CD Review: Warren Teagarden's Across the San Joaquin

By Camden Andrews

Following up his debut self-titled EP, Warren Teagarden released his first full-length album, Across the San Joaquin , in mid April. Combining elements of country, punk, folk, and indie rock, his relaxed style is both simple and eccentric at the same time. (more >>)

The album opens strong with “The Deal,” a fun, upbeat tune with a simple two-chord melody. It's not only a pretty good song, but a solid representative sample of the album's tone: bare-bones rock and roll with hints of folk and punk influences, and words about ... well, it's hard to say sometimes. Warren Teagarden has been known for his playful and somewhat abstract lyrics, and his new album is no exception. Many of the songs on Across the San Joaquin offer a vague sense of a subject, but the lyrics are often too random to figure out the details. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your preference. The story or theme is not always clear, but his unusual imagery leaves plenty of room for a good imagination to put the seemingly random pieces together.

Most of the songs on Across the San Joaquin have a pretty basic instrumentation of drums, bass, and two guitars; one strumming fuzzy or acoustic power chords, the other playing basic clean leads. The music is nothing groundbreaking, but there is a relaxed, quirky sort of vibe that sounds a lot like a mellow Pixies record, with Teagarden's voice even resembling a deeper, gruff Frank Black. Even his lyrics possess a level of weirdness that almost parallel the Pixies. A verse in “Light as a Mouse,” for example, goes I've got my treasure maps and we will go down to Mexico, but I won't take my pants off to skin-dive / Hey Barry, pass me a match.

There are, however, different levels of strangeness throughout the album. At his weirdest, Teagarden goes on some silly maniacal rampage on “Haircut,” screaming, Hey, come here get a haircut / Look I got a razor, I'll cut you, I'll cut your hair! / Hey, come here. It can also be sweet and playful, as in “Chapter 21,” a song about love and A Clockwork Orange, teasing, You're one to bitch about a tacked-on happy ending / Who doesn't love a heartwarming tale of murder? The title track itself is much more solemn, with the chorus stating Out on the freeway there are days nothing changes but the waving fields / Big change from corn to grain / Out on the freeway there are things no one wants to see or believe / A wooden boy rolls up his sleeve.

Yeah, Teagarden can be a bit odd, but the weirdness is presented in a way that encourages a sense of curiosity rather than confusion. Across the San Joaquin is a refreshing combination of simple rock music singing about the basics (love, loss, drugs, loneliness) without the lyrical cliches of we're all used to.

CD Review: Battlehooch's Unabashed Nonsense

By Tyler Corelitz

Battlehooch's debut EP OOF OWF has already garnered much-deserved respect within the Bay Area and beyond. It is a self-made wonder-work of psychedelic rock, funk, and unabashed nonsense. All four of the disc's creations are heavily orchestrated movements featuring all manner of percussion, guitars, and driving bass, with some classy Zappa-inspired horns popping up whenever necessary. Vocals are present but one gets the feeling that the listener is less expected to sing along than they are to dance. (more >>)

Opener "Boog Woogily" is one of the highlights, both live and recorded, and begins with a few stuttering yells and instrumental guffaws, on its way to becoming what on first listen could be mistaken for a more lucid reworking of The Simpsons' theme song. All of the "kitchen sink" percussion, plus the band's live theatrics (headbands, face-paint, sillystring?) bring to mind acts like Man Man and their own musical influences. Unlike Man Man, who seem locked to an indie-rock adaptation of Captain Beefheart et al, Battlehooch isn't willing to become pegged to a single sound or even a singular grouping of sounds, as OOF OWF closer "When We're Trying to Be Quiet" is rooted half in '60s psychedelia and half in early-'90s grunge. This last track had me coming back for repeated listens, most likely due to the strong vocals and because it sounded vaguely similar to San Francisco psych project Sleepy Sun, of who I am very fond.

Taken as a whole, the most impressive thing about OOF OWF is that as such an ambitious first release, it still manages to leave room for further exploration and growth. Furthering this is the fact that in order to really understand and appreciate the album and the band you can't merely listen to one song on MySpace. OOF OWF demands to be heard from front to back, back to front, and then only with an accompanying trip to a live performance will the listener truly be able to understand and appreciate one of the most unique and talented bands the Bay Area has to offer at the moment. Battlehooch is definitely going to continue to ask for, and get attention.

CD Review: Jimbo Trout and the Fishpeople's Hillbilly Bebop-Boogie

By Jake Butler

Tom Waits gets all hopped up on some crack, somehow manufactures a lovechild with the likes of Leon Redbone and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and out pops Jimbo Trout and Fishpeople (JT&F). If you’re not familiar with those artists, I suggest you listen to them before continuing on. [Recommended Listening: Tom Waits – Hold On; Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Battle of New Orleans; Leon Redbone – Lazybones.] (more >>)

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on to JT&F. Their album of covers, Hillbilly Bebop-Boogie (aptly named no less), transports you onto a railcar somewhere in the Midwest complete with tramp traveling companions. Jimbo’s gravelly twang on lead vocals plays back and forth with Annie Staninec’s fast-fingered fiddle and Greg Laakso’s '20s-era jazz clarinet and sax, accented by flashes from a little xylophone here, a little cowbell there, and a little kazoo for good taste.

