Last week we went to two shows: the TEJ Trio at SFJAZZ and the Kishi Bashi String Quartet at the Palace of Fine Arts (in a huge concert hall that I had no idea existed). The jazz show was cool but I have to admit that I liked the 5-minute encore of them playing "Caravan" better than the hour-long improvisation preceding it. Does that make me lame? I'm no stranger to experimental shows (if you recall, I used to live in LA with a bunch of beat scene guys), but this time the laptops and projections just didn't do it for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT4oVTgiBaI
I *did* very much enjoy Kishi Bashi, who shared the stage with a string quartet and his mountainman banjo player, Mike Savino. They did some really cool covers (including Talking Heads!) and a lot of songs from the new ("second") album, Lighght. I love KB's semi-awkward banter and his fondness for San Francisco. Both times I saw him perform, he explained that the reason for his awkwardness was because he was nervous and that SF was his favorite place to play. Awwww.
In other news, I recently discovered a very interesting genre called electro swing. Am I really behind the times on this? I had no idea it was a thing until I happened upon a really cool 8tracks mix. I take back what I said a few posts back about swing having "died out." Apparently it's still very much alive (with the help of some phat beats). Here's another mix for good measure.
And lastly, I don't believe I've mentioned it here yet, but a couple weeks ago we made an impulsive decision to go to a D'Angelo concert...in Amsterdam. At the end of this month. After the initial shock of "whoa, we just bought those tickets," I very quickly became PUMPED. And now after watching D'Angelo and the Vanguard on SNL I'm even more excited. Part of the reason we're going is because his live performances are so sparse (those in the US tend to get...cancelled), and this may very well be our only chance to see him in person. The other reason we're going is because it's AMSTERDAM! Home of beautiful canals, suuuperchill people (if you catch my drift), and KattenKabinet! So even if D'Angelo flakes out on the show or announces a west coast tour right after this, it's going to be great.
I'll leave you with this, a Monkees gif I made, lest you think I've forgotten what this blog is really about:
