Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Sizzle

Ian S. Port

The Soft Moon at 103 Harriet.

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Local musician, artist, and writer Sonny Smith invented 100 bands with songs and cover art for a project last year. On Saturday, two of them, Earth Girl Helen Brown and the Fuckaroos, came to life onstage at Amnesia, populated by local musicians. Smith said a third band, headliners Loud Fast Fools, broke down near Bakersfield. You can believe him if you want.

In a move that reminds us he won't be just a local oddity for much longer, "based" Berkeley rap iconoclast Lil B signed a tour deal with Live Nation and made plans for a headlining show at Mezzanine on April 21 — his first big Bay Area live performance in more than a year. B's manager says he's also being courted by more than one major label. It's going to be a based year, folks.

Never content to just make albums and tour, Radiohead attempted to give away a newspaper, The Universal Sigh, in various cities around the world as a companion to latest album The King of Limbs. Handoffs in the Mission and the Haight went off without much hassle, leaving us with the task of decoding the stories and illustrations inside.

The dark, driving electro-rock of the Soft Moon wowed a midweek crowd at 103 Harriet. Thin and fast, the music, if not the mood, was strikingly different from the dragging theatrics of "witch house" headliner Salem. But the Soft Moon showed why it's being hyped as one of the best new bands in S.F.

Fizzle

Classic progressive hip-hop trio De La Soul celebrated the weekend and serenaded the older folks at a string of shows at Yoshi's. But tickets weren't cheap, and its sets were rather short. Is it reasonable to pay $1 for every minute of a performance?

Oakland's DJ Enki had to take to his blog last week to remind opening DJs how to behave during a warm-up set. In a solid guide, the Oakland Faders member offered this nugget of wisdom: "You're the foreplay; the headliner is the home run." Listen up, spinners.

Apparently stowing (or augmenting!) his weed habit for the time being, Snoop Dogg signed up to shill for Colt 45's new alcopop drink, Blast. Local antibooze watchdog the Marin Institute chided the rapper for putting his stamp of approval on a product it says is designed for unhealthy binge drinking. This seems misdirected at best — don't they remember "Gin and Juice"?

For full versions of the above stories and much more about S.F. music, check out All Shook Down, our music blog.