Cass McCombs

The vagabond. The recluse. The wanderer. The elusive anti-media troubadour. Cass McCombs has been called a lot of things. But in every description of the mystery man, there is always high praise for his musicianship, lyricism, and prolificacy: seven records in 10 years, with his most recent two, Wit's End and Humor Risk, released just seven months apart in 2011.

Though he hails originally from the Bay Area, McCombs has become somewhat of a drifter in his adult years. Recording albums piecemeal as he travels around the country, McCombs' creates collections of songs that can be hit-or-miss, ungrounded in a way that mirrors his itinerant ways. But standouts like "County Line," arguably one of his most popular songs -- and one of his most poignant -- evoke the idea of "home" with startling eloquence.

Cass McCombs returns to his somewhat-home this weekend for Sonoma's third annual Huichica Music Festival, the brainchild of Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats) and Gundlach Bundschu winery proprietor Jeff Bundschu. This year they've teamed up with (((folkYEAH!))) to curate a colorful list of performers, among them Blitzen Trapper, Fruit Bats, Jonathan Wilson, Damien Jurado, Jessica Pratt, and DJ Andy Cabic, plus beloved San Francisco food purveyors like Salumeria and Namu Gaji. We spoke with McCombs last year about his musical reputation, his dislike of doing interviews, and his "beauty filter."

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Sonny Smith

By SONNY SMITH

[Editor's note: Perhaps you noticed that the new album from Sonny and the Sunsets, which we wrote about in print last week and comes out today, is called Antenna to the Afterworld. Given that the afterlife, aliens, and other paranormal subjects figure heavily into the music, it's not surprising that bandleader Sonny Smith recently interviewed local psychic medium Jessica Lanyadoo. We thought their conversation — about the afterworld, where we go when we die, and the possibility of reincarnation — was interesting, and so are publishing it here for your perusal. Sonny and the Sunsets perform tonight, June 11, at SF Eagle (formerly Eagle Tavern).]

What happens when we die?

It's different for —

For each person?

Yes, in a way. I have never died, so I don't know what happens, right? But from my experience of connecting with dead people and animals over the years, I've seen that it varies pretty widely for people. If you are ready to go, the transition can be easier, as with any big change. We don't exactly die as much as our bodies die. Our spirit lives on.  

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Rufus Wainwright performs at Davies Symphony Hall this Sunday, June 9.

By JAMES ROBINSON

Rufus Wainwright is quick to acknowledge that he's asked for a certain type of patience from his fans in recent years. There was Prima Donna, the opera he wrote, the stark All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, which featured adaptations of three of Shakespeare's sonnets. He's also released a 19-disc box set and worked a lot with his famous singing family.

"I'm in the process of diversifying my platform these last few years," Wainwright laughs, a slightly endearing cackle that he'll pull out several times in a 15-minute interview. He's talking from New York and he's about to head to up Long Island to Montauk, to "look out at the ocean for a day" before he flies out to the West Coast ahead of Sunday night's (June 9) show at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.

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Parquet Courts like tacos, too.

New York City-based quartet Parquet Courts released their debut album American Specialties in 2011. Their follow-up, Light up Gold originally appeared on co-vocalist Andrew Savage's own label in late 2012, but a reissue by trend-setting NYC imprint What's Your Rupture? early this year brought the band's music to a much larger audience. Led by co-vocalists Savage and Austin Brown, Parquet Courts deals in propulsive drums and frantic riffing, but the tones are deliberately muted and thin, which effectively focuses attention on the vocals. Whether it be rapid-fire, monotonous delivery on "Careers in Combat," a sneering reminder that "Socrates died in the fucking gutter" on "Master of My Craft," or the title track's evocative imagery, Parquet Courts make the music serve their words, even if the lyrics seem to jive and taunt the listener. We recently spoke with co-founder Austin Brown about San Francisco drugs, lazy journalists, and Parquet Courts' sole instrumental track. The band performs Friday, June 7, with Cocktails and Pang at Rickshaw Stop.

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Insane Clown Posse

And now, a valid and reasonable idea that isn't communicated enough: the Flaming Lips and Insane Clown Posse are spiritual brothers from different mothers. Granted, they sound nothing alike and one is largely reviled, but both are headline-worthy outfits who rose to fame in the 1990s and have amassed substantial, enduring fan bases. Thanks to constant activity, crafty experiments/stunts, a constant flow of releases and tours, and the generally fascinating quality of their personas, both remain compelling in 2013. While Wayne Coyne and company are breaking Guinness records, distributing music via chocolate hearts, and collaborating with Ke$ha, Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope are suing the FBI, continuing to helm the indie empire known as Psychopathic Records, and collaborating with Jack White. Before ICP hit Oakland Metro Operahouse tonight for the second of their two Bay Area shows (8 p.m., $25), we spoke to ICP's Shaggy (a.k.a. Joseph Utsler) about the group's haters, its soda preferences, and how long they can keep this whole thing up.

