This week’s Single Of The Week comes from Sweden’s ShitKid. We have one of the most wonderfully weird videos I’ve seen in a while, accompanied by some catchy as fuck LoFi garage punk. Lyrically they’ve produced some of the best late adolescent angst since the heyday of The Donnas! (Please come back, Donnas!)
ShitKid’s sophmore album, [DETENTION] can be found in all the usual places, including Bandcamp. They are also hitting the road later this year supporting The Melvins & Redd Kross, so make sure you know where your ear plugs are. Those tourdates can be found here!
I have to start by admitting that what I witnessed this evening is difficult to paraphrase. To do so would be a disservice to the intimacy and honesty that Amanda Palmer shared with us. While that certainly sounds like an excuse for laziness, I am being quite earnest. It’s hard to come to terms with it, but I’m at a complete loss of how to describe what I experienced in that giant ex-movie palace where I watched a woman tell her story armed with nothing but a Steinway grand piano, a ukulele, and a hell of a lot more bravery than I think I’ll ever know.
This week’s Single Of The Week comes from SF’s Enablers. Not that SF needs any Enablers, because this town is basically Neverland for people with too much money, but the band is solid. Imagine if Parquet Courts decided to start taking a ton of acid, and let loose whatever stream of consciousness ramblings that came to mind. Only with a heavier dose of psychedelia. This band is trippy in all the right ways, and heavy when you need it to be heavy.
Their record, Zones, is out on June 14th and can be preordered here!
I don’t often make it down to the Sunset Strip in Rock and Roll West Hollywood. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that it’s expensive and the parking is absolutely terrible. However, I’ve a lot of fond memories of late night jaunts to The Rainbow Room for pizza, beers, and bitch sessions about freelance work with some close friends and it just so happens that the Roxy Theatre is right next door. So, of course I was going to make a trek out to street where rock and roll really cemented its place in popular culture to see The Faint and whoever is touring with them.
I found myself in the violet music tank again, half way through Swervedriver’s set. This British alt-rock favorite from the ’90s was delivering their murky dirges to a full house of murmuring English accents, The band engaged the crowd occasionally, dropping out to a full and discordant organized distracted sound. I liked it a lot. Continue reading “Show Review: Failure, Swervedriver at The Fillmore, 4/23/19”
This week’s single of the week is notable because, well, it came with a b-side. So you’ve got two songs to help you make it through your Friday! Portland’s Black Belt Eagle Scout has followed up last year’s nearly perfect Mother Of My Children with two songs that manage to be delicate and noisy simultaneously, perfecting the sound that Neil Young & Crazy Horse had been fighting to find for decades. The church organ that kicks in for the second half of “Half Colored Hair” is downright chilling.
The 7″ can be purchased here, or find Black Belt Eagle Scout on tour with Julia Jacklin this spring!
Cast is terrific, but this movie becoming a must-see is a long shot
Newly hired speechwriter Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen, center) goes over his work with Secretary of State Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron, r.) and her aides Tom (Ravi Patel) and Maggie (June Diane Raphael).
Director Jonathan Levine tries his hand at comedy again for the first time since 2017’s tepid Amy Schumer/Goldie Hawn vehicle Snatched, and somewhat redeems himself. Long Shot is a bit smarter and a bit funnier than Levine’s previous picture, but, while entertaining enough, it isn’t destined to become a comedy classic. Continue reading “Film Review: Long Shot“
Rolanda D. Bell as Blue in Down Here Below. (Photo courtesy of Jose Manuel Moctezuma, 2019.)
As the socioeconomic gap continues to grow in the Bay Area, the percentage of people struggling to survive rises. Food, shelter, safety… those on the margins become a statistic: A pity, a charity case, a series of photographs, a nuisance — their humanity stripped. We’re often told there’s one way to live, and that one way provides us with the material possessions needed to bring stability into our lives. Our identities are closely tied to societal milestones and to our relationships: mother, father, sister, brother, wife, husband. Look under any social media bio and you’ll often see these monikers proudly displayed along with one’s location and chosen profession. So what happens when just the struggle to sleep or eat becomes a privilege, let alone the factors that bring stability to someone’s life? And, at the core of it all, what truly differentiates those who have, and those who have not? If we don’t meet certain milestones, are we no longer deemed acceptable to have basic human rights? Furthermore, what happens to the child whose mother can not afford daycare? Or the artist who cannot make art because they can no longer afford the space? How many of our rights will be stripped until the majority of us live on the margins?Continue reading “Theater Review: From Ubuntu Theater Project, a Powerful Message About Humanity in Lisa Ramirez’s Down Here Below“
I have to confess, I was completely in the dark about Wax Trax! Records, which seems criminal to me now considering my music tastes. So, what better way to learn the whole story than a documentary screening followed by a concert?
When I was 16, I was heavily invested in the world of punk rock. But it was the commercial version of it that was found on the local alternative radio station Live 105, 120 Minutes on MTV, and PBS documentaries of a bygone era.
Then I got a job at a telemarketing company, and a coworker began introducing me to the lovely world of riot grrrl. I was given tapes of music by Team Dresch, Sleater-Kinney, and Bikini Kill. The pure ferocity of it all spoke to me. It opened so many sonic doors for me, and helped me realize that I preferred listening to female voices—and found that women writers were easier for me to relate to than men. Continue reading “Show Review: Bikini Kill, The Linda Lindas at The Hollywood Palladium, 4/26/19”
