San Francisco Music Blog

Real Estate plays the Hemlock tonight

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The holidays are gonna suck all our wallets dry in due time, but luckily the weekends still offer plenty of cheap options. This week we take the list up to 11 (picks, that is).

Art in Storefronts @ the Mission (Fri.)The San Francisco Arts Commission moves its inventive "art in storefronts" program to the Mission, where vacant shops get transformed with cool installations. (Check out the stretch of Market storefronts near the Warfield at night for a taste of how this project went down in another hood). Head down to lower 24th St. tonight, where the party starts at Triple Base gallery at 7p.m. with live jazz. (Free).

(500) Days of Summer @ Red Vic (Fri.-Sat.) Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt star in a romantic comedy that actually doesn't give you sugar poisoning. The film, which plays this weekend at the Red Vic, looks at all the fucked up things that can happen when two people crush out on one another -- it's not all sweet nothings and happy endings here. How can it all be positive when you start the movie with the couple breaking up and jump around in time from there? (500) Days of Summer's biggest selling point, however, are the moments it turns into a musical with a Hall and Oates soundtrack. Seriously, romcoms don't get better than that scene. (Times vary, $7-$9)

Barn Owl, Eternal Tapestry, Moon Duo, Real Estate @ the Hemlock (Fri.)
We're not sure if we could be any more excited about this Hemlock show. Real Estate is the latest bit of ebullient, folksy pop out on Woods' Woodsist label. The group's record is damn near perfect, sounding loose and live and full of upbeat melodies (try out this tune, "Beach Comber," for starters). Once your spirits rise, you can get higher on the droning sounds of Barn Owl and Wooden Shjips offshoot Moon Duo, both of whom could put your noggin in a heavy trance. (9:30 p.m., $8)

(Indoor) Street Party @ Baobab Village (Sat.) Bollyhood Café and Little Baobab present a night of street food, street artists, and (um, street?) music this Saturday. Their "Outside In: A Street Party" takes the idea of a street party and puts it behind weather-protective walls. Grab grub from one of a dozen street food carts (Wholesome Bakery, Magic Curry Cart, Creme Brulee Cart, Gumbo Man, Brazilian Bites, Bacon Potato Chips, Chile Lindo, Smitten Ice Cream, That Guy's Fries, Soul Cocina) and dance to DJs and bands performing Afro-Caribbean and Latin music. (7 p.m., $5)

 Ultra-Slow Dancing Competition @ Kaleidoscope (Sat.) Last weekend there were two big dance competitions. This week, we're down to one -- but it's another creative twist on the concept. The newish Kaleidoscope is sponsoring an evening of "Very slow dancing. People who dance the slowest best will be winning terrific prizes." From 9 p.m. until midnight, pretend you're a jaded indie rocker and see how little you can move -- and yet still show your enthusiasm in this battle of the art of stillness. Live music from So Awesome,  Delivery Is Possible, and Grand Lake will flood the room with downtempo electronica and other slow mood music. ($5, but if you don't have the cash they won't turn you away).

EpiscoDisco @ Grace Cathedral (Sat.) How often can you say you went to a dance party in a famous old cathedral? EpiscoDisco has to be one of those "only in S.F." parties.  Tonight it's presenting visual artist Kamau Amu Patton (to move your mind and eyeballs) and Bronze (to move your ass) at the beautiful Grace Cathedral. Sounds pretty damn amazing. (7 p.m., free)

Pumpkin Cooking Contest @ Omnivore Books (Sat.) "According to the produce wheel at Whole Foods, pumpkins are in season. Not many people know what to do with pumpkins, though. Once a year, people carve holes in them and light them on fire. Some make them into incredible, low-cost meals, snapping up the season's overstock and whipping up stuff like pumpkin polenta, pumpkin fritters, pumpkin bisque, and pumpkin cheesecake. At Omnivore Books' Pumpkin Cooking Contest, just bring your best anything made with pumpkin -- or the seeds -- then put your fate in the pumpkin eaters." -- Michael Leaverton (4 p.m., $5)

