Operation: Restore Maximum Freedom (May 21)
Posted by DJ Rick on 2005-05-06 7:46:55pm
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Still beaming triumphantly after its record-setting annual on-air pledge drive, KDVS 90.3 FM in Davis, the nation's highest-wattage fulltime freeform community radio station, boldly deploys Operation: Restore Maximum Freedom, an all-day music festival which figures to be the most ambitious event of its kind to be staged in the Sacramento Valley.
In twelve hours from noon to midnight on Saturday, May 21, 2005, 21 musical bands and artists will meet in the expansive, but welcoming backyard of Max's Plainfield Station at 23944 County Road 98 between Woodland and Davis, CA. The bands will comprise an incredible variety of fresh, unusual, and often pioneering sounds which is typical of what's heard on KDVS airwaves, yet virtually never exposed via any other Sacramento-area media.
Sightings
No Doctors
Burmese
A Hawk and a Hacksaw
Residual Echoes
Death Sentence: Panda!
Le Flange du Mal
Zoms Zoms
Yip-Yip
Walking in the Neon
The Weegs
Earn Your Feathers
Black Dahlias
Gift of Goats
The Knightmares
Hotel Pistol
Eat the People
Oh Dark Thirty
Carquinez Straits
Boss the Big Bit
The Playboy Millionaires
In today's political climate, while personal freedoms have been undermined by the current regime, one student-run, community-powered radio station has endeavored to make the most of what freedom is left; KDVS has chosen to support the new, creative music of the most sincere artistic scruples, thereby offering a true, outstanding alternative choice to music fans who refuse to settle for less.
Advance tickets will go on sale at independently owned music stores in Davis, Sacramento, and the San Francisco Bay Area on Monday, May 9, for $8. Tickets will be $10 at the door. With high school or college ID, admission is $5.
Watch here for more updates very soon!
SIGHTINGS
http://www.loadrecords.com/bands/sightings.html
"Never before has a band managed to erase themselves. New York City's SIGHTINGS have risen to the challenge of negation with this 'WTF' of a record that rolls the twenty sided dice to dematerialize any trace of guitar, bass and drums into proton dust floating microns on top of the speaker cone. Minimal, yes. Previous records have gone from favorites at magazines as chocolate and peanut butter as the Wire and Terrorizer. Past records have been steaming knee burn befuddled by German technoid impulse and Yoko-damaged Beatles-busting intensity. A new icy coolness is added to the steaming soup this time allowing the sounds of mouth breathing to open up the record into a drug-fueled nightclub beast humping a bass bin as the sun rises. Features three breakaway singles that have Jay-Z scrambling for answers."--Load Records marketing
NO DOCTORS
http://nodoctors.com/
From the Bay Area by way of Chicago, the "Docs enact unsettling, super-charged live scenarios where real Classic Rock guts, balls and sincerity mesh hilariously and triumphantly with extremely cagey cacophony and discord (if one closes her eyes and listens, one might hear the Foghat songbook as rendered by the vintage, no-tuning-allowed Half Japanese line-ups, but that?s just a lot of rock critic talk). Amidst the bouts of cathartic note-mauling and aggro street-bum testimonials emerge precisely controlled changes, breaks and segues. These guys are clearly not fucking around: for all of their sheer, gnarly sturm und drang, the clarity and purity of attack and control No Doctors wield diffuses any silly notions of incompetence that peons of lesser intelligence and musical taste will jealously and cravenly accuse them of. No Doctors rule our collective asses with a forceful but sensitive impunity." --Weasel Walter
BURMESE
http://www.loadrecords.com/bands/Burmese.html
"San Francisco-based BURMESE spew forth a bile stuffed plume of thick dirge on their third full length. Recorded by Weasel Walter this blackened-to-the-core slab manages to fuse the bleak Whitehouse (the band not the building) world vision to an underwater plastic explosive dolphin attack on all that is right and just with family values. The sounds here tend to generate comparisons to mud pilots like the SWANS and EYEHATEGOD except that BURMESE use two drums AND two basses. Previous records for Planaria and Tumult have sketched out a similar murky vision, but this record raises fidelity to a notch nearer to the seconds right before the hammer falls on any given weekend's convenience store heist. Not depressing musically, just very realistic and heavy. Features a member of the current FLYING LUTTENBACHERS!" --Load Records marketing
A HAWK & A HACKSAW
http://www.brokenheartfoundation.org.uk/hawk
Led by Jeremy Barnes, the drummer of Neutral Milk Hotel, a Hawk & a Hacksaw provide "a frenetic, dizzying pastiche of Eastern European folk, klezmer, mariachi, Appalachian fiddle music, and evocative jazz [with] flashes of such melodic invention and daredevil instrumentation that armchair travelers can't help but be drawn to the group's exotic scrapbook." --Pitchforkmedia.com
RESIDUAL ECHOES
http://www.holymountain.com/echoes.htm
"Like [their Santa Cruz forebears] Comets on Fire, the unique music of Residual Echoes has created a sect malignant, allied sourcery and nourisher of dread. This is the way forward like Ozzie throwing peace signs and screaming 'We love You' between songs and even between lyrics. For the inbetween times are the doorways and this is where the results begin and soon multiply into a dozen chasmic orgasms for the ears, and very soon afterwards, also for the mind. Yes, for the mind. Good will prevail, only when rock'n'rollers have shown that: Hell ain't a bad place to be!" --Julian Cope, headheritage.co.uk
DEATH SENTENCE: PANDA!
