"C'mon and turn it up," for sure. I really dug Kim Gordon's last project, Free Kitten's Inherit (Ecstatic Peace) - the resurrected Gordon, Julie Cafritz (Pussy Galore), and Yoshimi (Boredoms) collabo came out earlier this year. But what sort of feline mischief has the Sonic Youth player been up to of late? Apparently the indie-underground icon has been toiling as an artist-in-residence at the garden-green Montalvo Arts Center in otherwise-burby Saratoga - so says the press release that came over the transom recently. Sounds like Montalvo is picking up where it left off with the 2006's noise- and art-filled Bleeding Edge Festival, which brought together Matmos and Zeena Parkins (also working with Gordon this time around), Yo La Tengo, Sunroof!, and Tim Hecker:

"On Sept. 26, Montalvo Arts Center will present the world premiere of 'Kim Gordon Meets Phantom Orchard,' a musical collaboration featuring internationally renowned artists at the forefront of the alternative music scene. Kim Gordon, bassist, guitarist and founding member of Sonic Youth, joins the Phantom Orchard duo of laptop artist Ikue Mori and harp innovator Zeena Parkins, plus special guests Trevor Dunn on bass and drummer Yoshimi. The artists are in development with their new project, entitled 'The Song Project,' as part of their Montalvo Arts Center's Lucas Artists Programs residency.

"Kim Gordon has enjoyed a long and storied career as a musician and a visual artist. In 1981 Gordon, with future husband Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, helped found seminal alt-rock band Sonic Youth. Though they started out as a decidedly underground act, Sonic Youth emerged from the New York City music scene to become one of the most iconic and influential American rock bands, earning praise for their unique, unorthodox rock guitar style, strong studio albums (which have been included in Rolling Stone's 'Greatest Albums of All-Time' list), and career stamina that has spanned over the course of nearly three decades. An established visual artist and curator, Gordon has exhibited her work across the U.S., Japan and Europe (sometimes incorporating live music in her exhibitions), written for respected art publications and has had several books published highlighting her original art.

Flower children: Ikue Mori and Zeena Parkins.

Continue reading "Kim Gordon gets down in Saratoga" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)

While I'm still waiting for a response from owner Greg Bronstein about the supposed "new direction" that his bar the Transfer -- our City's most beloved alternaqueer and ultrahipster dive-hole -- is supposedly taking (as I reported earlier), another regular party besides Frisco Disco and Lustre has decided that the next date will be its last there. Everyone's transferring out! I just got word from promoter Joshua J. that his raucous monthly homo-disco-circus spectacular, Big Top, which is celebrating its one year anniversary at the Transfer on Sunday August 31, will end after that date.

Joshua runs a VERY successful Wednesday weekly, Booty Call, at another of Bronstein's joints, Bar On Castro, and assures me -- despite the odd timing -- that he's folding his Big Top tent so that he can concentrate on his new Friday party with the illustrious Frankie Sharp, called M4M, at Underground SF. And indeed, if the Transfer truly is looking to go all upscale, Underground SF should snatch all its shit and bring it for the alternaqueers and rangy str8s. I don't like the looks of the flyer below much -- seems a little LCD -- but hey, I'll check it out. Especially if there's a cologne-blast of mojito-squealers big-upping C+C Music Factory unironically at the Transfer.

This is a golden opportunity, really, for any bar still willing to be open-minded enough to really let something creative happen in this city. Deco, Club Eight, Matador, Buckshot Tavern, Amnesia, or Rickshaw Stop are well-positioned to lap up the new party homeless. You may not make loads of $$, but I'll write about you more! Legendary.

