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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Pelican, Kid Sister, Le Loup, Sunset Rubdown, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 06:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Kimberly Chun

Oh, yes, SF -- you like it hot. And you got the sounds to send off the Indian Summer in a proper freaky styley. Here are the worthies that didn’t fit in print.

Alan Braxe
The French dance pop maestro, a.k.a., Stardust, gets out from behind the remix. With One Man Party and Bad Neighbors. Sat/17, 9 p.m. doors, $12-$15. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. (415) 820-9669.

Chairlift
Electropop loveliness from Brooklyn, exploding exponentially since its last liftoff in SF, thanks to an iPod commercial. With Magic Bullets and El Ten Eleven. Thurs/17, 9 p.m., $15. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: David Cross, Little Boots, Titus Andronicus, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 06:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. All photos, except where noted, by el fotografo clandestino.

By Kimberly Chun

O Outside Lands - how sprawling thou art. So many acts in the dusty, leafy grounds of Golden Gate Park, so many goings-on at night at the Independent and Rickshaw Stop. A few dispatches, then, from the periphery and about.

Zap Mama.

Continue reading "Outside Lands: Inside with Deerhunter, Street Sweeper Social Club, Mastodon, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Woods at 'Pines', Os Mutantes, Baseball Project, Dirt Bombs, Foreigner, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kimberly Chun

Les Paul, Rashied Ali – Big Daddy Death keeps claiming another one. Goddamnit. You can find me at the bar, buried in vodka tonics, till you finally find the strength to perk up, listen to Interstellar Space again, stroke your koa-wood SG, and contemplate all the live music, still kicking all around you.

Society of Rockets and Dominique Leone
The SF psychedelicists bang noggins with the congenial local, NorCal synthesist. Thurs/13, 9 p.m., $10. Café du Nord, 2170 Market, S.F. (415) 861-5016.

Solillquists of Sound
Me likee the bubbling, robo-futuristic beats of the Orlando, Fla., quartet’s new No More Heroes - and the live act is supposed to be pretty awesome, too. With 40Love and Zutra. Thurs/13, 9 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Lil Wayne, Green Day, Down, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 03:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Los Amigos Invisibles, Caroline Weeks, the Frustrations, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Bowerbirds, N.E.R.D., Themselves, Dorkfest, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Tony Papanikolas

The world of rock music is full of “wolf bands”, but few live up to their feral moniker. Steppenwolf’s John Kay, for example, claims that he was born to be wild –a promising start– but writes lyrics about magic carpets. Not very wolf-like. Likewise, Wolf Parade betrays a dangerous ignorance of its namesake (wolves are easily spooked; incorporating them into a parade would be disastrous.) And then there’s Wolves in the Throne Room, the enigmatic Olympia, WA outfit responsible for some of the most cosmic black metal ever produced outside of Scandinavia.

If the crowd at Slim’s was any indication, Wolves’ fan base has extended beyond the immediate metal set. Metal fans made up a good percentage of the audience but there was also a sizeable punk contingent, as well as the requisite handful of hipster-types (also, a headbanging dude in an incongruous business suite, my personal favorite.) The crowd was still relatively thin when opening act Ninth Moon Black began playing, but receptive nonetheless. I’m a sucker for visual aids at shows, and the psychedelic black and white swirls projected behind Ninth Moon Black provided a neat visual counterpoint to the group’s ambient instrumentals.

Continue reading "Live Review: Wolves in the Throne Room howl at Slim's" »

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Posted by SFBG at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Kimberly Chun

Entombed in SF gloom? Silly, rabbit, this is the best weather to get your musical kicks in a dark, cloudy bar.

A-Frames and Climax Golden Twins
Three guitars and a rhythm section and soaring gamelan-sludge rawk? We’re talking ‘bout the real team players, Raider Nation. With Hank IV and Fresh and Onlys. Sat/11, 9:30 p.m., $7. El Rio, 3158 Mission, SF. (415) 282-3325.

American Idols Live
Haven’t had enough? Sample A-Lam in the flesh as Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, Allison Iraheta, Anoop Desai, Kris Allen, Lil Rounds, Matt Giraud, Megan Joy, Michael Sarver, and Scott MacIntyre provide. Sat/11, 7 p.m., $38.50-$66.25. Oracle Arena, 7000 Coliseum, Oakl. (415) 421-8497.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: 'American Idols,' Slumber Cats, Slayer, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Kimberly Chun

Get out and lend an ear - it’ll be returned, perhaps changed. Here are more intriguing shows that didn’t make it to print.

Elvis Costello
Certified rock genius - up in the house! No secrets here: in true diehard music lover form, Declan MacManus gives back to music emporiums with his one-day “Amoeba Music Tour” performances here in the Haight and then at Amoeba Hollywood. Expect him to play acoustic versions of tunes from his new Secret, Profane and Sugarcane (Hear Music) alongside Jim Lauderdale, and to sign copies of the CD (copies purchased at Amoeba come with a poster silkscreened for the event). Mon/22, noon, free. Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight, SF. (415) 831-1200.

Nihlotep performing Mosaic and studio clip

Nihlotep
Drink in the unearthly screeches and high-drama doom metal sturm und drang from the San Jose group. With Vesterian and Condemned to Live. Tues/23, 9 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.

Starfucker
The Portland, Ore., combo with the oh-so-naughty moniker has somewhat innocuous origins: Josh Hodges started out with just a borrowed drum set, loop pedal, and a mic - one-off, one-man entertainment for a house party. Now, with the addition of three bandmates, Starfucker is busy reproducing the 8-bit electro pop-dance punk off its mini-album, Jupiter (Badman).
With Atole and White Cloud. Tues/23, 9 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. (415) 621-4455.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Tony Papanikolas

Since 1984, Oslo's favorite sons Mayhem have had a reasonable claim to the title of most fucked-up band on the planet, the eagerly repeated stories of the lurid spectacle that is their live show representing only some of the milder aspects of their mythos. Colorful history aside, the men of Mayhem have established themselves as architects of the modern black metal sound, taking the nasty musicianship and overt occultism of Venom and early Bathory and using them as the foundation for a terrifying new kind of metal that mixes breakneck drums, guttural riffs, and croaking vocals with eerie, understated melody. Often imitated, the 25-year veterans' unique style is seldom matched in terms of sheer, unhinged intensity.

Co-headliners Marduk, one of countless bands to follow in Mayhem's footsteps, spent the better part of its career becoming even more gruesome and unpalatable to mainstream audiences with each successive album, until it was not inconceivable to mention the satanic Swedes in the same breath as their more established tour mates. By the late 1990s, Marduk began branching out instrumentally, refining its musicianship while remaining true to the genre it helped pioneer.

The two black metal greats are supported by a diverse collection of bands taken from all corners of the extreme metal scene. Progressive, black metal-inspired Withered makes a logical opener, and the presence of dizzying grindcore virtuosos Cephalic Carnage is strange but welcome. Rounding out the bill is the brutal Cattle Decapitation, a consistent favorite among fans of uncompromising, technical death metal. Fans of life-affirming music would do well to avoid this show.

MAYHEM Wed/3, 6 p.m., $25–$30, all ages. DNA Lounge 375 11th St., SF. (415) 626-1409. www.dnalounge.com

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Posted by SFBG at 09:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Memorial Day weekend - the wind is down, and the moment has come to break out the hibachi, dust off those sassy hot pants, and kick back for at least a day or three. And of course, there's more worthy music to fit in there, in between the sunbathing, cookie-baking, and electroclashing.

Fischerspooner
Does the GE halo give me a double chin? And does it electroclash with the rubber tubing? The jaw-dropping live act whips out a dour, synthpop Entertainment, as well as a new stage show. Fri/22, 9 p.m., $29.50. Fillmore, 1805 Geary, SF. (415) (415) 421-8497.

TV on the Radio and Dirty Projectors
The praise-rattled TVs were peppy as all get out at Treasure Island fest last year - and here they come again with the better-than-ever Dirty Projs, which blew everyone away at SXSW this spring. Fri/22, 8 p.m., $30. Fox Theatre, 1807 Telegraph, Oakl. (415) 421-8497.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: TV on the Radio, Bun B, Fischerspooner, Webbie, Floating Goat, Passion Pit, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Dead Meadow, Steve Earle, Fracas, Loney Dear, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By LC Mason

Kreator at a German fest earlier this year

Quality bangover: the gloriously painful aftermath that results after a night of heavy headbanging to brutal bass drum runs and diabolic guitar solos, characterized by roaring tinnitus, aching neck muscles, bruises and scrapes from slamming and stomping into others, as well as stiff hands from gratuitous handing and devil horn-throwing.

This was my condition when I woke up the next morning, ringing ears and all, after witnessing the merciless onslaught of the Kreator and Exodus show at Slim’s on Tuesday, April 28. Except I wasn’t brave enough to enter the roiling whirlpool of 200-pound man-bodies, because a lot more than bruises and scrapes would have gone down, especially as Kreator vocalist-guitarist Mille Petrozza repeatedly and ravenously commanded the audience to “kill each other in the mosh pit.”

In a rhapsodic homecoming performance that surely sated the entire pantheon of thrash metal gods, San Francisco’s legendary sons Exodus played faster and harder than any band half their age and challenged their fans, both young and old, to act accordingly.

Continue reading "Live review: Kreator and Exodus deliver the quality bangover" »

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Posted by SFBG at 09:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Cheryl Eddy

RED FANG

Red Fang

(Sargent House)

The debut full-length from the Portland, Ore., ear-splitters is at least 80 percent familiar to 'Fang fiends who own the band's EPs. No matter: tracks like "Bird on Fire" and "Prehistoric Dog" are blistering rock 'n' metal jams that never get old.

Red Fang, "Prehistoric Dog"

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Posted by SFBG at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Marke B.

This just in from metal heaven:

Ancient Canadian glam-slam heroes Anvil, the touching Spinal Tap of our times who have a critic-ecstatic doc about them (Anvil! The Story of Anvil) out at the moment, will be PERFORMING LIVE at the Bridge Theater this Sunday after two sure-to-be-raucous screening of said doc. Here's Cheryl Eddy's review of the film:

Screw you if you compare Anvil to Spinal Tap. Yeah, there are moments of eerie similarity (and Anvil's drummer is named Robb Reiner — how's that for a coincidence?), but this heartfelt doc (first seen locally at last year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival) doesn't mock. Friends and bandmates since the early 1980s — when Bon Jovi-level success seemed nearly possible — Reiner and vocalist-lead guitarist Steve "Lips" Kudlow have been chasing the rock god dream their entire adult lives, toiling at day jobs and raising families but leaping at every chance to capture glory, be it a poorly planned European tour or an emotional trip back to the recording studio. Even if you scoff at hair bands, it's hard not to get wrapped up in this tale of success, failure, and power chords. And with no less than Lars Ulrich calling Anvil "the real deal," there's no need to, uh, smell the glove.

And here's what to shredxxpect:

Anvil, "School of Love" live, Japan, 1984

Anvil live with Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Sun/3, 7:10 and 9:45, $10.50
Bridge Theatre
3010 Geary, SF.
(415) 751-3212
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/SanFrancisco/BridgeTheatre.htm

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Posted by SFBG at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Silversun Pickups, Bloc Party, Atmosphere, Kylesa, free shows, and so much more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 07:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Snoop Dogg, Eugene Mirman, Jeremy Jay, Skin Horse, and so much more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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).

Mystery crust theater: Imperial Battlesnake takes aim.

Pedal mettle: Increased bike presence at this year's SXSW and surrounding day shows.

Continue reading "SXSW: Petering out with PJ Harvey, AIDS Wolf, Moriarty, Sons of Albion, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 04:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "SXSW: Quick fixes with Flower Travellin' Band, Fleet Foxes' J. Tillman, Garotas Suecas, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 04:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Farflung, MSTRKRFT, Eleni Mandell, the Homosexuals, and mo'" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Ghostly, M. Ward, Har Mar Superstar, and so much more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 05:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Social Distortion, SF Bluegrass Festival, Eagles of Death Metal, Chinese NY dance party, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 05:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Ben Richardson

Though nurtured in the humid birthplace of modern death metal, Miami, Florida's Cynic never really fit in with its more brutal peers. Despite having played on Death's pivotal album Human (Relativity/Sony, 1991), childhood friends Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert suffused their own material with the swirling melodic experimentation of '70s prog rock and fusion, creating in Cynic a unique hybrid of extreme metal and avant-garde jazz.

Masvidal's guitar playing was filled with haunting melody and lithe fretboard runs that drew on scales and modes not traditionally associated with metal, and his vocals, sung through a vocoder, achieved an eerie, otherworldly quality that fit the music impeccably. Reinert's drumming abandoned the blast-beat bludgeon that defined the extreme metal of the time in favor of a creative, musical approach that fleshed out the band's experimental sound.

Early demos laid the groundwork for their 1993 album Focus (Roadrunner), which quickly became a cult classic among those interested in metal that was challenging and inventive. Such listeners were few in number, however, and the lack of enthusiasm, coupled with the travails of the music industry and the destruction wreaked by Hurricane Andrew, led to the band's break-up in 1994.

Masvidal and Reinert continued to collaborate, and in 2006, they announced that Cynic was re-forming. After playing a number of European festival gigs in the summer of 2007, the group entered the studio the record the long-awaited follow-up to Focus. Traced in Air was released in 2008 on the French label Seasons of Mist, and the outfit has recently begun a full U.S. tour as direct support for Swedish tech-metal titans Meshuggah. I reached Masvidal by phone as he waited to take the stage on the tour's second stop.

Continue reading "Never fit in: Cynic mixes it up with extreme metal and avant-garde jazz" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By L.C. Mason

Coupling the two seemingly opposed sonic realms of folk and metal into one paganism-loving, mythology-obsessed subgenre, folk metal is a sphere of music that enjoys a healthy European following. Across the Atlantic in San Francisco, Slough Feg are fiercely holding down the fort.

Taking cues from genre pioneers Skyclad and fantasy metalists Iron Maiden, Slough Feg have been serving up face-melting solos, gut-churning bass lines, and otherworldly lyrics on the same plate since the '90s. Songs are woven like elaborate sagas, with vocalist Michael Scalzi growling operatically about war, immortality, the cruel hands of fate, and other ancient plagues on the human psyche, while “Don” Angelo Tringali propels them into epic territory with his blistering breakdowns. They lay it down at the Eagle Tavern Thursday with fellow city dwellers Orb of Confusion, but you better watch yourself; this brand of music makes starting a midweek drinking binge seem like a good idea.

SLOUGH FEG
With Orb of Confusion, Modig Wuht, and Cold Cutz
Thurs/5, 9 p.m., call for price
Eagle Tavern
398 12th St., SF
(415) 626-0880

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Meat Puppets, Devil Makes Three, Jeremy Pelt, and Mo!" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hang time: High on Fire's "Hung, Drawn, and Quartered."

Cool, ain't it? The fun just keeps coming in chilly-chilly-chill SF. Here are a few more musical note-worthies.

BART DAVENPORT
Soulful and sweet as it comes - thanks to the Oakland singer-songwriter. With Brian Glaze and the Night Shift, the Dry Spells, and DJ Lithuanian Prince. Thurs/18, 9 p.m., $8. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

HIGH ON FIRE
Get an earful of this week's "Year in Music" cover dude Matt Pike and his Bay power trio, High on Fire, a band that has gone far beyond being, as Guardian contributor Mike McGuirk put it, an "outlet for aggression/Yeti poems Pike uses in place of his defunct first band, Sleep, San Jose's most seminal export." With Drunk Horse. Thurs/18, 9 p.m., $16. Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.

HIGHTOWER
The SF thrashers throw a benefit for Bordertown-Oakland Skate Park. With the Ferocious Few. Thurs/18, 9 p.m., $5. Thee Parkside, 1600 17th St., SF. (415) 503-0393.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: High on Fire, Fall Out Boy, Black Fag, and so much more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What to wear - and who to scare?

Starting early, I'd sample "Tingel Tangel Club: Sex Magic and the Occult" - Penny Arcade, Kitten on the Keys, and others take a sexy occult spin on Samhain. Come with? Wed/29, 9 p.m., $16-$22. Café Du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. (415) 861-5016.

Then I'd land, splat, at Thrillpeddlers' blood-spattered Grand Guignol, Shocktoberfest!! 2008: Elemental Horror. Cannibalism, unspeakable magnetism, decapitated heads, and the spookiest finale yet - where do I sign up? Fri/31, 8 p.m. (though Nov. 22), $15-$69. Hypnodrome, 575 10th St., SF. (800) 838-3006.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Hot Halloweenie roast and other scary delights" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

THE MASS
Holocene 6
(self-released)

By Will York

There have been times when Oakland quartet the Mass have worn their Mike Patton and John Zorn influences a bit too visibly. Those inspirations are still present here, among others, but this four-song EP shows that the band has developed them into its own sound, one that deftly balances experimental quirks with quality metal riffage and sturdy songwriting.

