Weekend Mix: 8/20-24
August 20, 2009
Thursday: The Toy Soldiers, Battlehooch, The Horde and the Harem, The Buttercream Gang @ Slim’s (8pm, $13)
Battlehooch - Looks You Can't See
Battlehooch – “Looks You Can’t See”
Friday: Tussle, Grass Widow, Psychic Reality, Royalchord @ The Hemlock (9pm, $8)
Royalchord - Turn My Life Around
Royalchord – “Turn My Life Around”
Saturday: Grand Lake, Guidance Counselor, Super Cutes, Wreck & Reference @ The Uptown (9pm, $8)
Grand Lake - Concrete Blonde on Blonde
Grand Lake – “Concrete Blonde on Blonde”
Sunday: Rock Make Street Festival (11am-6pm) presents too many bands to list, so listen to one:
Magic Bullets - The Book is Closed
Magic Bullets – “The Book is Closed”
Monday: Ted Leo + Pharmacists, Hank IV, Jeff the Brotherhood @ Bottom of the Hill (9pm, $15)
Hank IV - Dirty Poncho
Hank IV – “Dirty Poncho”
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Chuck Prophet premieres ¡Let Freedom Ring!
August 20, 2009
This Sunday night at The Knockout, Chuck Prophet offers a sneak preview performance of his upcoming album ¡Let Freedom Ring!, out October 27 on Yep Roc Records. Prophet will be performing the new album with the band that recorded it, which includes Ernest “Boom Boom” Carter, who drummed on Born to Run. It’s a special one-night-only performance fans will surely want to check out.
Says Yep Roc about the new record:
Chuck Prophet got more than he bargained for. He and his band ventured to Mexico City to record the follow-up to 2007′s “boundaryless” (New Yorker) album Soap & Water and encountered a swine flu pandemic, an earthquake, electric brownouts, and crashing hard drives. They emerged with the hard-hitting, broad-ranging album ¡Let Freedom Ring!…
“I just wanted the energy of this place,” Prophet says of Mexico City. “I’m looking at a studio that is totally state of the art…for 1957. I stood in the middle of that room, I clapped my hands and I knew we could make a great record.”
Check out a trailer for the album below:
Chuck Prophet ¡Let Freedom Ring! Documentary Trailer
Sunday night, Eilen Jewell opens the show and Kelley Stoltz will be DJing. 8pm, $10.
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Photos: Tussle, Jonas Reinhardt, Windsurf @ Amnesia
August 19, 2009
Photos by: Rachel Keenan
Tussle
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The Blank Tapes give away covers and compilations
August 19, 2009
The Blank Tapes have emerged from touring and working on a new album for their only SF show of the summer this Thursday at the Rickshaw Stop. If you’re looking for more from the folk-tinged rock-pop band to tide you over until the new album comes out, you can download the band’s Friends & Favorites covers album for free over at the Fuzzhouse web site.
Brand-New-Start.mp3
The Blank Tapes – “Brand New Start” (from Friends & Favorites)
While you’re there, grab the Universal Western Attractions compilation CD Adams curated, which features plenty of gems from local artists including Indianna Hale, Honey.Moon.Tree and more. Two of my favorites below:
04-Song-For-Friends-Who-Fall-Down-Stairs.mp3
Sleepy Todd – “Song For Friends Who Fall Down Stairs”
03-Ode-To-Sleep.mp3
Indianna Hale – “Ode To Sleep”
Thursday’s show, featuring a seven-person Blank Tapes band, also includes Campo Bravo and Mantra. 8pm, $10.
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Devil Makes Three heats the summer with KEXP EP
August 18, 2009
The Devil Makes Three (Santa Cruz/Davis) gets busy when the weather gets nice — first by touring all of spring in support of Do Wrong Right (April 21, Milan Records). Better yet, those honky tonks saved some excitement for the summer: last week DM3 released a quality studio session at KEXP Seattle, recorded back in May. What better way to capture timeless yet spicy folkabilly, in three-part harmonies and natural rhythm, than a live studio session? The EP includes four tracks and audio of the interview, and is available digitally on iTunes.
