to strummer stunners Tippy Canoe of Oakland and Anna Ash of Ann Arbor, Mich. With Antonetteg. Wed/21, 9 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.
Metronomy
Creepy, conceptual electronic pop, anyone? The UK combo brings out the breakbot - just for fun - in honor of Popscene. With the Mae Shi. Thurs/22, 10 p.m., $12. Popscene, 330 Ritch, SF. (415) 902-3125.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Meat Puppets, Devil Makes Three, Jeremy Pelt, and Mo!
Alternate Nation statesmen: Meat Puppets.
Get out, SF - get out... and check out the music pouring the streets of Grog City.
Slough Feg and Hatchet
His majesty meets the teen metallists, thanks to Lucifer's Hammer. With Passive Aggressive. Wed/14, 9 p.m., $7. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF. (415) 552-7788.
Devil Makes Three
Devil lovers gathered round for the band's set at Treasure Island music fest. Thurs/15, 6 p.m., free. Amoeba Music, 2455 Telegraph, Berk. (510) 549-1125.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Magic Bullets, LoCura, White Cloud, Chuchito Valdes, and more
Mind that One Track Mind: Egyptian Lover's "Freak-A-Holic."
San Francisco stirs itself, shakes its shaggy head, and leaves home. Here are a few more reasons.
Leopold and His Fiction
The many moods of the SF indie-folk-rock combo turn toward...celebration with the unveiling of their new full-length Ain't No Surprise. Electric! With the Healing Curse and Candy Apple. Fri/9, 9:30 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.
LoCura
Living la vida LoCura? That means an eye-opening blend of flamenco, rumba, reggae, and hip-hop complete with bellydane and plenty of Animas. Fri/9, 9 p.m., $15. Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.
Ragas to remember: Robbie Basho's 'Bonn 1st Supreme'
ROBBIE BASHO
Bonn Ist Supreme
(Bo Weavil)
By Max Goldberg
Steel-string master Jack Rose emphasizes the gravity of Robbie Basho's playing in a brief note introducing this second-generation recording of a late Basho performance: "For me, 12-string guitar begins and ends with Blind Willie McTell and Robbie Basho."
Basho was loosely affiliated with the "American Primitive" movement centering around John Fahey's Takoma label, but from early on he displayed a unique voraciousness for cross-cultural transfusions. Besides adapting his last name from the Japanese haiku poet, his extended "ragas" were as likely to veer into Moorish and Persian terrain as the typical Indian-blues hybrid.
Bonn Ist Supreme is a generous helping of Basho's searching guitar spirals, and while 66 minutes worth of his immersed playing may be too much for one sitting, dipping in piece by piece makes for lovely swimming.
In spite of coming in the midst of Basho's much-derided Windham Hill period, the 1980 concert shows the guitarist still hard at work at compositions he wrote 15 years earlier. Dewy epics like "Rocky Mountain Raga," "The Girl and the Lotus," and "California Raga" are all given energetic run-throughs, and though Basho's occasional baritone wails make for an easy mark, they're also a powerful indicator of the guitarist's unembarrassed zeal.
Stoltz, Citadelle, Agent Ribbons make Neil Martinson smile: more picks from '2008
The up side: Agent Ribbons.
Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers.
SMILE'S NEIL MARTINSON'S TOP 10
- Citadelle at the Knockout, Aug. 4
- Robert Forster at Great American Music Hall, Sept. 10
- Peter Hammill at Great American Music Hall, Sept. 30
- Kelley Stoltz, Circular Sounds (Sub Pop)
- The Moon Upstairs, Guarding the Golden Apple (Gifted Children)
- Various artists, Daisies soundtrack (Finders Keepers)
- Bart Davenport, Palaces (Antenna Farm)
- Lavender Diamond, www.myspace.com/lavenderdiamond
- Agent Ribbons, www.myspace.com/agentribbons
- Willow Willow, www.myspace.com/willowwillow
Fresh and Onlys and Sonny Smith's 'Fine and Good' picks for '08
Ox-y contained: Dragging an Ox Through Water.
Another in a series of year-end picks from Bay Area musicians, writers, scene-makers, and music lovers. SONNY SMITH'S "FINE AND GOOD" LIST
- The Dry Spells
- The Fresh and Onlys
- Nodzzz
- Brilliant Colors
- Thee Oh Sees
- Sic Alps
- The Sandwitches
- Jeffrey Lewis
- Dragging an Ox Through Water
Please keep Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan in mind, sweetheart
ISOBEL CAMPBELL AND MARK LANEGAN
Sunday at Devil Dirt
(Fontana International)
By Todd Lavoie
In this week's new pop canon spread, I got a chance to hail hosannas upon the late great Lee Hazlewood, whose presence has been quite deeply felt in some of the finest music of 2008. Perhaps the stamp of influence was most deeply inked, however, with Sunday at Devil Dirt, the second collaboration between wispy-piped ingénue Isobel Campbell and croak-baritoned brooder Mark Lanegan.
Here, sad-eyed orchestral pop meets dusty country blues, frequently with dreamlike results - much like Hazlewood's signature showdowns with duet-partner Nancy Sinatra. Pitching Lanegan's growls and grumbles against Campbell's decidedly sweeter murmurs makes for a fascinating update of the Lee 'n' Nancy blueprint, but there's a twist.
Whereas Hazlewood played the Svengali to Sinatra - writing the songs and arrangements and often taking the second seat, vocally speaking, to his partner - here the roles are switched, with Campbell at the helm musically but sticking largely to the second mic in deference to Lanegan's bellowing lead. Having written almost the entirety of the disc, as well as handling all arrangement and production duties, Campbell has worked some spine-tingling trickery from her place in the shadows: Lanegan gets the bigger boom in the mix, yes, but behind the whisper-thin sighs and coos, it is Campbell who is in control.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Lyrics Born, M83, Herbaliser, and more
Change Nation: Lyrics Born's "I Changed My Mind."
You're gonna be stuffed, you're going to be stressed, you're going to be tired of watching football... Then, you'll want to go out - and be among kindred spirits fleeing family and taking refuge in solid sounds.
LYRICS BORN
You like him, you love him. The Bay MC ushers in the holidaze. With Raashan Ahmad and Mavrik. Wed/26, 9 p.m., $25. Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1422.
SISTERS OF MERCY
The band that launched a jillion black dye jobs hasn't released new material since 1993. Wed/26, 8 p.m., $35. Warfield, 982 Market, SF. (415) 421-8497.
Put up your ukes: Tune-yards. All photos by Jen Snyder.
