SHOW OF THE MONTH

Tokyo Decadence / Parasol /The Moanin’ Dove

Bottom of the Hill

San Francisco, CA

August 11, 2007

Bottom of the Hill hosted quite the local line-up with Oakland-based Tokyo Decadence opening the evening. Self described as glam-punk-soul rock, it was clear from their performance that Tokyo Decadence puts the emphasis mostly on the glam. Lead singer Felix Bergman decked himself out in a dapper suit, donning a thick rim of black makeup around his eyes, bouncing around the stage, trying to get the few audience members to dance. The rest of the band seemed to lack the enthusiasm of their lead singer, a contrast that ultimately reflected poorly on the overall performance. To end their set, they played a modified version of the Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha” including some spoken word and added profanities. Not exactly fitting for their image, but it made for a truly bizarre moment.

Parasol was a pleasant and welcomed surprise, immediately easing the awkwardness left in Decadence’s wake. Comprised of Mike Deni (guitar and vocals), Kacey Johansing (keys and vocals) and Nathan Blaz (cello), the local trio was joined by two guest players, and together showcased not only a collection of skilled musicians and cohesive instrumentation, but music that was provoking and intelligent with lyrics to match. Like a mix of Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Parasol’s melody is carefree to the ears but emotionally charged. However, the true foundation of their flawless sound is in the beautiful vocals of Deni and Johansing. Each show real, raw talent on their own, but their harmonizing together took it to another level that was utterly beautiful. The band’s set left many audience members gaping and whispering in awe at points and the large pile of free demo CDs on the merchandise table were gone by the time the third song was cued.

Celebrating the release of their second and newest EP, The Moanin’ Dove closed out the night with a bang. The truly innovative and experimental collective featuring Rob Shelton (Rhodes, melodica, piano, vocals), James Riotto (electric and upright bass, vocals) and Joshua Korr (drums) created bluesy, soulful rock melodies that inspired some intense moving and grooving from the audience, which had grown to near-capacity by this point. They played with an ease that oozed class and style, showcasing a musical maturity beyond their years. With no lead guitar present, the melodies came mostly from Shelton’s psychedelic, soul-infused keys, backed by Riotto’s infectious bass lines that sounded amazing coming from an upright. Parasol’s Johansing came on stage to share the keys with Shelton and lend her melting vocals to the mix. Sadly, this was the band’s last show in the Bay Area for a while, as The Moanin’ Dove are returning to their roots and relocating to the East Coast. After an already memorable performance, this made the night all the more meaningful.

-Review by Nicole Sheikh; photo by Joshua Uziel

Capitol Hill Block Party

Pike and Broadway

Seattle, WA

July 27-28, 2007

Sponsored by Esurance and the Washington Bus, this year’s Capitol Hill Block Party not only brought a mix of national and homegrown acts to the city streets, it provided a well-viewed soapbox for some progressive politics and discussion of issues like healthcare for musicians.

The Blakes wasted no time Thursday ripping Neumo’s to shreds with their three-piece garage rock swagger. Walking the line between raunchy and raw, the band showed the crowd a good time and was down on the floor spinning around by the end of its set. Right outside on the Main Stage, the bare-boned dance-punk duo Matt and Kim made up for their lack of instrumentation with a wellspring of pure, spastic joy and completely magnetized the crowd.

The Blood Brothers suffered a bit from the less then optimal outdoor sound and, though their ridiculously vigorous performance still translated, their screamed vocals often drowned out the music underneath. This didn’t stop the Seattle stalwarts from igniting a mosh pit with the lyrics “fire, fire, fire” though. Energetic and crazed, bloody and bruised, their music is rough enough to open sores — and probably did.

Up next, The Blue Scholars were right at home on the big stage performing mostly old favorites, with some songs off of Bayani mixed in. A highlight of their performance was when they used a sample from Green Day’s “Longview” under their song “Blue School.”

Returning to the Block Party for their second year in a row, Silversun Pickups headlined the main stage and closed out the day’s festivities with their shimmery distortion and catchy tension. Filling the headliner slot and packing the intersection beyond capacity, the Pickups showed just how far they had come since their day spot at last year’s event. The humility was still there though as well as an even more captivating performance, which featured a Pikul-flavored encore.

Meanwhile, for those who made it in, Friday night at Neumo’s was a hip-shaking hot mess, from the wailing Zeppelin guitar of Viva Voce to the blacked-out tooth on The Trucks‘ lead singer. Cancer Rising was stoked on the huge sweaty crowd and shot off a high-energy set of completely danceable NW hip-hop. The Trucks’s Le Tigre-esque sharp dance-rock doesn’t move a floor quite as well — but luckily the one-man laptop magician Girl Talk bumped it back up. With a stage full of fans grinding behind him and a room full of bumping fans at his feet, Gregg Gillis mixed up snippets of Top 40 and barely recognizable pop into the audio anti-Ritalin.

