Amnesty - Free Your Mind
Lady Sovereign - My England
Dalek - Eyes to Form Shadows
Jarboe - Sinner
Kimya Dawson - I Will Never Forget
PJ Harvey - When Under Ether
Einsturzende Neubauten - Susej
Wire - Desert Diving
Githead - Space Life
Foot Village - World Fantasry
Paul Dutton - Wolf Chant
Miss Alex White & the Red Orchestra - In the Snow
Flying Brix - Uniform (Messthetics #104 Comp)
JC Dahon - A Trois Dans Le Wc Contagion (Bippp Comp)
Yip-Yip - Genius Beast
Harvey Sid Fisher - Pisces
Electric Wizard - Dunwich
The Blind Shake - Jolly Joe’s
Slim Gaillard - Yip Roc Heresy
Bruce Haack - War
Greg Ginn & the Taylor Texas Corrugators - Potato Tacos
Dickie Goodman - Mr. Jaws
Bird Names - Tepid Waters
Sir Alice - Psychophase
Frustration - Blind
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Beefbud
Jandek - Part Three
Big Black - Kerosene
The Vandelles - Fever of the Beat
Sonic Youth - Tom Violence
Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - Arms Aloft
Slits - Earth Beat
Tracy & the Plastics - Myth of the Front
AC/DC - Problem Child
Jerry Granelli - The Old Neighborhood
I saw an interesting show last night at Café du Nord: Crime, Rock & Roll Adventure Kids and Top Ten. It was a night of surprises, I’ll say that much.
Top Ten came on first and they were good, but not what I expected. The band was interesting to watch, but the lead vocals were too loud. My guess is that when they did the sound check the singer spoke into the microphone, but when they started performing she raised her voice to a significantly higher level.
The Rock & Roll Adventure Kids were a duo (which is not always the case, I have been told) consisting of two brothers, one on drums and the other on guitar. They started sloppy and progressively got better and better. I started out not really liking them and ended up digging them in the end.
Crime came on last and they were cool. They were all wearing black shirts with white suspenders and the lead guitarist had a vampire cape on. They rocked from beginning to end and I was impressed because my expectations were low. They played some covers (I can’t recall what right now) and also some of their great songs such as Hot Wire My Heart and San Francisco’s Doomed. They played a short set (less than an hour), but it was really good. They only did one song for an encore, which pissed off the audience. I wasn’t planning on staying for the whole set because I was tired, but I ended up staying because their energy was infectious and crowd was going wild.
Right on.
Peter Cook - Bedazzled
Blectum from Blechdom - Going Postal (It is the Right Time)
Jean Paul Leclere - 20H25
Yip-Yip - Human Wanderers
Prototypes - Ici Ou Peut-Etre Demain
Zom Zoms - Zom Zom Fad
What to Wear - We’re the Martians Now
Entrance - Valium Blues
Legendary Pink Dots - Belladonna
Einsturzende Neubauten - Ich Warte
Lozenge - Botch
Dub Trio - No Flag
Bird Names - Tepid Waters
Laibach - I Me Mine
Wire - 23 Years too Late
Lost Sounds - Saturn Stomp
Frustration - Blind
Betty Davis - Don’t Call Her No Tramp
Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman
James Brown - It’s a Man’s (x3) World
Battlehooch - Boog Woogily
Idiot Flesh - Almost Nothing
Tom Waits - All Stripped Down
The Neutrinos - One-Way Kiss
Shesus - Weapons of Love Destruction
The Pleasure Kills - Smash Up the Radio
Captain Beefheart - Hey Garland I Dig Your Tweed Coat
Spinal Tap - Big Bottom
Black Dice - Bottom Feeder
Frank Zappa - Dumb all Over (request)
Damo Suzuki’s Network - The Night Before First Snow
Githead - Jet Ear Game
Bruce Haack - Song of the Death Machine
Clipd Beaks - Melter
Jean Jacques Perrey - E.V.A.
Peter Brotzman Octet - Responsible
35620
V/A
“Messthetics #104: D.I.Y. ’77-’81 South Wales I
Hyped2Death
Another collection of do it yourself bands just after the punk explosion in England. There are a lot of
styles on this one: punk, no wave, garage rock, and other post punk variations. The recording quality on a lot of
these tracks is terrible. There is some good stuff, though.
Picks: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10+, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
20, 21, 22, 23
Fucks: 2, 13
Action Friend - Decorator’s Lament
Delta 5 - Anticipation
The Spoils of War - Dear Belgium Boy
Ruckus Roboticus - The Birth of Ruckus
Hot Chip - Bendable Poseable
Broadcast - Pendulum
Einsturzende Neubauten - Weil Weil Weil
The Blow - Parentheses
Frustration - For Them No Premises
Yip-Yip - Genius Beast
Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Circle - Promenaadikeskus
Death in June - Love Murder
Table Table - Magic Moments (Messthetics #104 Comp)
The Vandelles - Fever of the Beat
Clipd Beaks - Melter
Swans - Live Through Me
The Blind Shake - Fake Silhouette
The Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer
The Neutrinos - Kiss Like Killers
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat
The Deletist - Rabbittrap
Islaja - Melodie Melodika
Apollonia Heck - God Only Knows
Miss Alex White & the Red Orchestra - I Dig History
Wire - Desert Diving
Minutemen - This Ain’t No Picnic
Jandek - Part III
Ween - Powder Blue
Bobb Trimble - If Words Were All I had
Th’ Losin’ Streaks - Beg, Steal or Borrow
The Vaticans - Out in the Streets
Battlehooch - When We’re Trying to Be Quiet
William Shatner - Common People
Slits - Face Place
Damo Suzuki’s Network - Heat Me
I was super tired all day yesterday because my downstairs neighbor had a party on Friday night that lasted until 3:00 a.m. and I had to get up early on Saturday to get my hair cut. So, I was sitting around my apartment yesterday evening and I had a sudden urge to go see some live music and get the hell out of the house. So I checked the internet to see what was going on. I found that last night was the final night of the SF Bluegrass Festival and there were a couple of shows at the Café du Nord and Swedish American Hall. I jumped on the 24 Divisadero bus, got off on 15th Street and walked down to Market Street where those clubs are located.
