This particular show was part of San Francisco’s long running Noise Pop Festival, now in its 22nd year. It’s one of those festivals that has been on my radar for years, but until now I don’t think I’ve attended any of them. I could be wrong though.
Any evening that starts with the witnessing of two men dressed as chickens jogging down Valencia St. has got to be a good one indeed. The fact that Aquarius Records is also on Valencia St. also helped. In truth, I was stepping from the doorway of said store burdened with vinyl when the chicken guys whipped by.
A short drive later, with windshield wipers set to intermittent, I was at the Bottom of the Hill. Shortly after 9:30, self-described medieval psychedelic folk band Lasher Keen arrived on stage.
Lasher Keen exists in an alternate universe of its own making, a world of folklore and hidden grottoes, of song and revelry. I hadn’t seen them perform since the 2012 edition of Stella Natura, and in the interim they’ve gained a member, in the form of drummer Broughty Cole. Come to think of it, both of the other times I’ve attended a performance, it marked the last show with a parting member, so I was looking forward to experience this latest incarnation of the band.
They arrived on stage masked and painted, and the introduction was like an invocation, complete with the waving of branches, veils, and excellent hats.
The instrumentation for the evening was the usual eclectic assortment. In addition to drums and guitar, we were treated to cello, bodhran, harp, various whistles (taped around Sheets’ microphone), violin, and a few other bits and pieces that escape my memory as I type this up a week after the fact. One of the more recent descriptions of Lasher Keen’s music mentions both Comus and the Incredible String Band, which at the very least serves as a frame of reference. Sheets is like some sort of wandering bard, Bluebird is like a smiling wood faerie, and Cole a solid (but from my vantage point, mostly unseen) presence in the background. Their inventive take on progressive psych folk (or whatever label one might want to dust off for the occasion) is full of twists and turns, drama and near silence, pregnant pauses and aching melody. Sheets’ voice just gets better and better, as does Bluebird’s. I was entranced for the duration.
Despite the comparisons drawn between Lasher Keen and various iconic bands from the seventies, what they do sounds fresh to my ears, as if it was created in a vacuum, sort of like a musical version of convergent evolution. The songs in their 40 minute opening set were new to my ears, and slated to appear on their forthcoming release, which will hopefully see the light of day later this year.
Black Map, the only band of the evening that I was previously unfamiliar with, took the stage next. They proved to be a heavy power trio, bludgeoning the audience with forceful riffing and sheer volume. Despite the almost heavy metal intensity of the music, the vocals were more on the melodic side, making the band sound more like a supremely heavy indie rock band. They won me over pretty quickly.
They seemed to be having a great time on stage too, and the bassist/vocalist, Ben, mentioned at some point that it was only their third show (if memory serves) and the first time they’d played in front of such a big crowd. Judging by their tight, energetic performance, I would have thought they’d been around a lot longer. At the moment, they’ve only released an EP in digital form, which is available through their Bandcamp page. Get it! It’s good!
As Free Salamander Exhibit set up, I was happy to see Dan lugging the Log onto the stage (a.k.a. the Sledgehammer Dulcimer or the Slide Piano Log), an instrument that had been missing in action at their debut performance in Oakland last year.
As with their debut performance, the band arrived on stage wearing baskets on their heads, whisk brooms attached to their arms, and raggedly bits of burlap sack cloaking their bodies. From an audience perspective, the effect is akin to watching an ominous puppet show. Under the baskets are ex-Sleepytime Gorilla Museum members Nils Frykdahl (guitar, vocals, flute, etc.), Dan Rathbun (bass, Log, vocals), Michael Mellander (vocals, guitar, trumpet, junk percussion, and pretty much whatever else is called for), David Shamrock (drums), and the only non ex-Sleepytime member, guitarist/theremin player Drew Wheeler.
First off, the band bequeathed us with the sci-fi stylings of The Gift, which twists and turns as it swells and subsides. There is delicate flute and placid pools of gentleness giving way to crashing percussion, intricate riffing, enough stops and starts to give you whiplash, and fiercely staccato vocals.
This set the tone for the rest of their set, which was happily a bit longer than the set I saw them play last year. The songs are evolving nicely, although since they have yet to record and release anything, I have to either search my memory or rely on the bits and pieces that have been uploaded to YouTube (which is great, but somewhat lacking in the sound quality department). It seems to me that more lyrics have been added. During the debut show, I think I remember some of the vocal bits consisting mainly of non-words (la la la, and other similar vocalizations), but for this show, this wasn’t noticeable to me. Dan sang a song based around First They Came…, which for me (and me alone) is coincidental because I got a tape in the mail the same week featuring the band, Dead Silence, whose lyrics first alerted me to this quote, way back in the eighties. Check out the song here. Great minds think alike, it seems.
Here’s a photo of the set list, although the song titles are all abbreviated:
While I’m at it, here’s a detail of the Log:
As I mentioned in my review of their show last year, Dan and Michael both seem to be singing more with Free Salamander Exhibit than they did with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Their voices are both getting stronger too. I still miss the fantastic contributions of ex-Sleepytime members Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi, who now reside on the East Coast (but came through town last year as Rabbit Rabbit), but I’m more than happy with things as they stand.
My favorite new song of the evening, and the only one to feature Dan playing the Log, was the monolithic Undestroyed, inspired by this book by Leonard Peltier, which Nils found at a gas station in Nebraska (or something like that). In fact, this is my new favorite Free Salamander Exhibit song, although set closer Oxen of the Sun still holds a special place in my heart too. Both are slow, ominous, and rather lengthy, building tortuously to crescendos of anguish. The latter is probably the most heavy metal sounding of the band’s songs, but that’s definitely okay by me.
Porter’s Jig again featured the frantic dance moves of Darling Freakhead and Jol Butler. The pair heaved and lugged suitcases and trunks around the stage in what seemed like a frantic attempt to avoid the musicians. The song itself plays like a twisted jig, and sounds relatively light-hearted when compared to songs like the aforementioned Undestroyed and Oxen of the Sun.
No encore was performed, although the crowd response was such that the band probably could have played several. It looks like the band will be playing across the Bay at the Oakland Metro in May. Be there!
See my full set of photos here.
On a much more sober note, yesterday, this flyer appeared on Facebook. Lasher Keen’s drummer, Broughty Cole, went missing a couple of days after this gig. His car has been found, but so far there is no sign of him. There is a Facebook page for the search, with information where funds can be donated to aid this effort. If you're reading this, send some money their way. It might make a difference.
Hopefully he’ll be found safe. My heart goes out to all involved, and my thoughts are with them.
The artist of the poster you made is Baba Yaga by Russian Illustrator Rubrum Lepus - her work is nice and I see this page has very many Slavic traditions incorporated ... : ) very nice
Posted by: Phoenix the Elder | 04/22/2016 at 04:11 PM