With the sun beating down on Seattle’s Pike/Pine corridor, the Saturday incarnation of the Block Party proved to be a hot collection of local performers and a handful of stunning national acts. Kicking of the day was the winner of The Stranger‘s Block Star Contest, PWRFL PWR. His amusing solo acoustic set was like refreshing lemonade in the summer heat, and he wowed the crowd with his dirty disco dance moves and a song about teaching a cute girl how to hold her chopsticks. Meanwhile on the Vera Stage, lesbian hip-hop duo Team Gina were kicking ass with their incredibly clever rhymes and symmetrical dance moves.

Introduced as the “King of Analog,” John Vanderslice began his set on the Main Stage with “Numbered Lithograph” off of his latest album Emerald City, and treated the crowd to a few other new tracks as well as classics like “Exodus Damage” and “Angela.” The San Francisco indie rocker was so delighted to be in Seattle that he promised to be there for the Block Party next year — and on the Fremont Bridge the following afternoon playing a song, should anyone want to come meet him.

Gabriel Teodros commanded his superlative set at Neumo’s with funky, bright beats and a positive, righteous message, commanding the stiff crowd to dance. Later in the evening at the Vera Stage, another hip-hop group, Dyme Def met the crowd with an undeniable swagger and energetic sound.

Spoon capped the evening with most of the songs from their new album. Their consistency and stage presence were remarkably engaging as they played hit after hit, and even though aural fatigue had set in for most of the crowd, Spoon still managed to captivate.

It was an exhausting weekend with so much happening in such a small timeframe, but most of the performers brought their game faces and kept the wandering crowds appeased.

-Review by Rob Bergquist, Kjersti Egerdahl and Katherine Hoffert; photos by Mark Calabro

Tartufi / Silian Rail /Sky Pilots / Low Red Land

Bottom of the Hill

San Francisco, CA

July 27, 2007

The folks at venerable Bay Area collective Thread Productions treated the crowd to a slew of San Franciscan talent at their dual CD release soiree for Sky Pilots’ Enjoy a Day Off and their own compilation Dragon Slayers Volume II.

Low Red Land kicked off the night with a meaty set of muscular, driving rock largely reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr.’s heyday classic, You’re Living All Over Me. Touched with the slightest bit of twang, their explosive performance featured bassist Ben Thorne and guitarist Neil Thompson sharing vocal duties in a moody meshing of Alice in Chains-style harmonies. Thompson’s willowy, nasal voice easily suggested Neil Young, while Thorne’s raspy, guttural groan evoked hardcore influences. The pairing of their vocal styles created excellent tension against the backdrop of Mark DeVito’s thunderous drumming. Low Red Land rocked harder live than their recordings suggest — their countrified souls wrapped in beguiling layers of vintage flannel grunge drive.

Riding Low Red Land’s wake, Sky Pilots ripped through the evening’s second slot with a sonic boom of acrobatic rock moves and blazing guitar chops. Guitarist Patrick Wachter’s riffs lit up the night, alternately soaring to heights of prog-rock excess and crash landing into angular, post-punk staccato within the scope of concise, three minute engagements. Their irreverent singing, courtesy of Wachter and bassist Mark Chopko, was decidedly rough and idiosyncratic — like Cedric Bixler-Zavala trying to sound like Mark E. Smith. But this element found its place in their sound, as Sky Pilots’ blend of skill, energy, and coarse eccentricities made theirs the set of the evening.

Silian Rail took the stage next, with a beguilingly straightforward duet on acoustic guitars. This was a calm prelude to a shimmering sonic galaxy of Mogwai-like guitar noise held together by the gravitational pull of Erik Kuhn’s drumming. In an evening adorned with a constellation of bright drummers, Kuhn was a supernova on the order of Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier. And like Deerhoof, Silian Rail appeared to approach their instrumental set like a conversation — albeit at times, a bit of a one-sided one. While exciting to watch, Kuhn’s percussive attack often encroached on the fuzzy, melodic leads and loops supplied by guitarist Robin Landy. Their best moments came when they distilled their dazzling ambience into tight, rocking codas.

