Live Review: Wilco at the Warfield

Wilco review: Quiet squall at the Warfield: Aidin Vaziri | Toward the end of a pretty generous encore, Wilco kicked into the song "A Shot in the Arm," a live favorite for the past decade, and the singer took the chorus head on: "Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm/ Something in my veins bloodier than blood." He repeated the last part a couple times, stepped away from the microphone and clenched his eyes tight as the stage lights went cherry red. The 44-year-old Tweedy stood holding onto his guitar while the rest of the band members barreled on, swinging their instruments in the air, bending their bodies in ways that fortysomething bodies aren't meant to be bent and generally freaking the heck out. For just a moment, Tweedy was a goner - caught up in the same surge of electricity that kept the euphoric devotees in the audience howling all night.
Read more.

Review: Leonard Cohen, 'Old Ideas'

Review: Grace Woodroofe, 'Always Want': Aidin Vaziri | Leonard Cohen's first new album in eight years arrives with typically dubious artwork and bad production. As evidenced by the countless versions of "Hallelujah" floating in the cosmos - of which the songwriter's tinny original is easily the worst - it's the essence of the master's material that matters most, not the delivery. On "Old Ideas," only his 12th studio album since 1967, Cohen continues to conjure potent songs of longing, loss and spiritual redemption. A familiar streak of defeat runs through his depressive baritone, which, at 77, has never sounded more parched. "The Darkness" and "Show Me the Place" feel like classics, although the sheer number of producers and backing vocalists on board can't help but make you long for the days before his ideas got so grand.

Is Jen Kirkman the Funniest Person on Twitter?

Jen Kirkman of 'Chelsea Lately' - Greatest Tweets: Aidin Vaziri | Late nights wouldn't be the same without Jen Kirkman. In the past few years, the Los Angeles comedian has become a regular on E's "Chelsea Lately" roundtable (where she is also a writer) and the show's hilarious spin-off, "After Lately." She also has put in appearances on Conan and Craig Ferguson, narrated HBO's "Drunk History" and - in what surely must be a clerical error - wrote a couple of episodes of the Disney hit cartoon, "Phineas and Ferb." But the 37-year-old, who brings her stand-up to Sketchfest this week, does her best work on Twitter (@jenkirkman), where her lively 140-character blasts never really seem to stop. For those who can't keep up, we spent a week filtering through her feed for some highlights.
Read more.

Pop Quiz: Reggie Watts

Aidin Vaziri | Since being handpicked to open for Conan O'Brien's Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour, the 40-year-old musician and comedian Reggie Watts has only watched his profile grow. It's finally beginning to measure up to his unruly Afro. His brand of humor is decidedly eccentric - Watts doesn't so much tell jokes as ramble and make up surreal songs off the top of his head. But he has won fans in everyone from Aziz Ansari to Brian Eno (no, seriously). Watts plays four shows in San Francisco this week as part of SF Sketchfest. We spoke to him from his home in Brooklyn.

Reggie Watts
Q: Do you enjoy making people uncomfortable?
A: Yeah, of course. I love that element.
Q: Can you imagine the pitch meeting to get you on the Conan O'Brien tour: "It's this guy with big hair and funny sweaters who sings really weird songs and just talks but doesn't really say anything"?
A: It was one of those things where it was recommended by writers on his show. They made the decision pretty quickly. It was oddly mellow.
Q: Is there anything funnier than seeing you two stand next to each other?
A: It's awesome. He's the best.
Read more.

Pop Quiz: Wilco

Aidin Vaziri | Wilco is playing a bunch of shows in the Bay Area next week. So we tracked down the group's front man, Jeff Tweedy, 44, at his home in Chicago to talk about potential special effects, surviving life on the road and once again changing things up with the group's eighth album, "The Whole Love," released on its own label, dBpm Records.

Jeff Tweedy of Wilco
Q: Your kids recently went to the Kanye West and Jay-Z show. Did you tag along?
A: I was on tour. I missed it.
Q: I was curious how your attendance would affect future Wilco concerts.
A: Well, it's not like I live in a cave - I would have a fairly good idea what to expect. It sounds like it was a massive production. They thought I should just get a lot of lights.
Q: Every photo I saw from that tour just showed a lot of people staring at a huge white light. I don't think Kanye West and Jay-Z were even onstage.
A: Yeah, exactly. Just blind everybody for two hours. There must be some scientific way to burn your image into someone's retina so they think they saw you.
Q: Would you take advantage of that technology?
A: Not all the time. Maybe half the time. It would be a Tony Clifton thing. You would never be quite sure whether you would get Wilco or not.
Read more.

