Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Asobi Seksu
Listen to the online-only live album that Brooklyn band Asobi Seksu released in October 2006, and the first thing you hear is a loud burst of guitar feedback. Guitarist James Hanna bends his notes, tweaking more overtones and squeals out of his amp for a couple of minutes before drums and bass come pounding into the mix and Yuki Chikudate’s high voice chimes in like a little bird trying to be heard over the sound of a rocket launch. Next, listen to Hush, the new Asobi Seksu album, and instead of feedback you’ll hear chiming guitars and gentle synths providing cozy pillows under the head of that songbird.
The official explanation for this abrupt change is that, while on tour in 2006, Hanna realized he was tired of loud guitars and decided to change direction. The cynical explanation is that Asobi Seksu got tired of trying to sound like My Bloody Valentine and decided to sound like the Cocteau Twins instead. A third explanation might be that between Asobi Seksu’s last album and Hush, My Bloody Valentine got back together, and Hanna and Chikudate realized there was no point in trying to compete with the real thing.
But none of those explanations fully accounts for the big step forward evident on Hush. Unable to float along on waves of noise, Hanna and Chikudate had to sharpen their songwriting skills. The songs don’t necessarily have pop hooks, but they build up to emotional climaxes (Hanna hasn’t completely retired the noisy guitar) that carry a wallop even at those times when Chikudate is singing in Japanese. There are plenty of moments when they don’t just sound like the Cocteau Twins, they sound better.
ASOBI SEKSU, Casbah, Sunday, March 15, 8:30 p.m. 619-232-4355. $10.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Asobi Seksu
Asobi Seksu
Listen to the online-only live album that Brooklyn band Asobi Seksu released in October 2006, and the first thing you hear is a loud burst of guitar feedback. Guitarist James Hanna bends his notes, tweaking more overtones and squeals out of his amp for a couple of minutes before drums and bass come pounding into the mix and Yuki Chikudate’s high voice chimes in like a little bird trying to be heard over the sound of a rocket launch. Next, listen to Hush, the new Asobi Seksu album, and instead of feedback you’ll hear chiming guitars and gentle synths providing cozy pillows under the head of that songbird.
The official explanation for this abrupt change is that, while on tour in 2006, Hanna realized he was tired of loud guitars and decided to change direction. The cynical explanation is that Asobi Seksu got tired of trying to sound like My Bloody Valentine and decided to sound like the Cocteau Twins instead. A third explanation might be that between Asobi Seksu’s last album and Hush, My Bloody Valentine got back together, and Hanna and Chikudate realized there was no point in trying to compete with the real thing.
But none of those explanations fully accounts for the big step forward evident on Hush. Unable to float along on waves of noise, Hanna and Chikudate had to sharpen their songwriting skills. The songs don’t necessarily have pop hooks, but they build up to emotional climaxes (Hanna hasn’t completely retired the noisy guitar) that carry a wallop even at those times when Chikudate is singing in Japanese. There are plenty of moments when they don’t just sound like the Cocteau Twins, they sound better.
ASOBI SEKSU, Casbah, Sunday, March 15, 8:30 p.m. 619-232-4355. $10.
Comments