Live Review – Meat Loaf at Humphreys, August 18, 2010
Photo credit: Jim Grant
It’s kind of a wonder that Meat Loaf is still performing at all. When your stage name is a direct reference to your morbid obesity, career longevity is hardly a given. But there he was at Humphrys on Wednesday, the legendary performer whose 1977 album, Bat Out of Hell, is still the fifth best-selling album of all time. And, though still a far cry from skinny, the guy actually looked pretty fit.
His voice, on the other hand, showed more signs of aging. The set began strongly, thanks to a high-powered rendition of “Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul” from Rocky Horror Picture Show. Meat Loaf also nailed “Bat Out of Hell,” a sprawling, ten-minute song that pushed his stamina to its limit. Meat Loaf complained that the song isn’t an easy one to perform when you’re sixty-two — or sexty-two, as he kept insisting — and the exertion would take its toll on his voice for the remainder of the set. Continue reading…
Live Review – The Swell Season at House of Blues, August 17, 2010
It’s hard not to love The Swell Season. Since winning the hearts of audiences — and an Oscar — with the 2006 film Once, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova have maintained that adoration through rigorous touring, refreshing humility, and the recent release of their second album, Strict Joy.
Before The Swell Season took the stage at House of Blues on Tuesday, singer/guitarist Ryan Bingham opened up with some astonishingly derivative blues and folk. His raspy voice dripped with affectation as he rambled on about times changing and winds blowing like some copy of a copy of a copy of Bob Dylan. Continue reading…
Live Review – Pinback at Del Mar Racetrack, July 23, 2010
Photo credit: Gabe Lawrence
The mood of the night was determined long before Pinback ever took the stage. When a hefty drunk man began thrashing around to the pre-show soundtrack like it was a Smashing Pumpkins concert, it became clear what kind of night it was going to be.
Pinback’s gigs are the biggest contradictions in the music business. The San Diego-based band, which consists of main players Rob Crow (vocals, guitar) and Zach Smith (vocals, bass), produces some of the mellowest music around, yet their shows are anything but sedate. Imagine crowd surfers and mosh pits that resemble an Ozzy Osbourne concert, but swap the Mohawks and Doc Martins for fringe haircuts and dress shirts (on account of the horse races.) Continue reading…
Review: Cap’n Jazz; July 24, 2010; Starlight Ballroom, Philadelphia
Photo credit: Nicole Kibert/www.elawgrrl.com
In the liner notes of Cap’n Jazz’s 1998 anthology Analphabetapolothology, singer Tim Kinsella opined: “reissues…undermine our pretenses by making what was once special and precious in its rarity, somehow a little less in its convenient availability.” To Kinsella, the reissue served as a means of “getting over and past it” in terms of his own personal involvement with the highly influential Chicago band.
Now, twelve years later (and fifteen since their disbandment), one wonders what inspired Kinsella to get past getting past it; Cap’n Jazz have reunited for a handful of shows on both coasts. Supported on the eastern shows by their hometown contemporaries Gauge — who called it quits in 1994 and reformed earlier this year — both bands are giving audiences (many of whom were in elementary school during their existence) a taste of what made the music of the Midwest so important in the early 90’s. Continue reading…
Review: The Dead Weather; July 19, 2010; House of Blues, San Diego
Photo credit: Nic Adler
The Dead Weather may be known as Jack White’s band, but make no mistake — the real draw is
lead singer Alison Mosshart.
Much like White’s other side project, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather can feel like just a fun way for White to get his classic rock geek on. Similarly, Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence’s guitar and bass work seems to exist only to plop out schlocky, metal-inspired riffs. But it is Mosshart who injects the band with some much-needed soul and, at the House of Blues show on Monday night, she brought enough for everybody. Continue reading…
Review: Sleigh Bells – July 3, 2010
I must admit: when critics and blogs began to praise Sleigh Bells earlier this year, I was skeptical about their staying power. They had burst onto the scene with virtually no prior recordings, and that dearth of material led me to wonder if they weren’t just another dime-a-dozen buzz band. Then came Treats, their highly anticipated debut album. Continue reading…
Review: Dum Dum Girls & Crocodiles – July 2, 2010
Photos by T. Loper
Crocodiles and Dum Dum Girls sold out the Casbah on Friday, thanks to their respective brands of scuzz rock. Continue reading…
Bonnaroo, 2010, Part 3: Sunday
With a less impressive lineup Sunday afternoon, most of my day was reserved for exploring the vendors and oddball happenings throughout Bonnaroo, which is part of what makes the festival really special.
