CSS on stage at Mezzanine, a view to a kill...photo by RLC
The thing about being a music writer is that there is an overwhelming pressure to be everywhere at once. This anxiety to be at all the “right shows” and cover every band that gets mentioned to you, however casually, seems to heighten when festival season kicks off in full swing. This past weekend the Coachella Music & Arts Festival was being held in the desert outside LA and it was the first time in the last three years that I did not attend. I have my reasons for this - most far too snarky and petty to mention in a blog that prides itself on its sanctimony - still, I still found myself suffering from a bloggers inferiority complex. I mean, “Tweet” after FUCKING “Tweet” of attendees and colleagues bestowing such keen observations as; “Arcade Fire is KILLIN IT!” or “Mojave Tent is GOING OFF! RT NOW!”, paired with camera phone PROOF! This left me feeling like there might be a crucial, "Critical" void in coverage not being met. The reality is that I have known for some time that one need not attend Coachella in order to sample some of the best live shows during this weekend. By simply staying put and going to some of the finest venues anywhere in the country, to see the same acts making their way to desert, I might be able to give you a bit more information to chew than, “My gnarly, unwashed, long-natch curly camping hair is more epic than Arcade Fire's performance last night.”
The Mezzanine Tent was GOING OFF in SF!!!...photo by RLC
So in the interest of music journalism here is a review of CSS kicking off their tour at San Francisco’s Mezzanine on Friday night, two days prior to playing an abbreviated set in an over-crowded tent in front of a bunch of hipsters watching themselves watching a band that they secretly hope Lindsay Lohan is watching so they can watch her watch the band that they are not watching because they are tapping on their iPhone a “Tweet” about how Lindsay Lohan is watching the same band that they are not-watching and isn’t this, “TENT AND BAND GOING OFF!” This must be its own ring in Dante’s infernal inferno.
I first want to note how local promoters Popscene consistently and continually bring the Bay Area some of the best bills assembled anywhere in the country, pairing local talent with some of the most unique and compelling national/international artists. Their weekly events are always worth attending and DJ’s Omar along with LIVE 105’s Aaron Axelsen (the man behind Popscene) throw a great party! This was most definitely the case on Friday as Sao Paulo, Brazil’s CSS were teamed with Oakland, CA’s HOTTUB for a night of music that was, I guarantee, on par with anything happening in the desert at that same time.
Too hot in the HOTTUB...photo by RLC
HOTTUB are a trio of female MCs that hit the stage with so much energy that I was literally left standing slack jawed. They are like female Beastie Boys, only with much better flow and rhyming skills, and they are committed to fighting for their right to party and demand that you should be to. The audience was hooked from the first song and by the end of the set had joined the ladies onstage. Do not miss HOTTUB! Their stage show has to “be seen to be believed”. They fuse an old school hip-hop sensibility with whatever the FUCK suits them. They were the bubbles and this hot tub was full up, turning Mezzanine into a sauna in the process.
Lovefoxxx from CSS takes out the trash...photo by RLC
The near sell-out crowd was in great spirits after Hot Tub’s set and primed for the act they were all there to see, CSS. Now, admittedly, I was late to the band from Brazil’s party. The electro-pop unit had built quite a "buzz" being signed to Sub Pop for the release of their debut Cansei de Ser Sexyand had a song featured in an Apple commercial – the latter usually precludes me from buying in. But, courtesy of the San Francisco Public Library, I rediscovered CSS through their 2008 release Donkey and was now fully converted to their contact sport approach to dance-pop. From the moment they took the stage singer Lovefoxxx let everyone in attendance know how this show was going to go down. We were going to dance, get sweaty, love our neighbor, and she was going to lead a relentless attack of music that vacillates between electronic, reggae, kuduro, pop, and “new rave”. The mostly female contingent delivers this hybrid dance music using a straightforward rock band setup of guitars, bass and drums (in addition to synths ). Their energy and stage presence rival that of the best punk bands, with Lovefoxxx spending plenty of time crowd surfing or singing from the middle of the audience. The 90-minute set was a nonstop, energy-fueled, joyride in a car without breaks! I imagine their set at Coachella a day later was hotter than anything the desert sun could produce. This band is in it to win it live and took no prisoners Friday. Singer Lovefoxxx proudly wore a shirt inscribed with the word “Trash” across her chest, but there was nothing trashy about the execution of their music. This is a very tight and well-tuned band that is sure to continue blowing minds as they join Sleigh Bells for the rest of their stateside tour.
