Health

Get Color

Love Pump

Rating: 4

Of all the bands to have emerged from the now legendary Smell community, with the possible exception of No Age, none has gained so much hype and publicity as Health. Since the release of their self-titled debut back in 2007, this D.I.Y. Los Angeles quartet went from playing Davis‘ humble Delta of Venus to being hand-picked by Trent Reznor on Nine Inch Nails‘ heavily publicized “final” tour. All of these feats are even more impressive considering the band has had no radio play or TV spots (No Age played on Craig Ferguson).

Get Color, the band’s second full-length album (due out Sept. 8), follows Health on their journey of boundary-testing noise apocalypse. They seamlessly combine elements of noise, disco and industrial rock for a very volatile combination.

The band’s influences are not difficult to trace – subdued and androgynous chant-like vocals recall seminal Shoegazers such as My Bloody Valentine and Lush. Unannounced changes in both tempo and instrumentation evoke John Zorn’s Punk Jazz outfit, Naked City. And then of course there’s Health’s penchant for blending ritualistic, pagan drums with blasts of guitar noise and electronica, which has fittingly earned them the monikers “Boredoms Jr.” and “Liars Lite.“

But whereas the band’s debut was an exercise in imitation without synthesis, Get Color feels like a cohesive whole. The stylistic elements haven’t changed – this is still noise rock flirting with disco, but the sound is tighter and more focused.

Although less chaotic and sonically overbearing than its predecessor, Get Color still remains distant and impalpable. Because Health eschews traditional song structure of intertwining verses and choruses for long, hypnotic drones and abrupt bursts of noise, most of the songs on the album lack a feeling of completeness. For 32 minutes and through nine songs, there is not a single instance of aperture, development or resolution. And yet, if the songs were to begin in the middle or were cut shorter, the album would lose all of its impact. Well done, Health. Well done.

Give these tracks a listen: “Die Slow,” “We Are Water“

For fans of: No Age, Liars

– Boris Freyman

slug: 090831_ar_push

Edits: JTH kz

Notes:

Headline: Push Push Pull releases last album, Dressed For Success

Layercake: Band’s last performance scheduled for this Sunday

By KAREN SONG

Aggie Arts Writer

A manifesto to corporate sell-outs and the music industry’s manipulation and exploitation of musicians is the very inspiration of Push Push Pull’s second album, titled Dress For Success.

“I feel like the deeper you go into the corporate world of music, the uglier and uglier it will get,” said Gary Kim, lead vocalist, guitarist and lyricist for the band. “Music shouldn’t influence you into doing alcohol and drugs – it all comes back to having fun and enjoying it for what it is.”

Originally formed in Davis, this indie-friendly pop rock band has come a long way in its short career. The band recently announced that they would break up – it’s unfortunate that their second album release and announcement of their break-up had to come in the midst of growing popularity.

Though their debut album in 2008, When Songbirds and Snowbirds Sing, was a success with their catchy singles and hook-centric tracks, it lacked a cohesive concept, sounding like a culmination of their DaphneLovesDerby-Copeland-Thrice-esque influences. Needless to say, Push Push Pull finally grew into their musical identity with Dress For Success.

It goes without saying that Push Push Pull developed their own style of electro pop fused with the undertakings of alternative rock that are reminiscient of “Shazam” and “Love” from their first album. Though the marriage of both guitar and drums is more resonate than the keyboard in this album, it makes for a cleaner, idiosyncratic sound.

The result: A more power-driven stark mix of minor and major keys with lyrics that exploit “money hungry filthy beasts” delivered by Kim’s unique vocals that complement PPP’s musical style.

In addition to coming out with two EP’s, touring, playing at Warped Tour and benefit concerts including Inspire’s Not For Sale campaign, PPP stays connected with their fans on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace with their ultimate mission to spread the gospel and the positive influence of their lifestyle through the relationships with their fanbase.

Dress For Success, originally intended for a full album release for sale, their decision to release their EP for free online was entirely based on their love for music and fans.