I really can't fault Bronstein for wanting to make money off his business -- he's allowed the Transfer to be the most exciting and edgy club in the City for the past three years. I know he's planning to expand and renovate his slick Jet venue up the street, so maybe he's freaking about the duckets it'll take. His usual thing is rather chi-chi, not even always in a tacky way. But it's just sad. Plus I'm guessing that he was none too polite about the changes (although I really want to hear his side of it before I jump to unjournalistic conclusions): the Frisco Disco kids are absolutely fuming. Read their explosive farewell kiss-kiss MySpace post after the jump -- to the tune of "Death of a Disco Dancer" by the Smiths:

Continue reading "Clubs: More Transfer kerfuffle -- Big Top bows out" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)

Alas, the rumors -- most of them anyway -- are seeming to be substantiated. Word kept hitting my hotline last week that owner and fairy impressario Greg Bronstein was effecting a management and direction change at the fantastic gay/hipster/hipster-gay ground zero, The Transfer. Many of the Transfer's beloved party institutions appear to be fleeing. (Update: even more are fleeing.)

That includes, incredibly unfortunately, the wonderful six-year-old Frisco Disco, which has grown world famous as an international hotspot for scenemakers who don't mind a little party puke on their stilettos. Alas! This Saturday is the final Frisco Disco at the Transfer.

This party's been homeless before -- it journeyed to the Transfer after a successful -- perhaps too successful -- run at Arrow Bar, now Matador, on Sixth Street. It may be back, too, after a short hiatus -- but definitely not at the Transfer. The Frisco-ites claim that Bronstein said they were too rowdy for him, although they still adore the Transfer staff etc. I'm trying to get a hold of Bronstein now for comment. Also announcing Transfer departure: Lustre, the goth new-wave night. San Francisco may be on the verge of losing one of its most interesting alternative party venues ... more to come!

FINAL FRISCO DISCO
w/ DJs Jeffrey Paradise and Richie Panic
Sat/23, 10pm
The Transfer
198 Church at Market

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Posted by Marke B. at 01:36 PM | Comments (1)

Jerry Wexler. Courtesy of popentertainment.com.

By Kandia Crazy Horse

I am in utter shock at the fact that my lifelong hero, my much-cherished Jerry “Papa Dippermouth” Wexler (Jan. 10, 1917–Aug. 15, 2008) has gone to glory. Been thinking hard not only about my friend, his youngest daughter Lisa (of the great New York State band Big Sister), and my play-uncle/mentor Stanley Booth (one of his best friends), but all the unbroken circle of folks who loved and forever appreciate the magic Wexler produced during his paradigm-shifting career as a music journalist and (likely) the last of the great record men.

I have been weeping all this interminable weekend beginning with his death on Friday morn, Aug. 15 – Black Friday to me forever after. Of course, it is not as if Papa Dip was not poised at the end of his days. And, yes, he enjoyed a long and varied career the likes of which many music geeks of my generation envied (who didn’t want to be a producer at Atlantic Records between the titanic poles of Brother Ray Charles’ and Led Zeppelin’s arc’s therein?). Still, I cannot be consoled.

He wasn’t just the hallowed man who exposed me to the riches of King Solomon Burke and sent me Dusty in Memphis for deep listening or kindly shared personal revelations about my generation’s foremost soul icon Donny Hathaway – the man born Gerald Wexler in the boogiedown Bronx was the first person I was conscious of outside my kinpeople as being essential to how my world revolved. From the age of 2 ½ at least, I read his liner notes or saw his name credited on the back of Atlantic long-players, as the label’s iconic iconography circled round-and-round, and I knew in my deepest soul who and what I wanted to be.

Continue reading "Producer/journalist Jerry Wexler remembered" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)

By Kat Renz

I kept glancing behind me during the Saviours show last Sunday, Aug. 10. Where is everyone? The Rickshaw Stop, a 4,000-square-foot venue with a worthy sound system, stayed only about a quarter filled - and sparsely at that. I was in awe: anyone reading music mags since the release of Saviours's second album Into Abaddon (Kemado) last January has been inundated with gushing reviews of the local foursome, so WTF? The crowd's absence was almost embarrassing, like we fell short in upholding our gracious side of the mutually beneficial performer/audience agreement.

Shame aside, it's challenging to convey just how visceral a Saviours show is. Even through my weenie laptop speakers, their sound - dripping with reverb, soaring on dead-on harmonized guitar leads, reliant on sick scale-shreddage, equally mastered bass, and no mercy drumming - is preternaturally powerful. The live experience, transcendence times 10, is positively psychedelic.

