Friday: ATA film and music night with Rad Cloud + Grand Lake
May 13, 2009
Friday could be your movie, music AND date night over at Artists’ Television Access, aka ATA (992 Valencia, 9pm, $6). It’s the premiere of a few things made by some music-loving filmmakers, plus local poetry from Erik Noonan and a live performance from Rad Cloud.
Jameson Swanagon (of Grand Lake), produced, directed and wrote the score of “Big Feet,” which premieres on this evening. Bob Thayer and Joe Golling collaborated on the collection entitled “Flowers,” a combination of short films and music videos on super 8 which is “a celebration of cinematography and the blending of the pastoral and supernatural worlds.”
Joe Golling is an SFSU grad and director/motion graphics designer who has worked with Man/Miracle and Grand Lake. Bob Thayer is not only a producer/editor and has worked with many musicians, including Little Wings’ video for “Look at What the Light Did Now,” but is half of Rad Cloud, a local female-male duo scheduled to perform.
Read all the evening’s itinerary here.
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John Vanderslice CD Release and Giveaway!
May 13, 2009
John Vanderslice will be releasing his 6th full length album, Romanian Names, on Dead Oceans next Tuesday, May 19th. In celebration of the release he will be performing at The Rickshaw Stop that evening with The Morning Benders in what should be one of the best all local shows this year.
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John Vanderslice – “Fetal Horses”
In his latest release, Vanderslice continued his long time collaboration with producer Scott Solter but this time headed to his home studio to record most of it. Featuring 11 contributors outside of his touring ensemble, Romanian Names, is rich in textures, harmonies and instrumentation including some very prominent woodwind arrangements.
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John Vanderslice – “Too Much Time”
With two outstanding acts performing, I highly suggest picking up your tickets early – however – for two lucky readers you won’t even have to think about it. We are giving away TWO pairs of tickets to this show! In addition, each winner will get a copy of either Romanian Names (on vinyl) OR Vanderslice’s split tour EP with The Mountain Goats, Moon Colony Bloodbath (the rare green vinyl version!).
To enter send an E-mail to contest@thebaybridged.com by Monday (May18th) at noon and answer the following question:
Do you think LeBron James should have won the MVP over Kobe Bryant? (Please keep your responses to under 250 words.)
The winners will be chosen at random and notified via E-mail; the best response between the winners will get the choice of which album they would like to receive.
Doors open at 7:30, tickets are $16, and the show is all ages.
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Ticket giveaway: M. Ward, Saturday May 16 @ the Fox
May 12, 2009
Another big show at one of the newest hosting sites, Oakland’s Fox Theater, goes down on Saturday May 16: it’s M. Ward with fellow Portlanders Richmond Fontaine (8pm, $29.50). This could be a free event for a lucky pair of site visitors; all there is to do is email contest@thebaybridged.com with your favorite magic trick (don’t feel obligated to say “disappear”) by noon on Thursday May 14th.
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M. Ward – Never Had Nobody Like You
Hold Time (Merge, Feb. 2009) is still fresh on the tongue of Matt Ward, who’s got a bunch of new, catchy ballads to get crowds dancing to (see above and tell me you’re not dancing). Did you know that in addition to Zooey Deschanel contributing vocals on the album (will she be at the Fox, is the real question), there are also the voices of Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle (on “To Save Me”) and Lucinda Williams (on “Oh Lonesome Me”)? Liner notes, they’re key to the listening experience.
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Cryptacize (Podcast #163)
May 12, 2009
Stream the episode:
Subscribe to the The Bay Bridged weekly podcast to get each new episode downloaded free to your iTunes the moment it’s published!
This week’s podcast features Cryptacize, an Oakland quartet of eclectic pop wizards who recently released their excellent sophomore album, Mythomania. The band is led by Nedelle Torrisi and Chris Cohen, each of whom first found creative success separately — the former as the solo artist Nedelle and Cohen with The Curtains and Deerhoof. After Torrisi performed background vocals on a Curtains recording and became a touring member of the band, the duo began writing music together, and the new songs birthed the new band, Cryptacize. Like The Curtains, this band’s interests are many and varied, and although their approach is stripped-down, they make each voice and instrument matter in crafting engaging, theatrical pop.
