Concert Season!

April is upon us already, which can mean only one thing: concerts galore!

In a pattern in keeping with previous years, the spring thaw means a flurry of touring activity. With the abundance of riches the San Francisco Bay Area provides, it is not unheard of to forego one show in favor of seeing another, to have two artists I admire playing at different venues on the same night. This month's calendar is chock-full already:

• Lindsey Stirling at the Warfield. A fun, entertaining show! It's been great seeing Lindsey rise to fame thanks to that 21st-century invention, YouTube. April 3.
• Sparks at The Chapel. The day I discovered this show, I lost my shit. It's the first of two nights, and the second had already sold out. Even though it's a stripped-down format—not for nothing is the tour called Two Hands, One Mouth—Sparks is one of the bands I feared I'd never get to see live, despite having been a fan for nearly twenty years. So when I managed to regain my shit after reading the SonicLiving email, I promptly snagged a pair of tickets. April 9.
• Jessie Ware at The Independent. She's about to blitz North America with a re-release of her debut album, and I am very excited to hear what she's like in person. April 11.
• Purity Ring at The Independent. A recent discovery, they're not my usual cup of tea, but I'm warming up to them. April 16.
• Metric at the Fox Theatre. I need not say much about Metric; their most recent album is a delightful listen. I fell in love with them thanks to Black Sheep, which features to great effect in one of my favorite films of all time, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. April 18.

Phew! All that, and still nearly two weeks left to fill. It's not just a blip, though; the next month has shows from Little Boots, Marina and the Diamonds, and the xx...

As a bonus, give a listen to Sparks' 1995 album Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins, the album that made me fall in love with them. (Little did I know they'd already been around for over twenty years!) Can you guess who Russell is imagining a relationship with in "I Thought I Told You to Wait In the Car"?

New Hotness: April 2013

Apologies, Dear Reader. It's been a busy few months for me, leaving me precious little time to listen to music, much less write about it. And I'm not going to write about it right now; instead, I give you an Rdio playlist with ten recent releases that I am thoroughly enjoying right now. Yes, there's a guilty pleasure or two–hello, Jonas Brothers–but just because it's a guilty pleasure doesn't make it bad! Enjoy.

Favorite Tracks of 2012

2012 was a pretty great year for pop music, at least in terms of singles if not for entire albums. It was a year that saw a resurgence of male-led pop music (Bright Light Bright Light, Alex Clare), some strong sophomore efforts (Ellie Goulding, Sam Sparro, Adam Lambert, Bruno Mars), and some outstanding live shows in support of great new music (Dragonette, Beats Antique, The Ting Tings).

This year's best-of list includes several acts local to San Francisco, as I've had more opportunities to catch local bands than in prior years. The list includes quite a bit of music not available on Rdio; they are, of course, all worth checking out.

Tracks not available on Rdio:

• Clean Bandit – "UK Shanty" – listen – Buy on Amazon
• Disclosure & Sam Smith – "Latch" – listen – Buy on Amazon
• Foxes – "Youth" – listen
• Holy Ghost! – "It Gets Dark" – listen – Buy on Amazon
• Jessie Ware – "Wildest Moments" – video – Buy on Amazon
• Lindsey Stirling – "Elements" – video – Buy on iTunes
• Midi Matilda – "Day Dreams" – listen – Buy on BandCamp
• Noisettes – "Winner" – video
• Paradis – "Hémisphère" – listen – Buy on Beatport
• Rowsy Bosch feat. Jeb Havens – "We Are" – listen – Buy on Amazon
• Röyksopp feat. Susanne Sundfør – "Running to the Sea" – watch live performance – Buy on Röyksopp's site

Check out the rest in the embedded player:

2012: The year in gigs

January

• 6 – Return to Mono, Stripmall Architecture – Rickshaw Stop
• 19 – Katy B, The Good Natured – Rickshaw Stop

February

• 18 – Pomplamoose, A B and The Sea – Great American Music Hall

March

• 22 – 2:54, Stripmall Architecture – Rickshaw Stop
• 25 – The Ting Tings – The Fillmore
• 27 – Midi Matilda, Peck the Town Cryer, Beam – Cafe du Nord
• 30 – Beats Antique – The Fox Theatre

April

• 4 – Sam Sparro, Polaris at Noon – The Independent
• 5 – K-Flay – Rickshaw Stop
• 9 – Oh Land, Midi Matilda – The Independent
• 12 – Miike Snow, Penguin Prison – The Fox Theatre
• 27 – Tanlines – Rickshaw Stop

May

No shows, life demanded more attention than usual.

