I’m not a reporter; I’m a fan. Musical experiences are something I take part in primarily, if not solely, because I want to, not from some duty to report back on them. I just want it to be clear that when I do something like below, writing on the experience here is a by-product.

–

Little girl leads Odem’s Chapel 1949, still from Awake My Soul

Monday night I tried my hand at Sacred Harp singing. There are local groups that sing and I went to the one that meets weekly in Berkeley (Mondays from 7:30-9:30pm). I’ve written about Sacred Harp before.

They meet and sing in a small chapel in a theological seminary just north of the UC campus. Pews are moved around to make a square with a couple rows per side: basses are across from trebles, altos are across from tenors. Some started–the first person to lead got up in the center of the square and called out a number–28, I think it was. We all turned our books, the Sacred Harp, 9th Edition to that page. The leader–in this case, but sometimes it was another singer–sang the starting notes. We sang through the song once on “so la fa mi” then through with the words and then the cycle repeated. We repeated this process until the evening was up–perhaps 40 times in total.

I was a bit nervous about giving this a try. I haven’t sung from music in a number of years and even then it was quite briefly, with a lot of voices to hide behind and with a lot of rehearsals to get the notes right. It turned out to be fine, of course. I still can’t sight sing, but I could follow the strong singers in my section just fine. By the end I had even picked up the names of the shape notes. As it turns out, these help a lot–going from “fa” to “fa”, for instance is always either a fifth or an octave.

When it came my time to lead, I said I’d pick one–one of my favorites, “Sherburne”–but didn’t want to lead it. I got cajoled into leading that song with someone else.

Anyway, at this group at least, people sang. And loud. And without any pretensions or adornment in their voices. It was a lot of fun. Just letting your voice go and singing out. And the people in the group were quite welcoming and curious about what lead me to be there. If you have any interest in trying it out, I’d encourage going some week.

Alabama Sacred Harp Convention - Sherburne (mp3)

It was only Wednesday and it had already managed to be a long week. Work and personal plans had colluded to make it stressful and quite tiring. Like someone at the extreme ages of life, I took a nap when I got home–I know, so rock n roll–and I managed to feel a bit refreshed when I awoke. I missed the bus on the way to the show but just ended up walking along the hilly route for twenty minutes until another bus came through. It’s alright, though, walking can clear your mind. By the time the bus doors opened at Divis and Hayes, contrary to what I would have guessed a few hours before, I was ready to see a show. On Wednesday night, I saw Bishop Allen (myspace) at the Independent.

The band was already setting up when I got there. They started out with a new song. In fact, they started out with four new songs. After that they launched in “Rain”, a more familiar song. From there they mixed new and old songs. In the end, the set was about half new material. I’m a bit torn about this: I like hearing the new stuff and I know the band wants to try it out, but I want to hear all my favorite tunes as much as the next guy.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Bishop Allen writes quirky and eclectic pop songs. They perform them well live. The band is loose enough to have fun but plays well together. They’re energetic; lead man Justin bounces and dances throughout much of the set.

I had my favorites as did the audience. People were pretty excited to hear “the Monitor”, for instance. One of my favorites, “Flight 180″, came out during the encore. They closed the encore with “Butterfly Nets” featuring mallet percussionist/ melodica player Darbie on lead vocals. It was pretty fun.

On Tuesday night I caught locals Port O’Brien (myspace) and Crooked Fingers (myspace) co-headlining at the Great American here in St. Francis.

Port O’brien was up. They’ve had quite a year, releasing their EPs/ demos compilation CD the Wind and the Swell and then their first full album All We Could Do was Sing and touring with all manners of artists both here and abroad. They seemed like they enjoyed playing the historic Great American stage and the crowd was certainly into them. By the time they finished with a shout-along version of “I Woke Up Today” with a ton of people helping on stage, the band had run through a number of acoustic songs and a number of electric songs.

As for my own opinion of the show: after having seen them a few times this year already, including once at Treasure Island just a couple months ago, I have to say I’m at my saturation point for the time being.

Crooked Fingers started out as just frontman Eric Bachmann doing a nice version of “You Must Build a Fire”. After that, the rest of the band joined him: drums, bass, and violin (along with backup vocals and occasion second guitar or a steel guitar).

