Review: Feist, 'Metals'
Review: Feist, 'Metals': Aidin Vaziri | A leisurely four years after "The Reminder" made her a household name - she got to sing the breakthrough hit "1234" for Apple and Elmo - Leslie Feist finally gets around to issuing a follow-up. Time and space have tempered expectations for the fourth studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter, who once earned the unlikely praises of OutKast's Andre 3000 ("Her music is so beautiful," he claimed) while inspiring a crop of sad-eyed romantic strummers with blunt bangs. "Metals" contains her most low-key set of songs to date, shedding the pop twinkle of its predecessor as well as that of her major-label debut, 2004's Juno Award-winning "Let It Die," in favor of terminally sad songs adorned with serene strings, mournful pianos and wounded choirs. The first single, "How Come You Never Go There," has a deceptive blues kick, but its more subdued moments are a greater indicator of what the rest of the album is like, from the supremely intimate "Caught a Long Wind" to the barely-there folk number "Cicadas and Gulls." There are a few jarring moments along the way - namely the barking men who punctuate the grungy verses of "A Commotion" - but for the most part this is the sound of Feist leaving the family living room behind and laying her soul bare out back for anyone brave enough to dig in. "When you comfort me, it doesn't bring me comfort actually," she sings on the raw, brutal "Comfort Me." The "Sesame Street" gang, presumably, won't be calling.
posted by Aidin at 12:07 AM
Review: Feist, 'Metals': Aidin Vaziri | A leisurely four years after "The Reminder" made her a household name - she got to sing the breakthrough hit "1234" for Apple and Elmo - Leslie Feist finally gets around to issuing a follow-up. Time and space have tempered expectations for the fourth studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter, who once earned the unlikely praises of OutKast's Andre 3000 ("Her music is so beautiful," he claimed) while inspiring a crop of sad-eyed romantic strummers with blunt bangs. "Metals" contains her most low-key set of songs to date, shedding the pop twinkle of its predecessor as well as that of her major-label debut, 2004's Juno Award-winning "Let It Die," in favor of terminally sad songs adorned with serene strings, mournful pianos and wounded choirs. The first single, "How Come You Never Go There," has a deceptive blues kick, but its more subdued moments are a greater indicator of what the rest of the album is like, from the supremely intimate "Caught a Long Wind" to the barely-there folk number "Cicadas and Gulls." There are a few jarring moments along the way - namely the barking men who punctuate the grungy verses of "A Commotion" - but for the most part this is the sound of Feist leaving the family living room behind and laying her soul bare out back for anyone brave enough to dig in. "When you comfort me, it doesn't bring me comfort actually," she sings on the raw, brutal "Comfort Me." The "Sesame Street" gang, presumably, won't be calling.
Pop Quiz: Tamaryn
Aidin Vaziri | Backed by the widescreen guitar sounds of Rex John Shelverton, formerly of the San Francisco band the Vue, New Zealand expat Tamaryn offers a flashback to the ethereal noise made famous by shoegazers like Curve and the Cocteau Twins. Her first album, "The Waves," topped several year-end charts in 2010, leading to fawning magazine spreads and slots on major festivals like Coachella and Outside Lands. Before Tamaryn heads back into the studio to start work on her next album, she does a brief West Coast tour.
Tamaryn
Q: Are your recording sessions as emotionally intense as the music?
A: Yes. It can be torturous. Rex and I are both perfectionists. We're not a band that just goes in to cut a record. We have a lot of ideas and personal rules. We push each other. It's difficult. But any collaboration can be difficult.
Q: Yet you continue to work together. So the end result must be worth it.
A: We have a chemistry I have not been able to have with anybody else. It's hard to define why it works, but I wouldn't walk away from it.
Q: Your music has a real visual feel. What do you see when you close your eyes on stage?
A: I don't know. I just try to feel it - just be open to it. A lot of it is the execution. Once you enter in the mood of it, you're just focusing on execution and making sure the song's as good as possible.
