so hard to choose between conceit and rock

the music spigot's been on full blast lately...lots of shows seen and yet to see, lots of records to get...

saturday kp and i headed to amoeba in the haight for an in-store by john vanderslice. like the national and spoon (see below) vanderslice is a guy who for some reason i just hadn't gotten into yet, despite the fact that his music is right in line with what i tend to like. after his set, during which he was warm, engaging and fun, i think i'll pay a bit more attention.

thursday was my friend sadie's band, invisible cities. awesome indie pop, moving from upbeat and charming to moody to arty to straight out rocking. the new album should be a good one.

the last time i saw yo la tengo was most likely back in the early 1990s. yeah, a long time ago. seeing them again at the kusf birthday show brought back memories of my indie rock college days. they were in good form, opening with a cover of the ramones' "sheena is a punk rocker", part of a set-long tribute to the year 1977. they also slipped in a fleetwood mac song, as well as jonathan richman's "roadrunner" among their own songs. all that and the bass player looked a bit like ricky from "better off dead".

two bands that i'm surprisingly late to the party on are spoon and the national. spoon i saw last year open for death cab for cutie. seeing them live i came away liking them more than i had just from hearing some songs now and again on kexp. for whatever reason not enough to buy any records, but enough to open my mind. then hearing some tracks off of ga ga ga ga ga something clicked and i bought the last few albums. got-damn if girls can tell isn't as good as the hype. likewise with the newest record. seriously, where have i been the last 6 years or so on these guys, huh?

kexp has been playing the national for a while, and again, like with vanderslice and spoon, i'd dig them on the radio but for whatever reason didn't move on it. then i went to see them play along with the broken west a month or so ago, and as i noted, i was blown away. i've been playing boxer and alligator almost non-stop as of late.

and upcoming? well this week is patti smith for sure, and possibly the magic numbers and then detroit cobras. not to mention wilco the week after next!