By Jen Snyder
The only thing I really knew about music from Vermont before Saturday was Phish, which naturally threw a big, damp drug rug over my entire interest in seeking out and discovering new jams from the state. But about a month ago, I found out that Citay (the Guardian’s triumphant Goldie winner) was going to be playing at Amnesia with a band called Tune-yards, hailing from Vermont. A Citay band member promised, “No joke at all - this is the best music I've heard and seen in years and years. I shit you not.”
I was somewhat conflicted at first, but a post-election, Obama-esque change-is–possible wave swept over me and I decided to not judge a state I had never been to, and to check it out.
Tune-yards, which had never previously played in San Francisco, did not disappoint. The project, which consists solely of Merril Garbus and her excellent digital voice recorder, was consistently intriguing. Garbus is very self-sufficient: she loops her own vocals, drums, and chanting over what looked like a cross between a children’s fake guitar and a ukulele.
Sounding out on the Silent Comedy's backwoods indie rock
By Todd Lavoie
Bowler hats, banjos, backwoods hollers, and burlesque hawkers - sounds like old-timey goodness to me. San Diego's mountain music-loving vaudeville-revivalists the Silent Comedy will be dishing out sepia-toned balladry and carny-shouted hootenannies to the Café du Nord crowd Friday, Nov. 21.
It should be one hell of a rompin'-stompin', suspender-slappin' shindig. Whether or not the band will share their homebrewed bathtub-gin onstage remains to be seen, but they're certain to be generous with everything else you might need for a round or two of Prohibition-era revelry. OK, the bathtub-gin thing is pure speculation on my part; what else could possibly be fueling their deliciously unbridled rip-ups?
The quintet, formed in 2005 by brothers J. John and J. Benjamin from the remnants of their San Diego post-punk band Dehra Dun, is rooted in acoustic-based roots music - banjo, mandolin, and violin figure prominently - but indie rock has clearly played a significant role in shaping how they approach country and folk idioms.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Usher, Tune-yards, Impossible Shapes, Weasel Walter, Nodzzz, Sean Smith, and more
Built like a brick house: Impossible Shapes' "Let the People Build What They Will."
O, SF - as if you could ever stop rolling out the intriguing jamz. Here are a few more musical offerings that didn't make it into print.
LOS CENZONTLES
"The Mockingbirds" do it up in the Bay again - with Los Lobos' David Hidalgo - after flying through for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Wed/12, 8 and 10 p.m., $20-$30. Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero W., Oakl. (510) 238-9200.
I've never been to Overton, Nevada - the tiny desert nowhere situated about an hour's drive northeast of Las Vegas - and frankly, I doubt I ever will. It sounds like a blink-and-you'd-miss-it sort of place. Unincorporated and without a single stoplight, Overton probably doesn't want any visitors, anyway.
Still, despite the town's lack of obvious welcome signs along the road, Castanets mastermind Ray Raposa decided that this was the perfect spot to plunk down his roots for a few weeks to record his fourth album, City of Refuge. While driving through town, he must have felt the tug of silence, of complete isolation, and found it too tough to resist - thus temporarily placing his road trip on hiatus, Raposa holed up in a room in a mom-and-pop motel and set out to capture the unforgiving Southwestern landscape in song.
It was an idea which he had been tossing around prior to encountering Overton, but everything began to gel once he'd set up camp in this scrap-of-humanity no one ever visits. He'd found his muse, as unlikely and foreboding as it might be to the rest of us. Having listened rather intently to the latest Castanets offering, I would venture to say that Raposa didn't merely capture the desert - the desert seems to have captured him as well. Stark, bleak, and jittering from a hushed, teeth-clenched tension from start to finish, City of Refuge is a gripping dispatch from the wobbling point between solitude and madness.
Axton Kincaid gets close to the source with their new release
AXTON KINCAID
Silver Dollars
(Free Dirt/ Trade Root Music Group) By Todd Lavoie
Bay Area three-part-harmony whizzes Axton Kincaid might no longer remain as geographically close to each other - three-fifths of the band recently relocated to Portland, Ore. - but their musical kinship appears as mighty as ever with their latest release, Silver Dollars.
Dishing out 11 barnburners, honky-tonk stompers, and beer-sobbers over the course of 35 minutes, these folks are the real deal: genuine, heartfelt, and pleasantly irony-free. While some of the younger, urban exponents of rootsy sounds tend to approach country, folk, and bluegrass idioms with a bit of emotional distance, Axton Kincaid feel closer to the source - not to mention more reverential to the material which inspired them in the first place.
Many months ago, I’d described the band as an updated Carter Family. The assessment still rings true, but I’d also stick them in the same class as the Be Good Tanyas, Freakwater, or the Walkabouts, all of whom display an obvious love for classic twang while still bringing a little contemporary attitude along the way.
Mount Eerie's homebrew black metal and flaming home
By Brandon Bussolini
There’s an ebb and flow to Phil Elverum’s career that runs counter to the prevailing logic of indie-rock success. After the critical acclaim of The Glow Pt. 2 (K, 2001) threatened to pin him and his Microphones moniker to the wall, Elverum took up the name Mount Eerie and took refuge in Anacortes, Wash., his hometown. If that album was the culmination of a half-decade’s worth of tape recording experiments and carefully honing his songwriting - Elverum started as folk art musique concrète and ended up heir apparent to the Brian Wilson/Jeff Mangum throne - Mount Eerie is a post-Glow ramble in the woods, far from comfort or rest, teetering on collapse.
Mount Eerie’s two most recent releases are less ramshackle than earlier material, but the project remains tricky to pin down: this year's Black Wooden Ceiling Opening 10-inch and quickly cranked-out Lost Wisdom LP (both P.W. Elverum and Sun, Ltd.) - a collabo with former Eric’s Trip-per Julie Doiron - oscillate between punky thrust ‘n’ crunch on the former and introverted duets on the latter. Elverum’s probably never played the kind of guitar leads he does on Ceiling Opening before, probably never raked his pick over the strings like that or asked the drummer for a blast beat. Lost Wisdom’s homey feel is more familiar, and Doiron’s wimpy voice is a natural complement to Elverum’s earnest worry.
A portrait of a musical migrant worker: Chris Arnold
By Sonny Smith
I kept seeing this guy at all the shows, always with the big Grizzly Adams-type beard, with a flannel shirt and cowboy boots. A tall man, long hair, large features. I met him outside the public library once. It was raining, and he stood there spouting some convoluted scheme to make art across the country. I couldn’t puzzle together what the hell he was talking about.
Every time I see him at a show he’s setting up little microphones all over the mic stand and the stage, and then video taping it, too. He’s got a big Samsonite suitcase full of digital tape. He’s probably got about one hundred thousand billion hours of live local music - not to mention video. The Oh Sees, Jolie Holland, Michael Musicka, Entrance, etc.