Ooh La La! @ Paradise Lounge (Sat.) Time to get the vintage outta the closet, as San Francisco's swank oldies dance party, Oh La La! hits both stories of the Paradise. Cozy up by the second floor fireplace or dance down below to '60s classics, old soul, and live garage rock from the Flakes. (10 p.m., $7)

Fanfarlo @ Amoeba (Sun.) The U.K.'s Fanfarlo is just starting to build a buzz in the States. The happy little indie-pop quartet sounds like a more conventional Beirut (with dashes of Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade), with fey, theatrical vocals and soaring horns. The band plays at Rickshaw Sunday night, but warms up with a free in-store at Amoeba at 2 p.m.

Karl Blau and LAKE @ The Hemlock (Sun.) "On his third album for K Records, quirky Pacific Northwest troubadour Karl Blau further feels out the African-inspired sounds he has flirted with in the past. Zebra is full of languid guitar sprawl, entrenched basslines, and stuttered drums, and Blau's voice manifests itself as a heavy sigh. He has also produced several K releases in the past year. Those credits include LAKE's new album, Let's Build a Roof, on which the all-caps Olympia six-piece (and sometimes more) refines the dreamy, ramshackle pop introduced on last year's Oh, the Places We'll Go. Touring together will only deepen the connection between Blau and LAKE's color-smeared palettes, which begin to swirl into one after a few listens to each." -- Doug Wallen (9 p.m., $8)

Nickodemus and the Spy from Cairo @ Elbo Room (Sun.) "DJ Sep's weekly Elbo Room reggae club night, Dub Mission, continues to rack up impressive special line-ups. On Sunday, she showcases New York producers Nick 'Nickodemus' DeSimone and Moreno Visini, aka the Spy from Cairo, who previously recorded as Zeb. DeSimone and Visini fuse dub and international sounds, heavy on the traditional Middle Eastern percussion and instruments: souk sounds meet King Tubby uptown. The two have rocked NYC's Turntables on the Hudson and Giant Step parties for years, as well as remixing and collaborating with Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Baaba Maal, and Astor Piazzolla. The night is also a double record release party for Nickodemus' Sun People Remixed and the Spy's Secretly Famous." -- Tomas Palermo (9 p.m., $8-$10)

Dustin Rabin

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Them Crooked Vultures
November 19, 2009
Fox Theater

Better Than: Listening to Robert Plant shy away from the high notes at Led Zeppelin's 2007 reunion show.

It's no accident that the supergroup has, in recent years, gone the way of New Coke, the McRib, and Lindsay Lohan's career. For every Cream - the bluesy British trio Eric Clapton dissolved after listening to The Band's Music From Big Pink and determining that his own band had lost its soul - there are too many Oysterheads and Chickenfeet, much-hyped pretenders whose star-studded lineups add up to less than the sum of their parts.

Them Crooked Vultures, the power trio featuring Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age on vocals and lead guitar, Dave Grohl on drums, and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones rocking the bass, are no pretenders. Whether the collaboration will prove anything more than a titillating one-off is anyone's guess - these guys have well-paid day jobs, Jones included - but for one night at the Fox Theater, they delivered a tight, take-no-prisoners performance that left the capacity crowd hungry for an encore.

Strolling onto the stage shortly after 9 p.m., the newly anointed Vultures launched into a thunderous rendition of "No One Loves Me & Neither Do I," with Grohl pounding the skins in typically authoritative fashion and the rest of the band (including Queens contributor Alain Johannes on rhythm guitar) joining him a few beats in with a slippery groove backing Homme's forceful but rarely overpowering falsetto.

If you're like us, you've been hitting up the racks at Forever 21 more than you'd like to admit. And maybe after you've shown up wearing the same outfit as your cubicle mate for the third time in a row (like we have), you've finally realized that it's time to add more "curated" pieces to your wardrobe. ​

​After a five-year run, the weekly 18-and-up drum-and-bass night "Trauma" will throw its last Thursday night party tonight at El Rincon. In an effort to snazz up the image of the Mission dive, the bar's new management has decided to stop doing 18-and-over events and have promoters pay for their own security.

