Category Archives: Shows

TSOOL @ The Independent

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I thoroughly enjoyed what felt like a TSOOL (The Soundtrack of Our Lives) private concert last night at The Independent. These guys know how to rock and have the attitude to match the music.  Clad in satin red ‘The Who’ jackets and hippie tunics, they put on quite a performance with their guitar jams and theatrics.  

TSOOL is one of my favorite rock bands from the 90s that have endured the test of time.  The seasoned rockers are touring in support of their new double album, Communion, and wrapping up the limited US leg tonight in LA before heading back to Europe – where they are well know and adored.

Listen to: ‘Babel On’

Say Hi @ Bottom of the Hill

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Listen to: “Oh oh oh oh oh oh”:
I’m in full on training mode for SXSW.  Last night’s Say Hi show was my third this week and I’ve got two more to go. And that’s still not going to hold a candle to what’s in store for me in Austin.  But it’s definitely getting me in the right frame of mind.

As I mentioned last week, I’m in love with Say Hi’s latest effort Oohs & Aahs.  Eric Elbogen is basically the band, so it was interesting to see how his laptop rock concoctions would translate live.  And it sounded great!  They kicked off their tour last night in San Francisco and played the new album in it’s entirety before launching into the old stuff.  A truly enjoyable singalong show.  If you’re going to SXSW, I highly recommend catching them at one of their following scheduled performances:

March 19, 1PM: Room 710 (SXSW Day Party Show)
March 20, 6PM: Home Slice Pizza (SXSW Day Party Show)
March 21, 1PM: SXSW Daystage
March 22, 8PM: The Parish (Barsuk & Merge SXSW Showcase)

BLK JKS @ The Rickshaw Stop

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Johannesburg-based BLK JKS played a rawkin’ show last night at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco.  And from the looks of the lightly attended crowd, you guys didn’t know what you were missing. Their music is a wild concoction of transcendental African rhythms, Zulu soul and scorching rock and roll.  And they like to jam.  They are all completely self taught musicians and it was fascinating to watch them perform. I was struck by way they handled and played their instruments.  It was definitely different.  There was an air of reverence that translated into this feeling of the instruments playing them versus they playing the instruments.  That or they worked some really good voodoo magic on me last night.

The band’s Mystery EP is out today on Secretly Canadian.  If you’re heading to SXSW, you can check them out for yourself at one of the following shows:

Wednesday, March 18 11:00am
ME Television Studios (KEXP event)

Wednesday, March 18 10:00pm
Paradise Café (401 E. 6th St)

Thursday, March 19 2:00pm
The Parish (NPR event) (214 E. 6th St)

Thursday, March 19 10:30pm
Mohawk Patio (912 Red River St)

Listen to: “Lakeside”

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buy it at insound!

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Deerhunter @ San Francisco’s Mezzanine

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Deerhunter kicked off the Noise Pop Festival this Tuesday at San Francisco’s Mezzanine and holy shit was it good. Ranking right up there as my favorite live performance so far in 2009, but we are just getting started.  They pulled out quite a few new songs early on in the set but after a few quirky interludes from Bradford Cox the band got down to business and had us knee deep in Microcastle yumminess.  For those of you who pulled out early before the encore, you don’t know what you missed. The band delivered a relentless, blistering, mind-blowing wall of sound finale that left me with goosebumps and grins all night long.

Listen to “Agoraphobia” 

More Evidence Billy Corgan is a Tool

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Not like I need any more convincing on this subject, quite frankly, but I was reading the recent issue of Spin and smirked at this review of Billy Corgan’s December 3 LA Smashing Pumpkins show where he figuratively spits in the faces of fans.  His response to fans screaming “Billy, I love you”? “Last time I checked, I was nobody’s bitch.”  Way to mock your audience, Billy.

Read the full article for more antic dotes of his surly display of self-pity.  There’s also a hilarious review on Pitchfork blasting their 20th reunion tour as a ‘shitshow’.

When in Vegas…

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…dance!  And so we did at Flaunt Magazine’s private party at Ghostbar featuring Diplo.  It’s not my typical genre of music but I do respect the influential and innovative DJs/producers on the scene taking music to new places. Diplo is certainly one of them and most notably accredited for bringing the Brazilian musical genre funk carioca to the United States.  My friend Vichelle was putting the hard core press on him to spin at Burning Man next year and by the end of the evening was seemingly convinced. So if he shows up on the schedule, you can all thank her personally.

Take a listen to the his remix of one of my favorite track by The Black Lips “Veni Vidi Vici”:

BLK JKS Announce Tour Dates

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Here’s another up and coming band worthy of your attention. South Africa’s BLK JKS announced a North American tour starting in Bloomington, IN where they will be recording their forthcoming LP.  

BLK JKS came to the U.S. in the spring of 2008 after a chance meeting with über-producer Diplo while he was on tour in South Africa. The band’s appearance on the cover of the Fader, as well as sets at the Fader issue release party and South by Southwest, sparked recording sessions at New York’s famed Electric Lady studios that resulted in the MYSTERY EP, which will be re-released March 10.

“Lakeside”:

03/02/09 Bloomington, IN – Cinemat   w/ Tammar 
03/03/09 Rock Island, IL – Rock Island Brewing Company 
03/04/09 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle 
03/06/09 Los Angeles, CA – Natural History Museum 
03/09/09 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Shop 
03/13/09 Brooklyn, NY – Union Hall 
03/14/09 New York, NY – Santo’s Partyhouse 
03/18/09 Austin, TX – SXSW

DeVotchka @ The Fillmore

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Going from Fruit Bats to Devotchka the next night was a complete 180 for me musically.  And it honestly took me a little while to make that transition from dive bar mode to circus carnival, complete with a string section, horn section and Cirque du Soleil-level acrobats and contortionists.  I haven’t seen a show like that since…well, never.  Do they actually travel with this ensemble?  I confirmed with their publicist that yes indeed they do. They put on a very impressive show, I must say.  Not only are they talented musicians but amazing performers as well.

Listen to “How it Ends“:

Fruit Bats @ Bottom of the Hill

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Ah, what a great night of music with the Fruit Bats and Sera Cahoone last week at Bottom of the Hill.  It was a pedal guitar extravaganza, which is quite alright by me as it’s one of my favorite instruments.  It’s been more than 3 years since the Fruit Bats have played but you would never had known.  Eric D. Johnson is touring with a new band to try out some fresh material and it sounded lovely.  He’s a talented singer/songwriter with such sweet songs of love and nature it’s hard not to be smitten. They were good about mixing in the old with the new to keep the crowd happy too.  After countless requests for ‘The Little Acorn’, Eric finally obliged but had to do so solo because the band hadn’t learned that tune, which did surprise me.  How could you not include that song in your repertoire?  One of my favorites.

Listen to ‘The Little Acorn‘:

Get this album free via eMusic’s 50 Free MP3 Promo

buy it at insound!

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