Be The Riottt! - THE RAPTURE

THE RAPTURE are simply awesome live. Their headline spot at the Riottt Fest was quick, tight, and had everyone's asses shaking. Even without their usually fantastic light show, the band rose to the occasion and seemed to enjoy the fairly rushed set. The sax player alone was worth the price of admission for the whole festival. I can't really say much more about the show, as I was pretty drunk and wiped out by the time they went on. But check out their super fun new video for "Whoo! Alright! Yeah! Uh-huh!" It's a grand old time!

Be The Riottt! - METRIC

In the last six months I have become increasing intrigued by EMILY HAINES, lead singer of METRIC and part-time singer for BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE and STARS. I had toyed with the idea of catching METRIC's set at Coachella back in May, but since I wasn't too familiar with their albums at the time, they lost out to one of the thirtysomething other acts I did end up seeing that weekend.

Then, over the summer I rented the indie flick CLEAN, in which METRIC performs in a seedy rock club at the very beginning of the film. I immediately wanted to know who this band was and when I discovered that it was METRIC, I was kicking myself for missing them at Coachella. Ever since this revelation, I have scanned the internet for more info about EMILY HAINES and was ecstatic to find out that she was also releasing a solo album this year, "Knives Don't Have Your Back". So, needless to say, I was very excited to see METRIC at last weekend's Be The Riottt! Festival.

The set was, for the most part, solid. But perhaps I placed too much expectation on them to really be blown away. And strange as it may seem, I think Haines may have felt the same way in return. Throughout the show it seemed the singer was struggling to win the love of the main stage crowd. At one point the increasingly concerned Haines flat out asked the stoned and seemingly immobile crowd, "Are you okay?" When she got a lukewarm reaction, things just got stranger, as Haines meandered into a sort of art-chick rant of a monologue, almost losing the crowd completely. That was until the band brought out the big guns and slammed through a number of their more popular uptempo rockers like "Monster Hospital" and "Dead Disco".

All in all, the band sounded tight, but the thing about it is, Haines steals every ounce of attention from her bandmates, that I occasionally forgot that they even existed. She is absolutely mezmerizing to watch, at times abusing her keyboard like a scorned lover, shaking her beautiful mess of blonde hair into a frenzy, or slithering suspiciously around her bandmates like a hunter after it's prey.

Art Rock + Drama = METRIC

Be The Riottt! - THE PRESETS

THE PRESETS had a lengthy sound issue, delaying their set by a good 35 minutes or so. Julian Hamilton, the singer/keyboardist half of the Aussie electro duo, was visibly frustrated and it almost started to feel like the show wasn't going to get off the ground. Luckily, the over-stressed soundman in the Polk Room eventually figured out how to get Julian's mic working, because what ensued was the talk of the festival.

A nonstop new wave dance factory, THE PRESETS delivered, slamming through the sinister pop of "Are You the One?", the funked-out electric "Kitty in the Middle", and the electro-nostlagia of "Girl and the Sea". The duo literally had the room jumping with the infectious neo-rave anthem "I Go Hard, I Go Home". For a second I felt like I had been teleported back in time to the hottest underground party in San Francisco circa 1989.


For a duo comprised of a drummer and a keyboardist, I was amazed at the energy and sound these guys created. The crowd was nearly epileptic in it's show of affection, as sweating 20-somethings poured out of the room at set's end, spilling euphorically back into the Civic Center's brightly lit corridors of beer vendors to chat about what just occurred.

To Be Continued...METRIC...

Be The Riottt! - ASOBI SEKSU

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon leading up to the first (annual?) BE THE RIOTTT! Festival in San Francisco. And even though I only live a short two-blocks' stroll from the Bill Graham Civic Center, I and my SKY REPORT cohorts TROPHY (XLR8R) and JACOB LANE (sf painter/artist) were hungover and slow-moving in our quest to get off our asses and head down to the festival. After a late brunch, many cups of coffee and a few beers shots, we finally made it down the street.

We missed TOKYO POLICE CLUB, which wasn't such a bad thing. I kinda dig their songs, but they sound really young. They're still growing on me.

ASOBI SEKSU took the stage shortly after 6PM. The band seemed a bit perplexed at first, enduring what seemed like their first soundcheck under the ironic blasting of AC/DC'S "Back In Black" album. Lead singer/keyboardist Yuki Chikudate distracted herself by wrapping red Christmas tree lights around her microphone. But, what felt like a lukewarm start slowly built into a captivating set, and the crowd's momentum followed the same pattern. The first real highlight was the blazing "New Year's", which soared like a driving, dream pop juggernaut. The song climaxed into an ear-deafening wall of noise, then gave way back to the pounding, angelic chorus - a few moments of pure heaven.



After a warm rendition of their recent single "Thursday", the NYC post-shoegaze fourtet teased the audience with a few bars of THE CRYSTALS' 60's girl-group classic "Then He Kissed Me" before blasting through the hypnotic opus "Red Sea". As the searing finale disintegrated into a droning maze of guitars and synthesizers, puncuated constantly by Yuki's high-pitched melodies, the band erupted into a ferocious cover of "Kissed Me", played out in it's entirety.

ASOBI SEKSU were a great start to a solid night of fresh music.

To Be Continued...THE PRESETS...

GIRL TALK BRINGS THE RIOTTT!

More on the Bring the Riottt Festival later, but the high point was definitely when mash-up DJ GIRL TALK invited hundreds of fans onto the stage for a full-on dance party. Ignoring the security guards' attempt to contain 'the riottt', Girl Talk didn't even play for 10 minutes before the venue pulled the plug and ushered him and everyone else off the stage. It was so exciting, I only wish I had made it onto the stage so I could dance around Girl Talk at his laptop. A rock star in the making!

BE THE RIOTTT!!!

Only two days left until the Riottt Festival descends on San Francisco.

I am especially excited since I live only two short blocks from the infamous Bill Graham Civic Center, where hot hot hot acts like THE RAPTURE, GIRL TALK, THE PRESETS, ASOBI SEKSU, METRIC, DEERHOOF, XIU XIU and DIPLO will be lifting the roof off of said historical building.

I can't wait.