I know. I know. It's been a long time. I'm sorry about that. I don't really have a good reason, besides maybe that I don't get paid for this and money-generating jobs always win out over a labor of love.
So here it is: The four-month catch-up post with all the stories I've published since Sept. 27, 2007. Sorry it's taken so long.
From Oct. 4, 2007:
Natasha Khan: Teacher learns a few things
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
October 4, 2007
Back before the whimsical album, the spooky videos and the accolades, Bat for Lashes' Natasha Khan must have been the perfect nursery school teacher.
With her angelic voice, sweet demeanor and a head for the fantastic, the 27-year-old art-student-turned musician probably kept the young Brits transfixed for hours.
“I was constantly telling stories,” remembered Khan during a recent conversation from London. “To have 20 kids with their mouths wide open listening to stories about witches and monsters and robots, it was a lovely environment to be in.”
Surrounded by creative young minds, Khan toiled in her bedroom, turning her stories of witches and monsters and robots into songs: “I think it affected my creative process, being among 5-year-olds all day long. They had this playfulness and joyfulness along with these extreme emotions and animalistic tendencies.
DETAILS
Bat for Lashes, with Chris Chavez
When: Monday, 8 p.m.
Where: House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., downtown
Tickets: $9-$11
Phone: (619) 299-2583
Online: www.hob.com
“I'd worked in factories and offices and sort of all-encompassing, mindless jobs that really drained my creative spirit toward music. Being with children is such a good environment to be in, because you feel like you're really helping society and you're educating these young human beings.”
A few years later, Khan would emerge from her bedroom with a handful of songs that would become Bat for Lashes' debut “Fur and Gold,” an album full of the singer's flights of fancy. With the help of producer David Kosten and violist Abi Fry (also of British Sea Power), the album's layers of rich textural strings and quiet organic songs are spliced with splashes of electronic sounds. During the record's hushed and muted moments, Khan's voice sounds brittle and fragile. But she can also be coy, as in the nod to 1960s pop in “What's a Girl to Do.”
In the stripped-down video for the single “What's a Girl to Do,” Khan rides a bike down a dark remote street. When the chorus arrives (filled with Wall of Sound drums offset by spooky harpsichord), BMX riders appear out of nowhere with big animal masks on (bunnies, lions and bears), following Khan and doing stunts in unison. The video is creepy and surreal and sweet at the same time, which says a lot about Khan's aesthetic (which includes a penchant for dressing up in elaborate robes and Cleopatra headdresses).
On the “What's a Girl to Do” video, Kahn said: “It basically was 22 hours of riding my bike. They had to black out the other riders, and then they had to appear and do jumps with masks on that they couldn't see out of in the rain. l had a huge smile on my face through the whole thing, because we were in the middle of a pine forest, riding our bikes on a deserted road with my music echoing through the forest.”
On the strength of “What's a Girl to Do” and the bittersweet stomp and clap pop of “Priscilla,” “Fur and Gold” earned a Mercury Prize nomination (Britain's top music award), edged out by Klaxons' disc “Myths of the Near Future” and their self-described brand of “acid-rave sci-fi punk-funk.” Even though critics embraced “Fur and Gold,” Khan had a rough transition from nursery school teacher/bedroom musician to professional artist.
“I found that really challenging: the kinds of intrusion you feel and also in terms of pressure you feel being an artist,” admitted Khan. “Before when I was writing music, I was doing it for myself. It's a very private and personal, intense experience. And now all these people are looking at you and expecting things from you.
“From the business side of things, you're viewed as a commodity and in terms of your moneymaking prospects. It really got to me. I felt kind of poisoned for some time. And I still try to keep the business side and the creative side totally separate.”
