Did Tupac’s ghostly appearance during last night’s Dr. Dre stunner at Coachella pry open the hell-mouth of a future Rock and Roll Hologram of Fame? Last night “opens the gate for marketing revival concerts of deceased celebrities” exclaims one press release flooding our inbox, offering experts to comment on, “How might labels explore the potential for bringing back popular deceased artists?” (Nevermind that they’ve been doing this with Elvis for years — warning, Celine Dion duet.)
Naturally, this prospect strikes terror in our hearts when it comes to certain sleeping dogs who should probably lie. First of all: musical hologram resurrections bring us technologically one step closer to the nightmare of zombie Beethoven roaming unleashed upon this Earth. Second, greedy dying music industry executives may pounce on major back catalogue royalty opportunities (Happy 50th, Rolling Stones and Happy 50th, Ian Mackaye!) by beaming the following, completely inappropriate dead rock stars into a venue near you. Dear David Geffen, No.
Sid Vicious According to legend, when Johnny Rotten was once asked about a Sex Pistols reunion, he snarked, “Who the fuck is gonna put Sid back together?” AV Concepts, Inc. of San Diego, that’s who. But please don’t, despite the megamillion-dollar Hot Topic tie-in and Green Day collaboration opportunities. Not just because holographic technology hasn’t yet been able to replicate the stringy gobs of snot flying from Mr. Vicious at every performance (authenticity!) but because you couldn’t really replicate Sid without replicating Nancy. And the world is just not big enough for that.
Keith Moon In I’m With the BandPamela Des Barres writes of Keith’s legendary love for the absurd – and for saucy costumed roleplay – and of course, he was just erroneously asked to play the London Olympics this summer (oops!), but the Who drummer was already larger-than-life in his 1970s heyday. No need to plunk him down behind a drum set on a 2012 stage for all those that recognized his ferocious talents later in life. Notorious B.I.G. The B.I.G. question everyone on Twitter seemed to be Tweeting when Tupac arrived was, “Where was Biggie?” Examples: “Technology is crazy..they need to do a tupac hologram with biggie that’d be real” and “they should have a hologram concert with Tupac, Biggie & Aaliyah.” As if they all forgot about a little time known as the mid-’90s when hip-hop wasn’t nearly so friendly and those two really didn’t quite like each other. Looping him in on the hologram frenzy would be just as disrespectful as the constant comparisons in media. Let their legends live separate lives. Perhaps there is Life After Death, but don’t just assume Biggie will be hologrammed because his arch nemesis was. (We will, however, gladly accept some form of Biggie-branded Slanket.)
Louis Armstrong Undoubtedly, someone in out there in the jazz world is aching to include a zombie Satchmo trumpet solo or gravel-throated vocal riff alongside the almost-real vision of Armstrong holding up his favorite brassy instrument, eyes bulging. But seeing Pops pop up from the ground in eerie hologram form amid a modern day big band might cause actual heart attacks from his worldwide fan club.
Billie Holiday Equally legendary, and as big an influence on the world of jazz, seeing Lady Day rise up with a beaming white gardenia affixed to her head might be too much for this modern world to handle. Not to mention that aching desperation in her voice, that might just sound terrifying coming from a future-ghost. It seems downright cruel to resurrect those who suffered so much the first time around.
Kurt Cobain Blah blah Courtney-Grohl-Frances Bean Twitter paramour war.
Though the lightning storm delayed my +1 who was coming in from California’s stoney north coast, we arrived at the Great American Music Hall just in time to see the sludgy gods take the stage. Charging through every era of their deep and never-sucking catalog, Buzz and Co. were breaking necks from front to back. They closed out with Coady Willis and Dale Crover trading 8’s, then 4’s, then 2’s, before standing on their stools and striking a pose like the gladiators they are (filling in for Unsane’s Vinnie Signorelli, who was hospitalized). (Matthew Reamer)
Is it weird that last night I found myself dancing around in my Underoos to Mother Nature’s wowser light show and bass mechanix? Outside the disco, thunder and lightning are rare commodities ’round these parts (they happened, like, maybe three times in the ’90s?), so please forgive me for flashdancing on my fire escape rather than hitting the dance floor. Sometimes you just gotta be a semi-private dancer in the elements, love.
Speaking of spring storms: Sad — but ultimately hopeful — word has came down the wire that two of SF’s best parties, Blow Up and Kontrol are calling it quits, at least in regards to their regular installments. Greg Bird of monthly techno blast Kontrol at the EndUp put out an eloquent statement about how each of the crew’s side projects had taken on lives of their own, and that June 3’s party would be the last, except for special events. Who could blame Kontrol, after seven years of outstanding live techno fun? In any case, we’ve still two months to bid adieu, so keep it together.
But fantastic electro-glamour gig Blow Up’s last weekly party is tonight Fri/13, and you know it’s going out with a bang.
No tears! Ultimate breathtaking hostess Ava Berlin assures me that seven-year-old Blow Up will be back and better than ever — she and ace DJ Jeffrey Paradise are taking off to the desert for a couple months to plan a relaunch and prepare for the continued success of Paradise’s sunny tech-pop outfit Poolside. Blow Up parties will return, no fear. And how perfectly SF is taking off for the desert to regroup for a few. Loving.
Tonight’s farewell Blow Up at DNA Lounge features damn fine remix crew RAC, which has the power to make everything it touches insanely catchy in an old-school electro-pop way, and DJ Miles, indie-hero resident of the lovely Popscene weekly party. Throw on something risque-bananas and toast the bon voyage of this essential piece of SF nightlife gorgeousness.
Fri/13, 10pm-2am, $10-20,18+. DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF. Facebook invite
Ah, you dance music genius Curtis Jones — firstyouruled the Chicago house scene in the early ’90s as Cajmere. Then you got REALLY freaky — anticipating both the fried and funkdafied antics of Moodymann and the acid-brained electroclash antics of Felix da Housecat. (And for good or ill we are about to experience an electroclash revival, heralded by Felix’s takeover of the Blow Up party last month.) He’ll be headlining the always bonkers Lights Down Low party, as part of host DJ Sleazemore’s birthday celebration.
Ever since the amazing Non Stop Bhangra parties moved to Public Works, the audience for this incredible party has exploded — so much so that the party will now take over both of the expansive club’s levels. To launch the upstairs dance room, Jimmy Love and the dholrhythms crew are enlisting the aid of serious Arabic-vibing bass crew Hookahdome: Jef Stott featuring MC Rai, Kush Arora, Drumspyder, bellydancing, and more. It will be a sunburst of global insanity.
Essential second-generation Detroit techno innovator Kenny now lives in LA, but he’s as full of ideas and energy as ever (and he’s a pretty great guy to boot). While he hasn’t received as much attention as I think he should for his many contributions, that’s all starting to be rectified with renewed interest in some of Detroit’s less-lauded players. It helps that he’s been getting around a lot more, remixing recent tracks excellently, and playing splendidly! He’ll be joined by another Detroiter, Monty Luke, for a night of solid banging.
Here’s one of my favorite tracks of all time, from 1994:
Twisted Berlin star DJ Kaos does have a bit of a reputation for being, well, chaotic in a party way — what do you expect from such a force of nature behind the decks? Still, his “disco-dusted” tunes, perfect gateways to sexy debauchery, are also glimmering slices of urbane perfection. High mixed with low, at the groovy No Way Back party with beloved local DJs Conor and Solar, returning to the awesomely reurbished 222 Hyde. Go get down.
Fresh from his night with Kenny Larkin, Monty Luke — a Detroiter with deep SF roots — will be turning the children of the routinely packed and queer-fab Honey Soundsystem Sunday party out. Monty’s been known for a heady blend of bass funk with acid highlights and deep grooves. Lately he seems to be delving into the more cosmic reaches of the classic techno sound, which I will never argue with. This will be a perfect way to round off your weekend in style.
Punk icon King Buzzo of the Melvins is an amusing conversationalist. Veering toward the inane, he adds quirk to the boring, everyday topics, and clearly has the years of experience to casually offer words of wisdom without the inherent bitterness so often boiling in the belly of longtime touring musicians.
With such a propensity for fun chatter, naturally the maximum word count limit for the print article on Buzzo in this week’s issue had to leave some things out. Below are a few lost gems from a conversation last week:
SFBG:After living here for seven years before moving to LA, does [San Francisco] feel totally different when you visit? Buzz Osborne: I’m not really sentimental along those lines, I’m not too much of a ‘good old days’ type of person, I’m more of a ‘what have you done lately’ type of person. So, I liked living there but I’ve moved on. I like California! I don’t hate LA, people hate LA. I always find that interesting. Nobody in LA hates anybody else! People don’t talk about how much they hate New York or San Francisco, that’s just crazy. Plenty of people talking shit about LA, but I can’t figure it out.
