Noise

Seattle surf rock band La Luz in severe car accident

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Some terrible news about a band featured in this week’s issue: La Luz. The haunted surf rock quartet from Seattle was in an awful-sounding car accident last night.

The ladies of La Luz were supposed to play two shows in SF this weekend, opening for of Montréal. However the rest of their tour is now cancelled. Below is a statement from their label, Hardly Art, and info on how to help:

“Last night on their way back to their native Seattle from a show at Boise’s Korah Shrine, rising surf band La Luz were in a severe accident that totaled their van, destroyed their gear, and incurred injuries to the band members.

As a result, they’ve been forced to bow out of their remaining tour dates with of Montreal, starting with tonight’s performance at Neumos. For those who feel compelled to help the band get back on their feet, we’ve set up a Paypal account for laluzdonate@gmail.com; 100% of the donations will go the band as they seek to pay medical bills and purchase a new van, new equipment, and new merch.”

UPDATE from the band: “Last night was probably the most terrifying experience of any of our lives. But we’re ok! Thanks for the love and well wishes everyone. We lost a lot of things (pretty much everything we had) and got pretty banged up when we were hit by a semi on our way to Seattle last night, but we’re just awfully glad to be alive and we’ll be back on our feet in no time. For those of you who want to help out financially, Hardly Art set up this paypal to help us pay for some stuff and money we lost. Love to you all!”

Heads Up: 7 must-see concerts this week

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The Queen of Rockabilly (who once dated Elvis), a ‘90s shoegaze icon, a legendary SF math rock crew, and a brand new haunted surf-garage quartet. This week’s must-sees stretch beyond space and time, genre and generation. Wanda Jackson, Mazzy Star, A Minor Forest, La Luz — they’re all here now.

Plus, there are two major anniversary events: 10 years for Women’s Audio Mission; 20 years for grimy hardcore label Six Weeks Records.

Here are your must-see shows:

Cold Beat

That voice. Those eerie, singular vocals that are somehow both alien and intimately familiar. They sound like electric Tesla coils wrapped in whipped silk. San Francisco’s Hannah Lew is most often heard harmonizing by three with her striking post-punk trio Grass Widow. With newer project Cold Beat, it’s her vocals alone above the needling guitars and anxious synths of a different band. [Here’s the full feature]
Tue/5, 9pm, $6
Night Light
311 Broadway, Oakl.
www.thenightlightoakland.com
http://vimeo.com/78308330

Mazzy Star
“Santa Monica’s Mazzy Star has been teasing its fans with promises of a fourth album since 2000 — and even then the album was long overdue. Nearly two decades after its last album, Among My Swan, Mazzy Star has really, truly, finally dropped its long-fabled follow-up, Seasons of Your Day. Mazzy Star was seminally important to ’90s shoegaze, and its dark influence is still audible in bands like the Dum Dum Girls and Beach House. The best part about its new album is that while other bands have taken Mazzy Star’s sound and retrofitted it, the band itself has not changed a bit. Seasons of Your Day seamlessly picks up where the band left off in 1996. Hope Sandoval’s haunting voice is still as achingly gorgeous as ever, and you don’t want to miss your chance to hear it in person tonight.” — Haley Zaremba
With the Entrance Band, Mariee Sioux
Wed/6, 8pm, $35
Warfield
982 Market, SF
www.thewarfieldtheatre.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImKY6TZEyrI

Wanda Jackson
“When Wanda Jackson first went on tour in 1955, she shared the bill with a young man who quickly became a major musical influence and (for Jackson, at least) a romantic partner. This guitar-slinging fella, named Elvis Presley, helped her transition from country music to a newer, faster, more raucous genre later described as rockabilly. Jackson pioneered the genre, earning her the title of the Queen of Rockabilly and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an “Early Influence.” Now well into her 70s, the Queen still reigns supreme. While Jackson can’t hit all of the high notes anymore, she’s still full of enough piss and vinegar to put performers more than half her age to shame.” — Zaremba
With the Swinging Doors
Thu/7, 9pm, $28
Chapel
777 Valencia, SF
(415) 551-5157
www.thechapelsf.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzJ3hiqsi0U

La Luz [Ed. note: The band was in a car accident last night and totaled its van. To help, donate through Paypal using the email laluzdonate@gmail.com]
Sometimes the unexpected can rip you apart. And sometimes, those rare unanticipated moments can inspire you anew. All the hurt and bewilderment and dark emotions reconfigure and morph into a project, such as an album. La Luz guitarist-vocalist Shana Cleveland felt this molten wave firsthand and the end result is a striking, blackened surf rock album with four-way doo-wop melodies and churling riffs smacking against the seawall. It’s the full-length debut from the Seattle all-lady quartet: It’s Alive (Hardly Art). The group tours to SF this week, opening for of Montreal. [See this week’s paper for the feature]
With Cool Ghouls (Fri/8), Painted Palms (Sat/9)

Fri/8-Sat/9, 9pm, $21
Great American Music Hall
859 O’Farrell, SF
www.slimspresents.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cahFMKorqM

Six Weeks Records 20th Anniversary
Two decades is a long lifeline for a DIY record label — especially one known for such short songs. Six Weeks Records, founded in ’92 by Athena Kautsch and Jeff Robinson, has distributed dozens of grimy grindcore, breakneck punk, and loud-as-hell hardcore albums from bands around the world. Clearly dedicated to the art of deafening music, the label also publishes the Short, Fast & Loud fanzine. This two-night anniversary fest features acts of the Six Weeks Records family including LA powerviolence legends Despise You, Tokyo’s Slight Slappers, NY’s Magrudergrind, Capitalist Casualties, Backslider, Coke Bust, P.L.F, and more.
Fri/8-Sat/9, 7pm, $17 each ($30 two-day pass)
Oakland Metro
630 Third St, Oakl.
www.oaklandmetro.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I29MwZmX24E

Women’s Audio Mission 10th Anniversary Party

Let’s survey the breadth of bands playing this here anniversary party: There’s surfy teenage quartet the She’s, Mariachi Femenil Orgullo Mexicano (the Bay Area’s only all-female mariachi crew), soulful East Bay post-punk trio Little Sister, and DJ Sep, the founder and main resident of Dub Mission, one of the longest-running dub and reggae parties in the US. What do they have in common? They’re all led by powerful musicians and singers of the female persuasion. And the lineup is fitting, as this diverse sonic spectacular is for Women’s Audio Mission, a music production and recording organization geared toward helping women realize their full potential in the music world. Celebrate the org, the ladies, and the scene tonight at WAM’s big party at El Rio.
Sat/9, 3-8pm, $10 donation
El Rio
3158 Mission, SF
www.elrio.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjjsL1gdpIc

A Minor Forest
“With noisy and jam-packed intricate time signatures and musical arrangements, A Minor Forest (AMF) stuck out in the Bay Area music scene years ago, taking on a post-rock sound in a community with a simplistic punk tradition. And on Sat/9, the band is reuniting to play its first show in 15 years — at Bottom of the Hill with Barn Owl, fellow labelmate of Chicago’s much-loved Thrill Jockey Records.” [See this week’s paper for the feature] — Erin Dage
With Barn Owl
Sat/9, 9:30pm, $15
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th St, SF
(415) 626-4455
www.bottomofthehill.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab8u3dwkmPc

Haunted! Halloween and Day of the Dead events and parties

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Oh hi, spooky. It’s the Bay Area’s favorite time of year, with both candy and muerte on our minds. here’s a handy guide to what’s going down on Hallow’s Eve and boo-weekend.

THURSDAY 31

Afrolicious Super Fly Halloween Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF; www.elbo.com. 9:30pm-2am, $10-15. Get retro-spooky with the Latin funk and super-groovy sounds of the Afrolicious party crew. Style out in ’70s-inspired costumes and get down: the live Afrolicious house band will be covering legendary Blaxploitation masterwork soundtrack Super Fly by Curtis Mayfield in its entirety. Far out!

All Hallows’ Eve DNA Lounge, 375 11th St, SF; www.dnalounge.com. 9pm, $13 advance. The annual party at the DNA Lounge is a showcase of its party talent, with DJs from club nights Bootie, Meat, Death Guild, New Wave City, Fringe, 120 Minutes, and more spinning goth and New Wave dance favorites and mashups. Plus an airborne performance by the high-flying Vau de Vire Society. 

Back2Back Halloween Project One, 251 Rhode Island, SF; www.p1sf.com. 8pm-2am, $10. Beloved Wicked crew DJs Jeno and Garth celebrate nine years of their Back2Back party with some psychedelic house gems.

Black Mammoth Mighty. 119 Utah, SF; www.mighty119.com. 9pm-3am, $13-15. Buoyant Burning Man juggernaut Pink Mammoth gets dark for another one of its enormous blowouts, with DJs Galen, Kramer, Miguel Solari, Tyrel Williams, Gravity, and more.

“Creatures of the NightLife” California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse, Golden Gate Park, SF; www.calacademy.org. 6-10pm, $12. NightLife teams up with the Bay Area Science Festival for this spooky night hosted by Peaches Christ. Highlights include tips on how to survive a zombie attack, the latest on bioengineering (for any aspiring Dr. Frankensteins out there), monster make-up application, and more.

The Flaming Lips’ Halloween Blood Bath Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove, SF, www.apeconcerts.com. Retiring elements that came close to being trademarks. (No space bubble, kids. Go see Diplo, who ripped it off, as he does every gimmick.) With their latest, The Terror, Oklahoma City psych rockers the Flaming Lips seem to be on their own private dark side of the moon, and the current tour promises to be a different kind of spectacle.

“Hacienda Halloween” Peralta House Museum of History and Community, 2465 34th Ave, Oakl; www.peraltahacienda.org. 5-7pm, free. Visit the Peralta Hacienda Historical House for a unique Halloween party, with stories of California’s early years, autumn vegetables, and maybe even an East Bay spirit or two.

Halloween at the Chapel The Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF; www.thechapelsf.com. 9pm-2am, $15. Bobb Saggeth, the female-fronted Black Sabbath tribute band, headlines this black mass with Haight Breeders (covering Misfits songs, natch).

Honey Soundsystem + No Way Back Halloween F8, 1192 Folsom, SF; www.eventbrite.com. 9pm-4am, $15. Two of SF’s sharpest DJ collectives combine forces to bring in the dark-edged house of NYC DJ Willie Burns and Split Secs. Should draw a great mixed crowd ready to dance.

House of Babes Halloween Holy Cow, 1535 Folsom, SF; www.thehouseofbabes.com. 9pm-2am, $10-$13. A young, fun shindig featuring a queer rainbow of hip-hop flavors from DJs Rapidfire, Pink Lightning, Dav-O, Boyfriend, and Jenna Riot, plus drag performances Amo A Nia, Rheal’Tea, and Vain Hein. Proceeds go to St. James Infirmary.

Lights Down Low Halloween Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF; www.mezzaninesf.com. 9pm-late, $30. Two amazing house headliners: The Magician, from France, who truly has a magic touch, and Germany’s Tensnake, genius of disco-tinged tunes. Should be bonkers stuff from the ever-reliable Lights Down Low party crew.

Minus Monster Mash Public Works, 161 Erie, SF; www.publicsf.com. 9pm-3am, $18. A spooky showcase of classic techno label M-nus, now based in Berlin, with gaiser and matador performing live and DJ Hobo warming up.

Monarch Monster Mash Monarch, 101 Sixth St, SF; www.monarchsf.com. 9pm-3am, $20. The Green Gorilla party DJs celebrate 18 years of Gorillaness with awesome house DJ Heidi from the UK.

