Video: 60 Watt Kid – “Take the Pain Out of Your Chest”
November 16, 2010
We haven’t heard a lot from 60 Watt Kid in some time, but here’s a brand new video from last year’s We Come From the Bright Side on Absolutely Kosher. “Take the Pain Out of Your Chest” is one of many heavy numbers on the record, conveying the pain of familial loss.
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Review: Rufus Wainwright and the San Francisco Symphony think big
November 16, 2010
Warning: I’m going to talk about classical music but it’s only going to be a little boring, I promise.
There are lots of different ways for rock star kids to rebel against their rock star parents. If you’re Hank Williams III, you rebel against two generations of country music establishment by playing nasty-ass punk rock. If you’re Jakob Dylan and your dad is a living legend, you rebel by sucking. If your parents are dyed-in-the-wool folkies like Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III, you rebel by composing a lavish orchestral piece that calls for three flutes, three oboes, a piccaolo, an English horn, four clarinets, two bassoons, two trumpets, two trombones, two bass trombones, a tuba, a celesta, glockenspiel, various percussion and a whole host of strings. Maybe his parents could get by with nothing more than an acoustic guitar, but Rufus Wainwright likes to think big.
Oh, almost forgot, there’s also a contrabassoon.
Last year, the San Francisco Symphony commissioned the New York native to compose a piece for them setting a handful of Shakespearean sonnets to music. Wainwright was jumped at the opportunity because, as he writes in the program notes, “One cannot immerse himself/herself in Shakespeare’s sonnets and not be submerged, drowned and finally resurrected a better human being. They are, hands down, the greatest works ever written.†Wainwright’s enthusiasm for the source material shone though in both the composition and his vocal performance.
While a major symphony asking a pop star to compose a classical piece for them may seem a little odd, in Wainwright’s case it makes a lot of sense. Since releasing his eponymous debut album in 1998, Wainwright’s music has always has always had a lavish orchestral bent, which has only gotten more pronounced over time. In 2008, he even went as far as composing a French-language opera, Prima Donna, that premiered the next year as part of the Manchester International Festival. Of all the pop stars to take on this assignment, Wainwright is probably the most natural fit.
Even so, there’s more than a hint of novelty to the pairing, which is why in an evening that saw it sandwiched between two other pieces, Five Shakespeare Sonnets was clearly the main attraction. Immediately preceding the first piece, Darius Milhaud’s La Creation du Monde, conductor Michael Francis told the audience apologetically, “Rufus won’t be long, we’re just going to do this one first.†I know it was a “give the people what they want†type of gesture, but it really undersold what I thought was the strongest part of the show. Written by the French composer in 1923, La Creation du Monde, is a poppy, jazz-inflected piece that’s an inspired choice to hook all the people who were there just to see the guy who wrote “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk.†Milhaud composed the piece immediately following his first trip to the United States where he had become absolutely drunk on jazz. The rhythms swing giddily and arrangements turn on a dime. It’s a kid-in-a-candy store type of composition where Milhaud seems delighted to display every the trick he just learned obsessively studying jazz bands in the States. You can hear the a lot of the hybrid jazz/classical music later popularized by George Gershwin (who released the strikingly similar Rhapsody in Blue the next year), Leonard Bernstein and Dave Brubeck (who actually studied under Milhaud at Mills College in Oakland) loud and clear. The main melody that runs through the piece actually sounds nearly identical to the theme that Nino Rota wrote for The Godfather in the early 70s, just transposed to a major key.
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Odawas – “Mind of Christ”
November 16, 2010
Mind of Christ [edit] by Odawas by mettamind
Cassettes go out of print quick, but the music shouldn’t disappear into thin air that same way. And so, Odawas have posted the tracks from their Mind of Christ tape, which saw a very limited run on Tired Trails, as a free download on their website. About the recording:
The first track for this cassette was our soundtrack to Neil Blakemore’s Cannes selected short film, “Kill Yr TV.” The other two tracks were experimental pieces penned by Isaac and finessed by me in a kind of reversal of the usual Odawas process.
Below, find Blakemore’s film, “Kill Yr TV,” with “Mind of Christ” dipping in and out as background music:
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Photos: Woodsman, Craft Spells, Melted Toys, Skeletal System @ Milk 11/11
November 15, 2010
Skeletal System
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Recommended, 11/15-21: Eux Autres, Clinic, KIT and the SFX Festival
November 15, 2010
Every Monday, we’ll be offering you early picks for some of the week’s best concerts. Do you think we omitted something worthwhile? Let us know in the comments! Also, we’ve launched a new Local Concert Calendar, which you should be sure to check out for an expanded set of daily listings. Bands/promoters/managers, feel free to submit your own shows to the Calendar too.
