I think maybe this should be filed under World Famous in LA given that Anavan is a totally LA affair. If you’re not familliar, imagine you started an ESG inspired dance band but you were weened on nineties post punk/post hardcore weirdness (well, Anavan were on GSL). Also you’re really taken with that whole nu rave scene going on (or do I mean ravesploitation). Throw in some football helmets fitted with mics for a good electro aesthetic and you’ve got Anavan. I swear!

Anyway, last month they visited TransAm — speaking of, its that time again. TransAm is this saturday with Ex-Boyfriends — and pretty much brought the house down. Maybe those helmets were more literal than I thought, it was like they were running plays out of their retard football playbook: running around, rolling on the floor, and feeling up the boys in the audience. Oh, and playing their hearts out.

I had a great time at the show, but I’m getting less mileage out of the tour EP. It has more to do with being over the ESG sound after the great post punk boom of the early 2000’s than anything to do with the EP proper. I’m not overly familiar with Anavan’s past albums, but this EP does feel like the band is sniffing around for a new trail to follow. I like the new wave explorations of ‘Not Sure’ the best, but I’m going to put up a song called ‘Traumatology’ as I think it sounds the most representative. Look and listen!

Anavan - Traumatology

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Me thinks, as usual, the corpses are stinkin’ to high heaven! Alas, let’s begin with a force-feeding of that ridiculous mess of a front man who was, quite fucking literally, stomping on my very last t-cell! That crap you’re failing to deliver as freeze dried death has taken a shit on the stage for the last time. Put away your horns, which must certainly shirk, at the site of your rancid and putrid lips being placed on their undeserving blowholes. I found myself wanting magically, sadistically, for that grand piano you were diddling like a pederasts’ pre-pubescent prize, to swallow you up and spit you out, all clotted mascara and swill, a big fat dump into The China Basin. The “burner” on tub-bass and “drums” should just as well have stayed home and masturbated into a dirty tube sock. And ahhhh yes! The girl. Her electro noise riffs were adequate at best when sparse, but mostly out of place and wayyyyy overly indulgent. And might I suggest, my love, duct tape? Girly girl…you cannot fucking sing! So just…just…god damnit… just STOP!

M. Lamar was a completely different story. I’ve followed his career for some time now, and I truly must say, he has become quite the performer and damned good. He’s taken his Avant-Diamanda references far beyond even Ms. Galas. He is a singer, who always leaves me wondering inexplicably, “Did he mean to be that flat?” and/or, “are my ears bleeding?” Surely, if not for the obvious and sheer sincerity and heart-felt delivery, it cannot all be a certain lack of intonation, Lamar holds and trills his guttural utterances with the marvelous fortitude and surety of a Nina Simone or a Patty Waters. Wearing his blackademia on his form-fitted leather sleeves with equally tight-ass jeans, Lamar places the listener into often uncomfortable situations. I thought at times, bloody black fetuses might climb out of the piano’s guts, slither downstage, sit and stare accusingly at me. Like Kara Walker, or David Hammons, Lamar confronts with history, shuns with narrative, pricks our noses with shameless recall, all the while smiling, his eyes turned to the floor, waiting.

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Look, we’ve posted a lot about BRIDEZ: about their videos, reviewing their shows, and bringing you live footage. We even put them on our muxtape. Obviously, we dig ‘em. So we’re pretty excited because now BRIDEZ are releasing an album on Gifted Children Records (under construction, should be up monday!!!!)). Pretty cool, here’s the cover and an mp3:

BRIDEZ - Live Forever

Anyway you know what we have to say about it, here’s the official word:

BRIDEZ: Consisting of Will Ivy, Liza Thorn and Abe Pedroza, BRIDEZ hail from San Francisco and cite seagulls, the beach, poppies, drugs, teen angst and expensive everything as influences. Hobbies include: recording, writing songs, doing acid and shooting music videos. “Ideally we’ll shoot a music video for every song because they’re all hits,” says Thorn. (Take her word for it). With their trash brat lo-fi brew of fuzzed out noise pop, this duo will have you humming their melodies while rinsing off the grime in the shower.