“I like the idea that music actually makes a difference” he said to me. “More than just a soundtrack to people’s lives. I wanted to shoot stuff and put it in the context of my life, the story of my own life, so the songs tell my story. Isn’t that what a mix tape is all about?”
Pop Montreal part three: Ratatat, Beach House, Wire, and more
Rah-rah: Ratatat.
By Laura Mojonnier
A snapshot of the Pop Montreal festival, Oct. 3, 4, and 5.
Day 3
Ratatat and Panther at Club Soda, 10:30 p.m.
I began Friday night, Oct. 3, with the second most-hyped show of the festival: Ratatat. (First place goes to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, who played Metropolis on Thursday night - not even my press pass could get me in.) It was sold out weeks before Pop began, but somehow Club Soda managed to not feel like the inside of a wet diaper in mid-July. So props to whoever was in charge of air circulation.
I saw opening act Panther over the summer with maybe 30 people in the room at an Oakland gallery smaller than my apartment, so naturally I assumed that seeing them six rows deep in a huge downtown venue was bound to disappoint. But the Portland, Ore., art-rock duo, composed of multi-instrumentalist Charlie Salas-Humara and drummer Joe Kelly, actually managed to pull it off, oozing enough delirious energy to fill the 800-person room.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Pendulum, Killdozer, Kowloon Walled City, and more
Taken for granted? Pendulum's "Granite."
Whoa, again, San Fran coughs up the fun stuff to do this week - and as usual, it's far more than we can handle in one mere newspaper. Here's what didn't make it into print, but may be worth leaving the house for.
SKYGREEN LEOPARDS AND EYES
SF’s feline psychedelicists stir, alongside Eyes’ proggy dreamers. With the Mantles. Thurs/9, 9 p.m., $8. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.
GLITCH MOB
The LA glitch-hoppers unleash the Equal Opportunity Enjoyer on an unsuspecting public. With Megasoid, Rustie, Eprom, and Anasia. Fri/10, 9 p.m. doors, $20 advance. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. (415) 625-8880.
The dobro mastery of Jerry Douglas in all its glory on 'Glide,' at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
JERRY DOUGLAS
Glide
(Koch)
By Todd Lavoie
Universally regarded as the finest dobro player in contemporary music, Jerry Douglas has long been the go-to source for the most evocative of resonator-guitar textures.
Starting off as a session musician back in the '70s and '80s - and having worked along the way with everyone from bluegrass pioneers David Grisman and Ricky Skaggs to country artists as varied as Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Trisha Yearwood - Douglas eventually launched a solo career which established him as one of the forerunners of the burgeoning "newgrass" movement. Proponents of the newgrass sound wanted to expand the boundaries of bluegrass by drawing from other traditional acoustic-based styles - particularly jazz - and the drive to rescue the dobro from pigeonholing was certainly understandable, given the perceived limitations many folks had up until that point.
The instrument has been frequently, almost predictably, used in film and television scores to introduce a Southern setting - often rural and run-down in nature - thanks to its ability to fashion moods from its lazy slides between notes. Sure, its "we'll-get-there-when-we-do" slides and slow finger-pickings easily summon up images of sweltering afternoons under a merciless sun. But the dobro can do so much more - and Douglas has made it his mission to prove exactly that.
Noah and the Whale's twee cinematic charm, in SF for the first time
By Chloe Schildhause
The charmingly romantic, springy UK folk band Noah and the Whale have just begun their US tour, and their San Francisco debut will happen at Amoeba Music and Popscene today, Oct. 2.
Their first album, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down (Mercury), was just released in August, but the band has already been a big part of the summer UK festival circuit with gigs at V Festival, Summer Sundae and Glastonbury. Over the phone from the road, frontperson Charlie Fink told me: “Festivals have been cool. I sometimes find it intimidating - the big crowd and stuff. But it’s been fun.”
Fink writes Noah and the Whale’s lyrics. His personal favorite is the title track, he explained. “It says the most of what I’m trying to say on that album.” But what that is exactly is a mystery. “People are trying to get me to assess the lyrics," said Fink. "But I find it quite difficult because what you say in a song is what you can’t express any other way.”
Sonic Reducer Overage: Deerhoof, Mos Def, Noah and the Whale
Perfecto: Deerhoof's "Perfect Me."
Are we having a ball yet? Now is your chance... an artists ball and more shows than we can shake a stick at. Best to catch them before they fade away.
Free ways: Mos Def freestyling.
ARTISTS BALL SEVEN
SF socialites just might swoon to the tunes of Mos Def, Hercules and Love Affair, and Rogue Wave at this annual benefit fete for YBCA's New Works Fund. Fri/3, 9 p.m., $125-$150. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF. (415) 978-2787.
The subtle ebb of Beach House at Swedish American Hall
By Michelle Broder Van Dyke
Beach House’s slow melodies and ethereal lyrics are filled with mysterious, "Holy Moments," captured in simple couplets, like “Pick apart the past, you’re not going back / So don’t you waste your time," surrounded by atmospheric, somber, lightly strung-together pearly words that create a tone reminiscent of a short I saw on Friday, Footnotes to a House of Love, directed by Laida Lertxundi, at Artists’ Television Access.
Set in the desert of Southern California, the 16-mm color film is a collection of collaged cuts of empty dilapidated wooden rooms, loosely hanging screen doors, and parallel views of lovers caressing. The chopped scenes fuse together to create a sense of place that is more fulfilling than any individual shot, much like the sentiment that Beach House captures.
This mood is similar to the manner in which Beach House’s meditative melodies wash over their audience, as they did Sunday, Sept. 28, at the Swedish American Music Hall. If you’ve ever felt heartbroken, or any moderate pain at all, you can interpret Beach House’s abstract lyrics filled with mild images - “I’ll pour some tea for us” ("Astronaut") - stuck somewhere in nostalgia (or maybe in the imagined future), and suit them to fit your own emotional state at the time.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Calexico, SEVA, Jose Gonzalez, We Are Wolves, and so much more
SW a-swirl: Calexico's "Crystal Frontier."
San Francisco can't stop, won't stop - as usual there's far too much to do, see, and hear. Here are a few worthies to check out.
THE GIRLS
Yeah, you heard me right: the Girls, man, the Girls. Meaning, the Seattle garage-wave combo whose perky song stylings have caught Spin's ear (much like SF's Girls, sans "the"). Wed/24, 9 p.m., $8. Uptown Night Club, 1948 Telegraph, Oakl. (510) 451-8100.
JOSE GONZALEZ
His handsome Veneer and haunting songs - we're smitten. Wed/24, 8 and 10 p.m., $25. Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakl. (510) 238-9200.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Bad Plus, Anthony Brown, Jennifer O'Connor, more
Snared: Bad Plus smell like teen spirit in Argentina.
