Coverage From The Bay Bridged
Our friends at The Bay Bridged are providing exclusive daily news, live-blogging, podcasts and other great content leading up to and throughout this year's Festival.
Family Matinee at Bottom of the Hill w/No Age and White Circle Crime Club
Words by: Jake Butler
Photos by: Nicole L. Browner
My first show in San Francisco was an all ages show at Bottom of the Hill. Coming back for this afternoon show to close out my own personal Noise Pop experience brought things full circle in a sense. Making the trek from the East Bay was a bit daunting at first, as even with all my magical powers, I couldn’t keep God’s tears at bay (translation: it was dumping rain).
My hesitation almost ruined the day for me, as I barely made it as the last badgeholder to be let in. Whew! The house was packed with everybody having to turn sideways to try and navigate through the crowd.
This was definitely a family affair, with 6 and 7-year-olds sitting atop the edge of the bar. It’s always awesome to see a young kid bobbing their head up and down, rocking out to some good music. There is still hope for future generations.
Belgian boys White Circle Crime Club were the first act I made it in time for. I hadn’t heard anything of them before, so I was very intrigued to hear my first European group at Noise Pop.
It took them a bit to get their synth up and running during setup. I would later find out from Jelle De Cremer that their analog organs were too heavy to ship, and they had just picked this one up from a metalhead in the city the day prior.
As they kicked into their set I couldn’t help but think of Mars Volta’s De-Louse in the Comatorium – the way the synths were stripped down focusing more on rhythm and timbre than tone. The drumming was just monstrous. Heavy, fast, aggressive, intricate – it was all of these things. Jelle told me that they’ve had to ask to him to restrain himself a bit, because he’s been known to lose his lunch after rocking so hard.
They had a moody flavor to their sound, but it wasn’t the black side of emotions. It was more of a grey, wherein words like melancholy and bittersweet lie. White Circle Crime Club put on a great set as I found myself dancing throughout, stopping only to take down a note occasionally.
Then it was time for No Age. I caught Bob Mould running through the crowd, a foreshadowing event if there ever were one.
No Age, with just two members, lay down some pure kick ass punk rock, but then you’ll catch them drifting into sonic experimentation at points. This is dangerous ground, but No Age handles it perfectly. At one point it sounded like they were jumping around with some Middle Eastern rhythms with palm muted strumming, and then effortlessly flowed into some static soundscape background noise, and then resolving into a California pop groove.
No Age was the exclamation point at the end of the sentence that was Noise Pop 2009 for me. I all but forgot about the rain whilst I was losing myself in some great music.
Favorite Moment: Seeing Bob Mould two days in a row, this time taking the stage with No Age. Hells yeah.
Noise Pop 17 Concludes in Collective Dementia
Words by: Joseph Hayes
Photos by: Reid Williams
March 1, Sunday night, 10:15 p.m. in San Francisco, sheets of rain, the city’s inhabitants mope around between laundromats and cafes, peaking out from a video storefront awning, eating a soggy vegetarian burrito, contemplating sleep or catching up on episodes of Mad Men or the Wire in the hopes of having something to offer at the water cooler tomorrow, and…simultaneously…
Like a jet ski in a kiddie pool, Les Savy Fav’s Tim Harrington (aka the Homer Simpson of Indie rock) is parting through the sardine can crowd of sticky hipsters at Mezzanine, riding an ottoman down the balcony stairs, as 924 Gilman post-grad skater boys and girls alternately crowd surf and stage dive, yearning for beer, sweat or banana chunks to be splattered upon them, and giggly girls try to decide whether the barrel belly maniac is Tasmanianally sexy or kinda icky. As the urban legend goes, like all those homeless people, did someone bus this atypical SF crowd into town to the club tonight? Temporary dementia and cabin fever have commenced.
Mummified in toilet paper from neck up, armed with a six pack of Corona, a peeled droopy banana, an industrial size bag of tortilla chips, duct tape, a desk-side garbage can, straw sombrero, vinyl tarp, a fan’s borrowed undersized vintage rainbow down vest, someone’s flannel tossed onstage, and a fan’s iPhone tucked in his sweaty nethers, it’s just another night at the office for Harrington and his bulletproof band mates, who double as zookeepers and veteran post-punk riffers as their leader goes berserk in his new playpen.
It seems that ever since the release of their singles compilation, Inches (2004), LSF finally ascended its reputation as a live novelty act to a band to be reckoned with for its fiercely anthemic tunes like “The Sweat Descends” and “Hold On To Your Genre.” And while sometimes it can seem like the band is playing a score to Tim’s one man theater routine, featuring guitarist Seth Jabour’s Arctic-cool delay runs, bassist Syd Butler’s bicep-powered, bone dry thumps and drummer Harrison Haynes’ (American Apparel’s Dov Charney’s doppelgänger) frenetically staccato beats, if you manage to sidestep Harrington’s antics for a few moments, it’s hard not to acknowledge that their energy and ingenuity rivals some of the better sonic gems of post-punk lore brought to us by Fugazi and the Pixies.
Not to be outdone, supporting act the Mae Shi and its frontman, Jonathan Gray, were an ideal primer for LSF. Gray, looking like he escaped from a halfway house about twenty minutes before the set, paved some trails in the audience for Harrington. The rest of the band followed suit (unlike LSF, there’s a collective dementia taking place) as they seemingly romped through about 21 songs in 30 minutes, and if you’re still counting, they’re slated to play 15 shows in 5 days at SXSW from March 18-22.
It’s hard to properly classify a band that cannot sit still, but it’s a beautiful exception. Omnichord push-button melodies ride high on the mix of a lot of tunes (by the way kids, those things are selling for near $330 on eBay), with doses of Casio SK-1 era beats set against 80s power chords and slapdash drums, without it ever leaning too far in the direction of trendy electro pop or a dated tribute to the Dead Kennedys.
The sheer sonic variety of the tunes exhibits a playfulness and freshness, as if the band made up the songs that morning. Like a good flip book, or series of film shorts, the Mae Shi leave a lasting and original image to behold. And finally, did you ever play parachute in 6th grade gym class? I’ll leave the details scant for those who want to catch them next time around, on March 27 at the Hemlock.
Opener The Drums, featuring local veteran John Dwyer (The Ohsees, and formerly The Coachwhips, Burmese), consists of two drummers facing each other, pounding as hard they can and singing simultaneous vocal melodies at the tops of their lungs. It is an impressive display of musical prowess (have you ever tried to play drums and sing at the same time?), but as with any opener on a bill like this, it was a bit too early to corral folks into their rhythmic assault. The last couple pieces they performed featured a little more polyrhythmic variety, helping the vocal hooks, if only a bit more discernible, sink in.
Noise Pop: Sunday Preview!
It will be sad to see Noise Pop end, but they will indeed go out with a bang.
Two shows punctuate Sunday’s Noise Pop festival. At 1pm, No Age (LA) will headline a show at Bottom of the Hill with White Circle Crime Club (Belgium), Infinite Body (LA) and Veil Veil Vanish. No Age plays a raucous and infecting type of power-punk that’s quite naturally produced in LA. If you want education about the more esoteric aspects of punk, check out this show, as they may soon be the master’s. $12.
The last hurrah will take place at the Mezzanine with New York’s Les Savy Fav, The Mae Shi (LA) and The Drums. Since 1995, Les Savy Fav have charmed audiences with their post rock tunes and on-stage shenanigans. They make out-there rock songs that are somehow totally listenable and danceable. Don’t miss this unique performance. 8pm. $20.
Les Savy Fav = “What Would Wolves Do?”
Artist’s Television Access will also host two more films at 2pm and 4:15pm, for $9 each. “Loki” is a biography of Brazil’s Arnaldo Baptista, lead singer of Os Mutantes. And “Nightflight: Born Again” is a 90-minute mix of rock concert footage and art film of 80s counter-culture. Read more details at Noise Pop’s film page.
Until next year.
