Aidin Vaziri: August 2009

31 August 2009

Brandi Shearer: The Good Fight

Brandi Shearer, bruised, but fighting back: Aidin Vaziri | Two years ago, Brandi Shearer became the showcase artist for the Amoeba Records label, which released her first album, "Close To Dark." But being the only living act on the roster didn't work out so well for the San Francisco-based singer-songwriter. "They're good people but there was just a huge chasm in vision about what I was and what they thought I should be," she said, during a recent Crissy Field run with her dogs Suki and Maeve. "So they dropped me." Forced to start over, the Oregon native and Potrero Hill resident sold just about everything she owned on eBay and sank her life savings into the making of the follow-up record, "Love Don't Make You Juliet," which arrives in stores next week. Tellingly, she appears on the cover looking like a prizefighter who has been pummeled all shades of black and blue. Read more.

23 August 2009

Live Review: Daughtry at the Fillmore

Daughtry loses a little edge: Aidin Vaziri | Playing the Fillmore on Thursday as a warm-up for what promises to be an endless arena slog behind the new release, "Leave This Town," Daughtry expertly glowered and groaned through a 75-minute set of original material that greatly amplified the angst he brought to the TV competition. With his bald dome glistening with sweat, brow furrowed and face constantly screwed up as if in pain, even the North Carolina native's small-talk felt daunting. "We have a new album out," he said, pacing purposefully across the stage. "I assume you have it." Read more.

Review: Imogen Heap, 'Ellipse'

Imogen Heap, 'Ellipse': Aidin Vaziri | For a while there, it was impossible to watch anything without hearing Imogen Heap. The Brit School graduate's heavily processed tunes from 2005's "Speak for Yourself" popped up on the soundtrack for "The O.C," "Heroes," "Six Feet Under" ... The cycle could easily continue with Heap's latest, "Ellipse." While there's nothing on it quite as dazzling as her breakthrough ballad, "Hide and Seek," songs such as "Tidal" and "Wait It Out" remain ostensibly weird, wrapped in woozy vocals, futuristic effects and lyrics about tigers' faces reflecting in full moons, but go down like a warm cup of chamomile tea. She remains a bit of a Laurie Anderson for the modern age, but it's hard to think of this music as anything more than audio wallpaper designed exclusively for stately Hollywood crying scenes.

Pop Quiz: Tenacious D

Aidin Vaziri | When Tenacious D was asked - eventually - to step in as the closing act for the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival next Sunday after the Beastie Boys were forced to drop out at the last minute, the guys didn't hesitate. In their mind, the substitution seemed like a natural fit. "I think there are more similarities than differences, really, when you put us together," announced Jack Black, who formed the folk-metal duo with his friend Kyle Gass long before he became a big-time Hollywood star. The band may not have been up to much since starring in the feature film "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny" three years ago, but when we spoke to them last week they promised, "The D will be in fine form."

Jack Black and Kyle Gass of Tenacious D
Q: What kind of vibe are you going for, Woodstock or Altamont?
Gass: In Altamont, people were killed and Woodstock is an example of a well-behaved moment in time. I'm going to pick Woodstock.
Black: Yeah. I don't want anyone getting killed.
Q: But what about the Rolling Stones?
Black: What are you talking about? Wasn't Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock? Didn't the Who play Woodstock? Come on. Ang Lee just made a Woodstock movie, not an Altamont movie. Although Woodstock was kind of a bummer if you took the brown acid.
Q: Which drugs would you recommend for the Tenacious D experience?
Gass: I'm going to say some really strong Peet's coffee and a couple of pieces of gum because that's all I do now.
Black: Yeah. I think a harmless J, maybe a couple Heinies, and then call it a night. Come on, kids. Let's not get crazy.
Read more.

16 August 2009

Pop Quiz: Third Eye Blind

Aidin Vaziri | When we last checked in with Stephan Jenkins more than two years ago, he assured us that a new Third Eye Blind album - the San Francisco group's first studio recording since 2003 - would arrive in our mailboxes any day. So we waited. And waited. Then waited some more. Now "Ursa Major" is finally here, and the band - rounded out by guitarist Tony Fredianelli and drummer Brad Hargraves these days - is celebrating its release with a concert Monday at Oakland's Fox Theater. As soon as we got a copy we called Jenkins and, over a cup of his favorite macchiato, first yelled at him for making us wait so long and then thanked him for keeping his promise.

Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind
Q: I can't believe how many people still love Third Eye Blind. Didn't you think that being gone so long most of them would have moved on to Wilco?
A: Our fans turned into Wilco fans and they became adults. The shocking thing is our audience is made up of 15- to 25-year-olds. They're new and they found this music through each other, completely independent of the sales channels and the marketing channels that made us a little unrecognizable to ourselves.
Q: Is there anything you miss about 1998?
A: No, not at all. I think there were elements of 1991 that were great. The Lower Haight at that time felt like the center of the universe. But I'm totally concerned with being present and reacting to what's happening in life now. I'm looking for new experiences.
Read more.

Review: Ledisi, 'Turn Me Loose'

Ledisi, 'Turn Me Loose': Aidin Vaziri | Ledisi has had a long, wildly varied career that has involved everything from performing in "Beach Blanket Babylon" five nights a week to singing alongside Stevie Wonder at a PBS television tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. It all came to a head following the release of 2007's "Lost and Found," her first for Verve, which earned the Oakland singer two Grammy Award nominations for best new artist and best R&B album. Now Ledisi is primed for bigger things. With production assistance by the likes of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Raphael Saadiq and Rex Rideout, "Turn Me Loose" is livelier and more modern sounding than anything she's done before, particularly on genre-straddling tracks like "Please Stay" and "I Need Love." But it's her clear vocals, glass-shattering high notes and life-affirming melodies that remain the main attraction, revealing the kind of substance and unfettered spirit of Mary J. Blige at her battle-scarred best.

Pop Quiz: Depeche Mode

Aidin Vaziri | Even for a band that's come to expect disaster, this has been a particularly rough year for Depeche Mode. Within days of setting off on a world tour in support of its album "Sounds of the Universe," the long-running British group was sidelined when singer Dave Gahan took a few days off to get a cancerous tumor removed - and then a couple more after he injured his leg in Spain. But Depeche Mode remains undaunted. Barring any further ER visits, the band will bring more than 30 years of delightful wrist-slashing electronic hits to Shoreline Amphitheatre on Wednesday. We checked in with keyboardist Andy Fletcher during the group's stop in New York.

Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode
Q: On this tour, Dave has had a cancerous tumor removed and seriously injured his leg. Why are you still on the road?
A: It's been an amazing tour, really. In some ways, certainly in Europe, it's been our most successful tour ever. But it's been our most calamitous as well. The great thing is we're up and running. Dave in particular has shown a lot of competitive spirit, you might say, to carry on the way he's doing.
Q: Most bands would have retreated to their private islands by now.
A: Well, the thought would have been if the bladder cancer prognosis was different but actually you couldn't get a better prognosis. It was caught very early and it was low grade. It was just a question of zapping it out.
Q: So what you're saying is, that for a guy who was once declared clinically dead, this was really nothing.
A: I said to Dave to other day, "I can't wait for your autobiography." It's quite a story developing.
Read more.

Review: Cobra Starship, 'Hot Mess'

Cobra Starship, 'Hot Mess': Aidin Vaziri | Give the members of Cobra Starship credit for their brutal honesty: The second song on their latest album is called "Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason We're Famous." Not only did the Fall Out Boy star appear in their video for the minor hit "Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)," which played over the end credits of the Samuel L. Jackson movie nobody saw, but he also signed them to his label and dragged them out on tour with his own band, clinching Cobra Starship's reputation with hormone-charged emo kids who don't mind bouncing around to pool-party beats. The song is the indisputable high point from the group's third album, thanks to its propulsive techno beats, raucous guitars and unrelenting cheerleader chants. "Smash it up!" urges front man Gabe Saporta, as he gleefully fires off just about every rock cliche known to man. But it's the kind of sugar rush only the strong can survive. As the record barrels forward with a pile-up of cheesy synthesizers and mallet-size pop melodies on tracks such as "You're Not In On the Joke" and "Wet Hot American Summer," you'll find yourself longing for the relative solemnity of Gwen Stefani. Its high-gloss vapidity is reaffirmed by the appearance of "Gossip Girl" actress Leighton Meester on the track "Good Girls Go Bad," which was co-written by "American Idol" judge Kara DioGuardi. On the bright side, Perez Hilton's Web site finally has a soundtrack.

