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Noise Pop Day 3: Bob Mould, Thee Oh Sees, Martha Wainwright, and more
Bob Mould, Port O’Brien
February 26th at the Old Mint, SF
Wolfgang’s Vault (the fine folks that put on this Crawdaddy! show, not to mention a few other delicious rock ‘n’ roll pies they have baking) threw a Noise Pop-related happy hour party between 5:30 and 7:30pm in an amazing space known as the Old Mint in downtown San Francisco, now defunct as a mint but turned into a rather brilliant event/gallery space. Isn’t it awesome how many drinks one can throw down their gullet in a short amount of time when that shit’s free? And yet, while the free booze and food was keeping spirits and the schmoozin’ afloat, it was the music, memorabilia, and video put forth that created something most special… a little private show gathering all of our music-lovin’ compatriots. Here’s what fellow Crawdaddy! writer Brian Brown emailed to me about it the following day:
hey jocelyn,
Noise Pop Day 2: Stephen Malkmus, Sleepy Sun, Papercuts, and more
Stephen Malkmus
February 25th at Great American Music Hall
Anyone who’s heard Stephen Malkmus, whether fronting Pavement or the Jicks, knows he’s an adventurous songwriter, but he was particularly anything-goes at the Great American Music Hall on Wednesday night. Following a relatively mellow acoustic set by local popster Kelley Stoltz, Malkmus came to the bare stage with an iBook in hand in place of a set list. “Hello, hello, it’s only me,” he said with a grin, an earnest greeting considering what followed: He turned out to have brought a hell of a lot more of his back catalogue along than anyone could have expected. Eyes collectively widened when he started the set with “Harness Your Hopes”, a Brighten the Corners-era Pavement B-side signaling something was most definitely up. He’s never really played this stuff since they broke up in 1999, with the famous exception (among fans, anyway!) of a 2003 gig with the Jicks in Milwaukee. Was there more to come? Yes!
The solo format clearly freed him up a bit as far as his repertoire: Alongside a few of his solo/Jicks tunes, including “Us”, the autumnal “Freeze the Saints”, a bit of “Vanessa From Queens”, and a lovely “Real Emotional Trash” (cut short by a broken D-string), he played 12 Pavement tunes, and for the most part, they weren’t even the “hits” per se. Mindful that anyone who’d dish to see him play a solo set likely digs the deep cuts, he came prepared eager to please fans: Selections ranged from “Spit on a Stranger” off of Terror Twilight to two of the four tracks off the Watery, Domestic EP, “Lions (Linden)” and “Shoot the Singer (1 Sick Verse)”, and even a Silver Jews number whose recording he sang on, “Blue Arrangements.”
Sparks, Delta Spirit, NOFX, and Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli
Sparks
February 14th at Royce Hall, UCLA
Following a string of 21 shows in London last summer over which they performed their entire discography back-to-back, Sparks’ Valentine’s Day homecoming to Los Angeles—a gig at their alma mater, UCLA—proved once again that, even after 39 years of recording, brothers Ron and Russell Mael still make some of the smartest, most compellingly ebullient pop out there.
The program’s first part was a performance of last year’s Exotic Creatures of the Deep, the band’s newest record, performed in an elaborate stage show featuring backup dancers and a picture-frame screen, as well as frames surrounding the members of the backing band, which included Steve McDonald of Redd Kross and members of Mother Superior. Exotic Creatures is not immediately engrossing on record, but in the live setting, it truly clicked—the mustachioed, eternally stolid Ron Mael, the band’s principal songwriter, did an interpretive dance for the swaying verses and chorus of “I Can’t Believe You Would Fall for All the Crap in This Song”, most humorously shaking his head in quiet, smug laughter during the refrain of the song’s title. Meanwhile, for “Photoshop” (chorus: “Photoshop me out of your life!”), he attempted to play a continually tweaked JPEG of a piano on the screen. Throughout the set, Russell bounded about the stage with his characteristic operatic voice and a sparkly energy that belies his age.
