Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival (Empire Polo Grounds, Indio, CA, 30 April 2006)

My friends and I woke up around 10am on Sunday after an exhausting first day at Coachella. I woke up to the bright sunlight and the high heat, which was around 90 degrees already. We took our time getting ready, and even opted to finish watching a movie called The Perfect Score with the ever so lovely Scarlett Johansson. We just couldn't leave until we find out how they stole the S.A.T. from ETS. They didn't, but instead worked together. Boo!

I then went to the concierge desk to pick up my special gift package. I got this great deal at the Westin where for $199 you get a whole weekend plus $125 to spend on anything in the hotel. The lady told me that they'll up it to $250 plus a 50% off coupon if I attend their damn timeshare thing. I told her after my spa appointment tomorrow. Needless to say, lunch was on the Westin that day.

The concierge also told me that the best way to beat the Coachella traffic is to go on Jackson St. off the 10. So we did and we saved a boat load of time getting there! The walk from the lot to the fairgrounds was long, but I'd rather be outside the car rather than waiting in it.

What I forgot to mention was that on Saturday, we saw this guy wear this outfit:





















Which I thought was cool and all because it made me less afraid to wear this:

Yeah, thanks to J.C. who egged me on to wear this complete American Apparel ensemble. My friends asked if I brought my pants with me, which I did to settle their fears. Let me tell you, make fun of the outfit, but I was always comfortable with it on.

I didn't take that many pics since my camera was running out of juice. I wanted to save it all for Madonna.

We started off with The Magic Numbers on the Main Stage. They actually played really well, despite the cheeziness of their songs. And they had quite a following. The band really thanked the crowd for their support. They also played a number of new songs which I don't have the titles of.

We then went to see Phoenix in the Gobi Tent and Metric iin the Mojave tent since they were right next to each other. Phoenix was a bit odd, since their new songs sound too much like The Strokes meets The Stills. We stayed for two songs and were not that impressed.

We then walked over across the way to see Metric. Emily was looking great as always, and was hyper. The band was pretty into it as well. They started off with "Empty" which is the typical song they start off with in this tour. I think they followed it up with "Glass Ceiling." I wanted to catch more of them, but we were on the outside of the tent and wanted to see what's happening on the Main Stage.

We passed by Phoenix again and caught them doing their rockin' version of "If I Ever Feel Better." We stayed for that song, watching from afar, but then proceeded to the Main Stage.

We waited a bit for Matisyahu before he came on. I don't really care for this guy, but I wanted to see what all the hype is about. And to see a Hassidic Jew rap in a reggae style is pretty entertaining. I was bored from the get go. Probably the most interesting thing he did was do those record scratching noises with his mouth.

I was so bored that I went back to the Neighborhoodies booth to get my shirt. This is what I got:


It's from Blur's "Advert" if you don't know.

After Matisyahu was Sleater-Kinney on the Main Stage. These rrrrriot grrrrls were so great! I really didn't like them until The Woods came out. And I am wondering why I didn't like them before. They were fantastic and I enjoyed them a lot. I only knew the new songs they played like "The Fox" and "Rollercoaster" but now I have to get their other albums.

Now the moment has arrived. We left after Sleater-Kinney and went to the Sahara Tent to get our spot for Madonna. But first, we had to endure Paul Oakenfold and his DJ set.

When we arrived at the Sahara Tent, it was already very full. We were able to find a spot that was similar to our spot at Daft Punk the night before. At first we were in front of these Bears. Then we were out of the hairy woods.

Paul Oakenfold played a pretty good DJ set. He really knew how to hype up the crowd, settle them down and then hype them up again. He played Underworld's "Born Slippy" which was mixed with something else. It was good.

After Oakenfold left at around 8pm, the mad rush came in for Madonna. The crowd was getting anxious and every time another background tune played, boos would come out. People were hot, sweaty, anxious and ready to dance.

She finally came out at around 8:45pm. Which seemed like an eternity after just standing there in front of all these people.