Along with Fry, Khan will be joined on Bat for Lashes' first major tour of the United States by Caroline Weeks (piano, guitar, autoharp) and Lizzie Carey (guitar, percussion, violin). During the tour (which stops at House of Blues Monday), Khan will be writing material for her band's second album: “I don't think you're ever fully satisfied as an artist. You want to keep going and peeling back the layers to your truest creative self.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
From Oct. 11, 2007:
Growing under the 'Blacklight'
Rilo Kiley's 'restless personalities' show growth as artists
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
October 11, 2007
It's pop so good your mom will love it – if your mom has good taste in pop music.
Blake Sennett's mom probably does.
Her son – a former child actor who played bit parts on “Melrose Place,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “3rd Rock From the Sun” – grew up in San Diego and now writes songs, sings and plays guitar for the L.A.-based pop band Rilo Kiley.
“It was a good place to grow up,” said Sennett, who grew up near Mission Bay and attended La Jolla Country Day School. “San Diego has some good vibes. It can be kind of a lazy town. It's a good place to go and exhale. Although every time I go down there, it's different. I don't recognize it much these days. I come down there sometimes to see my mom.”
After sowing some wild musical oats with sweet sorrowful acoustic country music and sunny indie pop, Jenny Lewis (vocals, keyboards), Sennett (guitar, vocals), Pierre de Reeder (bass guitar, keyboards) and Jason Boesel (drums) have rejoined for another go-round with Rilo Kiley.
DETAILS
Rilo Kiley, with The Bird and The Bee and Grand Ole Party
When: Tomorrow, 7 p.m.
Where: SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., Midway area
Tickets: $22
Phone: (619) 226-7662
Online: somasd.com
Since the L.A.-based band burst onto the scene with 2004's scarily beautiful album “More Adventurous,” Lewis drifted away to release a disc of classic bittersweet country twang with Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins (reaching into the spooky American hillbilly songbook) while Sennett dabbled with pretty, breezy indie rock in The Elected.
“(Solo projects) just kind of happened along the way,” said the 31-year-old Sennett, a producer and songwriter as well. “I know I had a bunch of songs that weren't being used (in the band), so I recorded them. My friends encouraged me to put it out, so I did. It all kind of happened naturally.
“Because we're restless personalities, we'll always have other projects,” added Sennett with an eye down the road. “I think we always have little plans, Jenny and I.”
Lewis and Sennett have reunited for RK's 2007 release “Under the Blacklight.” Sounding like a happy-go-lucky Neko Case, Lewis' vocals sound stronger than ever, while Sennett's songwriting has grown with his time in The Elected.
“Jenny and I respectively went on tours during the recording of the album,” recalled Sennett. “So it took a minute to get back in the swing of things. We had to feel each other out in terms of where we had been artistically and emotionally in the last year. But once we got rolling it was the most pleasant and educational experience I've had recording.”
With perfect production from Jason Lader and Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem, Fiona Apple, Alanis Morissette) and squeaky-clean songs, Rilo Kiley's sound is classic pop tailor-made for radio airplay.
Sennett on Lader and Elizondo: “I felt like I learned a lot from those guys. They were real hands-on kind of producers. So that was fun, to let go of the reins. I personally just tried to say 'Yes' as much as possible, no matter what. I learned that from Mike Elizondo. He's such a positive person. His answer for everything was 'Yeah, let's try it.' ”
Rilo Kiley's major label debut brims with sunny pop, like the whispery boy-girl vocals of “Dreamworld” and the happy-go-lucky sing-along chorus of “Silver Lining.”
But Sennett and Watson aren't stuck on one channel: The quartet drops the strummy pop in favor of driving drum beats and rock guitar riffs on “Moneymaker.” With guests Jackson Browne and Alex Greenwald (of Phantom Planet), along with James Valentine and Mickey Madden from Maroon 5, “Under the Blacklight” leads smirking indie rockers away from sadness and sarcasm toward happier artistic expression.
But is it too pure and pretty and poppy and beautiful and perfect? Nope, it's just the kind of music you want to take home to mom.
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
THE MAKINGS OF A GRAND OLE PARTY
With barely two years together as a trio, Grand Ole Party is a San Diego success story in the making.
