Faux Ferocius, SAFE, Spencer Owen @ The Night Light tonight, 5/15/13

May 15, 2013 by Russell Jelinek · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Bay Area Bands, Mp3, News, Show Preview, Video

The Night Light in Oakland offers a great lineup tonight, with Nashville lo-fi pop band Faux Ferocious as the announced headliners, but with a “Surprise Special Guest” playing last. It will also sadly be the second to last Bay Area show for Chris Edley, aka SAFE, before he moves to Vermont. Spencer Owen rounds out the lineup, and the show will be MC’ed by Joel Robinow (keyboardist for Howlin’ Rain).

Below, watch SAFE’s video for “Treason”, a track Edley says he wrote and recorded in 15 minutes, along with Owen’s Knock and Rock performance of “It Work”. Owen, whom we’ve mentioned here previously, will be play The Night Light without his band The Timeshare, but as the hilarious yet touching video for “It Work” shows, he can nail a solo performance. A sampling of Faux Ferocious’ music, full show details, and some info on SAFE’s final gig follow.

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Video: The Soft Moon – “Want”

May 14, 2013 by Lauren Espina · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Bay Area Bands, News, Video

The Soft Moon recently dropped the video for “Want,” offering visuals that are as disorienting and restless as the music itself. Paired with layered, frenzied rhythms and whispered repetitions of “I want it, can’t have it,” the video follows the erratic experiences of a hooded man, who, after inexplicably breaking and entering into a house and snorting white powder in a dirty bathroom with some random girl, has his most uneasy moment when he scrawls “What’s wrong with me?” on the bathroom wall. It plays like a drug-induced scary movie in just under four minutes, so click play if you enjoy sweaty palms and quick bursts of suspense.

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Pickathon celebrates its 15th anniversary with Ty Segall and Jessica Pratt, August 2013

May 14, 2013 by Lauren Espina · 1 Comment »
Filed Under Bay Area Bands, News, Video

Photo by John Keel

If the idea of festival juggernauts like Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo stresses you out despite your appetite for the elongated thrill of a three-day party, Pickathon is a perfect alternative. Located at the Pendarvis Farm in Oregon, fifteen minutes outside of Portland, the festival is held not at a small venue, but at one of the most intimate settings there are for a large musical gathering. While offering the same escape as more mainstream festivals – on-site camping, seven stages designed to transport audiences into different realities (seriously, pictured above are The Barr Brothers performing on the Woods Stage at last year’s festival), and a diverse, genre-spanning lineup – the festival is wrapped up in a stress-free, family-friendly package. This includes limited capacity attendance, designated smoking areas, free water, a special lineup prepared just for children’s entertainment and free entry for kids under twelve.

This year marks the gathering’s 15th anniversary, so Pickathon 2013 is bringing some big names to the Pendarvis Farm from August 2nd through the 4th. With artists like Feist, Andrew Bird, Divine Fits and the rock and rollers of Kurt Vile & the Violators already filling out the bill, the festival recently announced new additions to the lineup – gospel funk legends The Relatives and San Francisco’s own Jessica Pratt and Ty Segall. For more information, head over to Pickathon’s official website and check out footage from Pickathon 2012 in the very first episode of Pickathon TV for a taste of what you can expect at this year’s festival.

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Review & Photos: Man or Astro-man?, Terry Malts, Chuckleberries @ Bimbo’s, 5/11/13

May 14, 2013 by M B L · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Bay Area Bands, Coming to the Bay, News, Show Coverage, Show Photos, Show Reviews

Stardate 1993, planet ‘aLaBaMa’, Man or Astro-man? are born. 2013, flying via rental ship (their rocket ship broke down somewhere about 1/2 way to LA), they land 60 Earth minutes late at Bimbos 365. In decent English they report great losses of equipment in the aftermath, yet it didn’t stop them from lighting a theremin on fire.

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Review & Photos: Jim James @ The Fillmore, 5/12/13

May 14, 2013 by Emily Turner · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Coming to the Bay, News, Show Coverage, Show Photos, Show Reviews

On Sunday night, May 12, Jim James floated onto the Fillmore stage looking like he had just been electrocuted. His mess of hair and beard frizzed wildly in every direction and his crazy-eyed stare poured into each fan in the front row, one by one, as he reached out to touch their fingertips – and then bowed to the crowd in Namaste. His humble entrance was endearing, and kind of hilarious. His wide-eyed stare got comically creepy after piercing my soul for a few seconds too long and about two feet away from my face, but it was obvious he appreciated the audience contact as he sauntered back and forth across the stage and sang into the crowd.

After penning six respectable studio albums with his claim to fame My Morning Jacket, a one-LP stint with stellar supergroup Monsters of Folk, and two cover albums (of George Harrison and Woody Guthrie, respectively) under the pseudonym Yim Yames, James released a solo album of original tracks, Regions of Light and Sound of God, in February of this year. Incorporating his saxophone skills and a four-piece live band to back him up, the new album is much more jazz-influenced and ostentatious than his folky past, though his Louisville southern twang remains.

James opened Sunday’s set with the first track from said LP, “State of the Art (A. E. I. O. U.)”, and staggered through the majority of the album with a somewhat manic rock star swagger. The bluesy “Actress” and “All is Forgiven” stood out while the artist flailed around stage, and the sentimentally cosmic lyrics of “A New Life” (“there’s more stardust when you’re near”) made the track one of my favorites. Throughout the two-hour set, the artist traded off between his Flying V (which otherwise sat locked onto a stand), an acoustic guitar, a brassy saxophone, and he went hands-free to belt in his notorious falsetto. He’d take breaks between songs to acknowledge the golden bear statue enshrined on the amp behind him and did an spirited praise dance (or something) with it. This, combined with the Namaste greeting, made his set seem like some ritualistic offering to the gods of rock and roll. Strange, but I can dig it.

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San Francesca at Brick and Mortar 5/16/13, video premiere imminent

May 14, 2013 by Jody Amable · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Bay Area Bands, Mp3, News, Show Preview

As a last hurrah before they take a break from live shows, San Jose’s San Francesca will be powering down with a performance at Brick and Mortar this Thursday, 5/16/13 with Religious Girls and Split Screens. The show comes as an informal farewell before they take time off from playing to work on a new record.

San Francesca will also be premiering a video with San Jose’s Content Magazine in the very near future to tide fans over until the record. The video will also come with a free download of the new song…stay tuned.

Religious Girls, San Francesca, Split Screens, The Hoot Hoots
Brick and Mortar Music Hall
May 16th, 2013
9pm, $10

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Save The Amanda! compilations out now (support a good cause while rocking out)

May 13, 2013 by Mike G. · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Bay Area Bands, Mp3, New Release, News

Amanda McCabe is a big music fan. In fact, she’s more than a fan – she interned at Sub Pop Records, was a VP at Buried Treasure Records, and created album artwork for Birds & Batteries, Garrett Pierce, and David Dondero.

So when she came down with a rare form of scoliosis, the musicians she has worked with over the years decided they had to help. And thus was born the Save The Amanda! compilations: 40 tracks by some of the best bands from the Bay Area and beyond, including Tartufi, Radiation City, Mike Sempert (of Birds & Batteries), John Vanderslice, Future Twin, and many more.



Amanda is about to begin a new course of treatment at the Mayo Clinic Spine Center in Florida, and 100 percent of the proceeds from these comps will be going to help her cover the cost. So this is a win/win/win: Amanda gets help with her medical expenses, the bands get their new, unreleased, or live tracks out there, and you get 40 killer tunes for just $10 for each volume (or more, if you’re feeling generous).

Steam and buy the Save The Amanda! comps right here:

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