Last night at the Knockout, Religious Girls killed it. It was a homecoming show of sorts for the local band after its late summer tour, and the feeling was all warm and fuzzy — minus a drunken birthday boy fight in the crowd. The Knockout itself was crowded, but not that unbearable, sweat-running-down-the-walls packed it has been known to incur. The boys of Religious Girls, who we profiled earlier this week, played hard and tight; especially the drummer, who we’re giving MVP for the night.
After opening the show, Religious Girls were followed by another recent birthday boy, San Francisco’s 80s synth dreampopper Part Time, backed by a full band, then Canadian trio Born Gold (formerly Gobble Gobble).
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.
Let’s get this out of the way: the boys behind Religious Girls are neither pious, nor female. They are however, worthy of your time, ear drums, and ultimately, devotion. I mean, the band once described itself as “spider-jazz clusterfuck” —- which is why I’m naming Religious Girls our first Localized Appreesh (you’ll see a different local music act in this slot every week). The Oakland-based arty noise trio bestows upon listeners a synth-y wave of gurgling keyboard, waterfalling beeps, and crashing drums. The vocals are repetitive, tribal, soothing; for the most part lacking actual words. Like a more ambient Battles.
If you want to see Religious Girls with Born Gold and Part Time for free* this week, then scroll down below the quick and dirty bio:
Need to know: Religious Girls Year and location of origin: Summer 2008 in Oakland, Calif. Band name origin: It was originally a song name, then we decided it was better than the old band name… Destroy Tokyo Band motto: Shred til we Ded / Cry me Out / Q-ZAR Description of sound in 10 words or less: We just say yes to everything we like about music. [ed. – nice, way to use precisely 10 words] Instrumentation: Nick: drums / vocals / live loops; Chris: highend / keys / vocals / samples; Guy: lowend / keys / auxdrums / samples. Most recent release: Midnight Realms 12″ EP released by Everybodies Stomached (LA) and Echolalic Records(Seattle) in July 2011 Best part about life as a Bay Area band: Playing too many shows Worst part about life as a Bay Area band: Playing too many shows First record/cassette tape/or CD ever purchased: Nick: Space Jam soundtrack Most recent record/cassette tape/CD/or Mp3 purchased/stolen from the Web: The Weekend – House of Balloons Favorite local eatery and dish: Bake Sale Betty’s fried chicken sandwich
Live at the Bay Bridged’s Phono Del Sol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrhiNSExtL8&feature=player_embedded
*Win two guest list spots for the Religious Girls/Born Gold (formerly Gobble Gobble)/Part Time show (presented by Epicsauce.com) this Thursday, Sept. 8 at the Knockout. Just go to our Facebook page and comment on the link to this post with your favorite Religious Girls song today before 6 p.m. We’ll choose a winner at random. [contest is now closed].
Religious Girls With Born Gold and Part Time Sept. 8, 9 p.m., $6 The Knockout 3223 Mission, SF www.theknockoutsf.com www.epicsauce.com
When Noise Pop and chef Blair Warsham’s graffEats come together, you know it’s for something special. They’ve collectively hosted a handful of well-attended (read: totally sold out) “Covers” dinners over the past year, and are about to debut another: A Culinary Tribute to Serge Gainsbourg. As in events past, this one – which takes place in a secret location Sept. 8 – quickly sold out of its 50 dining spots. And again, the organizers made the decision to add another date, the same dinner will also be served Sept. 7. The basic gist: Warsham creates a meal based on “covers” of famous dishes around the world from the global collective of celebrated chefs. Noise Pop matches interesting covers songs to each course.
The focus on the adored yet boozy troubled, larger-than-life French icon (and lover to Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin) came naturally. “We were discussing the idea of playing with a more focused dinner and musical theme and Serge Gainsbourg came up immediately,” says Noise Pop’s Dawson Ludwig. “He’s French, which is an obvious culinary dream, he’s sensual, he’s a revered musical figure, he’s prolific, plenty of artists have covered him. He embodies so much of that sensory indulgence that we’re going for. And we are all big fans of his.”
An example of the pairings at next week’s dinners: Cappuccino de Foie Gras et Truffes de l’Ete from José de Anacleto (L’Hotel Million Albertville, Savoie), paired with Arcade Fire’s cover of “Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son.” Says Ludwig: “We chose this song because of how lush it sounds, this dish is very rich and decadent so we wanted to pair it with a song that has big over-the-top arrangements.”
And another: Tarte Au Citron by Gerorge Perrier of Le Bec-Fin paired with the song “Je T’aime (moi non plus),” covered by Cat Power and Karen Elson – “This dish is ridiculously sexy. ‘Nuf said.” C’st vrai.
If you miss out this time around, there are two more Covers dinners lined up this year: Oct. 6 at the Treasure Island Music Festival Pop-Up Shop in North Beach and then on a winery in St. Helena in November. “Beyond that we are tackling them one at a time,” says Ludwig. “We hope to do at least five or six a year.”
Here’s the sexy singer, doing his thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nr0dUcrAU0&feature=related
I had some pretty significant nightmares last night thanks to Butthole Surfers. Don’t get me wrong, the legendary avant-garde punk band, born in San Antonio, Tex. in 1981, was aces during its show at Regency Ballroom – just as weird and earsplitting as it ever was. The three enormous screens behind shaggy-haired lead vocalist-saxophonist-noise box manipulator Gibby Haynes and the rest of the band projected the images that stalked my dreams.
Slowed-down, reversed, and replayed horror flick scenes of gruesome bloody deaths, chopped up bodies, and viscous blood trickling down porcelain skin. But what else would one expect from hardcore’s longest-running freaks. Speaking of freaks, there’s a scene in the Flaming Lips documentary Fearless Freaks in which a chip-toothed Haynes claims Wayne Coyne stole his act. After seeing both live, and knowing their origins, I’m siding with Haynes. While there are obviously similiar elements (megaphones, blood, vintage footage, burning drums) The Flaming Lips’ stage show is like the top layer of Earth, all growing and green with frolicking animals and balloons filled with glitter. Butthole Surfers, however, occupy the dark and wormy space below the crust, with blood-soaked demons, creepy smiling dolls and eerie ’70s cheerleaders, pulsating shots of psychedelic color, and suped-up, high-speed vocal effects. It makes for a great live show.