The Monster Show The Edge, 4149 18th St, SF; qbarsf.com/EDGE. 9pm-2am, $5. Loveable drag queen Cookie Dough’s weekly drag show takes a killer turn, with blood-soaked performances by Mutha Chicka, Sugah Betes, Sue Casa, and more. Music by MC2. Will Cookie do her infamous Carrie number?

My Boo 111 Minna Gallery, SF. www.111minnagallery.com. 9pm-2am, $10. “The illest Halloween party” — well that’s to be expected from downtown hip-space 111. This costume party includes hip-hoppy DJs Shortkut and Neil Armstrong, plus a ton of cool, arty giveaways.

Nerd-O-Ween Churchill, 198 Church, SF; www.eventbrite.com. 8pm-2am, $20. It’s a nerd party, duh! Dress up as your favorite Poindexter and join the Motown on Mondays and San Franpsycho crews for some soulful hits and coke-bottle glasses.

SFJazz Halloween SFJazz, 201 Franklin, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 7:30pm, $35-55. Join jazz wiz Maceo Parker and his band for an upbeat concert, followed by a dance party with DJ Dancy Pants and a costume contest presented by drag dears Lil Miss Hot Mess and VivvyAnne ForeverMore.

Total Trash Halloween Bash Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph, Oakl; www.totaltrashfest.com. 9pm, $5-10. NoBunny as Bo Diddley! Shannon and the Clams as The Saicos! Monster Women as the Go-Gos! Yogurt Brain as Weezer! The fantastic annual four-day garage-rock Total Trash Fest kicks off this year with a great concept: rockers as other rockers.

Tubesteak Connection Halloween Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk, SF; www.auntcharlieslounge.com. 10pm-2am, $7. DJ Bus Station John’s great gay weekly party pays tribute to the bathhouse disco parties of the past. And the naughty spirits of those days will rise again on Halloween, with a $100 midnight costume contest hosted by the gorgeous Miss Donna Persona and a full dance floor of horribly cute boys.

FRIDAY 1

“Resurrect Sex Workers Fundraiser Day of the Dead Celebration” Fireside, 1453 Webster, Alameda; www.esplerp.org. 9pm, $15 single, $25 couple. All proceeds from this burlesque show benefit the Erotic Service Provider Legal, Educational and Research Project’s legal battles.

SATURDAY 2

“La Llorona: Weeping for the Life and Death of the Mission District” Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Mission, SF; www.missionculturalcenter.org. The Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts’ 36th Day of the Dead exhibit. Surrounding the Day of the Dead celebration and exhibit, the center is hosting a series of workshops and events including a gala reception Sat/2 at 6pm ($6), a Dia De Los Muertos “Moda y Ofrendas” Fashion Show also Sat/2 at 9:30pm ($5), and a “Mole to Die For” tasting contest Nov. 13.

San Francisco Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos Celebration Procession begins 7pm at 22nd St and Bryant, SF, ends at Garfield park for alter viewing. www.dayofthedeadsf.org. SF’s beloved marking of this Mexicn holiday includes music and a huge parade to Garfield Park, where eye-popping altars and offerings to dead loved ones are on display. A can’t-miss cultural event.

 

 

Heads Up: 7 must-see concerts this week

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Ready to get weird? Naturally, as this is the week of All Hallows Eve (i.e. the best time of the year), the shows you must see are downright spooky: The Flaming Lips’ Halloween Blood Bath, Maya Jane Coles at Freaky Friday, the Hellraiser’s Ball series’ Terry Malts show, Total Trash’s extended Halloween bash, and so forth.

Go out goblins and ghouls of the Bay, raise some spirits and remember the dead. And never forget: Nilbog is Goblin backwards.

Here are your must-see shows: 

Terry Malts
Full disclosure: The Bay Guardian is co-sponsoring this event, the first in a series of Hellraiser’s Ball shows. But it deserves to be in Heads Up anyways, because Terry Malts are San Francisco pop punk perfection, and they’re back after touring off new full-length Realizes This is Nowhere (Slumberland), released last month.
With Violent Change
Tue/29, 8pm, $10
Brick and Mortar
1710 Mission, SF
www.brickandmortarmusic.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXfyXo5KQDI

The Flaming Lips’ Halloween Blood Bath

“Oklahoma City psych rockers the Flaming Lips’ mold-breaking performances are as varied as the band’s back catalog. Motorcycle exhaust filled punk orgies, dazzling Christmas light powered spectacles, car stereo orchestras, and for at least the last decade, the technicolor, eyeball melting, heart swelling celebrations of pure weirdo pop, accented by confetti cannons and costumed menagerie. Now it’s switching up again, retiring elements that came close to being trademarks. (No space bubble, kids. Go see Diplo, who ripped it off, as he does every gimmick.) With their latest, The Terror, the Lips seem to be on their own private dark side of the moon, and the current tour promises to be a different kind of spectacle.” — Ryan Prendiville
With Tame Impala, White Denim
Thu/31, 7pm, $47.50
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
99 Grove, SF
www.apeconcerts.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2NCjcsgrbg

Halloween at the Chapel
Bobb Saggeth, the female-fronted Black Sabbath tribute band, headlines this black mass with Haight Breeders (covering Misfits songs, natch).
Thu/31, 9pm-2am, $15.
Chapel
777 Valencia, SF
www.thechapelsf.com

Total Trash Halloween Bash: Yogurt Brain as Weezer
“This year’s Total Trash Halloween Bash offers some of the usual suspects when it comes to rockers delivering camouflaged covers. However, with NOBUNNY channeling Bo Diddley as “Nodiddley” and Russell Quan joining Shannon and the Clams as Los Saicos, we step out of the box that usually brings us Cramps and Misfits covers. While those shows are completely appropriate (along with the typical homage to bands like the Ramones, the Damned, and Alice Cooper) and have proven popular, Oakland’s sentimental-grunge act, Yogurt Brain, has opted to take on Weezer this year. Rest assured — fans of the Blue Album and Pinkerton won’t be disappointed.” — Andre Torrez
With NOBUNNY as Bo Diddley, Shannon & the Clams as Los Saicos, more
Thu/31, 9pm, $15
Stork Club
2330 Telegraph, Oakl.
www.totaltrashfest.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahW9D03XtLA

AYLI Presents Freaky Friday with Maya Jane Cole
“During previous appearances in the city, London artist Maya Jane Coles has come dangerously close to being outpaced by her popularity. Pressed to the sides of Monarch during her set last year, my extensive catalog of deep struts and funky steps was reduced to a little heady bobbing for lack of space. It’s a relief that AYLI is bringing her to the more spacious venue of Public Works, particularly now that Coles released her Comfort LP, a vocally-oriented bit of silky house, featuring guest appearances by Kim Ann Foxman and Karin Park. (The track with Park, “Everything,” is the album’s standout.) Still, given how packed this party is on the lineup side, including co-headlining Romanian-born techno producer Cosmin TRG, it may be wise to stake prime floor space early.” — Prendiville
With Bells & Whistles, Brian Knarfield, Cubik & Origami LIVE, more
Fri/1, 9pm-4am, $20 presale
Public Works
161 Erie, SF
(415) 932-0955
www.publicsf.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB_rlsF83u4

Total Trash Halloween Bash: The Sonics
“The folks behind Total Trash are bringing a relic from the first wave: The seminal Washington-based 1960s garage rock band, the Sonics, will play a string of shows for the annual Total Trash Halloween Bash. The Sonics were there in the very beginning. They got their start in a time when the British Invasion was in full swing. Rejecting sugary-sweet mop-topped bands, the Sonics idolized Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard.  ‘We thought, to heck with wearing suits and neckties,” keyboardist-vocalist Gerry Roslie says. “Playing love songs felt wrong — we could only play music with power. We played loud and we played how we felt: like animals.'” — Erin Dage
With Phantom Surfers, Legendary Stardust Cowboy
Fri/1, 7:30pm, $35
New Parish
579 18th St, Oakl.

With Roy Loney, Dukes of Hamburg, Wounded Lion, Chad & the Meatbodies
Sat/2, 7pm, $35
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF
(415) 861-2011
www.totaltrashfest.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXtuKsbORVY

Dance Party Boys
“OK, despite the name this isn’t a dance party, but let’s freak out! Gayish punk-metal outfit Dance Party Boys (which includes several members of the nightlife scene, including former Pansy Division back-up dancer Xavier Breff) hit the 924 Gilman stage with Brave Ulysses, Black Bones, and NslashA for some good ol-fashioned moshing.” — Marke B.
Fri/1, 8pm, $10
924 Gilman, Berk
www.924gilman.org

No shame: Activist-rockers the Shondes celebrate Halloween in SF

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The Shondes are a dream come true for music-lovers with a political consciousness. The world can be a rough place, but doom-and-gloom is not this Brooklyn band’s style. With their bright klezmer-pop tunes and soaring, anthemic verses about love, perseverance, and messages of hope, the Shondes are out to better the world — or at least move their audiences to dance hard and sing-along.
 
Currently touring on their fourth album, The Garden, the Shondes are embracing the power of pop. Whether you’re an activist or just enjoy a good live show, give The Garden a listen and try to get “Nights Like These” or “Running Out of Time” out of your head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LtRGkM86lg
 
I asked vocalist-bassist Louisa Solomon about the band’s latest album, the causes that are most important to the Shondes, and how their music connects them with their fans:
 
SFBG Can you start off by telling me about your band’s name? I read that it means “shameful” in Yiddish.
 
LS We wanted to give a nod to our Jewish lineage, and to reclaim a word that is sometimes used to brand outcasts. At the time, we were doing a lot of activism in Jewish communities, challenging some deeply entrenched norms, and we would sometimes get screamed at and spat on and all that good stuff. It was kind of like, “OK, if I’m a ‘shonde’ for standing up for what I believe in, so be it.” I think it tends to be much more immediately resonant for Jews who have grown up hearing it, but the idea is resonant for most people in one way or another.
 
SFBG How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?
 
LS Sing-along, spirited rock anthems! The most flattering thing in the world is when our fans say we make them dance and we make them cry; that our music is hopeful. When we are able to impart hope, I feel totally fulfilled. So think of a Springsteen show and a riot grrrl punk show combining their emotional pay off, and that’s what we are going for!
 
SFBG What was the process of writing and recording The Garden like?
 
LS We worked really hard on The Garden. When we were touring on the previous record (2011’s Searchlights), we were starting to work through the musical and lyrical themes that came to define The Garden.

“Nights Like These” was one of the first songs we wrote in the Garden song cycle, and it felt like an important step in our evolution. We were embracing the cathartic potential of pop. We went on to write love songs, songs about friendship, and songs about not giving up. We wanted these songs to help people keep going – we were trying to ride the line between sincerity and cheesiness. I think we did OK in the end!
 
SFBG Can you tell me about “Nights Like These” and what made you choose it as the first single for this album?
 
LS “Nights Like These” is a good entry point to the record. We’re talking about hopes and dreams and fears and all that poppy stuff, but we really mean it! And there’s also serious musicianship and craft going on.
 
SFBG Is there a song from The Garden that you particularly enjoy performing?
 
LS I love jumping up and down during “Nights Like These,” getting the audience clapping along in “On Your Side,” and singing along to “The Garden” and “Nothing More Whole.” I also love singing “The Promise,” which is basically a duet with Eli, and we get the chance to camp it up just a bit.
 
SFBG Activism is an important factor in the band. Are there any causes in particular that you’re supporting right now?
 
LS We want a better and more just world, where people have what they need. So there are a billion causes we support! Big ones like universal healthcare, ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine, trans justice, but also we always want to support community organizers as much as possible, who are fighting racism and economic oppression (and tons of other great stuff!) at the local level. So we try to keep our eyes open.
 
