In A Handsome State

For weeks, I'd been telling everyone who'd listen that the Thursday 3/2 show featuring Beulah, Track Star, and Dealership was going to be the highlight of the entire Noise Pop festival. Now that the show has happened and I was there in the front row, I can safely say that it feels so good to be so right.

Beulah are one of the few bands of their poppy, multi-instrumental, harmony-laden ilk who can really make their songs work live. Played with a little more heft than on their delicate records, the band's great hooks and sing-a-long choruses become even more rewarding. Whisper-to-scream dynamicists Track Star are one of San Francisco's most fascinating live bands, conducting protracted, awkard experiments in guitar-guitar-(no bass)-drums minimalism that confuse a lot of audiences but enrapture me. And Dealership are just one of the Bay Area's most unbearably cute bands, mixing boy-girl harmonies and Pixies-ish basslines to predictably catchy effect.

The evening's first band was the Shimmer Kids, who seemed OK while I was watching them but four bands later, I couldn't really remember anything about their set. The evening definitely delivered nice contrast between bands, as the Shimmer Kids (who added a theremin, keyboard, and saxophone to the traditional rock setup) and Beulah played with expanded lineups and Track Star and Dealership were stripped-down trios. So the Shimmer Kids were OK, although after seeing the Pinehurst Kids and the Get Up Kids already in the last few months, I have to say I've had more than enough of my fill of bands with the word "kids" in their name.

Dealership, who I'd first seen when they played a free show on Lower Sproul, have improved immensely in the ensuing months. Although their early performance had the cutesy appeal of a bunch of kids who'd just picked up their instruments for the first time, their Noise Pop show was much tighter and debuted some new songs which sound way more evolved. Chris Groves and Jane Pinckard's harmonies sounded great, and Chris Wetherell continues to be the happiest drummer I've ever seen. Why exactly Pinckard and Wetherell switched instruments for one song midset eludes me, as the song sounded just like all of Dealership's other songs, but it looked like the band was having a good time, and that's what's really important, eh?

Sunset Valley were the only band on the bill I'd heard nothing about, and I enjoyed them quite a bit. Playing a set of more expansive, Neil Young-inspired indie rock diversified by the use of the lead guitarist's wide variety of archaic effects pedals, they managed to distinguish themselves in the middle of a five-band bill. No easy task.

I'd been waiting the whole night for another chance to see one of my favorite local bands, Track Star, and loved their first three songs. Unfortunately, during a passionate, fevered noisy "West Coast Weather," one of their guitar straps snapped right in half. The ensuing delay took their whole set off the rails. Most of the crowd was muttering for the rest of their performance, which concentrated on the slower, more delicate songs they've been writing since the release of their last album, 1997's Communication Breaks. Although their Noise Pop appearance was a letdown, they were tremendous playing with the Promise Ring last year and I expect they will rebound for their next show, which I plan to be at.

When Beulah first started it, I thought "Emma Blowgun's Last Stand" was a somewhat odd choice for an opener, but reconsidering the set later, I understood. The longish, slow-to-develop song from When Your Heartstrings Break allows Beulah to introduce each of its elements one at a time. Simple keyboards beginning chiming, guitars begin to strum, a wonderful horn section comes in with some snappy chart, and eventually Miles Kurosky begins to sing in his happy, friendly voice. The song doesn't exactly burst out of the gate, but Beulah aren't concerned with blowing you away - they want you to settle down and enjoy yourself. They don't want to overwhelm your senses, because you'll need them to appreciate the depth and careful crafting of what's to come.

Good thing, too. It would be shame not to be at full attention for glorious songs like "Lay Low For The Letdown," "Score From Augusta," or the song my friends and I sang in the car all the way to and all the way back from the show, the magnificent "If We Can Land A Man On The Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart." No rock star posturing here. The band bounds about like it's glad to be playing, with most of the members joining Miles (and the audience) to shout the band's terrific choruses. "If you want to sing, tell me what you want to sing, and we'll play," Beulah sang on "Moon," "yeah we'll play anything that you want." Such eagerness to please is tremendously welcome in the indie rock world of the aloof and the too-hip-for-this-world.

Beulah's gift for arrangements is one-in-a-million. The band crowded nine people on to the modest Great American stage, and yet never sounded busy or excessive. Covered in sweat and wearing a grin that could light the stage if the lights go out, Bill Swan furiously directs things, switching from trumpet to keyboard to guitar often in the midst of songs. Augmented at different times by saxophone, clarinet, harmonica, Moog, and piano, Beulah never lost track of their melodies. Coming out for an encore but out of songs, they even managed to make a Troggs tune sound delicate and subtly beautiful.

They're now off for a short tour before beginning work on their next album, but if you ever have the chance to see Beulah, seize it. If Pavement are really broken up, they're the best band in California right now.

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