Noise Archives — Page 55 of 108 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Live Shots: Accordion Festival, Cafe Du Nord, 11/05/09

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November 11, 2009

Photos and text by Ariel Soto

Bella Ciao

Those Darn Accordions

Big Lou’s Polka Casserole

“What time is it? It’s polka time!” That’s right, it was polka time at Cafe Du Nord last Thursday night, as three different accordion bands took the stage to play not only polka, but also Broadway show tunes and even some country. The bands, which included Those Darn Accordions, Big Lou’s Polka Casserole and Ciao Bella, drew quite a diverse crowd.

Those Darn Accordions

Bella Ciao

There were some utilikilts, cowboy hats, lots of poofy skirts and in my friend L’s words “Aren’t their a lot of guys with ponytails in here?” We counted eight in total. But no matter what they were wearing, everyone seemed to be enjoying the music and several couples even took to the dance floor for a little polka dancing. And then there were all the lovely accordions, their shiny black and white keys gleaming, their bellows breathing in and out, keeping everyone in time and on time, all in the name of polka time!

Charlie Horse axed for queer noise

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November 11, 2009

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By Marke B.

Fight the power, Anna Conda!

Farewell, sweet punk ‘n drag apocalypse! Just in time for 2012, beloved five-year-old Friday weekly queer meltdown Charlie Horse at the Cinch has released its gin-soaked core neutrinos and called it quits. Charlie Horse hostess, deconstructed Courtney Love, and Guardian cover girl Anna Conda blames the influx of yuppie condo-dwellers and an increasingly anti-gay agenda overtaking the once queerific Polk district for the club’s demise. Apparently, noise complaints forced the Cinch to come before the Entertainment Commission and be threatened with fines or closure if the Polk bar didn’t tone it down. The Cinch asked Anna to take a break, but she decided it was time to move on from the hostile climate.

It’s a truly tragic state of affairs — one which points up even more the continuing War on Fun that the city seems to be raging against its own origins and spirit. No real problem with drunk bachelorettes in ridiculous heels and Ed Hardy-drenched dudes squealing and puking up and down the street, but some drag queens getting incredibly creative inside a gay bar? WELL, GASP!

Charlie Horse has been a bright spot in the City’s increasingly dreary weekend club scene for half a decade, one that made of family of disparate non-wealthy queers who gagged on Gaga and wanted people to know there were amazing blackout options that didn’t involve cologne and gay cockatoo hair. It will be sorely, Horsely missed. Anna Conda’s tearful letter of farewell — and rousing vow to carry on — after the jump. (And catch her Herr-A-Chick nights every first and third Wednesday of the month at the Eagle!)

Juan MacLean’s drummer Jerry Fuchs, RIP; band to do DJ benefit set at Mezzanine

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November 10, 2009

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By Kimberly Chun

This in from the Juan MacLean’s people and the Mezzanine: the band’s drummer Jerry Fuchs sadly passed away Nov. 8 (The live band will obviously not be performing as scheduled on Nov. 20 at Mezzanine, but Juan will be out for a tribute DJ set to benefit Jerry’s family – all proceeds will be donated to them.):

“Gerhardt “Jerry” Fuchs, beloved and respected drummer for The Juan MacLean, Holy Ghost!, Maserati, !!!, and Turing Machine, amongst others, passed away in the early hours on Sunday, November 8th due to an unfortunate elevator accident that occurred in a Brooklyn loft building. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Medical Center , a few hours later.

“Jerry was born on December 30, 1974 in Marietta , Georgia . After attending the University of Georgia for graphic design, he left for New York in 1995 to join the band Vineland . His achievements were numerous as he became a New York fixture in the music scene, providing incredibly complex and energetic drumbeats that elicited wide praise and excitement from fellow musicians, critics and friends. On the rare occasion that he was not touring, Jerry did graphic design work for publications such as Chunklet and Entertainment Weekly. Throughout all of his endeavors and successes, Jerry remained one of the most humble and down-to-earth artists anyone could meet. His smile, and loving energy will be missed dearly, as will his talent and contributions to the music scene.