But I like San Francisco, don’t get me wrong. Like I said, if my wife didn’t live here, I probably would’ve stayed there.
SFBG:Speaking of what-have-you-done-lately, what does the title of [your upcoming LP] ‘Freak Puke’ mean? BO: What does it mean? I don’t know what it means. Freak puke! Freaky puking. It’s a freak that pukes. It’s a freakish puke. It’s puke that becomes freaky. It just sounds good together. FREAK. PUKE. They work great.
I’m not sure where it came from? I write down stuff all the time that I hear, and like. It could’ve come from a wide variety of sources. Let’s say, let me make something up. Let’s say it came from a Bob Dylan poem I read. It’s not true, but we’ll say it is for today.
We’ll start the rumor! Bob Dylan.
SFBG: Huge proponent of freak puke.
BO: He was speaking of it when he was speaking in terms of protest songs, how about that? And I thought it was great. And I love to protest. If there’s one thing I love doing, it’s protesting. I’ll protest about anything you got. There. That sounds good, right?
SFBG:Yep, sounds punk. BO: Yeah punk, it’s all about punk. And since now that you can buy our t-shirts at Hot Topic…
SFBG:Is that true? BO: At least they sell them on their website.
SFBG:Does that not go through you? BO: The guy that makes our shirts sells them to a wide variety of places, Hot Topic is just one of them. I’m fine with that. I think our stuff belongs in malls! Absolutely. I think everyone should own all of our records, [ages] 8 to 80. We make our music for the masses, not for the elite few. Just because the masses don’t like, it doesn’t mean it’s not made for them.
SFBG: Have you found any good new local bands in LA? BO: Yes. My favorite band in LA, other than Big Business of course, is this band called Tweak Bird.
We did some work with the singer recently, [that’s] going to come out at some point so…more and more stuff! It never ends. We did some recordings that are coming out but I don’t really want to tell you what they are because I don’t want anyone to know the secret!
It’s very mysterious. It’s not that big of a deal. We worked with a wide variety of people but I’m not going to tell you who they are.
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
Under the sweltering San Bernardino sun this past Saturday, more than 40 artists came together to pay homage to hip-hop at the Paid Dues Festival.
Odd Future grilled raw meat on stage, intermittently lighting the bloody slab with a cucumber–sized blunt. Tyler the Creator sputtered out dribbles of water in between his lines — casually yet methodically, right as the camera appeared — making one wonder if there really is a synchronized reasoning behind the madness. Moments later, he leaped off the stage and sailed deep in to the moshing crowd, which accepted the Goblin with elation.
On the other side of the festival — which felt like a completely different galaxy — Brother Ali captured the roots of spoken word hip-hop, performing a refreshingly simple set on an empty stage with just his DJ spinning behind him. Contrasting this profoundly tranquil execution was the whirlwind energy of Three 6 Mafia, which jumped from one side of the stage to the other, arms swaggering, voice booming, and collars popping.
Hip-hop has gone through many cycles since its origins as a social and political outlet for underrepresented minorities, and the sheer diversity of the performers at Paid Dues Festival showed just how broad the genre has become.
During a Guardian interview, Los Rakas member Raka Dun explained that he views the creation of subgenres within hip-hop as a “progressive evolution,” comparing Drake’s “R&B hip-hop” to Odd Future’s “punk rap” as merely a stylistic difference. Raka Rich, the second member of the Panamanian duo, added “that hip-hop has always been about expressing yourself, so you can’t tell someone that their music is or isn’t hip-hop.”
DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia agreed that the growth of hip-hop is a positive development, yet admitted that the genre has lost some of its vigor. He holds politics responsible, stating that “hip-hop used to be harder back in the day, but the government wanted the world to be in peace, so they made the music be more in peace.”
Thes One of People Under the Stairs says corporations are at fault for taking critical substance out of mainstream hip-hop, as “music is a lot more marketable when you don’t have to cosign a message.” Double K (also of People Under the Stairs) feels that young people do not have the same insightful experience listening to music anymore. “In school, we were taught the same lesson on Martin Luther King Jr. year after year, but it was from hip-hop that we learned about people like Marcus Garvey and H. Rap Brown,” he added.
The role of women — specifically the rise of female MCs — is significantly influential in how the current road of hip-hop is being paved. Nicki Minaj, although nowhere in the Nos Event Center’s vicinity, was a looming presence throughout the night. The general consensus over the self-proclaimed Black Barbie was that she has undeniable talent, but there were contrasting opinions on how extensively her sex appeal influenced her success.
The members of Hieroglyphics said they feel the issue of sex in music should not be marginalized to a gender issue, as “the industry as a whole is exploiting sex to promote music.” The crew contemplated over whether you have to be as visually appealing as Minaj for people to appreciate your talents — finding it ironic that a lot of artists are actually unwilling to give her credit for her lyricism because of her overt sexuality.
There was a collective nostalgia over non-pink-wigged women rappers the artists grew up listening to — such as Queen Latifah and Ice Cream Tee — who rapped wearing just a hoodie and baggy jeans. As essential as it is to have prominent women that the female audience can identify with, artists questioned if current women MCs were truly communicating a positive message to young girls.
Luckyiam of Living Legends gave a final word of advice for all burgeoning artists bedroom producers, regardless of gender:
“When I lived in East Oakland, I thought there was a glass ceiling there. Now, with the Web, there’s no reason you can’t get your content out there. But don’t just be Tumblr famous. Go out to the streets or in the clubs, and pay your dues. And stop rapping over your vocals and wear some looser fitting jeans.”
Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.
The Buttercream Gang is pretty much based on good deeds. That is, the San Francisco-based, Napa-born group initially formed as a loosely defined do-gooder crew (read all about that below) and this week, it does another mitzvah: the band will play a benefit for the San Francisco Food Bank at CELLspace.
The Gang’s music is feel-good as well, a playful mix of upbeat sun-soaked California indie pop with jangly guitar, jumpy African inspired percussion, and multi-part harmonies. There’s even some sax in there – the ultimate party instrument, at least, according to ’80s movies. Sonically, it’s somewhat in line with pals (and fellow Localized Appreesh-ers) Waterstrider, and has gained a few worthy comparisons to the likes of Vampire Weekend and others leading the celebrated Afro-pop charge.
So now that you’re versed, lick the sugary frosting off your lips, because it’s Buttercream Gang time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKE1VQYrCWM
Year and location of origin: We formed in a garage in Napa in 2003. We had a different name then and were just a cover band. About a year and a half later we were writing original music and changed our name (for better or for worse) to The Buttercream Gang. Our first show was on New Years, we played Devo’s “Whip It”.
Band name origin: The Buttercream Gang was a movie that our group of friends thought was really funny in high school. We formed our own real life version of The Buttercream Gang and did a couple half-assed good deeds, in imitation of the protagonists of the film. We decided on The Buttercream Gang because, in a weird way, we see playing music as the good deed that we supply to listeners.
Band motto: We make ya move an twist with the flick of a wrist.
Description of sound in 10 words or less: Infantile adults dancing aimlessly to the sounds of the world.
Instrumentation: Pete Davies, Bobby Renz, Robinson Kuntz, and added to the band in 2011 for our album release were Max Bonick and Alex Garcia. We are all multi-instrumentalists and rotate around drums, guitars, bass, organ, keys, percussion, vocals, saxophone.
Most recent release: Our third full length album, Polite Men. Working towards releasing new material by the end of summer.
Best part about life as a Bay Area band: There are many good bands to be inspired by.
Worst part about life as a Bay Area band: Getting noticed amongst so many good bands.
First album ever purchased: Pete: Kris Kross – Totally Krossed Out; Bob: Green Day – Dookie cassette tape; Robinson: MC Hammer – Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em; Max – Beastie Boys – License to Ill. Most recent album purchased/downloaded: Pete: Tanlines – Mixed Emotions; Bob: Chantells – Waiting in the Park ; Rob: Wye Oak – Civilian ; Max: Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Rip, Rig, Panic.
Favorite local eatery and dish: Pete: French Laundry; Bob & Robinson: San Tung’s Dry Fried Chicken Wings; Max: The pastor burritos from Tacos Labamba in Sonoma
Vupes, Vulpes – a Silverfox Concert for Good With the Buttercream Gang, Mahgeetah, Sun Life Thu/12, 7pm, Use the code “SFBG” for $20 entry (50% off), includes open bar CELLspace 2050 Bryant, SF vulpesvulpes.eventbrite.com
And just for kicks, here’s some clips from the direct-to-video movie that inspired the band name: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOWW-r0AWr8
In the days leading up to veritable sweaty behemoth Coachella, many national acts are cooling their jets, taking breathers, stretching their hamstrings before the big back-to-back weekend shows.
