He sat surrounded by dozens of instruments, all of which were lovingly named in the playbill for the show. As Eddie Vedder made his way through an extensive repertoire of new and old songs, a fresh ukulele or guitar was switched out with each piece, giving the whole evening an ever changing sound and flavor.
Vedder, whose latest album Ukulele Songs, came out earlier this year, has embraced the tiny Hawaiian contraption, mashing it up with his strong, experienced voice, to create something you might call “aloha with kick.” The audience was in complete awe throughout the whole performance, shrieking at unexpected moments and shouting out requests, which were often surprisingly obliged to, including when someone asked to be sung a special wedding song.
And then there were those guitars. Both Vedder and his opener, the talented Irishmen, Glen Hansard, had wild musical moments on stage, where their guitar and singing made it sound like they were playing with a whole band, drums and other singers included. I don’t really know how to explain it, but only that there was so much music coming out of them, that it seemed like the stage was jam packed with musicians, when in reality it was just some dudes with their guitars.
Pretty awesome. But then again, the whole show had a very intimate feeling, like were were all around a bonfire, on some beach in Hawaii, wasting away the evening to some beautifully poetic ukulele songs.
Call it soul music for soulless times: Gillian Welch and David Rawlings dazzled a devoted crowd on Thursday July 7 with a beautiful bluegrass showcase carried out with hefty Nashville flair. With songs of love and loss, murder and redemption, the duo created evocative atmosphere in the Warfield Theater despite their minimalist setup at center stage.
Playing two sets of about a dozen songs each, Welch and Rawlings made it through their entire new album, The Harrow & the Harvest. Yes, the songs from the duo’s 2001 album, Time (The Revelator) were all stellar, just as other crowd pleasers like “Miss Ohio” and “I’ll Fly Away” were well-received by the audience. But it was the new material that proved the most compelling and even claimed some of the biggest ovations of the night; mostly noticeably “Six White Horses,” for which Welch played percussion on her thigh and then performed a barn dance jig while Rawlings drove it all along on banjo and harmonica.
With their deft ability to conjure up heavy moods through their music, Welch and Rawlings took the atmosphere in the theater from the Southern glory of the Grand Ole Opry to the whiskey-fueled knife fights of a Barbary Coast saloon. It’s what the duo does best, shaking out a timeless sort of salt-of-the-earth Americana through their music – soulful harmonies matched by stirring melodies.
Having explored a wide range of their catalogue and worked through three encores, the duo sent the audience off with the heavy morphine drip waltz of The Harrow and the Harvest’s final track, singing – “that’s the way the corn bread crumbles/that’s the way the whole thing end.”
In this week’s Super Ego nightlife column, I get all excited about the Na Nach subsect of Hasidic Jewish followers of the Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. The Na Nach embrace an endearing philosophy of ecstatic dancing in the streets (via their brightly colored vans) as a form of worship, equal parts Sufi whirling dervish and 1990s trance party. They also have a very active Web presence.
In the past couple of months, everyone from the Jewish Daily Forward to Vice Magazine has taken notice. Since dancing around crazily as a form of spiritual practice is basically my life, I’m less interested in the not-so-unexpected intersection of Jewish mysticism and raving in the streets. Over-the-top Orthodox Jewish men’s wedding dancing is, after all, one of those wonderfully bizarre and irresistible human cultural treasures, no matter what you may think of conservative religious practices. (Needless to say, there are no female Na Nach dancers in evidence.)
No, what mostly interests me is the charming — and sometimes really well-produced — homemade trance and electro music that accompanies the Na Nach dancers. And of course the inevitable gay parody.
Below are some videos featuring Na Nach that give you some flavor of the dancing and the music. At the end, there’s a special treat from the great Tel Aviv gay club Arisa, whose slickly produced, hilariously parodic video flyers have been causing a sensation on the homo Web. Enjoy, and let these remind you to get outside and dance around a bit in this beautiful weather!
San Francisco lost true drag royalty today when Ms Vicki Marlane, “the Girl with the Liquid Spine” who performed with the weekend Hot Boxxx Girls revue at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, passed away at 7:04 a.m. at San Francisco General Hospital. No official cause of death was immediately available, but her co-entertainer Gina la Divina said she “had been down for a while,” presumable meaning she had been ill. (This information was passed on to me this morning by Matt Slusarenko of Queerty.com, and he’s just posted his tribute.) From circus sideshow act in the 50s to drag road warrior in the swinging 70s — she lived a life, honey. That life was documented in a fantastic film released last year, “Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight.”
Besides enjoying her performances countless times, I had the pleasure of interviewing her for the Winter 2008 edition of our nightlife guide SCENE.
Vicki Marlane, seated third from left next to Gina La Divina. Photo by Matthew Reamer.
Attention, pre-adults: thereis a place for you, a place where a laissez faire attitude and zero musical talent will not only get you by, but get you laid. Ladies and gentleman, welcome to San Francisco, the American hotbed of would-be air guitar heroes.
No, champions. No, gods. In fact, such is the level of air guitar talent in the Bay Area that the organizers of the U.S. Air Guitar Championships decided to hold not one, but two regional competitions last weekend at the Independent.
Authentic nerds (minus the “ironically cool” schtick) took the opportunity to trade their tighty-whities for more creative duds and rise to the heavens.They came, they shredded — they melted the ears off a boozed-up crowd that heartily welcomed beer, candy, rubber animals, and body parts thrown at their heads, not to mention catapaulting, oversized bodies. What would a rock show be without stage diving?
