The Bay Bridged – San Francisco Bay Area Indie Music

Ticket Giveaway Wednesday: Detroit Cobras, This Charming Band, Twin Shadow

Flaming Lips interview - Photo by Paige K Parsons

Interview: Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd discuss ‘The Terror,’ the evolution of their live show and much more

Premiere: DSTVV – “Healing Enargy Crystels”; cassette out 5/28/13 on Wormhole Records

This Week in SF: Picks and a Mix for 5/20-5/26/13

Totimoshi @ Annie’s Social Club, Saturday

June 26, 2009 by Ben Richardson · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under News

Photo by Peter Chen
Enigmatic but electrifying, Alameda’s Totimoshi turned heads with 2006′s Ladron (Crucial Blast/Volcom). Having released 2008′s Milagrosa (Volcom), the trio teeter on the brink of something bigger, ready to take their idiosyncrasies to the top along with a catalogue full of grungy, jagged stoner rock. Co-conspirators in The Melvins and Helmet are important influences and tourmates, with Melvins producer Toshi Kasai (now of Big Business) presiding over the new record along with Helmet frontman Page Hamilton.

The tunes are an affecting mix of power and subtly, counterposing guitarist Antonio Aguilar’s skittering licks and declamatory vocals against the thrumming bass and booming drums of Meg Castellanos and Chris Fuggit. Employing both crackling fuzz and enveloping warmth, the band is equally adept at stomping riffs and sly interludes, always delivering an entertaining show, particularly during Aguilar’s energetic solos. Annie’s small confines will provide an intimate look at a promising band (with only one show scheduled this summer), so sidle up to the rock while you still can.

sound_the_horn.mp3

Totimoshi – Sound the Horn

w/ Dusted Angel, Black Skies (NC), Hashishians
9pm, $8
Annie’s Social Club

Heavyweight Dub Champion and Sly & Robbie – June 18th

June 26, 2009 by Jake Butler · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Feature Article, News, Show Reviews

HDC
If you know of Sly & Robbie (and god help me if you don’t), without ever hearing Heavyweight Dub Champion, you’d probably assume that based on their name they’d be a perfect match to tour together.Â While it is true they are a perfect match, it isn’t immediately apparent when HDC drops the beat.Â They’re more of an odd couple – HDC playing OscarÂ their party-rockin’, loose and layered style and Sly & Robbie as Felix with their we’ve-been-playing-for-years-and-have-a-super-tight-sound, consummate professional and always classic riddim onslaught.

For their homecoming show, HDC featured the backbone of the group, Grant Chambers (aka Resurrector), working the console onstage, Totter Todd on a midi guitar, sax, in addition to tossing in a healthy dose of effects, Stero-Lion holding down the toasting and adding verses to a few tracks, and finally Jillian Ann not only providing beautiful vocals but the good looks as well.

Despite being a hometown affair, it took a couple songs for the crowd to warm up to Heavyweight’s warped, bent, filtered, and flipped-on-it’s-head flavor of dubstep/dub hop.Â The positive grooving of the crowd spread like the smoke from the numerous joints and/or blunts that lit up throughout the crowd.Â During the first song there were 15-20 people really getting down, but by the third song of their set they had damn near the whole building swaying and bobbing.Â In an awesomely awkward moment I noticed a 50+ year old couple who looked like they made the trip from Russian Hill grinding…yes grinding…and making out on the dancefloor.Â Most definitely awkward, but awesome seeing the music transcend ages both older and younger.

[More...]

Show Preview: Heavyweight Dub Champion @ the Independent, Thurs Jun 18

A Rock Journalist Needs Your Help

June 26, 2009 by Michael Pistorio · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under News

The Red Devil Lounge is hosting a benefit show for Paul Williams, this Sunday June 28th.

OK, I hear you. Youâ€™re asking, “Who is Paul Williams?” and “Why would I go to a benefit show?”

Paul was the founder of Crawdaddy Magazine, and has likely seen more amazing shows, met more interesting people, and written 20 more books that any of us ever will.

So again, you ask, “Why would I want to benefit a guy who seems to have picked the world of its tastiest fruit?”

Well, Paul was in a terrible bike accident in 1995 that left him with serious brain injury and resulting dementia. He’s thankfully still alive, but the cost of care is sky high.

Sunday’s benefit show will donate 100% of the proceeds to his family, and features performances by Mark Eitzel, former Dead Kennedys front man Jello Biafra, and Mojo Nixon. The show will be hosted by rock journalist Ben Fong-Torres.

Sunday June 28th, $20. Doors @ 8pm. More info at RedDevilLounge.com.

Cursive returns to SF with Mama, I’m Swollen

June 26, 2009 by Brian Davidson · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Mp3, News, Video

Cursive

cursive_mamaimswollen.mp3
Cursive – “Mama, I’m Swollen”

The boys of Cursive have made a comfortable name for themselves as a sophisticated and intelligent group of musicians and lyricists, a reputation that reaches its pinnacle on the group’s newest album, Mama, I’m Swollen, released in March by Saddle Creek. The band will be playing at the Great American Music Hall on Saturday the 27th.

Tim Kasher possesses a talent for storytelling, through which he offers an intimate attempt to make sense of life’s bigger picture. The search for life’s meaning undoubtedly influences all music and art, but Cursive seems to offer an even closer look at life’s emotional subtleties. In other words, the new album is thought-provoking, forcing the listener to not only listen to the album over and over, but to take a second look at him or herself as well.

I Couldn’t Love You from Cursive on Vimeo.

[More...]

Choose your price for fifth XBXRX LP Un Usper

June 26, 2009 by Nicole L. Browner · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Mp3, News

Un Usper
In this modern day of age, it’s not uncommon for a band to practically give you their music and ask for you, the listener, to choose how much it’s worth to you. Well, XBXRX is no exception — they, like Radiohead, NIN and many smaller bands — have put their newest record up on the web for a suggested donation.

03-See-Skies.mp3
XBXRX – “See Skies”

Un Usper is the fifth record from Oakland’s collective unit, who wrote, produced then released the record themselves earlier this month. Not far from the seed Lightning Bolt planted, Un Usper unveils itself as 12 songs and 23 minutes of freeform cyber punk with exuberant rhyme. And, does the ambiguously aquatic cover design not call to mind the fine literature of Eric Carle?

No Related Posts

Themselves Release Free Mixtape

June 25, 2009 by Meghan Logue · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Mp3, News

Themselves - Photo by: Mathew Scott

Themselves - Take to the King
Themselves – “Take to the King”

Following a six year recording hiatus, Doseone and Jel of hip-hop duo Themselves have released theFREEhoudini.Â The 39-minute single track mixtape features guest performances from Themselvesâ€™ label mates Aesop Rock, Buck 65 and cLOUDDEAD just to name a few. Â TheFREEhoudini is available for free download for a limited time. Â You can also pre-order the limited edition CD version – which features fifteen minutes of bonus audio – on Anticons website.