Coachella

The Selector: August 27 – September 3, 2013

Michael Redmond
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WEDNESDAY 8/28

 

The Troublemaker

Hey, daddy-o! While other outdoor movie nights program known crowd pleasers (and hey, nothing wrong with that — who doesn’t love 1980’s Xanadu under the stars?), trust the Pacific Film Archive to dig a little deeper. Directed by Theodore J. Flicker (it was the perfectly-named filmmaker’s first feature; he was also an improv comedy pioneer and directed dozens of 1970s TV episodes) and co-written with Saturday Night Live stalwart Buck Henry, 1964’s The Troublemaker offers a bouncy throwback to the beatnik era. A chicken farmer dreams of opening a coffeehouse in Greenwich Village; the Mob doesn’t agree, but the finger-snapping cool cats have his back. Wear your beret and come early for the pre-film poetry reading. (Cheryl Eddy)

8:30pm, free

BAM/PFA Sculpture Garden

2575 Bancroft, Berk

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

WEDNESDAY 8/28

 

Resident Artist Workshop: Victor Talledos, Joy Prendergast, Rachel Elliot

A couple of years ago, Mexican-born and trained ballet dancer Victor Talledos landed in the Bay Area like a comet — fiery, fierce, and impossible to ignore. Joy Prendergast is part of a hotbed of budding women choreographers nourished by the SF Conservatory of Dance. Rachel Elliot, a recent graduate of the Dominican University/LINES Ballet program, spent her study abroad time traveling and watching dance in China. This trio of artists is the latest crop of choreographers showing work in progress they have developed at the Garage’s all essential RAW (Resident Artist Workshop) studio space — 12 weeks of four to six hours free rehearsal time with two scheduled performances.” Small is beautiful” was a mantra in the 1970s. It’s still valid. A little bit of support, consistently offered, can create wonders. (Rita Felciano)

Through Thu/29. 8pm. $10–$20.

Garage

715 Bryant, SF

www.brownpapertickets.com

WEDNESDAY 8/28

 

“Root to Stalk Cooking” with Tara Duggan

Omnivore Books often outdoes itself with inventive workshops and tasty food contests. Still, “Root to Stalk Cooking: The Art of Using the Whole Vegetable” should truly be one for the books. Author Tara Duggan, a James Beard award-winning independent journalist and cookbook author, will talk trash. Well, technically, she’ll talk roots, stalks, tops, ribs, and other pieces of vegetables that tend to get scratched. And she’ll discuss recipes that included those too-often discarded veggie elements. The workshop is not only a unique opportunity to meet an insightful SF native author, but also to learn how to cook delicious meals while still being frugal. Stop wasting and start cooking. (Hillary Smith)

6-7:30 pm, free

Omnivore Books

3885a Cesar Chavez, SF

www.omnivorebooks.com

THURSDAY 8/29

 

Café Tacvba

There are parts of the world where ska music is still valued. “Las Flores” is a rude boy-baiting uptempo Café Tacvba song that seemed right at home in 1994, when lead singer Albarrán Ortega was sporting his Coolio-styled hair on an early episode of MTV Unplugged. But how does a song like that hold up almost 10 years later at an epicenter of up-and-coming sounds like Coachella? Well, the Coachella crowd’s enthusiasm for the ska tune spoke volumes about truly heartfelt and infectious rhythms shattering the limitations of what is currently considered cool in music. A lot of genres come and go, but groups like Café Tacvba, which has gone without member changes since its inception in 1989, will continue to motivate listeners with just about any style it plays. Expect the unexpected. (Ilan Moskowitz)

8pm, $37.50–$52.50

Warfield

982 Market, SF

(415) 673-4653

www.thewarfieldtheatre.com

THURSDAY 8/29

 

FIDLAR

LA-based garage-punk band FIDLAR creates a mess of distortion-heavy guitar lines, scratchy vocals, and angry percussion, which makes for a wild show guaranteed to permit letting loose. And there may even be some reckless flailing of the arms, if you’re lucky. The group seems to attract more than the typical garage rock fan who simply loves to go batshit in the pit. Enthusiasts stalk their social media pages, pour over their every Tumblr post, and even tattoo themselves with the group’s name, all proving one thing — FIDLAR has made a serious mark in a brief amount of time. And with this almost cult-like following, the four young musicians are touring through the UK and the States until November, tearing up stages with their rambunctious, exhilarating performances. And the band’s relationship with its fans seems to be symbiotic. I suspect the fans are so die-hard and loyal because that’s exactly what the group puts out there on stage: a straightforward, honest, in-the-moment show. (Smith)

With Meat Market

9pm, $14

Bottom of the Hill

1233 17th St.,SF

(415) 626-4455

www.bottomofthehill.com

FRIDAY 8/30

 

Macbeth

Witches, betrayals, violence, madness — no wonder Shakespeare’s Macbeth is so popular among both theater troupes and audiences. Case in point: two local companies are mounting adventurously staged versions of “the Scottish play” (does the curse count if your theater is outdoors?), opening on practically the same day, with lengthy runs and non-clashing show times that’ll make it possible for Bard diehards to catch both. Tonight, We Players — who did The Odyssey on Angel Island and Hamlet on Alcatraz — kicks off its production amid historic Fort Point’s foggy, windy, toil-and-trouble-friendly environs; tomorrow, another part of the Presidio, the Main Post Parade Ground Lawn, hosts Free Shakespeare in the Park’s production of the same. No doubt a drama-crazed town like SF has room for both. (Eddy)

We Players’ Macbeth

Through Oct 6

Previews Fri/30-Sun/1, 6pm; opens Sept 5, 6pm; runs Thu-Sun, 6pm, $30–$60

Fort Point, end of Marine Dr, Presidio, SF

www.weplayers.org

 

Free Shakespeare in the Park’s Macbeth

Through Sept 15

Opens Sat/31, 2pm; runs Sat-Sun and Mon/2, 2pm, free

Main Post Parade Ground Lawn, Presidio, SF

www.sfshakes.org

FRIDAY 8/30

 

Hitcher

Hitcher, a movement play based off Jim Morrison’s original, unproduced screenplay, The Hitchhiker, is making its debut tonight. Hitcher combines cinema, movement, and new music from San Francisco bluegrass band dinnerwiththekids. In this production, writer and director Alex Peri tells the story of Billy, a hitchhiker accompanied by an imaginary trio of hobos making his way on the road to be reunited with a prostitute he fell in love with in Mexico. The cast features up-and-coming local artisans Derek Caplan, Michelle Hair, Earl Alfred Paus, Malia Rapisarda, and Kelly Sanchez. This should be of interest to people who worship at the altar of the “Lizard King” and those who enjoy theater and rock ‘n’ roll fusion. If you’re not able to attend its debut, there will be showings of Hitcher through Sept. 8. (Erin Dage) THROUGH SEPT. 8, 8PM, $15 THICK HOUSE 1695 18TH ST., SF (415) 401-8081 WWW.THICKHOUSE.ORG

FRIDAY 8/30

 

Handsome Hawk Valentine’s “The Hop”

You don’t need a DeLorean tricked out with a Flux Capacitor driven by Marty McFly to head back in time to the good ol’ 1950s tonight — just head down to the Mission where Handsome Hawk Valentine presents “The Hop,” a blast from the past party with a special “Ladies’ Night” theme. Featuring bands such as local favorites Thee Merry Widows and the Rumble Strippers, the fête also boasts burlesque performances, DJs, a “beefcake contest” sponsored by Bettie Page Clothing, along with free retro styling by Peter Thomas Hair, free photo sessions, and more. Slick back that pomp or strap on those stilettos and get going! (Sean McCourt)

9pm, $13

Elbo Room

647 Valencia, SF

(415) 552-7788

www.elbo.com

SATURDAY 8/31

 

Major Powers and the Lo-Fi Symphony

Major Powers and the Lo-Fi Symphony is a raucous, humorous, piano-driven trio that sound like Queen playing symphonic punk rock. Sort of like a light-hearted, more jangly Muse. I cannot recommend its album We Created Monsters enough. It is all free on its website and worth $10 to see live. Freddie Mercury would be proud. Hell, so would Andrew W.K. Not to say that headliner the Greening doesn’t have its own merits — it’ll even give you a free shirt and a bunch of other swag if you buy advanced tickets to this show — but when one of your opening acts sounds like a mix between Madness and Queen and the other is a Latin mod band that sings catchy, upbeat tunes about telenovelas, the star slot in the show is only a scheduling formality. (Moskowitz)

With the Greening, Dot Punto

8:30pm, $10

Bottom of the Hill

1233 17th St., SF

(415) 626-4455

www.bottomofthehill.com

SATURDAY 8/31

 

Duane Peters Gunfight

Legendary pro skateboarder and eternal punk rocker Duane Peters has rightfully earned his nickname “The Master of Disaster” — it was hard won over decades of pushing the limits on wheels and decks (not to mention his own battered and bruised body) and inventing a slew of tricks now considered an essential part of skate culture. He quickly approached playing music with the same anything-goes attitude, and has been slamming stages with several bands (U.S. Bombs and Die Hunns) ever since. He comes to the city tonight with Duane Peters Gunfight. Are you ready to drop into the bowl and the pit? (McCourt)

With White Barons, Rock Bottom, Dime Runner

9pm, $10

Thee Parkside

1600 17th St., SF

(415) 252-1330

www.theeparkside.com

SUNDAY 9/1

 

Oakland Pride

Yes, yes, “we are family.” But in that case, San Francisco Pride is that loud, messy, half-dressed, downright crazy family — kind of a Kardashians without the Porsches — while younger Oakland Pride hails more from plucky, hardy, loving Little House on the Prairie stock, but with a whole lot more people of color. Not that Oakland Pride’s out in the middle of nowhere, of course, but it’s a much more down-to-earth, self-produced affair that really feels like a family picnic. Everyone’s freaking out that ’90s R&B sensation En Vogue is performing, but don’t miss the big-big Mexican-Chicago sound of Grupo Montez de Durango or the high-energy drag king shenanigans of the Rebel Kings of Oakland. Did we mention that everyone at this thing is smokin’ hot? Not to judge by looks or anything, but whoo-wee. (Marke B)

11am-7pm, $10

20th Street and Broadway, Oakl.

www.oaklandpride.org

MONDAY 9/2

 

Ty Segall

If you want to beat a case of the Mondays: Bay Area Lo-fi favorite Ty Segall is playing the entirety of his new album, Sleeper, with experimental folk artist David Novick and that guy from Sic Alps — Mike Donovan. On his new album, Segall is deconstructing his typical sound and going for a more stripped-down approach. For this show (as well as the whole tour), Segall will only be playing Sleeper, and will have a decidedly different setup, featuring two acoustic guitars, electric bass, drums, and the occasional electric guitar. The show should be a great indicator of how fans receive Segall’s new album, and whether or not the old boy still has it. If you like raw, energetic live shows — this performance is not to be missed. (Dage)

With David Novick, Mike Donovan

8pm, $18

Great American Music Hall

859 O’Farrell, SF

(415) 885-0750

www.slimspresents.com

TUESDAY 9/3

 

Audra McDonald

What’s that you hear? It’s the sound of every Broadway maven, cabaret jazz aficionado, “Glee”-ful gay man, and fan of incredible music breaking piggy banks, shaking out gowns, and fluffing tuxes to glimpse the effervescent glory of show tune-blues soprano Audra McDonald at the SF Symphony Opening Gala. Singing selections from the American songbook like “Somewhere” and “I Could Have Danced All Night,” McDonald will highlight a jazzy night’s program, which includes George Antheil’s fracture-happy “A Jazz Symphony,” George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” and tons of free drinks, treats, and people-watching. McDonald’s hilarious, house-rocking performance at the Tonys with Neil Patrick Harris this year brought a new generation of Audra acolytes into the fold; expect the same wattage to light up Davies Symphony Hall. (Marke B.)

7pm-11pm, $160

Davies Symphony Hall

201 Van Ness, SF.

(415) 864-6000

www.sfsymphony.com

Not from around here

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Not from around here

arts@sfbg.com

MUSIC It was a case of the French pop love that dared not speak its name, as earlier this month rumors roiled about a Coachella coupling — mon dieu, deux! — to truly rave about: headliner Phoenix along with possibly, just maybe, hush-hush special guest Daft Punk, returning to stage de triomphe that it dominated seven years ago. The Phoenix guest that materialized, R. Kelly, wasn’t exactly the faceless freak the audience had imagined springing from the closet, and instead the mob had to cool its jets and content itself with an old-school LP ad from Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo.

The abbreviated 102-second spot saw the duo in glittery soft focus performing new single “Get Lucky” alongside Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers — the kind of clip you’d uncover on late-night TV during Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert — and announcing Daft Punk’s own special guest stars, including Giorgio Moroder, Panda Bear, past Daft Punk collaborator Todd Edwards, Paul Williams (who must have had Phantom of Paradise-tinged flashbacks), and Pharrell Williams. Just a taste, but enough to stir the pot in the lead up to the May 21 release of Daft Punk’s fourth studio full-length, Random Access Memories, on Columbia.

