High School with The Dodos

A few weeks ago, Pitchfork Media posted a video by The Dodos, a San Francisco duo with an "acoustic troubadour meets freak-folk" sound.

I went to high school with Meric Long, the leader of the band. I recall him being a nice guy, and somewhat goofy in junior year English class.

From the high school friends I keep in touch with, I heard about The Dodos being Meric's project and that he was playing around town, although I haven't had the chance to see him perform.

The Dodos song "Fools," and their music in general, is pretty much what the band describes as their inspiration: "free-spirited, unhinged acts like Animal Collective." "Fools" is very energetic and emotive. I definitely dig it. The album is coming out on French Kiss next year.

It's strange to see a creative experience by someone you remember from an early educational institution, especially when you have similar interests as adults (freak folk, Animal Collective, San Francisco, independent music, etc.) and you weren't close friends back in the day.

It's a a feeling of genuine surprise and happiness when someone is doing something they love, coming from the same Lamorinda rich hippy suburban bubble as I did. It's also encouraging, and inspires me to get my shit together, get over my stage fright, finish the new album and keep pushing.

Cass McCombs is also from the same pool. I remember seeing him perform at a New Year's party in Walnut Creek in 1998, and tearing tickets at the now closed Park Theater about a decade ago (although these days his PR only brings up his periods in New York, Baltimore and now Chicago).

Of course people move on, and new environments shape their creativity. Perhaps that's one reason San Francisco has been taking its toll on me as of late.

I like Cass's music a lot, and I still haven't had the chance to get his new album. I've been wanting to do a cover of "Nobody's Nixon" for some time now. He's currently on tour with Jose Gonzalez.

Ali Ali Ali Aaja

Animal Collective member Panda Bear's Person Pitch album has been one of my top listens this year. A filmmaker named Mike (I couldn't find his last name) documented his three only shows in the U.S. earlier this year, and put them on a DVD called People Party. At first, the DVD was unbelievably offered for free. Naturally, the popularity of the deal got way out of hand, and now you can pay a measly $5 for a multimedia experience. I went for the $13 package, which comes with recordings of all live shows. You can learn more about it here.

I purchased a ticket today to see Animal Collective on Sept. 17 at The Fillmore. They're one of my favorite bands, and I've loved their live shows. I'm really looking forward to the new album.

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I know I write a lot about M.I.A. She has an album coming out in a few weeks and I just really admire her. She has a new video for "Jimmy," which is a re-imagining of a disco song from a Bollywood film called Disco Dancer.

The music has sweeping Euro disco strings, and a melody a bit like ABBA's "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie." The whole video production brings to mind the music videos I grew up watching on Nima TV on Sunday afternoons. This song has massive remix potential.

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Sunday's travel section of the New York Times did a feature on my neighborhood. They call it the NOPA district, which still bothers me -- it will always just be "the panhandle." It's kinda strange to see everything all mapped out. Where I live feels like home, and not "a kind of cultural bridge between hippie Haight Street and the rest of the city." The round-up of stores around Divisadero is fairly accurate, except for a few cringe-worthy moments: on Cookin' Recycled: "a glorified antiques store that is just outside Nopa (but with a Nopa feel)."

It's completely ridiculous that they didn't mention Club Waziema. Maybe because the Times thought it was in Nopa (but without a Nopa feel)?