Recording: Rangda

Artist: Rangda

Songs: The Sin Eaters + Spiro Agnew + Idol's Eye

Recorded at Double Double Land, March 8, 2016.

Rangda - The Sin Eaters

Rangda - Spiro Agnew

Rangda - Idol's Eye

Sort of like a grad seminar in advanced songshredology, this band unites drummer Chris Corsano with guitarists Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) and Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls) in a superpower trio that was on the road supporting their third album The Heretic's Bargain. What this is is a simple thing done quite fucking well, the intricate interplay unleashed so casually that you might miss its technical excellence while your knees are buckling from the delivery. Equally identifiable as sea shanties, speed-psych-raga and surf jazz, there was an incredible amount packed into their near-hour on stage.

Recording: Sir Richard Bishop

Artist: Sir Richard Bishop

Songs: Let It Come Down + unknown^*

Recorded at Ratio, April 8, 2015.

Sir Richard Bishop - Let It Come Down

Sir Richard Bishop - unknown

Invocation TO's Jay Pollard had brought Richard Bishop to Geary Lane a few months back, but this return visit was a little more scaled down in several dimensions. Playing a cozier space made sense as Bishop was playing a small-bodied nineteenth-century parlour guitar, and the bulk of the set was given over to the delicate beauty of the semi-improvised pieces that made in onto vinyl with his recent Tangier Sessions album. His masterful guitar technique is accentuated here by some wonderfully-subtle sonic extensions from his pedals. Along the way, there was even time to dip back for a couple ribald singalongs from the Sun City Girls catalogue.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!