Yep, the fact that Sept. 11 landed on a Tuesday didn't deter many a musical artist from dropping their latest - so don't let it make you stay home. And now for a few more intriguing shows, all happening this week...
BAD PLUS
Sound familiar? Sound like "Teen Spirit" or "Tom Sawyer"? The trio feels the tuck o' the past. Wed/10, 8 and 10 p.m., $10-$16. Yoshi's SF, 1330 Fillmore, SF. (415) 655-5600.
GENERALISSIMO
The Oakland army leads a "Reeducation Demonstration" with what they describe as "high concept, high modernist broken rock," and compare to both Queens of the Stone Age and North Korea's Mass Games. Yet mommy just called it "acid rock." With Mariana Trench and Pegataur. Wed/10, 9 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk St., SF. (415) 923-0923.
HILDE MARIE KJERSEM
A Killer for That Ache
(Rune Grammofon)
By Erik Morse
Two things for which I am always a sucker – Norway’s cutting-edge Rune Grammofon label and any musician professedly indebted to David Lynch’s ambient craft. While Norwegian chanteuse Hilde Marie Kjersem has both claims to her credit, her debut, A Killer for That Ache, is a quizzical derivation of either the Rune or the Lynch sound. Far from the whizzing and sputtering grandeur of Skyphone’s recent Avellaneda (Rune Grammofon) or the soporific noir of the Lynch-produced Floating into the Night (Warner Bros., 1989), Kjersem’s debut is a mishmash of folky lullabies and thin rockers with little ambience.
Sung entirely in English with a slightly overpronounced tip of the hat to the American standard, Killer includes only a modicum of the Scandanavian mystery that has endeared US indie audiences to artists like Kim Hiorthøy and Lars Horntveth. Despite some hints of a conceptual linkage throughout Killer, any sense of sonic uniformity is absent.
The result is a long divagation into genre picking with varying degrees of success. “Mary Full of Grace” and “Midwest Country” portray an earthy blend of Joni Mitchell, Elliot Smith, and Norah Jones, while tracks like “London Bridge” and “Fantasy” attempt to resurrect the sugary dreampop of the early '90s. “It is Easy” could very well be an Ani Difranco soapboxer were it not for the calliope and processed clarinet swarming underneath. There are moments of beauty to be found here, but the potential of a Lynchian soundalike in Kjersem’s work are only future-based.
DAMIEN JURADO
Caught in the Trees
(Secretly Canadian)
By Todd Lavoie
If Damien Jurado ever decided to take a break from music and funnel his creative juices elsewhere - not that I'm encouraging him to - I reckon fiction-writing would be his new calling. The Seattle singer-songwriter has long been a recipient of Raymond Carver comparisons, having built a decade-plus career upon crafting taut, literate tales of quiet alienation and shattering despair that share the same spirit with that of the piercing-stared short-story master.
Having largely foregone the confessional fess-ups of, say, Elliott Smith, Cat Power, or Mark Kozelek, Jurado's indie folk-rock (and occasionally just full-on, unhyphenated rock) tends to stick with character studies and immersions into the emotional lives of others rather than directing the pen towards the ins and outs of his own heart. Or, so I have gleaned from reading interviews with the man, anyway - ultimately, whatever ratio of storytelling-vs.-autobiography offered up in an artist's body of work is known to him and him only. In any case, these portraits-in-miniature have not only made for gripping listening over the years - credit duly given to Jurado's wounded, earhole-snuggling hushes - but they've given a solid argument for daydreaming about the possibilities of a literary career for the singer.
Jurado's latest, Caught in the Trees, probably won't shoo away any such reveries, either - the disc continues what is now a longstanding tradition of engrossing first-person-narrated fiction set to equally absorbing melodies. According to the press kit, it also took longer to make than any other in his catalog - one that is now nearly double-digits-deep with releases. Whether this was due to outside circumstances or the nature of the songs contained within, I am not sure, but the album does offer plenty of that trademark Jurado intensity.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Ratatat, Brian Wilson, Lebowski Fest, Leyna Noel, and mo'
Commando chic: Ratatat blows 'em up real good with "Mirando."
More music than one gal can handle - o, frisky Frisco, you never disappoint! Behold the great stuff that didn't make print - but really should have...
Finer Things for Leyna Noel. Photo by Alissa Anderson.
LEYNA NOEL AND THE FINER THINGS
Could this be “tea metal” from the Mirah collaborator and Erase Errata drummer. With Clipd Beaks and Past Lives. Thurs/4, 9 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.
LEBOWSKI FEST SAN FRANCISCO
The dude abides by Extra Action Marching Band, the Dead Hensons, and Meshugga Beach Party. Fri/5, 8 p.m. doors, $20 advance. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. (415) 820-9669.
Outside Lands day three: Jack, Wilco, Toots, fence jumpers
Wild and wooly Wilco. All photos by El Fotografo Clandestino.
El Fotografo Clandestino took aim at the third and last day, Sunday, Aug. 24, of the Outside Lands music fest in Golden Gate Park, SF. Here are a few of the artists, things, and people - look for more thoughts and images in this space.
The sheer beauty of Shearwater, coming soon to Great American Music Hall
SHEARWATER
Rook
(Matador)
By Todd Lavoie
Shipwrecks, burning bodies, scattered deaths and sweeping acts of violence - welcome to the cold troubled world of Shearwater's fifth release, Rook, a world in which everyone and everything seems to be classified as either predator or prey. Here, hunters lurk behind tempo changes, bigger birds feast upon the carcasses of smaller birds to the flutter of circular guitar patterns, and the mighty ocean swells in cruel crescendos, threatening to engulf us all.
Scared? Intrigued? Titillated? Well, all of the above would be perfectly appropriate - the disc works plenty of heartbeat-skipping hoodoo from its gripping whirls of hushed ambient textures, elegant orchestral-pop melodrama, and jugular-bulging rock 'n' roll bombast. At the center of it all is singer-songwriter Jonathan Meiburg, a mild-mannered ornithologist - or, I assume he is mild-mannered, anyway, considering his expertise in the quiet, meditative field of bird-watching - who does not write lyrics as much as composes metaphor-heavy abstract poems and sets them to intricate song structures with little interest in rote verse/chorus/verse design.