Willie Nelson, the Walkmen, the Knitters, Jay Reatard, Tera Melos, John Vanderslice, and more
.jpg "Willie Nelson: Photo by j dubbz")
Willie Nelson
January 19th at the Fillmore Auditorium
Willie Nelson is 75 years old. When exactly did that happen? I hadn’t seen him since back in ’99 on a Farm Aid tour, and that was at a massive amphitheatre outside of DC, and even then he effortlessly carried the crowd—beloved pot-smoking, farm-saving American institution that he is. Well, Willie at the Fillmore Auditorium is a whole different story. I’m telling you people, if you get a chance to see him at such a place, do it… He’s getting up there in age, although you would not know it from hearing him. The man has mad energy, and he sounds fantastic. Quite simply, he’s an old pro. Joined by his son Lukas on this evening, a virtuoso blues guitarist in his own right, Willie showered a crowd of slightly drunk, adoring patrons in red, white, and blue, the kind of patriotism that wears a sweaty bandana around his long grey braids and sings you off to a place where America is all that you really want it to be. Though I attended the show by my lonesome, Willie Nelson would be best experienced with a partner, a drunken buddy to put your arm around and sway with, singing along to “On the Road Again”, “You Were Always On My Mind”, and “Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys”, the old faves that you remember from way back when, no matter your age. Such was the crossover appeal of the night, with seemingly disparate trends blanketing the crowd: A flask-swilling cowboy alongside a loose-tied, suited executive standing behind a bespectacled, black-clad hipster. Willie has a way of bringin’ the people together. His set was long, his band was tight, and songs from the dusty Texas plains were delivered from his rock solid, rusty heart into that of our newfound hopeful American consciousness. A five-night residency at the Fillmore with one of America’s most enduring musicians was a most fitting way for many of us to spend the dawning days of a new presidential administration, and I dare say the symbolism ran rampant and was inherently clear in each of us packed into the venue that night. – Angela Zimmerman
Watch: Willie Nelson [at youtube.com]
Mouthfull with Mike Watt, the Botticellis, Girls, and the Devil Makes Three
Mouthfull featuring Mike Watt, Nels Cline, Herman Green, John Molo, Steve Mackay, Willie Waldman
January 10th at Red Devil Lounge
As I made my way down the hill, I could hear Mike Watt’s bass roar rumbling down Clay Street. In a way, this was my favorite moment of the night, the low drone permeating the crisp San Francisco night air, me rushing in to see Nels Cline and Stooges saxman Steve Mackay doing fusion battle! Inside, things weren’t as magical. Maybe it was the fact that they were playing with the archetypal “old dude who once jammed with Coltrane” or maybe it was the fact that Ron Asheton had just died, but nothing was really connecting.
That said, however, the second set was pretty good. Everyone begged Watt to play some Stooges and he finally relented, playing a fiery version of “Fun House” but then at the “BLOW STEEEEVE” part… the old dude instead soloed (him blowing mellow, oblivious to how we are all eager to hear Steve go apeshit at that moment). Actually, everyone on this night seemed eager to kill it, and when everyone is eager to kill it and there is no breath, things suffer. The best part though was Mackay, who was very, very intoxicated, so someone shouted “tequila!” and Watt fired up the two-note bass part and Nels locked in the avant guitar and Mackay played the little sax part and there came a magical 10-minute version of “Tequila” and I thought, “This is how it is supposed to go….” – Brian Brown
Will Sheff, Thee Oh Sees, Thievery Corporation, and Sex/Vid
Will Sheff
December 17th at Herbst Theatre
Right before the holidays, Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff came to San Francisco to take part in an Arts and Lectures series to talk music shop with Andrew Leland, managing editor of The Believer. Sheff is one smart, articulate guy, and his musings and answers to questions both philosophical and deeply exploratory pronounced his understanding of music and the reason he creates it. He makes it look so easy! So deep is his comprehension of the creative process, it’s easy to understand how he is able to craft such poignant literary compositions, as well as why he’s written about music in the past. Offering such insights as to his work with Daniel Johnston (disclosing that the artist was one of the reasons why