To unfamiliar visitors, The Casbah, with its black leather cushion lined walls and dark atmosphere, may seem like a black hole. To those of us who frequent the joint, we relish in the fact that it has been home to intimate performances from the likes of Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins to Vampire Weekend and Ben Harper. This quaint venue has become the face of the San Diego live music scene and finds itself comfortably tucked within the limits of downtown. Bottom line, I jump at nearly any opportunity to pay a visit to The Casbah to see a show. Following a drink at the Waterfront in Little Italy, I found myself stage right anxious to see Annie Clark a.k.a St. Vincent there this past Saturday.
If you follow the indie-music scene you have undoubtedly heard of St. Vincent. She has opened for bands like Arcade Fire and The National and even played in the touring band for Sufjan Stevens (an Audiomuffin fav). Now, others are opening for her. She has the touring band and deservedly so. Clark has some serious pipes and basically dominates the guitar like no female musician I have ever witnessed. Her classic beauty and ranging vocals make her captivating live. Her most recent album, Actor (2009) was a big step up for this young singer/songwriter as she explored new sounds musically and vocally and amazingly is able to re-create the sound impeccably live. Her touring band’s got the goods, she works the double-mic and basically shreds the guitar on every song. Annie wrote and arranged all 11 songs on the album and had some production assistance from the talented John Congleton who has worked with such bands as Modest Mouse and Explosions in the Sky.
Combine these elements with the sound generated by one of the best small musical venues of all time and you can paint that black hole blacker.
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Order Actor (2009) here or buy it wherever good music is sold.
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