Sunday's show was exemplary. The band delivered a typically spirited eight-song barrage to launch their two-and-a-half month national tour (catch them again at the tour's end Octer 23 at the Regency Center Ballroom with Iced Earth). Riding on their signature galloping riffs -- the two guitarists are nothing if not relentless gallopers -- they began with "Circle of Servant's Bodies," a Black Sabbathian decent into doom land. Title-track "Into Abaddon" felt in fast-forward, the tempo increase sort of a surprise considering the delicious brownies circulating the room. Ditto for "Narcotic Sea, on which vocalist-guitarist Austin Barber took turns dominating the fretboard with new guitarist Sonny Reinhardt, formerly of Watch Them Die and recently replacing D. Tyler "Balls" Morris.

Continue reading "Getting saved by Saviours at the Rickshaw" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)

By Todd Lavoie

I want to rave like a street-corner rapture-seeker about the enormous healing properties of Los Angeles' new unashamed pop-messiahs Music Go Music, but first, a little personal exposition.

When I dare to cast a fleeting glance back in the direction of my tween years - the absolute apex of my chronic bumblinghood, that endless expanse of skinny arms and butterfingers and nervous stammers - I'm tempted to take refuge in how deep-down cool I told myself I really was despite my oversized glasses and severe bowl-haircut and startling inability to interact with the rest of the human race. I had Clash cassettes, after all - and the Fall, too, and mixes of Echo and the Bunnymen and Flipper and Dead Milkmen songs I'd taped from local college radio shows! I mean, who could step to that kind of coolness at such an age? Sure, I was scared of my own shadow, but the Misfits convinced me I was the biggest bad-ass in all of New Hampshire, pubes or no pubes. Since I couldn't speak for myself in public, I'd simply assumed that the meticulously crafted Gang of Four and Fishbone logos I'd etched across my fifth-rate denim-blue Trapper Keeper-knockoff would do the talking for me. I knew all of the words to the Smiths' "Reel Around the Fountain," for Christ's sake - why oh why didn't any of my equally self-conscious gangly-wangly peers take notice? Or care? Why was I so alone?

Here's the thing. This so-called coolness I've just described? It's only part of the picture. See, there's a deeper, darker secret, lurking underneath the Morrissey quotes and ballpoint-pen notebook sloganeering: I also harbored a wide-eyed fascination with Top 40 radio. Or, specifically, the stuff I'd hear in the car on the way to a swimming lesson, to summer camp, to a Little League game I'd rather avoid.

Continue reading "Go, go, Music Go Music!" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)

By Vanessa Carr

With feral vocals, shattering guitar riffs, and a collection of microtonal keyboards ordered off of a Lebanese Web site, Rainbow Arabia combines Middle Eastern beats and modes with the vibrant energy of Los Angeles' experimental punk/dance scene. The result is a hypnotic neo-tribal, hipster-dub sound that falls somewhere in the vicinity of post-punk spiritualists Gang Gang Dance and These Are Powers. Rainbow Arabia plays at Cellspace on Aug. 16 before embarking on a cross-country tour with Gangi and Hecuba in October.

The band is composed of Danny and Tiffany Preston, both 36. The husband and wife duo were married for more than three years before they started playing music together and recording in their basement in early 2008. Before Rainbow Arabia, Danny played in punk-dub outfit Future Pigeon and Tiffany in Licorice Piglet.

"It's definitely tested us, being in a band together. But the great thing is that when things are going really well, you get to share it together," Tiffany told the Guardian.

Continue reading "The LA anti-scene guerrillas of Rainbow Arabia make dance mayhem with Middle Eastern guitar, microtonal keys" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Rock the Net: Musicians for Network Neutrality
(Thirsty Ear)

By Ian Ferguson

Although Al Gore considered naming the Internet “Magic,” and it seems that way to some (black magic for John McCain), an actual energy- and bandwidth-consuming infrastructure supports our browsing habits. Once the Net broadened beyond ARPA, private companies (namely service providers like AT&T and Comcast) assumed control of its traffic lights. Service providers are huge corporations: profit machines compelled to consider little else. These companies want to charge content providers (Web sites ranging from Google to your favorite blog) a fee for more bandwith: more bandwith means the Net works faster for a given site.

