On multiple occasions today, I ‘ve acknowledged my surprisingly superb feeling. It has caused me to question what has spawned this buzzing sensation that I have felt throughout my long work day. I’ve been more focused, felt more at ease, and more confident of handling situations. Was it that hot cup of Yerba Matte that I drank early on? Maybe it was that cough medication that I purchased before driving to Oakland. Whatever the cause… I was receptive in knowing how I could generate this feeling on a regular basis.

Since I began this era called “Twenty-something”, I’d like to think that I’ve become more aware and attune with my body’s needs and reactions. I know that during this chilly season, when the weather starts to creep in from all sorts of venues - I am wiser to drink my green tea rather than coffee. If I receive a call to “get wild”, drink cold beers, and live debaucherously - I am better off staying in. Unfortunately, endurance is something that normally lacks as the “winter” treads on . During the last two weeks, I’ve done pretty well. Only when old friends come from outta town can I validate a late night and some beverages. I see this overall process of detoxification to be quite a benefit for both mind & body purification. All I really know is I feel absolutely stellar right now.

It might have something to do with the fact that my ears are still ringing. My drums still beating & humming after being completely toasted by one of the most stupendous live music experiences I have yet witnessed. Broken Social Scene live at the Grand in San Francisco. Leslie Feist (also a BSS member) opened. Feist looked exceptionally beautiful, wearing a white blouse and tight white pants to cover her porcelain skin. Long bangs covered her eyes in a sexy manner as her cute ponytail hung the rest of her brunette hair. I haven’t been a huge fan of her album - It’s just a bit boring I guess, being very acoustic and simple. But she really rocked live and I now feel more inspired to throw “Let it Die” back in the deck (I hesitatingly admit that I haven’t even played it all the way through even once as of present).

Using mainly an electric guitar, but switching to her “Little” acoustic guitar just enough, Feist won the audience over easily. Her use of crowd control, casual laughter, and improvisation all made me really dig Feist, not only musically, but personally. For one track, she invited a freestyle artist from the crowd to come on-stage. Despite this person’s terrible flow, causing detriment to a beautiful instrumental, Feist made sure the crowd gave the young lady an enthusiastic response. I’d say that was a very kind gesture. Feist displayed true elegance to complement her lovely voice and I grew a new found love when hearing familiar tracks like “Gatekeeper”, “Mushaboom”, and of course the title track to her latest album “Let it Die”, where she sings:

The saddest part of a broken heart, isn’t the ending, so much as the start. The tragedy starts from the very first spark. Losing your mind for the sake of your heart.

Broken Social Scene took stage at 10:30 pm. The smell of freshly burned herbs and little bellows of smoke inhabited the room simultaneously, causing personal nostalgia to spark as well. 6 bandmembers strolled on-stage with horns in their hands - 5 trumpets and a saxaphone. They each blew their pieces into microphones and together blarred harmoniously, causing a brilliant soothing sound. We knew the show had begun. Thereafter, the main architects of the group, Brendan Canning & Kevin Drew, walked on stage with the rest of the crew, and immediately broke into the fantastic and familiar “KC Accidental“.

Broken Social Scene is based out of Toronto and now consists of a total of 17 members. Some are from other Canadian indie bands like Stars, Metric, Do Make Say Think, and Apostle of Hustle. As far as touring goes, there are normally 10-12 of them on hand. I counted 13: 4 guitarists, 1 bassist, 1 violinist, 5 with brass in hand, and 1 drummer (2 at times, when a trumpeter decided to catch his breath).

The beautiful thing about BSS is they are everchanging. There are no boundaries, structures, certainties, confines. Musicians walk on and off stage during songs, suddenly strumming, blowing, singing or disappearing. They are experimental, psychadelic, soft and mellow at times, loud and fuzzy almost always, melodic yet noisy overall.
Drums beat furiously and crash against a melange of orchestration
and their definitive sound finds its way somewhere between majestical and cacophonous. Kevin Drew described the latest album to Nic Harcourt as, “A big beautiful mess, which represents the idea of who we are.”

Plenty of songs were played off of their 2002 release, You Forgot It in People. When the song “Stars and Sons” came into effect, the crowd immediately knew when to begin the steady-quick clap that breaks its way in a quarter through the track. Other songs performed off that album, included “Anthems for a Seventeen year-old girl”, which hit me pleasantly by surprise, sung by Lisa Lobsinger. “Cause=Time” was absolutely brilliant and really had me bobbing my head and wanting to move around.

And they all want to love the cause. ‘Cause they all need to be the cause. They all want to fuck the cause.

Feist came back for the latter half of the show and performed the new songs along with the 13 others. These included “Bandwitch”, “Ibi dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)”, “7/4 (Shoreline)”, and “Major Label Debut”. These tracks truly rocked with her reappearance, hypnotic voice, and enlivening energy.

After briefly introducing all present members (and fill-ins), Kevin tells the crowd that he wants to make this into a dance party. He’s had a vision in his head that San Francisco could pull this off at an indie rock show. To paraphrase, he says “Just lose yourself for 3 minutes, 52 seconds and then you can go back to whatever it is that’s holding you back.” Suddenly, Madonna’s “Ray of Light” kicks into it’s techno beat, catching a sea of hipsters by surprise, as Kevin is semi-grooving to this commercial beat on-stage. Thirty seconds later, Kevin stops, everyone laughs, and Justin Peroff (drummer) kicks a fresh beat, followed by a dopely, recognizable baseline, and everyone knew it was track 9 (”Hotel”) from the new album. The sea of bodies gently sway and move their bodies to the beat. The sound has instigated the crowd to move about in oscillation - not enough to leave the world of self-consciousness, but just enough to not feel so rigid for such an unscrupulous rock group.

As my homie Mario pointed out, the end of the show dragged a bit and the finale was a bit disappointing. But Kevin and Feist did a sensational job performing the Jeff Buckley-esque song “Lover’s Spit”, and engaging in a nice, slow dance as pure instrumentation extended the track further. All in all, a fantastic show. It can be a dissapointment when a group is tragic performing live. But it’s an incredible experience, when they can provoke the listener/viewer to understand their concept further, appreciate the magnitude of their ability, and like them for the people they are.

For a quieter, softer, and shorter version of Broken Social Scene check out their latest Morning Becomes Eclectic appearance.

And to listen to their phenomenal post-rock debut Feel Good Lost, check here.

All these people drinking lover’s spit
They sit around and clean their face with it
And they listen to teeth to learn how to quit
tied to a night they never met

Categories: Thoughts as of late..., Visine for the ears
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