Yeah, 2010 needs some anthems, so thank Mr. Cooper for bringing one, dedicated to all those who want to “find guys to buy us drinks / And tell us that we’re young and funny.” The whimsical reggaeton touch, the yearning keyboard lines, Cooper’s friendly and understated vocal, and most of all the backing choir send this one over. It’s a shame the Passionistas aren’t releasing music, but if this and California Sunshine are what we get instead, it’s all good (and it’s ready to inspire fab YouTube vids). Gimme gimme more.
PS:
If you want to go out on a Tuesday night, you can’t do much better than High Fantasy, the new night Cooper puts on with AlexisPenney at Aunt Charlie’s. Rumor has it that a blitz of Boy George is on the agenda of this week’s edition.
Sometimes music is so powerful that it can transport you to another world. Huun Huur Tu, a throat-singing group from the Russian Republic of Tuva, create melodies that make you think you’re riding a horse through some ancient, windblown prairie.
The four-man band performed Thursday night at the Cowell Theater, bringing with them a variety of ancient and modern instruments, including the igil, a long two-stringed guitar-like instrument made of pine trees, that is held tightly between the knees while played. The igil is decorated with a carved horse’s head at the top of the instrument’s neck. There was even an instrument made of two real horse hooves, that were clapped together to create the sound of horses galloping. Many of Huun Huur Tu’s pieces used throat singing, a type of singing where two or more pitches can be heard at the same time from a single voice.
The songs Huun Huur Tu performed were about riding, nature, or the power of community. These voices made a wild, almost hypnotic mix of melodies, that for me were space-agey and futuristic — odd because this technique of singing is an ancient form of Tuvan folk music. I left the theater feeling calmed by the meditative quality of the music, and yet exhilarated by the novelty of the experience. My fiance came with me, and inspired by the performance, he’s been trying to recreate the sounds of the Tuvan throat-singing all morning, ha, but somehow it doesn’t compare.
San Francisco needs its own Stone Temple Pilots, no? One with a good dose of Killers sprightliness?
Scene of Action may satisfy. The second EP by the local group with a dullsville name shows off highly polished alt-rock replete with big guitars, boffo NIN-style beats, and loud orchestrations designed for major Evanescence-esque drama. The occasional tender harmony even surfaces on “What’s a Boy to Do.” Commercial, yes — with a dash of eccentricity that just might get them noticed beyond the 20-minute showcase set.
They say hip-hop is about who you represent. Gangster rap glorifies cheap women and expensive cars. But rapper MC Frontalot, who performs Mon/15 at Cafe du Nord, represents an entirely different group of people who are more into computer software and Internet jokes then cash and hoes.
Originally from San Francisco, the former software programmer has been carving his own niche of rap with a movement he dubs “nerdcore.” And he’s not alone when it comes to spitting rhymes about geek life. Over the past decade, nerdcore has been rising; MC Chris, MC Lars and Ytcracker (who will be performing on Feb 21st at Bottom of the Hill), Jesse Dangerously, Futuristic Sex Robots and a host of other nerd lyricists have posted mp3s of songs with topics ranging from Star Wars characters to role-playing games.
While the Internet has embraced the artists, mainstream audiences are finding it hard to relate. Swinging back and forth from depicting geek fantasies to humorous self-deprecation, rappers like MC Frontalot speak to a generation plugged-in. His corky flow bounces up and down to instrumentals that sample sounds from all over the musical map. The upbeat music moves naturally with the MC’s thesaurus-filled rhymes. Fans understand the meaning to words like Fap, MMPOG and Mud cards, but Frontalot has been persistent in getting nerdcore heard by new ears. He is releasing his fourth album, Zero Day, in April. The first single “Your Friend Wil” — about Star Trek star and Just a Geek author Wil Wheaton — is already available for download.
“I really felt like coming back to nerdcore-as-a-movement on this one, which I feel I’ve gone away from in past albums,” says Frontalot, who includes a slew of featured nerd rappers on Zero Day.
San Francisco is one stop on a countrywide tour for Frontalot, and he has a documentary out, Nerdcore Rising, which chronicles his first album release. Time will tell if that title stays true.
Loving the string-drenched, ecstatically brassy, flamenco-guitar-and-handclap flourishes of production on this Ghanaian rapper’s debut. (He’ll be performing Mon/15 at the Elbo Room.)
Inevitable comparisons to early Mos Def (the voice) and current Roots (the music) will follow — and he made me miss Guru‘s Jazzmatazz a bit — but the Brooklyn-based, Accra-born Blitz carves out a niche of his own between buoyant celebration and sharp-eyed narrative. Opener “Something to Believe” should be a peak-set dance floor staple, “Ghetto Plantation” shows a vision that takes in contemporary slavery worldwide, and the funk undertow never quits all the way through. And although Blitz is definitely on the politically outspoken tip on many of his songs, there’s nary a wince-worthy rhyme here and many fresh observations. This is some complex, soulful music — it should be really interesting to see if he can keep up his rapid-fire flow live (with a six-piece band, indeed). Check it out below:
The vintage starburst lights were tinted red and Bottom of the Hill was packed with hipsters toting hand-me-down apparel: ratty old sweaters, torn hats and grandma’s old prescription glasses. Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino let out the first words to “When I’m With You,” and the crowd anxiously listened to each note echo through the mic, paired with her slow, distorted guitar strums.
I couldn’t help but wonder if anyone else in the room felt like we had just stepped into a time machine and shot straight back to a 1960’s dive bar on the beach. A little bit Beach Boys and part Ronnettes, the antique sounds were innocent and as gold as Cosentino’s sandy locks. The L.A. duo was so calm, Cosentino strumming and singing with her pink lips parted as wide as a Charlie Brown caroler. “Love, of Love” she cried in perfect harmony, closing her eyes and showing her light brown eye shadow. Guitarist Bobby Bruno was a true shoegazer, his long black hair hanging over his strings and glowing with shades of pink from the stage lights above.