From Black Sabbath to Heaven & Hell

From Black Sabbath to Heaven & Hell: Aidin Vaziri | With Ozzy Osbourne waiting for the next reality television offer to land on his ottoman, the musical members of Black Sabbath are back on the road with their early '80s singer Ronnie James Dio as - for legal reasons - Heaven & Hell. The reconstituted outfit has got a new release, "The Devil You Know," that's getting unanimously mixed reviews. But we wanted to know how it ranks against some of the band's classics. Here's what we found. Read more.

06 August 2009

Live Review: The Jonas Brothers at HP Pavilion

Lackluster Jonas Brothers: Aidin Vaziri | Time is running out for the Jonas Brothers. You could see it on their faces at San Jose's HP Pavilion on Monday. The room may have been packed with thousands of shrieking second-graders (and a few hundred of their earplug-wearing parents) but for the young men onstage who are growing up much faster than their fans, it felt like another glum day at the office. There were T-shirts to sell, a television show to plug and a fledgling new album that needs a little extra push. Smile? They could barely hide their scowls. Read more.

Review: Björk, 'Voltaic'

Björk, 'Voltaic': Aidin Vaziri | Despite the involvement of Nelly Furtado beat supplier Timbaland, the drummer out of Lightning Bolt and cross-dressing warbler Anthony Hegarty, Björk's last studio album was a bit of a snooze. But the Icelandic pop oddity isn't quite ready to leave "Volta" behind. As has become her style, she has unloaded a small cargo vessel of bonus material at the record store to supplement her most recent release, the main attraction being this relatively straightforward live CD/DVD set. The music portion isn't quite what you might expect: It wasn't recorded on a stage but rather in one take at London's Olympic Studios three days after her band appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in 2007. The gnarled songs from "Volta" (and several from her previous release, "Medulla") remain beyond rehabilitation, but the upgrades of old favorites like "Hunter" and "Pagan Poetry" make it worth the effort. The visual half, however, is what makes this set essential. Pairing a big-budget concert filmed in Paris with a raw five-song set recorded in a Reykjavik church, it breathtakingly documents the spectacle, voice and forehead-slapping genius that drives the woman with what has to be the best wardrobe in pop.

The Matches: Up In Smoke?

Matches rekindle pop-punk glory for farewell: Aidin Vaziri | The Matches are calling it quits. Scratch that. "We are calling it a hiatus," said guitarist Jon Devoto, finishing off lunch late last week. No matter what you call it the ambitious East Bay pop-punk band that seemed to constantly teeter on the verge of mall-devouring superstardom is going away for now - maybe forever. "It was a hard choice," Devoto said. "It was really, really hard." Read more.

Pop Quiz: Jordin Sparks

Aidin Vaziri |While you're sitting on the couch stuffing your face with cupcakes, Jordin Sparks is out on the front lines of the summer touring season. To get the word out on her second album, "Battlefield," the sixth-season "American Idol" champ is supporting the Jonas Brothers across the United States, which means facing hysterical tweens, eardrum-shattering shrieks and a galaxy of personal rumors everywhere she goes. Fortunately, the bubbly 19-year-old Arizona native is taking it all in stride as her latest single, "Battlefield," climbs the charts.

Jordin Sparks
Q: How are your ears holding up?
A: I just can't believe how their fans scream all four hours straight. From the time the doors open to the time when the boys get off stage, they are just screaming their heads off. It's awesome because I walk out there and they're screaming.
Q: How mad are their fans that you're dating Nick?
A: I actually tried to start that rumor earlier and it didn't work.
Q: We really shouldn't even joke about it.
A: The cool thing is their fans aren't mad at me in that sort of way. It's a really cool vibe that I have with the boys. We've been friends for the past two years. It's strictly platonic. I hope everybody knows that. It's cool because it could have definitely gone the other way. They could have hated me and not wanted to tour with me.
Read more.