Is it so strange that Daft Punk and Phoenix should find their fortunes so intertwined out in the Cali desert, so far from Old World Paris and Versailles? After all, the two share a past — and a future: Phoenix guitarist Laurent Brancowitz, Bangalter, and de Homem-Christo all started out in a Beach Boys-inspired combo called Darlin’. And much like fellow French native Anthony Gonzalez’s M83, the two groups are managing to find creative juices to grease their wheels out west, in the fantasy industrial complex of LA — with Daft Punk stressing the importance of a West Coast feel à la Fleetwood Mac to Memories guest Edwards, and Phoenix telling MTV that its new CD, Bankrupt!, was inspired by its work on Thomas Mars spouse Sofia Coppola’s 2010 movie Somewhere.

Not to mention the fact that Bankrupt! and Memories are two of the most buzz-ridden releases of the year, particularly judging from the homemade “Get Lucky” remixes and videos already proliferating online. Long gone are the old rockist daze — the same that slurred “Disco sucks” — when French rock was derided as just another thing an entire country does wrong, like loving Jerry Lewis. Thoughts surely far from the minds of Daft Punk obsessives, though from the start the duo’s vocoder-obscured vocals and helmeted visages proudly proclaimed, “We’re alien, a.k.a. not from around here.” That tease is the name of Daft Punk’s space-rockin’ game this time around, taking control with a carefully orchestrated marketing campaign after a humbling day job scoring a sorry Tron sequel.

Working with its biggest crowd of collaborators yet, Daft Punk appears to be bursting the mythic bubble of an enigmatic twosome working solo behind the decks, letting others into the party, circling back to its clubland origins, and reaffirming that, as “Get Lucky” goes, its “ends were beginnings.”

And though indie seems leached of meaning, Phoenix sounds far deprived when it came to ideas for Bankrupt! Nate Chinen of the New York Times may quibble with Mars’s Dadaist “word salad” — why not attack a fellow for singing with an accent? — but then Phoenix isn’t the first band to privilege the sound of lyrics over content. Bankrupt! isn’t as “experimental” as promised early on, but it’s by no means as polished and predictable as your average Killers or Imagine Dragons product.

Starting with title and extending to the cover symbolism of a lucky peach, and the busy little rickshaw of an orientalist motif on opener “Entertainment,” Phoenix sounds as if it’s grappling with a Daft Punky notion of alien-ness, too — and the global economics of pop success, having hit it big at the height of an economic downtown with 2009’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. The distorted, bristling synths grinding beneath songs like “The Real Thing,” in fact, make Bankrupt! one of the noisier mainstream rock albums of recent years. Scope out the lonely cries of the entitled asking to have their names put on lists on “SOS in Bel Air,” the fluty synths opening the languorous “Trying to Be Cool,” and hear the sound of a band conveying the seduction — and anxiety — of too many bright lights, big cities, and marathon tours and responding by mainly turning up on the volume.

So why French pop and why now? In fits and starts, leaps and stumbles, Daft Punk and Phoenix are creating less a pop language of diplomacy than a kind of lingua franca between classic sunny pop hooks, Beach Boys style, and the all-mighty often-electronic groove, be it analog or digital, IDM or EDM, boyish or girlish, human or alien.

LPs like Memories hark to another time, while satisfying on the primal level of da funk. As Pharrell Williams has said of “Get Lucky,” “The only click track they had was the human heartbeat, which makes it really interesting because these are robots.” So how does the sunlit, smoggy terroir of the west touch two French aliens and a band of Versailles refugees? Perhaps we’ll know when Daft Punk unveils Memories even further out West: May 17, at the the 79th Wee Waa Regional Show in Wee Waa, Australia.

Mean Greens

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Mean Greens

culture@sfbg.com

THE BLOB Good green goddess, we’re only midway through the season but your Blob is getting asparagused out! This year, that delectable spring stalk seems especially abundant on menus about the Bay, from the warming canh cua mang tay (crab and asparagus soup) at PPQ Dungeness Island (www.ppqcrab.com) in the Outer Richmond to the verdant asparagus ice cream served at a Blob friend’s garden party. Along the way: zingy asparagus lemon pizzetta with prosciutto at Per Diem (www.perdiem.com) in the FiDi, using Zuckerman Farm in Stockton’s trademark purple variety, and the snap of a Shattuck tempura roll with battered yam at Mission vegan Japanese go-to Cha-Ya (762 Valencia, SF).

The following treats are deliberately void of nubby spears — you can asparaguess why. Yet they’re pretty veg-tacular all the same.

 

WOLFGANG SALAD AT MARKET AND RYE

As the Blob was rolling through the diner-riffic wonderland that is West Portal — seriously, the bottomless coffee per square footage of this neighborhood is out of countrol — she remembered a sustainable, construct-your-own salad green spot had sprung up among the laden hash brown platters: Market and Rye. (There’s also one on Potrero Hill.) With choices like strawberries, flax seeds, crispy onions, and, yes, roasted asparagus, it was a lunch lock. It was also lunch rush, and the supercute staff seemed a might stretched to put together everyone’s picky orders, so the Blob chose a signature Wolfgang salad ($10.50) instead. It’s a twist on your old school Asian chicken salad, loaded with roasted chicken, red cabbage, carrots,

toasted sesame seeds, mandarin oranges, crunchy Asian trail mix, and hot mustard soy vinaigrette.

The dressing was just a might too creamy-thick for the Blob’s taste. But if there’s one thing

she loves, it’s a twisted Asian chicken salad. So she sat right down at the rustic space’s communal table with her Mason jar of strawberry water — and Wolfganged that ish right down. You can also order yummy premade salads like spring pea with lemon dressing or broccolini Waldorf by the scoop, like ice cream, which is neat.

68 West Portal and 300 De Haro, www.marketandrye.com

 

HAYES VALLEY FARM COCKTAIL AT ORBIT ROOM

The Orbit Room is such a special splice of atmospheric Europe cafe into artisanal SF cocktailia that the Blob hates to risk ruining it by overpromotion. Its spring drink menu is stunning ($10 each — add egg white for two more dollars, cluck cluck). The Blob stopped in with tasty amiga the Tablehopper (www.tablehopper.com), who recounted her scandalous Coachella exploits while enthusing over a Koriander — practically a salad in a glass, with leafy cilantro, tequila, ginger syrup, lime, and celery bitters. A Spring Shrub shapes a traditional American shrub (a colonial-era cocktail using sweetened vinegar syrup) with strawberry balsamic and black peppercorn base, vodka, lemon, a splash of rosé, and mint seltzer.

But the delicious Hayes Valley Farm coated the Blob’s gullet. It’s a classic bee’s knees cocktail, popular during Prohibition, with honey from the farm down the street, gin, lemon, celery juice, and rose water — all romantically garnished with dried rose petals. Sweet, but also bittersweet: sweet because the Hayes Valley farm honey came back after a massive bee die-off in 2010, bitter(ish) because the farm itself will be demolished next month for pricey condos. (The stalwart farmers claim to be OK with this, appreciating the brief time they had.) In 50 years, will people believe there was once a thriving farm there, not in 1813 but in 2013?

1900 Market, SF. www.orbitroomcafe.com

 

“LA FESTA DI TUTTE LE FESTE” AT CUPOLA

If you’re going to name something “the feast of all feasts” and price it at $30 per person, you know the Blob’s gonna check it out — even if it’s at a mall (in this case under the dome, thus “cupola,” at the Westfield Center). And yes, even though it does that awful phony four percent HealthySF surcharge thing, which the Blob didn’t know until she got the bill. Up to that point, she would have recommended it profligately.

Strap yourself in for eight or so random courses from handsome Lark Creek offshoot Cupola’s impressive Italian menu, decided by the kitchen. (A complementary “Festa Di Bacchus” wine journey can be had for $17.) As in: two-plus hours of well-portioned food — no flighty tasting menu flim-flam here, these are actual dishes. As in: the Blob and her companion Pinky received two whole Neapolitan pizzas (margherita and spice sopressata), a gloriously delicate handkerchief pasta with simple red sauce, a butter lettuce and gorgonzola salad, another salad of chopped veggies and wine-marinated croutons, an al dente squash and (sorry) asparagus dish, and frothy strawberry tiramisu. The highlight? A somehow feather-light artichoke lasagna — they do pasta soft here — accompanied by an arugula-cashew salad. Finally, the Blob was stuffed!

Westfield Center, 845 Market Street, fourth floor, www.cupolasf.com

 

Hot Chip off the old block

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Hot Chip off the old block

Bands have hierarchies. James Murphy was essentially LCD Soundsystem, Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard are Hot Chip. If anyone knows this, it’s Al Doyle; the multi-instrumentalist was the guitarist for LCD before it disbanded in 2011, and continues to be a crucial member in Hot Chip.

“Joe and Alexis are a songwriting duo that works extraordinarily well, and no one else has written a song that Hot Chip has played,” Doyle said over the phone, on a bus somewhere en route to Palm Springs, getting ready for the first week of Coachella, where the UK group was slotted to play. Other members Felix Martin and Owen Clarke have made musical contributions along with him, but never whole songs. “Recently, we’ve been collaborating a little more closely, and it might get to the stage where Alexis and Joe feel that they can do a song that I’ve started or Felix has started, but that hasn’t happened so far.”

This probably says less about controlling or opposing personalities, as it does the overabundance of ideas currently in Hot Chip. Goddard released a joyously cuddly dance album with Raf Daddy as the 2 Bears, Taylor is collaborating with German producer Justus Köhnhke as Fainting By Numbers, and Doyle has his own distinct musical outlet in New Build, a project with Martin. “We were working on a few tracks at the same time the LCD thing was going on. The roots were me and Felix, but working in the studio with our engineer Tom Hopkins just seemed to make sense as he got more involved with the project, so it became the three of us.”

New Build’s first album, Yesterday Was Lived and Lost, pulls back from the densely layered production of Hot Chip’s recent albums, for a slightly rawer garage sound that’s more characteristic of Doyle’s LCD background. But much of the somber and tender emotion that typifies Hot Chip is still there. On “Finding Reasons” Doyle morosely recalls Peter Gabriel over a mechanical drum beat, with recurring apocalyptic apprehension. (“And the news is coming in / Of another city’s sad demise.”)

“I was feeling a lot of apathy around at the time I was writing those lyrics,” Doyle said. “Syria was on my mind around that time, and even now there’s a weariness with that kind of information coming through.”

At times, Doyle feels a need to be purposefully obscure as the principal songwriter in New Build. “I probably write a little bit more obliquely, than some of the Hot Chip songs, which are quite intensely personal to Joe and Alexis. When I feel myself getting too personal there’s a sense of paralysis. I can’t really sort of work like that, and often write a couple of steps removed from the original feeling.”

Occasionally things are playful, silly even. Take “The Third One.” Built around a “bleepy” piece by producer Hopkins, it’s got a bouncy rhythm, and some pointedly Prince-like guitar work by Doyle, as the lyrics get into the logic of fighting Nintendo bosses, who as everyone know always come in threes. “I still enjoy videos games,” Doyle said, “It’s something me and Felix do and try not to talk about it too much.”

Still, Doyle is showing through. He describes “Medication” as a curveball, a “straight-up attempt to write as pop-y song as you kind of could.” Over a funky bassline and buoyant beat, the sardonic lyrics recommend simple, chemical solutions to your problems, coming off like a pharmaceutical jingle written by Aldous Huxley. “Retrospectively having looked at that song, there’s a lot of mental illness in my family and it’s something that I tend to find myself thinking about now and again.”

New Build is using gaps in Hot Chip’s schedule (and the relative proximity of its equipment) to stage a West Coast tour. Following the expansive models Doyle is used to, the three members will increase to seven on the road. More expensive, as well, it might mean barely breaking even or going broke, but Doyle prefers the spectacle. “Lots of new bands, you like the music on the record, but then go see them play live and it’s a couple of guys with electronics, maybe one of them is playing guitars but doesn’t really need to, or playing a bit of completely extraneous percussion. I didn’t want it to feel like a tacked on thing, I wanted to feel like an experience.”

“We’re very lucky to find some amazing musicians. Ben Ubly plays bass guitar, and he is childhood friends with Tom, who was like ‘this guy can really play.” And we were like ‘Well, how good could he really be?’ But then he turns out to the one of the best musicians we’ve ever played with. Never been in any bands, literally just a bedroom player. Just stepped up and seems like he’s built for it.”

With New Build, Doyle has also stepped up and into the front. We’ll see how well he’s built, having spent over a decade in two international touring bands, and likely picking up a thing or two from Taylor, Goddard, and Murphy. “James was just able to really relax an audience and make them feel appreciated that’s just something he has as a person. I’d obviously love to try and emulate that sort of presence. I’m still learning how to do that a little bit.”

 

NEW BUILD

With No Ceremony///

Sun/28, 8pm, $17

Independent

628 Divisadero, SF

(415) 771-1421

www.theindependentsf.com

TNGHT whips the Mezzanine’s 420 crowd into a frenzy

Tony Robles
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Like a microcosm of our ever-morphing music culture, electronic duo TNGHT stands squarely between the traditions of EDM and hip-hop, reaping the benefits of both musical forms, and generating something new in the process. Comprised of Lunice (from Montreal), and Hudson Mohawke (from Glasgow), the pair stopped by the Mezzanine this past Saturday after a two-weekend Coachella run, bringing their shiny, brassy, bass-loaded grooves to a sold-out crowd of ecstatic 420ers.

