Noise Pop

If Noise Pop's Wednesday was the night of love and twang, Thursday was the night of no pants and fire. The evening began with Karla and me meeting up at a church in the Mission District of San Francisco. We had plans to see Scissors for Lefty at Benders' happy hour and then walk to the Swedish American Music Hall where Thao Nguyen was performing a solo set. Luckily that night we had scheduled shows that were within walking distance of each other and didn't have to worry about buses or taxis. (Benders ended up being about four blocks from the 16th St BART station and the Swedish American Music Hall was fewer than ten blocks from there—very accessible by BART if you don't mind walking a few blocks.)

Wednesday evening began the FP girls' Noise Pop trek from Oakland into San Francisco. A week or two beforehand, Karla and I had loosely planned out our festival schedule, but by the time Karla arrived at my Oakland residence on Wednesday, we could already feel the overwhelming nature of the situation—so much music and so little time. We knew that we wanted to see as much music as possible, but the reality was that some of our favorite artists would have to be left behind in our pursuit of polyphonic pleasure.

Anyone who's ever been to San Francisco knows that driving there is a pain in the neck and that parking there is an even bigger pain. (But imagine that bigger pain without the luxury of painkillers or a neck brace. That's how bad parking in SF is.) Our biggest obstacle was making it out to San Francisco to our favorite shows and getting back to the BART station in time for the last train back to the East Bay.

The highlights from my first night at Noise Pop were interviewing the boys from Here Here, being introduced to Two Sheds’ music, and watching Matt Costa perform at Slim’s. Here Here is a local San Francisco band and Festival Preview now has claim to the title of Here Here’s first interview. The boys were great fun and we ended up interviewing them at Health Haven Natural Food across the street from The Independent (where they were playing). Check out the video here.

Right before their show at Cafe Du Nord, the guys from Portugal. The Man sardined themselves in their equipment trailer with the Karla and Jessica from Festival Preview. Check out the video to see how the guys are doing on their current tour, follow along to see how they do on Karla's Noise Pop quiz, and get the inside scoop about Ryan's impressive Kung Fu moves.

Industry Noise was the conference part of Noise Pop, which gathered professionals from various corners of the music industry to talk about business and technology. The panel topics, such as, the relevance of major record labels and mobilizing fans on the Internet, were a bit predictable, but organizers did a superb job at making good use of its people resources in San Francisco. The music industry in San Francisco may not be as big as Los Angeles and New York City, but there are some thriving music companies and many technology professionals capable of providing valuable insight.

Industry Noise is a baby in the music conference world, as there were only two keynote addresses and six panels (two running at the same time during each session), but it did not have the aloofness and awkwardness of most conferences. There was little tension among panelist and it felt like watching and participating in a friendly conversation. That is not to say that there were not opposing views, but there was a strong sense of respect and everyone contributed solid points.

Panelists’ overall positive attitudes were surprising, some were cloudier than others, but the optimism was present. In the panel about hot topics in the music and technology, Cory Brown, founder of Absolutely Kosher Records, discussed some of the downfalls about discovering music online. He talked about declining album sales and the growing disconnection between music fans. Nancy Miller, senior editor at Wired Magazine, spun that view by mentioning that the Internet can also bring people together. She said that it might be that only a few people still share their record collections with friends, but now people are making online playlists and sharing that with friends. The capacity of sharing music has grown.

A sign of a good music festival is when people’s music-loving hearts are torn regarding which show they should attend on any given night. With young, emerging bands, such as, Ra Ra Riot, the Morning Benders and Port O’Brien, headlining different Noise Pop shows on the same night, fans faced a huge dilemma. Sometimes it is possible to hop from show to show, but often the only fair way to make a decision is by doing so spontaneously and impulsively. Chances of discovering new talent are fairly high that way, anyway.

Wednesday

Before dedicating time to making music, Matt Costa was a promising skateboarder. On his way to becoming a professional athlete, Costa shattered his leg in a skateboarding accident. It was during his recovery that he focused his attention on playing guitar and writing songs. Costa’s ambition from his skateboarding days was evident in his performance at Slim’s. Signed to Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records, Costa is known for his simple, sunny melodies. However, his performance was much more subdued, which worked to his advantage. His songs live were much more engaging than in recorded form. Costa played with a full band, but he impressively jumped from guitar to harmonica to trumpet. Costa is not the type of performer to skip around the stage, but his songs helped lift the mood into an enjoyable place.

Thao Nguyen put on a brilliant show on Day 3 of Noise Pop. Karla interviewed her right after her performance at the Swedish American Music Hall in San Francisco.

Festival Preview caught up with Here Here members Carlos, Jason, and Pat for a video interview right before their Noise Pop performance at The Independent in San Francisco. Health Haven Natural Food (621 Divisadero St San Francisco) was kind enough to let us use a space in their store for the interview. The band's Festival Preview page can be found here. Visit their MySpace page here.