Then, the curtains opened, revealing what you see above. Then the familiar ticks of "Hung Up" came on and I was going crazy! The disco ball in the background actually opened up, revealing Madonna and her slew of dancers. The crowd was flashing numerous photographs and everyone was going wild!

Unfortunately, Madonna only played six songs. She also played "I Love New York" which is below:



She also played "Ray of Light" and ended with "Everybody." Madonna was just oozing sex on stage. Despite her age, she looked better than most 20 year olds. She teased the crowd by ending up in a one piece leotard at the end of her set. She even asked the crowd if her ass was still alright, in which we all resoundingly said "YES."

People were disappointed though that she only played six songs. But, I thought it was fine given the situation.

We then walked over with a slew of people towards the Main Stage to check out Massive Attack. We were so tired from Madonna that we just laid down and rested. I also got a veggie gyro to curb my appetite. Massive Attack was more like background, chill music before we went on the next act.

After a 30 minute rest, we walked over to the Outdoor Stage to see The Go! Team. They were energetic and fun as always, but that damn Ninja's voice is just too annoying sometimes. The crowd seemed very into it, and so was I from afar.

Our final stop was the Mojave tent to see a bit of Dungen. They were actually pretty good, despite me not understanding what they were saying. There was a sparse crowd, which was a welcome surprise given the Madonna fiasco.

After Dungen was one of my new favourite bands, Art Brut. They came on really late, and only had time to play a few songs...theoretically.


Lead singer Eddie was in top form as always. He kept on telling the crowd that if they go beyond their midnight curfew, they will be fined $2,000 per song. Well, they went way over their curfew, playing at least 4 songs. Highlights included "Formed a Band," "Emily Kane," "These Animal Menswear" and "Modern Art." For "Modern Art", Eddie went down to the crowd and sang, like he always does. For "Rusted Guns of Milan," he said that the song was about a certain band member and he looked at Jasper Future for that one. After their last song, "Good Weekend," they played a long final instrumental. Their tour manager was constantly signaling them to stop, yelling at them even, but they refused to do so. It was classic!

After another long wait to leave the place, we walked the long trail back to our car. We left the place pretty quickly and got home at a semi-decent hour.

Another great Coachella adventure! I will definitely be there in 2007.

Overall Beer Rating for Day 2:

Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival (Empire Polo Grounds, Indio, CA, 29 April 2006)

I almost didn't make it to Coachella this year.

As I stumbled home from Ladytron at around 2am, I set up my phone alarm to 4am so I can make my 7am flight to Ontario. Well, my phone alarm did go off, but I hit the snooze button one too many times...on my desk alarm clock! So, I finally woke up and it was 6am. I didn't have that much time to spare.

I skipped the shower, thinking that I'm going to stink anyways at Coachella. I picked up my friend and sped to the airport. Even with security thoroughly inspecting my friend's bag, we were the last persons in the airplane. I slept the rest of the way to Ontario and skipping on the OJ that Southwest was giving out.

Still feeling like shit, we arrived at Ontario. We drove on the I-10 and went to the outlet malls near Palm Desert, reasoning that we had a lot of time to kill before the first band we really wanted to see. Then checked in at the hotel, only to find out our room wasn't ready. At this point, the temperature was around 90 degrees. We then drove to the festival.

We were faced with heavy traffic and we didn't get into the parking lot until nearly an hour waiting. (N.B.: Next time, take the Jackson St. exit off the freeway, should lead you to the "other" parking lot. Easier entrance and exit, but the walk is far from the fairgrounds).

We entered the fairgrounds, and saw the bicycle of death thing:

















We then proceeded to plan our concert itinerary:

















The first act we saw was Animal Collective at the Outdoor Theatre. They bored us with their yips and yaps. I really wanted to see these guys, but it was just too boring for us. I'm sure they're much better in a smaller stage and not amidst this, albeit tolerable, heat.

We then went to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at the Mojave Tent:

















Clap your hands and say "yeah, that's a pretty shitty picture." We weren't that far away, but my camera's flash capabilities isn't that strong.