While other bands have moved away from San Diego to find their fortunes (see: The Rapture), Grand Ole Party came to our barrio by the border to establish themselves.
After meeting at UC Santa Cruz and hanging out in the Bay Area for a time, singer-drummer Kristin Gundred, guitarist John Paul Labno and bassist Michael Krechnyak relocated to San Diego.
In less than two years here, Grand Ole Party was nominated for Best New Artist at last year's San Diego Music Awards and won the award for “Best Alternative” band this year.
Produced by Rilo Kiley's Blake Sennett, GOP's debut disc, “Humanimals,” is full of raw rock and funk along with Gundred's powerful vocals. The album led to an opening spot on Rilo Kiley's latest tour, which stops at SOMA in the Midway area tomorrow night.
Sennett on Grand Ole Party: “A friend of mine saw them in Los Angeles, and said, 'I think you should check them out. I think you'd like them.' I went to their MySpace page and listened to their demos. They were so cool I drove down to San Diego and saw them play at The Casbah. They were great. I guess after the show I asked them if they wanted to make a record, so we made a record together.”
– CHRIS NIXON
THE SUNNY POP BAND CALLED RILO KILEY
Lineup
Jenny Lewis – vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass guitar
Blake Sennett – guitar, vocals
Pierre de Reeder – bass guitar, keyboards, guitar, vocals
Jason Boesel – drums, percussion
Discography
“Take-Offs and Landings” (2001)
“The Execution of All Things” (2002)
“More Adventurous” (2004)
“Under the Blacklight” (2007)
From Oct. 25, 2007:
'We knew instinctually how to make music'
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
October 25, 2007
Artists often describe the moment of creation – the flash of inspiration that seemingly flows through them rather than from them – in passionate, revelatory language.
For sisters Tegan and Sara Quin, the 27-year-old identical twins had their quasi-religious experience in the basement of their Calgary, Canada, home. They were a couple of teenagers who stumbled upon their stepdad's old guitar. With acoustic in hand, they intuitively knew how to play and write songs.
“I'm not a religious person, and I really struggle with the terminology to describe this because people always laugh,” admitted Sara Quin. “We knew instinctually how to make music. We somehow knew that we would be able to succeed. There was a relaxed faith in what I was doing. As soon as I picked up the guitar, I started writing songs. To this day, when I write songs, it's still this very strange chemical reaction that I can't really explain.”
The chemical reactions coming from Tegan and Sara make the sisters one of indie rock's best songwriting duos. After the discovery of the acoustic guitar, all the pieces naturally fell in place for a career in music.
DETAILS
Tegan and Sara
When: Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Where: Spreckels Theatre, 121 Broadway, downtown
Tickets: $30
Phone: (619) 235-9500
Online: Ticketmaster.com
“We created our own scene because we were too young to be a part of any other scene,” remembered Sara, whose effervescent personality comes through in her music and lyrics. “We played in garages and backyards and basements. We made our own demo tapes and my mom copied the album artwork at her work. Even then, when we were our own little community, I never thought it was going to substitute being a teacher or a lawyer or a social worker. For Tegan and I, the career was built around us before we knew we even had one.”
Through a 12-year run, the musicians recorded five albums of indie pop brimming with swirling keyboards and mingling of sweet harmonies. With the early days in Calgary in the review mirror, the sisters now live on opposite sides of Canada, Tegan in Vancouver and Sara in Montreal, adding logistics to the already difficult process of song creation.
They send each other stripped-down versions of song ideas, feedback flows from Vancouver to Montreal and back again, and a song is shaped via long distance.
Most demos are recorded in portable home studios, and they sound like it. Capturing ideas is more important than sound quality. Normally, demo tunes are later polished in a pro studio space.
That's how Tegan and Sara pieced together albums, until they met Chris Walla. The 31-year-old Death Cab for Cutie guitarist signed on to produce Tegan and Sara's 2007 release, “The Con,” and he brought a few original ideas to the table.