SFBG What is the crowd usually like at a Shondes show?
 
LS Our fans are completely amazing and inspiring. There tends to be a lot of organizers who come out, and we have a growing number of older folks these days, which I think is awesome! Multigenerational fanbases rule. People who are mostly into punk and people who are mostly into pop and rock; people who are excited about the Jewish stuff and people who just love the music. Everyone tends to be enthusiastic and ready to dance. People very regularly tell us that they are moved by our playing (even to tears). It means a lot to us. It means everything.
 
SFBG What are you looking forward to most about playing in San Francisco?
 
LS It’s always wonderful to visit the Bay and play for our awesome people there. Cafe du Nord is one of our favorite clubs in the country; they have a totally heimishe (homey) vibe but are also extremely competent, respectful folks. It’s the best of all worlds as far as I’m concerned. Not to mention it’ll be my first Halloween in SF and I have seriously high expectations! Costumes, people.
 
The Shondes
With Naïve Americans, the Galloping Sea
Thu/31, 8:30pm, $7
Café du Nord
2170 Market, SF
www.cafedunord.com

I’m so free: RIP Lou Reed

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Everyone had their essential Lou Reed. Whether it was a Velvet Underground record, a solo track, or a collaborative piece, there was a musical treat for everyone created by the rock’n’roll poet.
 
The world lost its avant-garde art rock king this weekend when Reed died on Sunday at age 71. He’s survived by his wife and sometime creative partner, the brilliant experimental musician Laurie Anderson.

Personally, my entryway to Reed was through Transformer (RCA, 1972), a (ahem) transformative solo record that bridged the gap in my teenage mind between punk and rock, between wild freedom and thoughtful indulgence, between Velvet Underground and Reed’s future.

I still remember buying the vinyl version at Record Surplus in LA, driving down sun-bleached highways and returning home to suburbia to put the needle on moody, moving “Perfect Day,” hit “Walk on the Wild Side,” and liberating “I’m So Free.” I probably wept that first time I listened to it on vinyl, as I have many times since, as I did hearing the news yesterday of his passing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc26EFI1_nw

We all mourn in different ways, but musicians do it with tributes. And a great many artists were inspired by the work of Reed over the decades. Last night, My Morning Jacket covered VU’s “Oh! Sweet Nuthin” with Neil Young, Elvis Costello, and Jenny Lewis at the Bridge School Benefit Concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFaTN9V833o

OK, and here’s a few older Reed videos to check out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz6nq4AhFZE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHmb8q3mThI

RIP Lou Reed (1942-2013)

Live Shots: Street Joy, the She’s, the Tambo Rays at Milk Bar

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Wednesday night, three young, up-and-coming bands gathered at the Milk Bar, an intimate venue on the western edge of Haight Street, to lay down fun, unseasonably warm beats – a welcome contrast to the decidedly autumnal weather.
 
Street Joy, a LA-based rock trio comprised of Jason DeMayo (vocals, guitar), Scott Zimmerman (drums), and Mike Coleman (bass), kicked off the show with upbeat pop and punkish tunes. These musicians, who organized into a formal band in 2012, describe their songwriting as “that of the cassettes a dad would show his son on car rides to baseball practice.” Sigh, nostalgia.
 
The highlight was their spirited cover of “Hold Me Tight” — a Beatles release circa 1963 — and the dynamic on-stage rapport between Zimmerman and DeMayo kept me enthralled throughout their set.
 
The She’s — a teenage girl group whose crooning, feminine, summery sound is inspired by ‘60s girl groups and pop acts like the Beach Boys — followed. While many of their songs sound very similar (at times their set felt like a contagious throw-back daze), their multipart harmonies, which are the crux of their songwriting, felt expert. In addition to playing catchy tracks off of their 2011 release (Then It Starts To Feel Like Summer) such as “Jimmy” and “Fabian,” they played some newer songs, including “Anywhere But Here,” which is somewhat dark and subdued – at least in the She’s universe.
 
Bassist Sami Perez, guitarists Hannah Valente, and Eva Treadway, and drummer Sinclair Riley (they all sing) have been best friends since kindergarten, and it shows. On stage, they are incredibly in-sync; they even managed to all crouch down and grab their plastic water cups at once point in a synchronized sweep. Yes, their water cups — no booze yet.
 
By the time the Tambo Rays took the stage at 11:15pm, I was starting to feel pretty exhausted, but Sara DaMert’s spirit and spunk picked me right back up. The group’s alternative percussionist extraordinare, Sara, who at any given moment was either playing keys, drums, cymbals, tambo, or a combination of the four, was the heart of the “chill pop” foursome’s performance. Sara’s brother, Brian DaMert, perhaps the slightly subtler member of the family, laid down entrancing guitar riffs, engulfing the waning audience in a beautiful wall of sound.
 
The Tambo Rays showcased a surfy rock’n’roll (occasionally hippie-laced) sound onstage; their set was fluid and kept my attention. The highlight of their performance was “Take That,” whose enthused delivery, distinctly summery feel, and sardonic lyrics about Georgia the chicken instantly made me smile.

Yeezus stares down yetis, climbs volcanoes, is born again at the Oracle Arena

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Kanye West is at an enviable place in his career. Everyone knows who he is. He’s reached near iconic, almost mythic status. The problem is, everyone knows who Kanye West is, even if they don’t listen to his music. I’m fairly certain there are people I’m related to who are only familiar with him largely because he impregnated and proposed to a beautiful woman with a large, rich family, sextape, hard-working publicist, and contract with an unscrupulous cable TV network (in roughly that order). They likely also know him as an egotistical and crazy loudmouth, for reasons too long to detail here.

In sum, Mr. West’s celebrity has threatened to obscure and confuse his accomplishments. Luckily, his newest stage production, Yeezus, represents the history of Kanye West, according to Kanye West.

Stage production may not be the best term, but Yeezus is not a typical concert. Unless you want to consider it a prog-rock concert. Which it may be, in terms of elaborate structuring and an overwhelming amount of obvious symbolism. Also, it has a large mountain on stage. A sort of small-scale Matterhorn, which alternates as an iceberg and a volcano, depending on how it is video mapped, and if flash pots are going off.

Shot from the right angle (please see the photo here provided by West’s people) it was positively expressionistic. Otherwise ignore the rigging showing out the sides, or the crew members placing a box near the top for West to complete his summit, which he did, triumphantly, at points throughout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar-sduhNbi4

Yeezus, the character Mr. West plays, a masked figure drawn out of obscurity by a group of cult-like robed women at the outset, reached a spotlight at the end of a long stage. Thus began the journey, which went through five distinct stages. They were easy to follow, listed on screen above the mountain: Fighting, Rising, Falling, Searching, Finding. The songs that followed were not a chronology, but rather represented his career in retrospect. For instance, the highlight of the Fighting section was  “New Slave,” the first single off  West’s current Yeezus album, but in this context a reflection on his entry into the music business, and a struggle to maintain freedom from corporations that attempt to control artists.

Rising began with the phrase “pride always preludes the crash…the bigger the ego the harder the fall.” Did you catch those references? If so, please mark another two boxes on your Yeezus Biblical Allusion Scorecard. You already marked one for Yeezus, right? Keep it handy because more followed, when Yeezus came down from the top of the mountain, appearing shirtless to the prog rock sounds of King Crimson’s “20th Century Schizoid Man.”

This was “Power” and Yeezus had it, confirmed moments later during the Foreigner-sampling “Cold,” when a girl in the audience gleefully showed her breasts to Yeezus not once, but twice. Given the black mask, there was little reaction from Yeezus. But in any case Tony Montana was right, and a song or two later the cultish women from the beginning returned in nude body-suits. Yeezus was literally swarmed by women.

For obvious reasons “I Am a God” has been one of the more controversial tracks on Yeezus and at first the performance of it was expectedly problematic, with Yeezus’s harem kneeling down before him. It was a criticism-baiting moment, until the menagerie awkwardly lifted him into the air as he screamed. It was the first sign of things going wrong for the play’s ‘hero’, and when he performed “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” from Graduation, the singer finally started to project a little emotion, mask and all; the catwalk in the middle of the crowd — despite the weight of the lyrics “To whom much is given, much is tested” — began to raise, as Yeezus was increasingly insulated from the world around him.

After a long dramatic pause (Yeezus took arguably way too many over the course of the evening, sometimes leaning against the mount, sometimes reclining in mock exhaustion) he stopped to speak and connect for the first time, detailing that the next song, “Coldest Winter” was written after his mother died, describing a crisis of faith, and a life that was “spiraling.” Fake snow falls from the ceiling of the Oracle Center. Depending on your sympathies, it could be the most touching moment of the night.

I found it short lived because it segued into the Falling section, which if meant to be bad, succeeded. By then the metaphors and imagery were so in my face that I feared the opening lines, “Who will give me wings, I ask, wings of a dove?” would actually cue West, er, Yeezus donning angel wings and flying around the room on wires. Instead, a red-eyed yeti simply crouched on one side of the mountain, until Yeezus stared it down and it retreated. There was a storm on the stage and some truly awful guitar shredding on “Hold My Liquor,” and I basically started tuning out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co0tTeuUVhU

After staring down the yeti a second time and singing “Heartless,” it seemed like the sun was rising. Until then it had all been so rehearsed that when a mic suddenly crackled and Yeezus retreated back stage to fix the issue, all I could think was, “hey, we’re off our regularly scheduled programming, maybe something exciting will happen.”

But instead Yeezus returned to jump on the spring loaded part of the catwalk, triggering explosions and turning the mountain into a volcano. This was relatively restrained, compared to a few songs later, when the mountain cracked open for the Searching section, and a church procession of women emerged, bearing smoking thuribles, candles, the Virgin Mary, and motherfucking Jesus on the cross.

And Yeezus, now wearing a bulky trench and a white jeweled balaclava, was in pastor mode. Which he could do since he totally had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. Playing a single key on a controller lead to rapturous applause. (Never had a performer received so much applause for doing so little.) He paused to soak it in and repeated to the same effect. Twice, before leading into the celebratory and douche-shaming “Runaway.”

This lead to the wonkiest part of the night, with Yeezus on the pulpit running through a list of issues with misquotations and the media, which I won’t, for obvious reasons, attempt to summarize. I will say that at one point he asked people to put their hands in the air if they believe they could do anything, and if you are the kind of person who would have their hand up, you probably would have dug it.

The point is anything is possible through the power of prayer, and Yeezus prayed for his fiance. (Apparently she was at the show, or her mother, or Pharrell from N.E.R.D. In an embarrassing moment, the crowd got overly excited when they thought they recognized one of the three between sets.)

The audience went through some emotional transformatory Campbell-esque hero’s journey. (Made particularly intense for me by the guy two seats over trying to get his girl to not breakup with him during the entire show.)

We came to the final part, Finding, and the words “God arrives at the right time…” Yeezus performed “Harder” and the crowd was magically re-energized, probably in part by the lasers reflecting off his disco ball balaclava. Yeezus talked about how he feels like he got a second chance in life, and sings “Through the Wire,” the breakout song from The College Dropout. On cue…

…Jesus appeared.

And our Lord walked up to Yeezus, who exclaimed, “White Jesus!”

As if sensing something was amiss in this sudden display of humor, Jesus pulled off Yeezus’s mask to reveal that it was Kanye West all along. He went full circle, the nightmare was over, the trauma was over, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYF7H_fpc-g

Obviously they played “Jesus Walks” and a whole slew of jams. West went on a spiritual discovery, stripping off all the bullshit and pretense, returning to a simpler era. (You couldn’t see his face because it was covered with opulent jewels, get it? It was symbolism.)