Continue reading…
Review: Scarlet Symphony and Dirty Sweet; June 24, 2010; FLUXX, San Diego
FLUXX, downtown San Diego’s chic nightclub, held its first live event on Thursday, and it was a strange experiment. Instead of the typical DJs and dance music you might expect from the Gaslamp, they rounded up some ragtag indie bands to provide the night’s sounds. But it remained to be seen how the shiny shirt and hair gel crowd would respond to the fish out of water lineup. Continue reading…
Bonnaroo 2010, Part 2: Friday & Saturday
Friday kicked off with an acoustic set by Dr. Dog — a good start to any day. O&B favorites Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros put on a standout performance that had the entire crowd singing and foot-stomping along to “Home.” Unfortunately, their set was unusually short — clocking in at just over half an hour.
Continue reading…
Bonnaroo 2010, Part 1: Thursday
Let me paint a picture for you: it’s at Friday 7:10 a.m., you’re sleeping in your tent, face buried in an air mattress. The sun is screaming at you to wake up or suffocate. You went to bed three hours ago while hardcore techno music throbbed in the distance. You consumed about ten beers the day before — that’s a low ballpark estimate — and you’re already sweating profusely. You smell the way you feel. (more…)
Review: Josh Ritter; June 22, 2010; Belly Up Tavern, San Diego
Photo credit: T. Loper
Josh Ritter is an anachronism. With his suspenders and curly head of red, newsboy hair, he could be a turn-of-the-century busker or a character out of a Dickens novel. His minimalist, acoustic folk albums fit snugly alongside 1960s Bob Dylan and 1930s Woody Guthrie. But the thing that most sets Ritter apart from modern-day musicians isn’t his wardrobe or his music. It’s his smile. Continue reading…
Stars – The Five Ghosts (Review)
Most people know, recognize, and love Stars for their hit 2005 album, Set Yourself on Fire. With its songs about wanton breakups, doomed second chances, and last nights with lascivious lovers, Fire placated the heart of the love-scorned listener.
The Five Ghosts, to be released on June 22 on Stars’ own Soft Revolution label, finds us five years later: more playful, less vengeful, but plagued by the persistence of memories. The haunting by the ever-present past is the central theme of The Five Ghosts, and resonates throughout the new songs. Continue reading…
Review: Mumford & Sons with the Middle East; June 6, 2010; Belly Up Tavern, San Diego
All photos by Eleanore Park
Three folk acts descended upon the Belly Up Tavern on Sunday night, drawing a sold-out crowd that greeted them as if they were leather-clad rock stars. The enthusiastic, unlikely reception served as proof that you never can predict what kind of music people will fall in love with. Continue reading…
Lady Gaga – ‘Alejandro’ (Video)
There’s a fine line between postmodern pastiche and corporatized pop rehash, but Lady Gaga — who just released the epic-length music video for her latest single, “Alejandro” — has heretofore stylishly and successfully danced on that tightrope wearing a myriad of medical fetish gear, latex bodysuits, and Alexander McQueen heels. Yet “Alejandro,” with its didactic investments in Madonna-esque blasphemy and fascist military imagery, fails to provide Lady Gaga’s brilliant, trademark pop derivations or her meta-corporate critiques. Continue reading…
Review: Shout Out Louds; May 22, 2010; House of Blues, San Diego
Photo credit: Christian Haag
For their fifth anniversary, the San Diego branch of Chicago-based music venue House of Blues celebrated with an afternoon, all-ages show featuring Freelance Whales, Earl Greyhound, Shout Out Louds, and Ok Go. The “all-ages” aspect was evident in the awkward teenage poses of kids in the top balcony — and by what looked like an entire middle-school class, complete with chaperones, taking up the whole right corner. Continue reading…
Review: The National; May 23, 2010; Spreckels, San Diego
Photos by Natalie Kardos
It’s official: The National are a great band.