We waited for a while since they were having problems with their equipment. I noticed some of the members of Clap Your Hands motioning to their tech guys to fix a problem with some instrument or gadget. They came on finally and we caught "In This Home on Ice," "Graceful Retreat," "Is This Love" and something else. I wanted to stay for the entire set, but I also wanted to see acts I haven't seen before.

We walked over to the Main Stage to catch a bit of Common. I'm not that into rap, but good artists like Common should be well worth watching.

I got bored. However, Common's DJ was great doing all sorts of weird hooks and scratching.

After Common was hot shit himself Kanye West. Now, I was excited to see Kanye for the first time, and I'm sure he's going to be very entertaining. He didn't disappoint. And he sported a Miles Davis shirt which is always good in my book:

















He opened up with "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" and the crowd started bumping from there on out. A full string section accompanied Kanye, along with his band and a DJ. His DJ also played a montage of songs he loved, including A-Ha's "Take on Me." In which Mr. West proceeded to do the A-Ha dance featured on the video. He played "Gold Digger" pretty early. Much to our disappointment, no special appearance by Jamie Foxx was to be found.

At this point, we took a dinner break. Let me tell you, those organic veggie wraps from the Sweet Tea place was awesome.

We sat down with our dinner while we watched Sigur Ros from afar. It seemed like a bigger string section accompanied Sigur Ros this time around, but they sounded amazing as always.

I wandered around a bit and went to the Amp Camp tent where I got some free goodies and had a pleasant conversation with Bruce, Amp Camp's founder. I also went to Neighborhoodies and thought of a clever shirt to have. I didn't want to make a decision until I had time to sleep on it. Thinking that purchases should be limited.

We also went to visit some gnomes in this big globe. I took my picture with one of them:





















Franz Ferdinand was on next:

















This time, we inched our way closer to the Main Stage, but it was no use. The closest we got was the sound booth but that was still far. Franz came out after a much anticipated wait. The second song they played was "Do You Want To" which is my favorite song from the new album. I wanted to dance, but it was so hard to do so.

Alex looked tired and he did a lot of improvising with the lyrics. Indeed, Franz has been on tour since last year. Their set didn't deviate that much from last year's set at the Austin City Limits Festival last year. Yeah, that was a long time ago. They also played other hits such as "Outsiders", complete with the extra drumming, "Take Me Out," another crowd pleaser and "This Fire." They played the slow stuff too, like "Walk Away" and "Eleanor Put Your Boots On."

I wanted to go see Ladytron again, but that was impossible to do.

We then tried to get closer to the stage for Depeche Mode. I really don't care for Depeche Mode, but I thought this would be a great chance to see these guys play. They are one of those bands that started it all. Like the Pixies, Cure and Morrissey at past Coachella festivals, everyone just went for it and tried to go to the front. We got pretty close, but it was too claustrophobic and opted to retreat to the back.

We saw and we watched. They bored me. Their new songs sound way too similar to their old stuff, which is a good thing I guess, but it didn't have the gusto of the old stuff.

After a handful of songs, we then went to the Sahara Tent to get a good spot for Daft Punk. We caught a little bit of the Audio Bullys and they seemed fun. Daft Punk though was definitely the best show of this year's Coachella.

Pyramids and space ships folks:

















I've never seen Daft Punk before, and I thought they will be one of those electronica bands that would just play their songs straight up. But they mixed everything so well, and timed everything so precisely. They knew when to get you hyped up, settle you down and then hype you up again. If you were on "e" that night, you would have been a happy camper.

Just when you think that every possible permutation of the light show was done, more came. At one point, I got pretty drowsy and the lighting effects turned from heavy flashes to something Tron-like and 3-D. I thought the damn stage was heading for me! I think this would be how the kids with the drugs would perceive the stage as well.

Absolutely magnificent! That's the best I can describe Daft Punk's set. A fitting way to end the first night.

