Minipop’s CD Release Party
October 31, 2007
Saturday night is a big night for Minipop, as the San Francisco dream-pop band celebrates the release of its new album A New Hope with a show at the Rickshaw Stop. Building off of a previous five song EP, the band had distributed limited copies of the full length at shows, but on Tuesday, A New Hope sees a proper full release on local label Take Root Records.
Several critics have already weighed in to support lead single “Like I Do,” including BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq, who identified the track as “one of the five hottest in the world” earlier this year. Here’s a video clip of the band performing the song at Cafe du Nord earlier this year:
You can hear more tracks from A New Hope at Minipop’s MySpace page. Saturday’s show features support from fellow locals Nyles Lannon, who we recently featured here, and Built for the Sea. The show starts at 8:30pm and is $10. Advance tickets can be purchased here.
The New Uptown Opens Friday
October 31, 2007
BirdmonsterThe Uptown Nightclub in Oakland reopens this Friday under the new ownership of Larry Trujillo, also the owner of The Blank Club in San Jose. According to an interview with the Chronicle, Trujillo has spent a significant amount of money upgrading the club’s sound system and giving the place an overall redesign. Musically, he plans on booking a mix of national and local alternative, indie rock and punk bands. You can find out more about the new Uptown by visiting their web site or MySpace page.
The venue debuts with a show headlined by two bands we’ve featured over here: Birdmonster and The Morning Benders. According to Birdmonster’s always entertaining blog, the band recently spent time in Chicago working on recordings for a follow-up to 2006’s No Midnight. As to The Morning Benders, there’s quite a bit of anticipation regarding the band’s debut full length, which they plan to release early next year. For now, take a listen to our feature episodes on both of these bands:
Click to listen to our feature episode on Birdmonster!
Click to listen to our feature episode on The Morning Benders!
Also playing Friday night are The Mumlers and Poor Bailey. The show starts at 9:30pm and is $10.
Episode 88: October 2007 Monthly Mix
October 30, 2007
60 Watt Kid
This week’s podcast episode is our latest installment in our Monthly Mix series, featuring eight great songs by a variety of San Francisco Bay Area groups. About the bands:
The episode kicks off with the A-side from the brand new Soap Bopper 7″ by Oakland’s Ned. The new single is the first follow-up to the band’s 2004 album Coloring Book and is a great electronics-heavy art-pop track. You can catch Ned on November 11th at Cafe du Nord with Fog and Empty Rooms. For more info about the band, check out their MySpace page and web site .
The Blank Tapes‘ latest album Daydreams is an engaging mix of lo-fi pop, folk and rock songs which singer-songwriter Matt Adams performed entirely on his own and recorded onto an 8-track. Adams is currently on a lengthy national tour, set to return in mid-December. You can find all of the dates and more music at The Blank Tapes’ MySpace page and web site.
Led by the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Joel Gion, The Diletanttes draw from elements of garage, a little psych and straight-up indie rock on their catchy debut 101 Tambourines which was released earlier this year on HappyParts Recordings. The band’s got several upcoming shows, including one on November 9th at Cafe du Nord with Rykarda Parasol and 20 Minute Loop. Listen to more from them at their MySpace page.
We’ve also included a great song from brother and sister folk duo Beatbeat Whisper. This track is their contribution to the a compilation from Digital Cloud Records entitled Firsts, which features a number of great local and national groups. You can catch a number of these bands, including Beatbeat Whisper, celebrating the compilation’s release at the Hotel Utah on November 6th. Check out more music at the band’s web site and MySpace page.
We’ve been championing folk-rockers Port O’Brien for a few months now on the site. This song comes from their latest CD The Wind and The Swell, a collection of songs from the band’s self-released records, out now on American Dust Records. The band is currently touring the country with Rogue Wave; check their MySpace page and web site for more details.
We’re big Foma fans and are still enjoying the synthed-up indie pop-rock of their latest album Phobos, released last year. The San Francisco-by-way-of-Albuquerque band is perfoming at the Hotel Utah on November 13th with Lady Genius and The Drones Club. Be sure to hear more Foma at their web site and MySpace page.
San Francisco experimental pop trio 60 Watt Kid caught our ear recently with several songs from their self-titled debut album, which comes out next Tuesday on Absolutely Kosher Records. The band’s celebrating with a CD release party at the Rickshaw Stop on November 7th, with Little Teeth and Snowblink. After that they’re heading on a Pacific Northwest tour; visit their web site and MySpace page for more details.
San Francisco’s Battlehooch close the episode with a frenetic track from their brand new EP Oof Owf. The band’s next shows are Halloween night at the Madrone Lounge and November 9th at the House of Shields. You can hear more from the EP at Battlehooch’s MySpace page.
Are you subscribed to the The Bay Bridged weekly podcast? Click here to get each new episode downloaded free to your iTunes the moment it is published!
Spoonbender 1.1.1 Meets Vampires
October 29, 2007
We last discussed San Francisco avant-electronic-poppers I Am Spoonbender back in May, when the band’s first live performance in three years was part of the Mission Creek Music Festival. Check out some video we captured from that performance here.
While I Am Spoonbender is currently quiet, the related band Spoonbender 1.1.1 has a rare live performance of its own on Thursday night. The band describes itself as the “tele-ambient dream self” of I Am Spoonbender and “more psychological, ‘inner space’, low-key and mainstream difficult” than the other band. While we’re not entirely sure what that means, the 1.1.1 folks definitely sound up to the task before them on Thursday, where they’ll be performing an original score as part of a double feature of Czech new wave fantasy/horror films at the Castro Theatre.
