brief hiatus while I do this thing here

things in progress

Open Studio at Laden Atelier, Mareschstr. 15, Neukolln, Berlin

What? Yes, it's happening, an evening featuring art by 

Ivo Gretener

Kika Jonsson

Ella Littwitz

Roman Moriceau

Julia Prezewowsky

used universe

 On Saturday, December 8th, 2012, from 6-10 pm.

Come and see some art, have a drink, and maybe your mind will be blown.

Brief hiatus from the musical jabberings until then, enjoy this track though.

Gentlemen Cowboys: Band of Horses at Admiralspalast, November 7, 2012

"Thinking it over by the snack machine/I thought about you in a candy bar"

Band of Horses have nice jackets

Well, it is the day after OBAMA!!!!!!!! wins again, and some smart people living on European time would have gone to bed early and just woken up at 4 am to watch the returns come in, but not...this....chick.  So, in the company of Barbara G. and Chris L., with approximately an hour and half sleep in 48 hours, we headed to Admiralspalast, my first venture into a Berlin venue that comes close to the elegant grandeur of my favorite Victorian ballrooms of San Francisco (Warfield, Great American Music Hall and the Regency Ballroom come to mind) it's a space with a large open floor and not one but two balcony levels.  Once again, acoustics were questionable, I don't know if it was just tonight but the mix sounded really poor and scratchy.

Count the references to Americana

The show openers were Goldheart Assembly, a (fairly standard) indie pop rock band from London (out on Fierce Panda) distinguished by the fact that none of us could understand them. If I said it once, I said it a thousand times: up and coming bands, say your names like 10 times, clearly and slowly. Banners help too. 

Anyway, after no delay, one fifth of BoH appeared on stage, all in skinny jeans, baseball shirt and trucker hats, before a screen image of the evergreen forest canopy, giving way to star-spangled sky.  These are not men, these are guys, good ol' American guys.  I guess I don't know what I miss until I see it.  They began with a slow, yearning ballad, one their many odes to what we love, we lose and we lust for. But I don't know which exact song so sorry.  

Throughout the show, behind the band appeared images from all around the US, I spotted Mono Lake and other places I'm certain were California and other gratuitous nature money shots in the Southwest.( You want to know what makes you homesick? THAT makes you homesick.) It was sort like an American road trip, but sitting down. They covered an Allman Brothers song, and I cannot confirm or deny it was the same one they did in their set in Phoenix but it was rocking.  They also had a few riffs that I swear are the opening to The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" but I was pretty sleep deprived at this point so no promises.

You know, in honor of Thanksgiving, here we give thanks that the Northwest has given us so much.  I want to you to imagine this band is the soundtrack to cresting some high mountain in the Cascade Range and realizing he/she is still gone.  That sort of sweeping, majestic sound mixed with heartbreak. (Before one song, "It's about to get real sad up in here." Oh, believe me, we know.)  Highlights of the evening was when they busted out the lap steel to accompany their reflective ballads. 

The election=addressed. Y'all? Yeah, he said "Thanks y'all for coming out." (Lead singer Ben Bridwell is from South Carolina.)  Gems enjoyed included, but not limited to, "The Great Salt Lake," "Weed Party," and the "Funeral" and a smattering of songs off the new album.  Enjoy these Seattle founded rockers at their set at Amoeba, my favorite record store in San Francisco.

FIDLAR: When guitars are given to idiots, idiots can rock

And you though punk was dead...check out these So Cal skatepunkers, who sing about all kinds of important stuff, like getting drunk, high, skateboarding and being broke. I know I know, it sound cliched, but this quartet of early 20 somethings have made it work. For fans of the Germs, and of course Minor Threat, mixed with a bit Steve Cabellero's band, The Faction. Just off a successful tour with the Hives, they are heading to France and the UK this December and download the decent free EP here.  Who knew singing about getting fucked up could be so much fun?  Lastly, it's gone now but they had an awesome hostage spoof video, 2 guys in masks with a "victim" holding a newspaper, kneeling in front of them, while they shouted "We want beer!"  Awesome for being tasteless, I mean.

Alexis Taylor IS Christine McVie: Hot Chip at Columbiahalle, November 1, 2012

"A church is not for praying/it's for celebrating the light that bleeds through the pain"

November 1, Dia de los Muertos, and one of my favorite Scottish people has organized an unwieldy group of seven to attend Hot Chip, on tour to support their latest album Motion Sickness. Now, last time I saw this band was when they opened for Animal Collective at the Fillmore San Francisco in 2005 (name=dropped).  Now during that show (supporting Coming on Strong) I remember...I remember... dancing? There's been a lot of head trauma since then but I did buy the album and absorbed them, they were a nice complement to Animal Collective. 
I am happy to say the ultimate British geeks have grown, expanding their minimalist pop for more synth heavy, danceable tracks that owe everything, and I mean everything to New Order. They played most of the new album, highlight was a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere" (of the 1986 album Tango in the Night, oh the 80s) , and I love it when men sound like women, that probably indicates some latent issue in myself I know. [Please follow that last link even if you can't watch it, check out the top comment, internet gold.]  Highlights included a great version of "Motion Sickness" and "How Do You Do?" where the header lyric comes from.  So if you want something to dance to that has actually substantial lyrics, the soundtrack that will speak to all you ugly sweater wearing computer geeks who secretly press roses between the pages of classic literature while watching it rain, then check them out.