The opener here, "Trbovlje," starts off as a Sabbath-meets-Melvins workout before veering into a 3/4 instrumental breakdown with layered saxophones on top. The highlight, though, is the 11-minute finale, "Ilirska Bistrica," a slow, lurching number that sounds a bit like the Melvins covering Meshuggah. At just over 20 minutes, this disc is concise and to-the-point. Well done.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Ben Richardson

Brooklyn MC Ill Bill, a.k.a., William Braunstein, recently passed through San Francisco, touring to support his new LP The Hour of Reprisal (Uncle Howie).

The album showcases Ill Bill’s formidable microphone talents, and the ex-Non Phixion MC spits hellfire over 18 martial sounding tracks, taking full advantage of production by such luminaries as DJ Premier, Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs, and DJ Lethal of House of Pain and more recently Limp Bizkit. In addition to appearances by hip-hop household names like Wu Tang princeling Raekwon, Immortal Technique, and B-Real, the recording includes contributions from artists better known in metal and hardcore circles: Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage, H.R. and Daryl Jenifer of the Bad Brains, and Max Calavera of Sepultura.

Reached by phone from a stop on his continuing tour, Bill discussed the disc, being a new father, and the state of music and the world.

New projects: Ill Bill's "Glenwood Projects."

Continue reading "Ill Bill talks family ties, metal and hip-hop mixes, and Slayer swastikas" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Pendulum, Killdozer, Kowloon Walled City, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Ben Richardson

If you’re not a guitarist guitar nerd or a heavy metal aficionado, you’ve probably never heard of Yngwie Malmsteen. After seeing this picture, though, you’ve learned one thing about him: the man is a complete and total megalomaniac. Born into a musically gifted family in Sweden, Malmsteen (ne Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck) got his start as a 10-year-old guitar prodigy, honing his chops by cultivating a bizarrely retrograde obsession with virtuoso 19th-century Italian violinist and purported devil-in-disguise Niccolo Paganini.

Malmsteen arrived on the American hard rock scene in 1984, in those bygone days when neo-classical shredding was way cool. His debut with his band Rising Force was nominated for a Grammy and enjoyed considerable retail success, and he soon became convinced that he was some kind of rock star, a notion that he has apparently been unable to shake.

Marrying the ego that resulted from his impossibly fast playing to a kind of hairspray-diva complex that would put some of the '80s most overamplified misanthropes to shame, Malmsteen indulged in all of the usual buffoonery, rashing an expensive sports car, buying lots of gold jewelry, and never, ever buttoning his shirt higher than his navel.

Continue reading "Rediscovering metal's Yngwie Malmsteen" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Prickly, angular goodness: Shellac at ATP NY. All photos by Jessica Reeves.

By Todd Lavoie

Ah, the weekend was in need of a good easing-in period - nothing too strenuous, see, considering the epic scale of the Saturday night to come. So, on Sept. 20, we settled into our day by catching a couple of films at the Criterion Screening Room: Albert and David Maysles’ Gimme Shelter and David Markey’s 1991: The Year Punk Broke. The former - a chronicle of how it all went wrong at the infamous 1969 Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway, was absolutely riveting - while the latter was a bit more hit-or-miss, thanks to a nerve-grating focus on Thurston Moore as the documentary’s free-styling, wisecracking prankster. Having thoroughly relished the considerably mellower, less chatty Moore of the night before, I couldn’t cotton to the younger, ever-vibrating version I was witnessing onscreen. Still, the Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Dinosaur Jr. performances in the film made it all worthwhile.

Next it was rush, rush, rush to the main stage: Fuck Buttons were about to bring the noise! We arrived just in time, and the Bristol, England, duo had just finished sound-check. Focusing largely on their March-released slab of epic gorgeousness, Street Horrrsing (ATP), the set was flush with all of the touchstones of the Fuck Buttons sound: steady electro-drone, pulsating sheets-of-static majesty, and floor-thumping noise-house.

A glistening sheen seemed to have been applied to the entire proceedings, thanks to scatters of night sky-seeking synth sparkles. Dance, drone out, raise arms to the heavens - the choice was ours, and the crowd was evenly split between the three activities.

Go directly to jail: Les Savy Fav vocalist Tim Harrington in prisoner getup.

Continue reading "ATP NY Day Two: Les Savy Fav, Shellac, Fuck Buttons, Harmonia, Om, and - what? - more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Jen Snyder

Thank Lucifer that people are still putting their bodies out on stages and their egos on the line for reasons that make them seem as masochistic as they are talented. Here in San Francisco, we're lucky to have a multifaceted creative milieu that, more often than not and sometimes unintentionally, works independently of the mainstream.

As an avid indie-show-goer, I've had the pleasure of seeing many of the same faces swapped in and out of bands and projects. What’s interesting to me, however, is not just the underappreciated indie scene, but also lesser-known rock 'n' roll communities. Today, I wanna talk about independent metal, and the journey of Animosity, one of SF’s finest and most distinctive metal bands.

I sat down with Leo Miller at the headquarters for Man Alive, the label that Miller and Ryan Brewster pioneered here in the city. Miller, 22, is the vocalist for Animosity, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the way he looks. He’s wearing a “Don’t ask me for shit” T-shirt and looks like a fairly clean-cut guy, not someone who screams verbal blood into a microphone in front of a crowd of people angrily pumping the goat horn hand gesture.

Continue reading "SF metal band Animosity breaks out" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

ARKONA
Ot Serdca K Nebu
(Napalm)

By Kat Renz

The tumultuous first 60 seconds of “Pokrovy Nebesnogo Startsa," the second track off Arkona’s fourth studio full-length, Ot Serdca K Nebu, make me proud to be Russian. Is it the war-like chants, the growling Masha “Scream” or the traditional Slavic “Volynka” bagpipes? Maybe it’s the violently pitch-shifted guitars and rapid-fire drums, followed by the sweet cacophony of Eastern European folk instruments lilting through the fusillade?

Then I remember I’m totally not Russian and feel a tad weirdly nationalistic. But for ethnomusicologists with an open mind toward the heavy or headbangers into Viking metal like Tyr, Arkona’s epic tribute to Russian ecology and pre-Christian battle gods tempers the uber-patriotic ideology of the Slavic world’s most well-known “Rodnovery” (“native faith”) metal band.

Continue reading "Russian folk metalists Arkona punish with pennywhistle" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Kat Renz

I kept glancing behind me during the Saviours show last Sunday, Aug. 10. Where is everyone? The Rickshaw Stop, a 4,000-square-foot venue with a worthy sound system, stayed only about a quarter filled - and sparsely at that. I was in awe: anyone reading music mags since the release of Saviours's second album Into Abaddon (Kemado) last January has been inundated with gushing reviews of the local foursome, so WTF? The crowd's absence was almost embarrassing, like we fell short in upholding our gracious side of the mutually beneficial performer/audience agreement.

Shame aside, it's challenging to convey just how visceral a Saviours show is. Even through my weenie laptop speakers, their sound - dripping with reverb, soaring on dead-on harmonized guitar leads, reliant on sick scale-shreddage, equally mastered bass, and no mercy drumming - is preternaturally powerful. The live experience, transcendence times 10, is positively psychedelic.

Sunday's show was exemplary. The band delivered a typically spirited eight-song barrage to launch their two-and-a-half month national tour (catch them again at the tour's end Octer 23 at the Regency Center Ballroom with Iced Earth). Riding on their signature galloping riffs -- the two guitarists are nothing if not relentless gallopers -- they began with "Circle of Servant's Bodies," a Black Sabbathian decent into doom land. Title-track "Into Abaddon" felt in fast-forward, the tempo increase sort of a surprise considering the delicious brownies circulating the room. Ditto for "Narcotic Sea, on which vocalist-guitarist Austin Barber took turns dominating the fretboard with new guitarist Sonny Reinhardt, formerly of Watch Them Die and recently replacing D. Tyler "Balls" Morris.

Continue reading "Getting saved by Saviours at the Rickshaw" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Who better to embody the spirit of mayhem than a posse of rock-crazed teenaged boys? Especially if it's capital-M Mayhem, which happens to be the name of a package tour of metal bands sponsored by crack-tastic Rockstar Energy Drink?

The show, which hits the Shoreline on Saturday, July 12, with a roster of bands both horns-worthy (Mastodon!) and ehhh (Five Finger Death Punch?), signals the local debut of Black Tide, a quartet whose chief source of notoriety thus far is that they're fronted by a 15-year-old (their oldest member just turned 20). Yep, you read that right: though they're the same age you were when you got your first job at Jamba Juice, this gang of Miami whippersnappers has a deal with Interscope Records and are currently touring the world to promote their new album, Light from Above. What gives? Do we have a metal Hanson on our hands, or what? And would they kill me for suggesting as much (duh)? I called up bassist Zakk Sandler mere hours after Black Tide played their first Mayhem set at tour's kickoff in Seattle, Wash.