However, that positive note came to an abrupt end when it took forever for us to leave the grounds. For some reason, only one small exit was open to handle nearly 60,000 people. Some resorted to jumping the fence. Eventually, after 20 minutes of waiting, the security guards opened another gate. Why they didn't do this before baffles me.

We then waited another hour or more to get out of the parking lot and go home. The festival ended around 1am. We didn't get to our hotel until close to 2:30am. We didn't sleep until 4am, after getting our luggage back and showering.

Overall Beer Rating for Day 1:

Ladytron (Mezzanine, 28 April 2006)

This is the third, and probably the best, time I've seen Ladytron. Which goes without saying, since the other two times I saw them was just so-so. One at Bimbo's, supporting Light and Magic and their show the following day at the Henry Fonda.

The problem was the venue. Mezzanine is a great venue...If you're there early. My friends and I were there early, but were bored with watching the Presets. Instead, we decided to lounge around and chat about sedentary sports. With a sold out crowd, it's best that you stake out a good spot at Mezzanine or fall victim to the Amazonians who linger in the back. We turned to victims this time around.

Ladytron came on around midnight. They started off with "International Dateline" from Witching Hour. It sounded really good, but a bit faster than the album. Ladytron looked too cool as usual and were accompanied by two other musicians (man and woman).

"Evil" was the second, and most favourite, Ladytron song. It sounded more like the album this time around. I wanted to dance so badly, but my place on the floor wasn't conducive to such an activity.

At this point, my friends and I were very frustrated with our view. So we went upstairs, towards the rear of the venue. Granted, the view was good, but we were too far and we seemed detached from the show.

We made the most out of it anyways, with us dancing to some of the songs as if we were throwing the dance party. "Seventeen" was pretty fun. The most fun was "Destroy Everything You Touch," which lead to not only us dancing, but a couple of raver kids joining us as well.

Ladytron's set was filled with top songs, but the venue really didn't cater to my Ladytron viewing.

Beer Rating:

My Coachella Schedule

Click to find out My Coachella Schedule.

But here's the proposed plan:

Saturday:

• 12:45-12:55pm: Celebration
• 1-1:40: The Like
• 1:50-2:20: White Rose Movement
• 2:50-3:30: Lady Sovereign
• 3:35-4: The Zutons
• 4:05-4:20: REST
• 4:25-4:50: Animal Collective
• 4:55-5:15: Kanye West
• 5:20-5:55: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
• 6-6:45: DINNER
• 7-750: Sigur Ros
• 8:15-9:05: Franz Ferdinand
• 9:30-11: Depeche Mode
• 11-12am: Daft Punk

Sunday:

• 1:10-1:30: Youth Group
• 1:35-1:50: Giant Drag
• 1:50-2:40: The Dears
• 2:50-3:15: REST
• 3:30-4: Magic Numbers or Ted Leo
• 4:10-4:55: Metric
• 5-5:25: Matisyahu
• 5:30-5:45: DINNER
• 6-6:20: Sleater-Kinney
• 6:30-6:50: Bloc Party
• 7:15-7:30: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• 7:35-7:40: Paul Oakenfold
• 8:10-9: Madonna
• 9-9:45: REST whilst watcthing Massive Attack from afar
• 10:10-10:55: Dungen
• 10:55-12am: Scissor Sisters

FREE Elefant & Voxtrot Ticket

Enter to win a ticket to the Elefant, Voxtrot and Silversun Pickups show at Slim's on 27 May.

To enter, simply send an e-mail by clicking on "Ian" on the "Contributors" list to the right. When you e-mail, type in the subject line "Elefant Ticket." Please provide an e-mail address, full name and phone number so I can contact you.

And, no, I will not use any of the information you provide me to send you junk e-mail or put you in some mailing list.

I will randomly pick a winner from the e-mails. I'll post the winner on Tuesday, May 2nd. Deadline for entry is Monday, May 1st.

Good luck!