While the band’s lineup boasts seven members on this album, it's never overwhelming. Organized chaos is perhaps the best way to describe it. On the surface, things seem quite hectic, but just a minute later you see how skilled these musicians are at layering their sound while avoiding drowning each other out.

The album is a great listen, coming in at just under 40 minutes, it’s a nice package. The opening track, “Just Because,” is the listener’s “All Aboard” call for the Fishpeople train. “Sweet to Mama” eases you in with a comfortable groove driven by Jimmy Sweetwater’s harp, allowing him the opportunity to showcase his pipes a bit.

I couldn’t help but love “Sure Had a Wonderful Time Last Night” and its ability to make me remember those nights that I have to ask my friends what happened, and still come away feeling like a champ. Laakso’s sax gets a chance to breathe and lay down some sultry accompaniment. “Travellin’ Blues” shows Jimbo’s best impression of Jimmie Rodgers’ railroad yodeling, and it’s not half bad at all. Wrapping up with “Y’all Come,” JT&F let you know you’re always welcome, and thank you for listening. It’s the bow on the present the Fishpeople call Hillbilly Bebop Boogie.

Solid musicianship, an ability to convey the funloving bluegrass-jazz-country music on a recording, and a voice that you can’t miss make for a great listen any day of the week (although I recommend a Monday morning as it will get your week started right).

Discovering the Dodos

Congrats to Tyler Corelitz for being the first non-Nate contributor to NASCENT...





By Tyler Corelitz

It seems like only months ago that I first heard about San Francisco duo the Dodos. I felt cool for listening to what I thought was an extremely awesome, but relatively obscure band, that just happened to be playing in my college's cafeteria. Now, after a year on the road, these Bay Area starlets are gaining national attention on the eve of their sophomore full length release, Visiter, which comes out March 18th on Frenchkiss Records. (more >>)

The Dodos' passion for their music is undeniable by the amount of energy they put off in their live shows, which the band has tapped as a major influence for Visiter. Live, it can be hard to tell who is driving who, as the airy vocals and finger-picked guitar of Meric Long mesh with the hyper-rhythmic drumming of Logan Kroeber. Maybe Animal Collective covering Mississippi John Hurt or The Velvet Underground with chops? This formula is showcased on their single "Fools," as the song alternates between pulsing rim clicks, catchy guitar riffs, and undeniable vocal hooks; all of which can and will be independently stuck in the listener's head.

As an album, Visiter is truly a nod to the talent of Kroeber, who bills himself as an experimental percussionist. While the experimental nomenclature -- for a drummer -- can lend itself to self indulgent beats and sounds, Kroeber shows maturity in his ability to play for the song. For the Dodos, this often means creating moments of immense space and tension, by simply alternating accents or textures to highlight Long's guitar and vocals. This attention to detail can be heard at the end of "Fools," as Long begins chanting "I've been, I've been silent," the listener realizes that the drums have suddenly stopped, only to return in a beautiful pop build that climaxes over Long's continued chanting.

Through a twist of fate I ran into the Dodos as they were about to film for super-hip French video blog La Blogoteque. As my friends and I followed them through the relatively deserted streets of San Francisco, clapping and singing into a BART station, I realized that I was standing very near to Long; not out of lust or for lack of hearing, but because the Dodos have managed to make music worth getting close to.

Bored Stiff

MySpace (listen to "State of Art," "Capricorn")
Label site
Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: None planned
Upcoming release: From the Ground Up, 2007

Let it be known: classic hip-hop is back in the Bay Area. San Francisco crew Bored Stiff has quietly resurfaced after six years on hiatus, and brought with it the aesthetics of old-school underground rap: DJs, MCs, ample scratching, salient lyrics, and chill beats. It's all there in the group's first three new tracks since 2001's Ghetto Research -- "Spirit of Lee," "In the House," and "Maturity" -- released on a limited edition sampler that foretells the group's official return in 2007. (more >>)

Bored Stiff formed in 1992 or 1994, depending on who you ask, and released two EPs -- Explainin' and Timeless -- in addition to the full-length Ghetto Research before disbanding. Its 12 members all became involved in other projects, many releasing albums on their own, before deciding in 2006 to give it another go. The new record is due later this year (July 10) on Oakland hip-hop label Hella Records (not to be confused with Sacramento noise-rock duo Hella), the same label that released all of the group's earlier work.

Lately the hyphy movement has prevented most other forms of hip-hop from getting a decent foothold in the Bay Area, but Bored Stiff could be the band to take advantage of hyphy's decline and swing the scales in the other direction. In Seattle over the past few years, the classic hip-hop sound has enjoyed a strong resurgence through the voices and beats of groups like Blue Scholars and Common Market. Could Bored Stiff help that happen here? With Del the Funky Homosapien promising a new solo record -- also his first in seven years -- called 11th Hour later this summer, maybe 2007 will be the year hyphy gets shut out for good.

THE 12 HIP-HOPOSTLES
-That's right, Bored Stiff comprises 12 members. Behold the list: Equipto (Queezy), TD Camp, Big Shawn (B.I.), Dubstar (K-Dub), P-Way, Mint Rocky, White Mic, Jules, Liel, Priz, Ike, and Jo Jo (Jo Jigidy).

