Noise

Feminist dance pop: Q&A with MEN’s JD Samson

Tony Robles
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Feminist dance pop: Q&A with MEN’s JD Samson

Just as she did with Le Tigre, JD Samson blurs the lines between feminist theory and modern pop music with her most recent musical endeavor, MEN. The experimental art-pop band, which began in 2007, is a collective with fellow Le Tigren Johanna Fateman – among others – that’s as subversive as it is danceable.

The New York band is currently on tour with Brazil’s CSS – the road show hits SF tomorrow at the Fillmore – and to celebrate, the groups released a tour-only split 7″ vinyl called “We Are Friends.” Earlier this week, I got the rundown on MEN, trashed humanity on the Web, and the possibility of another JD’s lesbian calendar:

San Francisco Bay Guardian: Where did the idea for MEN originate? What was the original concept and how has that changed?
JD Samson: Well, that’s a complicated question because MEN’s original concept was a couple different concepts that kind of became enmeshed at a certain point. When Johanna and I started MEN as a remix/ production/ DJ/ Original music team. We kind of imagined that we wanted to continue making music together and wanted to make dance music. So we went for it. But then MEN combined with another project I was working on with Michael O’Neill, Emily Roysdon, and Ginger Brooks Takahashi. That project was called Hirsute and our concept was to creative an artist/music collective of people that came in and out of the project freely. I think both concepts show themselves at different points to us and work in harmony to give us what we want at any given time.
SFBG: Why name the band MEN?
JDS: The idea for the name came out of a feminist confidence boosting philosophy that Johanna was teaching me. If you are in a club and the promoter is being a dick, don’t apologize to them, or feel guilty for existing. what would a man do? at the time she was telling me this, we were asked for a name for the project and we decided to go with MEN.
SFBG: How did you hook up with CSS? Can you tell me a little about the tour split record?
JDS: I have known CSS for a while now. Luiza Sa and I are friends from NYC and I have hung out with the band several times at different festivals and stuff. Yhey asked us to go on tour and we were so so so excited and happy that they wanted us to support them. We had the idea for MEN and CSS to remix each other and to create a tour only 7 inch. Lovefoxx made one part of the artwork and I did the other. I’m super into how it turned outSFBG What is your song writing process like? Where do you most like to create?
SFBG What is your song writing process like?
JDS: Usually our song writing starts with a sample or a beat and then moves forward into a melody and then words get thrown down. Either words that were already written or words that the song feels like. Michael and I do it all together actually, which is a cool process. We love completely changing songs after we have sat with one idea and it isn’t feeling perfect. It’s fun to remix ourselves.
SFBG: Can you tell me about making the videos for “Off Our Backs” and “Who Am I To Feel So Free”
JDS: Well its important to us to be involved in the conceptual arena of our work at all times. I am also a visual artist and MEN prides itself on existing within an art community so it is important to us to go to any lengths for this. Bryce Kass directed the “Off Our Backs” video and created magic from an idea I came up with on a phone call to him. Techa Noble and Paola Maorabito from Sydney did an amazing job with both the concept and follow through for the “Who am I” video. I have known Techa for years and she does amazing work so it was a dream of mine to work with her
SFBG In some ways, it seems like MEN would appeal to a wide audience because, while the lyrics and ethos are about sexual liberation, the sound is upbeat, it’s danceable pop — would you agree? Was this intentional?
JDS: I think we hoped we could appeal to a large audience, yes. We had no idea what to expect, and honestly didn’t expect too much. We were just ourselves. So it was a great experiment. Unfortunately I would say that I think we are still much a part of the gay ghetto in a lot of ways.
SFBG: Conversely, I see a lot of disheartening misogyny and homophobia in the Web comments — how do you combat those?
JDS: Well I don’t read the web comments, but thanks for the heads up! Ha. No. Seriously it rolls off my back. I’ve been looking like this for a long time. I’m proud of that at least. But in terms of the Internet. people say fucked up shit. That’s just the deal with not having to look someone in the eye and say something shitty. It’s cowardly and it’s all about trying to get attention and trying to be as cruel as possible. The internet has done wonders in some ways, but literally trashed humanity in another.
SFBG: Is music itself liberating?
JDS: I think music is whatever you want it to be. it can be inspiring and at the same time completely oppressive. I feel so free with music, and my body, and I wish to create a space where everyone can feel safe to do so.
SFBBG: Who inspires you musically and otherwise?
JDS: Talking Heads, Tearist, Das Racist.
SFBG: Is Le Tigre writing songs or planning any future albums?
JDS: Nope, not at this time, sorry. Kathleen [Hanna] is doing Julie Ruin again, which is rad!
SFBG Will you ever do another ‘JD’s Lesbian Calendar’?
JDS: Hmmm. maybe. I hope. If I feel good enough about myself. Ha.

MEN
With CSS
Thurs/6, 8 p.m., $35
Fillmore
1805 Geary, SF
www.thefillmore.com

Who Am I to Feel So Free:

Live Shots: Dum Dum Girls/Crocodiles at the Great American Music Hall

Tony Robles
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The new Dum Dum Girls album, Only in Dreams, has left such an indelible impression on me, that I was surprised when the four-piece surf-garage band jumped into “Bhang Bhang, I’m a Burnout” for its second song last night at the Great American Music Hall. I’d all but forgotten about the song, a tune that I’d fallen in love with – hard – not more than a year prior when it appeared on the band’s debut, I Will Be. It was a welcome reminder, as was the rest of the set, of both its strong lo-fi past, and hard-earned rock future – those descriptors mostly applying to electrifying frontperson Dee Dee.

She looks like a rocker, in signature striped black tights (which I also spotted on at least two other females in the crowd) and black leather jacket, along with the fringe of black bangs. But it’s her style, her commanding voice, and quick snarls with squeezed shut eyes that solidify the role. In between Dee Dee’s husband’s set (he of the quite fun retro Jesus and Mary Chain-esque San Diego act Crocodiles), and the Dum Dums, the house spun ’60s girl groups chant-alongs, a good choice for the night’s entertainment. Once the Dum Dums appeared, a few males shouted flirtatious admiration. The non-stop talking duo of middle-aged white men in front of me seemed appreciative too, yet never lulled their own veryimportant chatter. I did the twist out of that section.

There were a few technical difficulties, problems with the rhythm guitar sound apparently, and extra-long tuning, but it hardly detracted from the main show. The Dum Dums play enjoyable music, period. It’s reminiscent of Leader of the Pack-girl gangers but has that great fuzzy garage guitar edge. It’s all I wanted as a teenage girl looking for something vintage-modern that spoke to me. I wanted the Switchblade Sisters in rock form. I just had to wait a decade.

The biggest moment of the night came at the very end during the the brief encore when the quartet returned to play Only in Dreams‘ echoing, rolling epic, “Coming Down.” The strength of Dee Dee’s voice when the song breaks and she hits  “here I go-o-o” rang through the Great American with raw power — the crowd cheered when she reached that high note. It was like exorcizing demons, or willfully falling down the rabbit hole. We were then left to fend for ourselves out in that cruel rainy abyss of the Tenderloin.

 

All photos by Chris Stevens.

Localized Appreesh: The Soft White Sixties

Tony Robles
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Localized Appreesh: The Soft White Sixties

Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

You know that feeling when you’re aware you’re hearing a song for the first time, yet it feels as though it’s always been there? It’s new-to-you but there’s something familiar, reassuring – it just works right, pinging back and forth through your ear drums and pulsating brain muscle. That’s how I felt when I first listened to the cool swagger of San Francisco’s the Soft White Sixties. The hard rocking quintet, formed by Mexican-American singer-songwriter Octavio Genera, has a real tight grip (full disclosure, “real tight  grip” is a lyric from SWS’s song “Too Late”) on classic Seventies rock’n’roll – with all the shoulder-shaking percussion, the bluesy rock riffs, and Genera’s soul-tinged Southern rock bravado.

The band had a pretty memorable year, performing with pals the Stone Foxes at Great American Music Hall during Noise Pop, hitting SXSW, touring the States, and at the start of summer, appearing at the Harmony Festival in Sonoma and the High Sierra Music Festival. Now summer is officially over, and the boys are back in town. Next up, a show at Bottom of the Hill tomorrow night.

Year and location of origin: 2008, the Haight.
Band name origin: Somebody had a bright idea
Band motto: “Wear it a lot, wash it a little”
Description of sound in 10 words or less: Rock ‘n’ roll, heavy on the roll, dipped in soul
Instrumentation: Guitar, keys, bass, drums, and vocals – and a runaway tambourine
Most recent release: self-titled EP (April 2011) – get it here.
Best part about life as a Bay Area band: The coastal fog and burritos
Worst part about life as a Bay Area band: Bridge tolls and parking tickets
First record/cassette tape/or CD ever purchased:
Octavio: Sound Effects Vol.1 (Track 25, “Car Starting” was a favorite).
Joey: Jodeci.
Ryan: Skid Row s/t (cassette), Wreckx N Effect Hard or Smooth (CD).
Aaron: Probably something like Enema of the State or Punk in Drublic.
Josh: The Simpsons Sing the Blues.
Most recent record/cassette tape/CD/or Mp3 purchased/borrowed from the Web:
Octavio: Black Girl (iTunes single Lenny Kravitz).
Joey: 100 classic French songs for $9.99.
Ryan: Wilco The Whole Love, Belle & Sebastian “The Blues Are Still Blue” iTunes single.
Aaron: Portugal. The Man – In the Mountain In the Cloud.
Josh: Blakroc
Favorite local eatery and dish: La Santeneca(3781 Mission St), best pupusas in the city.

The Soft White Sixties
With Mona and Funeral Party
Weds/5, 9 p.m., $12
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th St., SF
www.bottomofthehill.com

Beirut brings the county fair to the Fox

Tony Robles
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0

We teased you with the show mention in the Hangover column,  now here’s the goods:

With flickering string lights strung from the center of the grand ballroom and splayed out brass instruments across the stage, Beirut’s performance at the Fox Theater in Oakland on Saturday warmed liked a fancy indoor county fair. The sound, which can be bass-problematic at the Fox, was good this evening, near perfect for the otherworldly folk-marching band from Santa Fe. Ringleader Zach Condon switched back and forth from ukulele to his beloved trumpet, singing in deep baritone throughout, once stepping to his newly rediscovered favorite, the keys.

The setting was such that you could almost conjure a sea of couples waltzing in calico, Condon with a bolo-tie and trio of fiddles. However that was just a daydream while I waited in a very long line for the ladies room. In truth, hip couples were smashed against one another at the sold-out show, raising cups of beer and whooping for nearly every song, Condon wore his typical Communist-muted button-up and slacks, and sang backed by a trio of powerful horns — not fiddles — and a talented accordionist. As Condon pointed out via our conversation a few weeks back, “my accordion player can run circles around me blindfolded, so there’s kind of no point” (…in picking that up mid-performance in addition to all the other instruments he plays).

A few crowd-pleasers (excessive applause and energy): Gulag Orkestar‘s “Scenic World” and  “Postcards from Italy,” The Flying Club Cup‘s “A Sunday Smile,” the tuba-heavy, mariachi-oom-pah of “The Shrew.” The best moments of the night came when all horns would swell together, like the aforementioned Shrew. But those slow, melancholy songs were perked up by the shorter cuts off new album The Ripe Tide. A new favorite, and the first single off The Ripe Tide, “Santa Fe” garnered less of an enthusiastic response than I expected, though some hollers nonetheless. In a few years, it will gain even more claps. Though Condon did remark, “There must be a few Santa Feans here.” At least, I think that’s what he said, his few words were muffled in my corner of the room.

After a tight, hour-and-some-change-long set, the band returned, as expected, for a requisite encore (side note: can someone please explain to me why the encore has become so requisite?). After playing two songs they again retreated. This time, for the second encore, Condon came out on stage alone, holding just a uke, spotlit and beaming. This is, after all, where Beirut started. A man alone with his instrument. Really, pretty epic stuff. He knows how to work a crowd, but minus the schmaltz. While the songs sometimes hint maudlin, Condon maintains a cool-cucumber presence of stage.  After his moment alone, the rest of the band swarmed around him again and we were treated to a satisfying tuba solo.

True story: the next night, after Beirut played a far more intimate set at the Independent that I did not attend, the tuba player stood out on Divisadero blowing his horn at near midnight. I woke up from the sound, threw on a peacoat and slippers and hazily asked “where did you come from?” (It was the only sentence my deep sleep-addled brain could form.) He cocked an eyebrow and said “My mother’s uterus.” He, and a few stray musicians, then marched off to another corner, still playing.

The lights go on, the lights go off.

Note: I did not shoot this video, clearly, but I do love it:

The Hangover: Sept. 30-Oct. 2

Andrew Lam
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The Hangover: Sept. 30-Oct. 2

Jounce with us, if you will, through the Guardian staff’s frenzied weekend. Here’s our live reviews, hot raging, random sightings.

**The wonderfully energetic (and wonderfully tall) Robin Simmons puts on an occasional gig in the middle of Dolores Park called the Boombox Affair, hooking up a wall of old boomboxes as turntable speakers and letting disco-minded DJs go nuts with their all-vinyl obsessions. On Friday’s Odyssey party at Deco Lounge, he went indoors and at night hosting a three-hour set by DJ David Harness that reminded of those ancient “back in the day” days. Just 30-40 freaks, many of whom were previously unfamiliar to each other, jacking all night in the dark to some heavy tunes as the walls sweat and pounded. Hopefully the party will come back around soon. (Marke B.)

**I was not acquainted with the work of dOP before I attended Friday night’s Liaison Showcase at Public Works — the French techno trio has some excellent grooves and an absurdly over-the-top “sexy” aesthetic that would make their hits like “Horny” hilarious, if they weren’t actually very, very horny. Example: the chain-smoking boys are just fine wiggling around onstage half-naked, and the singer-rapper-screamer is one of the hottest little tattooed bear cubs I’ve ever seen. He spent most of the set playing with his nipples and shaking sweat from his shoulder hair. The crowd ate it up. (Marke B.)

**Saturday at the Warfield for Amon Tobin’s ISAM tour was like entering the 22nd century, except surrounded by young Pixar workers who couldn’t stop screaming, “Amaaazing!” everytime one of the realtime 3-D effects of the stage set was unveiled. Why? Because it really was amaaazing. Opener Eskmo did an entrancing job live-sampling cookware and plastic Coke bottles to build left-field grooves that weren’t afraid of floor-bending tempo changes. (Marke B.)

**With flickering string lights strung from the center of the grand ballroom and splayed out brass instruments across the stage, Beirut’s performance at the Fox Theater in Oakland on Saturday warmed like a fancy indoor county fair. The sound, which can be bass-problematic at the Fox, was good this evening, near perfect for the otherworldly folk-marching band from Santa Fe. Ringleader Zach Condon switched back and forth from ukulele to his beloved trumpet, singing in deep baritone throughout, once stepping to his newly rediscovered favorite, the keys. Here’s our interview with Condon from last week. (Emily Savage)

**What else is there to say about Saturday’s Hard French party besides the fact that Scott Weiner got to express his gratitude to us for his official Guardian ass towel? The queer patio shakefest at El Rio (theme: “Hardly Strictly French.” Overalls.) featured hand-wagging talents of many of the candidates for November’s city elections. Plus, Sups. Weiner and Jane Kim tagged along for the ride and they aren’t even running for anything. (Caitlin Donohue)

**The crowd at Odd Future’s show at the Warfield on Friday may have looked like Warped Tour cool kids, but you couldn’t fault them on their choice in music. The crew from Compton bug-eyed and jello-kneed through and generally crushed their set, although we were all out of their by 11 p.m. What Warfield, not into bands hurling their most enthusiastic devotees back into the crowds spine-first? Here’s the full review, btw. (Caitlin Donohue) 

**So we only made it to Sunday of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, but damn if that afternoon’s Devotchka set and red wine from the bottle wasn’t a welcome entree to sunny banjo strumming. Even the crowd itself was hotter than ever (where did all these surfer-hippie hotties come from and to whence have they now returned?) — and in contrast to Outside Lands’ frenzied crowds, filtered through the fenceless areas calmly and happily. Yay free concerts! Happy birthday, Mr. Hellman. (Caitlin Donohue)

Live Shots: Odd Future at the Warfield, 9/30/11

Andrew Lam
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3

Hello, and welcome to the worst concert photography post ever! Let me explain. Odd Future’s sold-out show at the Warfield on Friday was not a hip-hop show. Or it was – the group’s wordplay and Shaolin-esque mythological persona is pretty unimpeachable – but it was mainly a grimy, sweaty, hopped-up-on-youth punk show.