Those in the Bay Area smart enough to avoid that desert feather clusterfuck are to be rewarded this week with some mighty fine local and touring acts; musicians preferring to opt out of the chaos (or those that are simply stopping by on their way to the fest).
In that latter mix – bands dropping in before plopping down in the desert sun – a few ’90s big sellers and underground giants of the same era are indeed here this week, but their shows are, naturally, already long sold-out or too damn near it to call (Jeff Mangum, Mazzy Star, Radiohead, fIREHOSE). But if you already have tickets, mazel tov!
With that, I present your must-see (and might actually have the chance to catch) Bay Area concerts this week/end: Emily Jane White The gloomy finger-picking folk songstress just returned from a tour with fellow local Jolie Holland (the two kicked it off during Noise Pop with an enchanting night at the Swedish American); and she’ll likely play new tunes of her equally enchanting new release, Ode To Sentience, out June 12 on Antenna Farm. With Foxtails Brigade, Paula Frazer Wed/11, 9:30pm, $10 Cafe Du Nord 2170 Market, SF (415) 861-5016 www.cafedunord.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-fJcO52LFw
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. (Ben Richardson) With Havok Wed/11, 7:30 p.m., $25 DNA Lounge 375 11th St., SF 415-626-2532 www.dnalounge.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oRsw1wuhaA
Trust, with Blood Orange Buoyed by rolling dark wave synth, pulsating ’80s beats, and danceable rhythm, Trust’s debut full-length, TRST, is both beautiful and eerie – much like the music of Toronto contemporary Austra (which shares member Maya Postepski). The band opens for that soulful burst of flavor, Blood Orange (aka Lightspeed Champion, aka Dev Hynes). Thu/12, 9:30pm, $12 Rickshaw Stop 155 Fell, SF (415) 861-2011 www.rickshawstop.com Trust http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tc1xj7Nblc Blood Orange http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18ew9nwn1HY
Festival of Resistance Psychedelic farmageddon witchcraft act Future Twin (also a featured On the Rise band), Apogee Sound Club, Black Swans, and the Rabbles play this daytime benefit for the 99 Cent Print Committee – a group of writers, musicians, and artists who support activism through print. While a good cause, it’s also your last chance to see Future Twin for the next few months as it’s about to embark on a national tour. Sat/14, 3-8pm, $5-$10 El Rio 3158 Mission, SF (415) 282-3325 www.elriosf.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFH4Ehi74d0
Art Beat Bazaar Presented by the nonprofit Art Beat Foundation, it’s a pop-up indie craft mart set to the twist-worthy ’60s beat of Francophone Brooklyn-based pop act Les Sans Culottes (“Allo Allo”), and local all-girl garage rock band Female Trouble. Sun/15, 3-7pm, free Starry Plough 3101 Shattuck, Berk. (510) 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fb5uxIWPfg
Ximena Sariñana Sariñana is a sweetly-piped, Mexican singer-songwriter who bounces between exuberant youthful pop and crisp jazz standards. She made a handful of those requisite SXSW who-to-know-now lists in various pop culture publications this year – and for good reason. Sun/15, 8:30pm, $18 New Parish 579 18th St., Oakl. (510) 444-7474 www.thenewparish.com
Those sleazy, salacious scumdogs of the universe in GWAR wasted no time in unleashing their riotous brand of musical mayhem on Friday night before a packed audience at the Regency Ballroom, with fake blood spraying and splattering the audience as quickly as the first notes came screaming out of the amplifiers.
Singer Oderus Urungus strode out onto the stage wearing his usual wardrobe of outrageously oversized armor and tattered fishnets. While the rest of the band began taking their positions, the band leader and a cloaked figure began miming to the first hapless victim of the impending carnival of carnage, a creature holding a document that read “Deed To The Castle.”
With loud encouragement from the audience — which had already been whipped into a frenzy from an excellent opening set by Bay Area favorites Ghoul — a sword was produced, and with a mighty swing from Oderus, the blood started squirting from the decapitated freak, who ambled about the stage, drenching everything and everybody, as GWAR launched into its first song.
From then on, it was the always entertaining live show from GWAR that fans have come to expect after more than 25 years of trashing venues and leaving concertgoers covered in every manner of fake bodily fluid imaginable — some kids even wore homemade shirts, taking a plain white tee, writing the words “GWAR 4/6/12” in pen, and coming out with a custom gory tie dye job and beaming smiles.
The only people who didn’t look like they were having a blast were, of course, the helpless security guards in front of the stage, who were all wearing rain gear, and had to deal with untold gallons of fake blood raining down on them in addition to the crowd surfing kids coming over the barricades, and the passed out girl who had to be carried out from the front barely five minutes into the set.
The theatrical terror ended its regular set with the signature sing-along song, “Sick Of You” before coming back out for an encore that paid tribute to departed bandmate, Corey Smoot, aka Flattus Maximus, who died last November while on tour with the group (GWAR had to cancel its last scheduled Bay Appearance as it fell during Smoot’s memorial service).
With Smoot’s custom Schecter guitar placed upon the top of an amp stack, lit by a white spotlight, Dave Brockie — aka Oderus — introduced the last song, “The Road Behind,” by telling the crowd that one of GWAR’s members was called back to the home planet.
Amid all of the prosthetic pandemonium and controlled chaos, it was probably the most appropriate way to deal with their grief, and to honor a real human being, friend, and bandmate. Seeing Smoot’s guitar sitting alone, while the surviving members of the group performed around it, actually made for a touching moment, something that has to be an exceedingly rare event in the sordid history of the band — but yet another example of how GWAR is still the best at what it does.
Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.
Love Songs, a long-running SF band with high-five worthy metal riffs, is party punk at its funnest. Here, the wailing guitars meet lead singer Craig Ums’ (also of What Happens Next?) classic pop punk holler a la Descendents’ Milo with a mildly Jello Biafra-ish flair for live theatrics.
The whole package is loud, spazzy skate-the-pool, fuck-the-rules backyard/basement thrills (see: “Thrillhouse” lyrics “We belong in the basement”). See also: the band’s 2007 seven-inch single “Hot Buns,” said to be the “sequel to the theme of the sequel to Top Gun.” See? It’s long been destined for good things.
And yet Love Songs has had a sparse couple of years (with guitarist Jackson splitting, and the band playing just a few shows in in 2011). But it’s back, with a brand new addition, (Frank, who they describe as “a shredder and a super nice guy”) and ready to split open the Knockout tonight. It should be a night of firsts: the unveiling of the formidable Frank, the first time you read this column and head directly to a bar, perhaps your first ice cream sandwich of the week? I don’t know you, I don’t know what you’re getting into.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0hF6g6awPI
Year and location of origin: Born in 1999 on unincorporated land in the hills separating the east bay from even east-er bay. Also, down the street from Jason Newstead.
Band name origin: Why not just warn people out of the gates that they’re about to get motherfucking lite-rocked?
Band motto: Hard and soft.
Description of sound in 10 words or less: We dig bands starting with D – Descendents, Dickies, Damned, DEVO…
Most recent release: Time Off – a 5-song EP with lots of guitar solos but fewer scatological references than usual. Available through www.thelovesongs.com.
Best part about life as a Bay Area band: We’re in good company and there are always shows to play/go to.
Worst part about life as a Bay Area band: Having to compete with so many good shows all the time.
First album ever purchased: Midnight Star No Parking On My Dancefloor.
Most recent album purchased/downloaded: Weird Al Yankovic Alpocalypse.
Favorite local eatery and dish: Zachary’s deep dish pizza with jalapenos and pineapple.
Right out of the gate, late ’90s San Diego post-hardcore supergroup Hot Snakes kicked off its reunion show at Bottom of the Hill Friday with “I Hate the Kids” (Suicide Invoice, 2002).
The chant-able anthem (“I hate the kids/I hate the kids”) roared with the group’s likable energy and set the tone for a crystalline night of electrifying fan favorites. (And the show was packed and sweaty with a very specific type of fan in fact, but I’ll get to that later.) The hour-and-some-change set thundered, roared, and titillated.
It felt like the band never left. Though it dispersed in 2005, Hot Snakes’ founding members — thrilling, quick-fingered guitarist John Reis and smokers holler expert/lead vocalist-guitarist Rick Froberg, both formerly of Drive Like Jehu — have continued steady careers in underground acts like the Night Marchers and Obits, and this is likely why the band sounded so tight, so pre-expiration date meaty fresh.
It left many in the crowd wondering, ‘”where are the new bands like this today?” Where is all the restless, shouting pain matched with unquestionable musicianship now? And how does Froberg not lose his voice after every show?
