San Francisco’s DEERHOOF performed at The Fillmore on May 17th, which was apart of the HIGHLINE FESTIVAL curated by DAVID BOWIE. DEERHOOF is John Dieterich (guitarist), Satomi Matsuzaki (bassist / vocals), and Greg Saunier (drummer). Their sound can be described as an avant-pop indie rock music with unconventional song structures, lyrics and rhythms that explodes pandemonium when you put it in your stereo. Psh! Jane, what does that mean? Okay, picture BLONDE REDHEAD meets HALF JAPANESE. You get the soft, high-pitched singing, but experimental loud rock music that makes you support a high ponytail while dancing to the beat, that’s DEERHOOF’s music. 
Matsuzaki is probably the most adorable and entertaining musician to watch on stage. She was so energetic by dancing and jumping on stage to the music of her fellow band members, while singing quirky lyrics that makes you question what is she singing? And she plays bass like a bona fide rockstar. The band sounded really tight and together, I was amazed to see how well they could pull this off (as a trio). If you listen to any of their albums, they usually bring more instruments in their songs such as horns, keyboards, additional guitars, etc. For instance, in the song "+ 81" from their latest release Friend Opportunity, the song opens with a horn intro. But live, the horn part was replaced by Dieterich’s guitar, which was unusual but sounded very similar to the album version, which amazed me. At the show, they brought a spinning rainbow pinwheel machine that lit up when the band performed. Later on that night, Saunier informed the audience that they did not control the machine, but a friend of theirs controlled it backstage.
Now remember how I said DAVID BOWIE curated the show? Well guess who was there? I’ll give you a hint I just capitalized HIS NAME! Before DEERHOOF came on, I was sipping on a $4 tiny plastic cup filled with soda (I live dangerously and spare no expenses). All of a sudden, I was bombarded with a heard of people hustling their way through the crowd, I look behind me and it was the man himself, DAVID BOWIE aka oh my GOD (GOD = David Bowie). I did not know what to do or say except to be a geeky admirer at a mere 3 feet of distance. Guess who has two thumbs and was doing imaginary cartwheels of excitement the entire night cause she stood right next to DAVID BOWIE? THIS GIRL!
Hey Jane, why the heck was DAVID BOWIE at a DEERHOOF show? Well if you remember, I said he was curating the Highline Festival. The Highline Festival is a new multidiscipline arts festival (ranging from music to comedy) to help the High Line (the elevated rail structure that runs through the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hells Kitchen) space public. It is set to open hopefully in the year 2008. The Festival occurred May 9th – 19th, ranging artists such as THE ARCADE FIRE, AIR, DANIEL JOHNSTON, RICKY GERVAIS, THE SECRET MACHINES, for more information about the Festival and the charity check out www.highlinefestival.com.
Aside from my mind-exploding encounter on top of the totally moving (literally, I could not stop moving to DEERHOOF – I mean how could you not?) performance of the band, that night was the opposite of a waste of my time - it was flipping increditastic (incredible and fantastic combined). If you like off beat, silly songs with a poppy beat that won’t keep your feet from dancing, I definitely recommend DEERHOOF all around (the world). For more information on DEERHOOF, go to: deerhoof.killrockstars.com

Steve sits down with The Basement’s front-man, John Mullin, guitar, keys and vocals, talking about his new album, Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs (just out May 8, 2 on Zealous Records/Deltasonic Records). Tune in to hear him play live. 

Hey you Crazy Cats, Jane here! Bringing you more two cents (cause who doesn’t love change) of live music from that “tiny” rowdy city called Manhattan. The attraction for this segment, John Vanderslice’s show on April 19th at the Mercury Lounge.
 John Vanderslice (aka JV) is a former member of the band mk Ultra, he started performing solo in 1999 shortly after the band broke up. Since then, JV has gained critical acclaim for his solo performance and also gained national media attention with his single “Bill Gates Must Die” in 2000. Unfortunately he did not perform that song at the show. Does not mean that the entire night was a total bust.
 In fact, it was the opposite! JV pulled every card up his sleeve that was labeled “surprise” that night. The night was filled with special guests, new songs, request from the audience, a give away and a dance party to close the night off – woah! My heart couldn’t not keep up!
 JV’s music is a mixture of folky sad lyrics mixed with electronic sound samples. That sounds like a crazy mixture. Picture Devandra Banhart meets The Flaming Lips. He performed a mixture of new songs (which he did not name the titles and my mind reading abilities were out of order that night – of course) and old songs such as “Time Travel Is Lonely”, “Pale Horse”, and a few from his latest album “Pixel Revolt” like “Angela” and “Exodus Damage.”
 Adding spice to the show was special guests: Eric Friedlander (of The Mountain Goats) who provided cello in a few songs, a guy name Kevin (no last name) who sang a song while JV played guitar, and St. Vincent (who was the opener) who sang guest vocals with JV by the end of the night. Shortly before that, though JV took a request from the audience to which my highly brave friend screamed “Me and My 424” which he agreed to play after inviting some of the audience to sing in the background (one being my friend). True showmanship.
 Adding to JV’s theatrics was his mid-performance givaway: an “over the top” titanium watch that he purchased in Chinatown. Watch out P.Diddy, JV is the next “King Of Bling” (insert joke here). He gave the prize to a lucky audience member in the front that answered a historical question correctly. I can’t really recall the question cause apparently I don’t know my history – Who sailed the ocean blue in 1492 again? (and no, that was not the question).
 The night would have been perfection if Vanderslice pulled an Oprah, but instead of giving everyone a car, he would give everyone including myself a pony. I think at that point I would have a freak out attack, but no such thing happened. But heck, I was not disappointed: JV knows how to entertain on and off stage. He gets infinite gold stars with extra shine in my book.
 For more information on John Vanderslice, check out: www.johnvanderslice.com!