Palmitos Park - El Guincho
Sometimes I wish the world was organized differently. Like, why can't all the bands that play this week get together at the end -- maybe Sunday night -- for a big jam? I'd love to hear what El Guincho would do with McCoy Tyner on a tune by Pylon.
Tuesday
Iconic Athens group Pylon has been reuniting pretty regularly since they first broke up in 1983. The latest wave of shows has to do with the recent reissuing of their 1980 debut, Gyrate, on the ever-cool DFA Record label, a move that makes sense considering how the group melded harsh post-punk guitars with a funky rhythm section. People often compare the group to agit-pop bands like Gang of Four and Mission of Burma, but there's as much Slits and A Certain Ratio in Pylon's dubby grooves. Worth a look just to see why REM's Bill Berry called them the best rock 'n' roll band in the world in 1987.
Pylon, The Fresh & Onlys @ the Independent; doors 7:30 p.m., tickets $15.
Wednesday
McCoy Tyner built his long-standing reputation via a five-year stint playing piano with John Coltrane in the '60s. He's had a long and adventurous career since, infusing his spiritual, slighty cheesy jazz with touches of African and Asian traditional musics. On his latest disc, Guitars, he's collaborated with various axemen, including Tom Waits' sideman Marc Ribot, who will be performing at all this week's shows. While the resulting album isn't exactly revelatory, it's always intriguing to see a legend in a new setting, always exploring, especially with someone known more for the angular than the smooth.
McCoy Tyner w/ Marc Ribot @ Yoshi's Oakland (through November 23); tickets $20-$35.
Thursday
Here's the cute hipster show of the week. Headliners Love Is All hail from Sweden and play the kind of sax-inflected '80s new wave punk that made Kleenex and X-Ray Spex so fun. (Their new sophomore disc, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night, was co-produced by one-time local Wyatt Cusick of Trackstar and the Aislers Set.) Vivian Girls hail from Brooklyn and used to share a drummer with the Crystal Stilts, and they have been setting blogs aflame with their throwback '90s pop (see girl-group and garage-rock inspired acts like Black Tambourine, Tiger Trap, and early My Bloody Valentine). Local opener Nodzzz pulls off the herky-jerky dork-rock thing with aplomb (check out "I Don't Wanna SMK MRJWNA").
Love Is All, Vivian Girls, Nodzzz @ Bottom of the Hill; doors 8:30 p.m., tickets $12 adv/$14 door.
Friday
The Animal Collective are like the new Beatles. No, they don't all have moptops or distinct personalities (who can even name one member, let alone tell me who the "funny one" is?). Instead, there's tons of bands popping up that get compared to them. The Algerian Animal Collective. The Chocolate Mushrooms Animal Collective. The Canary Islands version of the Animal Collective. Actually, that last one is true. The band is El Guincho, and it's one guy sampling Latin percussion, chanting children, rain sticks, hand claps, marimba, and Afro-beat guitar riffs, turning it all into one dizzying psychedelic dance party. For his first SF show, he's joined by local dubby post-rock instrumentalists Tussle and goofy 10+ member indie-pop-reggae outfit Still Flyin'. Definitely one for the bong.
El Guincho, Tussle, Still Flyin' @ the Independent; doors 8:30 p.m., tickets $13 adv/$15 door.
Saturday
How come all the great music comes out of Sweden and Norway, and so little from Holland? Is everyone too high? For whatever reason, Kraak & Smaak seem like the end all and be all for the Dutch music scene -- at least as far as exports go. The trio of studio producers brings their full live band to SF as part of the SF Funk Fest, offering breezy, Fender Rhodes-driven house numbers from the recent Plastic People album.
Kraak & Smaak, Supertaster, DJ Motion Potion @ the Independent; doors 8:30 p.m., tickets $15 adv/$18 door.
Sunday
The voice of Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano will be recognizable to fans of Koop, as she's supplied vocals for numerous tracks by the Swedish electro-lounge act. Little Dragon is more sultry R&B than jazzy lounge, with Nagano supplying airy vocals over languid synths and slowly bowed strings. Imagine Sigor Ros backing Alicia Keys in a jazz club.
Little Dragon, Anomie Belle, Manouk @ Cafe Du Nord; doors 7 p.m., tickets $15 adv/$20 door.
Monday
North Carolina's Rosebuds have altered their sound for each of their four records. Whereas last year's Night of the Furies was an upbeat synth-dance opus, the duo's latest Merge disc, Life Like, is a moodier, more down home affair, full of minor key melodies and acoustic guitars. Which is a nice way of saying that maybe it's not as fun. (I still love their first disc, The Rosebuds Make Out, the best, as that LP replicated the '90s indie-rock of my youth. Ahhh.) But live the band is always no less than adorable, and the tunes are catchy as hell.
The Rosebuds, Magic Bullets, Jonah Ray @ the Independent; doors 7:30 p.m., tickets $12 adv/$14 doors.
Iconic Athens group Pylon has been reuniting pretty regularly since they first broke up in 1983. The latest wave of shows has to do with the recent reissuing of their 1980 debut, Gyrate, on the ever-cool DFA Record label, a move that makes sense considering how the group melded harsh post-punk guitars with a funky rhythm section. People often compare the group to agit-pop bands like Gang of Four and Mission of Burma, but there's as much Slits and A Certain Ratio in Pylon's dubby grooves. Worth a look just to see why REM's Bill Berry called them the best rock 'n' roll band in the world in 1987.
Pylon, The Fresh & Onlys @ the Independent; doors 7:30 p.m., tickets $15.
Wednesday
McCoy Tyner built his long-standing reputation via a five-year stint playing piano with John Coltrane in the '60s. He's had a long and adventurous career since, infusing his spiritual, slighty cheesy jazz with touches of African and Asian traditional musics. On his latest disc, Guitars, he's collaborated with various axemen, including Tom Waits' sideman Marc Ribot, who will be performing at all this week's shows. While the resulting album isn't exactly revelatory, it's always intriguing to see a legend in a new setting, always exploring, especially with someone known more for the angular than the smooth.
McCoy Tyner w/ Marc Ribot @ Yoshi's Oakland (through November 23); tickets $20-$35.
Thursday
Here's the cute hipster show of the week. Headliners Love Is All hail from Sweden and play the kind of sax-inflected '80s new wave punk that made Kleenex and X-Ray Spex so fun. (Their new sophomore disc, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night, was co-produced by one-time local Wyatt Cusick of Trackstar and the Aislers Set.) Vivian Girls hail from Brooklyn and used to share a drummer with the Crystal Stilts, and they have been setting blogs aflame with their throwback '90s pop (see girl-group and garage-rock inspired acts like Black Tambourine, Tiger Trap, and early My Bloody Valentine). Local opener Nodzzz pulls off the herky-jerky dork-rock thing with aplomb (check out "I Don't Wanna SMK MRJWNA").
Love Is All, Vivian Girls, Nodzzz @ Bottom of the Hill; doors 8:30 p.m., tickets $12 adv/$14 door.
Friday
The Animal Collective are like the new Beatles. No, they don't all have moptops or distinct personalities (who can even name one member, let alone tell me who the "funny one" is?). Instead, there's tons of bands popping up that get compared to them. The Algerian Animal Collective. The Chocolate Mushrooms Animal Collective. The Canary Islands version of the Animal Collective. Actually, that last one is true. The band is El Guincho, and it's one guy sampling Latin percussion, chanting children, rain sticks, hand claps, marimba, and Afro-beat guitar riffs, turning it all into one dizzying psychedelic dance party. For his first SF show, he's joined by local dubby post-rock instrumentalists Tussle and goofy 10+ member indie-pop-reggae outfit Still Flyin'. Definitely one for the bong.
El Guincho, Tussle, Still Flyin' @ the Independent; doors 8:30 p.m., tickets $13 adv/$15 door.
Saturday
How come all the great music comes out of Sweden and Norway, and so little from Holland? Is everyone too high? For whatever reason, Kraak & Smaak seem like the end all and be all for the Dutch music scene -- at least as far as exports go. The trio of studio producers brings their full live band to SF as part of the SF Funk Fest, offering breezy, Fender Rhodes-driven house numbers from the recent Plastic People album.
Kraak & Smaak, Supertaster, DJ Motion Potion @ the Independent; doors 8:30 p.m., tickets $15 adv/$18 door.
Sunday
The voice of Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano will be recognizable to fans of Koop, as she's supplied vocals for numerous tracks by the Swedish electro-lounge act. Little Dragon is more sultry R&B than jazzy lounge, with Nagano supplying airy vocals over languid synths and slowly bowed strings. Imagine Sigor Ros backing Alicia Keys in a jazz club.
Little Dragon, Anomie Belle, Manouk @ Cafe Du Nord; doors 7 p.m., tickets $15 adv/$20 door.
Monday
North Carolina's Rosebuds have altered their sound for each of their four records. Whereas last year's Night of the Furies was an upbeat synth-dance opus, the duo's latest Merge disc, Life Like, is a moodier, more down home affair, full of minor key melodies and acoustic guitars. Which is a nice way of saying that maybe it's not as fun. (I still love their first disc, The Rosebuds Make Out, the best, as that LP replicated the '90s indie-rock of my youth. Ahhh.) But live the band is always no less than adorable, and the tunes are catchy as hell.
The Rosebuds, Magic Bullets, Jonah Ray @ the Independent; doors 7:30 p.m., tickets $12 adv/$14 doors.
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