POW! releasing ‘Pretend There’ EP on Afterlife Records
December 15, 2011
Tonight, SF synthed-up garage trio POW! is releasing its debut, the Pretend There EP, on Afterlife Records. The band’s performing at Thee Parkside for a Positive Destruction-presented show, alongside Blasted Canyons, Hot Victory, and The Mallard.
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Videos: Lady Lazarus – “Via Elysian Fields: Lake Pontchartrain” / “Kurosawa’s Dreams and Me”
December 15, 2011
As she kicks off a West Coast tour, Lady Lazarus has released two new videos for songs from 2011′s Mantic. Above, check out a stripped-down, haunting live performance of “Via Elysian Fields: Lake Pontchartrain” in a Savannah, Georgia church.
Below, you can view an abstract journey through a hospital in a video for “Kurosawa’s Dreams and Me,” and see Lady Lazarus’ upcoming West Coast dates.
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Mwahaha – “Sleep Deep” (Odd Nosdam Remix)
December 14, 2011
For those trying to keep up with the likes Mwahaha, the Oakland band’s self-titled debut is out now. Help the band celebrate by checking out this remix of “Sleep Deep,” as mixed up by fellow East Bay resident Odd Nosdam.
Mwahaha – “Sleep Deep” (Odd Nosdam Remix)
Mwahaha – “Love” (ft. Merrill Garbus)
Mwahaha can be streamed in full and purchased via Bandcamp.
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Video: Sonny Pete – “The Ghost of You”
December 14, 2011
Sonny Pete’s video for “The Ghost of You” was shot on location in Parsonsfield, Maine by Sam Kassirer. Appropriately, “The Ghost of You” is from Sonny Pete’s debut album, Where the Shadows Pass, which was also recorded with Kassirer in rural Maine, at Great North Sound Society.
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Mixtape: Twelve Bay Area Highlights from 2011 (Podcast #263)
December 14, 2011
Mixtape: Twelve Bay Area Highlights from 2011 (Podcast #263)
We might be biased, but, from this vantage point, 2011 reconfirmed that the Bay Area continues to have the most vibrant music community nationwide. The SF scene cranked out a ton of amazing albums this year, and our final podcast of 2011 highlights twelve great releases from Bay Area artists over the past twelve months. This isn’t a “Best of” list per se, but these acts did create some of our favorite music in 2011. We’ll be doing more year-in-review coverage over the next few weeks, but, for now, enjoy this collection of great songs from this year.
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Track Listing/Notes:
Lumerians – Atlanta Brook”
Lumerians’ debut album, which was released in March, fulfilled the promise of the band’s impressively heavy live shows. The Oakland/SF psych group is currently working on a new album.
Dominant Legs – “Where We Trip The Light”
We’d been awaiting Dominant Legs’ full length for a while, and Invitation did not disappoint. The SF band created a unique world of buoyant, shimmering pop on the album, with Ryan Lynch and Hannah Hunt’s vocal interplay a particular highlight.
Mikal Cronin – “Get Along”
Before this year, Mikal Cronin had collaborated with Ty Segall on Reverse Shark Attack, and released records with Moonhearts, but his self-titled solo album allowed his unique psych-pop talent to take center-stage.
Exray’s – “Hesitation”
Released in January, Exray’s saw Jon Bernson and Michael Falsetto-Mapp shaping dense pop songs from layers of synths and samples. You might also recognize this song from The Social Network.
Part Time – “I Wanna Take You Out”
As Part Time, David Speck released a collection of synth-pop gems on Mexican Summer in July. He’ll be following up What Would You Say? with a new 7″ soon.
tUnE-yArDs – “Powa”
Does this one even need any observation? tUnE-yArDs’ profile skyrocketed with the release of the universally-acclaimed w h o k i l l, and we couldn’t be happier.
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Ticket Giveaway Wednesday: The Mother Hips, Marissa Nadler, Kelley Stoltz, Emily Jane White
December 14, 2011
To enter any contest submit an email to contest[at]thebaybridged[dot]com with your full name in the body and the concert you’re entering the contest for in the subject line. You may only submit your name once to only one contest. Winners for each show will be decided using the guidelines listed below.