Presumably his next tour will be back to basics. Just a flat stage and a mic. In a sense, he’s born again, and all it took was the power of prayer, love, and a good woman. May they live happily ever after.

But, if they divorce then future albums will probably be better. And then he’ll perform “Gold Digger” again.

###

Opener: Kendrick Lamar

Pictured as a bat hanging upside down from a streetlamp was probably the perfect visual for opener Kendrick Lamar, the latest champion of West Coast hip-hop, who borrows the extraterrestrial imagination of ATLiens era Outkast and Lil’ Weezy’s, uh, wheeze. Already established with two solid albums, Lamar recently leapt in profile for a single enormous, lung bursting verse on Big Sean’s “Control.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaMreUKk5Fk

As if the technicality alone wasn’t impressive, he also had the gall to mention that he’d like to kill all but about half a dozen other rappers, which upset more than that. On the Yeezus tour, Lamar also seems to be working on some myth building of his own, visualizing a Compton that’s as much a fantasy as the Oakland in “California Love,” that’s more Terence Malick than George Miller: horses riding down the city streets, living room floors practically covered with spent liquor bottles, slo-mo drumlines, foxy women hitting speed bags/traipsing down railroad tracks, and flashes of gun violence.

Backed up by a full band, Lamar was aggressive and energetic in a way that West only occasionally let himself reach, all the way from “Money Trees” off his exactly one year old album good kid, m.A.A.d city through to the end. Lamar seems to see himself as a successor to Tupac, particular in dread-filled terms, as an air of gun violence pervades a lot of his songs, augmented by the sound of shots. But midway through the set, after ripping ASAP Rocky’s “Fuckin’ Problem” he launched into the a signature track saying, “As long as I’m representing the West Coast, nobody — nobody — will kill the fuckin’ vibe.” We hope so.

Heads Up: 7 must-see concerts this week

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Well lookie here — seems like SF really is for lovers. We’ve got hoards of young folks intermingling on OkCupid, Grindr, and Tindr. And yes, the penultimate event: Kimye got engaged at AT&T Park last night. Kanye West rented out the whole park to propose to Kim K., which seems…lavish and kinda lonely? Although, I hear there was a 50-piece orchestra, so those people he hired were there at least.

Anyway, that sprinkly-gooey-sweet stuff (ahem, love) extends to the bands you should be checking this week: tender Nanna Øland Fabricius (otherwise known as Oh Land), boy-girl duo Kisses, balmy Warm Soda, and um, Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits.

Plus, there are plenty more acts popping in. There’s even an orchestra event that should put Kanye’s small-ish offering to shame:  Lisa Bielawa’s large-scale sound event in Crissy Field with more than a thousand musicians. See below for more on that and all the others.

Here are your must-see shows: 

The Garden
“This Burger Records up-and-comer is an identical twin duo hailing from Orange, Calif. The 19-year-old Shears brothers specialize in melancholy snippets (most of their songs barely pass the one-minute mark) of post-punk drum ‘n’ bass, androgynous style that would make Boy George jealous, teen angst, and getting reblogged on Tumblr. Their songs are haunting and beautifully executed, though rarely understandable. The lyrics are drawn from inside jokes and twin-speak (the Shears have a secret language, for those occasions when they even need to communicate verbally) and the vocals are often drowned in feedback and reverb. But the words don’t seem to matter. Whatever they’re doing or saying, they’re doing and saying it unlike anyone else.” — Haley Zaremba
With Lovely Bad Things, Bicycle Day
Tue/22, 9pm, $10
Brick and Mortar Music Hall
1710 Mission, SF
www.brickandmortarmusic.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFIuZ3C7IJM

Oh Land
Danish musician Nanna Øland Fabricius (otherwise known as Oh Land) is a Renaissance woman. She’s a producer, a singer-songwriter, a former student of the Royal Danish and Royal Swedish Ballet schools (before an injury nudged her toward music-making). And this is perhaps why “Renaissance Girls,” the first single from her newest full-length Wish Bone (Federal Prism/Tusk Or Tooth) works so well. Like much of Oh Land’s output, it’s musically all over the place, with beats and piano, quick-dropped lyrical phrases and twee girlish high notes. And the video both harkens back to her early dancerly ways and provides a hard/soft dichotomy with interpretative choreography performed by Fabricius herself in Hello Kitty-pink overalls set to the backdrop of a dusty, cement-filled construction site and urban alleyways.
With Sun Rai.
Wed/23, 8pm, $15
Independent
628 Divisadero, SF
www.theindependentsf.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFCYo3XocIM

Kisses
“Boy-girl duo Kisses is some kind of weird fun. Its poppy sound incorporating analog keyboards, simple percussion, and pleasant harmonies is easy listening at its finest. But the pair isn’t afraid to employ negative space in its tracks, and often places simple beats next to minimal lyrics, creating a sound that falls somewhere between pop and a ’70s tribute group. The dream pop enthusiasts released their second full-length album Kids in LA this past September and have been touring the US with the Blow since the beginning of October. Singer Jesse Kivel embodies a somber nostalgic romantic behind the mic, and keyboard-soundboards Zizi Edmundson, tinkering nonchalantly and occasionally oozing vocally into the mic, makes apathy cool again.” — Hillary Smith
With the Blow and the Ian Fays
Fri/25, 9:30pm, $16
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th St, SF
(415) 626-4455
www.bottomofthehill.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfzUlwXVcIU

Deer Tick

“In 2013 Deer Tick is proving that the only constant is change. The Providence alt-country outfit has always been reliable and consistent in its consistent touring, heavy drinking, and all-around debauchery. But that was before frontperson and primary songwriter John McCauley dealt with an imploded engagement, a father gone to prison, and the realization that maybe it was time to start drinking responsibly. Deer Tick has scaled back its usual 200+ shows per year schedule, and its penchant for escapism, focusing instead on showmanship and honest, personal songwriting. Negativity, its newest studio album, is almost entirely autobiographical. But don’t worry, it’s still Deer Tick — the shows will still be a riotous, sweaty mix of originals and covers, and despite the band’s clean-up act, audience drunkenness and hooliganism is still highly encouraged. “ Zaremba
With Robert Ellis
Fri/25, 9pm, $21
Slim’s
333 11th St, SF
(415) 255-0333
www.slimspresents.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNG6aK81ZAk

Clarion Alley Block Party with Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits
There are a few new things you should know about long-running “goofballs of the East Bay punk scene” Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits. The ’95-born act has two new books out through Microcosm Publishing, a comic listen-along book (Meal Deal with the Devil) and a complete discography songbook (The Bobby Joe Ebola Songbook). Both are oddball hilarity at its finest. The Bobby Joe Ebola Songbook contains song lyrics and guitar chords — play along at home! — witty how-to band/life advice, tour anecdotes, and “other bizarre detritus.” Secondly, the band is playing the annual Clarion Alley Block Party this weekend and that should be wall-to-muraled-wall fun. Support DIY punk and an important SF artist-community institution with a full day of live music.
With Apogee Sound Club, CCR Headcleaner, Quite Polite, Devotionals, and more.
Sat/26, 11am-10pm, free
Clarion Alley
Mission Street, SF
Facebook: Clarion Alley Block Party
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCp_oBuWUQw

Airfield Broadcasts
For this large-scale event, composer Lisa Bielawa will turn Chrissy Field into a giant “musical canvas” in which listeners can interact with broad sounds floating through the area with the help of nearly a thousand professional and student musicians including orchestras, choruses, bands, and experimental new groups. The musicians will begin in the center of the field then slowly move outwards, playing Bielawa’s original score.
Sat/26, 10 am and 4pm; Sun/27, noon, free
Crissy Field, SF
www.airfieldbroadcasts.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYz1ohOWdLo

Warm Soda
The fizzy, ‘70s glam-aping, powerpop local rockers of Warm Soda are welcome anytime in Heads Up, but this is an extra-special Warm Soda happening. It’s a rare acoustic set by the rock’n’roll band, presented by music mag Radio Silence. Prepare for an intimate evening with one of the Bay Area’s burgeoning acts.
With A Carnival of Hours
Sat/27, 7:30pm, $8
Make-Out Room
3225 22nd St, SF
www.makeoutroom.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seK8t41objc

Live Shots: Treasure Island Music Festival 2013

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Maybe people just don’t know how to party anymore, but I didn’t come across vomit once at the Treasure Island Music Festival. The crowd’s vibe was more or less well-behaved all weekend — pretty chill considering how many people were clustered on the island for the fests’ seventh successful installment.

The organizers rely on big names, the unique setting, a variety of vendors, and plenty of distracting flash (including the nearly iconic 60-foot Ferris wheel you can ride at $5 a pop) in order to keep this thing a destination. 

It was my first TIMF experience and I’ll admit the lineup wasn’t exactly the selling point for me. I thought at least I could get nostalgic over Beck, while Detroit-duo ADULT. still holds a degree of allure. I figured I’d spend most of my time milling around (highly recommended for optimal people watching; plenty of fur) and hoped to stuff my face with tons of good food (the mac and cheese hit the spot, the fish and chips got too cold too fast, but the chicken and shrimp paella was a winner).

Kudos to the show’s producers, Another Planet Entertainment and Noise Pop Industries, in their efforts at keeping this ship running tight on many levels. It’s often noted that concertgoers won’t experience any scheduling conflicts between the two stages at this event (Outside Lands, you’ve been one-upped in this category). Plus the purchase of your ticket, which could have cost up to $150 for two-day general admission or $275 for VIP (depending on how you roll) entitled you to a free ride on their massive fleet of shuttle buses that ran back and forth from the island to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium drop off/pick-up point.

Even the Porta-Potty situation wasn’t anything near the bladder-punishing clusterfuck I’ve experienced at the free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park (that’s free vs. a couple hundred bucks for ya). Entire sections of what resembled fairgrounds were dedicated to ample, underused, and very clean johns. So clean I didn’t think twice about picking up a wadded $20 bill that had another inside of it!

That may sound questionable, but I was too busy enjoying the warmth of my makeshift shelter since the temperature seemed to drop by more than 20 degrees on the island during Night One. Thom Yorke complained during his Atoms for Peace headlining set when he mentioned how he came to the Cali sun to get away from the British cold and gloom. No such luck for the rock star. The winds were relentless. Sunday seemed to grow even colder, and the winds whipped up even earlier than the day before. 

From a curator’s standpoint, the musical difference between days one and two were notable. Saturday was much heavier on the electronic and hip-hop side. That day’s lineup included a ridiculous hype-filled set by duo Major Lazer, which passed out party whistles as soon as it hit the stage, shot t-shirts from a handheld air cannon, and at one point, a member (maybe Diplo?) ran on top of the crowd inside a giant-inflatable ball that resembled a hamster’s toy. It all seemed like an over-budgeted high-school pep rally, but the crowd ate it up. Indeed, it was an impressive spectacle.

Sunday seemed less druggy (the day before, the same man somehow managed to ask me twice at different locations of the largely anonymous-feeling fest, where he could get some “MDMA”) less attended, and more laid back in tone. Children and adults alike ran through a trippy bubble display put on by a carnie-type vendor. Acts like Japandroids, Sleigh Bells, and Animal Collective provided respective returns to rock, power pop, and instrumental intensive sets with a global flare.

Beck’s set relied heavily on post-Midnite Vultures material, but I was happy to hear him sing about those old “hotwax residues.” He brought Sleigh Bells’ Alexis Krauss on stage with him just as I was heading back to the shuttle busses. Apparently I missed the cover of MJ’s “Billie Jean.”  Instead, I rode in luxury through a thick wall of fog to the mainland where a treasure of a local music scene lies waiting, markedly untapped this year. 