These girls are not from Ipanema...photo by RLC
Sadly, there were no Lindsay Lohan sightings, thus, rendering this evening of wonderful music invalid. The funny thing was that I don’t think anyone cared when removed from whatever context Coachella now inhabits for those that attend. Relevance is a funny thing because it’s always shifting and very hard to pin down. Especially, when compressed into 140 characters. What I do know is that this show Popscene put on was as relevant to those lucky enough to be there as anything else happening 500 miles south. CSS & HOT TUB WERE KILLIN IT @Mezzanine @Coachella @Pitchfork @LindseyLohan…
Abe Vigoda live, these guys are definitely not Fish...photo by Robert Celli
This past Thursday perennial indie party Popscene turned San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop into a sauna. That’s right, complete with steam coming off the walls, shvitzing hipsters, and RAWK so good it cleaned your pores! The night featured two decidedly different bands with different sounds and approaches who shared one member. Los Angeles’ Abe Vigoda kicked things off, delivering a tight and pounding set of their unique blend of indie cum world beat tunes. Live, Abe Vigoda comes off a lot more aggressive and bare boned. The afro-calypso elements are still inherent in their sound but stripped of some the recorded production that I associated with them. What they do extremely well is staying rooted to the underground scene that produced them. By avoiding fay indulgence in the same influences a band like Vampire Weekend co-opts and markets as “indie-world music”, Abe Vigoda are more art school cool than Ivy League elite. Their set was a lot more groove-based than I was expecting and contained that hard to define element of “punkness”. One of a handful of the early bands to emerge out of LA’s art collective The Smell (along with other notables No Age, Wavves and Best Coast), Abe Vigoda may have the most original and uncompromised sounds.
Juan Velazquez of Abe Vigoda...photo by Robert Celli
Singer-guitarist Juan Velazquez leads the band whose sound is sonically akin to a tropical downpour of shimmering guitars, which clear to reveal the first rays of sunlight through a cloud-filled sky. That blend of percussive thump, hazy vocals and guitars that sound like steel drums are the heart and soul of Abe Vigoda. There is an infectious energy that makes you feel like you just washed up on an island made entirely of concrete after a rough night lost at sea.
Between bands the Popscene DJs mixed yesteryear’s inducers of lock-kneed sway and oscillating dance like the Psychedelic Furs and The Smiths with more current reproducers of the late 80’s-early 90’s music that is currently in vogue. The crowded, slightly affected smart phone tapping attendees responded to both generations of music with equal vigor. I found this slightly bemusing given the supposed penchant the iGeneration has for ironical detachment. But, HEY, a good song is a good song! We are nothing if not our own cultivated pastiche.
Wild Nothing from the side at the Rickshaw...photo by Robert Celli
Up next was Virginia’s Wild Nothing who was no doubt responsible for the line that stretched around the block outside the club. Last year’s release Gemini was a fixture on critics’ top ten lists. Indebted to Robert Smith and The Cure but devoid of the over-emotive vocal drama Smith is known for, Wild Nothing’s frontman Jack Tatum writes incredibly catchy hooks built around cascading guitars and pulsing bass lines. The young girls and much to my surprise men in the crowd, to borrow the Morrisey lyric, “oscillated wildly” from the opening notes. Wild Nothing’s sound is built on the effect-laden guitar interplay between Tatum and guitarist Nathan Goodman. Drummer Michael Skattum employs some electronic triggers but this is a decidedly straight ahead rock band live. The night’s MVP was Abe Vigoda drummer Dane Chadwick who filled in on bass and played a seemingly flawless show for both bands.
Jack Tatum sings...photo by Robert Celli
For a band (truly, this is Jack Tatum’s project) that garnered so much attention for “playing” the recording studio, they were well-suited to a live setting. Guitars shimmered, while voices hung in the air like smoke rings over the blissful ongoing shimmy in the audience. Songs like “Summer Holiday” and “Golden Haze” are lovely swirls of melodies with just enough muscle to them to not sound wimpy. Their sound is a bit one-dimensional but it is one helluva a dimension. Judging by the reaction they were receiving this was right hybrid of shoegaze, indie pop and just enough retro-New Wave flourishes. There is nothing wrong with giving the people what they want.
Blurred vision of Wild Nothing...photo by Robert Celli
Sometimes it is black and white...photo by Robert Celli