Playing through their EP Something in the Way (RCRD LBL), they made each song float over the crowd in waves, heads and bodies bobbing up and down like buoys in a tide. This show was Best Coast’s first in San Francisco and Cosentino said she was a little worried that people wouldn’t show up until after 10, thereby missing a part of their set.
“Did anybody watch Lost?,” she asked the crowd. “We were joking that people wouldn’t come in until after the show, but you guys are troopers — here, right at the beginning.”
Ali Koehler of Vivian Girls (who had earlier shared their iPod playlists with me) stepped in as the drummer for Best Coast’s set and the trio played two new songs, both of which were more upbeat, with lots of cymbal action and heavy bass drum solos. Cosentino promised we would find them on the new album soon. At the end of the set, Bruno threw on a black sweatshirt, complete with cat ears affixed to the hood.
Vivian Girls took over at 10:45, hitting it hard and urging the crowd for a little more action. “You guys should dance more,” bassist Kickball Katy said with a grin, the same of which stayed glued to her face throughout the entirety of their show. The crowd happily responded with a small, male mosh pit in front of the stage.
Cassie Romone’s lips were bright red to match her red blouse, skirt and the carpet on the stage. Mid-show Koehler approached the mic and pointed out her and Romone’s nearly identical ruffly, red shirts. Apparently this happens a lot.
Costentino joined the trio of Brooklyn ladies for a song, creating a stage billowing with womanpower. Totally normal girls rockin’ hard, Vivian Girls put out some stellar garage songs for the packed house, but my absolute favorite was their A cappella rendition of “He’s Gone”, which they dedicated to the opening band, “The bananas.” Their voices quietly squeaked and peaked, totally exposed in a not-so-perfect harmony but all together delivered an incredible gem that only live shows like that can offer.
What sort of magical concoction do you get when you mix SF skater and musicmaker Tommy Guerrero with LA keyboard jock and Beastie Boys player Money Mark?
The extravagantly named Lord Newborn and the Magic Skulls, which gets an equal assist from Shawn Lee of Clutchy Hopkins. Sweet soul-dappled psychedelia is at the root of Lord Newborn’s fresh sound, awash with juicy jets of foggy prog and low-rider funk. No stupor-group they — I dug the moody meanderings chugging out of this disc long before I actually got a gander at the credits. Consider this the best album from all concerned of late — or just ignore the names and pretend this is a down-low, late-‘60s Latin rock-soul-jazz gem dug from grammy’s crate.
Check out the video for “A Phase Shifter I’m Going Through”
which is a bit of a slacker parody of Kutiman‘s still-mindbending “The Mother of All Funk Chords”
It was a cold and rainy Monday night, but that didn’t keep the fans away. St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, was performing at the Great American Music Hall in support of her latest album, Actor (4AD) and the sold-out event was packed with smitten groupies.
Wearing a tiny black dress, her curly crown of hair bouncing to every beat, St. Vincent entranced her audience with her sweet voice and unusual lyrics. She played along with the help of a band that included flutes, violins, clarinets and drums. But when she took the stage solo, aided only by her electric guitar, these were the moments when the whole room seemed to glitter. The opening band, Wildbirds and Peacedrums from Sweden, were also wonderful, pounding out drum-driven beats that actually gave me goosebumps. The husband-and-wife duo use only voice and a variety of percussive instruments — a musical concoction that made me think of Björk at a powwow. What a perfect night to warm up under a blanket of fiery musical talent.
So here it is, my favorites of 2k9 list — my adobe slabs, as it were. Last year’s dance and electronic music tunes felt looser, fresher, and downright sexier than previous years. For too long on too many dance floors, it seemed like people were either trying too hard to have fun or all doing homework together (those darn laptops!). Now, genre boundaries shruggingly blurred, and it seemed that — despite the ready availability of quick and dirty technology — people were spending much more time and thought on their compositions while at the same time freeing the audience to indulge in some sweet escape.
The tunes that retained my ear most this year were ones that took me on a journey — in mind and in feet — full of excellent flourishes, multi-hued grooves, a voracious sense of intelligence, some cheeky historical finagling, and solid production. A variety of organic instrumentation also shone through. And, yes, they were a ton of fun. Here’s a whole bunch in no particular order, because I just couldn’t settle on any given number or place of prominence. I’m lazy that way.
Still Going, “Spaghetti Circus” (DFA)
It took New York’s Still Going boys years to come out with this track and it sounds like it, not just in the exquisite production, but also in the perfect timing of the release. The dance world, apparently, was aching for a sexy Sylvester funk-rock explosion. The underground queer dance contingent loved it, too. That guitar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgaOg3_XG0A
House of House, “Rushing to Paradise (Walkin’ These Streets)” (Whatever We Want)
“Oh, and hey,” Still Going member Liv Spencer must have thought as he prepared to unleash “Spaghetti Circus” on the world. “Why don’t I team up with vocalist Saheer Umar and reinvent the deep house epic for a digital-jaded world?” So he did. And now we have this beautiful, slippery, ecstatic thing.
http://www.youtube.com/v/o2qXAifCMnk
Floating Points, “K & G beats” (Planet Mu)
Joy Orbison’s “Hyph Mngo” and Joker’s “Digidesign” — outstanding slices — were widely credited for reinvigorating the dubstep sound in 2009 by making it more rapturous and accessible. But even though it lacks the classic dubstep bass riproar, this knocky, worldly track by young Mancunian Floating Points got my dubber goat more than either of those. (And brought back fond memories of this.)
http://www.youtube.com/v/k4iONfj0gRQ
The Lowbrows, “Dream in the Desert (Flight Facilities Remix)” (Bang Gang)
Tokyo art-wave duo The Lowbrows teamed up with super-buzzy Flight Facilities for a good ol’ fashioned Italo house barnburner, saxophone solo included (and that guitar again!). I looked really embarrassing all last fall dancing down the street to this.
http://www.youtube.com/v/BrHzN8qNMWs
Silver Columns, “Brow Beaten” (Silver Columns) There’s a lot of talk in musical sphere about being in a “post-gay” period — and this tune, which twists the falsetto melodies and structural openness of Bronski Beat together with the Hi-NRG sounds of Patrick Cowley to form a biting riposte to Hercules and Love Affair’s fiercely over-dramatic “Blind” (Don’t blink your eyes, your eyes won’t blink) could arguably be the first post-meth anthem. Plus: this bit of interview with the uber-mysterious, Hot Chippy fellows:
Would you care to introduce yourself? Hello. I are Silver Columns.
How would you describe the music you make? I would describe it as ‘effervescent’ and ‘sparkling’. That doesn’t necessarily mean ‘gay’.
How did you start out making music? Turning on the computer.
http://www.youtube.com/v/gXLR9JzVbYU
Sia, “Buttons” (CSS Remix) (Astralwerks)
Every pop remix should sound like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrjMlNxQ-co
Coyu & Edu Imbernon, “El Baile Alemán” (Liebe Detal)
The Berlin-Spain underground railroad was in full force this past year — and not just on the isle of Ibiza. This was the seminal track, a deep-gong summons to minimal technicians to get some simple Latin-tinged swing going. Plus, Spanish DJs are hot. Einfach?
Two of last year’s most buzzed-about players, Losoul and Dyed Soundorom, took lovely French chanteuse nu-jazz singer Fadila’s voice and made it transdimensional, genderless. Show me more.
http://www.youtube.com/v/tA7ZjI4ANL0
Mr. Raoul K., “Sun of Gao” (Fatsouls)
An absolutely lovely, leisurely paced journey through Africanica, courtesy of Germany’s dreadlocked Mr. Raoul K, on local label Fatsouls.
Tribalish chants replaced brass snatches as the go-to samples of choice on most dance releases in 2009, culminating in Dennis Ferrer’s runaway vocal house hit, “Hey Hey.” (And this was Ferrer’s year — I loved his Sinfonia Della Notte, even if it was an energized redo of Octave One’s classic “Black Water.”) But Londoner Alex Celler kept it nice and nervy, and his attention to the drums is superb.
Finally, hometown future blap heroes Lazer Sword officially released this sonic tesseract. The shift at the end is crazy. And the video delights me.
http://www.youtube.com/v/YWJZcPeT74M
Junior Boys, “Work” (Prins Thomas Remix) (Domino) Another possible post-gay wonder, this time in an autumnal vein, jangling with legendary space-discoer Prins Thomas’ acoustic tweeks. Cruising never sounded so sunset.
http://www.youtube.com/v/meTFfeWOsP4
Guy Gerber, “Timing” (Cocoon)
Deep tech meets a little Doctor Who. If only all Israeli trance sounded like this …..
Joe Goddard, “Apple Bobbing (Fourtet Mix)” (Greco-Roman)
Hot Chip member + dubstep jazzer, with Cassy samples = solid gold. The original is quite genial as well.
http://www.youtube.com/v/2wtbWxp_Td0
The Streets, “Trust Me” (Twitter)
Fed up with label shenanigans, the sort-of creatively moribund Mike Skinner started posting tracks directly to Twitter. He never sounded better, and “Trust Me” could be the anthem of a club generation.
http://www.youtube.com/v/k-_NmsxW6go
Destroyer, “Bay of Pigs” (Merge)
For ravers of a certain age (ahem) this is the 13-minute post-caravan comedown epic we’ve been waiting for. Syd Barrett meets Dubtribe in indie prince Dan Bejar’s not quite stream-of-consciousness narrative, and the shards of singalong ambient disco pierce the nightlifer soul.
If you haven’t heard about Richie Cunning yet, take a peek at his new Ferris Bueller-inspired video.
This local SF rapper has been killing it lately with his mixtapes and brand new album Night Train (Routine Fly). Plus major bonus points for featuring a bear dancing on my street in the opening of the video.
You know, I think I feel a cold coming on right now. Anyone want to call in sick?
Outside, the night was horrid and pouring sheet after sheet of chilled rain. Inside, Popscene at 330 Ritch’s stage was blazing with bold UK women and their undeniable vocal prowess. The evening started with Brit babe VV Brown, a young singer/songwriter — on tour to promote her recent Travelling Like the Light (Universal, 2009) — who qualifies as the indie version of the Adele and Duffy types.
The set started shy, with VV Brown (born Vanessa Brown) hiding behind a glamorous Mardi Gras mask of shimmering silver, adorned with a fan of black feathers and peacock accents. Song one, “Game Over,” was spent with her vocals streaming into a small megaphone pointed towards the mic. The sound quality was a displaced and muddled, similar to an old record player. Her tiny frame was decorated in a shiny gold swimsuit top and red-plaid tapered pants, cinched tight at the waist.
When the mask came off, Brown’s face was painted with a red blindfold, her trademark bouffant standing tall and proud. She was full of energy, hopping around stage, singing with full facial expressions, banging on the drums and pounding the bongos.
Brown happily announced that the show was her first gig in San Francisco and only her 2nd show in the U.S. “And I wrote this song while sitting on the toilet,” she said as a preface to “Back in Time.” “It’s about Einstein, love, and betrayal.” Hitting the gong with four solid swings, her voice chimed in with an eerie echo and not three seconds later, cut short when her mic cord fell onto the floor.
“Isn’t that what we all love about live music? We just keep going,” she smiled with a confident grin. She played through a majority of the songs on her freshman album, “Traveling Like the Light”, including her most recognizable tracks, “Crying Blood” and “Shark in the Water.”