Eux Autres celebrate the release of Broken Bow
Outrageously catchy, slightly raw, Broken Bow is the third album from SF’s Eux Autres, and it’s one that fans of indie pop shouldn’t miss. The album comes out next week, and the band is celebrating with a show this Thursday, 11/18 at El Rio (8pm, $7).
Clinic brings Bubblegum to San Francisco
Experimental pop band Clinic just released their sixth album, Bubblegum, which find the band exploring softer, but no less compelling, terrain. The band’s at The Independent on Friday, November 19th (9pm, $17). The Fresh & Onlys are supporting, so consider this one doubly recommended. [More...]
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Barn Owl – “Light from the Mesa”
November 12, 2010
Barn Owl – “Light from the Mesa”
Ancestral Star is the latest release from SF drone rock duo Barn Owl and is out now on Thrill Jockey. Yesterday I listened to this song five times in a row and found its rumbling expanse to offer a very calming influence. Your results may vary, but you might as well give it a try.
Barn Owl’s got some East Coast/Midwest dates next week, with their next SF show opening for Om and Lichens at The Independent on December 16th.
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Pregnant and Appetite: new sounds from Sacramento
November 12, 2010
If it seems like things have been quiet on the Sacramento front, we should clear that up. Here’s the latest commotion coming from up north.
Pregnant comes from the Sierra foothills, a solo musician (real name: Daniel Trudeau) who gets it all done himself via looping, pedals, playing guitar and/or saxophone, anything to maintain a one-man show. The result is nothing hard on the ears — these elements blend into a bright, electronic psych-folk medley, with creeping dark undertones. Trudeau’s album Regional Music is out now on Life’s Blood, and he has also released on the freeform radio-linked label KDVS Recordings. Hear more of Regional Music on Pregnant’s Bandcamp site.
Pregnant has a dual music-art show for Second Saturday in Sacramento on November 13, at Bows & Arrows (more details on MySpace).
Appetite began as the solo project of Teddy Briggs, member of Sacramento’s hyperactive What’s Up?. After exploring solo recording under the name Chief Briggum, Briggs recorded a second full-length on his own and assembled a backing band for his live shows with members of Sholi. Appetite’s Scattered Smothered Covered integrates the crisp and the complex, playing on the lyrical bounce of hip-hop and delivered over electronic pop and softer guitar-structured numbers. Recommended for those who enjoy What’s Up, Why? and Menomena.
Right now, Scattered Smothered Covered is available on Appetite’s Bandcamp site. It was just announced that the record will be re-released on vinyl and with bonus tracks next spring/summer on Crossbill Records, the Sacramento label that released Sea of Bees’ debut Songs for the Ravens earlier this year.
Not only holding a geographic connection, Appetite and Pregnant have been caught grooving as one (via Terroreyes.tv). Trudeau is also featured on Appetite’s 2008 full-length, and Briggs claims he’s been a “huge inspiration.”
There is a special spontaneity and freedom that lives in his music that I admire, where I feel very strict with my songs and their various parts. I would hope we’d be able to collaborate in the future and we have discussed it.
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Saturday: Catch Sharon Van Etten, Jose Gonzalez with Junip @ The Indy
November 12, 2010
I like a woman who is unafraid to be her outspoken, dark-humored self in front of the audience — a woman who is part Chan Marshall, part Julie Doiron. Wye Oak played the Independent last month, and guitarist Jenn Wasner encountered some technical difficulties. Between excessive apologies for the state of failing pedals and amp, Jen continuously cussed out her gear and promised the crowd that it would all be replaced before they came back with their next record. It was doubtful that anyone on the floor found the apologies necessary or wanted his or her money back, and whether or not the sound was ideal in Wasner’s mind, she left us entertained in an unintended way.
I’m not implying that the Brooklyn folkstress Sharon Van Etten has a potty mouth, and I don’t mean to jinx her instruments, either. But Van Etten is rumored to be a performer by all accounts, a “chatty Kathy” with not only the talent of heartwrenching song craft, but also of charming her crowd. Onstage personality: a huge plus. She’s currently supporting Junip (Jose Gonzalez’ new band) on tour, with a stop at The Independent this Saturday. Please follow us on Twitter that evening for a live transcription of Van Etten’s stories and set commentary as she gets comfortable with her San Franciscan audience.
Sharon Van Etten – “Love More”
Sharon Van Etten – “Don’t Do It”