It’s been a few years since I last saw them, though I have seen Eric Bachmann solo in between. Coming off of their new release Forfeit/ Fortune, they played a number of new songs that were unfamiliar to me and most of the audience, I would imagine. As if to make up for that they played a number of other songs that would be counted as Crooked Fingers favorites. The band’s tight–one thing about a band lead by someone who’s been an indie presence for 16+ years is that even if he wasn’t good at guitar to start with that’s a lot of time to get good. Even on the most complicated parts, Bachmann played them with effortless ease and the rest of the band seemed to follow his lead.

In addition, they broke out a number of songs from Eric Bachmann’s other projects. They did some of his solo songs, but the jaws really dropped when those oh-so-familiar five snare hits start on “Web in Front” (the Archers of Loaf’s biggest hit). The audience ate it up and sang along with gusto. Later, when they came back for their encore, the band went into a very Crooked Fingersified version of “White Trash Heros” and then a pretty Archers-reminiscent version of “Harnessed in Slums”. As if to bring the show back around to the beginning, they finished with Bachman almost solo (with just a few violin flourishes thrown in).

This was a great set and it was a fun show.

Here’s Crooked Fingers’ approximate set list, pieced together from their (incomplete) on stage set list and my (and my concert buddy’s) memory.

You Must Build a Fire
Bad Man Coming
Crowned in Chrome
Islero
Man of War [Eric Bachmann]
Let’s Not Pretend (To Be New Men)
Lonesome Warrior [Eric Bachmann]
What Never Comes
Modern Dislocation
Sleep All Summer
New Drink for the Old Drunk
Web in Front [Archers of Loaf]
Cannibals
Your Control
–encore–
White Trash Heros [Archers of Loaf]
Harnessed in Slums [Archers of Loaf]
Don’t Say A Word(?)

Hippies are Dead was also there and has a good review and some photos.

Sunday night, I caught Frightened Rabbit (myspace), Spinto Band (myspace), and the Chop (myspace) at the Bottom of the Hill. It was a second of two nights for Frightened Rabbit and Spinto–Half Handed Cloud, rather than the Chop, was on the bill the previous night.

Locals the Chop were on when I arrived. Their set of somewhat bluesy and classic-rock influenced rock was pretty high energy and well played, but I didn’t always find that material, like much of the music they were referencing, particularly engaging. The band, which has roots in Wilmington, brought up members of Delaware-based Spinto Band for their final song, a drinking song about Wilmington. That was pretty fun.

–

Despite appearing in the headlining spot on the Bottom of the Hill calendar, Spinto Band was up next. They’re proponents of a pretty straight forward brand of indie pop that’s starting to get some attention. Some songs got my head bobbing and other didn’t. Their songs, at least in the two times I’ve seen them, are particularly inconsistent: one songs seems quite run-of-the-mill and the next is great.

–

Frightened Rabbit was up last. I’ve sort of come around a bit on this band since I first heard them. On recordings, I wince slightly at the emotiveness of their pop. Live, though, there wasn’t any wincing or guilty pleasure feeling associated with my enjoyment. They played really well and Scott, the front man, is particularly engaging in that role. They put a lot of energy in, nail their parts, and put on a fun set. While no one will likely tell you that this music is particularly challenging or intellectual, the point of their set was to have a good time and I did.

On the eve of Halloween, I headed to the Bottom of the Hill to see a night of local music featuring the Botticellis (myspace) and the Mumlers (myspace).

To be honest, while most shows I go to, the music aspect is first and foremost, sometimes I go to shows where the social aspect takes precedence for whatever reason. This show was one of those instances where the music fell into the background somewhat, but I still have a few observations.

The Mumlers, all clad in costumes, took the stage next. After hearing a lot of raves about their live show and about the band in general–including a strong recommendation from Chris of the Morning Benders–I was happy to finally be able to check out their show. Their music is eclectic, drawing from folk, Americana, blues and jazz while staying firmly rooted in rock/ pop songwriting. The instrumentation is just as eclectic, with euphonium, French horn, trumpet, soprano and alto saxophones, and upright bass adding to more standard rock instruments. Their eclecticism kept the sounds new, but it also provided the one drawback: in a word, inconsistency. I don’t mean they were inconsistent in playing–they’re obviously good musicians and played in their laid back, loose style well–but I wasn’t consistently engaged by their songs.

It may have been just me, though, as the audience seemed to enjoy their set thoroughly.

I wanted note that they did a great version of that song that you hear only at Halloween: “Monster Mash”. Good stuff.

The Botticellis were the headliners of the night. I’ve seen the band a number of times at this point, but the band has introduced some new songs to their set, so that kept it interesting. They also played a few of my favorites–”I Feel Betrayed” and their cover of George Harrison’s “Awaiting on You All”.

Their encore included a minor key version of White Snake’s “Here I Go Again”, apparently rewritten and recorded for a compilation to be put out by a Spanish blog. It was just strange to hear that song coming from the Botticellis but it was fun.

(Full disclosure [1,2])

Last Wednesday I saw Maus Haus’ album release show at the Rickshaw Stop with Casy and Brian.

A crowd heavy with scenesters was already gathered when Casy and Brian hit the floor–Maus Haus was intricately set up on the stage, so this band had to play on the floor in front of the stage. A horseshoe of people formed around the band and was quickly moved to dancing by their energetic synth rock. While I didn’t find their music particularly engaging, I thought their show was a lot of fun.

Maus Haus entered the stage next. The crowd that was gathered near the stage had obvious philosophical differences about shoving people while dancing–some seemed to enjoy shoving while others were put off by being shoved. The music, though, was catalyzing everyone in the area. The music was in Maus Haus’ experimental, freak-out pop vein and it was delivered with lots of energy.

There seemed to be some long-time fans in the audience. One of the highlights of the show was during one song early in their set, “Tumbling” I believe, where the band shouted out “woo” after a certain bass figure. On Wednesday, a large chunk of the audience shouted out in unison with the band without any prompting.

As the show went on, the band seemed to drop off in energy a bit, but it was a good show overall.

The Deli has a good review of the show.

Last night, six years after getting Neon Golden I finally got to see the Notwist (myspace) live at Bimbo’s. Previous attempts had been foiled by various circumstances.

On the bill were Odd Nosdam and Jel but when I arrived, an hour after the start time, the next band being set up on stage was already the Notwist. After a sample of an old song played and was awkwardly cut off, the band launched into their their latest single, “Boneless”, a catchy tune off of The Devil, You + Me.

I’d heard–mostly from previous tours–that the Notwist were actually not great live. Among other things, I heard that they often went back to their roots and went into extended noisy interludes. For fans that came to them in the Neon Golden era of rich pop melodies mixed with electronic influences might find that off-putting. It seems that in their live show they still do extended instrumental sections of songs, but these are now much more likely to be filled with electronics. Besides a version of “Neon Golden” that was about five minutes too long, I felt these worked really well within their set. While the song selection was fairly limited, almost all of it coming from the last two albums, this fan was just fine with that.

The five Germans rocked out on stage, rhythmically moving back and forth or side-to-side. Martin Gretschmann aka Console, the master of the electronics, controlled all of that, for most of the show, with two wiimotes.

They came back for an encore. From a fan’s perspective, it was nearly perfect. I sort of feel that if they’d stopped after “Consequence” it would have been perfect. After that song, Doseone and Jel of Themselves joined the band on stage to form an incarnation of 13 & God for one song. It was certainly not bad but the previous four songs were among the best cuts in the Notwist catalog.

Encore:

• Good Lies
• Chemicals
• One with the Freaks
• Consequence
• [anyone remember what track this was?] (as 13 & God, with Doseone and Jel)

[The Independent had an unannounced, non-posted, no-”pro”-camera policy for this show, so I didn’t get any photos. Check out my Mountain Goats photos from Noise Pop if you wish.]

<rant> The one thing worse than unannounced opening band is a painfully unpleasant unannounced opening jam band. I didn’t catch the band’s name on Thursday night, but walking in to find them playing was an unwelcome surprise. </rant>

The bands that I went to see Thursday night at the Independent were the Mountain Goats (fan site) and Kaki King (myspace).

