Podcast #7: Ikosi City Street

Today we bring you an audio-logical playground made up largely of primo African-inspired dance music, most of it actually from Africa this time. There's also some afro-jazz, afro-beat and good old American east coast R&B. Oh yes and some Jah music from Kingston J-A to settle things down at the end. Globe-trotting to say the least. Enjoy, hoping the weather is nice wherever you are.

Veggie Burritos Podcast #7: Ikosi City Street (45:00, 72MB)

Chimurenga/Flickr

Watch and Weep, Twee White Kids of the World

Some day, I'm going to be able to play just like Larry. And I'll go out and get a white bass with a custom white neck, gold strings and all-gold hardware, start wearing nothing but white pressed shirts, white slacks and shitloads of gold jewelry. Then I'll get two custom speaker stacks and a dwarf drummer with a comically gigantic kit and we'll go set up outside one of those hipster "dudes in girl pants" indie rock shows somewhere. And when I launch into "Dance to the Music" (6:32 in the video above), all their heads will explode and brains will spray everywhere. But I won't get no blood on me, no sir. BECAUSE THAT'S SIMPLY HOW BAD-ASS I AM.

Show Report: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy at the Fillmore

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, nee Will Oldham, brought his band to the Fillmore in San Francisco Monday night.

The band was great, really loose and energetic. If you've seen the last few tours, this was a mix of the "Letting Go" band and the "Lie Down In the Light" touring band. Emmett Kelly on lead guitar, Jim White on drums, upright bassist, non-singing mandolin player and a woman named Cheyenne Mize on violin and singing -- she also acted as Bonnie Billy's on-stage foil, dueting with him and changing the POV from male to female in the songs whenever she took over. It was a treat to have a strong, powerful female singer up there doing battle with him on every tune. Two sets of hot pipes, and very different than the other singers he's brought out on tour with him.

The show was an hour and a half at least. Mostly songs from the last two records, plus a couple of Superwolf songs. Almost zero oldies, with the exception of "Horses," "Just to See My Holly Home" and "Careless Love." Maybe one or two more.

Also, there was a new tension underlying everything. A lot of his songs are already pretty dark, but even the happier songs had this brooding thing going on. I think a lot of it had to do with the lead guitar player, Emmett Kelly. The guy is a bit of a wizard... You can never hear exactly what he's playing, he always seems to be soloing, but he's more like a heavy spice than an engine. Tough to describe. He's all over the last few records playing electric guitar and he tours
with Edith Frost.

Sold out, totally packed on the floor, but the crowd was really respectful and quiet nonetheless. I bought some nice 10" white-label vinyl release that looks limited enough to make me rich on eBay in 10 years. It's called "Chijimi" and it's 4 songs with Emmett, Cheyenne and Will only. Also, finally a nice poster!

Read the SFgate review
Here's an interview
Check out BPB's guest DJ slot on NPR's "All Songs Considered"

Photo: Pieter Morlion/Flickr

Show Report: Earthless with Wooden Shjips and Eyes

Went to check out Wooden Shjips and Earthless at Cafe DuNord in San Francisco. Your typical San Francisco rock scene. PBR longnecks and scarves aplenty. Eyes opened (that's funny if you say it out loud) and we caught a few songs. They were pretty good but the mix wasn't all that great for them. Sort of a mix of modern rock with space-rock jamming thrown in.

Earthless, the headliner, was just ridiculous. I have the self-titled record, and from hearing that it's pretty clear everyone in the band is super talented, but it's the guitar player who is a shredder of the highest order. Not so live -- it's all about the drummer. He builds the jams so creatively, there are 4 or 5 huge peaks over the course of their set, all telegraphed by him, and the strings have to set themselves up to catch up with the drummer. Mario Rubalcaba is his name, he has pedigree.

(Listen: Earthless "Godspeed (edit)" MP3)

It's really amazing what happens when you stack three guys in a band who are totally able to lead a jam with confidence and then just watch them interact for an hour. it was really mindblowing. there was one big "bring it home" riff near the end of the set that was so totally huge... and this yell like a group howl came out of the crowd cause everyone was feeling it. And yes, just under one hour, no breaks, no vocals, no encores. just major domo intercourse.

Wooden Shjips played in the support slot and were solid. The guitar wasn't loud enough, but the crowd was attentive and not chatty, which helped you hear everything. They are a pretty adventurous band usually, with 10-minute songs that are basically one groove. Krautrock fans would love them. They played some shorter songs last night, though, maybe to squeeze more in overall. They had heads nodding and they definitely had people dancing.