Deer Lady: Sonya Cotton’s ‘Red River’

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November 7, 2009

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SONYA COTTON
Red River
(self-released)

By Kimberly Chun

San Francisco-by-way-of-Connecticut singer-songwriter Sonya Cotton hails from the halcyon peaks of Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and Judee Sill: she’s a songbird of a soprano, given to praise though drawn to the dark side of folk song. She contemplates the corpse of a doe on the cover of Red River, but rather than dragging the dead deer of genre up a hill and into new turf, ala Grouper, Cotton prefers to pay her respect to the past and observe tradition with reverence and careful attention. Her immaculate footprints: the three-part harmonies on “Bear” and spare arrangement of “Hunters.”

Sonic Reducer Overage: Alternative Tentacles, Pixies, Paramore, Finches, R. Kelly, and more

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November 5, 2009

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By Kimberly Chun

You want to wipe away the gloom with some swoony, loony sounds, you know you do. More music than we could cram into ye olde newsprint.

Alternative Tentacles 30th Anniversary Incest-a-Thon
The proceedings kick off with Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine — and it’s going to be raging and ornery from the sound of the outfit’s new The Audacity of Hype (Alternative Tentacles). The fun continues with Citizen Fish, Star Fucking Hipsters, and MIA (the hardcore band not the lady) opening tonight; Ludicra, Munly and the Lupercalians, and Knights of the New Crusade Friday, and Alice Donut, Victims Family, and Burning Image Saturday. Sounds like a good, loudly irreverent time for all. Thurs/5-Sat/7, 8 p.m., $20-$22 ($50 three-day pass). Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.

Hank IV and Celine Dion
Hank Sr. gets a hard twirl in his grave, as the Bay Area troublemakers’ hearts go on. With Blues Control. Thurs/5, 9 p.m., $7. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk St., SF. (415) 923-0923.

Dawes
The early-20-something LA foursome have been listening closely to The Big Pink — namely the Band, not the UK 4AD duo. With Langhorne Slim and Austin Lucas. Fri/6, Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. (415) 771-1422.

Goldies Extra — Ty Segall works out the kinks

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November 5, 2009

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By Kimberly Chun

Ty Segall

It’s easy to imagine a battered and bruised zombie surfer hanging 10 to “Standing at the Station” off Ty Segall‘s Lemons, or the album’s shaking version of Captain Beefheart’s “Drop Out Boogie.” Picture drag racing along to Segall’s “In Your Car” and “Cents,” with the finish line at a fuzzed-out, frenzied Point Panic party. Deep-in-the-red ragers like “Johnny” take on hardcore’s crash-and-burn strategy — tearing around on the edges of distortion on just two wheels — while “Rusted Dust” strips it all down to Segall’s mournful falsetto and a single, evocatively ungainly electric guitar.

Lemons brought Segall together with the gloriously gritty Goner Records. “I actually just asked them if they wanted to put out my record,” he explains. “I didn’t think it was going to happen because I’ve been a huge fan for a long time. And they were, like, ‘Yeah!’

“I was super-psyched. I’m extremely lucky because they’re an amazing label.”

Ty Segall, “Lovely One”

It’s been a major evolution, going from Laguna Beach to Memphis. Segall first relocated North to attend USF, where he bonded with the rest of the Traditional Fools, bassist-vocalist Andrew Luttrell and guitarist-drummer-vocalist David Fox, who grew up in nearby coastal hamlets in Southern Orange County. “When we’re back at home, it’s like we’re all living in the same city,” Segall muses. The Trad Fools didn’t know each other very well back home, but together, in the Bay Area, they started hanging out and jamming and, in early 2006, morphed into a legendary party band.

