Podcasts & Sundry For Discriminating Smart Asses
The long running 90s Indie darlings, Yo La Tengo stopped through Sacramento on promotional tour for their latest effort, Fade on Matador Records. This is a band that seems to do no wrong, as far as critics are concerned, and judging by the loving gazes from the nearly packed audience, their fans feel the same.
Check out Yo La Tengo on tour & purchase their latest release, Fade on Amazon.
Photo © Maria Colòn for FLAB Magazine
I came across Jonathon Bafus, a local Sacramento Drummer, when he and Tera Melos’ Nick Reinhart opened for Melt Banana with a totally improvised free jazz/noise set. His obvious exuberance and interesting kit configuration put him on the radar for our drummer Q&A. Since the he’s been playing around Sacto with Gentleman Surfer. I caught up with him via email and he graciously offered his two cents on the following….
After close to 20 years of not playing together, post Minute Men trio, fIREHOSE kicked off their reunion tour at Harlows in Sacramento. The largely over 40 crowd traveled from as far away as bassist Mike Watt’s hometown of San Pedro, California and Denver, Colorado just to see this historic reunion. Opening for fIREHOSE was NorCal punk band (also drawing an over 40 crowd) Victims Family, and Sacramento locals Tera Melos, largely drawing an under 25 crowd of boys.
Tera Melos played a tight selection from their body of work that enlivened their fan base as much as they can be enlivened (considering the music isn’t exactly danceable nor moshable), which was enough for one kid to head bang, fart and sing along to every song they played. This was amusing and gross, for me because I stood next to him up in front of the stage. I could have moved, but my vantage point provided me the eye-catching hilarity that was a Freddie Krueger effigy looking like it was singing backup to guitarist/singer, Nick Reinhart, that, and drummer John Clardy was having one hell of a set, so I didn’t want to move.
The place really started to get packed when Victims Family took the stage. I was told by a woman who looked to be about 50 (which is really a NorCal Punk Rock 40) that I was “daft” for not knowing who they were. They were pretty much like fIREHOSE, so I found them enjoyable enough. By the time, fIREHOSE did come on stage the place was packed in tight. I’d never actually been to a show at Harlows that was sold out, and I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. Everyone was overjoyed to see Ed, Mike and George in great form, and since I could never afford concerts tickets as a teenager I was pretty happy to see them too.
It’s kind of hard to explain the overwhelming sense of joy a punk rock show, even with the thrashing about, waves of bodies crushing against the stage, can engender, especially because so much of it seems like violence but this was different. It was like a Pentecostal revival without the snakes and religious dogma. It was Punk Rock Church.
All photos © Maria Colòn
Monday night at Harlows was an all-new music experience for me. I’d heard of Melt Banana but had never sought out their music. Likewise, I’d heard of Retox (only recently since they’re relatively new anyway) but had only that week listened to their new release, Ugly Animals. Both bands commanded the stage in their own way and were extremely enjoyable (especially Melt Banana) but the real surprise was seeing Nick Reinhart of Tera Melos performing an improvisational jam with a local drummer I’d never heard. Turns out his name is Jon Bafus and he is insanely good! Watching them both create spontaneously was an inspiration and for me, the best part of the night.
All photos © Maria Antonia Colòn
Like his Tera Melos buddies, Sean Stout, is a native of Sacramento with a love of music and video making. He , along with Zach Hill, made the best video ever to represent the general malaise of life in the River City. We ask him some questions. You read the answers.
FLABmag: So where are you from?
Sean: I’m originally from Sacramento but have only been back here for the past year after about a two years split between the east coast NY, Philadelphia and then Portland.
FLABmag: What compelled you start TerrorEyes.TV? What’s your goal for the site?
Sean: TE originally started as a blog to post random odd videos that me and my friends where making, it wasn’t originally a music site. There were skate videos, weird arty videos, video interviews with artists, drawings, photos, whatever. It didn’t have a theme at all and was very disorganized. All I wanted was to make weird videos. At the time all my friends played music and that just ended up being the most accessible thing to me. So eventually I turned the site strictly into a music video site and it sort of just evolved from there. As far as a goal? I guess the goal would be to continue to try to expose people to new interesting music through interesting videos and make some friends along the way…
A cold and rainy night did not dissuade fans from coming out to see Sacramento’s native sons, Tera Melos, on the last night of their U.S. Tour with Marnie Stern. There were sound issues throughout both of their sets, not to mention the dance music blasting from the floor below, which was distracting at points, but altogether it was a highly enjoyable evening.
A bitterly cold and foggy night in Sacramento ended in the inviting embrace of crunching guitars and the playful bashing of drums. Deerhoof was in town to promote their latest release, Deerhoof vs Evil (Polyvinyl Records) – a quirky album with a discernible pop twist.
Truth be told, before Thursday (Jan 27th) night’s show at Harlow’s I’d never paid attention to the band – not for any particular reason; I just never got around to checking them out. But something about their latest effort, which I find endearing, grabbed my attention and I’m glad it did.