Odd Future presents the conscientious music conundrum: can one like a band whose lyrics are reprehensible? The crew from Compton is way more attractive than the Insane Clown Posse, but the milieu that they’ve conjured, complete with darkly nonsensical terminology and sheer, bounding disregard for niceties, strike similar notes.

The stage’s backdrop was a massive image the Golf Wang tour’s kitty mascot, introduced by the group as Sharkcat. 

“Look at Sharkcat’s eyes! Aren’t you scared?” The audience roared back, completely not scared by whatever the group had to offer. 

Odd Future’s songs focus on the going insane, violence, and getting head. The meat of the masses was young men dressed in the same sneaker, tee, and cutoffs look of the men onstage, but a large portion of the crowd at the Warfield was in fact, young women. They screamed along to every lyric and when Tyler the Creator, the group’s brave young leader, surged to their side of the stage, they rushed forward with elbows just as pointed as the ones their masculine counterparts were flinging side-to-side and backwards in the frenzied mosh pit that would usually resolve with a security guard roughly shoving a key instigator out the theater to sure doom and no-reentry on the twinkling mid-Market strip. 

“We really cater to the ladies,” Tyler snarked at one point, thanking the XX-chromosoned for braving the rough-and-tumble front rows. Or maybe he was serious – his washboard abs, unveiled midway through the show, winked knowingly at this being the case. 

And because of that, I’m real sorry that my photos suck. Consider them rather a homage to the general feeling of the show rather than literal documentation. They’re worth a look though, because the set kicked ass. Odd Future is real, real good. The group’s appeal to the skaters, the hip-hop kids, and the yelping R&B babies is the kind of connection that didn’t need that Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Show performance to cement itself — the artists are really artists, they’re deranged-sexy, and they’re bringing through a kind of hip-hop that has little to do with the consumerist posturing we see most of the time.

“I am not a fucking role role model!” one of the group members bellowed. Well, yeah. We didn’t think you were.

By the time the show ended (at 11 p.m.?! One wonders if the Warfield got nervous about the would-be stage climber the band flung the 15 feet back down into the crowd, spine first, just as he had ascended to the level of his beloved rap crew) one of Odd Future’s emcees was leading the crowd in their customary chant: “KILL PEOPLE BURN SHIT FUCK SCHOOL.” It’s all real ignorant, but looking at the kids around me I couldn’t help but be glad that they were here and not at an ICP show. 

And that conundrum? Consider it tabled for the moment. I think I was singing along. 

 

Jens Lekman, penguins, and choice words for Kirsten Dunst at the California Academy of Sciences

Tony Robles
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0
Jens Lekman, penguins, and choice words for Kirsten Dunst at the California Academy of Sciences

Last Thursday, two girls rushed to the front of the stage at the California Academy of Sciences, one visibly shaking with a mix of excitement and concern, her friend trying to calm her. They stood particularly near the stage in the thin crowd watching Geoffrey O’Connor, where otherwise only photographers dared to tread. After bouncing through a song, they turned to each other, then tentatively towards me. “This isn’t Jens Lekman yet, is it?” one asked. “No, not until 8:30,” I said, and she shook my shoulders as a sign of approval, before being pulled away by her friend, to skip off together back inside the Academy, presumably to have a few more cocktails and look at the penguins. (I can relate to the confusion, though, I’m a huge Kanye West fan, even though I have no idea what he looks or sounds like.)

O’Connor, of Australian band the Crayon Fields, in all likelihood took no notice. With his spindly body, pale skin, and (above all) accent, the confusion with fellow singer songwriter (and main attraction) Lekman probably happens all the time. But O’Connor seemed perfectly at home with an audience of polite people holding back. He switched from the mic to guitar over programmed beats, taking a moment here or there to lean against a speaker, striking a pose and looking directly into the cameras. During “Idle Lover” he left the stage, walking through the East Garden, to stand on a chair to finish his song, perched above a few party goers previously engaged in conversation. Above all he brought a certain nonplussed laconic humor. “This next song is my most apologetic,” he said. “It’s called ‘So Sorry.’” When he finished, the once reserved crowd reenacted the land grab scene from Far and Away (1992).

Lekman was unimposingly charming, able to make stage banter seem like choice b-sides and unfinished lyrics. Introducing “Waiting for Kirsten,” a new song off his great An Argument with Myself EP, the raconteur said, “The thing about Kirsten Dunst is, she said in an interview once that she liked my music…and I’ve been trying to not be too impressed by that.” The song details the actress’s failure to get into a club in Lekman’s homeland of Sweden. “In Gothenberg they don’t have VIP lines,” the chorus says, and Lekman went on to explain that “you won’t get in just because you have the right clothes, or a lot of money, or you made out with Spider-Man.” After a set of new material alongside older favorites, including a softer version of “Black Cab” and “The Opposite of Hallelujah” nicely mixed with a bit of The Chairmen of the Board’s “Give Me Just a Little More Time,” Lekman immediately went into two short encores, since he said the crowd was too thick to get offstage. When he finally did step down, a few excited fans made an arch with their arms for him to pass through. He went around.

Photo  by Stephen Ho.

The instruments of my life: Q&A with Beirut’s Zach Condon

Tony Robles
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1
The instruments of my life: Q&A with Beirut’s Zach Condon

Zach Condon, the pied piper of Beirut, is known for a great many things – his quavering voice and heart-tugging music (watch the new video for “Santa Fe” and try not to weep, I dare you), the global journeys on which he embarked to gain such a worldly sound, and, perhaps above all else, his skilled takes on an array of string and horn instruments. He employs their use to enable listeners an audio-vacation: the far corners of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, to the chateaus of French chansons, to his mariachi-filled hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

As Beirut’s two Bay Area shows this weekend (at the Fox Theater in Oakland and the Independent in SF) are very, very sold out, I’m assuming there are a few of you out there grasping tickets as you read this. And if not, there are always scalpers (note: we do not condone buying from scalpers).

In a phone call a few weeks back from his current home of Brooklyn, Condon gave me the rundown on the instruments of his life:

San Francisco Bay Guardian: What’s the first instrument you ever played?
Zach Condon: I have to be honest, even though it makes for a jarring twist in the story. It was actually a guitar. When me and my two brothers were really young, my dad bought us an electric guitar. A Peavey Raptor if I remember correctly – it’s kind of a generic Stratocaster or something? I don’t know, I really don’t know guitars very well. And then some sort of cheap amp for it. Then he signed us up for some lessons. And I just remember thinking distortion was really funny and interesting but hating the lessons that I was taking.
SFBG: Why weren’t you interested?
ZC: I guess I’ve always had some sort of problem with authority. But it also felt like I hadn’t chosen the instrument. My dad, it’s really great that he did that, but he was really intense about us learning to play an instrument because his grandfather was a multi-instrumentalist. My dad was an obsessive guitar player so it always felt like, oh I don’t want to do that, that’s what my dad does.
SFBG: So what was the first instrument that you chose?
ZC: That’s the funny part, I was also supposed to play saxophone, which is what [my dad] also played. My older brother and I signed up for band – this was probably about fifth grade – and I walked in the first day and they asked me what I was going to play. I said trumpet. I went home and told my parents some bullshit story about how they had too many saxophone players and they wanted a trumpet player. I don’t think they believed me but you know how when you’re a kid you kind of think that you got away with something? I think they were just like ‘well if he wants the instrument whatever, let’s just get him an instrument.’ They took me to a shop and I bought a pawn shop box student model trumpet That was an immediate love.
SFBG: What specific instruments did you play on 2006’s Gulag Orkestar?
ZC: I played my grandmother’s accordion. She had died three or four years before that, and I had asked my grandfather to send me all her instruments that he could pack, which ended up only being the accordion. But she also played bagpipes, piano, organ. She was a good singer too. So he sent me her accordion and I had it fixed up a little, and I had a better trumpet at that point. At this point the family had finally gotten a real piano in the house and I had first bought a ukulele a year before that. Just this really janky little soprano uke from a guitar shop. I bought it as a joke at first then I totally fell in love with it.
Outside of that I had some percussion that I’d assembled from friends and neighbors – weird things. I remember thinking at the time, if I’m going this route then I probably shouldn’t use a general rock drumkit. So I was collecting tambourines and little hand drums. My neighbor in Santa Fe had this really funny conga djembe drum, which ended up being the basis for most of the percussion that Jeremy Barnes didn’t play on the record. Every songs is like eight tracks of me hitting the conga drum and then a bunch of tambourines.
SFBG: And 2007’s The Flying Club Cup?
ZC: A bunch of the songs were written on this organ that someone had actually donated to me. There was a movie theater I worked at for quite a while, and I ended up developing a relationship with the people there. They were also attached to a theater that would have these weird traveling acts and there was this faux-circus cabaret act that had come through at some point and while they were there, they were taking this beautiful Farfisa organ which had broken down in Santa Fe and the guy just left it. They said, ‘if you can fix it, you can have it.’ I was able to fix it just enough. There are still notes on there that don’t work, so I had to write every song around certain notes, the entire album is almost in the same key. The rest was me picking up new brass instruments, phoneom and French horn, trying to open up on the brass front a little bit. And of course my grandmother’s accordion, although I bought a new one later that year from this mariachi shop, I don’t even remember the brand, because my accordion player can run circles around me blindfolded, so there’s kind of no point.
SFBG: Most recently, on The Rip Tide, what were some of the instruments you picked up for that?
ZC: Not so much picked up, but went back to. The main one there would be the piano. I actually bought my first piano –I’d never had one of my own. I bought this Yamaha upright from this guy in Jersey and I had it shipped to upstate New York where I was writing, and I just spent a lot of time with this piano, writing these loops and chord progressions and melodies. A lot of this was based on me hammering around on the piano until I felt like I was sufficient. There’s just something cool about the piano, being next to it, it just wraps you up like a warm blanket. It’s such a big instrument. When you start playing the big chords on it, the acoustics are so interesting.
SFBG: Which instrument stands out as the most important to you? Your grandma’s accordion?
ZC: To an extent yes, because it’s part of me writing songs. But I can’t help but feel like it was the trumpet that made me fall in love with writing and making music in the first place. As a kid it was the first instrument that I connected with. It was the first time I was proud of making a new note. There were a few false starts, between guitar and saxophone, it may never have happened if I hadn’t just randomly stumbled upon an instrument that immediately spoke to me.

Sat/1, sold out
Fox Theater
1807 Telegraph, Oakl.
www.thefoxoakland.com

Sun/2, sold out
The Independent
628 Divisadero, SF
www.theindependentsf.com

Hardly Strictly’s fresh blood

Tony Robles
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Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is a badge of San Francisco life. You move here and inevitably in your citywide journeys you’re part of a conversation debating the lineup of this unbelievably free, always-entertaining fall fest that takes in Golden Gate Park the first weekend of October each year.

It’s become a staple of the fall calendar, because well, the bands are good and we like our events free in this town. Now in its 11th year, there are still many new-to-HSB acts, along with the yearly frequenters Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Robert Earl Keen, and Ralph Stanley. Festival publicist Tracey Buck says there are at least half a dozen new local bands in 2011, and roughly 50 new touring acts.

Acquaint yourselves with a few from this year’s HSB freshman class. (Though keep in mind: they may be fresh blood at Hardly Strictly, but most have been at this whole music thing for quite some time.) The big weekend is pretty much here: Fri/30-Sun/2.

Locals:
Nell Robinson & Jim Nunally: Honky tonk at its finest. Robinson’s voice quavers like a modern-day Patsy Cline, on par with her contemporary (and fellow HSB performer) Emmylou Harris. Robinson lends her voice more to vintage sounds, than bending to current trends. It’s old time twang and classic country. (Sat/1, 6:05 p.m., Porch Stage)

The Devil Makes Three: One of the new locals that can rep the “bluegrass” marker of Hardly Strictly, Devil Makes Three plays a swinging mix of blues, rockabilly, ragtime, and yes, bluegrass. It’s roots American music with a hint of sinister mischief, all tattooed and bearded, whiskey-ed up toe-tapping fun. It’s been described as “dark bluegrass.”  Expect to hear tracks off the trio’s newest output, live album Stomp and Smash, which comes out Oct. 25. (Sun/2, 1:10 p.m., Arrow Stage)

Bob Mould: Can you believe it’s Bob Mould’s first Hardly Strictly appearance? With all his local appearances, prestige, and now current Bay Area address, we could have sworn we’d seem him there before. The former Husker Du and Sugar frontperson, and current globally-adored indie rock solo artist (and recent memoirist/Herbst Theater interviewee) even inspired a tribute concert – it goes down in Los Angeles in November with Ryan Adams and No Age among others. But first, the rocker will appear at HSB. Perhaps he’ll read a passage or two from his new book See A Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody. (Sun/2, 2 p.m., Towers of Gold Stage)

Nationals/Internationals:
Kurt Vile & the Violators: One of the festival’s always-welcome surprises. Who would have guessed that straggly Mr. Vile would be playing the same event as Merle Haggard ? But actually, it makes sense. He of jangly guitars and mumbly, hoarse vocals, Vile has said that he grew up inspired by vintage records and is vocally inspired by Townes Van Zandt and Gram Parsons The critically acclaimed rocker will likely be one of the event’s highlights this year. (Fri/1, 2:25 p.m., The Rooster Stage)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4-vvlkWE4Q

Thurston Moore: Catching Moore is a pretty big coup for festival organizers and goers alike. And his slot at HSB is well-earned. After years of beating guitars to a bloody pulp with Sonic Youth, he debuted the elegant, nearly all acoustic solo album, Demolished Thoughts, this year, produced by fellow luminary, Beck. I mean, the man was named one of Rolling Stones “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” – he can play his instrument damn well. (Fri/30, 5 p.m., Arrow Stage)

Broken Social Scene: While it’s Broken Social Scene’s first time at HSB, it may also be its last, at least for the time being. Following the Canadian indie (super)group’s highly anticipated show at the Fillmore on Oct. 1 (i.e. a few hours after its Hardly Strictly appearance), the massive act will go on indefinite hiatus. Here’s your chance to catch it in the fog-hampered sunshine, free of cost. (Sat/1, 3:25 p.m., Towers of Gold)

Chamber hip-hop opera ‘Great Integration’ returns with a second act

Tony Robles
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Perhaps you’ve seen the billboard on your daily Bay Bridge commute: simple white background, a hand with two fingers pressed together, and in bold type, the words Great Integration: A Chamber Hip-Hop Opera.

If you, like many commuters, are intrigued by the concept, allow me to shed some light. The two-act performance, which takes places this week, is a true blend of classical music and hip-hop; it’s 90 minutes of continuous flow, MCs spinning a dark and moral tale of modern corruption over a live ensemble of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, drums, and bass. It’s a production spearheaded by the duo behind Oakland’s Gold Fetus Records – Christopher Nicholas and Joo Wan Kim, musicians who met in the dorms at Berklee College of Music, and Kim’s Ensemble Mik Nawooj. For this particular piece, Nicholas is mostly behind the scenes in organizing mode, and Kim is the music director who wrote the lurid tale at the heart of Great Integration.

“I think in order for something like this to happen, there has to be a general hybridization,” says Kim, “if you think about ‘crossover’, it generally means you’re compromising the genre, but what I’m doing is not necessarily hip-hop or classical, but bringing the elements of [both] and creating something new. In that way, to my knowledge, I don’t think anybody has done this – or to this length.”

The basic storyline follows five material lords, each corporate tycoons who represent  fundamental elements of the world – wood, fire, earth, water, and metal – and what happens when the Gods decide to assassinate the lords. Kirby Dominant is the MC for act one of Great Integration, playing a character in this act called “the Black Swordsman of Dominance.” Rico Pabón, the MC for act two, plays a character dubbed “the Water Bearer.”

