A live review for our Dunord show a few months ago:
Nurses / The Ohsees / Citay
Café du Nord
San Francisco, CA
November 8, 2007
The crowd at Café du Nord got its money's worth with a truly eclectic evening of local flavor, from dub/psych to folk/pop to psych/folk rock — and a CD release to boot. Kicking off the performances were San Francisco's own Nurses, an energetic duo comprised of Antonio Miguel on drums and Gabriel Aaron on electric guitar. Though a guitar/drum act has the propensity to produce a very simple (but increasingly popular) effect, Nurses twist and turn dramatic guitar shreds paired with swift, rapid percussion and short, random bursts of heavily-reverbed vocals that are anything but lackluster. That said, the crowd at Café du Nord seemed to be divided in its reaction — some were dancing and getting lost in the music, others just seemed lost in general. Miguel's back was also to the audience the entire time, making it clear Nurses' focus was not out on the crowd but inwards; it was easy to see that they get lost in their music.
Up next were The Ohsees, who literally turned the mood around and had the entire room engaged barely one minute into their first song. Led by rambunctious vocalist/guitarist John Dwyer (formerly of Coachwhips), vocalist Brigid Dawson, bassist Petey Dammit, and drummer Mike Shoun threw together a folksy pop/rock frenzy, laced with slight elements of post-punk reminiscent of acts like The Fall. Their riffs and melodies often have an experimental lean and break the usually formulaic barriers of the pop genre. Yet their biggest asset is the quirky vocal pairing of Dwyer and Dawson, which added an almost creepy and mysterious element to their set. Now five albums deep, the band mostly stuck to new material from its latest, Sucks Blood, and there were seemingly no complaints. Fun music aside, The Ohsees are just fun to watch!
Finally taking the stage and celebrating the release of their new album, Little Kingdom, Citay topped off an already incredibly enjoyable bill. The largely instrumental post-psychedelic rock group is somewhat difficult to classify. The project of guitarists Ezra Feinberg and Tim Green (The Fucking Champs), Citay is like a mini-orchestra, with seven members utilizing myriad instrumentation from the standard bass, percussion and piano, to 12-string guitar, mandolin, synthesizer, flute and violin. Impressions of what could be considered "hippie music" or jam band fare were trumped by Citay's lush, blissed-out sound. Their long, winding songs (most averaging 10 to 12 minutes) were like little adventures and stories in themselves. Most impressive though were the lead guitar duets by Adria Otte and Jessie Reiner who shred epic Allman Brothers-like riffs that really carried the rest of the music.
With their individual approaches to instrumentation, performance and sound, the bands had something to offer every varied appetite in the crowd and together made for a night that was anything but skimpy.
-Review by Nicole Sheikh; photo by Valerie Shoaps