Blonde Redhead: Still Noisy After All These Years

BLONDE REDHEAD

THE MAST

SOHO, SANTA BARBARA

05 SEPTEMBER, 2013

Tuning up for the inaugural LaunchFest in Sacramento, NY experimental indie-rock vets Blonde Redhead found time to visit Santa Barbara, fitting in a night at Soho. Hard to believe that it's coming up on 20 years for the band, the core trio of Kazu Mikino, Simone and Amedeo Pace still sound as playful and lively as ever. Even as their albums have gotten more sophisticated, the live show remains a rocking affair, with keyboards present on the stage, but more often they just fall back on guitar, bass, and drums. They gave a whirlwind tour through their catalogue, and thrilled a standing-room crowd.
For the uninitiated, their back catalogue is an embarassment of riches, and where to jump in depends firmly on your sonic leanings, given their evolution. Penny Sparkle is their most recent, but 23 or Misery Is A Butterfly will prove equally valid places to jump in for their more polished work. If noise is your game, start back with Fake Can Be Just As Good.

The Mast, an electro duo from NYC, brought along by Blonde Redhead for the west coast dates, acquitted themselves well with an intoxicating combination of beats and trippily layered vocals. "Temptation", and the tunes immediately before and after were the heart of the set. Their forthcoming album will be entitled Pleasure Island, and it's set for release as soon as they finalize label details.

Post Graduation: The She's In San Francisco

THE SHE'S

TAMBO RAYS

WEBSITE

NECK OF THE WOODS, SF

31 AUGUST, 2013

Continuing the quest to turn over new corners of San Francisco, the most recent road trip unveiled the delightful Neck Of The Woods, billed as "The Bay Area's longest continually running music venue", on Clement in Inner Richmond. As presented by SF-based Professional Fans, this, their 8th showcase, seeks to fill a gap for local artists. Recent high school graduates The She's have been spending their post-grad summer hitting stages to hone material for their next LP. As evidenced by an appearance at this year's Noise Pop Festival, opening for Portland's Thermals, they are comfortable onstage beyond their years, and seemed even more so on this evening, noting the proximity of the venue to their homes. After dodging feedback screeches through the early going, they settled in to a smooth set, heavily weighted with new tunes, but highlighted by a bittersweet take on the title track of their last LP, Then It Starts To Feel Like Summer. It was during the coda that the joy in their playing together was wholly apparent, and that first and foremost, this is a group of friends. It will be interesting to see how they handle life's curveballs, and just what they'll get up to next, but one gets the feeling that they'll be around for awhile.

Oakland's Tambo Rays owned the middle slot, jacking the night to life with a set heavy on their most recent, Rest Your Mind On The Sky. Following the current template of expanding from a bedroom project to a full-blown band, the Tambo Rays had energy to burn, and set a high bar to follow.

 ProFan Gregory set the tone for the evening, hitting the decks for the non-sports fans in attendence, dropping the perfect set for this road-weary traveller. Website led off the evening with a short set. They built up steam, and struck a chord with the crowd on their final track. While still in their formative stage, they had enough presence and verve to mark for future watching, especially their bassist, who added muscle to their sound.