Continue reading "Youth gone wild: Black Tide" »

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Posted by Cheryl Eddy at 06:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Kat Renz

It's official: San Francisco is too brutal for the world's most brutal band - or at least, Adult Swim's most brutal band. Or maybe it's the other way around. In any case, I was fully prepared to go forth and die, as promised, to the eagerly awaited, sold-out Dethklok show at the Fillmore. Instead, I went forth and left.

Opening band Soilent Green, who performed as the crowed continued arriving, was awesome: supertight - and frontman Ben Falgoust, who windmill headbanged along, had great energy. It boded well for the night. Then, in the midst of the third or fourth song, a Fillmore employee took the mic, calmly announcing there was a "slight big emergency" and we all had to exit the building - just as we were settling in, getting our cells resonating at the speed of some grinding Louisiana metal. Thankfully I had yet to buy beer.

So, 10 minutes after getting patted down and hand-stamped, we filed out of the building - a herd of bratty sheep. Young boys gave their full cups of beer the college chug and the curious, confused, and complaining fans were, to say the least, vocal at the offense of the inconvenience. Stepping a steel-toed foot into the chilly outside (damn, why did I coat-check my hoodie?!), I knew the sirens, with their reverse Doppler effect, were destined for us. Fire at the Fillmore. How metal is that?

Continue reading "Dethklok fired up? Cancelled show rescheduled tonight" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Clouds
We Are Above You
(HydraHead)

By Ben Richardson

In 2003, Boston metalcore band Cave In were raising eyebrows and horns in the rock world, touring in support of their major-label debut Antenna (RCA) with the Foo Fighters and gracing the stage at the resurrected Lollapalooza.

This success didn’t last, however, and the aftermath of the Foo-tour was marred by label tensions that led to the band leaving RCA. Even after they released a well-received album called Perfect Pitch Black on indie-metal beehive HydraHead in 2005, Cave In saw their momentum collapse, and the bevy of rock critics willing to bestow descriptors like “emo-metal Radiohead” suddenly turned their attention elsewhere. In 2006, the band went on an indefinite hiatus.

While fans of Cave In’s introspective, textured brand of heavy music are right to mourn the band’s demise, it had a hell of a silver lining in the form of a band called Clouds. Formed by Cave In guitarist Adam McGrath, Clouds released the preposterously titled Legendary Demo on HydraHead in 2007, concatenating stoner rock, hardcore, blues, and classic rock into a widely allusive sound that the group itself refers to as “party grunge.”

Continue reading "From Cave In to Clouds: heaviness delivered" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rock 'n' roll clowning with Metalocalypse's Dethklok. Happy. Birthday.

Ye gads - too much as usual, especially on this very bizzy Saturday, June 7. Here are more worthies that unfortunately didn't make it to print - but made it, happily, here.

DETHKLOK
They started a joke that set a whole world of ex- and present metal heads laughing. TV yuk phenom-turned-metal phenom, Dethklok of Adult Swim’s Metalocalpyse sets Skwisgaar Skwigelf and Pickles the Drummer loose on an unsuspecting Bay Area - The Dethalbum in hand. Be sure to also catch hard-luck, yet still raging opening band Soilent Green. Thurs/June 5, 8 p.m., $26.50. Fillmore, 1805 Geary, SF. (415) 346-6000.

JOAN OF ARC
The martyred girl hero takes her latest form - as the ambitious Chicago rockers, returning with a new album, Boo!Human (Polyvinyl). Math rock? Post-punk post-structuralism? Ask Cap’n Jazz - or better, Tim Kinsella. Thurs/5, 8 p.m., $12. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. (415) 861-2011.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: DJ Spooky, Dethklok, Moby, Joan of Arc, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Kat Renz

Unbanged head hanging low from missing Wednesday’s Iron Maiden show down in Concord? Fear not, for a second chance to hear “Powerslave” live on stage awaits tonight, May 31. Sort of. High priestess of tribute bands Lynda Mortensen promises a night of metal mayhem with Children of the Damned; Damage, Inc.; Hail Satan; and Electric Funeral playing your favorite anthems by Iron Maiden, old-school Metallica, Mercyful Fate/King Diamond, and Black Sabbath, respectively, at the Red Devil Lounge.

Are you rolling your eyes or already making them up in King Diamond face paint? I know - I’m torn, too. Tribute bands are simultaneously shamelessly exciting and totally depressing. Ubiquitous and popular, it seems every famous band now has its tribute counterpart. (AC/DC may claim the most: a glaringly incomplete Google search found 20 AC/DC tribute bands from around the world, including British Columbia’s BC/DC and ThundHerStruck, yet another all-women one from LA.) The appeal is obvious. Performers get to embody their most-beloved rock star, and the audience gets to see a sincere counterfeit of their favorite over-dosed, broken-up, or not-touring band.

With this glut of impersonators, parameters by which to judge are essential. First there's the sound. While it’s vital to cut the lead vocalist some slack - ever try to match Bruce Dickinson’s vocal theatrics, much less in front of people? - if the vocals don’t make the cut, it’s over. No magic, no tribute, and no closing your eyes and forgetting.

Continue reading "Acolade or agony? Tribute metal at Red Devil Lounge" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Kat Renz

These may be the enlightened days of reinvigorated heavy metal madness, but San Francisco hasn’t hosted a lineup of melodic death metal bands this hefty in a long time. On Thursday, May 29, at Slim’s, Sweden’s ever-fierce Arch Enemy leads the charge of sweeping arpeggios and throaty declarations on the second-to-last stop on their brief North American “Tyranny and Bloodshed" tour. Joining the brutal quintet are three Century Media label mates – compatriots Dark Tranquility, Divine Heresy, and Greece’s death metal offering Firewind. Insert a proper horned salute to Slim’s here for carrying the torch of loud, heavy music of late (Death Angel, Exodus, Slough Feg, and on Friday, May 30, Candlemass and Soilent Green).

Though hardly a household name, Arch Enemy has caught on with metal listeners. Their seventh full-length studio recording, Rise of the Tyrant (Century Media, 2007), debuted last September at no. 84 on the Billboard charts. It could have been higher had the genre’s fans not spent their audio allowance on another new release: Dethklok’s epic cartoon metal album, The Dethalbum, which clocked in at 34,000 copies during its first week out, making it purportedly the best-selling death-metal album to date.

Assembled in 1996 by former Carcass guitarist Michael Amott and ex-Carnage bandmate John Liiva, Arch Enemy’s infant days were especially notable for the technically devastating dual guitar work of brothers Michael and Christopher Amott. In 2001, the group replaced Liiva with a new vocalist, Angela Gossow. Arch Enemy’s since become lazily tagged as that band with the hot blonde Valkyrie who can growl as gutturally as any angry and seasoned death metal dude. Regardless Gossow holds her own in very male-dominated, aggression-fueled scene. (Fellow journalists with metal ambitions take note, there is hope: writing for a German metal mag at the time, Gossow landed the Arch Enemy gig after giving a demo tape to Christopher Amott during an interview.)

Continue reading "Death metal's best? Arch Enemy to dominate Slim's" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 04:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amber Asylum isn't metal, but band leader Kris Force has been a longtime participant in the scene, while metal fans have gravitated toward her dark-ambient-folk group. Terrorizer named Amber Asylum's last album, Still Point (Profound Lore), as one of their top 40 albums of 2007, and her project has consistently found a home on metal labels. I caught up with Force recently on the phone as she relaxed at home in Pacifica on a sleepy Saturday afternoon. And by the way, Amber Asylum plays their first show in a year and a half on April 19 at El Rio.

SFBG: What's going on with this new release?

Kris Force: Grey Force Wakeford - it's apocalyptic folk or postindustrial music, kind of like Death in June or David Tibet. I worked with Tony Wakeford [Death in June/Sol Invictus] - he's in London - and Nick Grey is in Monaco. We did a lot of it remotely. I had been corresponding with Tony because I liked his music and reached out to him, and he asked me to do some string parts on something.

I found Nick through MySpace. I was really despairing one night and found his MySpace page. He didn't have many friends. I played his music and totally loved it, and I wrote him an e-mail, and he was familiar with my work. I suggested we do a mail-art collaboration, and he sent me a fabulous track. Then it turned into five tracks. It turned out Nick and Tony had four. We decided to put them together and see what happens. I mixed it all and I think it seems cohesive. It's come out on a French label called Athanor.

Continue reading "METAL: Chillin' with Amber Asylum/Frozen in Amber's Kris Force" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 03:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Duncan Scott Davidson

Here's more an interview with San Francisco's Walken. Read the original piece here.