First, Walla wanted to pick the 14 best songs from the possible demo songs and put them in the order they would eventually appear on the record. He additionally wanted to record the songs in order, creating a concept album feel to songs that were created independently.
Finally, Walla pulled selected vocal and guitar from the demos and used them in the final album mix. With the help of star-studded guest spots that feel natural and unpretentious (from The Rentals' Matt Sharp, Jason McGerr of Death Cab for Cutie, AFI's Hunter Burgan, Kaki King and Walla himself), the album crackles with inventive pop songwriting and spot-on musicianship.
For those planning on attending Tegan and Sara's Tuesday show at Spreckels Theatre downtown, expect lively banter and stories between songs, a trademark of their two-hour shows: “I just want the people who like our band to like us as people. I don't want them to just like our music.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
From Nov. 1, 2007:
Yo La Tengo a happy-go-lucky, serious band
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
November 1, 2007
Yellow tango or Yo La Tengo?
The Jersey band Yo La Tengo gives a nod to their beloved Mets by claiming their name from a classic baseball story: It's 1962, and Latino players start to make their mark in Major League Baseball (foreshadowing the Latino explosion of baseball in the 1990s).
New York Mets outfielder Richie Ashburn (also known as “Whitey” for his hair color) learns to communicate in Spanish with Venezuelan shortstop Elio Chacón during pop flies into shallow center field, perfecting the phrase “Yo la tengo,” or “I have it.”
During a fly ball, Ashburn calls off Chacón by yelling “Yo la tengo,” only to get leveled by left fielder Frank Thomas (aka “The Big Donkey”). After the play, Thomas – obviously not a Spanish speaker – asks Ashburn, “Why are you talking about 'Yellow Tango'?”
Tengo or tango? After 23 years trolling the underground music scene, you'd think people would have it straight by now. Especially after the transcendent 2006 disc “I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass,” the trio's sixth release on Matador.
DETAILS
Yo La Tengo
When: Sunday, 7 p.m.
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla
Tickets: $23-$35
Phone: (858) 454-3541
Online: mcasd.org
But the baseball story fits with the band's tongue-in-cheek, inside-joke indie rock mentality. At its core, Yo La Tengo is a band that doesn't take itself too seriously, but its music is serious stuff.
After almost 25 years, the Hoboken, N.J.-based husband and wife team of guitarist-vocalist Ira Kaplan and drummer-vocalist Georgia Hubley have lived just below the radar of mainstream media, but are well-known among name-dropping music geeks. With 15 wildly diverse albums and a sense of unadulterated adventure at every turn, it's a career that's deserving of more notice.
From the opening sonic assault of “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind” stretching almost 11 minutes, to the sparse ambient landscape of the eight-minute instrumental “Daphnia” and all indie pop points between, “I Am Not Afraid of You” remains one of the most infectiously bipolar albums released in the past few years. It's also one of the best.
Along with bassist James McNew, Kaplan and Hubley feel equally at home in the whispering harmonies and Byrds-like harpsichord-inflected guitar riffs of “The Race Is on Again,” the new-wave-buzzing keyboards and clickety-clack bongos of “The Room Got Heavy” and the Ramones-esque lightning quick pop punk feel of “Watch Out for Me Ronnie.”
Laden with horns and strings and all things orchestrated and poppy, the album takes dramatic turns stylistically, yet the big beautiful mess seems to work in its messiness.
Sunday's show at the intimate 492-seat Sherwood Auditorium in the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla will provide longtime fans and Yo La Tengo initiates a chance to know the trio in a different way.
The Freewheeling Yo La Tengo Tour will feature acoustic interpretations of tunes spanning the band's entire career, along with spats of storytelling. Interaction from the audience is encouraged.
Kaplan, Hubley and McNew are known for different set lists every night, along with their extensive catalog of cover tunes at their disposal. So, like the genre-twisting roller-coaster ride of “I Am Not Afraid of You” and the experimentation of Yo La Tengo's entire career, expect the unexpected.