The show at the Swedish Hall was sold out, so I went to next door to the Café du Nord where there was a short line to get in. Some people in line in front of me where drinking beer in plastic cups and the doorman told them that they had better get rid of them quick because the cops could bust them. They tossed there cups in the garbage can, but one guy missed his beer went all over the ground surrounding the doorman (and I think some may have hit him).
I entered the club and, after I bought some earplugs (always a good idea, even with bluegrass, which is acoustic music), they started a short film about local bluegrass in the Bay Area called “New Grass.” I glad to be able to sit down on the floor where some other people had done so, to watch to the movie. It focused on the alternative bluegrass scene in SF and interviewed two bands that were playing that night: Kemo Sabe and The Pine Box Boys. It was short and intriguing.
A little while after the film, Kemo Sabe came on and they were very entertaining and played cool songs. They are ex-punkers (I gathered from the film) who discovered bluegrass and started doing their own hybrid style of it, and it works. It is sort of like country based music, with punk influenced style – it reminded (just a bit) of The Knitters (members of X and the Blasters side project), but less polished and no as many solos. It also reminded me a bit of a group called The Swamp Zombies from Southern California. Kemo Sabe were good. I tried to buy their CD but it was sold out by the time I got there.
Next came The Earl Brothers, and they were more traditional style bluegrass. I admit that I don’t know anything about them, but that didn’t matter. It’s like they opened up their living room and invited you in to hang out and watch them perform. They were friendly and funny (which was in contract with the songs that were sad and all boozed up). The crowd was really digging the band and many of them were in their 20s and 30s, which surprised me. I was expecting an older crowd.
I couldn’t stand for another band (in fact, I barely made it through the Earl Brothers’ set) so I made my way home without seeing The Pine Box Boys. I’ll have to catch them next time.
The Neutrinos
“One-Way Kiss”
Wetnurse Records
Garage rock/punk/modern rock. Female fronted angry rock band from Norwich, UK. Sounds a lot like early PJ Harvey and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Tracks 4, 6 and 10 are sort of ‘power ballads’ and track 9 is very ‘pop’ like. The rest rock. The singer grew up on a pig farm.
Picks: 1,2,3,5,8,11
Fuck: 7
Gang of Four - Anthrax
The Ex - Human Car
Cloak/Dagger - Sunburnt Mess
Husker Du - What’s Going On?
The Neutrinos - One-Way Kiss
Old Time Relijun - Los Angeles
Ms. Manners - Red Diamonds
They Shoot Horses Don’t They - Sunlight
Clipd Beaks - Wrathscapes
Einsturzende Neubauten - Ich Warte
Mojack - Acorn
Yip-Yip - Humanly Wanderers
Frustration - Blind
Somnambulants - Take it On
Wire - Our Time
Andre Williams - Only Black Man in South Dakota
Deadbolt - Scare Me
Jay Reatard - Night of Broken Glass
Frank Details - False Pretenses
The Crowd - Modern Machine
Dub Trio - No Flag
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - 1997
OM - Unitive Knowledge of the Godhead
White Mice - Mousetrap
Bone Awl - These Days are Marked
The Blind Shake - Fake Silhouette
Avengers - American in Me
Whitest Boy Alive - Done With You
Anchors for Architects - Great Ships
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - 5:15 Train
Battlehooch - Goog Woogily
Cabaret Voltaire - Nag Nag Nag
Bird Names - Tepid Waters
Black Dice - Gore
Marc Ribot - Have a Nice Day
Legendary Pink Dots - As Long As It’s Purple and Green
Rik L. Rik - I Got Power (request)
The Reaction - Unbelievable
Social Distortion - Atom Bomb
The Pets - Never Ask for Help
Damo Suzuki’s Network - Finland Episode
The Somnambulants
“Paper Trail”
Clairaudience Collective
Electro-Indie-Synth-Pop. The Somnambulants are Joseph White on bass, vocal, synth and programming, and Channing Sargent on synth and vocal. They were originally founded in New York City in 2000, but now they are based right here in San Francisco. This is their third album and it’s a little moody and, at times, a bit mainstream. You can hear a lot of the 1980s in their music, but also some modern style.
Picks: 2+, 4, 7+, 10
No fucks.
Ms. Manners
“Ms. Manners”
Super Great Recordings
Alternative/Pop. This is a 6 track EP of mostly upbeat pop music. Ms. Manners is a group from Knoxville Tennessee, but apparently their members come from all over the U.S. Nothing ground breaking here, but these are solid, well orchestrated tunes with good musicianship. I think there is some 80s influences, but I’m not sure. Track 5 is a slow, sad ballad.
Picks: 1, 2, 3+, 4+
No fucks.