Preorders available at http://www.myspace.com/giftedchildrenrecords
$10 CD and giftedchildrenrecords.com

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Hey!

We’re having a 1 year anniversary party to ocelebrate 1 year of World Famous In San Francisco. There will be drinks, prizes and a private screening of Stephen Kijak’s documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man. This film does not have US distribution. The director, a close friend provided a DVD for personal use. This is a private event. E-mail for details.

Where: The Vortex Room (South of Market)
When: 8 pm (film at 9)
How: Please RSVP, limited seating

If you RSVP we’ll send you the address. RSVP to our e-mail or myspace.

hope to see you!

Tom & Jeremy

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This week the Nothing People are our myspace page of the week. I picked up their first seven inch, Problems, at a show sometime last year and then promptly forgot about it. I found it a few months ago and it rules. I’ve seen some of that stuff compared to Chrome which I kinda hear, but it sounds more like Chrome if covered by Sonic Youth (which isn’t a bad thing, I think SYs cover of Crime’s Hotwire My Heart is fantastic). The other seven inches aren’t as claustrophobic or alien and have more of a seventies avant rock feel to them (there’s a Roxy Music cover on one of them).

Check their song “Army of Ideal” right here: http://www.myspace.com/nothingpeople

You can see them this Friday:

4/25 @ The Hemlock

Nothing People
Mayyors
Sic Alps
Crash Normal (all the way from France garage/psych/fall-esqe/weirdness)

Posted in myspace of the week, nothing people | 1 Comment »

I forgot about this because this player wasn’t working on my linux box, but it works on my Mac. Yeah, I think my description is accurate. Video is by some dude named J. Howell. Snagged this from here.

Posted in j howell, mayyors | 1 Comment »

I got to the Eagle just as Traditional Fools started. I’m kind of glad I was wound up about getting to this show because I enjoyed this. They were fun, a party band. I mean, ok, it was just more garage stomp but they were cute, young, sloppy, enthusiastic, catchy and the songs are all super short.

So, Mayyors. This band has no website, is on a label with no website, and their debut seven inch is already “sold out”. I think sold out is an exaggeration, I know it was for sale at the show as I saw that all black sleeve floating around in people’s hands. But still, people were definitely buzzing. The eagle was packed. After the show, within ten minutes of posting the photos I had a spike in traffic. Whatever it is these guys are doing to get their name out there is working.

So what did I think of the show? I liked it. I enjoyed it quite a bit. “I liked this” is actually all I have to say. There are reference points, but my mind is content not to make the connections. Its like I’m stuffed after a big meal, but that doesn’t really help you. I’ll try.

This shit is rock (no roll). You know the sound; hard guitar, screamo vocals, tweaked screachy solos. The band is pretty severe on stage — loud and kind of threatening. John Pritchard (who was in Sexy Prison which is one of my favorite band names) fronts this band, and his antics made me think of the singer from Hank IV. The bassist is aggressive with his bass. The guitarist, Chris Woodhouse, liked to come to the edge of the stage, eyes glazed over, zombie stance, and flatten you with guitar. When he wasn’t doing that he was assuming some other insane position. At one point I saw him in the most severe Ramones stance (it was almost a split). I looked away for a second and when I looked back he was still in that stance, but the guitar was on his shoulders and behind his neck and he was still playing like he was Jimmi Hendrix or something! So, yeah. I liked this. You should totally check them out this Friday when they play the Hemlock.

Posted in eagle tavern, mayyors, thursday night live, traditional fools | 1 Comment »

If my tonsils weren’t swollen and pussy (if you ask nicely I’ll show you) I’d be at all three of these shows tomorrow.

Floating Corpses — The Freak Mafia indeed.
Old Haunts — On K records, but it sounds good.
The Divine Feud — And I quote “the 90’s… in a really good way”.
4/22/08 @ The Hemlock

Triangle — You know how sometimes a band will choose three genres on myspace and its ironic or silly or something? This is not the case with Triangle, ‘Psychedelic/IDM/Soul’ is accurate.
Robin Williams on Fire — They sound like their name.
The Mae Shi — Always on tour.
Pre — Still high from their 4/20 show.
4/22 @ 21 Grand

wealthy whore entertainment - Dirty Hookers!
The Guitar Zeros - A Guitar Hero Band. SRSLY.
The Meat Sluts — four tunnels of fun from San Francisco
4/22 @ The Knockout

Posted in floating corpses, guitar zeros, meat sluts, old haunts, pre, robin williams on fire, the divine feud, the mae shi, triangle, wealthy whore entertainment | No Comments »

I decided last minute to check out Tarantism & Snacks at the ATA with our East Bay correspondent Legs before heading to the Eagle for Mayyors. This was kind of a bad idea because once I got there I was super on edge about getting across town — could you tell I can be a bit neurotic?? Anyway, I’m not completely paranoid but I think everybody involved with this show was out to get me. Like they knew I was being neurotic about getting to the Eagle. Right after we paid the door guy he told us that things were running a little behind and it wouldn’t start for thirty minutes. Eventually, Tarantism showed some videos they made. First was a set of late night local tv commercial spoofs. Then an absurd surrealist thing that they made about Colonel Sanders visiting a fish tank and ending up in a meat grinder. To top it off they played an abstract laptop piece with video starring basic shapes in (mostly) primary colors. I liked the Colonel Sanders video, it had a very amateur aestehtic to it and it reminded me of ashley huizenga and hazel hill’s halloween video. I also liked that the video accompanying the laptop piece ended with the message “Its Over”. Its hard to tell sometimes, you know? Here’s a clip from a DVD they have out, it pretty much sums up what they did at this show:

Then Snacks took a half an hour to set up a drum. I swear they did. The way the guy kept getting distracted I’m tempted to think he was really stoned, but it also lends credence to my theory that I was being tormented. But more likely he was stoned, I mean this is a band dedicated to and named after snacks. They always have a snack at their shows, something gross that you wouldn’t want to eat (but people eat it). Tonight it was baguette, nutella, and capers/olives/mint. I couldn’t imagine, watching them eat it made me queasy. It was so very post modern, just like their videos (which they could have started showing while they were setting up that drum but they didn’t because the more I think about it the more I’m sure they were out to get me).

Actually, I thought their videos were really fun. The first one was this spliced up futuristic/primitive martial arts b movie that I’m sure is some classic I should know but with a new vocal track laid on top about an epic journey for octopus pizza. Kinda like that thing they used to do on that irritating improv show “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” or, probably more accurately, like Mystery Science Theater 3000. The second video was another spliced up superhero b movie. Instead of overdubbing it, they transformed the narrative by splicing in video of themselves on the phone speaking in tongues, laughing hysterically and seemingly arranging to have elepants attack a guy dressed up like superman. That description sounds terrible, but it was super engrossing.

Oh, wait. Both of these are actually on youtube, thank you amazing miracle internet:

When they finally got to the music I was so wound up about getting to the other show I couldn’t really stay. I bailed when they switched from live electronics and drums to interpretive dance accompanied by bike horns.

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Before these videos, I wasn’t quite sure how to describe Bridez other than referencing Liza’s old band So So Many White White Tigers. But after seeing the grainy TV screen quality of shake out my hair it clicked — The Jesus and Mary Chain fronted by Jennifer Herrema. And not just because Liza works the same look. This is the nineties remembered by people who weren’t even teenagers yet in 1990.

Till Your Dead

Shake out my Hair

Posted in being awesome on YouTube, bridez | 1 Comment »