MUSIC BLOG

A Fine Friday in April

• Author: Olivia Parriott
• Published: Wednesday, April 28, 2010

This past Friday, April 23rd was an epic night of music for me, full of truly memorable bands from the two cities I consider home, LA and SF.

First, I had tickets to see Avi Buffalo (Long Beach) at The Independent. They played with Pepper Rabbit (LA) and Japandroids (BC). I missed Japandroids 'cause we left early to go to a house party (this is where the local bands come in), but openers Pepper Rabbit literally knocked my socks off. Their music is mesmerizing, and their frontman, Xander Singh, really impressed me with his pure breadth of talent. Jumping from keys to guitar to clarinet to voice looping, he pedal manipulated everything right at the best moments and in a super tasteful way. Definitely check out this band.

Avi Buffalo were good, but I prefer their recordings. (Which, as of this week, you can now own! The band has signed to Sub Pop and its self-titled full-length debut was just released on Tuesday.) Lead man Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg has a really sweet and interesting voice, and there are moments of high energy that are captivating in Avi Buffalo's live show—but I think they haven't quite found their groove yet. They are oh so young! And seeing this you can tell that, in time, this band will go places. I bought the tickets to see Avi Buffalo but left the show in love with Pepper Rabbit.

Then it was off to a house show where microfiche got the party going right, playing their synthy/mathy/dancey instrumental jams and making it impossible not to shake some boootay. They are always a good time and made me super happy.

Next, I had the pleasure of seeing our very own Mike G.'s new band hit the house party floor. They really did impress me—thank GOD!!! How horrible does it feel to lie about liking a friend's music (or at least come up with something positive to say) when it's not really something that moves you?! This was not the case with Color Chasm. They really need to start playing "real" venues with good sound systems that can capture the extent of what they do. Two samplers, a drum machine, live drums, multiple synths, bass, guitar, and stellar vocals—all mastered and navigated seamlessly by only three members! That's always fun to watch. They have just hit the SF music scene so check them out, and if you're a band ask them to play! They are awesome.