“We know it goes against music standards to release the album for free,” said drummer Daniel Lim. “Our manager really didn’t want us to but releasing the album online is a chance for everyone to listen to our music. There is no excuse not to have our CD.”

So what’s next for the group? After finishing up their last two performances, Kim plans on moving back to the bay and pursuing graphic design (Kim designed both album covers). Lim will possibly join a Tucson-based band in Arizona and both keyboardist Peter Clevenger and bassist Robert Chao hope to continue their musical careers back at home.

With only two more shows left, check out Push Push Pull at First Friday on Sept. 4 and Joshua Fest ’09 on Sept. 6. To download Dressed For Success, visit myspace.com/pushpushpull.

KAREN SONG can be reached at arts@theaggie.org. XXX

Lyrics Sidebar:

“Whats The Price For?”

Music will save us

It’s all that we’ll ever have

It’s what brings us together

Much more than a business plan

When did this scene

Become so ugly with money hungry filthy beasts

Who try to write the hits

With all of their own filthy shh

Slug: 090831_ar_pmca

Edits: AER kz

Notes:

Summary:

Headline: A You See Exhibition

Layercake: Two-year UC Davis faculty art exhibition nears a close in Pasadena

By JUSTIN T. HO

Aggie Arts Editor

In a school surrounded by farmland and dominated by the sciences, the arts department can sometimes seem tucked away behind the everyday scene. But in a 1960s UC Davis, where the art department was even more hidden than today, five faculty members worked on what would become signature and influential Northern California art.

You See: The Early Years of the UC Davis Faculty, a traveling art exhibition showcasing the work of these five former and current UC Davis artists, is on display at the Pasadena Museum of California Art until September 20.

The Pasadena exhibition opened in Pasadena on May 31, but the exhibition itself began in October 2007 at the Richard L. Nelson Gallery at UC Davis. You See was created to showcase the work of five UC Davis faculty – Wayne Thiebaud, Robert Arneson, William Wiley, Roy De Forest and Manuel Neri – who each taught and worked at UC Davis in the early 1960s.

“We’ve had other shows that studied the art faculty as a whole in those years, but even so this show is a new project,” said Jeffrey Ruda, professor and director of art history, in an e-mail interview. “It focuses on the artists who had the biggest impact off campus, and it shows them more thoroughly than you could in a general survey of the department.“

The UC Regents, on behalf of the Nelson Gallery, received a $60,000 grant in 2006 from the National Endowment of the Arts in order to fund the exhibition. The grant, titled “American Masterpieces: Visual Arts Touring,” intended to bring the Nelson Gallery’s permanent storage out into the open.

“Ninety percent of museum collections are in storage – that’s one of the secrets of the museum world,” said Renny Pritikin, director of the Nelson Gallery. “This grant was designed to help smaller museums, like ours, to get our collection masterpieces out on the road.“

And it did – after two months at the Nelson Gallery, the exhibition moved to other California venues throughout 2008 and 2009 including the Hearst Art Gallery at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, the California Bakersfield Museum of Art and the Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery at the University of Nevada. The Pasadena Museum of California Art is the exhibition’s final stop – far from Davis but still loyal to its California roots.

“[The Nelson Gallery] sent us a proposal to see if we wanted to take it, knowing that our mission is California art and artists,” said Shirlae Cheng-Lifshin, exhibition manager for the Pasadena Museum of California Art. “We reviewed the proposal, we liked the artists in the show and we thought it was a compelling show, so we agreed to take it in.“

Cheng-Lifshin, who gave a tour of the exhibition earlier in the year, said the exhibit was successfully received.

“We’re really excited about the show, and we’re happy with the response,” Cheng-Lifshin said.

The five artists were each brought together by Richard Nelson himself, the first chair of the UC Davis art department. Though the artists worked and taught within the university, Nelson kept them in isolation from other affairs within the UC system, such as committee memberships within the school bureaucracy.