June

• 17 – Scissor Sisters – The Fox Theatre

July

• 11 – Marina and the Diamonds – The Fillmore

August

• 23 – Alex Clare – Mezzanine

September

• 11 – Hot Chip – The Fox Theatre
• 26 – Dragonette, The Knocks – Mezzanine

October

• 12 – The Presets – The Independent
• 19 – Major Lazer – The Fox Theatre
• 20 – Stars, Diamond Rings – The Fillmore
• 23 – Two Door Cinema Club, St. Lucia – The Fox Theatre
• 26 – Lights – Great American Music Hall

November

• 4 – Justice, Girls & Boomboxes – The Warfield
• 8 – Diamond Rings, Sky Ferreira – Rickshaw Stop

December

No shows, ERMAGERD HERLERDERS!

Fresh: Rowsy Bosch

Male-fronted synth-pop has been in short supply since the glory days of the 1980's. With rock's resurgence and hip-hop's rise to prominence, pop music seemed to be a "no boys allowed" club, at least when it came to lead vocal duty. And maybe there's something to that. Maybe women are more naturally given to lead a fabulous show, maybe audiences are more willing to accept a big show if there's a woman out front. Maybe synth-driven pop music is just a naturally better fit for a woman's voice. Who knows?

All I know is, the times, they are a-changin' – and that's a good thing! Already this year, we've seen the astonishing love letter to 1990's dance-pop that is Bright Light Bright Light's debut album, Make Me Believe In Hope. There's 9AM to 5PM, 5PM to Whenever by The Young Professionals, in which they take up the dance-pop baton from Information Society. And let us not forget Adam Lambert, Alex Clare, Pengiun Prison, perennial pop princes the Pet Shop Boys, and the next wave of boy bands including The Wanted and One Direction.

Now there's a new collaboration that should help put to bed the notion that synth-pop projects are better served with female vocalists. San Francisco's Rowsy Bosch is a partnership of singer/songwriter Jeb Havens and electronic music producer Oliver Voigt. They showed their intent and made waves with an excellent, heartfelt cover of "Shake the Disease" – a Depeche Mode original:

Their debut EP, Corralitos, is now available, and features five original songs, each with a different mood. They eschew driving 4/4 beats in favor of moody arrangements that give Havens's outstanding voice room to breathe. In fact, with the exception of "Space In Between," the template seems to be mid-career Depeche Mode: slower tempos, atmospheric electronics, a dark mood. The gritty "We Are" is a standout among quality songs.

The result is a strong collection of songs, each of which has its own identity but also feels a vital part of the whole. The emotions are raw and potent, the production crisp but restrained, the vocals beautiful.

Catch Rowsy Bosch live on 13 November at Beatbox in San Francisco, with Darling Gunsel and Adonisaurus.

• Buy Corralitos on Amazon or iTunes
• Rowsy Bosch Website
• Rowsy Bosch on Facebook

Autumn listening

I recognize I've been neglecting this blog recently; I chalk it up to a mixture of new job, busy social life, and simple laziness. But never fear! I continue to soak up as much new music as I can, and my concert calendar is looking pretty busy this month. In the next few weeks, I'll be seeing The Presets, Major Lazer, Stars, Diamond Rings, Two Door Cinema Club, and Lights.

In the coming days I'll have some posts about recent shows and albums that have stuck with me (I'm looking at you, Dragonette!), but in the meantime, please enjoy the latest mix CD I made for my parents. (See the summer mix CD I sent them.) It is missing one song, which is not in Rdio's catalog (yet): "Save Our Souls" by Garçon Garçon, which I strongly recommend buying.

Young Professionals : "9AM to 5PM, 5PM to Whenever"

I'm still really enjoying (and evangelizing, whenever possible) Bright Light Bright Light's debut album, which readers in North America can get for just $5 at 7Digital. But more great music has been released recently, and it merits some exposure.

The debut album from The Young Professionals is consistently interesting, often quirky, and thoroughly enjoyable. It's what I imagine Information Society might sound like if they'd gotten started 25 years later. Even the cover of Lana Del Rey's "Video Games" is good—in fact, it's vastly superior to the original. Check it out.

Bright Light Bright Light - Make Me Believe In Hope

Remember how my favorite album of last year was Voyage by The Sound of Arrows? Halfway through 2012, we now have the strongest contender yet for that title: Make Me Believe In Hope, the debut album from Bright Light Bright Light.

Nearly a year after releasing the best Robyn song Robyn never made (Disco Moment), the album that follows is full of songs that fully engage the ears, the mind and, above all, the heart. It plays simultaneously as tribute and heir to the dance-pop of the early 1990s. Many songs, especially Feel It, Waiting For the Feeling, and Cry At Films, would feel right at home in a mix with early Cathy Dennis and CeCe Peniston.

The album traces a series of emotional highs and lows, embracing the euphoria of new love (Feel It), rebirth (Love Part Two), mourning (Cry At Films), despair (Moves), resignation (Disco Moment), and acceptance (Grace). Hope is a recurring theme, so the album's pleading title is a perfect fit.

