Aidin Vaziri: August 2010

22 August 2010

Review: Katy Perry, 'Teenage Dream'

Review: Katy Perry, 'Teenage Dream': Aidin Vaziri | Get over the fact that she barely sounds human and Katy Perry's second pop album is a pretty spectacular achievement. Not everyone can make Gwen Stefani sound like an earnest old rock 'n' roll guru. But even the No Doubt singer - the woman responsible for the lunacy that was "Hollaback Girl" - probably would have passed on a song that climaxes with the kicker, "I wanna see your peacock/ Cock!/ Cock!/ Cock!" "Teenage Dream" knows no such boundaries. Perry's tongue is clearly tucked deep into her cheek throughout. It's just that, with all the bedazzled beats and intentionally synthetic sounds, it's kind of hard to distinguish revelry from reality. The title track is a grinding celebration of putting out; the ubiquitous first single, "California Gurls," fetishizes slut fashion; and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" is basically a barrage of Monday morning Facebook status updates set to an electro melody. Incredibly, Perry has managed to dumb things down since her previous release, the 5 million-selling "One of the Boys," which contained "Ur So Gay." That can mean only one thing: This one will sell twice as much.

Pop Quiz: Norah Jones

Aidin Vaziri | Earlier this year, Norah Jones revealed her latest act at the Fillmore. Wearing a silver-and-black cocktail dress, cherry-red lipstick and a matching guitar slung over her shoulder, the 31-year-old New York singer was out to shake up expectations. The songs on her fourth album, "The Fall," follow suit. Coming after a breakup with longtime boyfriend and collaborator Lee Alexander, they represent some of her most rocking and upbeat to date, with backing from Ryan Adams and members of Beck's touring band. We asked the Grammy-winning pop-jazz singer how the experiment is going and where she plans to go from here.

Norah Jones
Q: This is such a different show - you're playing guitar, cracking jokes, wearing lipstick. Are some of your older fans caught off guard?
A: No. They've all been great. Before our first show everybody was totally nervous. I didn't know how people were going to react. But the audience was amazing. They freaked out. That boosted everyone's confidence. If people are surprised, it's usually in a good way. I think they can see we're having fun up there.
Q: Didn't selling a bajillion albums right out of the gate help with the self-confidence?
A: I think it made it worse. In a way it was great, but in a way it made me more self-conscious because I knew people were looking at me. But I've come around.
Read more.

Rock The Bells Goes Old School

Rock the Bells gets on the classic album tip: Aidin Vaziri | Hip-hop might be all about moving forward, but on this year's Rock the Bells tour, the half-dozen main-stage acts are dedicating their sets to playing their classic albums from start to finish. That means fans will be able to relive the cheap thrills of their dormitory days as they are treated to live versions of Snoop Dogg's breakthrough "Doggystyle," A Tribe Called Quest's "Midnight Marauders," Wu-Tang Clan's "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)," Eric B. and Rakim's "Paid in Full," KRS-One and Boogie Down Production's "Criminal Minded" and Slick Rick's "The Great Adventures of Slick Rick." We revisit the classics that drove the headliners back to the vaults. Read more.

19 August 2010

Pop Quiz: Kings of Leon

Aidin Vaziri | Just hours before his band was forced off the stage by pooping pigeons in St. Louis, we had a chance to chat with Kings of Leon bassist Jared Followill about the perils of life on the road, the rousing success of 2008's platinum-selling "Only by the Night," and nabbing three Grammys. Not bad for a band of three brothers who, along with a cousin, were living out of the back of their Pentecostal minister father's station wagon just a few years ago.

Jared Followill of Kings of Leon
Q: How hard do you grit your teeth every time you play "Use Somebody"?
A: I don't because it still feels fresh and new to me. I don't listen to the radio so I don't hear it as much as everybody else. But I can imagine people in the audience hating it. It would be great if it got retired for 10 years and then people got to hear it again. I actually prefer playing stuff from "Only by the Night" as opposed to some of our older stuff because it's only two years old so it still has edge. All I know is the place goes crazy every time we play it. It can give you chill bumps.
Q: Do things like Grammys matter to you?
A: That's insane. Our category was ridiculous. I think it was Taylor Swift, Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, um, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin. I know the other guys are going to be mad at me for saying this but truthfully I just love trophies. I always have. Even when I was playing football or basketball or whatever. I'm a big fun of having trophies. That's the best part of being in a band.
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Rufus Wainwright: He Can Work It Out

Grieving Rufus Wainwright throws self into work: Aidin Vaziri | Rufus Wainwright didn't leave much room in his schedule for mourning after his mother, Canadian folk singer Kate McGarrigle, died in January. He released a new studio album, "All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu." He launched a world tour. He finally brought his much maligned French-language opera, "Prima Donna," to North America. In the coming week, Wainwright will play concerts in Oakland, Napa and Saratoga. "I definitely had the strategy to work as much as much possible right away after my mother passed away," the 37-year-old singer-songwriter says, calling from a stop in Connecticut. He sounds exhausted but unflinching. "I think it was a good idea in terms of getting to point B. Also, as a musician, we've got to deal with a certain amount of emotion. It's what we do." Read more.

