here is a link to the union-tribune site:
THRILLING US SOFTLY
'Quiet rock' is gaining standing in San Diego and around the country
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. July 5, 2009
Brothers Jackson (left) and Keith (right) Milgaten are changing the way
San Diegans experience music. (Peggy Peattie / Union-Tribune) -
Jackson
Milgaten’s nickname is “Action Jackson” because he’s in The Vision of a
Dying World and The Paddle Boat and performs as Cuckoo Chaos. (Peggy
Peattie / Union-Tribune)
A GUIDE TO THE SCENE
It takes a little work to find out about local house concerts, as the
best ones are word of mouth. Here's a guide to get you started:
The Boat House: A list of upcoming concerts at Jackson Milgaten's venue is on myspace.com/actionjacksonpromotions.
Habitat House:
The Habitat in Golden Hill prides itself on being under the radar. But
if you must know, visit thehabitat.info./ Sight&Sound: These art
gallery shows put on by Walk the Walk Presents happen the last Saturday
of the month. Check myspace.com/wtwpresents for schedule.
Sezio: Along with hosting occasional shows, Sezio's music calendar lists some of the more secretive shows around town. See sezio.org
Dark-Thirty Productions: This Lakeside venue has been hosting acoustic artists for years. See darkthirty.com
San Diego House Parties:
These dance parties pop up when you least expect it but keep checking
frontandivy.com for updates. The Web site may not work now, but it will
before a party is about to happen.
– NINA GARIN
Who plays in what bands:
Jackson Milgaten:
The Vision of a Dying World
Cuckoo Chaos
The Paddle Boat
Maren Parusel
Keith Milgaten:
Jamuel Saxon
Black Mamba
The Vision of a Dying World
Jeremy Scott:
The Paddle Boat
The Vision of a Dying World
Beaters
Cuckoo Chaos
This town is, without a doubt, a Rock 'n' Roll town.
So much of San Diego's music cred was built on the fast guitars of The
Zeros and Hot Snakes, the ferocity of Rocket From the Crypt and No
Knife, the glam of Louis XIV and The Dragons.
But the future sound? The “next big thing?” Well, it may not be quite as loud.
Thanks to a group of young musicians – led by brothers Jackson and
Keith Milgaten and childhood friend Jeremy Scott – San Diego's scene is
evolving into something much, much quieter.
Instead of an electric guitar, it's perfectly normal to
see a banjo or triangle on stage these days. A clarinet in lieu of a
bass. A piano instead of a huge drum kit.
Groups like The Paddle Boat and Black Mamba, bands with
softer instrumentation and emotive vocals, are becoming just as common
as the rock-fueled bands that dominated San Diego clubs for the past 20
years.
“We're not afraid to say that we love quiet, pop music,”
said Keith Milgaten, 24. “It used to be that people were anti-pop. But
mosh pits and all that '80s crazy hard-core stuff, it's not cool
anymore.”
The rise of reflective music reaches beyond San Diego. The
desire for quieter sounds has turned Wisconsin soul singer Bon Iver
into the sad music poster boy, after he was profiled in The New Yorker
in January.
Paste magazine also put Iver on its “Top Singles of 2009
So Far,” along with the Brooklyn experimental band Grizzly Bear, whose
album, “Veckatimest” reached No. 8 on Billboard's Top 200.
Despite their increasing popularity, quiet performers
still face challenges reaching their fans in venues such as bars and
big concert venues where the talking can drown out the music.
“I was at The Shins concert at SOMA and these girls were
yapping in my ear for the first half of the set,” said Zack Nielsen of
Sezio, the local arts collaborative. “I finally turned to them and
said, 'You're ruining this for everyone.' And she said, 'Uh, we're at a
concert!' And that attitude completely summed it up for me.”
This noise issue could explain why even big national acts
like Death Cab for Cutie just performed at the small Belly Up over a
clunkier arena.
And rather than try to compete with the loud chatter at a
nightclub or the espresso machine buzz at cafes, the Milgatens prefer
to put on shows in quiet spaces liking living rooms and warehouses.
That's why Jackson Milgaten, 26, and Scott, 24, turned their Normal Heights living room into a makeshift venue.
It's a word-of-mouth type of place, known affectionately around town as
The Boat House because the living room is painted bright blue and
yellow. It seats around 50 or 60 people who often sit on the floor.