New Shows Added

May

6: Moving Units, DJ Mike Relm @ Mezzanine (FREE)
13: The Helio Sequence @ Rickshaw Stop
16: Papercuts, Rose Melberg @ Rickshaw Stop

June

5: The Charlatans @ The Fillmore
14: Eagles of Death Metal @ Slim's
16: Calexico, Black Heart Procession @ The Fillmore
17: Calexico, Black Heart Procession @ The Fillmore
22: Lansing-Dreiden @ The Independent

August

11: Death Cab for Cutie, Spoon, Mates of State @ Greek Theatre

November

10: Xiu Xiu @ Great American Music Hall

The Stills (Popscene, 21 April 2006)

It is a known fact that individual feathers in the wings and tail of birds help those creatures control flight. But for those feathers, birds will be like the rest of us: unable to fly. The Stills' new album, Without Feathers, is just that. This is a band that flew and soared high back in 2004, getting critical acclaim for their debut album, Logic Will Break Your Heart, and even had a spot in that year's Coachella Festival. Now, the band that soared high just crash landed. And it's because of Without Feathers.

Everything that Logic is, Feathers isn't. Feathers is a weak album, that lacks the hooks, raw sound and nasty rock that Logic perfected. Instead, the Stills made an album that had way too many vocals from their secondary singer, lacked the rock that made them stand out and sounded as if Snow Patrol became even more of a bunch of pussies than what they currently are.

With that in mind, The Stills' live show at Popscene was an absolute disaster. I thought that this show will at least make me like the new album, but it actually reinforced my utter disgust for it. Their old songs didn't fare much better. One of my favourite songs, "Changers are No Good", sounded slow, off beat and weak. I didn't even bother staying for the rest of the set. Except for a small handful of people, nobody seemed to care about their set either.

My friend made a good point that bands who are on hiatus too long tend to be forgotten. Or as Heidi Klum says, "one day you're in, the next day, you're out." And this was the case with The Stills. Where this band sold out The Independent, Popscene wasn't even close to capacity as I thought it'd be. The line was non-existent and I regret getting there too early to see the Stills, let alone see that God awful opening band Raising the Fawn. Not to mention I was so pissed off at everything and everyone around me (two people excluded).

I really tried to have fun. I tried to appeal and appease, but it was not returned in kind. I'd rather would have sat on the couch and watch re-runs of The Real Wives of Orange County than go to this piece of shit gig and spend $10.

Beer Rating:

New Shows Added

May:

31: Pinback @ Bimbo's

June:

10: Sound Team, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin @ The Independent
15: Fiery Furnaces @ The Fillmore
17: Tapes N Tapes @ Cafe Du Nord
22: Lansing Dreiden @ The Independent
28: Be Your Own Pet @ Bottom of the Hill

July:

16: Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
18: Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
22: The Flaming Lips, Ween and The Go! Team @ Berkeley Greek Theatre

Xiu Xiu (AK Press, 18 April 2006)

Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu played a very intimate, solo set at AK Press' warehouse in Oakland on Tuesday night. Not more than 40 people experienced Jamie's fantastic, yet short, set. Armed with just an amp and an electric guitar, Jamie played about 6 songs from Xiu Xiu's catalog.

He started off his set with a stellar rendition of "Clown Towne." Jamie's voice is so powerful and haunting, and it was especially more pronounced in this setting. After the song, Jamie said a little bit about AK Press' program of donating books to prisoners and a story about how he used to live in the very complex AK Press' office is located. The story was something about him riding a bike in circles while really drunk. It was entertaining, as only Jamie can tell it.

More songs were played including "Fabulous Muscles" which seems like a different song when played with an electric guitar. He ended his set with a very, very unique cover of The Smith's "Asleep". Before he played the song, he credited Johnny Marr as being the "greatest guitar player" ever. A fitting compliment from one great musician to another.

If you haven't seen Jamie play by himself, do yourself a favour and do so. And be prepared to get mesmerized.

Beer Rating:

Radiohead Berkely Tour Dates

Rumour has it that Radiohead will shortly be announcing some intimate US tour dates to surround their June 17th appearance at the Bonnaroo Festival.

