Fancy a Trance or Taking a Chance?

I’ll assume that, since I didn’t see any of my readers who I know at the Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid show last night, you all got together for the Why? show. Let me know how it was. You definitely missed a banging set over at the Great American. Hebden dropped much funkier, groove-driven stuff that appeared on his most recent LP as Four Tet. Unfortunately, this was the first time that I’ve ever had to complain about the sound at the Great American. The sound guy had Hebden up way too loud, so that it seemed to be more of a Kieran Hebden featuring Steve West lineup, which was quite disappointing. It only became a problem when Hebden dropped some nasty bass or just got plain loud on the decks, which he did often. Once I recognized that there was nothing I could do and just decided to be Zen about it get into the groove, it was a great show. And I always love picking up a free copy of XLR8R magazine. Enough with the past, on the future:

Saturday, April 1, 2006
Helio Sequence and Band of Horses
Mezzanine
Free

Saturday, April 1, 2006
Band of Horses
Amoeba, 2:00 p.m.
Free

I mentioned the show at Mezzanine previously and told you to RSVP. Did you? Even if you didn’t you can still go with someone who did, apparently according to the response to my RSVP. If you attend this show you will (1) see an amazing rock drummer (1/2 of Helio Sequence) who also tours with Modest Mouse breaking it down, (2) see a buzz band (Band of Horses) who recently dropped an LP, Everything All the Time, which is garnishing great reviews for its country-tinged indie-rock and (3) receive free beer (Pilsner Urquel and Peroni) from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m., according to that RSVP response again. If you don’t feel like hitting up the Mez that night, head over to Amoeba at 2:00 p.m. to see Band of Horses.

Saturday, April 1, 2006
Mammatus and The Grey Daturas
Hemlock Tavern
$7

The only time I have seen Mammatus, when they opened for Up-Tight at the Hemlock, the Corralitos quartet sent my friend and I into trance with their psychedelic stoner rock. And who doesn’t like to be put into a trance? Its freaking awesome. Its their record release party, so go support the semi-locals. Another heavy psych rock band, Australia’s The Grey Daturas open, and this is one of the bands I wanted to see at SXSW but missed. Now’s my chance. And yours. Mmmm…. Trance….

Saturday, April 1, 2006
Kid Koala
Independent
$17

At this price, I’m hesitant to recommend this show. I’ve seen Ninja Tune DJ Kid Koala a few times, and when he is on, he’s freaking on. He definitely has the skills on the turntables to blend together all sorts of crazy samples (see: a song based around sneez samples), into something beautiful and he’s one of my favorite scratchers. But I’ve also seen one show where he just did mash-ups and fooled around. But everybody has an off-night now and again. Feel like gambling? Then check it out, because when he is at his best, he’s well worth seeing, even with a $17 price tag.

Noise Pop Shows of Note for Tonight

Well, at least I managed to go less than a month between postings. Between planning for South by Southwest, attending SXSW, recovering from SXSW, catching up with personal/work stuff post-SWSW and seeing bands that I missed at SXSW that I really wanted to see but couldn’t, I’ve kept myself busy. I’ll have an SXSW report up here stat for you to peruse, but my goal right now is to get back to the business of advising you of happenings in San Francisco that I feel are worth attending. Back to work:

Thursday, March 30, 2006
Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid
Great American Music Hall
$18

I already mentioned this one here. Since then I’ve sampled a little of the first collaboration album, and it is exactly the tripped-out free-jazzy electronic goodness I expect will be great live. Since then I also bought my tickets. I’m excited.

Thursday, March 30, 2006
Why?
Rickshaw Stop
$10

If lo-fi experimental emo-hop is more your thing, then this show will suit you. Local Yoni Wolf has, like much of his Anticon brethren, moved further and further away from a traditional hip hop sound on each release. He has, unlike his Anticon crew, chosen to go so far down the rock road that he is now categorized there in record stores. What is left of his foundations in hip hop are his occasional hip hop style MCing and the occasional beat. For the most part the recent album, Elephant Eyelash, is pure beautiful lo-fi and it’s also group effort involving some very talented multi-instrumentalists Doug McDiarmid and Yoni’s brother, Josiah. The live show is even more stripped down, and even more beautiful for it. Drums (played mostly with brushes), xylophone, piano, guitar, and (if you’re lucky) a guest on trombone provide the backdrop for Yoni to sing/rap his strange and moving lyrics.