Goldies Extra: Saviours’ Flying-V sign

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November 4, 2009

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By Ben Richardson

Saviours. Photo by Magda Wosinka

Scott Batiste of Saviours is in a unique position regarding the band’s transforming sound. Unusually for a drummer, he is also the band’s primary songwriter, hammering out riffs despite his limited chops with a pick. Though previous albums were crafted on a bass, this year’s Accelerated Living (Kemado) was written on guitar. “I got a shitty Flying-V copy and it just became my muse,” he says. “I was playing guitar so much, just unemployed, sitting at home and playing guitar all day. Everything just came out faster, and tougher.”

Saviours, “Livin’ in the Void”

Once the rough riffs are completed, guitarist Austin Barber takes over, acting as a sort of musical translator. The close understanding between the two is palpable in person, but bears its ripest fruit in the practice space. As Batiste admits, “A lot of the guitar playing I do isn’t really decipherable [to the rest of the band].”

Goldies Extra: D-Lo makes it hot…and wet

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November 3, 2009

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By Garrett Caples

D-Lo

“Once I heard myself on the song,” D’Angelo Porter says about his studio efforts one night two years ago, “I was like, ok, that’s me right there.” He was right: thanks to “No Hoe,” the man known as D-Lo soon found himself a full-blown celebrity in various ‘hoods.

“In Oakland, I might hear whispers,” he says, “like, ‘There go D-Lo.’ But out of town, like Fremont or Sac, they be chasin’ me down.” One excited fan, encountering him at a gas station in Pittsburg, asked him for a hug, only to promptly “pee on herself” after receiving it. This ghetto Beatlemania hasn’t gone to D-Lo’s head, however, but only inspired him to grind harder.

Thanks to “No Hoe”’s popularity, KMEL found itself getting tons of requests for a song they couldn’t play on the radio. “They was telling me it was too vulgar,” he recalls, “too much cussin’ and all that.”

D-Lo, “No Hoe”

Armenian lullabies class ‘orors’ into Oakland

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November 3, 2009

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By Caitlin Donohue

Apparently, perusing the “Lullabies of Armenia” Wikipedia entry did not leave me skilled in that particular musical school. No matter how many times I explained that oror means “rock,” to my boyfriend (making repeating the word crucial to any decent sleep-inducing ditty done in grand Armenian style), he was still loath to let me whisper it in his ear ad infinitum. Oror oror oror oror…

There is no accounting for taste. I am willing to allow, however, that there may have been an issue with my tone. Which is exactly why I need Hasmik Harutyunyan’s Armenian lullaby class, which will be held Saturday in Oakland as an opener to an evening of music as soothing as a mother’s womb.

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“When I sing, my dreams take wing,” says Harutyunyan of her haunting melodies

Her performances, reinvigorations of the rich Armenian tradition of lullaby, have taken her all over the world. Harutyunyan has staged concerts with Yo Yo Ma and more recently, Kitka, a Bay Area women’s vocal ensemble who will play a concert after her attempts at teaching us mere mortals the skills we need to lull our partners to sleep after long days of Bay Area rat race.

In Armenia, the songs people sing to soothe their children to sleep speak volumes of their life during the day. They’re narratives, expressions of daily goals and traditional folklore. I am told that one well known theme is that of giving one’s child over to suckle at the teat of a mother deer, which I have no grounds for understanding but trust that the message has something to do with earth and nurture.

The recorded versions of the songs are simple and rich affairs with soft accompaniment by wind instruments or strings, whose strums pack even more vibration into the undulating, soaring tones of the singer. Packaged in an language unknown to most of us, this is the perfect slide into dream world.

“I learn what I can, and I remember when I sing.” Harutyunyan seems to have a grasp of one of humankind’s elemental needs; comfort. Good on us, Bay Area, that she’s giving us a chance to share in what she’s learned.

Armenian Lullabies Workshop
Sat/7, 4 p.m. (Kitka concert to follow at 8 p.m.), $15-$25
St. Vartan’s Armenian Apostolic Church
650 Spruce, Oakland
(510) 444-0323 www.kitka.org

Post-punk stirrings: Bellini and Sleeper peel back the mask

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October 31, 2009

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BELLINI
The Precious Prize of Gravity
(Temporary Residence)

SLEEPER
Behind Every Mask
(Mush)

The return of David Yow and Jesus Lizard couldn’t be better timed, judging from releases like Bellini’s The Precious Prize of Gravity and Sleeper’s Behind Every Mask: there’s life in that post-punk corpse yet.