Shane Bergman: A 14-year-old with a gun is the last thing I want to see around here.

SFBG: When did you guys form?

Sean Kohler: Actually, we came up with the name Walken in 1999.

SFBG: Pre-“More Cowbell.”

SB: Yeah, I think so. It was right at the beginning of the Christopher Walken joke obsession, with all the new movies and all that. I think we were caught up in the beginnings of that, doing Walken impressions and such. At the time it was just me and Andrew, who was the original drummer. I think we all collectively think of Walken forming again in different phases, ‘cause it’s changed so much. Present lineup: two years, basically.

Continue reading "METAL: Rockin' more Walken" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By G.W. Schulz
Photos by Mirissa Neff

METAL HANDS: A GESTURAL GLOSSARY

Every metal show contains plenty of dudes who merely headbang softly to themselves with their hands stuffed into the pockets of their tight black hoodies. A sea of empty faces they are. What fun is that? In honor of our metal issue this week, here are a few ways you can cheerlead the next time you're at a metal show.

Classic horns A staid gesture to be sure — but fairly reliable. You know the drill here. Turn it to the side and pump it like a fist for added pleasure.

The Claw When deploying just one hand to exhibit the claw, as opposed to the invisible orbs, bring it close to your face and pull downward for a melodramatic affect. Growl a little, too, like it just can't get any more metal ... when deep down you know it really can.

Land ho There's really never been a sufficient name for outright pumping your fist or fists at a show, but some folks around here are calling it "land ho." It's better off with no distinct title. Fist pumping during violent blastbeats or a huge, doomy breakdown is raw and organic, like the beginning of time. It needs no name. And it spans genres. We advise, however, that you reserve dual fists for truly metal moments. The members of Portland, Ore.'s Tragedy have been known to throw out a fist or two while playing, but this is extremely dangerous and should be done by professionals only.

Invisible orbs This is a variation of the Claw, except that you do it with both hands and hold them out in front of you rather than near your face, as if you're holding two invisible orbs. We contend that the invisible orbs should be savored while you're listening to Scandinavian metal or anything heavily influenced by it. If you scan the artwork on old black metal records, the bands are often posing with some version of the orbs, gritting their teeth and trying to look as menacing as possible.

Continue reading "METAL: Throw them horns!" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

By Todd Lavoie

Well, I can't speak for all of us here, but I reckon I'm not the only one who likes to unwind after a hard day's work with a rip through Slayer's Reign In Blood, a couple of beers, and a box of crayons…am I? I best not neglect the trusty ol' number two pencil while I'm at it, either - all the better for scrawling perfect 666's upon every available surface as "Postmortem" heralds the sheer blinding breadth of my fiendish ways, my pure evil intent. Are you with me, my pentagram-slamming brothers and sisters? Someone please tell me I ain't alone on this one.

Of course I'm not alone, silly, silly headbangers! Exhibit A: The Heavy Metal Fun Time Activity Book (2007), recently unleashed upon the previously untapped Crayola-wielding caught-in-a-mosh market by ECW Press/Independent Publishers Group. Authored and drawn by Aye Jay Morano - credited here as simply "Aye Jay" - the 48-page children's activity book send-up pays loving tribute to those fantastic little workbooks Mom and Dad would buy us at the supermarket or the toy store to shut us up for a few hours in the car during long drives.

Yep, I remember a bout or two of gut-wobbling carsickness on trips up to summer cabins and amusement parks, thanks to burying myself nose-deep in those suckers, throwing myself into diamond-cutting concentration trances in an effort to keep coloring with the lines! Oh, how I loved those books - excitement awaiting on every page, with dot-to-dots, mazes, word searches, brain teasers, and oodles of pictures ready for the colorin'! Any chance to bust out the burnt sienna and my stubby little fingers would set a-twitching in anticipation.

Continue reading "METAL: Color me heavy, Junior" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What's up with San Francisco skate-metal-punk contenders Hightower?

Well, they're kind of on hiatus, according to bassist Dave Fallis, taking a break from his SF picture-framing business to talk despite his bandmates' absence - "We can't form the Voltron," he warned. Hightower has made the rounds, touring every summer for the last six years, so this time, they've decided to just "concentrate on getting their lives back together" before writing songs and recording - once they raise enough funds.

"We're, like, the least marketable band out there," Fallis explained matter-of-factly. "We're not quite a metal band and not a, quote-unquote, punk rock band. It just seems like when we're at punk rock show, we're the regular dudes in jeans and T-shirts, and when we go to a metal show, we're the same way." Still, the band that met each other skateboarding around their SF neighborhood continues to find their way with the help of kindred skaters. "If we didn't skate we wouldn't know each other," Fallis said, "and as far as touring and getting shows, we'll contact people we know through skateboarding, and we'll decide which town to go to according to which ones have a great skateboarding spot or swimming hole."

HIGHTOWER'S TOP FIVE SPOTS TO SKATE OR SWIM WHILE ON THE ROAD

- Montreal, the Big O or the Olympic Stadium
- Chattanooga, Tenn., Suck Creek ("A great spot in the Smoky Mountains.")
- "Late-night skinny-dipping in Lawrence, Kansas."
- Maine's cliff jumps
- Assorted skateparks in Louisville, Ky.

HIGHTOWER
With Walken, Three Weeks Clean, and Soulbroker
May 1, 9 p.m., $8
Cafe Du Nord
2170 Market, SF
(415) 861-5016

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's all Santogold. All photos by Kimberly Chun.

South By - why, a week later, the wrap-up keeps coming. Here's what was on the plate Friday night, March 14 - in addition to the beef rib barbecue and banana pudding with Nilla wafers at Iron Works.

Soft sweat: Kim Hiorthoy.

I was glad to catch a few songs by Kim Hiorthoy in the SXSW day stage at the convention center's cafeteria. The Oslo, Norway, knob-twirler headed up the Smalltown Supersound showcase Wednesday night - here he performed with a percussionist pal, making more meditative, ambient sounds than the house-tinged music he ended up delivering at the Boredoms SF show on March 18.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful - hate me because of my bad band name: the Ting Tings.

The evening started out at Stubb's for the Ting Tings, art-pop duo from Salford, UK - the twosome has been surprising listeners with their infectious, dancey sass. Spunky, model-esque Katie White managed to hold the stage on her lonesome, thrashing away at her guitar.

Continue reading "SXSW: Santogold is golden along with Sightings, the Ting Tings, Torche, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Polish me off, Chrome. All photos by Joshua Rotter.

By Joshua Rotter

Chrome makes me think of those metallic-plated bicycles that kids ride around on. It also reminds me of the same-name rock band that formed in San Francisco in the late '70s. Promoter Bill Picture (Trans Am) managed to meld both elements together at monthly rock night Chrome at the Gangway.

Showcasing DJ Dirty Knees (Trans Am, Charlie Horse) and special guest DJs including March’s Metal Patricia, this metal night gets gear heads banging with heavy favorites like Bad Company’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and Motley Crue’s “Too Fast for Love." It’s like a metal hall of fame with something old and something newer.

Headbanging purists might divide the genre into two phases: the early years with bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath and the later, new wave of British metal (NWOBHM), led by tougher, harder acts like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Motorhead. But I chronologize it differently: BRHCO and ARHCO, before Rob Halford Came Out and After Rob Halford Came Out, which finally brought the genre out of the closet.

Continue reading "Clubs: Chrome gets our headbanging rocks off" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Totally high on High on Fire. All photos by Kimberly Chun.

"Purple is the color of sexual frustration," quips one English SXSW conventioneer to two ladies asking about their wardrobe choice in the elevator. Not so over at Stubb's and Vice's metal showcase yesterday, March 13. I missed Napalm Death, damn it all, but made it to see High on Fire totally kick arse! Lordy, who knew Matt Pike and company had it in 'em? All assembled would have to confess: they totally blew away metal-punk grandpappies Motorhead. (OK, I only stayed for a portion of Motorhead's set but chances looked slim that they were going to kick up more dust.)

"This song goes out to all my friends who came here from Oakland!" Pike exclaimed before launching into a brute, pummeling rendition of "Speedwolf." Holy mother of fuck...

You can't envy Lemmy and his weathered road warriors, following that. But you can admire the devil horns getting thrown up front.

Continue reading "SXSW: High on Fire blows away Motorhead; cruising Ms. Bea's and Typewriter Museum" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Curious about what some of the groups we feature in this week's Noise Pop cover story sound like? Anyone remember when reading about music meant that the quality of the writing alone had to convey individual sonic textures? Well, no more! Thank you, Internets! Behold!

Below are some introductory vids -- more info on these stellar performers (as well as a full fest schedule) is available at www.noisepop.com/2008

The Dodos, "Fools"

Holy Fuck, "Milkshake"

MSTRKRFT, "Street Justice"

Continue reading "Noise Pop video attack" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 02:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Vanessa K. Carr

There's club sandwich and then there's Club Sandwich: one is a chicken-bacon-mayo-double-decker, and the other is a Bay Area show promotion collective committed to hosting all ages shows for under-the-radar local and touring bands. Both layer elements that don't necessarily seem like they'd go together – but are notoriously tasty for that precise reason.

True to form, Club Sandwich shows cross traditional genre boundary lines (noise, punk, folk, etc.), bringing together different subcultures within the Bay Area's underground music scene that don't usually overlap.

Club Sandwich: Raccoo-oo-oon 21 Grand

In the spirit of similar DIY show promoters like Todd P in New York or the Upset the Rhythm collective in the UK, Club Sandwich organizes shows at a host of different venues, ranging from legitimate gallery spaces like ATA in San Francisco and Lobot in Oakland to warehouse spaces where people live – and even an Oakland swimming pool.

"Part of what we do is connect the warehouse and art spaces with touring acts who do not have these intrinsic connections," says Club Sandwich founding member (and Guardian contributor) George Chen.

Club Sandwich: Some Dark Holler at Totally Intense Fractal Mindgaze Hut Oakland

Continue reading "Club Sandwich bites into all-ages hunger" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"The truth can finally be told, Marke B.," said Trannyshack mama bear Heklina when I talked to her about her raucous 12-year-old trash-drag weekly at the Stud going dark in August. "I was gonna shut it down on our 10th anniversary -- that's just such a good, round number -- but I was in talks for the past two years with some big time studios about a Trannyshack reality series, so I kept it going. But I guess that's dead in the water now, so it's time to move on." Alas! But hurray for Heklina taking time out to figure herself out. And Trannyshack may return as a monthly, so that would be nice.

There have been so-so-so many disgustingly wonderful Trannyshack moments in the past dozen years to try to remember fully. I think I was at the opening night in 1996, but I was on a lot of meth then, so who the hell knows? Anyway, here are some performances for the ages. I'll be adding more in the next week as soon as I get off my ass and fight my way out of this paper bag hangover (never huff Aquanet people -- it'll make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth.) And there are a ton of Trannyshack vids on YouTube -- except for some reason they've taken down clips from "Filthy Gorgeous: The Trannyshack Movie" -- I wanted that one where Juanita More and the dwarf get naked for "Put It In My Mouth." Anyway! Enjoy!

Heklina and Glamamore "All is full of love"

Rentecca and Kim Burley, "Two Trannies, One Cup"

Continue reading "Clubs: Trannyshack (fuzzy) memories" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Perfect? Circle.

Newsdesk.org editor and music critic Josh Wilson weighs in with his best in music for the year:

- Hammers of Misfortune at the Great American Music Hall, Feb. 22. Glorious thunder and truth.

- Circle at Bottom of the Hill, Sept. 27. If Can were a dadaist metal band from Finland.

- Faun Fables with Daevid Allen and Josh Pollock at Cafe du Nord, Nov. 28. Mad Canterbury beatnik styles, eruptive guitar on a tight leash, plus a truly riveting vocal and kinetic display by Faun Fables.

Continue reading "Josh Wilson's musical bests for 2007" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Ben Richardson

Out of all the '80s thrashers that managed to survive the nu-metal wasteland of the '90s, none have re-hoisted the oriflamme of thrash with the vehemence of Exodus. After abortive Korn-era attempts to regain prominence were scotched by endless line-up changes and label disputes, the band coalesced in 2004 around guitarist Gary Holt, who was determined to get the band back in the studio. The result was Tempo of the Damned, an impeccably fierce reminder of the band’s days as the kings of the Bay Area thrash scene, before Metallica came along and displaced them, poaching Exodus lead player Kirk Hammett along the way.

In 2005 the band joined forces with powerfully bearded vocalist Rob Dukes to record Shovel Headed Kill Machine, a similarly furious album that welded 15 years of metal innovation to the iron chassis they had forged on their early efforts. The timing for the band’s renaissance could not have been more perfect. Exodus were able to take advantage of America’s exploding appetite for metal, and the quality of their songwriting allowed them to trade in on their sterling '80s reputation without alienating fans of more modern metal forms.

This fall, Exodus released their third album of this promising new era, The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A, carefully sticking to the formula that had garnered success for their two previous discs. The airtight interplay between the band’s most senior members was once again the primary focus of the music; guitarist Gary Holt and drummer Todd Hunting thrash together with daunting precision, crafting neck-snapping tribal grooves and meticulous shredding duets. The band also continues to rely on the intricate, epic song structures that they have made a staple, showcasing their ability for stop-on-a-dime instrumental shifts and complicated arrangements - five of the album’s nine tracks clock in at eight minutes or above.

Continue reading "Thrash travelers Exodus revisited, by way of "The Atrocity Exhibition"" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Ben Richardson

The spotlight will be on Isis this Sunday, Nov. 18, at Slim’s, and deservedly so - surviving as a band for a decade is quite an accomplishment. While many concertgoers will wonder if the retrospective mood will inspire the group to trot out some of their older material, I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the opening band, who have the unenviable task of greeting somebody else’s party guests.

If anyone’s up to the challenge, it’s Big Business. Having cut their teeth this summer opening for Tool, the LA-by-way-of-Seattle pair is poised to burst out of the avant-garde annex of underground metal and make their butt-rumbling mark on the world. Bassist Jerry Warren and drummer Coady Willis are a dynamic duo of low-end, hewing huge riffs out of slabs of E-string and floor tom.

Warren and Willis have been moonlighting in the Melvins, surely a dream come true for any fan of heavy music, and they appeared on A Senile Animal, the seminal sludgemasters’ most recent disc. Their own material hasn’t flagged, however, and Warren’s distinctive, frenzied vocals were recently joined above the hard-grooving fray by the guitar and Minimoog stylings of David Scott Stone, who joined the band for the recording of their second album, Here Come the Waterworks.

Continue reading "Giving you the Big Business" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 02:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cannibal Corpse really does cross all boundaries.

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Posted by Cheryl Eddy at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Ben Richardson

November is upon us, and cult prog-emo masterminds Coheed and Cambria (Coheed for short) play the Warfield this week, touring behind their new album, Good Apollo, I’m a Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow (take that, Fiona Apple). The album - their fourth - serves as the concluding chapter in a sweeping back-story that has served as the fundament for the entire Coheed catalog, which chronicles the abstruse adventures of a pair of put-upon intergalactic badasses, "Coheed" and “Cambria.”

Hearing Coheed for the first time is a divisive experience, and I’ll confess that without something specific to latch onto I would have written them off based on the singing alone. Frontperson Claudio Sanchez favors a dulcet falsetto that often elicits comparisons to Geddy Lee, the similarly polarizing vocalist of Rush, and I was lucky to stumble upon a track on their first release that enabled me to allay my falsetto fears and gradually learn to appreciate Sanchez’s high-register crooning. The track is called “Delirium Trigger,” and it begins with this verse:

We're now / Up here alone / Terror on the intercom / Can someone save us?
Systems malfunction / Blast it this damn machine / Over and out captain.
Something lurks / Creeps on the counter top / Somewhere behind you
Parasitic cyst / I can't stand to watch / It's coming up and out of your chest.

These lyrics combine with an eerie, plaintive 6/8 groove to create an atmosphere of dread, and, on the strength of that last line, start to sound a hell of a lot like the original cast recording of Alien: The Musical. As a huge fan of the Ridley Scott movie and its attendant sequels, I found my attention immediately piqued. Sure, the whole chest-bursting thing was a little derivative, but if you’re going to crib, shouldn’t you crib from the best?

Continue reading "Coheed and Cambria heed the "Alien" call" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Ben Richardson

Have you ever listened to a song and thought, wow, I've definitely heard that part before, in a different song? Vanilla Ice's oft-derided thievery of the bass part from Queen's "Under Pressure" is probably the best-known example, but - surprise - it turns out that riff-plagiarism has been rampant for years, especially in the dogmatic world of heavy metal and hard rock. Thanks to the keen ear of YouTube user BaknBlack, we provide you with a nine-volume compendium pilfered, ripped-off, and thinly disguised rock: Metal That Sounds Like Other Metal.

