Home is the new black

Home invasion: A certain Monday night house show brought out a certain type of individual.

Everyone wore black. Unless, of course, they were wearing brightly colored, thick knit sweaters. Otherwise, black. And skinny and quiet and smoking cigarettes and beanies and unruly hair and mustaches and, where were we, anyway?

My friend’s eyes widened as soon as we stepped into the backyard. “This is it,” he whispered. “This is Sacramento’s hipster nexus. This is our Williamsburg.”

Needless to say, we probably won’t be invited back if anyone reads this.

The scene began with Carson McWhirter, formerly of math rock band Hella and Nintendo Entertainment System cover band the Advantage, doing his experimental guitar looping thing. It ended with Pregnant, a.k.a. Daniel Trudeau’s Placerville-based project, doing experimental things as well.

In the middle, we had Deradoorian—the main draw, the royalty.

Full name: Angel Deradoorian, once one of the hypnotic, gorgeous voices behind hipster-beloved, experimental rock band Dirty Projectors. She lives in Los Angeles now, but is a Sacto native.

After leaving Dirty Projectors in 2012, she focused on her solo project—darker, droning—and joined Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks, the Animal Collective founder’s latest band. Deradoorian’s first and only solo album Mind Raft actually dropped back in 2009. According to Pitchfork, Deradoorian described it as “An EP with five gothed-out psych tracks for you to do drugs to, or something.”

Her newer stuff could be described the same way, but even more so. Mind Raft wears a quiet folk element that was absent from her live set Monday night. Still dark, more intricate and more firmly electronic-based. She’s currently writing her second album.

At this particular living room show, she played keys, bass guitar and a palette of pedals, while another woman hit two snare drums. Their harmonies acted as explorations—tribal calls over deep murmurs; echoey, airy vocals heightened to the near-operatic. Each song was slowly built using loops and multitasking. At times, Deradoorian had one hand plucking strings, one hand on keys, her mouth on the mic and her foot ready to act.

As a Dirty Projectors fan, I longed to hear something gut-wrenchingly beautiful come out of Deradoorian’s mouth, akin to “Two Doves” from Bitte Orca. Her vocal talent is still extraordinary, but with her current style, she avoids using it so simply.

Deradoorian didn’t tell stories or address the crowd much at all, either. Instead, it felt like we were sneaking in on band practice. We acknowledged the privilege and dared not interrupt. Though the man in awe next to me couldn’t help but exhale a “wow” and “cool” every so often.

Homecomings: Local bass and dubstep fans often reminisce about the good ol’ Grimey days. The twice-a-month Tuesday dance night started out in 2010, regularly drawing as many as 400 people out of hiding each edition.

It was the work of DJ Whores, a.k.a. Daniel Osterhoff. Grimey ultimately ended last February when Osterhoff moved to Denmark to be with his daughter. Osterhoff hasn’t deejayed since.

He’s back, ya’ll.

Well, at least for a couple of months. Osterhoff says he plans to perform “a couple guest spots here and there” while he’s enjoying the warm California weather.

The first appearance will be one of Requiem Events’ big Throwdown parties on Saturday, January 17. Local hip-hop artists will take the stage until about midnight, then the dancing will ensue with DJ Whores and Jurts until 3 a.m. Expect a mix of hip-hop, indie, dubstep, glitch, house, footwork and, of course, grime. It all goes down at Midtown Barfly (1119 21st Street) for $15 at the door.

Meanwhile, Old Ironsides (1901 10th Street) will host a slew of former Sacramentans on Friday, January 16.

Los Angeles-based indie rock band Two Sheds headlines the evening, and the husband-wife team of Caitlin and Johnny Gutenberger is also celebrating a very special anniversary. It’s their 10th year of making music together—and their first-ever show was at Old I.

San Francisco bluesy rock act Lee Bob & The Truth—led by Lee Bob Watson, former local teacher, Americana troubadour and member of seminal rock band Jackpot—joins the bill along with Jackpot’s singer-songwriter Rusty Miller for a truly special, nostalgic lineup. Show starts at 9 p.m. and costs a more than reasonable $7.