Halou

MySpace (listen to "Stonefruit," "Albatross")
Official site
Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: None listed
Recent release: Wholeness and Separation, 2006

Halou's roots extend back fifteen years to a chance meeting between future husband and wife Ryan (songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist) and Rebecca (vocalist) in a Santa Cruz record store owned by Ryan's father. The Cosebooms made music making a priority, and soon headed up to San Francisco to develop what we now know as Halou: a down-tempo/electronica trio dubbed "one the of the best bands in America" by Seattle tastemaker KEXP and "one of the most intriguing groups on the modern musical landscape" by the All Music Guide. (more >>)

Halou's third record -- responsible for the above praise -- was released on Vertebrae Records last May, after a five-year gap. Its predecessor, 2001's Wiser, marked the introduction of Halou's third member: a skilled drummer and studio whiz known simply as Count. Count's pedigree is at least on par with the superlatives lavished upon Halou over the years: he has engineered and mixed in the studio for New Order, Blackalicious, Deep Blue Something, Run-D.M.C., No Doubt, Lyrics Born, the Velvet Underground's John Cale, and more recently, DJ Shadow for the majority of last year's The Outsider.

Have we earned your attention yet? Despite Halou's winning formula and adept execution, the group maintains a low profile on the local scene. What a shame that a group of this caliber is resting virtually unnoticed in our backyard while the rest of the world swoons! You've always known the Bay Area harbors some of the best music in the world; here's a chance to put your ears where your mouth is. Check out their MySpace tracks. If you don't like 'em, fine. But if you do, let it serve as a reminder to never stop rifling through the Bay's nascent pockets of musical genius.

HALOU, HALOU:
-Rebecca and Ryan have also recorded under the names R/R Coseboom and Invisible Ballet, most notably during the span between Halou's second and third records.
-Halou's video for "Everything is OK," from the new album, was featured on Good Morning America under coverage of the very same YouTube Underground contest last fall that catapulted Oakland-based grand prize winner Maldroid to national recognition before it had played a show or released a single song for sale.
-Keeping with the eye-candy theme, Halou performed an audio-visual showcase two nights ago at Mighty in SF as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival.

DOWNLOAD CENTER:

Download "Stonefruit" (mp3)
from "Wholeness & Separation"
by Halou
Vertebrae

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album

Thee More Shallows

MySpace ("The Dutch Fist," "Night at the Knight School")
Official site
Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 5/3, Amoeba Music San Francisco
Recent release: Book of Bad Breaks, 2007

Thee More Shallows is a band NASCENT's been wanting to cover for quite some time; we were just waiting for the right moment. With the quirky San Francisco indie-pop group's third album -- and anticon Records debut -- out last week, now is definitely the time. (more >>)

anticon fans will recognize whisps of Why? in the new record, particularly in Dee Kesler's vocals. There are also overtones of Grandaddy, the Flaming Lips, and even a little Bowie. Anyone familiar with these four artists' catalogs knows they are fine company, yet Thee More Shallows' proximity seems to be more organic than calculated, as if TMS stumbled upon the realization themselves only after finishing the album: "Hey, this sounds a bit like the Lips!" The six-year-old band seems to have absorbed many of the same influences and impulses as its labelmate and big brothers -- krautrock, neo-psychedelia, instrumental and experimental rock, art-pop -- and arrived at basically the same place.

Thee More Shallows' liason with Oakland-based artists' collective anticon evolved just as naturally: when Kesler learned that anticon artist Odd Nosdam was a neighbor of his, the two realized they shared common musical interests and began to collaborate on projects such as a remix (with Why?) on TMS' 2006 EP Monkey vs. Shark, a Boards of Canada remix, and joint contributions to both Nosdam's 2005 release Burner and Why?'s 2005 LP Elephant Eyelash. Multi-instrumentalists Chavo Fraser and Jason Gonzales round off the TMS palette, and on Book of Bad Breaks the trio sounds right at home at the esteemed, yet perpetually underground anticon. Perhaps that'll change a bit with Bad Breaks; besides being Thee More Shallows' finest moment yet and a stab at the sound the band seems to have been approaching all along, it also rivals the best releases in the label's nine-year history.

WHAT'S IN A NAME:
-Thee More Shallows are known -- by us, at least -- for using very creative names on their records.
-The band's nicely named releases include A History of Sport Fishing, More Deep Cuts, Monkey Vs. Shark, and Book of Bad Breaks.
-Thee More Shallows actually began as Thee Shallows, but changed after receiving a cease and desist order from another local artist using a similar name. Around the time they printed the inserts for their first CD, the group heard from a San Francisco musician named Brian Gregory, who was already performing as The Shallows (with one 'e'). The group was at first reluctant to change the name, but they were hardly invested in it (beyond a grand or so spent on the inserts), and a legal order from Gregory convinced them to find a new name. After auditioning a few possibilities (Thee Original Shallows, Shallows Jr., etc.), they settled on Thee More Shallows.

DOWNLOAD CENTER:

Download "Night At the Knight School" (mp3)
from "Book of Bad Breaks"
by Thee More Shallows
anticon

More On This Album

From Monument to Masses

MySpace ("Sharpshooter," "Comrades and Friends")
Official site
Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 4/20, Bottom of the Hill
Upcoming release: TBD, 2007

"Like an open-mouthed kiss from God" is how a friend once described the experience of seeing From Monument to Masses live. Not having ever made out with God, it's hard for us corroborate that statement. But it's even harder to dismiss it; From Monument to Masses are unequivocally incredibly fucking awesome. (more >>)

The backbone of FMTM's musical style is a compromise between the tranquil beauty of instrumental post-rock and the rhythmic energy of post-punk. This underpinning sound is composed of layered guitar lines (sometimes as many as five at once), relentlessly shifting drums, and warm, lively bass. Branching from here are excursions into dub, hardcore, world, and electronic. The variety never exists for variety's sake, but rather to serve the purpose of the song. At the beginning of "Sparpshooter," for example (the first song on the band's breakthrough, and to date only, full-length, The Impossible Leap in 100 Simple Steps), the trio downshifts from brash, chugging post-hardcore to intricate, hypnotic instrumental rock in order to represent the shock and solemnity of the events of 9/11.

This leads to the other primary element of From Monument to Masses: political and social awareness. All three members -- Matthew Solberg (guitar), Sergio Robledo-Maderazo (bass, synth, samples), and Francis Chuong (drums, synth, programming) -- are passionate about and actively involved in political activism and social change on various fronts. The band's name reveals its central philosophy, which played as much of a role as music in bringing the members together in the first place: a conviction that power must be transfered away from figureheads and toward the people. It's a revolutionary message that, despite the band's success, Matt, Sergio, and Francis refuse to back away from.

This also explains the motivation behind the band's decision to weave sound bytes of a political and social nature -- culled from a wide variety of sources including news broadcasts, the movie Dr. Strangelove, and speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., George Bush, and Noam Chomsky -- into almost every one of its songs. The samples are not scattershot, but grouped and ordered thematically within and between songs. This approach cements the relationship between From Monument to Masses' progressive politics and progressive music.

But the real test, the real proof of this band's success, is that it makes some of the most beautiful and powerful music you will ever hear.

AND WE'RE NOT KIDDING ABOUT THAT
-The group came together in 2001 in Oakland, signing with Los Angeles' Dim Mak Records shortly thereafter -- right around the time it played its first official gig.
-FMTM's debut release came in 2002, a five-track album on Dim Mak that's now out of print.
-Its third and latest release was called Schools of Thought Contend, a collaboration in which the band invited other artists to remix a number of its songs. Participants include Thunderbirds Are Now!, Loquat, and Amundsen. The 15-track CD also features two new FMTM songs.
-In October of 2006, drummer Francis Chuong moved to New York City, but the band avowed to continue working as a bicoastal project. A new record and extensive touring are promised in late 2007.

Josh Fix

MySpace (listen to "Don't Call Me in the Morning," "Jethro")
Official site

Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 3/22, Red Devil Lounge
Upcoming release: Free At Last, 2007

I had to do a double-take to make sure I wasn't listening to some lost Queen tracks instead of the full-length debut of 29-year-old San Francisco musician Josh Fix. No kidding. His production values are top-notch, his vocals and instrumental parts fully realized, and his songwriting consistently glorious -- replete with melodies, harmonies, hooks, and all the pleasures of grandiose '70s pop-rock. But unlike Freddie Mercury, Fix never goes over the top -- though he has retained the soaring background chorus vocals. (more >>)

By keeping his tunes rooted in Elton John-esque turns at a Hammond B3 and an antique Emerson upright piano, and by being blessed with a vocal range that doesn't dare reach Mercury's heights, Fix has fixed the bombastic '70s style for the more jilted '00s. That's not to say he doesn't have a ton of fun with it. Just check out the piano ballad "Rock and Roll Slut," track five on Free At Last: "I've been going with a rock and roll slut / At least that's what she calls herself, I know she's not / She's so good she won't even complain / When I come home late smelling like a drain."

This record captures the ideal balance of camp and rock. With few missteps, Fix deftly revives an era that he wasn't around to experience, yet knows just where it went right. Free At Last will be released this summer, and since Fix got hooked up with a pretty sweet distribution deal, the record will be available just about everywhere ("iTunes, Best Buy, the whole shebang, except of course Tower Records, hehe," he wrote in an email).

HE IS THE CHAMPION:
-In 2004, Fix released a seven-track EP called Steinway the Hard Way. It met with rave reviews tagging him a piano rock revivalist.
-Fix has received coverage in the New York Daily News, the Portland Press Herald, KTVU Channel Two news, the Boston Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle, and others.
-Through a hot demo that made its way into some pretty famous hands, Fix has made fans of Lenny Kravitz, Eddie Van Halen, Toto, and the Who (for whom Fix's previous band the Furious Force opened at a gig in Los Angeles after Adam Duritz of scheduled act the Counting Crows lost his voice).

The Love X Nowhere

MySpace (listen to "Sympathy," "Into the Fire")
Official site
Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 3/28, Rickshaw Stop
Recent release: Into the Fire vinyl EP, 2006

When a local band plays music right up your alley and has been covered by both the SF Weekly and the Chronicle, yet you still haven't heard of them, does this mean you've spent the last year in a cave? In NASCENT's case, no, unless small apartments count as caves. More likely, it means that there's so much great independent music going on in the Bay Area right now that even those of us who make an effort to hear as much of it as possible are bound to miss some of the good stuff. (more >>)

The Love X Nowhere is one of those innumerable mystery bands that play local shows all the time, frequently impress fans and critics, and earn occasional write-ups in local publications, yet still operate off the radar of your average indie aficionado. NASCENT is here to fix that. Psychedelic rock is certainly not nearly as popular today as it was during its late-'60s heyday, but if it's going to continue to catch on among younger audiences anywhere, it's gonna happen in San Francisco.

