Live This Month: May 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #305)
May 1, 2013
Live This Month: May 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #305)
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.
Few recent artists have transitioned from lo-fi to hi-fi better than Kurt Vile, whose latest album, Wakin on a Pretty Daze, is another winner from the Philly-based musician, full of long, languid songs that feel spacious but not aimless. A sense of space also guides Clinic‘s psych-pop offering Free Reign; in fact, the group just released an alternate collection, Free Reign II, with the original album’s songs reconfigured in an appropriately mind-expanding fashion by Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin. More tightly constructed is Shout Out Louds‘ album Optica. The Swedish band’s new release fuses elements of disco and chamber pop into lively, addictive tunes.
Like Vile, Mikal Cronin is also making the move from low to high fidelity look easy. Cronin’s been making great music for a while now, solo and as a member of Moonhearts and Ty Segall’s band, but MCII, arriving on Merge Records, feels like the big screen debut of a real power pop talent. Meanwhile, Sacramento’s Tera Melos just released a new album of frenzied, mathy rock called X’ed Out and are embarking on a US tour to support. With new records also arriving recently from Cool Ghouls and Metal Mother, it’s certainly a busy time for Bay Area bands.
Enjoy the podcast and then go see some shows!
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Live This Month: April 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #303)
April 3, 2013
Live This Month: April 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #303)
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.
We’re due for an onslaught of anticipated new albums from Bay Area bands, and that outpouring begins this month with a number of the local artists we’ve included in this mix. Both Life Coach and Tartufi have gained members since their last records — Life Coach recently became a duo with the addition of The Mars Volta’s Jon Theodore on drums, while Tartufi gained a third member, bass player Ben Thorne (also of MINOT). On the garage rock front, we’ve included a selection from Shannon and the Clams‘ Dreams in the Rat House, which arrives in late May, and one from Burnt Ones‘ new album on Burger Records.
Plenty of reliably strong live performers are also touring through SF in April, including guitar wizard Marnie Stern, whose The Chronicles of Marnia has great songs as well as the best/most ridiculous title I’ve heard all year. If you’re more inclined toward country rock with an experimental twist, do check out Phosphorescent. I was really impressed by Matthew Houck’s band at South by Southwest; it’s a tight group of musicians who do great service to his rich songs. Finally, Telekinesis knows its way around a great indie pop song, and the band’s live shows find bandleader Michael Lerner drumming and singing with equal vigor.
Enjoy the podcast and then go see some shows!
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Live This Month: March 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #301)
March 6, 2013
Live This Month: March 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #301)
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.
With South by Southwest leading much of independent music to converge in Austin later this month, tons of bands are hitting the road. All of them, it would seem, are playing in the San Francisco Bay Area in March. Even if you aren’t going to SXSW this year, you can still catch plenty of buzzed-about acts, like Thurston Moore’s noisy new band Chelsea Light Moving, or the experimental electronic pop of Autre Ne Veut. Also touring are Veronica Falls, bringing top-notch jangle pop to the Rickshaw Stop, and Ducktails, the solo project of Real Estate guitarist Matt Mondanile.
Things are a bit quieter on the local front — what with the many bands gone on Austin-bound tours — but there are still notable highlights. Led by Hether Fortune (also of Blasted Canyons), Oakland’s Wax Idols is celebrating the release of Discipline & Desire this month; the album’s coming in April on the always reliable Slumberland Records. Meanwhile, Cruel Summer has been wowing our writers for over a year now, and the band’s prepping for the release of its debut EP.
Enjoy the podcast and then go see some shows!
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Live This Month: February 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #298)
January 31, 2013
Live This Month: February 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #298)
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.
With the twenty-first annual Noise Pop Festival taking over Bay Area venues during the last week of the month, February is already guaranteed to offer plenty of tempting local concerts. We’ll be previewing Noise Pop extensively on the podcast soon, but this collection of songs shows that there are plenty of good options even before Noise Pop starts.
On the local front, “slop pop” specialists Cocktails are celebrating their debut EP with a strong all-local rock and roll bill, featuring Bay Bridged favorites Warm Soda and DSTVV, while The Stone Foxes are holding free performances on both sides of the Bay to promote Small Fires. We’re also excited to see the return of electronic pop duo Painted Palms, who have a new 7″ coming in March on Polyvinyl, and are performing this month at the Brick and Mortar Music Hall to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the monthly Wood Shoppe series.
Weird-pop titans Unknown Mortal Orchestra return to San Francisco this month, but we’re as intrigued by the bands they’re bringing with them. Especially Foxygen, a psych-pop duo who call to mind UMO with their inventive spirit; the LA band’s new album, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic, has been getting rave reviews. Also promising is the return of The Ruby Suns, whose globetrotting bandleader Ryan McPhun relocated from New Zealand to Norway to make the rich synth-pop found on Christopher, the Suns’ fourth album.
Enjoy the podcast and then go see some shows!
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Live This Month: January 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #296)
January 2, 2013
Live This Month: January 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #296)
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.
Plenty of local bands are highlighted among this month’s picks, including Kowloon Walled City, a heavy SF quartet celebrating their new LP, Container Ships, with a show at the Hemlock Tavern this month. It’s a great bill from top to bottom, rounded out by SF psych rockers Golden Void and instrumental trio Minot. Meanwhile, after last year’s terrific Under Neon EP, Lenz is poised to release Ways To End A Day on 1-2-3-4 Go! Records in January. The band includes members of now-defunct Bay Area groups like The Cuts and Impediments, so it’s no surprise that Lenz’s songs are catchy as hell.
With last year’s Light Up Gold being re-released by What’s Your Rupture? this month, New York punk band Parquet Courts are headed on their first US tour; songs don’t come much nervier than “Borrowed Time,” which we’ve included in the mix. Unlike Parquet Courts, LA’s FIDLAR has been to the Bay Area numerous times before, delighting crowds with their rowdy surf punk. Their latest show is part of a cross-California jaunt coinciding with the launch of the band’s first self-titled LP.
Those highlights just scrape the surface, though, and fans of electronic pop, psychy prog rock, and folk music will also find plenty to enjoy in this mix. Enjoy the podcast and then go see some shows!
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Live This Month: December 2012 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #294)
November 28, 2012
Live This Month: December 2012 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #294)
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.
Few new albums and winter conditions mean that there’s a seasonal dip in the number of bands hitting the road and coming to town in December. A dip, however, doesn’t mean that there aren’t noteworthy highlights, including the return of former locals Moon Duo, whose latest LP, Circles, came out earlier this year. As luck would have it, Moon Duo’s Ripley Johnson is also playing SF with his other band, Wooden Shjips, this month, as part of a stacked anniversary show celebrating twenty years of Thrill Jockey Records. Speaking of anniversaries, David Bazan is revisiting Pedro the Lion’s newly-reissued 2002 album Control, performing the record in its entirety on his nationwide tour.
What’s perhaps most striking about this month, though, is how many great New Year’s Eve shows there are to consider this year, including the Nick Waterhouse, Tumbleweed Wanderers, and Howlin Rain performances highlighted below. There are plenty that aren’t represented in this mix too, like a Fresh & Onlys-topped bill at The Chapel, and a Terry Malts show at the Hemlock Tavern.
Finally, the show we’re personally most excited for this coming month is, of course, our annual rock and roll beer festival called The Bay Brewed 2012. With six great bands and 13 amazing breweries on hand, you really don’t want to miss this one.
Enjoy the mix and then go see some shows!
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Live This Month: November 2012 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #291)
October 31, 2012
Live This Month: November 2012 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #291)
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.
Who would have expected November to offer a slew of new releases from Bay Area bands? The month promises long-awaited new records — and local shows — from Maus Haus and Social Studies, as well as psychy new offerings from The Love Dimension and Golden Void (a new project that includes Earthless guitarist Isaiah Mitchell). And that list doesn’t even include the new albums and upcoming shows of Mark Eitzel and Tamaryn!
Yes, this mix is a little more local-heavy than normal, but the touring highlights include some big ones. Canadian trio METZ is touring behind a ton of buzz and a loud, rocking new album on Sub Pop, while Welsh band Future Of The Left is bringing their intense, energetic live show to Slim’s as part of a nationwide trip.
Enjoy the mix and then go see some shows!
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Live This Month: October 2012 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #289)
October 3, 2012
Live This Month: October 2012 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #289)
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.
Live music in the Bay Area in October means two big local music festivals in Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and Treasure Island, but smaller indoor temptations abound all month long. Chris Cohen has a resume full of involvement in great bands, including Deerhoof and Cryptacize, but his new solo album is an intimate work that ranks as one of this year’s highlights; we’re excited for his return to SF for a show later this month. Other compelling performers arriving in SF include Austin instrumental rock band Balmorhea and LA retro-pop act Allah-Las.
Also noteworthy: Corin Tucker and Laetitia Sadier emerged from indie royalty Sleater-Kinney and Stereolab with solo projects, and both are now touring in support of well-received new albums. Finally, an overview of great concerts this month simply won’t be complete without mentioning that John Dwyer’s pre-Oh-Sees band Coachwhips are reuniting for two nights of mayhem.
Enjoy the mix and then go see some shows!
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About the bands:
