Lost in GroVont : a blog

have you been faking the sounds?

There is nothing original about Parchman Farm's sound if you are fan of music from the late '60s through the early '70s. But in Parchman Farm's case it doesn't matter. The four members of the band walked on the tiny Independent stage and ripped through four songs in thirty minutes. The pauses between songs were short. The songs were long. And they never said a word to the crowd but I was hooked.

Drum kit. Bass guitar. Male lead singer. And impressive female back up vocalist on lead guitar.

The songs start and end with the guitars battling for control of the sound. The percussion fills the room before the vocals guide us on the stoner's journey. And the fuzz of the guitars lead it home.

 

Black Mountain drew an impressive crowd on Sunday night. The Vancouver collective played an hour long set with a fifteen minute encore. The only thing missing was the saxophone that is prevalent on a few songs on their self-titled release from Jagjaguwar records. All but one of the five players on stage had a mike. I wonder if the keyboard/synth/knob-turner felt left out. The harmonies were great though. Drums, bass guitar, male vocalist on lead guitar, and female vocalist with the tambourine and shaker up her sleeve. Great stage presence. Again, not much with audience conversation. Banter is a necessary treat for long time fans, but with bands I'm less familiar with, I like to focus on the music.

All and all the night fucking rocked.

You can't sell a sport called Murderball.

"The devil wears a grey skirt, and her name is Kimberly Joyce." says Ron Livingston's character in Pretty Persuasion about the character played by Evan Rachel Wood.

Three movie theatres in one week. Two dark comedies. One documentary. All good. (I rarely go to see movies in the theatre any more. It's been a weird week.)

Pretty Persuasion is yet another high school farce that doesn't hesitate to push buttons. From racial slurs to teenage sex. Even reflecting some of Joyce's motivation with a fictional high school shooting. The sight gags are hilarious. Especially the scenes with three characters (the Twinkies scene!). Someone would be talking but the real humour would be portrayed on the other side of the screen, usually by Evan Rachel Wood. (Although not related, James Wood is in the film as Kimberly Joyce's phone sex enjoying father.)

For a teenager, Evan Rachel Wood is choosing all the right roles. Her young career is reminiscent of Christina Ricci's. She's played the good girl ("Once & Again" and in a few PG rated movies), the bad girl (Thirteen), and done a handful of not great but not horrible films in between (The Missing, The Upside of Anger).

Murderball is a documentary about the rivalry between the USA and Canadian quadriplegic rugby teams. The pace of the film was excellent. One minute I disliked any one of the guys; the next minute I would be routing for them to win.

In the meta category, I've been trying out the new TypePad features on this blog. Live feed for my livejournal right there in the sidebar! Eventually I'll get motivated enough to take advantage of the custom CSS. Until then, I'm just pushing for more updates.

You keep saying you've got something for me.

Best use of Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ in a Roshomon like film: 11:14

Or, best use of Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ in a Rachael Leigh Cook film: 11:14.

Not once in the twenty-gazillion times I walked by the posters for 11:14 outside of the Roxie theatre did I think the cleavage filling the frame belonged to Rachael Leigh Cook.

Halfway through Greg Marcks’ 11:14 when Rachael Leigh Cook’s character of Cheri appeared full-length on the screen, I was proven wrong.

She’s come a long way since The Babysitter’s Club.

I was also told by the signage outside of the Roxie again that Rachel Leigh Cook was in the neighborhood on Friday night. I missed that although I could have walked by her a half-dozen times. Shrug. I hope she had a good burrito while she was hanging out in the Mission.

I’m a fan of dark comedies. And, 11:14 is dark. And, I left the theatre laughing. The Roshomon style of storytelling is over used in films but it some cases it works well. The short lived TV series “Boomtown” used it brilliantly. As does, 11:14. I was never confused with what was happening, nor terribly surprised by the wrap-up, but I was entertained and impressed and amused.