Brown’s cover of “The Best I Ever Had” by Drake was quite impressive — the girl can rap! Totally sexy and 100 percent more badass than one would assume, Brown sang the lyrics “You’re the fuckin’ best” with her fist pumping and voice creamy smooth.
Afro-punk-electro-pop songstress Ebony Bones didn’t hit the stage until midnight, but took it over by storm with a full band decked out in color, makeup, wigs and beads. I managed to drool over the awesomeness of the first song and snap a few photos, but I regretfully had to pull myself away in order to catch my train. There’s no way it wasn’t amazing.
“I’M A HARD-LIVING, YOUNG QUEEN WITH A BIG HEART AND A LOT TO SAY.”
I’m listening. Alexis Penney is part of Party Effects, which Marke B. wrote about recently. This solo track is like if a badass version of Erasure and Crystal Waters’ “Gypsy Woman” had a love-hate child. But way better. “Lonely Sea” makes me wish Frankfurt was next door to Oakland, so I could program a club night with performances by Alexis and ChelonisR.Jones. For now, I’ll just listen to this song, and its classic throwaway (as in throw your heart away) lines about good pillows and last names – at least a few times a day.
The syncopated sounds of the congo, hand claps and guitars — combined with Joe Cuba’s suave vocals — melt hips and hypnotize feet with irresistible dance beats. Known as “sabrosura,” it’s the urge to shimmy and shake your luscious body parts when music with this much flavor hit your senses. The late Latin legend was known as the “father of boogaloo” and a man who melded together genres into one of his own.
Fania Records will release Joe Cuba’s El Alcalde Del Barrio on Thu/11, one year after the iconic musician’s passing, and celebrate with a live performance by Chico Mann at the Elbo Room’s global-funky Afrolicious party. The 34-track box set features digitally remastered recordings never before compiled in album form and include a diverse array of his totally hot hits, from “Bang Bang” to “El Pito (I’ll Never Go Back to Georgia).” El Alcalde Del Barrio or “the mayor of the barrio” refers to Joe Cuba’s pioneering role in the world of modern Latin music and his dedication to keeping it fresh.
Boogaloo was a product of the New York barrios during mid-late 60s when Puerto Rican, Cuban and African American residents began swapping and combining musical stylings with their one another. Boogaloo became the soul behind R&B braided into the saucy rhythms of mambo and Cuban son montuno. Perfectly placed maracas, sweetly clanging bells, saxophone, easy keys and most importantly, a whole host of drums, fuel this genre with unwavering energy.
Joe Cuba, born to his Puerto Rican parents as Gilberto Navarro on April 22, 1931, grew up in Spanish Harlem and became fascinated by the Sabu Martinez’s conga playing. Gilbert learned to play, jamming in the streets with friends until he was asked to step in for his idol, Martinez, for a show in 1950. The name “Joe Cuba” was coined by his publicist and stuck with him throughout his career.
Swooning the Jewish and Italian markets in New York and eventually worldwide, his 1966 hit “Bang Bang” achieved unprecedented success for Latin music in the US, selling over one million copies. In recent years, acts like Chico Mann of New Jersey, the Boogaloo Assassins in LA and DJs Guillermo and Beto in San Francisco have begun playing reinventions of boogaloo sounds, churning out a sort-of renaissance in the genre.
Chico Mann is the brain-child of New Yorker Marquitos Garcia, known for pumping out vintage afro-latino beats that make any dance floor a sexy, sweat fest. Chico Mann will be playing live versions of Joe Cuba songs throughout the CD Release show. The Guardian chatted up the East Coast musician as his plane touched down in SF about his love for old fashion funk and why Joe Cuba would think his music is rad.
On how Chico Mann became identified with the “afro-latino vintage-funk” genre… I guess I don’t really see it as me playing any particular genre and instead, I’m developing a genre that didn’t exist before, one that’s comprised of multiple musical elements and vocabularies.
On growing up around so many styles of music… My dad owned a record label in Hell’s Kitchen and so I was constantly around Latin music and living in New York meant I was around freestyle. I was an 80s kid and therefore I love electro and old school hip-hop. All of that informs what I do. So when was I introduced to this music: in the womb.
When did he hear Joe Cuba for the first time? I don’t even remember. It was just always around.
Why play at the Joe Cuba CD Release? Wax Poetics pitched the idea and I said yeah—if we can recontextualize his music and pretty much flip it in a whole new way. The Urban Latin roots of what I do are pretty closely connected to Joe Cuba and this was a way to flesh out that tradition. We’re not a boogaloo band, but five different generations of Latin music cooked up into a new music soup.
On how he plans to reinvent Joe Cuba’s songs… What can I say? We’re sampling Joe Cuba and adapting to its melodic lyrical content. My only worry is that people won’t be able to differentiate between Chico Mann and Joe Cuba— that they wont get the references. Well, I guess that’s not a worry, I just want people to know how much love we’ve put into this. I’m really excited.
What should newbies expect? One hell of a dance party and I know San Francisco gets down. Whether or not you know Joe Cuba, the energy of the music is so strong. The Latino, afro beat and what I do, it’ll make your ass move. Physiologically your body can’t help but move and react. That’s the sheer beauty of it.
If Joe Cuba would hear Chico Mann… I’m thinking he would totally appreciate it, considering how he was forging a new sound based on the Cuban musical roots. He blazed that trail. He’s one the earliest pioneers of creating an urban, new york, latin sound. We are very much coming at it at the same level. And he would probably want to take a few solos— we’d make room for a few Joe Cuba congo solos.