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posted by Aidin at 12:03 AM
03 October 2011
Blondie: Deep Roots
Blondie, always adaptable, stays true to its roots: Aidin Vaziri | The members of Blondie finished work on their new album, "Panic of Girls," more than a year ago. The only problem is the group couldn't find anyone willing to put it out. So last month the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees relented and made their ninth studio recording and first set of new music in eight years available directly through Amazon. It was the kind of compromise that Blondie, bastions of early '80s New York cool, weren't known for making. "It's the new paradigm of the music industry," says guitarist Chris Stein, 61, his accent firmly tethered to the East Village. "The labels are all bankrupt. Everything is reshuffling. Everybody has to figure out how to work in this new environment."
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posted by Aidin at 11:58 PM
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass at Golden Gate Park
Hardly Strictly a heady and sunny weekend in S.F.: Aidin Vaziri | Plenty of big names joined Emmylou Harris for her traditional closing night set at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival on Sunday, including Gillian Welch, Steve Earle and the concert's benefactor, Warren Hellman. But after the all-star romp through the Carter Family standard "Hello Stranger," the silver-haired singer left the beaming audience at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park with one name that was conspicuously absent: "Hazel!" Hazel Dickens, the no-nonsense festival fixture who found the unlikeliest of fans in millionaire financier Hellman, may have died in April, but her presence loomed large over Hardly Strictly's 11th year. Her face was stamped on the programs, there were shrines where people could leave handwritten notes, and several artists paid tribute to her from the stage. "She was one of the great singers of our time," Harris said. Banjo enthusiast Hellman, meanwhile, kicked things off Saturday morning by having Dickens' longtime collaborator Ron Thomason sit in with the Wronglers for a cover of her signature song, "The Mannington Mine Disaster." "We were very fond of each other but we couldn't be two more opposite people," Hellman said. "She's probably looking down from heaven right now thinking, 'How did that old bastard make it?' "
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posted by Aidin at 11:54 PM
Pop Quiz: Duran Duran
Aidin Vaziri | Duran Duran had a bit of a scare this year. Singer Simon Le Bon lost his voice just before the band began its European tour in support of the Mark Ronson-produced album "All You Need Is Now" - and nobody was sure when it would return. But after taking the summer off to recover, the band is back on the road pumping everyone up with new songs and old hits such as "Girls on Film" and "Rio." We spoke with keyboard player Nick Rhodes, 49.
Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran
Q: "Hungry Like the Wolf" came out almost 30 years ago. Do you have any idea what it's about yet?
A: Yeah, very much so. It was about the pursuit of beautiful women.
Q: Isn't that what all of Simon's songs are about?
A: If you look at the content of songs people write, it's usually about the things they know best.
Q: The other band members have quit at various points, but you and Simon have stuck with it. How have you kept each other sane?
A: We believe in the sounds we make together. There's something about our unit that no other band on this planet can do.
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posted by Aidin at 11:46 PM
Review: Wilco, 'The Whole Love'
Review: Wilco, 'The Whole Love': Aidin Vaziri | Wilco's eighth studio album has an endearingly homespun feel. Yes, "The Whole Love" was recorded at the band's Chicago loft and self-produced for its own label, dBpm Records. But the laid-back mood of the record has more to do with a general shift in attitude, which started to emerge sometime around the release of 2008's "Wilco (The Album)." With front man Jeff Tweedy sober and the group secure in its place on the fringes of the pop music universe, it has become free to explore its endless creative impulses in full. So the LP opens with a sprawling, seven-minute experimental piece called "Art of Almost" that prominently features computer sound effects and fuzzy guitar riffs. "I Might" is a chunky power-pop number reminiscent of the "Summerteeth" era, while "Black Moon" is the kind of elegiac late-night folk song that would make Fleet Foxes moisten their boot-cut jeans. Tweedy's voice is in especially fine form on the lovely acoustic ballad "Open Mind." The sprawling closer "One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend," meanwhile, just may be the most devastating of the bunch - a hushed piano ballad that basically sounds like the band casually strumming away in the family room while coffee brews in the kitchen and bacon burns on the stove. Which, come to think of it, may be exactly the way it went down.
