Pocket Symphony » Music

Youth recaptured (or Sonic Youth at the Wiltern)

Jesse — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:15:22 +0000

Sonic Youth’s first record was released when I was still in high school (but I wasn’t hip enough to “get it” right away). The next year, when I worked my first summer job at a record store (yes, it was Tower Records downtown), I “discovered” the band through Confusion Is Sex, their first full-length LP. Their music moved me to create my own, and I wasn’t alone. The music scene in NYC that had started with the mid-70s punks and had progressed through “No Wave” had hit an artistic high with bands like Sonic Youth. I have many fond memories of that mid-80s period, many of which involve Sonic Youth.

Buying an import copy of the Kill Yr Idols EP and running into Thurston on the way home. (He signed the jacket for me.)
Seeing Sonic Youth play at CBGB at a benefit for See Hear, when the store suffered major flood damages. The finale of the show featured a long a rousing version of The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” with SY joined by Don Fleming and Kramer.
Playing a gig with my own band and looking out into the audience and seeing the members of SY hanging out – feeling like a part of the scene.
and so many more…

For more than a decade, I never passed up an opportunity to see Sonic Youth play live.

Then, in 1995, with the imminent release of their 10th full-length Washing Machine, I saw them play Lollapalooza. And I wasn’t enraptured. In retrospect, I should been more forgiving. Lollapalooza was known to make the potentially best musical appearances somewhat …. less than best. But for whatever reason, that was the year my love affair with Sonic Youth ended. And it was the last time I saw them play live .

Over the next several years, I picked up their records, and yes, they were fine, but the spark was rarely there.

Last year, I heard that they had signed to Matador Records. If you don’t follow the music biz, you might not know that Matador is run by a guy named Gerard Cosloy, an outspoken and unapologetic ex-music critic. He also tends to have really good taste. Back in the ’80s, he ran a label called Homestead, and through his label, he released SY’s first real masterpiece – Bad Moon Rising. Expecting good things from the reunion, I pre-ordered my copy of The Eternal, which arrived on my doorstep at the beginning of June. I’m not sure what kind of weird alchemy was brewing in the studio, but the album ROCKS. To call it a “return to form” would be unfair, but perhaps it would be safer to call it a “return to formula” of sorts. The songs on The Eternal recall some of their best music from the late ’80s, while still sounding fresh. When they announced that they’d be playing in Los Angeles, I decided to break my 14-year moratorium on seeing Sonic Youth, and bought a ticket. And then, shortly before the show was to take place, Lee (one of the two (or three) guitar players), broke his wrist – playing tennis. The show was rescheduled for January 9, which gave me a few more months to decide whether my initial love of their album would wear off.

A few days before the show, I was listening to The Eternal on my iPod. I still loved it. I was ready to see them again.

The opening band, Sic Alps, had a few moments. Their garage/psych sound played a little derivative to my ears, but I knew that I couldn’t possibly give them a completely fair evaluation that night. There are times when I resent an opening band, because their music fills a space that would be better filled with quiet background noise. This, thankfully, wasn’t one of those times. I’m sure that I’ll see them again, and I’ll probably enjoy them a lot more. There were a couple of stand-out tunes, but since I’m not familiar with their catalog, I couldn’t tell you what they were.

Sonic Youth, on the other hand, was brilliant. Since I’d last seen them live (15 years earlier), the core line-up of Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Kim Gordon and Steve Shelley was augmented by Mark Ibold on bass, who is most famous for being in Pavement, although I remember him as that really friendly guy who would play bass whenever a cool band needed him (he was great with the Dust Devils). There was almost no stage banter, the sets were minimal, the “costumes” were regular street clothes as usual (except for Kim, who was stunning), and the music was perfect.

Their set was pretty much made up of tracks from The Eternal, with some classics tossed in for good measure. I had sneaked a peek at their setlist from the previous night, and saw that their encore was “Xpressway to Yr Skull”, my all-time favorite SY song. I guessed that they wouldn’t play it two nights in a row, and was correct. For the final encore at The Wiltern, they played “Shadow of a Doubt” from EVOL, which is a good if not great SY tune. They closed with an incredible rendition of “Death Valley ‘69″ from Bad Moon Rising. It was 1985 all over again, and I closed my eyes and remembered being 19 years old and transported by their music, as I was all over again.

I’m glad I gave them another chance.

Here’s a video that I found on YouTube of the last song of the evening.

First Fridays (pretty much)

Jesse — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:14:34 +0000

Last Friday, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles kicked off the 2010 season of “First Fridays”. Sure, one can quibble about the fact that it was actually the second Friday of the month, but let’s not hold it against them.

This was my first “First”, and I admit that my initial interest was to see the musical performances. While I loved going to the Museum of Natural History when we lived in New York, I figured that in this case, the museum was just the backdrop for the show. Wrong.

The real star of First Fridays is the museum. Sure, the place was packed wall-to-wall with hipsters. Yes, there were full cash bars in front of the classic dioramas. Of course, there were 2 DJs spinning tunes that had these imbibing hipsters swiveling their fashionably clad hips. But even with all of the “fun”, there was also education. And it was fun, too, dammit. Maybe it’s the (not-so-)inner nerd in me talking, but sitting in a museum hall listening to a lecture about spider silks was better than enduring most of the opening bands I’ve seen in the past year.