And FYI: Bring a voice along with those dancing shoes… So much of afro-Cuban music is based on call and response. When I sing the call, the group and the audience should both come back with the response. I’ve been trying to stress this on my Facebook and Twitter. When you hear the coro, you gotta come back with the coro. We can all get on the same page— and even if you don’t speak Spanish, phonetically, we can all come together and fully appreciate and understand Joe Cuba’s music and Chico Mann’s music. That would draw the thread.
Afrolicous + Wax Poetics + Fania Records Presents Joe Cuba CD Release Party Thu/11, 9:30pm, $6/ $8 Elbo Room 647 Valencia Street, San Francisco www.elbo.com
I’ve been thinking about how Moon Duo‘s name sounds a little like Amon Düül. Maybe that’s just tangential coincidence, but the SF twosome’s songs allow for the kind of daydreaming that produces such thoughts.
Escape delivers on the great promise of Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada’s earlier recordings, especially last year’s Killing Time (Sacred Bones). Like that EP, Escape is made up of four songs, but the lunar flares sprawl ever outward to album length. We’re only a month into 2010, but here’s a contender for Bay Area album of the year.
Five years was far too long a break for most fans, but thankfully the Minneapolis hip-hop duo Eyedea & Abilities pulled things together just the way we like for 2009’s By The Throat (Rhymesayers Entertainment), the follow-up to the beloved sophomore album E&A released way back in 2004. They play Wed/10 at Bottom of the Hill, promising to spit their rude, ripping guitars, iron heavy bass beats, and surprisingly melodic choruses in your face.
Eyedea is among the best when it comes to freestylin’ in rush of the gun battles and these skills definitely transferred to his recorded performances. The Throat tracks are raw and scratchy, with lyrics like “Empathy is the poor man’s cocaine,” all spun between clawing riffs and smashing cymbals. DJ Abilities shows off in-between vocal streams, mixing and scratching like his hands are machines themselves.
Straying off the rap road, Dosh is all about multi-tasking and master-mixing. Another Minnesota native, Dosh will open the evening’s show with his crazy, diverse skills on the drums, piano, xylophone and a host of sounds concocted from mallets, buttons and keys, all operated by himself and then looped, reversed or modified via live recording devices.
Dosh: don’t forget the xylophone
He’s like a musically inclined octopus; eight limbs outstretched to produce beautifully complicated melodies that blink on and off. His fifth album, Tommy (anticon), is set for release on April 13, meaning his show will be filled with all kinds of new tricks and treats. Dosh is a one-man show filled with mysterious illusions and while at times things may at first seem chaotic, satisfaction is only a loop away.
DJ Similak Chyld doesn’t mess with inspiration. When asked how she came up with the idea for Afro Chico Electro, her dance party that hits the floor at Triple Crown on Wed/10, she’s narrowed the concept down to a single visual. It’s a purple pencil drawing by graffitist Mode 2 that shows a swath of party people intertwined, their arms thrown in the air, eyes closed, smiles open. There’s a bald girl, a blonde girl, some b-boys, a cool guy in a hat- but they’re all dancing to the same beat. Quote the pint sized Similak, “the idea is basically merging all the genres that I love, to bridge the gap between different crews, djs, artists, etcetera. I figure it makes sense to me- why not throw a party that represents who I am at the core?”
This kind of inclusiveness drove Similak’s musical programming for an evening that breaks down a lot of the genre boundaries that can run the SF dance scene. The DJ lineup includes Chico Mann, who assembles afrobeat/afro Cuban sounds on the drum machine, synthesizer and guitar for sets that have been described as “instant vintage”- early 80s Fela Kuti meets the music melding of today’s technology.
He’ll be joined by the sexy, dub heavy sounds of local hip hop mixer J Boogie, DJ Sake 1 (whose group Local 1200 has snagged our Goldie Award in the past for best Bay DJ crew), DJ Apollo, Similak herself, and a whole passel of afrobeat, hip hop and latin dance crews. “There’s no reason why we can’t dance to a beat because it’s not familiar. An afro dance troupe can appreciate disco or hip hop breaks, just like b-boys can up-rock to an afro or latin breakdown,” says Similak, who was raised between California and Taiwan, and whose own sets have been known to include old school soul, roots music, pop tracks.
Her concept of musical universality is being put to the test at Afro Chico Electro- she’s partnering the dance crews with music they might not typically get down to and encouraging the djs to branch out with their beats as well.
Will it come off? Will it be crazy? Smart money is on yes and yes. Even the wallflowers will have something to look at- neighborhood gallery Lower Hater is curating the whole damn thing with their arsenal of works from smart local artists. All told, an evening that just may encapsulate a lady with layers. “People used to- and still do- get really confused about what I play,” says Similak. “I’ve stopped trying to argue, defend or explain myself and I think folks are slowly starting to get that you can’t really put me in a box.” Unless it’s got nice headphones and is somehow hooked up to some speakers, the woman just might be right about that one.
I want to come to the defense of Beyoncé. Not that anyone who just won six Grammys needs my defense or cares much what I have to say, but the talented Ms. Knowles has gotten some shit lately, particularly from my colleague at BeyondChron, Randy Shaw, who says she “embodies the soulless Starbucking of the Music Industry.”
He complains:
“Beyoncé provides the homogenized sound that today’s music industry touts, and which it rewards as the best it has to offer.”
And he waxes nostalgic about the good old days of
“the rebellious rock stars of the 1960’s, and the soulful and truly passionate voices of Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, and the stars of Motown.”
Well, Randy Shaw’s not known as a music critic, and neither am I, but I can tell you this: As the father of a seven-year-old girl, I know from today’s pop.
Movin’ 99.7 is the soundtrack of the Redmond-Field household these days. Vivian has pretty much seized control of the CD player, and when she’s dancing at night instead of doing her homework, and dancing in the morning instead of getting dressed and ready for school, the living room is filled with Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, the occasional Jonas Brothers tune (although she generally sneers at anything that isn’t sung by a girl) and, of course, Beyoncé.
We watch Hannah Montana, I Carly, and Wizards of Waverly Place. We party with “Party in the USA.” Sometimes, we go to the show.
It’s what’s going on in her world – and frankly, it’s not that bad.
Look, I grew up around the same time Randy Shaw did, and while we can all celebrate the great rock, soul and Motown hits of the time — and there was outstanding, world-changing music being produced — the popular songs dominating the airwaves were often terrible.
When I was Viv’s age, the number one song on the New York music stations was an abomination called “Wedding Bell Blues” (The Fifth Dimension). My classmates dug Bobby Sherman (“Easy Come, Easy Go,”) – I mean, Woof. We endured a group called The Archies, which was a fake rock band derived from an awful cartoon TV show derived from a really lame comic book – and on the bogosity level, that’s even more meta than Hannah Montana. And remember that blockbuster band America, with the heavy hit “Muskrat Love,” which may count as the single worst pop song ever to make it onto the public braodcasting spectrum?
In fact, I think it’s safe to say that nothing I hear on Viv’s radio stations is anywhere near as bad as 50 percent of what WABC played in those glorious days of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
There was a whole lot of starfucking soullessness in the music industry back then, too. And the record companies were always looking for ways to exploit garbage and turn it into money through relentless hype.
I’d even argue that the power of the soulless recording industry is far less now than it was when we grew up. The Oakland hip-hop movement in the 1980s proved that you could bypass the big guys by selling CDs out of the back of your car and get traction. Today you can do it with Itunes and Twitter and your website.
And honestly? As pop music goes, you can do a lot worse than Beyoncé. Maybe her live performances don’t excite Randy Shaw, but the Grateful Dead couldn’t do studio. I’m not so into the endorsements thing, either, but I think we all lost our virginity on that one when Jagger, Richards & Co. sold “Start Me Up” to Microsoft in 1995.
And you have to admit, the girl can sing.
We listen to “I am … Sasha Fierce,” Viv and me, and we crank it up and dance and sing along and have a great time. I love “Halo.” I have it on my Ipod. It plays in my party shuffle mix when I’m at the gym, along with “Radar Love” (Golden Earring), “Roll With the Changes” (REO Speedwagon), “Fool in the Rain” (Led Zeppelin), “Love Child (Diana Ross), “Apeman” (the Kinks) and about 100 more examples of the Most Important Songs Ever Written.
In fact, when I read Randy’s piece, I thought about my father, looking at my brother and me as we took his Perry Como records off the player and put on some Rolling Stones, and shaking his head and saying:
I hate to be objectifying, but journalistic integrity be damned- Orchid and Hound are damn good looking. The queer pop duo, comprised of satyr-esque John Constantine and the coyly shaggy Lawrence Alarcon, were also charming and beautifully turned out when I met them for drinks the other night- and, of course, they are brilliant onstage. Their upcoming show at The Blue Macaw (Thur/11) promises to look a lot like what would happen if High School Musical came out of the closet, hired a better stylist and started partying. So you’re going to have to excuse me if the following article starts to sound like Tiger Beat at times. I’m a little smitten, so shoot me.
This is what you will see at an Orchid and Hound show. Lawrence Alarcon will bang out lovely up and down tunes on his piano, while John Constantine provides jazzy vocals that ease over here to a sound reminiscent of Broadway, then smooth down there to recall a smoky lounge somewhere in Vegas. They’ve dubbed it “queer pop”- a highly listenable, intimate little cabaret. “We like to think of ‘queer’ as ‘different,’ like melodrama,” says Constantine of their sound.
But you’re not going to hear the typical “where ya from” one liners and “waitress, get me another drink” admonitions at O & H shows- you know, the typical lounge standards. “I suck at banter,” says Constantine. “He rambles,” offers Alarcon. Perhaps it’s for the best- the pared down nature of Orchid and Hound makes it a little easier to focus on, you know, the music. “It’s just a show where you shut up and listen,” Constantine says (“ideally,” adds Alcarcon).
The sound the two put out is lighthearted, the piano rhythms and Constantine’s voice bouncy, even. But their lyrics are expressions of a life as a pretty 23 year old in the Castro- a life can prove more complicated upon closer inspection. “I find inspiration in the dialogues I have with the people around me,” says Alarcon, who penned one song for O & H born of a conversation he had with his boyfriend about nothing less than the end of the world. “We were talking about the Mayan prophecies for 2012, but my boyfriend’s a scientist. He was more concerned about 2013, when the oil crisis is set to hit.” Alarcon turns to Constantine, pondering the difference between their songwriting styles, finally hitting on the pith of the issue. “John’s more angsty, more metaphorical.” Ooo… angsty!
“I like to sing about the human condition,” says Constantine, picking up Alaron’s musings. One of John’s songs, ‘Sabotage,’ is a catchy dirge that hinges on a theme familiar to most dashing rock stars; self destruction. “[‘Sabotage’] is about that daily battle you have with the destructive side of yourself, that you live with but must control,” says Constantine, toying earnestly with the stem of his cocktail. To date, their audience favorite is “The Drinking Song”, a depraved little interactive ditty whose success amuses Alarcon. “Who knew our most disturbing song would turn out to be our most popular?”
“Who knew our most disturbing song would turn out to be our most popular?” Photo by Erik Anderson
So back to our bar date (because that’s what I’m calling it, so there!) The two have a knack for finishing each other’s sentences, and where Lawrence can be artistically reticent, John is more than happy to tell me about the origin of O&H. Herein lies the duo’s sychronicity; they’ve known each other “since forever,” growing up best friends at an arts high school in Los Angeles. John and Lawrence even dated each other for three years, during which they moved up to SF into a shared apartment- where they live to this day, despite having subsequently broken up, moved on… and formed a band. When asked how this is earthly possible, they smile sweetly at each other as though nothing could have been easier. “It was rough, but we’re much more productive now- minus the sex,” says Constantine. “We would have killed each other if we’d kept dating.”