After the previous band cleared off and her band’s equipment got set up, Kaki King came on stage. After a brief false start, she launched into a guitar part showcasing her well-known talents; this part involving tapping, artificial harmonics and using the guitar body as a percussion instrument. Her band joined her halfway through the song. Her talents kept me fascinated for the first few songs but as the considerable set wore on I found my attention wandering. Her stage banter and crowd interaction was funny, if a bit adversarial.

The Mountain Goats were up after a fair break. With John Darnielle and Jon Wurster in jackets and Peter Hughes in a full suit, the band was different from your average indie band off the bat. But anyone who knows the Mountain Goats shouldn’t expect the average indie band.

What followed was a good set of new songs (including a few paired up with Kaki King from their new split EP, Black Pear Tree and old favorites. Darnielle interjected funny stories and introductions between songs. The band, all professionals and seasoned players, were tight and essentially flawless.

While the show was good, there was still something lacking. The atmosphere wasn’t of a bunch of rabid fans hunkered in a room sharing the experience of one of their favorite bands, like it was at many of those Bottom of the Hill shows (a venue that’s hosted more Mountain Goats shows than any other in the country). It’s not quite fair to blame the atmosphere, largely the product of the audience and venue, on a band. On the other hand, if there’s one person that can put the audience in the palm of his hand and–for lack of better term–control the audience and atmosphere, it’s John Darnielle. In many ways that was the main way this show was lacking. While it still was certainly a good show, still, and one with which a first-time Mountain Goats show-goer was surely not disappointed, it didn’t have that captivating quality that some of their shows have.

Update: Here’s the setlist, courtesy of the Mountain Goats forum.

Love Love Love
How To Embrace A Swamp Creature
Moon Over Goldsboro
Heretic Pride
The House That Dripped Blood
Wizard Buys A Hat
Maybe Sprout Wings (solo)
November Love Song (solo)
Bring Our Curses Home (John & Kaki)
Mosquito Repellent (w/ Kaki)
Suedehead (Morrissey cover, w/ Kaki)
Supergenesis
Sept 15, 1983
Palmcorder Yajna
San Bernardino
In The Craters On The Moon
Lovecraft In Brooklyn
—encore—
See America Right
Baboon
Michael Myers Reslpendent

“I’m sick”. Luckily the band is instrumental so no sick-laden vocals were required, but no one wants to be under the weather for their CD release show. Luckily, last night when I saw Silian Rail at Bottom of the Hill, the guitarist Robin’s illness didn’t
seem to slow them down.

But first things first: neveragain was on when I walked in from the lovely evening we were having. They’re dark and epic–at least they feigned at it–in the way seemingly far too many bands have been before. It seemed like a pretty odd band to set up Silian Rail’s instrumental indie rock. Silian Rail does have some dark tones in some of their songs, ones that might register in the same part of the brain of some listeners, but the similarities are few.

The crowd, unfortunately, never grew to a large size. Silian Rail had a small but appreciative crowd for their set of mainly tunes off of And I You, to Pieces the album for which they were playing a release show. They played really well; it was a tight show and this show had a coordinated video projection that added some visual interest as well.

Perhaps the most impressive part of the show was when Eric, the drummer, picked up a guitar and was playing that on the off beats while playing a full and complex drum beat with one hand and two feet. That’s got to take practice. As their set finished with “Tituba”, I realized that, though I wasn’t sharing the experience with a packed room, I was witnessing a great set nonetheless.

(Full disclosure [1])

Last night, exhausted from a long day and riding the bus up Van Ness next to the angry looking kid and a few steps from the caballero hat-clad upright bass and guitar contingent in a mariachi band, complete with instruments, I questioned whether why I’m headed to a show and not sitting at home on the couch. The doubt about whether I’ll have a good time is strong, but not strong enough to get off the bus, walk across the street and get on the bus back home. Luckily that doubt was unfounded and I caught a fun show with the Acorn (myspace), Shaky Hands (myspace), and Ohbijou (myspace) at the Hemlock.

Ohbijou, a five piece of guitar, bass, drums, violin and cello (and banjo on a song) from Toronto, were first up on the bill. Their sound is subdued and a bit folksy, but mostly it’s just a laid back, string-rich and smoothing sound. They did a bunch of nice originals and one pretty great Acorn cover (”Darcy”). Despite being exhausted and their sound doing nothing to wake me up, I enjoyed their set.

