Tag Archives: pavement

Live Photos: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks with Ty Segall at the Belly Up, October 20, 2011

Photos by Natalie Kardos

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks headlined at the Belly Up Tavern last Thursday night in support of their latest album, Mirror Traffic. Malkmus and company ripped through songs both new and old, as well as a smoking cover of “Hey Joe.” Between songs, the former Pavement frontman joked with the crowd about how folks from the Central Valley are “survivors” who like to “come to San Diego, party at SDSU, throw up all over your city, and then go home to Stockton to get married and have kids.” Photos of the show are below.

Poetic Memory: Gun Runner (List)

After returning to San Diego from Berklee School of Music, Sean Davenport wanted to get a band together, so he got in touch with his old friend Diego Rojano. In late 2009, Davenport and Rojano recruited local songwriter Tommy Graf (guitar) and Carlos Ortiz (drums), and they formed Gun Runner.

Since then, they’ve drawn from a variety of influences — including Wilco, Pavement, and Sonic Youth — to create a unique sound. This year, they released the excellent EP Bad Neighbors, an interesting work that evokes the psychedelic blues of Bob Dylan’s 2007 masterpiece, Time out of Mind.

Davenport’s soulful voice isn’t much like Dylan’s though, and that’s a good thing. Tracks like “Zelda” find him repeating “I can make this all better for you,” as if he’s been telling it to a few beers. Meanwhile, the reverb-laden instrumentation frames his half-drunk delivery. On the nostalgic “2 out of 3,” where choral intro harmonies are juxtaposed against Rojano’s lilting bass and Davenport’s voice, Gun Runner creates a kind of zombie R&B. It’s well worth a few listens, and you can stream it on MySpace or purchase it on iTunes.

Gun Runner will open for Maren Parusel at the Belly Up Tavern on Tuesday, August 31. While you wait, check out their Poetic Memory (below).

Poetic Memory: Hotel St. George (List)

San Diego’s Hotel St. George recently premiered the excellent video for their song “Little Children’s Bones.” The video features a robot battling a wizard in Russian roulette, a dog with a cape, and various other serious things. It’s definitely in your best interest to check it out.

To enhance the viewing of their latest musical movie film, band members Matt Binder and Eric Visnyak provided us with their Poetic Memory. Watch the video above, and read their list of influences below. Continue reading…