Aidin Vaziri: September 2009

19 September 2009

Pop Quiz: Colbie Caillat

Aidin Vaziri | Malibu beach bum Colbie Caillat was working in a tanning salon three years ago when, thanks to a little help from MySpace, her laidback single "Bubbly" turned her into a big-time pop star. Now the 24-year-old Jennifer Aniston look-alike is back with her second album, the chart-topping "Breakthrough," a little better prepared for the madness that comes with writing songs that inspire thousands of people to sing along every time she takes the stage.

Colbie Caillat
Q: According to your latest Twitter update, you're supposed to be skydiving right now.
A: I'm supposed to go tomorrow.
Q: It's your first time skydiving. Are you terrified?
A: No, I'm not. My friends are. They keep wussing out, but I'm so excited I can't wait.
Q: Living close to the beach I would think it's something you do every weekend, or is that not a good idea with the sharks and mean dolphins and everything?
A: Actually, you can't skydive close to the ocean. You have to go two hours inland so you're over the mountains.
Q: Are you going to do it naked?
A: Um, no.
Q: Why not? You might as well go all out.
Read more.

Review: The Lovemakers, 'Let's Be Friends'

Review: The Lovemakers, 'Let's Be Friends': Aidin Vaziri | Scott Blonde and Lisa Light's romantic relationship may have fizzled out a long time ago, but they continue to make beautiful music together as the Lovemakers. After getting a taste of major-label life with 2005's "Times of Romance," the Bay Area electro-pop outfit has now found a home with San Francisco's Talking House Records for its second full-length album. Relieved of commercial expectations, they are free to indulge in their love of swooshing synthesizers, dirty glam-funk rhythms and libido-driven outbursts like "I make my money by shaking my ass!" The Lovemakers come close to modern pop perfection with "Love Is Dead," a song that surges forward on a big hook and bigger heartbreak.

Bob Mould, Into The Groove

Older and wiser, Bob Mould still wants to dance: Aidin Vaziri | The beer gut is gone, and so is the greasy pile of hair. In fact, anyone who knew Bob Mould as the disheveled lead singer of Minneapolis punk band Hüsker Dü in the 1980s would barely recognize him now - looking lean, sporting a scholarly beard and speaking in complete sentences. "Isn't it funny how that happens?" he says, calling from his current home in Washington, D.C. "Do you think it might have had anything to do with the alcohol and drugs and being on the road?" But it's not just Mould's recent acquisition of designer polo shirts that has thrown people off. Since his powerhouse trio imploded in 1988, the 48-year-old songwriter has built up one of the most interesting resumes in rock 'n' roll, highlighted by experimental techno albums, writing scripts for World Championship Wrestling and keeping a tell-all blog. Sure, he's also played to form along the way as the former frontman for roaring three-piece Sugar and now as a revered solo artist, but for the past six years or so, Mould's most unexpected endeavor has kept him the busiest - a gay dance party called Blowoff. Read more.

Lavay Smith, Back For More

Smith, Skillet Lickers back at Cafe Du Nord: Aidin Vaziri | Smith's famous Prohibition-era bob may have grown out since her band's last release, 2000's "Everybody's Talkin' 'Bout Miss Thing!" but the music remains rooted in another time. On the new disc, the Skillet Lickers blast through mid-century classics by the likes of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Ray Charles, along with a handful of be-boppin' originals that Siebert and Smith wrote together. "I always think, 'What do I want to sing nightly?' " said the woman who typically performs three to four gigs a week. She says feisty 1920s blues queen Bessie Smith continues to serve as her biggest source of inspiration. When pressed for some more contemporary vocalists that do it for her, Smith lists "Sam Cooke, Solomon Burke, Etta Jones ..." What, no Beyoncé? "I love Beyoncé but I don't listen to her records," she said. Read more.

Review: Mew, 'No More Stories ...'

Review: Mew, 'No More Stories ...': Aidin Vaziri | There are lots of reasons to recoil from Mew: They're a Danish prog band. The full title of their fifth studio album actually stretches out to a 23-word poem. And they plan to introduce it to America with a six-day multimedia installation in a Los Angeles art facility dubbed, yes, "Mewseum," shortly after wrapping up tour support for Nine Inch Nails. But set all reservations aside and "No More Stories" is the sound of your brain exploding into a shower of rainbow-colored confetti. Knotty funk guitars stumble over military rhythms, singer Jonas Bjerre wails like a little girl that just came across a two-headed bunny, and the melodies sound like they were lifted from sonar readings. From the warp-speed glam-pop on "Introducing Palace Players" to the inverted Afrobeat of "Hawaii," if anyone else out there is making more inspired rock music they're clearly visiting from Jupiter and should immediately be blasted with green lasers.

Pop Quiz: Zero 7

Aidin Vaziri | Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker, otherwise known as the laid-back British electronic music outfit Zero 7, would have made millions as A&R men, having used previous albums to expose the world to the vocal talents of such people as Sia and José González. But the group's fourth studio release, "Yeah Ghost," which arrives later this month, sees them scaling down the guest list and somehow finding that elusive middle ground between krautrock and soul. The disc features the single "Everything Up (Zizou)," available now. Binns told us about the group's tricky rebirth.