Review: Grace Woodroofe, 'Always Want'

Review: Grace Woodroofe, 'Always Want': Aidin Vaziri | The late Australian-born actor Heath Ledger discovered this sultry singer - a fellow Perth native - when she was just 16 years old. Shortly before his death, he brought Grace Woodroofe to Los Angeles and handed her off to the very capable singer-songwriter Ben Harper, who in turn took her on tour and helped cultivate her talent. Now 21, Woodroofe emerges fully formed with her first proper album, "Always Want." A potent showcase for her come-hither voice and languid melodies, it sends listeners reeling from the devastatingly beautiful opener, "I've Handled Myself Wrong," and moves gracefully through plaintive folk tunes ("H.") and jazz-imbued turns ("Oh My God"). There are even shades of Fiona Apple in the willfully askew "Transformer." Who would have guessed Ledger's legacy would be on the pop charts?

Pop Quiz: Steve Aoki

Aidin Vaziri | Steve Aoki has built an empire out of spinning records. In the past few years, the 34-year-old celebrity DJ has become one of the most in-demand names on the party circuit, while his record label, Dim Mak, helped introduce chic underground acts such as Bloc Party and the Gossip. Aoki, son of Benihana founder Rocky Aoki, also helms a clothing imprint, designs headphones for Wesc, and is co-owner of Korean barbecue restaurant Shin with Danny Masterson, Julian Casablancas from the Strokes and Mark Ronson. He has produced the album "Wonderland," which includes collaborations with Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, Travis Barker and Kid Cudi. He spoke to us at his home in Los Angeles.

Steve Aoki
Q: I read an interview from a few years ago where you said your goal was to tour less. That doesn't seem to be working out so well.
A: Obviously. That was the goal. Now I've thrown that all out the window. With this album coming out, I'm supporting it pretty much around the world.
Q: You gave up the dream - just like that?
A: You just get used to it. The hardest part is maintaining personal relationships back home. Besides that, I'm completely fine with it. I've adapted.
Q: One of your first DJ gigs was for eight people in a dive bar in Los Angeles. Now you regularly perform for 8,000. When was the last time you played a small room?
A: I did a Hermosa Beach show at a bar, and the room could hold 80 people. But they were crammed in there. I don't know how they paid me. It felt like a house party - sweat was dripping off the ceiling.
Read more.

Obituary: Johnny Otis

Johnny Otis, rhythm and blues pioneer, dies: Aidin Vaziri | Johnny Otis, the bandleader, pioneering producer, singer, songwriter and radio host who was at the forefront of the rhythm and blues movement, died at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena on Tuesday. He was 90. Mr. Otis had been in poor health for several years, said his manager, Terry Gould. Best known for his 1958 rock and roll spoof "Willie and the Hand Jive," Mr. Otis, born John Veliotes in 1921 in Vallejo, was the son of Greek immigrants who ran a grocery store in Berkeley. Growing up in an integrated neighborhood made a big impression on him."Black culture captured me," Mr. Otis said. "I loved it, and it was richer and more fulfilling and more natural. I thought it was mine."
Read more.

Vetiver: Talking About an Evolution

Andy Cabic traces the evolution of Vetiver's sound: Aidin Vaziri | With his sun-streaked melodies and gently strummed folk guitars, over five albums Andy Cabic has turned his band Vetiver into the go-to balm for these heady times. The San Francisco group headlines the Independent tonight. But first we asked the singer-songwriter to trace its evolution from Devendra Banhart's touring partners to the leading purveyors of West Coast pop on the famed Sub Pop label.
Read more.

Review: Kathleen Edwards, 'Voyageur'

Review: Kathleen Edwards, 'Voyageur': Aidin Vaziri | Kathleen Edwards has described this as her divorce album. But as much as it is about the dissolution of her marriage to longtime collaborator Colin Cripps, the Canadian singer-songwriter's third studio recording is really about new beginnings. Co-produced by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, her current boyfriend, it represents a major shift in attitude and sound from her last release, 2008's "Asking for Flowers." The lead single, "Change the Sheets," is a full-bodied country-pop romp propelled by an insistent synth melody and wide-screen chorus; "For the Record" is a sparse late-night ballad that replaces the contrived clumsiness of Edwards' previous work with a compelling air of restraint; and "Chameleon/Comedian" is the song that best answers the question, what if Bon Iver was a 33-year-old woman from Toronto? Guests include Norah Jones and Sean Carey. Although the comparison might make the responsible parties wince, the music on "Voyageur" is not a far cry from the high-gloss Americana of Lady Antebellum - although they probably won't complain when it finds a similarly massive audience.