On paper, Lunice and Hudson Mohawke seem like natural collaborators. Both musicians specialize in an oversaturated, hypermelodic brand of electronica, often resembling the glossy tones of the Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack, if it were layered atop big, punchy drum loops. However, the pair’s self-titled debut EP as TNGHT is impressive in its lack of melodic drive, relying on huge bass and punishing hip-hop beats to do most of the heavy lifting. Although the lack ear-candy melodies left something to be desired, this groove-based approach resulted in the danciest output of either artist’s career so far: five songs, waiting for a hyped-up audience to whip into a frenzy.

Saturday’s show got off to a rocky start with two sets from DJ Dials and DJ Bogl. While both DJs spun a decent, eclectic selection of tracks (ranging from trap music to Flying Lotus-esque wonkiness), neither of them displayed the showmanship necessary to justify a combined four hours of stage time. Watching someone stand in front of their MacBook is only engaging for so long.

However, when it took the stage at 1am, TNGHT made up for the enthusiasm deficit, and then some. For two guys poking at electronics from behind a desk, their crowd-pleasing skills were extraordinary, with Lunice leaving his workstation every five minutes or so to run to the front of the stage and rev up the audience, crowd-surfing twice before the night was over. His infectious stage presence, combined with the duo’s relentlessly thumping beats, and seizure-inducing, strobe-laden lightshow, made for a vitalic, completely immersive performance.

For a duo with just one EP under its belt, TNGHT churned out a remarkably fluid, hour-long set, alternating between original tracks (“Higher Ground,” “Bugg’n”), a few Hudson Mohawke numbers (most memorably, “Cbat” from 2010’s Satin Panthers EP), and a number of hip-hop songs from the likes of OutKast and Rick Ross, with original productions layered on top. The sequencing of the set was basically perfect, with no dull moments to be found.

The crowd was befitting of TNGHT’s crossover appeal, ranging from snappily dressed urban professionals, to 420 bros, to hip-hop heads, to hipsters resembling the guy on the Zig Zag logo. Everyone seemed equally intent on dancing their ass off, though: a welcome alternative to the stiff, self-conscious audiences that populate all too many shows in this town.

As long as the musical landscape remains in its current state of flux and uncertainty, we should be thankful for projects like TNGHT, bent on exploring the grey area between disparate genres. The fact that Lunice and Hudson Mohawke can contribute so meaningfully to the conversation, while remaining so effortlessly, viscerally likable, is no small achievement.

Heads Up: 7 must-see concerts this week

Tony Robles
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Heads Up: 7 must-see concerts this week

Macca, Hall and Oates, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails – what is this, 1976, or ’99? I kid; the Outside Lands 2013 lineup is again a meaty mix of nostalgic, revived, and shiny new acts. There’s the initial punch of a former Beatle slotted alongside NIN, RHCP, plus Jurassic 5, and Willie Nelson, then French synth-pop Phoenix, classic indie darlings Grizzly Bear, the National, Vampire Weekend, and up-and-comers King Tuff, Surfer Blood, the Growlers, along with inspired picks like D’Angelo and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Tickets are on sale Thu/18 here.

While the release of the lineup is exciting news, that fest isn’t ’till the end of foggy summer (Aug. 9-11); so focus on the sunny days ahead, the bands that are here now: a reunited King Khan and BBQ Show, the Bay Area debut of both Savages and Lady, plus Night Beats, the 2 Bears, and locals Life Coach and Dreamdate’s Anna Hillburg.

Also, a non sequitur reminder that Record Store Day is this Sat/20. Check a list of supporting shops here. And don’t forget to patronize your local brick and mortar vinyl vendors year-round.

Here are your must-see Bay Area concerts this week/end:

Night Beats
“Seattle’s Night Beats has all of the fixings of a good psych-garage act; the lo-fi recordings, the raspy vocals with punctuated yelps, and the noisily manipulated guitar. But the band, which takes its name from Sam Cooke’s best record, has a direct link to the more soulful breeds of music the title suggests, such as R&B. “Dial 666” is simple, 12-bar blues, “High Noon Blues” borrows sentiment and structure from that genre, and “Puppet on a String” seems to call for some old-fashioned dance moves.” — Laura Kerry
With Cool Ghouls, Primitive Hearts, Big Drag
Wed/17, 9pm, $10
Brick and Mortar
1710 Mission, SF
(415) 800-8782
www.brickandmortarmusic.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=545oNrQqgNY

The 2 Bears
“I don’t need caffeine. My computer just starts playing “Work” by the 2 Bears at 7am, complete with rising organ, a pulsing groove, and motivational chorus: “We’ve got to work harder, for the future, my love we got to work.” It might not even be the best song on Be Strong from the 2 Bears (Hot Chips’s Joe Goddard and the Raf Daddy), as it faces stiff competition from hilarious, cuddly club anthem “Bear Hug” and the uplifting, romantic space dub on “Church.” But, it does the job of getting me moving, and by the time the disco queen vocals kick in I’m likely showered and downstairs having breakfast.” — Ryan Prendiville
With Sleazemore, Richie Panic (Lights Down Low)
Wed/17, 10pm, $15 presale
1015 Folsom, SF
www.1015.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxI8QliBOKs

Savages
When all-female British post-punk group Savages hit the East Coast last year for the annual CMJ conference, the word spread quickly to the West: this blistering quartet is one to watch. All these anxious months later, this headlining show will be Savages’ first SF appearance, on the heels of a “spine-tingling” Coachella appearance with “heavy vocals and a fast-paced set that had the crowd cheering in appreciation.”
Thu/18, 8pm, $15
Independent
628 Divisadero, SF
www.theindependentsf.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y-cVzbBBQ8

Anna Hillburg
You may already know Anna Hillburg’s sonic touch, without knowing you know her. The Bay Area trumpet player has guested on Dodos and Fresh and Onlys records, and she’s one-third of power-pop girl group, Dreamdate. As she puts it, she’s hella local. Get to know her more intimately on her new self-titled solo album — released on vinyl, March 25 on California Clap. Left to her own devices, the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist hops genre barriers and eras over the course of 13 tracks, mixing classic ’60s pop with girl group harmonies, cry-ing-over-you ballads and dreamy whispers to forlorn lovers, with hat tips to fuzzy ’70s folk, Joni Mitchell, and the like. The only constant is Hillburg’s pleasant and confident crooning. Also, can we talk about this album cover? Perfection.
With Luke Sweeney, Garrett Pierce.
Thu/18, 9pm, $10
Eagle Tavern
398 12th St., SF
Facebook: SFEagle

King Khan and BBQ Show
And they said it wouldn’t happen. Remember all the way back in ’10, when sloppy doo-wop masters King Khan (Arish Khan) and BBQ Show (Mark Sultan) imploded over a series of on-stage arguments on an ill-fated tour? The Canadian garage punk duo has since mended,and has been patching things up with fresh songs and a few short tours. This is Khan and Sultan’s first time back in SF together since the break.
With Sir Lord Von Raven, Wild Eyes SF.
Fri/19, 9pm, $16
Slim’s
333 11th St., SF
www.slimspresents.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ellItasoK2s

Life Coach
Phil Manley was a founding member of influential DC post-rock trio Trans Am, and has played with the Fucking Champs and Oneida. He’s produced albums for Wooden Shjips, Grass Widow, Date Palms, and Golden Void. And most recently, he released a textured, guitar-heavy drone rock album called Alphawaves (April 16, Thrill Jockey) with his new band, Life Coach. The release show for which is tonight.
Sat/20, 9:30pm, $8
Hemlock Tavern
1131 Polk, SF
www.hemlocktavern.com
http://vimeo.com/63207718

Lady
Yet another SF debut tonight – this one from super-smooth vocalists Terri Walker and Nicole Wrap, a.k.a., the soul duo known as Lady. The London and Atlanta based singers have individually performed alongside the likes of Mos Def, Q-Tip, Missy Elliot, the Black Keys, and Kid Cudi. They paired up over a love vintage soul, recorded an album that’s also called Lady for Truth and Soul Records, and are currently on tour opening for funky R&B-blues headliners Lee Fields and the Expressions.
Sun/21, 8pm, $25
Bimbo’s
1025 Columbus , SF
www.bimbos365club.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3IMPYJ7MiY

Don’t hold your breath

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Don’t hold your breath

arts@sfbg.com

MUSIC Every passing year, the clamor gets louder; the rumors get more outlandish. An all-vegetarian Coachella. Fifty million dollars for five shows. Sixty-seven copies of the movie version of Moby Dick and a football helmet full of cottage cheese. While the rest of the world waits with baited breath for his old band to reunite, the perpetually unfussed Johnny Marr simply gets on with it, focusing on what’s ahead instead of what’s behind.

Since the Smiths called it quits in 1987, their ever-reliable guitarist has stayed more than busy. He’s been a full-time member of myriad different groups, such as Modest Mouse, the Cribs, and The The, while finding time to start a few bands of his own, notably his criminally underrated collaboration with New Order/Joy Division’s Bernard Summer, Electronic. He’s also an accomplished producer and has made countless guest appearances.

Surprisingly, it took the serial band-jumper 25 solid years to make the decision to strike out on his own. “The record really only happened because I had all these ideas that I wanted to turn into songs,” Marr says during our phone call. “I had been touring for such a long time, and I decided that I had to go into the studio and turn these ideas into songs. I didn’t have the plan of doing a solo album, rather I just had this need to get all of these songs recorded. It all happened totally organically.”

The result is The Messenger, an impressive return to form that shows the 49 year old still has a hell of a lot left to say. Over the album’s 12 tracks, Marr sounds refreshed, focused, and teeming with inspiration. From the direct battle cry of an opener, “The Right Thing Right,” to the punchy, double-stop stomp of “Generate! Generate” to the moody, lush “New Town Velocity,” Marr shows off his underrated songwriting chops and warm vocals. Though there is plenty of sonic variation, he manages to stay out of Dad Rock zone by mostly staying in his lane and letting his signature top-notch guitar work do much of the heavy lifting.

As with any Marr release, the guitars come first, second, and third, and the master is up to his old tricks again. Deliciously intricate arpeggiated riffs? Check. Triumphant, cascading melodies? Check. That signature, impeccable jangle? Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before (sorry, had to). Though he has fairly limited vocal range, his impeccable playing more than makes up for it, and most of the real memorable melodies (i.e. the soaring “European Me”) come courtesy of his legendary Fender Jaguar.

While Marr’s guitar heroics are worth the price of admission, it’s not the only fascinating thing about the fertile LP. As the consummate sideman to some of the biggest personalities (read: egos) in music — Morrissey, Isaac Brock, Chrissie Hynde — he hasn’t ever really needed to divulge much about the man behind the music. While you’re never going to get cathartic confessionals from the private, low-key Marr, he offers listeners plenty of enlightenment into his perspective.

“Really, it’s just a lot of my own personal observations, about my environment. It’s about the world as I see it,” Marr says. “I wanted it to be about the speed of life that I live.”

After drawing rave reviews on a run of shows across the pond, Marr rolls into town to play the first solo SF shows of his storied career. Sporting a nice mix of Smiths classics, hidden gems, and new material, Marr’s ardent spirit has spilled over into his live performances.

“We’ve been playing 11 new songs every night, and it’s really all gone down well,” Marr says. “Every night feels like a celebration, and people are really digging it…This group has a sound that really suits us, and we only play old songs that fit that sound, which really makes the old ones feel like new songs.”

One of the things that always stood out most about Marr was his incredible ability to make it all look so damn easy. No matter how complicated the guitar line, you’d never see a pained look on the perpetually dapper guitarist’s face. He famously wrote three all-time great songs — “William, It Was Really Nothing,” “How Soon Is Now?,” and “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” — in one weekend. For that reason, we shouldn’t be surprised that he has taken all the break-ups, rumors, and changes with a nonchalant grace, constantly focused on moving forward rather than looking back….no matter how much everyone seems to want him to.

“Definitely what I’m doing now is a new chapter,” Marr concludes. “I’ve always believed in moving forward with everything I do, and I’m excited for this next step.”

Translation: If you are waiting for that dream Smiths reunion, you might want to stop holding your breath and give The Messenger a spin.

JOHNNY MARR

Sat/13, 9pm, $29.50 Fillmore 1805 Geary, SF www.thefillmore.com

 

Kink.com beloved in Pope land! Local porn site among top downloaded in Vatican City [UPDATED]

Andrew Lam
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Kink.com beloved in Pope land! Local porn site among top downloaded in Vatican City [UPDATED]

A local anti-BDSM porn activist emailed me tidings of Flash magazine’s Guatanamo-themed Coachella party this morning as proof that “Kink.com’ s influence is spreading, albeit interrupted by the sex-negative Philistines of Coachella.” Leaving aside the well-worth-it debate over the role art and nightlife have in political parody and the fact that torture in fact, existed well before Kink founder Peter Acworth (it wasn’t called the “Kinkquisition,” darling), I would say this is about 8,000 times more convincing proof that Kink.com is winning hearts and minds, should you need proof of such a thing.

According to Torrentfreak (and helpfully elaborated on by Fleshbot) the local BDSM site is responsible for two of the 13 most-pirated downloads in Vatican City. No, not top porn downloads, the most-pirated files, period.

Yes, for while Love Actually came in at #6, a scene featuring Lea Lexis and Krissy Lynn on “lezdom bondage” Kink site Whipped Ass followed close behind at #8, and #13 was occupied by Tiffany Starr and Sheena Shaw on the TS Pussyhunters site. 

We’re putting out the feelers to Kink to see how news of their influence in — and being robbed of revenue by — the world’s most flamboyantly attired country is being recieved by the company, stand by for post updates. 

UPDATE: Acworth has released a statement that implies the Vatican will espace legal action from the website:

While we don’t support theft of content, in this case we’re happy whoever he (or she) is is enjoying our movies. Our mission is to demystify BDSM and celebrate alternate sexuality. This is different from the Catholic Church’s mission which has (traditionally) been to shame anyone who deviates from a sexuality that isn’t procreative. We figure whoever is downloading these movies is feeling a fare amount of shame as it is, so we’ll let this one slide.

Read Acworth’s full statement here, featuring more Kink-Church comparisons like, “what is subspace if not a way to exorcise demons?” 


Two men, one spark

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Two men, one spark

emilysavage@sfbg.com

TOFU AND WHISKEY It’s the B-story scene that rules 1983’s Valley Girl. Popped collar-sporting Skip is nervously riding his bike to the suburban home of his preppy high school girlfriend, Suzi — but we the audience know he’s more interested in her young step-mom. (He met the feisty Valley mom when she served him sushi at a house party. Gross me out.) It’s a palpable moment of orgasmic anticipation — with a surprise twist — that bops along perfectly to the soundtrack: “Eaten By the Monster of Love,” by experimental pop duo, Sparks (www.allsparks.com).

“Well, it’s worse than war, it’s worse than death/There ain’t too many left who ain’t been/Eaten by the monster of love(Don’t let it get me),” Sparks vocalist Russell Mael opines with a wide-ranging, Broadway-ready bravado, as his brother Ron Mael tickles a bouncy new wave blast out of his keyboards and synthesizers.

This is just one iteration of Sparks — the flashy new wave version, proudly on display in ’82’s Angst in My Pants LP, two tracks of which were used in that early Nicolas Cage vehicle, Valley Girl. But that’s only a small snippet of the band’s robust timeline, which got a running start in ’71 at UCLA, and continues to this day, with 22 albums and counting.

Sparks has had countless rebirths since the first record was released in ’71, the band then known as Halfnelson. There have been landmark albums like ’74’s electric Kimono My House, with that iconic cover of two powdered and kimono-swathed ladies, along with ’83’s synth-heavy In Outer Space, ’02’s chamber pop Lil’ Beethoven, and most recently, ’09’s The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, a radio musical commissioned by Sveriges Radio Radioteatern, the radio drama department of Sweden’s national radio broadcaster. (More on that later.)

“It seems like the people that stick with Sparks appreciate that the band doesn’t rest on its laurels,” says Russell, a lifelong Angeleno, speaking to me from his home “in the hills above Beverly Hills.”

“I think that’s why we’re really proud of what we’re doing now; it doesn’t sound like a band that’s necessary had 22 albums,” he says. “Someone can come in fresh — a person that’s maybe never heard of Sparks — and if they hear the latest thing, we would be just as happy as we would be for them to have heard the first album.”

Sparks will perform much of its extensive back catalog during its Two Hands, One Mouth (the hands on the keyboard, mouth at the mic) tour’s rare stop in San Francisco next week, April 9 and 10 at the Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF. www.thechapelsf.com. As of press time, only April 10 is sold out.

The brothers Mael have recorded with dozens of other musicians over the decades, and nearly always toured with a live backing band, so the Two Hands, One Mouth trip has been a unique challenge. “It’s kind of the ultimate expression of self-containment for the band,” Russell says. “We just thought that at this point, it might be an interesting challenge to see what would happen if we just played as the two of us, and without computers or backing tracks.”

He adds, as if reading my mind, “It sounds simple, but we also didn’t want it to read as oh, singer-songwriter, that kind of thing where it lulls you to sleep with an acoustic guitar. We wanted it to keep the power that Sparks has had with the recordings and live band.”

The process has been about choosing the appropriate songs from the duo’s rich recording history, and distilling it with just one keyboard, and vocals. So far, the tour’s been well-received in Europe and Japan, with fans commenting on how this format has brought the strong vocals and songwriting to the forefront.

And the Maels work hard to layer those lyrics with humor, depth, and a drop of speculation. “It’s important to us to have something that’s provocative, but in ways that maybe aren’t like, being a punk band with a stance that you know what it is in five minutes. The Sparks stance is a little bit hard to articulate and place. We kind of like that too, that there is an ambiguity to what we’re doing.”

Their most recent project is that The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman piece. The plot of the radio drama is a farcical situation imagining that Ingmar Bergman had been lured to Hollywood and got trapped in the LA film industry in his worst nightmare — a big-budget action film he can’t figure out how to escape. The Swedish radio spot went so well that Sparks was asked to perform it live at the LA Film Festival last year, where they did so with a cast of 14.

The brothers are currently working on turning it into an ongoing theatrical performance — and also a motion picture. They have the Canadian director Guy Madden on board to direct, but still need the financial backing, so they’ll be flying out to the Cannes Film Festival in May to look for funders.

But before Cannes, Sparks will first play the massive sweaty shitshow that is Coachella for the first time. And yes, they will do it as a stripped-down duo — still just Two Hands, One Mouth.

“We know the show works in our own context, so we thought we should be faithful to ourselves and do it there as well, even if it seems incongruous with what you might expect at a big festival,” Russell says. Do I detect a tiny smirk through the phone? Perhaps wishful thinking on my end.

“It’ll be received however it will be received — [but] it will be different from other things there,” he says. “You tend to get blinded by an assault of 160 indie bands doing their indie thing. We’ll be doing whatever we do, whatever you want to call it.”

 

ESBEN AND THE WITCH

With swelling crescendos, emotional lyrics, gothy undertones, and shimmering vocals in tow, UK post-rock trio Esben and the Witch comes across the pond for the first time in two years, on tour with newest record, Wash The Sins Not Only The Face (Matador). Should be a witchy one. With Heliotropes.

Thu/4, 9pm, $13. Brick and Mortar Music Hall, 1710 Mission, SF. www.brickandmortarmusic.com.

 

GLAM.I.ROCK

Lyrically gifted young Oakland rapper Glam.I.Rock — the first half an acronym for “Good Lyrics And Music” — will perform a free in-store during Art Murmur this Friday. If you want to be in on an artist at the tipping point, this would be your chance. The MC has that classic ’90s female-empowerment hip-hop vibe but with some different interests (check the “Who is Glam.I.Rock?” video of her tapping out the Rugrats theme), and a more modern style.

Though like her predecessors, she still very much reps her home-base, performing “Inspire Oakland” at Oakland Digital’s Inspiration Awards last December. Makes sense, she’s the daughter of Nic Nac — the only female member of the Mobb crew — and Dangerous Dame, a member of Too $hort’s Dangerous Crew. Glam.I.Rock’s debut EP, The Feel, recently dropped on Savvie1ent/The Olive Street Agency.

Fri/5, 8pm, free. Oaklandish, 1444 Broadway, Oakl. www.oaklandish.com.

 

YEAR IN MUSIC 2012: Blowing like the wind

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YEAR IN MUSIC 2012: Blowing like the wind

marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO Look, if I was doing my job properly, there’s no way in Hello Kitty I’d remember what happened on the club scene the past year. It’s all fuzzy shapes and drunk colors, like Barbara Bush in a bathhouse. Last February, it took me two whole pages of tiny type just to list my favorite weekly clubs, so I’m not gonna go into all that here. (I will say that parties like Housepitality, Honey Soundsystem, Lights Down Low, Icee Hot, Dub Mission, Non-Stop Bhangra, No Way Back, As You Like It, Forward, Deep, Base, and Sunset continued to introduce us to incredible DJs. And wasn’t there someone from Detroit here, like, every week?) Here are some things, however, I do recall

Loudest: Body and Soul at Mighty — my ears rang for a week, my feet for three.

Wowest: Amon Tobin’s giant tetris of digital video projections for his ISAM Live 2.0 tour at the Greek Theater.

Scary-Hottest: International leather techno entity Luther at Folsom Street Fair.

Coolest: Marco De La Vega, cross-genre promoter of the year, watching from the DJ booth as a kick-ass $3000 light falls on a table’s-worth of Balam Acab and Andy Stott’s live electronic equipment at Public Works. Then finishing his cocktail before handling the ensuing panic.

Wowest, part 2: The SF Symphony’s American Mavericks concert series (including a Kate Bush-referencing piece by DJ Masonic), SF Opera’s “Nixon in China,” the amazing Soundwave Festival, the hella robust Electronic Music festival.

Trippiest: Those immersive projections at Public Works, which turned Laurent Garnier’s live show into a cartoon-heart-filled rave aquarium and Jeff Mills’ into a star-map vortex.

Cutest: The tiny flashing lights on the ceiling of the remodeled, excellent 222 Hyde.

Latest: We got a trap club (Trap City), a new wave of cyber-horror drag performance artists (at Some Thing, Dark Room, High Fantasy), a packed gay sports bar (Hi Tops), a great-sounding new club (Monarch), a lunchtime dance party (Beats for Lunch, also at Monarch), an outbreak of vogueing (everywhere), a queer nu-hip-hop club (Swagger Like Us), a queer funk classics party (Love Will Fix It), and a weird “sparkling alcohol water” (Air). But we lost Club Six, which I loved. Also I think dubstep died.

Loveliest: Dancing in a church with 30 other people to hip-house legend Tyree Cooper, singing along to “Turn Up the Bass.” Watching real house parties like The People blow up in the East Bay. Sipping homemade sljivovica behind the decks with DJ Zeljko of Kafana Balkan. Doing the jerk ’til I melted at Hard French. DJing (eek!) Club Isis classics on vinyl at Go Bang. I think I almost made out with Kenny Dope at Red Bull Music Academy? Oh, and running into you.

>>Check the rest of our YEAR IN MUSIC 2012 issue.

 

MARKE B.’S 2012 JAMS

1. Todd Terje, “Inspector Norse” This was a dance music year that sometimes seemed to vacillate among three primary moods — prim sophistication, moneyed “indulgence,” and too-broad jokes. But Norwegian Terje dared proffer the sweetest humor in this instant earworm’s worth of re-engineered nostalgia, embracing the cheery electronic toodles of early ’80s British and Scandinavian TV show themes (cf. especially “Grange Hill” and “Swap Shop,” though not “Inspector Morse”) and bringing smiles back to the dance floor.

2. John Talabot, FACT Mix 315 A spectacular year for the Spaniard, whose expansive take on the decades-old Balearic sound already had him pegged for a 2012 favorite, even before he dropped excellent album Fin, which toyed with melancholic UK bass sounds and yielded my second favorite tune of the year, hopelessly romantic “So Will Be Now” with Pional. But this mix for FACT showed that the dark underpinnings of witchy house and the sunstroked uplift of Ibiza could be reconciled via a tingly rush of subtle, brilliant psychedelia. Trippy, lovely, and the right little bit of creepy.

3. Plan B, “Ill Manors” I detested The Prodigy the first time around — they were goofy twats who had nothing to be angry about. No surprise “Firestarter” was played for the Queen at this year’s Olympics opening ceremony. So much for anarchy in the UK, although Azaelia Banks mashing it up with “212” at Coachella was fun. UK rapper-singer Plan B managed to weld the Prodigy (and nascent drum and bass) revival to the real world anarchic energy of last year’s UK riots, his Tchaikovsky-sampling tune shivering with council flat rage, ambivalent violence, Olympic protest, and youthful nihilism. Watch his self-directed, horrifically poignant shoestring video, then laugh at the Grammys as accolades rain down on Romain Gavras’ extravagant ripoff for “No Church in the Wild.”

4. Rrose, Smoke Machine Podcast 069 Electronic Body Music for our time, rippling with muscular textures and ethereal trap doors.

5. Justin Martin, Crackcast 019 For all the diversity of the local scene, the Dirtybird crew is still our major player on the global dance music stage. (Of our three big breakout acts this year, Safeword is rad, Poolside is cute, Pillow Talk leaves me cold so far.) Fine, I adore them. Nobody else sounds like they’re having more fun while slyly executing tricky, emotionally satisfying bass maneuvers like Claude VonStroke and his stable. This year was stellar for the fiendishly clever Justin in terms of addictive mixes (his album “Ghettos and Gardens” was good, too, but I took issue with the insensitive tone of some of the promotional materials). This podcast, along with his Fabric and Clash ones, never left my iRotation.

OTHERS: MK, Old School Classics Mix; Le1f, “Wut”; Azaelia Banks, “Fierce”; Fantastic Mr. Fox, “San’en”; Andy Stott, “Luxury Problems EP”; Dutch Uncles, “Fester”; Ripperton, “Let’s Hope”; Sailor & I, “Tough Love (Aril Brikha remix)”; Jessie Ware and Julio Bashmore, “110%,”; Disclosure, “Latch”; Prince Club and Steve Huerta, “Can’t Let Go”; Bwana, “Baby Let Me Finish (Black Orange Juice Remix)”; Stereogamous, “Feel Love Anew”; Little People, “Aldgate Patterns.”

Tetris of awesome

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Tetris of awesome

MUSIC “We’ve done the ISAM show in venues as big as the Sydney Opera House and as small as a local rock venue, but we’re basically holding our breaths every time. Someone could plug in their iPhone charger and blow the whole thing. In Coachella, the act on the field opposite had the idea of turning on floodlights for half their set, which washed us out for a good part with the ambient light.”

Brazilian electronic music legend Amon Tobin is on the phone, recounting some of the mundane worries that come with operating one of the most brilliant stage concepts in years, ISAM Live. The show is a marvel of cutting-edge technology that bathes a towering tetrominal assemblage of stacked cubes in digital projections, while — like the pilot of a Tetris spaceship, clad in his trademark baseball cap, hoodie, and jeans, ensconced in one of the glowing cubes — Tobin performs tracks from ISAM, his seventh studio album, and several other sonic treats. The tour is now in its second, completely revamped conceptual leg, ISAM Live 2.0, coming to Berkeley’s Greek Theatre on Fri/5. Tobin promises that ISAM 2.0 is “totally different … not connected to the album as much at all” from the first version, which played at the Warfield last year. Perhaps he’ll be wearing a spacesuit this time, too:

The visual illusions conjured up by Tobin and collaborators and mapped on the sculpture, made real with the help of a crack team of production designers headed up by Alex Lazarus of local art-tech collective Blasthaus, recall everything from early 20th century Constructivist art and colorform animation to tomorrow’s Xbox 360 game. Some of the effects are absolutely lovely, as when the structure “shatters” to crystalline pieces or a flood of winged creatures take flight across the stage. Some are vertigo-inducing, as when the whole thing acts as a flight simulator, or a slightly different version of the structure is projected onto the structure itself, and then begins revolving: meta! It’s all a sort of hyperreal 3-D, as shapeshifting as Tobin’s ever-elegant and booming compositions. (The music on ISAM itself is typical technopoetic Tobin — what makes the album standout is really how much the rest of the music world has caught up to his signature style, which contains elements of moody ambient, classic drum and bass, squonky electro, and crunchy dubstep without ever falling wholly into any of those genres.)

“What drove me to this idea was trying to find my way around the universal problem of presenting electronic music,” Tobin told me. “How do I make an engaging experience out of an album when I’m really just pushing buttons and twisting dials — it’s what we all do as electronic musicians. I don’t make dance music — I don’t think I even can — so the challenge becomes the concert presentation. And then the unusual situation becomes how to integrate myself into the proceedings. I didn’t just want to go out there and hang about.”

The waving hands and bobbing heads at the Warfield last year may prove that “I don’t make dance music” remark incorrect, but the show certainly succeeds at bridging the rapt audience vs. some arty dude’s knob-twisting divide. Tobin’s projects have lately been as much about technological expression as producing music — although one could argue, especially in his case, that these are one and the same at this point in history. Previous album Foley Room was a mosaic of found sounds recorded on the street (“from neighbours singing in the bath to ants eating grass”), that was accompanied by a gorgeous interactive website called “Field Recording” that featured morphological subaquatic creatures and a night-goggle feel.

This time around, Tobin’s technological adventurousness is helping to pique new interests. The crowd at the Warfield was not composed of the typical intelligent dance music, underground glitch, and scruffy turntablism fans I know from previous Amon Tobin shows. Rather, the “oohs,” “aahs,” and “this is fucking amazings” were coming from what looked to be a distinctly tech crowd. With Industrial Light and Magic, Pixar, and countless other digital animation studios located in the Bay Area, is ISAM Live introducing a new wave on enthusiasts to somewhat challenging electronic music through geek-candy visual technology?

“Well, electronic music is inherently tech-y to begin with,” Tobin says, “but even when I was just starting out, I was never interested in scenes. I’m too wrapped up in what I’m trying to do. I’m just hoping people will be into it, no matter who they are or how they got there.”

Tobin’s known for being laidback almost to the point of reclusivity, and his recent relocation to the Bay Area — “I live a little north of San Francisco, in the middle of the woods: I can walk around or go for a drive and do what I like” — has helped contribute to to both his secluded genius image and access to tech opportunity. Once he had the inspiration for ISAM Live, it wasn’t like he put an ad out on Craisglist to find designers, he told me. But a serendipitous encounter with Lazarus and the ease of putting together an adventurous, California-based design team got things going pretty easily. It’s also helped him firm up connections with local musicians he admires like SF’s Kronos Quartet, who were featured on Foley Room and will open for his concert at the Greek, and incredible live-sample collagist Eskmo, who opened for him early in the ISAM tour.

But the mind of Amon Tobin is ever-restless, and ISAM has been around for more than as year — despite the 2.0 relaunch, our conversation perks up when we begin to talk about his new release as Two Fingers called Stunt Rhythms, a beats and bass album that also belies his claim not to make dance music.

“Stunt Rhythms is a tribute to the amazing electro and breakdance music that actually saved me, growing up in a shitty town called Hastings in England. Things like Cybotron’s ‘Clear’ or Man Parrish, JVC Force’s ‘Strong Island.’ My relationship to that sound is so deep. It’s music that keeps me pushing for something further off, pushing me through drum and bass, and making my own persona.

“It’s working my way toward that thing just over the horizon that keeps me going.”

AMON TOBIN: ISAM LIVE 2.0

with Kronos Quartet and Holy Other

Fri/5, 8pm, $39.50

Greek Theatre

2001 Gayley Way, Berk.

www.ticketmaster.com

Our Weekly Picks: August 15-21

Andrew Lam
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WEDNESDAY 15

Family of the Year

The most compelling aspect of Family of the Year’s live show is the transparency of the band members’ genuine affection for each other. The Los Angeles-based indie group weaves together folk influences and male/female vocal harmonies to create a fun, lighthearted brand of nostalgic rock. If this sounds familiar, look no further than West Hollywood, where Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes have been doing their own multi-gendered feel-good folk melodies for years. Apparently the Magnetic Zeroes also noticed these similarities, because they asked Family of the Year to tour with them in 2011, shortly after Ben Folds chose them out of 700 bands as his opener at Symphony Hall. (Haley Zaremba)

With the Colourist

9pm, $10

Brick and Mortar Music Hall

1710 Mission, SF

(415) 800-8782

www.brickandmortarmusic.com


THURSDAY 16

Squeeze This! A Cultural History of the Accordion

Was there anything more unexpected in season three of Mad Men than the scene in which Joan brought out her cherry-red squeezebox, and serenaded a dinner party with “C’est Magnifique?” And yet, accordions were once a bastion of adult gatherings; there were bona fide accordion stars — Dick Contino, who played San Francisco’s Barbary Coast in the 1940s, made it on the pop charts — but in this century, they’ve left the mainstream, resurging underground in pockets of klezmer, pirate polka, Tejano music, and gypsy jazz. In her new biography, Squeeze This, writer-musician Marion Jacobson delves deep into the history of the instrument and contemplates its place as a cultural technology. At an event this week, Jacobson will likely discuss some of her findings with the Accordion Apocalypse crew (and sign copies of her book), followed by squeezebox-filled performances by Luz Gaxiola, the Mad Maggies, and Sheri Mignano. (Emily Savage)

7pm, free

Accordion Apocalypse

255 10th St., SF

(415) 596-5952

www.accordionapocalypse.com

 

Whiskerman

The cover of Whiskerman’s self-titled 2011 album features a sharp dressed man in a a forest clearing, his untamed hair brimming out from behind an animal mask, while he holds up a violin. The intriguing cover art introduces us to a sound no less whimsical and complex: led by Graham Patzner, Whiskerman boasts an inventive alternative rock meets folk sound. The Bay Area band demands attention with softly building songs such as “Brother Jim”, while their rock’n’roll songs like “Blind Saint” are undeniably catchy hits. Patzner comes from a musical family — his brother Lewis (Judgment Day) plays cello in the band, and their eldest brother Anton Patzner plays violin in JD. The work of the Patnzer brothers can be characterized by their attention to musical craft, but also, a certain magical quality. Whiskerman takes each magic moment and stretches it out — until you, and everyone else privy, becomes immersed in the wild sounds that are their nature. (Shauna C. Keddy)

With Con Brio $10, 9pm

Ashkenaz

1317 San Pablo, Berk.

(510) 525- 5054

www.ashkenaz.com

 

Dr. John and the Lower 911

Locked Down — the latest from the inimitable Dr. John — opens with a Afro-strutting, funky rhythm that’s swamped with confidence. And it’s for good reason, because at this point in his career, the New Orleans based bayou blues rocker has little to prove. An influential session player and solo artist — without whom Beck’s “Loser”, Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz, and that band from the Muppets would not be the same — Dr. John has laid his hands on so many genres and has a lengthy list of collaborators that it’s simply exhausting to think about. The Black Keys’s Dan Auerbach lends some playing and production to the new album, which will likely win Grammys in all the relevant categories. (Ryan Prendiville)

With John Cleary

hu/16-Fri/17 9pm, $39.50

Independent

628 Divisadero, SF

(415) 771-1421

www.theindependentsf.com

 

Alejandro Escovedo and the Sensitive Boys

Alejandro Escovedo’s illustrious career spans four decades, beginning with his role as a founding member of San Francisco punk band the Nuns in the 1970s. From there, he moved to Austin, Tex. to play alternative country and roots rock, first with Rank and File, and later as True Believers with brother Javier. Escovedo released his first solo album in 1992, Gravity, a heartfelt record that explores themes of love and loss while showcasing a variety of his musical influences. Escovedo has performed with his band the Sensitive Boys as of late, and their most recent album, Big Station, sees Escovedo turn up the amps and embrace his heartier, rollicking rock’n’roll side. (Kevin Lee)

With Jesse Malin

8pm, $25

Bimbo’s 365 Club

1025 Columbus

(415) 474-0365

www.bimbos365club.com


FRIDAY 17

Blue Note Rendezvous Cabaret

One of the great things about America is that people are free to blend ideas and concepts to their hearts’ content. (Personal favorite example: Korean tacos.) In this grand tradition, the folks at 50 Mason mix and match Blue Note-flavored music with belly dancing at the quarterly Blue Note Rendezvous Cabaret. Professional gyrators shake and slither to live bands hammering out jazz, swing, and whatever happens to be the music of the night. This installment’s headliners, MWE, call themselves a Middle Eastern marching band, and bring festive sounds that also evoke the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey. Opening five-piece local ensemble Horns a Plenty ditched drums, strings, and piano, instead opting for an all-brass jazz approach. (Lee)

With MWE, Horns a Plenty

9pm, $10

50 Mason Social House, SF

(415) 433-5050

www.50masonsocialhouse.com

 

Nosaj Thing

Nosaj Thing (pronounced “no such thing”) cemented his position in the post-dubstep community in 2009, no small feat considering the number of already-established Los Angeles-based beatmakers. He gained an international following in 2009 with the release of his haunting, spacey debut LP Drift, along with well-received remixes of Flying Lotus, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Radiohead. Live performances at Spain’s Sonar festival, at California’s own Coachella — and seemingly everywhere in between — solidified Nosaj’s reputation for dreamy, woozy, electronic hip-hop. Fans are pining for a new full-length but will have to settle for bits and pieces Nosaj will likely drop during his set. Opener Mux Mool has just released Planet High School, a playful mix of ’80s-rooted beats and video game synths. (Lee)

With Mux Mool, Manitous ft. Swoonz, Drewmin

9:30pm, $15

Public Works

161 Erie, SF

(415) 932-0955

www.publicsf.com


SATURDAY 18

Pedalfest

Babes, your bikes put up with a lot. Literally, think of how supportive they are of your behind, through denim and spandex, skirts and shorts. Why don’t you take it somewhere nice? This weekend provides the ultimate opportunity for two-wheeled QT: the East Bay Bike Coalition’s second annual Pedalfest, where bikey will encounter new and interesting peers like the WhymCycle art bike collection, BMX stunt rides, even a bike that, owner attached, swings on a rope through the air in looping aerial acrobatics. Ambition! One of the largest cycle events in the Bay, last year Pedalfest attracted 18,000 happy riders. Kids activities, snacks galore, relay races, and live tunes — JLS is going to be the place to show love for the bike that gets you to where you need to go. (Caitlin Donohue)

11am-8pm, free

Jack London Square

Broadway and 1st St., Oakl.

www.pedalfestjacklondon.com

 

Midnight Magic

It’s become apparent that the PR agents have discovered the trick to getting my attention: listing the name of a band next to the words “ex-mems of LCD Soundsystem,” thereby exploiting the hole left in one of my bodily organs by that now defunct group. The connection here is a bit tenuous, referring to former members of Hercules and Love Affair (quite a good name drop on its own) enlisted to play backup at LCD’s last shows. Moving beyond the past, the nine piece disco outfit’s releases so far — “Drop Me a Line” and “Beam Me Up” — have a promising, lively romanticism that’s doing all the influences justice. (Prendiville)

With Tron Jeremy, Brother Sister, hosted by Ava Berlin and Andy Vague

10pm, $10-$15

Rickshaw Stop

155 Fell, SF

(415) 861-2011

www.rickshawstop.com

 

Lee Fields & the Expressions

Lee Fields is a soul singer’s soul singer. Between innumerable session gigs, years of touring with bands like Kool and the Gang, and a string of early-’70s singles that have become legendary among crate-diggers, Fields has paid his dues since 1969. So, it seems deliciously redemptive that in 2012, Fields has found himself in the most prolific stage of his career, churning out records for the bona-fide Truth & Soul label as the bandleader of the Expressions. Faithful Man, released earlier this year, has drawn comparisons to soul heavyweights, from Stax/Volt to James Brown, and as far as throwbacks go, it’s the real deal. Which poses the question: can Fields channel the vitality of his recent recordings when he graces the Independent on Saturday night? One way to find out. (Taylor Kaplan)

With Hard French, Top Cat & Miles Ahead

9pm, $25

Independent

628 Divisadero, SF

(415) 771-1421

www.theindependentsf.com

 

Mrs. Doubtfire

Dolores Park gets all the hipster love, but li’l sis Duboce Park is not to be overlooked — especially when it hosts an outdoor screening of San Francisco-set 1993 comedy Mrs. Doubtfire, a movie that’s earned a cult following despite its gentle, family-friendly content. A father (Robin Williams) goes undercover as an elderly nanny so he can spend more time with his kids, thus circumventing the court-ordered wishes of his estranged wife (Sally Field). Plus: Harvey Fierstein as the make-up whiz behind Doubtfire’s drag; immortal lines “Hellooo!” and “It was a run-by fruiting!”; and enough camp cachet to inspire at least one portrait tattoo (Google it). Just be sure you bring a low chair or a waterproof cloth to sit on at the screening; Duboce Park’s rep as a doggie paradise is irrefutable. (Cheryl Eddy)

8:15pm, free

Duboce Park

Duboce and Steiner, SF

www.friendsofdubocepark.org


SUNDAY 19

Calvin Johnson

Having founded Olympia, Wash.’s influential K Records and Dub Narcotic Studio, Calvin Johnson has signed, recorded, and collaborated with countless Northwest music icons, from Modest Mouse to the Microphones. Since 2002, he’s issued a handful of solo, (mostly) acoustic efforts, built around his unmistakably drawling baritone. Walk into a thrift store in Olympia, though, and odds are you’ll find a stack of mixtapes for sale, compiled by you-know-who; this Saturday, Johnson will headline the release party for the Believer’s music issue cassette along with a roster of tape-centric outsider-artists handpicked by the king of Oly, himself. (Kaplan)

With Katie & the Lichen, Laura Leif & A.P.B., the Shivas, the Memories, Tomorrow’s Tulips, Mom, Happy Noose

8:30pm, $8

Cafe Du Nord

2170 Market, SF

(415) 861-5016

www.cafedunord.com

 

Braid

The year 1993 saw the conception of what was soon to be one of the decade’s most influential and controversial genres: emo. Braid was one of the frontrunners of the scene, lamenting lost loves and expressing the melancholy nature of youth over minor chords years before My Chemical Romance would don its first guyliner. The group disbanded through most of the Aughts, but reunited in 2011, for the band’s 600th show. Now that emo has turned into a cabaret of red eyeshadow and comically impractical hairstyles, Braid bears little resemblance to the current wave of emotional rockers, but it can still get down with the sadness. (Zaremba)

With Owen, TS & the Past Haunts

9pm, $20

Slim’s

333 11th St, SF

(415) 255-0333

www.slimspresents.com

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Bernal Heights pumps up the volume

Andrew Lam
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2

Climb Bernal Hill as a sweaty pedestrian and you just might descend by flying down on a futuristic — newly charged! — electric bicycle. Or at least, with a fully-juiced iPhone. Starting this month through the end of the summer, a collaboration between Sol Design Lab and The New Wheel has brought the city’s newest solar energy recharging station to Bernal Heights. Plug in your speedy e-bike, or hell, electric toothbrush.

The New Wheel’s extensive selection of pedal-activated electric bikes and urban transportation goods and bike shop services — we recently profiled its owners for being the e-bike pioneers they are — are enhanced by Sol Design’s latest Solar Pump design, which is able to utilize solar energy to charge anything with a standard electric plug. With a single solar panel, Sol Design Lab and The New Wheel pedal-assisted electric bicycle users can get 65 miles for as little as three cents.

“The Solar Pump is mainly a way to start the discussion around sustainable energy practices,” says co-owner Brett Thurber. Although an electric bicycle doesn’t face the same difficulties in acquiring energy as does the electric car, the Solar Pump has helped to foster a sense of community that Thurber claims is important in The New Wheel’s sustainable endeavor, particularly through its ability to charge computers and phones. 

“People are hanging out outside and doing work. I think it’s all a part of goodwill,” he explains. “It’s public power and it’s free. That got a lot of people’s attention.”

The Solar Pump is an ironic re-invention of the1950s gas pump, retrofitting that product of the mid-20th century economic boom with solar panels to encourage and reinforce a vision of carbon-free cities. Originally on tour at music festivals like Coachella and set to make an appearance at this summer’s Outside Lands, Solar Pump™ technology provides free solar energy outlets to the public and to charge the store’s vast array of bikes.

With the help of the Solar Pump™ , The New Wheel creates a communal space of free-of-charge solar outlets and extensive electric bicycle products and maintenance.  Paired with San Francisco’s chaotic city layout of grid street-planning planted atop a naturally hilly landscape, the convenience of the electric bike might be a good answer for wayward progressives who like the idea of clean energy more than the reality of harrumphing their aching muscles and rickety street bikes up Jones Street, and who desperately need a solar outlet to charge their various electronic devices of communication. 

The New Wheel

420 Cortland, SF

(415) 524-7362

www.thenewwheel.net

 

Live Shots: Childish Gambino and Danny Brown at the Fox

Tony Robles
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0

It can be hard to take comedians and comic actors seriously as musicians. Particularly when you consider the questions posed by earlier models. Did Eddie Murphy’s girl really want to party all the time? (And if so, why didn’t he?)

In his last few albums as Childish Gambino, Donald Glover, the writer-actor best known for portraying lovable goof Troy Barnes on NBC’s cult sitcom Community, has combated the typical skepticism with a self-aware, post-Kanye confessional style of hip-hop. His show at the Fox in Oakland last Thursday made it clear that no matter how funny Childish Gambino’s lyrics are, as a performer, he’s serious.

Glover’s opener for the night was Detroit’s Danny Brown, whose latest release on Fool’s Gold Records, XXX, has been billed as an obscene concept album. It’s not the most thought-out idea, though, and lacking the inventiveness of concepts like Deltron 3030, Madvillainy, or Dr. Octagonecologyst, it seems more of an excuse to revive a 2 Live Crew Style of hedonism. (A common topic for Brown is eating pussy, and the MC, amusingly, has a habit of sticking his tongue out for emphasis.)

There’s definitely a perverse humor at work, but with lyrics like “Fuck bitches like AIDS don’t exist, I’m a young ruthless nigga on some Eazy-E shit,” your mileage may vary.

As with OFWGKTA, it can be hard to tell where the joke begins and ends, and as Brown’s DJ repeatedly played a “Swag!” vocal sample, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was done ironically. But Brown’s voice – like a strange hybrid of Dr. Octagon and Larry Blackmon – has a unique trill to it and an appealing cadence, and from the start of his set there were noticeably quite a few people in the front row mouthing along and shaking the floor boards like they didn’t give a fuck.*

Brown finished his set noticeably tired, which is understandable, since the Fox is a large venue for a solo rapper to energize. At one point I had the same concern with Childish Gambino, but Glover was backed by an impressive band.**

It wasn’t a surprise, as my expectation had been primed from videos of the first week of Coachella, where Glover gave a lively, physical performance despite wearing a large black boot on one leg, stemming from a fractured foot that caused him to cancel performances earlier in the year.

At the Fox there was no boot in sight, and Glover appeared entirely unburdened, bounding around the stage, breaking out a silly step between verses, and generally hyping the crowd up as he split his time performing tracks mainly from last year’s Camp and 2010’s Cul-de-sac, with a confidence that seemed well beyond the few tours he had under his belt.

Combined with a slick stage production – consisting of some minimal pup-tent/tree decorations and well timed, follow-along visuals – Glover seemed entirely in control of the show, which managed to come off as intimate and sincere. If it is a joke, I get it.

Setlist:
-Outside
-Fire Fly
-Freaks and Geeks
-Do Ya Like
-Backpackers
-I’m On It
-I Be On That
-Rolling in the Deep (Adele cover/John Legend version)
-All The Shine
-LES
-Heartbeat
-You See Me
-Bonfire
-Sunrise
Encore
(Freestyles)
-That Power
-Lights Turned On

*Although, one of the guys that seemed to know all the lyrics was also wearing a Davy Crockett coonskin cap. So there’s that.
**One of the members – alternating between keys, guitar, and violin – looked particularly familiar, until I recognized him as the impressively talented Ray Suen, who performed with the Flaming Lips at Bimbo’s.

Get your hands up: Wild Flag at Fillmore

Tony Robles
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Get your hands up: Wild Flag at Fillmore

San Franciscans faced a sort of litmus test Wednesday night: which popular band would they see live when given copious quality options, what does that say about their whole being, and who among us chose best? Thanks to Coachella and just lucky circumstance, there were major acts playing sold out or close-to-it shows all around town last night: Godspeed, Gotye, Refused, and Wild Flag.

So the city split open. Shows were carefully chosen based on sound, legacy, fun-factor, and proximity. Massive carved doors swung open, and venues were crowded on this refreshingly warmish midweek night. We’ll have more on the other offerings about town. But here’s what went down at the Fillmore.

Top 15 moments during Wild Flag and EMA’s Fillmore appearance:

1. EMA’s stylish ’80s dancing-with-myself movement techniques and matching ’80s ensemble (billowy T-shirt, tights with shorts)

2. EMA’s fiddler. Electro-pop begs for more violin.

3. Janet Weiss’ showy drum solo during “Glass Tambourine.” Had there been such an item, it would’ve shattered into tiny glittery bits.

4. More glitter: the matchy-not matchy sparkle-accented red, black, and white ensembles on all four Wild Flag ladies.

5. A proggy new song with Carrie Brownstein’s vocals sublimely echoing into the deep effects abyss.

6. The song “Racehorse” played before “Romance,” and being about not being able to love another. “You can’t love no one/you don’t love know one.”

7. “None of those other songs were about love, but this one is” — the introduction to final pre-encore song and fan favorite, “Romance.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrDYiOWZXUA

8. The awesome, yet expected, but still very welcome close interplay and noodling interactions between the four Wild Flag members, particularly Brownstein and Mary Timony.

9. Timony’s feedback fetish, and the moments when she crumbled to her knees in showmanship.

10. Brownstein holding her guitar straight up in the air, in another statement on instrument worship.

11. The David Cross-alike in the crowd’s not-as-stylish interpretative dance techniques, with awkward shoulder jerks and fluttering hands matching Wild Flag’s riffs.

12. The Fillmore’s chandeliers timed to match the aforementioned hard riffs. Light ’em up big.

13. The DC/Portland based band again using its encore for awesome covers, including Television and Fugazi. Though no Misfits this time unless I missed it. Did I miss it?

14. The feeling that this band will undoubtedly go down in history as shattering preconceived notions of femininity, musicianship, and rock’n’roll, just as its predecessors Sleater-Kinney and Helium.

15. Supposedly, Fred Armisen was there, which make sense as he and his Portlandia co-star, Brownstein, were at a 826 Valencia benefit earlier in the day. 


Coachella Day 3: The Weeknd of Hives and Justice

Tony Robles
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All photos by Eric Lynch.

Bears, bloggers and bands, oh my.  Sunday indeed brought sun, by mid afternoon all the good shadows were occupied — the lengths of tree shadows, behind garbage cans, and next to the churro stand. I arrived just as the largest crowd yet was dissipating from Santigold.  

Schoolmarms, Real Estate did nothing to upset our expectations with their “variations on a single theme” set.  Sweet and predictable, like watching old episodes of I Love Lucy to help you sleep — you don’t have to see what’s going to happen, because you already know and everything’s going to be OK.  

The Weeknd captivated with a solid and lively performance. Good stuff.

The Hives were a trip for me. Three songs in the photo pit and I got pushed, trampled, and shoved so many times by photogs trying to get “the shot,” I just kept thinking, “What is this guy, Kanye or something?” I mean c’mon. But Pelle Almqvist was this photographer’s dream. Jumping over the first two pits, climbing on speakers, throwing his mike while doing jumps. These guys were 1920s street buskers with trampolines, and believe me, I was buying.

If Radiohead had their wall of recyclable plastic bottles, then French duo, Justice had their wall of Marshall ’60s speakers-cum-light modulators.  If there’s that many knobs on the front of their set, what the hell is going on on the side? From wherever they conjure those sounds, this Justice-novice is glad the facade is not broken.  