On night one (Fri/24), the “master of airimonies” was Bjorn Turoque, the dark horse 2003 winner of the World Air Guitar Championships in Finland (a victory documented in the film Air Guitar Nation). Judges were Hot Lixx Hulihan — two time SF winner and one time national winner — as well as Onion A.V. Club’s Mark Hawthorne and some other dude that everyone hated. In true rock and roll spirit, the crowd expressed their disgust for any unfair scoring by hurling random objects at the judges.
On night two (Sat/25), Hot Lixx mastered the airimonies, while judge Turoque was joined by nemesis and legend C Diddy (co-star in the aforementioned documentary, first ever U.S. champion, and a world champion himself) and Dr. Frank of Mr. T Experience, who is also the author of King Dork.The crowd showed much more love and respect for this bunch and kept their fist-pumping hands to themselves.
Participants on each night’s lineup battled imaginary axes in two rounds: air noodling to a minute-long song of one’s own choosing, and a surprise song from the judges. The judges scored the performances on a scale from four to six, looking for technical skill, stage presence, and something called “airiness” — the unexplainable something that “you’ll know when you see.” In the end, the winners with the highest combined score on each night — Shred Nugent and seasoned champ Cold Steel Renegade — represented San Francisco in Chicago’s national throwdown.
The winner from night one, Shred Nugent (a.k.a. Airy and the Hendersons, get it?), shows excitement for his high score. All photos by Jackie Andrews
Cold Steel Renegade, now a two-time SF champ, emerged victorious on the following night to join Nugent in Chicago
While more performance art than concert, the night involved all of the elements of a good rock show: a rowdy crowd, lights, fog, and energetic “musicians.” Along with rock ‘n’ roll comes baggage — sex, drugs, booze, hurling television sets out windows, trashing hotel rooms. And while none of the contestants got super creative, a few did pulled out some of those stops.
Toward the end of his performance, this contestant pulled tall boys out of his pockets and sprayed onlookers with the froth. His score was dinged for playing something other than air guitar.
Creepy fake cocaine moment No. 1: Singar the Goat Demon and his “groupie” snort lines of the faux blow and then prance around the bag in a strange pagan-like ritual.
Creepy fake cocaine moment No. 2: The Six String General snorted lines of the spurious nose-candy off this young ladies bum before whacking her from behind.
An otherwise unmemorable performance became noteworthy with a freakishly high jump into the crowd to a perfectly timed confetti explosion.
Opting for Marilyn Manson shock, posing pretty for the camera.
And so it was — the San Francisco leg of the U.S. Air Guitar Championships came and went, blowing minds and leaving a huge mess. We hear that our SF contenders did well in Chicago, but unfortunately neither are going to Finland for the World Air Guitar Championships. Next year!
It’s gonna be a gloomy night after a rainy day in San Francisco. I guess I’ll sit on the couch, get my popcorn ready — and catch a live concert with one of conscious hip-hop’s greats. Tonight (Tues/21) at 10:30 p.m. you can catch NorCal hip-hop duo Blackalicious for a live 30 minute concert for just three dollars.
Have you ever gotten mad at the fact that your favorite boy band or heavy metal group never plays in the Bay Area? Now these artists can come to you – er, on your laptop. That’s the concept of StageIt.com, a website that brings live shows and performances to your computer screen – at really, really affordable prices.
One of tonight’s headliners is Blackalicious, a group whose 2005 release The Craft continues to define feel-good hip-hop acrobatics. Founded in 1992 by rapper Gift of Gab and San Francisco native DJ and producer Chief Xcel, the group is representative of the DJ-rapper combo favored during the days of old school hip hop.
And not only are the duo’s tiny figures going to be rhyming and scratching in pixelated form across your stream – if you need to hear “Feel That Way,” touch a button and send in your request – there’s even an opportunity to chat with the artists. And if at the end of the show, you were impressed with how the two were able to overcome the weirdness of watching an “intimate” show online, you can even tip.
The site highly touts its ability to give fans the “behind the scenes” experience – in fact, as the StageIt website says, it’s not “about broadcasting concerts online. It’s about sharing the amazing moments that happen in between.”
For only three to five dollars per show — many of the artists allow fans to pay what they can – that’d be a real good bargain.
There is nothing to do on Sunday that is not Pride, so good luck if you’d like a pass on Virgin America floats and daunting crowds. Well, except one really, really awesome thing: the debut of Jazz Mafia‘s second orchestral composition “The Emperor Norton Suite” at Stern Grove Sun/26. Charlie 2na will be there too, welcoming you to the Outer Sunset — and maybe even Lyrics Born.
Sneak peek behind the scenes of Emperor Norton’s Suite
Have you been to Stern Grove? You need to go, because if you live in one of the central neighborhoods, it’s a great opportunity to see what the vast majority of the city of San Francisco looks like: avenues, families, houses! Ample parking! Well, this last one not so much for you, unless you and your automobile arrive at the festival ways far in advance, like mabye 11 a.m. for the 2 p.m. start. Tips: hella picnic snacks, mimosas, a soft blanket for when you inevitably get stuck sitting in a bramble bush halfway up the park slope, a sharp knife, and cutting board. Please don’t attempt to have a picnic without these last two items, sweartagod.
