SHOW OF THE MONTH

Treasure Island Music Festival

Treasure Island, CA

September 15-16, 2007

The inaugural Treasure Island Music Festival, jointly presented by Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment, featured something more than music. The festival's picturesque location delivered beautiful panoramas of the Bay Bridge, Golden Gate and the city skyline (especially from the large ferris wheel), while bringing live music back to the island - a treasure missing since 1998's Blues & Art on the Bay Festival.

Saturday's sets featured an eclectic mix of world and electronic music - sometimes featured at the same stage. An early surprise hit came with the L.A.-based Dengue Fever, on the main Bridge Stage. Their set fused breezy '60s Cambodian grooves, entrancing vocals from lead singer Chhom Nimol, and soggy electronics from a Farfisa organ.

Oakland's Zion I, the festival's main hip-hop act, put on a grand show on the Bridge Stage. The set featured DJ Khalid Aalim supplying beats from a PSP. The show ironically was stopped due to a power outage when Zion I got to the "hip-hop and you don't stop" part of their free-styling on "Luv." They followed the song's advice.

The S.F. soul experimenters Honeycut put on a danceable set across the lawn at the smaller Tunnel Stage. The dreamy "Exodus Honey" and falsetto funk-soul of "Tough Kid" got the bodies moving. On the same stage the one-man electro pop band, Kid Beyond, looped, beatboxed and sang his way into the hearts of the audience.

Soon after Kid Beyond finished his set, London-native M.I.A. put on Saturday's most rousing show. With her rebel-leader chutzpah blasted her particular brand of ramshackle, world sampling hip-hop grooves that bordered on dub at times. L.A.'s West Indian Girl continued the lean towards world music with their trippy psychedelic pop at the Tunnel Stage.

Sunday's indie rock-oriented lineup had many highlights as well. Trainwreck Riders and Two Gallants shuffled through some Americana dust. Two Gallants came out on top with songs from their new self-titled effort. Hailing from the current Mecca for indie music, Portland's M. Ward continued to reign supreme with his folk songs while nodding his hat to John Fahey.

Sea Wolf deftly presented his delicate brand of indie pop, which squarely put him in line as the West Coast's answer to Matt Pond PA. The Silver Lake band completed their Tunnel Stage set with mournful cello accompaniment on songs like the semi-eponymous single "You're A Wolf" and the pensive "The Garden That You Planted."

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah worked the large afternoon crowd into frenzy with their indie rock electronic fits on the Bridge Stage right after the Santa Cruz natives Devil Makes Three twanged out some '30s bluegrass tunes with shards of punk veracity. Their true shining moments were the acoustic saloon stomp of "Bangor Mash" and the shuffling slur of "Saint James."

In between the two indie rock flag wavers Built to Spill and Modest Mouse, the San Francisco shoegaze outfit Film School blasted through some atmospheric tunes. Modest Mouse ultimately left some disappointed by sticking to songs from their new album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, though all in all they were a fitting cap to the island's sonic festivities.

Thankfully plans for the 2nd annual Treasure Island Music Festival are underway, according to this year's organizers.

-Review by Kyle Lemmon; photo by Joshua Uziel

The Morning Benders / The Deadly Syndrome / Panda

Café du Nord

San Francisco, CA

September 13, 2007

Café du Nord drew a slightly younger crowd for a Thursday show and those taking advantage of the all-ages admittance undoubtedly present to see opening act Panda. The members of the Oakland-based indie rock band appeared to be barely out of high school themselves. But appearances aside, Panda has a lot going for them. They bring excellent instrumentation to the stage, particularly lead guitarist Jonny Flannes, a young Jimi Hendrix in the making not afraid to completely lose control during a guitar solo. Lead singer Petros Anastos-Prastacos' jovial energy and bouncy vocals kept the crowd going, and the band even took a break between songs to let drummer Louie Diller deliver an intense solo of his own. Panda finished off its performance with a cover of The Beatles' "I Want You," dedicated to all the "adults in the audience." The upside of being young - boundless energy - shined through for Panda and made for an unrestrained and highly entertaining live performance.