But before Haynes and Co. set up shop, a far smaller crowd was gathered for openers 400 Blows, a longtime GSL act that mixes metal drop d guitar riffs with punk drum beats and hardcore talk-singing vocals. The L.A. band, currently on tour with the Butthole Surfers, has been around for more than a decade, and it shows. They seemed comfortable on stage, and with each other, despite the noticeably diminutive audience – it was only 8 p.m. Singer Skot Alexander kept trying, in vain, to incite the crowd, leaping on speakers and throwing a fist like Danzig, but for the most part the audience just stood there polite, yet cheerful – at one point someone thoughtfully offered Alexander a stack of napkins to wipe his brow. He likely could have cooled off if he had removed his signature black leather gloves, but that seemed unlikely.
There was a significant break between the bands, conceivably to wait for the space to fill up, which it eventually did. Then the projected footage began pumping, and the crowd of mostly 30-something men in black t-shirts and jeans began moshing. And yes, for those only aware of the band via its strangely radio-friendly 1996 hit, Butthole Surfers did play “Pepper” – though a noisier, quick and dirty version of it.
Not all locals can live here. But MC-bandleader-all around solid individual Forrest Day is pretty much as local as they get, even if he does live in San Leandro. He’s into being able to pay his rent, but the guy’s grandparents met at Bimbo’s, for chrissakes.
And how’s this for San Francisco? “There was a pet monkey in my family that was like a brother to my dad. He lived until he was 33 and his name was Bimbo,” Day tells us.
We’re saying, all-around solid individual. Day’s grandma had a spot near Dolores Park when he was growing up, so SF got him on the weekends.
How he gives back to the community that influenced his upbringing: Day leads an eponymous band whose music veers from hip-hop, yes — but then back again into screaming punk, funk, ska. He’s well known for performing in a muu muu that he reportedly got from Mission Thrift (rumor unconfirmed, Forrest can you help us out on that one?). Basically, the man does what he wants.
“I just want to explore what I want to explore,” he explains, sitting up on the Guardian roof with a sixer of Prohibition Ale and an unexpected microphone shoved into it, suspiciously close to his face. After busting out of San Leandro after high school to hitch hike the country, Day actually spent awhile in punk’s high decibel climes. “I was mostly screaming then. When I quit my punk band, I missed that release.”
We ask him if he worries about his commercial viability, being strung between so many genres. “Sometimes I do worry that maybe I should be more focused and just create, like side projects or something. But at the end of the day, I just want to be a one-stop shop.”
It strikes us as very Bay Area, this unwillingness to cram into a sole genre. Why not just conquer them all? After five years with more or less the same musicians in his band, Day is ready to take the next step — more national touring, more sharing of the live show that he says can be “a cerebral experience” for people seeing it for the first time. (“After the third show they really start to get it,” he tells us.)
And hell yeah, more dance videos. We didn’t get him two-stepping for Tiny Town Production‘s dope video of our interview (by the way, thanks for the audio visual assist, Tiny Town) and — hell yeah — his impromptu a capella performance. But consider this self-made tour vid the action movie.
By the way, he’s got a real good show coming up. It’s no rooftop jam, but it’ll do:
Yep, it’s true – another Thee Oh Sees record is on the way — not that we are complaining. Just six months after releasing their last LP (Castlemania), it was announced this week that John Dwyer and crew will release another dirty punk/psych garage record (Carrion Crawler/The Dream) this Nov.15 on In the Red Records. He just keeps churning them out. If you can remember that far back, the band released three albums in 2009. See below for the track listing and some fun videos.
Carrion Crawler/The Dream: 01 Carrion Crawler 02 Contraption/Soul Desert 03 Robber Barons 04 Chem-Farmer 05 Opposition 06 The Dream 07 Wrong Idea 08 Crushed Grasss 09 Crack in Your Eye 10 Heavy Doctor
Dwyer is a San Francisco staple at this point, like weed or broken down buses — as much as he’d probably hate to hear that. Depending on when you arrived in this city (oh, you were born here? Well, this sentence isn’t for you), you likely discovered his high-held, frenetic guitar attacks during one of three eras: Pink and Brown (1997), Coachwhips (2001) or the fully-evolved Thee Oh Sees (it originally began as his solo side-project). Of course, there were bands in between, but those mentioned were the era-defining acts.
In celebration of this always-welcome announcement, let’s look back at Dwyer’s career in video form:
Pink and Brown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aqwzweFqjc
Making a record takes a lot out of person. It’s actually grueling work; it requires obsessive attention to detail and long, ungodly hours. No one knows this more than revered local rocker-storyteller-recording studio owner John Vanderslice. He the creator of his own music (MK Ultra, a vast solo career) and the recorder of a great many others (Deerhoof, Death Cab for Cutie, Thao) at his Mission-based studio, Tiny Telephone. Perhaps this understanding of the stresses is why Vanderslice is quick to offer incoming bands a warm cup of calm.
Turns out, Vanderslice developed a taste for fragrant loose-leaf teas a while back, and has seen to it that his studio offerings come stocked with said caffeinated beverage. Naturally, I went to the source to discuss this obsession for Maximum Consumption. Enjoy the resulting interview with two lumps of sugar (or however you take it):
San Francisco Bay Guardian: When did you develop an interest in tea? John Vanderslice: I lived in London for a year, that changed it for me. Bad coffee [plus] good tea [ equals] tea drinker.
SFBG:Where do you purchase your loose leaf teas? JV: Rainbow Grocery, Five Mountains, and Red Blossom.
SFBG: What are the 11 loose leaf teas offered at Tiny Telephone? JV: Right now there’s 12! They are: Gunpowder, Genmaicha, Keemun, China Black, Green Jasmine, Throat Coat (the real, strong organic blend from Rainbow), Chamomile, Assam Black, English Breakfast, Camellia Blossoms, Emperor Pu-erh, and JV’s Herbal Organic.