Initially, Kim planned to base Great Integration on a comic book, but Dominant disliked the idea and pushed him to look deeper. The final plot came to Kim in a vision during a routine BART ride between San Francisco and Berkeley. It was those cryptic messages about God coming to earth and the material world’s end that inspired his story.

Creating the initial concept behind the chamber hip-hop opera itself took even longer. If you’ll allow it, I’ll reach farther back into Kim’s musical past to illuminate the hybridization. Born and raised in South Korea, he got his bachelors at Berklee, studying Western European classical music, and later received his masters at the San Francisco Conservatory Of Music . He was introduced to hip-hop by his friend, drummer Valentino Pellizzer, and initially hated it.

“I just didn’t understand it, then one day it clicked to me, I realized it was actually good,” Kim says. “I listened to NWA and really liked it. People think it’s really weird, because I’m totally into classical so they’re like ‘you might like J Dilla or Mos Def’ or some like, conscious hip-hop, but no, I listen to gangster rap.”

In 2005, Kim wrote a piece that started as chamber music. Pellizzer suggested he add an MC on it, so Kim contacted  Dominant and they did a show together. That was the musical precursor to Great Integration, long before the storyline was written. With the concept, the plots, the ensemble, and the MCs all in place, Kim and Co. presented the first act of Great Integration in 2010 with live dancers. They later performed it again at Yoshi’s and the Red Poppy Art House with just the musical elements. Now, for the first time, Great Integration premieres the second act, and the debut of MC Rico Pabón in the production – all going down this Friday, Sept. 30 at the Old First Concerts. Kim hopes the piece will expand the public’s understanding of what you can do with a piece of music.

“For our culture, the only thing we have is pop art. And unfortunately some of it, is really bad,” he complains, “People running the business don’t really care about good or bad, as long as they make money.”

Though he also sees the importance of music for the people: “On the other end of the spectrum there are people who are in school, getting grants, and writing this work that has nothing to do with anything – so nobody gets that. They drink wine and talk about fucking Stravinsky. Stravinsky wouldn’t like that. When he was writing music, he was writing for people. What Golden Fetus is doing, we’re bringing sophistication, but we’re not snobs. We love NWA as well.”

Great Integration: A Chamber Hip-Hop Opera
Fri/30, 8 p.m., $14-$17
Old First Concerts
1751 Sacramento, SF
www.goldenfetus.com

Localized Appreesh: Dreams

Tony Robles
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Localized Appreesh: Dreams

Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

The voice of Billie Holiday blended with a drop of folk and an electro-infused ka-pow of Afro-pop. It’s the stuff of dreams, isn’t it? Sort of. Dreams, besides being the mind’s subconscious porthole, is a new East Bay indie supergroup. Lead by Emily Ritz (of Honeycomb and Yesway) and keyboardist Rob Shelton (of the Moanin Dove) and backed by steel guitar, vibraphone, and a hand-held rhythm section (along with drums), the group skips through genres, time, and traditional percussion expectations.

It’s been a pretty big month for the seven-piece act. First, it was featured as one of the first bands on Porto Franco Records’ new video series (see vid below), then it released its first single, and this week, Dreams plays a magical musical single release extravaganza: Thursday at Beatbox. The show, which includes a free copy of the single for the first 30 attendees, will also have some fun non-musical elements. The band invited artists and projectionists to add visual elements. And the release warns, “Expect mimes.” Also, how weird is it that scientists may now be able to recreate scenes from our subconscious using imaging technology?

Year and location of origin: Rob: Emily and I started experimenting with sounds and writing songs together in 2009, but we didn’t really settle on the full band with all the members until we started recording earlier this year. We first started playing in the converted basement of a 1906-era emergency shelter in Oakland, Calif.
Band name origin: I had the idea to create this band while traveling in Ecuador and Peru in 2008, and was originally going to call it Los Suenos, but since none of really speak Spanish, I thought it would be better it in our native tongue. When I first presented it to the band, we weren’t really sure if we wanted to use it, so we’d show up to rehearsal and just sit there spitting out out band names for hours. Some of the losers: Goodie Bag, Boyfriend, Chimera, Blood Orange.
Band motto: Lush
Description of sound in 10 words or less: Electric Afro psych popscicle (faux pop).
Instrumentation: Rhodes and synth bass: Rob Shelton; Vocals and Jawbone: Emily Ritz; Drums: Jake Nochimow; Vibraphone, Percussion: Andrew Maguire; Percussion, Vibraphone: Geneva Harrison ; Bass, Lap Steel Guitar: Jesse Cafiero; Electric Guitar: Zac Rubin-Rattet
Most recent release: We’re doing our first release on September 29. An A & B side single entitled “With You,” which has Thao Nguyen guesting on back-up vocals. We’ve been recording at San Francisco’s Tiny Telephone studios on and off for the past four months, and it’s really exciting to finally be releasing something.
Best part about life as a Bay Area band: Being around such a vibrant and diverse music scene and being able to collaborate with all different types of artists.
Worst part about life as a Bay Area band: We’ve got it pretty good here, and almost the whole band is living in Oakland now, which makes it easy to rehearse. Probably the worst part is that BART doesn’t run super late, so when you’ve got fans coming from Oakland to SF, everyone’s catching that 12:20 train back under the bay, sometimes in the middle of your set.
First cassette record/cassette tape/or CD ever purchased: Embarrassing, Twenty Eight Teeth by Buck O’ Nine. I used to be in a ska band.
Most recent record/cassette tape/CD/or Mp3 purchased/stolen from the Web: Purchased –  Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens. Stolen/Borrowed: Laughing Stock by Talk Talk
Favorite local eatery and dish: Shakin’ Jesse at Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe. Guinness, espresso, and ice cream – can’t go wrong with that.

UnderCover Presents: Dreams Single Release Party
With Tartufi, and Debbie Neigher
Thurs/29, 8:30 PM doors, $10 cover
BeatBox
314 11th St, SF
www.beatboxsf.com
Facebook: Event

Porto Franco Records captures Dreams:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebe0gbOcc6Y: 

Live Shots: Twin Shadow, Diamond Rings at the Great American Music Hall

Tony Robles
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If you truly believe that music is moving entirely forward – not cyclical – you need only to have peeked inside during any given moment of last night’s Diamond Rings/Twin Shadow live musical appearances at the Great American Music Hall. Your impressions would shift. New wave revival remains viable, those electro-soaked keyboard jams on stage, the half-shaved heads and feathered accessories in the crowd (including the feathery bits attached to the young miss thang who was removed quickly after Twin Shadow began thanks to an illegal sip of costly beer). It’s something I’ve grumbled about in the past, but for no good reason.

Twin Shadow could be described as both a Brooklyn quartet and, more accurately, as the stage name of George Lewis Jr. — who looked like Morris Day plus Bruno Mars with that skinny mustache, gold bib necklace, and fashion chapeau last night, but in my mind sounds more like a R&B-shot Morrissey. Midway through a fine synth-saturated, occasionally keyboard tinny set that included most tracks off Lewis Jr.’s danceable debut album Forget, the band broke into “Yellow Balloon,” a pulsating ode shot directly backwards into the not-so-distant musical past, with Lewis Jr. in full swoon mode.

That’s when I felt it: despite my bitter blathering, this nostalgic jolt of colorful energy feels damn good, especially compared to the fuzzed out, slow-moan apocalyptic nature of the music I’ve been vibing as of late; bring on Adam Ant warrior eye-makeup (as opener Diamond Rings sports in the video for his song “Something Else” — last night’s set closer) and Siouxsie and the Banshees bird’s nest hair fluff (as seen in the audience). If it keeps feeling this good, I too won’t soon Forget. Oh, the heart-felt sentiment and cutesy outro. That’s another thing I remember from the 80s.

Live shots: Ladytron at the Regency Ballroom

Tony Robles
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There are not a whole lot of degrees between cool and being cold. On record, Ladytron has always affected a certain disaffected air, and live they come close to crossing over to the alienating side of performance. Alienation can be intentional.

The opener at the Regency Sunday night, SONOIO (Alessandro Cortini, formerly of Nine Inch Nails), hidden beneath a hooded sweatshirt, fetally crouched at the edge of the stage near the electric firelight of a single flickering bulb, and sang into an umbilical cord of rope lighting. It was a pose which meant a very intimate show for a five foot radius. (Unable to see anything further back, I spaced out and thought the following story concept: A mad scientist discovers how to swap minds and switches with a newborn baby in
an attempt to make up for his shitty childhood.)

