Aidin Vaziri

Pop Quiz: Wilco

2012-01-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

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.
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Review: Grace Woodroofe, 'Always Want'

2012-01-26T11:30:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-23T11:47:00.000-08:00

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.
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Vetiver: Talking About an Evolution

2012-01-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

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.
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Review: Kathleen Edwards, 'Voyageur'

2012-01-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

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.

Review: Snow Patrol, 'Fallen Empires'

2012-01-09T11:36:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

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.
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Review: Smashing Pumpkins, 'Gish/Siamese Dream'

2012-01-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

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.

Pop Quiz: Kreayshawn

2011-12-27T00:34:00.000-08:00

Aidin Vaziri | Kreayshawn, the petite Oakland rapper who got everyone worked up this summer with her crude rap single "Gucci Gucci" (27 million views and counting on YouTube), is coming home. The 22-year-old daughter of Elka Zolot, guitarist for San Francisco's garage rock outfit the Trashwomen, is playing a New Year's Eve show at the Regency Ballroom. Kreayshawn (born Natassia Gail Zolot) has a lot to celebrate - her skills behind the microphone landed her a reported $1 million deal with Sony, while her distinctive style put her on the cover of just about every trendy magazine on the racks. Her first full-length album is due next year.

Kreayshawn
Q: Are you really going to make an album?
A: What are you saying? You don't think I'm going to make an album?
Q: I'm just saying it's been a while since the single came out.
A: I toured for three or four months, and then I did hella press. It's only this month that I've been able to get into the studio. Stop pressuring me.
Q: I'm not pressuring you. I just want to hear some more songs.
A: I have more songs. When I make them, I want to put them out, but I have to put them on the album. It's finally getting to a number of songs where it's going to be enough to make an album. I want to get them out because I want to shut everyone up.
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Field Notes From 10 Concerts in 2011

2011-12-27T00:31:00.000-08:00

Biggest Bay Area concerts of 2011: Aidin Vaziri | Field notes from 10 major Bay Area concerts in 2011: Rihanna, Oracle Arena, June 30: "With her shock of orange hair, Rihanna moved effortlessly between the dizzying number of set changes foisted upon her by the production crew, managing to keep an off-the-cuff air about her among the tight choreography and musicianship. For 'Skin,' she pulled a young man up and proceeded to give him the lap dance of a lifetime."
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Review: 'Emmett Tinley'

2011-12-27T00:30:00.000-08:00

Review: Emmett Tinley, 'Emmett Tinley': Aidin Vaziri | Emmett Tinley is the man behind one of the great lost albums of the late '90s, the Prayer Boat's "Polichinelle." An exquisitely produced, soul-searching set of songs that aimed for the midway point between Jeff Buckley and David Gray, it should have made him a star. Instead, the Irish singer-songwriter has spent the past decade adrift, just now getting around to releasing his second album. The self-titled effort (it's available in physical form only in the European Union Benelux countries, digitally worldwide on Amazon) reveals Tinley hasn't lost his sense of cynicism about love, nor his delicate touch in the studio. "Sooner or Later" is a gorgeous, minimally arranged showcase for his hurting tenor with a devastating trumpet solo, and "Takes a Long Time to Heal" was made for cold winter nights spent splayed on the living room floor wondering where it all went wrong.

Review: Trent Reznor, 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'

2011-12-27T00:29:00.000-08:00

Review: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' : Aidin Vaziri | Was there a better sight this year than seeing Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails' resident howling psychopath, wearing a tuxedo and giving up his best Hollywood smile at the Academy Awards? He even got to pick up a little golden man for best original score for his soundtrack to "The Social Network," a collaboration with Atticus Ross. The pair reunites for the same purpose on director David Fincher's remake of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," a project Reznor has described as "some of the most beautiful and disturbing music of our careers." But without the visuals, much of the three-hour set feels like mere mood music. His touch emerges in the creepy air that suffuses "Revealed in the Thaw," the menacing buzz of "A Thousand Details" and the taut industrial racket of "An Itch." But the highly mechanized take on Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," with Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O mimicking Robert Plant, feels a little too reverent, while the dated cover of Bryan Ferry's "Is Your Love Strong Enough" with side project How to Destroy Angels seems to have been tacked on primarily to draw attention to the singer Mariqueen Maandig - a.k.a. Mrs. Reznor.

Carrie Brownstein: Lost In 'Portlandia'

2011-12-27T00:28:00.000-08:00

Aidin Vaziri | After teasing fans with a handful of hilarious clips over the past few weeks, the second season of "Portlandia" kicks off in earnest on the IFC channel Jan. 6. But first Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen, the creators and co-stars of the hit sketch-comedy series, are going on tour. Hitting just six cities (including a sold-out stop at the Mezzanine on Friday), the live show will feature musical performances, sneak peeks at the new season and personal anecdotes from Armisen, who is also a cast member on "Saturday Night Live," and Brownstein, formerly of Sleater-Kinney and currently a member of the band Wild Flag. She tells us what to expect.

Carrie Brownstein
Q: Not too many television shows begin a new season with a live tour. What's the idea?
A: For the most part, the live show is an opportunity for Fred and I to interact with the audience - to take the sensitivity and earnestness of the show and share it with people. It's not "Portlandia" live. It's not comedy. It's more akin to Fred and I hanging out in the living room and playing songs, telling stories and showing clips from the second season.
Q: The great thing is the shows are sold out so you can come out, sit on a couch and hit "play" on the DVD.
A: That's so crass. Don't think we haven't thought of it. No, really, we were very surprised and flattered when the shows sold out. People's faith in us has only made us want to work harder.
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Pop Quiz: The Naked and Famous

2011-12-27T00:07:00.000-08:00

Aidin Vaziri | The biggest thing to happen to New Zealand since Peter Jackson's makeover? The Naked and Famous, a ridiculously handsome band that in the past year went from supporting small indie acts to playing major festivals around the world (Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Treasure Island). The five-piece group, whose first CD, "Passive Me, Aggressive You," bursts with giddy electro-pop tunes such as "Young Blood" and "Punching in a Dream," returns to San Francisco for the first of two shows tonight at the Independent. We spoke to band member Aaron Short.

Aaron Short of the Naked and Famous
Q: You were still working a day job at this point last year. When did you quit?
A: It was when we signed our deal with Universal. We realized things were going to get a lot bigger. So we prepared to live in hotel rooms and buses.
Q: It sounds like you miss the normality.
A: I occasionally think back to it. It was comforting getting up at 8 and coming home at 5. When touring life is so hectic and crazy, you take comfort in those thoughts, but I certainly wouldn't trade it for anything.
Q: Do you guys fight a lot over the stereo in the van?
A: A majority of the time the van is in complete silence because every person has their headphones on. We see and hear so much of each other, it's a good opportunity to drift off into our own worlds.
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'I Want My MTV': The Year Nirvana Broke

2011-12-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

When Nirvana's music video changed the rules: Aidin Vaziri | In the excellent new oral history "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution," authors Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum focus on the golden age of the music video network when it, like, actually played music videos. The credo for the time was big budgets, big ideas and big hair. That is until 1991 when a video debuted by a band that set out to destroy everything that came before it. The following excerpt describes the firestorm that circled Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
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Pop Quiz: Tony Bennett

2011-12-12T01:05:00.001-08:00

Aidin Vaziri | This year, Tony Bennett turned 85 and scored his first No. 1 album ever. Not a bad start for the dapper New York singer, who has been at this for more than six decades. It helps that "Duets II," which made him the oldest living artist to top the Billboard 200, features collaborations with Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey and Amy Winehouse. But that's not all. It seems as if Bennett is intent on making Justin Bieber look like a slacker. There is also a new boxed set, "The Complete Collection," that brings together all 70-plus of his studio albums; plus another compilation of his most popular holiday songs, "Tony Bennett: The Classic Christmas Album."

Tony Bennett
Q: Barring the present moment, do you have a favorite Tony Bennett era?
A: Wow, that is a tough question. I loved the time I lived in London in the '70s, as I got to work with the master Robert Farnon.
Q: I read a quote where you said, "I was the Justin Bieber of my time." Does that mean he's going to be around for 60 more years?
A: I hope all the young artists of today have the chance to have long careers. I think it is very tough to do that as the emphasis is on the next big thing and there is so much pressure on artists in today's music business to sell millions of albums right away and fill stadiums the first time they go on tour.
Q: What do you think would happen if, just once, you left the stage without singing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"?
A: I think as an entertainer your job is to please the audience, so I have been blessed with a beautiful signature song that has made me a citizen of the world. I love to perform it for everyone.
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Review: Charlotte Gainsbourg, 'Stage Whisper'

2011-12-12T00:58:00.001-08:00

Review: Charlotte Gainsbourg, 'Stage Whisper': Aidin Vaziri | With the saucy back catalog of her father, Serge Gainsbourg, serving as clear inspiration, French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg returns with a companion piece to last year's excellent "IRM." This double album collects leftovers from those sessions, produced by Beck, along with a handful of more recent studio ventures and nearly a dozen live tracks from her first-ever tour. It's a mixed bag, to be sure, but "Terrible Angels" finds her doing sleazy electro-pop just as well as Goldfrapp, and "Memoir" is a lovely folk ballad perfectly suited to her chirpy voice. Then there's the breathy cover of Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman," performed in concert, which should be mandatory on the playlist of every zinc-topped bar in Paris.

Live Review: Metallica at the Fillmore

2011-12-12T00:53:00.001-08:00

Metallica review: Band turns 30 at the Fillmore: Aidin Vaziri | James Hetfield thrusts one leg forward, pulls back one of his tattoo-covered biceps and holds his guitar dangerously close to his chest - the universal pose for a guy who is ready to kick butt. But something is clearly wrong with this picture. It takes a few minutes to figure it out because it's late, kind of smoky and, well, it just doesn't look right. But the front man for Metallica - once regarded as the fiercest heavy metal band on the planet - is smiling. It's not one of those satanic smirks, either, but the kind of full-on Invisalign grin you see in the waiting room at the dentist's office. If you want to get technical about it, it might even be an actual grin. What has the world come to?
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Pop Quiz: Jane's Addiction

2011-12-12T00:43:00.001-08:00

Aidin Vaziri | Barring any more breakups - hey, the band has had a few - Jane's Addiction is set to headline Live 105's Not So Silent Night on Friday at Oracle Arena. Celebrating its first new studio album in eight years, "The Great Escape Artist," the full-time rockers (and part-time reality show stars) will put an exclamation point on an eclectic concert that also inludes Mumford and Sons, Florence and the Machine, Young the Giant and Bush. We spoke with Jane's guitarist Dave Navarro, 44, from his Los Angeles home.

Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction
Q: You haven't made an album together in a few years. Was it difficult getting reacquainted in the studio?
A: No. We had been together and performing for a number of years prior to this. I don't have any anecdotes about the making of the album. It was just in the studio. But I'll tell you we are pretty psyched about this San Francisco gig.
Q: Jane's Addiction isn't the first name to pop up when I think about the holidays. Do you guys actually celebrate anything?
A: Music is a year-round art form that's celebrated at any time. I don't think any of the other bands on that bill are going to be performing Christmas carols.
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Review: Amy Winehouse, 'Lioness'

2011-12-12T00:32:00.001-08:00

Review: Amy Winehouse, 'Lioness': Aidin Vaziri | Amy Winehouse struggled for years to make a follow-up to her breakthrough second album, 2007's "Back to Black." Just five months after her untimely death at the age of 27 from alcohol poisoning, one magically appears. The lack of imagination is evident before you even press play on this 12-track set of songs, heroically polished up and pieced together by her go-to producer, Salaam Remi. He certainly tries to make the best out of a terrible situation, but it's hard to do Winehouse's legacy any justice by building entire tunes around old studio scraps ("Halftime," "Our Day Will Come"), one-take covers ("The Girl From Ipanema," "A Song for You," the Leon Russell composition) and obvious filler (a rerun of her duet with Tony Bennett, "Body and Soul"). She deserves better - and so do her fans.

Lumps of Coal: The Latest in Holiday Music

2011-12-12T00:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas music: Lumping together the best, rest: Aidin Vaziri | Scott Weiland, "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" The trouble-prone Stone Temple Pilots singer takes an unlikely career turn with this apparently sincere solo album of holiday standards. Never mind that he looks sloshed on the cover, the familiar bulldog growl of "Interstate Love Song" and "Plush" is gone as Weiland does his best Michael Bublé impression over hotel lobby jazz arrangements of "The Christmas Song," "White Christmas" and the title track.
Justin Bieber, "Under the Mistletoe" The Canadian teen pop star's inevitable holiday offering features guest appearances by Boyz II Men and Busta Rhymes - the first names on anyone's seasonal playlist - along with an oddly tender duet with mentor Usher on "The Christmas Song." The originals, such as the quietly pumping "Mistletoe," come off better than the covers, particularly when one simply features Bieber scatting over Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You."Read more.

Pop Quiz: Liam Gallagher of Beady Eye

2011-12-12T00:23:00.001-08:00

Aidin Vaziri | Liam Gallagher didn't waste any time starting a new band when Oasis called it quits after one last brawl with his brother Noel backstage in Paris in 2009. "It took about four beers," he says, confidence unscathed. Beady Eye (which also includes Oasis guitarists Andy Bell and Gem Archer and drummer Chris Sharrock) released its first album, "Different Gear, Still Speeding," earlier this year.

Liam Gallagher of Beady Eye
Q: You're not playing any Oasis songs. Isn't it a bit like Paul McCartney going out and just playing "Pipes of Peace"?
A: I could if I wanted to play it, but we started out this band saying we're not going to play those songs. We're going to stick with it. It's a lot more than can be said by Noel Gallagher. He'll never know if people are coming to hear him or Oasis. We're getting people who want to see Beady Eye. That, to me, is success.
Q: Do you regret that you and Noel can't work things out?
A: No, I don't want to work anything out. He took the ball and left. The reason we split up is I'm not on his payroll. He could sack everyone else in the band, but he couldn't do that with me. I told him how f- it was and the only way for him to go was leaving the band. So he left. I don't miss being in a band with Noel. I actually like who I am and what I stand for. He's a bit of a social chameleon. He wouldn't look out of place in Coldplay's band.
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Review: Hot Chelle Rae, 'Whatever'

2011-12-12T00:09:00.001-08:00

Review: Hot Chelle Rae, 'Whatever': Aidin Vaziri | Hot Chelle Rae couldn't have existed at any other moment in time. The young Nashville quartet's sound is tethered to contemporary hip-hop and mall punk; made by kids raised on Facebook and the Disney Channel; and driven by a collective philosophical inspiration that maybe goes as far back as the last Ke album. The title of the band's second full-length release comes from a line in its huge breakthrough hit "Tonight, Tonight," the most Disney-sounding pop song not to actually come from a Disney star. The rest of the album, made up of shouty songs like "I Like It Like That" and "Beautiful Freaks," falls in line with Hot Chelle Rae's impossibly cheery outlook and terrifyingly synthetic soul. The good news? The nightclubs of Las Vegas have a go-to soundtrack for the next six months.

Pop Quiz: Lykke Li

2011-11-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

Aidin Vaziri | Lykke Li was raised by nomadic hippie parents and spent her toddler years obsessing over Madonna. A string of rotten relationships led her to write the distinctly brooding and weird songs that make up her two albums. But what's really odd is how much mainstream audiences have embraced the 25-year-old Swedish songstress' brand of off-kilter pop. Her latest release, "Wounded Rhymes," is a Top 40 hit. She's played at Coachella and Lollapalooza, and her songs have made their way onto "Glee," "American Idol" and even the soundtrack for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

Lykke Li
Q: AYou turned 25 earlier this year, which is the age of reason. Do you feel any smarter?
A: I mean, to be honest, yes. It's been a really overwhelming year. I've always been wise and old, and now I'm taking a step back. For the first time, I'm acting my age.
Q: AYou have been on tour for the past few years. Before that, your parents lived all over the world. Do you think you could ever settle down?
A: I know. I've been running all my life. I'm terrified. It's in my DNA to always move. Even now I'm more homeless than I've ever been. All my stuff is in storage places all over the world. My parents are in India. My sister is in New York. I could go back to Sweden, but what would I go back to - me when I was 19? I have to wonder, who am I underneath this?
Q: AYou better knock out another album quick so you can just keep touring.
A: I don't want to stay on the road. But where do you lay your hat when so much has happened? It's hard to stay in your hometown when everyone has changed.
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Live Review: Katy Perry at Oracle Arena

2011-11-24T12:59:00.001-08:00

Katy Perry Oracle Arena Oakland review: hot, cold: Aidin Vaziri | With her star looming so large, it's easy to forget that Perry's career is built on four or five solid hits - from the casually tossed-off show opener "Teenage Dream" to the night's closing anthem, "Firework," delivered amid a full-on explosion of pyrotechnics, confetti and lasers. The rest of the Perry's two-hour set revealed that she actually has more outfits than tunes, a problem intensified by an abysmal stretch of blustery rockers like "Hummingbird Heartbeat" and "Circle the Drain." The worse the songs became (and they don't get much worse than the one-two punch of "Ur So Gay" and "Peacock"), the more acrobatic mimes, aerial gymnasts and over-caffeinated dancers in blue wigs seemed to appear on a stage inspired equally by "The Wizard of Oz" and the Candy Land board game. But for all its faults, Perry could still relish in a couple of genuinely thrilling moments as she caterwauled her way through thunderous renditions of the singles "Hot and Cold" and "California Gurls." Best of all was the song of the summer, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)," a ludicrously over-the-top pop tune that actually matched the singer's ambition.
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Review: Drake, 'Take Care'

2011-11-24T12:47:00.001-08:00

Review: Drake, 'Take Care': Aidin Vaziri | Drake is the master of the humble brag. The Canadian teen drama star-turned-gruff rapper spent a good deal of his breakthrough first album, last year's "Thank Me Later," moaning about the disappointments that come with fame - long before he actually experienced any. Now that he's filled out his diary with high-flying escapades such as touring the world, picking up awards and mingling with Rihanna, the former "Degrassi" actor really has something to complain about. "Take Care" is dazzling in sound and oddly deflated in spirit. "I might be too strung out on compliments/ Overdosed on confidence/ Starting not to give a f-/ And stop fearing the consequence," Drake rhymes on "Headlines." He laments hooking up with too many women in the eight-minute meditation "Marvin's Room," fumes at being photographed by the paparazzi on the downcast "Cameras." Producers such as Jamie XX, the Weeknd and Lex Luger play into his minimalist, miserable style, helping create one of the greatest emo hip-hop LPs since Basehead's "Play With Toys."

Review: 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds'

2011-11-24T12:40:00.000-08:00

Review: 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds': Aidin Vaziri | The breakup of Oasis might be the best thing to happen to the Gallagher brothers. It allowed Liam to show off his limited but endearing songwriting chops in full with the group Beady Eye this year. Here it restores the sense of urgency that elder brother Noel's most recent albums with his former outfit were so desperately lacking. The clumsily titled "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds" might sound familiar in attitude and concept - there's a decent "Wonderwall" rewrite called "If I Had a Gun," plus a handful of actual Oasis leftovers - but the major difference is in the enthusiasm that propels soaring tunes such as "Everybody's on the Run" and the chugging "The Death of You and Me." Gallagher hasn't sounded so alive in years. Better yet, it gives him an excuse to try out things that surely would have caused major studio fistfights in the past, such as the delightfully lightweight "AKA ... What a Life!," a song that wouldn't sound entirely out of place on Coldplay's latest.

Live Review: Feist at the Warfield

2011-11-24T12:39:00.001-08:00

Feist: Pop Songs, Deconstructed: Aidin Vaziri | With Feist reinterpreting them on electric guitar, new songs like "How Come You Never Go There" and "The Bad in Each Other" took on bluesy edges that were embellished by the singer's stage-sagging live band - a ragtag ensemble that included a trio of female backup singers called Mountain Man, several bearded multi-instrumentalists and the Real Vocal String Quartet from San Francisco. Together they leapt effortlessly from the loud wallop of "A Commotion" to the ethereal tones of "Bittersweet Melodies," adding layer after layer of shade and light. The group also meticulously deconstructed a handful of Feist's older, more familiar songs and played them in the most unfamiliar ways. The once slinky funk tune "Mushaboom" emerged in a swirl of stark rhythms and harmonies; while the rumbling "My Moon My Man" was repurposed as a furious tribal chant. The most drastic makeover was reserved for the song "I Feel It All," a floating pop song peeled open into a loud, angry riff that sounded like a throwback to her old indie band Broken Social Scene.
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Review: Florence and the Machine, 'Ceremonials'

2011-11-24T12:33:00.000-08:00

Review: Florence and the Machine, 'Ceremonials': Aidin Vaziri | Florence Welch barely pauses for breath after a whirlwind year that saw her band, Florence and the Machine, crack America, score a Grammy nomination and appear on the soundtrack for everything from "Eclipse" to the trailer of "Eat Pray Love." The group's second album, "Ceremonials," arrives just a few weeks after it wrapped up promotional duties for the first, 2009's singles-spewing "Lungs." She certainly hasn't lost any of her fervor. Songs such as "Shake It Out" and "Never Let Me Go" see Welch and company cranking up the tribal drums, orchestral fervor and window-rattling howls to harrowing effect. The moody, minor-key epic "What the Water Gave Me" ranks among the band's best work, but, at 25, the singer is still finding her way, which explains the odd MGMT-style weirdness that colors "Breaking Down" and a Motown-inspired detour on "Lover to Lover." Fortunately, it ends on a high note - literally. "Leave My Body" is a battle cry for the bedroom and beyond: "I don't want your future/ I don't need your past/ One bright moment is all I ask." It's the kind of brave, unwholesome tune that could make Welch a star all over again. That Hawaiian getaway will just have to wait.