http://www.deathsentencepanda.com/
"In China, anger over panda hunting has led to punishments as severe as execution. This outrage is echoed by S.F. noise-rock trio Death Sentence: Panda! Composed of Paul Costuros (Total Shutdown), Kim West (Crack: WAR), and Chris Dixon (Murder Murder), the band channel the sounds of animals gone wild. Equal parts commanding and cutesy, West recalls Poly Styrene and Karen O, as she taunts, 'Show us your teeth!' between listing animals that hate humankind on the indictment 'Animals Hate You.' Surviving on a diet of vengeance and melody, Death Sentence: Panda! have come out of hiding, ready to take on all humans." -- John Lombardo, San Francisco Guardian
LE FLANGE DU MAL
http://www.kimosciotic.com/flange_press.htm
"Le Flange du Mal began in September 2003 as a celebration of American ignorance. The original line-up of Chris Rolls (Zeigenbock Kopf, earwicker) and Chris Cones (Subarachnoid Space, earwicker) set out to encode its formula of drrty distorto-booty bass noise and odes to mind-controlled sex slavery. The brain-damaged duo quickly joined forces with Jason Stamberger (Crack: We Are Rock!) on keys and Liz Allbee (MurderMurder) on trumpet, keys and vocals. Somewhere along the way, Stamberger began referring to Le Flange Du Mal as a 'synth-doom juggernaut.' Some have referred to the sound as 'live IDM on glue.' Still others prefer 'unintelligible seizure-core.' With the hyper-advanced compositional capabilities of Stamberger and Allbee, the four began forays into the outer unseen realms of noise-jazz and dance-metal." --Kimosciotic Press
ZOM ZOMS
http://www.tubezomzoms.com/
Hyper-active and giddily goofy like early Devo or Geza X and the Deadbeats, Zom Zoms from Austin, TX, deploy a vintage 1978 Roland Compurhythm drum machine, and they do not hesitate to use its foxtrot, samba, or "disco-rock" settings. The phalanx also includes keytars and a "rare Roland SD 'some number in the teens' that was made to plug into a guitar synthesizer in the early 1980s."
YIP-YIP
http://www.yip-yip.com/
"'They must be seen to be believed' is the sort of caveat that's typically applied to shitty music, but [Orlando, FL's] Yip-Yip makes a great racket that stands up well on its own. However, in the full-context of their Jawa-as-hospital attendants outfits, relentlessly swaying stage presence and keyboards-as-beating-victims aggression accompanying their fractured futurama funk, Yip-Yip really are a sight to behold." --Orlando Weekly
WALKING IN THE NEON
http://www.myspace.com/walkingintheneon
Named for a classic 1983 dance single by Peter Richard, this L.A. electro duo exhibit great taste in obscure Italo disco. They are touring the West Coast with Zom Zoms and Yip Yip and scrapped a show at a glitzy SF discotheque to bewilder the hell outta noiserock fans.
THE WEEGS
http://www.realgone.org/weegs
"Dave, Leva, Greg, and Mia share 'Weeg' as their surname and play like a 1981 New York no wave band that could have been a legend in their own time. In the sweaty, curtained confines of the Hemlock Tavern, they channeled the Addams family by way of Captain Beefheart, creating an organ-heavy clamor. Next to their jerkily sexy rendition of Prince's 'Controversy,' the high point of the evening occurred when Dave Weeg assaulted his guitar with that venerable hipster's club card, the studded belt, summoning that 'wall of noise' everyone likes to talk about. Whether he meant to make a statement or not, it was crafty." --SF Bay Guardian
EARN YOUR FEATHERS
This will be the Yolo County debut of a brand-new Sacramento band led by Carson McWhirter of the Advantage and Zac Nelson, a newcomer to Sacto via Portland who runs the brilliant, infallible(!) Scenery Audio Archive label and has played in such wonderfully whacked bands and projects such as Princess Sweepstakes, Willow Bay, Treat, and JP-RAD-ICE. Expect this to be nothing less than next-level.