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
From Nov. 15, 2007:
Lyrics Born is an act born in a cultural mix
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
November 15, 2007
From the Bay Area's independent music community that includes Blackalicious, Lyrics Born works outside the “industry.”
Secluded from the music industry machines of Los Angeles and New York City, the Bay Area has featured bands focused on creating their own fan base through DIY marketing and word-of-mouth. Born within the anti-establishment mentality of the 1960s, the Bay Area's music scene works outside the normal music business tracks, allowing for more experimentation and more control for the artists.
Spearheaded by the loose collective and record label known as Quannum Projects, San Francisco and the Bay Area sport one of the best underground hip-hop scenes around: Blackalicious (Chief Xcel and Gift of Gab), DJ Shadow, Lateef the Truthspeaker and Lyrics Born, aka Tom Shimura.
“The Bay Area is just so diverse,” said Shimura in an interview in the midst of his current tour. “There's also no music industry in the Bay Area. There aren't any record companies. So, people out of necessity are forced to create an industry around the music they make. So, you have a lot of diversity and you have a lot of new ideas. It's also culturally mixed and culturally diverse. You're going to get a lot of different influences and a lot of different styles.”
Born in Tokyo, then on to stops in Salt Lake City and Tampa Bay, half Japanese-American, half Italian-American MC Lyrics Born draws on his own diverse background and his Bay Area home base to make his brand of outsider hip-hop.
DETAILS
Lyrics Born, with The Kneehighs and Deep Rooted
When: Tonight, 9.
Where: Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach
Tickets: $16-$18
Phone: (858) 481-9022
Online: bellyup.com
The core of Quannum met at UC Davis in the mid-1990s. Since then the collective's members have been using their outsider mentality to create their own take on hip-hop. DJ Shadow explores the arty, ambient side of turntablism. Blackalicious and Lateef expand the rhythmic boundaries of MCs, mixing enlightened lyrics and party music for a potent mix. Lyrics Born takes hip-hop into new territory by shucking the confines of the traditional DJ/MC setup in favor of a live band.
“With the band, you have the freedom to do a lot of different things,” said the 35-year-old Shimura in his deep gravelly baritone. “You can improvise, you can speed up, you can change keys, you can create your own transitions. It's just a different type of energy onstage.”
Lyrics Born's band – vocalist Joyo Velarde (Quannum recording artist and Shimura's wife), guitarist B'nai Rebelfront, bassist Uriah Duffy (who has performed with artists ranging from Christine Aquilera to Whitesnake), keyboardist Mike Blankenship and P-Dub on drums – gives Shimura's music new life onstage, as evidenced by the band's 2006 EP “Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born Live.”
Lyrics Born began his career as half of Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker. The pair released the 1997 classic “The Album,” featuring Lateef's rapid-fire machine gun delivery contrasted by Shimura's laid-back drawl. Both went on to successful solo careers, with Lyrics Born releasing 2003's “Later That Day.” He followed with the remix album “Same !@$ Different Day” in 2005 and a pair of collaborative efforts: “Lyrics Born Variety Show Season One” (2005) and “Season Two” (2006).
In March, Lyrics Born is set to release “Everywhere at Once,” his first album with ANTI-records, the diverse sister label of Epitaph. The disc finds Shimura stretching out even further from his hip-hop roots.
“The new album has some of the best songwriting I've ever done,” said Shimura. “This album was not as much about me trying to show the world how great an MC I was. It's about showing the world the kind of albums I can make and the kind of songs I can write.”
For Shimura, this next step is a continuation of a trend he's followed throughout his career: “I'm always going to try and push the boundaries. I'm always going to try to take it one step further. I'm always going to try to do things that people wouldn't expect. I'm always trying to do things that have never been done before, or at least I've never done them before. I definitely feel like I stepped outside the hip-hop box (on this album), without a doubt.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
From Nov. 22, 2007:
Just plain folk? Nah ...
Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, meshes the hippie and the hick and broadens a genre
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
November 22, 2007
From flower-power hippies to down-home country farmers to coffeehouse intellectuals, folk music has given Americans a platform to tell stories.
Without all the bells and whistles of more intricate styles, folk allows songwriters the freedom to focus on creating images through lyrics. In folk, blistering guitar solos take a back seat to storytelling and lyrical poetry.
If you hadn't been paying attention to folk music these days, the genre is spreading its wings in many directions at once.
Instead of three-chord formulaic compositions, you're seeing miniature symphonies from artists like Joanna Newsom. Chicago's Califone adds to the folk palette with percussive acoustic tunes and a willingness to dabble with electronic sounds. Operating way outside the traditional folk box, Devendra Banhart pairs his beautiful, nonsensical imagery with his stripped-down songs.
Less freaky than Banhart is Sam Beam, known in the pop world as Iron & Wine. Beam understands the worlds of both the hippie and the hick, drawing on the pastoral quiet of his Southern upbringing while shucking the confines of traditional acoustic folk to bring his music to uncharted territory.
DETAILS
Iron & Wine, with Califone
When: Tuesday, 9 p.m.
Where: 4th & B, 345 B St., downtown
Tickets: $22.50 advance; $24.50 day of show
Phone: (619) 299-2583
Online: 4thandB.com
Ever since his striking debut, “The Creek Drank the Cradle,” (Sub Pop Records) appeared seemingly out of nowhere in 2002, Beam's music has felt like a password, a secret handed from person to person. Which it was until a handful of his songs made it into “Garden State,” the 2004 movie that also made indie superstars out of The Shins.
From his long hair and beard, whispery voice, gorgeous melodies and slightly Southern Gothic vibe, Beam, 33, has cultivated (consciously or not) a bit of a low-key mythos about him.
The only son of a state employee and a teacher, Beam hails from Columbia, S.C., where he seems to have had a dangerously average upbringing, with church, school and the radio all big parts.
“I always loved it, always gravitated toward it,” Beam said of music. “My parents liked the radio and had some Motown records. When I was a kid, I didn't even think about it being a genre of music specific to a time and place.”
Many fans hear something both Southern and Christian in Beam's music. Beam said neither of these things were exceptionally important to him, but that doesn't mean they're not in his work. But he doesn't consider himself a Southern artist.
“Yeah, I enjoy Southern writers, but no more so than Vonnegut or anyone else. I grew up in the suburbs. That's why Spielberg's movies did so well. 'E.T.'s' neighborhood was like everybody's neighborhood. My South was not like Faulkner novels.”
Beam headed to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond for college, drawn by its fine arts program. Perhaps oddly, he didn't do much with music.
“I dabbled in music in college, jamming with friends now and then, but I wanted to be a painter,” he said. “Like everyone else, I liked movies and started to get into photography.”
He met his wife and ended up in Florida after graduation, going to grad school and teaching cinematography.
“I got a four-track and started to do it more seriously as a hobby,” Beam says of music.
At first, Beam assumed he'd just be trading songs with pals.
“You know Ben Bridwell from Band of Horses?” Beam asked, talking about the Seattle indie rock band that came to prominence opening for Iron & Wine. “His older brother, Michael, was one of my best friends growing up. We would hang out and give each other tapes.”
Bridwell passed Beam's tape to longtime scenester/zinester Mike McGonigal, who included an Iron & Wine song on a compilation to go with his zine Yeti. Soon after, Sub Pop Records came calling.
This was weird for a couple of reasons.
One, Beam says he wasn't exactly seeking a record deal. He had a child and a steady job. Two, Sub Pop was known as the punk rock label that birthed Nirvana and grunge. Beam's music was acoustic, layered on a four-track and mumbled.
“When I saw they were doing The Shins, I was like well, OK,” Beam said. “It seemed like too good a thing to pass up, honestly. I felt like I didn't have a lot to lose.”
Beam had two full CDs of material; he and the label cherry-picked songs, and “The Creek Drank the Cradle” appeared in 2002.
“The thing that struck me immediately about that first Iron & Wine thing, which I reviewed for the Wire, was that it was a very natural blend of the hip and the square,” said influential rock critic Byron Coley, then of the very hip zine Forced Exposure. “It had a very DIY vibe, but it was melodically closer to very mundane sources, like Simon and Garfunkel and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.”
It was a record that felt deeply personal.
“Sometimes there's bits and pieces of autobio in there, but a lot is just fantasy,” Beam said. “I don't do confessional therapeutic songs. I like to switch around the narrator, try to make it as interesting as possible. But, of course, experiences temper your life, and that's what you draw from in some way. I rarely have a specific point to make in my songs.”
When Beam started touring on the album, the first time he had ever done so, he realized the impact he was making.
“I remember starting to play shows and having people singing the songs back to me, and I was like, 'What the ...?' ” Beam said. “It was really surreal. I was doing this as a hobby, and people were connecting with the songs.”
More records followed, in much higher fidelity, but things took a qualitative leap when “Garden State” was released in 2004. The soundtrack included Beam's version of the Postal Service song “Such Great Heights.”
“Our shows doubled in size,” Beam said.
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer. Wire reports were included in this story.
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN: FOLK MUSIC STRETCHES ITS LIMBS
The New Weirdness is at your doorstep, and it wants to you throw out your old Peter, Paul and Mary records. Dreamers and freaks litter the folk scene today, using fanciful allegory and richly layered compositions to blow the dust off the genre.
Here's a brief overview and who's who of the top purveyors of folk music in the new millennium:
Bonnie Prince Billy: Will Oldham – aka Bonnie Prince Billy – writes songs embodying the wave of singer-songwriters revitalizing folk and acoustic Americana music in the past decade: great lyrics matched with a willingness to take folk beyond the formula of three chords and a catchy chorus.
Oldham's been a professional musician for 15 years now, and his songwriting is starting to reach larger audiences as he continues down his artistic path. In 2000, Johnny Cash gave his stamp of approval, recording the Oldham song “I See a Darkness” on his “American III: Solitary Man” album.
Califone: Musician Tim Rutili has said simply: “I hate rock.” His band Califone, more a loose collective of friends than a set lineup, has taken bittersweet Appalachia folk down from the mountain, skipped all the rock clichés and transported it to more otherworldly, experimental turf. It's a landscape of mumbled phrases, wind chimes in the distance and subconscious, atmospheric keyboards, while eerie banjos duel with bubbling blips, beeps and found percussion.
Califone is essentially the band formerly known as Red Red Meat, minus the rock and a member or two. “Roots & Crowns,” the band's 2006 release, is beautiful in the way your grandfather's rusty tools are statuesque and sublime: heavy with iron and filthy, but held with loving hands for long years, filled with world-weary stories.
Joanna Newsom: Newsom is changing the symphonic boundaries of folk with her huge orchestral harp in tow. Born into a family of musicians, the 26-year-old singer-songwriter grew up in the former gold rush town of Nevada City in Northern California. She's been playing the harp for almost 20 years, bringing an Appalachian down-home feel to her indie folk sound.
After gaining a national audience touring with singer Will Oldham, Newsom signed to Drag City Records and released her 2004 debut “The Milk-Eyed Mender.” A beautifully stark album, Newsom shines with her intertwining harp melodies and unique singing style.
She shifted her approach for her sophomore effort “Ys.” The album is an ambitious effort replete with epic, sprawling song cycles ranging from seven to 16 minutes and compositions thick with strings, accordions, mandolins and banjos.
Devendra Banhart: Accented by gentle finger-picked acoustic guitar and his high-pitched wavering vocals, Banhart's songs capture a wistful playfulness and an endearing innocence.
He first came into the national spotlight after his 2002 recording “Oh Me, Oh My,” brimming with 22 tracks with titles like “Roots (If the Sky Were a Stone),” “Legless Love” and “Lend Me Your Teeth.” The long-haired musician has released almost an album a year since his debut: 2003's “Rejoicing in the Hand,” 2004's “Niño Rojo,” 2005's “Cripple Crow” and “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon” in 2007.