According to Product Shop NYC major rumors are a flutter that Radiohead are booked to play Berkeley's Greek Theatre on June 22nd and 23rd.

Ticket on-sale dates are yet to be announced. Judging from Radiohead's popularity and the Greek's small size, tickets will be at least $50 and will sell out in 10 seconds.

New Shows Added

April:

12: Pretty Girls Make Graves @ Bottom of the Hill (FREE)
17: The M's @ Rickshaw Stop
17: The Books, Clogs @ GAMH
28: The Lovemakers @ Bottom of the Hill

May:

6: The Secret Machines @ The Independent
8: Goldfrapp @ The Fillmore
12: Elf Power @ Cafe Du Nord
12: Mountain Goats @ Bottom of the Hill
13: Mountain Goats @ Bottom of the Hill
14: The Fall, Birdmonster @ The Independent
24: Gomez @ The Fillmore

June:

9: The Streets, Lady Sovereign @ The Fillmore
9: The Constantines @ Cafe Du Nord
22: Radiohead @ Berkeley Greek Theatre*
23: Radiohead @ Berkeley Greek Theatre*
25: Neko Case @ Bimbo's
26: Neko Case @ Bimbo's
27: Neko Case @ Bimbo's

*Dates are unconfirmed (but highly likely)

The Boy Least Likely To (The Warfield, 5 April 2006)

In the 1990’s, indie pop created a subgenre called “twee pop.” According to Wikipedia, twee pop is a “type of indie pop that is known for simple, sweet melodies and lyrics, often with jangling guitars and a noted emphasis on childlike naiveté.” While some bands like Marine Research embraced the title, other bands like Belle & Sebastian wanted nothing to do with it. England’s The Boy Least Likely To fall in the former. Indeed, not only do they embrace the title, but they make love to it.

The Boy Least Likely To played in front of a sold out crowd full of James Blunt fanatics at the Warfield last Tuesday. The Boy Least Likely To is a band created by longtime friends Jof and Peter, along with four other musicians. Their debut album, The Best Party Ever, was released in England last year and will see the light of day in the U.S. in May. Despite their lack of international pop star notoriety, they were so well received in San Francisco that it seemed like they were the headlining band.

The Boy Least Likely To’s set consisted mainly of songs from The Best Party Ever, plus some new tracks. Throughout their set, the band was all smiles and kept the crowd engaged. For example, when the words “San Francisco” was sung by Jof during “I See Spiders When I Close My Eyes,” the crowd was euphoric. So much so that the James Blunt faithful, and the band themselves, were caught off guard.

There were barely any dull moments throughout the band’s short set. In between songs, Jof and Peter would tell short stories, such as when Jof worked in the complaints department of a garden hose factory and Peter worked in a prison. The validity of the story is irrelevant, especially since the crowd was laughing along to their banter.

For the small amount of Boy Least Likely To fans in the audience, their voices weren’t heard until songs like “I’m Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon to Your Star,” “Paper Cuts” and the final song of their set, “Be Gentle with Me” were played. Dizzying lighting effects accompanied “Monsters” which the band described as a song about the occupants of a small town in England. They also played the first proclaimed twee power ballad entitled, “The Battle of the Boy Least Likely To.” Even though they proclaimed this, Peter had doubts about the title, saying that such greatness is reserved for 80’s hair bands.

Overall, The Boy Least Likely To entertained the sold out crowd in magnificent fashion. They not only reinforced their fans, but gained new ones as well.

Beer Rating:

-- Photo: Jason Fong

Radiohead to Play Berkeley

According to ateaseweb and Live 105 Radiohead have been confirmed to play two shows at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA. More details to come....

