5 posts tagged “music”

First of all, I should note that I am officially done with my first year of graduate school.  I submitted my last paper this morning and an intense feeling of relief immediately overtook me.  In celebration, I treated myself to a show at Bimbo's.  I'm a little too tired to do a thorough review, but here's the gist of it, along with a couple of videos I took at the concert:

Ill Ease
Raucous one-person band with songs like "two-party system" (about what you do when you have two parties in one night) and "fuck everyone."  Much to her credit, the multi-tasking musician had a very friendly demeanor and even called up an audience member to play the tambourine.  But it wasn't an act I'd recommend or choose to sit through again.

Fujiya & Miyagi
Great fun, and endearing in that very-white-dance-party kind of way.  I am fond of Transparent Things, and these guys brought the record to life tonight.  Very fun electronic/indie stuff, great to dance to.  The band members seemed very nice and were flattered by the positive response from the audience; they even came down to take pictures with a few of their fangirls after the set.  (There were a bunch of Asian girls dancing their hearts out - it was cute.)  I really enjoyed seeing this band, but I think that their live performances will improve after they get another album under their belts - a few of the tracks fall a little flat.  But some of them are terrific.
Recommended listening: Collarbone, Transparent Things

Peter Bjorn and John
Oh my goodness, what a fantastic live band!  I would rank this performance among the best that I've been to.  Peter, the lead vocalist and guitarist, is an excellent performer - he struck me as reminiscent of British invasion bands from the 1960s, in all the right ways.  Bjorn was lovably Swedish.  And John was wearing an argyle sweater vest - need I say more?  Anyway, they performed all of Writer's Block, and it was just a terrific set all around.  I highly recommend seeing them if you get a chance.  I also recommend visiting Bimbo's if you're ever in San Francisco - it reminds me of Neumo's, again, in all the right ways.
Recommended listening: Let's Call It Off, Young Folks, Amsterdam

Sincere thanks to the powers that be for a terrific day.

I saw The Shins for the fifth time in my life last night. Unfortunately, due to schoolwork, I entirely missed Viva Voce, who I've seen before and adore. But yes, The Shins. My love for this band is driven largely by the energy of their live performances, and it's interesting to see how they've grown and changed in the last two years. Thoughts:

• The guys got really popular! The Warfield was sold out, and it looked it. It seems like I won't be seeing The Shins in any intimate venues anytime soon.
  
• They looked tired - SF is their last stop on a four-month tour. They still delivered some amazing songs though.
  
• It was weird seeing Eric Johnson (of The Fruit Bats) as part of the band. I'm dubious, though his presence seemed to allow James Mercer not to have to work as hard. I must admit that I have a secret fear that this man is going to wreck one of my favorite groups (I baselessly blame him for all of the shortcomings of Wincing the Night Away).
  
• Anita Robinson (of Viva Voce) provided backing vocals and tambourine for several songs - yay! I didn't realize that she contributed vocals to the new Shins album, too. Feel the Portland love.
  
• There weren't nearly as many random antics - Marty only got in one bizarre comment, regarding the "gang sign" he'd made up for Viva Voce (VV).
  
• Favorite song of the night: Turn A Square
  
• I'm so glad I dragged myself out to SF, despite the impending doom that is the end of this semester.

Set List
Sleeping Lessons
Australia
Pam Berry
Phantom Limb
Kissing The Lipless
Mine's Not A High Horse
Girl Inform Me
New Slang
Girl Sailor
Turn A Square
Gone for Good
Saint Simon
A Comet Appears
Turn On Me
Breathe (Pink Floyd cover)
Know Your Onion
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Caring Is Creepy
Someone I Care About (Modern Lovers cover)
So Says I

In a spectacular effort to procrastinate, I've discovered that I've seen at least 91 bands live.  I guess that's not that much, especially when you count openers, but I hadn't realized that it was that many.  I've also seen many of those bands multiple times (I'll be seeing The Shins for the fifth time next month!).  And it's worth noting that I didn't see any bands at all during the year I lived in Japan.

Gotta make up for lost time!

Picked up a copy of of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destoyer? yesterday, and a cursory four or five listens seems to indicate wonderful things. I like this album - it's somewhat darker and more subtle than The Sunlandic Twins, but it's a pathos that drives forward instead of tripping over itself. And it retains the same compelling harmonies and fun grooves that one would expect from of Montreal, so really, what more could a person ask for? I'm super-excited to see them on Friday. It'll be my second official show since I've been back in the U.S. (Shameful, I know - but we've all gotta start somewhere.)

It looks like plans for Coachella are temporarily on hold. C'mon people, help me out here.

This Monday was largely spent finishing up my application for a summer Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (my D.C. backup plan) and being mired in Polanyi's The Great Transformation, his explanation of the collapse of 19th century civilization (which was proximately caused by the collapse of the gold standard but more broadly by the "stark utopia" of the self-regulating market, according to him). Good stuff, but time-consuming. Hopefully this week will be a little less taxing than last.

Also tried out another Berkeley Indian restaurant, in my continuing search for something tasty and slightly closer than San Francisco. Today's candidate was Ajanta, up in the northern part of town. Objectively, it was better than the places I've tried south of campus, but I still wasn't really convinced. Might have to try it again. High marks for service and atmosphere though.

More reading awaits...

I got a major extension on some research I'm revising for publication in the East-West Center Policy Studies series with my former thesis advisor, Saadia Pekkanen!  So basically, life is fantastic.  Found out yesterday and I'm still riding that wave of euphoria, but I'm having a lot of trouble working on this funding application that's due in a week and a half. Up late again, writing more emails I don't want to write. I occasionally manage to forget that I've chosen a career that is essentially a never-ending cycle of writing and reading applications - but sometimes it really gets you.

Went to San Francisco to visit Camden this evening. We had yummy Indian food at his house, listened to music, knitted, and caught up. I'm super excited - we're going to see Of Montreal at the Great American Music Hall next month. It should be a fabulous show. I've only heard good things about their live performances, and The Sunlandic Twins was one of my favorite albums of 2005.

Speaking of music, I've been listening to the debut albums of some of my favorite bands, and it's been a real pleasure. There's something really pleasant about discovering something old anew. Pinback's Pinback and Metric's unreleased Grow Up and Blow Away have been particular joys. Much love. I've also spent some quality time with The Knife's Silent Shout. I don't know about it being the best album of 2006, but it's pretty fun.

Relatedly, I have definitively concluded that Amoeba Music is my favorite music shop in Berkeley. Great selection, great prices, 10 percent student discounts, nice staff - totally recommended.

Back to groveling for letters of recommendation.