I saw múm and Our Brother the Native play at the Palace of Fine Arts in the Presidio with my friend Jason. It was amazing. Múm had me completely mesmerized with their music. Their live rendition of Moon Pulls was absolutely beautiful, adding a simple but very effective bassline to the album version of the song. They sold kazoos and "múmonicas", which seemed to be Hohner Marine Band harmonicas with new faceplates. The venue was gorgeous and perfectly appropriate for the music.

Last night I saw the Jens Lekman show at Bimbo's 365. Let's just say I haven't seen anything this musically orgasmic since Daft Punk played at the Greek Theater.

Throw Me the Statue opened, and very unusually for me, I saw the entire opening act. I remembered not really getting hooked on any of their songs before, and their live performance never really grabbed me either. I spent the whole time mostly daydreaming about Jens.

When it was Jens' turn, his DJ came out first and played a few songs from a laptop. He was intriguingly stonefaced while he…

Last weekend I saw Crystal Castles, lemonade, and Toxic Avenger at the Mezzanine (plus DJ sets by a few others).

lemonade was decent. They had a bass guitarist, a drummer, and a vocalist who sang incomprehensibly through a delay/echo pedal for the whole set. It was enjoyable, but not memorable.

Crystal Castles doesn't have a huge repertoire of material built up yet, so they played a short but very sweet set with a live drummer, including my favorites Air War and Alice Practice. Alice was wearing a black Darth Vader shirt that said "Dark Side", a black skirt, black…

I saw Trentemøller at Mezzanine last night. I don't think I've ever heard blues harmonica played on top of electronic music. Awesome! He did a great job of getting the audience worked up. I always love it when I see a musician performing on stage and break into a smile when the audience gives him some unexpected praise :-)

I attended the Dan Deacon and Girl Talk show at the Fillmore last Saturday night, even though all I wanted to do was go home and sleep after the awesome time I had at the San Francisco LoveFest. Boy, am I glad I went!

Going to a concert alone is always an adventure. Since I'm by myself, I can usually sneak my way into any position in the audience. This time, though, I happened to be in just the right spot in the middle of the audience when Dan Deacon came out with his ridiculous table full of multicolored tape,…

Here in the midst of my quarter-life crisis, I can't help but notice that I've formed strong associations between certain songs/albums and certain times or events in my life. These connections are sometimes so strong that they could be called split-second hallucinations or flashbacks. I thought it would be cool to record these links whenever they come up.

Elliott Smith's XO reminds me of living in Dublin in 2006. I listened to this album over and over and over in Ireland, so these songs trigger a lot of those memories. In particular, I remember riding the bus back to…

Thu 20 Sep – Air

Boy, am I lucky: I get to see my three favorite French electronic duos all within a few months of each other. Daft Punk was absolutely mind-blowing in July, Justice is guaranteed to bring the house down in October, and tonight, I basked in the beautiful glow of Air's musical landscapes.

I showed up expecting to watch Jean-Benoît and Nicolas tapping along to pre-recorded versions of their songs. To my delight, however, Air (backed by a 3-piece band) played nearly all of their instruments live, and exceptionally well at that. As well-engineered as their…

Thu 30 Aug – Mae, As Tall as Lions, Dear and the Headlights

This was my first show at Bottom of the Hill. It's a really small place, which is great, but the layout isn't optimal for concerts. The space for the audience is deeper than it is wide, which means the stage needs to be up high so everyone can see the band. I always prefer a shorter stage (none at all is best).

I showed up a little late, missing the opening act by Dear and the Headlights. However, I caught all of As Tall as Lions…

Mon 20 Aug – Daft Punk's Electroma

I had no idea this event would be so popular! When we got to the Mezzanine, there was a line all the way down to 6th Street. Picture people mostly in average street clothes with a few people in bright neon psychedelic colors, a Daft Punk helmet, a jacket covered in ads for "escort services", and a one-piece jumpsuit with the legs cut off just below the ass.

After waiting about half an hour, we were told they were at capacity for the film. No biggie, though. I'd already seen it, and we…

Wed 15 Aug – The One AM Radio, Montag, Lymbyc Systym

Jeez, the Rickshaw Stop is LOUD! You'd think they were borrowing the speaker system from a football stadium or something. After standing up front for Montag's set, I had to sit in the back of the balcony while Lymbyc Systym played, just to give my ears a rest. Thankfully The One AM Radio plays quieter music, and standing up front was a pleasure.

I hadn't heard Montag before, but I really enjoyed his music and especially his enthusiasm. You could tell he just loved being up on the…