2/27/2011
NOISE POP day six
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NOISE POP day five
NOISE POP day five
Read more / PermalinkThe Growlers @ Bottom of The Hill
The Growlers @ Bottom of The Hill
Read more / Permalink2/26/2011
Noise Pop day four
The Black Ryder came out with a projected light show. They are an Australian band. But they have been bringing their brand of gothic rock to the people here in the States. They have played in SF a few times this year, and recently in LA too. Aimee and Scott both handle the vocal duties. Their songs have shoegazing jangly guitars and strong basslines. At the end it is a heavy experience.
Tamaryn is a newer band who is making a mark already. Their original sounds have captivated many people. I have included a video in a previous post and will let the music speak for itself. They will be on tour with the Raveonettes. That is a show that is not to be missed.
Noise Pop day four
Read more / Permalink2/24/2011
The Black Ryder @ Cafe du Nord tomorrow
The Black Ryder @ Cafe du Nord tomorrow Feb 25th w/ TAMARYN (NOISE POP)
The Black Ryder @ Cafe du Nord tomorrow
Read more / PermalinkNOISE POP day one
NOISE POP day one
Read more / Permalink2/21/2011
San Francisco: Noise Pop 2011
Noise Pop starts tomorrow. Some great shows coming up this week are:
Feb 22nd: Yo Lo Tengo @ Fox Oakland
Feb 23rd: Versus @ Du Nord
Feb 24th: The Stone Foxes @ Independent
Feb 25th: The Concretes @ Rickshaw
Feb 25th: Tamaryn + The Black Ryder @ Café du Nord
Feb 26th: Best Coast + Wavves @ Regency
Feb 26th: How To Dress Well @ Café du Nord
Feb 27th: Fresh and Onlys @ Bottom of the Hill
San Francisco: Noise Pop 2011
Read more / Permalink2/19/2011
Surfer Blood secret show/house party
SURFER BLOOD is in town and will be playing a house party in LA. More details later.
Surfer Blood secret show/house party
Read more / Permalink2/17/2011
The Octopus Project: west coast tour
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The Octopus Project: west coast tour
Read more / PermalinkEsben and The Witch: Next Big Things 2011
Esben and The Witch is one of the bands in @SPINmagazine SPIN's 11 Next Big Things for 2011. Bands include Lykke Li, DOM, Esben and The Witch, Smith Westerns, MNDR.
Ebsen and The Witch will be playing in LA at the Bootleg Theater on March 22nd, 2011.
Esben and The Witch: Next Big Things 2011
Read more / Permalink2/16/2011
Alessi's Ark TIME TRAVEL
Alessi's Ark will be coming out with a second album on April 25th, 2011. TIME TRAVEL will the first American release for the 20 year old Alessi Laurent-Marke from London. She has just played a show this past week with Sharon Van Etten and will be playing in Europe with John Grant. Alessi's Ark will also be at SXSW this year. And hopefully we will be seeing a world tour this year.
The first album from Alessi's Ark, Notes From The Treehouse, came out two years ago. That was a lush production done in Omaha, Nebraska with Mike Mogis. That record was done many years ago. TIME TRAVEL was recorded in Brighton and Wales. Alessi's Ark has played many shows in the past two years in the UK and Europe, and even a few in America. I got to hear this new album recently. I am not sure if I was hearing the final mixes. But even though I love the first album, I like the stripped down, direct feel of the new album too. The first album had a few songs that had orchestral parts, that were impossible to recreate live. Alessi's Ark has performed solo and with a band as well. TIME TRAVEL has songs that are immediate, bare, and raw. They could work in a solo intimate way, but also with a full band atmosphere. I imagine that all the songs on this album will somehow make it into the live set, where some early songs on the first album like "Magic Weather" and "Glendora" never made it to the live show.