The Boy Least Likely To (The Warfield, 5 April 2006)

Review to follow, but here are some videos:

Monsters



Paper Cuts



I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon to Your Star



-- Videos: Jason Fong

New Shows Added

April:

11: Xiu Xiu (acoustic) @ AK Press Warehouse (Oakland)

May:

2: White Rose Movement @ Slim's
4: Birdmonster @ Amoeba S.F.
4: The Herms @ GAMH
13: Jolie Holland @ Amoeba S.F.
25: Beck @ The Fillmore
31: Arctic Monkeys, We Are Scientists @ Warfield

June:

2: The Boy Least Likely To @ GAMH
18: Snow Patrol @ The Warfield

July:

1: Band of Horses @ The Independent

Xiu Xiu, The Velvet Teen, Minipop and Polar Bear (GAMH, 2 April 2006)

I was very excited to see this show.

This will mark the first time I've ever seen Xiu Xiu. I love his music and actually interviewed him for a Mesh article. However, this was the first time I've seen him in live action. Also, I've never seen The Velvet Teen before. Their 2002 album, Out of the Fierce Parade, was a great album with solid harmonies and vocals.

However, as the night wore on, the wait for Xiu Xiu became unbearable.

I got in there to catch a bit of Polar Bear's set. They are just a noisy bunch. I thought they sucked.

Minipop was next and they were complete opposites of Polar Bear. Their type of music was softer, less noisy and full of synths. The lead singer was female, and her voice was a relief to my ears compared to Polar Bear's dissonance. However, I wasn't too into them. They weren't bad, but I wasn't too into their stuff.

Velvet Teen came on and their first song was dramatically different from anything out of Fierce Parade. I don't know any of their new material, but I was hoping that their sound now is the same as it was in 2002. Boy, was I wrong! They did a complete 180 with their most recent releases, thus making the songs just an incomprehensible mess. They played one song from 2002, "Caspian Can Wait," and they didn't play what I really wanted to hear, "Prize Fighter." At this point, I sat down on my balcony seat and didn't even try to watch their set.

Finally, Xiu Xiu came on close to 11pm. Their set up is just insane, with all these percussion instruments and this weird harp/accordion looking thing. Their set consisted of songs that are sung with utter softness and then is followed by something so loud and banging that it would wake up the dead. They started off with "Crank Heart." They didn't play "Pox," which is a great song off of La Foret, but they did play other great songs such as Fabulous Muscle's "I Luv the Valley, OH". Among other songs played including, "Muppet Face," the haunting "Saturn," and "Yellow Raspberry." Jaime Stewart is a brilliant musician, and his live performances just displays it for all the world to see. His intense nature and that resonating voice sent chills to my spine. It would have sent even more chills, if it wasn't for a bunch of mooks constantly heckling from the balcony.

Because Xiu Xiu's set was so distinct from the others, I rated it as follows:

Beer Rating for Xiu Xiu:
Beer Rating for the Rest:

Band of Horses (Amoeba S.F., 1 April 2006)

While 2005 will be remembered as the Year of the Wolf, 2006 will be remembered as the Year of the Horse. Already, numerous horse bands, such as They Shoot Horses Don't They, are gaining a lot of buzz this year. Add Band of Horses in that list.



Band of Horses played a free gig at Amoeba in San Francisco. They also played with Earlimart at the Independent later that evening. Their sound is a bit of that folksy/country/indie rock. The lead singer's voice sometimes wavers to Perry Farrell like crooning to...something else. Their look is pure Grandaddy, complete with facial hair and tattoos for each of the band members.



They played quite a few songs from their album Everything All the Time. They started off with "The First Song" and played shortly thereafter "The Great Salt Lake." Both were played marvelously. At one point during the show, lead singer Ben Bridwell said that they were hung over from last night and got lost getting to Amoeba. Despite their obvious hung over state, they played two great songs called "Our Swords" and "The Funeral." "Our Swords" is a song that consisted solely of drums and two basses. No guitar. It was an awesome beat, and great lyrics. "Funeral" had a great guitar driven ending. Two definite winners.



They also did a signing, which was nice of them.

This show beat last night's We Are Scientists show quite easily. And I didn't have to pay for anything.

Beer Rating:

We Are Scientists, Foreign Born, The Grates, The Blood Arm (The Independent, 31 March 2006)

This bill looked promising at first, with a lot of up and coming bands performing in front of yet another sold out audience. But at the end, it wasn't that good.