he moved to Austin), his sheer disbelief as to the greatness of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, and the fact that his—and many other’s compositions—are in fact, “a lie” (in that his characters are generally not, in fact, extensions of himself or his own experiences, but rather characters he’s created to explore a situation or a feeling, and in that regard, he throws himself fully, unreservedly into their stories). He also spoke to a few of the real people he’s written songs about, such as the prostitute Savannah (“Savannah Smiles”) and the glam-rock obscurity Jobriath (“Bruce Wayne Campbell”), revealing why he chose to immortalize these particular lives in music. And then, after all the conversation, he played three songs, which included The Stage Names’ “Plus Ones”, The Stand Ins’ lead track “Lost Coastlines”, and “A Stone” from Black Sheep Boy, a song that hits me close to home for a number of reasons, and one that literally brought me to tears, so eloquent was this one-man acoustic version. He put that much soul into it. As soon as the song was over, the lights flicked back on and I sat there alone, blinking away tears, moved by this artist who feels so deeply about the world in which he lives. – Angela Zimmerman
Watch: Will Sheff [at youtube.com]
Blitzen Trapper, maus haus, Wilderness, and Mudhoney
Blitzen Trapper, Parson Red Heads
December 2nd at the Independent
There are a shitload of bands doing the whole roots-rock resurgence thing that Blitzen Trapper is on to, but the Portland-based (where else) six-piece are doing it better than most anyone else out there. While they aren’t afraid to stretch their sound, meandering into blues, psychedelia, soft-rock, country-folk, and rock ‘n’ roll, they keep their works consistent by the way of one key element: Consistently strong, and at times, excellent, songwriting. Dylan-esque lyrical and phrasing samplings on some songs, Tom Petty-like stylings on others, Blitzen Trapper nonetheless manages to keep their sound all their own, particularly important and refreshing today when so many like-minded bands are derivative of ’70s folk rock. Their harmonies are on par with Fleet Foxes, the voices melting together and anchoring one another, casting on attentive audiences something vocally spectacular.
Some songs piano-driven and fluid, others crunchy by way of a harmonica, some folky and sweet, others deep and bluesy, Blitzen Trapper nailed their set, coming back for an encore that included an a cappella cover of “The Gambler.” Certainly lending a hand in my overall enjoyment of the show was the pristine sound at the venue. Granted, I was standing right next to the sound board, but it was flawless. The opening band, Parson Red Heads, stepped right out of the ’70s, shadows of the Eagles they were (and hailing from LA), soft rock painted by sentimental long-haired sorts, some in white suits, the frontman in a vest that literally could have been worn (and I’m sure he did sport something very similar) by Kenny Loggins or Glenn Frey three decades ago. Lovely set, but a little too soft and imitative to have much of an impact on me. – Angela Zimmerman
Love Is All, Of Montreal, Deerhunter, the Harbours, and Kami Nixon
Love Is All, Vivian Girls, Nodzzz
December 20th at Bottom of the Hill
After great opening sets by Vivian Girls and Nodzzz, the Swedish fivesome of Love Is All somehow managed to fit themselves on Bottom of the Hill’s tiny stage. Ultimately, however, neither their energy nor their membership could be contained by that space: Josephine Olausson, the group’s lead singer, and keyboardist/saxophonist James Ausfahrt stood at stage’s edge in encouragement of the crowd’s excited dancing, and the latter eventually found his way into the crowd with that saxophone of his. They opened with “Wishing Well”, whose keyboard line is uncomfortably close to that of the Clean’s “Tally Ho!”, but the remainder of the set duly showcased their novel hooks and astounding energy. Love Is All are at their best when they teeter on being unhinged, as on “Give It Back”, whose entwined sax-and-guitar riff produces an irresistible pulse, and older track “Talk Talk Talk Talk”, whose “One more time! One more time!” refrain summons that Daft Punk-like effect of uninhibited sing-a-long-ing throughout the venue. One can’t help but selfishly wish they’d keep playing intimate spaces like this, where the collective energy can course through every inch of one’s body, but Love Is All really ought to be a whole lot more popular than they appear to be—this is everything that dance-punk wanted so badly to be and wasn’t! – Michael Harkin