Henry Binns of Zero 7
Q: So how are you preparing for the arrival of the new album?
A: I went to buy a car, stuff like that.
Q: ou went to buy a car? Is that code for something?
A: No. I'm expecting my fourth child in February. How did that happen?
Q: You're totally going to get a minivan, aren't you?
A: Yes. It's a multi-person vehicle. I've reached that stage now. It's such a dad car. I never thought I would be a Volvo driver, but it's an off-road thing. That suits my midlife crisis.
Q: You're totally not cool. Why am I talking to you?
A: Exactly. It is hard to marry up the profession with being the dad, I must admit.
Read more.

04 September 2009

Review: Whitney Houston, 'I Look to You'

Whitney Houston, 'I Look to You': Aidin Vaziri | Anyone who had the misfortune of watching "Being Bobby Brown" will have a hard time erasing the image of Whitney Houston and her ex-husband discussing her constipation issues in execrable detail. The singer's label hopes that a little hairspray and some Photoshop will put that image out of people's minds long enough for her latest comeback attempt to take hold. It's a long shot. Seven years have passed since "Just Whitney," Houston's previous studio album, and in that time not only her public image has deteriorated but also her voice. That exquisite instrument that inspired countless "American Idol" finalists now makes her sound as if she's suffering from kennel cough on self-help slow jams such as "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" and the R. Kelly-penned "I Look to You." Even Houston's best albums have been overproduced, airless affairs. But for all its songs of redemption, this one feels particularly soulless. In the autobiographical, Mary J. Blige-style ballad "Nothin' But Love," she shrugs off years of hardship with throwaway lines such as, "Ain't going to regret anything I've done/ I just want to sing my song." At least Alicia Keys manages to put Houston's husky pipes to good use on the old-school roller-disco number "Million Dollar Bill," but maybe that's just because it's a reminder of better, less scatological days.

Pop Quiz: John Legend

Aidin Vaziri | Between making regular appearances at awards shows and all-star games, R&B crooner John Legend somehow found time last year to release his third studio album, "Evolver." The disc, which sees the Ohio native collaborating with Kanye West and Estelle, represents his liveliest work yet. It also includes the hit "Green Light," a bumping duet with André 3000.

John Legend
Q: You always seem so cool. What makes you nervous?
A: You know, I'm a very even-tempered guy. My personality doesn't have many highs and lows. There are moments I get nervous. When I performed for the first time at the Grammys, I had a few butterflies right before I went on, but then I felt super comfortable when I got onstage.
Q: How about when you sang with Stevie Wonder?
A: Well, that was another moment I was pretty nervous. That was early in my career. It was the first year my album came out, and I was nominated for best new artist at the BET Awards. It was a pretty big deal so, yeah, I was a bit nervous.
Q: The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue launch party in Las Vegas earlier this year?
A: Nah. That was easy. It was just a club show. It was fun. I just thought about my girlfriend the whole time.
Read more.

Live Review: Outside Lands Festival

Outside Lands coasts on variety, not urgency: Aidin Vaziri | Looking at the masses aimlessly wandering through at the second annual Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park over the weekend, it seemed like there were few acts on the bill anyone actually felt they had to see. Dave Matthews Band? "Sure, they're all right." Incubus? "Oh yeah, that one song was pretty cool." Jason Mraz? "Who's that again?" So unlike last time, when people stampeded for hot commodities like Radiohead and Wilco, this year it felt like they were there simply soak it all in - the sun, the spectacle, the food, the alcohol and, hey, maybe some music from a lineup that was decidedly diffuse.
Read more.

Pop Quiz: Tinted Windows

Aidin Vaziri | Tinted Windows probably isn't the most unusual supergroup in the history of rock 'n' roll, but it ranks up there with Bun E. Carlos from Cheap Trick on drums, James Iha from Smashing Pumpkins on guitar, Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne on bass and Taylor Hanson from pre-Jonas teen-pop idols Hanson on vocals. The group's self-titled album, a power-pop dream influenced by everyone from the Buzzcocks to the Knack, was released this year.

Taylor Hanson of Tinted Windows
Q: You're not playing any instruments as a member of Tinted Windows. Have you figured out what to do with your hands onstage?
A: In isolation, that could be a very funny question. I've figured out what to do with my hands ... onstage. I'm a percussion player, so I grab a tambourine as much as I can. Otherwise I subtly molest the mike stand.
Q: Stop, you're going to make your keyboards jealous.
A: That's part of the whole deal, talking about what would make this band different about what we've done before. One of the things was backing away from instruments that don't have strings, things that are typically more lush. The songs are so straight-ahead and so pop that we wanted to keep it loud and simple.
Q: I was at Shoreline Amphitheatre when Hanson played on July 15, 1998. Do you remember me?
A: Oh, my gosh. I totally remember you. You had the blue hat, right?
Q: It was actually green.
Read more.

03 September 2009

Fall Concerts Preview

What's in store for fall arts: Aidin Vaziri | We run down all the major tours coming through the Bay Area in the next three months, from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Kylie Minogue to Bob Dylan and Ornette Coleman. Read more.