England out in the Cold

Wild Flag @ Bottom Of The Hill, San Francisco, 18 Nov 2010

Wild Flag is a new band which contains two members of Sleater-Kinney (as amazingly drummer Janet Weiss has not been snapped up by Led Zeppelin). All four members sing but the band is dominated by singer/guitarist Carrie Brownstein. Even when the band are setting themselves up they all end up looking at her waiting for the signal that they are ready. But Carrie won't start until a scotch on the rocks has been bought at the bar and passed hand to hand through the crowd. In Sleater-Kinney she was the second best singer but now she lets loose, singing louder and clearer than ever. The other guitarist-singer (Mary Timony) is in danger of being overpowered by all this but keeps going while keyboardist Rebecca Cole is cheerful but not generally audible.

This band hasn't made a record but I expect I will buy it when it does appear. If it can capture Carrie Brownstein on this form then it should be interesting.

Boris / Red Sparrowes / Helms Alee @ Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, 26 Aug 2010

I only saw a few of Helms Alee but they are an intriguing band. They have a hard hitting drummer, a funky bassist and a nosy guitar player. They play loud but there is a lot of space in the music. I would like to hear more.

Red Sparrowes have too many guitarists (according to my rules). They make nice sound textures that make me think of Meddle-era Pink Floyd (this is a good thing). At times they lacked focus, but it was all very pleasant.

Boris are that Japanese band who play any and all combination of sludge/psychedelic/doom/dirge/drone/metal just as long as it is HEAVY. If you ever go to ye olde record shoppe you have probably seen this amusing cover to one of their recordings:

They were playing with touring guitarist Michio Kurihara who stands off to one side to make his status clear. I love Boris's recordings but I found it hard at first to appreciate the concert. It all seemed a bit clinical despite the fact that drummer Atsuo is a rock monster.

After a big things got going and a mosh pit formed. I was enjoying standing near the pit but some indie kid kept trying to push me in. I told him to stop but he persisted. The next time he pushed I seized his arm and flung him into the seething pit. He tried to bounce around but immediately fell over and got kicked. I had instantaneous visions of him being crushed to death and me having to deal with the conviction oriented American legal system. Fortunately for us both he was picked up and set on his feet. Sadly I felt upset by the whole incident and it was hard to concentrate as Boris did were not very interactive.

Toyah on the cover of Smash Hits

Sex Pistols 14-Jan-1978 Winterland, San Francisco (full concert)

This is a good was to hear that Sid was not totally incompetent as some have said. Where Winterland was is now a boring pile of apartments.

Three musicians who literally turned their back on the audience

Who: Miles Davis
Why: People thought he was being ornery, but Miles said he was just listening to his band.

Who: Steve Albini of Shellac
Why: he spends ages tuning guitars or amps or something so they sound just right

Who: Davey Graham
Why: He had discovered DADGAD tuning and didn't want other guitarists to see what he was doing.

I wanted to post Status Quo on Top of the Pops where they start off with their backs to the audience, but I couldn't find it. Can anyone help?

Portrait of Jamie Carragher

Dimitar Berbatov outjumps Jamie Carragher to score MAnchester United's third goal.

Greensleeves LP Covers

Read more about this great looking book here.

Janelle Monae @ All Shook Down Festival, San Francisco, 25-July-2010

The day before I went briefly to the Tidal Wave Metal Festival in McLaren Park. This was a much more organized affair with the location being a street fair in North Beach. There was even a published schedule (please could all concerts have this?) and this enabled me to time my arrival perfectly so I could be near the front. The sound was not good at first but got better. Janelle Monae can sing, as she clearly demonstrated singing Smile. She can dance on one leg, a bit like JB in the Tami show, and in the picture above you can see she even wore a cape at one stage. She has her band looking cool in their uniform of evening dress. And she has good songs. I expect her to become a big star.