SFBG: When did you come up your own personal JV’s herbal organic tea blend? JV: I initially wrote it on a piece of masking tape affixed to a mason jar with my mix. I thought it would be kind of funny, but people just asked me what the ingredients were. Then I started to take it seriously, tweaking and improving it. It has Rainbow’s Love Tea blend (which is really good), dandelion, peppermint, blackberry bush, red clover blossoms, rose hips, and sage. Some things are there for taste, and others for medicinal reasons.
SFBG: Do you see any connection between the ways you approach creating music/writing songs/recording bands and mixing teas? JV: I’m a tweaker through and through, I imagine I could have worked on cars or hydroelectric dams. I love the intersection of the technical and the creative.
SFBG:Would you ever be interesting in putting out your own brand? JV: I can barely function as it is, I think adding more pursuit/business and I might crack. I love giving it away for free.
SFBG: Do you also drink coffee? JV:I love coffee but I find myself drinking a lot more tea. Usually very strong black in the morning and green in the afternoon.
A video of our interviewee for your viewing pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VKpMDxhGQY
It was just fine, really. Oakland-bred rapper Kreayshawn’s big, sold-out show at Slim’s last night was amusing, mildly enjoyable, and packed with good people watching. Rapping over prerecorded beats, elfin Kreayshawn and her Chipmunks White Girl Mob (V-Nasty and Lil Debbie) ran through what I suspect is the gamut of their songs in a brief, hyper set.
This likely ages me, but if I’m being honest, I don’t totally get the appeal after seeing it live. Sure, “Gucci Gucci” and “Rich Whores” are fun romps through anti-consumerist hipsterdom, and, perhaps conversely, the rapper clearly has a unique aesthetic, but other than that, it felt almost false, even silly — and unsustainable.
For the first few tracks last night, Kreayshawn and Lil Debbie monster-walked back and forth across the stage in non-choreographed unison, casually shouting duel lyrics and yet somehow still revving up the crowd of mostly young women. This is another aspect about Kreayshawn that’s at least interesting – her followers. They dress like her in a pop culture mishmash of ’80s ripped punk, horn-rimmed glasses, and door-knocker earrings. Maybe I’m just seeing the ripped up shirts/shorts as reverential to punk because Kreayshawn’s mom was there last night – the very awesome Elka Zolot of the Trashwomen.
After a prerecorded “V-Nasty!” screamed through the speakers, Kreayshawn was all, “what’s that? A special guest?” and V-Nasty, who has been at the center of her own controversies, bounded out and rapped with the others. And then there were three; similarly paced, mousy high-pitched voices stalking across stage. It must have been an intense night, she earlier tweeted “Doing home shows are hella stressful.”
However I might feel about the quality of music, as mentioned above, it is pretty cool to see teen girls and 20-somethings adopting this attitude of “fuck you” and aping Kreayshawn’s style of dress. They clearly adore her and were screaming along with every song. One climbed up on someone’s shoulders and whipped her shirt over her head. At least they’re not being submissive; I was jostled hard by a number of excited young people in light-up glasses throughout the night.
Who knows if Kreayshawn will stand the test of time. A nominee for “best new artist,” it was announced yesterday that she’ll be hosting the 2011 VMA Red Carpet Report for MTV.com, so that’s something. In some ways, I can see the early Madonna factor – sidenote: both have now rocked fishnets half-shirts – if only based on the fans’ obvious obsession with this peculiar new pop culture figure. She could also go the way of so much niche hip-hop before her and disappear after the Next Big Thing. No more swag.
She’s definitely inspired an onslaught of parody videos, including these food-themed takes on “Gucci Gucci”:
Festival fatigue got you down? But wait, Treasure Island Festival is still coming up! Don’t worry, you have a brief break before it’s time to again drag out your fringe-y daytime festival frocks and headbands with feathers and animal hats and booty shorts with chunky boots (please, please don’t wear those things).
While the festival doesn’t go down until Oct. 15 and 16, the organizers did drop some juicy information today: the night show lineups – on sale this Friday, Aug. 26 at noon. Here they are, in all their nighttime glory:
Jens Lekman Sept. 29, 6 p.m., $12 California Academy of Science, SF
The Drums Oct. 14, 9 p.m., $15 The Independent 628 Divisadero, SF
JFK of MSTRKRFT Oct. 15, 10 p.m., $20 Mezzanine 444 Jesse, SF
The Head and the Heart Oct. 15, 10 p.m. $15 The Independent 628 Divisadero, SF
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down Oct. 16, 9 p.m., $16 The Independent 628 Divisadero, SF
Personally, I’m looking forward to the Thao with the Get Down Stay Down show. And to washing up nice during this break before again braving the elements.
Wipe away a single tear, Total Trash Fest is yet again coming to an end.* But between 9 p.m. Thursday (tonight) and 2 a.m Monday morning, there are seven more shows. That’s right, seven. And of those, there are newly added Total Trash supergroup concerts including Ty Segall and Friends – which friends? I’m schvitzing with anticipation – with Shannon and the Clams tonight at the Knockout. DJ Lee Noise of Burger Records will also be on hand to spin something dirty.