The Love X Nowhere's sound is more akin to Pink Floyd than the Grateful Dead, but the idea is the same: trip out to long, nearly formless songs that allow the mind to wander and the body to relax. At live shows, the band projects colorful -- shall we say, LSD-inspired? -- visuals on a giant screen behind the stage to facilitate the whole tune in, turn on, drop out experience. Yet all these associations with '60s counterculture bely the group's firm grip on '90s indie- and post-rock. TLXN fans are not aging hippies (well, some may be), but moreso hipsters and indie rockers who like to spin My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins records late at night. It may be too easy to declare that this is a talented, psychedelia-inspired SF rock group for the 21st century, but that's the truth.

THE LOVE X TIMES THREE:
-TLXN have released three EPs to date, and may be releasing their debut full-length within the year.
-The first EP, self-titled, came in 2004. It contains six tracks and charts the progress of founding members Gabriel Leis and Michael Chulada from their previous band, space-rock outfit Muad Dib.
-The second EP, Odyssey, was released in 2005 and featured six new songs.
-The third and latest EP, Into the Fire, was released last year on vinyl only.

DOWNLOAD CENTER:

Download "Sympathy" (mp3)
from "Odyssey EP"
by The Love X Nowhere
Redgummy Records

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
More On This Album

Trainwreck Riders

MySpace (listen to "In and Out of Love;" download "In the Wake of It All")
Official site

Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 3/1, Rickshaw Stop
Recent release: Lonely Road Revival, 2006

We've heard a lot of good country-punk-rock coming from San Francisco in the last few years, and this is the absolute best. No kidding. We would go so far as to say we like Trainwreck Riders more than Two Gallants, with whom they completed a major tour last summer and fall. Now don't get us wrong, Two Gallants write some great songs with excellent lyrics. They're intense as hell, and for a duo, hard to beat. But as far as pure listening enjoyment goes, Trainwreck Riders have more to offer. (more >>)

Here's the deal: listening to Two Gallants makes you think "Damn, these guys are awesome!" (which they are). You'll tell your friends about them, play a couple cool songs off the record, and feel good about it all. But listening to Trainwreck Riders really makes you feel. It moves you to get up and dance, sip some whiskey, ride a train (if you're from Oakland, ghost-ride it), fire a rifle, then sleep with someone wearing 19th century getup...or pan for some gold, march in place, tap your toe, bang your head, and throw your elbows in the pit. While Trainwreck Riders' lyrics can't match Two Gallants' literary quality, their music has a more palpable energy. Where the Gallants have grit, the Riders have spit. It's alt-country out of the box, old-fashioned punk rock. It's grey, it's old-timey. It's San Francisco on a silver disc, and you won't find much better rock music in the city right now.

BFF'S:
-Trainwreck Riders and Two Gallants sound similar, have toured -- and been arrested -- together, and are both from San Francisco. Yes, they're friends.
-Don't forget to catch Trainwreck Riders co-headlining the Rickshaw Stop with labelmates Langhorn Slim on March 1 for Noise Pop. That's gonna kick some ass.
-A cool new video for the song "Christmas Time Blues" is available here.

Crime in Choir

Official site
MySpace (listen to "Hot Slant," "In Search of Plunder" [both from 2004's The Hoop]. Also, download "The Hollow Crown," from the new record.)

Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 10/19, 12 Galaxies
Upcoming release: Trumpery Metier, 2006

[This post originally published 8/22/06.]

Ahhh...beautiful. Instrumental prog-rock. Crime in Choir play it as well as anyone you're likely to hear -- anywhere. NASCENT got its hands on the band's upcoming 10/31 release, and it's a doozy: a cinematic, technical, aggressive, utterly imaginative and flawlessly performed doozy. Trumpery Metier is the band's third full-length in six years and first with Gold Standard Laboratories. (more >>)

On the surface, Crime in Choir may seem like just one in a gang of instrumental prog/post-rock groups in San Francisco. The passive observer may struggle to avoid pat comparisons to local standouts like Continental, the Ebb and Flow, the Rum Diary, and Audio Out Send. But that's a big mistake. The new album, which improves upon an already strong formula, contains not a dull moment -- a certain accomplishment in the genre, achieved through creativity that knows no limits. Drawing heavily on math-rock and avant-garde jazz, Crime in Choir deftly violate the already broad boundaries of instrumental prog- and post-rock. And they do it with an energy that is instantly contagious. Grand, baroque, and utterly pretentious: we fuckin' love it.

INCESTUOUS A-LIST LINE-UP:
-Famed Hella drummer Zach Hill co-founded and just recently departed from Crime in Choir.
-New drummer Tim Soete also plays in the equally rad Fucking Champs.
-Pianist/keyboardist Kenny Hopper, the other CiC co-founder, also co-founded At The Drive-In.
-CiC Guitarist Jarrett Wrenn was another founding member of At The Drive-In.
-Fucking Champs guitarist and local studio maven Tim Green produced Trumpery Metier.

