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.
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.)
On sale now/ Thursday October 9:
11/21 Rodney Crowell @ Bimbo’s
12/12 CSS @ Bimbo’s
12/26 Particle (w/ Phil Lesh & Michael Kang), EOTO @ Great American
On sale Friday October 10:
12/7 Aimee Mann @ Bimbo’s
On sale Saturday October 11:
11/18 Usher @ Warfield
12/12 Nine Inch Nails @ ARCO Arena
On sale Sunday October 12:
11/7 Thriving Ivory, The Trophy Fire @ Slim’s
11/12 John Hiatt & The Ageless Beauties, Ben Taylor @ Herbst Theatre
11/20 Rocky Dawuni, Native Elements @ the Independent
11/26 Lyrics Born @ the Independent
12/2 Bryan Adams @ Palace of Fine Arts
12/3 Kid Sister @ The Independent
12/7 Jonathan Richman, The Felix Dukes @ Great American
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!
Horse Feathers is almost nothing like the screwball early Marx movie they’re presumably named after. In the last few weeks, Justin Ringle, Peter Broderick et al.’s album of melancholy and meticulously gorgeous indie folk has hit me with some gravity.
With a heavy blanket of melancholy over the record, the people behind Horse Feathers split their energies between interesting and full-but-not-overreaching orchestration, distinctive and breathy vocals, and just plain good songwriting. It’s unusual for an indie folk band to succeed at all three of these as well as this band does. The resulting album is consistent across the board, more in feel, quality and sound than particular instrumentation. While not having a completely new sound, that doesn’t stop this album from being really good.
If you like gorgeous folk, then this album is for you. If you don’t, well, The Hold Steady released something not that long ago.
The band is in the extended area twice this week. They’re in Santa Cruz Tuesday at the Crepe Place and on Wednesday there’s this show that I’ll be attending:
Yup, this one’s a bit late. I actually had it mostly done a few weeks ago, but just as I was going to wrap things up on it last week, life got hectic.
You can download the zip file with the following:
1. mp3s of the songs
2. liner notes (pdf)
3. playlist files (iTunes txt file and an m3u file)
(for the iTunes file, simply import all the songs to your library and then go to File->import and then select the song list (the txt file). you should now have the 2008september playlist in your iTunes with all the songs in the correct order).
Go ahead and check out the liner notes. It’s pretty varied, some folk stuff, some electro-indie, some instrumental, etc.
If you like the artists or songs, I suggest supporting them by buying their music, going to a show, buying merchandise from them or at least telling other people about them.
The playlist:
Tom Thumb Gypsy Curse
Sarah Siskind Lovin’s For Fools
Alias (featuring the One AM Radio) Weathering
Silian Rail Drunken Boat
Man/ Miracle Pushing and Shoving
Denison Whitmer Have You Forgotten
Benoit Pioulard Brown Bess
Electric President Ether
Dosh Hit and Pearls
Burbank International Laudanum
Damien Jurado Last Rites
Johnny Flynn The Ghost of O’Donahue
the Lightning Bug Situation Kris Duggan
Toromiro Intervals
Yo La TengoAshley
[1] If you’re having trouble with the rapidshare link, here’s what you do, step-by-step. 1) Click on the link. 2) scroll down and click “FREE” 3) wait till the counter gets to zero 4) enter the letters in their graphic into the box 5) click “download”
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.
Song obsessions are those songs that we listen to on repeat. I noticed that my obsessions are often a week long. I also thought that other people might have similar obsessions. I’ve collected a panel of a few like-minded individuals and gotten their “song obsessions of the week.” Quite often it’s easy to explain why the song is good; it’s much hard to explain why we’re obsessed. Maybe you’ll become obsessed with one of these.
Since I saw Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling last Sunday I’ve been listening to quite a bit of Johnny Flynn, but it was a hectic few days until I had a chance to listen to the tour only split 7″ they were selling. I played through the Laura Marling side–it was good–and then flipped it to Flynn’s side and it was another experience entirely. And I couldn’t get enough. Four straight plays that night, then I had to start the next day with it as well. Before I knew it I was playing the song in my head throughout the day, even while physically listening to other things.
I’m a sucker for old Anglo-Irish folk ballad-sounding songs. Combine that with the quirky “ah ha” background vocals, the compelling melody on the lead vocals and pleasing fingerpicking and you have a lot of the reason why I couldn’t get enough of this. A strong sense of melancholy throughout also helps plenty.
The song I’m actually obsessed with is only available on a split single, so instead I’ll pick another early effort by the same band. Pony Up dropped the ! from their name for their debut album, but unfortunately that’s not all they dropped. Instead of fun songs about inconsequential romantic affairs and obsessions they applied the standard weighty relationship woes trope. Here’s an early example of this girl group’s bountiful charms, too bad it’s a path they’re unlikely to tread again.
this song sounds happy and secure enough with itself to admit it…it seems to lack the subtext of irony that lots of twee uses to retreat from the vulnerability of happiness.