I always find all-star casts distracting with thoughts of “Oooh, it’s the kid from ‘Flash Forward’” or, “Patrick Swayze?” Although, well-acted, it is the only obvious flaw in the film. Well, the penis jokes were a little...well, penis jokes...stupid.

every hollow has its favorite sound

The timing of the show threw me. (Or maybe it was the Jack & Cokes I was served at The Job before heading to the show.) The opener, Mat Kearney, walked on the stage shortly after nine. I squinted at my ticket in the dim bar lights. Yep, it still said "9:30 PM" and it definitely wasn't half past nine.

Mr. Kearney strummed his acoustic guitar through thirty minutes of songs reminiscent of Jack Johnson and occasionally Sufjan Stevens.

Liz Phair and Dino Meneghin hit the stage before ten o'clock. Starting with "Polyester Bride" couldn't have been better for me. The song was my introduction to Liz freshman year of uni when whitechocolatespaceegg was released. (Exile in Guyville remains my favorite album.) "Supernova" was a mid-show highlight. Although recognizable, the song had a completely different feel acousticly during the verses. And both guitarists got into playing the lead guitar parts on the chorus and outro.

With the very un-indie, high-fi 2003 self-titled release, I wasn't expecting to like the new songs. I didn't underestimate myself. Maybe the older audience members around me enjoyed the "responsible adult" lyrics of the newer stuff. (I felt young at a show for the first time in awhile.) Liz didn't disappoint anyone in the crowd though as she tore through her back catalog with almost half the set consisting of songs from her first two albums and early demos.

What shone through was the fun the pair seemed to be having on stage. The rare artist who calls out for requests and doesn't back down from a challenge. It wasn't until I returned home and found "Stuck On An Island" on the 1995 studio recording disc I bought off e-bay several years ago that I remembered it.

Ending with "Fuck and Run" shortly before eleven, I was home ten minutes later.

Cafe du Nord is growing on me as a venue, which is good because I'll be seeing The Fiery Furnaces and Okkervil River there over the next two months. It's a 21+ basement venue on Market on the northern edge of the Castro. It's small but not tiny. The sound is pretty good for acoustic shows, but the synth-pop I heard there a couple of weeks wasn't great. It's very close to my studio. Is mostly standing room. (Liz commented that the show was their first standing room only show of the tour. She said they would "play fast.") But there are steps and the angles aren't too bad. The stage isn't hard to get close to. (The cute bartender in the KISS t-shirt called me "sweetie" but like I said, I was a youngin' in this crowd.) The drinks are over priced but poured well. It's never been too hot no matter how crowded it gets. There are pool tables in the back. The bathrooms are well located and clean. And most importantly, good indie bands play there on a regular basis, usually for $15 or less.

Don't you wish your name was...

In an attempt to get myself to write here more, I'm going to do quick takes on what I'm consuming at the moment. My initial goal is once a week plus some comments on shows I attend. I'm hoping for twice a week, but with The Job and The Other Job, I'm not being too optimistic.

I'm not quite sure how I found out about The Airfields. Obviously it was from one of the many music blogs I visit and the name probably caught my eye... Since I can't even remember how I found out about them, you can't expect me to know anything about them. They're Canadian. That's it. That's all I got. They do encourage you to download their entire city-state ep from their website. (If I was in a time crunch, I'd start with "leaps and bounds" first but the entire thing is worth taking the 17:28 to listen to it.)

 

From last week's shows, I've been listening to the Minipop the precious ep and Every Move A Picture Signs of Life ep.

The Minipop disc is missing a track that was originally up for download on their old website, "Butterflies" and lacks some of the musical intensity of their live performance. (They started their set the second night with a long instrumental intro that was incredible. The ep doesn't have that feel. Hmm. I just noticed my cd says "advanced copy" on it, which would explain the minimal packaging.) The vocals pop nicely on the disc with backing tracks that were missing in the live show. Overall, it's a nice first ep but too short.

