Reviews of albums, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music Nerds
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On Thursday night, Slim’s hosted a dynamic range of Bay Area music. Opening with R&B, eased into alternative rock, Pop with soul, then jumped into Hip Hop and ended with fans twirling to Electric Trance. Contrary to logic, the various of styles had a smooth transition from one band’s music flavor to another, which was appreciated by a tight crowd as loyal as family. [read the whole post]
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It's your last chance to see and hear From Monument to Masses. Don't miss out!
I’m feeling very old this week, as two of my favorite Bay Area bands will be playing break-up shows in two nights. The first is my old band Audrye Sessions who will be saying goodbye on Friday, August 27th at The New Parish in Oakland. The second is From Monument to Masses who are playing final show at Great American Music Hall on Saturday, August 28th. Since Judgement Day is opening up the Great American show, I thought it might nice for me to share some of my thoughts on the night’s headliners. [read the whole post]
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No photos allowed, and it was really dark anyway, so I instead bring you a picture of Michael Pare from Streets of Fire. That's what Brandon looked like.
Not only did Brandon Flowers look like Michael Pare from music-nerd-must-see Streets of Fire (not the leather jacket look but the suspenders look), but the music was reminiscent of that film as well. All tales of rock n’ roll bleeding hearts and people down on their luck, but with occasional rousing singalong moments, the new material from Brandon Flowers is close enough to The Killers’ own tunes to make me wonder why the solo album was necessary. He’s always been the center of attention of that band, so that can’t be the motivation. So it must have been musical in nature. I just didn’t hear enough to know what makes this difference. Perhaps if he had played longer. [read the whole post]
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Keith Murray brings it. Thanks to flickr user Diana Broeders for allowing use of this photo from a previous show.
Ah, a Saturday night show. The one time the audience has no excuse but to bring the energy. At the We Are Scientists show at Slim’s the energy was bursting from the seams. There was great music, a relatively friendly crowd, a lot of laughter, and even more drinking. At least that’s what happened where I was standing… [read the whole post]
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Frontguy and basketball enthusiast Doug Martsch at work.
Had Built To Spill been resting on their laurels?
The two previous albums before the current There Is No Enemy LP displayed what could be construed as the gentle complacency of an aging NBA star on a team going into the rebuilding process: a few gems here-and-there to remind us what they were capable of, but a general sense of the motivation just not being there.
Doug Martsch‘s band had released several albums and tracks widely regarded as classics: the Perfect From Now On LP; songs like “Car,” “You Were Right,” and the gorgeous, haunting “Randy Described Eternity.” He’d spearheaded and mastered his own brand of good-natured wide-striding heavily-layered swirling guitar-heroics-based indie rock. Now what?
What would it look like if Boise’s second-favorite export had something to prove?
San Francisco got the answer when Built To Spill took the stage at Slim’s.
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Let The Power Of Psychedelia Overtake You...
We speak of SXSW a lot on this site, only because it truly is the best musical bargain out there. You travel from venue to venue seeing bands that you know & love in intimate settings, and you also get to uncover greatness. Sometimes, though, you can get so caught up in the magic of the experience overall, that you may find that the band you learned to love so much in Austin under Shiner-induced ear goggles, isn’t so dreamy in the foggy splendor of San Francisco. Woods were that band for me in Austin, and I was kind of worried that they wouldn’t do it for me here. I’ve started accumulating some of their recordings, and although they are good, they just seem so different from what I remember. But, on this hotter than normal June evening, I forced myself out of my apartment, where I was enjoying lemonade under the fan with my cat (she didn’t get any lemonade, but I did put her tuna on fridge for a bit before serving her dinner. She quite liked that), and forced myself over to Slim’s.
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