Saturday, December 17th
The Mother Hips, Kelley Stoltz @ Great American Music Hall
To win a pair of tickets to the show be the FIFTH person to enter!
The show starts at 9pm, $23, 6+. Purchase advance tickets here.
Sunday, December 18th
Marissa Nadler, Emily Jane White @ Cafe du Nord
To win a pair of tickets to the show be the THIRD person to enter!
The show starts at 9pm, $12/$14, 21+. Purchase advance tickets here.
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The Fresh & Onlys sign to Mexican Summer for fourth LP
December 13, 2011
The Fresh & Onlys have signed to Mexican Summer, joining the likes of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Marissa Nadler, Washed Out, Weekend, Young Prisms, Wooden Shjips, and many more. Mexican Summer will release the Fresh & Onlys’ fourth LP – which is currently wrapping up production at Lucky Cat Studios with producer/engineer Phil Manley (Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo, Les Savy Fav, Grass Widow) – sometime in the first half of 2012.
The Fresh & Onlys – “Waterfall”
(from Play It Strange)
This new record follows 2010′s fantastic Play It Strange. Read more about the Fresh & Onlys’ new record via the band’s recent interview with Spin.
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Friends of Friends: Getting to know Cruel Summer
December 13, 2011
Friends of Friends is a new feature on The Bay Bridged, where a little name-dropping never hurt anyone. We interview a local band and get the lowdown on the music scene from their point of view. Who will they recommend for the next installment? Keep reading to find out.
When I wedged myself into the corner where the stage met the beer-caked floor at The Knockout’s packed POW! show last month, awaiting the night’s opening act, Cruel Summer, my thoughts alternated between shock and awe. The amount of buzz around a band with no releases and who have never before played a show — in other words, zero notches in their rock-and-roll bedpost — is more common nowadays, but still weird to some, including yours truly. However, Cruel Summer, consisting of singer and guitarist Thea Chacamaty, guitarist Josh Yule, drummer Sean Mosley, and bassist Chani Hawthorne, lived up to the hype.
The group’s self-description as “sound[ing] like Sonic Youth making illegitimate kin with the Wedding Present” is not far off, and I’ve been humming a mish-mash of the infectious concoction ever since. Who better to start this column off with than a band that is so up-and-coming that they arrived and killed it, practically uninvited? I didn’t even know I wanted you, Cruel Summer, but I do now. Here, come sit down. Have a drink. Let’s chat.
I met the band at Doc’s Clock in the Mission just in time, as the rounds of Fernet and PBR started passing hands.
TBB: Describe the Big Bang of Cruel Summer.
Josh Yule: I guess we’ve been a band for…
Thea Chacamaty: …about a year…
JY: …about three months…
TBB: ?
TC: Well, Sean and Josh and I started playing music together earlier this year, and then three months ago Chani started playing with us. So, that’s when it started coming together, overall…
JC: …before, it didn’t…
TC: …yeah… (giggles)
JY: Well, we didn’t have a bass player. The first time I met Chani, though, she just moved here and would come into the coffee shop that I worked at. One day I was playing My Bloody Valentine and she told me she named her rabbit after them. You named your rabbit My Bloody Valentine? And she’s like, No, dummy. It’s My Bunny Valentine. We’ve been friends ever since.
Chani Hawthorne: (laughs) I just wanted a rabbit so I could have a My Bunny Valentine.
TBB: How do you guys click?
JY: Until Cruel Summer, I hadn’t played music in ten years. I used to play with two really good friends in Gainesville and I just assumed I would never have that kind of comradery and tightness with anyone else so I just said forget it and played guitar in my room, wrote riffs….
TBB: So, you feel that comradery with Cruel Summer?
JY: I do. I do. This is the band I wanted to play in in 1996. It just took a long time.
CH: When we practice, Josh and Thea start making a bunch of noise and then Sean and I are like, ok…
TBB: Is that your songwriting process?
TC: Usually what happens is Josh will write some amazing guitar riff and we’ll use that for the verses, and then I’ll write some pop chorus…
JY: And sometimes we’ll be playing two different things and Sean will pull it together and say, Put that part with that part…, so we end up having one good song instead of two bad songs.
TC: (laughs) Yeah, he’s like the editor.
TBB: Why do you think San Francisco is a special place for music?