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Paul Collins

Paul Collins founded the Nerves in 1975 with Jack Lee and Peter Case in San Francisco. The group struggled to gain momentum, but the track "Hangin' on the Telephone," from their sole 1976 EP, was propelled into fame by Blondie's faithful cover on the 1978 breakthrough LP Parallel Lines. Following the Nerves, Jack Lee became a solo artist; Peter Case found success in L.A with The Plimsouls, and continues to perform; and Collins founded the Beat.

The Beat's 1979 debut is a high-mark of late-'70s power pop, a softened and polished variety of guitar-centric new wave successfully introduced to a market eager for rock 'n' roll in the wake of punk. While many of the Beat's contemporaries in the power-pop proliferation that followed the wild success of The Knack's "My Sharona" are forgotten, Collins' spirited delivery and indelible harmonies endure. He steadily records and performs to this day, even issuing a career highlight in 2010 entitled King of Power Pop. His late-career triumph affirms Collins as a journeyman honing the limitless potential of melody and the propulsive tempos of the rock band format. Ahead of Collins performance at Thee Parkside tonight (Friday, May 10), we discussed his history with the city and the recent redemption of the once-negative term "power-pop."

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Happy Birthday, Robyn Hitchcock.

Robyn Hitchcock, former frontman of British psych-pop band the Soft Boys and purveyor of his own rich, brilliant, and deeply weird universe of solo songs, turned 60 this March 3. And while Hitchcock was celebrated in London, his friend Colin Meloy, leader of the Decemberists, thought American audiences should get a chance to fete the man as well. So Meloy put together ¡Viva Hitchcock!, a birthday concert tomorrow, Thursday, May 2, at the Fillmore, featuring Rhett Miller (of Old 97's), Amanda Palmer, Lemony Snicket, Meloy, and, of course, Hitchcock himself. Prior to the show, we spoke with Meloy about how Hitchcock influenced Meloy's music, why they chose to do the Hitchcock show in San Francisco, and what to expect at the Fillmore Thursday night.

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Michelle Ford

White Lung

Mish Way is the lead vocalist of Vancouver, B.C.'s White Lung, whose sophomore full-length Sorry from 2012 is a relentless gust of uptempo, melodic punk. Notable as much for its instrumental ferocity as critical lyrical intelligence, Way draws from her experiences as a formal student of gender studies, a professional writer for such publications as Vice and Noisey, and a self-professed Courtney Love acolyte to inject her lyrics and public persona with iconoclasm and urgency. Way wears many hats, so we discussed her travels, her vulnerability, and the intrinsic connection between feminism and punk. White Lung opens for fellow Canadians Metz today, Tuesday, April 30, at Bottom of the Hill.

You've been on tour in the US with White Lung for nearly two months now. In one of your advice columns, you mention the impeccable complexion of Canadians. How would you respond to a question from a Canadian about how to resist the skin-damaging grease and grime of American lifestyle when traveling stateside?
I try to eat healthy when I am on tour, or else my insides start to fade. Plus, I'm drinking and indulging on a daily basis which is extremely unhealthy, but that's the life I chose. I'm not an athlete or an accountant. My office is the bar. I'm in a world that relies on recreational substance abuse and entertainment. I mean, how are people straight edge and on tour? I do not get it. At home, my diet is very strict and I trail-run and hike four times a week. My body is always confused on tour.

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Reid Anderson, Ethan Iverson, and Dave King (L-R) are the Bad Plus

The Bad Plus visits the Bay Area on a regular basis, and we are grateful for this. As drummer Dave King told us in a recent conversation, that feeling is mutual. "San Francisco is one of the cities we've felt huge support from over the years," he says.

As one third of the Bad Plus, King anchors many of this hard-driving experimental jazz trio's tunes with a ferocity and physicality that's heard plainly on the group's recordings, but is even more evident live. It is largely because of King's contribution that the Bad Plus is often characterized as a jazz trio with a rock edge; the group also boasts the lyrical, harmonically complex piano work of Ethan Iverson and graceful, inspired bass of Reid Anderson. The trio operates in a truly co-equal fashion, with each member sharing in composition duties. Live, the communication of the unit is palpable as it establishes three things in parallel: restless innovation, musical sophistication, and an enormous sense of fun. King recently spoke with us by phone prior to the Bad Plus' performances at Yoshi's Oakland, today (Tuesday, April 30) through Thursday, May 2.

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By EMILY WILSON

For guitarist and composer Karl Evangelista, getting involved with Asian Improv aRts, which support artists making work representing the Asian American experience, profoundly influenced him. While in college at University of California, Berkeley, he met saxophonist Francis Wong, the organization's co-founder. Evangelista wanted to explore dialogues between different types of music such as contemporary, jazz, and Filipino folk melody, and Wong and others at Asian Improv aRts encouraged him to do just that.

Evangelista performs his piece Taglish, exploring Filipino-American culture, at the Red Poppy Art House on Friday, along with Wong and some other jazz stalwarts. He spoke with us about the improvisational element in Filipino music, how his political family supported him in an artistic career, listening to Ornette Coleman when he was young, and his ethical responsibility to be a musician.

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