Continue reading "Thanks for the metal! Even if it does sound like other metal..." »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Ben Richardson

Esteemed Guardian staffer Cheryl Eddy was kind enough to sacrifice a sentence of her Behemoth preview this Wednesday, Oct. 24, on the altar of French metal masterminds Gojira. Though the adjective she picked to describe them - “brutal” - is certainly apt, I wanted to delve a little deeper into the band’s Gallic brutality.

Gojira is the brainchild of two brothers from Bayonne: Joe and Mario Duplantier, a guitarist and a drummer who honed their formidable instrumental skills as children before recruiting a bassist and second guitarist to round out their band. Initially calling themselves Godzilla, they soon paid the inevitable price of, well, not coming up with a better band name, and switched over to the Japanese translation.

Describing Gojira’s music is tricky. The music definitely draws on the bludgeoning power of down-tuned death metal riffs, and it harnesses the speed of thrash metal picking, but it’s nigh impossible to call it “death” or “thrash” in good conscience. There’s also the complication of the band’s heavy prog influence, which manifests itself in Gojira’s off-kilter, abruptly curtailed riffs, strange time signatures, and majestic, epic interludes.

Continue reading "Go, metal monsters Gojira, Go" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Machine Head's Robb Flynn blogs in response to his Oakland band's canceled dates at House of Blues venues:

In the six years since the attacks of Sept. 11, the United States has become a better place in a number of ways. As a country, we have implemented a few common sense security procedures and protective measures that have made the nation little more secure; as a people, we are a little more conscious of our surroundings and what we can do to increase our safety; and, as a society, we are (to some degree) a little more aware of our effect on the rest of the world, both positive and negative. On the night of Sept. 11, when I asked the crowd in Tucson, Arizona, to please give 15 seconds of silence to pay respect to those whose lives were lost on that tragic day, for that one brief moment, we all felt like one. These are good things.

However, in those same six years, the United States has also managed to deteriorate into a place much worse than it was on Sept. 10, 2001. Since that infamous day, many ugly truths have surfaced, many of the liberties we once took for granted – freedoms we once thought invincible – have been quietly erased by men that have taken it upon themselves to ignore the Constitution and write their own rules. These are the same men that fed the world lies in order to justify a war that it wouldn’t agree to, men who value power and control over human life and exercise it with an unprecedented audacity and disdain for the law. And these are very bad things.

But worse than any of that, in my opinion, is the fact that, for the most part, we are allowing it. We, the people, are sitting idly by while all of this is happening, watching it slowly unravel in front of our very eyes. The scale of it all so large, the stage so vast that it’s impossible not to feel helpless and detached in the shadow of everything that’s happening — that is, until the same kinda s–t happens to you, on a much smaller scale. You tend to turn a blind eye, until you see the same tyrannical attitudes and repressive tactics trickle down into your daily life, absorbed by corporate America and dictated to you as “the way it needs to be."

Continue reading "Machine Head's Robb Flynn responds to House of Blues banishment" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

By Ben Richardson

Thirteen years have passed since Oakland metal stalwarts Machine Head promised to “let freedom ring with a shotgun blast” on their album Burn My Eyes, and it now appears that frontperson Robb Flynn and company should consider cramming new casings into the figurative chamber. The band’s ongoing Black Tyranny tour - which stops at the Warfield on Friday, Oct. 12 - has been marred by a pair of bizarre last-minute venue changes, both prompted by the inscrutable and unexpected objections of international media conglomerate the Walt Disney Company.

Disney owns the land under the Anaheim and Orlando branches of the House of Blues chain, venues that were slated to host Machine Head and support acts Arch Enemy, Throwdown, and Sanctity during stops on September’s national tour. Two days before the long-since-booked concert in Anaheim, the show was abruptly moved to a different venue by concert promoter and House of Blues parent company LiveNation, which cited pressure from the landowning behemoth as the reason for the switch.

Machine Head claimed on their Web site that Disney objected to the “violent imagery, undesirable fans, and inflammatory lyrics” associated with the band. According to an interview conducted with the Los Angeles Times, Flynn also suspects that the group’s “anti-war and anti-administration lyrics” had an effect on Disney’s decision.

Continue reading "Too metal for Mickey? Machine Head vs. Disney" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 05:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Ben Richardson

In 1994, as most of the musical world mourned the death of Kurt Cobain, a humble band from Gothenburg, Sweden, released an album called Lunar Strain, which would go on to help situate the sleepy Scandinavian university town at the center of a swirling metal maelstrom. The band was In Flames, and their incendiary interpretation of the nascent death metal genre would go on to spawn a legion of imitators on both sides of the Atlantic.

The fulcrum of the In Flames sound was a keen ear for neoclassical melody, which they fused seamlessly with the groovy thrash 'n' roll that defined the Swedish Death scene at the time. This penchant for soaring arpeggios and Iron Maiden-style close-harmony leads made their music accessible, adaptable, and widely popular. Subsequent LP's The Jester Race and Whoracle won critical and fan acclaim.

Six years and five albums later, the fire had begun to dwindle. The band had undergone numerous lineup changes, and a seismic sonic shift had been set in motion. By the release of 2000's Clayman, In Flames was experimenting with slower tempos and crunchier, dumbed-down riffs, while retaining enough soaring leads and double-bass gallop to keep their fanbase placated. 2002's Reroute to Remain was a different story, a galling stumble into gussied-up nü-metal pablum that introduced triggered trip-hop drumbeats and vocalist Anders Friden's ghastly embrace of both clean singing and dreadlocks

Continue reading "Going down...In Flames" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

We've been compiling a little archive of local movers and shakers' favorite super-gay videos, either in context, influence, or just plain awesome swishiness. (Check out Part 1 here.) It's an webxperiment! Many of the participants appeared in our Gayest. Music. Ever. cover story from last week.

This week, local queer rock impressario Bill Picture of monthly punkrock live-act throwdown Trans Am (happening this Saturday at Club Eight and featuring The Passionistas) chimes in with a few limp-wristed doozies. Check it!

Bill peeks slyly from behind his partner, DJ Dirty Knees

For me, "gay" is more than just a more-palatable alternative to "poo-stabber." I also use it to describe things that I think are totally hot, really silly shit, and stuff that's totally lame. Check out my favorite "totally gay" videos, and you'll see what I mean:

David Bowie featuring Klaus Nomi, "The Man Who Sold The World"
Then-fence-sitting David Bowie performing "The Man Who Sold the World" with tranny-from-another-planet Klaus Nomi and future-drag-cabaret-superstar Joey Arias singing background. This "gay" falls under the "totally hot" heading. I was seven years old and fascinated by these gender-fluid freaks...

Toilet Boys, "You Got It"
Tranny-fronted headbangers Toilet Boys' "You Got It." Again, "totally hot." The first time I saw the guitarist Sean, who happens to be straight, I thought, "God, I wish I was a guitar so Sean would rub his sweaty business against me every night."

After the jump: Debbie Harry meets the Muppets, and Madonna gets exxxed

Continue reading "Gayest. Videos. Ever. (Pt. 2)" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

By Duncan Scott Davidson

I went to the Bad Brains show at Slim’s last night. The sad admission: I’d never seen them before. I mean, I had, for the Rise (Epic, 1993) tour with Israel Joseph I on vocals instead of HR, which really doesn’t count, now does it? Sort of like going to the Wonka Chocolate Factory and being shown around by someone named “Millie Monka” instead of Willie Wonka.

Needless to say, I was stoked on the show last night, though I wasn’t expecting to see HR playing a guitar, an F-hole Ibanez with a blue sunburst paint job. That was all well and good, and added a little more crunch to the music (as if it needed any). I remember being physically moved by the early Brains footage in American Hardcore, just floored by how raw and forceful they were live. Nonetheless, I knew HR wasn’t in his twenties anymore, and wouldn’t be wearing a white droogie outfit and doing flips. Still, during the reggae tracks, when he wasn’t moored to his guitar, he stood with his hands in the pockets of his oversized ragamuffin Harry Potter hoodie-cardigan-blazer thing, his eyes slits, clearly higher than Haile Selassie I. You figure the guy can’t be a whole lot older than fellow DC favorite son Henry Rollins, but you know Hank wouldn’t rock out with his hands in his pockets. Of course, Rollins doesn’t smoke a whole cannabis club to his head every day. And what is it with being from DC and affecting a Jamaican accent? Does playing reggae and being a Rasta mean God sends down and authentic accent from above? Does converting to Hinduism make you speak like a Bollywood star?

Bad Brains, back in the day.

Continue reading "Punk you, Bad Brains" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 01:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Ben Richardson

Almost all of the members of Valient Thorr wear denim jackets emblazoned with their own backpatches, which would be a pretty lame move by a band that didn't claim to be from Venus.

