Subbing Again

Loads of Lenode will be on KUSF 90.3 San Francisco from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. this Friday, November 3, 2006. You know you want it. You crave it. No, you need it. Noise, hip hop, jazz, metal, indie, funk, electro, funk, techno, soul, ambient, punk... Who knows what we'll be listening to? Not me. But I'm sure it'll be just what you need to hear at 6:00 in the morning.

Too Cool for the Castro?

There may be a hell of a lot of music this week up in NYC for the ol’ CMJ Music Marathon this week, but at least there’s plenty going on over on this coast to keep me from missing it too much. Plus, I’m still too bummed out about missing Arthur Nights when it was so close by…

While I believe I will simply be going to a party this Halloween (the first time I have not gone to a show in how many years?) it would be unacceptable of me not to advise you of what’s going on. Word on the streets is that the Castro gets lamer every year. Not that I would know. I usually go to a concert. Hmmm… All this talking about concerts is making my ass want to go to a concert. It’s only going to get worse:

Hmmm… Just discovered that the Halloween show at the 12 Galaxies, featuring Extra Action Marching Band is sold out. So much for one of my top picks for tonight. Lots of skin, punk marching band… Oh well…

I like what I said about The Flying Luttenbachers before, and I still (regrettably) have not seen them and have nothing new to report: “Let the Flying Luttenbachers’ “punk jazz/free death/no wave” do whatever that sort of music does to you (make you bang your head, dance around like a maniac, stand in the back pushing the earplugs in as far as they’ll go, etc.). What with the fact that Mick Barr of Orthrelm, Octis, et al. is playing guitar now, this should be a stellar pick. It’ll be sort of like angry free jazz with a shotgun.” They play at Club 6 with The Jampires, No Doctors and The Microwaves.

Don’t know if The Cramps show is sold out or not, but if you’re into psychobilly, I’m sure you already have your ticket anyway. Should be perfect for Halloween.

At the Hemlock it’s Blectum from Blechdom featuring Blevin Blectum and Kevin Blechdom bringing you crazy electro-craziness.

Finally, the last show I want to recommend this evening would be the Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy show at the Great American. First off, your evening starts off with Sir Richard Bishop of the Sun City Girls, a personal favorite of mine recently. It’s solo acoustic guitar stuff with a variety of different influences, (Spanish, Fahey, et al.). But let’s not forget that Sir Bishop makes some noise with the SCG, and he can certainly make some noise with just an acoustic guitar. But it can also be so delicate and beautiful. Lovely. And that’s just the appetizer. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy is the main course, and damn, he’s delicious. Will Oldham (he of Palace, Palace Brothers, Superwolf, et al.) is a singer-songwriter of the highest degree. Collaborating with folks from Chavez, Tortoise and even Johnny Cash, most of his work is simple, beautiful and slightly dark. Emphasis on the beautiful. The show should be beautiful.

Playlist 10.31.06

tuesday, october 31, 2006
3:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m.

extra evil for halloween

cookie mongoloid – 666

the advantage – ghosts ‘n’ goblins
striborg – embittered darkness
alboth! – libeskind
mord – opus iii

volcano the bear – lifetime
leviathan – are lunartic
necrophagist – the stillborn one
goliath bird eater – falcon arrow

alvarius b – phantom green light
comus – the bite
marianne faithful – there is a ghost
grouper – second skin/zombie wind

six organs of admittance – river of transfiguration

wolf eyes – post civilization muzak 1
circle of dead children – only one per coffin
john wiese – arrythmia
darkthrone – en as i dype skogen

geoff mullen – untitled (track 2 from ‘the air in pieces’)
the dead c. – bitcher
tussle – ghost barber
jaga jazzist – i have a ghost, now what?

farmacia – golondrino
legendary pink dots - a japanese manual for a crooked wheel
coil – it’s in my blood
khanate – too close enough to touch
boris – b-side from ‘vein’

at the mic breaks: bobby beausoleil and the freedom orchestra – lucifer rising (recorded late 70’s at tracy state prison)

Playlist 10.24.06

tuesday, october 24, 2006
3:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m.