The FCC hasn’t yet stepped in to regulate the practice, but is currently evaluating the available options. In a show of support for net neutrality - the principle that demands service providers keep the Net free and open and by extension an indie band’s site as fast as any multiplatinum act’s - a coalition of musicians and labels have united to make an album intent on persuading Congress and the FCC to come around to their point of view. After all, as labels suffer, the Net offers itself as an inevitable platform for whatever distribution model to come - take OK Go’s YouTube music video-fueled fame, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s blog-buzzed status, or Radiohead's acclaimed In Rainbows digital release.

Though none of these bands appear as part of the collective of musicians supporting network neutrality on Rock the Net, the album more than makes up for their absence. Everyone knows that one of the most promising potentials the Internet offers audiophiles is ease of discovery. No longer must one buy countless so-so albums to find one gem: simply peruse Imeem, Muxtape, or MySpace for revelations. This disc provides a microcosm of that in tangible form: 15 artists - some familiar, some not so well-known - present tracks as varied as infinite cyberspace.

Continue reading "Oberst, Wilco, Wrens rock for net neutrality" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)

Hey, girl, hey: In this week's Super Ego clubs column, I talk to the reigning king and queen of SF Drag: Fudgie Frottage of this Saturday's 13th Annual San Francisco Drag King Contest, and Heklina of Trannyshack, whose weekly club is coming to a nuclear close after 12 years as I type this (listen very carefully and you can hear dizzy trannies exploding in the distance....) before her giant Trannyshack Kiss-Off Party on Aug 23 at the Regency Center.

Footage of the century: A youngish Heklina plugs the first Trannyshacks at Fudgie's legendary DragStrip club, April 14, 1996. Arturo Galster MCs.

Look at me, I'm a starfucker. Below is my extended, unexpurgated, sticky-fingered interview with Fudgie, aka Lu Read, whose hairy roots stretch back to the heyday of SF's punk rock drag scene. Strap one on and dive in.

SFBG: This is your lucky 13 -- are you planning anything, like, spooky? Are there any SF Drag King disaster stories you can share?

Fudgie: Well, our theme this year sets us Kings donating to a sperm bank -- that is genetically spooky to many, though most find it hilarious. Drag King disaster stories? Well, last year one of my balls failed to inflate during the opening number "Big Balls," but the concept got across so it wasn't a total disaster.

Yes Nurse! No Nurse! Photos by Larry Utley

SFBG: What in general do you have planned for this glorious, gorious evening?

Fudgie: Hard and throbbing musical productions, firm and penetrating performances, and extraordinary feats of entertaningly unbridled masculine stamina and staying power. Cohost Indra and I have a few surprizes, Electro, the Pop n' Lock King, SFDK title holder from 2000 is flying in from NY as our special guest. He hasn't performed here for 8 years and I'm really looking forward to seeing him -- he is a fantastic performer!

The Contest is very much like a variety show, we've got bands like The Mighty Slim Pickins and TuffnStuff, aerialist burlesque with Kitty Kitty Bang Bang: some Kings lipsynch, some sing live, some choreograph amazing dance routines, of course there's Fakin' Aiken, this year's title holder plus the troupe title holders The Pacmen from Sacramento who are adorable, talented and handsome. Surely Delicio Del Toro, L. Ron Hubby and Seimen Marcus will do something wild and crazy. The contest is like a mash-up of the Miss America Pageant, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Project Runway, Halloween and a Monster Truck Show.

Fudgie gets fishy

SFBG: An annoying thing for me: Many people I know, even smart ones, don't know much about the drag king community -- drag queens get all the freakin' press. What do you think about the lack of drag king visibility on the SF scene?