Live Shots: The Dodos at Great American Music Hall

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All photos by Charles Russo

Fans of the Dodos flocked to the Great American Music Hall on Wednesday night, to catch the band’s final performance of its latest tour. It was a glorious homecoming played out before an adoring Bay Area crowd as Meric Long and company turned out a dynamic set that seamlessly alternated between quietly beautiful and downright fierce.

The band leaned heavily on material from its fifth album, Carrier, to deliver a dozen songs of its distinctive sound, and re-assert its status as one of San Francisco’s finest exports.

Hunx on running into Elvira, life in LA, and his all-time favorite punk bands

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Hunx (aka Seth Bogart) is something of a hometown hero in San Francisco. While technically he grew up in Tucson, Ariz, his name and music became synonymous with the Bay Area underground garage sound. A former member of electroclash cheerleaders Gravy Train!!!!, he collected the chant-worthy fun elements of that group and added Wall-of-Sound backup singers, doo-wop, and party punk layers to his next group, Hunx and His Punx.

Since then, Hunx has released a handful of Hunx and His Punx records, a weepy solo album (Hairdresser Blues, Hardly Art), a few naughty singles, and a line of eye-popping t-shirts, along with other people’s records through his own label, Wacky Wacko. And in the midst of all this, that hometown descriptor slipped away: Hunx moved to LA and says it kind of saved his life.

But Hunx still returns to the Bay on occasion, like on this tour behind spring-released snotty punk record, Street Punk (Hardly Art), which brings him to the Chapel this coming Monday night. In anticipation of that show, I asked Hunx about his most recent releases, his personal favorite punk bands, what he loves so much about LA (note: running into icons), and if there’ll ever be a Hunx X-mas album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOM5jKK9pSU

SF Bay Guardian What changed for you between your solo record, Hairdresser Blues, and Hunx and His Punx release Street Punk?

Seth Bogart I moved to LA, basically quit my job and found a drug that made me stop getting depressed… Hairdresser Blues is kinda like an embarrassing suicidal teen diary entry? I was so sad.

SFBG What (or who) influenced the songs on Street Punk? Can you tell me about the song writing process for that record?

SB The crazy short punk songs were inside joke songs we made up on tour that turned into the real thing. The rest Shannon [Shaw] and I basically wrote in the “studio” aka my friend Cundo’s warehouse while she visited me in LA. Making this album was extremely easy and fast and fun.

SFBG Who are your favorite punks bands (living or dead)?

SB Bikini Kill, X Ray Spex, the Germs, Frumpies, Kleenex, the Dicks, Limp Wrist, Neo Boys, Nasty Facts.

SFBG What was the inspiration for “Everyone’s a Pussy (Fuck You, Dude)” off Street Punk?

SB Amy and Shannon wrote that when we were touring around our “Too Young To Be In Love” tour. But personally for me it’s like #1 fuck you to guys who use that word and #2 if I’m a pussy, so are you so shut the fuck up, man.

SFBG The Wacky Wacko shirts you create with Peggy Noland are brilliant — I saw Kenny Mellman wearing one at the Julie Ruin’s SF show. Where do you come up with the ideas and how do you and Peggy collaborate — who does what? Also, any more designs on the way?

SB Yes, I just put out a monster one and a Perfume Maniac one. I just think of a theme that would be a cool pattern and start painting and scanning. Peggy designed a couple for me back when I launched it earlier this year. It has become my job — I am totally obsessed. It’s really fun to tell companies like Urban Outfitters no and to see your shirts in a store like Patricia Field. I’m looking into moving into towels and sheets next.

SFBG “I Vant to Suck Your Cock” is now a Halloween anthem — do you have any intention of releasing more holiday records?

SB I love Christmas music. It’s only a matter of time…

SFBG What’s the best part of living in LA? What do you miss most about the Bay Area?

SB I miss my friends so much. And running into people wherever I went. LA is oddly anonymous but kinda saved me!  Plus the other night I hung out with Pee Wee Herman and Elvira!

SFBG Can you take us through your typical day in LA?

SB The only thing a typical day always has almost no matter what is my boyfriend bringing me coffee and immediately having sex with me (he’s perfect). Then I go to Daddy’s Gym, work at the Wacky Wacko office or go to one of the weird design classes I just started taking. I try to make time to paint or do a creative activity — the secret to happiness

Hunx and His Punx
With Wet Drag
Mon/21, 9pm, $14
Chapel
777 Valencia, SF
www.thechapelsf.com

Live Shots: Har Mar Superstar at Bottom of the Hill

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Have you ever heard of a snowball? (Not the frozen thing, the sugary treat, or some kind of sex act). I’m talking about the totally wholesome retro swing dance thing in which eager dancers surround a couple or two on the floor. The band yells out “snowball!” and the dancers separate and grab someone else from the outer circle. “Snowball!” again and the circle widens, leading eventually to concentric circles of revelers swishing and swirling to live music.

Last night at Bottom of the Hill, Har Mar Superstar — the Minnesota-bred soulful R&B and pop singer — led the eager Tuesday night crowd in a rapidly devolving snowball. On first mention he yelled out, “It’s called a snowball! Go roller skating once 25 years ago!” And then continued to nudge the audience to keep finding new partners: “snowball!” “Snowball again!”

If you’ve ever been to a rock’n’roll show in San Francisco, particularly on a lazy Tuesday night, you’ll note the lack of expression and movement from the crowd. It can be jarring. At Har Mar’s headlining show, there were smiles plastered on faces, loud guffawing laughs, and actual group dancing. Plus on the stage, Har Mar and his backing crew — guitarist Jeff “Catfish” Quinn, a drummer who I believe was Will Scott, and bassist Denver Dalley (Desaparecidos) — performed synchornized dancing themselves in the style of James Brown.  (Har Mar saves his R. Kelly moves for solo poses.)

A longstanding performer, known both for his powerful pipes — a cross between Sam Cooke, King Khan, and Joey McIntyre — and affinity for getting naked on stage, Har Mar displayed some of that noted maturity last night at his show, the stuff he talked with me about in the paper last week, which grew from his excellent new record, Bye Bye 17 (Cult Records).

He was still Har Mar. He shook, shimmied, posed provocatively, ordered five shots of Patron from the bar, and yes, removed layers of clothing eventually, but there was a heightened front person glitz to his stage show, and he commanded attention and respect in a way I’ve never seen. And the crowd ate it up, hooting and hollering back to him, chanting “Har Mar, Har Mar!” He’s witty, and joked back, “oh, you want more Har Mar? Lucky for you I’m here.”

He first walked out on stage in a fringed white leather jacket and his traditional tight red jeans, eventually shedding that layer for a graphic sweater and a glittery cape, and then finally showed off his greased Buddha belly by the near-end of the night. With the full band, not just his usual sampler (which also was present, and provided beats and backup vocals) his songs came alive, rooted in deep soul, ‘90s R&B, and sometimes, boy band pop. The group opened with “Girls Only,” and played Bye Bye 17’s swelling first single “Lady You Shot Me” pretty early on. The audience response to “Lady, You Shot Me” was heartening — people there like the new record!

Through the hour-long set Har Mar treated new fans and old to a range of tracks from his back catalogue including clubby “DUI,” (off 2004’s The Handler, Record Collection), Bye Bye 17’s funky “Restless Leg,” and crush-worthy popper “Almond Joy,” off 2009’s Dark Touches (MRI).

He toed the line between sensual showman and early raunchmaster well, treating audience members to tender moments like the snowball spin, and nasty little tidbits sprinkled throughout with a knowing wink.

Of “Almond Joy,” Har Mar explained  “this song’s about candy and fucking.” Too sweet!

All photos by Charles Russo.

Heads Up: 7 must-see concerts this week

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Well the biggest music news in the city this weekend (or just outside its technical geographic mainland limits) is likely the annual Treasure Island Music Festival. But beyond that, there’s Goblin’s first ever SF show — for fans of Italian horror — along with the Dodos’ glorious return, Har Mar Superstar, Clairy Brown & the Bangin’ Rackettes, GWAR, and more.

Given the costumes and output of many of these acts, it would seem Halloween season is already full swing. And no, we’re not taking into account all those pumpkin-flavored disasters. Get truly spooky, don a mask, and watch some live music in the dark of night.

Here are your must-see shows: 

Har Mar Superstar
The real maturing of Minnesota-bred, New York-based Har Mar Superstar, aka Sean Tillmann, can be heard on new record Bye Bye 17 (Cult Records). On it, Har Mar glides gracefully from old school soul on “Lady, You Shot Me” to doo-wop on “www” to Beck-worthy retro funk on “We Don’t Sleep.” It’s all a far cry from raunchy earlier beat-based releases like cult Beth Ditto collaboration “Power Lunch.”
Tue/15, 8:30pm, $12
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th St, SF
www.bottomofthehill.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouuqJ0pkWvU

The Dodos

This is the Dodos homecoming show for a new album that deserves an intimate headphones-preferred listen: Carrier (Polyvinyl Records), the band’s fourth full-length release. It’s a moody, solemn affair for the indie folk-rock band, said to be partially informed by the death of one-time Dodos guitarist Christopher Reimer. And on said record, check orchestral pop single “Substance,” which features fellow locals Minna Choi’s Magik Magik Orchestra. Besides the mood, the biggest difference here is in Meric Long’s guitar work — he’s switched it up from acoustic to still-tranquil electric, gently emboldening the Dodos’ sea change, backed up neatly by Logan Kroeber’s hammering drums. 
With Dustin Wong
Wed/16, 8pm, $21
Great American Music Hall
859 O’Farrell, SF
www.slimspresents.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R0NSs6ntyw

Widowspeak
Imagine a trippy 1960s psych band (maybe playing a party in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?) learning the dark arts of witchcraft and jumping through a crystalline mirror, coming out the other end in glitter-crusted Brooklyn 2013. Thus, you have Widowspeak, the slinky, sexy, eerie duo made up of guitarist-vocalist Molly Hamilton and guitarist Robert Earl Thomas. Next week, the duo releases a dizzying six-song EP (The Swamps), a follow-up to 2012’s Captured Tracks full-length, Almanac.
With Crystal Stilts, Pure Bathing Culture
Fri/18, 9pm, $20 
Chapel
777 Valencia, SF
www.thechapelsf.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-5BBADOBAc

Clairy Browne & the Bangin’ Rackettes
Clairy Browne & the Bangin’ Rackettes should be world-famous megastars by now. But the nine-piece Australian soul band might be a tad too strange to blow up massive just yet. With pounding soul output, all those band members, and candy-coated retro fashion straight out of a John Waters flick, they might scare off the mainstreamers still, delaying their inevitable world takeover. That is to say, this wait is ludicrous. Clairy Browne’s pipes growl and coo, entice and coyly deflect, the Bangin’ Rackettes back it all up with classic girl group harmonies, guitar, drums, and baritone sax. The band’s a win-win. Just give it a damn chance. Oh, and listen below to handclap-worthy “Love Letter” off 2013’s Baby Caught the Bus (Vanguard).
With Ironsides feat. Gene Washington
Fri/18, 9pm, $18-$20
Bimbo’s
1025 Columbus, SF
www.bimbos365club.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irNtyaNHq5A

Treasure Island Music Festival

This forward-thinking two-day fest out on windswept Treasure Island — ahen, the Treasure Island Music Festival — returns with Thom Yorke’s Atoms for Peace, Beck, Major Lazer, Little Dragon, Animal Collective, James Blake, Holy Ghost!, Sleigh Bells, and more. Giraffage, and Antwon are the locals on the bill. Sadly, Tricky had visa issues and had to back out (damn you, government!) however the replacement is nearly as exciting: it’s weirdo rapper Danny Brown.
Sat/18-Sun/19, noon-11pm
Treasure Island, SF
www.treasureislandfestival.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p6PcFFUm5I