Back to the tunes. Composer, horn player, bandleader, and all-around overachiever Adam Theis has been working his ass off to put together a follow-up to the excellent work he did on his first symphony, entitled Brass, Bows, and Beats. Theis has had his hands all over the hip-hop-jazz-etc. scene, with recent collaborations with everyone from Beck to Zion I’s Amp Live (he told us after rehearsals today in the Grove he’s headed down to an LA gig with Blackalicious).
But believe Sunday show, that’s going to be his baby up there. And motormouth stage stealer Lyrics Born (check out his thoughts — at 00:34 — on this weekend’s venue at his Stern Grove press conference last year), has announced on his Facebook page that he’ll be hosting, though the fact hasn’t made itself known on the Stern Grove site yet.
Anyway, if you’re looking for a pass on Pride’s hypetastic explosion (that said with nothing but love and vogue in my heart), you could do worse than a long bike ride out to see some of the Bay’s most solid soul machines.
UPDATE: Just rolled through the JM rehearsals in the grove. This from Aima the Dreamer, who said there is a major difference between the creation of Emperor Norton’s Suite and the first Jazz Mafia orchestral piece. “For Brass, Bows, and Beats, all the emcees wrote and performed their parts separately,” she says. But for Emperor Norton’s, the piece’s three emcees (Aima, Shotgun Wedding Quintet’s Dublin, and Soulati) collaboratively wrote all the flows, then divided them up among themselves. The result? “Not common, to be noted” says Aima — at times she feels like she’s “channeling” Dublin’s “hip-hop mathematics” and Soulati’s different styles.
Jazz Mafia’s self-titled “trombonist, composer, and librarian” Jeanne Geiger was one of the composers of Emperor Norton’s, which involved a writing process she says started last summer. Like Aima, Geiger says in contrast to the all-encompassing effort put forth by Theis for the first symphony, the goal of the second one was “to be collaborative.”
In sum: it’s going to be dope. Martin Luther will be performing with the family, Lyrics Born is confirmed as host, and SF schoolkids will even take the stage for a song or two.
Jazz Mafia feat. Charlie 2na, Martin Luther, and Lyrics Born
DJ Bobby Viteritti, the resident DJ at San Francisco’s legendary Trocadero Transfer from 1977 – 1981, appears on the new Horse Meat Disco CD, Horse Meat Disco III — he curates a disc of favorite “sleaze songs.” And you KNOW he’s got the dance floor goods, henny. After the jump, he sleazes us up and reminds us how hot Pride used to get (and will this weekend again).
Bobby Viteritti’s Top 5 sleaze songs
1. “Runaway Love” by Linda Clifford (Curtom), 1978
2. “Walk the Night” by Skatt Brothers (Casablanca), 1979
3. “Evolution” by Giorgio Moroder (Casablanca), 1978
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuGGrRXW67k
4. “Hot Butterfly” by Bionic Boogie (Polydor), 1978
How adorable is JD Samson? As a member of the legendary electro-feminist band Le Tigre and currently the force behind MEN, her music skills alone bank winning points. When you add in that little mustache, messy hair, and big dorky glasses, Samson becomes a full-on queer sex symbol. And guess what ladies? She’s here and DJing SOM Bar‘s Saturday night Pride party.
The dancefloor is bound to be packed with gay-weekend celebrating hotties but if Samson is truly the apple of your eye, you might have to step up your game. Her last gf was Sia, the ridiculously cool Austrailian pop-singer who never fails to spew awkwardly entertaining stories, as seen by her interview with the Bay Guardian last year. The musical couple broke up this Spring and while it’s not confirmed that Samson is/is not carting a new beau, this party could very well be your chance to romance a queer celebrity with a ridiculous cool-factor.
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Samson’s musical stylings are known to be eclectic but there’s no doubt her DJ choices for SOM’s “Lights Down Low” event will be electronic, hard, and very grind-able. Blur’s “Girls & Boys” will probably make a justified appearance on the playlist. Her cohorts for the evening will include Nomi Ruiz, a member of Hercules and Love Affair and Jessica 6, which plays the Pride Main Stage on Sunday.
If you’re somehow unfamiliar with Samson’s previous work or just haven’t completely been convinced of her charm, check out her It Gets Better video. Awwwww, JD!
LIGHTS DOWN LOW: ANNUAL PRIDE EDITION W/JD SAMSON AND NOMI RUIZ
Magical UK disco foursome Horse Meat Disco (the four horsemen of the discopocalypse?) are joining House of Stank at Juanita More’s super-kiki Pride party on Sunday — and hottie Jim Stanton from the quartet has gifted us with his Pride Top 5. Get ready to twirl, because there’s also a hot-hot Horsemeat minimix after the jump, celebrating the upcoming July 4 release of their third compilation disc, Horsemeat III (holy mirrorballs, Duck Man, just check out this track list). Get into it.
Macho, “I’m a Man” (Prelude), 1978 Macho is a proper disco song that reminds me of San Francisco because of the leather scene. It is sooo gay and hard! Perfect for that “dark room” action. Haha!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VbLB4UEFvw
Locussolus, “I Want It (Prins Tomas Remix)” (International Feel/UK), 2011 Prins Tomas turns DJ Harvey’s celebrated epic club track into a funky Dr Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band-style work out for our new disco generation. BIG!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EDtfBDSWug
Ava Cherry, “You Never Loved Me” (RSO), 1980 EVERYTHING you want from a disco track jam-packed into 8 minutes. Bitterness, heartache and regret? Check! Searing strings? Check! Brass section to die for? Check! And that trippy break HIT!!!
