Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Aaron Espinoza and Jason Lytle of Admiral Radley, plying their craft.
Jason Lytle and Aaron Burtch of Grandaddy plus Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray of Earlimart equals Admiral Radley.
These two midtempo guitar-and-keyboard indie rock crews plugged in their effects pedals together and now the Admiral has come to town. Continue reading “Show Review: Admiral Radley at The Bottom Of The Hill, 7/23/2010”
Sensitive gays from around the Bay Area flocked to Bottom of the Hill last night for the latest San Francisco appearance by outrageously cute twee-folk pin-up Jay Brannan.
Continue reading “Show Review: Jay Brannan with Terra Naomi at Bottom of the Hill, 6/16/10”
Somewhere during this show, this genre became dead to me. I don’t even know what you call the genre (besides “typical” indie rock), but I’ll try to describe it. A bunch of dudes wearing clothes they bought at thrift stores (or are meant to look like they bought them at thrift stores in Brooklyn) play mid-tempo numbers, and then occasionally the songs build to a giant crescendo where they all scream into their microphones together to let you know that this song is intense, man. It now feels a bit fake to me. Continue reading “Show Review: Local Natives with Suckers at Bottom of the Hill, 6/3/2010”
So-called novelty bands tend to have a short shelf life. The progression tends to go something like this: you see the band open for someone else and you immediately tell your friends, then you see them again with your friends and have a great time, and then you keep going but your friends are over them. Meanwhile you’re telling the friends who have stopped going that the band is special; it’s not just a shtick. Sometimes you’re wrong, but sometimes you’re right. So am I right about Gil Mantera’s Party Dream? Continue reading “Show Review: Gil Mantera’s Party Dream with Triple Cobra and Go Going Gone Girls at Bottom of the Hill, 5/15/10”
I often times enjoy a mellow a Sunday evening spent enjoying the soothing sounds of traveling minstrels with the company of fellow locals. I opted to spend this past Sunday eve at a popular Portrero Hill tavern to enjoy the song stylings Foxy Shazam. The show filled me with great joy, despite the fact that I’m unsure as to whether or not everyone managed to survive.
Rock ‘n’ roll is defined as getting off work at 9, going to Bottom of the Hill at 10, leaving at 1, getting home at 2 and going back to work again at 7. But two things are in my favor: It’s a slow news day, and Sim Dynasty is down, so I have no distractions and can tell you all about the show I saw last night. Continue reading “Show Review: You Say Party! We Say Die!, Fake Your Own Death and Nylon Heart Attack at Bottom of the Hill, 3/12/10”
In 2001, Kansas’ The Appleseed Cast made the leap from being a well-regarded emo rock group to something not on any charts.
The band released an ambitious precedentless work: Low Level Owl, Volume 1 & 2.
The songs of the Low Level Owl project mostly flow into one another without break, changing tempos and beats mid-stream. Some songs have choruses, some don’t. Some have singing, most don’t. Musical facets or patterns repeat and shimmer like dust devils dancing through the summer air. This aural sum flitted free of convention so thoroughly that it couldn’t well be called “emo” rock. What does it sound like? Intricate chiming melodic rock that fords forward without map yet with purpose. It sounds matter-of-factly majestic without trying to be majestic — like a hawk cutting a turn through an updraft. Continue reading “Show Review: The Appleseed Cast at Bottom Of The Hill, 3/6/10”
The annual Sunday day show at Bottom of the Hill is an odd little affair. The sunlight coming through the window feels jarring, for sure, but what was odd about this year’s version was the crowd. This was an all-ages show featuring a headliner made up of young boys playing sunny rock, and that brought a crowd of admiring teenage girls to the venue. Mix them with the usual Sunday afternoon crowd of hungover aging hipsters Noise Pop veterans, and what do you get?
Continue reading “Noise Pop Show Review: Dizzy Balloon, The Hounds Below, Visqueen and Laarks at Bottom of the Hill, 2/28/10”
Sacramento, by its nature and its history, is a place where expectations fall short of their intended aim.
During the late 1990s, the band Far created rock music that sounded like what it could be like to be young in Sacramento: more questions than answers, long roads of shimmer-hot blacktop, and frustration. Lead guy Jonah Matranga’s vocal range within the space of one track could range from gentle keening to the bare-throated howl of an animal one size larger than his small body.
The songs felt fearless, with the inertia of a determined plunge into the unknown. Unafraid to be delicate, unafraid to throw a violin over the mix, unafraid to attack thorny lyrical topics like faith and self and loss.
Far’s soaring melodic anthemic “Nineties alternative” rocknroll sounds like being young and strident and skeptical and putting a foot down hard on a gas pedal.
After releasing two major-label albums, the band disintegrated in 1999. Their second LP, Water & Solutions, grew in prominence after their passing. The aggressive, flexible, heartfelt thrust of Far’s sound inspired listeners and bands. Their music became influential, garnering posthumous accolades and meaningless portmanteaus long after they’d broken up: “post-hardcore;” “pre-emo;” “emo-metal.” Water & Solutions began being considered a classic album, a precursor and influence on the music that came afterwards.
Now, thanks to Ginuwine, Far is back. And onstage for Noise Pop 2010 in San Francisco.
Sacramento, by its nature and its history, is a place where expectations fall short of their intended aim.
During the late 1990s, the band Far created rock music that sounded like what it could be like to be young in Sacramento: more questions than answers, long roads of shimmer-hot blacktop, and frustration. Lead guy Jonah Matranga‘s vocal range within the space of one track could roam from gentle keening to the bare-throated howl of an animal one size larger than his small body.
The songs felt fearless, with the inertia of a determined plunge into the unknown. Unafraid to be delicate, unafraid to throw a violin over the mix, unafraid to attack thorny lyrical topics like faith and self and loss. Continue reading “Noise Pop Show Review: Far at Bottom Of The Hill, 2/25/10”
When a Rogue Wave show ends with a couple dozen people dancing on the Bottom of the Hill stage, you know a sea change has happened in the band. The press materials for the new album Permalight go into a lot of detail about this, but nothing in the press materials could prepare you for the new sounds coming out of the band: a little bit of dance (backing tracks?), a lot more volume, and some spirited takes on some old friends. Continue reading “Noise Pop Show Review: Rogue Wave at Bottom of the Hill, 2/24/10”