Live This Month: February 2012 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #270)
February 1, 2012
Live This Month: February 2012 (Podcast #270)
In Live This Month, we sample some of the great local and out-of-town bands performing in the coming month in the San Francisco Bay Area. The twentieth installment of the Noise Pop Music Festival takes over a wide variety of local venues later this month — and we’ll be covering many of those shows — but there are also plenty of pre-NP events worth checking out. Locally, two bands are seeing the release of records for which it feels like we’ve been waiting forever: the debut LP from ultra-catchy punks Terry Malts, and the latest Rick Rubin-produced effort from Howlin Rain.
Speaking of new albums, Laura Gibson’s bringing her newest folk-rock set to SF for a February show. Meanwhile, Montreal’s Grimes has already sold out her Noise Pop date at the Rickshaw Stop, which will come just one day after the release of her new album, Visions. Enjoy this mix of tunes and then go see some shows!
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About the bands:
New York seven-piece band Ava Luna (“Wrenning Day”) is currently touring with Twin Sister. On February 4th, they’ll both be performing at the Great American Music Hall.
The Situation EP is the first release from local band Future Twin (“Yuka”). The group’s EP release show is an exciting one that also features Twin Steps, Exray’s and Death Cheetah all at the Hemlock Tavern on February 2nd.
Eleanor Friedberger (“My Mistakes”) is one-half of The Fiery Furnaces, but her solo record, Last Summer, is probably her best work yet. Friedberger and band come to The Independent on February 4th. Dominant Legs supports.
Sea Lions (“Grown Up”), from Oxnard, released the delightful jangle-pop collection Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sea Lions But Were Afraid To Ask last year. The quintet performs at Cafe Du Nord on February 3rd with Jeremy Jay and Tremor Low.
Laura Gibson‘s (“La Grande”) new album, La Grande, was inspired by the Oregon town that shares the record’s name. The folk performer and Breathe Owl Breathe will appear at Bottom of the Hill on February 6th.
Visions is the buzzed-about new album from Montreal’s Claire Boucher, also known as Grimes (“Genesis”). She’s co-headlining a sold-out Noise Pop show at the Rickshaw Stop on February 22nd.
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Mixtape: Twenty Years of Noise Pop (Podcast #269)
January 25, 2012
Mixtape: Twenty Years of Noise Pop (Podcast #269)
In February, the Noise Pop Music Festival turns twenty by gathering over one hundred local and touring bands from across the indie spectrum for a week of exciting concerts all over the City. Two decades of championing independent music is an accomplishment worth celebrating, and this mixtape collects twenty bands that have performed at Noise Pop events in years past.
As you’ll hear, a whole bunch of big names graced Noise Pop bills before achieving fame, as past festivals hosted early performances by bands like Spoon, Death Cab for Cutie and Mates of State. Equally impressive, though, is the annual fest’s important role as a showcase for Bay Area indie bands, and you’ll hear a bunch of now-well-known local artists in this mix too.
We’ll be ramping up our coverage of Noise Pop 20 in the coming weeks. For now, enjoy this look back at Noise Pop’s accomplished history.
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Tracklisting:
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Live This Month: January 2012 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #268)
January 4, 2012
Live This Month: January 2012 (Podcast #268)
In Live This Month, we sample some of the great local and out-of-town bands performing in the coming month in the San Francisco Bay Area.
If the beginning of January feels a little slim on the live music front, things should ramp back up into the usual overwhelming number of interesting shows by the month’s end. Several young local bands recently came onto our radar — including Churches, Poor Sons, and Primitive Hearts — and they’re all partaking in locals-heavy bills in the next few weeks.
On the coming-into-town front, it seems that, by sheer coincidence, a number of the month’s highlights all offer variations on electronic pop. From the most immediate and dance-oriented, like Starfucker and Fujiya and Miyagi, to the more experimental, including High Places and Religious to Damn, synth fans have a lot to get excited about in January. Enjoy this mix of thirteen tunes and then go see some shows!
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About the bands:
Deleted Scenes (“Bedbedbedbedbed”) is touring behind Young People’s Church of the Air, the D.C. band’s latest collection of psych-pop. A Lull and Ravenna Woods also perform at the Rickshaw Stop on January 23rd.
Brainstorm (“Forms Without a Frame”) is a big-sounding experimental pop duo from Portland. The band’s touring comes to Vitus on January 5th and the Hemlock Tavern on the 11th.
After the recent release of the Heatwave EP, Ash Reiter (“Heatwave”) will be performing at Cafe Du Nord on January 11th and the Starry Plough on January 27th.
Churches (“Save Me”) is a new band that includes Caleb Nichols (of Grand Lake) and Pat Spurgeon (of Rogue Wave). You can see them at a free show at The Uptown on January 6th, with Grass Widow, Culture Kids, and Wave Array.
