This past Monday, my better half and I got the pleasure of seeing tUnE-yArDs with full band as well as local guitar wizard Ava Mendoza play along with the following Buster Keaton shorts: One Week (1920), The Haunted House (1921) and with Fatty Arbuckle Good Night, Nurse! (1918) and The Cook (1918). It was at the legendary Castro Theater for the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival Her music lent itself perfectly to the acrobatic and hilarious shorts.

The Rip Off Artist – What Kind of Blue ? – Off of the excellent blu Tribunl album, that take old blues numbers and adds an abstract electronic element.

Sly & The Family Stone – If You Want Me To Stay – Where is Sly ? He’s probably living in Golden Gate Park. What a great bass line intro, and probably one of my favorite Sly tunes.

The Black Keys – Everlasting Light – Off of their best album, Brothers. They always have one or two great racks on each album which is overplayed on some commercial for Target or insect repellent douche adhering body spray.

Alabama Shakes – You Ain’t Alone – An incredible live act, which doesn’t completely come across in their first LP release, Boys & Girls, but still has some great tunes that sound old, but new.

Morphine- In Spite of Me – I got to see Morphine a few times in Philly when I was getting my higher education, and Mark Sandman, the lead singer and sax player would play two saxes at once. They were a great live band, and I’m sure they will continue to get a following even after Sandman’s tragic death in 1999.

The National – Lemonworld – I’ve never been a fan of this band. All of the songs sound the same to me, but this track has a nice melancholy melody. The driving beat is contrary to the lyrics.

Escort – Cocaine Blues – After seeing the average movie, The Sitter which had a great old school rap soundtrack including The Pharcyde, this track by the Brooklyn based disco band stood out because you know, babysitting and NY makes you think of the powder, right ?

Patrick Watson – Lighthouse – Along with Rocco Deluca, a possible vocal successor to Jeff Buckley ? A new release off of Adventures In Your Own Backyard. The album has a Devotchka and Beirut vibe.

Beach House – Myth – From Baltimore, STD free, and still hazy and dream-like. I think all of their albums should come with a prescription to Xanax which wouldn’t be a bad thing for most people.

The incredible lighting as seen in the picture above is by Andi Watson (interview) who has been doing Radiohead’s lighting/stage design since almost the beginning of when the band first started touring nationally. Thank you W.A.S.T.E. for the incredible seats. One of the best Radiohead shows I have ever seen, and that’s mainly because of the lighting. ( More pictures: Flickr )

If you could travel back in time which at the rate of technological advancement (see: Technological Singualrity), we will probably see in the next 20 years, what one item would you take back in time. I immediately thought a cell phone/iPhone, but the infrastructure would not be in place for that to even work, as well as for most computer based devices. Depending on which era, I might take a compilation of Chris Cunningham videos especially the Windowlicker video. Rubber Johnny might be too disturbing as my wife still mentions that when we were dating, and I showed her this short clip, she was truly disturbed and knew that the peels of my onion were a bit dark and tattered around the edges.

Here are some tracks to help you to decide if a move from San Francisco to Brooklyn ( “Not just Brooklyn. A-list Brooklyn. Park Slope, Division II Manhattan.” -Noah Baumbach’s  Kicking & Screaming) is a lateral cultural move ? Well, not Park Slope, but the much hated, according to the interlaced-web Williamsburg, thankfully not the colonial variety.

Fink – If Only (Live @ The Red Roaster) – recorded at the UK version of Red Lobster (an all-you-can-stuff faux seafood establishment). Apparently they gave away free Fink bibs as well as Fink embossed leg crackers that doubled as a music box playing this song. Wow.

Soul Coughing – The Brooklynites – Taken from the soundtrack for Spike Lee’s Blue In The Face. Again, one of the greatest/tightest bands ever. Just listen to the drumming. Chance of a reunion – Nil ?

Battles – Toddler (Kangding Ray Remix) – If you read this site, or like the blip, crackel and pop, then you too love Kangding Ray. Battles, eh.

Squarepusher – Cryptic Motion (Mr. Oizo Remix) – He really does “Slappin’ da bass” on stage, and his soon to be released album brings back some melody and fright induced charm of his previous work.  He does look all Daft Punked out now. This is a fairly recent straightforward track with the signature bass work.

Jamie Lidell – I Wanna Be Your Telephone (Tiga Party Like it’s 19909 remix) – Since the Multiply album, Lidell has been sporadically good at best. Everything came together on that album, and even though he has the funk, the voice, and the beats, the songs haven’t been as strong. Here’s a remix from Mr. Hot in Herrrre which makes things interesting while you wait at the water fountain.

Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook (Gluteus Maximus Mix) – A one-off remix from the Kompakt people. They are playing this year’s Outside Lands Festival, and I hope they either get to jam with Metallica, or play a cover by them (joke). The Another Planet people put together the worst line-up each and every year except for the first year when Radiohead headlined.

Squeeze – Goodbye Girl – From the Spot The Difference release where they recreated all of their hits. My wife just discovered Squeeze and I still think they are one of the greatest Pop acts ever. It was one of the first concerts I saw in 1987 and still probably one of the best shows. Driving to high school everyday, I wore out the Replacements Pleased To Meet Me and Squeeze’s Argy Bargy tapes.

Welcome back campers. Here are some tidy sensory blips for the benefit of your imagination, and future generations. I seem to be finding new music more and more through movies and TV these days, so here are some of those selections.

