Austin-based post-rock band Explosions In The Sky played the Masonic Temple in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood on Friday, October 13th. Venerable indie-rockers The New Year opened. Check out the gallery below.
Indie rock stalwarts Modest Mouse have been relatively quiet in the last few years, with only an EP and a couple new live songs since their last full length, 2007’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. So it was a pleasant surprise when they announced a run of tour dates this year. Though they began as a trio (with original bassist Eric Judy departing in 2012), the band has swelled to include a second drummer, guitar player, violinist, and a couple of horns.
Modest Mouse are rumored to be working–slowly–on a new record, but the setlist at The Masonic only included three new songs, “Lampshades on Fire,” “Sugar Boats,” and “Shit in Your Cut.” The latter was part of a “shit”-heavy encore that also included “Shit Luck” and “Talking Shit About Pretty Sunset.” The rest of the 20+ song set was filled out by a healthy mix of singles, deep cuts, and b-sides. The highlight, as it is at pretty much every Modest Mouse show, was the incendiary “Doin’ the Cockroach.”
Modest Mouse have been around for 20 years now, and maybe Isaac Brock can’t hit all the high notes anymore, but he doesn’t seem to have lost any energy, enthusiasm, or 90s haircuts. And if you woke up this morning and decided you desperately needed to see almost 50 new Modest Mouse live photos, hey, it’s your lucky day!
Garage/Psych Funk/Soul group King Khan & The Shrines played a sold out show at the Chapel in San Francisco on June 28, with an opening set from Montreal Red Mass.
Aimee Mann and Ted Leo brought their new collaboration project The Both back to San Francisco, where they’d played their first shows as a band last year, on June 12. Mann and Leo clearly have a pretty solid friendship and working relationship, as evidenced by the breadth and frequency of their stage banter, which took up more time than the actual songs. They played about 4 songs in the first 40 minutes of the show, between stories about backstage graffiti, talking out hypotheticals of Gallagher-brotheresque meltdowns, and Mann’s uncomfortableness at Charmin’s new marketing slogan, “Enjoy the Go.”
As far as the songs, the collaboration seems to be working quite well, and was mostly evident when The Both played Aimee Mann and Ted Leo songs. Leo provided decidedly un-Ted Leo-esque backing harmonies and solos to Mann’s “Save Me,” while Mann’s presence took some of the rougher edges off of Leo’s “Bottled in Cork.”
Nick Diamonds of Islands opened up the show, to a fairly enthusiastic and filled-out crowd.
The indestructible Guided By Voices hit San Francisco on June 11th, in support of Cool Planet, the sixth GBV album since the “classic lineup” reformed in 2010, and the 432nd Robert Pollard-related record (give or take). A small mid-week crowd didn’t seem to faze Pollard and Co., who live like they’re on a perpetual weekend anyway. Guitarist Mitch Mitchell had perhaps the most impressive display of the evening, managing to chain smoke hands free for the entire 2-hour set. Pollard displayed his usual mix of jumps, kicks, and beer swigging , claiming “We get better, drunker, and younger as we go along.” No one in the crowd raised any arguments.
Hot band of the moment, noise-punk outfit Perfect Pussy played a few NYC shows in April, including a sold out late show at Mercury Lounge on April 5th. With many of the band members’ parents in attendance, singer Meredith Graves demurred a bit when introducing the band, instead saying “Hi, we’re Minor Threat.”
Perfect Pussy played a blistering set, about as long as their debut record. So about 20 minutes. And while the music and energy were loud and undeniably frenetic, the vocals were drowned out for the entire set, making it seem more like a a Meredith Graves performance art piece than a proper concert. Still, the live show is a sight to behold, as long as you don’t mind almost getting kicked in the head by amateurish stage divers/crowd surfers. (Seriously, the kids these days do not know how to crowd surf/support a crowd surfer. It could be a function of the fact that everyone only has one free hand since there’s a phone in the other, but crowd surfers just drop like bricks.)
Touring in support of their new record, Too True, Dum Dum Girls played the second of two sold-out New York City shows on the 26th, at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Opening band Young Boys seemed to have something going on musically, though no one in the band can sing, and not in a charming kind of way. Second band Blouse were impressive. My immediate reaction was that if either the Breeders or Camera Obscura–two bands with little in common–were shoegaze bands, they’d both sound a lot like Blouse. Speaking of shoegaze, Dum Dum Girls reminded me more than a little of your typical mid-90s dream-pop alt-rock band. I mean that in a good way. Like a slightly less-rocky, more sinister version of Belly.
Ex Hex, the new band from former Helium/Wild Flag/Autoclave guitarist/singer Mary Timony, rolled into NYC for two shows on March 20th and 21st. Playing the late show at Mercury Lounge on the 21st, the band took the stage shortly after midnight, and ripped through about a 45 minute set. Timony clearly took something away with her time sharing Wild Flag ax duties with Carrie Brownstein, who’s no stranger to Pete Townsend-ish guitar windmills and kicks. A formidable guitarist who always veered toward prog rock with a somewhat Medieval twinge, Timony seems to be having more fun onstage than ever before, and Ex Hex is her most straight-up rock outfit in her 20+ year career. It’s nice to see Timony just let loose after all these years.
LA quartet Warpaint played sold-out show at Manhattan’s Webster Hall on March 21st, in support of their new, self-titled sophomore record. The last time the all-girl group was in New York, they previewed the songs at the tiny, 100-person capacity Union Pool. It’s quite possible that the next time the band are in town, they’ll have to book the cavernous Terminal 5, which would be nice for a band but a blow for any fans that actually like pleasant music-watching experiences.
After a couple months of touring behind the new record, the group seemed a little looser and more confident playing the new songs. Their fans came prepared as well, with several roses and other flowers thrown onstage as the band came out. This was Warpaint’s third NYC show in six months, and probably the best yet.
The National played a surprise show at the Bell House on March 11, the first of two “secret” shows that sold out in less than a minute. Continue reading
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