Sugar & Gold CD Release Photos!
June 20, 2007
Here are some shots from the Sugar and Gold CD Release Party taken by Muhammad Asranur. Be sure to check out the review of the this show here!
Sugar and Gold
Persephone’s Bees
Please do NOT use these photos without explicit permission from The Bay Bridged or our photographer. Thank You
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The Ebb & Flow this Saturday
June 20, 2007
Click to listen to our feature episode on The Ebb & Flow!
San Francisco’s The Ebb and Flow play a relatively rare live show this Saturday night at the Hemlock Tavern, alongside The Dont’s and The Tender Few. The band has completed the follow-up to 2005′s Time to Echolocate (Three Ring Records), a fantastic album which demonstrated the band’s ability to fuse elements of art-, prog- and indie-rock into songs winding through multiple twists and turns while staying totally hummable.
Last year’s Here Are Caught EP provided two excellent new songs alongside two remixes, but we’re still hungrily looking forward to their next full-length, titled Attack & Decay. Two songs from the new album were recently posted to the band’s MySpace page and show the band in fine form. You can also visit their official web site for more from The Ebb and Flow.
Saturday’s show starts at 9:30pm and is $7.
P.S. E&F’s Sam Tristin recently completed the self-titled debut for his side project We Is Shore Dedicated, which is a bit more country and folk-oriented than his main group but retains the strong sense of songwriting. Check out some free songs here.
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Episode 69: Birds & Batteries
June 19, 2007
Stream the episode:
This week, we’re proud to bring you the music of San Francisco’s Birds & Batteries. Led by singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Mike Sempert, the band initially caught our ears with their last album, Selections From…Nature vs. Nature, which presented a band already finding a unique sound, a mixture of electronic and traditional country-rock elements backing thoughtful, if at times melancholic, lyrics.
We interviewed Mike as he was putting the finishing touches on the band’s new CD, I’ll Never Sleep Again, which they release next week. While Selections From… was strong, I’ll Never Sleep Again represents significant advancements in both production and songwriting. The new songs are ambitious, featuring dense layering of synths and effects, and Sempert’s voice is strong and commanding. Unlike many releases, the album feels like an album, with songs leading into each other and themes developing as the release progresses.
The band’s live show delivers on the album’s dense, melodic songs and they impressed a lot of people with their performance at our MCMAF Closing Party. You should definitely check Birds & Batteries out next week at their release show for I’ll Never Sleep Again:
Wednesday, June 27th
Cafe du Nord
w/ Dame Satan and 20 Minute Loop
$8, 8pm, 21+
As a special bonus, we’re giving away two tickets to the show! Just e-mail contest[at]thebaybridged.com and tell us something that prevents you from sleeping!
To hear more from the new record, proceed to Birds & Batteries’ MySpace page. You can also visit the band’s web site and check out an early review of the new record and other interviews with Mike over at CrazyTalk.
Thanks for listening!
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Hometown Sound: The Dodos @ Make-Out (June 14)
June 18, 2007
The late 60s in San Francisco…the late 70s/early 80s in New York City…the early 90s in Seattle — the concept of an emerging “hometown” sound that influences and inspires outside of its county limits may just be the fodder of music journalists posing as social ethnographers, or in the end, a “sound” may merely be one of the many emblems (like a flannel, tie-dye or studded belt) of a celebrated subculture. Fittingly, in 1992, Sub Pop’s Megan Jasper duped The New York Times into printing a prank list of so-called “grunge speak”.
My friends on the East Coast and elsewhere always ask me what the “sound” is here. Is there a “sound”? Sure, there’s a bit of psych rock here, some distorted folk rock, some “Brooklyn-sounding” bands (see, I’m doing it now, too), half-naked marching bands and of course the bike messenger underground blues circuit (soon….i hope) — but I think in the end because this is quite a large city (not an offbeat outpost like Omaha, Lawrence or Olympia), it doesn’t do justice to umbrella the diverse collection of artists and musicians under the ol’ freak folk moniker. Frankly, there’s a lot more going on than a few dozen motivated kids with good record collections, access to your dad’s 60s telecaster and small town hope. Sometimes, I suppose I’d like to resign the romantic notion of “hometown sound” to the simple equation of a couple cool kids who took a chance on some old Beefheart LPs or obscure 70s Byrds records and a like-minded musical foundation took course.
Listening to The Dodos on Thursday night got me thinking about this notion again, because of late, they seem to embody a little bit of all of the above — mixing elements of folk, psych, blues and the ever nebulous “indie rock” all in one palatable serving. Since I first saw guitarist/singer Meric Long perform solo amidst a cluster of effect pedals, loops and long fingernails over two years ago at Hotel Utah, his band’s sound has gotten noisier (but not “freakier”), more rhythmic and largely more memorable.
On Thursday night at the Make-Out Room, where the confines of the room could befuddle even the most skilled sound tech, The Dodos embraced heavy doses of reverb and echo in the manifestations of Long’s vocal loops and drummer Logan Kroeber’s staccato percussion. The two seem to be realizing a wider range of their sound, at times on more tangible levels (Long’s overdrive pedal), and perhaps this is a function of their adaptation to larger rooms and maybe even a broader appeal. However, some of the nuances of Long’s fingerpicking interludes are expended in this development. That said, the energy of the two remains as intimate as impressionable — Meric, much like a pendulum handcuffed to a chair, and Logan’s jack-in-a-box risings over his drums — and is still very much worth $6 and a front seat on the floor (while you can still get it).
