By Kimberly Chun

You want to wipe away the gloom with some swoony, loony sounds, you know you do. More music than we could cram into ye olde newsprint.

Alternative Tentacles 30th Anniversary Incest-a-Thon
The proceedings kick off with Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine -- and it's going to be raging and ornery from the sound of the outfit's new The Audacity of Hype (Alternative Tentacles). The fun continues with Citizen Fish, Star Fucking Hipsters, and MIA (the hardcore band not the lady) opening tonight; Ludicra, Munly and the Lupercalians, and Knights of the New Crusade Friday, and Alice Donut, Victims Family, and Burning Image Saturday. Sounds like a good, loudly irreverent time for all. Thurs/5-Sat/7, 8 p.m., $20-$22 ($50 three-day pass). Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.

Hank IV and Celine Dion
Hank Sr. gets a hard twirl in his grave, as the Bay Area troublemakers’ hearts go on. With Blues Control. Thurs/5, 9 p.m., $7. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk St., SF. (415) 923-0923.

Dawes
The early-20-something LA foursome have been listening closely to The Big Pink -- namely the Band, not the UK 4AD duo. With Langhorne Slim and Austin Lucas. Fri/6, Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1422.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Alternative Tentacles, Pixies, Paramore, Finches, R. Kelly, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FELA KUTI
The Best of the Black President - Deluxe Edition
(Kalakuta Sunrise/Knitting Factory)

By Kimberly Chun

Ripe for revival and just in time for FELA!, the Broadway musical, as well as the real-life black president, Fela Kuti was a legend in his own time -- the fact that he passed more than a dozen years ago seems surreal. Watch him today on YouTube (below) or on the Slice of Fela DVD that accompanies the new Best of the Black President (Kalakuta Sunrise/Knitting Factory) and includes excerpts from the film Music Is the Weapon and a Berlin Jazz Festival performance. You'll get a glimpse of the visonary's shamanistic sonic power.

No need to rely on the visuals though - just let Black President's two discs' full of hypnotic grooves wash over you. "Army Arrangement," "Roforofo Fight," "Lady," "Water Get No Enemy" -- the first in Knitting Factory Records' remastered reissue series of 45 Kuti titles shines a light on his '60s band Koola Lobitos and takes you higher. Guarans. It's the first time all 45 albums will released on vinyl in North America -- something to look forward to in the next 18 months.

Here's a taste of latter-day Fela with Afrika 70, shot by Ginger Baker (not included on the DVD):

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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

The tao of Au, the Wu of a Killah -- that’s the spirit. More sounds to sit with and move to.

AU - RR vs. D from Rainbow Dropshadow on Vimeo.

Au
Toy pianos, ethereal vocals, and Portland, Ore.-steeped experimentation. With Why?, Mount Eerie, and Serengeti and Polyphonic. Sat/17, 9 p.m., $16. Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.

Dan Deacon
The high Deacon of the laptop gospel preaches to the choir. With Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Teeth Mountain, and Nuclear Power Pants. Sat/17, 9 p.m., $10. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. (415) 820-9669.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Dan Deacon, Ghostface Killah, La Roux, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Interview by Mirissa Neff. From SCENE: The Guardian Guide to Bay Area Nightlife and Glamour, on stands in our regular issue now!

Funky C with his band Joya, photographed for our SCENE cover by Spencer Hansen

Known throughout Latin America as C-Funk, singer, guitarist, and DJ Funky C, a.k.a. Cristian Moraga, was born during the bleak days of Pinochet's dictatorship. He co-fronted popular funk-rock-hip-hop band Los Tetas and brought the groove back to a Chilean scene rife with disenfranchised punk rockers. When Los Tetas ended, Moraga vowed never to set foot on another stage. Lucky for us, though, his particular brand of funk (what he calls "Funk Latino") was too chronic to shake. The mothership brought him to San Francisco where he recorded Joya (Sonic 360, 2007), an album full of nods to funk icons like James Brown and George Clinton and less-expected heros like Tupac and Snoop Dogg. With two recent slots at the Fillmore under his belt, Funky C is set to throw down his deep-rooted riffs and infectious songs at a series of new parties called "Latin Biatz."

SFBG How did you end up in the U.S.?

Funky C I have family here and came here to play with my old band, Los Tetas. But I always wanted to come here to live. In 2007 I released the Funky C album with L.A. label Sonic 360 and decided to move here. Then my wife and I had our baby here in San Francisco, a California girl. It's been a crazy year.

SFBG So the whole band came from Chile?

Funky C Well, I decided for myself, and they wanted to come too. And through my visa I got them visas. The drummer Pepino arrived last year. The bass player Chicho came last year, went back to Chile, and got back just in time for our show at the Fillmore last week. The only one who's not here is the keyboard player. We're missing one of our characters in the band, and I miss him a lot.

Continue reading "SCENE: Funky C tears the roof off" »

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Posted by SFBG at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Kimberly Chun

Keep your ears open for the sound of rolling thunder, and your heart dilated with the music of yesterday and tomorrow. Today? Well, here’s some of the musical worthiness coming down the pike right about now.

Mark Eitzel and Victor Krummenacher
Singles going steady? The American Music Clubber meets up with his Camper/Monk chum, who flies solo. Thurs/24, 8 p.m., $12-$15. Red Devil Lounge, 1695 Polk, SF. (415) 921-1695.

Hammer
He won’t hurt you -- though his parachute pants could cause damage. With Whodini. Fri/25, 8 p.m., $45.75-$65.75. Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph, Oakl. www.apeconcerts.com

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Hammer, Indian Jewelry, Rain Machine, MV and EE, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Johnny Ray Huston

BARBARA LYNN

Here is Barbara Lynn

(Water)

A lost gem of Atlantic, saved by the boys of Water in Oakland. The clarity and purity of Lynn's voice are rare — and don't let those adjectives fool you into thinking she's a frail flower. Here, the left-handed guitarist makes wise ballads she wrote as a teen burn as strong and steady as anything by Irma Thomas. It's all in the voice.

Barbara Lynn, "You'll Lose a Good Thing"

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Posted by SFBG at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Marke B.

Soul with a "!"

In the hoot-and-whirl tradition of Gogol Bordello and Balkan Beat Box, massive NYC brass-and-other-things band Slavic Soul Party! brings Eastern European funk sounds to the dancing masses, on the order of our own beloved Brass Menazeri crew. New album Taketron (barbes) is a shining example of the delicious new Romany hybridity.

Don't believe me? Download a slice of Taketron and listen for yourself here.

Then watch the feathers fly to this SSP track:

Then join the freakin' party!

Slavic Soul Party!
Fri/25, 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
$15 per show, $25 for both
Elbo Room
647 Valencia, SF
www.elbo.com

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Posted by SFBG at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Marke B.

Smoke out with Brownout. Photo by Sandy Carson

This week in the paper, I write about eight-piece Latin psychedelic funk outfit from Texas, Brownout. I'm really digging, in a mellow way, their new album Aguilas and Cobras on Six Degrees Records. You should throw on a rad patterned suit jacket and some slick shoes, light up something nice, and check them out at Elbo Room this Friday.

Want a taste? Check out this primo Brownout mix from Austin's DJ Chicken George and download their Olvidalo track.

Oh, and here's their new video for "Slinky"

BROWNOUT
Fri/18, 10 p.m., $8–$10
Elbo Room
647 Valencia, SF
(415) 552-7788
www.elbo.com

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Posted by SFBG at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Michael Krimper

DAM FUNK

Toeachizown

(Stones Throw)

Los Angeles ambassador of boogie grooves Dam Funk taps into the warmth of the sun with this five-volume effort.

Dam Funk, "Toeachizown" promo

Dam Funk performs this Friday with the Donuts crew. Marke B. says:

"Laidback techno-boogie and electro-funk from the shades-bedecked master of jambox rock. West Coaster Dam of L.A.'s luscious Funkmosphere parties will be showing off rare vinyl cuts from his personal collection as well as some of his own, much lauded tracks."

Fri/11, $10. Poleng Lounge, 1751 Fulton, SF. www.polenglounge.com

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Posted by SFBG at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Johnny Ray Huston

24-CARAT BLACK

Gone: The Promises of Yesterday

(Numero Group)

The title here rings all too true: 24-Carat Black is a memento of all that soul music could have been, had economic woes not killed its most ambitious tendrils. This dozen-plus ensemble's unfinished sequel to 1975's oft-sampled Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth (Stax) is just as conceptual, but more downtempo. "The Best of Good Love Gone" is Dusty in the ghetto instead of a satin Memphis boudoir. "I Want to Make Up" does a slow burn then floats off in the nighttime breeze.

24-Carat Black, "The Best of Good Love Gone"

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Posted by SFBG at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Kimberly Chun

Relaxing too hard this Labor Day weekend? Get the blood moving at these musical happenings – so much more than we could fit in print.

AC/DC
The Aussies are slipping on Black Ice and into the record books as the fifth best-selling band in US history. With Answer. Wed/2, 8 p.m., $92.50. HP Pavilion, 525 W. Santa Clara, San Jose. www.livenation.com

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: AC/DC, Japanther, Invisible Ocean Gathering, White Buffalo, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

M.I.A. All photos by Kimberly Chun.

By Kimberly Chun

Outside Lands -- here and now gone. A final dispatch from the dusty, green groves.

Sunday, Aug. 30

Keeping your expectations low is key to smorgasbord fests. Still, I expected a sparser crowd today, the day of the canceled Beastie Boys appearance due to Adam Yauch’s cancer diagnosis, and those expectations were fulfilled. There was definitely less of a mob today: not quite as many specially propped-up cleavages and fewer well-heeled, supertanned oldsters (acolytes of George Hamilton?) than yesterday. What can you say? Dave Matthews definitely skewed the demographic toward the middle-aged, if not outright white-haired.

I don’t know how gramps and grammy would have felt about the fence-jumpers, but they were definitely hopping today as well: I spied about a dozen crash over the fence en masse near the Presidio stage mid-afternoon to the sound of congratulatory whoops from bystanders on the inside. Outside a few agile types peered in at the Sutro stage from the trees on the other side of the barrier. Low-key in comparison to last year’s gang fence-vaulting.

Matt and Kim.

Continue reading "Outside Lands: Mighty M.I.A., pale Dead Weather, peppy Matt and Kim, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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)

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

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 Tomas Palermo. Vieux appears on Sat/18 as part of the two-night 5th Annual Afrofunk Festival at The Independent. Fri/17 features the full-blown stylish sounds of Sila and the Afrofunk Experience.

PREVIEW A torrent of questions arose amid the global mourning over Michael Jackson's sudden passing. Was he addicted to prescription pain meds? How much was he actually worth? Did his father's abuse scar the star beyond repair? Speaking of paternal influence, will 12-year-old Prince Michael Jackson follow his famous father's musical calling? If he displays even an ounce of MJ's talent, the pressure will be enormous.

A similar scenario played out in the African music world following the 2006 passing of Malian blues guitarist Ali Farka Touré from bone cancer. Farka Touré's son Vieux expressed an early interest in music, but his father objected, hoping to shelter him from a professional musician's grueling tour circuit. It didn't work. Vieux picked up the guitar, releasing a self-titled debut on Modiba/World Village in late 2006, followed by the creative, youth-embracing Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako (Modiba) in 2007. With guidance from legendary Malian kora player Toumani Diabat, the younger Touré's first two releases express a reverence for his father's emotive, blues-soaked guitar style while exploring rock and electronic music interests.

These traditional and modern threads entwine so thoroughly that they fuse on the new Fondo (Six Degrees). Vieux gives voice to swirling Saharan dust storms on the energetic "Sarama," explores Mali's quiet spirituality on "Paradise" (featuring Diabate's kora solos) and ponders West African struggles in the 21st century on the reggae-tinged "Diaraby Magni." Like his father, Vieux's music has taken him from Bamako, Mali to Bonnaroo, the massive Tennessee music festival where his American summer tour begins. As U.S. indie bands like Vampire Weekend and Fools Gold incorporate African rhythms into their repertoires, it's worth hearing a talented African guitar hero whose taste for rock isn't just skin deep, it's in his DNA.

VIEUX FARKA TOURÉ With Luke Top, DJ Jeremiah. Sat/18, 8 p.m., $20. The Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1420. www.theindependentsf.com

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Posted by SFBG at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Kimberly Chun

I’m a music lover... get me out of the house! Guess what, help has arrived - in more forms than we could fit into print.

Sugar and Gold\
The Bay dance fiends refuses to drown in their own shit. With Music for Animals and Castledoor. Thurs/25, 8 p.m., $10. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. (415) 861-2011.

