Last night, NVS and Audible Smoke Signals played to an enthusiastic crowd at the House of Shields, an old, wood-paneled bar in the middle of the Financial District. The odd surroundings, with the Palace Hotel across the street, only emphasized the near-naked intensity of frontman Walter Campbell. His vocals gained from the band's move toward more rock and funk than punk-based rhythms. He gets to settle down a bit and explore tonalities. The lyrics are clever as ever. "And the best I could do was the worst you could ever hope for."
The light show was disappointing, as I told Tre. He's set the bar high for himself from his Monster Pete and The Chiefs days, with the foot activated light inside the bass drum, for example. But showiness was not a problem overall, with at least two of the five (six if you include Bunny, who sat on the bass amp, professing that she liked the vibrations) finishing the show topless.
Micah adds a steady beat and helps the funk songs, and Tre added nice textures with his pedals of wonder. The fans went crazy the whole night, even the military dudes in the back. It was a great rock show.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
music in my face
i've heard/seen some good shows lately. first off, Marc Flury took us to the Berkeley Art Museum to meet up with CansaFis and see Caroliner. Check out the video: I swear that was the loudest thing I've heard in a while, amplified by the concrete bunker that is the Berkeley Art Museum. The visuals were ecstatic, orgiastic and scary. Then today, we traveled a bit closer to home to hear the wonderful SF Quartet. They played a bunch of cartoon songs, including Under the Sea, The Pink Panther, and Powerhouse, more or less the Elmer Fudd theme. They had some sweet unconventional bowing techniques, i.e. the chicharra and some basic percussive sounds. The songs were technically impressive, jumping genres, and it was disconcerting (so to speak) to hear Disney tunes from a worldly string quartet, but kind of in a good way.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
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