As the hour grew late, Tartufi soldiered on in the face of a thinning crowd, performing Lynne Angel’s live-sample-based prog over the backbone of Brian Gorman’s spastic drumming. Angel’s triple-tracked voice howled through delay loops like the ghost of Michael Stipe’s youth, over the incremental addition/subtraction of bass and guitar textures. For a band that touts the electrifying math rock of Battles as an influence,

Tartufi’s approach was solid, but rather sedate.

-Review and photo by Andres Jauregui

Thee More Shallows / Subtle

Great American Music Hall

San Francisco, CA

August 11, 2007

Los Altos Hills college radio station KFJC presented Thee More Shallows and Subtle to an eager crowd at the always-charming Great American Music Hall and throughout the course of the evening, both bands asserted their gift at remaining liberated from the constraints of genre.

Opening the night with distortion-saturated slowcore, Thee More Shallows tramped over some of the same musical soil Low fixed their eyes on with The Great Destroyer. But their propensity for electronic experimentation ceased any further comparisons, and the Shallows’ performance pushed the noise-tinkering on their own latest album, Book of Bad Breaks, even further. When lead singer Dee Kesler plunged into the electronic vapor of “Oh Yes, Another Mother,” he flashed Cheshire Cat grins and crossed his eyes, while sampled violins darted out from underneath droning synthesizers. The song almost teetered toward noise rock before the drums dropped it back into its final understated chorus. The buoyant single “Night at the Knight School” proved to be the underlining triumph of the trio’s short set, which at times sounded waterlogged by distortion. The torrential din was shut out though by the umbrella of cavernous drums and surging guitars on this song about a college student who concentrates on his aching tooth to stay awake.

After all the oscillating keyboard loops and xylophone solos ended, it was time for Adam Drucker (Doseone) and his band to emerge onto a stage setup that sort of yelled “subtle.” Along with the huge red forks that hung from the walls and the hand-painted red tongues which flicked up towards Jel’s drum pad station Doseone’s sample board, a half-eviscerated bust with a striped head and removable skullcap was positioned to oversee the stage. As the swirling chants of “Nomanisisland” congealed into a perfect opening song, Doseone ruptured the tumult with the mysterious lines, “Darwin’s bones wheeled on a hook / To the edge of a cumulous cloud / Peering down just eating you up and loving your nature to death.”

As Subtle’s set progressed, wistful electric cello jutted up against serrated guitar and luminous flute as Jordan Dalrymple’s hollow cymbals jolted forward creating a sinister and languid post-industrial landscape. The night never became too heavy with gloom though, thanks to Doseone’s penchant for jerky miming, actually engaging tangents in between songs, and inner city shaman/stand-up comedian persona.

The true hallmark of the evening, Doseone caused the audience to move from sheer bewilderment to utter glee. He fronts a band that plays some of the tightest and frenetic sets on the circuit today, and his quick wit and rapping meshed well with his beguiling and smooth charisma.

-Review by Kyle Lemmon; photo by Luke Judd

PDX Pop Now! Festival

AudioCinema

Portland, OR

August 3-5, 2007

For the fourth year, lovers of local music joined together to put on PDX Pop Now!, a showcase of Portland’s newest talent, all voted upon by the local community. Completely free and all-ages, the three-day event featured everything from dreamy solo acts to prog metal experimentation, in addition to showcasing its new venue AudioCinema. Half the bands played inside on a big white wooden stage, and the other half played out on the street under the Hawthorne Bridge (with surprisingly high-quality sound).

Friday kicked off with teenage orchestra Typhoon and ended with a postmodern marching band March Fourth Marching Band. The rest of the musicians to perform throughout the day were either DIY acts or members of celebrated Portland bands trying on their solo hats. The married two-piece Hey Lover performed a midday set, doing their usual milieu of minimalist punk songs, making up for their lack of instrumentation by playing as hard and loud as they possibly could. Self-professed white-boy rapper Braille stepped out from Lightheaded to show his solo chops. Khaela Maricich ended the day by showing off her techno dance moves as The Blow. Interspersing her performance with interesting anecdotes and histories behind the songs, she gave her set much more of an intimate feel despite the hundreds of people in attendance.

