tartufi

11 Things: Tartufi's Favorite Sounds '08

Thursday, December 11, 2008

When I was young, my mom used to draw a line on a piece of paper and ask me to turn it into something. It's a useful way to view Tartufi's music. The songs start out simply and modestly and develop into something epic and dramatic. So I drew some lines on a piece of paper for band members Lynne Angel and Brian Gorman and asked them to turn it into something. Between e-mail pingpong and signing with Southern Records, they turned the lines into their 11 favorite sounds of 2008:

1. The sound of Low Red Land shredding. Additionally, the sound of a shredder shredding while Low Red Land's new album, "Dog's Hymns," plays in the background.

2. The sound of "President-elect Obama."

3. The sound of Mormons gasping and then apologizing to America when Proposition 8 got overturned. ... Oh wait, that's in the future, but it's going to sound so good we can almost hear it now.

4. The sound of Silian Rail making the best and most complex use of all their fingers, arms, legs and feet out of any band we know ... and lookin' hecka good in the process.

5. The sound of our gear not exploding while on tour in addition to the sound of not getting pulled over while on tour and the sound of big toes not breaking while on tour.

6. The sound of Department of Eagles, Deer Tick, Paper Airplanes, Fleet Foxes, the Botticellis, Jesse Rogers, Musée Mecanique, D Numbers, Beach House, "This American Life" and Tunng playing one at a time over and over and over.

7. The sound of biting into a foot-long veggie patty sandwich with everything except onions and jalepenos at a Subway in Ankeny, Iowa.

8. "My name is Harvey Milk, and I'm here to recruit you!"

9. The sound of an aerial mortar firework launching from its hurl tube and then exploding into the night sky.

10. The sound of sound - layered, looped, lush and live.

11. The sound of playing one final 2008 show with Them Hills and Low Red Land. We go on first and it's Lynne's birthday, so come on down early and shake your tail feathers with us. 9:30 tonight. The Eagle Tavern, 398 12th St. (415) 626-0880. www.sfeagle.com; www.tartufirock.net.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/11/NS8614K4JS.DTL

This article appeared on page G - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle