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Port Lite September 24, 2000 Review by Squid Okay, so if you need proof that we really love Tristeza, it should probably be that we went all the way to Oakland without a car, at the mercy of BART. Port Lites is out past Jack London Square, and Squid, who lived in O-town for 10 years, had absolutely no idea where this place was. Jesus, our taxi driver had no idea where this place was... we all kind of guessed based on the cross streets. It was like something out of Escape to Witch Mountain. All kidding aside, it's encouraging to see live music trying to rear it's head in Oakland once again, and we are totally in support of any venue that gives East Bay bands, or any bands for that matter, a place to play. This is a small space consisting mainly of a pool table and a big ass bar, but that's room enough for indie rock. The line-up was fairly incongruous, since Go-Go-Go Airheart are a funk band, but we think it has to do with them both being bands promoted Holiday Matinee, a cool fan-driven PR label run down in LA. In the end, Tristeza delivered another great set and weren't even foiled by two guys who somehow managed to pogo through the entire set as if there was still funk being played that none of us could hear. They almost took out the damn keyboard, but the guys from Tristeza didn't blink an eye. Now THAT'S professional. Utterly worth the breakneck taxiride we took to make it back to BART before the train turned into a pumpkin. Bottom of the Hill September 14, 2000 Wheat delivered quality renditions of their album tracks, and reminded us that there is more than one way to deliver the all powerful ‘male indie-vocal’. But it was middle band Tristeza that really blew us away. This five-piece are from San Diego, and seem to be under the leadership of their octopus-like drummer, Luis Hermosillo. Outstanding attribute: beautiful instrumental music that is not boring live. Squid likens it to a bizarre combination of China Crisis and mid-career Cocteau Twins'without vocals, of course. The killer track live is 'I am a cheetah', which starts as bubblegum 70’s soundtrack funk and suddenly disintegrates into a meditation on a single melodic phrase. It’s beautifully produced on the album, and utterly hypnotic live. Tristeza’s album, 'dream signals in full circles' is on Tigerstyle Records. |