San Francisco Music News

Bottom of the Hill is one of my favorite places to see live music in SF. It’s small, there’s always a good crowd, you can practically sit on the stage, they play random old films at the bar, there’s a fantastic little garden area in back, and they have cheap PBR. However, my one complaint about the Potrero venue is the sound quality, which in my opinion can sometimes make or break a show. It is simply unfair to a great band to end up with a low-quality show just because there was no sound in the mics or the synthesizer didn’t work – especially if they are not even given an adequate sound check before. This was the unfortunate case with Railcars, the first band to play the evening. When I saw the trio emerge with a neon-duct-taped synthesizer, a xylophone, and a mic fashioned from an old phone receiver (that, according to lead singer Aria Jalali, was sent to him from “some guy in Nevada”), I had my hopes up pretty damn high. The saddest part was that the band didn’t disappoint at all. Somewhere buried under the technical difficulties was music that was optimistic, playful, and downright fun. It sounded kind of like a popsicle… if that makes any sense. So, if you were at the show (or if not), be sure to give Aria Jalali, Dasha Bulatova, and Shaw Waters of Railcars a second chance and check out their infectious, dancey tunes on myspace (myspace.com/railcarsmusic). Next up were Nurses who must have been given the luxury of a sound check because their music radiated off the stage like a desert sun. The pulsating instruments and electrifying voice combined in a sensational blend of tribal-pop. If genres within indie rock could be whittled down to tiny niches, I would say the Portland quartet would probably end up catalogued next to a band like Yeasayer – a worldly rhythm with just the right amount of layers to be complex but not distracting. Vocalist Aaron Chapman, who resembled Kurt Cobain but with bangs and a neon orange shirt, had quite a vocal repertoire under his belt singing with an achy voice fit for the blues in “Manatarms” and a happy 1950s doo-wop voice on “Apple’s Acre”. Many of the songs had the quirkiness and depth that could have emerged from an Of Montreal album. Nurses had a xylophone too, which made me wonder what I had done to earn the good karma of seeing two bands with such an awesome instrument in one night. And they put on quite a show, too. Nurses will definitely stay on my radar in the future. Last and (I hate to say it) least, was Idiot Pilot. Now maybe had I gotten through high school listening to emo like many of my peers, or had been a fan of scream-core, I would have liked it. But, that is not the case. I am not saying they were a bad band, but just not appropriate for a bill with Nurses and Railcars. And, I am not much of a judge for the “quality” of screamo. They were entertaining for the lead singer’s ballet-like leaps across the stage and caresses of the stage-post, but I just can’t find it in me to trust the sincerity of a man with long, pretty bangs swept to the side of his forehead. And bitchy as I may be, when he said “So, how does it feel to live in the Sunshine State?” it took all my might to refrain from yelling back “I don’t know, because I don’t live in Florida”. Despite a few ups and downs, the show was great and I left excited to learn more about Railcars and Nurses as they journey down their musical careers.