Continue reading "King me, Fudgie: Spermin' out with drag's biggest baller" »

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Posted by Marke B. at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)

West Indian Girl at last year's Treasure Island fest. Photo courtesy of www.treasureislandfestival.com

By Kat Renz

Apparently Noise Pop and Another Planet Productions don't think there's enough cool stuff to do at their upcoming second annual Treasure Island Festival. After all, there are only two days of major indie rock acts, a 60-foot-tall Ferris wheel, double-dutch lessons, and free hairstyling, among other diversions. But perhaps you need a break from dancing and shoegazing and hula hooping? This is when you become grateful to the minds behind the "Treasure Trove."

A 2,500-square-foot tent will house pieces of art and culture representative of the Bay Area and will provide opportunities galore for local creativeness, both others' and your own. Get cozy and catch up on your underground reading in the zine corner, hosted by none other than the SF 'Zine Fest. Relax in a bathtub sculpture. Feeling festival-ly inspired? Compose your own music on the Octamasher, a melodic hydra of eight instruments connected to one computer brain, allowing future electronicons to sample, tweak loops, and collaborate with other participant-observers.

Continue reading "Scoping out Treasure Island's 'Treasure Trove'" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)

How will East Bay combo the Phenomenauts be able to fuel their van with today's gas prices? Photo courtesy of Bagel!

By Kat Renz

You’ve got your band, your gear, your route. The road family piles on and off the rigged-up van or plush, star-caliber bus, ready for a nonstop, balls-out journey playing for legions of fans across the chosen land. It’s a classic image, old as rock ‘n’ roll, inspiring power ballads and hoary metal anthems: The tour.

With the music industry on its head due to plummeting record sales, live concerts seem the one assured mainstay of the business. Music-lovers will always pay to see their favorite acts onstage. But when the national average cost of regular gas is $3.88 per gallon, will bands be able to get there?

Currently, in San Francisco, regular unleaded gas goes for between $4.13 to $4.79 per gallon. Last August, gas was $2.77, and in 2005, it was $2.36, according to Energy Department statistics. And last year at this time, Oakland trio High on Fire – on the road eight or nine months a year - wasn’t too preoccupied with petroleum stats. Yet upon wrapping up the nation-wide, Megadeth-led Gigantour at the end of May, and realizing the amount of money devoted to gas was twice as much as budgeted, tour manager Brady Schilleci said priorities have changed.

Continue reading "Gas hurts: touring bands feel the pressure of geopolitics" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)

West is the best? Photo by Angela Smith.

By K. Tighe

I arrived on the southern end of Grant Park just in time to catch Kid Sister on day three, Aug. 3, of Lollapalooza. The Chicago local has some major heat behind her - due in no small part to her recently garnered role as Kanye West's protégé. With her mentor headlining on the same stage later tonight, it seemed likely that we'd get at least a cameo during "Pro Nails," but no such luck. What we did get was a gaggle of bikini-laden ladies painted in gold, dancing around the stage.

"Give it up for the golden ladies! I call 'em the Golden Girls, we got them right off of Michigan Avenue, right from Old Navy," said the cute-as-a-button MC.

Decked out in a pseudo-afro, purple dress and golden stilettos with a face full of jewels, Kid Sister looked every inch the superstar, despite her 12:15 p.m. time slot. For "Pro Nails," West was a no-show (word from security is that he wouldn't be arriving until just before his set), but Kid Sis had the audience eating out of her hands, singing along to the chorus, "Got my toes done up / and my fingernails matching," while three funky spandexed dancers gave us a shoe on golden-painted chairs.

Continue reading "Lollapalooza day three: Waiting for Barack, word to Kanye's mom, Kid Sister's pure gold" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)

It ain't broke: Broken Social Scene. All photos by Angela Smith.

By K. Tighe

Day Two, Aug. 2, of Lollapalooza posed an interesting question: how big of a Wilco fan am I? You see, the schedule of a festival was built to split the day's sold-out, 75,000-plus crowd, between two headlining stages on opposite ends of Grant Park: Wilco takes the North End, with Rage Against the Machine bringing up the South. Initially, I considered this one a no-brainer: this is Wilco headlining a sold-out show in their hometown - end of debate.

