Sic Alps – ‘Napa Asylum’ out today, three local shows this month
January 25, 2011
Sic Alps are departing on a full US tour next month — with their newest record, Napa Aslyum, out today on Drag City’s — but not before being part of three fantastic shows at home to celebrate. Of these local dates, they’re opening up for the second of three Godspeed You! Black Emperor Bay Area shows, midway through GY!BE’s much anticipated back-in-the-saddle tour. Sic Alps’ SF dates are below, with full US dates after the jump.
The 22-song Napa Asylum collects distraught garage pop numbers, less concerned with noise and feedback blasts. Though generally the songs are slower and more reserved, the album plays through quick and seamlessly, like a running tape of perfect one-take demos. When you get down to track 20, “Cement Surfboard,” it’s as if the sun has risen on another day.
2/9 – Great American Music Hall – benefit for the Coalition Against Homelessness w/ Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, more TBA
2/21 – San Francisco – Great American Music Hall w/ Godspeed You! Black Emperor
2/24 – The Eagle – Record release show w/ The Mantles
Sic Alps US tourdates: [More...]
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Rachel Fannan, Outlaw, Greg Ashley, White Manna at Elbo Room 1/19/11
January 25, 2011
I could barely get out of bed. South Park had me in the zone. Cartman’s hand was Jennifer Lopez. Then I thought about KUSF (90.3) and how I hadn’t sent them enough money over the years. Now one of my favorite college radio stations is an unending torture of classical music. I thought about Greg Ashley, another local treasure, and how I was late to his last show. I put on my pants.
Outside there was a gigantic full moon as I sped across the Bay Bridge to the Mission. Rachel Fannan was playing when I arrived. She recently parted ways with local psych-rockers Sleepy Sun despite great success (even opening for Arctic Monkeys). According to her Myspace she is just 24 years old, and I suppose too young to settle down. Under the glittery, celestial lamps of the Elbo Room, Ms. Fannan brought out some intriguing new material. She was joined only by a bass player, but the two of them created some big sounds. She did a fair amount of vocal looping during the show a la Juana Molina. During one song she recorded her voice over and over again building a choir of sorts. She sang a few songs of love and even told a dick joke in between. Her voice has an old-world, folk quality and there is some real beauty in her work. She plays at Fivepoints Arthouse on 1/23 and Slim’s on the 25th with the Soft Bombs, Sandwitches and Art Museums.
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(((folkYEAH!))) announces Animal Collective in Big Sur, tickets on sale Friday 1/28/11
January 25, 2011
((((folkYEAH!))) has announced several upcoming events, including Animal Collective at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur. Get those typing fingers ready for Friday at noon…
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE in BIG SUR!
Thursday, April 14th
Henry Miller Library
On sale @ High Noon on Friday, January 28th, 2011 @ folkyeah.comBRITISH SEA POWER
Wednesday, April 6th
Brookdale Lodge
On sale @ High Noon on Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 @ folkyeah.comHENRY ROLLINS spoken word
Friday, April 8th
Brookdale Lodge
On Sale Thursday, January 27th @ High Noon @ folkyeah.com
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Repost: At long last, Thao & Mirah, the album
January 25, 2011
Here’s a never-before-seen video interview with Thao and Mirah, shot during last year’s Noise Pop, where the duo discussed their collaboration and mentioned the plan to record an album together.
Interview/Live: Thao & Mirah (Kill Rock Stars) @ Noise Pop 2010 from The Bay Bridged on Vimeo.
We’ve known about this collaboration for awhile. There was a Noise Pop 2010 show. There was a tour. There was a beautiful Yours Truly video. There was promise of recorded works from the duo with some help from tUnE-yArDs at a local recording studio.
And now, the Thao & Mirah collaborative album is official:
Last year, Thao Nguyen, leader of Thao With the Get Down Stay Down, and singer-songwriter Mirah, linked up for a tour. And now, the two have joined forces to release an album as Thao & Mirah. On April 26, Kill Rock Stars will release the duo’s self-titled debut.
The duo recorded the album in a two-week period, with tUnE-YaRdS mastermind Merrill Garbus co-producing, guesting, and writing one song. Various Bay Area musicians also helped out on the record, and we’ve got the tracklist below.
Both Thao and Mirah work with Air Traffic Control, an organization that helps musicians with social advocacy. When the album comes out and they start touring behind it, they’ll team up with Air Traffic Control to promote social causes while on the road.
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Backseat Beat, Episode 7 outtakes: Magic Bullets
January 25, 2011
Maybe you happened to catch Magic Bullets on our last episode of Backseat Beat, in which these charming men chatted us up about vibrators, Spam burritos (not a euphemism) and cock with wine (we’ll let you decide if that’s a euphemism). Their interview left us with some steamy windows and way more naughty bits than we could fit into one episode, as you can see in the reel of choice outtakes above.
Then again, maybe you missed the episode because your stupid family forgot your 16th birthday because your older sister was getting married on the same day and you were too mopey to spend any time on the interwebs. Well, lucky for you, you can watch it here:
Backseat Beat Episode 7: Magic Bullets on the Bay Bridged
And since it’s a given that the world would be a much better place if we could all teleport back to the heyday of sparkling 80s guitar pop, here’s the complete music video of Magic Bullets’ seriously infectious song “A Day Not So Far Off.” Enjoy. [More...]
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Clift Sessions bring free shows to SF: MEN, Cass McCombs, Fool’s Gold, Twin Sister, fun.
January 24, 2011
IAMSOUND Records is bringing a host of free shows to the Clift Hotel (495 Geary St) in February and April, featuring a bunch of awesome bands: MEN, Cass McCombs, Fool’s Gold, Twin Sister, and fun.. Better yet, the shows are free if you RSVP to cliftsessions@morganshotelgroup.com.
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Young Prisms saturate the Bottom of the Hill for their LP release 1/19/11
January 24, 2011
Photos by: Rachel Keenan
When the dust clears, album release shows — much like prom nights, or say, New Year’s Eve goings on — can have a calculated emotion about them. Usually the magic of an album, at least for the band, occurred sometime several months ago in the haze of a poorly lit studio when an accidental note or a missed entry becomes the unsuspecting essence of a bridge…a song…or the record itself. Not to mention, hometown crowds are the best and the worst. Everyone you love, and maybe even some of those who have become estranged, can be on hand.
Ambiguous release fever considered, Young Prisms, the so-called “psychedelic slackers” who have spent the better part of a year in a van or on the other side of the pond earning their buzz as one of San Francisco’s top bands to watch in 2011, exude aesthetic, appear primed for recognition, but most importantly, I got a sense for their internal homage to the sound they’re creating. It doesn’t really matter that it’s a Wednesday night in the middle of January, or that some other band slipped off the bill at the last minute, or the crowd seems underdrunk or overstoned, because it’s obvious after about six minutes of complete saturation of the ears that these guys (and girl) really don’t care what you think. They are in complete control of not being in control at all. Stage presence is passionate but distant, secondary to the assault of the ears taking precedence.
If you didn’t hear the vocal hook the way it sounded on iTunes because the two guitar parts were melting on top each other like a scene from your freshman year lava lamp, or that the methodical reverberation of the drums might have been the only melody of a chorus that never really became a chorus, it’s your loss. Or, whatever. YP’s sound is at once: divisive, momentarily blissful, well-intended, loose, shoegazingly familiar, repetitively delightful, decisively dated, admirably now, but in the end, an envious coalescence of young musicians who appear to be doing exactly what they want to be doing at this moment in time. Guess that sounds kinda silly, or seemingly common for a twenty-something touring rock band, and at worst overly existential, but it works for me. And I have a feeling, after only one listen, YP’s latest, Friends for Now is going to work for a LOT of people — not really a weak link in the lot.
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Recommended, 1/24-1/30: Phil Manley as Life Coach, the insanity of Monotonix, Deerhoof, and Tape Deck Mountain
January 24, 2011
Every Monday, we’ll be offering you early picks for some of the week’s best concerts. Do you think we omitted something worthwhile? Let us know in the comments! Be sure to visit our Local Concert Calendar for an expanded set of daily listings.
Phil Manley – “Life Coach”
Barn Owl – “Light from the Mesa”
Monotonix – “Before I Pass Away”
Ty Segall – “California Commercial (live)”
Deerhoof – “Hitch Hike” (LiLiPUT cover)
Tape Deck Mountain ‒ “It Goes Down”
New Mexico – “Get A Job”
White Cloud – “Galapagosâ€
Deerhoof – I Did Crimes for You by Polyvinyl Records
Phil Manley debuts Life Coach at the Hemlock Tavern
One could spend all day reciting Phil Manley‘s many credits, so let it suffice here to say that he’s been a member of Trans Am, The Fucking Champs, and Jonas Reinhardt, and worked behind-the-boards for a multitude of bands, including The Alps, Arp, Mi Ami, and Wooden Shjips. Despite (or perhaps because of) all of that involvement in other musical projects, Manley is only now releasing his first solo album, Life Coach. He’ll be celebrating the new record, a collection of instrumental rock songs, at the Hemlock Tavern on January 25th with Barn Owl.
Monotonix = Mayhem
So before Treasure Island, I kept hearing, “Monotonix, dude, I can’t wait. They are maniacs live. It’s going to be awesome.” And, indeed, I doubt anyone left the island dissatisfied by the Israeli garage-punk band’s crazed performance. They’re back in town on January 28th with a new album, and I suspect that expectations remain appropriately high. They’ll be joined by Ty Segall and Nodzzz, so unless singer Ami Shalev breaks his leg onstage again, you won’t be disappointed by heading to the RIckshaw Stop.
