little c's.

The Wrens: A Faster Gun

2006-07-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

The Wrens have re-vamped their website: CHECK IT OUT

High Sierra FishEye's by Jon Bahr

2006-07-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

Jon Bahr is a machine. The man manages to be all-present at every festival. He sees everything. Here are a few FishEye's snapped over this year's amazing HSMF

The Slip in The Bay

2006-05-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

The Slip are coming to the Bay, and that's a good thing.

June 15th: Cafe du Nord

June 16th: Hotel Utah

June 17th: The Ivy Room

show details here

tons of the slip @ theslip.com
photo by phrazz

deerhoof & harry smith

2006-04-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw Deerhoof perform a live score to the Harry Smith film Heaven and Earth Magic. Apparently Harry was an amature alchemist. I'm still feeling a little rattled. Oh well, onto to Coachella...

Devendra & JamBase giving away VIP coachella Tix

2006-04-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

	Win a pair of VIP passes to Coachella!
Win 2 VIP Passes to Coachella Music Festival - compliments of Devendra Devendra. Enter now, The Festival is happening soon! ENTER NOW!

Ali Farka Toure: 1939-2006

2006-03-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

Ali Farka Toure was an amazing force in music. I first heard Toure when my friend Geoff Mullen played me Niakunke. I eventualy picked up Radio Mali, and later on Talking Timbuktu- Toure's coolaboration with Ry Cooder, which had a profound and lasting effect on me. For the uninitiated, Ali Farka Toure created something called Mali Blues. My friend Kayce wrote a thoughtful piece for our wire if you want to read more about the life and death and music of Ali Farka Toure:

Read: ALI FARKA TOURE PASSES ON

Introducing The White Thighs

2006-02-28T14:20:00.000-08:00

My good friends at Hip2BeSquare are covering The White Thighs right now. Disclaimer- I'm in The White Thighs. However, that won't stop me from mentioning the fact that after 15 years of playing guitar in a dozen or so bands, The Thighs are by-far the most interesting band I've ever been a part of. I'm just a lowly lap steel/mandolin player. The real story here is how Thighs fontman Pete Bates pulled together a core group of old friends on both coasts to start a seven-piece... Band? Cult? Myth? You decide. The Thighs are playing 2 shows in Northern California on St. Patty's day weekend. Info here: White Thighs CA tour dates

Listen on Thighspace

You can have my stereo: The Slip release 'Even Rats'

2006-02-25T21:46:00.000-08:00

The Slip have released the first single from their fourth studio album, which is currently awaiting a date for release. Have no fear, the release of this single, which is featured in the PS2 game Guitar Hero should speed things up.

Purchase 'Even Rats' on iTunes

Kayeman's The Rise of Two Gallants

2006-02-23T17:04:00.000-08:00

I am really pumped about Two Gallants- these guys are taking the scene by storm. In the last week they were on Spin & NME's homepages. And anyone who picked up this month's NME print mag will see the 2 g's 2-page spread. Not a lick of bad press for these boys! I urge you to go out and purchase What the Toll Tells and find out what these gents are all about. My friend and collegue Kayceman wrote an amazing feature on the 2 g's. Read Kayce's THE RISE OF TWO GALLANTS. This might be the definitive 2 g's article.

Adam Stephens By Grace Dunn

Little Wings

2006-02-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

Last month I caught Little Wings at Hotel Utah in SF. Little Wings is a K Records artist. Mellow, dreamy... somwhere between Iron & Wine and Dave Van Ronk. Yes, I like Little Wings. Too bad the only gig he has on the books at the moment is in Oahu, HI

Listen to the track 'Faith Children'

archer prewitt @ BotH

2006-02-17T10:18:00.000-08:00

Caught Archer Prewitt last night at Bottom Of The Hill in SF. Archer, who hails from the seminal Chicago band The Sea & Cake, is on the road throughout February and March, appearing with his own band and with Stereolab and fellow Cake'r Sam Prekop for several dates, including another SF appearence in March at Noise Pop 2006.