The Hunches
Knuckling down for a freaked-out, “Disease Free” frenzy, the Portland, Ore.-Bay Area garage oddballs slough into the sunset with a series of farewell shows. With Long Legged Woman and Blimp. Fri/26, 9:30 p.m., $8. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, S.F. (415) 923-0923.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Wilco, the Hunches, Chelsea Handler, Lazer Sword, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Michael Krimper

I’m bumping the Latin Project’s second full length record, Musica De La Noche, in my headphones right now. The signature Latin-Electronica blended sound is the brainchild of British producers, Jez Colin and Matt Cooper, who now call Los Angeles home. Listening to the music transports me to the surreal place of one of those Hollywood film sequences where the slick talker dude walks into the smoky (not cigarette smokey, but fog-machine smokey) disco ball club where epileptic lights flash all over the sweaty dance floor. All of a sudden, a sultry red light shines on a sexy maroon lipped lady, and the eyes of our two protagonists lock in a moment of tidal crashing bass. Magnetism.

For this release, the Latin Project produce a finely polished fusion of house, broken beat, Afro-beat inspired polyrhythms, Latin grooves and vibes, with an occasional sprinkle of buttered hip-hop lyricism. The bass hits hard in that clean type of way and the jazzy horn sections uplift the mood, crafting easy going, dance friendly grooves. Some of the remixes venture into more experimental electronic territory, hinting towards a fresh Latin sound with coarser curves and layered intricacy. But most of the night music lives comfortably in a world without ghosts or werewolves or any other eerie spirits lurking around the corner, where your problems disappear in the heat of dance floor and your feet take you away.

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Posted by SFBG at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bat For Lashes - "Pearl's Dream"

By Kimberly Chun

Color my world grey – you still yearn to romp and play, San Fran-frisky. So get outta the dog park and into the clubs and buy me a drink, hot pocket. Here are a few notable shimmy-shams where you might find me skulking.

Constantines and Crystal Antlers
The Toronto indie rockers venture out to “Islands in the Stream” and stretch their bones in a post-rock, minimalist mode. Meanwhile the LA psych-soul bros carouse in honor of their new Tentacles (Touch and Go). Thurs/11, 7:30 p.m., $14. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. (415) 861-2011.

Headboggle
One-man low-end grumble from the bowels of SF, presented as part of the gallery’s New Music Series. With Commode Minstrels in Bullface, Midmight, and Amphibious Gestures. Thurs/11, 8 p.m., $6. Luggage Store, 1007 Market, SF.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Bat for Lashes, Datarock, Limp Wrist, Constantines, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 04:21 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 Johnny Ray Huston

CHELONIS R. JONES

Chatterton

(Systematic)

The U.S. expat Mr. Jones sews up album of the year honors by track one, after jogging barefoot through hell to conclude "Stains are my nationality." As kickoffs go, it's as dramatic as the The Queen is Dead's title track — apt, since he name-checks Morrissey. From there, Chatterton traverses Cure-like goth, Marley Marl-ready rap, contemporary Euro techno ... and Fleetwood Mac? "The Cockpit" is a Cabaret Voltaire-meets-Giorgio Moroder minimal epic from the perspective of a plane crash's ungrateful sole survivor. The final lines of "Pompadour" are genius.

An oldie but goodie from Mr. Jones


View the previous Snap Sound here.

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Posted by SFBG at 03:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Andre Torrez

In the 1960s Booker T. and the MG's served as Stax/Volt's house band, much like the Funk Brothers were for Motown. Playing alongside Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and the Staple Singers, among others, they beat Love and also Sly and the Family Stone to the racially-integrated rock-band punch. It was 1962's "Green Onions" on the Memphis-based soul label that put them on the map. The song's recent omnipresence at sporting events has given it a bit of a "jock jam" tag, but it isn't tarnished completely.

Today Booker T. Jones is letting his signature Hammond organ sound sing alongside "the Great Lady of Soul," Bettye LaVette. After hearing her humbling rendition of the Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" at that group's Kennedy Center Honors, I knew LaVette's tag was legit. Even Barbra Streisand — in attendance that night — recognized it. She turned to Pete Townshend in disbelief, asking if he'd really written that song.

Bettye Lavette, "Love Reign O'er"

LaVette gives the rock opera ballad a gut-wrenching, soulful treatment. She owns it.

For most of her career, the Detroit native has struggled, but she's steadily built an audience, touring with late legends including James Brown and a young Mr. Pitiful along the way. LaVette's had one-off singles released by Atlantic and Motown. It seems she is finally getting her due, having had the honor of dueting on a song at President Obama's inauguration ceremony — even if it was with Jon Bon Jovi.

Now LaVette's career has paralleled Booker T's. Both are signed to Anti- Records. Booker's new album for the label, Potato Hole, features Neil Young and includes a playful version of Outkast's "Hey Ya," Expect covers aplenty — and some surprises, too — from this bill's soulful one-two punch.

BOOKER T. AND BETTYE LAVETTE Fri/8, 8 p.m. Independent, 628 Divisadero, 415-771-1421. www.theindependentsf.com

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Posted by SFBG at 06:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Marke B.

BRWN BFLO

BRWN BFLO

(self-released)

"Fuck macarena, we sun dance on that ass." Absolutely digging the breezy flow, witty U-turns, and stellar executive production by Big Dan on the Oakland rap quartet's new release (pronounced "brown buffalo" if you didn't know). The Jay-Z-like undertow brings some lush instrumentation and vibrant, retro-feel samplescapes into the mix, but these Latin lowdowners aren't afraid to screw around with some electro-wacky nintendo samples ("Big Sir") and even some Swisher-tips to hyphy. Best of all, though they ride hard on Chicano culture props and a dash of welcome positivity and humor, the exhilaratingly versatile skills of Giant, Jacinto, Somos One, and Big Dan launch this one out of the identity-rap rut into the "that shit's smokin'" stratosphere. The disc is plainly a labor of love; live they should be something else. The new album officially drops on 5/5 (Cinco de Mayo, natch) -- details about this weekend's big release party below.

BRWN BFLO, "The Reappearance" sampler

BRWN BFLO
Album release party
Sat/2, 9pm, $8/$13
The Uptown
1928 Telegraph Ave
www.uptownnightclub.com

View the previous Snap Sound here

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Posted by SFBG at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Babes in Ty land: Ty Segall messes with ya as part of Total Trash Weekend.

By Kimberly Chun

Bay rap vets and raucous rock sprats - it all goes splat this week. I'm guessing you'll find plenty of trouble to get into - and musical artistry to appreciate - when you're not busy downing scrump-dilly-icious (and cheap!) pastor tacos at the Gallo Giro taco truck at 23rd and Treat.

Goapele
Oakland's own draws the curtain on new music: check her site for the spanking, sinuous "Milk + Honey." With Cody Chestnutt. Fri/1, 9 p.m., $27. Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1422.

Zion-I
This is the weekend Bay hip-hop stages The TakeOver. The local twosome takes it to another level in honor of its new long-player. With Kev Choice Ensemble and Trackademicks and the Honor Roll. Fri/1, 9 p.m., $19-$23. Slim's, 333 11th St., SF. (415) 522-0333.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Paris, Total Trash Weekend, Garrett Pierce, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Marke B.

Makin' pleasure ...

One of my favorite clubs, Afrolicious, the afro-beat/Nuyorican/Brazilian/funk/disco/global weekly hosted by cute (very cute) brothers Senor Oz and Pleasuremaker, is celebrating two years of sterling service to the eager dance floor community with a double-header this week featuring NYC's Nickodemus and Nappy G. of the legendary decade-old Turntables on the Hudson party -- a formidable happening that every year I cry my eyes out for not being able to make. My East Coast friends then laugh in my face. Well, ha ha to them, I've got Afrolicious every week, now with Nick and Napp.

Nickodemus, "Give the Drummer Some"

As per usual, there'll be smoking live percussion (man, I love me some bongos on the dance floor -- old EndUp RIP) and a room packed with beautiful -- but not that icky kind of beautiful -- people not afraid to get sweaty and down. (Check out the tunes and vids here if you want a taste.)

Won't you join me, shantytown butterfly?

AFROLICIOUS TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY
Thu/30: DJ Nickodemus and Smash, live drums by Nappy G
Fri/1: Pleasuremaker Live Band, DJs Nickodemus, Chris Nicholson, and Nappy G.
9pm, $7/$10
Elbo Room
647 Valencia, SF.
www.elbo.com

Bonus: Turntables on the Hudson 10-year party:

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Posted by SFBG at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

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)

Brooklyn cheer: Japanther's "Challenge."

"Rising above the smoke and debris" - yes, we can. More to do, see, and hear...

Undebateable: Eef Barzelay's "I Love the Unknown."

Clem Snide
Hungry Bird (429), the latest release by the Boston-born band, almost succeeded in killing Clem Snide. Yet Eef Barzelay carries forth - sweet Snide 'tude in hand - alongside Brendan Fitzpatrick and Ben Martin. With the Heligoats and Pepi Ginsberg. Wed/8, 9 p.m., $10-$12. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

Love X Nowhere
Immaculate shoegaze and anthemic pop stream from the SF fivesome's new self-released High Score Blackout. With Headlights and the Love Language. Thurs/9, 9 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Brit, Devendra, Japanther, Fleet Foxes, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:03 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 Todd Lavoie

BLACK JOE LEWIS & THE HONEYBEARS

Tell 'Em What Your Name Is!

(Lost Highway)

Well, great gosh-a-goddamn, what a sweet surprise: two weeks ago, I'd never even heard of Austin-based soul-whuppers Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, and now here I am, once again, swervin' and stompin' away to their major-label debut for the millionth time. As far as brassy, blazing tear-'em-up and tear-'em-on-down soulful sonic bad-assery is concerned, this high-octane octet has the genuine know-how: gritty and greasy garage rock meets old-school Wilson Pickett/Otis Redding-style vein-popping r&b, packed into a lean and hungry thirty-minute roar.

With its quick-and-to-the-point playing time and unfussy, straight-to-tape production (courtesy of Spoon's Jim Eno), Tell 'Em What Your Name Is! could probably be easily mistaken for a lost treasure from the late Sixties/early Seventies--- and that's exactly the whole idea, judging from Lewis' obvious adoration for the Pickett/Redding era. Still, with the band frequently playing like their hair's on fire -- charging and crashing and running gleefully into the red -- these folks at times remind me of Texan spiritual cousins to The Dirtbombs and The Bellrays, two contemporaries also serving up swaggering minglings of soul and garage sounds. Live, I imagine they must be riveting--- we'll get a chance to catch them in the Bay Area at Slim's on May 16.

Black Joe Lewis, "Sugarfoot"

A look-see of the band's MySpace will steer you right to the sources of the disc's raw-and-ready firepower. The members cite James Brown, Hound Dog Taylor, and Rocket From The Tombs as influences, for example. They all make sense, too: Lewis' full-throated shout definitely hoots a potent analog to Brown's get-on-the-good-foot, and his formidable backing band the Honeybears are deserving of all the JB's comparisons they get.

Continue reading "Black Joe Lewis gets raw on the good foot" »

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Posted by SFBG at 01:12 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)

Chapel of the chiming guitar: SF's Girls fill the Central Presbyterian Church March 19.

Impressions - watercolor, guyliner-streaked, skinny jeans-clad impressions - of SXSW. Here are a few from the frontlines on what turned out to be a stellar Thursday, March 19: I may have missed the Jane's Addition reunion with Eric Avery at the Rock the Bunny after-hours bash at an old Safeway, but who needs the LA grunge-era implants when there's so much happening elsewhere?

Rumor has it that Kanye West will be headlining the last Fader Fort show Saturday - a sweltering mecca of lines and bees drawn by the spilled fruity cocktails, out on the other side of I-35 - and that Neil Young is in town. Otherwise the vague official word round the Austin Convention Center is that attendance is down about 10 percent, though artist attendance is up. "Not bad, considering" - the new buzz words?

Charm (in)offensive: Quincy Jones gives the SXSW keynote.

Continue reading "SXSW: Q queue, Devo, Dirty Projectors, Girls, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 03:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back to the basics: The Bronx whip it out March 18. All photos by Kimberly Chun.

Get away from the grip-and-grin events and rambles through parties that offer free drinks and barbecue (though Jackpine Social Club's Nick Tangborn supposedly threw an ace bash yesterday for ex-Parkside honcho Sean's Batter Blaster pancake spray product) - there's music out there if you seek it out. The corporate sponsors may be relatively absent, but there's still plenty of intrigue, sonically, if you seek it out: PJ Harvey and John Parish, J. Tillman of Fleet Foxes going solo, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Blk Jck, We Have Band, et al.

One great budding band of women: Portland, Ore., trio Explode Into Colors. An all-power two-drum approach draws from the Slits and Gang of Four to fashion impassioned, sinewy primal punk. Fully formed and in full possession of their own voice. The group played March 18's Finally Punk-curated all-ages music-made-by-women show at Ms. Bea's, which also included Pocahaunted, Yellow Fever, Micachu, and the East Bay's Splinters.