Though the two first collaborated on musical compositions for an installation artist in LA, John and Lawrence only just formed their current act last year. They can still tell you how many live shows they’ve had; a sprightly “twelve!”- blurted out in unison, of course. “We don’t fuck up that much though,” says Constantine with a winning smile. “The one time we noticeably fucked up, someone told me ‘it was cute when you fucked up,’ so I guess that’s good.”
So what does 2010 hold for these darlings, who are still unsigned to a label as of press time? Well, besides the trail of broken hearts and rehearsal hours they’re working on a studio album and recently announced their gig at this year’s South by Southwest festival. And then? Says Constantine “We’ve planted a lot of seeds, we just have to water them all.” Somebody hand these boys a hose- the world hearts Orchid and Hound.
Brooklyn lady trio The Vivian Girls, are back in town for an evening of girl-studded surf guitar, opening for Best Coast tonight at Bottom of the Hill. The Girls have been buzzing since their first album two years ago, a lo-fi garage rock favorite offering friendly reminders of surf and turf, skipping through town in high-waisted shorts, and being honest about the small things. Since the Guardian has interviewed them in the past, it was time for the Vivian Girls to spill some real secrets — their iPod’s top 10 most-played lists. Guitarist Cassie Ramone and drummer Ali Koehler agreed to give up the goods. (Bassist Kickball Katy doesn’t have an iPod. She just kicks ass).
Ali’s top 10:
1. Meneguar, “House of Cats”
Also used to be Cassie’s most played song before she got a new computer, so you know it’s Vivian Girls approved.
2. Woods, “Be Still”
I think this song has the absolute perfect fidelity. Woods is my favorite band making music today and take up most of my top played songs on iTunes.
3. Lemuria, “Origamists Too”
This song is so sexy. For fans of Leatherface, Lemonheads, Superchunk.
4. Yellow Fever, “Culver City”
Our label, Wild World, just released a full length by this band. I haven’t been this excited about a new band in ages.
5. The Babies, “Meet me in the City”
This song is such a fucking HIT. The Babies are Cassie’s side project with Kevin Morby of Woods. They wound up sounding like the Pixies in the best way possible.
6. Happy Birthday, “Girls FM”
If Pitchfork doesn’t give this band Best New Music they are fools.
7. Daniel Johnston, “Some things last a long time”
I defy anyone to write a more sincerely heart-wrenching breakup song. I’m not even heartbroken and I want to cry listening to this.
8. Best Coast, “When I’m With You”
I think Bethany (of Best Coast) described this song as sounding like Miley Cyrus, produced by Leslie Gore or something, which is exactly what I want to hear.
9. Hefner, “The Hymn for the Cigarettes”
I’ve always wanted to cover this song. It’s by Hefner, a John Peel-approved sloppy British pop band from the late 90s, and romanticizes smoking. I don’t smoke but this song sort of makes me wish I did. It also has the best line ever, “How can she love me when she doesn’t even love the cinema that I love?”
10. Cub, “My Chinchilla”
My now boyfriend put this song on a mixtape for me when we first started hanging out and it was insta-love.
Cassie’s top 10:
(Keep in mind that I got a new computer 3 months ago, so my top 10 list is pretty weird because of that).
1. Cassie Ramone, “Dance If You Wanna”
This is a song I demoed for Vivian Girls. It’s pretty embarrassing that it’s at the top of my list, but that’s life. It’s a weird song about dancing and crying that sounds kind of like the early Beatles to me.
2. Washed Out, “Belong”
I’ve always had a strange relationship with conformity, and this song perfectly encapsulates my struggle with it.
3. Ariel Pink, “So Glad”
I love that it’s called “So Glad” yet the chords make it feel so dismal and hopeless.
4. Heavy Hawaii, “Sleeping Bag”
These guys make perfect music that sounds like the Beach Boys on acid, or a soundtrack to you being stoned on the beach all day.
5. Pearl Harbor, “California Shakedown”
This song is really beautiful and sad. Pearl Harbor is one of the raddest new bands.
6. The Chantels, “The Plea”
My favorite Chantels song other than “He’s Gone.” It has one of my favorite bass lines ever, also used in “Oooh Baby Baby” by the Miracles and “It’s Gonna Take a Miracle” by the Royalettes and Deneice Williams.
7. Happy Birthday, “I Wanna Stay (I Runaway)”
Kyle Thomas from Happy Birthday told me that the melody for the verse of this song was inspired by Vivian Girls, which I consider one of the highest compliments I’d ever been paid.
8. The Bitters, “Can You Keep A Secret?”
When we were on tour with Fucked Up, I discovered that Ben Cook is as big a fan of Burt Bacharach as I am. That might be the reason the Bitters have some of the best-written songs of any of the “lo-fi” (I quote because I don’t approve of the term but I don’t see an alternative name for it) scene today.
9. The Chantels, “He’s Gone”
Self-explanatory. We’ve been covering this song, because it’s the best song ever.
10. Yellow Fever, “If I Never Find My Way”
This song has an amazing jam part in the middle, reminiscent of Steely Dan or Neil Young.
“The classical composers we know so well, Beethoven and Bach and Vivaldi, they were improvisers. So really, we’re carrying on that legacy,” says Real Vocal String Quartet founder Irene Sazer. I’d love to know what the old masters would think of a RVSQ gig- would they throw down their powdered wig and get down when the women launch their cellos into “Fontana Abandonada-Passatempo,” their Afro-Brazilian jam? Get their britches in a twist over “Kothbiro,” a nyatiti song by Kenyan artist Ayub Ogada?
I reckon they’d have dug the tunes. After all, RVSQ, performing this Thursday at Freight and Salvage, attributes their freedom to perform such divergent genres to their traditional classical training. The band members- Dina Maccabee and Sazer on the violin, Alisa Rose on the violin and fiddle and cellist Jessica Ivry- were all band kids, many raised in families of classical musicians and most recipients of college degrees in their respective axes.
Some started careers in orchestras and the like. But there was always something beyond the Bach that beckoned.
“For me growing up, I had two musical lives,” says the enthusiastic Sazer, who is given to excited exclamations and breathless descriptions of the energy she gleans from her RVSQ bandmembers. “One as a ‘serious’ violin player… but on the other side, my mom was into folk music from all over the world- she sang in Yiddish. I heard world music from an early age and always loved it. I heard the Beatles, Carol King, Joni Mitchell- the really great pop music informed my life as well.”
“Because of the pedagogy of being a classical musician,” she continues “it seemed so separate- but I never liked that. What I hoped for when I became a young adult was to explore lots of different styles of music- I hoped for my own individual musical language. I’m even luckier than that because I’ve found a group of people on similar musical paths.”
But RSVQ takes the path that’s not taken as much.
Their alternate path has led to a loosening for RVSQ. The group’s repertoire includes “Now,” an improvisational song they play at every show. It’s a chance to create a different sound for each new audience, a little klezmer here, maybe a smattering of bluegrass or trance rock of northern Mali origin, there.
Gotta love a classical quartet that chills barefoot in the dirt
Though Sazer says she was “really afraid” of improvisation in the early days of her classical training, “it’s such a pleasure when you have people who are accomplished on their instruments and love to jump in and take the risk. It’s a thrill that we have such a vehicle for exploration. And if you’re skilled you can do it mo’ better.”
Mo’ better indeed- the women are seeing their vision resonate with a growing audience, the demographic of whom Sazer confesses is a bit of a enigma. “We have to take polls! The finding of our people is kind of a mystery.” Difficult to pigeonhole themselves, RVSQ is now working on making their name in the world music arena, even landing a gig at 2010’s South by Southwest.
Locally, you can catch them at their album release party at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage next week- but try to maintain your composure at the show. “People are going to want to come and be somewhat quiet and listen,” says Sazer, laughing somewhat at her exhortation. “There’s a lot of intimacy in our ensemble and musical product.” So keep a lid on it, Handel.
Be lured into a deep daze with the frosty, sublime sounds of The Album Leaf’s new release, A Chorus of Storytellers. The San Diego band — which will be performing Fri/12 at Great American Music Hall — is ambient to its core. Only four of the 11 well-crafted tracks incorporate vocals. (Ironic, considering its the album’s title.)
The rest are purely poetic and offer obvious insight into their Icelandic influences and production by Birgir Jon Birgisson, an engineer who has worked with Sigur Ros. A Chorus of Storytellers was recorded as a whole band, contrary to the previous four albums, on which primary songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jimmy LaValle played nearly everything himself.
We just received a press release announcing the debut album of Evelyn Evelyn, “the world’s only conjoined-twin singer-songwriter duo.” The twins are apparently the discovery, or, if our doubts are correct, the brainchild, of Amanda Palmer (of the Dresden Dolls) and Jason Webley (accordionist extraordinaire). The press release contains a suspect biography of the purported 25-year-old twins, Lyn and Eva, born in Kansas, orphaned at birth, and eventually rescued from toiling in the circus by Palmer and Webley. Totally plausible.
There is a Wikipedia page about “them.” “Their” MySpace page has music. The domain name evelynevelyn.com belongs to “them.” But do they themselves really exist?
The most relevant signs point to a resounding “no.” The songs on their Myspace page, though charming with their cabaret style and old-timey harmonies, are being sung by male and female vocalists (we’d venture a guess at Palmer and Webley), and seem to be about the twins rather than by them. What’s more, the lyrics reveal these songs not to be Evelyn Sisters creations at all, but rather ditties written and recorded to hype their upcoming debut. In the song “A Campaign of Shock and Awe,” the two voices sing: “Ladies and Gentlemen/ Critics and hipsters/ Have you heard the new disc/ By the Evelyn Sisters…As featured in Rolling Stone, Spin, the New Yorker, and Pitchfork.” Not the most poetic, perhaps, but it gets a point across. The MySpace pictures are either vintage black and white portraits of long-dead twins or artistic renderings of the so-called Evelyns. And then there is the obvious doubt that any sane mother would bestow upon her twins, albeit conjoined, two half-names (Eva and Lyn), like they were some sort of puzzle to be put together (or more appropriately, pulled apart, ack!). Plus their mom supposedly died in labor, which would mean it’s really the orphanage that masterminded the whole thing.
If the Evelyn sisters do indeed exist, and we sincerely hope that they do, then this “campaign of shock and awe” will prove to have been an impressive stroke of marketing genius. But however appropriately vaudevillian it would be of Amanda Palmer to orchestrate a hoax of this magnitude, if the sisters turn out to be the imaginary figments of marketing alone, the audience might prove more disappointed than impressed. So, do they exist or not? I suppose we just have to wait to find out. But how anti-climactic it will be if they don’t exist, and how politically incorrect this article will seem in retrospect if they do.
Right. So, are you hip-hop or what? Ninja: Ja we’re from the hip-hop family, but we do rap-rave next level shit. Die Antwoord started with my one homeboy, DJ Hi-Tek (shows tattoo on hand)—He’s got his own PC computer and he makes basically like phat rap-rave beats. I was checking out his shit, and we started making some beats, you know, next level shit. So then I was speaking to my homegirl Yo-Landi, you know she’s got some funk and super flavour, so we started with a kind of, like, 2Unlimited, C+C Music Factory kind of thing… but a bit more gangster, with a street edge.