There were many explosive moments, perhaps too many to recall. Particular standouts of absolute shred and matching audience reaction include “Braintrust” and “LAX.” After quickly ripping through tracks off 2000’s Automatic Midnight (“No Hands” stood out) Suicide Invoice, and Audit in Progress (2004) — with in-between banter kept to a bare minimum — the quartet, which switched out drummers mid-set, ended the official pre-encore set with another killer chant-along, “Plenty for All” (off Audit in Progress).
During that pre-encore finale, the cheery guitar line mixed with reminiscent, tongue-in-cheek lyrics of Southern California glitter and jabs at all-that-glitters-is-not-gold consumerism left a crowd of relocators (*that’s what this particular fan group felt like to me, 25-45-year-old Southern California transplants to the Bay Area, of varying degrees of cool, rockabilly, punk, still living for the thrill of live fast rock’n’roll) singing another ode to days of yore: “Southern California/Let’s go!/There’s room for us all.” And it felt like home.
This week, most of the crucial shows are hella local (as is that faux pas slang). What can you do? We’re all cogs in the Bay Area machine. And we happen to have a lot of impressive musicians within spitting distance. There are cheap shows spread across the hyper-local map starring Religious Girls, French Cassettes, Midnite Snaxxx, Thee Oh Sees, and Il Gato.
A few non-locals made the list too, we can’t all be #based here, of course – where would the fun be in that? Visiting out-of-towners Polyphonic Spree, Caroline Chocolate Drops, and more, remind us that bands like to tour here too. Give them your hard-earned cash to support the ubiquitous hard-wrought traveling musician travails.
Here are your must-see Bay Area concerts this week/end:
Polyphonic Spree Reach for the light with the colorful, cultish goodness of joy-poppers Polyphonic Spree, still spreading that spaced out cheer. With New Fumes Tue/3, 8pm, $20. Great American Music Hall 859 O’Farrell, SF www.slimspresents.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHJo_klmPcA
Il Gato Baroque pop excellence returns — for those playing along at home, Il Gato graced the cover of the Guardian’s fall preview way back in 2011. Now the band is hard at work on its next album, and it recently set up a Kickstarter campaign to help ease the costs. With Passenger & Pilot, Red Weather, Drew Victor Thu/5, 8pm, $10 Cafe Du Nord 2170 Market, SF (415) 861-5016 www.cafedunord.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvquZoRE5hY
Religious Girls, Mister Loveless, B Hamilton, French Cassettes Not only are these all delectable Oakland acts (save for French Cassettes: SF) – including returning GOLDIES champs/tribal percussionists/weirdo synthsters Religious Girls – but this show is an Art Murmur freebie. Show up early to catch all the acts, and remember to tip your bartenders. Fri/6, 6pm, free Uptown 1928 Telegraph, Oakl. (510) 451-8100 www.uptownnightclub.com
Thrones Thrones is just one dude: Seattle’s Joe Preston, the metal-grinding doom bassist/Moog-enthusiast who’s spent time on tastemaker labels Kill Rock Stars and Southern Lord, and played alongside Earth, the Melvins, and High on Fire. With Helms Alee, Grayceon Fri/6, 9:30pm, $10 Hemlock 1131 Polk, SF (415) 923-0923 www.hemlocktavern.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XacI2AknauM
ALL THE CHILDREN SING: Adobe Books Benefit Concert with Thee Oh Sees Psych-garage rock experts/locals Thee Oh Sees swoop in to support Adobe Books — the event is a fundraiser for the beloved shop suffering an imminent rent increase. The benefit also includes more real live rockers, a silent art auction, and stand-up comedy by local comedians George Chen (whose own experimental noise band, Chen Santa Maria, plays Bottom of the Hill Mon/9) and Anna Seregina. With Sonny and the Sunsets, the Mallard Sat/7, 8:30pm, $10-$20 sliding scale Lab 2948 16th St., SF Facebook: All The Children Sing adobebooksbackroomgallery.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1bHddYhtDw
Carolina Chocolate Drops This Grammy Award-having old-time string band from North Carolina just released its seventh joyous, foot-stomping blues album (Leaving Eden) and has a song (“Daughter’s Lament”) on the lauded Hunger Games soundtrack. Sat/7, 8pm, $20 Slim’s 333 11th St., SF (415) 255-0333 www.slimspresents.com Check this killer banjo-and-fiddle cover of Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ‘Em Up Style” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKTXJUYiAT4
Bear in Heaven “In the kaleidoscopic video for the album’s charming lead single, “The Reflection of You,” cameras zoom in and out on [Jon] Philpot, guitarist Adam Wills, and drummer Joe Stickney at a rapid pace as strobe lights flash beneath them. It’s a hyper-stimulating, entirely accurate depiction of the band’s sound; once the rollercoaster ride is over, you can think of nothing but jumping back in line and doing it all over again.” (Frances Capell). See Frances’ full story in this week’s issue. With Blouse, Doldrums Sun/8, 8pm, $15 Independent 628 Divisadero, SF (415) 771-1421 www.theindependentsf.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjW5rkXiQdc
Midnite Snaxxx Oakland’s favorite punky, lo-fi garage rockers, Midnite Snaxx — featuring Trashwomen’s Tina Lucchesi, and the Guardian’s Dulcinea Gonzalez, formerly of Loudmouths — return to the cavernous inner Knockout sanctum. With White Murder, Glitz Sun/8, 9pm Knockout 3223 Mission, SF (415) 550-6994 www.theknockoutsf.com
The elusive Jeff Mangum – he of reverentially adored experimental folk act Neutral Milk Hotel – rarely tours. This, compounded by his strangely personal and dream-provoking lyrics, has caused a boiling fervor over the singer-songwriter that’s rarely seen outside of Morrissey and teen pop stars.
In a recent AV Club article (that also mentions Morrissey and teen pop stars), an author who is somewhat lukewarm on the band, but nonetheless attends a show on this recent tour – to see what all the fuss is about – describes NMH fans as believing the band’s 1998 album Aeroplane Over the Sea is “the sacred masterpiece or apex of ’90s indie-rock” (For the record, it’s both, thanks.)
For the counterpoint, the other author in the article sums up the obsession from the start: “This Jeff Mangum tour wasn’t meant for you, the casual fan. It was meant for the diehards who snapped up all the tickets immediately when they went on sale, who fell deeply in love with a record over the years and never thought they’d get the chance to see any of its songs performed live, because its creator was notoriously reticent about performing.”
That said, Mangum has had a double set of shows locked down at the Fox Theater for months now, and yes, most of those tickets are now snapped up (see Picks this week).
And yet, as of this morning, there is a brand new show added to this tour: this Sunday, April 8 at Great American Music Hall. Tickets go on sale today(Mon/2) at 3pm. That’s right, after all that waiting, all that obsessed fan countdown, you’ll now also have the chance to see him in San Francisco proper, at a stunning venue half the size.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1irjRAvy9c
Jeff Mangum With Andrew, Scott & Laura (members of Elf Power & The Gerbils) Sun/8, 8pm, $36 Great American Music Hall 859 O’Farrell, SF (415) 885-0750 www.gamhtickets.com
This one will bring together most of the city’s most colorful nightlife characters — its presented by the infamous Peaches Christ, and includes music by Hard French and Stay Gold DJs (also Bunnystyle and davO) and appearances by Some Thing queens VivvyAnne ForeverMore and Glamamore. Double Duchess nuts!
Sometimes being a nightlife writer feels like getting stranded on Techno Dude Island. Not always cuuute. So when I got wind that the classic Sisterz of the Underground hip-hop party crew was hitting the Bay for a huge 10-year anniversary celebration Sat/31 including a party at Public Works and a day of tech workshops and empowerment talks at CellSpace, I jumped on the chance for a breath of fresh female airand an indepth talk with folks who inspired me back in the day to try a few dance floor moves I probably shouldn’t have.
SOTU founder Sarah “Smalls” McCann, creative director Traci P, and organizer Crykit moved away from the Bay a little while ago (and the groundbreaking in-school hip-hop education program they started, Def Ed, is currently in hibernation mode), but the international Sisterz of the Underground network they helped establish is still thriving and inspiring women to discover and transmit the roots of hip-hop dance, art, music, creativity, and culture. The 10th anniversary party reflects that all-encompassing approach with live music from Kid Sister, DJ Shortee, Green B, Jeanine da Feen, and tons more, plus a 1-on-1 dance battle, art and vendor fair, live painting, nail booth… It’ll be a much-needed femme attack in this age of War on Women, hip-hop style acrimony, and the mainstreaming of street spirit.
I communicated with the trio over email in anticipation of their return, and got not only the trademark Sisterz blend of energy, outspokenness, and positivity, but some juicy tidbits about Bay hip-hop history, the current state of rap and dance, and the ladies’ current doings as well. Check it.
SISTERZ OF THE UNDERGROUND 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
SFBGIt’s been a minute since you’ve been on my radar. Can you introduce yourself and tell us what’s going on with y’all now?