Aloe Blacc – I Need A Dollar – The theme song, for the now cancelled HBO show How To Make it In America otherwise known as the Vice Magazine show.

Hoagy Carmichael – Stardust – From the movie and trailer for Mike Mills’ Beginners. One of the better films of the year. This song also fit perfectly with my wedding this year.

Nina Simone – If I Should Lose You – I got this track from a bar scene in the AMC show The Killing. A bleak murder mystery that takes place in rainy Seattle which adds to the overall misery and suffering that every character seems to wear like a noose.

Bon Iver – Michicant - A somewhat more light-hearted? second release, and a great album if not for the John Hughes inspired last track.

Shigeto – Look At All The Smiling Faces - A nice soundtrack for the cold weather that has arrived with rain nowhere to be felt.

The Middle East – Blood – First heard from It’s Kind Of A Funny Story, and more recently in the somewhat surprisingly good Crazy, Stupid Love. The band is from Australia, and comes recommended by the FDA and Consumer Reports.

Bye.

From the worldwide headquarters of a seemingly lost distraction into our psyche, we bring another edition of what we have encountered to move us, either physically or, for the most part exhaustively into said positive nether world.  May seems to be the month of events– tUnE-yArDs killed, destroyed, pillaged the village of the tenderLOIN here in San Francisco at the Great American Music Hall proving once again that she is one of the best live acts for the malnourished youth of the future. TV on the Radio are scheduled to play an intimate show here on Monday which was delayed from last weekend after the death of their bassist Gerard Smith (RIP). Their new album, Nine Types of Light was dismissed by me after listening to it on my computer’s speakers, but after giving it another try on headphones, it was a different and thankfully, better listen. Although not as hella, hecka, POP-POP tight as their other releases. James Blake is bringing his ambien filled dubsteppy-ness to SF in a few weeks. The Dodos have a Tony the Tiger Grrreat new album No Color with their unique rhythm offerings will be among the redwoods at the Stern Grove festival where they will be opening for hipster dream girl Neko Case. It should be a sea of Texas shirts and Ray Ban wayfarers. Great. Also, down the line the Archers of Loaf will be here in September, if they don’t break up once again.

Timber Timbre is playing at the Swedish American Hall in SF on June 10th. His bluesy folk offerings should not be missed.

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tUnE-yArDs – Powa – A slinky funked-up track that would fit nicely on her first album. Beyonce wish she could do this.

TV On The Radio – Will Do – The most melodic of offerings from their latest release. The most interesting rock band in music today.

Dodos – Hunting Season – Tribal rhythms, yearning. Call and response. All of their tracks have such interesting drum parts.

Beck – Feel Good Time - The original version from William Orbit, but made popular by Pink. Party song for the Scientologists.

Bibio – Light Sleep – I picture Welcome Back Kotter, and the everlasting WahWah pedal.

Timer Timbre – Under Your Spell – A beautiful and simple bluesy number from his 2007 release Medicinals.

It seems that as I get older, I am going to less shows, and with further commitments sometimes disguised as responsibility, I have to be more select on which bands/DJ’s will further damage my already social security ready hearing.

Last year, I did get to check out St Vincent, Hauschka, Jamie Lidell, Rocco DeLuca, Thom Yorke, LCD Soundsystem, Dan Bell, Arcade Fire, Best Coast, Greg Dulli and The Books.

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My top choices for films that I saw last year were:
-Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (2009) – A companion piece to the great 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould.

-Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman (2008) – A great artist making art out of other people’s art, or possibly making their art better, or at least seem better.

-Caché (Hidden) (2005) – You will either love this movie, or absolutely hate it. Nothing is revealed, and the movie leaves it up to you to draw any conclusion, and probably have more questions.

-Kick-Ass (2010) – One of the best action movies, whether comic book related or not !!!

-Let the Right One In (Låt den Rätte Komma In) (2008) – A vampire movie, yes, but the best overall movie I saw in 2010. This one is the original, although I hear the remake is good as well.

-The Social Network (2010) – Fincher’s style combined with Sorkin’s verbal assault.

-Black Swan (2010) – It’s a disturbing movie, more so than 127 hours. It will make you squirm, just like he did in Requiem for a Dream.

-Mother (2010) – From the director of the great Memories of Murder, comes a story of the overbearing Korean mother trying to save her kid from murder charges.

-Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) – A farce, most likely, but a well-done prank-u-mentary. It is all about the hype and association, sometimes more so than the actual content of art, or said product. I believe MBW is a collaboration of Banksy and Fairey, and they are laughing all the way to the bank with the MBW crap people are buying.

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For last years, best-of, I made a list, but I am disregarding it. Here are some selections to help you with the Eleven…..

James Blake – Lindesfarne II – A full-length album after a great series of EP’s, and this sparse, yet moving record shows Blake using his voice more and creating more space. The warmest use of a vocoder.

Benoît Pioulard – Tie – I had the chance to check Pioulard out at Amnesia here in San Francisco a few months back, and like James Blake, he uses a lot of electronic experimentation with his vocals.

Bill Withers – Lovely Day – I think I heard this one from the movie, 127 Hours. It reminds me of the show Welcome Back Kotter. Such a great 70′s song.

Kangding Ray – Pruitt Igoe (Alva Noto Remodel) – From the Raster Noton released EP of the same name, an Alva Noto remix of an abstract genius.