Our Weekly Picks: April 18-24

Andrew Lam
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WEDNESDAY 18

Wild Flag

Though it could be called an all-star band based on previous groups and collaborations, which include Sleater-Kinney, Helium, Quasi, and the Minders, the members of Wild Flag have made sure their new project stands firmly on its own solid ground. Last September saw the release of the band’s excellent self-titled debut album on Merge Records, highlighted by the singles “Future Crime” and “Romance,” proving that Carrie Brownstein, Rebecca Cole, Mary Timony, and Janet Weiss have a special chemistry and searing musical bond that comes across on both tape and stage. (Sean McCourt)

8pm, $20

Fillmore

1805 Geary, SF

(415) 346-6000

www.thefillmore.com


THURSDAY 19

Anoushka Shankar

“The daughter of legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar.” It must be a daunting label to perform under, but after training and performing extensively with her father beginning at age nine, Anoushka has carved out her own following. The younger Shankhar recorded a live album in New York’s Carnegie Hall at 19 and has received two nominations for Grammy Awards. She uses classical Indian instruments and techniques to delve into other genres, including jazz and electronica. Her sixth studio release, Traveler, recently released stateside, is an exploration into the relationship between sitar and flamenco that features a variety of Spanish artists and vocalists. (Kevin Lee)

7:30pm, $25-$60

Herbst Theatre

401 Van Ness

(415) 392-4400

www.sfjazz.org

 

“Tease-O-Rama”

In a celebration of all things sultry, seductive, sexy and saucy, “Tease-O-Rama 2012” promises four days and nights of the best in burlesque, showcasing the brightest modern talents awhile also honoring several legends of the scene. Boasting live shows, workshops, meet and greets, and more, the festival features standouts of today such as Catherine D’Lish and performers from Cirque Du Soleil’s Zumanity, and appearances by icons such as Satan’s Angel, who started her career back in 1961 here in San Francisco. (McCourt)

$12–$45 per event; $150 for a festival pass

Multiple venues, SF

www.teaseorama.com

 

Madness

British two-tone ska act Madness has enjoyed considerable commercial success in its native UK, charting numerous hit songs over a more than 35 year career, but it seems to be best known here in the states for one hit single, 1982 release “Our House,” which exposed the band to American audiences via radio and MTV’s heavy rotation of the tune’s cheeky video. Local fans will want to make sure to catch the group when it comes to the city tonight between its two slots at Coachella, and hear the full breadth of the band’s varied ace catalog. (McCourt)

With DJ Harry Duncan.

8pm, $35–$42.50

Warfield

982 Market, SF

(415) 567-2060

www.thewarfieldtheater.com


FRIDAY 20

Cuba Caribe Festival

Perhaps we are a little too smug about living in the “second largest” dance community in the country. But then arrives — for the eighth year — another Cuba Caribe Festival. Where else would you see, in one program, companies such as Las Que Son’s jubilant women dancers; storyteller Muriel Johnson; Cunamacué’s Afro-Peruvian music and dance, and Grupo Experimental Nagó’s East-Cuban traditions? On weekend two, at Laney College Theater in Oakland, Ramón Ramos Alayo, who synthesizes tradition with modernism, is premiering “Oil and Water,” his perspective on the despoiling of the oceans. Also workshops, lectures, and film presentations. (Rita Felciano)

Fri/20-Sat/21, 8pm; Sun/22, 3 and 7pm, $10–$24

Dance Mission Theater

3316 24th St., SF

(415) 826-4441

www.cubacaribe.org

 

School of Seven Bells

The rejiggered School of Seven Bells marches on with vocalists Alejandra Deheza and producer Benjamin Curtis after Alejandra’s twin Claudia left the band a couple of years back for “personal reasons.” Ghostory, the first SVIIB LP since the lineup shift, has more of a free flow and electronic feel than previous releases; think of a Ladytron-like sound rather than the melodious pop heard in the band’s first release, Alpinisms. Alejandra’s ethereal voice takes on a plaintive tone that melds especially well with Curtis’ low-slung shoegaze atmospherics on highlight track “Love Story.” (Lee)

With Exitmusic

9pm, $15

Rickshaw Stop

155 Fell, SF

(415) 861-2011

www.rickshawstop.com

 

STS9

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that there may be a general correlation between interest in 2012 phenomena and smoking a righteous amount of pot. If getting supremely baked and attributing significance to arbitrary dates is your thing, then truly the stars align this 4/20 with Sound Tribe Sector 9 performing at the Fox. As if the popular electronic jam band wasn’t reason enough for stoners to organically celebrate, STS9 will be bringing its Great Cycle Spectacles — featuring a glowing LED Mayan pyramid — to the already dazzling venue. End of the world or beginning of the next stage? Either way, smoke up. (Ryan Prendiville)

With Nosaj Thing (4/20), Mimosa (4/21)

8pm, $29.50

Fox Theater

1807 Telegraph, Oakl.

(510) 548-3010

www.thefoxtheater.com


SATURDAY 21

Cesar Chavez Festival

For too many of us, Cesar Chavez Day passes by in a blur of I’m-not-at-work (or dammit-I’m-at-work) chaos. We don’t really stop to celebrate the man, and that’s a shame because as you can tell from the way Rainbow Grocery shuts its door to celebrate him, he was a seminal figure in California history, Chicano history, and labor movement history. Luckily, we all get a hall pass this and every year if we didn’t observe the man on his state-sanctioned holiday. Today, the Mission will be marked by a parade in his honor, leading to a street fair on 24th Street with live music by Carlos Santana’s son Salvador, local hip-hop phenom Bang Data, and the Cuicacalli Youth Ballet Folklorico, among many other acts. (Caitlin Donohue)

11am parade; noon-6pm fair, free

Street fair: 24th St. between Bryant and Treat, SF

(415) 621-2665

www.cesarchavezday.org


MONDAY 23

All Tiny Creatures

There are a lot of voices on Harbor, the debut album from Wisconsin’s All Tiny Creatures, some from the quartet itself — featuring musicians from Collections of Colonies of Bees and Volcano Choir — and then a number of guest collaborators, most notably Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon (who All Tiny Creatures also open for at the Bill Graham) and members of Megafaun. Given the number of vocalists, it’s surprising how restrained they are in the mix, lightly drawing on their instrumental quality instead of normal lyrical structuring. The result — from the driving opener “Holography” to the scattered march of “Aviation Class” — is an immediately catchy album of prog pop that moves along weightlessly. (Prendiville)

With Minor Kingdom, Kill Moi

9pm, $10

Bottom of the Hill

1233 17th St., SF

(415) 621-4455

www.bottomofthehill.com


TUESDAY 24

Real Estate

While listening to the dazed, sun-baked surf rock of Real Estate, the pulse of Southern California comes to mind. But, wait. These guys are describing New Jersey? Yes. Childhood buddies Martin Courtney, Matt Mondanile, and Alex Bleeker started making music a few summers back in their hometown of Ridgewood, N.J. and have cited the state itself as a major influence. Now the band is based in Brooklyn (phew!), but the bliss and nostalgia attached to carefree, suburban teenage summers of partying discretely in parents’ basements and spending long days with a first love permeates its freshman and sophomore albums. Congratulations, New Jersey! You were due for this type of artistic beautification. (Mia Sullivan)

With the Twerps, Melted Toys

8 p.m., $17

Great American Music Hall

859 O’Farrell St.

(415) 885-0750

www.slimspresents.com

 

Neon Indian

When your debut album features ADHD-affected sampling, retro arpeggios, and tracks like “Should Have Taken Acid With You”, “(AM)”, and “Mind, Drips” it can be hard to sustain that level of weirdness. Despite its title, Era Extraña — the sophomore release from Denton, Texas’s Neon Indian — is a comparatively straightforward record, with Italo influenced, electro dance tracks more attuned to a club performance as a band than the product of fiddling around in a bedroom. But rather than running out of or exhausting its oddball energy, Neon Indian seems to have just redistributed it to the fringe, releasing a freak EP with the Flaming Lips as well as recording a future-vintage VHS manual for its limited release toy synth, the PAL198X. (Prendiville)

With Lemonade

8pm, $25

Fillmore

1850 Geary, SF

(415) 346-6000

www.thefillmore.com

 

Rusko

Leeds native Christopher Mercer chose to go the retrospective route with new release Songs, bringing dubstep back to its, well, roots. The artist popularly known as Rusko pays homage to the UK two-step garage popular in the ’90s with tracks “Pressure” and “Whistle Crew.” Mercer fills out the album with dub-like tracks that feature a healthy serving of Jamaican vocals and a moderate indulgence in full-on wobbliness. As a whole, Songs is more likely to invoke respectful head-nodding, rather than the injury-inducing cranium-banging that has become the dubstep norm these days. (Lee)

With Sigma

8pm, $33

Warfield

982 Market, SF

(415) 567-2060

www.thewarfieldtheatre.com

The Guardian listings deadline is two weeks prior to our Wednesday publication date. To submit an item for consideration, please include the title of the event, a brief description of the event, date and time, venue name, street address (listing cross streets only isn’t sufficient), city, telephone number readers can call for more information, telephone number for media, and admission costs. Send information to Listings, the Guardian Building, 135 Mississippi St., SF, CA 94107; fax to (415) 487-2506; or e-mail (paste press release into e-mail body — no text attachments, please) to listings@sfbg.com. Digital photos may be submitted in jpeg format; the image must be at least 240 dpi and four inches by six inches in size. We regret we cannot accept listings over the phone.

Items

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marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO So many things I want to write about this week, if only my delicate, exquisite hands could stop doing these fluttery bird-like motions in front of my gorgeous face. Girls, I’ve got a serious case of the Vogues, which along with Perma-Nod, Fist Pump, “Woo!”-itis, Twirlfoot, Strobe-eye, and Record Bag Shoulder will soon flood hospital wards and special care facilities nationwide with my rapidly aging (mid-20s) club generation.

That’s why universal healthcare is so very important! Have we learned nothing from disco’s untreated polyester scars, the shaken sacroiliacs of funk, Rave Damage, Swing Elbow, Goth Pout, the horrible social stigma of Breakdancer’s Breath? Shit staaank. Don’t laugh, teenage Post-Millennials, it’s coming for you. One day you’ll be holding your phone up to record that underground light show, when you’ll realized with horror that no one uses phones as cameras anymore, not even you. You’ll only be holding your phone up in your mind. And then you’ll catch Skrillexatosis.

What am I even talking about? The things I most want to tell you are these. 1) Mimosas and house dancing on Sunday mornings 6am-2pm at Monroe in North Beach are rad, especially the second and third Sundays of each month, hosted by the Pressure! and Forward crews respectively. 2) The Entertainment Commission is actually considering the use of mimes to help control rowdy nighttime crowds, for realz. (Read more on SFBG.com’s Noise blog.) 3) Flaunting its global fan base, amazing weekly Honey Soundsystem is now simulcasting its Sunday night parties at www.mixlr.com /hnysndsystm — so you can kiki out while doing your dishes at home. 4) I just about died when rap prodigy Azaelia Banks broke into the Prodigy’s “Firestarter” at Coachella, did you see it? More please.

 

THE TUBESTEAK CONNECTION 8-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Have you noticed we may be going through another heavy period of gentrification? DJ Bus Station John started his weekly Thursday night club in reaction to the last tech boom’s more blanding effects, drawing upon underground queer ’70s culture to keep the gay ’00s freaky, slutty, and disco-lickingly funky (also cell-phone free: don’t Tweet in this room, love, keep it between us.) “A reliable source of good music and fresh meat delivered w/love (& refreshingly w/o irony) by a 50-something bear qween,” is how BSJ himself describes it. “You won’t believe what you just 8!” is how I do.

Thu/19 and every Thursday, 10pm, $5-7. Aunt Charlie’s, 133 Turk, SF.

 

ROCK IT SCIENCE LABORATORIES DOUBLE ANNIVERSARY

Seven years of parties, two years as a record label, and always keepin’ it ravey-styley — local player Eric Sharp started off throwing Afterglow undergrounds at the storied Infinite Kaos venue and has become a bedrock of the Bay Area dance music (and an early handlebar mustache pioneer), now celebrating with DJ Fame, Eric Reilly, and his RISL (www.rislabs.com) family, which is us, of course. Expect craziness.

Fri/20, 10pm-late, $5 before 11pm. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

JEFF MILLS

As “The Wizard” on Detroit’s WJLB FM in the ’80s, the genius Mills cut ‘n scratched electro, hip-hop, house, and techno into breathtaking, highly influential conflagrations of party-starting awe. Now he not only beams genius slices of intelligent techno down from the Mothership — he basically is the Mothership, often on multiple turntables, and will deliciously demolish Public Works, along with beloved Detroit house legend Terrance Parker, LA heavy technoist Drumcell, our own Icee Hot DJs, Mossmoss, and more. Sat/21, $15–25. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

Coachella Day 2: All about Azealia (and Radiohead)

Tony Robles
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All photos by Eric Lynch

If Friday was about the weather and a few stellar performances, Saturday was all about the music. Larger, happier crowds with pants rolled higher and enthusiasm to match.

Azealia Banks broke it down 1980s style for what she said was her largest crowd ever.  Love the nails Azelia!

Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, belted it out soon after the sun went down and managed to change guitars four times. 

There were so many Radiofans camped out at the Coachella Stage during the Shins I wondered if SBTRKT could host a nice crew. But the Gobi Tent was bursting with amped Gen Zeders ready for one of the funner performances of the day.

And then Radiohead‘s polished master stroke hypnotized the willing. I couldn’t get over Thom’s wall of recycled plastic bottles reinvented as a 30-foot-high light wall. 

Coachella Day 1: Girls, EMA, WU LYF, Mazzy Star, Pulp, more

Tony Robles
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All photos by Eric Lynch

I guess the story of the first day was the weather. Everyone checking their iPhones for what time the rain would begin.  And it eventually came, not SF rain, but a startling event none the less for Coachella.

Intermittent showers and sprinkles throughout the day (after 4:30 ish). Fans got creative using garbage bags or just ignored it altogether, in their hipster finery.  By the end of the day there were shivering shirtless Coachella bros everywhere.  

M83 was astounding. They were a definite crowd favorite. 

I almost peed my pants leaning on the speakers in front of Amon Tobin ISAM.

