Best of 2010: Peter Arko on Weekend
December 27, 2010
Weekend was one of the top local bands on my radar this year. I went to several of their shows and watched them evolve as a band and refine their sound. It all boiled down to hearing their debut album, Sports, which dropped late in the year on Slumberland Records.
Within days of its release I sat down to my first listen. The moment I started the opening song, “Coma Summer,” any nervous anticipation I had for this record was pushed out the door by heavy distorted guitars and fuzzy, howling vocals. My takeaway from interactions with the band, is they’re incredibly focused – and it really shows on the finished product. The energy alone that grows from one song to the next makes this album a really fun listen. By the end, you’re buzzing like a transformer. The other week I snagged the double LP at Aquarius Records to cement the album as a favorite of 2010. I suggest you do the same!
Peter Arko is the founder of Ears of the Beholder.
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Best of 2010: Robert Khoury on Weekend
December 27, 2010
San Francisco music is finally back in the limelight. Bands like The Fresh & Onlys, Ty Segall, Royal Baths and Tamaryn have all released incredibly strong albums this year. But if I had to pick just one great record, I would have to give the honor to Weekend’s debut album, Sports.
I first saw this band back in early January and became instantly hooked on their noisy post-punk sound. The young shoegazers are arguably one of the best live performers in San Francisco, and their energy transcribes perfectly into Sports. The album opens with “Coma Summer” and closes with “Untitled,” but what happens in between these two songs is pure bliss. Thundering basslines pulsate under Shaun Durkan’s vocal melodies, while Kevin Johnson’s guitar playing and Abe Pedroza’s relentless drumming maintain the band’s tight consistency and overall texture.
Up until November, I had to settle for the 10″ single released on Mexican Summer but the wait for a full-length album has been well worth it. For a band that seemed to be overlooked for a long time, they have created a record that speaks volumes of their talent as musicians. As the album finishes at its most chaotic point, Durkan repeatedly yells, “I came alive,” with utmost intent as if he is announcing that Weekend have come alive and are ready to take the world by storm.
Robert Khoury is the founder of See The Leaves
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Best of 2010: Kevin Meenan on Weekend
December 27, 2010
Photo by: Nicole Browner
If 2009 is remembered as the year that put our budding garage rock scene on the map, 2010 will go down as the year our city proved we were no one trick musical pony. From the coldwave stylings of Tamaryn to the kraut-infused sound of The Soft Moon to the perennial chill of Blackbird Blackbird, critics across the tubes and beyond endlessly gushed over our city’s wide and varied musical landscape.
For me, no local band was more deserving of this new found attention than post-punk shoegazers Weekend. Since the first time I caught the band in action – ironically, their opening set at the sold out Dominant Legs + Woodsman + Young Prisms in early January was the first live performance I saw in the new year – I have simply been blown away. Their headlining performance at our party in July stands as one of the most memorable shows I have been involved with to date; “Coma Summer” and “Youth Haunts” rank amongst my year’s favorite jams and their debut LP Sports (Slumberland) has been in constant rotation since first dropping in November. These dudes have mastered the art of balancing noise with pop, and I look forward to their continued growth and success in 2011.
Kevin Meenan is the founder of Epicsauce.com.
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Sade Sundays: That’s How I Remember It, Season Finale (Best of 2010).
December 26, 2010
Part One: Michael Tapscott
1. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (DefJam)
Kanye West - 'Runaway'The most controversial and real public figure almost caused a fist fight between Joshua and I at this year’s Thanksgiving. While Josh contended, correctly so, that Kanye’s public persona ruins his art, I contended, also correctly, that it heightens his palette and that the persona is in and of itself a fine work of art. We worked it out, but I was prepared to never speak to one of my best friends again for the cause.
2. Jerry Lewis – Cracking Up (1983)/Tex Avery Cartoons
In one willful and lonely Saturday this year, I went too far in my quest for entertainment and am now a great believer that the French were right all along about Jerry Lewis. His comedy is just as fascinating and mind-blowing as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton or Jaques Tati, if you’re in to that sort of thing. Watching old MGM and Warners Bros. cartoon shorts by Tex Avery that same day, I realized these guys are human cartoons. I sort of like the cartoons better though.
3. Deep Magic/Deep Tapes/Dreamcolour
One of my favorite collectives of the new age/experimental/ambient scene is the Bay Area label Deep Tapes. The Deep Tapes producers released or were connected in someway to some heavy classics out of this increasingly rich and expansive field in 2010. Deep Magic’s Planetary Roots and Soul Vibrations were favorites, as well as work by uber-group Dreamcolour, Olympus Mons and Psychic Handbook. I’m a Facebook fan….
4. Donovan Quinn & The 13th Month – Your Wicked Man (Soft Abuse)
San Francisco’s Donovan Quinn is weathering a moment in time when his music is a little out of fashion, and we are all at a loss for this. In my year, it was the best singer-songwriter record I’d listened to and had an urgent poignancy for my own lost generation. I hear all the bad and lovable things about my friends in this area of the world throughout this record. It comes on a real healthy slab of vinyl too.