WHITE MYSTERY With BURNT ONES, THE DIMPLES Aug. 25, 9 p.m., $7 Hemlock Tavern 1131 Polk, SF
TY SEGALL AND FRIENDS With SHANNON AND THE CLAMS Aug. 25, 9 p.m. $5 The Knockout 3223 Mission, SF
TRADITIONAL FOOLS With OUTDOORSMEN, UZI RASH, SHROUDS Aug. 26, 9 p.m., $10 Thee Parkside 1600 17th St.SF
DUKES OF HAMBURG With LEGENDARY STARDUST COWBOY, ROCK N ROLL ADVENTURE KIDS, DADDY LONG LEGS, THE SHANKERS Aug. 27, 9 p.m., $10 Thee Parkside 1600 17th St.SF
TY SEGALL AND FRIENDS With THE COSMONAUTS Aug. 27 9 p.m., $5 Hemlock Tavern 1131 Polk, SF
MOONHEARTS With PANGEA, KING LOLLIPOP, SI SI SI Aug. 28, 2 p.m., $7 Hemlock Tavern 1131 Polk, SF
MIKAL CRONIN With MOUTHBREATHERS, COSMONAUTS Aug. 28, 9 p.m., $7 Hemlock Tavern 1131 Polk, SF
This week’s Super Ego clubs column was all about our Fall Arts Preview issue, although I did squeeze in quite a few events happening this weekend (including my birthday party this Saturday at Go Bang! haaaaay. You should come dance.) Here are some more nifty thangs, shortly summed, on the Party radar for this weekend’s de-edification for sure.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 25
>>Jamie Jones — the Hot Natured star is pretty massive on the hotness scale himself, full of sexy tech-soul spark. This’ll be steamy and a bit deep. 10pm, $10, at Vessel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WJxCHEAHjQ
>>Manuel de la Mare — this’ll be a bit balls-out in the peaky territory: the Hotfingers and 303Lovers label owner brings some great tech track selection instincts and a lot of drama. Accessible and fun. 10pm, $15, at Mezzanine. (Facebook)
>>Relax Relate Release — hey, I finally have some competition in the nightlife writing category, and he’s also a wicked DJ! Derrick Love, aka Derek Opperman, will bring some discofied lovin’ to this classic house and funky dance monthly, brought to you by Vin Sol, Charles McCloud, and Richie Panic. 10pm, $5, at 222 Hyde. (Facebook)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26
>>Prince Language — NYC re-editor and bouncy house purveyoris back in the bay for some more fun lovin’ at SOM’s face party. 10pm, $10, at SOM.
>>Marques Wyatt with Osunlade — I’m such a huge fan of these two gods of deep house and spiritual tribality. They’ll be holding down Friday’s Afro-soul quotient. Bonus: amazing local DJ Said opens. 9:30pm-4am, $15-$20, at Mighty. (Facebook)
>>Quentin Harris – NYC house pioneer (and totally bodied, meow) grew up in Detroit and takes you on a journey of both those cities’ seminal sounds. He comes into Oakland for a hot-hot blowout for the children. You will get down to this one. 9pm-3am, $15, at Bench and Bar (Facebook)
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27
>>Honey Dijon — Oooh, it’s gonna get kiki. The monthly Mighty Real parties at Mighty with David Harness are wonderful family-feeling affairs that bring in some true house guest talent. After Lil Louis and Jellybean Benitez comes the lovely, sassy Miss Honey Dijon to turn the tables and the floor inside out with her deep Chicago-via-NYC brand of smack-smack-smack. 10pm-4am, $10-$15 at Mighty. (Facebook)
>>Dark Room — yes, Virginia, there is a monthly gay goth club that rocks. Thsi one is it! And this month it’s honoring drag queen Anna Conda’ appointment to the Entertainment Commission. 10pm, $5, at Hotspot, 1414 Market, SF. (Facebook)
>>Addison Groove — it’s footwork time! UK bass representative from Bristol throws down some complex, irresistible, juke-like, ghostly ghettotech tunes for the always awesome Icee Hot monthly party. 10pm-3am, $10, at Public Works (Facebook)
Marcelo Burlon — um, Sunday weekly queer-oriented but straight-friendly party Honey has been on fire of late, this week bringing in Milan’s editor/fashion plate-turned-DJ Marcel Burlon of the Pink is Punk parties for some wide-ranging tunes that have a classic disco feel but retain a technological edge. 8pm-2am, $3, at Holy Cow. (Facebook)
When I sat down with il gato for this week’s cover story, I also grilled the band about their favorite local eateries. And they had some pretty serious opinions on the matter. Below is a transcript of our food-loving conversation:
San Francisco Bay Guardian:So where do you like to eat in San Francisco?
Johnny Major:Little Chihuahua, have you ever been there? I’m an absolute addict. It’s the perfect food. Garlic shrimp burritos! And they have amazing carnitas burritos. I go there all the time. And Lower Haight has got some great spots like Memphis Minnies. It’s great Southern barbecue. Where do you go and get some real Southern barbecue here? Those are my two favorite restaurants. Daimian Holiday Scott: I was raised vegetarian so initially coming out here and, which I’m still super into, I’ve never had the experience of eating lots of different types of meat, so getting like, veggie chili cheese fries or there’s [Golden Era] that has fake fried chicken sticks that have a bamboo dowel.
SFBG: Are you still vegetarian? DHS: Still vegetarian. Yeah. JM: From birth! Never had a piece of meat. DHS: [Laughs] That’s John’s favorite line! It’s not true. JM: I mean a real piece of meat. You ever had a steak? DHS: No, I don’t know if I have really. JM: There you go.
DHS: I lived in Berkeley a couple of years, and Berkeley is still one of the top food spots. And I love Little Star and that rosemary cornmeal crust. I [also] like pickled things so I pickle a lot – cured olives and sauerkraut.
Andrew Thomas: I grew up in Texas, so I’ve had plenty of steak [laughs]. I’ve dabbled in all types. I’ve been a pescetarian, I’ve been a vegan, I’ve tried it all and I’m pretty much back to eating meat. I live in Oakland so I’ve got lots of favorites in Oakland. But I lived in San Francisco for a year and one of my favorites is House on Nanking in Chinatown. And in general, moving up here – and my girlfriend is part of it too, she’s a big cook and into farmers’ markets – I’ve learned infinitely more about cooking and vegetables in general. And I have to say, my token place was Kennedy’s [Irish Pub and Curry House]. It’s pretty much an Irish bar meets and Indian place.
DHS: Indian pizza is one of my favorite things about living in San Francisco. Zantes is better but there used to be Raja in Lower Haight. I actually went to a [different] place that said they had Indian pizza – [it was] a cheese slice with garlic, spinach, and then some like, jarred Indian sauce on it. I was like, “what are you doing? How dare you?!” [laughs].
I walked home last night after Johnny’s [solo] show, and I got homemade apple pie with fresh whipped cream off a vender on Valencia. That’s tied into the city being one of the top two or three food cities in the world, which is so true and we’re so spoiled.