Review: R.E.M., 'Part Lies, Part Heart'

2011-11-24T12:32:00.001-08:00

Review: R.E.M., 'Part Lies, Part Heart': Aidin Vaziri | R.E.M.: They started out as the greatest American rock band of their time and then things went steadily downhill for some 30 years until they finally went out with whatever is quieter than a whimper. Now here's the chronologically ordered evidence in a convenient two-disc set. It's convenient because you can discard the second disc the minute you unwrap the thing. It kicks off with the group's best-known song ("Everybody Hurts"), followed by at least a dozen the band probably doesn't even remember recording. There are three new ones tacked on at the end but that's probably where the "Part Garbage" thing comes from in the title. Although, at a push "We All Go Back to Where We Belong" would make a nice soundtrack for a VW commercial. The first half of this set, meanwhile, is mostly wonderful. It traces the trajectory of the classic I.R.S. Records years from the jingle-jangle punk of "Gardening at Night" through the heartbreaking "So. Central Rain" all the way up to the mad apocalypse anthem "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)." But then it quickly peters out in a pileup of Warner Bros.-endorsed material that includes "Stand," "Pop Song 89" and "Shiny Happy People." R.I.P.

Pop Quiz: Wild Beasts

2011-11-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

Aidin Vaziri | Wild Beasts are one of the oddest and most endearing acts on the bill at this weekend's Treasure Island Music Festival. The British quartet's arch art-rock is dense with literary references and lascivious come-ons, driven by bassist Tom Fleming's baritone and guitarist Hayden Thorpe's operatic countertenor. The group's third and latest album, "Smother," released earlier this year, comes on the heels of two years of touring behind its Mercury Prize nominated predecessor, "Two Dancers."

Tom Fleming of Wild Beasts
Q: When you and Hayden duet, are you merely using your voices as separate instruments or are you actually singing to each other like Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell?
A: I don't really know how to answer your question because it does change. Obviously there is a musical quality to it. It is a sound. But we often ask ourselves, "Are we singing to each other or are we not?" But never trust the "I" on the album. It's not always what it purports to be.
Q: Has singing so much about sex helped you get any in real life?
A: I think because how we appear as people and what we do artistically, there's a divide. But I think it's an important point to make. It's important four pasty boys from the North of England can address these things.
Q: Your previous album was nominated for the Mercury Prize. But that was probably nothing compared to the honor of your local newspaper, the North-West Evening Mail, hailing you as "the biggest band to come out of south Cumbria for decades - if not ever."
A: It is a burden. It is a great responsibility we carry on our backs every day.
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2011-11-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

Review: Björk, 'Biophilia'

Review: Björk, 'Biophilia': Aidin Vaziri | This isn't merely a new Björk album. For those who are inclined, "Biophilia" offers an interactive universe where fans can explore the songs in microscopic detail through a new website, 90-minute documentary or collection of iPad apps created, we are told, by a team of "developers, scientists, writers, musicians and instrument-makers." Yawn. Push the 21st century frills aside, pick up a copy of the CD - or better yet, get it on vinyl - and you'll discover the Icelandic singer has come up with her most compelling work in eons. Brash electronics meld with the warm tones of handmade music machines, while the singer muses on the workings of the universe with that lusty voice. A few of the tracks seem willfully odd ("Hollow," "Mutual Core") mostly because, well, this is still a Björk album. But when she takes flight on tunes such as "Moon," "Virus" and "Cosmogony," the results are extraordinarily sumptuous and seductive. There is no app for that.

2011-11-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

Review: Coldplay, 'Mylo Xyloto'

Review: Coldplay, 'Mylo Xyloto': Aidin Vaziri | After touring the monumental "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" album into the ground some two years ago, Coldplay singer Chris Martin indicated that maybe the band was ready to scale things down for its follow-up. But once you become one of the biggest arena - no, stadium - draws in the world, there's no going back. Things by necessity have to get bigger, shinier and louder. So it goes with the British group's fifth studio recording, which not only shares the same producers as its predecessor (Markus Dravs and Rik Simpson, with Brian Eno) but also its unrepentant chest-beating ambition. Coldplay spent much of the summer airing out tracks like the dancey "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" and "Paradise" at huge festivals like Glastonbury and Coachella. With its abundance of swelling strings, shouted verses and tear-jerking ballads, the rest of the album feels as if it was built for a similar purpose. These are essentially all the things Coldplay learned from U2 and gets better at doing on its own with each new release. There's a whiff of experimentation on "Charlie Brown"; on "Up in Flames," which sounds like a James Blake track; and on the heavily processed "Princess of China." But it's mostly in the form of electronic frills that ultimately give way to the kind of choruses that fall on your head like an anvil. That's nothing to shy away from.

Bottom of the Hill Turns 20

2011-11-02T00:32:00.000-07:00

Bottom of the Hill comes out on top for 20 years: Aidin Vaziri | Bottom of the Hill, the scrappy little nightclub at a lonely outpost in Potrero Hill, celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. It's an occasion many observers thought would never come when the venue opened in a former neighborhood dive bar at 17th and Missouri streets in 1991. But it took just a few years for Bottom of the Hill to establish itself as the heart of San Francisco's indie rock scene - the 350-capacity venue where local and touring acts with small budgets and loud guitars could always feel at home.
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Pop Quiz: Sammy Hagar

2011-11-02T00:30:00.000-07:00

Aidin Vaziri | Having topped the New York Times best-seller list earlier this year with his autobiography, "Red" (co-authored by former Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic Joel Selvin), Sammy Hagar returns to his day job as the wild-maned front man for the rock supergroup Chickenfoot, which also includes guitarist Joe Satriani, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. Earlier this month, Hagar celebrated his birthday and the release of the band's confusingly titled second album, "Chickenfoot III," with an all-star blowout at his Cabo Wabo cantina in Mexico. We spoke to him the day he got back to his Marin home.

Sammy Hagar of Chickenfoot
Q: Are you sober enough to do this interview?
A: I got back late last night and I just got a massage, so I'm kind of like on the moon. I'm probably vulnerable. Maybe we should postpone.
Q: I'll go easy on you. Besides, didn't you give it all away in the book?
A: You're right, but you never know.
Q: How bummed do you think Chad Smith is that he has to tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers instead of you guys?
A: He's probably not bummed to be with the Chili Peppers. I'm sure they're doing just fine. But nobody has as much fun as us.
Q: I heard you had such a good time over your birthday weekend in Cabo San Lucas that you forgot your own songs.
A: I didn't forget "I Can't Drive 55." I just had to read some of the lyrics for the newer stuff. The thing is, we get backstage about two hours before we go on. With our cast of characters, it can get pretty loose.
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Bridge School Benefit 25 at Shoreline

2011-11-02T00:25:00.000-07:00

Bridge School Benefit review: Older, wiser, better: Aidin Vaziri | Neil Young casually sauntered onto the stage at Mountain View's Shoreline Amphitheatre late Saturday night with a battered old acoustic slung over his shoulder and a harmonica strapped around his neck. He looked like he was ready to go gardening. Without saying much, Young played a couple of his more popular songs - "Comes a Time," "Sugar Mountain" and "Long May You Run" - then turned around and faced the row of students and families sitting onstage behind him, including his 32-year-old son, Ben, and started in on a version of "Heart of Gold" that made time stop. It was a typical Bridge School Benefit concert moment - humble, heartfelt and unexpectedly moving. For 25 years, Young and his wife, Pegi, have called on their famous friends to play these annual acoustic shows to raise money for the school they founded in 1986 for children with severe physical disabilities. They are decidedly low-key affairs. This year's concert brought together an impressive mix of Bridge School veterans and newbies that included Arcade Fire, Dave Matthews, Mumford & Sons, Eddie Vedder, Los Invisibles featuring Carlos Santana, Beck, Norah Jones with the Little Willies, and Devendra Banhart - all of whom joined the host for a sing-along of Chet Powers' "Get Together" at the end of the evening. The bill became even more enticing Sunday with the addition of the Foo Fighters and Tony Bennett.
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Interview: DJ Shadow

2011-11-02T00:10:00.000-07:00

Aidin Vaziri | DJ Shadow – or Josh Davis as he is known to the DMV – is one of the most forward-thinking musicians to come out of the Bay Area. Since dropping his first full-length album, 1996’s “Entroducing…,” the sample-based artist has worked relentlessly to push stylistic boundaries (sometimes to antagonistic effect), collaborating with everyone from Radiohead singer Thom Yorke to Oakland hyphy rapper Keak da Sneak along the way. Shadow’s latest release, “The Less You Know, the Better,” out now on the jazz label Verve, sees the 39-year-old record hoarder dabbling in exotic folk, heavy metal and grand sonic details that made him an international sensation in the first place.

DJ Shadow
Q: You’ve taken to performing in a sphere in an era when most other DJ-based artists act like rock stars, crowd surfing and whatnot. Are you trying to put a barrier between yourself and the audience?
A: No, but it does suit my persona. You’re right, everything about me as a DJ is out of style and out of step. I didn’t grow up wanting to be famous or wanting to be a celebrity. I just wanted to share the music I loved by others and then moved into making music as a way of trying to provide an alternative to the landscape.
Q: You did the Identity tour with people like Skrillex, Kaskade and Steve Aoki. Did you feel out of place?
A: Honestly, I think everyone did. I met many of the other DJ’s and everyone was very polite and respectful to each other. But on a certain level, it was a strange amalgam of talent and I think everyone experienced a bit of discomfort or confusion, myself included. Obviously, I’m quite a bit older than most of the others and I don’t come from the rave scene so immediately I was “out of place,” as you say. But I agreed to do this tour to reach new people and to throw myself into an uncontrolled environment. I have faith in my abilities as a DJ so I never felt as though I couldn’t connect. But at the same time, I had no misconceptions about who everyone was there to see and it certainly wasn’t me.
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Live Review: Treasure Island Music Festival

2011-11-02T00:06:00.000-07:00

Treasure Island Music Festival: Nonstop joy: Aidin Vaziri | Death Cab for Cutie brought the fifth annual Treasure Island Music Festival to a euphoric close on Sunday by delving into its back catalog for the emotionally wrought ballad "Transatlanticism," a song driven by the lyrical mantra "I need you so much closer." For fans and indie-music bands alike, that's exactly what was on offer at the two-day concert, organized by Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment. Even though it attracted a sun-drenched crowd of 25,000 over the weekend, Treasure Island still felt like a boutique event. Calling most of the acts on the bill - curiously named entities such as Shabazz Palaces, Dizzee Rascal and Wild Beasts - cult sensations would be a little too generous. That meant that for the most part the music always felt intimate, if not incidental. The Great Lawn - a 125,000-square-foot rectangle of land on the west shore with sweeping views of the San Francisco skyline - had the laid-back atmosphere of a backyard barbecue, where people either spread out blankets and took it all in or stumbled around dressed as pirates and sea creatures. There were 26 acts playing on two stages and the music never stopped (for better or worse, given the intensely varied lineup).
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Pop Quiz: Pegi Young

2011-11-02T00:02:00.000-07:00

Aidin Vaziri | Pegi Young and her husband, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Neil Young, host the 25th anniversary Bridge School Benefit concerts this weekend at Shoreline Amphitheatre with marquee names such as Arcade Fire, Eddie Vedder and Dave Matthews. To mark the occasion, there is a new three-DVD, two-CD set stuffed with highlights from past concerts, which benefit the school the Young family established for their son Ben and other children with severe physical impairments. Next month, Pegi will release her third solo album, "Bracing for Impact."

Pegi Young
Q: You waited 30 years to put out your first album. Now there seems to be no stopping you.
A: You know, they let the genie out of the bottle and there's no stuffing her back in.
Q: There must be some challenges that come with being married to a well-known songwriter like Neil Young. Do you feel like you have to compete with his work?
A: There's no competition. We make our own music. He's a genius. He's an incredible songwriter. I have tremendous respect for him.
Q: Do you get annoyed by the people who come to your shows and just glance around the whole time looking for him?
A: I expect people are going to be looking around. That's natural. I hope they still enjoy the show.
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2011-11-01T23:58:00.000-07:00

Roger Daltrey: 'Tommy' Goes Solo

Roger Daltrey tours with 'Tommy' but without Who: Aidin Vaziri | Roger Daltrey is a brave man. The Who singer is on the road performing the band's hefty 1969 rock opera "Tommy" from start to finish, and he's not only doing it without Pete Townshend but also without all the bells and whistles that have accompanied the many stage and film versions of the album over the years. The 67-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee brings the show to the San Jose Civic on Friday. But before you head out, we answer a few questions fans might have about the tour.
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2011-11-01T23:51:00.000-07:00

Foster The People at the Fillmore

Live Review: Foster The People get the Fillmore pumped up: Aidin Vaziri | Even though it scored one of the biggest songs of the summer with the slow percolating pop hit “Pumped Up Kicks” expectations for Foster the People’s first of two sold-out live dates at the Fillmore on Thursday were relatively low after a dismal appearance on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, where the group awkwardly plodded around the stage and wedged in a not-totally-ironic guest spot by greasy sax man Kenny G into its second number. Fortunately, it seemed to do much better without television cameras – or errant smooth jazz icons. Storming the stage with a rhythm-heavy take on “Houdini” – the song Foster The People is hoping prevents it from being relegated to one-hit-wonder countdowns on VH1 for years to come – the band exhibited the kind of natural vigor and charisma that its major network appearance oddly lacked. Backed by a fantastic light show, the singer and main instigator Mark Foster bound around all flailing limbs and jutting shoulders – and he didn’t let up.
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2011-11-01T23:41:00.000-07:00

Viracocha: Inside The Mission's Eclectic Emporium

Mission's Viracocha not just a glorified garage sale: Aidin Vaziri | Stepping into Viracocha is like stepping into a different time and place. Since opening its doors last year at 998 Valencia St., the space formerly occupied by the spiritual emporium Botanica Yoruba, this eclectic vintage store has become one of the Mission District's most popular destinations - and not just for its breathtaking selection of beautiful old typewriters. Owner Jonathan Siegel, 35, who spent time as a poet and theater actor in New York before landing here in 2005, didn't want to build just another retail outlet on the strip. He set out to create a haven for local artists, writers and musicians - many close acquaintances - whose works are intertwined with the antique wares that occupy the wood-lined walls. "We wanted to create an anchor for all our separate projects," he says.
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2011-11-01T23:33:00.001-07:00

Review: Ryan Adams, 'Ashes and Fire'

Review: Ryan Adams, 'Ashes and Fire': Aidin Vaziri | The early word on "Ashes and Fire" was that Ryan Adams had finally worked through his interminable Grateful Dead phase, having come out of it ready to reclaim the ragged brand of Americana he minted nearly a decade ago with albums like "Heartbreaker" and "Gold." Not quite. The new record's centerpiece, "Do I Wait," is a hell of a song, one of Adams' classic late-night meditations floating over a bed of warm acoustic guitars and swirling B3 organs. But the rest of the album feels tentative, as the 36-year-old Adams comes to terms with his unruly past in tremulous ballads like "Dirty Rain" and "Invisible Riverside." On "Lucky Now," the now sober songwriter laments, "I feel like somebody I don't know/ Are we really who we used to be? Am I really who I was?" It's a step in the right direction.

2011-10-04T00:07:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-04T00:03:00.000-07:00

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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2011-10-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

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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2011-10-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

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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2011-10-03T23:46:00.000-07:00

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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2011-10-03T23:41:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-03T23:38:00.000-07:00

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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2011-10-03T23:33:00.000-07:00

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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2011-10-03T23:29:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-03T23:24:00.000-07:00

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.
Read more.

2011-10-03T23:18:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-09-02T01:37:00.001-07:00

Pop Quiz: Viva Brother

Aidin Vaziri | Lee Newell isn't shy. Appearing on the cover of the British music magazine NME earlier this year, the 23-year-old singer and guitarist of Viva Brother declared, "We want to be the biggest band in the world." To ensure its climb, he has picked feuds with just about every other act on the charts. The bravado has worked a treat. Famed Britpop producer Stephen Street signed on to helm the group's album, "Famous First Words." Morrissey took the band on tour. And Viva Brother put in a knockout U.S. television debut on "The Late Show With David Letterman."

Lee Newell of Viva Brother
Q: You grew up in Slough, the setting of the British version of "The Office." Is it really that grim?
A: It is grim. It's just a factory town with little going for it. There's not much to do other than get smashed every night, which is what I do now, but I also play music to break it up a little bit.
Q: Do you have any good memories of being there?
A: I have one good memory: the day I left.
Q: At one of the band's first shows you announced, "Anyone who doesn't want to see the future of rock 'n' roll should leave now." Do you feel like you're fulfilling on that promise?
A: I would never smugly sit down and say I've done so well. It's just not attractive. But I'm pleased with what we've done. We are the most exciting new band around at the moment.
Read more.

2011-09-02T01:31:00.000-07:00

Review: Grace Jones, 'Hurricane'

Review: Grace Jones, 'Hurricane': Aidin Vaziri | Grace Jones hasn't released an album in nearly two decades, but her outrageous presence hasn't gone missing on the pop charts. Lady Gaga's career was, in part, charted from the 63-year-old Jamaican American singer's seminal early '80s releases - "Warm Leatherette," "Nightclubbing" and "Living My Life." When Jones first emerged, her closest pop culture contemporary wasn't Donna Summer but C3PO. The Studio 54 fixture and onetime James Bond villain retains an otherworldly charm on "Hurricane." She sounds thoroughly menacing on the Massive Attack-produced "Corporate Cannibal," hissing, "I'm a man-eating machine." On "This Is," she welds grinding guitars over stringy reggae rhythms, and a dark-hued 1997 collaboration with Tricky serves as the album's title track. The time away from music has allowed some rust to settle in - which hurts twice as much from an artist who was once so adept at plundering the future. But in trade we get the autobiographical "I'm Crying (Mother's Tears)," a tender electro ballad that reveals she just might be human after all.

2011-09-02T01:27:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Glen Campbell

Aidin Vaziri | When Glen Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease six months ago, the bad news came with a whiff of relief. "He was forgetful," said his wife, Kim. "But because of his troubles with cocaine and alcohol and, of course, that infamous DUI, we wanted to tell people because we didn't want them to think he was on something." This week the 75-year-old country crooner, famous for hits such as "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Wichita Lineman," will release his final album, "Ghost on the Canvas," which features collaborations with many of his musical fans. Campbell told us about it by phone from his home in Malibu.

Glen Campbell
Q: "Ghost on the Canvas" is supposed to be your last album. How do you stop doing something that you've been doing your entire life?
A: It's the last studio album of new songs I plan to make. I've been saying it to my friends and my family for months, but now that it's in writing it seems final. Most of the things that happened in my life were because of the records. Now it's just time to close that book.
Q: What's the lasting impression you want to leave with this record?
A:All of my little roller-coaster ride - the laughter, tears, successes and failure - are part of who I am now. They helped create the Glen Campbell of today. That's what "Ghost on the Canvas" is about. It's the now Glen with all of the ghosts of the old Glen still hanging around.
Read more.

2011-09-02T01:24:00.000-07:00

Review: Beirut, 'The Rip Tide'

Review: Beirut, 'The Rip Tide': Aidin Vaziri | For Beirut's first full-length album in four years, songwriter Zach Condon, above, wanted to keep things simple. Although simplicity is relative for a 25-year-old musician from New Mexico known for stuffing his swooning indie folk songs with funeral mariachi horns, French chansons and Eastern European rhythms. If anything, in "The Rip Tide," Condon sounds more self-aware, toning down the far-reaching vision of his outfit's breakthrough album, 2006's "Gulag Orkestar," in favor of inward-looking numbers such as the mournful "Payne's Bay" and low-key "Port of Call." In the anxious "Vagabond," he sings, "As the air goes cold/ The trees unfold/ And I am lost." But growing up doesn't mean getting old, and Condon still manages to conjure his magic through finely detailed songs and lovely poetry, even when it feels as if all he wants is a good hug.

2011-09-02T01:20:00.000-07:00

Sade: Fashionably Late

Sade soldiers on leisurely to keep love alive: Aidin Vaziri | Sade doesn't like to rush things. She took a leisurely 10 years to release her most recent album, "Soldier of Love." Then she waited another year before taking it on tour. So it was little wonder that she recently missed our appointed interview time. After more than a decade of anticipation, what's another 20 minutes? "I'm always late," the 52-year-old vocalist apologized, calling from a tour stop Chicago, her speaking voice much huskier than the elegant croon that floats over her distinctive jazz-pop recordings. "We were late for a show the other night, and I said, 'I'm sorry we're late. But, really, we're 10 years late.' "
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2011-09-02T01:16:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Josh Groban

Aidin Vaziri | Josh Groban is living it up on the road. The day we caught up with the multiplatinum-selling operatic crooner, he was recovering from a full costume screening of "The Big Lebowski" on his tour bus. Earlier in the week, he had rescued a wounded baby bird from the rain. Groban, 30, is playing arenas in support of his most recent album, "Illuminations," an experimental set produced by Rick Rubin and partly inspired by his breakup with actress January Jones.

Josh Groban
Q: When you released "Illuminations," you didn't know if it would win new fans or scare away old ones. So are there huge curtained-off areas of the arena?
A: If there's any curtaining, it's because we designed it that way. It's an intimate show. We specifically designed this tour to create a theatrical environment in arenas. The reaction I'm getting every night is probably some of the most enthusiastic and heartfelt I've ever had.
Q: This sounds like a pretty interactive show. You play two pianos and a drum solo, and wander into the audience. You even serve milk and wine.
A: It's a full-service show. These are things we tried out at the smaller shows earlier in the year. That's where a lot of that stuff came from.
Q: Have you got into any trouble with the live Q&A segment?
A: Well, you never know what you're going to get. My assistants pick three questions, and sometimes they really throw me out there. Sometimes people will ask to sing. That's the fun part. You have to stay on your toes.
Read more.

2011-09-02T01:12:00.000-07:00

Review: Jay-Z & Kanye West, 'Watch the Throne'

Review: Jay-Z & Kanye West, 'Watch the Throne': Aidin Vaziri | "Watch the Throne" is all about excess. The first full-length collaboration between two of the most popular rappers of the past decade, Jay-Z and Kanye West, is an album about having too much money, power and ego. And that's before you even listen to the first song. The blinding cover art - a gold Mylar etching that unfolds into the shape of a cross - was created by Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci. The music inside is equally garish, helmed by a stable of big-budget producers that includes the Neptunes, DJ Premier, Swizz Beats, Q-Tip and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan. "Couture level flows never go on sale/ Luxury rap/ The Hermes of verses," Kanye raps on "Otis," a song that takes an expensive sample of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" and chops it to pieces. That's one of the album's more palatable verses. The two hip-hop titans don't try to one-up each other, which would actually provide a little spark; they merely take turns bragging side by side, as if it never occurred to them that they were actually supposed to be working together. In "New Day," they make a vain attempt at reflection, writing notes to their unborn children. The best West can offer is, "I might even make him be Republican/ So everybody know he love white people." It's exhausting hearing them bang on about their material lives, especially in a world where most of their fans are feeling the brunt of the bum economy. Worse still, "Watch the Throne" doesn't offer escapism or absurdity or a glance at the perils of the high life. It's just empty gloating from two men who have missed the point of life itself. "Basquiats, Warhols serving as my muses/ My house like a museum," Jay-Z raps on "Illest Mother- Alive." Success has never sounded so unappetizing.

2011-09-02T01:10:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Mark Kozelek

Aidin Vaziri | Mark Kozelek frequently has his back turned to the camera in publicity photographs. So it's a little surprising to find the somber San Francisco singer-songwriter (and leader of the rock bands Sun Kil Moon and the Red House Painters) become the willing subject of the new behind-the-scenes documentary, "On Tour." Actually, he doesn't give that much away. In the film, shot entirely in high-contrast black and white, the lonely backstage antics are mostly sacrificed for stunning reinterpretations of songs covering the past 19 years of his career, performed on a nylon-string acoustic guitar in various churches and hotel rooms during the past year.Kozelek spoke to us about the DVD, released on his own Caldo Verde label on Tuesday, shortly before departing for his latest journey.

Mark Kozelek
Q: After 20 years of keeping things mysterious, why let people behind the scenes now?
A: Midlife crisis. I just wanted to document a tour before I physically can't do one anymore.
Q: What do you think your fans are going to learn about you after watching the documentary?
A: That I spend a lot of time in coach and can't figure out European vending machines.
Q: Like your album covers and promo photos, "On Tour" is shot in black and white. What do you have against color?
A: If your budget only allows for a roadie to do the camera work, then go with black and white.
Q: Is this one of those tour documentaries like Wilco and Radiohead where you just complain all the time?
A: No, it just shows me kicking ass on the guitar and blowing people's minds.
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2011-09-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

Eoin Harrington: Up All Night

Eoin Harrington rides high on the tailspin: Aidin Vaziri | Eoin Harrington arrives for our interview late and bleary-eyed. We are at Tal-Y-Tara, a beautiful traditional tearoom in the Outer Richmond with tartan tablecloths, equestrian gear for sale in the front and classical music softly playing in the background. The Irish singer-songwriter, who is sporting a tight-fitting leather jacket and slightly mussed-up hair, sits down and apologizes. He orders a big pot of black tea and two malt balls, explaining he had a long night. But it's not what you think. Harrington was up watching documentaries and reading up on the state of the music industry. Since releasing his most recent album, "Confess," in April, he has been paying close attention to where artists stand as the labels struggle to cope with piracy and new technology. On his Facebook wall, he has posted graphs that reveal some shocking figures: To make just $1, a song needs to be streamed 3,494 times on the new free service Spotify. To earn the U.S. monthly minimum wage, an artist must sell 2,044 MP3s on iTunes. Last year, less than 1 percent of the music available for sale online was actually purchased. That's enough to keep any musician up at night.
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2011-09-02T00:45:00.000-07:00

The Milk Carton Kids: Give It Away

Aidin Vaziri | Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale, the Los Angeles singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists who make up the Milk Carton Kids, are giving away digital copies of their bittersweet and beautiful album "Prologue." We spoke to Ryan about the strategy of using the music as a calling card for the duo's current 46-date headlining tour.

Joey Ryan of the Milk Carton Kids
Q: You are giving your new album away. Don't musicians need to eat, too?
A: Why, do we look thin? We give away our albums, but we also sell them, and people who want to support us have been buying them. But we also want to give those people a chance to share it widely and guilt-free, which they are doing with enthusiasm - something we obviously appreciate.
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2011-09-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

Review: Sly Stone, 'I'm Back!'

Review: Sly Stone, 'I'm Back!': Aidin Vaziri | This release is being flogged as the first new recording from Sly Stone in 29 years, but that seems like a dubious claim. The reclusive rock icon's presence here feels negligible at best, with his raspy, worn voice only occasionally drifting into view in a set of unnecessary remakes of the songs that have made up every Sly and the Family Stone greatest-hits set since the beginning of time. Mainly, it appears as if the classic tracks have been either sampled outright or covered precisely by hired hands and given Santana-style makeovers with random musical guests such as Heart's Ann Wilson ("Everyday People"), the Doors' Ray Manzarek ("Dance to the Music") and - why not? - Johnny Winter ("Thank You [Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin])." This may be the first time Stone, whose last proper release was 1982's "Ain't But the One Way," has been made aware of their presence. The inclusion of three unreleased tracks - "Plain Jane," "His Eye on the Sparrow" and "Get Away" - is the only carrot dangling at the end of the stick. But the songs are predictably hideous.

2011-09-02T00:36:00.000-07:00

Live Review: Outside Lands at Golden Gate Park

Outside Lands music review: Nonstop rockin': Aidin Vaziri | With a glorious pink moon slowly rising over the Polo Field on Sunday, Arcade Fire stormed the stage with "Ready to Start." Thousands of dust-caked fans pushed forward on the lawn, raising their fists and shouting along with the Grammy-winning Canadian group's lanky front man, Win Butler. "This is one of those times where we feel like we have to pinch ourselves," he said after the song came to a thundering close, a crooked smile spreading across his face. The organizers of the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival - Berkeley-based Another Planet Entertainment - couldn't have scripted a better finale for its fourth year. After the organizational setbacks of the first few festivals - permit issues, neighborhood complaints, canceled headliners - this was the year when it felt as if the whole thing came together almost effortlessly. "It seems like this year the city has so embraced the festival on every level," said Another Planet's Gregg Perloff, taking a brief breather backstage on Saturday. Read more.

2011-08-08T00:42:00.001-07:00

Arcade Fire: Ready To Start

Aidin Vaziri | The world is still reeling from Arcade Fire's Grammy Awards upset earlier this year, when the stage-sagging band of Canadian indie-rock misfits snatched the coveted album of the year prize from under the noses of tireless superstars Eminem, Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. At the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival next Sunday we get to celebrate their unprecedented victory while revisiting the surging highlights of the group's most recent release, "The Suburbs." Bassist Tim Kingsbury called from the road last week to make sure we were prepared.

Tim Kingsbury of Arcade Fire
Q: Five years ago, you were playing for a few hundred people. Now, it's around 50,000. Do you ever miss playing the more intimate spaces?
A: There's things about it I definitely miss. It's taken a while to feel at home in that setting because there's usually such a huge barrier between you and the crowd. I remember the first time we played Coachella we walked off stage and said, "What the hell was that?" But I think we've gotten more used to it.
Q: What are your personal festival survival tips?
A: Sunscreen. Water. Maybe some earplugs. I'll be your mom for a second.
Q: That's very considerate advice.
A: Well, if you get sunburned and dehydrated on the first day you're not going to have a good time the rest of the weekend. We don't want to come there and have a burnt-out crowd. So do it for me.
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2011-08-08T00:36:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Ellie Goulding

Aidin Vaziri | In just a year, Ellie Goulding went from being a complete unknown in her native Britain to serenading Prince William and Kate Middleton with a private performance at the royal wedding. Goulding's first album, "Lights," was the fastest-selling debut of 2010, and her cover of Elton John's "Your Song" enjoyed a dizzying run up the charts. Now the 24-year-old electro-pop singer has cautiously set her sights on America. She checked in with us last week in preparation for her appearance at the Outside Lands Music and Arts festival in Golden Gate Park on Friday.

Ellie Goulding
Q: You were the only live performer to be asked to play the royal wedding. Did it feel like just another gig or were you biting your nails?
A: I'm notoriously underwhelmed by everything that happens to me. I just thought I wanted it to go as well as possible because it was their day, not my day. I didn't want my nerves to ruin it for them.
Q: I remember reading that your family discouraged you from singing because they said you had a weird voice. All this must be a bit gratifying.
A: I think it was my mom's way of being supportive in a negative, tough-love way.
Q: Did she want to keep your hopes in check in case things didn't work out?
A: No, we just had a weird relationship. I grew up in a household of negativity and pessimism. I always expect the worst. I'm in that mind-set. I don't go crazy when good things happen.
Q: Do you ever leave magazines with your face on the cover lying around when you go home?
A: I don't go home that often, but I know my mom buys the magazines. Some people are everywhere. I'm not that kind of celebrity.
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2011-08-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

Outside Lands Festival Turns 4

Outside Lands integrates new elements in 4th year: Aidin Vaziri | It's the final days of preparation for the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival and things are buzzing at the offices of Another Planet Entertainment, the independent Berkeley concert promotion company that produces the huge three-day concert in Golden Gate Park. With Phish, Muse and Arcade Fire topping a bill that boasts more than 70 acts spread across nearly a dozen stages, the organizers expect this year's event to be the biggest yet. "First you book the festival, then you promote the festival, and then you actually have to produce the festival," says Gregg Perloff, as phones ring steadily in the background. "We are so busy." Throw in a variety of new attractions, nearly twice as many local food vendors and a handful of after-hours shows and it's a miracle anyone in this office is getting any sleep. But as the festival enters its fourth year, the promoters feel as if they have finally hit their stride, especially in terms of the music. "We believe we have the best lineup in the world," Perloff says.
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2011-08-08T00:25:00.000-07:00

Review: Little Dragon, 'Ritual Union'

Review: Little Dragon, 'Ritual Union': Aidin Vaziri | Why get caught up in the '80s revival that's causing an outbreak of saxophone solos in pop music? On its third album, Little Dragon leapfrogs the decade entirely and goes for distinctly '90s touches, favoring skittering drum 'n' bass rhythms, industrial synthesizer effects and the kind of robot-huffing-helium vocals not heard since the heyday of the Sneaker Pimps. Or maybe the Swedish electro-pop troupe, recently given a boost by collaborations with Gorillaz and Big Boi, never outgrew its roots. That's no bad thing. "Ritual Union" balances its inadvertent nostalgia with singer Yukimi Nagano's impeccably cool presence in off-kilter cuts such as "Nightlight," "Seconds" and the rib-rumbling title track.

2011-08-08T00:16:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Mickey Hart

Aidin Vaziri | Mickey Hart, the former drummer for the Grateful Dead, is feeling ambitious. On his new album, an as-yet-untitled collaboration with lyricist Robert Hunter, he's setting the sounds of the entire history of the universe to music. And this isn't just some cosmic concept album - Hart, 67, who sits on the board of the Smithsonian, is collaborating with high-ranking NASA scientists, engineers at Meyer Sound and telescope operators around the globe to transfer light waves to sound waves to jams Deadheads can groove on. This week, the Mickey Hart Band takes a break from recording in Sebastopol to try out some of the new material (along with old favorites) on a brief tour of festivals and small clubs.

Mickey Hart
Q: It's about the whole universe?
A: I've been involved in sampling the epic events of the universe from the Big Bang to now - everything that makes up our lives. It's all about the vibrations of life. In this case they began as light waves, and these light waves are still washing over us. The scientists and Lawrence Livermore and Meyer Sound made them into sound waves. I want to bring these light waves into the human range and use that as a musical catalyst and play with it.
Q: You're going to put all that into one album?
A: You don't put it into one album. We don't make albums anymore, remember? I've been building a stellar library which contains thousands of these songs from the cosmos. Some of them I'll be using on the CD and some of them live. This project can go on and on and on and on. It's never ending, but you have to start somewhere.
Q: So what does the Big Bang sound like?
A: The cosmic low end of the universe is a B-flat. That's one of my key sounds. I couldn't do this work without the beginning of the story. It's just beginning. The universe is infinite. Now I just need another 20 years.
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2011-08-08T00:04:00.000-07:00

Gaucho: Bouncin' Around

Gaucho riding high on Gypsy jazz: Aidin Vaziri | With long-running residencies at Amnesia and Tartine Bakery (along with a half-dozen odd shows in between), Gaucho just might be the hardest-working Gypsy jazz band in San Francisco. Next month the group, founded by guitarist Dave Ricketts, will play five shows in five days. We asked Ricketts to promote each one separately while giving us the entire history of the collective, which is currently rounded out by guitarist Michael Groh, bassist Ari Munkres, accordionist Rob Reich, reed player Ralph Carney, drummer Pete Devine and special guest vocalist Tamar Korn. No big deal, right?
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2011-08-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

Review: Friendly Fires, 'Pala'

Review: Friendly Fires, 'Pala': Aidin Vaziri | It took a few weeks to rubber-stamp, but if there's just one album worth burning off the final embers of summer with, it's Friendly Fires' "Pala." On its second full-length release, the jittery British dance music trio celebrates high-definition debauchery and escape, fueled by a soundtrack that draws on the more euphoric end of '80s pop. In "Live Those Days Tonight," the band laments missing out on the rave era by re-creating it in fine detail for the future; in the manic "Hawaiian Air," singer Ed Macfarlane suffers through a dreadful flight ("Watching a film with a talking dog") for the payoff of bursting to life on the beach ("Can I take this all in?"); and in the sweltering "Show Me Lights," he dutifully chases the neon in the dark. But it's infinitely joyous songs such as "Blue Cassette" and "Hurting" that will suck in listeners so fully that more than one steak may sit charring on the grill while the chef goes flapping his arms and cavorting around the garden.

2011-08-07T23:57:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Norm Macdonald

Aidin Vaziri | It wasn't much of a surprise when Comedy Central decided not to pick up Norm Macdonald's "Sports Show" for a second season. Despite the weekly series' respectable ratings, the former "Saturday Night Live" star hasn't had much luck with television since he was dismissed from his duties at the "Weekend Update" anchor desk (anyone remember "Norm" or "A Minute With Stan Hooper"?). But he remains one of the funniest men in the business, as evidenced by his latest DVD, "Me Doing Stand-Up," and frequent late-night appearances on talk shows. Macdonald, 47, is on the road for the remainder of the year

Norm Macdonald
Q: What happened with the "Sports Show"?
A: I always thought that if the word "sports" was in the title we would have trouble because women wouldn't watch it - you're automatically cutting off 50 percent of your potential audience. That might have been part of the problem. We also had the terrible misfortune of going up against a great NBA final game every week. We were doing it on a Tuesday because I was thinking of football season, but we never made it to football season.
Q: After all this time, it feels like people still don't quite know what to do with you. How much of that is your fault?
A: I don't think I will ever find anything. I don't really know anything. I have no strong opinions on any subjects. I don't have a worldview or anything. Every time I think of an opinion, I immediately think of the counterpoint.
Q: You have no business being a comedian.
A: I know.
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2011-08-07T23:53:00.000-07:00

Debbie Neigher: Small Wonder

Debbie Neigher puts life, soul into her music: Aidin Vaziri | At just 5 feet tall, Debbie Neigher isn't easy to spot in a busy Valencia Street coffee shop. I stand in line behind her for a good 10 minutes before I actually see her. But she makes up for her diminutive stature with her oversize ambition. The 24-year-old New Jersey native dropped everything two years ago and moved to San Francisco, having only briefly visited the city once before. After landing a full-time job working with at-risk youth as an art program counselor at Larkin Street Youth Services, she set aside two weeks to make her first album, a self-titled collection of songs that she unconditionally put her life and savings into. "I moved to San Francisco a few months after school," she says. "I figured I already did something reckless, so why not take on something else that felt big and scary?" The gamble paid off. John Vanderslice, the acclaimed local singer-songwriter who has produced albums by Spoon and the Mountain Goats, asked Neigher if he could produce the record after giving her a tour of his all-analog Mission District studio, Tiny Telephone - a task he takes on as infrequently as a lunar eclipse occurs. "I was completely shocked and bewildered," says Neigher, who plays a record-release show at Cafe Du Nord on Tuesday. "I'm still in shock."
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2011-08-07T23:50:00.000-07:00

Review: Kelly Rowland, 'Here I Am'

Review: Kelly Rowland, 'Here I Am': Aidin Vaziri | Imagine having to wake up in Beyoncé's colossal shadow every day - knowing whatever you do, no matter how much soul you put into it or what you wear doing it, you will never measure up. It's enough to drive you mental. But enough about Solange Knowles. Beyoncé's former Destiny's Child band mate Kelly Rowland seems mostly unbothered by taking the backseat. She has done it for years. So it's no surprise to find that her third solo album is an unremarkable, pedestrian pastiche of current R&B radio, jumping from unconvincing self-affirmation anthems ("I'm That Chick") to hopelessly submissive hip-hop cuts ("Lay It on Me"). The material exhibits none of the depth or silky sheen of her former outfit or its breakout leader, but instead settles for something a little more crass that not even the outstanding "Motivation," the hit collaboration with Lil Wayne, can repair.

2011-08-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

Cults: Who To Follow

Cults: Indie pop duo draws flock of followers: Aidin Vaziri | Brian Oblivion, the 22-year-old guitarist for everyone's favorite Brooklyn buzz band, Cults, was feeling a little overwhelmed. The other day he and his girlfriend, singer Madeline Follin, were in the middle of a shoot with Mick Rock, the photographer behind all those familiar images of Queen, David Bowie and Lou Reed. "He's amazing," Oblivion drawled, betraying his San Diego roots while taking a break from his duties in front of the lens. Then he turned back to Rock: "We're going to spend the whole interview talking about you." Just a year ago, the couple were dozing through film classes at New York University and recording songs at home when a friend forwarded their glockenspiel-fueled track "Go Outside" to a couple of influential music blogs. The response was overwhelming. In just a few whirlwind months, the band signed with Columbia Records, released a self-titled record to breathless praise, and toured the world.
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2011-07-21T01:07:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Dolly Parton

Aidin Vaziri | Not for the first time, Dolly Parton is here to make it better. The 65-year-old country music superstar, actor and amusement park mogul's latest album, "Better Day" - her 41st studio recording - is a salve for these sour times, full of uplifting tunes and honest Smoky Mountains shenanigans.

Dolly Parton
Q: People outside of Nashville started to take you seriously after the White Stripes covered "Jolene." Why did it take so long?
A: I know I'm a lot to take in. A lot of people think I'm a comedian. They think I'm about boobs and hair - those are the horny ones. But there are also the people who know how I always take my singing and songwriting seriously. I've been around so long I feel like a family member to people. I'm very blessed to have my blue-haired fans and the ones in between and now I have the little ones. I'm hoping I'm around forever.
Q: Do you have any pointers for the drag queens coming to the concert?
A: There are just two things they've got to have - big tits and big wigs. The looks of them, they need to saw their legs off because they're always 3 feet higher than I am. They're all tall boys, and when they wear the heels they look like they're 8 feet tall. But I love it. I expect to have my drag queens in the front row in San Francisco. We're going to have fun.
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2011-07-21T01:06:00.000-07:00

Soundgarden: Screaming Back To Life

Cornell: Soundgarden reunion was a happy accident: Aidin Vaziri | Gulp. Chris Cornell doesn't sound happy. The last time we talked, the hirsute rock god dismissed the idea of getting back together with his old band, the platinum-selling '90s rock mainstays Soundgarden. "That, to me, is similar to playing the back of a Chinese restaurant," he said. It was two years ago, and he was promoting "Scream," his divisive, genre-bending collaboration with hip-hop producer Timbaland, so it was easy to understand his desire to move forward. But when I bring up the quote on the eve of the recently reunited Soundgarden's first tour date in 14 years, Cornell insists his words were taken out of context. "I didn't say that," he huffs, calling from Toronto. "Start over."
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2011-07-21T00:59:00.000-07:00

Review: Tim Robbins and the Rogues Gallery Band

Review: Tim Robbins and the Rogues Gallery Band: Aidin Vaziri | Recording this CD shortly after splitting with Susan Sarandon and watching a major film project collapse, Tim Robbins has been accused of making a mid-life crisis album - mainly by himself. But the self-titled debut by the 52-year-old Oscar-winning actor-director and his Rogues Gallery Band is never quite that focused. Produced by Hal Willner and recorded over two days in a London studio with a crack team of musicians that includes keyboardist Roger Eno and multi-instrumentalist Kate St. John, it traipses through blues, folk and rock with an occasional sea shanty thrown in. Robbins' voice evokes mid-period Dylan, but his songs, written and stockpiled over the decades, are all over the place. "Time to Kill" is an unpolished dirge about a soldier who accidentally kills children; "You're My Dare" sounds like an ambling Celtic ballad; and "Lightning Calls" is a rhythm-heavy 3 a.m. meditation on Nelson Mandela. The album has its flaws, but Robbins never sounds less than convincing. Maybe it has to do with his pedigree (his parents were the celebrated folksingers Gil and Mary Robbins) or the genuine heartache leading up to the project. Whatever it is, it should save him from the bargain-bin fate of fellow musical thespians such as Billy Bob Thornton and Kevin Bacon.

2011-07-21T00:56:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Scotty McCreery

Aidin Vaziri | Scotty McCreery, the 17-year-old country singer from North Carolina with the big smile, crooned his way to victory on the 10th season of "American Idol." Now comes the real test: taking his aw-shucks act on the road for the annual American Idols Live tour. We caught up with McCreery, whose new single is "Out of Summertime," in Los Angeles just as rehearsals were wrapping up.

Scotty McCreery
Q: Are they making you do any of the big group productions?
A: There are a couple of those.
Q: You looked miserable during those things - especially with pop songs. Has it gotten easier?
A: I'm definitely more used to it now. The ones we're doing aren't exactly like that. The stuff I'm singing is the stuff I'm comfortable with and have been singing my whole life.
Q: I'll never forget when they put you in a room with Lady Gaga.
A: You only saw half of what she said to me. That was rough.
Q: What was the best advice you received on the show?
A: I think what Randy said at the beginning: "Stay in your lane and don't change you." I just did me. During the interview, I remember they asked me what makes you different. I said what makes me different is my being normal. My mug shot is not on the Internet. I don't have any crazy tattoos.
Q: Not yet anyway. I'll check back with you after the tour.
A: I'm not planning on it. I don't plan on changing me.
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2011-07-21T00:51:00.000-07:00

Review: Washed Out, 'Within and Without'

Review: Washed Out, 'Within and Without': Aidin Vaziri | The gauzy synthesizers, liquid tempos and fey vocals might conjure visions of Patrick Nagel lithographs and black lacquer panther table lamps. But Washed Out's music is more than a mere throwback to the "Miami Vice" age. On his first proper album, Ernest Greene, the one-man band who until last year was making music in a bedroom at his parents' house in Georgia, offers existential escape. Songs such as "Amor Fati," "Far Away" and "Before" are dreamy and lush, no doubt inspired by the fragrant air of the peach groves surrounding the estate. He channels the Cocteau Twins on the otherworldly "You and I" and shades of Vangelis on the woozy opener, "Eyes Be Closed," without belying that his calming elixir is totally for the here and now.

2011-07-07T00:35:00.000-07:00

Live Review: Rihanna at Oracle Arena

Confident Rihanna seduces with gloss, tight tunes: Aidin Vaziri | Rihanna isn't particularly big on wearing pants. Through four or five costume changes during her sold-out concert at Oracle Arena in Oakland on Thursday night, she managed to get a pair on only once - for about half a song - before they were seductively ripped away by her half-naked backup dancers. The 23-year-old Barbadian pop star spent the rest of the evening frolicking in a beaded bikini, white patent leather bustier, shredded Daisy Duke shorts and a billowing yellow dress that came accompanied with a high-powered fan sitting just beneath it. The skimpy outfits not only gave her a chance to show off her stunningly long legs but the many bruises on her knees. It was perfect. Read more.

2011-07-07T00:29:00.000-07:00

Quinn DeVeaux: Kind of Blue

Guitarist Quinn DeVeaux mixes musical genres: Aidin Vaziri | A few weeks ago, San Francisco jazz and blues singer Kim Nalley was raving about a new musical find. "I just discovered this guy named Quinn DeVeaux," she said. "He is a black country guitar singer-songwriter. I heard him once at a private jam session and I attacked him asking where he has been hiding my whole life." The Bay Area club fixture Lavay Smith is so much a fan she loaned DeVeaux her bandleader and boyfriend, piano player Chris Siebert. Meanwhile, the people over at the Berkeley independent concert production firm Another Planet Entertainment tapped the singer and his six-piece band, Blue Beat Review, to play at last year's Outside Lands festival in Golden Gate Park, sharing a bill with the Strokes and Al Green. DeVeaux doesn't quite know what to make of all the adulation. "I just sit in my room and write songs," he said the other day, killing time at the wondrous Valencia Street antique emporium and music venue Viracocha. "It's just what I do." Read more.

2011-07-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

Review: Ledisi, 'Pieces of Me'

Review: Ledisi, 'Pieces of Me': Aidin Vaziri | Stop sobbing over Oprah's disappearing act - Ledisi has got you covered. On her fifth studio album, the Grammy-nominated New Orleans-born, Oakland-bred R&B singer dispenses words of encouragement and empowerment with every breath. The former "Beach Blanket Babylon" regular pushes her fans to "Raise Up" and "Shine," applauding their endeavors with a hearty "Bravo." On the title track, "Pieces of Me," Ledisi bluntly divulges her own shortcomings: "Like every woman I know/ I'm complicated, for sho'," she wails, over a mid-tempo wash of wind chimes and synthesizers. Hitting several octaves, however, is clearly not a problem. The album's persistently laid-back tone is broken up with a guest appearance by Jaheim on the knees-bent duet "Stay Together" and earthy collaborations with John Legend ("I Miss You Now") and KayGee of Naughty By Nature ("Coffee"). Because, well, even Oprah needed Dr. Oz around to keep things interesting.

2011-07-07T00:24:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Machine Head

Aidin Vaziri | We caught up with Machine Head front man Robb Flynn last week at Green Day's Jingletown Studios, where he was putting the finishing touches on the Grammy-nominated Oakland group's upcoming seventh studio album, "Unto the Locust." There was just one problem. "We can't seem to write a damn song under six minutes," he said. Flynn wasn't kidding: The band's latest single, "Locust," clocks in at over eight. Machine Head, by some estimates the second-biggest heavy metal act in the Bay Area, plays the main stage at the Mayhem Festival at Shoreline Amphitheatre next Sunday.

Robb Flynn of Machine Head
Q: You're recording your seventh album at Green Day's studio. Does Billie Joe Armstrong ever drop by and offer advice?
A: I think he's got better things to do than offer us advice. It's a good studio. We've been in a bunch of corporate spaces with Art Deco couches you can't really sit in. It's cool to be in a place that's world-class but has punk rock posters on the walls and pictures of the Avengers and the Clash and the Beatles. It's also got Martin Luther King's mug shot in the bathroom.
Q: I'm sure Billie Joe would have told you that, at eight minutes, "Locust" is probably six minutes too long to get on the radio.
A: Yeah, we're not exactly trying to reach the Alice crowd with this one. It's got a solo section that's over two minutes long - most pop songs now aren't even that long. We're conditioned that everything needs to be three minutes or it's not going to connect. I think music should take you on a journey. Riding a train is cool, but riding a roller coaster is more fun.
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2011-07-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Natasha Bedingfield

Aidin Vaziri | Natasha Bedingfield gets down to basics on her latest album, "Strip Me." So it makes sense that she's supporting it with a low-key tour called "Less Is More," which stops at Slim's on Tuesday. The 29-year-old British singer is best known for her single "Unwritten," which served as the theme song for the MTV reality series "The Hills" and earned her a Grammy nomination for best female pop vocal performance. Bedingfield also appears as a guest vocalist on rapper Nicki Minaj's debut album, "Pink Friday," as well as recent singles by country trio Rascal Flatts and Canadian pop-punk band Simple Plan.

Natasha Bedingfield
Q: Did you retire the dress that turned transparent in front of the camera flashes on the red carpet in Vienna?
A: I hid my boobs away for seven years, but they finally made an appearance. It was funny because the event I was at was the Life Ball in Vienna, where most of the women were wearing pasties on their breasts and men were wearing hot pants. I thought I was the most covered-up person there, but I guess the girls wanted out.
Q: It must have been Nicki Minaj's influence. How did you end up working with her?
A: She called me up and said, "I'm about to finish my album and would love to have you sing on the final track." I was on tour, and I had like two days to do it. I happened to be passing through Detroit, so I got in Eminem's studio and instead of sleeping I just did the song.
Q: You also worked with Simple Plan and Rascal Flatts. Had you heard of either of them before they approached you?
A: Yes. I've always mingled with a very diverse group of people. My music taste reflects that, too.
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2011-07-06T23:59:00.000-07:00

Bob Mould Sees The Light

Bob Mould tells his story in 'See a Little Light': Aidin Vaziri | Bob Mould has led a lot of different lives in his first 50 years. In his new autobiography, "See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody," he revisits them without flinching. From his days as the closeted front man for Minneapolis indie rock heroes Hüsker Dü to his current career as a gay dance club DJ, from launching a successful solo career to picking up work as a script writer for World Championship Wrestling, no detail is spared. It took Mould more than three years to organize his ideas and get them on paper, with an assist from author Michael Azerrad, who prominently featured Hüsker Dü in his book "Our Band Could Be Your Life." "Was it the hardest thing I've ever done?" says Mould, who now lives in San Francisco. "I don't know about that. But it was definitely a challenge. Writing a 400-plus-page book dealing with chronology and history and memory and fact takes a lot more work than a three-minute pop song." Read more.

2011-07-06T23:53:00.000-07:00

Review: Beyoncé, '4'

Review: Beyoncé, '4': Aidin Vaziri | By revealing a split personality on her previous album, 2008's hot and cold "I Am ... Sasha Fierce," Beyoncé left fans divided. There will be no such problem with the follow-up, "4," a straightforward collection of sleek R&B ballads dealing exclusively with heartbreak, underachieving men and the unbreakable women who fall for them. Beyoncé, whose marriage to Jay-Z is in reality just fine, is out to impress that she has grown up, ditching her domineering father and moving beyond VIP rooms, which means the record opens with the purposeful lighter lifter "1+1" and is rounded out with a genuine Diane Warren lament, "I Was Here." There are some sparks in the form of the skittish electropop single "Run the World (Girls)," epic "Countdown" and the Kanye West-produced "Party," an easy-grooving jam that features OutKast rapper Andre 3000. But for the most part, this is Beyoncé slipping on the silk robe, grabbing her copy of "State of Wonder" off the shelf and settling in for the night.

2011-07-06T23:51:00.001-07:00

Pop Quiz: Matt Nathanson

Aidin Vaziri | Matt Nathanson set out to make a great big rock record with his latest release, "Modern Love." But in the end, the San Francisco singer-songwriter couldn't help making a record that sounds, well, a lot like him - sweet, endearing and a bit weird. Having just returned from a tour with country-pop duo Sugarland, Nathanson is about to embark on a long trek as the opening act on the Maroon 5 and Train co-headlining North American tour, giving him plenty of opportunity to play his new single, "Faster," to empty bleachers across the country.

Matt Nathanson
Q: You are going to be opening for Train and Maroon 5 during the summer. Are you doing this of your own free will?
A: Yeah. I've known Pat Monahan and the Train guys since we used to play together at the Sweetwater and Paradise Lounge.
Q: Are you planning on having a soundproof pod backstage that you can hide inside?
A: No, I'm not. It will be fun.
Q: Have you watched Adam Levine on the reality show "The Voice"?
A: I can't bring myself to watch it.
Q: What I'm trying to do here is get you in trouble before the tour even starts.
A: I know. I know you very well.
Read more.

2011-07-06T23:50:00.000-07:00

Review: Bon Iver, 'Bon Iver, Bon Iver'

Review: Bon Iver, 'Bon Iver, Bon Iver': Aidin Vaziri | Five years ago, a heartbroken Justin Vernon retreated to a hunting cabin in the Wisconsin woods. He emerged several months later with a raw, deeply moving record called "For Emma, Forever Ago." Its unnervingly quiet songs and weird falsetto flights seemed designed exclusively for empathetic loners with beards. Instead, Vernon's songs found unlikely fans in the producers of the "Twilight" movies, Peter Gabriel and multiplatinum rapper Kanye West, who tapped him as a prominent guest on his latest album, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy." There was a surreal scene at this year's Coachella festival, where Vernon, a tall, scraggly man in a white T-shirt, was placed on a platform to perform alongside West's entourage of glittery dancers. But it turns out it was all a temporary diversion. On his second album as Bon Iver (he also released an album under the name Volcano Choir), Vernon returns to his low-key, folksy roots. This one wasn't recorded in a log cabin, but the emotional weight of the songs makes it sound as if it were. Sonically, it's more experimental than its predecessor, with military drums thumping in the distance on the opener, "Perth"; a child's bicycle bell chiming in "Michicant"; and synths burbling through "Lisbon, OH." But mostly, the album is built around solitary piano lines and that devastating falsetto, which feels no more secure for all the accolades. The music feels as if it's suspended in air, as if getting a taste of mainstream pop only confirmed Vernon's desire to make music that sets a mood but doesn't require motion. The naive charm of the first album has dissipated a bit, but "Bon Iver, Bon Iver" still feels like a shot of integrity in a world of fake.

2011-07-06T23:44:00.000-07:00

Peter Murphy: 'So I'm a Goth.'

Peter Murphy: 'So I'm a Goth. That's fine by me.': Aidin Vaziri | Peter Murphy has been the living embodiment of rock's dark side for more than three decades - from his early days as the slithering, fire-breathing baritone in Bauhaus singing "Bela Legosi's Dead" to his recent cameo as one of the original vampires in "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse." With the release of his first new solo album in seven years, the self-explanatorily titled "Ninth," the 53-year-old British singer discusses working without a label, why Bauhaus will never get back together and how he hates being typecast. Read more.

2011-06-14T23:51:00.000-07:00

Live Review: Florence and the Machine at the Greek

Florence and the Machine review: Roaring: Aidin Vaziri | It's easy to see why Welch connects with so many people. For one thing, in an age where AutoTune-enhanced vocals seem to dominate the charts, she can really wail. Even though her songs tend to start out timidly, with some polite plucking of the harp and a flourish of drums, they inevitably end with the singer opening her paint-peeling pipes full blast. In the band's best moments - the anthemic "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)," the deceptively tender "Cosmic Love" - she was part Goth siren, part soul vixen. Imagine the 6-foot-tall love child of Nick Cave and Alison Goldfrapp wagging around in head-to-toe Gucci while bellowing to the moon. Even though a new album is in the works, the set focused almost exclusively on the songs from "Lungs," which were written after a bad breakup with boyfriend Stuart Hammond (they ended up getting back together). Despite the celebratory tone of the night, each one concealed a world of violence and hurt. "No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber," she sang in "Blinding." "Until I realize that it was you who held me under." Read more.

2011-06-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Jason Isbell

Aidin Vaziri | Since former Drive-By Truckers guitarist Jason Isbell set off on a solo career five years ago, he has been logging thousands of miles on the road and hanging out with all kinds of characters. Many of them appear on his third album, "Here We Rest," which he recorded with 400 Unit, a band he picked up along the way. Isbell settled down long enough at his home near Muscle Shoals, Ala., to knock out the record last year, but for the most part he's been living out of a van.

Jason Isbell
Q: A couple of years ago your van was cleaned out in San Francisco. Your drummer also quit here. What bad thing do you think will happen this time?
A: That was just a terrible day. We've always had a great time in San Francisco. We'll probably be hung over. That will be the only bad thing that will happen.
Q: How much whiskey do you go through on an average day?
A: I'm on my second one right now. But I'm drinking it in coffee, so it's a little more dignified.
Q: Why did you ask people to stop taping your shows?
A: It makes me mad when people are holding up their phones and videotaping. If someone wants to stare at their phone, they can do it at home. You're supposed to go to a show and get drunk and get laid. You don't get those things if you're sitting there worried about your stereo line connection.
Read more.

2011-06-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

Beyond The Dirt: Mötley Crüe

Mötley Crüe's Vince Neil reflects on 30-year run: Aidin Vaziri | The overdoses, breakups, fights, sex videos and frequent prison stays have only made Mötley Crüe stronger. This year, the eternally decadent Los Angeles hard rock band - featuring the original lineup of singer Vince Neil, bassist Nikki Sixx, guitarist Mick Mars and drummer Tommy Lee - celebrates its 30th anniversary with an arena tour with Poison and the New York Dolls. The show hits the Bill Graham Civic on Wednesday. Neil, who owns a home in Danville, looks back on the group's studio releases and marvels that he survived. "When people give us lifetime achievement awards and all that, I think, wow, we've been together 30 years," he says. "Not too many bands can do that." Read more.

2011-06-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

Live Review: U2 at Oakland Coliseum

U2 review: Soulful, impressive and worth the wait: Aidin Vaziri | It was massive. It was relentless. And, above all else, it was heartbreaking. But enough about the gnarly traffic jam outside Oakland's Overstock.com Coliseum on Tuesday, which turned a typically easy commute to the ballpark into a panic-laced three-hour ordeal dotted with beaming red lights and a robust chorus of car horns. The real action took place inside the stadium, where nearly 70,000 fans slowly filtered into their seats to finally catch a glimpse of U2's big-budget 360° world tour, rescheduled from last year after the group's front man, Bono, injured his back during rehearsals. The singer, wearing his ever-present sunglasses in the middle of the evening, made up for the nightmare commute with a little flattery and a lot of passion. Read more.

2011-06-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

Review: Vetiver, 'The Errant Charm'

Review: Vetiver, 'The Errant Charm': Aidin Vaziri | Andy Cabic, the singer-songwriter and driving force behind Vetiver, gave away the game a few albums back. The San Francisco band's "Thing of the Past" offered reverent covers of early '70s folk-rock oddities by Townes Van Zandt, Garland Jeffreys and Norman Greenbaum. But by revealing his influences, Cabic also revealed his deep love for the kind of music he makes - it's the kind of passion that drives otherwise rational men to spend huge swaths of their weekends fingering dusty old records in search of the perfect three-minute soundtrack to a summer daydream. On "The Errant Charm," the group's fifth studio album, he comes up with almost a dozen of his own. With the drifting acoustic riffs of "It's Beyond Me" and "Worse for Wear" giving way to the languid AM funk of "Can't You Tell" and the cosmic country swirl of "Wonder Why," the music remains light and airy even as the lyrics take occasional dark twists. "Short dollars, I'm spending my peace of mind/ When is this old world going to treat me kind," Cabic sings, his mellow voice belying the troubles that make him toss and turn at night. The unobstructed optimism of the group's 2009 indie hit "Everyday" still surfaces here, but it's in the expansive, slow-burning sorrow of album closers "Faint Praise" and "Soft Glass" that Cabic earns a place alongside his obscure heroes.

2011-06-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

Pop Quiz: Jackson Browne

Aidin Vaziri | It's not often you get the chance to catch Jackson Browne at an intimate venue like the Great American Music Hall. But that's where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee will be on Friday, presenting a rare stateside show by the Cuban singer-songwriter Carlos Varela. Browne, 62, might sit in on a number or two, but the main reason for this small-club appearance is to introduce Varela, a well-known Latin music star who embodies many of his own political and poetic ideals, to new audiences. Speaking by phone from New York last week, Browne told us what makes him such a fan.

Jackson Browne
Q: What was it that made you want to throw your name behind him?
A: He's a brilliant singer and songwriter. He's not like anybody else. A lot of North Americans just think of Buena Vista Social Club when they think about Cuban music. But Carlos makes rock music. He's the one guy who sings out about what people feel in Cuban. He's from a generation that's really impatient, that wants something to happen, something to change. He's the voice of Cuban youth.
Q: How's your Spanish? Can you guys even talk to each other over the deli tray backstage?
A: I speak a little bit of Spanish. Cuban is really hard. He has to repeat himself all the time. I do make sure people are handy so if anyone is trying to communicate an ideal or subtlety we can do that.
Q: So you travel with an entourage of interpreters?
A: No, just friends. When I was staying at the Hotel Nacional, we were in my hotel room drinking rum and singing songs to each other. At a certain point, my room filled up with a whole cast of bilingual people. One of the people in the room translating our songs to each other was Benicio Del Toro.
Read more.

2011-06-14T23:25:00.000-07:00

The Set List: U2's 360° World Tour

U2 going full circle with stadium show: Aidin Vaziri | Even for a band known for its grand gestures, U2's 360° world tour feels like a monumental undertaking. Forget the oversize white flags and malfunctioning neon lemons of the past, this time the action takes place in "The Claw" - a 150-foot circular stage featuring a massive exostructure that takes four days to build, weighs 400 tons and requires 48 semitrucks to haul between cities. According to Live Nation Entertainment, it is not only the most expensive tour of all time, it is also the highest grossing. Almost a year after it was postponed because of front man Bono's emergency back surgery, the in-the-round stadium show will finally roll in to the Overstock.com Coliseum in Oakland on Tuesday. In anticipation of its arrival, we shuffled through a pile of recent set lists and put together a fairly comprehensive preview of what fans can expect to hear during the 2 1/2-hour concert. (Spoiler alert: They're not playing "Mofo.") Read more.

2011-06-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

Review: Diego Garcia, 'Laura'

Review: Diego Garcia, 'Laura': Aidin Vaziri | Diego Garcia, the man Spin magazine once described as the Julio Iglesias of indie rock, was nearly famous with his New York band Elefant. But their sleek, unabashedly romantic take on the Strokes' sound never found the audience it deserved. On his first solo release, the impossibly handsome singer, born to Argentine parents in Detroit, finds a more suitable setting for his brooding songs. Drawing on his Latin background, the album is resplendent in fluttering Spanish guitars and dramatic strings. Garcia, who plays Thursday at Hotel Utah, goes into full crooner mode on tracks such as "You Were Never There" and "All Eyes on You," tracing the romantic ups and downs that led to his marriage with the record's namesake, Laura. They live in a lush apartment on the Upper East Side with a baby girl now, but you would never tell from the heartbroken lyrics that fill the album. On "Nothing to Hide," Garcia is practically on his knees when he belts out the chorus, "In my heart/ I got nothing to hide." Despite the persistent risk of schmaltz (he straddles the line nimbly), "Laura" makes a lovely companion piece to Elefant's lost classic, "Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid." It feeds off the same insecurities and inspiration, but now under the magnifying glass that comes with age.