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Best of 2010: Mission Mission on Still Flyin’
December 24, 2010
Going to a Still Flyin’ show isn’t really like going to a show at all; it’s more like being at a party where half of your friends are onstage and they’re all better at karaoke than you. Hence the title of their latest album, A Party In Motion, which combines genres like 80s New Wave and rocksteady into a disco-fueled romp that would make even ABBA and Boney M jealous.
Chugging away through the San Francisco (and European) music scene since 2004, Still Flyin’ has played nearly every venue and street festival here you can think of, plus a few places that aren’t around anymore, with new members continually popping out of the woodwork and latching on like some sort of indie Voltron. And yet, despite all the fuss, hanging out with the band remains a celebration of pizza, high fives, and Top Gun soundtracks.
Which brings us back to being at a Still Flyin’ show where it feels like half of your friends are on stage — the fact is, they probably are, most likely because they just hopped up there while lost in the rhythm and are now joining the roughly 15-member set for a spontaneous on-stage dance party. So why aren’t you up there too?
Andrew Sarkarati writes for the San Francisco-based blog Mission Mission.
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Best of 2010: Mission Mission on Tin Cup Serenade
December 24, 2010
Ok, so Tin Cup Serenade didn’t exactly put out a record this year, or even play all that much. However, I did manage to catch a recent show of theirs at the cozy and aromatic Revolution Cafe in the Mission, and it was one of my favorite shows of the year. The vibe was intimate and everyone started bouncing off the walls when they launched into their swingin’ number “All I Can Do is Cry.”
Find more artists like Tin Cup Serenade at Myspace Music
Tin Cup Serenade are a vocal-driven swing and early jazz group. They also mix in occasional Bob Wills-style western swing and Caribbean calypso tunes. That might sound like well-traveled territory, but they set themselves apart with lyrically clever original songs that are both authentic and totally modern. There are not very many 1930s calypso songs that mention Dick Cheney, for example, as they do in “Manitoba.” Singer/guitarist Rolf Wilkinson has one of my favorite voices in the bay area. It’s not your typical lounge croon that every other boring male jazz singer guy tries to do. His is a more vulnerable Chet Baker-y whimper. Their self-titled album from 2008 still gets a ton of spins from me and is definitely still worthy of attention in 2010.
Vic Wong writes for the San Francisco-focused blog Mission Mission.
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From our staff: top 10 non-local songs of 2010
December 24, 2010
1. “When I’m With You” – Best Coast
The indie world was drowning in beach-pop this summer, but Best Coast’s “When I’m With You” was heads and shoulders above the rest of the pack. I love the lyrical simplicity, and the three distinct segments of the song (four if you count the guitar solo). Browsing back at my iTunes play count, this was an easy number one. I saw them live four times this year, and never tired of this classic pop song.
2. “Something Else” - The Diamond Rings
The combo of twangy guitar and 80s synths and drum machines is so yummy! Love how the guitar carries the melody in the intro and serves as a vocal response throughout the song. It might have made #1, but I’ve only been listening since October. I can’t wait to see Diamond Rings live again when he opens for Robyn on her next tour.
3. “Knights and Week Ends” - Light Asylum
Singer Shannon Funchess sounds like she’s channeling a pissed off goth opera goddess. I love everything I’ve heard from Light Asylum, can’t wait for more.
4. “Intro” - The xx
Truth be told I had to have my arm twisted to go and see The xx earlier this year. Once I saw their live show I was a complete convert. I love the deep staccato guitar intro and the kraut-like deadpan beat. It’s such a teaser – with just the “ah . . . ah” vocals sprinkled in.
5. “On Melancholy Hill” - Gorillaz
Couldn’t believe this was Gorillaz the first time I heard it. I’m a real sucker for sweet-sounding synth pop with dark lyrics. This was an instant fav from the first time I heard it.
6. “Out Of Tune” - Real Estate
Most of the songs on my top ten list are straight-up pop songs. This one didn’t seem like it fit in, but consistency be damned. This one melts right into me and makes me feel like I’m being swirled up and taken away into a beautiful melancholy pity party.
7. “Soak It Up” - Houses
Love how the beat fades in and out, going from complete chill to a downtempo Balearic-disco fuzz-fest.
8. “Home” - LCD Soundsystem
This one comes out of the gate strong with that syncopated beat and just keeps getting better and better. To top it all off, there’s a little psychotherapy in those lyrics, too.
9. “Let’s Go Surfing” - The Drums
This song just makes me happy and helps me forget whatever stupid thing I was obsessing about. What more could a girl ask for?
10. “Gold Guns And Girls” - Metric
Love how calm Emily’s voice is as she sings, “Is it ever gonna be enough” over that crazy fast BPM. Makes me want to get up and dance each and every time I hear it.
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Photo Essay: staff visions of live music in 2010
December 23, 2010
Editor’s note: This year in music has been nothing short of spectacular, but a better way to really convey that is through the photos that our many photographers captured through their dedicated, creative efforts. From the many odd things that happened onstage at Treasure Island, to just being in a packed club at the right moment to snap a musician’s eloquent pose, our photographers have succeeded. Here’s to another year of documenting San Francisco’s local music scene.
Photo by Nic Buron