This is the first installment of our new series, Maximum Consumption, an unseasoned look at the increasingly overlapping fields of music and culinary arts. So if you’re in a band and looking to talk chop, or a chef that moonlights as an acoustic guitar-playing busker, we’d like to talk to you.
An enticing little book landed on my desk last week. It’s part cookbook, part music journalism, part rock opus, and hell, part coffee table book. The Recipe Project (subhead “A Delectable Extravaganza of Food and Music) is a concept spearheaded by New York-based gypsy-klezmer act One Ring Zero. The band’s co-founders, Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp, created songs using the recipes of well-known chefs (Mario Batali, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Chris Cosentino) as the word-for-word lyrics. The meals themselves served as musical influence; each recipe inspired a different sound.
While the songs are not likely ones you’d listen to say, on a long lonesome drive, they do have a certain childlike glint of glee. It’s conceptual. The true genius of this project is its overall cohesiveness. It’s an all-in-one package. Follow the recipe, listen to the song, get some interesting background factoids. There’s also the starpower — and that goes for both rockers and chefs.
Celebrated vegan author Isa Chandra Moskowitz, a.k.a one-half of Post Punk Kitchen, offers her recipe for peanut butter brunettes, and to match it One Ring Zero brought in singer Tanya Donelly (of Belly, the Breeders, and Throwing Muses) to add dreamy pop vocals. Donelly also makes another appearance later in the book as the author of a recipe called the ugly muffin.
San Francisco’s Cosentino, of Incanto, includes a recipe for brains and eggs and One Ring Zero matched it with a hyper Beastie Boys-esque rap song, as Cosentino suggested. In the preface, the reader learns that Cosentino’s brains and eggs recipe was the original impetus for the project, given its lyrical instructions. I, however, am particularly fond of the song matching Mark Kurlansky’s recipe for a raw peach. With the whisk-whisk-whisk of an old record scratch kicking off the song, it naturally leads to a sweet vintage Parisian-style ditty, you might as well be wandering the Champs-Élysées munching some ripe fruit.
But it’s not all just matchy-match recipes with songs, The Recipe Project also includes full recipe playlists, articles rock journalists, and some pretty interesting interviews with chefs, along with “A Wine Lover’s Guide to Mexican Music.” Those in-between articles start off with headlines such as “Raspberries, Moussaka, and Metallica” in which we learn that chef Michael Symon is “America’s MVP of pork” — and that Stevie Ray Vaughan is the musical equivalent.
It’s a cookbook that’s worth a spin. The Recipe Project is out Oct. 15, 2011 on Black Balloon Publishing.
I’m just going to go ahead and say it because I’ve had a few days to think about it: that was the best year of Outside Lands yet. Not just because of the weather — even though my singed epidermis is ample proof that the sun was out and about in Speedway Meadows this weekend — but because after four years of hype, the sold-out festival is finally justified in its claim that it’s among the top five biggest and best in the country.
So who cares if Big Boi didn’t show up (at least we got beach ball humor from Dave Chappelle, who seems to be showing his face more around these parts lately) — a bonus appearance from M.I.A. during Deadmau5 evens it all out in the cosmic sense of things. And who could be mad at Sir Lucious when Bay hip-hop repped as hard as it did with K. Flay and Latryx featuring Jazz Mafia? Not to mention local turns by show-stoppers tUnE-yArDs, who are not rappers but proved on Sunday afternoon that the group might have enough swagger to qualify. Oh — and yeah, the headliners. Arcade Fire, you really did deserve all the buzz.
Like I’ve said in the past, some of the best parts of this festival took place off of any stage (and I’m not talking about the Loyd Family Players’ impromptu shows in the transition areas of the fest). The half-moon of Eco Lands stalls gave the three-day affair a little purpose beyond entertainment — everyone from Wavy Gravy’s Seva Foundation to the Wigg Party was there, the latter doling out chalkboard necklaces so that fest attendees could have a forum to share their thoughts with the guy standing behind them at Beirut. (“Free hugs” was a common refrain.)
The trippy little path from the main entrance out to the Twin Peaks Stage provided a welcome respite from the crowds, a nice improvement on the at-times-gridlocked inter-set migrations of past years. Plus, festival organizers stuffed it with sideshows — a dessert food court, a lackluster Mexican food court regrettably dubbed “the Mission,” and a phenomenal art installation by Monica Canilao and other local creatives: a fabric-parachute hinterland that fluttered soothingly in the breezes that whipped in from park’s edge Ocean Beach (bummer that a lot of it got ripped down by last-day rowdies). Coupled with a windchime swing and a wacky, remant-built castle, the OL consciousness-expanders finally had a place to breathe deep and reflect.
Anyway, good job everyone on staying hydrated. See ya next year.
While we await the latest apocalyptic intimations from the Anonymous v. BART showdown, let us merrily pull up our virtual balaclavas, gather around ye olde Soundcloud, and rev it to this wicked mix by SF’s own V for Vendetta-masked turntable master. Eternally anonymous DJ Nebakaneza, basshacker extraordinaire of the massive Ritual Dubstep weekly, every Thursday at Temple, just dropped the sublime “Ascending into Madness,” a “new mix of some darker stuff I’m into.” It’s a perfect soundtrack for those conflicts underground, hey no cells allowed:
Ah, Golden Gate Park on a crisp, sunny Sunday morning. Well, afternoon. There’s nothing else like it. When I finally made my way out to Outside Lands, the highly recognizable vocal stylings of tUnE-yArDs were piping through the brush and bramble. Sweaty, shirtless men – fried to a near-crisp – rain danced far back from the Sutro Stage. And those free-jazzing saxophonists that I mentioned in the pre-festival rundown were indeed beside Merrill Garbus.
Next up, I high-tailed it to foodlands, where I shared gourmet tator tots from Q and later, a falafel snow cone – not as odd as it sounds – from Straw. As we munched, I caught a few songs by the legendary Mavis Staples, but apparently missed it when Arcade Fire singer Winn Butler came out to join Staples in a cover of “The Weight.”