Portland’s Shaky Hands was definitely the odd group out here. In a show with two Canadian, somewhat folksy, fairly subdued bands, they were none of those. They’re rocking, garage-y, energetic and in your face. I wasn’t enthralled by their music but their show was good and worthwhile, if just to see the expressions the drummer makes during the show.

Ontario’s The Acorn closed the show with two guitarists, a bassist and two percussionists and a couple ukuleles scattered around the stage. I was rapidly fading and wondering aloud if I’d make it through the set but the band quickly woke me up. Acorn’s percussion-heavy folk sound was lively and fun this night. The band did great versions of a number of the songs on Glory Hope Mountain, like “Crooked Legs” and some previous songs, like “Dents” (which the band verbally expressed surprise that anyone recognized). The band seemed like they were having a lot of fun on stage and really put a good amount of effort into the show. They kept mentioning how great it was to have so many people for a Tuesday night, which led me to believe that other towns on their tour hadn’t turned out quite as strongly on weeknights. Given the reception San Francisco gave them on this weeknight, I’m sure the Acorn will be back.

Finally: the big disaster of the night was that due to some supply problems, the band only had a couple copies of the split tour 12″ with Ohbijou and they sold out moments before I went to the merch table to get it. The Acorn and Ohbijou, sell me your 12″ when you get more, please!

Wednesday Horse Feathers and Lady Genius played at the Rickshaw Stop.

The Rickshaw Stop never starts on time. Either that or their internal start time differs from when they say shows start. Either way, I had, as I had predicted, a few minutes of chat time before Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers went on. They played competently but their sound was a bit too country for me.

The Horse Feathers, a band around whom I remain fairly sockless, were up next. They went on as a 3-piece: guitar, violin and cello with all three covering vocals.

A few days later now, the set seems compacted in my mind, like it went by in a hurry or that it was one song with many small parts. Their songs have a consistent feel to them, so that may have something to do with it. They played beautifully and I really enjoyed the set, even if the mix had the female harmony vocals too low to register at times. I’d recommend checking them out.

Lady Genius was up last. I liked their song on that Digital Cloud comp and knew they had a new 10″ out but didn’t know much else about them. They came on to an unfortunately dwindling crowd and played a pretty decent set, switching lead vocals between KZSU alum/ keyboardist Ashley and guitarist Kyle on their shimmering and keyboard-heavy pop songs. In the end, I feel I should see them on a night when there’s a decent crowd there for them rather than a dwindling Wednesday night crowd apparently mostly there for the previous band; bands play differently in the two situations.

(full-disclosure[1])

Much of this year’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was only able to be enjoyed as a social event. Surrounded by too many people and sitting or standing so far from the stages, music became a background to talking or hanging out or dozing rather than being the focal point. The one exception to this was Justin Townes Earle at the smallest stage, the Porch Stage as it was called.

Justin, Steve’s son, has a record out on Bloodshot Records. I had played some of his CD, the Good Life, when we had it down at KZSU and Oz at Hearya had talked about Justin quite a bit, so I decided to check out his set.

Coming to hear Justin from listening to bluegrass most of the afternoon is a different situation from coming to hear him after listening to indie singer-songwriters and, I think, Justin’s music sits well in the framework of that older music.

He’s got an old-school stage persona, from his between song quips to his conversation style to all the “ladies and gentlemen” in the audience. He and his sideman, Cory Younts, played a really fun and engaging set. Justin manned the guitar, dancing and singing while Cory covered the harmonies, harmonica, mandolin and clawhammer banjo. (I wanted to yell “more banjo!!” the entire time–Cory’s really good.)

Sigur Ros’s show at the Greek on Friday was epic and magnificent.

Parachutes, the opener, is another Icelandic band. Their music tread on some of the same ground as Sigur Ros, but was more in line with the full-orchestrated emotional pop of a band like the Stars. The singer’s voice was a bit thin and, at times, out of tune and while their songs had a lot of elements I tend to like, I didn’t find the songs engaging.

Having never seen Sigur Ros before and having bought tickets back in June, I had a lot of time and reason to build this show up in my mind. But I resisted that temptation, because, after all, Sigur Ros is just a band.

When I heard the band was touring as the “original four piece” for the first time in however long, I was a bit disappointed. When I saw Heima, I’d noted a number of the beautiful moments the four piece + strings had made together and I was hoping to hear equally as beautiful moments. In the end, I hardly even noticed the strings weren’t there.

There are shows that are magical and there are shows that are just shows, but are really good. This show started in the just-a-show range and by the end definitely had some specialness to it. During the gorgeously lit first song, where Jonsi et al. were backlit in green, I turned around and saw a couple hundred foot tall shadow version of Jonsi bowing away at his guitar projected on a thousand fans going up the seats on the hillside.

The lighting and sound were really good throughout. The lighting was rarely crazy (though the epilepsy strobes midway were a bit much), but it was appropriate. The sound was mixed well and it sounded huge. While it was loud, there was more to it than that, more space and size.

The band has played a lot at this point and it was obvious. This is certainly a benefit of gradually becoming bigger over 10 years. They were tight but could let loose at will. Their song selection was not always treading on their most well-known songs (they did play Glosoli and Svenf-g-englar), but took the audience through the ups and downs well.

Their dark, single song (“Von”? “Untitled 8″) encore[1] wasn’t enough for the audience and the band had to come out and group bow to quiet people down.

So, you’re probably asking, did it blow my mind? No, I left the same person as I entered, but I was thrilled, entertained and bolstered by the performance.

[1] No, I’m not mentioning the rain that started during the encore…Doh!

On Thursday, the N Judah was packed. In fact, it was slightly less packed than the first N that I couldn’t even get on, but it was still uncomfortably full. I guess that’s what you get for trying to catch a rush hour in-store show by an up and coming and upbeat British indie pop band like Noah and the Whale (myspace).

Amoeba’s oldie, prog and folk sections were filling with people in anticipation of the band’s in-store performance. The band entered the stage as a three-piece. Their drummer was, apparently, “critically…well, not actually critically, he’ll be fine” ill and they didn’t have any horn players or a female vocals (which is sometimes Laura Marling), so it was Charlie, the singer and guitarist; a harmonium and bassist and a violinist.

Their set was quite short, just 6ish short pop songs, but they played well and were personable and funny with their banter. It had been a cynical day for me and their upbeat pop songs didn’t manage to break through that as I’d hoped they would. They were still fun but I didn’t follow their breakdowns and false endings on tenterhooks as I had at SxSW. Obviously the band isn’t responsible for my mood; on the other hand there are some bands or albums (the Apples in stereo’s Tone Soul Evolution among them) that will find their way through any mood of mine, even if it takes a couple songs.

I saw Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling (myspace) for an early Sunday night show at the Cafe du Nord.

Laura Marling was up shortly after I got to du Nord. She was on guitar and vocals and her band consisted of upright bass, violin, drums, and a second guitar (or mandolin, depending on the song). I’d heard some of her stuff on recordings[1] and I wasn’t entirely sold. When she started playing though, I realized it was something different; I’m still not a raving fan but I enjoyed her set quite a bit. Her vocals were engaging and her band played well. Their live arrangements worked well in the setting.

Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit was up after a short break. I’ve been enjoying his album, A Larum, since I heard it and I’d been looking forward to his show. Johnny Flynn and his band, the Sussex Wit, mounted the short stage young and very British.

Starting as his album starts, with “The Box” and “The Wrote & the Writ”, I got a good and immediate feel for the performance–it was lively, engaging and both well orchestrated and well played. Johnny himself was on resonator guitar for most of the show, switching at times to violin and trumpet. The rest of the band covered bass, guitars, drums and, at times, keyboards and ukulele. The songs are varied, but consistent: while Flynn heaps praise on the new American folk movement, especially in New York, his songs all hearken back, in my mind at least, to older British Isles folk songs and ballads. While the band was certainly not blowing the roof off of the venue, the songs were lively and even the dark songs were fun to watch.

Their set, in the end, was quite short, possibly a result of being a young band and not having a backlog of material yet. After a quick encore, the band was done. Short sets can be satisfying, but this was not; I left wanting more. But better left wanting more than wanting less, I say.

[1] I’d also seen her sing back ups for Noah and the Whale but that hardly counts in this regard.