Then, of course, there is his voice: a gorgeous, enormously versatile instrument that often manages to pack years worth of conflicting emotions within a single phrase, it is without doubt the swooping, howling-falsetto focal point of Shearwater's woodwind-and-string-laden experimental theatrics. Meiburg's expressive abilities are such that it's tough to imagine the idea of a casual Rook listener: his delivery, sensitive to every nuance demanded by the lyrics, tends to pull me ear-first against the other end of the microphone, eagerly awaiting the next word from his lips. Elements of Scott Walker come into focus, traces of Jeff Buckley. Here and there I hear Antony Hegarty, Thom Yorke. And lastly - but certainly not least - I pick up a lovely Mark Hollis (Talk Talk) vibe. Those who followed Talk Talk's metamorphosis from decent electro-pop outfit to one of the chief architects of post-rock will surely squeal in delight upon discovering Shearwater's daring forays into similarly oblique territories.
Memphis in SF: John Murry keeps it downhome with Evangeline Records
By Sonny Smith
When I met musician John Murry, Memphis transplant, I naturally asked him about hometown. He told me: “When I first got out here I had to be told I couldn’t keep a pistol in my glove box.”
Murry has been here for four years - creating a music label, Evangeline Records; playing in a few bands; ruffling some feathers; and raising his daughter. “The thing is, people from Memphis are basically from Mississippi, or maybe Arkansas," he said. "Memphis is the capitol of Mississippi. There is a fair share of disputes settled by knives and guns.... The scene there is kind of beautifully dysfunctional - everybody chasing after everybody’s wives and stuff.”
He’s put a lot of records out in a short time with Evangeline. “My family was intertwined with William Faulkner’s. The Murrys and the Faulkners intermarried three or four times," he said. "My grandfather owned some property signed over by Bill, and when he died the grandkids got a little bit of money." His friend, artist Bob Frank, also brought some money to the project.
“It’s a ridiculously fair label," Murry continued. "I just built it the way I thought labels were supposed to be. I just don’t make anything. I don’t think artists should ever be in debt to a label. Artists are already in debt - spiritual debt. Without artistic freedom you don’t have art - there can’t be a compromise. I don’t tell the artists anything about how it should be or what would sell.”
Outside Lands day two: Petty, Lupe, Rupa, Coup, Tacuba, and more
He won't back down: Tom Petty. All photos by El Fotografo Clandestino.
El Fotografo Clandestino took in the second day, Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Outside Lands music fest in Golden Gate Park, SF. Here are a few of the sights - expect more in this space.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Rock the Net: Musicians for Network Neutrality
(Thirsty Ear)
By Ian Ferguson
Although Al Gore considered naming the Internet “Magic,” and it seems that way to some (black magic for John McCain), an actual energy- and bandwidth-consuming infrastructure supports our browsing habits. Once the Net broadened beyond ARPA, private companies (namely service providers like AT&T and Comcast) assumed control of its traffic lights. Service providers are huge corporations: profit machines compelled to consider little else. These companies want to charge content providers (Web sites ranging from Google to your favorite blog) a fee for more bandwith: more bandwith means the Net works faster for a given site.
The FCC hasn’t yet stepped in to regulate the practice, but is currently evaluating the available options. In a show of support for net neutrality - the principle that demands service providers keep the Net free and open and by extension an indie band’s site as fast as any multiplatinum act’s - a coalition of musicians and labels have united to make an album intent on persuading Congress and the FCC to come around to their point of view. After all, as labels suffer, the Net offers itself as an inevitable platform for whatever distribution model to come - take OK Go’s YouTube music video-fueled fame, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s blog-buzzed status, or Radiohead's acclaimed In Rainbows digital release.
Though none of these bands appear as part of the collective of musicians supporting network neutrality on Rock the Net, the album more than makes up for their absence. Everyone knows that one of the most promising potentials the Internet offers audiophiles is ease of discovery. No longer must one buy countless so-so albums to find one gem: simply peruse Imeem, Muxtape, or MySpace for revelations. This disc provides a microcosm of that in tangible form: 15 artists - some familiar, some not so well-known - present tracks as varied as infinite cyberspace.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Staycation nation with Projekt Revolution, Sam McPheeters, Balmorhea, more
Busta Rhymes busts a move in "Dangerous" - and at Projekt Revolution at Shoreline this week.
As summer fades into a hazy, chilly miasma of Blood Marys, Krautrock beats, and high gas prices, the time has come to make the rounds at those lingering shed shows, avant-punk readings, burbling throwdowns.
A.Skillz
Sunset Promotions showcases the UK hip-hop-breakbeat turntablist, surfacing at Mighty for his first show in SF in four years. With Murphstar, AnTenNae, and Motion Potion. Fri/8, 10 p.m., $10-$15. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.sunsetpromotions.net
"I'm my own worst enemy": Linkin Park's "Given Up."
Projekt Revolution
A revolution in WTF! pairings begins here: Linkin Park, Chris Cornell, Bravery, Ashes Divide, Busta Rhymes, Hawthorne Heights, and Street Drum Corps. Hey maybe it's time to check those damn assumptions; you're breaking both your back - and mine. Sat/9, 2 p.m., $34-$77. Shoreline Amphitheatre, 1 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View. www.ticketmaster.com
Born free: Born Against back in the day.
Sam McPheeters
Take another, literary look at the local underground. The hardcore legend of Born Against fame reads from his new magazine, alongside Sarah Cathers of 16 Bitch Pileup (who will render love horoscopes from rock lyrics), Erika Anderson of Gowns (who will perform an exorcism), Tara Tavi of Amps for Christ (who will play traditional Chinese music and screen a documentary on the subject), and George Chen of KIT and Club Sandwich (who will do stand-up comedy). And yep, there's even more. Sun/10, 7 p.m., $6-$10, 21 Grand, 416 25th St., Oakl.
Balmorhea
Austin, Texas, ambient bohos dream in elegant, string- and banjo-shaded colors. With Lazarus and Tiny Vipers. Mon/11, 8:30 p.m., $12. Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. www.cafedunord.com
O Tara! Ex-Rodan and Retsin player steps out from behind the canvas
Ah, Tara Jane O'Neil - how I admired her indie rock Rodan project from afar and dug her raw-as-rain country-folk Retsin collaboration with Cynthia Nelson. Now the currently Portland, Ore., resident is back in town and showing off all sides of her fine, multi-faceted self: she'll showcase her latest acoustic musings - found on **In Circles** (Touch and Go) - at Hemlock Tavern on Saturday, Aug. 2; exhibiting her artwork alongside pieces by Vanessa Renwick at Needles and Pens' "Cackle Cackle Rackle," which opens Friday, Aug. 1; and, word has it, will give a "magical PowerPoint presentation" at Sadies Flying Elephant, Sunday Aug. 3. Whew. Plenty of opps to catch the woman who makes "evocative dream music based on the buzz and hum of the city’s late night symphonies" (so says The Wire).