Next up was L.A.'s The Deadly Syndrome, who just dropped their new album The Ortolan only two days prior to the show. Projecting a very cohesive and experienced stage presence, The Deadly Syndrome's songs boasted a varied sound that experimented with different moods and styles, incorporating some elements of folk, but always remaining true to indie rock. They supplemented their softer songs with accordion and glockenspiel, adding a nice touch to their already enjoyable blend of instrumentation. During the more upbeat songs, several audience members spontaneously started to crowd surf - a rarity at Café du Nord. The only major disappointment was the band's extremely short set lasting all of 28 minutes.

The final band to grace the stage was The Morning Benders, another local act hailing from Berkeley. After seeing The Morning Benders live it comes as no surprise that these guys have shared the stage with the likes of Brightblack Morning Light and Yo La Tengo. They produce a sound that is not only beyond their years, but very eclectic, drawing from chords and melodies of slow jams and poppy hits from the '50s and '60s, melded with some psych-rock and reverb-heavy guitar riffs. Case in point is the insanely catchy and clever "Damnit Anna," that had the audience clapping their hands and carelessly hopping about the room. Most impressive perhaps was lead singer Chris Chu who, despite having a young face, has matured and steady vocals similar to Julian Casablancas on The Strokes' first album Is This It. This is definitely a band to keep an eye on, and one that will be headed for indie stardom in no time if they play their cards right. In the end though, each band delivered excellent performances to which the audience replied with a resounding "Hell yes!"

-Review by Nicole Sheikh; photo by Luke Judd

Two Gallants / Blitzen Trapper / Songs For Moms

Crocodile Cafe

Seattle, WA

September 19, 2007

For the amount of focus put on performance and spectacle, there is no substitute for virtuoso or crafty songwriting. These qualities were on display in abundance at the Crocodile Café in Seattle when Two Gallants shared the bill with Blitzen Trapper and Songs For Moms in what proved to be an ideal ticket for audience and band members alike.

The night began with Oakland's Songs For Moms, an energetic all-female trio who eschewed a fanciful stage show for a no frills set of rockabilly-tinged pop/rock. Beyond anything else, this was fun music. The roving bass-lines were expertly played and got the scant crowd dancing, especially during a song about their experiences at the Rock Camp for Girls.

Next on the ticket was the almost schizophrenic Portland band Blitzen Trapper, whose stylistic approach is akin to a blender-spun mix of Pavement, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and Lynrd Sknyrd. Though they were somewhat hindered by the acoustics of the Croc, their engaging live show - which featured six scruffy men bouncing around onstage, often singing in four-part vocal harmonies - propelled their sometimes bluegrass, sometimes country, sometimes rock sound to another stratosphere. Most impressive was the tandem of their "Wild Mtn. Jam" and titular track from Wild Mountain Nation, which saw the band range from an extremely conservative front porch, whiskey swiller to out-right rock with funky stop/starts.

Two Gallants' performance is where the virtuoso really came into play. It's hard to believe that it takes only two musicians to create the intense sound that singer/guitarist Adam Stephens and drummer Tyson Vogel make - in a live setting few artists so deftly electrify a room. Vogel's ability to make up for the lack of bass guitar with just a simple drum kit is unparalleled, and watching the complex arrangements Stephens plays as he relentlessly pours his soul out through the microphone is dazzling.

It's no wonder that the bands have booked two months worth of shows all over the country together, because one would be extremely hard-pressed to find a bill that offered a better matched lineup. Not only was there something for everyone, but the concert felt like a whole.

-Review by Rob Bergquist; photo by Fel Pajimula

Musicfest NW

Various Venues

Portland, OR

September 6-9, 2007

Well over 100 bands converged on Portland in early September for the city's most prominent musical hullabaloo, Musicfest NW. This year saw an extra day added, Nike-sponsored free shows by Cat Power, Bobby Bare Jr. (backed by members of The Decemberists) and Ghostface Killah, as well as the premiere of About a Son, a film about Kurt Cobain.

Thursday's Crystal Ballroom show offered a performance by the little married duo that could, Viva Voce. The band has become one of the city's most reliable live pleasures, as their euphoric, big psych-guitar performances are as immediate as classic rock but without the arrogance or clichés. They were followed by Spoon, whose leader Britt Daniel is now based in Portland. Spoon has class and style - their rhythmically taut songs were both melodic and propulsive and the addition of a horn section on "The Underdog" and "Someone Something" emphasized their subtle R&B influences.