Archer Prewitt's full schedule

Listen to 'Judy, Judy' from Wilderness (2005)

Mingus Big Band

2006-02-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

I stopped seeing jazz on the regular a few years ago. I'm not sure why this happened. I guess it was a love affair that ended like any other. Well, after catching The Mingus Big Band last Tuesday at Yoshi's in Oakland, my love for jazz has been rekindled. The rundown: a crack 14 piece big band interpreting the music of jazz great Charles Mingus under the creative direction of Mingus's widow Sue, with several arrangements by John Stubblefield. In a nutshell: A huge fucking Mingus sound, alive and well on planet Earth.

Listen

The Botticellis

2006-01-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

O.K - I'm now hip to the The Botticellis

" 'Killing Spree', undoubtedly an A&R rep's wet dream, sets the tone for the rest of the disc with its whining, high-pitched bravado, as vocalist Alexi [Lesterjett] belts out his almost cloyingly hipster decree: ‘I'm only talking down to the people looking up.’" --San Francisco Bay Guardian True that.

listen to the botticellis

Go See Them

Why Pitchfork sucks

2006-01-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

Ok I know that if you look over to the right you'll see in my "about" box that it says this blog is not a place for haters- typically it isn't, but I'm gonna to a sec. here to hate on the haters. Pitchfork, it's official: you suck. I'm gonna throw this out now (and its been on my mind for some time, let me tell you), because after reading Stephen Deusner's recent review The Stroke's First Impressions of Earth, I'm compelled to call them out.

Deusner writes:

Their boorishly titled third album, First Impressions of Earth, reveals a band simultaneously settling into diminished expectations (delaying an album until just after Christmas = not screening a movie for critics) ...The band ...has tightened up considerably, which previously didn't seem possible.

Alright dude, thanks for begining by tellng us about the low expextations you have for The Strokes. Thats so endemic of Pitchfork: low expextations for everything Anyway, after conceeding to us that a few tracks are good (not without pointless qualifiers and cavets, and why he hinks The Strokes are more about fasion than anything elsea) Stevie tells about his misgiving on the depth of Julian Casablancas' writing and singing, Deusner goes onto say:

But seriously, who ever listened to the Strokes for deep insight into the human condition? Their relative popularity has never owed anything to any message in their music.

Any message? Everybody knows that the fellas in The Strokes came from wealthy NY families. Right? One has always been able to do the math and take a guess as to what life was like growing up in thier shoes. But that's just it: The Strokes have always been about NY .. as told from The Strokes point of view, which is as valid as any. Bordom reflected in repitition of kinda mundane subject matter. Sound familliar? Hooking up with girls. Getting drunk? Didn't you go to high school, man?
I mean, come on he writes about how underated Room on Fire, which has lyrics like:
We could go and get 40s

Fuck goin' to that party

Oh really, your folks are away now?

Alright, let's go, you convinced me.

O.K. I'm not going to say anything about First Impressions of Earth. I'll just say that its good- really good, and that you should listen to it, and draw up you own opinion as to its worth. To Stephen Deusner and the Bitchfork staff: just tell us if a record is good or bad. Don't fill up a full page that realy doesn't give us any insight at all, but rather leaves one slightly confused and/or turned off. I mean do hipsters suck? Do hippies suck? Do I suck?. Until I figure it out me and a rappidly growing number of friends and collegues are just gonna skip it.

2006: can you feel the love?

2006-01-03T21:27:00.000-08:00

Jesse Gallagher of Apollo Sunshine & Brad Barr of The Slip ringing it in.

12am-ish 1/1/06 - Pearl Street, NoHo, MA : photo by jon bahr

Apollo Sunshine play akward industry gig, smoke lots of...

