A Minor Forest, '90s S.F. math/post-rock trio and creator of some of the best song titles Thrill Jockey Records has ever committed to metadata ("Putting the Gay Back in Reggae," "John Gets Leftovers Again") is reuniting next month for its first show in 15 years. Formed after a bunch of friends from San Diego reconnected in the Bay Area, and with members including Andee Connors, co-owner of Mission hotspot Aquarius Records, A Minor Forest toured and released a couple of unpredictable, miserable, and sometimes terribly exciting records between 1992 and 1998, when it went on hiatus. And now the band has a one-off show planned for San Francisco next month.
Ah music festivals. Doing them the right way is smart. Doing them the wrong way is hilarious -- for everyone else. This year we spent a good deal of time and energy offering positive advice on how to do Hardly Strictly. So here, in less-than-total seriousness, are 10 signs you did Hardly Strictly Bluegrass poorly. All photos by Christopher Victorio.
See our sideshows from HSB '13: The Faces of Hardly Strictly | The Dogs of Hardly Strictly
"He's not my bodyguard anymore," says 2 Chainz of the man who was supposed to have his back when the Georgia rapper and crew were robbed and shot at on the daytime streets of San Francisco in June, only hours before going onstage at KMEL's Summer Jam.
Quick takes on the best of what we saw at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 13. Skip straight to Saturday or Sunday.
Friday, Oct. 4
Low
We gave the Duluth, Minn., outfit even odds in translating its gothic rock into the bright environs of a Friday afternoon in Golden Gate Park. Looking like a band of art-room kids who got locked out in the sunlight ("What a beautiful day -- I know you get a lot of beautiful days, but in Duluth we get about three and a half," said Alan Sparhawk), Low's quieter moments sometimes got lost in the ever-present din of conversation and the echoes from the Banjo stage up the way. But the band mostly pulled it off: "Holy Ghost" and "Witches" proved appropriately haunting, and Low made a cover of Rihanna's fantastic "Stay" seem like its own song. The second half of the spacious set was filled out with help from Duluth pals Trampled by Turtles, who filigreed a banjo-and-fiddle lightness onto Low's heavy-lidded dirges. "Sorry about all the dark songs," Sparhawk muttered toward the end. He didn't need to be. Ian S. Port