The Dont's

MySpace (listen to "Blah Blah Blah," "Worldview")
Official site
Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 2/7, Bottom of the Hill
Upcoming release: Inner El Camino, 2007

San Francisco quartet the Dont's are on the verge of releasing the biggest album of their young career. Must be an exciting feeling. The band is barely four years old, and Inner El Camino, due January 30, is a big step forward from its 2005 debut Misc Radio Leakage. Both have been self-released, but this one streamlines and elaborates upon the experimentalism of the first while proving that the Dont's ability to distill quirky, old-school indie rock was no fluke. (more >>)

Inner El Camino is indeed an indie rock fun house. Taking stalwarts like Modest Mouse, the Fall, Can, Tortoise, and Sonic Youth, and boiling them down to their most quintissential and palatable elements, the record is simultaneously off-kilter and embracing -- a weird record that's not hard to listen to. That alone is an accomplishment, but a few moments across the album elevate it to a higher level: wild vocal melodies, sublime guitar parts, jagged rhythms, and unique bass lines that bounce through uneasy indie rock tunes like tumbleweed of pure gold.

A few tracks can be overly derivative, especially the way-too-Fall-to-be-an-accident kick-off number "Blah Blah Blah." That doesn't stop it from being one of the record's high points. And lead singer Jonny Dont's voice, whether by accident or not, sounds at time a LOT like that of Electric Six frontman Dick Valentine (what a name!). The key to this record is appreciating it for what it is and shutting down the indier-than-thou part of your brain, if you have it. If you don't, you're in the clear, for the Dont's execution is flawless. Songs like "AKA Sob" and sax-laced closer "Motherfather" are all Dont's, assuring the skeptical listener that this is not a gang of ripoff artists, but four musicians with eight great ears. They know quality music when they hear it, and they sure know how to make some of their own.

THE PLEASE DO'S
-In addition to singer Jonny Don't, the group includes Joey Don't on guitars, JJ Don't on bass, and Ken Don't on drums. Something tells us they're not actually brothers.
-Inner El Camino was recorded on analog tape at the Tiny Telephone and SF Soundworks studios in San Francisco.
-The band has retained hundreds of hours of experimental recordings since forming in 2003. This does a lot to explain the band's more precarious moments -- they probably come from improv rather than deliberate songwriting sessions.

Still Flyin'

MySpace (listen to "Coupla Smokies," "Mystery Tent")
Official site

Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 2/18, The Makeout Room
Recent release: Time Wrinkle, 2006

Who said young white dudes and dudettes from San Francisco can't play real reggae? It was you, wasn't it? Still Flyin' aren't rastas (nor do they pose to be), and their style is more indie-rock-meets-rocksteady-and-dub than straight-up roots, but it's reggae nonetheless. And boy do they jam it out. So shut it! (more >>)

Still Flyin' want you to reach the same hodgepodge nirvana -- that freaky-deaky higher consciousness -- sought by groups like Architecture in Helsinki (buddies of the band) and Polyphonic Spree. Reggae influences come from the likes of Toots and the Maytals and U-Roy, and the rest is noise plucked from the indie rock atmosphere. Lead singer and songwriter SA Rawls' voice is nasal and uneven -- a sometimes welcome, sometimes jarring departure from the warm, steady tones of more traditional reggae singers. A chorus of backup singers occasionally evens him out and adds some punch to the vocals.

Time Wrinkle's sleeve names no less than 18 people who "made it to the jam" (i.e. appear on the record) and 17 "spiritual members who sadly could not join us" (ghosts, dealers, and influences?). The recording (released this past July on Oakland's Antenna Farm Records), is Still Flyin's debut and includes only six songs. Thus far they've been primarily a live entity, all about messy reggae energy and unfettered fun. But the beautiful chaos of their live show doesn't translate to the CD as well as one might hope. Maybe before the next recording, they can take more time to work on songwriting. After all, the record's strongest hook (the horn riff in "Coupla Smokies") was lifted from OutKast's reggae-liscous "Spottieottiedopaliscious" -- a killer song in its own right -- then slowed down and lo-fi'd just a bit.

TOTAL HAMMJAMM!
-In April, the group heads off to Europe for another tour including shows in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
-Time Wrinkle was recorded by Jason Quever of SF indie pop group Papercuts. He has also worked with Portland's uber-sensitive Casiotone for the Painfully Alone.
-The record was also released on vinyl. Its B-side contains six dub versions of Still Flyin' songs.
-Click here to see a cool homemade music video for "Rope Burn" at YouTube.

Hella

MySpace (listen to "Republic of Rough and Ready," "Rich Kid")
Official site
Hometown: Sacramento/San Francisco
Next local show: 2/28, Bottom of the Hill
Upcoming release: There's No 666 in Outer Space, 2007

Hella aren't officially based in San Francisco, but we just had to share the news: they've expanded to a five-piece! In addition to founders Spencer Seim and Zach Hill, the band now includes Zach's cousin Josh Hill (guitar), Advantage/Crime in Choir member Carson McWhirter (bass), and Nevada City butcher-cum-singer Aaron Ross. Does this bode hella well for the band's new record, due Jan. 30 on Orinda's Ipecac Recordings (a label co-founded by Mike Patton of Faith No More)? You bet your ass it does! (more >>)

A Nevada City label called Grass Roots Records recently released a compilation with a new Hella track on it, and let us tell you, it's pretty sweet. Forsaking the mega-noisescape of previous Hella material, "Friday the 13th" has a clearer structure and a repeated surf/thrash guitar motif -- imagine that! It's still an instrumental, but one you can follow from start to finish. Mind you, Hella hasn't "sold out;" it's just got better. Hill's drumming is still off-the-charts awesome, and Seim's guitar playing has only improved and tightened. We can pretty safely say this is the best Hella song you've ever heard.