Run Baby Run, “Let No Man Put Asunder (Ron Hardy Edit)” (Salsoul), 1983 I love the original a lot, BUT I like Ron Hardy’s “raw” side! A proper Chicago legend. I edit this to another level. Soo ENERGETIC!!!Always in my set.
Paul Parker, Right On Target (Megatone), 1982 A muscular slab of energetic and frisky true San Francisco. Non-stop heavy action from Patrick Cowley the godfather of hi-NRG.
“This music was what we wanted to hear,” explains vocalist-guitarist Jigmae Baer of the beginnings of the Royal Baths, “that we weren’t hearing anywhere else.”
The Royal Baths formed two years ago, as Baer was coming to the end of playing with Thee Oh Sees, and guitarist-vocalist Jeremy Cox moved to San Francisco by way of Arcata.
“When we first started, I’d been listening to a lot of finger-picking,” explains guitarist-vocalist Jeremy Cox. “So I was experimenting with open tuning, like Delta Blues, playing Willie Johnson and Skip James.”
“I remember the first song we covered was a Skip James song,” adds Bear. “And we covered a song by Nina Simone, the Carter Family, and Spaceman 3.”
The quartet plays rock ‘n’ roll with a pretty grittiness: accelerating beats makes the music frenzy-filled; staggering melodies shine through the noisy fuzz; extended psychedelic guitar jams are rough flourishes; and the duo delivery of lyrics is hypnotic in its repetition and raw in its simple truth.
“Jigmae writes all the lyrics,” Cox clarifies. “Jigmae brings his typewriter and I’ll have just a guitar, and we’ll have an idea about what we want the song to be about.” Together the pair’s dynamic — one fiddling on the guitar and the other typing away — brings about the dark and light of the Royal Bath’s music. “After we have a rough skeleton of the song, we’ll bring it into the studio and do it with the full band, says Cox. “And it changes further from there.”
In 2010, the band released its debut album Litanies (Woodsist Records). They’ve already recorded and mixed a new album. When I ask if there’s a release date for that one, Baer quips, “We would’ve liked to release it two months ago.” The pair explains that they recorded the album in February, but had to go back to the studio to redo the initial mixes.
“This album is a lot different sounding to our ears,” explains Cox, “because our last album was more just writing the songs as we went. This album was mostly recorded live, so it’s more of a live rock and roll album.”
This is a good thing; The Royal Baths have a voltaic energy live. And if you’ve seen them play recently, then you’ve heard new material from this unreleased and unnamed album.
In the new song “Faster and Harder,” Baer and Cox’s low and high registers harmonize the lines “I love my damaged girl/We share a wicked world.” The track has a British paisley rock undertone and like good classic rock ‘n’ roll, it is sexy and dirty. The double guitars spiral out of control as the duo chants the title lines faster and faster.
When asked what inspires Baer’s lyrics, he replies, “It’s always a combination of being partially autobiographical and partially from my friends and what I see in them.” Baer adds, “A lot of times, I write stuff that makes me laugh.” He notes that the band is often regarded as being very serious, but in an absurdist way. “I am talking about the real fucked up problems that our friends and us have, in a very unflinching way, and trying to find the absurdity of our petty little problems.”
Beat-driven track “Burn,” explains Baer, “is just a story about our friend who went to Pill Hill and just got ripped off.”
As you wait for the release of the Royal Baths next album, catch the band’s live show at the Hemlock before they go on tour this August and begin their relocation to Brooklyn.
House of Stank is coming to town for Pride, playing Sunday at Juanita More!’s infamous pool party. We asked the NYC house and tech duo — W. Jeremy, who many will recognize from his years in SF, and Christy Love — for a top 5 list of their favorite Pride tracks, from booty-tech to old-school End Up classics.
5. “Big Freek (DJ Deeon Remix),” Freak Nik
— Christy Love first discovered Booty House while living in SF and this song is one of her all-time faves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a80csXQ3-kQ
4. “I Feel Good Things For You,” Daddy’s Favourite
— End-Up classic that samples Patrice Rushen.
3. “In and Out of My Life,” Adeva
— Jeremy is from New Jersey. Adeva is from New Jersey. ‘Nuff said.
2. “Do Ya Wanna Funk,” Patrick Cowley feat. Sylvester
— Two Bay Area Disco Legends on one track. Every time we hear this song it reminds us of SF Pride.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6yLwhKYVHY
1. “Day By Day (Green Velvet Mix)” – Dajae
— We are so excited to play alongside Dajae at Juanita MORE!’s Pride party!
W. Jeremy says: “2011 has been a busy year for us. The thing that we’re most excited about is our new record label, Get Up Recordings. We’re gearing up for our third release, a track called ‘Tonite’ by Honey Dijon and Sebastian Manuel, which is definitely going to be a future classic house track. We’re super excited about our upcoming roster, which will feature releases from Severino (Horse Meat Disco) and Nico Deceglia, also known as Hyena Stomp, the SF/Bay Area’s David Harness and another release from us. We just finished up a remix for The Two Bears for a track called “Bear Hug” on Southern Fried Records. We’re playing Cielo NYC for the first time in July with Tedd Patterson which is very exciting because of the club’s Funktion One sound system.”
The world of competitive air guitar in the United States has come a long way from it’s humble beginnings in 2003 when only two coasts were ripping faux chords. Nowadays, a nationwide shred-a-thon draws guitar mimes from around the country, and hosts competitions in 17 cities. Each regional winner competes in the Chicago nationals, vying for the chance to bring back the golden crown from the mother of all air guitar championship competitions in Oulou, Finland.
In fact, the Europeans have been serious about their air guitar for quite some time. The Fins have been holding the world air guitar competitions since 1996 to honor the practice as a true art form and a message of peace. (You can’t hold a rifle if you’re playing air guitar, right?)
In the U.S., however – the birthplace of both rock music and air guitar, mind you – it’s always been kind of a joke, something tighty-whitey-clad teenagers do in front of bedroom mirrors. Made legendary by Joe Cocker at his Woodstock performance in 1969, and then popularized by hair metal enthusiasts of the 1980s, the art of air guitar has yet to reach its cultural zenith here in the states – but we’re working on it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpp-XLuS0Y4
Joe Cocker keeps busy in between vocals at his 1969 Woodstock performance. When asked what he was fingering, he replied: “I’ve always wanted to play guitar, but never learned.”
The San Francisco leg of the U.S. Air Guitar Championships will jump kick all over the Golden Gate this Fri/24 and Sat/25, and is open to all competitors.
Here’s how it works: Participants battle imaginary axes in two rounds: rockin’ air licks to a song of one’s own choosing, and then to a surprise song from the judges. They are scored on a scale from zero to six, just like in figure skating (would that ice skaters shared the air guitar competitors’ goofy self awareness.) The judges look for technical skill (the accuracy of the notes noodled), stage presence (rock god channeling), and something called “airiness,” that certain je ne sais quoi that transcends the act of air guitar into the upper echelons of high art. In the end, the two scores are totaled and the winner with the highest score from on both nights will represent San Francisco in the upcoming national throwdown.
Think you have what it takes to emerge victorious? Enter here. And be sure to check back for my play-by-play coverage of this weekend’s competition.
It’s purple and bloodied, scuffed and raw from a blind leap and yet if you dig your finger in deep enough, there’s a soft spot back and to the left. The Oakland-based quartet Wax Idols— playing Sun/26 at Thee Parkside — puts on a badass punk front, but those shiny hooks expose just enough emotion to keep things from scabbing. Wax Idols are super-gritty and always promise to play their noisy garage punk loud and hard. The band is fronted by Hether Fortune who’s got a firecracker reputation and a long list of local music projects, including Blasted Canyons and previously, Hunx and his Punx. She’s joined by Keven Tecon on the drums, Jennifer Mundy on the guitar and vox, and Amy Rosenoff on bass, and although the band is dominated by ladies, it keeps an angsty, andro-sound.
Fortune told 7×7 that the band’s name was inspired by the lyrics “flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark” from Bob Dylan’s “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”, which isn’t creepy at all, right? A quick scroll through the band’s blog and it’s obvious this stellar mix of freak-show inspiration is constantly being collected, analyzed, and hopefully churned into some new music. Think bones, lots of nude ladies in strange public arrangements, bizarre music icons, and all kinds of other awesome dream material; puts some physical creep into the layered emotions. More please!
Wax Idols will be joined by the grungy, ’90s-rock of San Francisoc’s Lilac, the surfy sounds of The Wrong Words, and Paperhead, a psych-pop trio from Nashville.
WAX IDOLS w/Lilac, The Paperhead and The Wrong Words
This Sat/25, San Francisco will serve as host to an event that will have Guitar Hero extremists falling off their couches. Fresh off its success from its two year anniversary show in January, a group dedicated to showcasing live electronic musicianship is taking over Public Works, this time for the West Coast Championship Controller Battle, where electronic controllerists will battle it out in hopes of achieving a piece of controller glory.
“It’s not a typical show,” says Rich “Rich DDT” Trapani, a producer of the event and co-founder of LoveTechSF. Trapani hopes that the controller battle will “bring the community [of electronic musicians] together and serve as a place to inspire each other.”
For those not familiar with controllers: think completely digitalized turntables that mash up music with the help of computer hardware. They come in all shapes and sizes, each one fitted out with different types of knobs, switches, keys – some even have multicolored arcade game buttons that wouldn’t be out of place on an old Pacman or Frogger game system.
With a controller, you can have the force of a drum kit at the mercy of your fingertips. A kick drum at your index finger, a snare at the ring finger, a hi-hat at the middle finger, and a snare at the pinky. It’s a heady sight, controllerists going at their machines – but don’t worry if you get stuck at the back of the club on Saturday. Trapani says there will be a video crew all over the clashing digitalists covering the action and projecting it on large screens for all to see.
“People are learning a lot from the creative innovation and musicianship in this small period of time to really gain an understanding of what it means to be an electronic musician,” says Trapani. The controller battle will be a one-on-one throw down, tournament style elimination. Known and new electronic musicians from up and down the West Coast will be given two and a half minutes to electrify the audience — and judges panel — with their new and inimitable sets.
LoveTech is working collaboratively with Controllerism.com and the Slayers Club DJ collective to produce this controller battle royale.
“It’s going to be something that drives home the point that San Francisco is at the vanguard of music culture,” says Matt Haze, a Slayers Club DJ who will be spinning at the controller battle Saturday night.
Also scheduled to perform at the battle are popular controllerists Ean Golden, and the electronic musician dubbed “the godfather of controllerism”, Moldover (co-founder of Love Tech and founder of Controllerism.com). The celebrity judges panel includes Zach Huntting Akazappan (Laptop Battle), J.Tonal (The Flying Skulls), and Laura Escude (Electronic Creatives).
There has never been a better time to shake watcha momma gave ya— and if mother didn’t pack a heavy trunk, you’ll have to improvise with some extra nasty drops and shakes. No excuses—New Orleans’ bounce star Big Freedia is headlining the Pride edition of Hard French and cheeks across the peninsula will feel the aftershocks.
Unless you caught Freedia in Oakland last year or have witnessed another super booty-fied bounce musician live, you’re probably not ready for this jelly. Really. A quick Google search for Big Freedia and you’ll find yourself sufficiently slapped in the face by glorious asses, bouncing hard and fast to the vicious mash-up of heavy beats. Freedia says he was born with the moves.
“In New Orleans you grow up learning how to pop your ass. We teach ‘em from babies,” he says, taking a break in the studio where he’s putting the final touches on a debut full-length album. “For over two decades, it’s been in the culture here. You wake up with it and go to sleep with it. You breathe it in the air, each and every day.”
The Southern city by the sea is ass over heels for bounce and Freedia says he can catch apple bottoms gettin’ down to his genre ‘round the clock. “At a stop light, someone will jump out of their car and start shaking their ass. Happens all the time.”
Big Freedia’s love and pride for bounce is beyond evident when you see his nightly performance schedules and over the past year he’s introduced the rest of the country to not only the genre, but the presence of a gay hip-hop performer. His summer Go Homo Tour hopes to crush some stereotypes and fight homophobia. He’s also just released a five-song EP onScion A/V Presents and has his fingers crossed for a documentary and reality TV show. I suggested an aerobics video and he hinted that there may be some sort of yoga-bounce combo in the works.
And if that’s not enough– he still operates an interior decorating business; flowers, funerals, weddings. Hard to imagine his wild personality laying out table cloths and vases without a couple booty drops.
His stop at Hard French will be an epic end to Pride weekend, but that doesn’t mean dancers shouldn’t stretch before the game. The usual soul crowd has got some moves, of course, but Freedia is on a whole new hype. Still, there is no need to be intimidated, as he says, “honey, don’t you worry” and gladly offers three suggestions to loosen up loins in preparation for the dance floor.
An afternoon show under fruit trees and bright sunshine is always nice, but a line-up of super chill local music is extra conducive to ideal weekend mentality. As long as the weather keeps up its good behavior, Saturday’s Ears of the Beholder four-band showcase will be a total hit and a great introduction to some homegrown electro-pop.
Ears of the Beholder is a pretty rad indie-music blog, started by an San Francisco guy named Peter in 2008. The site promotes a lot of great shows around the city, handpicked with the best intentions. Start with beer, dab your beak with sunscreen and don’t forget the layers; the show may start early at the lovely El Rio, but it won’t wrap until after sunset. The ticket price also includes food, which means you won’t have to run-off mid-set for dinner and instead, you’re encouraged to plop down for a full evening. Take a listen to the line-up:
This SF band keeps things feather-light with pretty, super mellow guitars. They’re minimalist post-rock that’s super easy on the ears and their new synth addition is sure to add in a sweet surge of electro-pop.
The mystical chimes, mermaid voices, and super glassy synth melodies of San Francisoc’s Blackbird Blackbird wash over your senses in slow-motion. They’re a perfect soundtrack for underwater swimming.
These Santa Cruz guys keep things psychedelic, but add in a heavier, more danceable punch. Their random bag of tricks switches up quick and the super diverse samples insures things stay uber fresh from track to track.
The honest, fragile vocals from this Oakland native are compelling enough, but then he adds in pianos and totally weird racing beats. There’s something twisted about the combinations he throws and the unpredictability of it all keeps you along for the bright ride.
It’s not enough to try to get four kids (two of mine, two of the neighbors) out the door and into the car for the half-hour trip to various summer camps across town. No: They have to fight — bitterly — over which radio station we listen to. It sometimes literally comes to blows.
My son, the metal-head, insists on on Live 105, with the bass turned up and the volume cranked. My daughter, who accepts only female vocalists of the Taylor Swift/Rhianna/Katy Perry genre, insists on Movin’ 99.7, and she sings along louder than the radio. The other day, it was absolute chaos as they battled for control of the front seat (and thus the radio knobs), punching and grabbing and pushing like some sort of Winfield St. WWF Smackdown at 8 a.m.
You been there? Here’s the solution.
I shut them both up and tune into …. the New Oldies (I hate that word; I feel so …. Old) on KKSF, 103.7 And make the kids listen to to … REO Speedwagon!
Remember those guys? Maybe it’s a generational thing, but here’s what I remember: “Roll With the Changes” at full tilt, blasting out the holes in my bedroom door, and my mother holding her head in her hands and begging me to “turn off that horrible noise.”
It was horrible, too. It still is. I love it — and I love it even more that my two kids — nine and 12 years old — are sitting in the car holding their heads in their hands and begging their dad to “turn off that horrible noise.”
Next I’m sending the Speedwagon to make peace in the Middle East.
There was a time when ordering a shot of Fernet Branca was weird, when your friends would screw up their faces (if they actually knew what the stuff is) and waft a glass of Cuervo under your nose: “now this is a shot!”