can’t – miracles of life/night showers
amps for christ – augmented/demented
rubber o cement – tracks 1 – 5 of the new album that i picked up at noise pancakes this week. i forgot to write down the name of the album before emailing myself my playlist this morning so i could post it today at work, and if i keep putting it off it’ll never get posted. perhaps i will remember for next time…

merzbow & john wiese – hypersomnia
carnival skin – iono

(do you know what it means to miss new orleans?)
boozoo chavis – dance all night
african music machine – black water gold
meters – stay away
rebirth brass band – new orleans music

ecstatic sunshine – tuscan
califone – pink & sour
bonnie ‘prince’ billy – the seedling
sir richard bishop – rudra’s feast

christina carter – moving intercepted
keith fullerton whitman – gravicembalo col piano e forte
emperor – thus spoke the night spirit
ludicra – in fear
(christina carter and emperor in the same set, fuck yeah)

circle – usaapui
ooioo – umo
radiohead – skttrbrain (four tet remix)
caribou – dundas, ontario (remix)
ratatat – wildcat

inca ore – spine milk
thurston moore – ono soul
black helicopter – talk out loud
5ive – reso-i

boris – a-side of ‘vein’ (the b-side, assuming boris hasn’t decided to start (a) singing in english and (b) dropping f-bombs, will be featured on 10.31.06)

Playlist 10.17.06

tuesday, october 17. 2006
3:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m.

< california noise box set series part 11 of 10 (a little bit more, anyone?) >
open city – dusty sweets, bit parts
< visit www.californianoise.com for more info >

lightning hopkins – trouble in mind
hank williams – rockin’ chair money
furry lewis – lay my burden down
muddy waters – train fare home blues

califone – spider’s house
calexico – ballad of cable hogue
six organs of admittance – the desert is a circle
sir richard bishop – space prophet dogon

tim hecker – chimeras
mogwai – kids will be skeletons
yellow swans – true union

mew – why are you looking grave?
archers of loaf – irony
sebadoh – god told me
the marked men – fix my brain

melt banana – snake song
boredoms – boredoms, vs., sdi
child abuse – age of reason
lightning bolt – birdy
boris – woman on the screen

evan parker – for peter bc reterk
nathan hubbard – die parting landscapes (holding on desperately to memories i’ll never keep)
roberta flack – compared to what
little sonny jones – do you really love me?

mouse on mars – duul
ratatat – lex
dabyre – piano
c-rayz walz – the essence
prince po – too much

ghq – track 3 from ‘heavy elements

Boris + Lenode 4 Evah

Sometimes I just feel terrible about not blogging about a show. Today is one of those days. There were at least three great shows last night in the city that I should have spoken about: Matmos, The Black Angels (who you are all probably sick of reading about by now) and Boris. While I love Matmos and The Black Angels, Boris rocks my goddamn socks off. They do ambient drone. They do Motorhead-ish metal punk. They do dooooooom metal. They collaborate with Merzbow. They collaborate with Sunn O)))). They destroyed last Halloween when they opened for Sunn, so there was no way I was missing this show.

While I could have passed on Doomriders, who started off the night, I had to get there early so I could browse the merch booth unimpeded. I was relieved to see that they did in fact have copies of the new, super-limited vinyl, Vein, which is already sold out everywhere and fetching upwards of $50 on eBay. I listened to the A-side last night, and it (unsurprisingly) rules. Starts off heavy with a wall of guitar, then drops into drony ambience, then some of the brand of straight-ahead metal that was featured so prominently on Pink. Perhaps a more full review will follow, but, much to my dismay, I passed out on the couch a minute or two before the end of the first side, only to wake up with my back hurting at 5:00 a.m. I have got to get a turntable for my bedroom. If you want to hear Vein, I’ll be debuting it on my show this Tuesday (assuming Boris hasn’t decided to start swearing in English).

The show was (also unsurprisingly) awesome. After a solid opening set from local Sabbath loving doomers Acid King, Boris opened with a heavy, heavy version of “Blackout” from Pink and didn’t really slow down. They concentrated heavily on material from Pink, but scattered some gems from other albums throughout. My only complaint was that they played mostly the more straight-ahead punkish metal and gave us very little in the way of the ambient and slow doom that they do so well. But it was still a great set, and they even played some (new?) stuff that I would consider pop. Well, pop for Boris, at least. Many heads were banged, and a good time was had by all.