The band took over the tiny stage at a leisurely pace, setting up their equipment in no particular hurry. Drummer, Greg Saunier, adjusted his Remo kit while chatting amiably with what seemed to be more than an acquaintance. He’d take a few moments throughout the show to either adjust his cymbals or tighten his snare and bass, such was the extreme bashing they were taking. He would also take over the microphone informing the audience that we were about to witness a “first ever” for the band: singer/bass player, Satomi Matsuzaki, and guitarist/singer, John Deitrich, would use their respective microphones to sing together. Evidently this is not normally done so it required some crowd preparation.
I hate math. I’ve never been good at it and this has always caused me anxiety. So it makes sense that any band described as “Math Rock” or “Math Metal” is not going to grab my attention. Much like algebra, of which I fucked off and failed twice in high school and then once in college, I pretend this genre of rock doesn’t exist – until now.
According to Wikipedia Math Rock is a ‘rhythmically complex, guitar-based style of experimental rock that emerged in the late 1980s. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting), angular melodies, and dissonant chords.”
Well, that sounds like almost every band in my iTunes, which now includes Tera Melos, a three piece experimental band whose brand of music is “characterized by quickly alternating rhythmic patterns, start-stop dynamics, improvisation, two-handed tapping on the guitar, extended open-ended bridges, and the use of effect pedals and samplers.” After years of DIY touring, self-releasing a few EPs, and changes in band structure (they used to be a four piece) they’ve landed on Sargent House Records where they recorded their first full length album, Patagonian Rats, to be released on September 7, 2010.
Since I am skeptical of anything written on Wikipedia, and the fact the Tera Melos Wikipedia page has recently undergone some changes, I thought it prudent to ask someone who might know what exactly is this Math Rock and does TM fit the genre. So I called Nick Reinhart, founding member/singer/guitarist, and asked him to explain. He did.
Visit Tera Melos on the Interwebs:
Official | Sargent House | Misadventures Blog
Curious about Math rock? Read the Wikipedia article: Math Rock
John Waters is a humble, easygoing man who seems, for all his ‘eccentricities,’ to be one of the most well-adjusted, empathetic, pragmatic and sensible human beings that I have ever not met. But you get the sense he’d never be a fair-weather friend. And after seeing him in countless interviews I knew he’d be an entertaining conversationalist. So I was pleased to attend the California Lecture Series’ final event for the year that brought Waters to Sacramento’s Crest Theater. Ostensibly to promote his new book, Role Models, it seemed more like welcoming an old friend from out of town.
I thought the format was going to be awkward, he was ‘in conversation’ with Sacramento Bee arts writer, Edward Ortiz, it turned out well as Ortiz barely spoke. He asked topical questions that Waters answered at length, often going on to other topics without Ortiz’ prompting.
Throughout the hour he offered a lot of sage advice – for free – most of it fairly sound and pragmatic. I thought he should write self-help books for the hipster set and I wouldn’t be surprised if he isn’t planning to do so in the future since he said he gets up and writes from 8a.m. to noon everyday.
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The other night a friend and I were driving around looking for something to do when we happened upon Old Ironsides, an old school cocktail bar and music venue on S and 10th street. It looked like a pretty sweet spot so we decided to stop for drinks. A few minutes before we arrived though there had been an accident across the street from the bar – evidently a car full of young hipster chicks crashed into a light pole.
We paused outside watching the scene when a bearded man emerged from the side door to see what was going on as well, and as most rubber-neckers do, we struck up a conversation. He told us he was in one of the bands playing at the bar that night and described their sound as Electronic Pop. He wasn’t sure about the cover charge, nor what type of music the other bands played, but encouraged us to check it out. And as most people who are broke and don’t want to pay a cover to see an unknown band do, we said, “Yeah man, sounds cool!”
We weren’t planning to stay for more than a drink but my curiosity was piqued. I like discovering new places and new music and meeting new people. I was game to hang around but I had just given my last ten bucks to get into what turned out to be a Catholic Church organized benefit for Haiti that featured a bunch of elderly poets reciting old poems (some good, some not so much). So I told the bartender, Gonzo, that I was a writer with an awesome online zine and I would write this here profile if he put us on the guest list. He gamely told me if I could produce a business card, and it looked legit, he would. Little did he know I am the queen of business cards! I have many. I think of them as artworks in miniature that do double duty as information dispensers. Card produced, agreements made, beers poured. Our night of happenstance, your gain.
The San Francisco trio, Blood & Sunshine, is an eclectic mix of Motown inspired vocals, poppy guitars, drum machines and then an actual drummer. I was impressed with their energy – even though there were maybe fifteen people actually paying attention to them – they performed like they were at Roseland Ballroom, or at least a more notable, less sizable venue, like Bottom of the Hill, which they have played. It was a short set but memorable. I was immediately smitten (The guitarist, Joseph, was wearing penny loafers with skinny jeans!) and thrilled I had discovered a cool new band. They agreed to give me a cd – for free – and answer a few questions.
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