TARA JANE O'NEIL
With PALMS and Katy Davidson
Sat/2, 9:30 p.m., $7 Hemlock Tavern
1131 Polk, SF
(415) 923-0923
'Secret' no more: Rex Sexsmith makes a graceful 'Exit'
RON SEXSMITH
Exit Strategy Of The Soul
(Yep Roc)
By Todd Lavoie
Modesty, thy name is Ron Sexsmith. Or, that's the way it seems from what I've read, anyway. The Toronto singer-songwriter has repeatedly, gracefully brushed aside assertions by others that his work is under-recognized, stating in interviews that he has never expected a larger audience and is merely grateful for those who have discovered his work.
As wonderfully "aw, shucks" in spirit as Sexsmith's replies might be, there's something criminal about such a careful craftsman of sharp, insightful pop songs remaining so consistently underneath the radar over the course of a double-decade-plus career. Hell, both Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney - who, if memory serves me well, seem to have penned a couple of catchy numbers themselves over the years - have lavished praise upon the guy. That should count for something, right?
Still, things are looking up: Sexsmith's profile has been given a nice little nudge as of late, thanks to his connection with fellow Canadian vocalist (Leslie) Feist. His lovely composition "Secret Heart" - originally on his 1995 self-titled major-label debut on Interscope, released a full decade after self-issuing his first cassette - was treated to an equally resplendent read on Feist's 2005 breakthrough Let It Die (Arts and Crafts/Cherrytree/Interscope/Universal).
Pitchfork fest day three: Tim Harrington trashed, Wu-Tang Clan clean up, Aussies take over
Sweet: Apples in Stereo. Photo by Matt Wysocki.
By K. Tighe
At every festival, I can't help but keeping a running contest in my head. Friday night, July 18, went to Public Enemy, but Mission of Burma was only a smidge behind. Saturday, July 19, is a bit more complicated: !!! gave a raucous, undeniably fun showing, but Jarvis Cocker's sleek, seasoned set was unforgettable. Of course, I've seen !!! countless times, and have seen them perform better countless times, and Jarvis was stubborn with the Pulp catalog - which means Saturday goes to Fleet Foxes, whose festival-suited, harmony-packed performance gained them thousands of fans in the span of 45 minutes.
Sunday, July 20, is a whole different animal: the final day of Pitchfork Music Festival 2008 boasts a lineup that no doubt kept many an indecisive hipster tossing in bed on Saturday night. With most of the heat packed at the end of the night, there was either going to be a shitload of running around or a lot of regrets.
Abiding Assistant and I arrived at the park just as Boris began. Between the fog machine sputtering in the blazing sun, the tight, a special appearance by guitarist Michio Kurihara (who collaborated with the trio on Rainbow, and the drummer who dove from behind a bright red kit into the crowd - he got some impressive distance, too - it's safe to say that Boris effectively brought the rock. After the Japanese metal trio left the stage I saw something I hadn't seen in years: a genuine call for an encore.
Big Sur rises: Festival in the Forest offers a woody getdown and benefit
This in from the (((folkYEAH!))) producers:
(((folkYEAH!))) presents in Big Sur
FESTIVAL IN THE FOREST
FERNWOOD RESORT in the CAMPGROUND
Friday, Sept. 26, and Saturday, Sept. 27
(Benefiting the All Volunteer Big Sur Fire Brigade)
Friday starting at 4 p.m. at the outdoor stage (the event includes indoor and outdoor stages)
Entrance Band (Fri. and Sat. sets)
Megapuss (featuring Devendra Banhart)
Citay
Matt Baldwin Electric Band
Lemonade
Tussle
Fools Gold
White Hills
Saturday starting at high noon on the outdoor stage
Silver Jews
Port O'Brien
Beach House
Entrance Band
The Fresh and Onlys
Sleepy Sun
Little Joy (with Fabrizio Moretti of the Strokes)
Little Wings
Sam Flax Keener Band
The Parsons Red Heads
Palo Colorado
Stay High
More to be announced.
note: A special fire brigade benefit is also planned for Sunday, Sept. 28, with Pegi Young Band and very special guests.
JOAN AS POLICEWOMAN
To Survive
(Cheap Lullaby/ Reveal)
By Todd Lavoie
Joan Wasser, the heartstring-hitting sharpshooter behind the Joan as Policewoman tag, has offered a simple but irrefutable platform for the elegant, emotionally direct songwriting, one that made her 2006 debut, Real Life (Reveal), such a blindsiding experience: “Beauty is the new punk rock.”
It’s an ear-tugging slogan, to be sure, but the album’s ravishing arrangements and carefully nuanced confessionals offered the goods to back up her capital-lettered claim. Whirling bits of soul music, punk and post-punk attitude, and AM-radio singer-songwriter pop into shimmering string-and-piano-centered structures that felt comfortingly familiar and yet still difficult to compare, Wasser easily won over seekers of challenging, interactive pop music with swooners such as “Feed The Light” and “We Don’t Own It.”
With relatively few contemporaries guided by a similar aesthetic, the easiest point of comparison might be Antony and the Johnsons. In fact, the aforementioned’s Antony Hegarty even joined Wasser on what could arguably be Real Life’s most riveting highlight, the fiery duet “I Defy.” Otherwise, the list of artists who could truly be considered kindred spirits is a mighty short one; fittingly enough, two of them, fellow sensitive souls Rufus Wainwright and David Sylvian, both appear on To Survive, the latest Joan as Policewoman venture.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Long Winters, Edgetone, Martin Luther's Rebel Soul, the Buckets, and more
The Long Winters try on a nouvelle vague guise.
What to do, when not sailing down a Mission Creek or taking a shine to Diamond Days? A few more shows for you...
The Buckets
'Member alt-country? Well, it remembers you. And one of SF's '90s-era main proponents the Buckets returns with a double CD to celebrate. With the Great Auk and Sister Exister. Thurs/17, 8:30 p.m., $10. Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market St., SF. (415) 861-5016.
The Long Winters
The new Putting the Days to Bed (Barsuk) dares to reach for the epic amid country-rock guitars. Thurs/17, 9 p.m., $15. Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1422.
Joseph Arthur
Author, Arthur! You can’t stop the music: the singer-songwriter has unleashed four EPs leading up to the forthcoming album, Temporary People (Lonely Astronaut). Fri/18, 9 p.m., $20. Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.
Shining a light on the Diamond Days '08 music fest
Heeb mag's Diamond Days - just what brings it to the Bay from Brooklyn? There's no denying that the lineup is doozy, including Audacity, Fences, Glitter Wizard, Thee Makeout Party, Tiny Vipers, Ellen Mary McGee, and Young Animals, as well as a slew of local talents. I traded e-mails with Heeb magazine publisher Josh Neuman and associate editor Amy Westervelt to find out more.
