Mesh Magazine

The Lightning Bug Situation is the solo project of San Francisco guitarist and songwriter Brian Miller, whose new album, A Leaf, A Stream is a beautiful collection of ethereal pop songs influenced by the birth of his daughter and intensely personal moments and recollections of himself, his family, and his friends. A CD release show is being held this Saturday at Amnesia (853 Valencia between 19th & 20th) with special guests The Antiques and The Vision of a Dying World (who will also be The Lightning Bug Situation’s backing band).

The album features recordings of people telling various anecdotes from their lives, which range from funny to nostalgic to almost disturbingly personal, as on “Hitting’s Not Very Effective When You Don’t Have Much of a Punch”, where a woman describes her abusive ex-boyfriend and her attempts to fight back. This, combined with lyrics that cover the thoughts of a new father (on “A Message To Myself After Franny Was Born”, a song driven by harmonized vocals, piano and slide guitar), the experience of putting a pet to sleep (”Topher’s Dead”), and a melancholic fan letter to a musician (”For Dave K.”), gives the album the feeling of reading someone’s diary, and all the intrigue, and at times uncomfortable-ness, that goes with it.

The crescendoing “Iraqi Man and Baby Daughter, 2007″ is a highlight of the album, reflecting the reality and personal horror of wars. It features samples of Dave Mihaly’s string quartet piece “Influences of the Invisible”. Overall, an excellent, ambitious album in its entirety, from Miller, who has played guitar with Jolie Holland for the past eight years (including on Catalpa, Escondida, and Springtime Can Kill You). (more…)

Kashmere Stage Band
Texas Thunder Soul 1968 – 1974
Now Again

This impressive collection of gritty instrumental funk and soul music was captured in the six years that the Kashmere Stage Band was under the guidance of band leader Conrad O. Johnson, and it’s especially impressive considering that Johnson was a high school music teacher and the Kashmere Stage Band was a high school big band. This group of young players was so adept and so talented at such a young age that these recordings could pass as the work of seasoned veteran funk and soul musicians. There are some well composed originals and a fair amount of cover tunes on this release, and it’s all given exuberant life by these young players, whose signature is left through amazing soloing and some of the tightest in-the-pocket playing south of Motown.
– Max Sidman

Listen to “I Wish” by Kashmere Stage Band. 

Catch Clipd Beaks live this Thursday with Gay Beast (Minneapolis), Fuckwolf & DJs Oonceoonce & Peeplay at El Rio (3158 Mission Street @ Cesar Chavez). $5, 21+.

Clipd Beaks
Preyers
Tigerbeat6

Released back in March, Preyers is a six-song EP full of avant-East-Bay-krautrock that somehow remains, for the most part, accessible pop, even on the noisy second track “No Horizons”. Opening song “Nuclear Arab” features a bass heavy, pounding low-end rhythm section and distorted vocals and has had me hitting repeat over and over. In the press earlier this year, two different entities, the Bay Guardian and Forcedexposure.com compared this Oakland quartet to P.M. Dawn. I can only hope one of them was plagiarizing, or that the comparisons were written by the same person, because, P.M. Dawn? What the fuck? “Hash Angels” sounds like a Sigur Ros song if they dropped all the made-up language bullshit. This shows up on my iTunes as Gospel & Religious—alright, I’ll kneel at the altar of Clipd Beaks.
–Eric Cortez

More than a line of teas or the 16th President, Pat Parra is honest. With his debut record Stages, he lays bare all his feelings, insecurities, loves, and hates for all to hear, for better or for worse. He goes so far as to use his mortifying third grade yearbook photo for the cover. The album is an eclectic amalgamation of bedroom and bathroom recordings encompassing everything from falsetto to freestyle, acoustic strums to electrobeats. In “Bike Riding,” Parra confesses his love for a bank teller with the most charming of hooks. He swiftly moves from the butterflies of blossoming love to that sinking feeling in your stomach when you know things are over in “Bitch Cheated.” When he’s said all he wants to say, he covers Jeff Buckley’s “Jewel Box” oh so delicately. Pat Parra offers his everything in this record with no front, genuinely beautiful and fun, like the man himself.