TRACI P I moved to Las Vegas a little over a year and a half ago after an almost decade stint in San Francisco throwing events and creative directing the Sisterz of the Underground. Currently I am the managing partner of RAW Entertainment (www.raw-e.com) which is both a booking agency and event production company based here in Sin City. I book for a variety of artists, like BReal of Cypress Hill, two-time DMC champ DJ SHIFTEE, and NYC club and fashion DJ Roxy Cottontail. Aside from artist bookings I continue to produce local events here in Vegas as well as a monthly in San Francisco called Femme Fatale at John Colins, every second Thursday — it features an all-female lineup and highlights music, fashion, and art. The next one is Thu., April 12, and will feature live painting, a guest performer and a dubstep DJ line-up including Lotus Drops, Sculltrain and Smashletooth. I also write music interviews for Thrasher Magazine, mostly about hip-hop and rap artists.
SARAH “SMALLS” MCCANN I’m the founder of SOTU and also a B-girl in the Extra Credit Kru. After years of being in the Bay and running SOTU and Def Ed, our hip-hop education program, I moved down to Los Angeles at the end of 2006. Since then, most of my experience has been selling events at various venues including House of Blues Hollywood and Jillian’s Universal. Currently, I’m the marketing sales manager at Pacific Park, the amusement park at the Santa Monica pier while also being a partner in Clique Events Society and a board member for the tour and travel marketing association of Southern California.
On the side of all of that, I also run an entertainment company with my husband, B-boy Machine, called Hit the Floor Productions (www.hitthefloorproductions.com), help direct our in-house dance company, West Bound, and manage Bboy Machine as an artist. When I’m not busy being the business guru that I am, I’m still just a hip-hop head and a die-hard B-girl with Extra Credit Kru! However at this present moment, I’m not breaking as i’m almost 8 months pregnant with my first child!
CRYKIT Hey hey! I’m Michelle, aka Crykit, aka Miss Crix 🙂 I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, moved to the Bay Area in 2000, LA in 2010, and currently in Las Vegas since 2011. I started DJing, popping, and breaking in 2002. The rave scene of 98-02 is really where it all began for me. For the last eight years B-girling has been my main focus. I’ve been a member of Extra Credit Kru since day one and with this crew of amazing talented inspiring ladies we’ve taught in schools and studios, entered hundreds of battles, performed at some pretty epic events, been featured in music videos and short films, traveled nationally and internationally
When I moved to LA I manifested what originally was an idea for a hip fashion line with the perfect balance of masculine and feminine HAPPY MEDIUM, into a dancy DJ duo that encompasses everything from dance to art to fashion to music. My partner in crime is a funky stylin’ B-girl I met back in the Bay: Faye aka 13 Moons. (She is DJing the 1-on-1 female dance battle at our Public Works party.)
SFBGYou must have a lot of memories of SOTU — how did it all come together and what stands out for you most from the past decade?
TRACI P Sarah’s the founder, but I can tell you a bit about how I started with the collective. I moved to San Francisco when I was 19 after leaving UC Davis. Having decided to take an alternate educational path towards my ultimate goal of working in the music industry, I decided to intern at as many record companies and entertainment-oriented entities I could. This included Bomb Hip Hop, Look Records, Live Up Records, and Quannum Records. A boyfriend of mine at the time introduced me to Sarah. I loved the idea of women in the music industry and hip-hop, and felt an overwhelming sense of welcome and support in the collective. I pushed Sarah to let me do whatever she needed and learn more about how she produced events and operated. I started coming in everyday. I had such a respect for her vision, dedication, and the energy she put into making this collective so visible and tangible for women all around the globe. From then on she became a mentor to me. Both she and the Sisterz of the Underground changed my life forever.
SMALLS Well, this is always a long answer for me, as even though I’m pregnant with my first child, I always saw SOTU as my real first child. This all started back in 2000 when I was approached by the owner of the Justice League (now the Independent) about doing a hip-hop event at the venue. I was super inspired by two females in my life at that time: Arouz, a female graff artist, and Inchant, a female MC. i thought it would be super dope to produce an all-female hip-hop event that included all elements of hip-hop (MCing, breaking, graffiti, DJing, beatboxing, etc.). I spent about a month scouting talent from all over and found B-girls from UC Berkeley, Syndel from old dominion, and many more. I asked Medusa to be the headliner and threw a show on January 18, 2001 called Sisterz of the Underground. The show had over 600 attendees and was a huge success! After the show, everyone was asking me who is Sisterz of the Underground… Well, I was in college at the time and didn’t really have any plans for who or what was SOTU. I decided to ask the girls involved if they were interested in forming a collective where women could comfortably express themselves, come together to share, and put on shows.
After a few more successful shows in the Bay, I decided to organize a group of us to teach at a young women’s conference. At this time, we really didn’t know what we were doing, but we knew we had something to share. From that conference, we were contacted by two all girl groups to come and teach at their center. Well, the year was filled with many shows and many workshops and soon we were voted “Best Hip-Hop Monthly of the Year” in the Guardian and we created a hip-hop education program called Def Ed. Def Ed became such a success and grew into a program that was eventually serving over 3,000 youth a year and existing in 6 counties of the Bay Area.
It’s hard to pinpoint my favorite point of SOTU, but I have to say that my life wouldn’t be the same without it and i would not be the woman that I am without all of my Sisterz that I have met along the way.
CRYKIT I first found out about SOTU at an all girl weekly dance practice at Dance Mission around 2002. There I felt supported in learning all about the culture and its elements. I would sketch in a black book, create stencils, DJ parties, pop, break, freestyle in the car on battle road trips, hahaha. It just sort of became a part of me, a lifestyle. I’m so grateful to have had a collective of such eclectic, empowering, talented women to grow as an artist with, to jump in a cypher with, to create a mix tape with… And most of these women are like super hero goddesses LOL.. Nurses, firefighters, neuroscientists, designers, massage therapists, business owners… the list goes on and on.
My favorite story I guess would be connecting with and building friendships with girls from other countries like Sweden, Germany, and India through SOTU! It’s so cool the network and community has spread globally.
SFBG The lineup for this party at Public Works is absolutely insane! It really brings together some true female talent. With female MCs like Nicki, Azealia Banks, and Iggy Azalea all over, do you have any thoughts about the state of females in hip-hop right now? TRACI P Thank you first off for the compliment, that’s endearing! As far as the state of females in hip-hop, I would like to start by saying that hip-hop in general is in a state of transition as is the music industry as a whole. As the landscape of popular music shifts more and more to being influenced by electronic music, I think that hip-hop as well is starting to play into this trend. Nicki Minaj is a great rapper but some of her songs are SO far from rap or even hip hop. “Starships,” enough said. Iggy Azalea has got a lot of style and I am interested to see where she goes but I am not so confident in her skills as a lyricist.
Then there are one hitters like Kreayshawn whose success can be attributed to the beat of ‘Gucci Gucci’ being along a electronic-dubstep style as well as her look being right for the time. There is less and less attention paid to substance and more to image and look. Half of these girls can’t even perform live and are in a sense disposable because they have no stage presence. Just a pretty face with flashly clothes and jewelry. Then you have these record labels and agencies making it worse because the industry is so in the toilet that the SECOND they smell a lick of talent, they come along, swoop them up, charge ridiculous amounts of money to promoters, the artist never fully develops before being fed to the sharks, and ultimately fails!
But then you have girls like KID SISTER and MIA who steady hold it down. They have their own style and do a good job of incorporating current trends as well as keeping true to themselves and having a voice instead of being a puppet. I’m forever a student, however, and am interested in what’s to come in the music industry.
And the female DJ should also not be forgotten. As is evident in our line-up we respect all elements of hip-hop and the DJ is no exception. I feel as though the past few years have given rise to a great window of opportunity for female DJs and we’ve seen more and more emerge and tear it up! Living in Vegas I see a lot of plastic behind the decks but there are truly real women who can throw it down and rock a party and/or battle just as good as men, La Femme Deadly Venom for one, Pam the Funkstress, Spinderella, we have our own Crykit in Vegas killing clubs with style. It makes me happy to see this. SMALLS To be honest, I think hip-hop overall is ever changing and growing with different niches and styles that come through. As for females in hip-hop, we’ve definitely come a long way and are continuing to get out there and do our thing. If you look at the different eras of hip-hop, you’ll see how many female MCs were legends in their own right: MC Lyte, Roxanne Shante, Lil Kim, Raw Digga, Bahamadia, Nicki Minaj, the list goes on and on. I also think that female DJs have come along way and are continuing to show that they can rock just as hard or even harder than some male DJs. The thing that’s always been an issue for us women, or at least for me as a B-girl, was not wanting to be viewed as “just dope for a girl.” We want to be viewed as dope overall for our skill and not having anything to do with the fact that we may be a different sex.
CRYKIT I would like to hear better lyrical content in hip hop overall right now. I’m not really moved by too many female MCs at the moment. Wishing Missy Elliot did more, I feel like she can be true to herself but also bring it in at a commercial level. One thing I love about her is she always had real dancers in her videos.. she understands hip-hop as a whole and a community with all elements on display. I’m excited to bring Kid Sister to Public Works, I love her versatility, she sounds fresh on electro house tracks as well as hip-hop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOgLK4t-Rts
SFBGI feel like hip-hop in general in the Bay Area, while still lively, is slipping below the radar, on the down swing of a cycle — any thoughts about that?
TRACI P Hip-hop in the Bay is most def on a decline. It was once a mecca but is no longer a hub for new and exciting artists, unfortunately. I have a lot of friends in the rap and hip-hop industry here in the Bay Area whom I would NEVER discredit or whose music I would never put down but as a whole, but I haven’t seen much that’s exceptionally great coming from this sector of California as far as hip-hop is concerned. I would say that the RAP is still there but the hip hop is falling off. I would also like to take this time to say RIP to Special One of Conscious Daughters who hip-hop lost late last year.
SMALLS Unfortunately I don’t live up there anymore, but I have heard that the hip-hop scene has sort of died. Well, i can tell you that it’s not only in the Bay… it’s the same thing in LA. I remember places like the Justice League where you knew you were always going to find a sick hip-hop show whether it was Black Star or Wu-Tang and in LA going to Project Blowed every week. Now, you’re lucky if you can find a club that doesn’t have a dress code and won’t yell at the B-boys and B-girls for starting a cypher. I think this is one of the many reasons that we’ve tried to keep SOTU alive and always try to incorporate the true meaning of hip hop behind our events!
CRYKIT I would say the hip hop dance scene is still thriving in the Bay Area! There’s a lot of talented dancers from the Bay in videos, TV, movies. And currently there’s classes offered at studios like City Dance taught by dancers who have been in the scene for a long time and have learned from the OGs and originators. There are battles almost every weekend filled with high schoolers and up… So in that arena it is still thriving and is a genuine mecca for dancers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBjcW9rnjoE
SFBG I love that you’re having workshops during the day at CellSpace that cover both female empowerment and technical skills. Can you tell me a bit about what inspired you to turn the reunion into a true community event?
TRACI P Community is very important to us and key to the idea of empowerment. Obviously the nighttime events are geared toward adults, but we recognize the importance the youth has in shaping the world as a whole — and it’s always been important for us to reach out to the youth through hip-hop. We also founded a hip-hop education program called Def Ed years back, it is unfortunately no longer active, but we taught at many sites around the Bay and still have strong access to many of the kids around the area, it’s important that we maintain that connection.
Also, there is a lot more to the culture of hip-hop than just what you see on a stage or in a music video, the aspects of art, dance, production, and fashion are equally important. At a time when everything seems so fabricated it’s essential that people be exposed to the roots of music and the culture. It is our mission to teach and empower in any way possible. By having females host these workshops, you never know who might be inspired, because it’s not every day women are so praised in such a male dominated arena such as hip hop.
SMALLS This is easy: SOTU has always been about community, education, growth, expression, and hip-hop. This event marks more than 10 years strong as a female hip-hop collective and tying in all of these aspects was truly important to us. There’s no point in just putting on an event to make money (at least for us)….we wanted to produce an event that included the youth and our amazing sisterz sharing their knowledge along with a night time event to remember. We figured having workshops, battles, showcases, vendors, art galleries and all of the various things we are including in this event would show was SOTU has always been about — true hip-hop expression in an open environment that welcomes anyone and everyone!
Crykit SOTU events have always been community-based, that’s where we all began. I love that a part of the celebration is at Cellspace because that’s where we established our breaking practice eight years ago actually, almost a decade we’ve been working with them. It’s a piece of Bay Area dance history, and our practice is the longest-running established regular practice in the city of San Francisco. It’s always important to include the youth. We love the spirit, freedom, and creativity they bring!
SFBGCan I get a current top 5 from each of you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDo8Z-eoBiI
Traci P
MIA, “Bad Girls”
Slaughterhouse, “Hammer Dance”
Schoolboy Q, “Hands on the Wheel”
Joey Bada$$, “Survival Tactics”
J. Cole, “can’t get enough’’
Crykit
1. B.Bravo “Swing My Way” remix
2. Flying Lotus/ Thundercat “$200 TB”
3. Trina “Red Bottoms”
4. Mark Ronson “Animal” remix
5. Rye Rye & M.I.A “Sunshine”
Smalls
If I can twist this and get you my current top 5 reasons for still being a true hip hop head: 1. The feeling I get at a live show when everyone has their hands pumping in the air 2. The feeling I get jumping into a hot cypher where the DJ is killin’ it and everyone wants to get in 3. The feeling i get seeing the little girls of Extra Credit Kru enter a battle with us OGs 4. The feeling I get watching my hubby, B-boy machine, smoke someone on the dance floor 5. The feeling I get knowing that no matter how commercial hip-hop has become, that there’s still so many folks doing it right in the community
Minneapolis’s Howler paused midway between playing songs from its debut album, America Give Up, to take requests from the audience at the Hemlock Tavern Saturday night. There were a few out of nowhere shout-outs, like “White Rabbit,” but the majority of the suggestions were titles by the Strokes.
On hearing the two bands it’s an obvious comparison, although for Howler perhaps an increasingly tiresome one, especially since singer Jordan Gatesmith seemed bored with the selections and quickly returned to the regularly scheduled program, saying “We’ll just play it safe tonight.”
The irony, though, was that if someone wanted to hear the Strokes’ “The Modern Age,” Howler’s opening track of the night, “Wailing (Making Out)”, already came pretty damn close. These comparisons should be taken as complimentary, for as much as the band seems to be borrowing at this still early in its career — and I also pick up heavy touches of the Replacements* — its doing it well, whether in the restrained guitar work or Gatesmith’s deeply droll, resonant voice, that carries each song with crystal clear lyrics, even during a live performance.
Which wasn’t the case with New Jersey’s the Static Jacks, which, despite actually being the most energetic band of the night, seemed to have it directed in strange directions. I’d been a little puzzled watching the band set-up, spending as much time getting its gear in order as arranging some cardboard art with female caricatures, only to knock the pieces down and step on them once the performance began.
It was only later on that I found out the posters had some actual function, as the singer would occasionally pick up a board — with the word “Follow”, coinciding with the song “Into the Sun,” for instance — to apparently subtitle and highlight some generally muddled and indistinct vocals. *My request for “Bastards of Young” was also ignored.
Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.
The duo behind Bang Data has long been moving and shaking in the Bay Area music scene: MC Deuce Eclipse has worked with Oakland hip-hop act Zion I, while musician-producer Juan Manuel Caipo is engulfed in the local Latin alternative music scene.
So then it comes as a surprise to find that newest release, La Sopa, is actually Bang Data’s debut full-length. The album – which blends a hyper, thrilling mix of samba, hip-hop, and ska with Latin beats – was released digitally March 13, and the hard copy dropped today.
Perhaps even more thrilling – and totally fitting – the single “Bang Data” (also the band’s EP, Maldito Carnaval) was featured on pulse-quickening meth drama, Breaking Bad. To celebrate all this, after years of hard work, the band will play an album release party at Elbo Room this week. Get shaking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIuXmgesbUg
Year and location of origin: 2008 Bay Area.
Band name origin: It came from describing our sound: hard hitting music with a message. Band motto: Think out of the box. Description of sound in 10 words or less: Like a soup of styles – Latin, Alternative, Hip Hop, Afro Electro.
Instrumentation: Drums, Beats, Guitar, Synths, Trumpet, Bass, Vocals – it could be anything.
Most recent release:La Sopa.
Best part about life as a Bay Area band: Living in the Bay Area.
Worst part about life as a Bay Area band: Not enough spots for live music. First album ever purchased: Deuce: Fat Boys; Caipo: Cheap Trick at Budokan. Most recent album purchased/downloaded: Black Keys: El Camino & Canteca de Macao (Spain)
Favorite local eatery and dish: Deuce: Los Toros in the East Bay (Soup); Caipo: El Perol/Limon Rotisserrie (Lomo Saltado, Chicken).
Bang Data With Non Stop Bhangra Fri/30, 10pm, $10 Elbo Room 647 Valencia, SF (415) 552-7788 www.elbo.com
There couldn’t have been a better way to escape the dramatic, wet downpour the night of Sat/24 than to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the SF LGBT Community Center at the SF Design Center under the twinkling lights of a “gay Pah-ree” inspired party. (Never was “Paris” pronounced the clunky Anglo way, of course.)