Though there is but one "slow dance" ballad (Debris), the writing is so solid that each and every song would work perfectly well as a spare piano piece. (For proof, check out the Blueprints EP, which contains stripped-down versions of four songs from the album.) Each time I listen to the album—and I've listened to it start-to-finish over a dozen times—the stretch of sad songs beginning with Cry At Films and finishing up with Disco Moment brings me to the point of tears. The album is just that good. On top of that, Rod's voice is evocative and perfectly matched to the instruments, with no Auto-Tune to be found. (Thank the heavens!)

Rod Thomas and his collaborators are to be commended for releasing such a strong, cohesive, confident collection of music. They put a whole lot of love into this album, and it shows. I hope the album gains traction in North America, because I would like nothing more than to hear these songs performed live.

Make Me Believe In Hope is out now. Buy it on iTunes, stream it at AOL Spinner. Buy the Blueprints EP on iTunes or on Amazon.

Essential Madonna

So, about Madonna. As a gay man who grew up in the 1980's and 90's, I am obligated to be a fan. And I am. However, my fandom is not unconditional, and it is much less fervent now than it used to be. I found Erotica phoned-in, Confessions on a Dance Floor paint-by-numbers, and Hard Candy five years too late.

After a couple listens to MDNA, I'm mostly indifferent. Her vocals are still stiff and robotic, the lyrics obvious and often questionable, but there's some good stuff there. I am especially fond of "Gang Bang" and "I'm Addicted".

Slate's "Where Do I Start With Madonna?" inspired me to create a list of my own Madonna best-of. (I'll ramble about my feelings on best-of collections in a later post.) It's mostly essential, with a couple of personal favorites ("Causing a Commotion" and "Nobody's Perfect" – and I almost included "Hanky Panky").

Concert Reviews: Stripmall Architecture, The Ting Tings, Midi Matilda

In the past week, I've been to three shows. Now that I've had time to digest them and recover, it's time for some quick summaries.

Stripmall Architecture

Where: Rickshaw Stop
When: 22 March 2012
Nutshell: A talented local band with big ambitions delivers.

Celebrating the release of their new single "We Are Not Cool" on 7" clear vinyl, Stripmall Architecture performed their unique flavor of art-pop as the opening act for 2:54. This was my second time seeing them live, and if anything, they were even better the second time around.

Their music and style strike me as what might result from a collaboration between Björk, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and David Bowie, with a little bit of Zöe Keating thrown in for good measure. (What pop band wouldn't benefit from the presence of a cello? None that I know of.)

Their performances feature playful light structures (witness the light tree on Rebecca's microphone stand), screen projections, and of course beautiful music. Rebecca's voice is strong, and together with Ryan's production and Erica's haunting cello—and very cool costumes and makeup—their performances are not to be missed. This one was no exception.

Stripmall Architecture's website

The Ting Tings

Where: The Fillmore
When: 25 March 2012
Nutshell: A rousing, albeit brief, performance cements their status as stars.

The Ting Tings weren't really on my radar until their performance on Saturday Night Live in 2009. Since then, their White Stripes-and-then-some flavor of pop-rock has lodged itself firmly in my brain. Their sophomore album, Sounds From Nowheresville, demonstrates a variety of musical styles and moods, without straying too far from their We Started Nothing roots.

Their performance at the Fillmore proved their mettle and their talent, as both Katie and Jules bounded around the stage, jumping from instrument to instrument, and clearing having a blast. You had no way of knowing—until she mentioned it before performing their final song—that Katie was still recovering from an appendectomy just a few days prior.

Unfortunately, the fact that she was still recovering meant the show had to be short, so they wrapped things up with verve after just 65 minutes. That means some great songs had to be left out, notably "Soul Killing" from the new album. Happily, they did play "Hands" which is one of my favorite songs from the new album, though for some reason it's only on the deluxe edition.

Despite its brevity, the show was a lot of fun. They should probably credit the sound engineer as a third band member, because the show sounded flawless: both members' vocals were clear, and the bass was full and deep. Here's hoping they come back through with a longer set!

The Ting Tings' website

Midi Matilda

Where: Café du Nord
When: 27 March 2012
Nutshell: Local band hits the ground running with a great debut show.

After remarkable opening sets by BEAM and Peck the Town Crier, Midi Matilda overcame some initial audio problems and put on a fun, energetic performance of their debut EP.

They opened with the summery "Ottowa", and the outstanding "Day Dreams" represented the highlight of the night. Skyler Kilborn's vocals were flawless and clear, and both he and Logan Grimé (on drums and production) had infectious energy, even busting out some synchronized choreography to mark the occasion.

Judging by their confidence and ease of performance, you'd never know this was their first-ever live show. They're definitely going places, these guys. Check 'em out next time they're on the marquee!

Midi Matilda on Bandcamp