Oh hold up, that’s actually still how it is – but at least now you have a dope song featuring a legit San Francisco soul legend to bawl back at the haters when they’re questioning your libation election.
I’m (half) joking – Fernet has long been the officially official “we’re in San Francisco!” weirdo drink for weirdos — who run this town, of course. We’ve been drinking it since Italian immigrants lugged it through Angel Island in their suitcases – straight on through Prohibition in fact. Branca ducked the judging gaze of teetotalers by being sold in pharmacies as medicinal elixir.
But the modern day craze, well that’s something else. I was recently down in Buenos Aires, where they drink even more than we do (mixed with Coca Cola, in their case) – but even the porteños knew that San Francisco drinks hella Fernet Branca – we take down a quarter of the entire country’s total consumption, by some counts.
If you’re going to point fingers anywhere for the current renaissance, you may as well jab them at DJs Doc Fu and Pause of the Red Wine crew.
Aaron “Pause” Vaughn says he was first introduced to Fernet back in 1995 by Hobson’s Choice bartender Chris Dickerson. Back then, it was the after hours drink of choice for the service industry set. Red Wine started drinking it paired with pints of Guinness at all its gigs, and members haven’t looked back.
“I know the Red Wine crew and affiliated converts like it because it settles your stomach after a Mission burrito or a harrowing bike ride through the City,” Pause tells me in an interview over the Internets. “The Red Wine DJs have been notorious for drinking and pilfering bottles of the stuff at gigs for years.”
“We’ve been drinking it since we were kids in the club,” says Bruce O’Leary, who spins hip hop, soul, and eclectic booty-shakers throughout the city under the moniker of Doc Fu. “It wasn’t a thing. The bartenders we worked with were like ‘we’ve got this stuff in.’ And I was like ‘I’ll drink it.’ It was like a secret handshake.”
But what started as an after hours drink for the cool kids started become the all hours drink for the cool kids – at least for Doc Fu, who started to “go to the bar and be like ‘yo, I need a shot of Fernet and Guinness like, right now.’”
And just like that, it wasn’t just the industry set anymore. “The other night I saw a guy on a ten speed with a sipper [of Fernet] in his back pocket,” says Doc Fu.
High time the brew (comprised of a million ingredients culled from sources on multiple continents, reputably suitable for defeating hangovers, assuaging menstrual pains, or bonding with your Argentinian buddies) had an anthem.
And one night, gathering together drinking supplies from Safeway for a gig opening for Mistah F.A.B., the Red Wine boys hit upon it: “I Drink Fernet.”
“You know how in Safeway they play random shit?” remembers Doc Fu. A mellow ’80s jam came over the tinny loudspeakers as the Red Wine crew was dealing with a store clerk who kept trying to sell them champagne instead of their desired bottle of Italian bitters. They started subbing out the lyrics to ones that were more appropriate for the situation at hand.
The result was too good to leave in the grocery aisle. Pause recorded the song with Equipto a few years ago, and even got Michael Marshall to do the hook. Marshall was part of the ’80s Berkeley group Timex Social Club and will forever go down in history for singing the hook for the Luniz’ “I Got Five On It.” Recently he’s been popping up all over, including in Equipto’s must-bump for SF summer 2011. “Pause got Mike Marshall on the phone. I was like, the San Francisco soul legend? Why don’t you just call up Deangelo,” Doc Fu remembers.
The crew recently released a video for “I Drink Fernet”, which they filmed at Haight Street bar Nickie’s with a little help from the amiable publicity reps at Fernet Branca. “Fernet showed up to the video shoot with four or five magnums. They’re incredibly nice folks by the way. It was a pretty fun night,” says Doc Fu. Pause phrases the night a little differently: “during the video shoot everyone got sloppy on Fernet.”
The videos making the rounds through SF drinkers now, which has Doc Fu joking about what the next round’s gonna be. “We should do a whole EP about liquor song, a song about Jameson, a song about pony kegs. Everyone loves liquor songs. Somebody today is having their first drink.”
And that’s what makes this city great. Perfect, now I’m thirsty. Pass that weird shit they only drink in San Francisco, and turn up my song.
When the wind picks up in San Francisco, it’s easy to wish that your limbs could transform into glorious wings.You could float, soar, and glide over the city without worry and turn a pesky gust into an ariel springboard. Until the magic bird spell becomes available, us ground-bound humans are left to simulate the free-floating sensation. Dreamy pop seems to be the closest alternative and Saturday’s combination of Puro Instinct and John Maus are sure to sweep you right off those tired feet.
While the two acts offer different degrees of whimsical imagery, LA’s Puro Instinct and Minnesota-grown John Maus both incorporate fanatic amounts of melodic synth and levitation inspiration. The evening will feel like clouds, especially if your pre-show includes some mediation and a few medicinal puffs. You’ll dance a little and nod a lot, and even if you don’t quite make it to bird status, you’ll enjoy the limbo between.
Sisters Piper and Skylar used to be known as Pearl Harbor, but as of 2011, they’ve gone PC with the name Puro Instinct. The duo has since expanded into a six-piece, but their music remains ironically eerie–like antique baby dolls with scratched-up glass eyes. Distrust and hesitation lingers behind the layers of sweet lace and it’s just enough spunk to keep the melodies mysteriously minor. The addition of more ambient drums, surf-city guitars, and continued advice from their friend Ariel Pink, leaves their sound rounder and glossier than ever.