BLACK DAHLIAS
http://www.myspace.com/blackdahlias
"Matt K. Shrugg (Losin' Streak, ex-Zodiac Killers, etc.), Adam Miller (ex-Mallrats), and Jeff Melendez (ex-Milhouse SMF/USA) are putting some serious pep in Sacramento's garage punk step as Black Dahlias. Matt K.'s Greg Ginn-like guitar work and disaffected wail exude 'old school' charm, while Adam's bouncy bass lines and Jeff's rapid-fire drum fills provide plenty of punch and snap." --Mario "The Analyst" Solis. Additionally, I hear positive echoes of the Angry Samoans' "Inside My Brain." Great foot-tap'n stuff!
GIFT OF GOATS
http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=5024315&Mytoken=20050219102343
After dominating a great four-way split LP so long ago, Gift of Goats have finally made their own record, and now they're gonna show you who's Sacramento and Davis' preeminent scuzzpunk mayhem-inducers. The snarl of Born Against and the rollick of Monorchid inform their sound, and their intangibles bear murmurs of "Ass Cobra"-era Turbonegro and even Poison Idea's "Feel the Darkness." Despite the various comparisons and influences and vastly different bloodlines of the members (Mick and Dan are two parts Anal Mucus, Justin was best known for awesome drunken renditions of "Nevermind" at the end of many parties, and the bass combo of Mark (D.I.Y.C.E.O. of Omnibus Records) and Jay have made tight rhythms together since Shove in the mid-90's), the Goats' noise is very cogent and deals a direct impact in every live performance. Underappreciate this local treasure no more, people!
THE KNIGHTMARES
http://www.sacramento-usa.org/knightmares.html
A new band of stalwarts from the still vital "Loft scene" of Sacramento, the Knightmares sound kinda like the Pixies or some early Merge Records booyar made more unique with some well-arranged Beach Boys-ish vocal harmonies and pop-rock hooks, but rough-hewn in a Sactoe "Loft" kinda way that everyone adores. There's superb variety of indie-poppish stuff that out-jogs the Joggers alternating with some punkier stuff, and male vocals trade on and off with smooth female vocals between pretty much every song, and sometimes very effectively within one song. A few songs like "Laughing Inward" have that haunting guitar rhythm of the choicest cuts from the "Over the Edge" LP by the Wipers. Members include veterans of Four Eyes, Rock the Light, Sunshine Smile, and the Frenchmen.
HOTEL PISTOL
http://truevulgarian.tripod.com/
Sacto's heaviest band since Blue Cheer--hell, maybe even heavier!--is Hotel Pistol, whose relentless, surging blues-damaged fury exceeds the power and maximum density of any band that made noise for AmRep 10-15 years ago. Hank hits his drums as hard as humanly possible and sustains that intensity as Marv's bass flows like pythonlike sinew through a hulk's burly arms, providing such a sturdy backdrop for Rob's soaring/swooping guitarwork and assaultive vocals.
EAT THE PEOPLE
http://www.geocities.com/eatthepeople
Truly one of Sacramento or the world's most important psych improv bands, Eat the People are capable of tripping way, way out or jamming beyond ominous, alternating moods between the bliss or paranoia that can set in when a surgical patient begins to slip under anesthesia. Whether lilting or eerie, the sounds of the homestrung "space bass" is engrossing and often stunning.
OH DARK THIRTY
http://www.ohdarkthirty.com/
Formed when the duo of Gusto took on a third member, Oh Dark Thirty are a dusky, moody band of dare-I-call-it "indie rock" of the early 90's vintage which rocks like much of the early Merge catalog had those bands only been a bit more informed by Joy Division, the Verlaines, Bailter Space, My Dad Is Dead, and th'Faith Healers. Features two great former KDVS DJs, Allen and Denise, and "Mr. KDVS," Todd Urick, plus Jenny, known to many as "the chick from the Bunny."
CARQUINEZ STRAITS
http://www.latherrecords.com/carquinez/
Sacramento's Carquinez Straits are "...reminiscent of early work by the legendary country/indie rockers Meat Puppets, except [they] have a keener ear for melody and tunefulness." --Lost at Sea
BOSS THE BIG BIT
http://www.daviswiki.org/Boss_the_Big_Bit
From Davis, ex-Gnartoon!
PLAYBOY MILLIONAIRES
http://www.playboymillionaires.com/
Davis party-rock in the spirit of B-52?s and swinging 50?s rock?n?roll, with the boyfriend/girlfriend synergy of KDVS? cutest DJ couple.
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- Operation: Restore Maximum Freedom (May 21) - DJ Rick - 2005-05-06 7:46:55pm