In April, Cryptacize released Mythomania, a record that critics have praised for simultaneously focusing the musicians’ prodigious talents into some quite engaging songs while preserving the band’s knack for complex, musically diverse works. In addition to the great music, the album’s also full of charming and intriguing lyrical nuggets, told from the perspective of narrators one would be careful not to always trust. Mythomania, after all, is another name for the condition of pathological lying. One thing that isn’t a lie, however, is that Cryptacize has made an exciting record well worth checking out, and with European and US tours ahead, it’s a good time to catch on to this excellent band. [More...]
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Stitchcraft + Record Release = Hotel Utah Tonight
May 11, 2009
Can I call Stitchcraft harmonius?
Yes. I think I will.
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Stitchcraft – “Dakota” (from Through The Hoolaboo)
Former Floridians, Heather Normandale (vocals and guitar/mandolin) and Anna Perlmutter (vocals and violin) make a fine duo of tone and texture. On their sophomore album, Through The Hoolaboo, the two have brought on Ezra Lipp (drums), adding another layer to fill out their “dense soundscape,” as Perlmutter describes the group.
Expect to dance and sway tonight as the group works through a 40 minute set to immediately follow Hotel Utah‘s famous open mic. Tonight’s release show will be for the Hotel Utah community, a group of musicians that has been key over the years for the band, says Perlmutter. On June 7th, the official release party will be at Amnesia.
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Stitchcraft – “Forest of Why” (from Through The Hoolaboo)
Open mic starts at 7:30pm with Stitchcraft following at 10pm. FREE.
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Cryptacize, Battlehooch open for Ponytail tomorrow @ BotH
May 11, 2009
Weekends sometimes don’t pan out to what they should be, which is why your Tuesday is looking so much better than the past few days combined: Cryptacize and Battlehooch are playing with Baltimore’s fun-core Ponytail at Bottom of the Hill (9pm, $10). As if no two better bands could exist in the Bay Area to open than Battlehooch and Cryptacize, which meet both the art rock and spontaneity criteria of a Ponytail-deserved performance.
We’ll have a featured podcast for you with Cryptacize tomorrow — but in the meantime, check out the headlining band Ponytail. Their “8.4″ Pitchfork-rated Ice Cream Spiritual came out last year on We*Are*Free records (also released Yeasayer’s All Hour Cymbals).
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Ponytail – Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel)
They’re part of the Baltimore suit some know via the Wham City Collective (Dan Deacon), and others know as the meeting place of Animal Collective. Regardless, there’s a boastful crew that call the state of Maryland home, and an interesting little biopic done by Papermag about it.
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Photons – Glory!
May 11, 2009
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Photons – “Where Were You Last Night” (from the Glory! EP)
San Francisco indie-poppers Photons are back with a new EP titled Glory! The eight-member band’s 2008 self-titled release was a very promising debut, and the above track both makes the most of the group’s size and bodes quite well for the new release. Glory! is available exclusively from Insound, with a digital release to follow in June. The band’s got an EP release show is Thursday, May 14th at the Hemlock Tavern. Wax Fingers and Spencey Dude and the Doodles also perform. 9pm, $6.
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The Photons – “This Must Be Love” (from the Photons EP)
Over at their web site, the Photons gang has an ongoing Song Club, in which members of the band are writing a song a week around a chosen topic or theme. They’re inviting outside participation, too, and you can check out past entries and the current theme at their site.
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Thursday: Greil Marcus on “Music and the American Self”
May 11, 2009
San Francisco native Greil Marcus is one of rock music’s most celebrated critics — with works including Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ‘n’ Roll Music and In the Fascist Bathroom: Punk in Pop Music, 1977-1992 — and an opportunity to see him speak is well worth seizing. Marcus will be at the Contemporary Jewish Museum on Thursday, May 14, at 7pm for a gallery talk about “Music and the American Self,” discussing what “American music” is and the connection between American music and identity.
Joining him in conversation will be Josh Kun, co-author of And You Shall Know Us By the Trail of Our Vinyl, which examines the history of Jewish recorded music from the 1940s to the 1980s through a collection of LPs from the period. The book served as the basis for the Museum’s current “Jews on Vinyl” exhibition.
The talk is only $5 and free for members and youth 18 and under.