Opening slowly with “Soft Power” from 2005’s Witching Hour before getting into new track “Mirage” and the haunting “Ghosts,” Ladytron wasn’t rushing it. The only movement on stage seemed to be the billowing of singer Helen Marnie’s draped sleeves, as the musicians performed like scientists in a lab (focused, if not outwardly passionate.) Predominately four people with synthesizers, Ladytron had a drummer on stage, and his heavy kick was a welcome addition (the coupling of the pulsing bass beat and brilliant red strobes on “Little Black Angel” was a near seizure inducing experience.)

More often than not, though, I couldn’t tell if Ladytron was effortlessly performing, or performing without any effort. The band gets labeled as having a cult following, and there was definitely some collective captivation. Instead of raucous calls for an encore, Ladytron submitted to strangely well choreographed “woo-oooh”s from the audience.

“I like your singing,” Marnie said, returning to the stage, before launching into “White Elephant,” the opener and standout of their new record, Gravity the Seducer. “Destroy Everything You Touch” was last and meant Ladytron was going out on a high note. As a flourish, the drummer closed with an incongruously animated, over-the-top outro. A suggestion perhaps, that he was in the wrong band.

 

All photos by Stephen Ho.

Live Shots: Hightower, Walken, and Black Cobra at YBCA

Tony Robles
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It was all head banging and high-flying guitar yesterday evening in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ outdoor sculpture garden. With the wailing thrash of Hightower, the electric doom of Walken, and two-man hardcore power of Black Cobra, the event, dubbed Metal Mania, was a success.

Groups of bewildered black-shirted fans slowly started to gather near 6 p.m. to catch Hightower, mostly climbing to the stone bleachers to sit for the still-early opening set. Hightower didn’t seem to mind, they appeared genuinely stoked to be there, all big hair head shaking and quick-footed shoeless drumming. But no one seemed more appreciative then metal maniac-quilter Ben Venom, the artist who pitched the show to YBCA in the first place.

He stood for every band, nodded along with the rapid-fire drumming, and at one point during Black Cobra’s sublimely heavy performance (extra credit: the band’s next SF show is with Kyuss and the Sword), I believe Venom spun around to give the finger to the upscale highrises behind us — but that could just be wishful thinking on my part.

Those who attended owe Venom a thank-you because it was a incomparable experience, such noise and vigor in such a peaceful space, opportunity otherwise unknown. We got to wander the museum’s decorated halls, then head outside to catch three epic local acts. Let’s say it together: Thank you for bringing metal to the museum, Venom.

 

All photos by Chris Stevens.

Maximum Consumption: Rhubarb Whiskey pairings

Tony Robles
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Booze-soaked bluegrass, could there be anything more befitting for this time of year, on this plot of land? San Francisco is finally warm, if only for the week, so enjoy it while it lasts. Sit on your front porch (read: stairwell or fire escape), whip up a naturally-infused whiskey cocktail, then listen to the rough and tough Americana songs of Oakland’s own, Rhubarb Whiskey. Or you can check out the band live this Friday, Sept. 23 at the Plough and the Stars.

With harder-edged takes on folk, it’s got the auditory sensation of dragged chains through fiddle, railroad spike on accordion, ominous train horns a-coming through the fog, perked up with plucked mandolin. A jug in hand seems almost mandatory at this point. For Maximum Consumption, I asked Rhubarb Whiskey – which includes Boylamayka Sazerac, Emchy, and Sizzle La Fey – to pair their songs (all of which you can hear on their Bandcamp page) with the appropriate whiskey. They did me one better and gave helpful explanations, and a recipe for their specially concocted namesake recipe at the end.

Track: “We All Come to the Same Place” paired with  Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey
Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey – sweet smooth with some hints of caramel and smoke on the finish – it sounds like roughing it, but really it’s all about the most sweet and comfortable moments.

Track: “Whiskey Neat” paired with Jim Beam Rye
While this song about trying to get with a girl at a show but getting into a fight instead even mentions 18-year-old scotch, it’s really more of a rough and tumble Jim Beam Rye sort of feel. Spicy, pissed off, and feeling like you’re gonna have a good time raising hell with your broke-ass friends.

Track: “Bears in the Lot” paired with Wild Turkey
This song also name checks a booze but this time it hits the nail on the head – if you’re stranded and heartbroken in an Alaskan bar with rogue bears, it has to be a Wild Turkey night.

Track: “Night Jasmine” paired with Sazerac Rye with Fee Brother’s Rhubarb Bitters
This murder ballad set in a Louisiana swamp has to have the dark liquid vice of Sazerac Rye Whiskey with the sour seedy and slightly sweet undertones from Rhubarb Bitters. While the whiskey is upfront, smooth, and mysteriously seductive, the rhubarb undertones will pull you into the bitey lusty flavor – and you know that while the drink is tasty it’s going to be a dangerous night.

Track: “Whiskey in the Afternoon” paired with Bulleit Rye
This song is all about what happens when the drinking gets away from you. When the heart of the song is about having your whiskey all day long, we have to speak from the experience of the recording itself and go with Bulleit Rye.

Track: “Go Away” paired with Jameson
A sweet and true love song about drinking on the beach, hopping trains, and stowing away on ships. It’s gotta be Jameson for this one. The booze had to travel to get to the wayfaring lovers but it keeps ’em warm and cozy while they’re barreling forward on those windy boxcars.

Track: “Sorrows Drowned” paired with Maker’s Mark
This was the first song the band ever wrote. Dark, drunken and pissed off it’s the song you stomp and slur along to at last call while you’re finishing that last Maker’s of the night and still just wanting one more.

Final note from the band:
“Lastly of course we have to get to the name Rhubarb Whiskey itself. We love to play music, make food together, and we hella love our rye whiskey, so as soon as the band was formed we knew that we needed to channel our inner boozahol super powers and come up with somethin’ special.”

Adding, “Since Emchy is a big fan of cooking rhubarb pie she went ahead and tried making some rhubarb simple syrup. Add that to some rye whiskey with an ice cube or three and you’ve got yourself a Rhubarb Whiskey.”

Official Recipe
Rhubarb Simple Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup peeled and chopped rhubarb
Boil 1 cup of water, add 1 cup sugar, stir until sugar is completely dissolved, add 1 cup coarsely chopped and peeled rhubarb, lower water to a simmer, let simmer covered for one hour. Put into glass mason jar to cool and then refrigerate. Let sit at least one hour (a full day is better for flavor).

Once your rhubarb simple syrup is cool, add one part syrup to two parts rye whiskey (brand of your choice but don’t go too high end, that insults the whiskey and brings bad luck — we suggest Beam Rye or Makers if you need to get a little fancy). 1-3 ice cubes recommended. Now put on your favorite murder ballads album, drink up, and be careful — it goes down a little too easy.

Record Release Party
With Rhubarb Whiskey, 5 Cent Coffee, and Plasterkatz
Fri/23, 8 p.m., $10
The Plough and the Stars
116 Clement, SF
www.theploughandthestars.com

 

Eclectic al fresco: Video picks from this weekend’s Bay Vibes Fest

Andrew Lam
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Judging from the gentleman blowing washing machine-sized bubbles at Dolo yesterday, it’s summer in San Francisco. Capitalize on the Ked-melting hit by hitting up one of the most local-local day long fests the city has to offer: the fourth annual Bay Vibes Festival, which is being held Sat/24 in the sunny Dogpatch patio of Cafe Cocomo. 

Need to brush up on your local talent? The mashup of genres on tap at Bay Vibes has the power to clue you into the Bay’s music scene in one fell swoop. The kawaii sitar trill of Gabby La La, the Latin-funk-hip-hop block party that is Bayonics, good-natured, furry hat-wearing world jams from Dogman Joe and cute boy cello playing by Alma Desnuda. We’ll make it easy for you to decide to go — videos after the jump.