Boy meets girls: Explode Into Colors.

Continue reading "SXSW: Explosions as Sahm, Floyd are toasted, the Bronx pounds, Tara Jane O'Neil tears it, Explode into Colors does just that" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More Mochi: 215 the Freshest Kids hurl some words at Daly City Records' Pre-SXSW/St. Patrick's Day Party at Beso Cantina March 17. All photos by Kimberly Chun.

Or is a whimper more accurate. Yes, the signs are in the air and in the program, as we scan the pages of the official guide and the unofficial day party lists. Welcome to South by Southwest on the downlow, rocked by the turbulent winds blowing off a global economic meltdown.

The big conference keynote names like Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Robert Plant, and Lou Reed? This year we get the uber-talented and esteemed but nonetheless much less sexy - sorry, Quince - Quincy Jones. Instead of the Stooges and Morrissey, we will have onstage interviews with Carlene Carter and the Hold Steady. The corporate banners are still here, but with a not-quite-as-splashy, diminished presence - just where is that MySpace South By Party Bus? The major labels and glossy publications are quieter than usual - whither the Vice party? Is there a Vice party?

Instead Rachael Ray - wholesome indie rock fan incarnate - is serving up the New York Dolls and the aforementioned Hold Steady at her showcase. Hey, after all, we're all eating in these days - we can use some new recipes. This is SXSW on the cheap, forced onto a low-budg diet by a still-suffering music biz. Yes, music continues unabated, but can its makers afford to make it out here this year? The underground bashes around SXSW appear to slowing down or maybe they just aren't on the public radar - in any case I still want to make Todd P's Ms. Bea free all-ages shows and the French Legation outdoor bills - now Arthur-free (R.I.P.). We'll see if there's anything as fun as Dan Deacon and Fucked Up's guerrilla throwdowns shaking up the university campus and the bridge, after hours.

Continue reading "SXSW: It begins... with a whisper?" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Marke B.

Rupture goes there

"A DJ mix that stands alone as an album is a rare thing, but leave it to Jace Clayton, a.k.a. DJ/rupture, to make one, as he has with Uproot (Agriculture)," wrote the Guardian's Brandon Bussolini last year. "Deeply, er, rooted in the bass plate tectonics of dubstep and cut with the finest in eclectic samples, ranging from experimentalist Ekkehard Ehlers to lazer bass don Ghislain Poirier, Uproot rolls deep with dubbed-out ambience, but DJ/rupture is just as happy to turn things upside down, as when he plunks down Ehlers' gorgeous string loop, "Plays John Cassavetes, Pt. 2," around the mix's halfway point. And if bangers of the future don't sound like "Gave You All My Love (Matt Shadetek's I Gave You All My Dub Remix)," which subs out dub's organic space for Fisher-Price primary-color contrasts that split the brain evenly in two, I'm not sure it's a future worth living in."

I'd have to agree with all of that, but also emphasize DJ/rupture's extremely thrilling versatility when it comes to global musical styles with regards to both his recordings and live sets. That's why I'm tickled hot pink that he's putting together a special cumbia set for this Saturday's Tormenta Tropical with the Bersa Discos boys, who've consistently stirred some of the world's best DJs into their electro-cumbia-hop stew. Tormenta Tropical was bangin' last month, and this one should be a real ruptured doozy.

Tormenta Tropical
w/ DJ/rupture
Sat/14, 10pm, $10
Elbo Room
647 Valencia, SF
www.myspace.com/bersadiscos

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Posted by SFBG at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Andre Torrez

There wasn’t much love for the Flash Express when a boisterous dude in the audience shouted, “We don’t care about you! We care about him!" He was referring to Andre Williams, the headliner that night, Feb. 20, at Slim's.

Sadly, I got the feeling most of the audience agreed - the Los Angeles rock and soul outfit overstayed their welcome. Performing what seemed like an eternally lengthy set before returning to the stage as the Black Godfather’s backing band, Williams, in a show of solidarity to his support, coolly retorted to any stray hecklers, “Man, you paid too much money to fuck this up!” Laughter ensued and any bit of hostility was quelled by Mr. Rhythm.

Continue reading "The Black Godfather is in the house: Andre Williams at Slim's" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

JOHN NÉMETH
Love Me Tonight
(Blind Pig)

By Todd Lavoie

Given the frugality of the blues as an art form, it seems only fair that I introduce Bay Area harmonica-slinging bluesman John Németh without a single wasted word: the man can sing. Sure, he breathes plenty of soul and fire into that harp of his, but ultimately it's his voice which makes the most indelible impact - moving nimbly from growl to howl to full-bellied hoot 'n' holler, sometimes within the same bar, it's a tremendous instrument.

Even more impressive: the vocalist, only in his early 30s, delivers with a level of authority expected from someone much older. Considering that the blues places such a deep emphasis on breadth of life experience, Németh's ability to sound older than his actual age is a valuable asset. That being said, it's his extensive vocal range which gets noticed first; coming across as a young scrapper in one moment and a wizened front-stoop sage in the next, he certainly can surprise.

Continue reading "That voice: Bay bluesman John Németh entreats 'Love Me Tonight'" »

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Posted by SFBG at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Andre Torrez

I entered SoMa’s Paradise Lounge for the first time this past Valentine’s Day, startled by an unexpected fashion show - it was scheduled, I just didn’t know about it - oddly set to the music of the Jackson 5. And it wasn’t your typical “ABC," or “I Want You Back." No, that wouldn’t have fit the atmosphere at all. It was one of their less obvious '70s grooves, something a little grittier and less innocent, so props to the DJ who demonstrated the intuition to foreshadow an evening of freaks on the floor.

The brief parade of design provided a blur of a background as we settled into the club. With drinks in tow, my friends and I made our way upstairs to get a better view above the stage. Before we knew it, HOTTUB, Oakland’s answer to queercore, was shakin’ its shit all over the place. If memory serves me right, the group has referred to a few of its tracks as real “pussy bangers." Perhaps that’s a suggestion for what to do while listening to their music. I’m not really sure.

Continue reading "'Clear': Falling in with Juan Atkins, Dam Funk, and HOTTUB at Paradise Lounge" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sad news for blues fans - this just in:

"SAN FRANCISCO (February 18, 2009) -- The nation's oldest ongoing blues festival has announced that the 2009 show has been canceled due to lack of funding. After 36 continuous years of presenting the blues by the bay, the iconic blues festival will forgo its annual September presentation this year.

"'The combination of rising production costs and lack of sponsorship support leaves me no choice but to cancel this year's show,' said founder Tom Mazzolini, who has also been the show's sole producer since the first festival in 1973. 'I'm sad to say this, but we may well have seen the last San Francisco Blues Festival.'

Continue reading "Singing the blues: SF Blues Fest canceled" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

By Danica Li

It's about time that the lineups for the two biggest of the bigwig music festivals on the continent, Coachella and Bonnaroo, leaked online, precipitated by a now traditional annual flurry of bizarre Internet rumors, faux photo-manipped posters, and jittery, cross-fingered posts on Stereogum. Naturally there's plenty of cross-pollination between the two, and no stunners, except that Phish hasn't played Bonnaroo ever before, where most of the bands on both lineups are religious frequenters of music festivals as well-established as South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, and as far-flung as the Roskilde Festival in Denmark and Punkkelpop in Belgium.

The big names aren't so dimunitive, but then Coachella has a long and storied history of luring in bomb marquee reunions that it's struggled to live up to since the legendary Pixies jammed together onstage in 2004. Paul McCartney headlines on Friday, the Killers on Saturday, and the Cure on Sunday. My Bloody Valentine's playing on Sunday, too, while Leonard Cohen, Superchunk, Okkervil River, Morrissey, MSTRKRFT, Franz Ferdinand, Girl Talk, Crystal Castles, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Throbbing Gristle, and Lykke Li are all scheduled to play during the fest's three days of music, California sunshine, and wacky art installations.

Continue reading "Does Coachella or Bonnaroo have the better lineup?" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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 Michelle Broder Van Dyke

The records highlighted in Roger Bennett and former Guardian music columnist Josh Kun's 2008 book, And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl (Crown, 240 pages), are delectable nuggets and kernels of history that, chronologically compiled together, tell the story of five generations of Jews in America. And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl - the inspiration for a new exhibition at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco - anecdotally informs the reader of a massive and swift movement from tradition to modernity, city to suburb, and poverty to affluence, through the music and album art of 12-inches rediscovered in the basement bins of thrift stores in Boca - as Bennett puts it, "the place Jewish vinyl goes to die" - and other parts of the U.S.A.

The text reflects what one might expect from a coffee-table book yet contains a wealth of information dealing with important shifts in Jewish American history, complemented by the ridiculous to awe-inspiring images that adorn more than 400 LP covers: cantorial images of beards and flowing robes of yore morph into visions of Israeli disco fever and mambo interludes at Bar Mitzvahs. Pointing to the permeability of communities and the fluidity of identity, the authors look to, for instance, a Jewish Latin craze with such gems as Bagels and Bongos (Decca, 1959) and Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos (Riverside, 1961).

Continue reading "Jewish vinyl: co-author Josh Kun's book inspires new exhibit at Contemporary Jewish Museum" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Andre Torrez

I heard the opening drums of “Going to a Go-Go” as I entered Oakland’s ornate Paramount Theatre. My friend and I arrived just a few minutes tardy, and I was agitated as she decided to go to the bathroom at the last minute. The girl lines always take longer.

So I waited in the lobby and I listened to Smokey Robinson’s opening number for what would be an iron-man two-hour performance with no support from any other acts. I paced in the hallway impatiently, eager to peer at the legendary voice of Motown from behind the velvety curtain. A calm came over me once my friend resurfaced, and we were ready to find our seats.

Thankfully the Paramount is a classy joint and they have ushers that guide you. No time wasted, we were in and I had a panoramic view from the cheap seats in the balcony of golden walls and fellow fans of Detroit soul. Down at the center of it all, there he was. A man well into his late 60s, soaking in the spotlight, wearing a white satin suit and diamond earrings that glowed even from the my vantage point. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less - after all, he is an icon.

Continue reading "When Smokey sings... at the Paramount" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

By Marke B.

It's time for you weekend nightlife forecast, but first this update from that horribly "hip" new Domino's BBQ chicken pizza campaign:

Viral! Compare that, of course, with SF's very own dirty techno birdie, Claude VonStroke -- and is anyone else 100 blog centuries old like me, and remembers that whole Burger King "subservient chicken" viral campaign where you could tell the guy in the chicken suit what to do? From like 2k3? OH MY GOD IT'S STILL HAPPENING!!!

I'll never understand why we always make cute what we want to eat. Except puppies. Even kitties are cheezburger on the Internetz.

But let's put away childish things, shall we, and dig into some of this weekend's better affairs:

--------------

TONITE! THU/22

THE NOISE

New local promotion juggernaut Hacksaw Entertainment launches with a grab-yr-cha-chas blast at 103 Harriet -- featuring, of course, my laptop life-love Lazer Sword bringing the future bass soundz, plus the very talented Ana Sia who'll bring some of her techno-burner pedigree to the tables, and SF mashup psyphy duo Hookerz and Blow, who blow the hooker-roof off live .... High-tail it to the H&B MySpace page and check out "Blow the Whistler" and it's Too $hort meets Claude VonStroke (again with him!) for some pure traffic jam genius.

The Noise
Thu/22, 10pm, $7
103 Harriet, SF
www.hacksawent.com

---------

FRI/23

ALPHABEATS

Beloved DJ Andrew Phelan and the rest of the chunky beats Prismatic crew -- the promos behind the hyperinventive Tonal color-coordinated loft parties -- bring in the big names for their AlphaBeats party, subtitled A is for Alien (I eagerly await B is for BetaMax). I would scoff a little at the umpteenth appearance of 90s god Doc Martin, but his set at LoveFest this summer was out of hand with its perfect blend of old school house numbers and new school choons. Doc's never really been known for his subtlety on the tables (it's all about bangin' hard into the cosmos), but he's definitely evolved stylistically as a major dance artist. BONUS: Sunshine Jones, of fave raves Dubtribe Sound System, will be on hand to spread it. DOUBLE BONUS: dress as an alien and get a free mix .... do it now!

AlphaBeats
Fri/23, 10pm-4am, $15-$25 (presale info here)
DNA Lounge
375 11th St., SF.
www.dnalounge.com

Continue reading "Super Ego: Alien techno chickens go bang, with hacksaws" »

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Posted by SFBG at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ALICE RUSSELL
Pot of Gold
(Six Degrees)

By Todd Lavoie

At last - an American breakthrough. English soul vocalist Alice Russell has been belting it out for quite some time now: her first solo full-length, after several initial inspired collaborations, was 2004's Under the Munka Moon (Tru Thoughts) - but somehow, scandalously, she never had an American label. Her trio of releases - the aforementioned Moon, along with 2005's My Favourite Letters and 2006's hodgepodge compilation Under the Munka Moon II (also on the British Tru Thoughts label) - weren't exactly impossible to track down stateside, but they didn't receive nearly as much attention as they perhaps would have with the support of a company on these shores.

Luckily for all concerned, this is about to change: San Francisco tastemakers Six Degrees Records recently unleashed Russell's latest, the aptly monikered Pot of Gold. And yep, all of you groove pirates, there are riches aplenty here.

Continue reading "'Crazy' 'bout Alice Russell's 'Pot of Gold'" »

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

Let it reign: Bettye LaVette on the Who's “Love Reign O’er Me.”

This in from Bettye LaVette's people:

"Bettye LaVette is starting off 2009 with a bang by performing Sam Cooke’s revered anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come” at Barack Obama’s Inaugural Celebration kicking off at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, Jan. 18. A partial list of additional musical performers includes, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock, John Legend, Usher Raymond IV, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, U2 and Stevie Wonder. Among those reading historical passages will be Jack Black, Steve Carrell, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Foxx, Tom Hanks, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah, Laura Linney and Denzel Washington.

"At the moment, 'Bettye is speechless.'

"HBO will televise the event on an open channel (Sunday, Jan. 18 live at 2:30 p.m. ET and 11:30 a.m. PT and later from 7-9 p.m. ET/PT), working with all of its distributors to allow Americans across the country with access to cable, telcos or satellite television to join in the Opening Celebration for free. It will also be streamed live on www.hbo.com. Since the actual event is free and open to the public, more than 800,000 are expected in the audience.

Continue reading "Bettye LaVette to perform at Inauguration, alongside Beyonce, U2, Mary J. Blige, Springsteen, and others" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Benefit time - with hip-hop lyricists and a dab of R&B. This in:

"Musiq 4 Hunger and Element Lounge in association with Hard in the Paint Ent., ViXXeN EnT., and LK Management presents: "The Resolution 2009."

"Performances by: Beeda Weeda, Don P., Diamond, Moss Da Boss, Bay Area Bad Girlz, Da Trendsettaz

"Featuring live music from Maya Kronberg (keys), Scott Thompson (bass), Chris Hansen (drums), Brandon McKee (sax), Bill Smolik (trumpet).

"Open mic sign-ups start at 9:30 p.m. Live band jam from 9:30-11 p.m. Special perfomances start at 11 p.m. ending at 12:45 a.m.

"DJ Smocha spinnin from 12:45 a.m.-2 a.m. with an open mic. $7 at the door or $5 with a canned food item. For more information please contact: Li-Mari, vixxenmusiq@gmail.com, (510) 672-8868."

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mind that One Track Mind: Egyptian Lover's "Freak-A-Holic."

San Francisco stirs itself, shakes its shaggy head, and leaves home. Here are a few more reasons.

Leopold and His Fiction
The many moods of the SF indie-folk-rock combo turn toward...celebration with the unveiling of their new full-length Ain't No Surprise. Electric! With the Healing Curse and Candy Apple. Fri/9, 9:30 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.

LoCura
Living la vida LoCura? That means an eye-opening blend of flamenco, rumba, reggae, and hip-hop complete with bellydane and plenty of Animas. Fri/9, 9 p.m., $15. Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Magic Bullets, LoCura, White Cloud, Chuchito Valdes, and more" »

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

AMP FIDDLER WITH SLY & ROBBIE
Inspiration Information
(Strut)

By Todd Lavoie

It's a meet-up that, admittedly, came as a bit of a surprise, but ultimately makes a world of sense: Detroit retro-futurist funkmeister Joseph "Amp" Fiddler has joined forces with collaboration-loving riddim-machine Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare (better known as Sly and Robbie) for an album's worth of smooth, spaced-out soul and gravy-thick reggae rhythms.

Bestowed with the quite-appropriate moniker Inspiration Information - the title surely a nod to the great fellow traveler of righteous grooves, Shuggie Otis, whose 1974 album of the same name has seen its influence extended further with every passing year - the disc is the first in what is slated to be a series of releases from the consummate tastemakers at Strut Records built around an intriguing concept.

The idea? Take a few musicians who have never worked together before, stick them in the studio on a tight schedule, and see what happens - it's a strategy that yielded fascinating results for the Dutch label Konkurrent, whose "In The Fishtank" series drummed up tasty pairings from Tortoise/the Ex and Low/Dirty Three, for example. I'm dead curious to hear what Strut comes up with next - how about a Tussle/ESG tête-à-tête, folks? - but for now, I'm more than content to float and bob along with the rumbling, churning head-music of this first installment.

Continue reading "Amp Fiddler lays down the 'inspiration' with Sly and Robbie" »

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Posted by SFBG at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Itchy and scratchy: Tomutonttu's Ultra Eczema art.

'Tis the season - here's another in a series of top 10s from Bay Area musicians, writers, and scenesters.

JEFF RAY'S TOP 10

- Favorite album: Fennesz, Black Sea (Touch)
Should be renamed Endless Winter. So incredibly lush and can warm up any long Ukrainian winter night.
- Favorite band: MGMT
Fun, danceable, catchy but not stupid.
- Favorite music series, “Relay” at the Lab, Oct. 22–Nov. 15
Great experimental music series hosted by the Lab. Folks from Finland and Fonal Records, Tomutonttu, Thuja, and Loren Chasse all performed, along with others. The sonic works were inspiring to listen to and watch. The Lab is awesome: www.thelab.org.

Continue reading "Between Oakland soul and the 'Black Sea': A top 10 from Jeff Ray of Mission Creek Music Festival" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This in from Special Lord B - and hurry it's tonight:

"CLUB INTERNATIONALE!!! Thursday, Dec. 11.

"Hear obscure pop, psych, disco, and funk from Turkey, Italy, Thailand, India, Japan, Germany, France Africa, and more!

"Guest DJ LOACHFILET, aka, Bobby Adams (Mummers, Caroliner, Honeywell)

Continue reading "Global obscuro-a-go-go: Club Internationale goes off tonight" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jump in: Too $hort's "I'm a Player."

Party-hopping, penny-pinching, craft-making and cookie-baking, and singing for your supper - the holiday activities never let up - and the city responds in kind...with more, more, more shows. Here's what you might be missing...

All righty: Cold War Kids' "Something Is Not Right with Me."

VAMPIRE WEEKEND AND COLD WAR KIDS
"Golden Gate Jumpers" alert. The combos warm up Not So Silent Night with this toasty pre-show. Wed/10, 8 p.m., $25. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. (415) 625-8880.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Mudhoney, Too $hort, Not So Silent Night, the Bug, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Say hello to my little invisible friend: Los Amigos Invisibles' "Cuchi Cuchi."

Ask and the city provides - good times and solid sounds for all. Here's the good schtuff that didn't make it to print.

WU-TANG CLAN
The Wu is with you - though RZA and Ghostface Killah were MIA when the group last played Ess Ef. Wed/3, 8 p.m., $45. Grand Ballroom at Regency Center, Van Ness and Sutter, SF. (415) 421-8497.

LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES
This year the Venezuela group impressed at Outside Lands and threw out its first live DVD - and a new studio album is said to be in post-production. With Funky-C and DJ Felina. Thurs/4, 9 p.m., $22. Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1421.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Mixmaster Mike, Los Amigos Invisibles, Wu-Tang Clan, Morning Benders, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Change Nation: Lyrics Born's "I Changed My Mind."

You're gonna be stuffed, you're going to be stressed, you're going to be tired of watching football... Then, you'll want to go out - and be among kindred spirits fleeing family and taking refuge in solid sounds.

LYRICS BORN
You like him, you love him. The Bay MC ushers in the holidaze. With Raashan Ahmad and Mavrik. Wed/26, 9 p.m., $25. Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1422.

SISTERS OF MERCY
The band that launched a jillion black dye jobs hasn't released new material since 1993. Wed/26, 8 p.m., $35. Warfield, 982 Market, SF. (415) 421-8497.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Lyrics Born, M83, Herbaliser, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Built like a brick house: Impossible Shapes' "Let the People Build What They Will."

O, SF - as if you could ever stop rolling out the intriguing jamz. Here are a few more musical offerings that didn't make it into print.

LOS CENZONTLES
"The Mockingbirds" do it up in the Bay again - with Los Lobos' David Hidalgo - after flying through for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Wed/12, 8 and 10 p.m., $20-$30. Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero W., Oakl. (510) 238-9200.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Usher, Tune-yards, Impossible Shapes, Weasel Walter, Nodzzz, Sean Smith, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ripe for the picking? Silver Apples' Simeon back in the day.

By Laura Mojonnier

A snapshot of the Pop Montreal festival, Oct. 2.

Irma Thomas at Ukranian Federation, 8:30 p.m.

The night started off with a bike ride up north into Montreal's Mile End area to catch Irma Thomas and a full backing band play the Ukrainian Federation.

I'd only been to this venue once before, to see Patti Smith play a secret show at last year's festival, and the place certainly seems made for that kind of gig. The venue feels like a cross between a middle school auditorium and a Protestant church, rows of 40-year-old theater seating on the first floor and a pewed balcony for the choir. In conclusion, Ukranian Federation is not great for rocking out, but it's just perfect when watching Thomas belt torch songs for middle-aged Quebecers.

Continue reading "Pop Montreal part two: Irma Thomas, Silver Apples, DD/MM/YYYY, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Billy Jam

Shit happens. We all know that. But it's what we do with that shit in life that is the important part. In the case of East Oaklander Duke, ne D'Andre Johnson, of new Oakland rap group with a blues twist, the High Decibels, the MC/poet has managed to take the negatives dealt him in life and spin them into something a lot more positive.

In fact if weren't for one of his earliest humiliations as an artist - being booed offstage at a talent showcase at his Oakland high school - that he wouldn't be doing what he is doing right now. "I went to Skyline High School, and at that school, they have a really good performing arts program, and they do this thing called "Showtime at the Line," like at the Apollo with the Sandman and all," he recently recalled of the night that he and his brother entered the contest. They were confident that their rap performance would win over the audience.

Not so. "The theater holds like five thousand people and it was packed. So we started out our song, and the music started skipping. And I was first. I just started busting a cappella. The music came back on and I was off beat. And we got booed off the stage," said Duke of the incident that happened about eight years ago when he was 14. "And for the next year I would be walking down the hallway and one person would start booing, and before I would get to the end of the hallway, the whole hallway was booing."

That Dude

Continue reading "Duke's gonna get 'em: High Decibels' main man turns that shit into gold" »

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

Oh, how we love our very own famed gay bathhouse disco revivalist DJ Bus Station John and his decidedly hot man-centric cruisefest parties, thrown in the steamy-smoky spirit of the early-mid '70s and slightly beyond. (Read my 2005 interview with him here.) So how delightful that the anniversary of MANQUAKE!, his "sordidly savory SF mix of trickin' chicken, tourist meat, & sexy senior citizens" soiree would fall on Folsom Street Fair eve!

Spirits of the disco: "Karl" and "Phillip" at MANQUAKE

Spirit of the Piers: "Bruce" at MANQUAKE
All masks loving crafted by Bus Station John

Return to the tender coal mining days of gay yore at the Gangway this Saturday night, randy boys and men, and feast your eyes upon the fair bounty lining the Gangway's man-mask-bedecked walls and X-traordinary vintage visuals curated by der Blaue Reiter -- and your ears on the impeccable vinyl selection of Bus Station John featuring "'70s/'80s lost disco, funk, and r&b classics & rarities from the glory days of pre-digital dance music. Festive attire or clothing optional? YOU decide!" Plus: a mystery go-go boy! See your loins a-plenty there.

MANQUAKE! 1-Year Anniversary (Folsom Eve)
Sat/27, 10pm-2am, $5
The Gangway
841 Larkin between Geary and O'Farrell
(415) 776-6828

After the jump -- a BONUS history flashback, sent from DJ BSJ, starring Ozzy!

Continue reading "Clubs: MANQUAKE! pricks up Folsom eve" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 06:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shadow shag: My Morning Jacket's "One Big Holiday."

Feeling frisky, SF? There's plenty to do besides Treasure Island Music Festival this week - more than we could fit betwixt our hot pages.

THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES
Prog, math, post-punk - whatev, dude. The Seattle collection of players from Botch, Kill Sadie, and Nineironspitfire is just as aggro as it's ever been, from the sound of the upcoming CD, Tail Swallower & Dove (Suicide Squeeze). Wed/17, 9 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

HIEROGLYPHICS
Photons, gather round. The onetime Bay Area party-starters return to the scene of some many rhymes. Thurs/18, 8 p.m., $26.50. Fillmore, 1805 Geary, SF. (415) 421-TIXS.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: My Morning Jacket, Common/NERD, Menomena, and so much more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Clinton dynasty: George Clinton plays the Warfield on New Year's Eve.

Welcome the new in - and usher the old out. George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic will ring in 2009 on New Year's Eve at the Warfield, and Les Claypool will tackle Zappa at the War Memorial Opera House, courtesy of Goldenvoice/AEG Live - this I learned while taking a quick tour of the revamped Warfield late last week with Dave Lefkowitz, VP of booking, and Joan Rosenberg, director of marketing.

Crews were still scrambling to complete renovations in time for this past weekend's performances with George Lopez. But the top-o'-the-line, new sound system from Meyer Sound was in place, as was a lighting trellis that will allow touring bands to get creative and bring in their own setups. Nifty new switcheroos include the departure of the mixing board from the balcony, down to the first floor, and the addition of a bank of 30 new primo-viewing seats upstairs, and the savvy move of shifting two bars on the first floor in the main room - one away from an emergency exit. The inclusion of six speakers mid-house, downstairs, should definitely improve the sound for the attendees in the back and in the VIP boxes.

Photos of past shows from Wolfgang's Vault and other sources lined the walls along with official and underground posters of past Warfield shows: Rosenberg said the walls will showcase a rotating display of the venue's history. New carpets lined the floors throughout the space, and upstairs, the renovation crew uncovered two old telephone booths from the early part of the 20th century.

Continue reading "George Clinton, Les Claypool for NYE and checking out the new Warfield" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

SHARON ROBINSON
Everybody Knows
(Sharon Robinson Music)

By Todd Lavoie

Sharon Robinson is one smooth deceiver. On first listen, the singer-songwriter's silken soul meditations might easily billow on overhead in drifts of nerve-soothing R&B - but pull your ears a little closer, and you'll see that there's much, much more at work here than merely setting up some hot-whisper mood music for kicking back with a bottle of wine and your sweet thing on the sofa. Her new release, Everybody Knows, certainly succeeds in creating such ambiance, yes, but further inspection shows enormous depth and complexity across these 10 elegantly arranged songs.

This isn't to downplay the burning sensuality that casts an amorous glow throughout the disc - only the most puritanical of listeners could miss, or deny, the extended come-hither of Robinson's songwriting and self-production. Still, what ultimately resonates the most profoundly is the sense of haunting, of introspection, which burrows itself firmly among the satiny synth textures and jazz-informed midnight grooves.

Such a realization shouldn't come as much of a surprise to those already familiar with Robinson; the songwriter has been a longtime collaborator with Leonard Cohen, having co-written songs with him as well as producing his deliciously moody 2001 album, Ten New Songs (Columbia). (That's her on the cover with him, by the way - an entirely appropriate sharing of the credit, too, given that her involvement included co-writing, arranging, electronic programming, and harmonizing throughout the recording.)

Continue reading "Everybody should know about Sharon Robinson" »

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

Wild and wooly Wilco. All photos by El Fotografo Clandestino.

El Fotografo Clandestino took aim at the third and last day, Sunday, Aug. 24, of the Outside Lands music fest in Golden Gate Park, SF. Here are a few of the artists, things, and people - look for more thoughts and images in this space.

Howl: Gift of Gab of Mighty Underdogs.

Whistle bait: Andrew Bird.

Continue reading "Outside Lands day three: Jack, Wilco, Toots, fence jumpers" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

He won't back down: Tom Petty. All photos by El Fotografo Clandestino.

El Fotografo Clandestino took in the second day, Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Outside Lands music fest in Golden Gate Park, SF. Here are a few of the sights - expect more in this space.

Lupe Fiasco in your face.

The Coup keep it real.


Cake beneath the bowers.

Continue reading "Outside Lands day two: Petty, Lupe, Rupa, Coup, Tacuba, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Manu Chao go mano y mano. All photos by El Fotografo Clandestino.

El Fotografo Clandestino caught the first day, Friday, Aug. 22, of Outside Lands music fest. Here are a few images from the night - and look out for more.

Check your head.

Steel Pulse breaks open the beat as the first band Friday night at the Lands End main stage.

Continue reading "Outside Lands day one: Radiohead, Lyrics Born, and Manu Chao captured" »

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

PAUL WELLER
22 Dreams
(Island/Yep Roc)

By Todd Lavoie

The buzz-buzz-buzz in eardrums and across the pages of blogs and music rags hither and yon is all about Paul as of late - no shock there, if you've had the good fortune to hear the Modfather's expansive (and reputation-expanding) 21-track epic, 22 Dreams.

Plenty of garlanded praise and eyebrow-raising declarations have been lavished upon Weller since the album's initial release in Britain at the beginning of June, thus piquing the curiosity of American folks like me who have always enjoyed the vocalist's solo work but had felt a little less spark for his recent output (and were shy of paying a hefty import-only CD price tag - crossing fingers for an eventual stateside release).

There was something almost rigidly straightforward about much of 2005's As Is Now (Yep Roc), for example - solid as it was, it offered relatively few shocks. Similar critiques had been offered now and again throughout his solo career, truth be told - surely the downside of his having set such a high standard for himself with the unimpeachable catalogs of the Jam and the Style Council prior to going at it alone. As Is Now made for a good listen, but it felt like it was missing something. Adventure? Drama? The element of surprise, perhaps?

Continue reading "Buzzing again: Paul Weller returns with a winning '22 Dreams'" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jerry Wexler. Courtesy of popentertainment.com.

By Kandia Crazy Horse

I am in utter shock at the fact that my lifelong hero, my much-cherished Jerry “Papa Dippermouth” Wexler (Jan. 10, 1917–Aug. 15, 2008) has gone to glory. Been thinking hard not only about my friend, his youngest daughter Lisa (of the great New York State band Big Sister), and my play-uncle/mentor Stanley Booth (one of his best friends), but all the unbroken circle of folks who loved and forever appreciate the magic Wexler produced during his paradigm-shifting career as a music journalist and (likely) the last of the great record men.

I have been weeping all this interminable weekend beginning with his death on Friday morn, Aug. 15 – Black Friday to me forever after. Of course, it is not as if Papa Dip was not poised at the end of his days. And, yes, he enjoyed a long and varied career the likes of which many music geeks of my generation envied (who didn’t want to be a producer at Atlantic Records between the titanic poles of Brother Ray Charles’ and Led Zeppelin’s arc’s therein?). Still, I cannot be consoled.

He wasn’t just the hallowed man who exposed me to the riches of King Solomon Burke and sent me Dusty in Memphis for deep listening or kindly shared personal revelations about my generation’s foremost soul icon Donny Hathaway – the man born Gerald Wexler in the boogiedown Bronx was the first person I was conscious of outside my kinpeople as being essential to how my world revolved. From the age of 2 ½ at least, I read his liner notes or saw his name credited on the back of Atlantic long-players, as the label’s iconic iconography circled round-and-round, and I knew in my deepest soul who and what I wanted to be.

Continue reading "Producer/journalist Jerry Wexler remembered" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

West is the best? Photo by Angela Smith.

By K. Tighe

I arrived on the southern end of Grant Park just in time to catch Kid Sister on day three, Aug. 3, of Lollapalooza. The Chicago local has some major heat behind her - due in no small part to her recently garnered role as Kanye West's protégé. With her mentor headlining on the same stage later tonight, it seemed likely that we'd get at least a cameo during "Pro Nails," but no such luck. What we did get was a gaggle of bikini-laden ladies painted in gold, dancing around the stage.

"Give it up for the golden ladies! I call 'em the Golden Girls, we got them right off of Michigan Avenue, right from Old Navy," said the cute-as-a-button MC.

Decked out in a pseudo-afro, purple dress and golden stilettos with a face full of jewels, Kid Sister looked every inch the superstar, despite her 12:15 p.m. time slot. For "Pro Nails," West was a no-show (word from security is that he wouldn't be arriving until just before his set), but Kid Sis had the audience eating out of her hands, singing along to the chorus, "Got my toes done up / and my fingernails matching," while three funky spandexed dancers gave us a shoe on golden-painted chairs.

Continue reading "Lollapalooza day three: Waiting for Barack, word to Kanye's mom, Kid Sister's pure gold" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

THE BELLRAYS
Hard Sweet and Sticky
(Anodyne)

By Todd Lavoie

Who exactly, pray tell, are these foolish Southern California boys who keep playing careless games with Lisa Kekaula’s heart? As the don’t-mess-with-me diva at the forefront of the BellRays’ unbridled soul/punk whirlwind, Kekaula has been bearing witness to the trials and tempests of love for nearly two decades, and Hard Sweet and Sticky finds the R&B shredder fighting yet another round of bedroom drama.

Here, on their eighth album, the Riverside band’s familiar Tina Turner/MC5 union is as fuzzy and furious as ever, but it is their willingness to veer beyond the usual garage bluster that makes the disc such a tremendous leap forward. Articulating matters of the heart with broader range than ever before, the BellRays have released the defining album of their career thus far.

For those who have always sought righteous liberation from the group’s combustible marriage of Kekaula’s soul-belting vocals with skuzzy ’69-Detroit chug-o-ramas, fret not: “Psychotic Hate Man” throttles as much as the title suggests, and the roughneck-bass and chanted hey’s of “Pinball City” make for certain manic nirvana.

“Wedding Bells,” however, is atmospheric noir-blues winnowed by Kekaula’s moist-eyed sighs and whispers, and the post-break-up move-on of “Blue Against the Sky” is ravishing straight-up soul, without a feedback swell in sight. The smoothness prize, though, goes to “The Fire Next Time,” a satin-and-silk slice of deception stroked by erotic ripples of come-hither jazz guitar but tempered by Kekaula’s knowing, regretful murmur: “How can I love you if you’re the hurting kind?”

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 05:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PRESTO
State of the Art
(Concrete Grooves)

By Ian Ferguson

How well-known can one man be in the underground before breaking through to the big time? West Coast producer Presto, ne Chris Douglas, begs that question on the occasion of his recently released State of the Art . He’s so popular that each of the tracks boasts the lyrical stylings of a different MC: rappers ranging from New York's CL Smooth, Sadat X, and Large Professor to fellow West Coasters Fatlip, T-Weaponz, and Blue. The disc also includes two appearances by defected Black Eyed Peas vocalist Kim Hill.

Presto’s pastiche of a production shows that he's versed in jazz, funk, and '70s soul. On "Pour Another Glass," a piano groove and stereo-panning funk-horn sample support the utterances of Blu, whose whisky-tipped rhymes slip into a staccato-sung vocal part as smooth as Courvoisier.

State of the Art isn't always a gentleman drinker - it stumbles at times. "Higher," one of the most promising tracks on the album with its bright, Motown piano riff, fails when the soulful vocal line is transposed up an interval, then another, and at its third, loses the color and timbre of a human throat and begins to sound like Alvin the Chipmunk. Despite consistently strong beats - if not perfect, they are at least always engaging and compelling - the tracks often finish with less force or fade-outs, a weak weaning that ends a song with no closure.

Presto proves to be a competent producer in the subtle sampling of an old LP's static; the use of a muted concert hall piano, discordant just ahead of the beat and leading the listener on; and the juggling of a variety of beats, dynamics, tensions, and flows. And he brings out the best in each MC on an album that invariably delivers.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

RON SEXSMITH
Exit Strategy Of The Soul
(Yep Roc)

By Todd Lavoie

Modesty, thy name is Ron Sexsmith. Or, that's the way it seems from what I've read, anyway. The Toronto singer-songwriter has repeatedly, gracefully brushed aside assertions by others that his work is under-recognized, stating in interviews that he has never expected a larger audience and is merely grateful for those who have discovered his work.

As wonderfully "aw, shucks" in spirit as Sexsmith's replies might be, there's something criminal about such a careful craftsman of sharp, insightful pop songs remaining so consistently underneath the radar over the course of a double-decade-plus career. Hell, both Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney - who, if memory serves me well, seem to have penned a couple of catchy numbers themselves over the years - have lavished praise upon the guy. That should count for something, right?

Still, things are looking up: Sexsmith's profile has been given a nice little nudge as of late, thanks to his connection with fellow Canadian vocalist (Leslie) Feist. His lovely composition "Secret Heart" - originally on his 1995 self-titled major-label debut on Interscope, released a full decade after self-issuing his first cassette - was treated to an equally resplendent read on Feist's 2005 breakthrough Let It Die (Arts and Crafts/Cherrytree/Interscope/Universal).

Continue reading "'Secret' no more: Rex Sexsmith makes a graceful 'Exit'" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 07:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A clip of Janet Jackson's offending "malfunction."

By Laura Mojonnier

Associated Press reported today that a US federal appeals court dismissed a $550,000 indecency fine issued to CBS after Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Superbowl halftime show.

According to the AP, the three-judge panel ruled earlier today that the Federal Communications Commission "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" when issuing the fine, as "CBS's broadcast of a nine-sixteenths of one second glimpse of a bare female breast" did not meet the commission's long held standards for "actionable indecency."

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 03:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

JOAN AS POLICEWOMAN
To Survive
(Cheap Lullaby/ Reveal)

By Todd Lavoie

Joan Wasser, the heartstring-hitting sharpshooter behind the Joan as Policewoman tag, has offered a simple but irrefutable platform for the elegant, emotionally direct songwriting, one that made her 2006 debut, Real Life (Reveal), such a blindsiding experience: “Beauty is the new punk rock.”

It’s an ear-tugging slogan, to be sure, but the album’s ravishing arrangements and carefully nuanced confessionals offered the goods to back up her capital-lettered claim. Whirling bits of soul music, punk and post-punk attitude, and AM-radio singer-songwriter pop into shimmering string-and-piano-centered structures that felt comfortingly familiar and yet still difficult to compare, Wasser easily won over seekers of challenging, interactive pop music with swooners such as “Feed The Light” and “We Don’t Own It.”

With relatively few contemporaries guided by a similar aesthetic, the easiest point of comparison might be Antony and the Johnsons. In fact, the aforementioned’s Antony Hegarty even joined Wasser on what could arguably be Real Life’s most riveting highlight, the fiery duet “I Defy.” Otherwise, the list of artists who could truly be considered kindred spirits is a mighty short one; fittingly enough, two of them, fellow sensitive souls Rufus Wainwright and David Sylvian, both appear on To Survive, the latest Joan as Policewoman venture.

Continue reading "Beauty is the new Joan the Policewoman" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scribbling scion Erykah Badu. Photo by Marc Baptiste.

By Jamilah King

Miss Erykah Badu recently wrote those fabulously succinct words to anyone who had the nerve to question the honor of her motherhood. Amid rumors that she's pregnant for a third time, this time by Jay Electronica, (Andre 3000 and DOC were the fathers of her first two), some folks threw criticism her way for having a third child "out of wedlock." (What the fuck does this mean, anyway?)

Badu sounded off on Okayplayer, saying:

"HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT THE QUEENDOM...AND MY CHILDREN AND MY INTELLIGENCE. What is Marriage? Who Is The Judge? i am an excellent mother and resent all of the negative comments and insults on my character. I AM COMPLETE WITH OR WITHOUT A PARTNER AND WILL ALWAYS BE ...I PUT MUCH TIME AND THOUGHT INTO HAVING AND RAISING MY CHILDREN. IVE HAD THE HONORS OF HAVING 2 HOME BIRTHS AND 2 WONDERFUL PARTNERS BY MY SIDE... F*CK OFF… WHO NEEDS YOU ….CERTAINLY NOT ME … KICK ROCKS … CALL TYRONE … PACK LIGHT …. BITE ME...and if this post is not clear, kiss my placenta"

Read the entire response here. It doesn't surprise me at all that one of the most innovative mainstream musicians of our time - who happens to have dated and/or had children with similarly skilled artists - gets attacked because she's a black woman who dates black men and creates hip-hop. She has two kids who are never paraded around in the media, a relatively quiet private life and continues to make dope ass music. Funny how white celebrities like Angelina Jolie can adopt brown babies from orphanages around the world, move to so-called exotic countries to give birth to biological kids, put out a slew of lackluster films, and be heralded as Wonder Mom.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

GRUPO FANTASMA
Sonidos Gold
(Aire Sol/ High Wire Music)

By Todd Lavoie

Freshly sparkled with Prince's glittering purple seal of approval, Austin's tireless Latin funk orchestra Grupo Fantasma pushes onward with their crowd-amassing trajectory on Sonidos Gold, a floor-burning 12-track collection of hip-shakers and provocative grooves.

Having recently enjoyed a much-deserved surge of international exposure - thanks largely to Prince's ringing endorsement and the high-profile supporting-band gigs that followed - the 10-member soul machine arrives more confident than ever on this, their fourth album. The disc might also be the most faithful in capturing the joyous, body-liberating ebullience of the band's live performances. (And while we're on the subject of their shows: You must see them, case closed. I caught Grupo with a former Austinite friend at Slim's here back in February, and they were complete and utter sweat-soaking bliss.)

Sonidos Gold exudes plenty of room-filling warmth, and guitarist Adrian Quesada's production plunks the listener directly on the dancefloor, right in the sweet spot between the hot-pepper horn section and the mighty rumble of congas and timbales. While I'm sure these folks picked up some tricks from Prince on the road, I'm beginning to wonder if maybe the Purple One himself might be taking a few notes as well…

Continue reading "Grupo Fantasma sounds gold to us" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Long Winters try on a nouvelle vague guise.

What to do, when not sailing down a Mission Creek or taking a shine to Diamond Days? A few more shows for you...

The Buckets
'Member alt-country? Well, it remembers you. And one of SF's '90s-era main proponents the Buckets returns with a double CD to celebrate. With the Great Auk and Sister Exister. Thurs/17, 8:30 p.m., $10. Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market St., SF. (415) 861-5016.

The Long Winters
The new Putting the Days to Bed (Barsuk) dares to reach for the epic amid country-rock guitars. Thurs/17, 9 p.m., $15. Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1422.

Joseph Arthur
Author, Arthur! You can’t stop the music: the singer-songwriter has unleashed four EPs leading up to the forthcoming album, Temporary People (Lonely Astronaut). Fri/18, 9 p.m., $20. Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Long Winters, Edgetone, Martin Luther's Rebel Soul, the Buckets, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't you worry 'bout a thing: Stevie Wonder, circa the '70s.

By Joshua Rotter

When two travel four hours to see one of their all-time favorite artists, Stevie Wonder, perform at a venue that should have been a 40-minute drive away - the usual journey from San Francisco - a simple outing becomes a vision quest.

En route to Wonder's Sleep Train Pavilion show in Concord on Tuesday, July 8, amid triple digit temperature, and dehydrated and dampened by sweat in my friend's passenger seat, I was convinced that we would never see the legendary R&B performer. Car accidents and heat-induced area power outages seemed to conspire against us. San Francisco may have been as hot as July elsewhere in the county, but Concord was hotter than hell. We inched closer and closer, but the venue, obscured by rolling hills, wasn't even in eye shot, much less the eighth Wonder of the world.

Whether it was the excess of heat, the lack of liquids and nicotine, or being hopped up on myriad packs of sugary gum, an image of the vocalist suddenly appeared in my mind's eye, and I was set adrift on memory's bliss, imagining much of his career, from the innocent tracks of his early Motown period - "Uptight (Everything's Alright)," "My Cherie Amour," "For Once in My Life" - to his '70s consciousness-spreading classics "Superstition," "Living for the City," and "Higher Ground," through the Stevie of my youth - "I Just Called to Say I Love You," "Part Time Lover," and "That's What Friends Are For," as well as his guest-starring role on The Cosby Show, in which he invites the Huxtables to join him in the studio after his driver hits two in a fender bender. But traffic was too stalled at this point for any such luck to befall me.

Continue reading "Stevie Wonder satisfies onboard the Sleep Train" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Sun City Girls also rise.

Too much time on your hands? Guitar Hero III and Gossip Girl not doing it for you? Have I got some high-quality musical fun for you.

Maria Taylor
The Omaha, Neb., songstress strips it all down for her latest release, the digital EP Savannah Drive, while teaming with Now It's Overhead's Andy LeMaster. Wed/9, 9 p.m., $12-$14. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

Sun City Girls and Charles Gocher Tribute
Alan and Richard Bishop keep picking up kudos for their acoustic performances - Will Oldham recently praised their recent Slim's show. This time around they present a 40-minute film of Charles Gocher’s videos, The Handsome Stranger. Thurs/10, 9:30 p.m., $13-$15. Maxwell’s, 341 13th St., Oakl. www.maxwellslounge.com

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Police cuff Elvis, Sun City Girls gather kudos, Flobots love those "Handlebars,' and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wondering what to do this week? Fleeing from visiting relatives - or simply want to lose them in the crowd? Listen closely...

THE JET AGE
Poppy rock powered by Who-like feistiness? Wed/2, 9:30 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.

Sex Vid, anyone? Courtesy of Dusted.

SEX VID
Bristly, gristly hardcore for possessed vegans? Thurs/3, 9:30 p.m., $7. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.

Yes, you're Still Flyin'.

STILL FLYIN', COTILLION, AND CONSPIRACY OF VENUS
Indie rock party jams meet a Bright Eyes-Passionista supergroup meets Conspiracy of Beards' female counterpart devoted to Joni Mitchell and other ladies of the canyon? Thurs/3, 9 p.m., $10. Café du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. (415) 861-5016.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Stevie, Sex Vid, Flyin' 'n' you" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fly, Eagles of Death Metal, fly.

Save your tears for the gym-ed up Alcazar and other grand old venues and theaters that have been made over as enormous drug stores. The Warfield reopens soon, under the aegis of Goldenvoice, the production company that puts on Coachella, and a slew of shows are set to go on sale via Ticketmaster on June 22.

Sept. 15 - George Lopez. Third show on sale Sunday, June 22 (third show added).

Sept. 18 - Musiq Soulchild and Ledisi. On Sale Sunday, June 22.

Sept. 20 - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. On Sale Sunday, June 22.

Sept. 23 - the Hives/Eagles of Death Metal. On sale soon.

Sept. 24 - Bootsy Collins "Tribute to the Godfather of Soul." On sale soon.

Sept. 25 - Bullet for My Valentine. On sale Sunday, June 22.

Sept. 26-27- Rancid.

Oct. 4 - Dandy Warhols. On sale Sunday, June 22.

Oct. 11 - Julieta Venegas. On sale Sunday, June 22.

Oct. 25 - the Kooks. On sale soon.

Oct. 30 - Cassandra Wilson. On Sale Sunday, June 22.

Nov. 7 - Jim Gaffigan. Late Show added; on sale Sunday, June 22.

Dec. 6 - Frank Caliendo. On sale soon.

Dec. 21- Brian Setzer Orchestra. On sale soon.

Nick Cave, eyeball rolling back in the day.

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

A.A. BONDY
American Hearts
(Fat Possum)

By Todd Lavoie

Fans of the Birmingham, Ala., grunge-rocking outfit Verbena will likely be mightily surprised by the latest move from former lead howler Scott Bondy: the vocalist, having re-named himself A.A. Bondy in the process, swapped the band’s familiar flannel-isms for moody Delta folk-blues on his solo debut, American Hearts, and the results are a hugely successful re-invention for the artist.

Recorded in a converted barn in the quiet Catskills hamlet of Palenville, N.Y. - most famous for its role as an epicenter of the Hudson River school of romantic landscape painting - the album plays intriguing games with concepts of time and place, making over Bondy’s idyllic new home as a Civil War battleground while offering torrents of hellfire-burning Biblical imagery as well. As it turns out, Southern Gothic knows no boundaries.

Bondy’s husky, weather-beaten rasp proves to be an enormously versatile instrument amid the stark atmospherics of this largely acoustic affair, bristling with end-is-nigh menace on the knife-wielding blues of “How You Will Meet Your End,” but still capable of generating ravishingly woozy gospel fervor on the shuffling “Rapture (Sweet Rapture)." The full-length’s complicated balance of despair and spirituality comes to a head on “Vice Rag," a Jesus-come-hither Delta hoedown punctuated by conflicting pleas of “sweet, sweet cocaine / won’t you all be mine.” American Hearts’s true highlight, however, is the title track: a protest anthem in which Bondy’s Jesus steers clear of the disc’s ever-looming violence and instead fights for peace: “If your God makes war, then he’s no God I know, ‘cause Christ would not send boys to die.”

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Marke "too many pills, you're not 17 anymore" B is at Movement '08: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival. Read part one here, and part two here.

Apples! Apples everywhere! Downtown Detroit is a laptop orchard. "Mac should really sponsor these things," said Hunky Beau, freshly arrived on the scene to improve my picture quality. But the answer is that Mac doesn't have to -- those glowing, half-eaten little beauties speak from the booths themselves.

Oh, that Girl Talk. All pics by David Schnur

DEMF's day 2 was so pleasant it hurt, and the crowd was full of neon-festooned hipsters (they have them here too!) eagerly passing time before new old-school rap duo Cool Kids and sample-happy girly boy Girl Talk hit the the Red Bull stage, which overlooked the Detroit River. We passed the time in the sunny company of the great Mr. De' featuring Greg C. Johnson, whose "Sex on the Beach" from back in the day is a protobooty classic. The crowd was going nuts -- Mr. De' schooled the "ghetto tech" kids on some real sensuality.

Mr. De' sexing the keyboard

Greg C. Johnson, pleased

Cool Kids gave a predictably stunner set -- even calling out to Detroit and pumping some rhymes over ancient electro -- and then Girl Talk came on and the crowd went bananas. I've never really warmed to the Girl Talk phenomenon. We have great mashup artists in SF, and dropping some Public Enemy over a Toto sample is sooo 2005. Still, the man's a genius when it comes to party music and self-promotion: who knew all you had to do was post several YouTube vids of kids stage diving off your laptop platform and you could be famous? Well, maybe everybody knows that now, but Girl Talk knew it first. And who am I to argue, even when he dropped his pants and mooned the crowd in his boxers for half his set while he leaned over his equipment.

But this year is indubitably Richie Hawtin's year -- despite other hometown giants Kevin Saunderson, Carl Craig, Stacey Pullen, and Alton Miller on the roster -- so after a few Girl Talk singalongs (oh yes, there was stage-diving) we went over to the Beatport tent to catch the Windsor homeboy in a harder mood tan the previous night, at least until he dropped Mory Kante's "Yeke Yeke" and the dance floor exploded.

Richie Hawtin: Gettin' Yeke

Continue reading "DEMF: Girl Talk bumrush, Mr. De's sexy beach, gettin' Yeke" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 04:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Detroit native gadabout Marke B. hits Movement '08: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival with a handbag full of what-what. Read part one here.

The Techno Gods surely had a little laugh on the first (graciously sunny) day of the DEMF. Even though downtown's sprawling, reinvigorated Hart Plaza on the waterfront – nestled in the shadows of the new casinos pumping serious cash into bigshot pockets and directly opposite the infamous “fist” statue that socks across-the-river Windsor, CA, in the kisser – was brimming with suburban kids and roaming tribes of fun-furred and mohawked candy ravers (love those kids!), and even though Moby (!) headlined, and started his closing DJ set by playing one of his own songs (albeit a remix of his classic “Go”), the old soul of the Detroit underground shone through in quite a few places. (Clarification: Oops my E must have kicked in then. See comment below.)

Waiting for Moby

Underground, quite literally. This year, promoter Paxahau Events has reopened the huge concrete-walled basement of the plaza, and has installed the soulful house DJs there, rather than the traditional hardcore noise experimentalists. By two o'clock, heavily muscled dance crews had stripped off their shirts and were throwing down – headspins included – to the sounds of Detroit classicists like Reggie “Hotmix” Harrell and Minx. (That night, freaky Terrence “The Phone Man” Parker and tribal-soulist Stacey Pullen would turn the underground area into a sweaty mass of writhing gay and straight bodies.)

Upside-down to the morning beat

Terrence Parker hits

So much for the house – and notably missing so far this year have been the little independent DJ setups sprouting about the plaza like tiny laptop-vinyl mushrooms – what about the four other stages? What about the techno? The main, video-projected-upon VitaminWater stage, where Moby would later thrash about like a puggle to his electroclash-tinged pop-techno throwbacks, got a slowish start with way-cerebral live sub-dub fractal burbles from local DJ-band hybrid trio nospectacle, which included Jennifer A. Paull, one of the few female knob-twiddlers at the fest. (I went with my fabulous mom, who seemed to be briefly into it.) The stage didn't really seem to catch fire, though, until Canadian techno purist DBX aka Dan Bell hit the stage in the penultimate slot at 9pm.

What Detroit techno used to look like: DBX's “Electric Shock” from a TV dance show (I think “The Scene” in the late '80s)

Continue reading "DEMF: Moby's Go-go, Hawtin clogs, DBX shocks 'em, and too high to skate" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Native Detroit gadabout Marke B. hits Movement: The Detroit Electronic Music Festival

That thing where you return to your hometown and immediately, or at least on the ride home from the ex-urb airport, begin to feel your former soul flood back into you – old or familiar buildings take on some weightier significance in the fading evening light, new buildings even more. And then you're hooking up with old friends downtown, smoking a bowl or two, generally reminiscing and catching up, and driving around looking for a party, although you wouldn't mind if you just stayed in the minivan bopping to 20-year-old Balearic beats and laughing your ass off with your BFFs.

The grand, abandoned Michigan Central Train Station, two blocks from my Corktown residence in tha D. (Don't try to throw a party here, you'll get srsly busted.)

All of which is a belabored way of saying that I didn't get much afterhours in here in Detroit last night, the “official” pre-party night of Movement: The Detroit Electronic Music Festival, now going on nine years. Sure there were big bonanza advertised shindigs – this festival attracts tens of thousands of globe-hopping techno-lovers to the bowels of the Motor City, no mean feat, that – but for me and my SF fairy-dusted baggage none of them grabbed on all night long. That's OK: where else in the world but here would you find yourself on a dance floor with legendary DJs Juan Atkins and Eddie “Flashin'” Fowlkes -- and 20 other people?

Their party “The Fuzion of Science & Techno” had moved from the Detroit Science Center to the grand Majestic Theatre at the last minute, due to what I judge to be poor pre-sales. At first that was cause for a little alarm – the Science Center party is a bit of a tradition, and with a line-up that included Theo Parrish, Mike Clark, Kenny Dixon, Jr, and Alton Miller, the lack of draw was a shocker. Plus, the usual tiny panic hits: is techno really dead? Have the “neo-electro faddists,” as Detroit music journalist Hobey Echlin calls them, taken over and relegated soulful tech-house to another early grave?

Aw, hell no, it was just midnight on a Friday in downtown Detroit. We were probably way too early, wot.

Continue reading "DEMF: Cold techno feet as big fest heats up" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 09:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Heavy Mochipettin'.

Why not take on two more for the raucous road leading into Memorial Day weekend? Sunday will be hopping...

Mighty Underdogs at Bonneroo 2007.

LIVE ON THE LANE
Expect to get on up to get down when eight bands and artists converge on Maiden Lane for music, live art by Vulcan, food, and bevvies. Performers include the Mighty Underdogs collective with Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Lateef the Truthspeaker (Latyrx), and Headnodic (Crown City Rockers) (7:30-8:15 p.m.), Bayonics (6:30-7:15 p.m.), Mophono (5:45-6:15 p.m.), Mochipet (8:25-9 p.m.), Ghosts on Tape (9:10-9:45 p.m.),
Maus Haus (5-5:30 p.m.), Ryan Greene (3:30-4 p.m.), and Egadz (4:20-4:40 p.m.). Proceeds benefit the music program at George Washington Carver Elementary in SF. Sun/25, 4-10 p.m., $12 basic entry; $35 all-you-can-eat-and-drink. Maiden Lane between Kearny and Grant, SF. going.com/liveonthelane

NOTHING PEOPLE AND THE PETS
Hypnotic drone-rockers Nothing People find something to celebrate at a free record-release party. Oakland outfit the Pets also tear it up in honor of their own punky release. Sun/25, 5-7 p.m., free. Lucky 13, 2140 Market, SF. (415) 487-1313.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

THE INTERCHANGEABLE HEARTS
Lost
(Zeitgeist)

By Todd Lavoie

Losing oneself isn't necessarily something to shy away from; in the case of the debut EP from San Francisco trio Interchangeable Hearts, such an outcome should probably be welcomed. Fronted by the coolly unhurried vocals of Lina Hancock, the three-piece arrives well-versed in matching stark atmospherics with melancholic ruminations on matters of love, at times recalling Midnight Movies at their most minimal or Sub Pop-era Saint Etienne at their most somber.

"Now That I'm Gone" is a captivating opening statement, starting off with a ghostly slink of haunted-house organ and sumptuously detached vocals before spinning itself into hi-hat- and bubble-bass-driven disco release, with Hancock achieving a curious blend of resignation and euphoria in her dancefloor declaration, "All the stars in the sky and the light in my eyes/it makes me fall apart." Fluid bass lines and weightless organ whirrs also largely inform the engrossingly floatable handclap-funk of "March," and the elegant balladry of "Be Mine" glides along with a tearful melody and stately piano worthy of Burt Bacharach - think Ivy without the French-accented vocals.

"Maze" offers the Interchangeable Hearts at their most spooked-out, thanks to the billowing puffs of organ which keep the song hovering somewhere in the ether. Top marks, however, go to "On My Knees," a coy tempo-shifter buoyed by Hancock's taunting chorus of "look me in the eyes and make me remember you."

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Dina Maccabee

The rumors are true: a band member has confirmed that if you buy Chow Nasty's new album Super (Electrical) Recordings (Omega/Redeye) at an independent record store, you can get into their show at the Uptown in Oakland on April 25 for free, if you bring a receipt. Granted, that might be an easy sell to folks who already dig the Bay Area band's guerilla party tactics but just haven't gotten around to picking up their own personal copy of Super (Electrical) Recordings. Isn't it more likely, though, that you'd be lured into buying a CD after taking in a kick-ass set and enough beer to soften the impact of forking over 15 bucks?

No matter, the thing to celebrate here isn't free admission to the Uptown - it's that these guys managed to translate even a fraction of the lunacy of their live show to a recording. Chow Nasty is the party-est band I've ever seen, crafting a militantly bizarre beat-fest out of stage rituals paying homage to James Brown and the Beastie Boys.

On tape, the combination of inanely indelicate rhymes (like MC Pep Love's contribution, "I'm a give it to you / it's a party in your mouth / and I'm coming through," a slightly zany approach to hip-hop conventions, and a kind of studied boneheadedness result amid a fantastic funk frenzy reminiscent of Beck's Prince-loving album Midnight Vultures (DGC, 1999). For this tour the drum-machine-vocals-bass trio includes a sidekick on trombone and guiro who reportedly refuses to perform in anything but a sleeveless velour track suit. Hell, yes - or should I say, "Ungawa!"

CHOW NASTY
With Trackademics, HotTub, and DJ Eddie Bauer
Fri/25, 9 p.m., $8
The Uptown
1928 Telegraph, Oakland
(510) 451-8100

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Party with me, plus. All photos by Joshua Rotter.

By Joshua Rotter

Going out dancing can be a confidence-buster for peeps of all sizes. But the extreme shame imposed on plus-size women often outweighs their desire to hit da club. Full-figured party promoter Lady Tigress was no different. “I was never a clubber in my twenties because I didn't feel like I would be comfortable in a nightclub setting,” Tigress said. “I bought into what I saw on TV and thought everyone in bars or dance clubs looked like Beyonce or Britney.”

In a world where the Barbie doll reigns supreme, these notions are only reinforced by a media that has little love for big girls. Rarely on the covers of magazines, large women remain the laughing stock of hip-hop videos, the early eliminations on reality showmances, and stand-up fodder for late night television: think Jay Leno’s Jonah and the whale jokes about Lewinskygate. And Lady Tigress knows that clubland is no kinder.

“There are gorgeous plus-size women in all types of clubs all over the Bay,” Tigress said. “But even if they are confident, there is snickering that sometimes happens when a crew of big girls shows up at a mainstream club, or they are sometimes ignored because a lot of people don't want to admit that they are attracted to women who live outside of the super-skinny American beauty standard.”

After Tigress started going out to Bay Area BBW parties such as Big Boogie Nights, Sexy at Any Size, and Heavy Rotation in her thirties, she realized that if the event was fat-friendly, these women would come out and party. So Tigress was inspired to create an even larger night, a hip-hop party for plus-size women and their fans called Full Figure Friday, and decided to host her evening, unlike similar hotel-based events across the Bay, at the stylish San Francisco club Bambuddha Lounge.

Continue reading "Clubs: Bootyful action at Full Figure Friday" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

By Jamilah King

Bay Area DJ Kero One likes to say that he got his Seoul from Korea. Regardless of its origins, his talents as a producer, DJ, and MC are creating a big buzz in hip-hop. He's collaborated with Grand Puba, Aloe Blacc, and Ohmega Watts. His smooth sound takes hip-hop back to its roots while also moving it forward. Tonight, March 11, Kero One performs at 111 Minna Gallery; he also has a monthly at Madrone Lounge.

He sat down to talk about his music, and more.

SFBG: You're from the Bay. Where in the Bay did you grow up?

Kero One: I grew up in the Santa Clara area, and moved to the city about three years ago to get more serious about my music career.

SFBG: When did you fall in love with music?

KO: I remember being really little and staying up into the wee hours of the night to listen to the radio and stations like KMEL. My mom would come in and try to get me to go to bed, then I'd get right back up and turn the radio on and listen to stuff like Boogie Down Productions, and all the stuff that was big in the late '80s.