It seems the club was overdue for some changes. Last December, the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control cited the venue for having two minors with alcohol. El Rincon paid a $1,900 fine in April to avoid a two-week suspension of its liquor license. At some point, there was a stabbing in the bathroom, written up in a Yelp review, which was confirmed by both the owner and one of the new managers.

Last month two new managers took over the bar, with marching orders to clean the place up. Talking to the SF Weekly, Wayne Wolfe and Brian Masterson said that means clamping down on ID checks, bringing in more security, contracting with more responsible promoters, painting over the graffiti-laden walls, and making events 21-and-up.

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King Khan & BBQ
November 18, 2009
The Independent

Better Than: Kentucky jail

After driving 1600 miles and missing five shows, King Khan & BBQ rejoined its US tour Wednesday in San Francisco at The Independent.

The duo was famously accompanied by their mosh pit and rage-bones (connected to the drink-bone), and their publicized contralegal plight rang out among the intoxicated audience--some of whom may well know the struggle. But the funniest thing about KK & BBQ's return to the stage following the tour's drugged run in Nov. 12 with Kentucky law enforcement is how well their rockabilly tunes suited the country-Southern manners that apparently ensnared them.

I mean, one point of confusion may be how King Khan & BBQ is not the same as Arish "King" Khan's other outfit the Shrines, an antagonistic gospel-punk gang who specialize in installing dervish and riot among their crowds. Sure, perhaps a 6-foot-5 Indian running cockamamie music across state lines might be simply begging for trouble. But alongside Mark Sultan aka BBQ in the two-piece show featuring Sultan on drums, guitar, and at one point tambourine, Khan plays a loving doowop groove which seems rurally appropriate if not downright bluegrass. This isn't exactly the Black Lips in India  (no matter that Khan teams with the Black Lips for his other late collaboration, The Almighty Defenders).

​ Neon Indian @ Rickshaw Stop

Mapping out a universe of spongy synth leads and canned beats, Texas tinkerer Alan Palomo has managed an offbeat triumph in Psychic Chasms, the debut of Neon Indian, his one-man project. The album, which features such casually sung gems as "Terminally Chill" and "Ephemeral Artery," was recently released by the rising Sacramento label Lefse. But beyond the jokey song titles and ticklish retro groove is a mind-altering listen.

Neon Indian captures the heightened reality and inner turmoil of adolescence while also tapping into Ariel Pink and My Bloody Valentine. "Deadbeat Summer" is a yawning slice of the wasting season it explores, whereas "Mind, Drip" crawls to a pulsing glow and "Laughing Gas" reveals Palomo's knack for shimmering dance music. He notes the influence of synth-heavy film scores from the late '70s and early '80s. Indeed, there's something wonderfully kitschy and dated about the sounds he employs, recalling Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" as much as Phil Collins' early solo work.

Neon Indian performs tonight at Rickshaw Stop (8 p.m., $10-$12). Read more about the music here.

Yo, Lyrics Born is so funky that he wears a Pamper. That's just one of the boasts he drops on his latest single, "Oh Baby," where the "funkiest man in new media today" mixes 2 Live Crew with more outrageous claims, all from our own Japanese cat from outer space.

LB broadcasts his raps from his colorful new custom-made online radio player, LBFM (cooler than any boom box we've ever owned) where folks can stream his new songs, remixes and other sonic odds 'n' ends. It's kinda like Pandora for serious LB fanatics.

DJ Pam the Funkstress: Cajun food queen

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The Bay Area's devotion to its homegrown music and food is steadfast. The culinary creativity here is as infectious as our sonic imagination, so it should come as little surprise that there is a crossover between the two local scenes. But did you know that DJs are whipping up cupcakes and burritos, and guitarists are serving up their personal brands of margaritas and champagne?

Behold our picks for eight local artists who rock kitchens and vineyards as easily as they do concert stages and DJ booths:

8. Boz Scaggs
Along with his legendary singing and songwriting career (that includes six Top 20 hits), Scaggs is well known for supporting live music in San Francisco: He owns Slim's and the Great American Music Hall. He's also the former owner of Marina bar/restaurant Blue Light Cafe and is now cultivating a new passion with his Scaggs Vineyard in Napa.