There was amazing food, free-flowing booze, but best of all, crowds of beautiful, happy people, dressed in Parisian splendor (including stilt-walking Eiffel Towers a scruffy French poodle).
Everyone looked fabulous. Really fabulous! The entertainment included a song by the super sweet Honey Mahogany, surreal live decorations courtesy of a walking Matisse painting, a gorgeous half-nude contortionist, and, of course, a coterie of supportive politicians (including Mark Leno), raising their bubbly high to toast the Center on its birthday.
The Center eschewed long speeches to devote the evening to great dancing, beautiful drag performances, and those irresistible old school soul beats of DJ Carnita from Hard French, that lasted far into the evening.
While the Magnetic Fields’ newest album, Love at the Bottom of the Sea, recaptured the group’s love for synthesizers and electronics, Saturday night’s Fox Theater performance was a testament to the timeless quality of its stripped-down acoustic format.
Using a charming setup of mandolin, acoustic guitar, accordion, piano, and cello, the band burned through 25-plus songs from various points in its two decades-strong career. The first plucks of opener “I Die” quickly established Stephin Merritt’s morose rumble of a voice — which sounded just as drolly beautiful and unbelievably deep as it does on record — and quickly hushed the impressively diverse crowd populated with theater geeks, punk rockers, old-timers, and lovey-dovey hipster couples.
It didn’t take long for the band to begin tackling songs from its landmark 1999 album, 69 Love Songs. Tracks like “A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off” and “Busby Berkeley Dreams” elicited giddy responses amongst the audience and led to more than a few people lightly singing along. An unexpected treat came when Merritt took lead vocals on “Come Back From San Francisco,” a track that was sung by member Shirley Simms on the album.
Speaking of Simms, vocal duties were shared among her, Merritt, and Claudia Gonson all evening, which helped keep things lively and unpredictable. Just as Merritt had taken over for her on “Come Back From San Francisco,” Simms reciprocated with a rousing rendition of his “Fear of Trains,” from the country-influenced The Charm of the Highway Strip.
With such a big catalog to compose a setlist from, nearly every album was represented, from the baroque sounds of Realism (“You Must Be Out of Your Mind), to the noisy Distortion (“Drive On, Driver”) and early favorites like Distant Plastic Trees (“Tar-Heel Boy”). Arrangements of all of these were simple and elegant, and a real testament the talent and attention to detail of each member.
Merritt’s well-documented prickly personality shone through at times in agitated comments to the crowd about flash photography and unnecessary hooting and hollering. And, if basing an opinion strictly off of body language, it really seemed like he’d have rather been anywhere else than on stage all show. None of that took away from what was a wholly fun, engaging and heartwarming show, however, which even at a packed 90 minutes felt all too brief.
Lots of leading ladies in the music mix this week. These shows boast a punk legend/folk songstress, a female vocalist who inhabits the soul of animals, a girl-fronted ’60s Wall-of-Sound meets modern indie pop act (with a punch) – and yes, maybe even an underground famous dude or two.
There’s also the epic Rap Fest featuring Das Racist, and the Trash Art Bash, which pretty much sounds like the best mashup of all time: trash art, underground music, pizza. I wish I could include a reunited Hot Snakes at Bottom of the Hill, as that’s the show I’m most pumped for, but it sold out months ago, so it just seems cruel to suggest. Good luck with that one. And then there’s…well, you’ll just have to check out the rest. Here are your must-see Bay Area concerts this week/end:
Radiation City The sprightly Portland, Oreg.-based quintet will be playing cool ’60s girl group inspired jams off last year’s The Hands That Take You and recently released indie pop dream EP, Cool Nightmare. With Sea of Bees (see the print edition for the Pick on Sea of Bees) Weds/28, 8 p.m., $10 Rickshaw Stop 155 Fell, SF (415) 861-2011 www.rickshawstop.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT8itwSlFx4
Penelope Houston Avengers singer and longtime solo lyricist in her own right, Penelope Houston returns this week to celebrate the release of seventh studio album, On Market Street, packed with lilting folk gems, and “tales of revenge and forgiveness, of love both sanctified and illicit.” With Prairiedog, Carletta Sue Kay Thurs/29, 8:30 p.m., $12 Cafe Du Nord 2170 Market, SF (415) 861-5016 www.cafedunord.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDek4vu2gg8
SF Rap Fest Featuring Das Racist No doubt about it, this is going to be a good one, a veritable who’s who of wordy Bay Area and beyond hip-hop. Obviously out-of-towners Das Racist will be there to shake things up, but also On the Rise alums Main Attrakionz, along with Friendzone, and Antwon & Shadow Runners, among others. Fri/30, 9 p.m., $20 103 Harriet, SF dasracistsf.eventbrite.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXmo0zsG3q0
Odessa Chen In an attempt to inhabit the spirit of different wild animals, Odessa Chen recorded her third album, Archives of the Natural World, in a remote cabin in Oregon’s National Forrest – what better way to get in touch with the mysteries of coexistence? The show is a benefit for NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). With Christopher Smith Sat/31, 7 p.m., $10-$20 First Unitarian 1187 Franklin, SF www.odessachen.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTDEDyuSjF4
Trash Art Bash Recycled, repurposed, and scavanged art by the likes of Winston Smith (Dead Kennedy’s collage artist) and more, along with live ukelele music by the gonzo Pineapple Princess, the Skirts, and Mad Mama Lopez, plus trashy rock’n’roll DJs. Get it: all trash, all night. And it’s at a pizza parlor-cum-dive bar. Sat/31, 7-11 p.m., free King Kong Bar @ Escape from NY Pizza 333 Bush, SF Facebook:Trash Art Bash
Chain & the Gang With a muffled scream here, a tambourine shake there, and a buzzing chainsaw guitar slicing through it all, Chain & the Gang is a testament to Ian Svenonius’s continuity, and his ongoing ability to scrap genres, culling the best bits of the past — Southern blues, working man shuffles, post-punk, and mod — for his own future perfect. With Neonates, the Smell Sun/1, 9 p.m., $9-$12 Brick and Mortar Music Hall 1710 Mission, SF (415) 800-8782 www.brickandmortarmusic.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zx1FjfOMAA
Hyperproductive fashion designer and revered fantasy engineer Jean Paul Gaultier was in town last week for the opening of a (very cool) retrospective of his work at the de Young. His nightlife stops included the Some Thing drag show at the Stud on Friday, a cruisy interlude at the Powerhouse on Saturday — and of course a lavish opening gala celebration at the de Young itself on Friday evening.
The fantastic function included an exposed “backstage” area where models were fitted into Gaultier pret-a-porter, primped, temporary-tattooed, and hairdressed with amazing sculptural headpieces by SF’s Glama-Rama salon, before trotting out onto a makeshift runway. Attendees — not all of them our city’s social page elite, btw — wore their most unusual outfits. (There were a lot of sailor stripes, man-skirts, and Gaultier looks from the past three decades.) Even the servers were decked out in handmade kaleidoscopic Krylon smocks by graffiti gallery 1:AM. Tunes from the gorgeous, killer-bobbed DJ started out retro-cute and fun, including JPG’s own 1990 dancefloor hit, “How To Do That” before devolving into the standard party jams of today, which certainly got the singles (cougars) in the crowd “puttin’ their hands up.” It was a blast.
Soon the raucous and always riveting Extra Action Marching Band took over, the flowing cocktails kicked in, and we drifted down to the exhibit itself, which includes eerie singing mannequins with projected faces beamed in directly from Uncanny Valley. (There’s even an interactive one of Gaultier himself, which supposedly answers questions, although I think the ambient noise levelof the gala confused it.)
The amassed collection of clothing and concepts, of course, was overwhelming in its creativity and development — although I could have done with a few more iconic items from the “Chic Rabbis” 1993 collection (personal preference!) and some more recent work, and perhaps a wee bit less emphasis on the infamous Madonna-cone bra connection. But I did tear up at the site of Gaultier’s childhood teddy bear preserved in a vitrine wearing, yes, a miniature cone bra prototype.
I think the most touching thing in the show, however, was a Polaroid by Andy Warhol, taken of the young and not quite hatched Gaultier at New York’s Area club in 1986. Gaultier is caught in a stairwell, a bit Joker-like in what looks to be a purple silk suit with a gold lozenge pattern and his trademark bleached blonde hair. It’s accompanied by Warhol’s famous quote, ““I think the way people dress today is a form of artistic expression. Saint Laurent, for instance, has made great art. Art lies in the way the whole outfit is put together. Take Jean Paul Gaultier. What he does is really art.”
Fresh off a slot headlining NPR’s South By Southwest showcase and an appearance on Conan the night before, Sharon Van Etten played an emotionally-charged set to a sold-out and receptive Independent crowd Wednesday night.