Trying to Keep It Free in the City by the Bay

I’m probably as sick of apologizing for the infrequent nature of my posts recently as you are sick of hearing about it. So, I’m not apologizing this time. I’ve been busy. Busy writing my first articles that are going to be published in print (previews of Austin bands playing during South by Southwest for one of my friend’s publications). Busy seeing kick ass shows. Like the amazing Orthrelm show I saw on Monday. At least 45 minutes of insane riffing and drumming without a single pause for applause, a drink of water, a sniff of coke, or anything else. I say “at least 45 minutes” because they put me into a trance and that’s my best guess. I really have no idea though. Could have been five minutes. Could have been two hours. Couldn’t have been much better. I lied though. Because I am going to apologize. Because I feel bad when I don’t do my darnedest to keep everyone informed.

There's so much going on this weekend I'm not even sure where to start. This post is all about the free gigs. I know SF can be so expensive, so I tries to keep it real. Before I get to down to business, I wanted to give you a heads up on a couple of shows that were just announced. Frank Black of Pixies fame is playing a couple of solo gigs at super-intimate Café Du Nord on March 14 and 15. Cover is $20. It will sell out quickly, so I suggest that you get those tickets now. Its not too often you’ll get a chance to see Black Francis in such a small joint.

Thursday, March 2, 2006
3rd Annual Dhamaal Sights & Sounds Opening Party
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Free

Dhamaal is back from a world tour and their gearing up for a bunch of events as part of their 3rd Annual Sights and Sounds Festival. This Thursday night is the free kick-off party at Yerba Buena. If you’ve got something better to do for a couple of hours after you get off work, by all means do it. The party features the all-female Nrityagram Dance Ensemble Showcase performing contemporary interpretations of classical Indian dance. On the Dhamaal front, we’ve got Maneesh the Twister on the wheels of steel, Ferhan Qureshi on the tabla, Skip Intro on visuals & Samba Guisse doing the MC thing. I can’t promise that I will embarrass myself attempting classical Indian dance this time like I did last Saturday at Dhamaal’s monthly party at Club 6, but I certainly wouldn’t rule it out either.

Friday, March 3, 2006
Mix Master Mike vs. DJ Swamp
Club 6
9:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.
Free

OK. Beastie Boys. Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Michael Scwartz hardly needs an introduction, after all nobody can do it like he can do it. DJ Swamp might be a little more obscure, but he’s got some heavyweight DJ battles under his belt. And he’s Beck’s DJ, so obscure hardly seems appropriate. And they’re battling each other. From what I’ve gathered, this is a Camel sponsored event, and that’s why it’s free. So, maybe they don’t come on until late (the event is only scheduled to go until 2:00 a.m., so that’s not really late for a Friday night at Club 6), maybe they only play for an hour, maybe even just half an hour, maybe they only half-ass it on the decks. It’ll still be worth the $0 you paid to get into see two of the worlds top DJs spinning together. And, please, if you want to get in, arrive relatively early. Free Mix Master Mike vs. DJ Swamp shows on weekend nights don’t come around all that often.

Friday, March 3, 2006
New Orleans Klezmer All Stars
Independent
$10 advance/$12 door

Friday, March 3, 2006
New Orleans Klezmer All Stars
Amoeba
6:00 p.m.
Free

Saturday, March 4, 2006
New Orleans Klezmer All Stars
First Congregational Church in Oakland
???

Confession: I inexcusably managed to make it through four years in New Orleans without seeing the New Orleans Klezmer All Stars. That doesn’t mean that I won’t try and catch some of their free set at Amoeba, because I will. And it certainly doesn’t mean that I won’t plug them, because I will. Over the years, I’ve heard great things about their NOLA-inspired takes on traditional Yiddish music, incorporating Dixieland jazz, funk, modern jazz and more. I’ve seen many of the musicians who play with them in different groups over the years. Rob Wagner, who plays clarinet, was one of the best sax players I saw in the Crescent City and the first sax player I saw bust out the two-saxes-at-once trick. Sax player Ben Ellman and Willie Green III (or “Mean Willie Green” as most know him) are probably the most notorious of the bunch, given that Ellman plays in Galactic and Green has been the drummer for the Neville Brothers for 14 years. Guitarist Jonathon Frielich was one of the best jazz guiatrists I saw in my time in New Orleans. With everything that’s happened in their city over the past six months, I certainly can’t imagine who exactly will be playing on this tour, but I can imagine that it’s going to be great. Hmmmm… Which show to go to? There’s the free show at Amoeba, the show at the Independent and the mysterious show at the 1st Congregational Church in Oakland. I left a voicemail at the church trying to get some details for you, the reader, in case you’re interested. I’ll keep you posted. I have to confess that I’ll be at the sold-out Stereolab/Hot Chip show at the Fillmore on Saturday night. So, here’s to praying that the show at the church is in the afternoon. Praying for it to be free couldn’t hurt either.