Some of the talent taking the stage at Club Cocomo this Saturday: 

Gabby La La — “Alarm Clock”

Jethro Jeremiah — “Gust of Wind” (live at Mojo Cafe)

Alma Desnuda feat. Merton — “Baduquai”

La Gente — “Compromiso”

Antioquia — “Humans Do”

Bay Vibes Festival

Sat/24 2 p.m.-2 a.m., $15-100

Cafe Cocomo

650 Indiana, SF

www.bayvibessf.com

 

Localized Appreesh: The 21st Century

Tony Robles
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Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news during those seven days is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

Last fall, eclectic new folk act the 21st Century was given the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance to record with legendary producer Stephen Short  (the former owner of Trident Studios who has worked with David Bowie, the Clash, Paul McCartney, Queen, Echo and the Bunnymen et. al.). The Bay Area eight-to-nine piece was thrilled but too broke to cover all the costs of making the album, plus, there were travel commitments (Short is based in Texas).

The forward-thinking futurists harnessed modern technology: they set up a Kickstarter page. With the $10,000+ funding in place (thanks to 187 backers), the band recorded late last  year, and the album will be released in November. Before that release, however, the 21st Century will play a show as part of the ongoing Mission Creek Music and Art Festival.

Year and location of origin: 2010, SAN FRANCISCO/OAKLAND/BERKELEY
Band name origin: The name originates from a few different places. One is ambition. We’re an eight (and occasionally a nine) piece with orchestrated horns and four part harmonies and a couple of kitchen sinks so we wanted to name ourselves in a way that reflected that bold and without limits musical attitude. We also felt that we’d spent much of our lives hearing our times and our generation defined for us in ways that we didn’t relate to so we thought why don’t we take a stab at it and have a say in the matter. Hence THE 21ST CENTURY. Oh and I also remember hearing Elvis Costello saying that he named himself after the two largest acts he could think of — a pretty gutsy move. I thought — now that’s a good idea, but let’s raise him one.
Band motto: Unofficially, it’s probably ‘What would Bruce Springsteen Do?”
Description of sound in 10 words or less: Intricate arrangements, colorful harmonies, brass, lyrical surrealism and off-beat pop sensibility.
Instrumentation: Electric, Acoustic and bass guitars, drums, keys, horns, lots of percussion and lots of singing.
Most recent release: THE CITY, Coming Soon…November 2011.
Best part about life as a Bay Area band: People want to be friends.
Worst part about life as a Bay Area band: The bars and clubs close too early. 2 a.m.? Come on.
First record/cassette tape/or CD ever purchased: The single of “Under Pressure” by David Bowie and Freddy Mercury. I thought I was getting Vanilla Ice.
Most recent record/cassette tape/CD/or Mp3 purchased/borrowed from the Web: Wilco’s The Whole Love & Girls Father, Son, Holy Ghost.
Favorite local eatery and dish: Al Pastor at El Metate–dynamite.And the Cold House Noodles at Yamo.

Mission Creek Music and Art Festival
Ongoing through Sept. 30
Multiple venues through San Francisco and Oakland
www.mcmf.org

The 21st Century
Sept. 28, 9 p.m. $8
The New Parish
579 18th St., Oakl.
Event info

Live at the Starry Plough:

Localized Appreesh: Rank/Xerox

Tony Robles
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Localized Appreesh: Rank/Xerox

Some weeks feel so long (thanks a lot Week After Labor Day), you just need another spirited kick in the proverbial ass. So I give you, a second Localized Appreesh this week: Rank/Xerox. The San Francisco punk trio – known for its connections with bands such as Grass Widow (friends/split cassette tape output), and for its other creative endeavors (DIY labels, Web-based videozine Mondo Vision, eye-catching graphic illustrations) – comes from a long tradition of reputable underground punk and arty post-punk, much of which was hatched in San Francisco (Flipper) and London (Wire).

Rank/Xerox is made up of Australian singer-guitarist David West, Jon Shade, who taught himself to play drums for the band, and singer-bassist-illustrator Kevin McCarthy, who, along with Shade, is a former member of the now-disbanded party punk act, Jump off a Building. This weekend, Rank/Xerox celebrates the release of its new self-titled long-player, which was recorded by King Riff and Ty Segall, with a show at Hemlock Tavern.

Year and location of origin: Early 2009 in San Francisco.
Band name origin: Swiped from an old corporate merger, thought it sounded catchy.
Band motto: Stark and dark, bland not grand.
Description of sound in 10 words or less: Antiquated punk junk.
Instrumentation: Jon plays drums, David plays guitar and voice, Kevin plays bass and voice.
Most recent release: Brand new self-titled LP on Make A Mess Records, the Hemlock show on Saturday will actually be a release party of sorts… and a song on the new Maximum Rocknroll all-Bay Area band compilation LP called Noise Ordinance.
Best part about life as a Bay Area band: Getting mistaken for Don Nelson.
Worst part about life as a Bay Area band: Getting mistaken for Danielle Steel.
First record/cassette tape/or CD ever purchased: Jon – Ozzy, The Oz Man Cometh;  Kevin – Cyndi Lauper, True Colors;  David – The Dandy Warhols are Sound (a guess because he didn’t answer).
Most recent record/cassette tape/CD/or Mp3 purchased/borrowed from the Web: Jon – a copy of the Rat Columns 7″ was waiting for me on my bed when I got home, thanks David;  Kevin – Crazy Band Fuck You tape;  David – the Ovens new 7″ on Catholic Guilt (another question unanswered, another guess).
Favorite local eatery and dish: Golden Gate Indian Cuisine and Pizza on Judah. Best restaurant in the city, eat everything but the Italian dishes.

Rank/Xerox
With Kitchen’s Floor, Fat History Month, Yi
Sept. 10, 9:30 pm, $7
Hemlock Tavern
1131 Polk, SF
www.hemlocktavern.com
Facebook event

 

Live Shots: Ke$ha, Fox Theater, 9/14/11

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Neon lights, glitter, and balloon drops certainly made for a bedazzled set, as Ke$ha took the stage, wearing the most glitz of all.

She worked her infamous bad-girl ‘tude and got as raunchy as possible for her very own “Get $leazy Tour.” Add in her troupe of zoombie-fied dancers and the whole vibe was gritty pop, circa the end of the world. (Did you know that she co-wrote that jam for Britney? Word.).

You can tell that Ke$ha thrives in the spotlight, but she’s a new pop princess and her voice needs some time to develop and mature. But the whole “stage drama plus musical mash-up” works together to create that perfect concert concoction. And if Ke$ha is reading this … she’s probably saying “Oh please! Blah, blah blah!”

Live Shots: White Hills, Carlton Melton, and Dirty Ghosts

Tony Robles
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What if god – note lowercase emphasis – was a drummer? Assume that this god is the mythical male being you’ve come to know through Renaissance-era oil paintings, clutching lightning bolts, triumphant with lengthy white locks and foreboding upward gazes. What would this particular god do behind a drum kit?
He would hit very, very hard, smashing symbols with abandon, flipping sticks into the air then casually catching them mid-song; all the while his face would convey a knowing smirk, that wild-eyed yet faintly bemused stare toward the sky. You’d have Andy Duvall, former member of Zen Guerilla, current drummer-guitarist for Carlton Melton.

At the Rickshaw Stop last night, Duvall and Carlton Melton (a band, not a dude) — excuse the expression — melted minds. The appreciative crowd of mostly polite late-20-somethings kept spinning around towards each other with wide-eyed, “are you seeing this shit?” glances at their companions. The instrumental four-piece played entire set without a word. Duvall’s drum solos were heavenly.

The San Francisco band was tucked in between two rock and capital Roll acts, which made for an extended night of remarkable music. First up, another local: Dirty Ghosts. After Carlton Melton, the touring act headliners, New York’s White Hills. Now this, my friends, was a good bill.

While Dirty Ghosts looked a bit like the Ramones (half of them at least, in tight leather and jeans) and sounded like punk riffed hard rockers (with a killer rhythm section), White Hills oozed glam — from silver-painted face to see-through bass to sequin-covered blouse — and apparently played so similar to the Entrance Band that one of my show companions legitimately asked, “did they used to have a different name? Was it the Entrance Band?”

