THE HERMS
THE MAY FIRE
THE PASSIONISTAS
Bottom of the Hill
July 12, 2007

I hadn’t planned on seeing the Passionistas but I caught their last three songs. Initially, I was repulsed by their lack of musical talent, but I dug the singer who was ranting like a boyish Mark E. Smith. It wasn’t until the last song, “Banana,” that it finally clicked for me. The singer picked up the guitar and, wishing humiliation on someone who let him down, I saw a new age Stephen Malkmus. Keep them on the radar.

THE HERMS
THE MAY FIRE
THE PASSIONISTAS
Bottom of the Hill
July 12, 2007

I hadn’t planned on seeing the Passionistas but I caught their last three songs. Initially, I was repulsed by their lack of musical talent, but I dug the singer who was ranting like a boyish Mark E. Smith. It wasn’t until the last song, “Banana,” that it finally clicked for me. The singer picked up the guitar and, wishing humiliation on someone who let him down, I saw a new age Stephen Malkmus. Keep them on the radar.

The May Fire’s set opened with a blast of noise and a vocal hook that the whole band shouted together. It gave me the feeling they should be playing at the wildest house party ever, or in a stadium full of fans singing along.

The band is fronted by singer Catty Tasso, who sings with a gruff alto and plays rhythm guitar. Nachito, the guitarist, thrills with his tangled blues, punk, and surf guitar riffs, but the real magic of the band is the drummer, El Pipe. His drumming is wild, precise, and so exciting his contribution to the band can’t be overstated.

I wished that the May Fire had slowed it down once or twice to let Tasso show the nuance to her voice more starkly. On the flip side, they could have ratcheted up the intensity by extending some of the noisy moments of rumbling, saturated bass and squalling guitar feedback. Seeing a live band push its sound to the outer limits is always more exciting than watching a tense but flawless performance. It will be fun to watch them continue developing their sound. Definitely check out the May Fire!

This was my first time seeing the Herms even though they’ve been around SF for several years. The lineup featured singer/guitarist Matt Lutz, bassist Alex Tuzin, El Pipe (from the May Fire) on drums, plus a keyboardist and another guitarist.

  The band played loose and easy, laughing and smiling throughout the set. They opened with two jangley tunes that were as smooth and poppy as early Beatles. They followed with a bossa nova track, and, with their electric piano and El Pipe’s Latin feel on the drums, the Herms really did sound like a 1960s bossa nova act. The next song, “Out of Hand,” was my favorite of the evening: a Television-inspired track with extended guitar melody lines over chopped up chords that created a fast and dark groove. Lutz cranked up the lyrical vitriol and pushed his voice to the point of rasping distortion. Later, when Lutz switched to acoustic guitar, the energy sank a bit, but things brightened when the Herms closed with a semi-improvised song about a future world full of music-playing robots.

Watching the Herms is great fun, but unfortunately, Matt Lutz is moving to L.A. and this show was a farewell. The band plans to stick together, so be sure to check out The Herms or Matt Lutz’s solo project whenever they come to town.

[Jeff Bissell]

[STREAM] The Herms: Various Tracks

[STREAM] The May Fire: "Late Song"

[STREAM] The Passionistas: Various Tracks  

Grayceon
(Vendlus Records; 2007)

Grayceon's self-titled debut clocks in at just over 45 minutes and consists of four tracks of classically-inspired art metal. It is a baroque post metal opus that, despite bearing some evidence of being a first album, heralds a promising new band on the San Francisco scene.

Grayceon
(Vendlus Records; 2007)

Grayceon's self-titled debut clocks in at just over 45 minutes and consists of four tracks of classically-inspired art metal. It is a baroque post metal opus that, despite bearing some evidence of being a first album, heralds a promising new band on the San Francisco scene.

Though this is Grayceon's first release, the band's members are all veterans: Drummer Zack Farwell and guitarist/vocalist Max Doyle are members of Walken, while cellist/vocalist Jackie Perez Gratz is a member of Amber Asylum, both bands that have been on the SF metal scene for years. Combining all the best parts of their respective bands—the shredding power riffs of Walken and the orchestral, ambient rock of Amber Asylum—Grayceon creates a sound that is at times heavy, thrashing, and brutal and at other times lush, symphonic and mesmerizing.

Opening track "Sounds Like Thunder" sets the mood right away with a lone cello playing a mournful melody that is quickly joined by a guitar harmony and thumping drums. The song rises and falls like the tide: gradually but inevitably, with the threat of total devastation looming over it all. The album's second track, "Song for You," is the shortest and most straightforward rocker as well as the most traditional tune on the album in the sense that it's the only track with the singing way out in the front of the mix. Most of the vocals are sung in a breathy, droning style and buried deeper in the mix in the manner of post rock/metal bands such as Isis or Mogwai. The last two movements of Grayceon, "Into the Deep" and "Ride," together comprise more than thirty minutes and, as their titles suggest, take the listener on a journey that covers an impressive amount of sonic territory.

Each track on Grayceon is a movement that ebbs and flows but ultimately builds to a crescendo in a more or less linear progression, which gives the compositions their distinctly classical feel. Though metal is the beast that stalks this entire album, there are just as many if not more low-key, tripped-out passages as there are monster riffs. Doyle's guitar and Gratz's cello share rhythm and lead duties pretty equally but always create intricate melodies by intertwining and playing off of each other in deep, complex arrangements that, at times, almost do evoke an entire symphony orchestra with just the two instruments. Meanwhile, Farwell's drumming is powerful and lightning-quick; he is by turns a heavy metal drummer with serious chops and a free jazz drummer banging on the kit with carefully-controlled reckless abandon. The end result is that even the artier, more classical-sounding passages are shot through with the gravitas and menace of pure metal.