posted by Aidin at 11:41 PM
Review: Wilco, 'The Whole Love': Aidin Vaziri | Wilco's eighth studio album has an endearingly homespun feel. Yes, "The Whole Love" was recorded at the band's Chicago loft and self-produced for its own label, dBpm Records. But the laid-back mood of the record has more to do with a general shift in attitude, which started to emerge sometime around the release of 2008's "Wilco (The Album)." With front man Jeff Tweedy sober and the group secure in its place on the fringes of the pop music universe, it has become free to explore its endless creative impulses in full. So the LP opens with a sprawling, seven-minute experimental piece called "Art of Almost" that prominently features computer sound effects and fuzzy guitar riffs. "I Might" is a chunky power-pop number reminiscent of the "Summerteeth" era, while "Black Moon" is the kind of elegiac late-night folk song that would make Fleet Foxes moisten their boot-cut jeans. Tweedy's voice is in especially fine form on the lovely acoustic ballad "Open Mind." The sprawling closer "One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend," meanwhile, just may be the most devastating of the bunch - a hushed piano ballad that basically sounds like the band casually strumming away in the family room while coffee brews in the kitchen and bacon burns on the stove. Which, come to think of it, may be exactly the way it went down.
Live Review: Diana Ross at the Golden Gate Theatre
Diana Ross review: Superb voice keeps love alive: Aidin Vaziri | "Stop!" Diana Ross raised her palm at the Golden Gate Theatre on Friday. The 67-year-old singer looked resplendent in a sparkling floor-length gown, red lipstick and an eruption of curls topping her smiling face - almost as if she had spent the past five decades preserved in amber. Less than a second passed, but it felt like an eternity. Her 12-piece band stood at full attention. The stage lights illuminated the capacity crowd. Then Ross delivered the kicker, backed by a volunteer chorus of hundreds: "In the name of love!" She wailed. They wailed. "Before you break my heart!" It was pop history in the flesh, with all the emotional heft that comes with it. Friday's concert marked the first time Ross had performed in San Francisco proper since she appeared with the Supremes at the Fairmont Hotel's Venetian Room in 1969, according to promoter Rick Bartalini. That's where Ross picked up, opening the 90-minute show with the high points of the trio's Motown catalog delivered in quick succession. "Baby Love." "You Can't Hurry Love." "Where Did Our Love Go?" That's a whole lot of love.
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posted by Aidin at 11:38 PM
Pop Quiz: Ladytron
Aidin Vaziri | They might be a quartet from Liverpool with a penchant for monochromatic clothing and shaggy haircuts, but the only musical thing the members of Ladytron share with the band that put their hometown on the map is a rabid sense of adventure. After more than a decade turning out icy synth pop hits such as "Blue Jeans" and "Destroy Everything You Touch," the group continues to push forward with its moody fifth album, "Gravity the Seducer."
Reuben Wu of Ladytron
Q: This album is surprisingly mellow. Are you guys finally willing to admit you're human?
A: We've been trying to tell people for the past 10 years that we're human.
Q: I don't think the videos and press photos help. Are you telling me you don't really look like that?
A: It's all in the post-processing. It's Photoshop. We Photoshop everything.
Q: Could it be that you're actually maturing?
A: I always thought our third album was us maturing. But I do think we've reached a new chapter. After the "Best of" album, we decided this one was going to be different. We wanted to push ourselves creatively and make something new and original. We wanted to step out of the comfort zone. We wanted a more atmospheric, cinematic collection of songs.
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posted by Aidin at 11:33 PM
Review: Tony Bennett, 'Duets II'
Review: Tony Bennett, 'Duets II': Aidin Vaziri | He might be the last of his kind, but at 85 years old, Tony Bennett is just hitting his stride. When he agreed to share his microphone with some of the biggest names in pop music five years ago on the first installment of "Duets," he scored his best-selling album and three Grammys. The veteran crooner returns to the concept here with an updated guest list that includes everyone from Lady Gaga and Carrie Underwood to Willie Nelson and Natalie Cole. The main attraction is Amy Winehouse, who goes out on an elegant note cozying up to Bennett on the twinkling "Body and Soul." Really, it's hard to find anyone who doesn't sound better in his company. John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and Faith Hill immediately smarten up, even if it means they sound virtually unrecognizable; and Michael Bublé and Josh Groban are well suited to the schmaltzy arrangements that abound. Nelson sounds unusually subdued on a buttoned-down performance of "On the Sunny Side of the Street," as does Aretha Franklin on the lumbering "How Do You Keep the Music Playing." But it's Gaga who is seriously disappointing, growling at Bennett through "The Lady Is a Tramp," making the song seem like a Madonna throwaway from the "Dick Tracy" soundtrack.