I walked in just as Philadelphia’s the War On Drugs was kicking off its set, which proved to be a satisfyingly loud, jammy, and psych-tinged counterpart to Van Etten’s more straightforward sound. Both big fans of the band’s 2011 album, Slave Ambient, my friend and I had expressed some pre-show concerns about how the songs would translate live, seeing as just how vital the hazy production seemed to be to that record. Turns out, there was nothing to worry about. Tracks like “Brothers,” “Come to the City” and “Your Love Is Calling My Name” sounded huge, capturing both the infectious Springsteen-esque melodies of leader Adam Granduciel and the thick layers of foggy synth and guitar effects perfectly.
Apparently unimpressed with the group’s unique hybrid of Americana and druggy shoegaze, a texting audience member right up front was repeatedly called out by Granduciel throughout the set, much to the amusement of the crowd. “Whatcha got on there, you reading the New York Post or something,” he said sarcastically. “Maybe you were looking up tabs for the song we were just playing, while we were playing it? Try learning this next one. I don’t think you can play it.” At one point, he called for the guy to count off the next song, which he did, quite enthusiastically at that, only to have not a single member of the band hit a note after he’d reached “4.” It was all a bit awkward, but pretty damn funny.
If The War On Drugs’ rapport with the crowd could be defined by those slightly surly exchanges, Sharon Van Etten’s was an entirely different animal. From the first moments, the show took on the feel of a casual conversation between Van Etten, her bandmates, and the audience; it was full of charmingly off-the-cuff moments and storytelling.
Entering the stage solo, she opened the set with an acoustic number before welcoming her band on stage and declaring, “Alright, now for the real shit.” Tracks from Tramp, her recent critically-acclaimed album, dominated much of the set, which, with the backing of her excellent band, sounded tight and as emotionally resonant as fans would have hoped.
Between songs, Van Etten’s personality shone through, conveying a really humbled sense of charm, wit, and affability. Clearly familiar with her New Jersey roots, a number of East Coast transplants in the crowd began shouting out neighborhoods and landmarks, which seemed to catch her off guard at first. Rather than ignore the somewhat banal references, however, this became a running thread throughout the show, as we were treated to bite-sized tidbits about the random places being yelled out, such as the bar where she smoked her first cigarette, the high school where her teenage boyfriend went (“He was really cool, and he had a car”) or the elementary school where her aunt worked as a substitute teacher.
As engaging as the loose back-and-forth banter was throughout the evening, the music was even better. Whether it was drifting by on the sparse “Kevin’s” or ratcheting up a few notches on melancholic rockers such as “Serpents,” Van Etten’s voice was the star of the show. As I watched her burn through a driving version of “Don’t Do It,” a highlight from her 2010 album, Epic, I was struck by how much more self-assured and professional she sounded than when I’d seen her at Bottom of the Hill just a year prior. In fact, the whole show seemed like a snapshot of a songwriter who is just beginning to feel comfortable in her own skin – which made me even more excited to see where she goes from here.
I felt a little bad about leaving one of my friends by himself, while I squeezed around snapping photos of Berlin’s Bonaparte last night at Public Works. He lives in Concord, works in a meat department, likes hunting and riding dirtbikes. Which is to say, our interests don’t necessarily overlap. He refers to the last show I took him to – Bear in Heaven at Rickshaw Stop – as “the Ron Burgandy band,” for obvious reasons that continue to elude me.
Bringing him to Bonaparte was partly a joke, in the same way we went to that vegan soul food restaurant (Ed. note – Souley Vegan) but I didn’t tell him until the last minute. Just to get a reaction. After Bonaparte’s first few songs I found him in the center of the crowd and checked in. “It’s kind of weird,” he said.
As far as understatements go, that one was adorably charming. While Bonaparte’s music is relatively straightforward, its performance is not. To start the show, Tobias Jundt ambled around the crowd in Public Works, wearing a faux-tribal pygmy* headdress straight off a SBTRKT album cover, eventually picking up his guitar as if it were a Coca-Cola bottle that fell from the sky or some other entirely foreign object.
When it came time to speak, he yelled one of the band’s catch phrases into the mic: “Are you ready to party with the Bone-a-party!” The crowd cheered, but not loud enough, and he gave it a few more shots. There was no real warm up band, so the cliche “I can’t hear you!” routine was probably appropriate, but in any case, that was the only contrivance of the night, as the band proceeded to follow surprise with shock throughout its set, supported by a revolving cast of characters including…well…that’s what pictures are for (see above gallery).
But don’t be misled, the theatrics weren’t there to distract from subpar music. These punks create eclectic, danceable rock that’s immediately catchy, particularly because Jundt has an ability to fuse familiar concepts with a fresh edge. “I wanna shoot my ego down,” he sang, and I copied those lyrics on paper, followed by the word “cover,” assuming it to be just that. But as far as I can tell (and I may be wrong,) the familiarity is just liberal bits of Hendrix and Wingfield, with some Freud slipped in to make an original classic.
The insane eye candy on stage (popping marshmallows, lollipops, and fruit into audience members’ mouths, stage diving unannounced, and inventing all sorts of new fetishes) during the show was mostly an extremely appreciated bonus.
On “Fly a Plane Into Me” – a desperately romantic kamikaze come-on of a song – the band kept the energy level way, way up, unaccompanied by the additional clowning, vamping circus members. Although, there probably wasn’t anything special or austere about that tune; it’s more likely that was an opportune time for rest of the crew to switch costumes, get the electrical tape pasties just right, and refill their mouths with fake blood.
*It wasn’t until after the show, seeing the diminutive rocker off stage, that the Napoleon connection – at least height-wise – made sense.
Ask the initially shy New Zealander Bachelorette how she makes music, and you’ll get a fascinating mouthful.
“Some of the stuff I make, it’s almost psychedelic disco, other times I think the music is quite folky,” she begins, “in that kind of computer-based way.” Pausing she then adds, “Lately people have asked me to describe the style and I describe it as computer folk. The computer is my folk instrument. It’s just me on stage and I have a couple of computers and samples and a guitar, a lot of sampling and looping live – I construct the songs differently every time I play, so there’s an element of improvisation.”
Recorded, at least on her self-titled LP released in 2011 on Drag City, the songs are at once soothing and eerie – Bachelorette (aka Annabel Alpers) lets her voice echo over pulsating synth just long enough to create alien unknowns, light-years beyond the realms of modern folk. In songs such as “Polarity Party” she could have slipped in the Drive soundtrack undetected, yet the very next track “Sugarbug,” which begins with the tinkling of a toy piano, would never have worked with all that ’80s-cool smoothness. Her voice subtly hits emotional high notes here, and the slowed-down-to-a-crawl procession of keys and solitary drum beats build to a shimmering crescendo. Then the album takes another turn with Velvet Undergroundian “The Last Boat’s Leaving.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU_lh7ZZKjM
This casual variety should be of no real surprise once Bachelorette’s background is examined. She grew up in NZ adoring the Beatles, then as a teenager began exploring the local underground scene, discovering bands on the Flying Nun label like Tall Dwarfs, also finding a lifelong love of atmospheric 1980s act Cocteau Twins and ’60s psychedelic music, Syd Barrett, and the Kinks. She joined a teen band called Hawaii 5-0 that was “very unambitious psychedelic surf pop.”
Then came a shift in theory. She earned a bachelor of music, majoring in composition and focused mainly on computer-based composition. “I enrolled so I could use computers because I had ideas I wanted to make using multitasking before I knew how to use them.” She then spent an honors year studying in Auckland.
“That’s where I started making music for Bachelorette,” she explains. “I got distracted when I was studying composition because we had to make this art music, I probably would’ve failed if I made pop music – I spent four years having to make pretentious academic art music.” Though she notes, “it was good training because it broke me out of my songwriting habits from bands before university. I ended up getting waylayed for four years then started making pop music again.” Bachelorette is slightly experimental but still has that pop sensibility, she says. Agreed.
She chose the name “Bachelorette” because of its simplicity and gender indication. And she just liked the way it looked when she it written on a piece of paper. “I thought the word written down suited the minimalist aesthetic [of my music] and of course it’s fitting because I’m a woman making music on my own.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE_2bJuSKbY
Lately, she’s been listening to a lot of folk music from China and parts of Africa. “I’ve never been any good at trying to replicate other sounds, I try to filter and turn it into my own thing. I imagine that listening to indigenous folk music would somehow influence my own music but it’s hard to say how.”
Now based out of New York when not out playing shows (though she still goes back to NZ every year), Bachelorette has been touring the U.S. since the start of 2010, with a brief touchdown in Baltimore last week to help a friend mix his own album. After that she’ll pick back up on tour with Magnetic Fields, which brings her to Oakland this Saturday.
“It’s really great playing to their audience because they’re a really great band with a great following. And it’s nice to play to new audiences.“