The only thing that stops Grayceon from being an undeniable masterpiece is that at times it has a demo-like feel to it that makes me aware I'm listening to a mere mortal band and pulls me out of the spell Grayceon weaves. I'm not sure whether this is due to the production—the mastering of the album certainly seems as if it could and should have brought more nuance and vibrancy out of the instruments, to make the lows more abysmal and the highs more soaring—or the sparse instrumentation—there are few overdubs (and the only overdubs I can hear are vocals) and no instruments other than the drums, cello, and guitar are ever brought into the mix. But albums can always be re-mastered, and the fact that Grayceon doesn't hide behind a superfluity of layered sounds, but instead achieves a dense wall of sound with such minimal instrumentation, is impressive in its own right. Despite its minor technical shortcomings, Grayceon is a consistently surprising and refreshingly creative album.

 [Mike G.]

[STREAM] Grayceon: "Song For You"  

[STREAM] Grayceon: "Into the Deep"  

SILIAN RAIL
Stork Club (Oakland)
June 7, 2007

Silian Rail is a duo that creates instrumental music combining the sound of a dreamy guitar with intricate drum breaks, occasionally topped off with a glockenspiel for good measure.

Don’t be fooled by the seemingly gentle, barefoot drummer lightly tapping a mallet on the glockenspiel that hides behind the drum kit. Eric K. plays the drums hard and with such intensity that midway through the second song someone had to come by and place a cinderblock in front of the kit to keep it from slowly drifting away.

SILIAN RAIL
Stork Club (Oakland)
June 7, 2007

Silian Rail is a duo that creates instrumental music combining the sound of a dreamy guitar with intricate drum breaks, occasionally topped off with a glockenspiel for good measure.

Don’t be fooled by the seemingly gentle, barefoot drummer lightly tapping a mallet on the glockenspiel that hides behind the drum kit. Eric K. plays the drums hard and with such intensity that midway through the second song someone had to come by and place a cinderblock in front of the kit to keep it from slowly drifting away.

Robin L. on guitar and Eric K. on drums made their way through their performance at the Stork Club with some minimal synchronization issues.  The slightly off-tempo sound was only audible for a few songs, though, and by the time their half hour set was coming to a close they had found their groove, leaving me wanting a bit more.

[nicole leigh]

[STREAM ] Silian Rail: Various Tracks

THE LOVELY PUBLIC
MERCH
DJ WHITE HEAT
THE SEA CAPTAIN
The Knockout
July 5, 2007

My expectations were set high for The Lovely Public's live show for several reasons: First, I’ve listened to the album again and again, and I can’t get enough of it. Second, several friends with high-quality musical taste have recommended I see them live. Lastly, because when I added them on myspace.com Jason – vocals and guitar –  rocked my world by posting a quote from the movie Heathers on my page. Obviously these kids are cool.

THE LOVELY PUBLIC
MERCH
DJ WHITE HEAT
THE SEA CAPTAIN
The Knockout
July 5, 2007

My expectations were set high for The Lovely Public's live show for several reasons: First, I’ve listened to the album again and again, and I can’t get enough of it. Second, several friends with high-quality musical taste have recommended I see them live. Lastly, because when I added them on myspace.com Jason – vocals and guitar –  rocked my world by posting a quote from the movie Heathers on my page. Obviously these kids are cool.

There is no felicity in the world greater than when a band truly rocks live. It’s the kind of occurrence that causes a goofy grin to distort my face for hours.  The Lovely Public’s combination of lo-fi, indie rock, punk, and noise pop had the crowd rocking out hard. So hard that one bearded hipster in a teal corduroy coat with elbow patches crashed into the stage more than once, overtaken as he evidently was with that all-too-deadly combination of appreciation and beer. It would have been slightly more amusing had he not spilled beer on their equipment. Enthusiasm he had, coordination he did not.

Anyway, I can now say that The Lovely Public does not disappoint live. When it’s all over, all I want is more.

THE PARANOIDS
Annies Social Club
July 1, 2007

So I'd been hearing about The Paranoids for the past year from my friend Sami. She kept telling me how much I was gonna love them, but when I asked what they were like she would always say, "I don't know man…. They just rock…  ya know… you're gonna love it." That’s all I really knew about them till I FINALLY heard their CD, and then I got it. It’s that real dark rock shit that I have always loved and always seem to be influenced by when I myself play the keyboards.

THE PARANOIDS
Annies Social Club
July 1, 2007

So I'd been hearing about The Paranoids for the past year from my friend Sami. She kept telling me how much I was gonna love them, but when I asked what they were like she would always say, "I don't know man…. They just rock…  ya know… you're gonna love it." That’s all I really knew about them till I FINALLY heard their CD, and then I got it. It’s that real dark rock shit that I have always loved and always seem to be influenced by when I myself play the keyboards.

And then the other week I went to see The Paranoids live for the first time, which added a whole new level of bats-in-a-cave I hadn't picked up on just listening to the record. Damon's voice is the perfect combo of David Bowie and Peter Murphy, and the music walks the line between the glam pop sound that Bowie lovers crave/dance to and the dark goth feeling that girls and boys wearing white foundation, burgundy lipstick, and black trench coats cream over. How can you go wrong really?

Between the three of them they make quite a unique sound. The drums are super rhythmic on the toms while the guitars give the music its pop glam edge. Then comes the bass and the clouds and the dark night falls all around them. The Paranoids’ music is like a glam opera stuck in a hurricane… “I was like in the eye of it and shit and I was like whoa man don't move I don't want to fly away and then they changed to a different part and the lights went back on and the hurricane mellowed out and I was like sweet we didn't die or anything!"

So go check 'em out and feel what it's like to almost die.

[STREAM] The Paranoids: "Silicone Lifestyle"