Alessi's Ark TIME TRAVEL
Read more / Permalink2/14/2011
KUSF radio station 90.3 FM
KUSF 90.3 FM is an independent radio station based in San Francisco. If you spent any time in SF the past thirty years you are probably familiar with it. I have spent half my life in SF and my dad and my grandmother both lived and died there. My dad also went to Hollywood High, and went to gigs in SF at the Fillmore back during the summer of love. KUSF has a relationship to a city like no other radio station. It was the main station we listened to in the 1980s and 1990s before the internet, when you had to rely on radio as a major source for new bands.
KUSF is very similar to KXLU in LA. It is connected to a college. The DJs are both students and music aficionados. But the LA area has KROQ, KCRW, and plenty of interesting college radio stations who will play bands like No Age and Best Coast. SF only has the one station KUSF. There is some KROQ station there: it's cool if you like in Stockton. There are some college radio stations but you can't hear their signal in SF. San Francisco has a big radio vacuum.
When I moved back to SF in 1989, I worked several jobs. I lived a bohemian existence on barely any money at all. It was nice to hear a station like KUSF and win free tickets to shows in town. In the beginning of 1991, I lived on Divisadero Street, not far from the University of SF campus and the KUSF station. I would stay up late at night listen to the radio and winning tickets at 3 in the morning. I won tickets to see Superchunk, Nirvana, Psychic TV, and Soundgarden. I won a bunch of free records. The station definitely helped me.
I moved away in 1996, but a friend of mine became a DJ on KUSF. His name is DJ Stevil. I would listen to his show and look at his playlists, and there was a lot of interesting music being played on that station in the past ten years.
Recently KUSF sold it's signal to a classical radio station based in LA. If you have driven around the USA the past few years, you realize how the same corporations own all the stations and play the same middlebrow, consensual music. It's dire out there. The radio world ressembles the most monoculture envisioned by Stalin. No worthwhile bands like Arcade Fire or Smith Westerns are getting played in that scenario.
I write this all to say: I love the old KUSF. I wish that they keep the old quirky and funky format of unique voices.
--Alexander Laurence
KUSF radio station 90.3 FM
Read more / Permalink2/08/2011
Joseph Arthur @ Bootleg
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Joseph Arthur @ Bootleg
Read more / Permalink2/07/2011
2/06/2011
Sasquatch 2011 / May 27-30th
Foo Fighters | Death Cab for Cutie | Modest Mouse | Wilco | Flaming Lips (Performing The Soft Bulletin and more) | The Decemberists | Bright Eyes | Iron & Wine | Rodrigo Y Gabriela | Bassnectar | Robyn | Flogging Molly | Pink Martini | Cold War Kids | Old 97s | Ratatat | Wolf Parade | Chromeo | Guided by Voices | Yeasayer | Beach House | Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings | Local Natives | Matt & Kim | Deerhunter | MSTRKRFT | Trailer Park Boys | Sleigh Bells | Major Lazer | Das Racist | Flying Lotus | Skrillex | Fitz & the Tantrums | !!! | Archers of Loaf | Against Me! | The Thermals | Best Coast | CSS | Surfer Blood | Jenny & Johnny | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis | The Heart and the Heart | Bonobo (DJ set) | City and the Colour | Reggie Watts | K-os | Gayngs | Tim Minchin | The Drums | Sam Roberts Band | The Radio Dept. | Young the Giant | The Antlers | Moondoggies | Sharon Van Etten | Villagers | Stornoway | Aloe Blacc | Black Mountain | Rival Schools | Noah and the Whale | Smith Westerns | Secret Sisters | Twin Shadow | Wye Oak | Tig Notaro | Wheedle's Groove | Alberta Cross | Foster the People | S. Carey | White Denim | Washed Out | Gold Panda | Dan Mangan | Axis of Awesome | The Gloves | Cotton Jones | Jaill | Mad Rad | Basia Bulat | Other Lives | The Bronx | Rebecca Gates | White Arrows | Pepper Rabbit | Talkdemonic | The Young Evils | and more
Sasquatch 2011 / May 27-30th
Read more / Permalink2/01/2011
School of Seven Bells @ Conga Room tonight
SVIIB @ conga room 9pm tonight, Feb 1st, 2011
School of Seven Bells @ Conga Room tonight
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