Working with old cohort Steve Albini, the Sicily-NYC-Texas-based Bellini growls like the dread ghost of Live Skull, with all the elastic power of Midwestern maulers like Jesus Lizard and Shellac. Vocalist Giovanna Cacciola croons and barks as if she’s had one champagne cocktail too many — in the bowels of hell.

Sleeper is more insinuating and less definable. These dusky ambient instrumentals seem to be fashioned with an ear toward both post-punk anxiety and brooding horror scores. Carlos Ransom puts his homemade instruments to good use, good enough to make me pick this up long after it’s release earlier this year. Play “Witch Hunt” in the darkest corner of your Blair Witch basement tonight for All Hallow’s.

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Fela redux: ‘The Best of the Black President’ ushers in reissue series

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October 30, 2009

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FELA KUTI
The Best of the Black President – Deluxe Edition
(Kalakuta Sunrise/Knitting Factory)

By Kimberly Chun

Ripe for revival and just in time for FELA!, the Broadway musical, as well as the real-life black president, Fela Kuti was a legend in his own time — the fact that he passed more than a dozen years ago seems surreal. Watch him today on YouTube (below) or on the Slice of Fela DVD that accompanies the new Best of the Black President (Kalakuta Sunrise/Knitting Factory) and includes excerpts from the film Music Is the Weapon and a Berlin Jazz Festival performance. You’ll get a glimpse of the visonary’s shamanistic sonic power.

No need to rely on the visuals though – just let Black President‘s two discs’ full of hypnotic grooves wash over you. “Army Arrangement,” “Roforofo Fight,” “Lady,” “Water Get No Enemy” — the first in Knitting Factory Records‘ remastered reissue series of 45 Kuti titles shines a light on his ’60s band Koola Lobitos and takes you higher. Guarans. It’s the first time all 45 albums will released on vinyl in North America — something to look forward to in the next 18 months.

Here’s a taste of latter-day Fela with Afrika 70, shot by Ginger Baker (not included on the DVD):

Sonic Reducer Overage: No Age, Soapbox, Emerald Triangle, Kawabata, and more

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October 29, 2009

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By Kimberly Chun

Halloween and NYE — yes, it’s amateur hour once again for non-locals, gawkers, and ‘burb brats. Still, ya gotta fill the void — here are a few more ways that didn’t make print.

Art Brut
Are the Anglo-Teutonic arty farties the next best thing to poppers like Fountains of Wayne? With Princeton Fri/30, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m., $16. Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. (415) 861-5016.

No Age
The LA twosome skipped the Grammys for the road (“Best Recording Package?”). With Residual Echoes and Magic Bullets. Fri/30, 9 p.m., $16. Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell, SF. (415) 885-0750.

West Fest: The fun and the photos

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October 26, 2009

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Text and photos by Lisa Weiss

Photos from the 40th anniversary Woodstock celebration at Speedway meadow:

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“This is righteous! It’s a part of history!” Terry Kennedy makes up the seriously daunting security behind the scenes at this year’s West Fest. He, along with many of his fellow security handlers and 2B1 record employees, lent a hand to the celebrations to commemorate the majestic memories from Summer of Love and Woodstock.

More pix after the jump

Dreamy machines: Little Dragon roars

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October 26, 2009

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LITTLE DRAGON
Machine Dreams
(Peacefrog)

By Kimberly Chun

“A New,” for sure. Dripping with mellotron sounds and windswept synths, Gothenburg, Sweden’s Little Dragon declares itself definitely, though far from overbearingly, with the opening track of Machine Dreams. Coming on the clicking, clamoring heels of its 2007 self-titled debut, this second full-length is an intoxicating sauce of synthpop bounce, faraway steel drum plonk, percolating bass lines, and Yukimi’s winsome, subtly soulful vocals. You know you’re in good hands when the ever-so-gently sharp synth stabs of “My Step” kick in. This is about machines blissfully dreaming of electric sheep, digital damsels, and Unix unicorns — all bathed in enticing sweetness and light.