2006-01-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

After spending a few days on the road with Apollo Sunshine (who opened all three shows of The Slip's holiday tour), I have to vent my excitement about these guys. While I had dacamp to CA for NYE, I saw three sets in three days, one of which was an ultra-weird "industry" gig that was one of the most entertaining spectacles I've seen in recent memory. Apollo Sunshine has the youthful kinetic energy of a big furry cat that was put in a dryer for three days. Just take a gander at their Myspace page and you'll get a vague idea as to what kind of circus they are building. Let me not forget to mention that this band plays some of the most refreshing music I've heard in a long fucking time.

...Oh yeah, and Amazon.com have given Apollo some serious props. Seriously, follow the link.

A Barr Brothers Christmas

2005-12-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

Finally, a Christmas album that I can listen to!! Brothers Brad & Andrew Barr - 2/3 of The Slip, produced this gem of an EP last winter at their now non-existant home studio in Boston (The Bros. have relocated to Montreal) as a Christmas gift for family & friends. The Slip's Co-Manager Jon Bahr convinced them to release it for download. Get it before the holiday passes.

Barr Brothers Christmas

NPR: Iron & Wine with Caleixico

2005-12-19T17:40:00.000-08:00

OOOhhhh, thank the good people at NPR for providing some juicy bits of the latest endevor of Sam Beam aka Iron & Wine.

Iron & Wine NPR exclusive

The Wrens: keep your day jobs?

2005-12-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

After catching New York's The Wrens in SF recentely and also listening to their latest release Meadowlands (Absolutely Kosher), I'm left wondering: why has the mainstream has passed these guys over year after year? They are clearly the real deal.

Its a tribute to The Wren's artististic vision and enourmous cedibility that they are still around. For this group of guys who have been at it since the late 80's, the members of The Wrens have found balance in holding down serious non-music jobs, while still devoting a few weeks a year to touring. Presumably, the creation of music never stops for these guys, major label or not. What a model.

LISTEN TO THE WRENS

Richard Pryor dead at 65

2005-12-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

As a kid growing up in the eighties, Richard Pryor made an enormous and lasting impression on me. For a man who joked about having lit himself on fire in an ill-fated suicide attemp while freebasing coke, Pryor was funny, serious, tragic, and always edging toward the insane. Listen to the man himself, courtosy of stereogum: Richard Pryor outakes (mp3) ...good times.

Rutili, Califone to play show in SF

2005-11-30T17:19:00.000-08:00

Califone will be playing a one-off show at Cell Space in San Francisco this Saturday, December 3rd. Proceeds will benifit the The Global Education and Action Network.

Califone, led by composer/singer/instumentalist Tim Rutili, is a force to be reckoned with. Heron King Blues, their latest release from ThrillJockey records is a masterpiece. Dense, other-worldly, and full of analog hisses, bangs, and whispers, King Heron Blues sits with you long after you finish listening.

Show info here.

note: Califone starts at 6pm.

Konono no.1

2005-11-29T13:17:00.000-08:00

Wood-carved microphones made with old car batteries; a sound system left over from Dutch colonists; an all finger piano group from the Congo that sounds like a cross between Kraftwerk and King Sunny Ade...

The good people at Ropeadope and reapandsow turned us on... (thanks guys)

Konono no. 1 is something to check out.

Listen to Konono no. 1

Order Konono's Congotronics from Rykodisc

Sony XCP Debacle

2005-11-28T16:39:00.000-08:00

Rolling Stone and JamBase.com have been reporting the widespread outrage over the Sony XCP computer-invading bot that was contained in several holiday CD releases from Sony BMG. It is clear to me that this debacle reaches far beyond the consumers who now have damaged computers: it is endemic of the disconnect between major record labels and those consumers who are now moving toward downloading music. Talk about adding fuel to an already raging fire.

The latest on this from R.S.

And for those with infected computers.

Gallants on Saddle Creek

2005-11-25T14:36:00.000-08:00

I have heard an advance copy of what the toll tells (out February 28th 2006) by SF's own two gallants (for saddle creek) and it is really good. These boys have it going on right now - euro tours and all. This one will be worth the wait, ladies and gentleman.