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Record Club Show Photos!
June 18, 2007
Here are some great shots from the recent Record Club Showcase over at 12 Galaxies featuring The Val Papadins, This Charming Band, Foma, and Agent Ribbons. Enjoy!
The Val Papadins
This Charming Band
Foma
Agent Ribbons
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The Bay Bridged, Volume 1
June 15, 2007
The Bay Bridged is proud to announce the release of The Bay Bridged, Volume 1, a compilation spotlighting eleven of the best bands in the San Francisco Bay Area, all of whom you’ve heard on previous episodes of The Bay Bridged Podcast. The comp is a mix of brand new and previously unreleased songs as well as some local favorites. Needless to say, we’re extremely excited about the release.
Full album stream:
Tracklisting:
1. The Dodos – “Men”
2. Love is Chemicals – “Let Me Come Down”
3. Finest Dearest – “Making a Sound 2″
4. Tempo No Tempo – “Static”
5. The Old-Fashioned Way – “Robot on Fire”
6. Social Studies – “Sparrow”
7. The Lonelyhearts – “Complicated Men”
8. Or, the Whale – “Call and Response”
9. The Dont’s – “Believe?”
10. Peloton – “Stopping Time”
11. Tartufi – “Mourning’s Wake”
Album artwork and design by Scott Barry.
About The Bay Bridged, Volume 1:
From the opening sounds of The Dodos’ “Menâ€, it’s clear there’s something exciting going on in the
Bay Area scene. The Bay Bridged, Volume 1 is an attempt to sample some portion of the variety of great bands within the San Francisco scene, gathering eleven groups found during TheBayBridged.com’s ongoing quest to find the best in local independent music. Available July 13th, 2007, the compilation represents a unique effort to draw unity across groups of varying sounds and influences while providing an hour-long mix of excellent music.
The first half of the compilation emphasizes the rock side of the San Francisco indie scene with a mix of
exclusive songs and local favorites, starting with brand new tracks from guitar-driven indie poppers Love is Chemicals and the post-punk sounds of Finest Dearest. On the local favorites front, Berkeley’s Tempo No Tempo offer the insanely catchy dance-rock number “Static†(“Like good baristas, [they] pull their shots hard and fast to deliver a compact and effective dosage.â€â€”Brian Howe, Pitchfork Media) and Social Studies bring us “Sparrowâ€, a live set closer and crowd-pleaser (“My new favorite bandâ€â€”Bill Picture, San Francisco Chronicle). In a similar vein is The Old-Fashioned Way’s “Robot on Fireâ€, a pop manifesto from a band that has been packing venues around San Francisco before releasing a single record.
The second half of The Bay Bridged, Volume 1 showcases the more diverse indie-influenced pop
sounds of the Bay, with The Lonelyhearts, singer-songwriters mixing synth, folk, and pop sounds and Peloton, who offer a waltz-like mix of dream-pop, shoegazer and indie rock. Other groups add their own unique imprints upon the mix, including Or, The Whale, whose unique blend of folk, alt-country and rock influences attract diverse packed crowds, and The Dont’s, a band blending pop sounds and Can-inspired jams that make listeners dance and scratch their heads at the same time. The compilation closes with the epic yet melodic rock of Tartufi (“a complex, textural wall of sound that’s smartly built then elegantly deconstructedâ€â€”Robbie Mackey, XLR8R).
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Around the Web
June 14, 2007
We’ll be back tomorrow with an EXCITING announcement, but here’s what’s going on around the web this week:
- Congratulations to Pacific Noise for celebrating its 200th episode, a feature on Silian Rail! We’d also like to wish Pacific Noise founder John Swanson a speedy and continued recovery from the bike accident which inspired the name of his “Broken Leg Bedside Blog.”
- Adrian was at The Morning Benders‘ show at the Great American Music Hall and had them in-studio at KZSU.
- Nathan Moomaw has some great local indie bootlegs over at Gazebo Music.
- Like many independent publishers, McSweeney’s is suffering the effects of the bankruptcy of a major independent distributor last December. If that isn’t compelling enough on its own, maybe this is: everything in their store is on sale!
Have an interesting link related to the Bay Area indie scene? Post it in the comments!
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The Weekend Digest: June 14th-17th
June 14, 2007
Here are our weekend show picks:
Thursday
- Penny Arcade‘s second anniversary at the Make-Out Room, with The Dodos, The Mumlers, and Nathan Moomaw. Check out our preview yesterday.
- The Lonelyhearts at the Hemlock Tavern, with Hiss Golden Messenger and Jana Hunter. Catch our Lonelyhearts update yesterday for more details.
Click to listen to our feature episode on The Lonelyhearts!
Friday
- Sugar and Gold‘s CD release party at 12 Galaxies. with Persephone’s Bees, Schande and more. Truly a party, Sugar and Gold promises aerobics, DJs, visuals, giveaways, door prizes, and chocolate covered strawberries in addition to some excellent music.
Click to listen to our feature episode on Sugar and Gold!
- Scissors for Lefty‘s CD release show at The Independent, with Maldroid and Lemon Sun. We previewed the show and discussed Underhanded Romance here.
Saturday
- Social Studies and The Ian Fays at the Hemlock Tavern, with Sweetie. Two of our favorites together at what should be a packed show. What will The Ian Fays be wearing???
Click to listen to our feature episode on Social Studies!
Click to listen to our feature episode on The Ian Fays!