The bar was set high early Friday night and the tiny, sleek Tube venue could not contain the raging behemoth that is Seattle's Bloodhag. The quartet, all decked out in white shirts, ties and glasses, charged through a ferocious, balls-out set of songs about sci-fi and fantasy authors including H.P. Lovecraft, Lewis Carroll and Anne McCaffrey. Their banter was both funny and informative and provided one of the best lines of the night, as lead singer Prof. J.B. Stratton mentioned McCaffrey's Ireland castle: "Do any of you motherfuckers own a castle in Ireland?"

The evening's big show was a sold-out performance by recent Spin cover stars Rilo Kiley. Bolstered by two additional musicians, the enthusiastically-received quartet sounded crisp, confident and full-bodied.

On Saturday, White Rainbow (Adam Forkner) quietly took the Satyricon stage, alternating between guitar, hand drum, effects pedals and the occasional vocals. He worked like a DJ, building an expansive, swirling, throbbing song that went on for nearly 20 minutes before ending abruptly. It was the entire set and, though intriguing, Forkner barely interacted with the crowd and it felt more like an experiment than a show. The next act, however, sweated for and earned the fest's spirit award. YACHT (a.k.a. Jona Bechtolt) also played alone, backed by his simple, infectious, sometimes cheesy beats. Though usually classified as electro pop, his sweaty, enthusiastic set incorporated hip-hop, video game sounds, punk, and DFA-style dance music and was inseparable from Bechtolt's gleefully spazzy dancing and showmanship - which included diving into the crowd and throwing himself backwards into a drum set.

Up at the Crystal, Beaverton's finest indie duo The Helio Sequence previewed songs from their forthcoming album, and played favorites such as "Don't Look Away." Like Viva Voce, they create a big, widescreen sound with only two musicians. They moved from bright, bubbling pop to longer, spacey songs, always retaining a locked groove and a kaleidoscopic creativity.

The Helio Sequence were followed by The Thermals, still riding high on their 2006 album, The Body, The Blood, The Machine. Surrounded by large prop trees, the trio launched into their bracing, politically-charged garage punk, which whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Cementing their link with the Northwest's rich musical legacy, they covered songs by Built to Spill ("Big Dipper"), Dead Moon ("Graveyard"), and The Wipers. They left everyone satisfied and exhausted, a fitting cap to another great festival.

-Review by Lukas Sherman; photo by Vanessa Crock

One Trick Pony / The Transmissions / Death to Anders / The Health Club

Spaceland

Los Angeles, CA

September 13, 2007

Spaceland's deep blue lights offset the moody vibe of the performances this Thursday night. Showcasing three of the five Central Second Collective bands alongside local headliner The Health Club, the night had a friendly, community feel.

One Trick Pony opened the neighborhood lineup with a mix of jazzy sentimental tunes. As Charlene Huang provided tragic sorrows on her violin, Randolph Williams truly carried the set with his hypnotic and complicated guitar rhythms and soaring vocals, reminiscent of Jeff Buckley. Simple drumbeats from Jen Matos kept the momentum moving but gave center stage to the strings and poignant lyrics like, "He has been robbed of his desire / Here comes the blood / Chimneys afire."

The Transmissions, credited for putting the show together, had their own spin on alternative dark anthems. Showcasing a screen made of balloons where they projected aged images of everything from news reels to family movies, the band soundtracked the film with singer Christian Biel's squealing vocals, blending alternative rock with experimental sounds. Guitarist Jeff David Harris stood stoically still until switching to drums. Meanwhile Biel became caught up in the music himself, dancing on his knees as he convulsed to the pulsing electronic rock.

Death to Anders had a more straightforward approach to their indie jams. Jumping off the impressive bass of Pete DiBiasio and John Broeckel's dark drums, Rob Danson and Nick Ceglio created bluesy guitar riffs. The band mixed various genres into their fast-paced rock sound including a strong Elliott Smith influence. This was most notable in the waltzy "Dark Bathrooms" which bore hints of Smith's "Waltz No. 2" whispered throughout. Splitting the vocals between Danson and Ceglio, Death to Anders played almost all new songs about to be recorded, but closed with crowd favorite "Africa." Fans and friends shouted along "dadadadada" with Danson as the band ended its set on a high note.