I then hit the Twin Peaks stage for !!!, a dance-punk band I’ve had ongoing mixed feelings about, but I have to say: they put on a good live show yesterday. Nic Offer, wearing teensy jean shorts, sprang across stage, arms open wide, shaking his hips and calling on the crowd to get moving. On route to the set, I overheard a girl yell, “Is that how you say that? ‘Chick, chick, chick’?!”
I’m glad I ran out of !!! during the last couple of songs, so I could be front and center for local garage rocker Ty Segall, working it in the unrelenting (read: not that hot) San Francisco sun. Segall opened with a new song then headbanged his way through older favorites. It was a small stage, but Segall’s show was highly attended. He asked if the crowd would circle pit, then took it back and recommended they just pogo. A few crowd-surfed, at least one lost a shoe.
Major Lazer was a whole otherworldly affair. While dapper Diplo and Switch stood behind a table of mixed electronics and laptops, a hypeman hopped around stage whipping a towel while a woman in a bright tropical onesie and neon pink slotted shades ran back and forth, bending into contortionist-yoga poses.
I watched a few John Fogerty songs – all CCR – and thought how proud my father would be if he knew my proximity to Mr. Fortunate Son. I wanted to get prime viewing distance to Beirut so I made my way back to the Sutro Stage. With a mighty three-horn brass section (when Zach Condon wasn’t playing his ukulele) and a particularly lovely accordion, Beirut played songs off 2006’s Gulag Orkestar and 2007’s the Flying Club Cup, along with at least one track off upcoming release the Ripe Tide.
The exhilaration was palpable for Arcade Fire over at the Polo Fields/Lands End main stage. Thunderous screams rang out as each musician appeared on stage. Behind the band there was a marquee movie screen showing fuzzy, nostalgic images of tree-lined streets, warm sunsets, and cars on open roads – fitting in nicely with themes of its most recent album, the Suburbs. I’ll admit it, I got a little choked up. In the other direction, there was a sea of people, shrouded in the purple-blue lights of the stage, with lit-up booths lined up past them, and the dark tops of trees out in the park beyond those.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, the free festival held annually in Golden Gate Park, began trickling out its 2011 lineup early this week. To give eager fans a (small) thrill, instead of simply announcing the bands, the festival’s site is hosting a series of song medleys through Soundcloud. Listen to the songs, and you will discover the artists (or you can just look at the scrolling box at the top of the page). While more acts will be announced in the coming days as the festival nears – the dates are Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and 2 – the first batch of bands is already looking pretty great.
Silver-tressed country rocker Emmylou Harris returns again as do Punch Brothers, and of course, The Wronglers – the band includes Warren Hellman, the philanthropist who foots the festival bill. Other acts listed so far include Gillian Welch, Bob Mould (of Hüsker Dü), Elbow, Robert Plant & the Band of Joy, Cass McCombs, and Those Darlins.
Those Darlins, by the way, is a band to check out if you haven’t yet. It’s stripped-down, guitar-friendly pop. The song “Be Your Bro” is good for a late afternoon pick-me-up. Hint.
So far, the only real head-scratcher on the list, at least in my mind, is Buckethead. I know he’s a virtuoso guitarist and this is “hardly strictly” bluegrass, but I just can’t picture him out there in the picturesque, dew-tipped green fields of Golden Gate alongside all that crunchy folk togetherness, wearing a big, white bucket on his head. Call me crazy.
Keep checking the Hardly Strictly site for new medleys. At this point, we can only guess as to who might be added to the bill based on previous years. MC Hammer? Elvis Costello? Bonnie “Prince” Billy? It’s all just wild speculation.
UPDATE: 10:28 a.m. It seems that the Hardly Strictly organizers were ready to divulge the rest of the lineup by early Tuesday evening. The medleys were no longer on the front page, instead replaced by a dizzying list of truly awesome acts. New revelations include: Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard, Broken Social Scene, Kurt Vile and the Violators, M. Ward, Thurston Moore, Bright Eyes, and the always-entertaining a cappella Leonard Cohen cover group, Conspiracy of Beards. And yes, to those wondering, MC Hammer is back.
In the Wed/3 Guardian you can read the tale of Total Trash Fest 3, and what exactly it takes to be a trash band. Here I present another example of the Total Trash type: Moonhearts.
The band includes vocalist-bassist Mikal Cronin, who also has a solo album out — he’ll play two Trash Fest sets Sunday, August 28 (one with Moonhearts in the afternoon, and later that night by himself). On top of that, he occasionally tours with his friend, local garage rock wizard Ty Segall, who is in Traditional Fools, also set to play Total Trash. It’s a freaky web those trash types weave.
“We’ve played with a lot of those bands [in the fest] before,” Cronin says, adding with a laugh, “I guess we’re pretty trashy, but we try to keep it under control.”
But Moonhearts represents a newer side of trash, veering slightly away from the punk and more toward a dreamy California surf sound. (Don’t worry, the band definitely keeps up the noisy garage ethos of the genre.) It’s a modern, more distorted version of those psychedelic Nuggets box sets, which introduced a generation (whether it admits it or not) to bands like the Seeds and Strawberry Alarm Clock.
Some Moonhearts tracks, such as “I Said” off its eponymous 2010 album on Tic Tac Totally, evoke those bands more directly, while other songs veer toward a more straightforward Dick Dale and the Del-Tones style with the classic, wave-like reverb.
The trio grew up in Laguna Beach, Calif., discovering surfing first, and rock ‘n’ roll second. All three attended Laguna Beach High School and it was there that Cronin first met Segall. The pair started a band, a first for them both, which Cronin describes as a “Laguna Beach party band.”
After high school Cronin went away to college in Portland, Ore., but returned to the coastal Orange Country town in 2006 and started up Moonhearts. “Growing up, we were all obsessed with surf records, so [our music] seemed appropriate. We’ve never talked directly about it, but it seems to permeate everything we do.”