Yet once a group makes a certain level of commitment to a ridiculous concept, all is forgiven, and a collection of pseudonyms and a convoluted interplanetary backstory only serve to heighten Valient Thorr's endearing, cultish goofiness. They stormed the stage Wednesday, Sept. 19, at Slim's, ripping through a high-octane set that combined punk rock, AC/DC, and a healthy dose of ZZ Top.

Majestically bearded frontperson "Valient Himself" patrolled the stage like a demented ringmaster, stretching the world's tightest pair of purple thrift-store pants to their absolute limit. His ranting, raving vocal stylings kept the crowd raucous, and his copious sweat rained down on the front row, especially when he started purposefully flicking it out of his armpits with both hands.

Barnburners such as "Heatseeker" and "I Am the Law" were kept at a fever pitch by the guitar team of "Eidan" and "Voiden Thorr." The two seared from start to finish, displaying a devastating talent for four-fingered sixteenth note runs in between their psycho-boogie chord changes. One of them - I'm not sure which - even demonstrated a novel hairdo which I will dub the "reverse beard," which involves pairing a mohawk and beard combo with a second beard that joins the "face" beard above the ears and runs down along the back of the neck. With some careful maintenance and maybe a little tattoo work, the guy could have a convincing face on the back of his skull.

Continue reading "God of thunder alert - Valient Thorr at Slim's" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 04:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Early High on Fire, mach I. Courtesy of MTV.com.

By Ben Richardson

There were a few chuckles from the audience when someone enjoined High on Fire to "play the heavy one," and a few more when frontperson Matt Pike replied, "I will."

Levity aside, the good-natured heckling suggested something more profound. During the band's free set Tuesday evening at Amoeba, High on Fire became the Heavy One, writ large and inked in blood, and ran through a set of songs from their new CD that pummeled with abandon.

Pike's fingers danced like dervishes across the extra-wide fret-board of his custom-made nine-string, and his face twisted into a devilish grin every time he pulled of something particularly awesome. The kings of conflagration inebriation played the new songs to perfection, doing full and fiery justice to Death Is This Communion riffmonsters like "Turk" and "Rumors of War." The trio was rounded out by drummer Des Kensel and bassist Jeff Matz, the thunder to Pike's lightning fingers, and a gruesome rhythm twosome in their own right. If the set had any weakness, it was that the frontperson's voice sounded a little thin, but the ex-Sleep guitarist's raspy, wounded bellow is appealing in its rawness, and he was hampered by an admittedly dinky PA.

After yesterday's record release, High on Fire sets off on a national tour, returning to San Francisco for two culminating dates at the Independent, Oct. 28 and 29.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This weekend's clubs and parties: It’s a classic case of B&T this Labor Day weekend. Not B&T as in bridge and tunnel -- although the fact that the BART’s open 24 hours while the Bay Bridge gets some fixin’ promises to flood the city with thankfully non-drunk driving revellers. (I myself plan to take advantage of this BART generosity by exploring some East Bay haunts I haven’t been able to visit in a while, like the White Horse Inn, the Ruby Room, and the Bench & Bar … look out Oaktown!)

Nope, it’s B&T as in bears and trannies, and a fab club called Trans Am (and more!). This week’s Super Ego column gave the lowdown on some of the events going on this week and next, here’s some more. Just for us.

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Look out!

Continue reading "Freakend Alert! Wild bears, trannies ...." »

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Posted by Marke B. at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It’s gonna be one of those crazy too much weekends on the club-freak circuit again. Luckily, I’ll be chasing drag queen Jackie Beat’s voluminous tinfoil skirts and jamming to Morris Day and the Time at fab street fest Sunset Junction in LA -- somebody bring me a mirror! -- so I don’t have to choose. But for those not hoofin’ it to Silver Lake, here’s a few picks -- a l’il rundown on the run-up, as it were. Run around! Got a party I missed? Give it up. I’ll add more as the weekend approaches if poss. I’ve got a lot of makeup to do.

Oh, and if you haven’t seen Avenue Q yet, get yer ass down to the Orpheum Theatre, quick. As America’s premiere queer Arab American leather disco hip-hop muppet whore, I highly recommend the work of my fellow monsters (especially the Bad Idea Bears ! My people!).

Bad Idea Bears rule

I also wanna plug one of my fave haunts – Club 222, which has far too much good stuff going on all for me to remember. Stop by for a drink, dance all evening, wonder where the hell you are in the morning. Then tell me when you find out.

Now, on to the klubz:

Continue reading "Freekend alert! Glitterbox, Chrome, Dirtybird, more" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Saviours' first 'un, Crucifire.

This in recently from Kemado Records:

"Explosive, Oakland, CA outfit Saviours has inked a deal with NYC label Kemado Records. The self-described "piss-angry metal band", known for its ferocious live performances and original stamp on the classic power and thrash metal of decades past, will enter Los Angeles' A&M/Henson Studios in late August with producer Joe Barresi (Melvins, Kyuss, Tool) to record its sophomore album.

"Merging howling lyrical venom with an endless arsenal of corrosive guitar orchestrations, harmonized leads and runaway locomotive rhythms, Saviours have been rapidly garnering international attention as one of the best heavy bands active today. Fresh off a red-hot tour of the United Kingdom as hand-picked direct support to progressive metal giants Mastodon, Saviours have launched a fourteen city road jaunt that will see the band's "not-to-be-missed" live sets including many of the new songs that will comprise the new full-length. The as-yet-untitled album is expected to see an early 2008 release.

Continue reading "Oakland's Saviours sign with Kemado" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By K. Tighe

The Lollapalooza Chicago skyline: don't stare at it too hardit might bite. Photo by Cambria Harkey.

Dear readers, I have failed you.

I've been attempting to experience the whole of Lollapalooza, which of course includes after-parties, and their obligatory next-morning results. However, while Lupe Fiasco and Amy Winehouse were playing on day 3, Aug. 5, I was stretched out on a yoga mat, trying not to hurl.

Lucky for you, I have spies everywhere. The little birds told me that Fiasco - Chicago's resident geek-rapper - delivered a stellar, irreverent performance that left his crowd wanting more. In contrast, the petite Ms. Winehouse fell short. During most of her set, she appeared to be consumed by boredom, and even the infectious strains of "Rehab" couldn't shake her out of it. A crowd hoping for a train wreck of some sort continued to watch, but Winehouse never turned it up. Hey, at least she showed up, right?

The punk rockers are old. The alt-rockers are old, too. Hell, even the electro-clash kids are showing some wear these days - though it's nothing a cowbell couldn't fix. Age be damned - the highest energy performance of the weekend belonged without question to Stooges frontperson Iggy Pop. With raggedy long hair sticking to his bare back, Iggy charged the stage like a sinewy beast and didn't pull back once during the set, prompting hoards of fans, young and old, to get Iggy with it.

Continue reading "Lollapalooza day 3: Pearl Jam censored by AT&T, Stooges, Yo La Tengo, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 07:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amber Asylum honchette Kris Force gives an olde-styley performance with pal Sigrid Sheie tonight, July 25, at the Homestead. Me thinks it won't be heaviosity incarnate - instead, Force e-mails, "We've been working on a collection of standards and torch songs that we would love to share with you." She adds that Chewy of Hammers of Misfortune will be joining the duo on brushes.

It's all happening tonight, about 9:30 p.m. And it's, dang, free... though attention to the tip jar is appreciated.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Step right up for the git-pickin' pick o' the litter at the first annual San Francisco Picker’s Picnic on Friday, July 6, at Bottom of the Hill.

King City with child.

Joe Price with Vicki Price, King City, Craig Ventresco with Meredith Axelrod, Gaucho, and Pat Johnson will be your shred-meisters. Your host: Chewy Marzolo - player of heavy metal, bluegrass, cartoon swing Latin soundtrack, rag, burlesque, abso-futurist black/death metal, gypsy jazz, cabaret, country, and he says, "a few other types of not-very-popular-to-the-hipsters styles of music in San Francisco for...well...let me see here...um...a very long time."

Joe Price in action.

This time Marzolo bites into a first - the Picker's Picnic. Among the offerings are the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame inductee Joe Price; gypsy jazz combo Gaucho (with Ralph Carney); and Marzolo's own band, King City, who describe themselves as "a five-piece ragtime/tango/Latin/spaghetti western
instrumental San Francisco bonifiedly warranted excuse for a good time." By the way, King City's first official CD, The Last Siesta, comes out this summer on Spencer Muray's Antebellum label and the cover was painted by graf giant Twist, aka, Barry McGee.

It's all on July 6, 9 p.m., at Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. $10. For more info, go to www.myspace.com/pickerspicnic. Be there - or be home pickin' on your own.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 06:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)