GWAR
“Here’s to almost three decades of rubber masks, obscene lyrics, tasteless humor, and lots and lots of fake blood. Yes, we’re talking about GWAR, the Virginia-based heavy metal shock rock group and its foam penises, staged crucifixions, and exposed butts (among other onstage delights), which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary next year. Despite more than 18 different lineups and 26 members throughout the band’s history, little has changed about the essence of GWAR. If you’re looking to have a night to remember, get your clothes stained permanently by red dye, and maybe even see a Billy Ocean cover (GWAR recently took on “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car” for the A.V. Club) look no further than Oderus Urungus and his monstrous minions.” — Haley Zaremba
With Whitechapel, Iron Reagan, A Band of Orcs
Sun/20, 7:30pm, $28
Regency Ballroom
1300 Van Ness, SF
www.theregencyballroom.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p20PijYVgG4

Goblin
“Fans of horror films know how important a soundtrack can be — the best-known examples are probably the shrieking strings of Psycho (1960) and John Carpenter’s iconic synth score for 1978’s Halloween. Fans of Euro horror, however, share a fondness for Goblin, Italian purveyors of the creepy, pulsating, proggy, keyboard-driven music that enhanced many films by macabre master Dario Argento (including 1977’s Suspiria), not to mention George Romero’s 1978 zombie classic Dawn of the Dead. Touring North America for the first time, the veteran band swoops into San Francisco to make Goblin-faithful dreams (and nightmares) come true.” — Cheryl Eddy
With Secret Chiefs 3, DJ Omar Perez
Sun/20 8pm, $28–<\d>$75
Warfield
982 Market, SF
www.thewarfieldtheatre.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzU3jnNWKbI

The procrastinator’s Treasure Island Music Festival to-do list

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From snatching that perfect pair of tolerably uncomfortable shoes to sourcing stamina-inducing party favors, pre-music festival preparations are key.

Unfortunately I’m a procrastinator to the highest degree  — a gal who thrives on the thrill of a deadline and thereby ends up highly caffeinated on Saturday morning, buzzing between projects: weaving flower crowns with foliage from the backyard, trying on all my bras in search of the one that will best cozy my flask, baking sugary snacks that minimize long line-induced irritation, taking shots, doing lunges, and yelping with excitement.

I am also a big fan of the to-do list. And since the Treasure Island Music Festival is a personal favorite fully laced with woozy, mushy memories, I’m getting a few-day head start on this year’s to-do list to make sure the fest goes swimmingly. (Treasure Island Music Festival takes place this Sat/19-Sun/20. www.treasureislandfestival.com.)

My Treasure Island To-Do List

1. Cool it — I ain’t makin’ no schedule.

Treasure Island is the perfect babysitter for indecisive music-lovers. I’m gonna shuffle between stages, passing beer tents and high-fiving neighbors, co-workers, and awkward exes along the way. I’m confident in my ability to mosey into just the right kind of trouble.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPaA4HVISLo

2. Valet that bike — make someone else worry about parking.

No lock means I can save the room in the mini backpack for a burrito (aka tallboy wrapped in a tortilla).

3. Booze on the way — duh.

Whisky pulls during the 15-minute bus ride make for happy islanders.  

4. Sail away — time to flirt starboard side.

People have boats. Companies are chartering boats. All I’m saying is that there are boat rides to be had. There’s also rumor that one of said vessels will have the boys of Lord Huron on deck. Time to swoon in my stripes.

5. Show up early — fashionably late isn’t fashionable.

I always foolishly take my damn time and land on the island mid-afternoon, sorta sour and wishing I had just packed a bag brunch and picnicked on the grass. Quit pretending like there are better things to do — it’s an island, with music, and sunshine. Done.

6. Pack smart — not light.

Is that sandwich too heavy? Is that trail mix hurting my back? No it’s not because it’s in my belly and I’m happy. The food on site provides a nice array of local fare, but there’s no rule against brining some of your own treats, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIjVpRAXK18

7. Convince the HAIM sisters to be my bffs — get crafty.

I sincerely think we’d make great friends. We could braid each other’s long locks, listen to records while drinking milkshakes, and swap leather jackets. The plan: make friendship bracelets these girls can’t refuse. Camp DIY will have all the supplies and badass crafter, Kelly Malone of Workshop SF will be on island to make sure things are just as charming as they are rock and roll.
 
8. Track down the balloon chain guy. Just because.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zCoCa6b6cU

9. Be sunset ready — no bathroom line or trinket shopping during the ball drop.

The sun will set at approximately 6:25 both evenings, meaning I’ll be feeling some sky love during Major Lazer’s set Saturday and James Blake come Sunday. Take a puff and make a thoughtful toast to that beautiful Bay called home.

10. Make-out on the 60-foot Century Ferris Wheel — no excuses.

11. Watch Nelson Loskamp cut people’s hair…from afar.

He tapes you down, covers your eyes and mouth, and sonically hacks at your hair with sound-wired scissors. I don’t understand what this means but I’m terrified and beyond curious.
 
12. Throw down — then stretch.

“When a fire starts to burn, right? And starts to spread? She gonna bring that attitude to halt…”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9saLEZlKEU

13. Get weird with strangers — we’re all smashed together anyway.  

A few dirty lyrics, pulsing bass, and silky voices — acts like Antwon and Little Dragon could encourage a few folks to get fresh. I’ll be sure to provide encouragement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QS10B4k_9g

14. Be observant — and/or some light stalking.

Where or where will the Atoms For Peace crew be hanging out post show? How about Animal Collective? Beck? I probably wouldn’t be able to speak if I find them, but I’m not ashamed to drool in their presence.

15. Solid prep — Monday is for recovery.

Start that fake cough on Friday in order to avoid all work, responsibilities, and obligations come Monday. Sleigh Bells is sure to have me wrecked and amped for hooky. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr-ahiFDkts

Thee Oh Sees, OBN III’s, and more shake up the Chapel

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Once (three years ago) I broke my wrist at a Thee Oh Sees show, and despite the gnawing pain from my misshapen wrist, I stayed to watch the rest of the set.

You see, you just don’t leave a Thee Oh Sees show early. It is a band you experience, because it’s not that often that you get the chance to see a band that enjoys what it’s doing quite so much, and may just want to pull you into the hectic fun.

My most recent encounter with Thee Oh Sees was last Thursday at the Chapel; the band was kicking off its sold-out, three-night residency with spooky electronic act Fryborg, proto-punk worshippers OBN III‘s and precise psych-rock band the Blind Shake.

Fryborg started as people began to file in to the Mission venue. A one-man act, Fryborg tinkered away on various sound boards with his back turned to the audience. Haunting, Halloween-like imagery was projected on to a screen behind the stage while he did his best to conjure up beats for the better part of 30 minutes. It was either hit-or-miss with the audience (as is with most acts of Fryborg’s ilk), with people either nodding along to the music or hitting the bar.

Next up was OBN III’s. The Austin, Texas based band is Stooges worship in the best way possible. The five-person outfit created a wall of sound that enveloped the audience. It was loud, dirty, and leaning on the edge of proto-punk. The frontperson and namesake of the band, Orville Bateman Neeley III, took notes from Iggy Pop with a confrontational stage manner, and straight-up pissy demeanor. The band shredded through its set with great voracity, and the audience ate it up.

Then a trio of bald men graced the stage. One person from the audience thought it was a crew setting up for Thee Oh Sees. But alas, it was not! It was the Blind Shake, a Minneapolis-based group that serves up intricate psych rock for all ages. Though the Blind Shake airs on the noisy side, that doesn’t stop it from cranking out songs with intense, military-like precision. Also of note: the band released a full-length on Castle Face Records this fall, dubbed Key To a False Door, which is worth checking out.

Finally San Francisco locals, Thee Oh Sees graced the stage. If one gazed upon the crowd-goers surrounding the stage, he or she would find that the people in attendance were nothing short of starry-eyed as the band dutifully prepared for its performance.

Now, accurately describing what a Thee Oh Sees show is like describing colors to a person who has never seen before. (Though I digress.) While I have seen the group numerous times by this point, there is something that always brings me back. It’s likely the effort that the band puts into its sets, and the kinetic energy it exudes that’s nothing less than infectious.

While the Thee Oh Sees played a combination of old songs and new tracks off newest release, Floating Coffin (Castle Face Records, 2013), a good portion of the audience danced and pogoed with the best of them.

Boiler Room is coming to SF

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Boiler Room (aka the world’s leading underground music show) is coming to San Francisco for the first time. That SF Boiler Room event, which will be beamed to laptops and cellphones worldwide, is the official Treasure Island Music Festival after party. It features a DJ set from legendary DJ-producer-MC Madlib and super secret special guests.

You have to RSVP here to get the secret location. But we do know it’ll be Oct. 19 from 10pm-4am.

Boiler Room has hosted webstreaming live sets by up-and-coming DJs and hip-hop artists for years now. It began in London, focused on underground dance music, but has since exploded far beyond those bounds. Recent Boiler Room artists include Chvrches in London, Truss in Amsterdam, Femme En Fourrure in Helsinki, Jerome LOL in LA, and Marcel Dettmann in Berlin.

Earlier this year, Boiler Room founder and CEO Blaise Bellville told Billboard,  “Especially in the UK, everyone knows what Boiler Room is…It’s become an absolute essential for any artist to promote — any artist in the credible music world, whether they’re aspiring pop musicians, or whether they want to stay underground. Everyone has to play at Boiler Room because it offers more license than any other live or archive platform there is.”

Check some popular previous Boiler Room episodes below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sev7kbnOVA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp7l3PDws-M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q692lHFaLVM

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass: A rookie recap

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By Kaylen Baker

“This,” said a friend, turning and surveying a backlit crowd, bopping and blazing under an unlikely October sun, “is the real San Francisco.”

I’m new to this city, and its croaking cables, faddish food trends, steep hills, all-aboard attitude, and free bluegrass festival have captivated me.
   
I was stuck in the largest forested mob I’d ever seen, between the nubby hills that form Hellman’s Hollow. To my left a drunk woman shouted into her cell on the shoulders of a drunk man, to my right a bare-chested beer-bellied man flapped his arms above his head,  and ahead, the String Cheese Incident spread a bluesy beach jam over this valley of ears.

Back up to day one of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

The air smelled rich, sweet; Napa was burning, wafting blue oak and pine smoke into the ripe pungency of weed and optimism and sunscreen. I joined friends at the Banjo stage, where they had set up beach chairs and a folding cooler-come-table. Plastic wine glasses were drained and refilled.

Seldom Scene stood 15 feet away. Dudley Connell rounded off “Muddy Waters” with a long sustained “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” just as a skein of geese zigzagged overhead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk9vhhGyRyo

“This is really good bluegrass,” someone near me said, as the 42-year-old band began “Darling Corey.” Melding guitar, mandolin, banjo, bass, and dobro, the musicians read each others’ minds. “It’s like soul music from the mountains,” someone else said. “It’s very spiritual.”

Lou Reid had a voice slipperier than a slide on a string. “Pretty woman have gone to my head,” he sang. I could hear a river in the strings, and I felt a vastness, a simple kind of longing. There’s something curiously curing about hearing lovesick, lonely bluegrass — strictly bluegrass — in an open field.

Hardly came later, at the Arrow stage. Father John Misty’s soulful, sexy voice sprawled out over a younger crowd. The artist (formerly known as Fleet Foxes’ J.Tillman) sat alone with his guitar, legs crossed, sandal-footed, behind a giant cut-out iPhone. Words from a new song — “policy and families, the golden era of TV”— made the crowd laugh.

As Tillman sang, a kid ran onstage, tackled shortly by security. “Yeah!” Tillman said, “I support your freedom.” Let loose, the kid made yet another ill-fated run. Still playing, Tillman called, “Let’s all settle down, it’s just acoustic guitar.”

Despite the laughs, something cutting emerged below Tillman’s smooth, ironic voice. He was a dark joker, righteously pissed when the crowd missed jokes, too busy snapping Instagram photos on real iPhones. 

The most ironic part about Tillman wasn’t his commentary on our disengaged generation, but that by not singing about his broken heart or yellow bird (see Conor Oberst over at the Rooster stage), he became even more of an emotional presence onstage.

Finishing a song with absolutely no ado, Tillman added, “Thank you, good night,” and walked away.

By late afternoon the heat rolled away and the smell of caramel corn drifted through the moist grass. I grabbed an under-spiced falafel and people-watched — bearded, feathered, tattooed, uninhibited, high, dripping youth, as well as T-shirted, dancing, drinking, laid-back old timers. They drifted towards stages where hidden musicians tuned up for the night’s last show.

Bonnie Raitt’s voice magnetized the dense crowd, and I only managed to jot “soft, lovely, and worn, like an old velvet dress,” before I was pulled in myself. Listening to “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” I had to assume there would be something seriously wrong with the world if someone didn’t love this graceful, wise redhead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpnZCcRafkc

I missed Saturday’s concert due to work; Sunday was madness. I descended the hills into a writhing mass of bodies. Somewhere east, a deep twang grew out of the Devil Makes Three, who made a hell of a lot of moody noise playing “Graveyard.”

Giant noodles, flags, pineapples, aliens, and a unicorn bobbed above a crowd so thick that people climbed trees to see above a dirty breeze. Along the way I lost my friends and met up with new ones. By the time Pete Bernhard belted “Black Irish,” I couldn’t agree more: “I don’t want this night to ever turn into day.”

By evening, every band become a mush of wailing fiddles.

Last up, the String Cheese Incident (SCI). The psychedelic, peppy mood swings didn’t really do enough for me, when suddenly, a song started up unlike anything I’d ever heard, tribal and springy and sobbing. It was “BollyMunster.” Michael Kang’s western violin swerved and ducked between epic eastern Bollywood electronics. It sounded like it was coming from our own primeval selves.

As the sunset turned majestic, SCI pronounced Hardly Strictly “one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever played.” I agreed, and then I was dancing, because “Rosie” had a beat that made me jump and holler.

 

Party Radar: Tiara Sensation Pageant, Body and Soul, Peter Kruder, Castro Street Fair, Octo Octa, more

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According to recent findings, it would take 4.85×10(15) years to teleport a complete human at 30GHz. That’s 350,000 times longer than the universe has existed. And almost as long as the clothes check line at the Powerhouse. 

How will I ever get to all these parties???

Darn you, science. I’m guessing I’ll still at least have one or two out of body experiences at the following, howevs.

>>MAXXI SOUNDSYSTEM

If you’re any kind of dance maven, you’d know Brit Sam Watts’ 2011 hit “Criticize” in three notes, probably — but I adore his remix work and DJ prowess. Hit him up at the neat, super-affordable-for-this-kind-of-talent  weekly Base party, which seems to have reemerged after a little hiatus.

Thu/3, 10pm, $5-$10. Vessel, 85 Campton Pl., SF. www.vesselsf.com

 

>>TIARA SENSATION PAGEANT

All the glorious queens forever! This beloved little underground drag tradition, brought to us by the creators of the great Some Thing party every Friday at the Stud, is going BIGTIME. This year it’s being held at the De Young Museum’s fun Friday evenings (there will be kids there! and a bar!) Of course, it’s a freakishly lovely runway pageant for freakishly freakish queens — and I’ll be one of the celebrity judges, so you know it will be, er, drinky. My fellow judges, far more legendary than I could ever be, are Candis Cayne, Gina La Divina, Lil Miss Hot Mess, and Honey Mahogany. Expect a raucous, wiggy crowd.

Fri/4, 6pm-10pm, FREEEEE. de Young Museum, 50 Hagiwara tea Garden, Golden Gate Park, SF. Info here

 

>>BODY & SOUL

Three of the world’s greatest house (and Latin, and electrofunk, and disco, and soul) DJs return to resurrect the feeling of their NYC party — wihch changed my life, and the lives of pretty much everyone else on the scene 10 years ago. Golly, I love them! Welcome back, Francois, Joe, and Danny.

Fri/4, 10pm-late, $25. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com


>>PETER KRUDER

One half of infamous Austrian sophiticated house duo Kruder and Dorfmeister, Peter headlines the giant Public Works third anniversary. But wait there’s so much more! Also there: Christian Martin, Jackie House, Afrolicious, J-Boogie, Josh Vincent and a hot-hot crowd. Here’s one of my favorite remixes of all time, btw:

Sat/5, 8:30pm-3:30am, $10. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com 

 

>>OCTO OCTA

100% Silk label cutie blends dreamy classic house sounds with effusive but totally danceable concepts at the ever-awesome Push The Feeling party. (Love the track “His Kiss” of his lovely Between Two Selves LP.) He’ll be joined by Matrixxman (who made me dance till I cried at the deviants party last week) and Yr Skull and Epicsauce DJs. Good times. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cz6PkRs4QM

Sat/5, 9pm, $5 advance. UndergroundSF, 424 Haight, SF. octoocta.eventbrite.com

 

>>#ENDHIV DRAG BALL

Balls are all the rage! This one, MCed by Sister Roma and Pat N Leather and DJed by Guy Ruben, raises money for a possible HIV vaccine — and of course will be loaded with colorful characters.It has an “animal” theme!

Sat/5, 7pm-10pm, $40. Beatbox, 314 11th St, SF. itrulycare.com/events/endhiv-sf-drag-ball

 

>>CASTRO STREET FAIR

This 40th edition of the fair has an INSANE nightlife focus: Peaches (yes that Peaches) is doing a Sylvester tribute! There is a Legends dance stage featuring David Harness, Pete Avila, Rolo, Blackstone, and Page Hodel. And Cookie Dough will bring her kookielicious Monster Show drag party as well. It’ll be nuts + dancing + cute.OH! And don’t miss one of the best things ever that happens in SF — the two-step line–dance stage behind Castro Theatre.

Sun/5, 11am-6pm, donatiion requested. 18th Street and Castro, SF. www.castrostreetfair.org

Honey Soundsystem ending Sunday parties: SF so over now :/

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That sound you hear right now? Every cool gay and/or techno nerd in the city rending their exquisitely positioned garments. Honey Soundsystem has just announced via newsletter that Oct. 20 will see the end of its weekly Sunday party at Holy Cow, one of the best overall club nights in the world. 

“We started out wanting to make house and techno a regular thing for queens — and we did that and now it’s time to move on,” DJ P-Play of the collective told me. “We’re glad the party is so good right now, and we’re stopping it while it’s hot.

“We’re confident enough to move in a direction where people have to think again. Where we’re going with the music, together and individually, is too complicated for a weekly night.

“Now it’s up to the queens of SF to decide if they want to continue to keep this city interesting, or if they’re going to settle for the same top 40 bullshit.”

The importance of the five-year-old Honey Sundays can’t be overstated — starting with the fact that they filled the gaping hole in SF Sunday nightlife left by the End Up’s death spiral, and climaxing with an absolutely insane weekly lineup of challenging international underground artists, gay and straight, brought to a hungry, globally hooked-in audience here. Basically, you’re nothing if you don’t play Honey now.

The weekly family affair also introduced a new generation to the intellectual art of throwing a party: the soundsystem was unafraid to get hyperconceptual and subversively arty with its promotional material, themes, decor, and one-off locations. And the sheer diversity of the people behind the decks each week was almost single-handedly holding up SF’s rep as a cultural Mecca. (I’m kidding about SF being totally over — there are still some great parties. Look, though, we are getting a bit same-y in the nightlife department.) 

Honey Sundays took the effort. But yeah, maybe it’s time to move on. “Jason Kendig is being recognized on an international level,” P-Play says, rattling off the Honey members’ accomplishments. “Robot Hustle is touring live as Bezier. Josh Cheon runs one of the most respected labels in the world right now. And my work with Luther and as Jackie House is taking off.” (P-Play’s being modest — he was actually behind about five of the biggest and best Folsom parties this year.) He also compared the ending to the finale of Kontrol, SF’s mainstay techno party, some of whose promoters went on to become world-famous DJs. 

Plus Honey’s ending on a high note. “It’s an inevitable, poetic idea that we want to give back, give something really back,” P-Play said. “Our last night is the release party of our double album of Patrick Cowley’s lost gay porn soundtracks, School Daze, something we feel really completes a kind of journey for us. We’re going until 4am. It’s the day after what would have been our idol Cowley’s 63rd birthday — it won’t be sad, it will be a celebration.”

Breathe, queens, Honey’s not totally dispersing — they promise to be back soon with great things. And they’ll be teaming up with the No Way Back crew to bring in Norwegian heavy hitter Rodhad for Halloween, and then in November are doing something big for Bear Pride Weekend, which is an actual thing happening.

“We’re not giving people their weekly fix anymore, they’re going to have to stir the pot,” P-Play said.

And what of the poor souls who show up the Sunday after Honey’s ended? “They’re idiots,” P-Play declares. “They’re not our crowd, and not the people we want to play for anyway.”

Get the memo, honey. I’m gonna go cry now. Here’s the full release from Honey HQ:

Dear Honey Bee,

It is without regret we inform you that the next 3 Sundays will see the end of our 5 years as a weekly party.

In our 7 year history as a crew we tasked ourselves with reinventing queer nightlife for all our friends, allies and supporters. We have and will continue to bring the highest quality sounds from the underground and create a safe space for people of all walks to mingle, dance and be free.

But in order for us to grow even further, we need to shed our old skin to create a new one. The party itself – whether at the Holy Cow, the Paradise Lounge or those that can recall back to our days at The Transfer or the Mineshaft Basement Parties – has always been a party on the move. We will be going back to our roots, but with a more direct line to the future. This is not a disappearing act, this is taking ownership of the destinies of everyone who has participated, supported and danced at our parties. This farewell is quite temporary, for you will soon be transported back to our dance floor as though it were all a dream…

For the final Honey Soundsystem experience at Holy Cow on October 20th, 2013 we pay tribute to Patrick Cowley’s life in our third installment of Megatron Man to celebrate the release of the 2×12” “School Daze”! The release features soundtracks to John Coletti’s pornographic films from FOX Studio that were long forgotten but now resurrected for your listening pleasure. Restoring these tapes to our fans marks the full cycle of what Honey has strived to achieve – bringing you timeless sounds from all eras of dance music, grounded in foundations of queer history.

See you on the dancefloor,

Honey Soundsystem

 

 

Live Shots: Savages at the Independent

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Walking into the Independent on Friday night, the first thing audience members saw were signs titled “A Note From Savages.” These postings read, “Our goal is to discover better ways of living and experiencing music. We believe that the use of phones to film and take pictures during a gig prevents all of us from totally immersing ourselves. Let’s make this evening special. Silence your phones.” It was just the first indication that this was going to be an exceptional night.

Just before Savages took the stage for the first of two sold-out shows, the energy in the room vibrated with a palpable hum, resonating above the droning ambient music pulsing from the speakers.