The band was originally called Charlie and the Moonhearts, after drummer Charlie Mootheart, the youngest member of the group, but it has since dropped the “Charlie.” In name only, though — Mootheart, who now lives in San Francisco, continues to play with Cronin and Moonhearts guitarist Roland Cosio, though they both live in Southern California. That’s about to change: Cronin and Cosio are planning to move to the Bay Area as soon as possible.
Moonhearts With Pangea, King Lollipop, and Si Si Si Aug. 28, 2 p.m., $7 Hemlock Tavern 1131 Polk, S.F.
Feeling some half-priced symphony and live tango dancing? It’s a mash-up of culture this Thursday, July 28 at Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony will performs Antonio Vivaldi’s classic Four Seasons along with a punchier, more colorful take on the four seasons by Astor Piazzolla, Estaciones Porteñas (also known as The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires), beginning at 8 p.m.
The Four Seasons is Vivaldi’s most widely recognized work, with each of the four concertos including sounds and evoking the moods of winter, spring, summer and fall. Piazzolla’s Estaciones Porteñas is a set of four tango compositions that were originally conceived as separate pieces, not meant to be played in once cycle as Vivaldi’s. During the SF Symphony performance, Lara St. John will play The Four Seasons with interweaving movements from Estaciones Porteñas.
In addition to the symphony, there will be pre-concert and intermission tango demonstrations in the upstairs lobby, backed by the live music of Tango Revolution Orchestra. The orchestra is made up of young musicians: students and graduates from conservatories, universities, and community music schools.
Known as a “milonga,” it’s an informal social dance gathering for tango dancers. And audience members will have the opportunity to get in on the tango; Argentine tango teacher Sonja Riket will be on hand to lead informal instruction.
It’s a momentous occasion too: Riket says the event marks the first collaboration between the symphony and Tango Revolution Orchestra. The Four Seasons and “Milonga de Symphonia” Thurs/28, 7 p.m., $15-$70 (half off with promo code “July50off”) Davies Symphony Hall (415) 864-6000 www.sfsymphony.org
No one seemed to mind that it was a Sunday night and that we were probably all going to be up far past our bedtime on a work night. That’s because it’s worth staying up late to hear some darn good music, truly starting the week off right. Emily Wells and The Blank Tapes were at Cafe du Nord and they kept the tunes coming late into the evening.
I always love going to a show early to find out that the opening band is awesome. The Blank Tapes, hollering from the Bay Area, have this perfectly classic sound, bringing up scents of Cream and the Youngbloods. The quirky sailor outfit was also a plus and I loved the Renaissance-man band member who played everything from bongos and mouth harp, to ukulele and the Puerto Rican guiro. What can I say, I really liked their sound and I bet you would too.
Then Emily Wells took the stage, with about a zillion instruments and a web of electrical cords twisting around her feet. A one-women band, Wells loops her voice, hits away on the drums and evens add violins into the mix. Her voice, melancholy and smoky, made the front row dance in ecstasy (or, perhaps, on ecstasy … some of the moves were a little out there, but it could just have been pure-enthusiasm … who knows).
Wells and The Blank Tapes were definitely the prefect mix for the Sunday night blues, easing us all into the work week with a pitch-perfect concert.
After capping off a monstrous 20-plus song set yesterday, on Thursday, July 21, with the tortured grind of “Slaves & Bulldozers,” Soundgarden put an exclamation point on their performance with a six minute shake-the-building-foundations, horses-of-the-apocalypse audio assault.
Amid waves of controlled feedback and blaring Seattle Sonic resonance, I thought my dental fillings were shaking loose. I was worried the Civic Auditorium balcony would soon collapse. I suspected that teenagers might start exploding throughout the audience.
If there had remained any wayward ounce of Superunknown sentiment regarding Soundgarden’s return, it had been extinguished long before the encore. The ear-bleeding onslaught at the outro was entirely (and wonderfully) gratuitous, then. Apparently the band just wanted to ruin our hearing for the rest of the week to make their point.
Yes, Soundgarden was in prime fighting shape. If you hadn’t caught it at the 1996 show at Kaiser Auditorium (now featured on their Live On I-5 disc) or the Greek Theater during grunge’s high watermark or the Warfield in all of its youthful glory — well, you still got the real deal last night. Not only did the band deliver on its trademark heft, but the setlist was epic.
The group relied most heavily on material from Superunknown and Badmotorfinger, but dug deep into the vault at times, with the likes of “Ugly Truth”, “Loud Love,” and the early-as-it-gets “Nothing To Say.” Soundgarden also gave San Francisco first listen to some glorious obscurities that have yet to surface on their reunion tour, with an amped-up “Drawing Flies” and an entirely anthem-oriented “Head Down.”
All of the band’s radio hits were included, which at times this made for a somewhat disjointed iPod shuffle-style pacing to the night. But the slower, quietly textured numbers are all essential to Soundgarden’s identity — and say what you like, but “Black Hole Sun” might very well be its generation’s “Strawberry Fields.”
As the band wound down the main set with the juggernaut creep of “4th of July,” Soundgarden plunged deep into their element with “Beyond the Wheel,” from their first LP Ultramega OK. Chris Cornell stalked the stage belting out upper register falsettos for the better part of the track, while Kim Thayil let loose on high wire guitar solo wizardry.
There is a stunning weight to all of this, to Soundgarden’s music when it locks one member to another like that. In this sense, their current tour shouldn’t be viewed so much as a reunion, but a question as to why they were apart in the first place.
End notes:
– Talk about grunge. The Civic Auditorium is seriously grimey these days.
– Former San Francisco Giant and future hall-of-famer Randy Johnson is apparently Soundgarden’s tour photographer. He was seen early on in the photo pit at the start of the show and was photographing from the back of the stage during the show’s finale.
– Notorious for hissy fits prior to the band’s breakup, bassist Ben Shepherd was on good behavior throughout the night. Furthermore, the inclusion of one of his few authored tracks “Head Down” was one of the show’s highlights.
– Drummer Matt Cameron is really something to watch – his is sort of a precision bludgeoning — half barbarian, half perfectly calibrated robot. (Check him out on the Youtube clip)
– And…why aren’t these guys headlining Outside Lands?