Pop Quiz: Owl City

Aidin Vaziri | Owl City mastermind Adam Young recorded "Ocean Eyes," his group's breakthrough first album, in the basement of his parents' Minnesota home between shifts working at a Coca-Cola warehouse and attending community college. With a little help from MySpace, the 24-year-old songwriter scored one of the biggest hits of the year with "Fireflies." Now Young is on the road with Owl City, alternating tours with Maroon 5 and John Mayer, and promoting a new album by his pre-Owl City project, Sky Sailing, called "An Airplane Carried Me to Bed."

Adam Young of Owl City
Q: You're touring with John Mayer and Maroon 5. Do you expect to see a lot of Owl City fans' parents out in the crowd?
A: Unfortunately, I'm pretty nearsighted and I don't wear glasses onstage because they inevitably get flung off. The funny thing about playing shows with artists like John Mayer and bands like Maroon 5 is that generally there are so many people crammed into the given venue or arena that it's hard to really make out anything past the microphone. My guess is: probably.
Q: What do you imagine the scene is going to be like backstage?
A: I feel like there's going to be a lot of pizza.
Read more.

Review: Ray LaMontagne, 'God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise'

Review: Ray LaMontagne, 'God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise': Aidin Vaziri | Recorded live in just a week at his barn house in the woods of western Massachusetts, Ray LaMontagne's fourth album finds the reclusive singer-songwriter sounding a bit like, well, an extrovert. Maybe it has something to do with his pickup band, the Pariah Dogs - an ensemble of studio veterans who have previously worked with Beck, Tom Waits and Ryan Adams. They provide LaMontagne's searching songs with a warm western vibe as the Grammy-nominated vocalist lays his rough-hewn rasp over pedal-steel guitars and gently shuffling rhythms. It lacks the ghostly appeal of his first two albums, which were largely solo affairs. There are also few traces of the endearing R&B influence that permeated his previous CD, "Gossip in the Grain." But on songs here, such as "New York City's Killing Me" and "This Love Is Over," LaMontagne sounds remarkably relaxed (and occasionally rowdy), which, in a way, is a major accomplishment in and of itself.

Pop Quiz: Bob Weir

Aidin Vaziri | Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Phil Lesh are going back to where it all began. As the Saturday headliners for this year's Outside Lands festival in Golden Gate Park (see Page 16), the shaggy duo's latest project, Furthur, is revisiting a spot where their former band used to perform regularly. This concert marks the first time they have shared a stage there since the Bill Graham Memorial Concert in 1991.

Bob Weir of Furthur
Q: At Bonnaroo you were ready to jump onstage with anyone who would have you. Does that offer hold for Outside Lands?
A: Well, yeah, if I'm there. I'll be wandering around a bit. At Bonnaroo I was like a captain there. But if anybody wants me to sit in, I'm game.
Q: Most of the bands on the bill probably weren't around to see the Dead live. What can they learn by watching you guys perform?
A: They're going to see how we get the job done. They're going to see us state a theme and take it for a walk in the woods. When they see how much fun we have doing that, it might give them pause for thought. If I were playing a note-for-note set every night for all these years, I think I would have put a gun to my head. If we're not having fun, we're not doing our job.
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18 August 2010

Review: Best Coast, 'Crazy for You'

Review: Best Coast, 'Crazy for You': Aidin Vaziri | Bethany Cosentino might have the most impressive list of influences ever: Fleetwood Mac, the Queers, the Shangri-Las, her cats and Elaine Benes of "Seinfeld" ("She's the coolest!"). Better yet, the 23-year-old Los Angeles native grew up as a minor actress, whose most notable role was in a Little Caesars pizza commercial. Now she fronts the duo Best Coast along with her childhood babysitter Bobb Bruno on bass. How can the group's first album, "Crazy for You," be anything less than thrilling? In fuzzy two-minute songs like "When I'm With You," "Happy" and "Summer Mood," she wraps vintage girl-group pop in reverb and flannel, layering lovelorn lyrics with endearing indie-rock snarl. Her overall sound may be in thrall of others, but as a singer Cosentino is remarkably assured and assuredly real. These days that's a bit of a marvel in itself.

04 August 2010

Pop Quiz: Joanna Newsom

Aidin Vaziri | Joanna Newsom's latest album, "Have One on Me" - all three discs and 125 minutes of it - separates the gawkers from the faithful. Now the stunning 28-year-old Nevada City native and Mills College alumna is back on the road with a full band, mesmerizing those who fall into the latter category with her virtuoso harp playing and distinctive voice, which I once regrettably described as a piercing flutter that's pitched somewhere between Björk and a hand brake. She sounds nothing like Björk.