--
update: Gallants to release 7" single "Las Cruces Jail" on December 9th.

vist two gallants:

http://www.twogallants.com

the road less and less traveled

2005-11-22T18:10:00.000-08:00

http://livemusicbeth.homestead.com/Slip_notes.html

writing the below entry made me think the good 'ol days. what were those days all about? you might get an idea by following this link.

Cultivating soundsFor all the mothers who come near to find outCalling pulse bombs, a responseWith cotton in their earsAnd goodbye kissesFor the ones in the groundCollecting fallout from the blastThe road leads where it’s ledWhile all the darlings cover earthWith bare handsThey’re blowing all the other kids awayWe communicate by semaphoreNo language, we’re got flags of our ownThe road leads where it’s ledThe darlings cover earth with their handsThey’re blowing all the other kids away -secret machines: 'the road leads where its led'

Mr. Davis Saves!

2005-11-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

Surprise Me Mr. Davis.

After a three-night run with some of the most amazing human beings that I know in this world, I can safely say that today my soul's batteries are fully recharged. Where to begin...For me, the Mr. Davis saga began in the winter of 2004, durring the 1st proper outing for the band we know as Mr. Davis: The Slip + Nathan Moore. I'll go out on a limb and assume that anyone reading this is privy to the story behind this band, etc..

Back to Davis: They rolled through the Northeast that winter playing different rooms in PA, NY, CT, MA, and VT. I jumped on board for a few shows and found myself staying on for more than I had planned. Nathan Moore was new to me. Although familliar with ThaMuseMeant, Nathan's solo work had passed me by. I knew of the ongoing songwriting collaborations beween Nathan and The Slip's Bard Barr. After the 1st show Mr. Davis palyed in VT (which was early and over by 9pm) I had booked Brad and Nathan into into a small coffe house in Burlington for a post-show show. This little event, which was meant to be kept quiet, snowballed into quite the throw-down. Nathan & Brad took the diminutive stage and played like the old friends they are- 'till at least 3am. I should really go into further detail about just how fucking sick this was, but I'll jst say this: I skipped town with Mr. Davis the next day and saw 2 additional shows, purchased every Nathn Moore record I could get my paws on, and made sure to take plenty of time off from work/school the next time Mr. Davis rolled through the following year

.... last summer.

After landing on the West Coast to live for the 1st time in my life, I headed up to the High Sierra Music Festival for my 1st H.S. adventure. By many reports Surprise Me Mr. Davis played one of the best shows of the weekend. Nathan Moore- fresh out from spending the better part of an evening in a Quincy jail, was teeming with emotion. Brad and Andrew Barr (guitar & drums) were in their own little rut after both brothers came down with a vicious bug. Marc Friedman (bass), who the day before had stepped up to the plate to lead an augmented version of The Slip sans Brad Barr (who was too sick to play) was approaching the set as an M.V.P. The crowd, which was about to treated to the only 2-set show of the weekend (which was due to a band cancellation and a bit schedualing luck) was as ready to receive as band was ready to give. The resulting 2 sets were a rollercoaster of tears, laughter, guests, stiffling heat, a bit of acid, and whole lot of recklessly delivered music. Leaving the show, like after every other final note I've soaked in with Mr. Davis, I was sad, elevated, and elated. I sat and watched Two Gallants later that afternoon and gave those guys every last scrap of mental energy I had in me and just kind of soaked up the whole thing, not really knowing when or where I was next going to see my friends play. (by the "whole thing" I mean moving to the West Coast and going straight to High Sierra and getting my ass kicked by a truckload of emotion)

.... present day.

Mr. Davis came back and did a semi-proper tour of the West Coast. I jumped on for three glorious days this last weekend, starting with the nearly sold-out show at The Independent in San Francisco on Friday night. SF was ready for these guys. I mean really ready. Although the Independent show was technically a Slip show, the 1st part of the evening was resereved for Mr. Davis. From the moment they hit the stage with the racous four-part harmony enfused country-swank of "To Heaven Before I Die" to the Mr. Davis reprise durring The Slip's encore at the end of the night- (the ever mind-blowing "Dying Man's Diamond" of the 1st Mr. Davis tour and sing-along ballad/rockout "This Is The Last One Ever" closed the evening in proper fashion with Nathan Moore rejoing the The Slip.) It was just crystal clear at this oint that the next two nights were going to be good.