posted by Aidin at 11:29 PM
Review: Tony Bennett, 'Duets II': Aidin Vaziri | He might be the last of his kind, but at 85 years old, Tony Bennett is just hitting his stride. When he agreed to share his microphone with some of the biggest names in pop music five years ago on the first installment of "Duets," he scored his best-selling album and three Grammys. The veteran crooner returns to the concept here with an updated guest list that includes everyone from Lady Gaga and Carrie Underwood to Willie Nelson and Natalie Cole. The main attraction is Amy Winehouse, who goes out on an elegant note cozying up to Bennett on the twinkling "Body and Soul." Really, it's hard to find anyone who doesn't sound better in his company. John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and Faith Hill immediately smarten up, even if it means they sound virtually unrecognizable; and Michael Bublé and Josh Groban are well suited to the schmaltzy arrangements that abound. Nelson sounds unusually subdued on a buttoned-down performance of "On the Sunny Side of the Street," as does Aretha Franklin on the lumbering "How Do You Keep the Music Playing." But it's Gaga who is seriously disappointing, growling at Bennett through "The Lady Is a Tramp," making the song seem like a Madonna throwaway from the "Dick Tracy" soundtrack.
Pop Quiz: Thievery Corporation
Aidin Vaziri | For the past 15 years, Rob Garza and Eric Hilton have quietly built an empire around their eclectic electronic music act, Thievery Corporation. The Washington, D.C., producer-DJ duo hasn't just released albums and played major festivals such as Coachella and Treasure Island, but it also runs its own studio, label and nightclub. Then there are the high-profile soundtrack appearances ("Garden State," "The Sopranos") and big-name collaborations (David Byrne, Perry Farrell). The group is on tour in support of its sixth album, the politically charged "Culture of Fear." We talked to Garza, who recently relocated to San Francisco.
Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation
Q: Electronic music fans are notoriously fickle. How have you kept the band relevant all that time?
A: On one of our first trips to London, guys would tell us, "You're doing down-tempo - your music is dead. It's all about drum 'n' bass now." From the beginning, people were telling us we were passe. It's funny to be doing it 15 years later. We're a no-hit wonder. We don't have any hit songs. It's allowed us longevity. People respect the music and still feel they're discovering it themselves.
Q: Sometimes having a hit is the worst thing that can happen to you.
A: Imagine if you're in that band A-ha, who did "Take On Me." That would suck. With us, people don't really know the particular songs. A lot of times people don't know the band but they probably heard the music in "True Blood" or "The Sopranos" or the coffee shop. It's out there, but people don't even realize it's out there. It makes it a lot better. When people come up to us it's because they recognize and respect us for the music not because they saw us on MTV.
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posted by Aidin at 11:24 PM
Review: Girls, 'Father, Son, Holy Ghost'
Review: Girls, 'Father, Son, Holy Ghost': Aidin Vaziri | Girls emerged two years ago with a ready-made backstory involving nomadic sex cults, millionaire benefactors and heavy drug use. Even the sordid details couldn't overshadow the San Francisco indie rock duo's music - a collision of surf guitars, jangling rhythms and Elvis-style vocal quavers. On their second album, Girls have expanded into a five-piece and produced a more fully fleshed affair, particularly on the longing and just plain long "Vomit," where the singer, Christopher Owens, moans "I'm looking for love" over and over as a gospel choir unfolds behind him. There are vivid harmonies on "Saying I Love You" and screaming guitars on "Die," but at their core Girls' seedily romantic songs retain their lo-fi charm and dark-hued heart.
posted by Aidin at 11:18 PM
Review: Girls, 'Father, Son, Holy Ghost': Aidin Vaziri | Girls emerged two years ago with a ready-made backstory involving nomadic sex cults, millionaire benefactors and heavy drug use. Even the sordid details couldn't overshadow the San Francisco indie rock duo's music - a collision of surf guitars, jangling rhythms and Elvis-style vocal quavers. On their second album, Girls have expanded into a five-piece and produced a more fully fleshed affair, particularly on the longing and just plain long "Vomit," where the singer, Christopher Owens, moans "I'm looking for love" over and over as a gospel choir unfolds behind him. There are vivid harmonies on "Saying I Love You" and screaming guitars on "Die," but at their core Girls' seedily romantic songs retain their lo-fi charm and dark-hued heart.