The Cincinnati group’s newly released LP, High Violet, is their third stellar album in a row, completing the astonishing trilogy they began with 2005′s Alligator and 2007′s Boxer. Like those records, High Violet finds the band in peak form, maintaining a calculated mastery of their material that begins when the needle drops and doesn’t let up until the final track fades away. Continue reading…
Tobacco – Maniac Meat (Review)
Tom Fec, the mastermind behind O&B Best Of 2009 alum Black Moth Super Rainbow, is back with his other project. Tobacco is a psychedelic, glitch-pop, one-man supergoup that’s one acid trip from the loony bin — in a good way.
With Maniac Meat, Fec continues the electro buzz-saw sound he created on his first full-length, Fucked Up Friends. Shying away from the ambient, slowed-down grooves of Black Moth Super Rainbow, Maniac Meat is, well, meatier. The more robust, aggressive sounding effort leans on Beastie Boy-ish beats and tons of synth layers.
Lending an air of prestige to the proceedings, the one and only Beck (who Fec has said produced his favorite album ever, Mellow Gold) appears on two tracks. Continue reading…
Review: Frightened Rabbit; May 22, 2010; Casbah, San Diego
“The Casbah has always been a special place for us,” Frightened Rabbit singer Scott Hutchison informed the enthusiastic, sold-out crowd.
It was his band’s third appearance at the quintessential San Diego venue — which he claimed had given them their first headlining gig — and you could tell that his professed love was genuine. The show was the second to last stop on Frightened Rabbit’s US tour, but the smiles on their faces made it clear that it was far from just another gig. Continue reading…
Review: Caribou with Toro y Moi; May 20, 2010; Casbah, San Diego
Photos by Eleanore Park
Though you might find the new Caribou album, Swim, tucked in the indie-electronic aisle, frontman Daniel Snaith samples a much wider buffet of genres in a live setting. As you’d expect, you’ll hear him match up against electronic contemporaries like Vitalic, Animal Collective, and even Paul Van Dyk, but a good portion of the show also has the wider influences featured on earlier albums. His previous album, Andorra, had vintage tributes to The Mamas and The Papas (if backed by the relentless drums of, say, Dave Grohl) as well as indie-style jams that evoke My Morning Jacket or Wilco on an experimental kick. Last Thursday at the Casbah, Snaith tied up this diverse palette with a fat beat and dropped it all over a late-night dance party. Continue reading…
Review: Jookabox; May 11, 2010; Howlers Coyote Cafe, Pittsburgh
Photo credit: MySpace
Jookabox are one of the many good bands that go unnoticed or get lost among a sea of newcomers year after year. Continue reading…
Review: The Besnard Lakes; May 12, 2010; Casbah, San Diego
For a show whose key components included a smoke machine and a guy singing soprano, there was nothing cheesy about The Besnard Lakes‘ May 12 performance at the Casbah. Over the course of three albums, the Montreal four-piece has made its name playing loud, epic art-rock with a sugary Beach Boys center. Their cinematic compositions could have sounded sloppy or unruly in a live setting, but the band proved that they needn’t rely on recording studio trickery. Continue reading…
Review: Bob Log III, Jail Weddings & The Glossines; May 15, 2010; Casbah, San Diego
Photos by T. Loper
If you go to a lot of concerts — as many of you do — a certain malaise begins to set in. Even if you’re discerning enough to attend only worthwhile shows, after a while they all start to feel the same. There are the lackluster opening acts, the wallet-draining drinks, and the way the tallest guy in the place inevitably decides to stand — or worse, sway — directly in front of you. After a while, the ringing in your ears and the joint pain from standing for three hours can threaten to drown out an otherwise fine music experience.
But then there are the shows that remind you why you go out — and they snap you out of your funk. Saturday’s show at the Casbah was just such an event, thanks to powerhouse performances by precocious punk divas The Glossines, L.A. Spector-pop ensemble Jail Weddings, and Arizona blues oddity Bob Log III. Continue reading…
Review: Los Campesinos! May 11, 2010; San Diego Women’s Club
Photos by Eleanore Park
If the Arcade Fire ever went through an awkward post-adolescent pop punk phase and played at their high school prom, it would resemble a live performance by Los Campesinos! Continue reading…