Spoonbender 1.1.1 will be performing a soundtrack to the short film The Last Theft alongside Philadelphia’s The Valerie Project, an amalgam of Philly-based musicians who will be performing their original score to Valerie and Her Week of Wonder. Both of these films involve vampires, which is almost always a good thing.
The show starts at 8pm and is $12. You can purchase advance tickets here.
Carta’s CD Release Show Tonight
October 29, 2007
Tonight, San Francisco’s Carta celebrates the release of their debut CD The Glass Bottom Boat over at Cafe du Nord. We included a track from the album, which came out in September on Resonant Records, in our August Mix and have been impressed by the largely instrumental group’s sweeping textured compositions, which often seem to reference downtempo, ambient and instrumental hip-hop as much as they do any of the flagship post-rock or shoegazer bands. The band’s incorporation of brass and string sounds add to the layers, all together providing for some melodic, moody listening.
You can purchase The Glass Bottom Boat from Aquarius Records by going here. Looking forward, Carta has already posted a first song from their next album, An Index of Birds, on their MySpace page. They’re planning to release remixes of two songs from the debut in the near future as well. You can keep abreast of all the details over at their web site.
Tonight, Carta supports San Diego’s Tristeza, with further support coming from Oakland soundsculpters Cloud Archive. The show starts at 7:30pm and is $10.
Weekend Picks and Links: October 25th-28th
October 25, 2007
Thursday
- Petracovich at Red Devil Lounge, with LOOP!STATION and Sonya Cotton. 8pm, $8/$10.
- The Guitar Zeros, We Be The Echo, Form And Fate, and Parker Street Cinema at Bottom of the Hill. 9:00 pm, $8, All Ages.
Friday
- Two Gallants at The Independent, with Blitzen Trapper and Songs For Moms. 9pm, $16.
Saturday
- Two Gallants at The Independent, with Blitzen Trapper and Songs For Moms. 9pm, $16.
- Rykarda Parasol in Rock Your Awareness Presents: “Date A Rockstar” at the Elbo Room, with Goodbye Gadget, The Hundred Days, and Mud. 9pm, $10.
Sunday
- The Ebb & Flow at Great American Music Hall with Scissors For Lefty and Kid Beyond. 8pm, $16.
Around the Web:
- The Owl Mag profiles Film School and announces the winners of their “Video Killed The Radio Star” contest!
- Remember that Outta Sight concert Joe reviewed last month? Download some songs from that show at Gazebo Music.
- A new video from The Dont’s!
- New music from The Morning Benders!
- The Bay Guardian looks at this weekend’s Budget Rock Showcase at the Stork Club.
Tomorrow night at Bottom
October 24, 2007
If you’re a fan of outside-of-the-box rock music, there’s quite an eclectic show at Bottom of the Hill this Thursday night, as evidenced by the description provided on the flyer above. Three of the four groups, in fact, are instrumental, and each brings something quite unique to the bill.
San Francisco’s We Be The Echo and Form and Fate are both celebrating the release of new EPs at the show. For the former, the new All-Star Destroyers EP is the latest showcase for the band’s prog-metal skills and they’re about to embark on a Pacific Northwest tour to support the release.
In contrast, Form and Fate create a sound more influenced by post-rock and ambient compositional music. Their new EP follows a full length record titled The Form and Fate of Lakes, released earlier this year on Three Ring Records.
Headliners The Guitar Zeros are not an instrumental group, but their particular brand of indie rock has it’s own quirk. Instead of traditional electric and bass guitars, the band uses hacked controllers from the video game Guitar Hero. They’ve already been receiving press coverage about the idea and we’re pretty intrigued to see how it works live.
Opening the show are our old friends instrumental rock trio Parker Street Cinema, who we interviewed early last year. The band’s full length album Music, In the Blood is expected out later this year.
The show starts at 9pm, is $8, and is All Ages.
The Ebb & Flow’s Final Show and New CD
October 24, 2007
Click to listen to our feature episode on The Ebb & Flow!
It is with much sadness that we note the final show for San Francisco’s The Ebb & Flow this Sunday night at the Great American Music Hall. The band was one of our earliest interviews and their 2005 album Time to Echolocate still ranks as one of our favorites. They’re also some great people, and we will miss the band dearly.
Enhancing Sunday night’s bittersweetness is that the show is doubling as the CD release party for the band’s new album Attack and Decay, which is being released on Huevo Imaginary Records. If you head over to this page at Huevo Imaginary’s web site, you can download five full songs from the new album.
These five suggest a direct follow-up to Echolocate and the stop-gap EP Here Are Caught: a mix of slightly-proggy keyboard- and guitar-driven indie pop songs with melancholy and engaging vocals and politically aware lyrical content. The new album isn’t available for purchase yet, so check out those free songs for a taste of the latest from this excellent band, as well as some additional tracks on their MySpace page and at their web site.
The band is calling it quits due to a “geographical incongruence,” as they put it, as members Roshy Kheshti and Sara Cassetti are moving to San Diego, leaving Sam Tsitrin the sole Bay Area resident. The group’s web site promises that the three will be involved in other musical projects in the future. For his part, Tsitrin is currently also involved in We Is Shore Dedicated, an art-folk-pop group that is already working on a follow-up album to the self-titled release they put out earlier this year.
Sunday night, The Ebb and Flow performs alongside fellow San Francisco acts and Music Industry Network associates Scissors for Lefty and Kid Beyond. The show starts at 8pm and is $16. Advance tickets can be purchased here.