SFBG: How did Diamond Days originate?
Amy Westervelt: It started last year in Brooklyn as sort of a throw-back to music shows you and your friends might have put together in high school or college. One of Heeb's contributing editors, Jay Diamond, grew up in the ‘burbs of Chicago playing in bands and putting together shows and he wanted to recreate that fun, but focus it on really great local bands in Brooklyn. After the first fest, we really wanted to recreate it in different parts of the country.
Josh Neuman: The fest is partially named in honor of Jay, and partially an homage to a Vashti Bunyan song, which is everything a summer song should be.
SFBG: Why did it move from Brooklyn to Oakland this year?
A little context before launching into a rush of superlatives over Emmylou Harris' new stunner, All I Intended to Be: back in 1995, Harris made an abrupt - and enormously successful - career turn with the release of her classic Wrecking Ball (Elektra), a haunting, endlessly layered collection of shimmers and swirls deeply steeped in atmosphere by producer Daniel Lanois. Largely gone was the country traditionalism associated with her most well-known work, and instead she'd offered up one of the decade's boldest, most compellingly adventurous torch-carriers for the "cosmic American music" tag coined by former collaborator Gram Parsons several decades before.
While obviously drawing heavily from folk and country, Wrecking Ball could never fit the purist's definition of either. Rather, this was something truly deserving of the label "visionary," having re-positioned roots music out of the farms and the forests and into the heavens. Nothing else sounded quite like it, and the album not only solidified Harris' standing as a peerless interpreter - refer to her covers of Jimi Hendrix's "May This Be Love" and the Neil Young-penned title track if you need reminding - but it also marked the start of a tremendous creative burst for the artist, both as a songwriter and as a collaborator.
The albums that followed - 2000's Red Dirt Girl and 2003's Stumble Into Grace (both Nonesuch) - showed no let-up in Harris' inspired momentum, serving up considerably fewer cover songs in favor of adventurous, highly personal songwriting. (One obvious highlight: Red Dirt Girl's "Bang The Drum Slowly," a grand, ethereal weeper written for her father, who had passed away around the time of Wrecking Ball.) Teaming up with Luscious Jackson's Jill Cunniff proved to be a particular left-field triumph, as evidenced by the hypnotic groove of 2000's "J'Ai Fait Tout." Meanwhile, both albums carried on with a refined vision of Wrecking Ball's lush whirl-and-eddy aesthetic, with producer Malcolm Burn inserting the occasional drum loop and world-music element into the mix to tremendous effect. In short, the past decade-plus of Harris' career should be considered nothing less than a renaissance - quite wowing, considering the breadth of her catalog, but entirely true. If anything, the vocalist is enjoying a higher profile now than she ever has before.
Gear stolen from Maria Taylor and Taylor Hollingsworth
Looking for help: Maria Taylor.
This just in from Taylor Hollingsworth's people:
"Taylor Hollingsworth, sideman for Maria Taylor, had some of his and Maria's gear stolen on Thursday, July 10, on tour promoting Maria's newest EP, Savanna Drive. The band were tucked in for the night in San Francisco when some folks busted out the back window of Maria's van and stole six guitars, two suitcases, two pedals, and some boxes filled with copies of Maria’s newest EP. Luckily, the band recovered one of the bass guitars at a local pawnshop. Here is a list of all the stolen goods:
- Left-handed Red Gretsch Tennessee Rose Guitar.
- Left-handed Martin Acoustic Guitar.
- Right-handed Purple Fender Jazz Bass guitar.
- Right-handed 1976 Black Les Paul Deluxe.
- Right-handed Alvarez acoustic guitar (Hand painted white w/ black swirls. Guitar strap is nailed on.)
- Boss Tuner Pedal.
- Boss Distortion Pedal.
"If you have any information regarding the items listed above, please contact info@saddle-creek.com, jeff@saddle-creek.com, or publicity@teamclermont.com. In the meantime, Maria plans to finish up the last two dates of her tour; one show in LA and one in Sonoma."
Alejandro Escovedo recently performed "Always a Friend" with Bruce Springsteen.
By Todd Lavoie
How about some good news for a change? Alejandro Escovedo's comeback keeps getting stronger.
When the singer-songwriter collapsed post-show back in 2003 after contracting Hepatitis C, the outlook was pretty grim - as it turned out, he had had the disease for several years, and his body was in greatly compromised condition. Consequently, his musical career had to be back-burnered for a few years, to allow time for recovery - surely a painful option for the musician, who had more or less been playing nonstop ever since forming San Francisco punk legends the Nuns back in the mid-'70s.
His return to recording, 2006's The Boxing Mirror (Back Porch), was a triumphant, frequently touching announcement of recuperation, but the just-released Real Animal (Back Porch/ Manhattan/Blue Note Label Group) resolves any fleeting doubts about the state of Escovedo's health after his brush with death.
Sonic Reducer Overage: Stevie, Sex Vid, Flyin' 'n' you
Wondering what to do this week? Fleeing from visiting relatives - or simply want to lose them in the crowd? Listen closely...
THE JET AGE
Poppy rock powered by Who-like feistiness? Wed/2, 9:30 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.
Sex Vid, anyone? Courtesy of Dusted.
SEX VID
Bristly, gristly hardcore for possessed vegans? Thurs/3, 9:30 p.m., $7. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.
Yes, you're Still Flyin'.
STILL FLYIN', COTILLION, AND CONSPIRACY OF VENUS
Indie rock party jams meet a Bright Eyes-Passionista supergroup meets Conspiracy of Beards' female counterpart devoted to Joni Mitchell and other ladies of the canyon? Thurs/3, 9 p.m., $10. Café du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. (415) 861-5016.
Fiddling around: Jenny Scheinman. Photo by Wendy Andringa.
By Todd Lavoie
Jenny Scheinman can do it all. The Humboldt County-bred Brooklynite has already worn plenty of hats - violinist, composer, bandleader, session musician, collaborator - but with her recently released eponymous disc on Koch Records, she's donned perhaps her most impressive chapeau of them all: vocalist. While hardly a newbie to recording - having recorded a handful of avant-garde jazz albums over the years, including a couple for the venerable Tzadik label - Scheinman's vocal debut swings with honestly blindsiding levels of "whoa, where did this come from?!"
The biggest surprise? Jenny Scheinman isn't jazz at all, but rather a rustic collection of old-timey country, rambling blues, and rockabilly swagger. Yes, there is an improvisational spirit to these recordings - thus revealing her deep-rooted jazz connections - but overall the focus is on gorgeously twanged-out vocals and faithful evocations of the old south. It's a mighty auspicious first step to the mic, bursting with the confidence of someone who has been singing all her life, of someone who lives and breathes every word that leaves her lips. As far as first introductions go, it's just as quietly revelatory as Gillian Welch's Revival (Almo Sounds/Acony).
