Tamaryn >> You're a cruel sea

California Month, tremor #21:

Tamaryn - "Dawning"

(Mexican Summer Records, 2010)

Much like how Polly Jean Harvey is the singer of the band named PJ Harvey and Carlos Santana is the guitarist of the band named Santana, Tamaryn Brown is the singer of the band named Tamaryn.  I had originally assumed they were named as a reference to Slowdive's songs "Avalyn 1" and "Avalyn 2," since Slowdive is obviously their biggest influence.  Tamaryn the lady is from New Zealand, but chose to settle in the almost identical, climate-wise (a foggy and cool subtropical Mediterranean climate), city of San Francisco.  The spectacular Nikau palm grows well in San Fran, since it is a native of New Zealand.

From Wikipedia; regions of cruel sea activity not depicted

Taking the equator as the hottest area of the world, you can go a certain amount of degrees either north or south, and the latitudes that correspond to each other will tend to have similar climates, though wind currents and ocean currents play a large part in it too.  (For example, even though Scandinavia is right next to the Arctic Circle, it has a relatively balmy climate due to the Gulf Stream continually bringing in warm water from the Caribbean.)  One of the ironic effects of global warming is that the poles will be warmer and hence will not "power" currents such as the Gulf Stream as they have for untold millennia.  So less warm water will be delivered on this underwater railway to northern Europe, hence it will actually get colder there, despite the fact that the rest of the world will get warmer.

The "Dawning" music video is a big part of why I went to see them live:

My mom says this song sounds like it has Stevie Nicks on vocals.  I went to see Tamaryn in April opening for the Raveonettes and recorded them doing a bit of "Love Fade," plus the entirety of "Dawning":

You can tell they play in front of a pretty interesting montage of film clips.  It's a gamble when you go to a concert strictly to see an opening band play one specific song, so luckily they did play "Dawning."  Right before they went on, I asked to buy their "Mild Confusion" 7", but Tamaryn told me they had sold out of them on the tour.  She later said "Well, I've gotta go up and sing now... Facebook me," but I've never joined FB and never will, though at that moment I briefly did kick myself for not being on it.

The camera flash killed off their projected video

A local band called Twin Killers played before Tamaryn and put on a hyperactive show, with their indie-prog-thrash stylings.  I can pretty much guarantee they'll be signed to a big indie label any minute now.  I don't think I've ever seen a band wear such tight jeans, aside from maybe The Church in the mid-'80s.  The singer paced rapidly back and forth from one side of the stage to the other the entire time, like a leopard stuck in a cage at the zoo, pivoting dramatically each time.  They're named after a Deerhoof song, though the singer claims the name is a reference to a dream she had, in which she or someone else was trying to kill a set of twins.  (Coincidentally, Slowdive is the name of a Siouxsie & The Banshees song, but their singer claimed it came to him in a dream... Yeah right.  Singers!)

I also saw TK's headline at a club in Houma two months later, when I went down there to exchange my microwave.

Planets with similar climates: Slowdive - "Slowdive" (1991), Memoryhouse - "Heirloom" (2010), Bleach - "Surround" (1991), Band Of Susans - "Ice Age" (1990), Sonic Youth - "Becuz" (1995).


Currently eating or drinking: Sweaty Betty Blonde wheat beer; Naked strawberry & banana smoothie.