LITTLE DRAGON
With Nite Jewel
Nov. 4, 9 p.m., $20
Independent
628 Divisadero, SF
(415) 771-1421

Live Shots: Matisyahu, Fillmore, 10/22/09

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October 26, 2009

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Text and photos by Ariel Soto

The Fillmore Theater was filled with yarmulkes and heart-pumping beats last Thursday as Matisyahu, a Hasidic Jewish reggae singer, bounced
his way across the stage. The eclectic crowd at the sold-out show seemed to represent everyone, from religious diehards to So-Cal blonds in high heels. Matisyahu’s lyrics convey his strong religious beliefs, but somehow he’s able to reach a broad and diverse crowd. With his long payots swaying to each reggae beat, one might imagine they were dreads and this was a Rasta show straight from Jamaica. But isn’t that what makes going to see music so great? There are no rules, just pure creativity and a smorgasbord of cultures and ideas around every bend.

Live Review: Echo and the Bunnymen, Fox Theatre, 10/22/09

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October 23, 2009

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Photos by David Schnur, text by Marke B.

Ian McCulloch, dark and lovely

Somewhat surprisingly sprinkled with young fans, a rapturous crowd received ’80s guitar-pop heroes –Echo and the Bunnymen with open arms and singalong voices at the Fox on Thursday. The two remaining Bunnymen, singer Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant, definitely still had it, recreating with ease the big sound and goth-romantic poetry that positioned the Bunnymen in a direct line from Joy Division to U2 — even wearing more of their original influences on their sleeves, with covers of the Doors and Lou Reed and new material that reflected their admiration for Oasis.

The main attraction for this overdue valedictory tour was the inclusion of a 10+ member orchestra to recreate in full the Bunnymen’s most ambitious album, 1984’s Ocean Rain, which was just lovely, if the sound was a bit muddy at times. No one can resist the beauty of such tunes as “Killing Moon” — if you were a kid when it came out, the spooky and then-unique juxtaposition of bunny drum machines, lunar jewels, strummed steel strings, and cosmic murder was mindblowing, and those shivers returned in ample waves here.

Will Sergeant, left, creating his indelible sound

The Rakes split, cancel Slim’s show

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October 22, 2009

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This in from UK band the Rakes’ publicists:

“The Rakes have announced they are to split with immediate effect.

“The band who formed in 2002, came together as a foursome of childhood friends and kindred sprits and went on to release three critically acclaimed albums; the first Capture/Release in 2005, followed by Ten New Messages in 2007 and Klang (2009). Both the October UK tour and American dates are canceled, and full refunds will be given to ticket holders.

“A statement from the band reads:

“‘The Rakes have always been very adamant and proud of the fact that we give 100% to every gig we’ve ever played. If we can’t give it everything then we won’t do it. That was the rule we set ourselves from day one.

Black men invade the Castro

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October 22, 2009

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By Marke B

Bring Black Back to the Castro !! from STOP AIDS Project on Vimeo.

Does the title of this post shock you? It shocks me and I wrote it! That’s because, if you’ve visited our faery-tailed gay wonderland of late (like, the past 30 years), you may have noticed a somewhat shocking lack of color on the streets and in the bars. Well, StopAIDS has been aiming to remedy that with OUR LOVE, a pretty rad outreach program to black gay men, which celebrates its 10th anniversary with, what else, a party this Sunday afternoon at the Cafe called Church — drinking, dining, dancing, and general carrying on are on the menu.

