By Vanessa Carr

Jef Stott has been a producer and remixer on San Francisco's global electronica scene for over a decade. But this Saturday night (5/10) at Bollyhood in the Mission, Stott celebrates the release of his first full-length album – Saracen – on Six Degrees .

Stott fuses Arabic and Turkish rhythms with both electronic and acoustic beats and textures. What sets him apart from many of his world music peers is that – rather than merely sampling – Stott is a multi-instrumentalist who plays a wide range of instruments. On Saracen, he plays oud (Arabic lutes), saza and cumbus (Turkish lutes), the Persian santur, bass, and percussion. He also invites a number of guest musicians, including well-known Tunisian vocalist MC RAI.

Drawing early inspiration from art rockers lke Glenn Branca, Brian Eno, and Peter Gabriel, Stott got his musical start playing guitar in rock and metal bands is his hometown of Los Angeles in the 1980s. Stott went on to form the band Stellamara, whose blend of Middle Eastern and Balkan sounds and ambient rock awakened his interest in the devotional aspects of music beyond its entertainment value and led him to intensively study the oud under internationally known musicians Hamza El Din and Omar Faruk Tekbilek.

What is especially remarkable about Stott is his humility, reverence for his teachers and peers, and willingness to talk and think deeply about issues of cultural appropriation in world music.

SFBG: You have a background in heavy metal and art rock. When did you get interested in playing Middle Eastern music?

Jef Stott: [Playing in Stellamara] is when I made the big switch. That is when I picked up the oud, sold all my electric guitar equipment, and really got deeply interested in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish music. I almost abandoned everything I had done up to that point and started on a whole new path.

Continue reading "Electronic Arabic: Jef Stott gets worldly at Bollyhood" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Contributing writer and WFMU DJ Billy Jam may boast a mean Irish accent, but he's all about stateside hip-hop. Hence, the name, I'm guessing, of his event at the Whitney Biennial Saturday, April 19. If you happen to be in the hood - or even if you just wanna listen in via Neighborhood Public Radio's live stream - check it out: Jam will be helming the turntables along with Demerock Wallnuts from 2-6 p.m., at the Whitney Museum, 941 Madison, NYC. He promises a live jam session with DJ Alf cutting and scratching, as well as freestyle drums, keyboards, and guitar - and spoken word. Oh, yes, and there will be plenty of art - graffiti or otherwise, from both coasts - to see.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Dina Maccabee

Sometimes - when I notice I’ve developed an allergy to my entire iTunes playlist, when all my CDs are mysteriously missing from their cases, and I’m not ready to resort to listening to mix tapes from high school - the silence on my stereo can be deafening. In those dire times, I resort to iTunes radio.
Scrolling down the list of offerings, there isn’t a lot of campaigning to sway your vote. I breeze past the bland listings for Classic Rock, Electronic, and Ambient, on down to International, where if nothing else the flavors have a chance of being spicy. Still, I couldn’t say what exactly prompted me to try IranianRadio.com for the first time. “Persian traditional music,” it read, sandwiched between “The Best Mix of All Things Iranian” and “Persian Pop.” I must have been feeling anti-American.

At any rate, I was pleased to discover hours of uninterrupted Persian classical music, a tradition so stately and affecting that its surface exoticism melts away after only a few minutes. But I began to wonder, from whence, exactly, issues forth this fountain of unfamiliar yet dulcet tones? I pressed a button and suddenly linked the sounds of classical Persia with a bedroom in San Francisco in 2008.

I wanted some background color for the monochromatic iTunes radio experience - and some direction on how to explore the region’s music even further (the station's format ranges from Persian Dance to Kurdish Pop). Fortunately a friendly service representative at IranianRadio.com, identifying himself only as Cyrus, was able to set me straight on the mysteries behind the music.

SFBG: Who programs the content of IranianRadio.com?

Continue reading "IranianRadio.com takes you on a drive through the Persian-pop unknown" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Vanessa K. Carr

It's hard to tell sometimes with the French: how much of their dry humor and peculiarity is due to their French-ness, and how much is straight up eccentricity? For French electronic music producer and Tigersushi label manager Joakim (Versatile, K7), it's most definitely the later. Due in part to his inordinately tall, praying mantis-like frame and understated manner, Joakim's idiosyncrasy is what makes his magic; the fact that his fantastically hypnotic live performance is also sort of awkward, for example, makes the experience all the more immediate and real.

Joakim, 31, burst onto the notorious Paris electronic music scene nine or ten years ago by starting encyclopedia music website (and now label) Tigersushi and releasing several of his own tracks on Versatile. Since then, Joakim has released three full-length albums and a storm of 12"s and remixes. His most recent album, Monsters and Silly Songs (K7 2007), spans an impressive range of genres, from electro and hard techno to dark pop and ambient noise. You can stream the full album here.

Joakim and his Ectoplasmic Band perform live this Friday night (2/15) at Fat City, courtesy of Blasthaus, with Portland electro/disco duo Glass Candy; DJ sets by Foreign Islands, Sleazemore, and Honey Soundsystem; and visuals by the fabulous DJ Pee Play.

SFBG: What kind of music did you listen to growing up?

Joakim Bouaziz: I started to grow up very early. I was mostly listening to classical music.

SFBG: Where you classically trained as a musician?

JB: Yeah, but every time I hear that expression, it sounds really weird.

SFBG: Why is that?

JB: It sounds like I've been in the army or something.

Continue reading "Joakim: Very tall, very French" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yeah, yeah, we've all been bombarded with Italo Disco the past couple years in the clubs... BUT -- what about Italodisco tracks laid down by an actual Italian? And a cute gay fuzzy one at that?

This Tuesday night at the Transfer, fabulous Paduan superstar DJ Giacomo, one half of Italo Disco/cosmic funk/hi-NRG production whizzes Disco Dromo, guests at weekly raveup Chilidog, in association with Honey Soundsystem.

You can listen to one of Disco Dromo's awesome mixes here (Galactic Zombies -- mp3).

I first ran into Giacomo while waiting for a bus in Williamsburg on a rainy Thanksgiving vacation night. Later, in the musty, moldy basement of the Cock, Hunky Beau stuck a finger up a hole in his pants. So you know he's game for anything! (I mean that in the most respectful way possible, Giacomo!)

"Honeydog"
Chilidog + Honey Soundsystem presents:
Disco Dromo
Tuesday January 8
10pm-2am
The Transfer
198 Church (at Market)
415-861-7499
www.honeysoundsystem.com

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Posted by Marke B. at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Huddled under your soul blankets? Buffeted about, as Dante wrote of the damned lustful in The Inferno, in hell's crosswise winds like a human kite? Take comfort in the immortal stylings of the one-and-only Ann Peebles, goddess of honkytonk R&B, baby. She's your OG umbrella-ella-ella, ey ey ey.

Too bare 'n funky for ya? 12-odd years later the heavens opened up (Heaven 17, that is, who produced) and gave us Tina Turner's Fairlight-charged version (viewable here in a heat-pumping live version), which, 12-odd years later than that, drenched us in this jeep-beatin' Timbaland-Missy classic:

And then 12-odd years after that (why not?), Hungary's very own Britney, Dorina, rocks it. Czech it out.

Drip, drip, drip it by the dozens, gfs! and PS -- no. I'm not about to go into Chocolate Rain on the boys side. Enoughs!

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Posted by Marke B. at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scoff if you must. Call the new Misfits a cover band, or aging has-beens. And feel free to call me a poseur for even wanting to see them live. But I went to the Misfits show at DNA a couple weeks ago and I liked it.

So what if Danzig wasn’t there? So what if the sound was so bad that you wouldn’t have been able to tell if he were? There were huge skulls on the stage, and fancy lights, and dudes with devil locks (presumably at least one was an original member of the Misfits, though too-young-to-have-seen-them-in-their-heydey me wouldn’t know which), and really fucking loud music, and the best mosh pit I’ve been pushed into since I lost my favorite flannel at an illegal show in a windowless venue in high school.

And most importantly, I made my favorite new discovery: The Nutley Brass, a band whose album "Fiend Club Lounge" the DJ spun between sets. Think Disneyland’s Electric Light Parade meets the Manhattan Transfer, and you have some idea of the way this band covers Misfits tunes. In fact, if The Misfits opened a hotel, this is the Muzak that would be playing in its elevators.

Continue reading "The Misfits: The Musical!!" »

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Posted by Molly Freedenberg at 08:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Ben Richardson

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

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

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

Howl on, Howlin Rain.

Mixtapes/CDs - the DIY-DJ, hardcopy joy of giving that has been overlooked in the digital scramble to trade music online. Wha' happened?

Well, Oakland howler, guitarist, and all-around noise-maker Ethan Miller of Comets on Fire and Howlin Rain found a way. He clued me to Spot DJ where folks can make comps of their very own. Listen to Miller's workaday/beer-drinking mix right here. He describes it as "an eclectic Saturday night kind of vibe. Watch out for moments of guitar shredding and some illegal fusion - though it's mostly beer o'clock jams." Rawk.

In other Ethan-esque news, he tells me he's wrapping up the new Howlin Rain album, titled Magnificent Fiend, due in Jan. 22, while Comets takes some down time. The new 'un will be out on CD and vinyl, and a vinyl version of the first LP is in production as well. Otherwise Miller will be on the road with HR shortly, playing with the ever-popular Queens of the Stone Age on the southeast leg of their September national tour. The Miller guarantee: "These shows will be ragers!!!"

Here's where they'll be:

Sept. 15, La Zona Rosa, Austin, TX, with Queens of the Stone Age

Continue reading "Ethan Miller's mixology: Comets on Fire/Howlin Rain vocalist passes round online mixtape, heads out with Queens of the Stone Age" »

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

Poor Ladybug Transistor. The NYC band suffered the demise of their drummer San Fadyl this spring, around the time of the release of the chamber poppers' latest album, Can't Wait Another Day (Merge). The band got through it and they'll be here once more tonight, Aug. 9, at Bottom of the Hill. And check out this track from that album, "Three Days From Now":

Ladybug Transistor play tonight, Aug. 9, 9 p.m. Still Flyin' and Pebble Theory open. Tickets are $8 at Bottom of the Hill.

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

Anticipating the 10-year anniversary of qawwali vocal legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's death on Aug. 16, San Francisco label Six Degrees recently released the Pakistani giant's latest dub-laced collaboration, with London producer-composer Gaudi, Dub Qawwali. Get a listen here to the opening track, "Bethe Bethe Kese Kese":

Meanwhile, here's more on the project from Six Degrees:

"Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was and is still very much considered to be one of the greatest Qawwals (singer of qawwali music) in the world. Not only recognized as a legend in his native Pakistan he also took his
musical messages of peace, love, and spirituality to the international stage, earning him the title of Pakistan’s premier ambassador of Qawwali music. The origins ofthe genre trace back over 700 years to the spiritual Samah songs of Persia and the mystical faith of Sufism.

Continue reading "Qawwali giant Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan remembered, revived" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This recently in from Two Gallants' PR HQ:

"Childhood friends since age 5, Adam Stephens and Tyson Vogel have sustained longevity that very few people, let alone band members, can claim. Merging intelligent lyrics that often integrate historical references and human experiences beyond their own familiarity, Two Gallants captivate listeners with their unique breed of folk, punk and blues.

"The self-titled Two Gallants comes out Sept. 25 on Saddle Creek, following The Scenery of Farewell acoustic EP, which came out earlier this year. Recorded in the band’s hometown of San Francisco at the historical Hyde Street Studios, and produced by Alex Newport (Mars Volta, At the Drive In), Two Gallants builds on the foundation laid by their 2004 debut, The Throes, and their sophomore release in 2006, What the Toll Tells."

To hear a track from Two Gallants, listen here:

And album track list?

Continue reading "Two Gallants tour like hellions this fall, prepare to unleash new LP" »

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