Saturday opened up at noon with psychedelic rock band The Pink Snowflakes and rolled along through mellower solo artists like Brian Mumford under the moniker Dragging an Ox Through Water and Corrina Repp, as well as heavier fare from bands like art-metal group ArestiA and heavily danceable Celtic-rock act The Maybe Happenings. The biggest midday highlight was Point Juncture , WA, though bright orange-clad Anne Adams, fronting a very interpretive set with her band Per Se, was memorable to say the least. Rounding out Saturday’s full day of music, the unassuming trio Swim Swam Swum slipped onto the outdoor stage quietly, but quickly ripped into a set filled with short, loud indie rock. Before anyone could catch their breath, the six-strong hip-hop group, Hungry Mob took over, with Mic Crenshaw spitting out empowering, angry rhymes over his backing band’s subtle funk rhythms. Inside the emphasis was on whipping the capacity crowd into a sweaty frenzy and leading the attack was Black Elk, a magnesium-grade hardcore band that, technical difficulties notwithstanding, stretched their vocal chords and strings to the limit. As great as Black Elk were though, the night belonged to Copy. This one-man electronica act may not be the most dynamic stage performer (he spent the majority of his all too short set hunched over a laptop), but he turned the crowd mashed up to the front of the stage into a mass of dancing bodies and shaking hips.

Sunday featured a continuing balance between the solo and the ensemble, with NWA-inspired rapper Libretto performing early on, and later featuring groups like Blue Skies for Black Hearts and Ape Shape. One of the biggest highlights of the daytime hours was Gejius, the techno performer who complemented his sound with video and smoke. Laura Gibson delivered a coffee shop-styled set, her music energetic in its own right, but mellow in comparison to lively adjacent acts like The Shaky Hands. The Robot Ate Me, a sleepy but certainly eccentric solo electronic performance gave the comparatively homogenous night some variety. Then the latest band to break out of the city, Blitzen Trapper took it home, finishing off the weekend with a spark of classic countrified rock.

It’s hard to find any city more teeming with DIY culture than Portland, and this festival was a true testament to the city’s supportive and thriving local music community.

-Review by Bonwell Parker and Bob Ham; photo by Ilan Laks

Sunset Junction Street Festival

Sunset Boulevard & Santa Monica Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA

August 18-19, 2007

The mecca of L.A.’s indie music scene can be traced down Sunset Boulevard as it cuts through neighborhoods Silver Lake and Echo Park. What better place to celebrate the area’s breakouts than Sunset Junction? Now in its 27th year, the festival has grown to include bigger names both locally and nationwide.

Saturday started out with rising locals Division Day who played tracks from both their EP The Mean Way In and latest album Beartrap Island. The band kept a more reserved tone, though songs like “Bad Black Moon” gave frontman Rohner Segnitz a chance to belt out his slick vocals from behind the keyboard. However, the most enthusiasm undoubtedly came from drummer Kevin Lenhart who, with bright eyes and a mouth open in excitement, swirled his head to his heavy cymbals and thick beats.

Energy was then kicked into high gear thanks to the upbeat anthems of The Parson Red Heads. With a stage of flowers, handmade signs, and The Parsons’ own interpretive runner, the band created an atmosphere for good times. Lead singer Evan Way pitied the sweltering crowd, saying “I wish you could be up here with us. It would be a lot more comfortable and fun.”

Sea Wolf frontman Alex Church proceeded to stir up a larger crowd at the main stage with his own Elvis-like shakes and sways behind the guitar. Though shouts for single “You’re a Wolf” were constant during the set, Sea Wolf was able to play songs like “Black Dirt” off its new full length Leaves in the River. Further accompaniment by a full band, including cellist Aniela Perry, gave each song more of a moody flare than they have on the album.

Blonde Redhead and Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals ended the evening with a packed crowd.

Sunday’s heat seemed increasingly worse though, taking a toll on early band The Movies. The usually charismatic members did their best to entertain with slightly more of a struggle in their spins and kicks as they sang songs like “When I Was In Nam.” Still it was a memorable moment for the band as singer Tim James pointed to a building, only steps away from the stage, where he first lived in L.A.

Another band with neighborhood pride was Airborne Toxic Event who even had a song titled “Silver Lake.” This five member group rolled in with big waves of guitars from the charismatic Noah Harmon and clashing drums from Daren Taylor. Mikel Jollet sang songs of daily life and love like “Papillon,” and Anna Bulbrook musically dueled on her violin with Harmon, who often played guitar with his own bow. Steven Chen played solemnly in the background shifting to keyboard for the band’s final song “Innocence.”

Towards the end of the festival, the acts got bigger in name and louder in sound. Hot Hot Heat, promoting their upcoming album Happiness LTD, were led by Steve Bays who could barely stay in one place to play keyboard. The Buzzcocks followed with a frenzy of punk anger and joy that really riled the crowd. Ending the festival, She Wants Revenge had a more seductive energy. Mixing crowd favorites with new songs, the band was the prime example of how the neighborhood has aided in the growing music scene. Its members made sure to thank the local clubs and fans that helped inspire and promote their music from the start. As Adam 12 concluded, “The final milestone for us is Sunset Junction.”