Continue reading "Clubs: producer-DJ-MC Kero One looks to the Bay and abroad" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reflections on Enon. Photo by Emily Wilson.

So much to do and see, Lee. And Prince headlining Coachella on Saturday, April 26, doesn't make the schedule any easier. Check out all these worthy shows that were fit for print but simply didn't make the trim this week.

KING BROTHERS AND THE FLAKES
Kawaii-cute Japanese distorto-rockers meet Bay Area garage first-schoolers. With Shellshag and Bananas. Thurs/10, 8:30 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIR
"I cannot hold / a half a life / I cannot be / at half a wife." So goes "Time Will" off Hercules and Love Affair's new self-titled DFA/EMI album. Dulcet warbles care of Antony of Antony and the Johnsons meet cool synthetics with keys by Andrew Butler and drum programming by DFA's Tim Goldsworthy. Instant love affair, for sure. With Timo Maas and Honey Soundsystem. Fri/11, 10 p.m. doors, $15-$30. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. (415) 820-9669.

Continue reading "Sonic Reducer Overage: Mocheeba, Hercules and Love Affair, Enon, David Banner, and mo'" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ocean Drive divas. All photos by Robin Russell.

Contributing photog Robin Russell closes her WMC dispatches with a stop at Giant Step Presents Sunset Soiree at the Delano Hotel on March 29. Look for Turntables on the Hudson, out with Supreme Beings of Leisure at Mezzanine on April 18.

Nickodemus steals over to the wheels o' steel.

Turntables on the Hudson melded classic house textures and afrobeat rhythms.

The scene down south.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Marcus Worgull got the crowd going. All photos by Robin Russell.

Winter Music Conference in Miami rolled onward as contributing photographer Robin Russell checked out the popular local party Aquabooty Music2 at Opium Garden on March 29. Innervsions artists like Ame, Dixon, Henrik Schwarz and Marcus Worgull appeared along with DJ Harvey and Miguel Migs.

Rich Medina spun Philly soul.

Mr. White and Marcus Worgull took the stage.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 07:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

King Britt and Victor Duplaix make the scene. All photos by Robin Russell.

Contributing photog Robin Russell made a stop at the fourth annual Art of Seduction party at the Victor Hotel on March 29 during Miami's Winter Music Conference. King Britt and Duplaix headed a bill that included DJ Rashida, Eleonora, Manchild Black, Taylor McFerrin, DJ Dozia, and Kayree.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Groove Junkies got the junk out of the trunk at Terry Thompson and Friends Presents. All photos by Robin Russell.

Maimi's Winter Music Conference kept the beat going as contributing photographer Robin Russell stopped into both Push FM/R2 Records' soiree at Love Hate and the Terry Thompson and Friends Presents event at the Chelsea Hotel on Friday, March 28.

Push FM DJ Abicah Soul manned the decks at the bash hosted by the London online radio station.

The crowd at Push FM/R2 Records' night.

John "Julius" Knight made an appearance at Terry Thompson's Baltimore/DC house throwdown.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ruben Mancias, Wumni, and Jellybean Benitez meet in Miami. All photos by Robin Russell.

The Winter Music Conference's Jellybean Soul label party at Hotel Victor on Friday, March 28, was next on contributing photog Robin Russell's schedule in Miami. Here's what she caught.

Little Louie Vega and Mike "Agent X" Clark are all smiles.

London-born singer-dancer Wumni lent her vocals to Ruben Mancias's "Let It Rain (Ko Ma Ro)."

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Vikter Duplaix and Daz-I-Kue (Bugz in the Attic) get down at the Om party. All photos by Robin Russell.

Contributing photographer Robin Russell swung through Miami's Winter Music Conference, which ran from March 25-29, and sent these dispatches. First up: the fete thrown by SF-based Om Records at Y Ultralounge on Thursday, March 27.

Cobblestone Jazz settles in.

Things heat up at the Om party.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A little bit o' London Souls.

By Kandia Crazy Horse

A SXSW diary concludes...

SATURDAY, MARCH 15

As mentioned before, other than an in-and-out at Brush Square Park for a Japanese lineup, I simply did not make it to day parties, including the Frank 151 one where I had hoped to catch Game Rebellion again on Friday since they’d so courteously invited Kimberly and I en route to the Ironworks for ‘cue (did catch them rush the stage during N.E.R.D.’s disappointing non-starter of a late-night set at Stubb’s). Thus I missed Harp’s own shindig at the French Legation (and thus the chance to commiserate with my fellow contributors), the ‘ting of NYC-based Kemado Records for which I actually had a lam, and my annual Sunday trip down South Congress for western wear and eats (sorry Andy!).

Last minute, I did make the scene at Jelly NYC’s rooftop thang down West Fifth in the vicinity of Town Lake. And I am glad I did, as this foot-hobbling sojourn off the beaten track enabled me to let some ghosts go while hip-switching through the sequential, heavy volume-dealing sets of London Souls (actually from Brooklyn also, and fronted by a palpably Hendrix-loving brer) and Earl Greyhound. Before a rickshaw took me back to the Hilton, I made and re-met some friends, was hailed by some cool new folks (like sometime Rolling Stone lensman Michael Weintrob) and finally scored a decent drink.

The afternoon was enjoyable due to a very satisfying morning during which I arose early, 9 a.m., from the groggy swamp to breakfast at the soon-to-be-defunct Las Manitas on Congress with NYC friend Tim Broun and his Oaktown musician bud Paul Manousos - all in order to see Daryl Hall’s official SXSW interview at noon. Not only were Tim and I first in line, but we had a great front row view of Brother Hall being interviewed by my colleague Ann Powers of the LA Times. Seeming to be aloof behind shades, seated next to his compadre T-Bone Wolk and their six strings, the sometime 50 percent of Hall and Oates was actually very engaging and sharp, and it was clear from his responses that he never suffers fools gladly.

"Engaging and sharp": Daryl Hall and Kandia Crazy Horse.

Continue reading "SXSW: Scoping out Daryl Hall, Darondo, Bonnie Bramlett, Justin Townes Earle, David Garza, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Saw your baby, lady: Kimya Dawson.

By Kandia Crazy Horse

A SXSW night-and-day diary continues...

THURSDAY, MARCH 13, AND FRIDAY, MARCH 14

The day began with my first IHOP run, and the late rising set me permanently behind on the day-party trail. In fact, I ultimately only made the scene at one on Sixth with our fearless leader/SX roomie Kimberly Chun, wherein we were irritated by “free” drink tickets that only provided low-shelf liquor.

It was fun to make the scene in the upper reaches of the Convention Center, catching up with such friends and colleagues as Manhattan cultural instigator Jim Fouratt, NC-born upstater Holly George-Warren at her trade show book signing for Punk 365 and her fine Gene Autry bio, Perfect Sound Forever honcho Jason Gross, veteran esteemed rock critic Dave Marsh, and (erstwhile) Harp editors Fred Mills and Randy Harward who, alas, came bearing bad tidings about the music magazine’s demise. I also met rock scribe/wife Laurie Lindeen, rockbiz vet Danny Goldberg (whose account of apprenticing to Led Zeppelin’s famed manager Peter Grant was thrilling), Hanson vox Taylor, rockwrite/rock orbit luminaries Jaan Uhelszki and Danny Fields, and played text tag with some other folks before and after dropping too many ducats at Flatstock for posters of the Black Crowes, Stevie Wonder, and the great Alejandro Escovedo (who I was saturated with in ’07 but very sadly missed this year).

The Day Stage tended to be dull or between bursts when I breezed through from the trade show, but I did see Kimya Dawson and her man keeping up with their toddling baby girl. That’s not to say there were no good-to-great performances provided within the Convention Center’s walls: in succession, I saw Hanson, the Noisettes, and (an amazing set by) X, all mercifully recorded for DirectTV.

Continue reading "SXSW: Kimya baby sighting no. 1, meathead hair-tossing at RTX, She and Him hrumphed" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Learning to love again with Ra Ra Riot. All photos by Kimberly Chun.

O SXSW, what a mixed bag thou art. Good-looking from across a crowded Kiwanis Hall, good-looking (if somewhat huge-pored and flushed with Lone Stars) close up, and even better-looking receding in the distance. Yes, I'm waving, not drowning, with this, a last, lingering, photo-centric dispatch from Saturday, March 15.

Just breathe: Inca Ore.

Solo artists (from Portland, Ore. by way of the Bay) Inca Ore and Grouper stole an intimate house party, organized by Guardian contributor and Club Sandwich mastermind George Chen. A nice alternative to Todd P's day-shows at Ms. Bea's - on the sleepy, leafy, chill side of the Colorado River. Chen's combo KIT also tore it up, following up their Upset the Rhythm showcase earlier that week.

Meow! KIT.

Off-kilter harmonies from the twins of Scary Mansion.

Continue reading "SXSW: Up on Duffy, Ra Ra Riot, Carbon Silicon, Inca Ore, Kate Nash, and more" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The race is on: Earl Greyhound made an appearance at the Afro-Punk/Matrix showcase at SXSW.

By Kandia Crazy Horse

In the wake of my man John Edwards’s withdrawal from the current presidential race and subsequent taking up the torch for our fair music editor’s fellow Punahou alumnus Obama as Negro First, I officially became old. So I lacked sufficient energy and brain cells to take on SXSW 2008 – but, music ‘ho that I am, I did it anyway.

Clearly, Barack Obama’s sustained ascent as the most dissected American presidential candidate has by now confirmed his superfly rock-star status, crowding and overshadowing the field pursued by artists with recent/forthcoming new releases such as Jack White of the Raconteurs, the brers of Gnarls Barkley, Union Jack black singing cowboy Lightspeed Champion, and Saul Williams, a.k.a., Niggy Tardust - the latter two made the South By scene all around hip Austin (and Gnarls appeared via tacked-up Odd Couple lampoons, courtesy of Atlantic). I hesitated to fly down into Bush Country, considering the volatile political climate at present and the specter of terrorism making every airport visit unpleasant at best.

And, too, I had personal reservations: at the last three South By festivals, my life has fallen apart by degrees: in 2006, with the diagnosis of my late Mother’s pancreatic cancer and decision to divorce being the absolute worst. Still, I was invited to speak about press and, whether SXSW has completely devolved into “hipster spring break with bands” in recent years, the festival retains the possibility to offer exposure to unheard-of music and/or reconnect with rarely seen friends from the Left Coast and abroad.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12

Rising before cockcrow at 3 a.m., I saddled up in bespoke hat, denim and black leather to hit a too-early flight out of NY LaGuardia and made it to Austin’s Bergstrom already dazed and confused via Houston connection from George Bush Airport. After a swift check-in at the Hilton Garden Inn downtown where I happened to run into my panel mate, Nick Baily of Shorefire Media, and we concurred that we were in the dark about how to express ourselves (one of last year’s highlights was meeting O.G. Expressor Charles Wright), it was off to run the Convention Center gauntlet in pursuit of festival badges, assorted data, schwag and making it to the panelists’ green room on time. No surreys nor press satoris available. So Nick and I jes’ winged it (wung it?) before a surprisingly full room, and tried our best to respond to the artists trailing in our wake all the way back to the hotel.

Continue reading "SXSW: This ain't another fear and loathing praisesong" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Get an earful of what everyone at SXSW was yapping 'bout: longtime Oaklander Darondo performs, backed by Nino Moschella, at Shattuck Down Low tonight, March 21. Low-ridah soul - with vanity plates, sho - and R&B comes to town once more in the form of the Ubiquity artist who once opened for James Brown and hung with Fillmore Slim.

DARONDO
With Nino Moschella
Friday/21, 9:30 p.m., $12
Shattuck Down Low
2284 Shattuck, Berk.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:43 PM | 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)

By Todd Lavoie

My ears might still be ringing, but it's totally worth it, I tell you: checked out English quadruple-lunged soul powerhouse Alice Russell's white-hot-and-beyond groove-a-thon last night, March 11, at Mojito, and it was the best decision I've made all month.

Girl could sing the ass clean off everybody in that room, honestly, and so that's exactly what she did - two explosive 45-minute sets and an encore later, she'd leveled that place. Best part of all? Russell pulled it all off with buckets of charm, quipping and chuckling and getting on with the crowd like a house on fire: no diva moments, no attitudinal posturing.

And while I didn't exactly take a poll afterwards, I've got a sneaking feeling most folks in attendance felt the same way I did: we'd witnessed something very, very special. If you didn't make it to either show (she also slammed the Mojito crowd this past Monday, March 10), you're free to kick yourselves, but don't get too carried away: there's a good chance Russell might be coming back again soon. Most likely, when she does, she'll be hitting Mojito once more, having played there a few times already and having clearly cultivated a love-love relationship between artist and venue.

Continue reading "Alice Russell has our ears ringing" »