This Week in SF: Picks and a Mix for 5/20-5/26/13
May 20, 2013
Enjoy this Rdio mix featuring local and touring bands performing in SF during the rest of this week. After the jump, find out more about when they’re all playing! For a full list of upcoming concerts in the SF Bay Area, check our Local Concert Calendar.
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Deafheaven tours new album ‘Sunbather’, playing two SF shows
May 20, 2013
San Francisco’s buzzworthy black metal band Deafheaven is gearing up for the release of its new LP Sunbather by playing three West Coast shows with Boris, followed by a full U.S. headlining tour backed by Marriages. Included in the itinerary are two San Francisco shows – with Boris on May 22 at Rickshaw Stop, and with Marriages on July 15 at Bottom of the Hill.
Sunbather is due on June 11 via Deathwish Records. It is Deafheaven’s second full-length release from the label (following 2011′s Road to Judah) and its third release overall.
After vocalist George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy recorded a demo album in 2010 at The Atomic Garden Recording Studio in Palo Alto, Deafheaven recruited three additional members—bassist Derek Prine, drummer Trevor Deschryver, and guitarist Nick Bassett, who also plays in Bay Area shoegaze outfit Whirr. (Update: Prine, Deschryver, and Bassett are no longer in the band and do not play on Sunbather.)
“Dream House” (above) is Deafheaven’s critically acclaimed lead single from Sunbather, which demonstrates the band’s unique approach to melodic, yet vocally aggressive “post-black metal.” The expansive aesthetic that has alienated the band from strict black metal purists has proven to be relatively successful in its crossover appeal.
Sunbather was recorded and engineered by Jack Shirley of Atomic Garden, and Nick Steinhardt designed the album art. Percussionist Daniel Tracy adds new elements to Deafheaven’s sound on the forthcoming album, which is expected to capture the band at the height of its creative talent.
Boris, Deafheaven
The Rickshaw Stop
May 22, 2013
8pm, $18
Deafheaven, Marriages, Monuments Collapse, DJ Rob Metal
Bottom of the Hill
July 15, 2013
9pm, $12
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First City Festival: Modest Mouse, Passion Pit, Beach House lead 30+ bands performing at new summer fest in Monterey
May 20, 2013
Known as California’s “first city,” Monterey has a unique place in the history of arts and culture in the state. Monterey was the site of the state’s first theater, and California’s first newspaper originated from a Monterey printing press. Musically, the city is best known for the Monterey Pop Festival, which predated Woodstock and is credited as setting the template for the major music festival, as well as the annual Monterey Jazz Festival.
This year, you can add a new festival to Monterey’s list of musical accomplishments, as Goldenvoice is bringing over 30 bands to the Monterey County Fair and Event Center on August 24th and 25th for the First City Festival. It’s a ridiculously strong lineup, with top-billed bands Modest Mouse and Passion Pit supported by Beach House, Toro y Moi, Deerhunter, Animal Collective side project Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks (in its first West Coast show), and many, many more.
In addition to all of the performers on three stages, the First City Festival promises a Vaudeville-style variety stage, a full carnival, and local beer, wine, and food offerings.
Tickets go on sale on Friday, May 31 at the festival’s website. In the meantime, dig into the full lineup below:
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Review & Photos: Midi Matilda, OONA, holychild @ Rickshaw Stop, 5/17/13
May 20, 2013
If the only time someone has seen San Francisco’s Midi Matilda was at last year’s Live 105 BFD, when the guitar and drums synth-pop duo struggled with gear malfunctions through the first half of a short set to a dwindling crowd, that person would have a very wrong estimation of what it was capable of.
Friday night at Rickshaw Stop, Skyler Kilborn and Logan Grime fully entertained a sold-out house, introduced several new songs and paid tribute, once again, to former manager Steve Brodsky, who passed away too soon, recently, after a brief fight with cancer.
“This show is because of him,” Kilborn said. Yet the performance didn’t at all feel like a memorial, but a dance party, which got started with opening trio OONA and Los Angeles quartet Holychild.