The Blood Arm is an L.A. based band whose reputation for rowdy shows is well documented in the L.A. blog circuit and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos' declaration in SPIN Magazine that they are one of his most favourite, yet unknown, bands. I actually like The Blood Arm's album, Bomb Romantics, and was looking forward to their performance. Well, they sounded alright. The instrumentation was great and lead singer Nathaniel Fregoso's voice was bearable. Hell, even Nathaniel's interaction with the crowd was somewhat amusing. At one point, he told the audience to sit around him, camp fire style, as he was singing. Cute, yes. So, they were alright live. Maybe I need to be in Spaceland or some other venue in Silver Lake to get the complete Blood Arm experience.

I missed a majority of The Grates' set because I opted for some tea across the street. These Australians were good live. I forgot a majority of what they played, but they were good.

Foreign Born just bored the living hell out of me. Their sound was not dynamic, almost cookie cutter. I wasn't paying much attention since that moron from the Clap Your Hands Show was right there in front of me! Not only was he there, but he brought some of his stupid friends as well. I thought that his bafoonery at Clap Your Hands was a one-off thing, but noooooo. He was just as retarded, obnoxious, crunked and annoying as last time. He did get a hair cut though.

We Are Scientists came on close to Midnight. Again, they sounded good and were entertaining with the on-stage banter. Keith Murray, the lead singer and guitarist for the band, had huge problems with the mic stand from hell. Overall though, I wasn't too thrilled in seeing them. Sure, songs like "Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt," was great to hear live, it seemed like nobody did move for fear of getting hurt. Why the audience was just still was beyond me. I would have been more into the band if people actually moved and got hurt. Other songs like "Inaction" and "Callbacks" was also fun, but they sounded too much like Ima Robot.

I was glad my house was nearby so I can just walk home.


Beer Rating:

Nous Non Plus, Hey Willpower (Cafe Du Nord, 30 March 2006)

This day was the half-way point for Noise Pop. And thank goodness. I'm exhausted from seeing all these shows. That's not to say that I'm not having any fun ('cos I am!), but working 9 to 5 plus seeing these shows everyday is taking its toll. And I'm not old either, so let's can the age jokes, okay?

With all these rock shows going on, it's nice to hear some good 'ol indie pop/dance action shows. Hey Willpower is just the cure for that ailment. I've seen them many, many times (most recently on Valentine's Day) and I'm really familiar with their songs and their dance routines. I thought I was going to be bored at this show, but I was proven wrong yet again. Will and Tomo were accompanied by their fabulous back-up dancers and played in front of a sold out crowd. The crowd absolutely ate up the R&B type tracks like "Hundredaire," did the imaginary chop-chop knife arm action with "Double Fantasy," and danced like mad during "Magic Window." The crowd were so into it, that a couple of them decided to join Will and Co. on stage. However, they were promptly kicked out by security. They ended their set with "Uh-Uh-Uh," where Will encouraged the crowd to jump during the "jump the floor" part and do some leg kicks during "uh-uh-uh." And encouraged they were. I've never seen a Hey Willpower show like tonight's! The crowd was so mad for it (and drunk) that it was really enjoyable.

Nous Non Plus were next. They are better known as Les Sans Culottes, but they had to abandon that name because of some argument they had with an ex-member (who just so happens to be a lawyer). Although the crowd wasn't as large as Hey Willpower, they were still well received. They opened up with "Allo, Allo (Hello I Love You)", which is a Les Sans Culottes song. During that time, Celine Dijon was strutting her stuff while guitarist and singer Clermont Ferrand engaged in entertaining banter with the audience. For example, Clermont declared that the next song, "Lawnmower Boy" was about oral sex. Also, he said that the cover of their album was actually Celine Dijon in underwear (which some of the men in audience yelling "oooh-la la!") I honestly wasn't into the novelty until they started doing covers. I got into their set when they covered the Unicorn's "Tuff Ghost" in French and Nena's "99 Luftballoons" in German as encores.

Beer Rating: 1/2