Sylvan Esso: Fillmore Part Deux

It’s been a good, better, best kind of week. And it only took through Tuesday.

By the time we were standing downstage right (LDG: “Right? Where are you? That’s left!”) for Sylvan Esso’s return trip to The Fillmore, I had already reevaluated my stance on a previously despised commerce-driven holiday; rekindled a list-driven exploration of Nordic pop; and rediscovered a central coast hideaway, heretofore nothing more than a power plant curiosity, that is home to both a bevy of sea otters and a treasure trove of Shakespeare aficionados.

And then, of course, the show Tuesday night was fantastic.

Peelander Z and the Defiance of SF Audience Stereotypes

I didn’t have my arms folded, not once.

And MH, despite accepting a better offer to feast at The House of Prime Rib after work, made it to The DNA Lounge in time for the second half of the Zoopy Monsters set, and all of the insanity that is Peelander Z.

It helped that DH sent the above photo to MH in response to his “I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it” text.

The Preatures, That One Night…

Blue Planet Eyes, the debut LP from Australia’s The Preatures, spun under my radar in 2014, despite the fact that both MH and RF had it on their year-end lists.

MH likes to tell the story about how he watched Game 7 of the World Series at Fly on Divis, and then, minutes after Salvie Perez’s pop-up landed in What’s-His-Face’s glove, he charged into The Independent to celebrate with The Preatures. Well of course he likes the album. He probably bought the vinyl and a pair of t-shirts while he was at it. I know what a memorable night feels like. I understand the significance of connecting a charged evening to a recording; he’s re-living Bumgarner’s superhuman achievement every time he hears “Is This How You Feel?”

Time Traveling and the Importance of Loving The Y Axes

On their Twitter homepage, locals The Y Axes explain that they “are not the future of pop music, [they] are pop music from the future.” I’ve seen them live a couple times now, and have enjoyed the hell out of Sunglasses & Solar Flares since its release last year. I’m happy to report, then, that the future’s pop music reminds me a lot of Bay Area rock circa 2003.

Or maybe it’s just the venues.

There was something about those Lookout! and Asian Man shows in the East Bay, in the City, and in San Jose a decade ago. I haven’t listened to some of these bands in years, but I can remember seeing Squirtgun spazzing onstage, The Pattern doing their best Hives impersonation, Pretty Girls Make Graves playing almost an entire set in the dark. It was energized and alive, and, for me, just what I needed while I clawed myself free of a crap time in my life, bouncing between woe-is-me emocore and don’t-give-a-shit punk.