Listen to “Bike Riding” by Pat Parra.
Listen to “Bitch Cheated” by Pat Parra

Robert Pollard
Normal Happiness
Merge Records

Robert Pollard’s second post-Guided By Voices effort, Normal Happiness, released this month, is another sweet dose of rockin’ pop songs from this true original. With his harder experimental and lo-fi sides now mostly being explored through side projects and collaborations, Pollard here delivers a batch of triumphantly fun and funny songs like “Get a Faceful” and “Supernatural Car Lover”, which go right to the sing-a-long in the car or shower category. Good stuff. Buying this directly from Merge and some record stores yields the nice bonus CD, Moon, a 15-song live recording of Bob and his band, The Ascended Masters, on the road last spring.
–Brad Wesley

DJs B. Cause & Max Kane
Night Of The Remix
4 One Funk

Members of the 4 One Funk Crew and the Dollar Bin Quintet, DJs B. Cause and Max Kane (a.k.a. Ayles One) recently released their Night Of The Remix CD with a poppin’ dance party at Milk Bar out on Haight. A seamless mixdown of new and classic rap tracks with new and classic funk and soul cuts, standouts include the Mac Dre / The Team mash of “Bleezies & Heem,” the Too Short / Juelz Santana “Blow The Whistle Song” over Otis Redding, and an Eddie K exclusive rap laced up with The Federation’s “18 Dummy” track. But that’s just scratching the surface of this mix. This is 31 tracks of nothin’ but ass-shakin’ joints—a dance party waiting to happen.
–Max Sidman

Listen to “Alice Russel” remix by DJs B. Cause & Max Kane.

Technorati Tags: 4onefunk, b. cause, max kane, hip-hop, bay area, underground

Kid Koala
Your Mom’s Favorite DJ
Ninja Tune

Canada’s best musical export has got to be Kid Koala. Since he first wowed fans with the bootleg classic Scratch-Cratch-Ratch-Atch, he’s not only showcased his unique musical style, but he’s also been able to incorporate his visual art and affinity for craftiness into his projects via innovative package design and music/book companion projects. But Your Mom’s Favorite DJ is a return to older Koala styles—the focus is the album itself, with Koala’s unique blend of funk and jazz and soul with myriad vocal samples and turntable oddity to create whimsical, funky pastiches of sound and music. In some cases, the tracks tell little stories and in some cases they make no sense at all, but through it all, fun is the central thread of continuity.
–Max Sidman

West By Swan
West By Swan
Antithetic Records

Chico, California’s West By Swan creates music that ranges from sparse and delicate to a whirlwind, giant wall of sound, often in the course of one song. The band is an amalgam of influences of the past 25 years, from the walls of discordant, varied guitars, which recall Polvo, the thick, syrupy melodies that bring to mind Juno and the full on, ominous assault of “Port to Port” which recalls Chicago noisemakers Shellac and Jesus Lizard. The first two tracks slide seamlessly into one another, with the opener “Pardon My Escape” blending into the subsequent “Junkie’s Lullaby”. The highlight of the album is “Wrecking Ball”, with the entire song built on the opening riff, which serves as the foundation for more angular guitar work, thick bass and tom-heavy drumming. Guitarist/vocalist Dan Greenfield forceful delivery of lyrics like “Your luck has run out/better start heading for the door/and keep your head down/I see here comes a wrecking ball” sinks those last hooks in, as if you weren’t grabbed enough.
-Paul Welch

Listen to “Port To Port” by West By Swan.

Loka
Fire Shepherds
Ninja Tune Recordings

One of the best instrumental releases of the year, Liverpool duo Loka’s Fire Shepherds mixes funk, jazz, rock and hip-hop in truly inspiring ways. Songs are generally built around one riff, repeated throughout the song, as the rhythm changes and different instruments pop in and out of the mix. With saxophone, flute, bass and keys taking the lead at times, this album recalls the mostly instrumental rock/jazz hybrids of the late ‘60s/early ‘70s from the likes of Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra. Ten-minute epic ”Freda Mae” wanders through various moods and comes off like the score to some long-lost, short crime film of the ‘70s. The highlight of the album comes on the last track, “Tabernacle Part 2”, a bass-driven song with classic, cool jazz drums and strings. Loka’s Karl Webb and Mark Kyriacou hope to bring their act stateside, with a full band, in a show that should definitely not be missed.
–Brian Brophy

Check out the video for “Beginingless” by Loka.

Sacred Hoop
Go Hog Wild
The Hoop, LLC

The foundation of this brilliant record is producer Vrse Murphy’s densely layered construction, which is so thick, it’s practically unfathomable. For example, “Lie Cheat Steal” employs a overwhelming large orchestral complement with pounding tympani and swirling string and horn sections, while “Fun Style” weaves steel drums with rumbling, resonant synth bass and the singing of a German children’s choir. Luke Sick proves, song after song, that his mic skills are as sharp and as smart as ever; his hooks have developed a clean pop appeal but maintain a steadfast fuck-you attitude, and his raps always shine with an aggressive edge even when he’s delivering in a more laidback style. Add to all this cuts by DJs Raw-B and the unfuckwitable Quest, and you have a contender for best underground rap record of the year.
–Max Sidman