On sale Friday October 3:
11/16 The (International) Noise Conspiracy @ Bottom of the Hill
12/3 Oasis, Ryan Adams @ Oracle Arena
1/9 Ron White @ San Jose Center for the Performing Arts
On sale Sunday October 5:
10/20 Butch Walker @ The Independent
11/9 Abjah, Volcano, Danny I, Tuff Lion @ The Independent
11/19 Jon McLaughlin, Delta Goodrem @ Great American
11/23 Sponge, RubberSideDown @ The Independent
11/28 Benevento/Russo Duo @ The Independent
12/5 The Morning Benders @ Rickshaw Stop
12/7 MeShell Ndegeocello, The Coup @ The Fillmore
12/26 Particle (w/ Michael Kang), special guests EOTO @ Great American
12/30, 12/31 ALO, Big Light (12/30) @ The Independent
1/16 Loudon Wainwright III, Jill Sobule @ Great American
Double check all information as venues and promoters often change on-sale times and days up until the last minute.
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.
Inevitably it happens. On the street or at work or at some social gathering: “What’s that shirt about?” “Oh, it’s a band.” This happens a lot.
Even after I pruned my t-shirt collection down by about a dozen shirts last year and earlier this year (and my parents chucking a few dozen when they moved last year), I still have far too many. And a lot of them are rock shirts. I like giving artists money and sometimes I already have their album so I’ll get their t-shirt. Or sometimes it’s just an amazing design and I really want it.
Anyway, I wanted to catalog my shirts here; these are all the music related shirts I have as of the end of September 2008. I didn’t do anything fancy to take photos of them, just hung them up on hanger and snapped a shot. And, yes, some of them are a bit wrinkled.
bands
shirt: Pedro the Lion w/ blurry blue photo
stock: white Hanes heavy weight 50/50, L
when/ where obtained: concert in Cambridge, Ma, 2001?
—
shirt: Soft Drugs circle
stock: grey American Apparel, L
when/ where obtained: Undertow webshop, 2007?
—
shirt: Centro-matic hawk
stock: grey Gildman heavy cotton, L
when/ where obtained: at SxSW (Friends bar), March 2008
—
shirt: Laura Veirs, Saltbreakers
stock: blue/ navy American Apparel 3/4 sleeve baseball, M
when/ where obtained: concert, June 2007, Cafe du Nord
With Hardly Strictly Bluegrass approaching, I thought this might be a good time to step back and explain a little bit about the differences between old-timey, bluegrass and folk musics. With things like the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack mixing the three fluidly, it’s not always obvious.
I’m speaking with some amount of generality here. This is more of a primer than an in-depth look at the differences.
Old-timey: Old-time music is a pretty general genre of music mostly from the Appalachian mountains, though music from the Ozarks and other regions is referred to as old time as well. It’s largely derived from Scottish, Irish and English influences, but the banjo, on which much of the music is played, and some of the rhythmic components come have their origins in Africa.
Tunes can be with or without vocals. The instrumentation is varied: from acapella vocals to a full set of string band instruments, but typically, it may have fiddle or banjo and guitar. The banjo may be played clawhammer and the guitar flat-or-finger-picked.
Vocals are often solo (without harmonies). The instrumental melody line is often carried in one instrument throughout while the other play chords or all are in unison. The harmonic structure is often modal rather than following chord progression as such.
Bluegrass: Bluegrass music is a fairly modern invention, dating from the late 1940s. While it hasn’t always been popular, it is pop music in that it’s been recorded for and broadcast to the masses essentially since its inception.
Bluegrass songs usually have vocals characterized by strong harmonies (especially the high vocal line). While the instruments are similar to old-timey, their function differs: instruments trade off the melody and soloing between vocals lines. They switch roles (lead, backing) rather than being more constant throughout.
The guitar is usually flat-picked and the banjo is usually played Scruggs-style (or three-finger style). Songs follow a more pop song structure (verse, chorus, bridge) than old-timey music.
Folk music Folk music has a lot of different connotations for different people.
My teacher George Ruckert gave me the best definition of folk music that I have heard. According to this definition, a song must have:
anonymous authorship
multiple versions
I’m not talking about Folk revival or folk rock or indie folk, but folk, in it’s most broad and most original sense. It’s also a sense which doesn’t preclude music from around the world–Japan or India or Senagal can equally have folk music in this definition.
As such, folk can overlap both old-timey or bluegrass music, though bluegrass tends to have a lot more composed songs.
A good example of an American folk song is “John Henry”. It seems no one knows where the song came from or if the earliest version of it were in song or in written form–though if you follow balladry, we know that stories like Robin Hood were mostly passed down by song. As you can hear below, there are many versions of this song. It’s important to note that while these versions sound different, the songs are also different in content and lyrics. In fact, in ballad study, like the Child Ballads, song versions are only cataloged by lyrics.
The soundtrack to my lunch (taco de pollo) with friend at La Taqueria this afternoon was a Brazilian-style bateria across the street at the Mission Cultural Center. They were really great and kept up their engaging polyrhythms for quite a while. It was an unexpected musical experience. Now if they can only play every day.
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Posted in SF bay area, live review, photos by adrian at 6:31 pm
an EP with the song)
