The Knife took the stage in Oakland last night to a packed house. It was the second of two back to back shows, sandwiched between Coachella appearances. The group gave fans a taste of their progressive and experimental synth pop, performing many of their tracks from their fourth studio album, Shaking The Habitual. Check out below their video for “A Tooth For An Eye.”
We’ve been eagerly awaiting Yesway’s album ever since we were introduced to their single “Woahocean.” With the self-titled album’s release date (June 3rd) nearing, the best friend duo of Emily Ritz and Kacey Johansing have released today one of its singles entitled, “Howlin’ Face.” Their sound wanders into the avant-guard realms inhabited by Dirty Projectors and Animal Collective‘s fluttering and playful vocal styles, and cooly returns with almost ambient tones and rhythms befitting for a folky Chillout Session.
Kacey, in addition to a budding solo career following the release of her Grand Ghosts LP last year, has lent her talents to projects such as Geographer (watch “Wake With Me” here), while Emily is an active member of the band DRMS. Four years ago, the two began playing music together in the experimental folk ensemble Honeycomb, which initiated their path toward growing and weaving their creative song writing and soulful expression into a power duo.
They’re currently on tour, but have no planned to dates to perform in the Bay Area as of yet.
Between songs at The Chapel’s packed Thursday night show, Future Islands front man Samuel Herring relayed his first thought upon entering the venue, “Oh, we’re going to fuck this place up.” The crowd cheered; and he would deliver on his words. The Baltimore trio (quartet with touring drummer Denny Bowen) has been playing together for ten years and has amassed a loyal pack of fans through energetic, impassioned, leave-your-guts-on-the-stage performances.
That is, Herring’s performances primarily. The placid backing band lets their instruments do the talking; Garrit Welmers’ varied synth orchestration is often euphoric to the point of overjoy, while William Cashion’s driving fuzz bass is a certain catalyst for head banging. The unique combination of sounds occupies the nether region of electric pop and hardcore punk, hitting a sweet spot for an audience that can’t decide if it wants to mosh or get funky.
Herring is the ringleader of this circus—his operatic persona is an arresting combination of extremely affecting gestures and a rich baritone voice that shifts violently from croon to growl. Read More
The first time I interviewed Ed Schrader was in 2007 for a college radio show. During our hour-long chat he spoke in a fake British accent, spent most of the interview talking effusively about David Bowie and brought a girl who he claimed was his manager, but turned out to be a fellow student of mine.
Interviewing him this week at a café in San Francisco a couple of blocks from The Chapel, where he was set to open for Future Islands that evening, was an entirely different affair. In lieu of a fake manager he was accompanied by bassist Devlin Rice, the other half of his musical project Ed Schrader’s Music Beat. He spoke slower and quieter than he has in the past; the manic edge to his voice was gone. But his face beamed whenever he talked about the music he and Rice have created together. While Schrader holds on to much of the tongue-in-cheek humor that made him such a wonderful character, his music can now speak on its own.
In the seven intervening years since our first interview, I’ve seen Schrader perform in countless roles in Baltimore; he hosted a fake Letterman-style variety show, he played John Hammond in a theatrical rendition of Jurassic Park, he did stand-up comedy. Read More
By Patrick Czapla
In 2006, I went to my first show with a couple of friends on a Saturday afternoon. Five or six bands were playing that night at a tiny coffee shop in Valparaiso, Indiana. For some that was their first show, for others it was the biggest show they would ever play (there were about 30 people jammed into the shop around stacked tables) and then there was La Dispute.
A five person band, featuring one local and four guys from Grand Rapids, Michigan, stood out from the rest of the bands. By that I mean that when the lead singer’s microphone died mid-set, he just jumped into the crowd and started yelling all of his lyrics as loud as he could with anyone who was singing along. Talk about making a first impression: I loved it, and I hold that moment responsible for me spending most subsequent weekends in coffee shops, garages and bars going to whatever show looked most interesting. Read More
Oakland Drops Beats is downtown Oakland’s first ever music crawl. Spanning from 2 pm into the night, within a five block radius, including 10 different locations, and over 25 Oakland bands and event producers, the free and all ages event kicks off next Saturday, April 19th. Beginning at 2:00 on the outdoor stage at 15th St. and Webster with performances by youth non-profit organizations Youth Radio, Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, and Today’s Future Sound.
Earlier this week, Jamie xx released a video for his upcoming single “Sleep Sound.” The London based producer, better known for his work in the band The xx, may have met his creative–visual–match in Sofia Mattioli. At the beginning, the director explains her video’s muse, ”I was on a train listening to music, getting deep into it, and this girl started staring at me. After a while I took my headphones off and she came up to me, started signing and then wrote me a note to say that she was deaf but could almost feel the music by my movement.” Over the course of a day, Mattioli danced with 13 members of the Manchester Deaf Centre, letting the music’s vibrations and her gestures guide their performance. The result is an exploration of “how music can be created by only having silence and creating sound with the use of imagination.”
The single will be featured on a 12″ that is scheduled to be released May 12th off of Young Turks.
Read More
Today is a big day for San Francisco festival goers: Outside Lands’ full lineup has been announced. The city’s love it or hate it festival (we lean to the former) is set to return this August 8th-10th bringing together the Bay Area’s hednosists’ offerings of everything artisan made by artisan for artisan palates. Food trucks with brick ovens, wine made forty miles north, south and east, beer that flows every different river of the IPA and what is sure to be an eclectic billing of artists–will fill the city’s Golden Gate park yet again for what is undoubtedly one of our favorite weekends of the year.
The festival has been leaking clues to the full lineup over the last few weeks through its Instagram profile. Before today, fans had been tipped that Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers, Jagawar Ma, Gold Panda, Flaming Lips, Phosphorescent, Ben Howard, HAIM, SBTRKT, Kacey Musgraves, Local Natives, Run the Jewels (El-P and Killer Mike), Spoon, Lykke Li, Chromeo, Atmosphere and Paolo Nutini.
Today the festival announced that the lineup also includes Kanye West, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Killers, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Tiësto and more. See the full list below: Read More
Yes its Sunday and many of us have to work tomorrow, but lets look on the bright side. It’s a beautiful day in SF, Game of Thrones returns tonight and we have some great new music to listen to!
First up is Craft Spells new track “Breaking the Angle Against the Tide.” The Seattle-based indie pop rock act has roots in Northern California, and I am really digging the mellow lyrics along with surf-inspired guitar and string instrument sections.
Next is an emerging LA based pop duo called SIREN. I heard them for the first time today and I immediately looked to see when I might be able to catch them here in SF. No planned shows yet but I am definitely interested in hearing more and seeing how the sound translates in a live venue. “I Think I Like You” too SIREN.
One last track for electronic fans from Chrome Sparks. “Goddess” is the title track off his album which drops April 22. A dynamic track that starts out pretty mellow then hits you with some heavy riffs. If you haven’t already, check out his “Fixtape” that we shared a few days ago. (An awesome morning mix.)
Any suggestions on songs we should check out? Post it in the comments below.
Friday night Seattle production group Odesza took the stage at the Independent in front of a sold out crowd that packed closely to the front to catch a glimpse. The electronic duo of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight teamed up in 2012 while attending Western Washington University, and have a generated a style of flowing ambient melodies and electronic beats that are heavy on pitch changes. Like most acts that come off more mellow in recordings, Odesza’s live takes their music to a higher, more immersive level. Both Mills and Knight would pump up their set by switching between a beat machine and drum pads to build the rhythms. The crowd’s response brought the dance floor alive with dancers.