John Maus is working towards his PhD in political science and as boring as that sounds, his music-making hobby is full of curious fun. His deep voice burrows beneath layers of reverb, only just loud enough to break the surface of ’80s guitars and boisterous keyboard concoctions. His love for punk, appreciation of Baroque, and susceptibility to gush over movie soundtracks has somehow accumulated into one big, awesome mess. Tracks from his new album, We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves, (due June 28 onRibbon Music), are simultaneously tender and mean, feisty and introspective.
Puro Instinct is best for the sensitive seagulls. Adventurous hawks will be delighted by Maus. Pick your flight.
Ace Guardian shutterbug Charles Russo reveled in the otherworldly Miss Florence Welch at Berkeley’s al fresco amphitheatre last night. Sheathed in a drape-y chartreuse toga, the lead singer of Florence and the Machine filled the classic venue with her goddess light. For proof, check this slideshow.
In a recent post on her blog – “lookit that came outta nowhere”, still humbly hosted on WordPress – Erika M. Anderson shares a letter she received from a soldier. “I want to live but i don’t mind dying at the same time / I feel like you and me are the same in that way / Two misfits like two submarines in the sky.” The lines possess some of the quiet force of Anderson’s music, though her lyrics are more firmly rooted in the body: mishaps with men, throw up, a butterfly knife. Anderson wears her initials on a big gold chain for the album art of Past Life Martyred Saints, and as an artist she goes by EMA.
That “misfit extending a hand” vibe is one that Anderson nurtures throughout her solo-debut and Internet presence. Online, she describes growing up “in the dive bars and rotten graveyards of South Dakota” and then fleeing to the West Coast. One song in, and she’s ready to proclaim: “Fuck California, you made me boring.” It’s the most memorable line on the album and one that introduces Anderson’s steady, chanting voice and droning electric guitar.
Listening to Past Life Martyred Saints is like taking that cross-country road trip with Anderson. Though most of the album’s songs run less than four minutes long, they roll with slow shifts in tone as a lamenting Anderson bumps into another stray voice, instrument, or clamoring industrial sound. Odd turns of phrase crop up like eerie landmarks among long stretches of repetition (“Mama’s in the bedroom, don’t you stop” eight times, followed by seven rounds of “you feel just like a breeze to me…”).
Anderson said she “wanted to make a piece that changes fidelity in the middle of the song, from lo-fi to hi-fi,” specifically on opener “Grey Ship.” These cycling crescendos and transitions yield the album’s best moments as she gracefully molds expanses of white space. It’s as if someone threw the xx off a cliff, and Erika M. Anderson got up, dusted herself off and picked up a guitar. (David Getman)
Ace Guardian photographer Charlie Russo caught Bono & co. in all their arena glory last night as part of the massive 360 Tour. Click here to see larger versions of the pics.
This year’s SF Popfest culminated in last Saturday’s doozy of a Slumberland Showcase, boasting 10 bands in eight hours’ time for a day-to-night festival of jangly art-pop for the twinkle-toes in all of us. Despite the draw of bigger names like 14 Iced Bears and the June Brides’ Phil Wilson — both of 1980s UK pop and C86 fame — it’s safe to say that a few local bands truly represented and made us all proud, possibly even stealing the show.
Oakland’s Kids on a Crime Spree features Mario Hernandez of Ciao Bella and From Bubblegum to Sky, writing in his usual style of layered and lush melodies with vocal harmonies — and handclaps! Also noteworthy is righteous drummer babe, Becky Barron, who has apparently mastered the art of dancing and drumming at the same time, and doing a pretty good job at it.
Here’s a video for “Sweet Tooth,” a catchy track off of their brand new LP “We Love You So Much” on, you guessed it, Slumberland. Children, the elderly, and those prone to epileptic seizures beware — it’s super stroboscopic.
Not quite local, but close enough, Oxnard’s Sea Lions delivered an amazing follow-up performance to their January 22 show and San Francisco debut at the Knockout. Those of us in attendance earlier this year have been waiting with bated breath for this eclectic bunch to grace the stage once again, and it was well worth the wait. Adrian Pillado’s reverb-y Calvin Johnson-esque voice juxtoposed with the band’s nerdy and jangly pop numbers is unexpected, yet works really well.
Check out the vintage celluloid artifacts of old Oxnard in the 1960s and 70s in the band’s music video for the tunes “I Loved Her So Much” and “I Wish I Was Lou Reed”:
What the hell is a Terry Malts and why is it so amazing?
Jokes aside, the band plowed through a perfect set of expertly crafted pop songs, this time amping up the volume and speed, as well as their signature crunchy fuzz that left the croud unaware of what hit them. Many say this local trio stole the show.
Behold, the music, but beware — you will have these catchy tunes stuck in your head for days:
Art Musemsare always a delight! This band’s resemlance to the Clean and other Flying Nun acts is unmistakable. Their unconventional set-up on stage and their slightly folky flavor set them apart from the rest of the evening’s line up, and the electronic stylings of Virginia Weatherby is mezmerizing to watch. With releases on both Slumberland and Woodsist, we will certainly be seeing more of these guys soon.
Unfortunately I missed Brilliant Colors while, um, running an errand — the performance turnaround was so speedy!– but I’m sure they were fabulous as always with their disjointed-yet-lovely Raincoats-y melodies, like these numbers:
