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KOOL A.D. isn't worried about that Das Racist breakup

12.04.12 - 1:03 pm | George McIntire |
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Any time a band breaks up, the beef rumors immediately start to swirl. Throw in Twitter and Facebook, and that rumor tornado can spin quickly out of control – as it did within minutes thanks to the #dasracistbreakup hashtag this past weekend when rapper Heems, on a drunken whim, announced the group’s break up during a show in Berlin. Read more »

Snap Sounds: Brian Eno

12.03.12 - 12:42 pm | Taylor Kaplan |
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BRIAN ENO
LUX
(WARP)

The liner notes to Brian Eno’s Music for Airports (1978) act as a veritable Ambient Manifesto, outlining the philosophy of a genre he developed as an alternative to Muzak, and other background fluff. In the final sentence, he asserted, “Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” By that count, Eno’s solo Warp debut, LUX, is his most successful foray into ambient territory in quite some time. Read more »

Localized Appreesh: Coo Coo Birds

11.29.12 - 11:27 am | Emily Savage |
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Localized Appreesh is our thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

Music should be fun. We forget that little factor, those of us drenched in so many layers of irony we can no longer differentiate between sounds. Lest we draw another blank, I present Coo Coo Birds.

The band – made up of singer-guitarist Jonny Cat, producer-bassist Charles James Gonzalez, and singer-drummer Ryan Zweng – is connected to the Convent arts collective (hence the song, “Convent Girl”), and seems to have a real good time making music together. It dropped full-length debut, Don't Bring You Boyfriends, in September, quickly followed that up with the forthcoming Psychedelic Warrior, and have another release already on the horizon: Sultan of Cats, due February 2013.

Read more »

Live Shots: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at Davies Symphony Hall

11.26.12 - 2:35 pm | Charles Russo |
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Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at Davies Symphony Hall. Photo by Charles Russo.
Sharon Jones, and her boundless energy. Photo by Charles Russo.
The Dap-Kings line it up. Photo by Charles Russo.
Another angle of the vast Davies Symphony Hall. Photo by Charles Russo.
Looking down at the stage. Photo by Charles Russo.
A soulful number. Photo by Charles Russo.
The band got the audience on its feet. Photo by Charles Russo.
Sharon Jones. Photo by Charles Russo.
Jones in the shadows of Davies Symphony Hall. Photo by Charles Russo.
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings say goodnight. Photo by Charles Russo.

Sharon Jones took to the stage at Davies Symphony Hall on Saturday night with all the energy of fourth-grade recess on a sunny afternoon. Not that she seems to ever take the stage in any other way, but it was the right approach for a big show in a big room.

After all, her sold-out concert with the Dap-Kings at the Symphony was a prestigious booking that spoke to her ever-increasing popularity over the past few years, a reputation that has been steadily earned through the infectious soulfulness and old-school cool of her dynamic live performances. Read more »

Baby steps: Pregnant Ana Tijoux headlines at an evolving La Peña Cultural Center

11.23.12 - 10:55 am | Caitlin Donohue |
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La Peña's Cafe Valparaiso: supplied the plastic cups and Peruvian beer for the night.
Oakland's Raw-G was one of the night's openers. Guardian photo by Caitlin Donohue
Ana Tijoux at La Peña Cultural Center, 11/21/12. Guardian photo by Caitlin Donohue
Ana Tijoux at La Peña Cultural Center, 11/21/12. Guardian photo by Caitlin Donohue
Ana Tijoux at La Peña Cultural Center, 11/21/12. Guardian photo by Caitlin Donohue

Unlike the last time I saw her perform in California, there was no reason for Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux to apologize to her audience for her English in the La Peña Cultural Center at her pre-Thanksgiving show on Wednesday.

"Quien no habla español?" she asked the crowd. "Muy bien," she continued when no one could understand Spanish well enough to yell out that they don't understand Spanish. "El mejor publico in los Estados Unidos." Read more »

Nite Trax: Honey Soundsystem feels love anew

11.21.12 - 4:55 pm | Marke B. |
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Honey Soundsystem, that handsome group of techno and disco rarety-loving DJs and purveyors of one of the best weekly parties in SF (Sundays at Holy Cow), has gone through a few changes this year, parting ways with a couple members -- perhaps temporarily -- to side projects and expanding their reach greatly with several international appearances.

But the honeycomb hasn't stopped pumping out great tunes, and it looks like Honey's latest record label, HNYTRX, has launched with an expansive, uplifting new house tune, "Face Love Anew" by Australian favorites Stereogamous featuring singer Shaun J. Wright, formerly of Hercules and Love Affair. It's a keeper.

Read more »

Localized Appreesh: Golden Void

11.21.12 - 1:25 pm | Emily Savage |
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Localized Appreesh is our thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

Another blog this week declared Golden Void “the Bay Area's best new psych band,” and I'm not about to quibble. The band, named after a Hawkwind track, features members of Earthless, and Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, and just released a mind-bending, fuzzy guitar-bursting beaut of a debut album, out now on Thrill Jockey. Read more »

Flamenco goosebumps: Buika at Herbst Theater

11.21.12 - 9:47 am | Ariel Soto-Suver |
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Buika at Herbst Theater, 11/16/12. Guardian photo by Ariel Soto-Suver
Buika at Herbst Theater, 11/16/12. Guardian photo by Ariel Soto-Suver
Buika at Herbst Theater, 11/16/12. Guardian photo by Ariel Soto-Suver
Buika at Herbst Theater, 11/16/12. Guardian photo by Ariel Soto-Suver
Buika at Herbst Theater, 11/16/12. Guardian photo by Ariel Soto-Suver
Buika at Herbst Theater, 11/16/12. Guardian photo by Ariel Soto-Suver
Buika at Herbst Theater, 11/16/12. Guardian photo by Ariel Soto-Suver
Buika at Herbst Theater, 11/16/12. Guardian photo by Ariel Soto-Suver
Buika at Herbst Theater, 11/16/12. Guardian photo by Ariel Soto-Suver
Buika at Herbst Theater, 11/16/12. Guardian photo by Ariel Soto-Suver

Large portions of my life have been chronicled by music. Chopin waltzes from when I was starting to learn piano, Iron and Wine from my college Seattle days, and this summer, Spanish flamenco singer Buika. Sam Love and I have had her music playing literally non-stop, whether it’s while we’re editing photos, having dinner parties with friends, or driving north to Point Reyes for a hike. We’re totally addicted.Read more »

Heads Up: 6 must-see concerts this week

11.19.12 - 2:34 pm | Emily Savage |
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Yes, it's that time of the year again – when I make a faux-turkey. And, I suppose, when many of you eat the real thing. That's cool. Either way, you're going to want to relax, decompress, scream into the abyss after the stress of eating and chatting with the family, or over-indulging at multiple Friendsgivings. This Thanksgiving weekend, you can let your conflicted demons out into the night with Dick Dale, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Cass McCombs, Sébastien Giniaux, Kill Paris, and SISU. Read more »

Live Shots: Tame Impala at the Fillmore

11.19.12 - 12:54 pm | Cynthia Salaysay |
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Tame Impala at the Fillmore. Photo by Brian Hildebrand.
Tame Impala at the Fillmore. Photo by Brian Hildebrand.
Tame Impala at the Fillmore. Photo by Brian Hildebrand.
Tame Impala at the Fillmore. Photo by Brian Hildebrand.

Man, there were a lot of beards at the Fillmore last Thursday. Not the close-cropped beards that I swear some Bay Area men grow in hopes that a girl or boy wants to talk about it. But shaggy ones. The kind that you really can’t make a statement about. Because they aren’t a statement, unless it’s about their state of unwash.

I was at the Tame Impala show, and the beards were out in force. There were also a smattering of mods and hippies, a larger group of rocker girls with tough eyes and shiny hair, with their boyfriends, and a small slice of older music lovers. Read more »