...Which is exactly why we're so darn psyched to hear the new record. With the recent conversion from a duo to a quintet and the infusion of new ideas and skills that entails, there's really no way of knowing what the new songs are going to sound like until they're tickling the ears. In Hella's Ipecac bio, Zach himself attests the new record is "easily the best thing we've done under the moniker, for sure." The new group should destroy in concert too, and Hella promises to spend most of 2007 on tour. These are some talented musicians with some great ideas -- and the guts and technical skills to see them through. Hella cool.

EARS AND EYES:
-Zach Hill is a visual artist too. Check out these neato acrylic on cardboard paintings on display at Fools Foundation, an art gallery in Sacto.
-In case you didn't know, Hella's new promo pic (above) is a take on an old Beatles album cover.
-Oakland noise-rock group the Weegs took a similar shot for the original cover of their 2004 debut Meat the Weegs. However, subsequent pressings -- and the only jpegs we could track down -- bore this cover. Perhaps they got into legal trouble...?

The Mall

MySpace (listen to "A Dead Science," "Favorite Past")
Official site
Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 11/18, Mezzanine
Recent release: Emergency at the Everyday, 2006

Mall-punk it ain't: The Mall play a hyper, condensed mix of noise, prog, and math-rock. Emergency at the Everyday, their debut full-length, is never particularly easy on the ears, but it can be a lot of fun. Ellery Samson’s vocals (and screams) are distorted and distant, as if filtered through ten feet of chicken wire and razor blades (actually he sang through an old rotary telephone hooked up to a PA.). Above him, uneasy rhythms crash and destruct as keyboards (Daniel Tierney) and drums (Adam Cimino) continually piece them back together. The tension between accessible melodies and the persistent element of noise makes the record what it is -- simultaneously grating and irresistible. (more >>)

At 1:51, "Advantage Out" is the third-longest song on Emergency at the Everyday. The longest is the drawn-out untitled closer, which clocks a full two-and-a-quarter minutes. That oughta tell you something: the Mall don't write "songs" so much as choppy segments of a whole. One-to-two-minute noise/math-rock blasts don't exactly get the chance to spread their wings. Instead, the Mall layer keyboards on top of drums on top of guitars on top of vocals on top of noise, then chop it all up. Whether you find the noise too harsh, the synthesized swells too sweet, or perhaps all in perfect balance, you won’t have long to dwell on it. The entire record clocks in under 20 minutes, but that’s 20 minutes with the staying power of 40 -– you’ll have to listen again to get a better hold on what the Mall is doing and to enjoy the thrill of discovery.

SHOPPING SPREE:
-The Mall's first EP, First, Before, and Never Again came out earlier this year on Mt. St. Mtn.
-The group will be performing its first local show in a month on 11/18 at Mezzanine in SF. Headlining is the Slits, an influential female UK punk group that opened for the Clash back in '77 and returned this year with its first new material in 25 years.
-The Mall is currently wrapping up its first-ever US tour, during which it visited far-off lands like Texas, Alabama, and Maryland, and played a CMJ showcase in NYC with the Slits and the Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower.

Vinyl

MySpace (listen to "Last Camel to Vegas;" download "Clickety Clack")
Official site
Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 11/22, Sweetwater (Mill Valley)
Recent release: Fogshack Sessions Vol. 1, 2006

All of the hippie-jam-band-patchouli-herb-and-Birks jokes that can ever be made have already been uttered, so we'll forgo that part of the program. The jam band concept as we know it hatched in San Francisco during the '60s, and despite being nationally viable and somewhat distilled 40 years later, it continues to find a loyal following in the City by the Bay. Vinyl formed here in the mid-'90s; with five records now to its name, it's one of the more established jam bands on the scene. (more >>)

The septet has played many high profile gigs over the last decade: main-stage sets at the High Sierra Music Festival and Reggae on the River; consecutive sold-out shows at New Orleans' legendary Maple Leaf (the first club to reopen after Katrina, and home turf of the Rebirth Brass Band); and a 2001 performance as Phil Lesh's band at a concert in Petaluma. Vinyl received a "Wammie" for Best International Band from SF Weekly in 1999 and was voted one of the top 25 bands in the country by a jambands.com nationwide poll.

Vinyl is ostensibly a funk band that can't stay away from jazz, R&B, and reggae. The emphasis on funk means more similarities to George Clinton and P-Funk than to the Grateful Dead, while frequent excursions into other upbeat genres further distinguish its sound among jam bands. P-Funk founder Bernie Worrell is actually a close friend of the group, and frequently plays keyboard and sings for them both live and in the studio.

Vinyl's latest, Fog Shack Sessions Vol. 1, is different than anything else it's released. Bay Area producer duo the Rondo Brothers, who have worked with Dan the Automator, pored over hours of previously unreleased Vinyl studio recordings, then took what they wanted and remixed it for the new album. "Clickety Clack," a six-minute, super-chill reggae dub that saunters along so patiently you get the sense time stalls while it's playing, is one of eight groovy results.