Devil Makes Three - Do Wrong Right
Devil Makes Three – “Do Wrong Right (Live on KEXP)”
Wait, there’s more! In related news, DM3′s Pete Bernhard has finalized Straight Line (Milan Records), his solo debut announced for release September 15. Bernhard’s offshoot shines down the sandpaper of his voice, possessing a greater likelihood to belt out a genial ballad. While Do Right Wrong was recorded in the basement of the trio’s Davis abode, Bernhard did Straight Line also at home, but in a bedroom two stories up. Check his MySpace for mid-September solo dates in the area.
Pete Bernhard - Pray for Rain
Pete Bernhard – “Pray for Rain”
DM3 will spend their memorial day weekend in Truckee, then play mostly west coast dates (announced below).
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Railcars (Podcast #177)
August 18, 2009
Stream the episode:
This week, our podcast features Railcars, the recording project of San Francisco’s Aria C Jalali. Jalali began recording solo under his own name while at UC Berkeley, gathering a band under the Railcars moniker when he was invited to open for the Handsome Furs in early 2008. He returned to working solo to record Railcars’ first 7″ Cities vs. Submarines, released almost a year ago on Gold Robot Records. Recorded by Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu) in his kitchen, the five-song set featured lyrics drawn from Aria’s vivid recurring dreams, and sounds generated from a cornucopia of drum machines, synths and effects. For all of the sonic abrasion, there are strong melodies at work too, and the combination is simultaneously otherworldly and concrete, much like the flying submarines that haunted Aria’s dreams.
The next few months mark big changes for Aria and Railcars. For one, there’s the impending release of Cathedral With No Eyes, a 12″ concept album based around the life of St. Edmund that comes out September 29th on Stumparumper Records. Beyond that, Railcars also has a number of other releases planned, 7″s and cassettes, and a lengthy list of tour dates nationwide. From our perspective, though, the elephant in the podcast is that soon after this episode comes out, Aria’s moving Railcars back down to Southern California, where he’s found inspiration in the DIY community of The Smell. While we’re sad to see him go, we’re confident we’ll be hearing a lot more from Railcars in the future.
We sat down with Aria at The Bay Bridged Studio in late June to discuss his touring experiences, the forthcoming album and more. We’ve also included four songs in the episode from both of his vinyl releases.
Upcoming Shows:
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Butterfly Bones release Pretty Feelings EP
August 18, 2009
For those eager to break out the jelly sandals, side ponytails and neon of yore, the perfect opportunity has presented itself: jamming to SF’s Butterfly Bones will bring you back to the Cyndi Laupers and the Bananaramas of your youth. Performing at Bottom of the Hill tomorrow to celebrate the release of their Pretty Feelings EP, the band can be expected to lay down some extra-synthy jams over spare, uncomplicated bass and drums. Â Many tracks feature simple sing-along lyrics, making for awesome late-summer road trip tunes.Â
01-xoxo-2.mp3
Butterfly Bones – “XOXO”
The rest of the line-up is decidedly un-pop, although there’s a certain ’80s influence permeating throughout the post-punk and shoegaze of Portland’s The Prids and local trio Swann Danger.
Show starts at 9. 18+. $8.
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Opening night of SF’s Doomed @ Sub Mission is a crowd pleaser
August 17, 2009
They say that San Francisco is doomed. I say if it is, we’re all in for one hell of a ride.
Wednesday was the inaugural night of the “San Francisco’s Doomed” festival, thrown by Thrillhouse Records and Maximum Rock n’ Roll. The night featured a wealth of local talent: Nodzzz, Younger Lovers, Rank Xerox, Year One, Fugitive Kind, Robocop 3, Awesomes, Celine Dion. While the styles of all the bands ranged from out n’ out eardrum massacre to indie pop, every act came from our very own backyard and all gave it up for the demise of the city we know and love.
Upon entering the Sub-Mission art space, I was greeted with something akin to a jet engine taking off as Celine Dion finished up their set. The air was thick as the band apparently brought their own fog machines to accent what appeared to be a choir of gut-wrenching screaming, with the lead singer’s vocals contorted through a series of pedals. As he sang, he slammed and pounded on the pedals in a rhythm that must only be familiar to those more closely acquainted with the devil himself. The fog lent a definite ambiance, which I enjoyed despite the blood I later found dried in my ear canal. Guantanamo ain’t got nothing on Celine Dion.