Joanna Newsom
Q: "Have One on Me" is a triple album that runs more than two hours. How do you pick which songs to play live without hurting the other songs' feelings?
A: Well, at the moment I'm traveling with a full band of amazing musicians, so I don't want to eat up too much time in the set list with solo harp or solo piano songs. At some point, maybe next year, I would like to try doing some solo touring in order to play the more stripped-down songs that have been set aside during this tour.
Q: I have to ask: Is playing the harp and singing kind of like rubbing your belly while patting your head?
A: It's literally exactly like that.
Read more.

Review: Arcade Fire, 'The Suburbs'

Review: Arcade Fire, 'The Suburbs': Aidin Vaziri | Arcade Fire's previous album caught the band in a moment of chest-puffing swagger, ready to take on the world and make an immense racket while doing it. This one represents the comedown. Six years after emerging from Montreal with the rapturous, beautifully disorienting debut, "Funeral," the seven-piece band seems to have settled into a serene groove. Hushed and contemplative, "The Suburbs" doesn't have the same sweeping impact of 2007's epic "Neon Bible," but it shows reassuring signs of growth. On the title track, the group's lanky front man, Win Butler, croons, "I want a daughter while I'm still young/ I want to hold her hand/ And show her some beauty before all this damage is done/ But if it's too much to ask/ Then send me a son." Even as the band's songs become more subdued, its taste for melodrama runs high.

Live Review: Adam Lambert at the Warfield

'Idol's' Adam Lambert makes magic in S.F.: Aidin Vaziri | Making an entrance worthy of the celebrity magician Criss Angel, Adam Lambert certainly didn't look like a reality television castoff at the Warfield on Friday. Wearing a top hat, fringed overcoat and about a dozen layers of eyeliner, he literally appeared in a puff of purple smoke delivering the slinking set opener, "Voodoo." As he pushed his zombie-like dancers around the stage, Lambert hit the first of the night's many glass-shattering refrains, "You're the hunter and I'm your prey." An interesting cross section of grandmas and club kids made up most of the sold-out audience. Read more.

Pop Quiz: Tokyo Police Club

Aidin Vaziri | Lollapalooza in Chicago. Bumbershoot in Seattle. Coachella in Indio. Chances are if you hit any of the above music festivals - or any others, really - in the past few years you caught a glimpse of Tokyo Police Club. Since releasing its first album, "Elephant Shell" (and scoring a cameo on "Desperate Housewives") in 2006, the scrappy Ontario, Canada, indie- rock group has become a staple at big-ticket, multi-act concerts. The quartet just released its second full-length album, "Hey Champ," produced by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith). It follows it up with appearances Aug. 13 at the Rickshaw Stop and Aug. 14 at the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park. We talked to keyboardist Graham Wright.

Graham Wright of Tokyo Police Club
Q: Do you have two different sets: One for the real fans at the clubs and another to win over the clueless drunks at festivals?
A: We're not so disparate that we have to change the sets up. We just do our thing. It's really easy to get psyched out about doing a big festival like Lollapalooza or Coachella and put it on a pedestal. But then you try doing something different and you just end up being uncomfortable on stage. The best festival shows are when we're in the middle of one of our own tours, we just show up and play like we would any other show.
Q: At Coachella, you guys tried to crash a party on a golf course after you played your set. Should the starter at the Golden Gate Park Golf Course be concerned?
A: Well, that was the first time that's ever happened. Maybe that will become our thing, though. Instead of trashing hotel rooms we'll be the band that sneaks onto golf courses.
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Review: Tom Jones, 'Praise and Blame'

Review: Tom Jones, 'Praise and Blame': Aidin Vaziri | Is it too late for Tom Jones to find redemption? For decades, he has served as the tight-pants-wearing lothario. Now 70, Jones is looking to follow Johnny Cash's lead into last-minute relevance. He has hired a credibility-boosting producer, Ethan Johns, let his hair go white and recorded an album of stripped-down spiritual tunes pondering death and salvation. The vice president of his British label was so outraged when he first heard "Praise and Glory" he fired off an angry e-mail to the record-company staff: "I have just listened to the album in its entirety and want to know if this is some sick joke." It turns out it's not. This Tom Jones record is not the one you expect: His voice is rich and restrained, with a hint of sorrow where there used to be smarminess. The music is entirely fat-free - no strings or processed dance beats. The closest comparison might be Sun-era Elvis. Listening to the stately opener, "What Good Am I?," you can't help but wonder if this isn't the kind of record Jones should have been making all along, while soulful tracks such as "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and "Lord Help" only bolster the case. He might never shake the perma-tanned image, but at least now he has got one good album to go with it.