In nearly complete darkness, Savages quietly took their places on stage before launching into “I Am Here,” the killer second track off of their debut record Silence Yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuIB8HEmnoY

Dressed in all black and barely lit by dim white lights, the four women of the London post-punk outfit bobbed and thrashed with a spectral intensity through the first three songs (also the first three songs off Silence Yourself) without saying a word or pausing for breath. Singer Jehnny Beth, howling like a deliciously demonic cross-pollination of Patti Smith and Nick Cave, dominated the stage in gold slingback stilettos, looking fiercely feminine bouncing around in a power stance.

The band’s performance style was stark and understated, but with a searing intensity that was breathtaking in its relentlessness. Beth spoke fewer than five times throughout the entire show, but the lack of filler just added to the force of the band’s immense presence. Savages have no weak links. Each woman is an incredible musician and performer. Even drummer Fay Milton, at the rear of the stage, demanded attention through her focused talent and tangible joy.

The audience stood in quiet reverence through the first half of the set, standing stationary and gaping with open mouths at the tour de force on stage. Finally, around the time that Savages played a cover of Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream” people began to move around toward the front of the crowd, bouncing off of each other to the scorching rendition. Beth looked down upon the opening pit with glee, speaking for the first time in her thick French accent, “Here we are! I was waiting for you! Fucking awesome.”

Savages are a welcome reminder of the importance and potency of female bands. Just by virtue of their kicking-ass-and-taking-names existence, they stand for so much more. Rock and roll is still a boys’ club. There is a huge difference between bands that have a female singer or a female guitarist and bands that are fully female. Savages offer an empowering and much-needed message that women can rock, and not just in supporting roles.

Of course they are not the only women in rock, but seeing them dominating the stage and selling out performances is truly exciting. Just by being silently and consistently amazing at what they do, these four women are bringing a feminist lens to post-punk, and for that, my female-identifying compatriots and I are extremely grateful. Nothing is more affirming than seeing your own identity reflected in a sphere that it is usually shut out of.

“San Francisco, you deserve more” Beth wailed before bringing out an extra guitarist and a saxophone player. “We’re gonna play a song called ‘Fuckers.’ We’re gonna use it as a mantra. Some words do heal.” As the band began to churn out the opening chords, Beth continued, “these were words given to me by a friend. I’m gonna give it back to you and you’re gonna give it to a friend. Don’t let the fuckers get you down!”

After the final song, Silence Yourself sendoff “Marshal Dear,” the crowd was left speechless. The weight of the performance was a physical, tangible entity as people regrouped and began, reluctantly, to exit. Though starkly different than the crackling energy in the moments before the show, the moments after the show were just as dynamic, basking in the afterglow of an amazing performance and the discovery of an exceptional band.

Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order altered the course of pop music, go see him live

9

Three decades after its initial release, New Order’s Power, Corruption, & Lies (1982) might sound deceptively ordinary. From the early ’90s successes of Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses, to more recent outfits like LCD Soundsystem and Cut Copy, it’s easy to take for granted just how completely the Manchester band’s hybrid of guitar rock and sequenced dance music has permeated the modern musical landscape. Yet, as bassist and co-songwriter Peter Hook would have you believe, that fateful LP was the moment that started it all.

“New Order [was] one of the first rock bands that used dance elements, and now everybody does it,” Hook tells the Bay Guardian over the phone from a hotel room in Vancouver.

In continuation of a recent tour that featured song-for-song replications of both Unknown Pleasures (1979) and Closer (1980) by Hook’s previous band, the equally revelatory post-punk outfit Joy Division, his current ensemble, Peter Hook & the Light, is set to grace the Mezzanine stage on Fri/27 with front-to-back covers of New Order’s first two LPs, 1981’s Movement, and of course, Power, Corruption, & Lies.

Citing fellow Manchester band Primal Scream’s recent tour of its seminal 1991 LP, Screamadelica as inspiration,Hook waxed enthusiastic about the potential of front-to-back interpretations of records in the live setting.

“The idea for playing the LPs in full — which these days is a very underrated art-form, especially amongst the young — came from [Primal Scream bandleader] Bobby Gillespie… [who] simply said the reason they were playing Screamadelica in full, was because he felt that over the path of his career, he had ignored songs that were fantastic, because they were of a different mood on the album than how they played them live,” Hook explains.

“It comes down to the fact that when you play an album live, it is more challenging to listen to than a greatest hits set. I must admit, like picking at a scab on your arm or on your knee, it appeals to you for an insane reason.”

However, while many musicians revisit their back-catalogues with the intention of embellishing or refining their past work, Hook seems intent on replicating his formative LPs as faithfully as possible, right down to the production sound of Factory Records legend Martin Hannett, whose esteemed work on Unknown Pleasures, Closer, and finally Movement, bridged Joy Division and New Order as significantly as any official member of either band.

“The interesting thing about the Joy Division recordings and the first New Order recording,” Hook contends, “is that Martin Hannett actually had a lot of input on the sound and the ambience and the feel, shall we say, of the music… I [strive to be] truthful to the way the records were put together, and the little tricks that Martin used, and the sound that Martin used to immortalize those records.”

Hannett’s radical use of reverb, echo, and empty space, equally suggestive of Lee “Scratch” Perry and Berlin-era David Bowie, saturated “I.C.B,” “Senses,” and other tracks on Movement with the same sense of brittle gloom that defined signature Joy Division cuts like “She’s Lost Control,” and “Disorder.” Yet, Joy Division bandleader Ian Curtis’ suicide in 1980 (whose death motivated bandmates Hook, Bernard Sumner, and Stephen Morris to reform under the New Order moniker) left the band in a state of crisis, unable to escape Curtis’ shadow, but desperate to move on.

Movement, to me, seems like a Joy Division musical record, with New Order vocals,” Hook observes. “There is a struggle on that record, between the two bands. Now unfortunately, the biggest struggle was with Martin Hannett, [who] was very badly affected by Ian’s death, and I think the music reminded him of what he’d lost… When we came to sing, he fucking hated it. It was a real frustration for him, to have this wonderful music, and yet these… in his words, these three idiots singing.” Hook laughs.

“Because it had coincided with a rather heavy drug addiction, it was a pretty bad time for Martin, and Bernard and I did make the conscious decision that we would have to get rid of him, or he was going to have to get out on his own. That was the feeling. But, because of those feelings, and because of Martin’s attitude, the vocals on Movement were really removed, and sound very shy, very reluctant, and very distant. And that’s one thing that’s very nice about playing the album now, is that finally, you’re able to relish the music, to give the vocal a bit of oomph that only 30 years’ experience can get you.”

Aching to start afresh, Hook, Sumner, and Morris fired Hannett, whose reputation began to wane once the Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio, and other bands on the Factory Records roster opted to self-produce as well. This shakeup, introduced on Power, Corruption, & Lies would result in New Order establishing its identity and purpose, as Sumner and Morris’ affinity for electronics and Hook’s penchant for rock conventions would coincide to irreversibly alter the course of pop music.

“There was a certain confidence in us [on Power, Corruption, & Lies.],” Hook says. “Bernard and Steven, in particular, threw themselves into the drum machines and the sequencers with great aplomb, and really did take it as far as they possibly could go. Them two were like kids in a toy shop. I can’t say that the approval was 100 percent on my part, because I preferred to be in a group that rocked…as opposed to waiting for the ‘click, click, click’ of the sequencers to begin. So, there was a battle between us all, but that battle actually resulted in you getting that perfect melding of rock and sequencers that now is taken for absolute granted in music.”

“Age of Consent,” “The Village,” and “Blue Monday,” (still the UK’s bestselling 12″ single of all time) rejected Hannett’s creative influence, with their seminal blend of candy pop hooks and the relentless drive of club music, while Sumner’s introduction as lead singer abandoned Curtis’ doomy, gloomy lyrics and vocal stylings in favor of a sunnier, more optimistic approach.

“The whole feel of life, after you got over the grief of Ian dying… the ’80s were much more optimistic, a much lighter period than the ’70s. And, I think you can hear that in our approach to the lyrics,” Hook says. “Other than that, Ian’s [voice] is a baritone, and it sort of leads to gravity, whereas Bernard is much more of an alto, which leads to levity.”

Livelier by nature than Joy Division, New Order’s records would find a devoted following of musicians, rock fans, and ravers alike. Yet, the band arguably made a deeper cultural impact with its creative and financial support of Factory Records’ Manchester nightclub, the Haçienda, and its subsequent curation of UK club culture.

“The Haçienda became, in itself, a marriage of rock, with very many live groups performing, and dance in the way that you started to see the rise of the DJ, and the rise of sequenced dance music. So, we were in the right place, in I suppose you have to say the right time,” Hook says. “People of Manchester responded very well. The gigs were very well attended. But, once ecstasy and acid house hit in ’87, you had a completely different complexion, and then the Haçienda became the most important place in Manchester.”

Inspired by New Order’s brand of sequenced pop, as well as the sexy, druggy hedonism of rave culture, bands like Primal Scream and Happy Mondays emerged in the late ’80s and early ’90s to form the Madchester scene, resulting in a more ecstatic synthesis of rock and electronic elements than ever before.

“Madchester was the bastard offspring, shall we say, of what do they call it… a one night stand New Order had with [club culture.] I just might put that in my book,” Hook says, with a hearty laugh.
After 25 years as a band, having continued its trajectory on records like 1985’s Lowlife and 1986’s Brotherhood (both of which Hook plans to tackle on his next tour), New Order’s balance of rock and electronic elements began to veer further into sequencer territory, resulting in personal and creative differences that would lead to the group’s disbandment in 2006. Tensions reached an all-time high, though, in 2011, when Sumner and Morris reunited under the New Order moniker, leaving Hook behind.

While he denied forming Peter Hook & the Light as a response to his bandmates’ betrayal, Hook was quick to criticize New-Order-circa-2013’s “greatest hits” treatment of the group’s back catalogue, scorning the new lineup with the dreaded “tribute band” tag, and making the case for his full-album method as a better approach.

“I think playing albums live brings with it its own set of difficulties,” Hook says. “In albums, you put light and shade quite a lot, and the mood is constructed like someone would construct a piece of art, like a painting, where you put shadows in the corner, and something bright in the middle. Whereas, when normal bands play, if we’re gonna reference it to, say, New Order, you just play the hits, so that you get a sugar high.

“If I just went onstage and played ‘Bizarre Love Triangle,’ ‘Krafty,’ ‘Round & Round,’ ‘True Faith,’ ‘Blue Monday,’ and ‘Temptation,’ everyone would just go mental at the start and mental at the end. But, I don’t think it would’ve satisfied me. I think I would’ve found that too easy.”

In opposition to nu-New Order’s mishmashed approach to the band’s repertoire, Peter Hook & the Light (whose lineup consists of Hook’s son, Jack Bates, on bass, in addition to several members of his retired Monaco project) seek to focus on one specified chunk of the discography at a time; Movement and Power, Corruption, & Lies arguably present the most revealing succession of albums in the New Order catalogue, offering Friday’s audience a glimpse into the creative and emotional process that transformed a sullen, introverted post-punk outfit into an effervescent explosion of guitars and sequencers.

“It actually appeals to me that we’re going through a list, ticking everything off,” Hook says. “Maybe Bernard’s aim is to throw legal letters at me, as my aim in life would be to play every track that I’d ever written and recorded, once, before I go and shuffle off this mortal coil.”

Peter Hook & the Light
With Slaves of Venus, DJ Omar
Fri/27, 9pm, $25
Mezzanine
444 Jessie, SF
(415) 625-8880
www.mezzaninesf.com