My cohort and I claimed prime territory during Broken Social Scene's 6:30 set. BSS's set was unsurprisingly incredible, laced with rock 'n' roll guitar moves, boundless energy, and even some political banter, "You're not just voting for America, you're voting for the world." From our prime BSS ground we could here Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings loud and clear - and we even had a great view thanks to the jumbo screen flanking the PlayStation 3 stage.

Jones gave another sassy showing, pulling men up from the audience to croon to - and to horrify security a bit. Jones even chose to tell us a bit about her history, but first, "I gotta take my shoes off. You know what? Let me get these earrings off, too."

Continue reading "Lollapalooza day two: Wilco's Nudie suits, Rage 'n' storming the castle, and SamRon hangs with LiLo" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 11:57 AM | Comments (1)

THE BELLRAYS
Hard Sweet and Sticky
(Anodyne)

By Todd Lavoie

Who exactly, pray tell, are these foolish Southern California boys who keep playing careless games with Lisa Kekaula’s heart? As the don’t-mess-with-me diva at the forefront of the BellRays’ unbridled soul/punk whirlwind, Kekaula has been bearing witness to the trials and tempests of love for nearly two decades, and Hard Sweet and Sticky finds the R&B shredder fighting yet another round of bedroom drama.

Here, on their eighth album, the Riverside band’s familiar Tina Turner/MC5 union is as fuzzy and furious as ever, but it is their willingness to veer beyond the usual garage bluster that makes the disc such a tremendous leap forward. Articulating matters of the heart with broader range than ever before, the BellRays have released the defining album of their career thus far.

For those who have always sought righteous liberation from the group’s combustible marriage of Kekaula’s soul-belting vocals with skuzzy ’69-Detroit chug-o-ramas, fret not: “Psychotic Hate Man” throttles as much as the title suggests, and the roughneck-bass and chanted hey’s of “Pinball City” make for certain manic nirvana.

“Wedding Bells,” however, is atmospheric noir-blues winnowed by Kekaula’s moist-eyed sighs and whispers, and the post-break-up move-on of “Blue Against the Sky” is ravishing straight-up soul, without a feedback swell in sight. The smoothness prize, though, goes to “The Fire Next Time,” a satin-and-silk slice of deception stroked by erotic ripples of come-hither jazz guitar but tempered by Kekaula’s knowing, regretful murmur: “How can I love you if you’re the hurting kind?”

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 05:50 AM | Comments (0)

I was somewhere around the Loop on the LSD when the hangover began to take hold…All photos by K. Tighe.

By K. Tighe

For concert attendees, Lollapalooza doesn't start until Friday morning, Aug. 1, but for intrepid journalists and their diligent plus-ones, there are kickoff parties, sponsor events, and Chinese dinners that all lead up to the main event. Thursday afternoon, I found myself in the Crystal Ballroom of the Blackstone Hotel, listening to a Sonoma winemaker attempt to explain about the inner workings of my brain and memory. Delving into the deeper recesses of clinical psychiatry and viticulture preferences might not seem like a rock 'n' roll time, but believe me it was.

"This is the place where cocaine and chocolate live," Clark Smith was explaining to a room full of food, wine, and music journalists the topic of euphoria, a buzz word in his recent study: that wine is able to carry emotion in the same way that music can.

From his research, he's discovered that certain vintages taste differently when paired with certain songs, a phenomenon he proved to us by piping tracks from Lolla artists into the ballroom and making us sip, sip, then sip some more. From my afternoon at the Blackstone, I discovered that Cat Power makes a Pinot Grigio soar, Dr. Dog does wonders for Pinot Noir, and the Love Theme from Superman can make even Sutter Home White Zin taste like a million bucks. I left the hotel drunk (I wasn't spitting, as proper wine tasting calls for) and starving. My cohort and I dove into some Chinese grub in Wicker Park before heading to the Venus zine kickoff party at the Debonair Social Club. Mates of States were manning the DJ booth, and I was taking care of the bottle service at our booth, alternating nips from the bottle of merlot in my bag (goes great with Stephen Malkmus).

