Shabazz Palaces at Yoshi's last night.

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Shabazz Palaces
Yoshi's S.F.
Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012

Better than: Expecting a Digable Planets reunion.

I won't lie: if I wasn't sure what to expect of Shabazz Palaces. I secretly hoped I might witness a Digable Planets revival at the very least.

There was no need. Shabazz Palaces is the brainchild of Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, whose boho cool lent much to the jazz-minded Digable Planets sound. Under the name Palaceer Lazaro, here he's combined an even more ancient musical past with something as surreal as it is primordially familiar.

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Otis Redding onstage at the Stax Revue concert in Norway, 1967.

​In 1967, iconic Memphis soul label Stax took some of its best artists -- Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd, and more -- on a tour of Europe. The trip put a racially integrated band and some of the era's most feverish black R&B singers in front of mostly staid audiences that had never seen anything like it before. And Stax's fiery performers didn't tone it down: their stages became swamps of sweat night after night, as each singer tried to outdo their predecessor over the unrelenting groove of the Stax house band, Booker T. and the MG's.

The Stax revue performances are now legendary, for good reason. And tonight, psych-soul outfit Harry and the Hit Men will be performing the entire 1967 Stax Revue concert from Norway at the Great American Music Hall. Although nothing could match the original shows, tonight is pretty much guaranteed to become a wild dance party.

The Santa Cruz group specializes in Stax and Motown covers, but even for them, learning to perform the more than hour-long Norway Stax show presented a few challenges. "It was tough," recalls band member Scott Markson, who plays keyboards and trumpet, and also sings. "These are just incredible performances. It's very inspiring, which was a big help, but it definitely took a lot of time."

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Sean Garrison

Zum co-founder George Chen, with kitty cat.

​Many local labels are offering obscure reissues and innovative new releases on all conceivable formats. Label Sampler is a new column that will profile a different Bay Area record company each week.

Name: Zum Record Company

Headquarters: Oakland

Owner: George Chen

Founded: 1997

Creation story: Similar to independent labels like Sub Pop and Touch & Go, Zum began as a fanzine. In 1997, George Chen and his sister, Yvonne, released a compilation as a companion disc to an issue of their zine, and their label was born. The musical climate of the late '90s was naturally much different than it is now, and Chen reminisces fondly over his memories as a wide-eyed, young label founder. "We never thought that we should split the magazine and the label into two things, because we thought that we would do all of these things forever. At that time, the distribution model was very different. You would see these lemonade-stand distros at shows where people were selling their friends' records or things that they had picked up maybe five copies of. It was very entrepreneurial in that sense, but that world has shrunk a lot.

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Courtney Love and Francis Bean.

​So, after two years and one month of speculation, and thanks to Maer Roshan's new e-book, Courtney Comes Clean, we just got a few steps closer to finding out why Frances Bean Cobain filed a temporary restraining order against her own mother, Courtney Love.

According to legal statements uncovered in the book, Frances -- during the court case that ultimately granted Kurt Cobain's mother and sister custody of the then-17-year-old -- claimed her mother had a prescription drug problem, exhibited threatening behavior in front of her (including threatening to burn someone's house down) and, oh god, was responsible for the deaths of two of Frances' pets. Sounds like it's Mommie Dearest on crack prescription medications: "She basically exists now on... Xanax, Adderall, Sonata and Abilify, sugar and cigarettes," Frances told the court, according to the book. More >>

Professionally styled but still totally like you.

​Smart people I know have argued that Taylor Swift is not a country singer.

That argument demonstrates little understanding of country music or of Taylor Swift. It's rooted, I suspect, in a belief commonly held by smart people who don't care for country music: That country music should sound more like that one Johnny Cash song they like and less like Def Leppard.

But part of the point of country is that people who aren't country get no say in country, so people who want their country music to sound like their grandparents' country music should go dig out some Ray Price and enjoy it. That's the great thing about being alive now: All earlier culture is ours to savor, no matter what's going on now.

Most Americans, meanwhile, find the culture in front of them plenty edifying, and millions relish and relate to Taylor Swift, who is a great and fundamentally serious pop-music artist. Swift's music may sound nothing like Hee Haw, but the songs she sings (and often writes) are, in their strong narrative detail and lovestruck world view, still straight-up, grade-A country.

Now, as her single "Ours" creeps toward Billboard's country top ten, here's eight examples. I could offer 20 -- and she's just three albums in.

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Hunx X 3 = Fun

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How many Hunxes would a good Hunx hump if a good Hunx could hump Hunxes?

Eh, nevermind. Point is: The new video for "Always Forever," the first single off of Hunx's upcoming solo album, Hairdresser Blues, features not one or two but three Hunxes, all competing in split-screen glory. Directed by Hannah Lew, of notable local punk band Grass Widow, "Always Forever" finds Hunx engaging in all kinds of fabulous strutting and posing. He even dives into a pool and swims after a dollar bill, recalling the baby on the cover of Nevermind. (The baby was naked, though.) All of this is remarkably entertaining, considering this is a video where basically nothing happens.