The joyously noisy space-rock outfit does have a similar aesthetic and sensibility — the long hair was flowing all night long — but White Hills jumps out of the stoned space rock at points to near metal, with such brutal wailing riffs.  White Hills also had something in common with openers Dirty Ghosts, both boasted a gifted electronics dude, on stage tripping out sounds and twisting knobs on beat machines; only Dirty Ghosts’ dude, who just so happens to be Aesop Rock (extra credit: he’s married to electrifying, swooshed-banged lead singer-guitarist Allyson Baker), also was tasked with handheld percussion (cowbell, shaker).

White Hills, led by an equally appealing duo of hair shakers, guitarist Dave W. and bassist Ego Sensation, sped through gnarly psychedelic rock off H-p1 (Thrill Jockey), and, like Carlton Melton, never really addressed the audience. Quite honestly, they never really needed to: a nice reprieve actually from the “really great to be here, how’s everyone doing? I need a beer” throwaways we hear at nearly every other show.  Just rock incredibly hard and loud and we’ll be satiated.  There’s no want for god-like skills here, that’s just an added bonus; it’s acid-laced frosting on the Day-Glo cake.

 

All photos by Chris Stevens.

A grunge-era classic comes to DVD

Sue Vaughan
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A grunge-era classic comes to DVD

Time to retire your janky old VHS — Dave Markey’s concert doc 1991: The Year Punk Broke is finally out on DVD, with remastered footage and re-synced audio to boot. The film captures Sonic Youth’s 1991 European festival tour, two weeks of fuzzed-out mayhem with supporting and/or festival-associated acts Dinosaur Jr., Babes in Toyland, Gumball, the Ramones, and a just-before they-got-really-huge Nirvana.

Structured fairly conventionally, with live footage — props for including complete performances of iconic songs like “Kool Thing,” “Dirty Boots,” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” — bookended by behind-the-scenes clips, 1991: The Year Punk Broke offers pure, uncut grunge-era nostalgia for anyone who remembers tying a flannel around his or her waist for fashion purposes (guilty). But more importantly, it captures the revolutionary spirit of the era, so memorably and accurately mocked by Portlandia, in which goofy-looking musicians playing avant-garde music could become honest-to-god rock stars. The film’s title refers not just to the year it was shot, but also pinpoints the era when the outsider/punk aesthetic started breaking through to the masses. (Here’s lookin’ at you, Hot Topic — the mall chain opened its first store in 1988.)

Most of the film’s non-musical moments are provided by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, who strolls through Europe clutching a cheap microphone, unleashing seemingly endless stream-of-conscious jokes (often while wife and bandmate Kim Gordon is alongside, totally deadpan). Markey lets Moore go on a little long sometimes, but the punch line is usually worth it. Other winning moments come courtesy of a very young Dave Grohl affecting a Transylvanian accent and attacking the backstage food table, and Gordon carefully applying make-up on Kurt Cobain: “I think you need some mascara.” [Long pause.] “I think so too.”

Though 1991: The Year Punk Broke‘s focus is Sonic Youth, its golden moments come courtesy of Nirvana, still in happy-go-lucky mode just prior to Nevermind‘s release and near-immediate monster success. Twenty years later (20 years — goddamn, how did that happen?), the band’s blistering stage presence remains as exciting as ever, and maybe even moreso, given hindsight and its lightning-in-a-bottle quality. That the film ends with Moore and co. giving the finger to, and mooning, a TV showing MTV — the medium that assured Nirvana’s sudden, great success, which led to Cobain’s subsequent tragic downfall — is all too appropriate.

DVD extras include a 2003 discussion about the making of the film with Markey, Moore, Dinosaur Jr.’s J. Mascis, and others, plus the film’s original trailer and additional live footage.

Tucson terrors Bob Log III and Mr. Free and the Satellite Freakout play the Hemlock Tavern

Tony Robles
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Tucson terrors Bob Log III and Mr. Free and the Satellite Freakout play the Hemlock Tavern

In a land farther away in attitude than in miles (Tucson, Ariz.), there resides a surprisingly large cadre of talented music-makers with a collective sensibility perhaps best described as skewed. The Pork Torta, Al Foul, Al Perry, Giant Sand, the list goes on and on.

Who knows what it is about Tucson that makes it a breeding ground for guitar-toting contrarians with a penchant for the outré; something tells me that arid desert climate might be partially to blame. In any event, they don’t get much more skewed than Bob Log III or Mr. Free and the Satellite Freakout – and the prospect of seeing both in the intimate confines of the Hemlock Tavern tonight is an appealing one.

Whether you go for the Frank Zappa-esque yawp of the eponymous Mr. Free or the sensory-overload experience of watching Bob Log III play all his own instruments (and the crowd) with all the frenetic energy of both Blues Brothers combined, enhanced with the solid slide guitar skills of a heavy-hitting Delta Blues axman, the evening’s entertainment will be anything but boring.

The loopy ensemble known as Mr. Free and the Satellite Freakout embraces a sound that borders on the psychedelic, yet manages to eschew the more obnoxious, jam-band-y aspects. And the crowd-mingling, costumed stunts of Mr. Free pointedly deconstruct the habitual segregation of performer and audience.

Bob Log III, the alter-ego of Robert Reynolds III, is a veritable juggernaut of natural showmanship and unnatural charms. Clad in a jumpsuit and a customized helmet rigged with a microphone, Log sits behind a kickdrum, slide guitar in hand. His absurdist, mammary-fixated lyrics, lady “bouncing,” and wicked licks combine to make the Bob Log III experience one of those indie-rock pilgrimages that all true music-lovers must make at least once in their lives — like a trip to a holy land, but a whole lot less holy. Sort of like Tucson.

Wed/14
9 p.m., $12-$15
Hemlock Tavern
1131 Polk, SF
www.hemlocktavern.com

Localized Appreesh: The Jaunting Martyrs

Tony Robles
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Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news during those seven days is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

The Jaunting Martyrs were chosen for Localized Appreesh because the seven-piece band has a great, thoroughly San Franciscan in spirit, show this week and it could use your attention: Kimo’s tonight (Tuesday) with Fierce Bad Rabbit, Wesley Woo, Halftime Heros.

Plus, have you heard its music? It’s like an Eastern European circus took a folky Appalachian holiday.  It’s both quiet, classical bedtime story and traveling, rambling, carnival party.  The song “Surfin Tzigane” off last year’s self-titled EP is probably the most telling. With initially delicate Spanish-style strumming, it leads eventually to rowdy wet reverb –  not out of place within a true-blue American surf rock Dick Dale track – and, laid over that, Bulgarian drumming and Turkish horn. It’s world traveling from the ground-pillow comfort of your own intimate local music venue.

Year and location of origin: 2008, San Francisco, Calif.
Band name origin: Originally, it began as the random name of the track of space music Justine was sending off in the mail when she met Brendan on the BART train, but has come to mean something deeper, communicated in some of the characters in our songs, such as Mickey, Lila, and Bonnie Blue. Basically, A Jaunting Martyr is one who has moved past anger and angst into acceptance of their plight, and is able to laugh and dance in the face of hopelessness.
Band motto: “Never mind the baby faces, this is a savage band.”
Description of sound in 10 words or less: A sound that tells a story, fluttering from intimate to intense.
Instrumentation: Electric guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, trumpet, tapan (Bulgarian drum), fiddle, charango, kaval.
Most recent release: A self-titled self-released, self-mixed self-published EP.
Best part about life as a Bay Area band: This is simply the most beautiful, spiritually powerful place in the world. We are all natives here, we all consider it home. (Except for Ivan, he’s from Bulgaria, which I’m sure he digs as well).
Worst part about life as a Bay Area band: Those folks with the tightly crossed arms at shows.
First record/cassette tape/or CD ever purchased: The Mermen – A Glorious Lethal Euphoria.
Most recent record/cassette tape/CD/or Mp3 purchased/borrowed from the Web: Spirits of The Red City – Hunter Moon.
Favorite local eatery and dish: Lucca Foods on Irving and 20th.  Best deli in SF, baby. Get the Billy Filly. (You can only get it when Billy’s working).

With Fierce Bad Rabbit, Wesley Woo, Halftime Heros
Tues/13, 9 p.m., $6
Kimo’s
1351 Polk, SF
www.kimosbarsf.com

Try not to fall in love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOC31u1GzxU&feature=related

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