OUR LOVE has been bridging the gay color gap with a number of cool things, including a roaming Blackout party, the last installment of which (viewed above) took place at the new Toad Hall — an interesting choice, if anyone remembers the history of controversy between owner Les Natali and some members of the black gay community. Also: an upcoming “Black Men of the Castro” 2010 calendar, and a soon-to-be-launched social networking site for gay African American men, tentatively called Welcome to My Neighborhood. There’s also a “procott” planned (as opposed to a boycott), which will bring masses of African American gay men to visit business in the Castro. Plus: A mess o’ more.

Even more West Fest poster art

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October 22, 2009

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As West Fest approaches, Noise is showcasing some of the many different concert posters created for the 40th anniversary of Woodstock tribute, which takes place on Sunday, October 25 at Golden Gate Park. It’s free! Check out Johnny Ray Huston’s article about it all and take a gander …

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Poster by Bob Masse

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Poster by Burray Olson

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Poster by Stanley Mouse

Sonic Reducer Overage: Pelican, Kid Sister, Le Loup, Sunset Rubdown, and more

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October 21, 2009

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By Kimberly Chun

We got places to go, people to see, crazy sounds to hear — more for your show-going pleasure and more than we could fit in print.

BrakesBrakesBrakes
Cheney better watch himself when the Brighton, England, combo steps on it. With Ezra Furman and the Harpoons and Rachel Goodrich. Wed/21, 8 p.m., $10-$12. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. (415) 861-2011.

Fu Manchu and Dirty Power
Heaviness is as heaviness does — with the added oomph of the SF-bred Power brokers. With the Solid. Wed/21, 8:30 p.m., $21. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

Auto-Tuning Stephen Hawking

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October 20, 2009

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By Marke B.

Dig those delicious vintage issues of Omni magazine out of your ma’s closet and crack back open that copy of Cosmos — from melodysheep on YouTube comes this lovely, trip-hoppy musical exploration of Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking’s popular scientific output.

PS: I am starting a club called OMNI immediately:

Treasure Island fest: Flaming Lips, Yo La Tengo, Decemberists

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October 19, 2009

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Folk this: Decemberists’ Colin Meloy. All photos by Kimberly Chun.

By Kimberly Chun

Ah, washing up on Treasure Isle late in the day Sunday, Oct. 18, seemed like the way – though it was a bummer to miss Vetiver, Beirut, et al. The short and sweet stuff: it was considerably colder and foggier than Saturday, so it was in everybody’s best interest to huddle together en masse while Walkmen and then the Decemberists played. And wow, what fabulous animations accompanied the Portland, Ore., band’s set – tumbling with wild things, pyramids, geometrics, landscapes of jewel-like mountains and obelisks, star fields, and the like. The perfect accompaniment to the delicate Brit folk and outright psych-prog the band is purveying these days: the standout was the title track of this year’s The Hazards of Love album (Capitol).

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Greening of YLT: Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan, right, and James McNew.

The following set by Yo La Tengo seemed almost anticlimactic, though you had to appreciate the strenuous noise jams the band is rolling out. Ira Kaplan helmed the keyboard from the start then switched over to guitar as the combo abruptly segued into “Stockholm Syndrome,” with James McNew on falsetto vocals. Up next, just as quickly: the loveable, cacophonous “Here to Fall” off YLT’s new Popular Songs (Matador).

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Man in a bubble: Flaming Lips in utero.

The wait was completely worth it, as we tarried in the photo pit (and my camera decided to die on me) and Wayne Coyne and the Flaming Lips set up on the main stage. All-girl backup vocalists with bunny ears, the Lips busting through the pull-apart screen at the exact do-go-there spot where a massive go-go girl opened her legs. (Coyne rolled out in his big bubble, followed by a stage-diving bunny.) Ah, no one delivers a show like FL (though there was a health emergency up front where I was — the frontman later asked to see if the lady taken off was OK). Coyne offered an opening monologue about how the group is an honorary SF band of sorts since the first show they ever played was at the beloved ole I-Beam in the Haight. We’ll take ’em.

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Fernando and Greg are back…

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October 19, 2009

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…and you can listen to their podcast here