I should also mention here that Scheinman actually has just released two albums at once - the other, Crossing the Field (also Koch) is a purely instrumental affair, which I haven't heard yet. I'm sure it's wonderful, but for now I'll stick to discussing the self-titled record. And since it's getting touted in some circles as her "vocals album," I might as well get right to it and heap gushing praise upon her comfortingly familiar but still uniquely expressive voice.
Stefan Grant and bassist Martin Morales rock the Devil at SFTV Unplugged.
By Kat Renz
A year ago, local guitarist Stefan Grant wasn't sure how he'd continue playing live shows. The drummer of his alternative/metal band, Kinetic Chain, moved to Chicago, and the tribe was further split after he and the lead guitarist suffered a falling out.
And then, as so often happens in those bummer times, epiphany struck: what if they took a different direction from the guitar riff-driven, crashing drum sound they were so used to and went acoustic instead? "Let's strip it down to what it is," Grant said, adding that he wanted to create an opportunity to play and see live music that's easy on the ears but still rock, as opposed to jazz or pop - a sweet space he considers relatively rare in the city. Thus was born SFTV Unplugged.
It's not a novel approach - remember how killer those episodes of MTV Unplugged were back in the '90s? "I think there are a lot of 30-plus people who liked Unplugged a lot," Grant said, as we proceeded to rail off a list of our favorite performances. Alice in Chains. The Cure. That legendary Nirvana performance with Kurt Cobain sarcastically commenting on everything from harp-tuning to Leadbelly's for-sale guitar amid a stage buried in star-gazer lilies.
In on the Outside: Howlin Rain, the Walkmen, Toot and the Maytals added to Outside Lands fest lineup
Howl on, Howlin Rain - at Outside Lands.
This in from the publicists of Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, the first annual ticketed large-scale multi-stage event in Golden Gate Park. (A portion of every ticket sold will directly benefit Golden Gate Park):
"Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is proud to announce new additions to the already-stellar line-up for the first inaugural event. Howlin Rain, The Dynamites, and Carney are rounding out Friday, Aug. 22. The Walkmen, Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck, and Everest have been added to Saturday, Aug. 23. Toots and the Maytals, Rogue Wave, Mike Gordon, and Vienna Teng have been added to Sunday, Aug. 24.
"The multifaceted, three-day festival will take place in San Francisco’s historic Golden Gate Park on Aug. 22-24, 2008. Radiohead, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Jack Johnson will headline the event. Tickets for the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival are available for purchase at www.SFOutsidelands.com.
"The updated schedule for each day is as follows:"
Friday, Aug. 22 (first band is on at 5 p.m.)
Radiohead
Beck
Manu Chao
The Black Keys
Cold War Kids
Steel Pulse
Black Mountain
The Felice Brothers
Howlin Rain
The Dynamites
Carney
Saturday, August 23 (first band is on at 1 p.m.)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
Primus
Steve Winwood
Lupe Fiasco
Café Tacvba
Regina Spektor
Galactic’s Crescent City Soul Krewe featuring Dirty Dozen Horns
M. Ward
Devendra Banhart
Matt Nathanson
Two Gallants
Dredg
Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck
The Walkmen
Sidestepper
Kaki King
The Coup
Donavon Frankenreiter
Nellie McKay
Goapele
Sean Hayes
Rupa and the April Fishes
Everest
Sunday, Aug. 24 (first band is on at 1 p.m.)
Jack Johnson
Wilco
Widespread Panic
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Broken Social Scene
Andrew Bird
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
Drive-By Truckers
Toots and the Maytals
Stars
Rogue Wave
ALO
Jackie Greene
Mike Gordan
The Cool Kids
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Little Brother
Bon Iver
The Mother Hips
Nicole Atkins and the Sea
K’naan
Back Door Slam
Culver City Dub Collective
Jonathan Richman makes out on his multiple-night stand in the Mission
Baby, you're a Richman: Jonathan Richman back in the '70s.
By Laura Mojonnier
One gets the sense that Jonathan Richman spends a lot of time alone in his room – staring at that telephone that never rings, practicing his Angus Young-style leg kicks, and listening to French lessons on tape. When he does get out of the house, his favorite activity is touring with longtime drummer Tommy Larkins, with whom he'll play the last shows of a four-night stint at the Make Out Room tonight through Thursday.
From his days as a teenage Velvet Underground fan-turned-Modern Lover to his middle-aged flirtations with Spanish guitar and Romance languages, Richman has been a hero to suburban loners for more than 30 years. He documents his chronically broken heart and his love of painters like Vermeer and Van Gogh with geeky charisma and rare candor, revealing a self-effacing wit that somehow remains totally unironic. This is the guy who once sang, "I go to bakeries all day long / There's a lack of sweetness in my life," after all.
Richman was in top form last night at the Make-Out Room. The venue's intimate atmosphere paired with a stripped-down setup – just Richman on acoustic guitar and Larkins on drums, peppered by the occasional cowbell solo – played to the songwriter's strengths as a performer. His always-amusing lyrics (did he really just encourage us to "behold the lilies of the field" three times?) and legendary stage banter were supremely audible, even when they weren't in English.
Kicking up some dust at Pioneer Town. All photos by Jen Snyder.
By Jen Snyder
I feel like I’m airing a secret by writing this, but have you ever been to Pioneer Town? If you haven’t, I’d like to suggest that you think of a reason to go there. If possible, make it a reason full of rock ‘n' roll, music critics covered in dust and beer, and plenty of the locals. On June 7 and 8 in Pioneer Town, two hours east of Los Angeles and deep in the burning June desert, Manimal Vinyl held their first major event, Manimal Festival. The LA label showcased a string of bands including the resurfacing Ariel Pink and his Haunted Graffiti as well as some up-and-coming bands and projects.
Picture a basin dotted with Joshua Trees and red rock. Pioneer Town seems to just appear out of nowhere behind the rust-colored formations, looking more like an amusement park than a bar. There’s a pod of teepees, an entire fake town - complete with bowling alley - full of weathered mannequins, miniature ponies, and tons of bikers. The bar and the outside patio both have separate barbecues. There I saw someone with a Bloody Leroy, a Bloody Mary with a barbecued rib in it.
I don’t know why people aren’t flocking to Pioneer Town constantly. It was a kitsch dream, as you can imagine, stuffed with velvet paintings and chili-pepper lights and boasting the nicest legless bouncer you ever met. To top it all off, the music was incredible. Highlights include Mariee Sioux, We Are the World, and Aeriel Pink.
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