Hardly Strictly '17, Day Three

HARDLY STRICTLY BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL 2017

GOLDEN GATE PARK, SAN FRANCISCO

08 OCTOBER, 2017

As always, what you can always bank on San Francisco-wise in October is Indian Summer, and a decided lack of Karl The Fog, making a perfect setting for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Made it up for the final day of this years edition, and navigated both the crowds and a crowded schedule to get a well-rounded taste of music in just a few short hours. Leading off the day was Poor Man's Whiskey, who, out of all the talent assembled, could justifiably claim home field advantage, as they've appeared here for roughly 2/3's of the festival's existence. Sure crowd pleasers, they got the joint fired up and set the tone for the day. 

While his roots and skill make him an accomplished arranger, Randy Newman shines most darkly on his own, just a guy at a piano, spinning out his inimitable tales, covering his songbook from early days of providing hits for others, ("Mama Told Me Not To Come") to his golden age ("Six Feet High and Rising") to his Pixar period, leavened with his own deprecating manner.  

The significance of the NOLA flag planted at the Towers of Gold stage revealed itself fully with the arrival of Big Freedia, Queen Diva. Backed up by an amazing dance crew, it was an irresistible set that compelled even the unwilling to shake that ass. Capped off, of course, by drawing enthusiastic audience members up for the closer, our National Anthem, "Ass Everywhere".

Drenched in sweat, the next logical choice was to make the brain work as hard as the butt, and for mental calasthenics, it's hard to top the work of Ornette Coleman. A reunion of his Prime Time band from the 70's, led by Jamaladeen Tacuma, was notable enough, but adding in guest firepower in the form of tenor man David Murray, Wallace Roney, and Marc Ribot tipped the scales to the very outer limits.

If you take enough left turns, eventually you'll come back to where you started, and the sweet comedown of Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile was the perfect salve. The pair came together in Australia, and a meeting of like minds blossomed into a just-released album. Backed up by the Sea Lice, including Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss, they made a winning go of their very first show, wowing the huge crowd that packed the Swan Stage, stretching back as far as the eye would permit. Combining songs from the aformentioned LP with covers of each other's material, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Walking away from Swan, it didn't take long for the roar of a full in-flight Bob Mould Band to catch the ears. The row of Porta Potties that demarcated a space where you could hear both bands was something to behold. Backed by a rhythm section of Jon Wurster and Jason Narducy, Mould raged through the sun and his mountain of a catalogue, without a breath between songs, to provide a jagged and uplifting coda to the day.

POOR MAN'S WHISKEY

RANDY NEWMAN

BIG FREEDIA

PRIME TIME REUNION

COURTNEY BARNETT/KURT VILE

BOB MOULD BAND

Listing To Starboard: Favorite Albums 2013

TOP 25: 2013

Here we are once again, another year down the pipes, and based on the evidence found within, a further edging away from the bloated corpse of the music industry, as little if any of this list appeared on a major label. Take that as evidence of my curmudgeon-ness as much as any artistic judgement. While the main focus on this blog has always been performance, many albums crossed the transom this year, and we'll stick with the O.G. format of a top 25, although twice that many would have been doable. Perhaps next year. Shout outs to Don Giovanni and Slumberland for being co-holders of the Label Of The Year distinction, a testimony to their depth, balls, and ears, with multiple releases landing on the list.
Notable releases from the year, just bubbling under the list, include the debut of California X, Anna Calvi's second album, a second full length from Nashville's own Diarrhea Planet, the second, (and unforturnately final) entry from Spectrals, and a double LP celebrating the 20th year of Quasi, (can that really be so?!). Also making waves were Brooklyn via Oakland's Weekend, (not to be confused with the vowel and soul-challenged singer with a similar name), Jonathan Wilson, Mikal Cronin, Sky Larkin, Terry Malts, Janelle Monae, and the first new work in many a year from Sebadoh. Lists, of course, are a fool's errand by definition, and any of these records are worth your valuable time.
Without further ado:

25) Chastity Belt: No Regerts

24) SISU: Blood Tears
23) Upset: She's Gone
22) Bleached: Ride Your Heart
21) Dog Party: Lost Control
20) Joanna Gruesome: Weird Sister
19) Veronica Falls: Waiting For Something To Happen
18) Besnard Lakes: Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO 
17) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Push The Sky Away
16: Savages: Silence Yourself
15) No Age: An Object
14) Arcade Fire: Reflektor
13) Cate Le Bon: Mug Museum
12) Swearin': Surfing Strange
11) No Joy: Wait For Pleasure

10: Okkervil River: The Silver Gymnasium
http://www.theowlmag.com/album-reviews/the-silver-gymnasium-by-okkervil-river/ 

9) Wax Idols: Discipline + Desire
 http://www.theowlmag.com/album-reviews/discipline-desire-by-wax-idols/

8) Los Campesinos!: No Blues
http://www.theowlmag.com/album-reviews/no-blues-by-los-campesinos/ 

7) Speedy Ortiz: Major Arcana

On their first full-length, all the pieces fall together for Speedy Ortiz. Helping to spearhead a Massachusetts renaissance, the band effectively torches its way through, though, interestingly, leaves its deepest mark when it dials the volume back (relatively) on "No Below". This bodes well for the future-it will be interesting to see how far they push their boundaries.

 
6) My Bloody Valentine: mbv
http://bamnwgan.blogspot.com/2013/02/mbv-and-me.html 

5) Kurt Vile: Wakin' On A Pretty Daze

Wakin' On A Pretty Daze is Kurt Vile's State Of His Own Union address, as every Kurt Vile album is, but more so. Expanding his vision onto two discs, the title track spins out to just under ten minutes without a wasted note. Vile and the Violaters are in that rare space where they could take on the phone book and make it work, as evidenced by two festival appearances this year that took the same material and transformed it into acoustic lullabies in a foggy San Francisco meadow and aggressive riff-heavy rock in a parched field in the middle of downtown LA.

4) Superchunk: I Hate Music 

There's a special kind of gauntlet being dropped when one entitles an album I Hate Music, and who else but Superchunk could make it work?  Like Yo La Tengo's Fade, it's an LP wrestling with mortality, suffused with mourning over the loss of an old friend. The trick is in embracing the shadow of memories and backing it up with music that's nothing short of life affirming. Their most trenchant and affecting work since Foolish, no matter how dark it gets, Superchunk shows the way forward.

3) Yo La Tengo: Fade

The unsinkable Yo La Tengo faced down mortality and came away with Fade, an elegant collection of the Hoboken trio's pop gems, leavened with the lessons learned from Ira Kaplan's recent health scare. Fade reminds us of the importance of community and the work we do, and how easily it can be lost, and the strength it takes to go forward. Nowhere was this more apparent than in their performance of "The Point Of It" during this year's FYF, pushing the hushed song forward in the face of a noisy, distracted field-leaving a devastating mark on those who were actually listening. A potent reminder that punk is not always loud.

 2) Waxahatchee: Cerulean Salt

Casting aside the acoustic rawness, but keeping the incisive portraits of her debut American Weekend, Katie Crutchfield, aka Waxahatchee, amped up the sonics and left us Cerulean Salt as a snapshot in time. "Coast To Coast" was a winning single that hit over the head like great 50's rock classics, in and out in under two minutes. The elliptical "Dixie Cups and Jars"might be her finest achievement to date. The prolific artist also found time for an EP and a double album (!) with side project Great Thunder.

1) Laura Stevenson: Wheel

 

A staggering tour de force from the Long Island wunderkind...the place where all the threads she'd been working with came together in a hypnotic song cycle that flirts with many genres, but can't be confined to one. Ace string and horn arrangements by Rob Moose and Kelly Pratt, respectively, carry the day. Like last year's top choice, Father John Misty's Fear Fun, it's an album I'll be listening to five years down the road.

In closing, this marks the fifth year of BAMNWGAN, and this would be the place to thank you all for your love and support.

Outsidelands, SF: Day Three Gallery

OUTSIDELANDS

GOLDEN GATE PARK, SF

11 AUGUST, 2013

Wrapping things up on a foggy Sunday in Golden Gate Park, another year of Outsidelands was put to bed, making memories for all. For the verbal recap, see The Owl Magazine, and below are the final stash of photos...

KURT VILE/VIOLATORS

 

 FOALS

 DEAP VALLY

 EMELI SANDE

 TROMBONE SHORTY