Photos: Dum Dum Girls, MINKS, Dirty Beaches
February 22, 2011
Dum Dum Girls
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Backseat Beat: Episode 8, part 2: The Definite Articles
February 22, 2011
Everyone knows what happens at the end of Revenge of the Nerds. The Tri-Lambs mop the floor with the Alpha Betas during the Greek Games, using their big brains and a Vader mask to demolish the meatheads in competition and score with the hot Pi Delts. The lesson of the movie is plain — the geek shall inherit the Earth.
Backseat Beat episode 8: The Definite Articles, part 2 from Brad Robertson on Vimeo.
In part 2 of episode 8, the Definite Articles don’t have revenge on their minds. They also don’t have nautical fire cannons, vegan donuts, brand-name vibrators, or apocalyptic weather on the brain, either. What they do have, however, are Wrath of Khan, phones that do tricks, and a human digeridoo (digeri-don’t?). Thanks to their ingenuity and intellect, we’ve been pondering the Big Questions. Like what kinds of flavored vodka would be more disgustingly awesome: Twizzlers or (ew) organic fruit?
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Noise Pop begins today: the fest’s organizers talk about new additions in 2011 and pick some shows to watch
February 22, 2011
The 2011 Noise Pop Festival begins today, taking over a number of SF venues over the next six days for a celebration of the best in independent music. This year’s festival is the nineteenth annual, the sort of number that stands as a remarkable sustained achievement. By now, Noise Pop is a Bay Area indie rock institution, something expected every February, but the festival’s organizers are continuing to push its boundaries too.
Speaking to the continually evolving notion of the Noise Pop sound, Producer Stacy Horne remarked via phone that, “We want to keep it fresh and have exciting new stuff that’s going on,” citing NP 2011 artists like The Stone Foxesand Tamaryn. Both are local to SF and headlining shows this week, and both might be considered outside of the more traditionally indie pop-rock sound associated with the festival’s origins.
Beyond the bounds of rock and roll, too, Noise Pop is also expanding toward other genres and into new types of experiences. “I really like the direction that we’re heading, in presenting outside of our usual comfort zone,” Horne said, noting the increased inclusion of hip hop and electronica acts, including Kid Koala and Aesop Rock. Moreover, the festival has embarked on two significant new endeavors this year. The Pop Up Shop series allowed Noise Pop to work with a number of partners to collaborate “in a really physical way that we hadn’t done in the past.” Additionally, the Noise Pop Culture Club, taking place 2/26 and 2/27 at Public Works, is an “exploration of art and film and their relation to music [that allows attendees] to interact with and do hands-on workshops in all different creative disciplines.”
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Recommended at Noise Pop, 2/22-2/23: Merge Records bands, Admiral Radley/Typhoon, Dirty Ghosts, and more
February 21, 2011
We’ll be offering our Noise Pop picks over the next several days. Then, as the festival proceeds, our writers and photographers will be reporting back from a whole bunch of Noise Pop events. Looking forward to something in particular? Let us know in the comments.
Cafe Du Nord hosts a mostly Merge Records showcase on Wednesday night (8pm, $15), with resurgent indie pop pioneers Versus joining The Love Language and Telekinesis. The last band recently released 12 Desperate Straight Lines, a super-catchy album borne out of Michael Benjamin Lerner finding himself last July “with no band, a case of vertigo, and a wrecked van.” Show up on time for locals Burnt Ones starting off the show.
Burnt Ones – “All Right (Sha-La-La)”
Tuesday’s free happy hour at Bender’s (5-8pm, Free) is the first live performance of SF’s Dirty Ghosts, a band comprised of Allyson Baker and Carson Binks (both ex-Parchman Farm) on guitar and bass, and Aesop Rock on drum programming and samplers. The band’s debut single will be available at the show before coming out in March on Classic Bar Music.
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New free EPs from Oakland’s Liquorice Ginsberg and Forest Floor
February 21, 2011
Local music blog Mapzzz has launched a twice-monthly series of free EPs with the above three-song set from Oakland’s Forest Floor. Forest Floor is Geoff Saba, who blends acoustic folk and art pop with electronic beeps and layered noise. According to Mapzzz, Saba’s working on an LP to be released later this year.
The second release in the free EP series comes from Liquorice Ginsberg, a new project from Oakland’s Elephant & Castle and Bazooka Joint. Take a listen to three synthy, stoned instrumentals from them below.
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Rad Cloud – California ‘Totally Rad’
February 18, 2011
RAD CLOUD – CALIFORNIA TOTALLY RAD [OFFICIAL VIDEO] from breeefcase on Vimeo.
Rad Cloud recently took a tour of California, as evidenced by this tour documentary video as shot by filmmaker Aaron Rietz. Follow the band as they go up and down the coast, spreading the music along the way.
Rad Cloud’s Super Kung Fu is out now via Fullyintercoastal Records, and the band is set to play on April 15th at Great American Music Hall (details TBA).
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Discuss: What’s the Matter with Berkeley?
February 18, 2011
The recent closure of Blake’s in Berkeley was met with nary a peep in the online indie music community. The East Bay Express’ excellent Ear Bud blog covered the story, as did various local news outlets, but the silence from local bands and indie music fans was notable. While I never really cared for much of their programming calendar, it is striking that with the club’s closure, the options for live indie rock music in the downtown Berkeley area have dwindled to two. At polar ends of the spectrum, no less, are Amoeba/Rasputin’s occasional in-store performances and the Greek Theatre. Berkeley bands, best of luck getting from one to the other.
To be clear, depending on how old you are and how far you’re willing to travel, Berkeley residents can still enjoy the Bay Area’s wealth of live music options. Two great venues, 924 Gilman and the Starry Plough, bookend the city’s limits, offering up an admirably DIY scene in the former and tasty beer and burgers at the latter. Further on, Oakland’s got a number of venues and performance spaces, although the city’s fighting its own East Bay version of the “War on Fun” that has seen 21 Grand closed and others placed in increasing jeopardy. And SF venues are BARTable if you leave before the headlining band (and, depending on where you are, possibly one of the supporting bands as well).
Regardless, there’s no rock venue close to the esteemed university campus and throngs of students that to my mind make the city of Berkeley actually Berkeley, which is a shame on the one hand and a missed opportunity on the other. It’s a shame because a city that rightly prides itself on a history of free expression and an independent creative streak does itself a disservice by not providing accessible outlets for its young local musicians and interesting all ages forms of live entertainment for its young people. It’s also a business opportunity lost because, hello, there are a zillion young people running around and surely a hundred of them could be convinced to go to a smartly booked all ages performance space to see some cool bands.
It would be one thing if the student body weren’t teeming with talent, a point easily refuted by the surely dozens of great bands with Berkeley roots. In the last five years, for example, The Morning Benders, Port O’Brien, Tempo No Tempo, The Splinters–that’s four just off the top of my head. Add to that a great college radio station that champions local talent every day, and the supply is already there, to say nothing of the numerous other local bands who would surely be excited to expose a new audience to their music.
From a business case perspective, the sales pitch is simple. Put a well-run venue close to campus and keep costs cheap and surely students will come. Make it all ages if possible and I don’t see how it can fail.
If it’s so simple, though, why hasn’t it already happened yet? The following possibilities immediately come to mind: high rents and noise restrictions in the downtown area, the difficulty of securing licenses to open new businesses from the Berkeley City Council, and the divergent interests of long term Berkeley residents and the city’s student population.
But it’s not like Berkeley is anti-arts. There are established theater, jazz and folk venues, and the university hosts shows of all different kinds. Surely, then, there’s enough space to support rock and roll as well.
I’m curious to know your thoughts. Why doesn’t Berkeley have a dedicated rock and roll space? Does Berkeley need a rock venue, or are Oakland and SF options sufficient? If you’re a Berkeley student or resident, would the existence of a rock venue in Berkeley matter to you? Post your thoughts in the comments.
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Ssleeping DesiresS – “Pyrrhonism”
February 18, 2011
Pyrrhonism by ssleepingdesiress
Here’s a minimalist synth track from SF’s Gabriel Ramos aka Ssleeping DesiresS. I first caught wind of him on local duo Water Borders‘ Bay Area electronica mix over at No Conclusion. Ssleeping DesiresS performs with Austra and Voices at Milk tonight, February 18th (9pm, $10).