Ahh the good old days. Scientific literature on nostalgia couldn’t even fill a Pee Chee folder, but psycho-sages don’t need to tell us that positive memories act as a natural anti-depressant, and that music — surprise! — is a strong trigger of nostalgia. No wonder we get that warm vacuum tube glow when we hear the vintage sounds of the past.
It should be pretty apparent by now that classic soul and R&B has made a big comeback in the Bay Area thanks to a few DJs with awesome record collections, like Lucky, Primo, and the Hard French-ers — not to mention the still thriving record shops like Dick Vivian’s Rooky Ricardo’s Records. And let’s face it — soul music is fun as hell to get down and dirty to.
Luckily for us, music producer and songwriter Nick Waterhouse and his Pres Records label mates the Allah-las embody that hard, gritty, and raw spirit of the 1960s — whether it be a rough and tumble garage sound or the kind of soul music that makes you double over and hurt so good. The result is simply damn good music that is just as relevant today as ever, maybe because what was reflective of the turbulent and chaotic times of that decade ring true in the effed-up present. Looks like the grass is just as green — or brown? — over here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwKbYN6ru1E
Nick Waterhouse and the Tarots featuring the Naturelles With the Allah-las and DJ Lucky 10 p.m., $10 Elbo Room 647 Valencia, SF
It’s not every day that you get a missive from the carnival, so when I saw Eddy Joe Cotton’s email in my inbox I read it. Holy damn, Yard Dogs Road Show is making a movie. Even more than that — he was extending the invite to go play with the traveling pack of musico-gypsies on Sun/24 at their Oakland clubhouse. You can come too. No, really.
“The Yard Dogs Road Show wants to be a movie right now,” says Cotton, author of one of the best road journals ever (Hobo) and long-time member of the long-time traveling burlesque-vaudeville experience that is the YDRS. It kind of always did (if not another novel) — the band’s provenance has always been romanticized by its members, if not made into an urban legend. Take a gander at my interview with the group’s song and dance man Miguel for a look at magic and mystery.
The band’s developed a nationwide following through its bohemian wonderland of a live show. So cool, it wants to share its roots. Of course, there is a Kickstarter involved. See, movies don’t just pop up from nowhere. Cotton explains — actually, he really explains, maybe I’ll just cut ‘n’ paste. The band needs your dough for:
– Editing, obtaining additional footage, purchasing archival-stock footage, music publishing fees, audio production, camera upgrades, hard drives, film festival entry fees, film promotion, graphic design, DVD manufacturing, etc.
– We have a 7-year old mini-DV camera that has stopped accepting tapes. We’ve had it repaired too many times. We need a new HD camera – price tag $4000
– We still need more footage to tell the story we want to tell. This will mean more of everything.
Plus publicity, DVD manufacturing, cuts to Kickstarter and Amazon, mailing the DVDs, and for video gear they’ve already bought.
Bla bla bla. Contributing to the project through the Kickstarter site will mean you get anything from YDRS love (this is not totally broken down, so feel free to let your imagination run rampant) to lifetime tickets to see the band giggin’. And the party in Oakland will feature a movie Q&A, sushi rolls, and lasso tricks.
When my big brother, David Devereaux, owner of Mission haunt Force of Habit Records, passed away suddenly at the untimely age of 41 this past July 4, it left a hole in the city’s punk and vinyl scene almost the equivalent of the hole it left in my heart.
I eventually became a movie journalist, but David’s musical tastes had a profound influence on my own — he cut his teeth on AC/DC at 12, and I followed suit at the same age; he discovered the Ramones at 14, and I attended my first Ramones show at 16. It would have been hard for them not to. Except for a brief stint playing alto sax in junior band, my brother was never a musician. But that certainly didn’t stop him from devoting his life to music.
While he came to embrace all kinds of bands and performers — from fellow Montreal native Leonard Cohen to the Pogues and Tom Waits — punk rock remained his one enduring passion. He even gave his son, Jaxon, the middle name Joey, a tribute to his earliest and greatest punk influence, Joey Ramone.
Somehow my brother managed to embody the anarchic enthusiasm and ear-splitting debauchery of his favorite musical style just by being himself. When he wasn’t attending live shows (favorite local bands included Teenage Harlets and Fracas), listening to his beloved vinyl collection, deejaying under his nom de guerre “Brain Dead Dave,” or promoting local bands in landmark dives like the Knockout, he provided his own soundtrack of fuzzed-out feedback from his seemingly perpetually flapping gums. Just like punk rock, he could be difficult for some people to take, yet he always made an impression. Let’s just say he was a force of nature.
When David told me he was opening his own record store a little less than a decade ago, I balked. All that overhead seemed like a recipe for financial disaster, and he was already doing well enough selling vinyl online. No doubt, the store was something of a money pit, but from the moment I first saw it, I understood: this was to be a place of and for community. These days, when even big box music stores are closing their doors, it seems like a small miracle that Force of Habit was able to stay open as long as it did; it’s a testament to the passion and commitment of my brother and the tight knit band of local vinyl buffs.
Force of Habit opened quite possibly for the very last time on July 11 so that community could say goodbye to the store and its colorful, unforgettable owner. The turnout was fantastic, with the party raging into the wee hours. One of David’s musical heroes, Jello Biafra, even showed up, finally leaving (after trying to weasel some free records) with a colossal stack of vinyl at closing. While friends of my brother have expressed interest in reopening the store, for the foreseeable future this punk rock community center remains shuttered.
My brother and I were one and the same in many ways. We could both be described as stubborn and combative. While I’ve devoted my life to studying and writing about movies, my brother lived music. We were both professional fans, so to speak. We butted heads constantly, but I’ll never love anyone more. I don’t really know how to adequately say goodbye, so I’ll leave my parting words to someone who helped shaped David’s life profoundly, and who was also gone too soon:
“Hangin’ out all by myself/I don’t wanna be with anybody else/I just want to be with you/I just wanna have somethin’ to do/Tonight/Tonight/Tonight.”
I couldn’t have said it better than Joey Ramone. Rest in peace, brother.