Sorry again. Perhaps I can make it up to you with some suggestions for the future. Well, first off, my advice is to head down to LA this weekend for the Arthur Nights festival. First off, you’d get to see Boris. But, folks, that isn’t all. Devendra Banhart, Grouper, Espers, Yellow Swans, The Hidden Hand, Howling Hex, Charalambides, Six Organs of Admittance, Noel Von Harmonson, Comets on Fire, Fiery Furnaces, and tons more are all in tow. Wish I were there. At least there’s about a million things to do in SF. Here are four for tonight:

Don’t know who The Decemberists are yet? You probably do and, if not, you should. Colin Meloy is a masterful storyteller and the band creates a near perfect soundtrack. I’m hard pressed to sum up their music as quickly as I need to, so check out a full song from Picaresque here or check out some samples from their new album here.

If you would rather see something without lyrics, might I suggest Crime in Choir , who are playing a record release show at 12 Galaxies. Intrumental prog from Kenny Hopper, Jesse Reiner, Jarrett Wrenn (also among the founders of At the Drive-In), Tim Soete (of the Fucking Champs), Matt Waters (of the Mass) and Seth Lorinczi (of the Quails and Circus Lupus). If you’re into Hella or the like, get out and see them. Things get even better with Upsilon Acrux dropping some heavy prog to start the show off and local dubby dance rockers Tussle as the meat in this prog sandwich.

If you’re feeling more like taking in some hip hop, I’d recommend hitting up Mezzanine for the Stones Throw 10th Anniversary. Stones Throw has been putting out quality hip hop for (you guessed it) The usual Stones Throw suspects will be there: Madlib and Peanut Butter Wolf. Also in tow will be old schooler J-Rocc on the decks and Percee P on the mic.

For Japanese fuzzy, drony psych, mosey on down to Bottom of the Hill for Suishou No Fune. Mammatus I’ve mentioned before. Twice.

I had really hoped to get to Friday, but you know how it goes. Busy, busy, busy. And now this is probably too late to do any good. But you never know.

Playlist 10.16.06

monday, october 16. 2006
5:45 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

that's right, lenode subbed for prem in his first non-graveyard shift (thanks to prem). complete with edge-of-your-seat drama, including but not limited to: (1) there is no graveyard dj this morning. so this is how i turn the transmitter on. (2) why do you keep calling me if you're not going to say anything? i can hear you eating something. onto the playlist:

hotogisu – track 5 from “chimaren dammerung”
amps for christ – scotland the brave

kayo dot – gemini becoming the tripod
jesu – dead eyes
dalek – ever somber

furry lewis – st. louis blues
califone – sunday noises
alastair galbraith – song to the third
stone breath – summer’s night

grails – black tar frequencies
ecstatic sunshine – perrier
blops – especialmente asi no mas
fuzztones – green slime
acid eater – free

cro-magnon – caledonia
parts & labor – stay afraid
curse of the birthmark – alibis
monotract – these are hard days

child abuse – grey lump
n0 things – gutter lover
test icicles – circle, square, triangle
black helicopter – casio

comets on fire – sour smoke
charalambides – dormant love

madvillain – great day (four tet remix)
busdriver – kill your employer (recreational paranoia is the sport of now)
the knife – we share our mother’s health
junior boys – in the morning

film school – p.s.
the books – there is no there
grizzly bear – marla
xiu xiu – vulture piano

colleen – i’ll read you a story
ketawang – puspa warna (from ‘gamelan of central java vol. 7’)
sean smith – die until tomorrow, sleep (from ‘berkeley guitar’)

boris – kuruimizu

More Loads for the People

Next week, in addition to my normal 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. Tueday morning shift, I'm going to be subbing for Prem from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Monday morning. For those that are interested, it's a slightly more reasonable time to turn on, tune in and drop it like it's haute.

I'm Feelin' Lazy, You'd Better Not Be

Not feeling like writing too much right now, so I’ll let you listen for yourselves.

The brutal noise rock of Portland’s Hospitals paired with the “avalanching, atonal piano runs against brutal machine gun blasts of heavy metal drumming in a shotgun wedding between Schönberg and Pantera” of Silentist ensure that the Eagle Tavern (398 12th St., SF) is the place to be tonight. Don’t forget your earplugs.

On Friday, my radio station is presenting a show at the Elbo Room with Hank IV , T.I.T.S. , Nate Denver's Neck , The Mantles , Shellshag , and KUSF’s Carolyn and WFMU’s Bryan Turner. Hoorah for myspace links!!! It’s a record release show for Hank IV and should be a rock-filled good time.

Also, Friday brings us Bobby Conn at the Hemlock.

Playlist 10.10.06

tuesday, october 10. 2006
3:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m.

< california noise box set series part 9 of 10 >
r.h.y. yau – point of separation
< visit www.californianoise.com for more info >

thee midniters – whittier blvd.
deadly snakes – i can’t sleep at night
howlin’ rain – roll on the rusted days
beachwood sparks – the sun surrounds me
brush – grey hound bus

noxagt – wall’s end
jonny x & the groadies – metal brain part one
deathspell omega - kénôse ii

black dice – night flight
hotogisu – track 3 from “chimaren dammerung”

adam snider - swamp angel
robbie basho – cathedral et fleus de lis
steffen basho-junghans – 2nd movement, part 3
john fahey – dalhart, texas, 1967

ovo – voodoo
ooioo – umo
moondog – bumbo
grupo naidy – una mananita

rubber o cement – urine cell humouse hybrid
parts & labor – repair
mr. dibbs – redout brick hemmorage 3.5/mental herpes
el-p – squeegee man shooting

t.i.t.s. – letters to the dead
hank iv – crime of the scene

alice coltrane – something about john coltrane

Playlist 10.03.06

tuesday, october 3. 2006
3:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m.

< california noise box set series part 8 of 10 >
gx jupiter larsen – alluring
< visit www.californianoise.com for more info >

matmos – steam & sequins for larry levan
sutekh – daylight (remix)
techno animal – robosapien
jesu – star

bonnie “prince” billy – big friday
castanets – a song is not the song of the world
xiu xiu – bishop, ca

buzzoven – useless
bathtub shitter – world dun hole
striborg – embittered darkness

thomas nola et son orchestre – opening waltz
cul de sac – turok. son of stone
jorrit – dijkestra & john hollenbeck – dub machine
porest – magic carpet of the holocaust revival
yellow swans – velocity of the yolk

pink mountaintops – cold criminals
man man – push the eagle’s stomach
theo angel –cannonball

r.d. burman w/ asha bashle & kishore kumore - aa dekhen jara (edit)
sly and the family stone – sing a simple song
dr. octagon – ants
ratatat – loud pipes

sightings – cuckoo
core of the coalman – closed circuit fist bloc
parts & labor – repair

didn’t write down the end of my set. all apologies. i do remember ending with sunn O))) doing "bathory erzsebet" though.

Lots of Oldies but Goodies

Thanks to everyone who came out for my first live DJ gig last Thursday. It was going really well until I decided to play two Japanese ultra-heavy Japanese trios back-to-back. The all-girl punk group Kokeshi Doll rocked so damn hard, I should have known that the sound system would need a break. Unfortunately, I didn't give it one and went straight into one of my favorites, Boris, and "Furi" straight killed the amp. I only had about 15 minutes left to play, so it sucked more for Shmeejay, who was on after me and had to play with a crappy old amp until Chris, the DJ who organizes the night, could get back with an amp from his house. That's what I get for playing that heavy, evil shit. All in all, I had a great time and I hope everyone who came out did as well. Perhaps I will look into doing this sort of thing in the future. Who knows what the future will hold? Oh. I do. Here:

Did you get enough hardly strictly bluegrass this weekend? If not, The Knitters, who were one of my favorites from last year’s festival, are playing the Independent tonight. More famous as members of the seminal punk band X, Exene Cervenka, John Doe and D.J. Bonebrake, as well as Dave Alvin of the Blasters, play a bunch of quality country-informed rock and rock-informed country. These guys and girl were playing alt-country in the mid 80’s, so this is your chance to see a very influential band in action.

I’m not sure if they’re all sold-out yet or not, but I feel like I should mention that the original Irish punk band, The Pogues, are playing The Fillmore tonight through Thursday. Considering that tickets are $65, I don’t think I’ll be going unless somebody can get me on the list. Any takers?