There were a lot of crabby people for Mazzy Star (too quiet, no lights, plus rain equals crabby twenty somethings who have no idea really who Hope Sandoval is and seemed unwilling to give her a chance.)

While I think Pulp is old news, Jarvis Cocker really brought out the camp and strutted the stage like he meant it. 

WU LYF: simple clean and unpretentious as one can be with an affected voice like that.

Girls are not very photogenic but the crowd was wild for them. The three background singers brought it up a notch.

 

Live Shots: Radiohead at HP Pavilion, 04/11/2012

Tony Robles
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The first time I saw Radiohead, it was opening up for Belly, back when “Creep” was an exquisite oddball of a radio hit.

Actually, it wasn’t so much opening for Belly as it was a double bill, but Radiohead played first and Thom Yorke had a platinum rock star hairdo and the band was touring on an unspectacular album with a title gleaned from a Jerky Boy’s joke.

None of it seemed to hint much towards a band on the cusp of becoming an audio force of nature for the coming decades. Even still, by the time it finished its set with “Stop Whispering,” Radiohead had worked the crowd into a tidy frenzy.

Playing the HP Pavilion in San Jose on Wednesday night, it showcased the full range of its music since: an amazingly dynamic body of work – from the Bends to the new track “Identikit” – which gave sonic testimony to Radiohead’s outlier longevity from the grungy but fertile musical era from which it sprang.

Working through nearly two-dozen songs beneath a pulsing onslaught of color and video, it rendered a high-energy performance from an eclectic setlist that was at once a gem for fanatics and a thrill for the casual fans that they dragged along.

From the get-go, Thom Yorke was all king of limbs as he wriggle-danced his way through beat-heavy tracks like “15 Step” and the “Gloaming,” before eventually settling into the larger vocal parts of a stripped-down “Reckoner” and an amped-up “Daily Mail.”

Talkative and punchy-as-expected, Yorke dedicated the Amnesiac-era b-side “The Amazing Sounds of Orgy” to the players of the economic meltdown and the “Silicon Valley bullshit” that factored into it. Here, the band played to other local forces, as it nestled into the aberrant niche between Primus and Tom Waits, equally eerie and menacing.

It was this darker end of their spectrum that provided some of the night’s standout moments, from the four-drummer assault of “There There” to the infectious pulse of “Myxomatosis.” However the best of the bunch may have been the hefty moodiness of “Climbing Up the Walls,” an OK Computer favorite that soon gave way to “Karma Police.”

The encores, in particular, were likely to provide fans with hours of chat-room fodder, as the band dusted off some rare live takes on “I Might Be Wrong” and “Planet Telex,” before ending the night with a ferocious version of “Idioteque.”

Poised to play Coachella this coming weekend, Radiohead appears in fine fighting form to somehow top its near-legendary 2004 performance. And that’s just the thing with where it’s at these days: for all that can be said about what it has done over the past 20 years, Radiohead still has a knack to leave you excited for what’s next.

Setlist
Bloom
15 Step
Morning Mr. Magpie
Kid A
Staircase
The Gloaming
The National Anthem
The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
Climbing up the Walls
Karma Police
Identikit
Lotus Flower
There There
Feral
Little By Little
Reckoner
—
Separator
I Might Be Wrong
Myxomatosis
Everything in its Right Place
—
The Daily Mail
Planet Telex
Idioteque

 

All photos by Charles Russo.

Our Weekly Picks: April 11-17

Andrew Lam
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WEDNESDAY 11

Sepultura

Playing a pummeling, hardcore-influenced mix of thrash and death metal, Sepultura put Brazil on the metal map with a run of vaunted albums that culminated in 1996’s sublime Roots. Since then, the band has been dogged by discord — only one original member, lead guitarist Andreas Kisser, will appear under the Sepultura banner this week in SF. Nevertheless, for fans looking to mosh with abandon to live renditions of classics like “Refuse/Resist,” the opportunity may be too good to pass up. They should be further enticed by a stellar opening line-up, which includes local heroes Death Angel and unrelenting Brazilian death metallers Krisiun. (Ben Richardson)

With Havok

7:30pm, $25

DNA Lounge

375 11th St., SF

(415) 626-2532

www.dnalounge.com

 

Mazzy Star

The rhythm of the current wave of 1990s band reunion tours suggests that the phenomena may be approaching its apogee. Best to gather ye alt-rock roses while ye may, and enjoy the expansive, fuzz drenched melodies of genre legends Mazzy Star. Hope Sandoval and co. will be appearing at this year’s ’90s-heavy Coachella — leading up to the big gig, however, the band will headline a series of more intimate shows, perfect for those who don’t feel like trekking all the way to Indio (to say nothing of Coachella ticket prices). (Tony Papanikolas)

With the Entrance Band, Alina Hardin

8pm, $37

Regency Ballroom

1300 Van Ness, SF

(415) 673-5716

www.theregencyballroom.com


THURSDAY 12

“Strange Concepts, Inc.”

Until HGTV has a show called Creepy Cribs, with experts on taxidermy, graveyard art, and vintage horror-movie posters advising homeowners on their Halloween-is-every-day decorating schemes, fans of unusual, unsettling décor will have to fend for themselves. (That’s how we like it, anyway!) Ghoul up your walls with a little help from San Franciscans Genevieve Coleman and Domonic Vescio, whose “Strange Concepts, Inc.” goes on display as part of the Divisadero Art Walk, and stays on the walls of Mini Bar through May. You’ll find paintings of colorful zombie pin-up girls, skulls, motorcycle-riding goats, and more — just the thing to hang above your mantle, next to the Fiji mermaid. (Cheryl Eddy)

Opening reception tonight, 7-10pm, free

Exhibit runs through May 31

Mini Bar

837 Divisadero, SF

(415) 525-3565

 

The Sandwitches

If you’re looking for an extremely talented local group to idolize and swoon over, try the Sandwitches. With guitars, muted drums, and haunting, high-pitched vocals, these three ladies create dark and whimsical folk and punk-influenced “sad pop.” Last year’s LP, Mrs. Jones’ Cookies, focuses on longing, desire, and the unattainable, with lush, moving tracks like “In the Garden” and “Joe Says.” Principle songwriters Heidi Alexander and Grace Cooper, who used to sing backup for the Fresh & Onlys, have the ability to lucidly illustrate emotions and insecurities most of us share but tend to conceal. (Mia Sullivan)

With Deep Time, Muscle Drum

9pm, $12

Brick and Mortar Music Hall

1710 Mission, SF

(415) 800-8782

www.brickandmortarmusic.com

 

Kevin Nealon

Springing from the stand-up comedy circuit to mainstream success as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1986-1995, Kevin Nealon has gone on to pop up in several familiar TV shows and films, such as Showtime’s Weeds and Happy Gilmore. He’s even written a book, Yes, You’re Pregnant, But What About Me? His live act is still sharp as ever, though, as evidenced by his 2009 DVD release Now Hear Me Out! He continues to exploit the hilarity of mundane occurrences in everyday life, making for side-splitting comedy that virtually anyone can relate to.(Sean McCourt)

Thu/12, 8pm; Fri/13, 8pm and 10:15pm; Sat/14, 7 and 9:30pm; Sun/15, 7pm; $25–$30

Cobb’s Comedy Club

915 Columbus, SF

(415) 928-4320

www.cobbscomedyclub.com

 

FRIDAY 13

Yonder Mountain String Band

“We don’t have a lot of nostalgia for the past,” banjoist Dave Johnston once said when asked why his often-pigeon-holed-as-bluegrass quartet decided to use a rock producer for its most recent release, The Show. While it’s cited influences ranging from Phish to the Talking Heads, John Hartford to the Grateful Dead, Yonder Mountain String Band’s bluegrass/folk/rock/jam sound is its very own. The Show further exemplifies YMSB’s refusal to fit neatly into a generic construct as the album features rambling bluegrass, alt-rock sounds, and funky country beats. Listening to its music at home will induce some swaying-by-yourself enjoyment, but the proper way to take these guys is live. (Sullivan)

With Brown Bird

Fri/13-Sat/14, 9pm, $35

Fillmore

1805 Geary, SF

(415) 346-6000

www.thefillmore.com

 

Modeselektor

Before bringing its live show to some unbearably hot desert next week, Berlin’s Modeselektor will be making a stop at 103 Harriet on the Monkeytown Tour. Possibly its best album to date, certainly the most accessible, Monkeytown continues to illustrate Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary’s tendency to slyly disregard genres while crafting layered electronic grooves. With the forceful slam of “Pretentious Friends” featuring comically warped vocals by Busdriver, Thom Yorke chopping it up over a juggled FlyLo recalling uptempo beat on “Shipwreck,” or the ominous step of the snarling “Evil Twin” with Otto von Schirach, Modeselektor could fit in almost any scene from the UK to LA, if it ever wanted to settle for just ruling one. (Ryan Prendiville)

With Clicks & Whistles, Distal

10pm, $30

103 Harriet, SF

(415) 431-1200

www.1015.com


SATURDAY 14

“Down the Congo Line”

Inspired by a trip to the Republic of Congo, Dimensions Dance Theater’s “Down the Congo Line” promises us a look into the heart of Africa. Artistic director Deborah Vaughn invited two very different Diaspora perspectives. With The Last Dance and St. Ann and Rampart, LaTanya d.Tigner, a Dimensions alumna, is celebrating the African roots of New Orleans funeral processions. In Ndozi: Ancient Truth Revealed — both traditional and contemporary in its outlook — she is reprising her power collaboration with four Congolese drummers, led by Kiazi Malonga. The Salvador/Bahia-born Isaura Oliveira’s Congo in Brazil lets us see and hear African traditions through her country’s indigenous music and dance. (Rita Felciano)

8pm, $25

Malonga Casquelourde Center for the Arts

1428 Alice, Oakl.

(510) 465-3363

www.dimensionsdance.org

 

Acid Mothers Temple

A quick perusal through Acid Mothers Temple’s erotic, multi-colored, swirly cover art and excavation of its mantra (“Do Whatever You Want, Don’t Do Whatever You Don’t Want!!”) begs the question — how did this band not form in the 1960s? But, alas, this experimental psychedelic space-rock group hails from mid-’90s Japan. Its sound may metaphorically represent what would happen if our mothers decided to drop acid in a temple — a distorted, discordant, slightly frightening yet freeing and beautiful experience that feels nonsensical but fun. Caution: many of the people who attend this show may be on some type of illicit drug. Plan accordingly. (Sullivan)

With the Phantom Family Halo, High Horse

10pm, $12

Bottom of the Hill

1233 17th, SF

(415) 621-4455

www.bottomofthehill.com

 

Alcest

Though it began in Norway as misanthropic musical chaos, black metal has been reimagined and redefined after roughly two decades in existence. Swapping Scandinavian forests for the south of France, Alcest founder Neige (Stéphane Paut) added shoegaze and post-rock to a black metal substrate, creating music that is ethereal, other-worldly, and self-consciously beautiful. The meditative melodies and clean vocals have broadened the band’s audience, though Alcest retains the layered, overdriven guitars that recall black metal’s original palette. It may not please corpse-painted purists, but it’s haunting, unique, and well-worth bathing in in person. (Richardson)

With Giant Squid, Bryan Von Reuter

4pm, $12

Elbo Room

647 Valencia, SF

(415) 552-7788

www.elbo.com


SUNDAY 15

Pontiak

Don’t be fooled by the heavy shred that opens Pontiak’s latest LP. As much as the dense riffs and pounding drums from the heavy Appalachian blues rockers immediately lends Echo Ono to being cranked up ’till the neighbors move out of state, it also makes for a rewarding headphone experience. With a psychedelic edge that recalls contemporaries Tame Impala, and some harmonic depth harkening back to Pink Floyd (without the jazz influence), the album features some spacious production, from tom beats that rock back and forth from ear to ear and guitar parts that seem to gracefully step out of the way for one another. (Prendiville)

With Electric Shepherd & Outlaw, White Cloud

9pm, $10

Bottom of the Hill

1233 17th St., SF

(415) 621-4455

www.bottomofthehill.com


TUESDAY 17

Wanda Jackson

Throughout her more than 50 years in show business, she’s been called “The Queen of Rockabilly” and “The Sweet Lady With The Nasty Voice”—and now fans can rightly call Wanda Jackson a true musical icon, with her recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Don’t let that enshrinement cheat you into thinking she’s retired though; the fiery chanteuse that released hits such as “Mean, Mean Man” and “Fujiyama Mama” can still belt out tunes like nobody’s business, and proved that yet again with the release of last year’s Jack White-produced The Party Ain’t Over. Retro rockers Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside open. (McCourt)

8pm, $27–$40

Regency Ballroom

1300 Van Ness, SF

(415) 673-5716

www.theregencyballroom.com

 The Guardian listings deadline is two weeks prior to our Wednesday publication date. To submit an item for consideration, please include the title of the event, a brief description of the event, date and time, venue name, street address (listing cross streets only isn’t sufficient), city, telephone number readers can call for more information, telephone number for media, and admission costs. Send information to Listings, the Guardian Building, 135 Mississippi St., SF, CA 94107; fax to (415) 487-2506; or e-mail (paste press release into e-mail body — no text attachments, please) to listings@sfbg.com. Digital photos may be submitted in jpeg format; the image must be at least 240 dpi and four inches by six inches in size. We regret we cannot accept listings over the phone.

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