“Quiet music requires the listener to play close
attention,” said Jackson Milgaten. “It's like we're inviting people
into our home and sharing a piece of our lives with them.”
Milgaten books both local and national bands to perform,
like Portland's Foot Ox and Phoenix's French Quarter scheduled to play
Thursday. Most of the time, there's a house party immediately after the
concert.
“The cops can show up at any moment,” said Milgaten. “But usually when they do, it's long after the music's finished.”
The Boat House is in a residential neighborhood, but there's an alley
behind them to drain out some noise. Even so, there's a no drums rule
unless they're played jazz style.
And while a house full of twentysomething musicians can easily get out of hand, it hardly ever does.
“I think people realize they are seeing something different,” says Jackson Milgaten. “So they're always really respectful.”
Living room music
Of course, house concerts are nothing new to San Diego.
The singer/songwriter community has been playing in living rooms for
years. Local stars like Grand Ole Party and The Soft Pack (The Muslims)
got their start by playing raucous house parties that were more like
private dance clubs.
Even Jimmy Lavalle of The Album Leaf, considered one of
San Diego's godfathers of quiet rock thanks to his ambient electronica,
played house concerts growing up.
“We were doing house shows back in 1997 when I lived on
24th and E Street,” he said. “We'd just have friends over and play
music, hang out, have a good time.”
While Lavalle, whose band is signed to Sub Pop Records and
tours internationally, no longer performs at such intimate venues, the
spirit lives on with the new generation.
“I guess everything cool comes back around again,” said
Lavalle, who recently relocated to Santa Cruz. “I've been lucky. People
know what to expect with The Album Leaf and we're usually well
received. It's not a library, though; we get talkers. There's
definitely a difference at a quiet show. Those are always awesome, and
you get attention paid to the music.”
Along with music at The Boat House, there are also shows
happening at the secretive Habitat House as well as some intimate shows
put on by groups like Walk the Walk Presents and Sezio.
Still, as Lavalle has proved, a band can't make money by playing house shows and house shows only.
So beyond the living room concerts, the Milgatens bring their fuller,
electronica-heavy projects like Jamuel Saxon and Cuckoo Chaos to places
like The Casbah and The Radio Room.
And when they're not playing live, the Milgatens and their
ever-expanding community of friends are putting their artistic stamp on
practically everything.
Between Jackson Milgaten and Craig Barclift's Single
Screen Record label and Keith Milgaten's home recording studio, along
with their jobs at trendy places like The Soda Bar and The Turf Club,
the brothers are among the biggest influences of the local scene.
Rising bands like Tape Deck Mountain, Grey Ghosts and The
Feelings Mutual have recorded at Keith Milgaten's South Park house,
where he puts his trademark dreamy touches on their music.
Jackson Milgaten's label signs everyone from the punky
Powerchords to the more delicate Black Mamba. He'll showcase his
label's artists on Saturday at the Soda Bar. He also promotes and books
his friend's bands all around San Diego.
“I think what the Milgatens are doing is phenomenal,” said
Nielsen. “With Keith doing all the engineering and Jackson putting out
records on his label, to me, they're like the Sub Pop of San Diego.”
Along with their trademark quiet sound, what makes the
Milgaten crew unique is their sense of community: Everyone plays in
each others bands. It's practically impossible to keep up.
All this has earned Jackson Milgaten the nickname “Action Jackson,” which he loves and even uses himself.
Still, it took years before anyone here gave the Milgatens a chance.
“When I first got here, the scene was a lot of the stuff leftover from
the 1990s, like Hot Snakes and Black Heart Procession,” said Keith
Milgaten. “It was really hard to try and become a part of that.”
Instead of trying to fit into a community that featured
either established musicians or underground ska and emo bands, Milgaten
did his own thing.
When Jackson Milgaten moved to town a few years later,
they started doing shows as The Vision of a Dying World, a band that
Jackson Milgaten and Scott already established in Las Vegas.
Over time, the brothers aligned themselves with fellow
transplanted, talented musicians, like German singer Maren Parusel, who
is signed to Single Screen.
This sense of support and community, as well as their
musical ability, is something Jackson Milgaten attributes to his
mother, Christian singer Donna Milgaten. “My mom's a lifelong
musician,” he said. “She gave us the inspiration to just get out there
and do it.”