BACK IN THE DAY:
-Give Vinyl mad props not only for having a pretty cool retro name, but also for slapping some awesome cover and sleeve art on their last two records, courtesy of local artist Neil Osborn.
-Vinyl records are, of course, available on vinyl. This may be the best way to enjoy the band's warm, rambling sound as well as the vibrant album art.
-In line with the band's old-school ethics, every one of their releases (okay, except one) features a Victrola on the cover. Three of them are creatively anthropomorphized.

Two Gallants Fight!

Two Gallants were involved in an alleged police brutality case at the Walter's club in Houston on Friday night. The story goes that officer Gabriel Rodriguez was responding alone to a noise complaint at the club, and instead of going to the soundboard or the owner, he headed directly to the stage, where he asked lead singer Adam Stephens to stop playing. Soon the scene devolved to chaos as Rodriguez pinned Stephens and drummer Tyson Vogel to the ground. Some lay initial blame with the band (lead singer Adam Stephens allegedly refused to cooperate when the policeman asked him to stop playing, and may have told the officer, "Fuck you...suck my dick...); others can't resist the "fuck-tha-police"-speak, saying this was an officer hellbent on aggression and in blatant disregard of proper procedure. As is often the case, it was probably a little bit of both (or a little of one and a lot of the other...). (more >>)

One thing's for sure -- all hell broke lose in the club. People were tazed (including a UH student researching a paper on the local music scene and a 14-year-old boy and his father -- check out a post by the boy's mom's on this MySpace page; he may have suffered seizures as a result), and others arrested (including Vogel, who was involved in the onstage tussle, as well as Andrew Kerwin, guitarist for opening act the Trainwreck Riders, and a couple fans in attendance). Stephens escaped from the club and was sought by police helicopters with spotlights. No word on whether they caught him, although it seems not. Vogel spent the night in jail and Two Gallants played the very next night in Austin.

This is a big problem for all parties involved and it's only going to get bigger. A city council event is planned for Houston City Hall tomorrow (Tuesday). Stay tuned at the various websites and forums listed below. Many contain firsthand accounts from people in attendance that night. There's already a wealth of information, personal stories, and videos to be found across the blogosphere, on MySpace, and in local Houston news. It's only been two weekend days and about half of one working day. Welcome to the information age.

LINKS:
HPD Has Problems MySpace page pt. 2 -- pt. 1, initial epicenter of online info, received very heavy traffic and was shut down by MySpace around 3:30 p.m. on 10/16; pt2. is slowly rebuilding
Dan Sharber's MySpace page -- info, pics, and three videos
Katie Ford's MySpace page -- personal account of the situation, in which Ford claims she was arrested without being read her rights
Trisha Faye's MySpace page -- firsthand account posted in the comments section of this page by "The Vortex," another MySpace user (and music venue in Beaumont, TX), where the poster tells of her husband and 14-year-old son being tasered at the show
Two Gallants message board -- good info, pics, links, video, personal accounts, etc.
Hands Up Houston message board -- mostly chat by Houston folks
Two Gallants Dispute blog -- more general info
Links: The Walter's Disaster blog -- links to these sites and more
Houstoned: Houston Press blog -- blog report from Houston weekly newspaper
HoustonSoReal blog -- an interesting take from a Houston blogger, with videos
Houston Indepedent Media Center -- early news report on the incident
ABC13 Eyewitness News -- TV news report brief
Pitchfork -- news article with links and some reporting
Houston Chronicle -- Sunday morning article with initial reporting
Two Gallants Wikipedia page -- already contains info about the Walter's incident

The May Fire

MySpace (listen to "Red Eye," "Right and Wrong")
Official site

Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: None planned
Recent release: Right and Wrong, 2006

Is that a cowbell we hear? The leadoff track on the May Fire's debut disc is loaded with it -- bangin' out the quarter notes a la "Don't Fear the Reaper" through every verse. Many purport to love the cowbell, but few have the guts to feature it in their official "Hello" to the world. (more >>)

Fans of Elastica may appreciate the verse bassline and rhythm in the next track, "Nothing Today." The song wraps up with a guitar solo that screams White Stripes. This is good, mind you -- as they say, sometimes innovation is overrated. And if you're looking for something unique, try their backstory. Singer/guitarist Catty Tasso hails from Chile, while drummer El Pipe is from Colombia. The two met in Los Angeles in 2004, then moved to San Francisco. Needless to say, they have a strong Latino following.

Cat's lead guitar work throughout the record is stellar -- front and center, technically sharp and on the mark, and always bathed in some degree of distortion. Very immediate and raw; definitely got a fire under its ass. And her vocals follow suit. The comparison to Elastica holds true, as her voice carries a similarly punk timbre.

The May Fire's heady mix of blues, garage rock, and punk is held together by El Pipe's drumming. He sounds like he was trained in a bar band with a great repertoire, jamming for hours on everything from Hendrix to Skynyrd. His strength is not in complexity, but suitability; expert drumming is about more than fills and solos. Pipe and his partner Cat know how to make rock that sounds good and feels nice.

FIRESTARTERS:
-The May Fire recently played the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, either wearing leather chaps or simply rocking them off audience members. We've received conflicting reports....
-Right and Wrong was recorded primarily in Alhambra (Pipe's garage, aka Rock Whores Studios), plus a little more in Los Angeles (Le Boot), and -- following the move up north -- our very own Berkeley (Chabola Studios). Mixing and mastering remained a Bay Area affair.