The evening started at 5:30, with a tour of real live spiders. We didn’t get to the museum until 6ish, so we missed that, sadly. When we entered the museum, the party was in full swing. People were donning the free old-school 3D glasses and mingling amongst the dinos in the main entrance. We did a quick walk-through of the place and discovered that the first scheduled lecture was to take place at 6:30, so we headed upstairs. We were able to snag two of the last seats for the SRO presentation entitled “Spider Silks: Natural Engineering Marvels” by Dr. Cheryl Y. Hayashi. And you know what? I learned a lot.

After the lecture, we headed back downstairs for the music. We found a good spot in front of the stage, and with almost 20 minutes before the first set, I realized that I was thirsty, so I headed out of the hall to buy a bottle of water. Here’s where my only real criticism of the evening takes place: there are 3 bars set up in the museum, but there isn’t one in the hall where the performances are. I crossed over to a bar, waited in line and ordered a water for me and a beer for Heather. When I went to pay the $9 with my credit card, the bartender told me that there was a $25 minimum for plastic. I left the room and headed over to the ATM, waited in line and got some cash. Back at the bar, I waited in line again for the bartender. I bought the drinks and made my way back to the live performance room. Unfortunately, there was now a long line to get back into the room. Several minutes later, I finally found myself back in the room. Heather didn’t know where I was the whole time, because neither of our cell phones worked in that one room, but I finally found her before the show started. If the bar had been in the room (and there hadn’t been a silly $25 minimum), none of this insanity would have taken place. End of rant.

Anyway, the first act was tUnE-yArDs. Like the first time we saw her, Merrill Garbus was amazing. Her command of the stage is extraordinary. When we saw her play at the Troubadour, she was accompanied by a bass player and a guitar player. This time, the bass guy (I don’t know his name, sorry) was still there, and her sound was augmented by a trio of drummers. I imagine that most of those present are going to be talking about her for a long time. I can’t wait to see her again. (I could attempt to describe her music, but you should just scroll down to the bottom of the post for a sample.)

After thetUnE-yArDs set, the room seemed to get even more crowded in anticipation of Atlas Sound(they were actually doing a great job of crowd control – the crush toward the stage plus the body heat generated by those assembled just made it more oppressive).

Bradford Cox, the leader of indie rock greats Deerhunter and sole member (basically) of Atlas Sound, came to the stage and got a loving and warm reception from his adoring fans, which he acknowledged immediately. He sat down with his guitar and harmonica and started his set.

Atlas Sound makes beautiful music – but for me, the setting just wasn’t right. I know that friends of mine have seen Deerhunter perform at the Museum and they thought it was a brilliant show, but for me, the Atlas Sound stuff is best appreciated chilling out at home. Bradford posts a ridiculous amount of great music on his blog, and I’m used to downloading it and listening to it as I browse the web. It’s a singularly private experience. Perhaps if I wasn’t standing in a hot crowd, pushing toward a stage where the artist was sitting, just below my sight-line, it would have been a different story, but that’s how it was. We stayed for most of the set, but split just before the end. I’m not disappointed, and I’m still a fan, but this wasn’t for me.

We got home and looked at the flyer for the upcoming First Fridays (there are 5 more this season) and did a little math. If you’re not a member of the museum, each event costs $9 a person (museum admission). If we go to the next 5 First Fridays, it’ll cost us $90. Museum membership, which includes expedited entry into First Fridays as well as other cool perks such as membership at the Page Museum (at the La Brea Tar Pits), costs $70 for a family for the whole year. We’re joining the museum. See you there in February!

Here are a couple of videos that I found on Youtube of the event. Kudos to the intrepid videographers who captured them.

Live Blogging with my iPhone

Jesse — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 03:56:28 +0000

This is going to be a short entry, because as I type this, Sic Alps have just taken the stage at The Wiltern here in Los Angeles. The crowd seems to appreciate their noisy neo-psych, so I’m going to stop typing and start listening. This has been a test.

Back to the Blogs

Jesse — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:31:14 +0000

Alright… it’s January 1, so it’s as good a time as any to start blogging again. It’s been over a year since I did this with any regularity, but since I spent so much time on FaceBook and Twitter, not to mention two different message boards, I might as well spend a few extra minutes a day writing the same stuff here.

That’s a joke.

But hopefully, I’ll be able to use this space to note cool stuff that I become aware of, with the hope that sharing it with whoever stumbles across my blog will find it interesting and perhaps even share cool stuff with me.

I like cool stuff.

So as I’m putting this thing together, I noticed that there’s a cool plugin that lets me list upcoming events. I stuck it on the right side of the normal layout ( if you’re reading this on a mobile device you’ll just have to take my word for it) and started to add some of the events to which I will surely be going. Since I’m fairly certain that most of my friends are familiar with Pee Wee Herman and Sonic Youth, I thought I’d start this blog with a nifty video of tUnE-yArDs, a “band” that Heather and I saw a couple of months ago, opening for Sunset Rubdown. tUnE-yArDs (aka Merill Garbus) will be playing with Atlas Sound next Friday night. You really ought to check her out.