The Breeders
April 30th at Slim’s

The Deal sisters took to the stage at Slim’s and charmed the beer-drinking audience that was packed in to see them on a warm Wednesday night in SF. I heard at least a few people in the mix say they hadn’t seen the Breeders since the Lollapalooza tour of days since past, and that long absence has made their comeback all the more special—their record that just came out, Mountain Battles, was well-received and I, admittedly, didn’t really expect to like it—although I do. Quite a bit. Nor did I expect the Breeders to actually play “Cannonball”, but what do you know, they actually rocked their radio hit, along with a string of songs both from the past catalog and, obviously, material off this new album. Surely it’s in part to the fact that they are identical twins, but Kim and Kelley marry their pretty voices so incredibly well; it’s those sisterly harmonies that I am most in love with when it comes to the Breeders. Kim Deal was funny and sarcastic all at once, but did not fail to engage the crowd throughout their long set of tunes. The show was lengthy, but the encore was actually what happened after the band ran off stage for “an intermission” (bathroom break?), so the ending seemed rather abrupt and anticlimactic. A great show from a venerable band that proves that, yes, comebacks can exist and with all the flavor and prowess of the band in their younger years still gracefully intact. – Angela Zimmerman

Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]

The Dead Science
May 2nd at 21 Grand

While preparing for my inaugural jaunt over to Oakland’s Art Murmur, I was happy to see that 21 Grand Interdisciplinary Arts Space had resumed performances “for now.” The live-performance aspect of 21 Grand has been mostly closed since Oakland’s Alcoholic Beverage Action Team happened upon their venue while investigating an adjacent bar and noticed empties littered about. Shows have been on-and-off ever since, and as a newcomer to the Bay I was unsure I’d ever get to peep a show there.

While a primary goal of 21 Grand is to feature local music, I only arrived in time to see Seattle’s the Dead Science, who are touring in anticipation of their upcoming Villainaire LP (to be released on the high-concept, design-conscious, audiophile-friendly Constellation Records, of Montreal). The Dead Science plays disjointed songs that segue like musical numbers and take their time with moments of tempo rubato.

While Prince is the go-to comparison for frontman Sam Mickens’ breathy, urgent falsetto, another influence listed on their MySpace account is a better match: Jesus Christ Superstar, and, specifically, the character Pontius Pilate, who always had the glam flair in his delivery. Although the rock opera is listed at the end of their influences like some ironic cast-away, I take the nod to be earnest, as the comparison is apt. You say Prince; I say Pontius. – By David MacFadden-Elliott

Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]

Vetiver
May 6th at Great American Music Hall

I’ve long been a fan of stringed instruments and winding jams and folky arrangements and long-haired, bearded hippies—I’d go so far as to say that’s where my musical roots are tucked in and lie. And Vetiver (named after grass, I just found out) is all of these things, so I feel a natural affinity to their music. Seeing them live at the Great American Music Hall was a pleasant experience… and perhaps that’s where the night lives in the grand scheme of all the shows I’ve attended this spring. Pleasant. I certainly enjoyed their set, even swung my friend around to dance a bit, but well, it just seemed to go on for a loooong time. Perhaps that’s because of the late set time on a Tuesday night, but one by one the crowd seemed to fade away, thinning out significantly by the end of the show. Vetiver has a new album out called Thing of the Past and played a lot of material from that record. As a whole their songs were lulling jams of both the nostalgically composed varietals and those of the animated hippie guitar jam sector. Vetiver isn’t necessarily essential listening in a live capacity, but they are a fine band to spend an evening with (even though, not surprisingly, Devendra didn’t show.) Oh, I walked in at the end of Kelley Stoltz’s set, and he was flailing all over the stage with a huge feather. Yep. Once you let that guy warm up, he goes off. I need to stop running late… – AZ

Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]

Marco Benevento
May 6th at Yoshi’s San Francisco

Although he is known for his Hammond B3 and Wurlitzer work, Marco Benevento has returned to an older interest: The piano trio. Although he totes an arsenal of processors, circuit-bent toys, and synths, he favors the traditional hammer-and-string variety of instrument, and told NPR that the piano is his desert-island keyboard, adding that midi-keyboards are “not very organic at all.”

Benevento is the most aggressive pianist I have seen play since I watched (former Spider From Mars) Mike Garson and his bandaged fingers demolish the piano at New York’s Blue Note with his version of “Space Oddity” last year. But Benevento did things to Yoshi’s Steinway that are banned in most jazz clubs, playing really hard was the least of it. He filtered the majestic, acoustic instrument through an electronic delay—gasp!—he squeezed it through a de-tuner, turning their grand into a warbling, splintered upright ragtime piece of shit—the horror!—and he forced it through a bitrate effects-processor that turned it into something worse than a Casio and slightly better than the Legend of Zelda. The humanity! That poor piano will never be the same.

Bassist Reed Mathis had something of Jaco Pastorious in him, a few things actually: An array of onstage effects that most bands forbid their bassists from using; a round, choral sound that is driven by melody as much as bass sensibility; and the propensity to seriously groove, and not just instrumentally, but physically. Drummer Matt Chamberlain was more reserved, his only flourish was swinging his right stick from an especially high angle. He is an admirable backbone, able to sync with drum loops when Benevento calls for it. This would throw most drummers off, but is no problem for a studio gun-cum-metronome like Chamberlain.

These guys don’t take themselves too seriously. Benevento finds humor in everything. Chamberlain dropping and restarting beats is a hoot. Mathis’ overdrive patches are uproarious. And Benevento is something of a ham, himself. At one point, while playing the same riff on both the piano and a detuned synth—creating an unplayable key—he earnestly counted in his sidemen, just to catch them off guard. Sidesplitting! That joke was played just before his corny lo-fi groove, “The Real Morning Party”, which he told NPR was a way of “embrac[ing] stupidity.”

The crowd was rambunctious for a place like Yoshi’s, throwing up devil horns, falling down drunk, and shouting so much that it tested Benevento’s humor. Requests in rough chronological order: “Stairway to Heaven”, “Free Bird”, marriage, and the Charlie Brown theme, to which Benevento swore, “I will light you on fire.” – DME

Listen: Various Tracks [at marcobenevento.com]

» Previously: It Shows: Awesome Fest, Handsome Furs, Crash Normal, and more