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Archive for the ‘Live Review’ Category

By Tyler Corelitz

I reached the Great American Music Hall after riding my bike from the Marina, and was pleased that I did not get lost, as has been habit since moving to the city a month ago. I had not been planning on going to the show that night, but was excited, as the last time I was in the venue was to see Black Lips play a sold-out concert. Suffice it to say I wanted to re-live some of that night’s majesty.

Triclops!
crushes
Emeryville
earlier
this
year.

By Tyler Corelitz

As this democracy unravels to the sound of a thousand welcome groans, from the mouths of a thousand angry rogues, the bristle of a violent electricity can be felt amongst the standing hairs on our collective neck. Some change is about to happen, some change is necessary, and the passive about to become active wait and watch for a sign from the great machine. Will it destroy itself rather then adapt? Is the status quo, heavy with years of negative karma, incapable of apology, never ready for forgiveness? And we few peasants, toeing the line between huddled mass and bourgeois fan club, look to our artists for guidance, and far too often there is none.

By Matthew Jordan

Oh, deceitful memory! Every show seen at protean Bottom of the Hill leaves an entirely different impression. Bottom of the Hill is not the seedy den of patched woolens and greasy-headed rockulidge of Sebadoh shows past! It is not the brightly colored, enthusiastic pop brilliance of AC Newman and the yuppies, blazered and bangled, cheerfully listening, smiling, ecstatic! Bottom of the Hill could be anything to anybody.

Last Saturday night, while everyone down the street celebrated a drunken Halloween, Two Gallants and a few hundred fans wallowed in something else altogether at The Independent. A few donned costumes, and while they didn’t quite fit into the shaggy, plaid vibe, they were as welcome as anyone.

Two Gallants’ music is more inclusive than most. Historical and literary yarns, country- and folk-inspired indie rock, and independent ethics don’t often spell mass appeal, but it was clear at the Gallants’ latest local gig that their fanbase is a lot less predictable than their sound. Male and female, young and old, hip and square — they’re all drawn to Two Gallants.