Obituary: Jennifer 'Miro' Anderson of the Nuns

Jennifer Anderson, singer for punk band Nuns, dies: Aidin Vaziri | Jennifer R. Anderson, the svelte blond keyboardist and singer who performed under the name Jennifer Miro with the pioneering San Francisco punk band the Nuns, died Dec. 16 at Bellevue Hospital in New York. She was 54. The cause was complications from breast and liver cancer, a friend, Jill Lamar, said. Although the Nuns never achieved the same level of popularity, many in the early West Coast punk scene regarded the group as a potential rival to Blondie. "Jennifer was an exceptional talent," said Edwin Heaven, the Nuns' former manager. "She put together a band of punks, and she sat there like Marlene Dietrich. She had this tremendous stature. Her skin was whiter than white. And she could write these pop songs that went well with these two-chord punk anthems."
Read more.

Review: Snow Patrol, 'Fallen Empires'

Review: Snow Patrol, 'Fallen Empires': Aidin Vaziri | Do bands suffer midlife crises? It sure feels like Snow Patrol is going through something on its sixth studio album, "Fallen Empires," where the onetime purveyors of earnest, widescreen guitar rock anthems (you might remember them from "Chasing Cars," as featured in every CW television drama ever) decide to dress up their perfectly fine soul-searching tunes with clinical dance beats and electronic whooshes. A bad move considering U2's "Achtung Baby" was reissued just a few weeks ago. How does Snow Patrol get it wrong? The first 30 seconds of the album sound like the opening theme of "Knight Rider," while "The Weight of Love" feels like a Depeche Mode song from 1995 - the year that group's singer attempted suicide. Worse, Snow Patrol abruptly abandons the synths and beats midway through the album and unloads a bunch of dewy-eyed ballads of which "Lifening" is the biggest offender, not only because is it called "Lifening" but because of lyrics like "This is all I ever wanted from life/ Ireland in the World Cup/ Either north or south." In the one instance where the band actually nails it, on the weightless electro-pop of "Called Out in the Dark," you wonder why the rest of the record didn't come together in the same way. It's nothing a few months on the therapist's couch can't fix.

Pop Quiz: Meshell Ndegeocello

Aidin Vaziri | Despite all the Grammy nods and side gigs playing bass with the Rolling Stones and former label boss Madonna, Meshell Ndegeocello seems fated to be forever underrated. Too bad. Nearly two decades into her career, she has just released one of her best albums yet, "Weather." It provides the perfect excuse to catch her dynamic live show, in which she skillfully retools her songs alongside those by personal heroes such as Prince and Gil Scott-Heron. She spoke to us from her home in New York.

Meshell Ndegeocello
Q: You once said you don't want to have a hit because if you had to do the same song every night, the same way, you'd shoot yourself.
A: Right in the head.
Q: I'm a little bit worried because the song "Dirty World" might be a hit.
A: Catch yourself. That's a bad word.
Q: You're the one who went out and got 10 Grammy nominations.
A: Look where that's going. That will soon be in the past. That's great. I feel really proud of those things. But, like I said, I would shoot myself.
Q: So let me get this straight: Even though you put out albums, you're not interested in having hits, winning awards or even playing your own songs?
A: I get how it all works, and it would provide more security in my job. But I try to keep that out of my mind so I can think about the thing that makes it fun - and that's making the music.
Read more.

Review: Smashing Pumpkins, 'Gish/Siamese Dream'

Review: Smashing Pumpkins, 'Gish/Siamese Dream': Aidin Vaziri | As hard as it is to find anything worthwhile in the avalanche of end-of-year reissues, pulling the Smashing Pumpkins' first two albums out of the pile feels like a revelation. Long before the bloat set in, the Chicago quartet soared. Its opening shot, 1991's "Gish," reveled in the contrast between delicate psychedelic passages and hazy hard rock riffs with the amateurish charm of the Velvet Underground. The new deluxe editions offer remastered studio recordings packed with archival leftovers and a DVD of concert footage. Released just two years later, "Siamese Dream" sounds infinitely more grown up but just as vulnerable in its best moments like "Mayonnaise" and the broken grunge ballad "Hummer." Produced by Butch Vig just after Nirvana's "Nevermind," the album defined an era and threw gasoline on Billy Corgan's ego - destroying the very thing that created it.