As the clock passed midnight, The Health Club sounded off with drummer Gabriel Montez's gym whistle and were off and running. Katya Arce danced around the somewhat empty stage strutting her bass with pride as Gerard Fortich took lead guitar and shared simultaneous, pokerfaced lead vocals with Montez. Arce joked with the audience that she was making up bass parts on the spot while Fortich continually requested more reverb, adding that touch of vigor to their juvenile garage band style. As the show was brought to a close and a new day began, The Health Club had both the crowd and even the other bands dancing and begging for more.

-Review by Megan Clinard; photo by Julia Alty

Tempo No Tempo / Aria C. Jalali / Timothy Rabbit

Rickshaw Stop

San Francisco, CA

September 5, 2007

This Wednesday night throw-down at San Francisco's Rickshaw Stop offered a few surprises - some better than others - in a diverse array of musical entertainment.

Playing first, Timothy Rabbit shuffled into a whispery set of acoustic guitar complimented by thoughtful, bittersweet lyrics evocative of songsmith Conor Oberst. Like Oberst, Timothy Rabbit adeptly channels heartbreak into pleasurable bedroom balladry with an adamant fidelity to strong vocal melodies. And while he did not stray far from themes of love, loss and longing, an occasional sarcastic inflection spiced Rabbit's material with an in-joke of experience that rounded out his twee charm.

If Timothy Rabbit brought the show into the bedroom, the evening's second act, Bay Area multi-instrumental talent Aria C. Jalali, faced the challenge of bringing his bedroom project to the stage. Jalali's recordings to date have been a product of expert overdubbing. His luminous, fuzzed-out arrangements of guitars, synthesizers and percussion boast an obsessive attention to detail that is undoubtedly difficult to replicate live. But it's equally difficult to reconcile how someone so detail oriented would allow himself to be blown off course by enlisting a band that at best appeared to have rehearsed a fraction of the songs performed. Most at-blame among Jalali's wayward crew was his second guitarist, who despite a fistful of antics could not decide whether to clap his hands, scream into his microphone, or attempt to play a sloppy lead. It's cohesion, not talent, that Jalali's band lacked, but beware - especially this early in the game, it's easy to see how a listener might not be able to distinguish between the two.

The crowd had thinned by the time the final act took the stage, but those who remained flooded to the front of the room to revel in the danceable post-punk swagger of Tempo No Tempo. While it's hard to avoid comparisons to other dancey rock groups like The Killers or Interpol, Tempo No Tempo benefited from two distinct frontmen with different voices, styles and stage personalities. On keys and vocals, Chris Cadena served as a suave and sexy compliment to vocalist/guitarist Tyler McCauley's lively, geeky charisma. If disco rock still makes waves, it's because of bands like Tempo No Tempo. With a set's worth of pumping beats and a boisterous cover of Peaches' "Fuck the Pain Away" to close the night, is it any surprise?

An eclectic mix on any night, this mid-week show was notable for highlighting the strengths - and weaknesses - of up and coming Bay Area talent.

-Review by Andres Jauregui; photo by RC Rivera

Halleluwah Festival

Holocene

Portland, OR

August 31-September 2, 2007

Although a few music gatherings come close, none seem to push the envelope as far as Portland's Halleluwah Festival. Organized and curated by music writer Mike McGonigal and booking agent Chantelle Hylton, the 2007 Halleluwah Festival was as diverse and enthralling as its debut last year, bringing in some top-notch acts from outside of Portland including Califone, Dark Meat and Bowerbirds, while putting the spotlight mainly on homegrown talent.

Because the festival's original venue, Disjecta, closed down early this year, the organizers' job was even tougher. With the space constraints of its new home at Holocene, the festival was stretched out to three days, the number of bands booked lowered considerably, and the readings and film screenings had to be done before the bands took over. Luckily, they wisely booked like-minded acts together giving a distinct flow to each evening.

For example, Friday night's focus was on rhythm, which most acts created with machines. The Beauty, a trio of gents who sing neo-soul over prerecorded beats, kept themselves in constant motion, performing their entire set in front of the stage and working the crowd like a tent revival. The Blow, once a duo but now just Khaela Maricich, took a pop approach to its electro anthems of broken hearts. They sort of undermined the momentum of the night, though, turning a rock show into more of a one-woman theater act.

The acts that graced the stage on Saturday generally had a more organic approach to their sound, either using acoustic instrumentation or filling their songs with imagery from the natural world. The raucous sextet The Builders and the Butchers were one of the highlights of the night, winning over an initially indifferent crowd with their acoustic-based, punk-infused blues and gospel rave ups. On the other hand, the bands Plants and Eternal Tapestry both filled the room with pastoral lyrics sung over swirling beds of psychedelic rock. The vivid images being projected behind both bands added much to their '60s throwback sounds, giving ample opportunity for onlookers to find themselves completely enraptured.

The more expansive and experimental groups were mostly set up on Sunday night's bill, leading up to the big headlining set of the festival by former Can frontman Damo Suzuki. The finest one-two punch of the night came early on with the throbbing Afrobeat of the massive collective known as Cexfucx, leading into Evolutionary Jass Band's old school Sun Ra-style shakedowns.

As anticipated as it was, Suzuki's own set was a bit of a letdown and paled in comparison to his unannounced appearance with The Master Musicians of Bukkake - the hopped-up sextet's thudding rock was the perfect backdrop for the improvisatory growls of Suzuki. On the other hand, the seven Portland musicians brought together to provide a soundscape for the renowned vocalist's own set seemed lost, creating an incoherent din filled with electronic squiggles and unnecessary moments that veered into pale facsimiles of Suzuki's former band. For an otherwise brilliant weekend, it was an unfortunately anticlimactic ending.

-Review and photo by Bob Ham

No Age / KIT / Mi Ami / Party Fowl

Bottom of the Hill

San Francisco, CA

September 18, 2007

The overall trend in the music presented at Bottom of the Hill this evening was nothing short of heavily experimental. First up was Party Fowl - one would think that a name like that would stand to be strictly ironic, but it was sadly right on the money. The band played straightforward punk, with lots of simple and rapid guitar chords, pounding drums and distorted shouting vocals. However their songs lacked variety, each one sounding mostly the same, and the gap between the intense enthusiasm of its members and the restrained way they played their instruments was completely unbalanced and made the set a bit difficult to watch.

Up next was San Francisco's Mi Ami who managed to turn the night back around. This experimental rock trio blends elements of electro-dance rock and tribal sounds, producing instrumental music that is overall pleasant to the ear and downright infectious. These guys were not afraid to loose themselves in their music either - their set lasted all of five or so songs but each went on for about six to eight minutes. The key element to Mi Ami's sound is the hypnotic drumming coupled with that of a beat machine to double the intensity - and cowbells are always a crowd pleaser. However most entertaining were the vocals, turned way down as to blend in to the music except for the random bird and animal calls that the lead singer would shriek and loop throughout the songs.

Unfortunately, things took a turn back downhill when Oakland-based rock band

KIT took the stage. Lead singer Kristy jumped around the stage like a Prozac-happy cheerleader, shouting indecipherable lyrics into the mic and stopping only to blow short spastic notes from a plastic recorder. The main downfall for KIT though was the sound. Each member had their instruments so loud that it just sounded like one continuous blur of noise, Kristy's vocals barely audible. "Well our motto is, 'It could always be worse,'" said Kristy. "No it can't," a heckler shouted back. Ouch!

It was almost midnight when L.A.-based headliners No Age took the stage. Recently signed to Sub Pop Records, No Age is the combined efforts of Randy Randall and Dean Spunt. Though truly unique, their sound and style can be compared to that of Battles or Deerhunter (so it is no surprise that they've shared the stage with both those bands on tour). No Age's experimental psych/pop rock songs are short but sweet and draw the listener in deeply and swiftly like a burst of intensity, which by the end of the evening left the crowd wanting more. During "My Life is Alright Without You," the audience broke into a moshing frenzy - the ultimate validation that in the end, people got what they came for.

-Review by Nicole Sheikh; photo by Joshua Uziel