As a former aerospace engineering major, I really like the Every Move A Picture website. (And, yeah, The Airfields. I'm a nerd.)

Yes, yes, the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah debut deserves the hype. Go forth and order! From Insound, which is the only place you can get the s/t cd.

A note on writing about music:

I don't like most music writing. I'd rather hear the music. The best way to get me to like a band is start a sentence with "If you like Wolf Parade, you'll like..." followed by "Here is a link to a track." You can actually use bands other than Wolf Parade, but Wolf Parade is the golden ticket right now. I like the simple facts: instrumentation, line-up, and a short Recommended If You Like list. And the truth of the matter is, I write this for me, not you or your dog or the co-worker looking over your shoulder. If you like some of the same music I do, you probably know enough to check out the bands I post about which you have yet to hear, and in return you should tell me about the bands I'm not mentioning.

(The exception to the rule is the occasional writing on Said The Gramophone, where some of the authors create fictions to accompany the song and it is very intriguing. e.g. One's Own Head)

Updated Where & When List:

On the Edge of Something Beautiful

The week in review post. In non-sequential order. Minus the boring parts.

(For those who desire a more complete view of my week, in each paragraph break you can insert one or all of the following phrases: "Then, I went to work." "And, back to the job." "So so very tired." It's like Choose Your Own Adventure or MadLibs without the long rides in the family station wagon.)

The first of two opening acts for the Tegan & Sara shows, Minipop were the surprise of the week. On their website, they call it dream-pop, which seems appropriate. Two guitars. Bass guitar. The female vocalist plays keys and occasionally guitar. And the drummer is a teenage girl who looks like any girl I went to high school with--read: low-key, girl-next-door type, no blue hair, no visible tattoos. (Only in the world of rock-n-roll is this considered unusual.) You can download tracks from their myspace page. I'd recommend you start with "Fingerprints".

(What is the allure of myspace? Is it the ads? 'Cause all I see when I go there is ads.)

RIYL: Very pop-y, pop music.

 

I wish I could link to a site for The Polar Eyes. I can't. They don't have a website or a cd or a tour schedule. I know nothing about them, except they are very good. Bass guitar. Drums. Lead singer played moog and guitar. Occasionally sounding like Ted Leo and other times reminded me of The Velvet Teen. I hope they hit Bottom of the Hill sometime soon.

 

Every Moves A Picture headlined a KCRW presents show at Cafe du Nord. Cafe du Nord is a nice basement venue with a small stage. The Friday night crowd was in a dancing mood and the music was perfect for dancing. (Not me, though. I was busy trying to maintain my balance on a step that allowed me to see over the bouncing heads.) I have to say that the '80s synth pop dance songs sound better on my stereo than live, but I'm going to blame my end of the week exhaustion for not fully appreciating them.

It probably didn't help that I had to listen to Death of a Party's entire set before Every Moves A Picture walked on stage. They reminded me of the Blood Brothers only no where near as good. Maybe it was the stage antics of the lead singer. Maybe it was just the carbon-copy '80s songs. It was probably both.

Communique, the other opening act for Tegan & Sara, were a band I'd seen before at Noise Pop. Same venue. Same sound. I still think the long-haired, bearded lead guitarist is a better singer than the guy who sings lead.

RIYL: The Killers.

Of course, both Tegan & Sara shows were excellent. The crowd was much better behaved on Thursday night, which led to a better show. Everyone, the audience, the band, were more into the show on Thursday. The bonus on the Thursday night was the rare performance of "I've Got You" to open the encore.

When the lights went down and the band walked out the stage Wednesday night, the crowd roared to life with a few exclaimation points. And, I thought: "They are fucking rock stars now."

As I mentioned before, Drew from the dot org messageboard writes excellent, and detailed, reviews of all the Bay Area T&S shows. He's agreed to let me link 'em here: Wednesday and Thursday.