After recording an album's worth of new material in Monteal in late August, Davis has finally hit the road with a proper EP of analog-recorded tracks that are reminicient of The Band's work with Dylan ala the "Basement Tapes" and Captain Beefhart's debut record. Versions of the tunes "How Stupid I Am" and "Everything Must Go" along with the Mr. Davis anthem "I Hate Love" are instant classics. Worth mentioning is the packaging for the "Only In Montreal" EP: its an innovative, unique, (not to mention sexy- to anyone who 's seen the artwork) low-cost cardboard sleeve that was printed at the last minute. Keep posted for the info on the company who put this together in a future rant.

My point so far is that after two solid tours its pretty clear to me that Mr. Davis has fully come into their identity. With all the bullshit complaints about Mr. Davis that have surfaced on The Slip's Graffiti page since the project began eating into The Slip's calender, there really is no legitimacy in the claim that Mr. Davis is a half-assed side project. Anyone who sticks to this line is either really closed-minded (no matter what you think of the music itself, I think it would be a stretch to say that these guys aren't a legitimate band in their own rite) or is missing the point entirely. No, Surprise Me Mr. Davis is going to be around for years to come.

Thank the Fat King of Gods that Saturday's show in Mill Valley was a late one (it didn't start 'til after midnight). We all needed that extra time to channell our 2nd winds and recharge. The Sweetewater show was low-key and relaxed. I found Mr. Davis tapping into the mellow small-room vibe that is legendary in The Slip's world. Opening with a down-tempo "Before You Was Born" (one of Barr & Moore's first collaborations), Mr. Davis went onto dust off some gems from the 1st two tours- "Unprotected Sex", "Tin Can Coffe Cup", and "Summer of My Fall" all found willing and able back-up singers in the audience. Nathan's "Lord, Lord, Lord" from his highly underrated solo record "Sad Songs Make Me Happy" made its only appearence ever, other than at the soundcheck the following night. I would recognize a bunch a familliar faces down in Santa Cruz the next evening at at the tour's final Bay Area show.

Novemer 20th: Moe's Alley, Santa Cruz, CA ...

Years ago when I used to see the band Phish, the hard-core road wariors had a name for the occasional post-weekend-run show that would roll around and catch alot of heads sleeping at home, recovering, etc.. : The Finger. Its the band (in good humor) musically giving you the middle finger for snoozing. They (the band) throw down a really stellar performance for those who went the distance, thus sending those lucky few back to their friends the following day to rave about the best show they did't see. Thus, The Finger extends from the venue (in this particular case a Santa Cruz dive bar) back to wherever those who didn't make that night dwell. That's my set-up.In all seriousness, Mr. Davis took the stage Sunday night and played their hearts ou from the get-go. The show opened with a pair of anti-war-on-terror numbers- "The Shouters" and "Fat King of Gods"" respectivly, and the band continued this thread by playing "Red Sky" and closing the set with "As Long As There's One of us Standing". Benchmark performances of "How Stupid I Am", "Poorboy", "I Hate Love" were played with an intensity not seen in the previous evenings' sets. There were some truly epic moments, the most epic being the final encore of "This Is The Last One Ever" which found the crowd singing along in full-force and the band inviting everyone on stage for the final verses.Needless to say it was bittersweet parting ways the Mr. Davis roadshow last night. I could go on here to thank everyone who made these shows so fucking great, but you all know who you are. Thanks. Long live Mr. Davis!

MMJ

2005-11-14T12:17:00.000-08:00

So My Morning Jacket brought an enchanted swamp of bad-ass Rock n' Roll to the Fillmore over the weekend. I mean, who else out there is playing music at this level...?