Former Ghosts at Bottom of the Hill Thursday
November 30, 2009
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Former Ghosts – “Mother”
It only came out in November, but Former Ghosts‘ debut album Fleurs (Upset the Rhythm) is making a strong bid to become one of my favorite releases of 2009. Led by Freddy Ruppert (of This Song Is A Mess But So Am I), the project is rounded out by Jamie Stewart (of Xiu Xiu) and Nika Roza (of Zola Jesus). The new group’s heartfelt, emotionally wrought vocals and electronic sounds (often melodic, periodically abrasive) may not come as a surprise to fans of any of those bands, but the songs seize the intimate pulse of synthpop and repurpose it toward intensely dark ends.
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Former Ghosts – “The Bull And The Ram”
Catch Former Ghosts in a solo performance by Freddy Ruppert this Thursday night at Bottom of the Hill (9pm, $10, All Ages). Also performing are Cold Cave and Veil Veil Vanish.
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Media Monday: new tunes from Citay, Collider, Eux Autres, General Elektriks
November 30, 2009
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Citay – “Careful With That Hat” (from Dream Get Together)
Hot on the heels of Remixes comes the first offering from Citay‘s third album Dream Get Together. According to Dead Oceans:
Coming January 26th (January 25th in the UK), Dream Get Together channels everything we love about Citay into their most cohesive and sophisticated album yet. The symphonic dueling lead guitars, soaring vocals, grandiose acoustic explorations and audacious synth solos are all present, sewn together seamlessly into an epic work.
Citay will be at Slim’s on January 29, 2010.
SF indie rock band Collider recently released a free digital 7†for their song “Time Concerns,†the first offering from the band’s upcoming second EP Big Bang Machine. Says the band, “our music revels in both the bombastic beauty of energy and more subtle moments of delicacy, like particle patterns moments before collision.” Stream the two-song release above.
Eux Autres – “Another Christmas At Home” from Nicholas Larimer on Vimeo.
Local indie poppers Eux Autres have a new Christmas-themed 7″ out now. Another Christmas At Home features the band-penned title track (video above) along with covers of Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everybody†and The Jacobites’ “Teenage Christmas.” Slade cover below: [More...]
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Our new Artist in Residence: Joshua Ellingson
November 30, 2009
As you may have noticed over the holiday weekend we spent some time and made a few changes to the site. The biggest of which is our brand new banner which we are excited to showcase to you all.
Our new Artist in Residence, Josh Ellingson, lives and works as an illustrator in San Francisco, California. He makes artwork for popular publications and websites worldwide and has worked with clients ranging from toy makers to tequila companies. Josh also contributes writing and reviews to publications and websites such as Laughing Squid and Hi-Fructose Magazine.
You can check out all of his work at JoshuaEllingson.com and you can follow him on Twitter at @ellingson.
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Happy Thanksgiving!
November 26, 2009
In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, we’ll be going dark for the rest of the week. So enjoy some turkey (or don’t — it isn’t really any of our business), and we’ll see you next week. Until then, if you’re interested in checking out some recommendations for post-Thanksgiving shows, check out our preview over at KQED Arts.
See you Monday!
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The xx, Friendly Fires @ The Independent 11/22
November 26, 2009
The xx have been one of the most buzzed-about bands sprouting out of the UK as of late. With good reviews on their side, it was quite clear by the Independent crowd’s diffident demeanor that everyone was hoping they would actually live up to the hype.
Right from the get-go, a giant “xx” keyboard platform stood alone on the stage, with a gloomy, yet sultry lighting setup. Some mist and a drum machine beat brought the band in to kick off with a seductive instrumental piece. It was quite a dramatic entrance for such a new band, and they powered through selections from their sexy, out-of-nowhere album, crooning some subtle (and some not so subtle) innuendos. Feeding off each other, Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim’s perfectly timed harmonies felt like they were letting us in on a dirty conversation between friends.
While we all enjoyed the clever lyrics, The xx seemed to be at their best when they actually weren’t singing at all. Bass-heavy rhythms and creatively placed beats and loops from the quiet unsung hero in the back, Jamie Smith, were flawlessly synced with just the right amount of give and take, dramatic silences, and powerful bridges. While Smith turned knobs, slammed on keys, and frantically switched his loops, Croft and Sim casually and effortlessly showcased their R&B obsession for everyone to see. Like their entrance, the group’s exit was similarly dramatic (although a little vain to switch on your own album during an exit?), and left everyone in the crowd wanting more. The sophistication of this relatively freshman band is something that will take even their biggest skeptics by surprise.
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Weekend Picks: Thanksgiving Weekend
November 25, 2009
Wednesday: Deastro, Max Tundra, White Cloud @ Bottom of the Hill (9pm, $12)
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White Cloud – “Galapagos (demo)”
Friday: Lilofee, Danny James & Pear, Ferocious Few @ The Hemlock (9:30pm, $7)
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Lilofee – “Lock and Key”
Saturday: Colossal Yes, The Bye Bye Blackbirds @ The Makeout Room (7pm, $7)
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Colossal Yes – “Charlamagne’s Big Thaw”
Sunday: Japandroid, Surfer Blood @ The Rickshaw Stop (7pm, $10)
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Surfer Blood – “Swim (to Reach the End)”
Monday: KALX Presents The Vic Chesnutt Band, Warpaint, Liz Durett @ Great American Music Hall (8pm, $16)
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Vic Chesnutt – “Philip Guston”
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November 2009 Monthly Mix (Podcast #191)
November 24, 2009
Stream the episode:
Our latest Monthly Mix episode of the weekly podcast includes music from nine great Bay Area bands — some submissions we’ve received at TBB headquarters, some stuff we’ve posted on the web site recently, all really good stuff.
About this week’s bands:
Brilliant Colors (“Absolutely Anything”) recently released their debut LP Introducing on Slumberland Records. They’ll be playing with Hunx and His Punx at the Hemlock Tavern on January 3rd.
The Hourglass is Social Studies‘ (“Time Bandit”) first new musical offering in a few years. It’s currently available for free download at their web site.
Sonoma County’s That Ghost (“The Red Bow”) recently came out with a new digital EP and a new 7″. The band has upcoming dates in LA, San Jose and Sebastopol over at their MySpace page.
In the Beginning is the first album from Billy & Dolly (“Younger Days”). You can stream it in its entirety at their web site.
Citay‘s (“Eye on the Dollar by White Rainbow”) Remixes LP features reworkings from Black Mountain, Sunburned Hand of the Man, White Rainbow, and more. The band also just announced the release of their new album Dream Get Together, out January 26th on Dead Oceans.
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Thao wows at the Independent Sat 11/21
November 24, 2009
Returning from a six week national tour, a well-seasoned Thao with The Get Down Stay Down encountered a sold out hometown crowd on Saturday night, a surefire sign that her increasing exposure and critical acclaim has firmly planted her as one the city’s rising stars. Countless interviews, blogs and articles pride Thao for weaving a lyrical tapestry of her love’s misfortunes front and center — most of which are brightly masked with cowlicks of old R&B and c&w-inflected guitar — but the way in which she performs, interspersing accomplished guitar amidst her spastic, nearly epileptic catharses is a sight to behold.
It’s hard to hold oneself back when you see something like this happening before your eyes, and the crowd was pretty much at her mercy out of the gate. I heard some dude complaining about his drunk friend who kept turning to him and slurring “she is so awesome…” like fifty times. Safe to say, most of the room probably experienced about fifty of those moments too throughout the course of the set.
Portland Cello Project, which features up to eight cellists performing simultaneously, served well in warming up the room with numerous audience-participating renditions of pop cultural gems such as Outkast’s “Hey Ya”. A few members joined Thao later on for her most notably quiet, though no less affecting pre-encore number. It appears some of their recorded material features a wide variety of guest vocalists (incl. Thao), but many of whom could not obviously cannot attend all of their live shows, so I recommend checking some of these tunes out in addition to their impressive instrumental arrangements.
I was bummed to have missed out on David Shultz altogether (who hails from Richmond, VA) though upon streaming several of his tunes I liked what I heard, mostly earnest folk tunes that triggered an old Jayhawks fetish, or called to mind the folksier side of Josh Ritter. Hopefully we’ll see him around these parts soon again.
