Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

The 1960s and the San Francisco music scene are forever linked, with bands such as Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead (not to mention a whole bunch of others such as Quicksilver, Country Joe & The Fish, and Big Brother & The Holding Company) serving as counter-culture ambassadors not only for the city but also for a movement that, for better or worse, affects everything from lifestyle to politics to this day. The initial national attention faded, other than for bands like Journey and Night Ranger which did not represent what was happening in the city from a musical standpoint, and the occasional rap act (Digital Underground, for one). The scene is still there, kept alive by local labels (the venerable though lately silent Popsmear comes to mind) and a somewhat cloistered mindset that permits ideas and sounds to percolate and incubate to full development.

The May Fire are a part of the current Bay Area scene, having formed in Las Angeles before migrating north some years ago. THE LIST, their recently released EP, is part of an interesting concept, the third in a trio of EPs the band has released over the last two years since the release of RIGHT AND WRONG, their first full length CD, in 2006. Vocalist and guitarist Catty Tasso is the visual and auditory focus of the band, but the other band members --- El Pipe on dru ms, Rob Gwin on bass and piano, and Miguel “Nachito” Insignares, co-guitarist --- appear, after listening several times to THE LIST, to be her equal. The divergent background of the band members no doubt infuses The May Fire with the edginess that is inherent in their sound: Tasso is from Chile, El Pipe and Insignares are from Columbia, and Gwin is from, uh, Connecticut. The EP format serves The May Fire well; there is no filler on THE LIST, each track having small but memorable flourishes while propelled by a driving beat. Tasso and Insignares are capable guitarists, tossing in a number of influences without overdoing it --- I absolutely love the surf riffs on “Burning Up” --- and while Tasso doesn’t have a magnificent set of pipes she has everything she needs for this material, so that hearing her is a joy rather than a chore. What is really great, however, is that every track has something memorable to recommend it, from the understated but cheesy organ and wood block percussion on “No Clone” to “Red Unicorn,” with its trippy, dark lyrics and its “Killer Queen” riff turned inside out and upside down and the controlled chaos of “Mother/Father.”

My inclination after listening to THE LIST is to go back and catch up on The May Fire’s previous work, maybe even including UFO’s LOGIC AND LUNACY remix of “Lost Control” from LOST AND FOUND. If THE LIST is any indication, The May Fire is a=2 0great band destined for greater things.