Released on XL Recordings, “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon” furthers Banhart's Donovan-style mystique with his unique vocals and 1960s low-tech folka pproach. The beauty of Banhart's songwriting comes in the psychedelic imagery and simple, stripped-down approach to songcraft.
– CHRIS NIXON
From Nov. 27, 2007:
Van Halen still rocks the house
Roth proves pipes, chemistry are there
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
November 27, 2007
Change, ain't nothin' stays the same / Unchained, you hit the ground runnin'.
When David Lee Roth sang the chorus of Van Halen's “Unchained” Sunday night at SDSU's Cox Arena, it was the moment that summed up the rocky 22-year hiatus since Roth departed the iconic rock band and the recent reunion.
Change means questions: Could Van Halen maintain the technical superiority that set it apart from the high tide of heavy metal bands in the early '80s? Does Roth still have the pipes to hit the high notes? Can Eddie's 16-year-old son, Wolfgang, fill the bass duties of one the best arena rock bands of the past 30 years? And most importantly, how long before the joy ride explodes into a fiery crash?
A lot of Van Halen fans, scorned and scarred by past titillations of a Roth-Van Halen reunion, asked themselves these questions as plans formulated for the current string of dates, Roth's first tour with the band since his departure in 1985. The answers lie in the song: “You hit the ground runnin'.”
When you do, though, there will be times when you stumble. Case in point: During the breakdown of “Panama,” Roth mistakenly thought he was in the middle of “Ain't Talking 'Bout Love.” Or when Roth forgot the words to “So This Is Love?” during the first verse.
But through the two-hour, 10-minute sold-out show, Van Halen showed the musical dexterity and emotional ferocity that made the band the champs of arena rock.
Reprising his role as lead singer after a scattered and unsuccessful solo career, Roth's vocals hit all the right notes. Gen X's answer to the original blond-haired rock god, Robert Plant, the 53-year-old Roth beamed like a birthday boy, strutting and parading around the stage as if he owned it.
Roth was glam before glam was big, admired by head bangers and loved by women (with a healthy dose of ego thrown in). Now Roth needs the Van Halen clan more than ever. And, with the missteps of Gary Cherone and Sammy Hagar in the rearview mirror, the Van Halen brothers need Roth, too.
Eddie, the guitar god whose style of two hands on the fretboard produced the ethereal arpeggios that changed how we view the six-string instrument, looked happy to be onstage with his son, slapping him high fives and giving him encouragement throughout the show. The 52-year-old guitarist also appeared pleased to be sharing the stage with Roth. The two traded call-and-responses during the opener “You Really Got Me,” “Somebody Get Me A Doctor” and “Everybody Wants Some.”
Alex, whose steady drums have laid the groundwork for Eddie's explorations throughout Van Halen's history, anchored the entire show with precision. At 54, he is the band's eldest member. But his age didn't show in the blistering five-minute drum solo midway through the concert.
After the brothers Van Halen fired longtime bassist Michael Anthony in 2006, Eddie and Alex decided to keep it in the family by recruiting Wolfgang to handle bass duties. The young man held his own in the bright lights of Cox Arena, adding back-up vocals and his own take on the traditional VH bass lines.
Van Halen's 24-song set fell into a couple of categories: the covers (“You Really Got Me” and “Pretty Woman”), the pop songs (“Dance the Night Away,” “I'll Wait” and “Jump”) and the essential rockers (“Runnin' With the Devil,” “Hot for Teacher,” “Panama” and “Ain't Talking 'Bout Love). But Wolfgang, who chose the set list for the 45-date tour, added a few gems: “I'm the One” and “Atomic Punk” from the 1978 self-titled disc, “Mean Street” from “Fair Warning” and “Romeo Delight” from “Women and Children First.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
For a complete set list and additional commentary, log on to street.signonsandiego.com.