If experimental folk and blues is your bag, then I would recommend checking out Califone when they play the Bottom of the Hill on Tuesday. I would totally be there if I didn’t have my radio show tonight. I’m afraid that I’ll be a little too tired to handle their beautiful late night sounds. They’re touring in support of a new album on Thrill Jockey which is garnering rave reviews in the indie press, as their albums always do.

I should probably also mention that grindcore pioneers Napalm Death are playing The Pound on Tuesday. I don’t even know who is in the band anymore. Does it even matter? Napalm. Mother. Fucking. Death.

Slight Change of Plans

I was originaly supposed to do the 8:30 to 10:30 slot tomorrow night at Lucky 13, but was asked to do the 10:30 to 12:30 slot instead. Well, it works out better for the other DJ and for myself to switch, so if you want to come by while I'm spinning, I'll being doing so from 8:30 to 10:30. Now we can hang out after I'm done for a bit and all still make it to work the next day!!!

What Could Possibly Be More Important than Me?

What can I say, I’m as busy as ever. Nothing like having the parents in town for a week to keep you busy as hell. Apologies for the lack of the post last week, but it was fairly light week anyway (except for the kick-ass Mastodon and Converge show I attended). Things are picking up again though.

Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Celtic Frost and Sunn O)))
The Fillmore
$29.50

Celtic Frost has been one of the bigger names of metal over the past 20+ years. The Swiss group’s music has traveled through various metal subgenres, with death, symphonic, thrash, power, black and more types of metal all making various appearances. Their importance on the metal scene is obvious. If you like metal at all, you would do well to check them out. There’s an extra special bonus if you do: Sunn O)))) I saw these guys play last Halloween with Boris (who are also playing the Bay soon, more on that as it approaches), and it was unquestionably one of the best shows of the year. The fact that it was on Halloween was the icing on the cake. Down-tuned, ultra heavy, ultra dark, ultra slow doom is on the menu. The bass will turn your soul black. This show is worth it for seeing the reaction of hardcore Celtic Frost fans try to headbang to insanely slow experimental metal.


Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Man Man and Pink Mountaintops
Independent
$12

Here’s a quick review I wrote of Pink Mountaintops’ latest:

PINK MOUNTAINTOPS
Axis of Evol
(Jagjaguwar)
star rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

After delivering one of 2005’s greatest rock albums with Black Mountain, Stephen McBean returns in 2006 with his second stoner-psych rock album as Pink Mountaintops, Axis of Evol. Moving from fucking mountains and an ode to the 69 to searching for salvation and a conversation with Jesus, the subject matter is weightier. The Perfect Prescription-era Spacemen 3 and Psycho Candy-era Jesus and Mary Chain dominate the sound, along with the occasional drum machine. From epic trance inducing psychedelia
(“Slaves”) to dirty stoner funk (“Lord let Us Shine”) to minimalist psych-folk (“Comas”), Axis runs the gamut. Trying to sum up Axis this quickly is like trying to pour a handle into a shot glass. There’s plenty here to keep you coming back, so drink up.

They’re just a great fucking rock band, and they’re great live, whether at Bottom of the Hill, a block party in Austin during SXSW or, presumably, The Independent. The fact that Beefheart-ish rockers Man Man are playing as well, well that’s just goddamn dope. I’m running out of time (and I’ve got some other important news below) and they are difficult to pigeon-hole, so I’ll just say that I’ve never heard anything but stellar reviews of them live. According to a few people I know, they blew the Fiery Furnaces out of the water at the recent Fillmore show.


Thursday, October 5, 2006
KUSF DJ Night featuring Lenode
Lucky 13 (2140 Market St., San Francisco)
Free

That’s right. It’s the first Thursday of the month, so that means it’s time for another KUSF DJ Night at Lucky 13. Cheap drinks, free peanuts, good company, and some of your favorite KUSF DJs spinning some records. One of those DJs: Yours truly. That’s right. My first proper live DJ gig ever. I’ll be playing punk, metal, maybe a little industrial and all sorts of rocking rock from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. so come on out to witness the birth of a legend. Seriously though, folks, this is your chance to hear me play some music at a time when some of you are actually awake. It may not be my freeform anything-goes show on KUSF, but, hey, at least I don’t have to worry about whether or not the tracks I want to play have “fuck” in the lyrics.


In case I am too busy with my folks and my music and my “life” to do another post before this weekend, don’t forget about the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park this weekend. The weather got crappy just in time!!!