The best part here is really the song, which has grown on us considerably since we first heard it a couple of months ago. There's a damp, anxious yearning to the vibe here that's complemented by Hunx's nasally vocal tone and frazzled guitarring. Still, it's elusive: Is "Always Forever" a truly heartfelt fuck-off anthem dressed in black pleather pants, or just stylish lipstick painted around a hollow core? You'd think Hunx would be singing his true feelings on Hairdresser Blues -- that's what he said the album was for, after all. And it is possible that even at his most perturbed and angry, the man born Seth Bogart remains as relatively composed as he is in "Always Forever." Apparently we'll have to hear the album to find out how sincere he is, but you can download the song and enjoy the video right now:

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From the latest Bouncer column:

The White Horse Tavern.

​Did you know that the majority of the world's sod comes from grass fields in Oregon? This blew my mind when I found out -- or perhaps my fascination with ground cover indicates I have developed Asperger's Syndrome. But think about it: Anywhere in the world that a sport is played on grass, or someone has built a new home and installed a lawn, or some avant-garde designer has decided to make a ball gown out of a graminoid, they most likely have Oregon to thank. I was driving past these grass farms last year and marveling at the empire that sod built. While other moguls were plotting to overtake the cut-flower market, some smartypants realized that grass was far more ubiquitous and profitable. What could he do but laugh maniacally and rub his garden-gloved hands together with glee?

So imagine my delight when the conversation turned to grass versus Astroturf during a recent visit to the White Horse Tavern. It had heretofore been very difficult to steer conversations with strangers to lawn husbandry, but on this evening the subject came up without any prodding on my part. It was during the last, fateful 49ers game, third quarter. Optimism still ran high, and folks were on their seventh and eighth pints. It was a good time to be a San Franciscan.

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DJ Hell is a serious badass.

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We hope you had a refreshing time working all week, because this weekend's going to be hectic. It almost doesn't seem fair, does it? Just when you thought you had time to relax, the city's summerish winter nights begin calling you with their siren-like promises of good times, good tunes, and other good things. For this week's listing we have two big-budget events, and two others for the more economically minded. Read on -- your weekend awaits.

Friday, Feb. 3

What: Sunset & Public Works present DJ Hell
Where: Public Works
When: 9 p.m. - 4 a.m.
Why: DJ Hell predates the popular arrival of electroclash by a good five years. If that sounds like a good opening line for you, then you ought to check this out. Sunset is bringing the legendary Munich-based producer for his first San Francisco performance in a long time. A cult favorite, Hell's music is sexual and abrasive in all the right ways. Tracks like "For Your Love" and "Dominatrix" show off just how forward-thinking the producer was in 1997. Of course, that's not all he's famous for. Hell also logged a lot of time in the early '90s producing avant-garde house records for labels like R&S. We could get lost for days in "My Definition of House Music." Head to Public Works on Friday and you'll have the opportunity yourself.

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​Following their debut in 2001, S.F. trance producer-DJs Gabriel and Dresden quickly gained recognition in the EDM scene for putting feel-good lyrics and melodies over progressive house beats. Shying away from one-dimensional beat reverberations on dynamic tracks like "Arcadia" and "Tracking Treasure Down," the talented duo had scored 19 No. 1 Billboard Club Play/Dance tracks and mixes by 2007. However, after touring extensively in the midst of their success, the producers Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden decided to take a break and focus on their solo careers.

Reuniting in 2011, Gabriel and Dresden lost no time assimilating themselves back in the EDM scene, releasing new tracks on Armada Music and playing sold-out festivals around the world. Dave Dresden recently spoke with All Shook Down about renewing the duo's chemistry, the importance of lyrics in EDM tracks, and how social media has come to play a big part in the group's career. Gabriel and Dresden headline ETD Love at the Regency Ballroom with John O'Callaghan, Myon and Shane 54, and more this Saturday, Feb. 4.

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KRS-One: Great live, but the records aren't what they used to be.

​There was a time, back in the late '80s, when the legendary Bronx rapper KRS-One was a candidate for the title of Greatest Rapper of All Time. Twenty-five years later, though, the self-anointed Blastmaster's latest long-player, The B.D.P. Album, suggests that compulsory retirement from the recording arena after 10 years in the rap game would be a good thing. At the very least, putting a cap on an artist's album count would stop some of the music's icons from continuing to release projects that make them come off like the genre's outdated uncles.

KRS-One still puts on one of the few vital live hip-hop experiences: His voice is commanding, his rap recitation skills are still sharp, and as long as he sticks to his hits -- whether those recorded with his Boogie Down Productions crew or his early solo work -- he delivers a rousing set. (He had been scheduled to preach his righteous rap gospel tonight at the Red Devil Lounge, but the show appears to have been canceled.) When KRS-One airs out his anthems, it's like experiencing a journey through the golden era: "Criminal Minded," "South Bronx," "The Bridge Is Over," "My Philosophy," "Jack Of Spades," "Duck Down," Sound Of Da Police." But since his solo albums started to get sloppy -- 1997's I Got Next being the start of the descent -- he's released music that largely sullies his legacy. And he's far from alone.

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