Continue reading "Lollapalooza day one: Radiohead, Cat Power, Duffy, Gogol, rock-wine pairings" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 03:39 PM | Comments (0)

Pacifika
July 21, Yoshi's San Francisco

By Kevin Lee

I caught the Vancouver group Pacifika when they dropped into Yoshi's San Francisco for a relaxed, intimate set on July 21. The cozy confines and friendly crowd helped spur the improvisation-friendly band, known for their sophisticated acoustic downtempo. Peruvian-born Silvana Kane, who sung mostly in Spanish, impressed with her breathy tones and guttural inflections that have drawn comparisons to chanteuses Bebel Gilberto and Shakira. Early on, the crowd bathed in the lush warmth of "Sol" and the acoustic pop of "Sweet," where syllables took on a viscous quality, dripping out of Kane's lips.

Performing from their new CD, Asunción (Six Degrees), Pacifika kept things loose by playing off the cuff. Through the soaring "Paloma," the serene and tranquil "Chiquita," the contemplative intonations from "Más y Más," and the yearning from "Libertad," the quartet - which includes guitarist Adam Popowitz, bassist Toby Peter, and percussionist Elliot Polsky - displayed a stylish variety of musical directions and exhibited a playfulness between tracks. While balancing acoustic, classical, and electronic guitars, Popwitz still found time to shake it to the delight of the audience.

When the crowd wooed the band back onstage for an encore, Kane coyly responded, "An encore's a difficult thing to define." The band followed with the unreleased "Cruces," a vigorous and emphatic track that had the crowd nodding with pleasure. Upon its final chords, Popowitz began strumming again, while a surprised Kane took it in stride. Recalling the passing of her grandmother eight years ago (as she did on a previous track "Cuatro Hijas"), Kane launched into "Vida Lleña," a moving tribute and the highlight of the night.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:21 AM | Comments (0)

Busta Rhymes busts a move in "Dangerous" - and at Projekt Revolution at Shoreline this week.

As summer fades into a hazy, chilly miasma of Blood Marys, Krautrock beats, and high gas prices, the time has come to make the rounds at those lingering shed shows, avant-punk readings, burbling throwdowns.

A.Skillz
Sunset Promotions showcases the UK hip-hop-breakbeat turntablist, surfacing at Mighty for his first show in SF in four years. With Murphstar, AnTenNae, and Motion Potion. Fri/8, 10 p.m., $10-$15. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.sunsetpromotions.net

"I'm my own worst enemy": Linkin Park's "Given Up."

Projekt Revolution
A revolution in WTF! pairings begins here: Linkin Park, Chris Cornell, Bravery, Ashes Divide, Busta Rhymes, Hawthorne Heights, and Street Drum Corps. Hey maybe it's time to check those damn assumptions; you're breaking both your back - and mine. Sat/9, 2 p.m., $34-$77. Shoreline Amphitheatre, 1 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View. www.ticketmaster.com

Born free: Born Against back in the day.

Sam McPheeters
Take another, literary look at the local underground. The hardcore legend of Born Against fame reads from his new magazine, alongside Sarah Cathers of 16 Bitch Pileup (who will render love horoscopes from rock lyrics), Erika Anderson of Gowns (who will perform an exorcism), Tara Tavi of Amps for Christ (who will play traditional Chinese music and screen a documentary on the subject), and George Chen of KIT and Club Sandwich (who will do stand-up comedy). And yep, there's even more. Sun/10, 7 p.m., $6-$10, 21 Grand, 416 25th St., Oakl.

Balmorhea
Austin, Texas, ambient bohos dream in elegant, string- and banjo-shaded colors. With Lazarus and Tiny Vipers. Mon/11, 8:30 p.m., $12. Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. www.cafedunord.com

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 04:23 PM | Comments (0)

PRESTO
State of the Art
(Concrete Grooves)

By Ian Ferguson

How well-known can one man be in the underground before breaking through to the big time? West Coast producer Presto, ne Chris Douglas, begs that question on the occasion of his recently released State of the Art . He’s so popular that each of the tracks boasts the lyrical stylings of a different MC: rappers ranging from New York's CL Smooth, Sadat X, and Large Professor to fellow West Coasters Fatlip, T-Weaponz, and Blue. The disc also includes two appearances by defected Black Eyed Peas vocalist Kim Hill.

