BACK !N V!RG!N!A!!! REV!EW OF ABE V!GODA & L!TTLE BOOTS!

SF was good to my girlfriend Annie and I. We stayed in the Mission District where my sister Genevieve lives (check out her fucking rad vintage and original online clothing store... MINT MALL!!!) There are things like Amoeba Music and Aquarius Records you should definitely check out. also a museum on the fisherman's Wharf with historic, antique and classic arcade games, it's called Musee Mechanique... seriously awesome. Another place of visitation was the Castro Theatre where I saw Alice In Wonderland, there's so much wrong about that movie, so what's not to love. Get ready for some live shows I caught / / /

Abe Vigoda, Lovvers, High Castle
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
Bottom of the Hill
SF/CA

First of all who gives a fuck about the Oscars if you can go see a show instead? Bottom of the Hill is a kick ass spot, they host lots of All Ages shows, which I've come to find out San Francisco does not have very many of. This one in particular had a younger crowd, myself included.

First act of the night was the local trio HIGH CASTLE, who impressed me with their "I don't give a shit" attitude. The drummer had some chops, and the mix of all three of them yelling and the noisy guitar and bass worked real well. They seem to be just rising up as a band and have recently released their pretty cool EP... Your On Your Own Way.
Photo of High Castle by Eric Lawson

Next up was LOVVERS on tour from the UK, they were extremely tight and had that L.A. garage sound. Sounded like the Ramones with distorted reverbed vocals. There were no if's and's or but's about their performance, little talking just doing their shit, and they knew what they were doing. Definite high point was their song "OCD GO GO GIRLS". Very solid.

Photo of Lovvers by Eric Lawson

Lastly was ABE VIGODA, they are from L.A., OK. And I was lucky enough to catch them in their full summer beach punk action at the Plaza Bowl in RVA this past July. They were a little bit different from what I was expecting. They just recorded a new album which is not out yet, and they played a set of entirely new songs. It was obvious that they hadn't quite mastered these songs but once they got each song rolling it was a bouncing good time. The drummer has started to champion a drum machine, two of the members now also play synth, but they still have the energy they had the last time I saw them. The direction they're heading in is much more complicated than before but they haven't lost touch with who they are as a band. One new song that really caught my attention was "Crush" which is super energetic and very layered, AND I think you might me able to find that one online somewhere. After using the audience as test subjects with material they've never heard, they ended the set with "Don't Lie" the ultra catchy single from their last release REVIVER. I'm certain the reason for this short tour is to get their set ready for the freakin tour they're about to do with Vampire Weekend. How weird is that bro? In my opinion the new direction they are taking sounds quite a bit like The Cure, mostly this was the way the singer was doing his thang and the drum machine coupled with the revvverbeddd guitar. I had a quick chat with the singer/guitarist Michael about whether or not he thinks they're influenced by the cure at all, he said it's true, and he also said he's always been influenced by early Christian Death. Go weird early 80's music! Fun show.

Photo of Abe Vigoda by Eric Lawson


Little Boots (SOLO) Wednesday, March 9th, 2010 In-Store @ Amoeba Music SF/CA

















photo found @ amoeba.com

As I walked into Amoeba music ready to cry about not having enough money for all the great things I wanted... I saw a poster saying LITTLE BOOTS! FREE! so hell yeah a free show that I stumbled into! Last Tuesday (3/2) was the national release of her new album HANDS and the in-store show was celebrating it. She is from the UK and has a sound that channels 80's electro pop like Kilie Minogue and contemporaries like maybe lady gaga? that's what people r sayin. She performed solo (her band was over at The Fillmore preparing for the nights gig) with an electric piano and a Tenori-On. She played three or four songs, two of which are on her new album! one was "Remedy" the other "New In Town" and she mighta played "Stuck on Repeat". AND THEN she garnered MAD RESPECT when she covered Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill". She got one of them pretty voices, It makes her music work.


P.S
I just spent the day in D.C.
two awesome record stores I found right next to one another are...

SMASH RECORDS
2314 18th Street Northwest, DC

((they have a cassette tape selection))

CROOKED BEAT
2318 18th Street Northwest, DC

both have a lot of vinyl and a lot of punk shit.

love,

DYLAN