Midi Matilda’s set began with a Grime tribal-esque drum solo on a stationary tom in the middle of the dance floor and quickly moved back onto the stage for the rest of the 50-minute-long set that included a cover of the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination.” The two played fast and furious.
The duo’s appearance – Kilborn’s early ‘80s new romancer outfit coupled with Grime’s never-ending movement and a mop of hair that had a mind of its own, resembling Animal from The Muppets – presented an interesting dynamic.
Halfway through, the set took on the air of a victory lap, of sorts.
“We’ve travelled a lot recently around the country, but this is home,” Grime declared.
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Video: Lumerians – “Laser Barn”
May 17, 2013
As we head toward the weekend, enjoy this delightfully frantic performance of “Laser Barn” by Lumerians. The song comes from the Horizon Structures EP, but the band’s newest album, The High Frontier, arrives stateside in August.
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Ty Segall teams up with Chad & The Meatbodies on newest 7″
May 17, 2013
Ty Segall teams up with Chad & The Meatbodies to release new LAMC 7″ and gets his own guitar pedal!
It’s become an expectation that every couple of months or so, the hyperactive Ty Segall will release another little something new. This time, he’s teamed up with LA newbie Chad & The Meatbodies on the seventh installment of Famous Class’ Less Artists More Condos 7” series. This series is exciting indeed: Famous Class has asked nine of their favorite artists (seven released so far) to provide a new single for the A-side, then that artist picked their favorite new band to provide the B-side. Plus, all digital proceeds go directly to the Ariel Panero Memorial Fund at VH1 Save the Music, the charity named after Panero, who created the LAMC show series in New York to introduce locals to new up-and-coming bands worthy of discovery. Pretty cool, right?
It turns out that Ty Segall has a great ear for new music, but that’s no surprise. Chad & The Meatbodies’ B-side “Mountain” has the heaviness of a Black Sabbath song, the fuzziness of a FUZZ track, and the unexpectedly polished vocals of a 2011 or later album from Thee Oh Sees. Those are some big shoes to fill.
Segall’s track, “Music for a Film” offers something a little different this time – a slow build up with a jazzy presence and an uncharacteristic absence of vocals. It’s a little like ‘60s jazz-rock and it’s definitely worth listening to. The reverb god also recently inspired a new guitar pedal made by Death by Audio. It’s called the Sunshine Reverberation effects pedal, and each of the 100 units in this limited edition creation will be signed by Segall.
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Mikal Cronin premieres video for “Change,” adds tour dates
May 17, 2013
Recent transplant Mikal Cronin, whose MCII was released a few weeks ago, premiered a video for “Change” with SPIN last week.
Another one for the ‘house party gets out of control’ canon, the video revolves around Cronin himself churning out “Change” in the midst of a rowdy gathering, and a faceless being in a hoodie that wanders the crowd.
Cronin’s MCII, which is currently conquering cold-hearted critics everywhere, is out on Merge Records right now. He’s also extended this summer’s European tour dates and recently announced a stop at FYF Fest in August. More info can be found on the Merge Records website.
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The Mantles release new single “Hello”, record release show at Rickshaw Stop, 6/14/13
May 17, 2013
The Mantles‘ new LP Long Enough to Leave is slated for release on June 18 via Slumberland, and they’re streaming another track, “Hello”, off that forthcoming effort, the band’s second full-length. “Hello” debuted on Pitchfork last week, full of washed out ’60s garage rock psychedelia, but frontman Mike Oliveres dropped the borderline punk rock sneer found in the Bay Area-based quartet’s previous single “Brown Balloon”, opting for a more laid back and almost blasé feel. Listen to “Hello” and get full details on The Mantles’ record release party at Rickshaw Stop and upcoming East Coast tour below.
The Bats, The Mantles, Legs
Rickshaw Stop
June 14, 2013
9pm, $15–17
All Ages