Presto’s pastiche of a production shows that he's versed in jazz, funk, and '70s soul. On "Pour Another Glass," a piano groove and stereo-panning funk-horn sample support the utterances of Blu, whose whisky-tipped rhymes slip into a staccato-sung vocal part as smooth as Courvoisier.

State of the Art isn't always a gentleman drinker - it stumbles at times. "Higher," one of the most promising tracks on the album with its bright, Motown piano riff, fails when the soulful vocal line is transposed up an interval, then another, and at its third, loses the color and timbre of a human throat and begins to sound like Alvin the Chipmunk. Despite consistently strong beats - if not perfect, they are at least always engaging and compelling - the tracks often finish with less force or fade-outs, a weak weaning that ends a song with no closure.

Presto proves to be a competent producer in the subtle sampling of an old LP's static; the use of a muted concert hall piano, discordant just ahead of the beat and leading the listener on; and the juggling of a variety of beats, dynamics, tensions, and flows. And he brings out the best in each MC on an album that invariably delivers.

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)

There will be "Popcorn." Radiohead player Jonny Greenwood's "Popcorn Superhet Receiver" will get its West Coast premiere in SF, courtesy of the Wordless Music Series, right before his group appears at Outside Lands music fest in Golden Gate Park. This press release came over the transom yesterday:

"On August 21, 2008, New York’s intrepid Wordless Music Series concludes its '07-'08 season with a surprise San Francisco debut, reprising the centerpiece of the inaugural Wordless Music Orchestra concerts from last January by presenting the West Coast premiere of "Popcorn Superhet Receiver."

"The night before Radiohead takes the stage at the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Wordless Music will feature composer and multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood's Popcorn Superhet Receiver for string orchestra. Maestro Benjamin Shwartz, resident conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, will lead the Magik*Magik Orchestra in a program of music by Arvo Pärt, a major influence on the music of Greenwood and Radiohead, along with Bay Area composers Fred Frith, Mason Bates, and John Adams.

Continue reading "Radiohead Jonny Greenwood's 'Popcorn' gets its West Coast premiere in SF" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)

Who are you, Masonic? Courtesy of the band's MySpace site.

By Todd Lavoie

Precious few things in this world make for better simple pleasures than picking up a CD on a whim at the record shop, slapping it in the stereo, and having it slap you back - in the best possible way, of course.

Call me silly, but I love the thrill of discovery, the element of surprise which comes with taking a chance on the unknown and finding it to be quite the adept kisser of earholes. As of late, I've been reveling in the newness of an Austin, Texas, band called Masonic. I'd bought their 2007 self-released Things I Am Guilty Of full-length on a recent trip to their hometown, based entirely on a glowing recommendation written by a staffer at the full-afternoon-requiring shopper's paradise known as Waterloo Records. Sure, I'd expected to like it: the blurb referenced both Stereolab and the Jesus and Mary Chain, as I recall, which is never a bad thing - but I seem to have already moved beyond the mere "liking" stage and am now somewhere firmly ensconced in infatuation territory. Or maybe this feeling is more like evangelism: after all, I feel compelled to stand at a busy street corner and sing Masonic's virtues to anyone who'd listen. Since I'm not a big fan of public speaking, however, I guess I'll direct my hosannas to the written word instead.

Masonic's Web site and MySpace page, while both current and apparently regularly updated, do not provide a great deal of information about the band. The same goes for the liner notes of last year's Things I Am Guilty Of CD. Thus, I cannot tell you how the band was formed, or how long they have been around. (And if anyone out there knows more about these folks, thanks in advance for sharing!) I have yet to hear their earlier self-released recordings (Never Stood a Chance, Without Warning, and Too Far Too Fast Too Soon), so I will focus on the most recent release.

Continue reading "Discovering the dreamy mysteries of Masonic" »

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Posted by Kimberly Chun at 08:56 AM | Comments (2)