“The only reason [the artists] were able to do it was because Nelson, who founded the art department, was really a good recruiter,” Pritikin said. “[Nelson] promised these guys total freedom – salaries and a budget that they couldn’t get elsewhere.“

“Often when a department is built by an individual rather than by committee it has a better chance of embodying a single, forceful vision or direction,” said Blake Stimson, professor of art history at UC Davis, in an e-mail interview. “Nelson and the department were fortunate enough to be in a position to develop such a vision and Nelson clearly had a strong enough sense of what he would like to accomplish.“

But while the exhibition highlights the artists‘ common bond as UC Davis faculty, the artists draw together as 1960s and 1970s Californians with radically unique and separate forms of expression. Arneson, whose all-too-familiar “Eggheads” sculptures lurk throughout the UC Davis campus, is often characterized by the regional category “California Funk.” Stimson said this is characterized by “attention to craft, like the ‘go-to-hell attitude‘ of the Funk sensibility … [which] stood as a California counterpoint to the ‘deskilling‘ or de-emphasis of artistic craft.“

Arneson’s sculpture “The Palace at 9 a.m.,” a glazed, ceramic Davis-style home, sits at the supreme center of the Pasadena exhibition. Neri’s crudely crafted nude sculptures stand throughout the room with a darker feeling that contrasts with the livelier, more colorful surrounding work.

Other works, such as Wiley’s textual-centric prints, take a much more obscure approach to iconoclasm and social criticism. Thiebaud comes across as the father of the exhibition, with plain, simple realism that truly distinguishes his work from that of the other artists.

“They were all very original in their approaches to subject matter, but also they were brilliant, virtuoso technicians in traditional media,” Ruda said.

And funky or not, it all mixes together. Their freedom at UC Davis was likely their strongest bond, and if anything, the artists had a lot of fun with it.

You See: The Early Years of the UC Davis Faculty is on display in the Pasadena Museum of California Art, located at 490 East Union Street in Pasadena, CA. For more information, visit pmcaonline.org.

JUSTIN T. HO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org. XXX

MUSIC

Monsters of Accordion

Today, 8 p.m., $10

Luigi‘s Fun Garden in Sacramento

This accordion-based group is definitely taking the stage at Luigi‘s Fun Garden tonight. There is sure to be enough accordion to last audiences for months. Check them out on Myspace for a provocative preview of what you‘ll likely see and hear.

Instagon

Thursday, 7 p.m., free

John Natsoulas Gallery

Instagon is returning to the Natsoulas Gallery after their appearance last Friday, so if you missed this effected, experimental jam band, now‘s your chance to check them out at their own show. Judging from their singles, it‘ll likely be less noise-ish than last Friday (and therefore much more digestible for the more general bored and party-less Davisite).

Garret Pierce; The Moore Brothers

Thursday, 10 p.m., $3

Sophia‘s Thai Kitchen

Davis‘ own Garret Pierce, a spacey, soulful acoustic soloist, will perform a set at our familiar Sophia‘s deck. The Moore Brothers, currently on a U.S. tour in support of their new release “Aptos.“ Check them out on Myspace for more information.

Eat Skull; Kurt Vile; Ganglians; GGreen

Friday, 8 p.m., free (donations welcome)

2309 L St. in Sacramento

Four bands are hitting the Funcastle show on Friday, presented by KDVS. Philadelphia‘s Kurt Vile has a cool enough name to headline the show himself – and to think three other bands are performing too! More information about the show and bands is available at the event‘s Facebook event page.

Nels Andrews; Bri Anne Michelle

Friday, 10 p.m., $3

Sophia‘s Thai Kitchen

Folk singer Nels Andrews comes straight from Brooklyn, New York. Andrews is currently on tour throughout California (from Culver City to Berkeley), but he won‘t be for long – our foreign readers might see him in Amsterdam and London, so catch him here while you can. Mellow vocalist Bri Anne Michelle will also appear – this should be an impressive night.

Arboretum Music: Folk Music Jam Session

Friday, 12 p.m., free

The Arboretum

If you didn‘t check out our article about the Jam Session last Monday, do your online Aggie homework. Or you could bring your folk music, folk skills (or lack thereof) and/or folk-filled iPod to the Arboretum for a relaxing, mellow break from whatever you‘re doing on Friday.

Black Heart Moon; Drew Grow and the Pastors‘ Wives

Saturday, 10 p.m., $3

Sophia‘s Thai Kitchen

This week‘s final night at Sophia‘s will feature two Portland groups – one is slow and mellow, the other is significantly livelier. You can predict which is which (unless you cheat with their Myspace pages).

ART / GALLERY

Thinking in Layers

Opens Wednesday, free

Davis Art Center

Thinking in Layers, an exhibition featuring local artists and layered artwork, is opening for a month in the Tsao Gallery of the Davis Art Center. Stay tuned next week for an informal reception with the artists. For more information, visit davisartcenter.org.

COMEDY / POETRY

Kenny Kane; Ross Turner

Tuesday, 8:30 p.m., $5

Bistro 33

Comedian, motivational speaker and dancer Kenny Kane – a Davis alum and former Aggie Pack Master of Ceremonies – will perform at Bistro 33‘s comedy night. Hosted by Joe Tobin, the night will also feature comedian Ross Turner.

Jenny Overman

Wednesday, 9 p.m., free

Bistro 33

This “One Woman Poetry Show“ will feature New York/Oakland‘s Jenny Overman, who will present her piece entitled “Worries on Wall St. and Mr. Jones“ – a narrative of Overman‘s tenure in the Big Apple as well as deeper social and economic issues in both the region and the nation. Visit the night‘s Facebook event page for a detailed description of the poet and her work and interests.

JUSTIN T. HO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Last Friday’s lingering humid haze brought about a warm and sluggish afternoon in downtown Davis. The strangely dreary weather and lack of people wandering the streets led a person to believe there wasn’t much going on downtown.

However, there were a decent amount of things going on, including a short collaborative set consisting of band members from the Old Believers, Red River and Congratulations at Armadillo Music.

The Old Believers and Congratulations – consisting of Nelson Kempf, Dhani Rosa, Keeley Boyle, Danielle Sullivan, Clayton Knapp, Thomas Himes, Jordan Bagnall, Dan Galucki, Tanner Johnson and Morgan Herst – originate from Portland, Oregon. The two bands consist of the same musicians, but their musical undertones and lyrical resonance differ.

The Old Believers, mainly consisting of singer-songwriters Nelson Kempf and Keely Boyle, combine feather-like tones with endearing lyrics about unrequited love to create pleasant folk music. The band released their first LP Eight Golden Greats in July of last year and is currently working on their second record to be released in early 2010.

Similar to the Old Believers, Congratulations also chiefly consists of songwriter Dhani Rosa and lead vocalist Danielle Sullivan. By blending bright melodies, some jazz undertones and sweet lyrics, Congratulations also succeeds in creating mellow and soulful folk. The band recorded two EPs in the past few years and will be featured in the Old Believers‘ upcoming record.

From Long Beach, Calif., the Red River produces warm, heartfelt folk music. Consisting of Bill Roberts, Mike Turner, Drew and Manny, the Red River released a few EPs in the past, as well as a full-length record, Grassblades, last year. The band plans to move up to Portland later this year to join their new label mates and will be releasing their next LP entitled Little Songs About the Big Picture in the coming months.

With no more than 25 people inside Armadillo Music, members of the three bands began an acoustic set in a cozy corner – only pausing to decide which song to play next. The melodies and lyrics were soft and sweet – intertwining light choruses with memorable harmonies and impressive vocals, similar to those heard on the Old Believers and Congratulation’s recorded tracks. The band members switched off playing the guitar and incorporated the saxophone, an electric mini keyboard, humming and leg clapping into their set, which added to the light-hearted atmosphere they created within the store.

The performance was short and mesmerizing, and had a number of listeners swaying in place and bobbing their heads to the beat. After performing a couple songs, Bill Roberts of the Red River performed an upbeat song about desperation for self-destruction to leave the audience on a humorous note.

For more information on upcoming shows at Armadillo Music, visit their page on Facebook.

SIMONE WAHNG can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.