7. Sammy Hagar
The loud rocker runs a quiet food and spirits empire from his home base in Mill Valley. He sold 80 percent of his Cabo Wabo tequila company to Italy's Gruppo Campari for $80 million, and partnered with Gruppo subsidiary Skyy Vodka (of S.F.) for marketing. He is also the former owner of S.F.'s Tres Agaves restaurant and tequila lounge--he bowed out of that one in 2007. Thankfully, his more lowbrow and touristy Cabo Wabo Cantinas are nowhere near here.

6. DJ Hubert Keller
While Keller is principally a chef and restaurateur (Fleur de Lys and the newly opened Burger Bar in Macy's Union Square), it seems that his heart is truly found on the dance floor as DJ Hubert Keller, pumping out tunes that fuel the European tropics. The Top Chef Masters contestant drops the Balearic beats of Ibiza by way of one-off parties at night spots such as San Francisco's Bambuddha Lounge and at the occasional culinary event.

5. DJ Rajah
Chef, culinary instructor, and DJ Roger Feely of Soul Cocina deftly blends the musical and edible diaspora, sourcing beats and ingredients from all continents. Find him on the streets of San Francisco, as part of the current wave of gourmet food carts.

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Mission-based indie rock band Upstairs Downstairs juxtaposes dark, atmospheric lyrics with lush folk-pop melodies, crafting the perfect soundtrack for foggy, rainy days in the city. The year-old act will be recording its first EP this December. Title pending, the disc will be a collection of current demos, plus new material to be released early next year. Upstairs Downstairs is Tory Ford (vocals, acoustic guitar, songwriting); James Levis (electric guitar); Brad Robertson (Rhodes piano); Dana Goldberg (vocal harmonies, shakers); and Doug Saenz (drums).

All Shook Down's local band column Local Frequency caught up with Upstairs Downstairs at Grooves record store on Upper Market. The group was getting its press photos taken and the conversation turned to classic underwear, giant Tecates, and British dramas.

If you could describe your sound as a San Francisco neighborhood, which one would it be and why?

Tory Ford: Wow, that's a stumper. I'd say a mixture of things, kind of like the Inner Richmond-- that's where we started, but we live in the Mission now. Well, except for Doug, who lives in the East Bay. I'd definitely go with the Inner Richmond--kinda foggy, a bit dreamy.

What's the last book you guys read?

TF: Zorro by Isabel Allende. I also just got finished reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.
Dana Goldberg: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.
Brad Robertson: Lush Life by Richard Price.
James Levis: The Stranger by Albert Camus.

​Julian Casablancas
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009
The Regency Ballroom

(Not) better than: The Strokes, Little Joy, Albert Hammond, Jr.

It has to be hard, breaking into the 2000s as the symbol of the hipsters overtaking the mainstream, only to fall down to the bottom of the hype heap a decade later. As the frontman for the Strokes, Julian Casablancas has spent much of the the past ten years being the voice of cool--giving a disaffected, slightly distorted, and occasionally humorous delivery of young, privileged New York attitude. But now the Strokes are in a nebulous middle ground, where either the band members don't want to admit that they've broken up, or they're engaging in enough side and solo projects to allow the core act to atrophy on its own. (This recent article on Casablancas in the New York Times doesn't make it seem like there's been any love lost between the guys).

While the Stokes lose steam as a whole, Casablancas is late in finding his post-rock star music career. Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. and drummer Fabrizio Moretti released some great indie pop in the last couple years, the former under his own name and the latter with Little Joy. Last night, we finally heard the future for Casablancas if his original act doesn't get back together. It was the sound of too many instruments, going too many different directions, far too loudly, all at once. Any witticisms Casablancas was imparting in the lyrics were buried in a mess of emo-prog-synth pop so poorly arranged it made you wonder how much this band had even practiced together. It was a depressing scene for someone whose face once graced the cover of many a music mag--no matter how loudly all the females in the undersold venue were screaming.