Oakland rock and roll trio Primitive Hearts (“Killin’ Time”) has some great demos you can download on Bandcamp. The band is playing at 1-2-3-4 Go! Records with SorryEverAfter and Dark Beach on January 19th.
The Dyunes EP is the first release from SF’s Poor Sons (“Scales”). Party Owl and Cool Ghouls perform alongside the band at the Hemlock Tavern on January 14th.
Jeffertitti’s Nile (“Mountain Jam”) is touring the West Coast this month. See the LA psych band at Thee Parkside on January 19th and at The Knockout on January 23rd.
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2011-in-Review Mixtape: 50+ Signs of a Strong Year for Bay Area Indie Rock, Indie Pop and Folk-Rock (Podcast #267)
December 28, 2011
After surveying a variety of sounds coming from the Bay Area this year, we’re ending our look back at 2011 with the world of indie rock, indie pop, singer-songwriters and folk-rock. While there were a lot of Bay-based success stories this year, no artist probably had a better year than tUnE-yArDs, and w h o k i l l is an innovative, ultra-catchy collection of experimental pop deservedly revered as one of the year’s best albums.
Beyond tUnE-yArDs, however, the list of big names releasing strong records this year shows why the Bay has the deepest talent pool in indie music today. 2011 saw new records from John Vanderslice, The Dodos, Thao & Mirah, Girls, Ganglians, The Sandwitches, Vetiver, Dominant Legs, Little Wings, Papercuts, Weekend, and many, many more. Seriously, that’s a pretty amazing list.
This three-hour-long, two-part mix surveys over 50 Bay Area artists who released new records in 2011. Follow each link in the track lists below to look back at our coverage of these artists in 2011.
Mixtape: SF Indie Rock in 2011 (Part 1)
Mixtape: SF Indie Rock in 2011 (Part 2)
Track Listing:
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2011-in-Review Mixtape: Another Winning Year for SF Rock and Roll (Podcast #266)
December 27, 2011
The Bay Area has long been a leader in garage rock — see the annual Budget Rock Fest, which celebrated its tenth and final installment this year — and, from our perspective, that doesn’t seem likely to slow down any time soon. Put another way, there’s a reason so much of the national media spotlight has focused on SF garage bands.
Folks like Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees have developed into two of indie’s most reliable acts based on an astonishing mix of volume and consistency: playing tons of shows and putting out tons of records, and doing both with a commitment to intensity and quality. Beyond those two, there were plenty of important releases from SF rock bands in 2011. Shannon and the Clams, Bare Wires, and Mikal Cronin all put out some killer full-lengths, as did a number of the bands below, and new groups like Terry Malts, Poor Sons, and Twin Steps suggest that there is plenty more great local rock and roll to come.
This hour-long mix captures twenty Bay Area rock and roll, garage, lo-fi and punk bands that released new records this year. Follow each link to look back at our coverage of these artists in 2011.
Mixtape: SF Rock and Roll in 2011
Track Listing:
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2011-in-Review Mixtape: Highlights from SF Psych, Drone, and Shoegaze (Podcast #265)
December 23, 2011
The San Francisco Bay Area’s psychedelic legacy leaves big shoes for modern bands looking to get weird, but 2011 saw no shortage of heady, trippy music from locals, with Wooden Shjips, Lumerians, and Magic Leaves leading the psych rock pack. Barn Owl, The Drift and Moholy-Nagy headed in more ambient directions, while Jonas Reinhardt and Phil Manley explored the reaches of the synth-based universe. For those who prefer their drones more shoegazer-influenced, The Soft Moon, Young Prisms, and Moonbell crafted soaring textures from echo and distortion.
This 90-minute mix captures twenty-one Bay Area and Northern California artists who released new records this year in the diverse, but related, areas of psych, drone, shoegaze and post-rock. Follow each link to look back at our coverage of these artists in 2011.
Mixtape: SF Psych, Drone, and Shoegaze in 2011
Track Listing:
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2011-in-Review Mixtape: A Great Year for Bay Area Electronic Pop (Podcast #264)
December 22, 2011
Until the end of the year, we’ll be launching a series of mixtapes capturing a whole bunch of the great Bay Area releases from the past year. We’re kicking it off with this look at electronic pop.
As we first observed a little over a year ago, the Bay Area is a fertile place for musicians exploring the wide world of electronic pop. From bands like Exray’s, Mwahaha, Melted Toys, and Phantom Kicks, to one-man projects like Speculator, Parentz (a reader informs us Parentz is now a two-person group), Tycho, and Swiftumz, synths played a big role in the sounds emanating from many corners of the Bay this year.
This 90-minute mix captures over twenty Bay Area and Northern California artists who released new records this year, and showcases exciting, envelope-pushing work in a number of diverse sounds. Follow each link to look back at our coverage of Bay Area electronic pop in 2011.
Mixtape: SF Electronic Pop in 2011 (Podcast 264)
Track Listing:
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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.
