The best of the new (Porcupine Tree, Devin Townsend), a bit of the old (Killing Joke, Faith No More)…2010 was more than anything a return to form for artists of yore. Here’s the top 10 groundbreaking artists of the past year (or so)… as seen by ChinaShop Contributor Jeff Nau.
AWOLNATION crashed on Wilshire Blvd on Wednesday night, their spacey dance-punk and multi-genre madness a perfect foil for the El Rey’s decadent ballroom elegance: chandeliers and wine glasses shook to the pounding rhythms of “MF” and “Burn it Down” as the quintet — dressed down in some seriously dapper duds (and braving some wicked feedback early in the set) – took to the stage performing their first big hit, “Sail.”
If I remember correctly from those battle of the bands competitions I witnessed in high school, you’re usually stuck with half-assed garage groups, and, depending on your rate of alcohol consumption, the musicianship may or may not improve over the course of the evening.
But it may be best to stay sober for Red Bull’s Rock the Route, a tour-de-force which escalates the talent, the competition, and the pressure of what would otherwise be just another BOTB event. I didn’t want to miss a moment with Brighton, MA or Young Jesus, both Chicago-based indie bands who’d never ventured outside their home state. Tonight both were to be baptized in the debauchery of the infamous Viper Room and its tiny stage, which still seems best suited for a troupe of munchkins. One group had to wedge themselves onto the stage, set up, play fast, and break down faster so the next group could get their turn.
What Comic-Con would be complete without a rendition of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, the live, crazy collage-version of anarchic show tunes sung by Joss Whedon regulars Nathan Fillion and Maurissa Tancharoen? Well, a year ago, it seemed little other than a novelty, but 2010 sees the cult Internet hit becoming a regular event here at SDCC. I’m sure it’ll be better next year when a mother isn’t changing her newborn’s big poopy diaper right next to me, which in this case tended to accentuate the ‘horror’ part of it all. Awesome.
Spoiler Alert: This is nothing more than pure geeking-out over two of the comic industry’s (random) best and brightest talents, and a somewhat inhibited attempt to delve more into their demented minds (or as far as they’ll let us, considering audience question time is limited and we were jumping from one event to the other). We were able to get a few words with Stan Sakai, the legendary writer and artist behind a lethal and cunning bunny rabbit living in 17th century Japan, Usagi Yojimbo. It’s is an ongoing, 23-year serial that follows a floppy-eared samurai warrior as he wanders the earth, earning his living largely as a Ronin, or mercenary, and chopping into tiny animal parts anyone who wrongs him. Read on below.
If you’ve never heard of Creepy Magazine, you’re missing one of the greatest black-and-white pulp-horror comic publications of the past 50 years (which certainly narrows it down) — sort of a bastard love child, and perhaps the result of a tryst between tamer fare like Tales From The Crypt and The Vault of Horror. Under the Taliban-like regime of the Comics Code Authority, that silly little ban on anything having to do with dirty language and naughty bits, though, the twisted genius of Creepy remained largely unknown for decades.
Hailing from New Zealand, Kerretta is comprised of three musicians who want to pummel you with something that could best be described as anti-music. For fans of prog and the more experimental side of things — and probably anyone fed up with the resurgence of redundant, retro rock recycling — it could be just what the Pro Tools-addled, over-saturated music world probably needs right now.
With our Magnetic Fields coverage turning out to be a bust, we scoured the streets of San Francisco on a particularly gloomy Monday afternoon for a worthy replacement. I’d already seen some of the sights, so we searched for weirder ways to occupy the time. The mission: turn any rocks over that we could, and hopefully unearth whatever interesting, unusual and weird creatures Frisco had to offer. Despite it being a Monday, we got a little lucky after digging around all day.
After a night of club-hopping at San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival, there was a different kind of noise we needed. And what could have been better for a hangover than an endless stream of calliope music, along with the bangs and pings of pinball machines and harpsichord melodies? Bob Suicide led us from the ordinary world of sunlight-drenched, boardwalk tourist traps into one of the city’s cult gems: Musée Mécanique at Pier 45, right along San Francisco Bay.
Sunday’s concluding Noise Pop festivities took place at the legendary Bimbo’s 365 cafe, a complete departure from the comparatively run-down areas of ‘Frisco we’d been checking out the bands at thus far. It was there that two completely different kinds of folk bands squared off against one another: first, the Joni Mitchell-esque Watson Twins, with their docile harmonies, tambourine taps and strummed acoustic guitars. Their rivals were headliners Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, more of a Mamas and The Papas-type of family band who drove the crowd nothing short of koo-koo, Dizzy Balloon-style except with a lot more of the unwashed masses. For those who have never been, Bimbo’s looks a lot like the Overlook Hotel from The Shining; its decadent, roaring 20′s interior boasts a grand ballroom, red velvet everything and a bar that eerily resembles the one Jack Nicholson heard voices at. So…come play with us, Danny!