Watch: Love Is All [at youtube.com]
Danzig, Crooked Fingers, Robyn Hitchcock and more
Danzig
November 10th at Warfield
It briefly seemed like he’d never come out. The huge logo-adorned backdrop, skull-like stage ornaments, and the elevated drum kit platform had all been set up for several minutes and a hype man had already paid a few visits to inquire of the audience, “Are you guys ready for Danzig?” The legendary frontman (first name: Glenn) of the Misfits and Samhain finally rolled out with a three-piece backing group, wearing a black mesh top and launching into “Skincarver” from 2004’s Circle of Snakes. From there, it was an album-to-album best of, focusing on 1988’s Danzig, 1990’s Danzig II: Lucifuge, and 1992’s Danzig III: How the Gods Kill—the three records generally acknowledged as the best results of his solo endeavor. Biker bar anthem “Twist of Cain” and its fantastic, brooding chord-for-chord descendant, “How the Gods Kill”, were two of the best tracks, and Danzig, despite being 53 years old, whipped and stalked around the stage with youthful exuberance. The audience didn’t get to hear any tracks from his pre-1988 bands, but the blues-metal riffs and his remarkable charisma made for an entertaining, well-structured set. Especially entertaining was a particular gimmick in which a stagehand brought a delivery pizza box to the stage. He swung by the individual band members’ corners of the stage to inquire if they wanted any, and as he creeped behind Danzig, the legend turned around and kicked the pizza box clear out of the dude’s grasp. Maybe not as cool as pyrotechnics might have been, but definitely entertaining and certainly a lot safer. Speaking of safety, Danzig’s sign-off upon exiting the stage (after rousing renditions of “Killer Wolf” and “Dirty Black Summer”) was “Be safe!” Surely a peculiar outro for a singer so passionate in his love for ghouls and gory horror flicks, but his follow-up line humorously reminded who it was we’d been watching: “… Don’t kill anyone!” – Michael Harkin
Watch: “Twist of Cain“ [at youtube.com]
Noise Pop Weekend Wrap-Up: Ra Ra Riot, Les Savy Fav and more
by: C!-Team
February 27th at the Independent
Ra Ra Riot was one of the first shows to sell out for Noise Pop this year, so while I anticipated a packed venue, I didn’t expect the Independent to reach capacity by 9pm, when I showed up to check out Telekinesis, Merge’s newest signing. Alas, I was forced to listen from the sidewalk outside while I awaited my entrance, so I pretty much missed their entire set, finally entering the venue during their last song. Bummer! Next up was Cut Off Your Hands, one of those acts I wasn’t too excited about upon listening to their album, but I figured they’d probably translate better in a live capacity. I’ll let you read up on Jocelyn’s take on their set below… if nothing else, it was pretty entertaining. Anyway, Ra Ra Riot is a band I’ve had my eyes on for a few years now, first catching them play before maybe a dozen people during a day party down at SXSW. At that early juncture, you could tell the kids had talent. And after the tragic, untimely death of drummer John Pike in June of 2007, the release of a well-received EP in July of ’07, and an even better received full-length in the summer of ’08, the six-piece has continued to surpass those inaugural expectations that were put upon them. Ra Ra Riot exudes an energy and kinship that is usually most transparent during the young and eager years of a band, as they share in an intoxicating optimism, collectively taking on all the joys and benefits wrought on that wave of possibility. They are a cohesive bunch, evident in their chemistry and how they work the stage, and after nailing their performance on Friday night, they all hugged and embraced one another, leaving behind an exuberant and impressed audience of Noise Poppers. The hype, be what it may, is fulfilled by them time and again, as they find their footing and secure a moment on the indie scene. Playing such favorites off their full-length such as “Dying is Fine” and “Can You Tell”, it’s under the vigor and leadership of vocalist/multi instrumentalist Wesley Miles that the rest of Ra Ra Riot falls. Accolades about for Ra Ra Riot, and I only hope they continue to make waves throughout the year and as they grow and further refine their sound. I do believe they have it in them. – Angela Zimmerman
Watch: Entire Ra Ra Riot set [at youtube.com]
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by: C!-Team
published: March 4, 2009
in column: It Shows
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