Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

An album release is always cause for celebration. The Bay Area act Violet Hour's Cowardly Loins EP release extravaganza goes down tomorrow night at Bottom of the Hill. The somewhat illusive indie rock act, supposedly led by Le Duc Violet (along with other equally ostentatiously named creatures) and said to be influenced by Bowie and French surrealist painter Yves Tanguy, brings to mind playful,  glam 90s post-punk. Check out the band's description of its own sound below, it's pretty magical. Read more »

Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

They seem a plucky bunch: Nate Salman, Alex Siegel, Clayton Ernst, Sean Suess, Brijean Murphy, and Walker Johnson – a.k.a Berkeley's Waterstrider. The group, which somewhat formed in 2010 (but really got together this year), blends Afro-pop and synthesizers – and yet manages to sound authentic. Perhaps the intimacy of the Berkeley co-ops helped shape the sound; this is a six-person collective that is in-tune with itself, though the current lineup has only been together about a month. What they've accomplished in such a short amount of time is the main reason they're here in Localized Appreesh.

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Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

You know that feeling when you're aware you're hearing a song for the first time, yet it feels as though it's always been there? It's new-to-you but there's something familiar, reassuring – it just works right, pinging back and forth through your ear drums and pulsating brain muscle. That's how I felt when I first listened to the cool swagger of San Francisco's the Soft White Sixties. The hard rocking quintet, formed by Mexican-American singer-songwriter Octavio Genera, has a real tight grip (full disclosure, “real tight  grip” is a lyric from SWS's song “Too Late”) on classic Seventies rock'n'roll – with all the shoulder-shaking percussion, the bluesy rock riffs, and Genera's soul-tinged Southern rock bravado. Read more »

Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

The voice of Billie Holiday blended with a drop of folk and an electro-infused ka-pow of Afro-pop. It's the stuff of dreams, isn't it? Sort of. Dreams, besides being the mind's subconscious porthole, is a new East Bay indie supergroup. Lead by Emily Ritz (of Honeycomb and Yesway) and keyboardist Rob Shelton (of the Moanin Dove) and backed by steel guitar, vibraphone, and a hand-held rhythm section (along with drums), the group skips through genres, time, and traditional percussion expectations. Read more »

Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news during those seven days is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

Last fall, eclectic new folk act the 21st Century was given the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance to record with legendary producer Stephen Short  (the former owner of Trident Studios who has worked with David Bowie, the Clash, Paul McCartney, Queen, Echo and the Bunnymen et. al.). The Bay Area eight-to-nine piece was thrilled but too broke to cover all the costs of making the album, plus, there were travel commitments (Short is based in Texas). Read more »

Some weeks feel so long (thanks a lot Week After Labor Day), you just need another spirited kick in the proverbial ass. So I give you, a second Localized Appreesh this week: Rank/Xerox. The San Francisco punk trio – known for its connections with bands such as Grass Widow (friends/split cassette tape output), and for its other creative endeavors (DIY labels, Web-based videozine Mondo Vision, eye-catching graphic illustrations) – comes from a long tradition of reputable underground punk and arty post-punk, much of which was hatched in San Francisco (Flipper) and London (Wire). Read more »

Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news during those seven days is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

The Jaunting Martyrs were chosen for Localized Appreesh because the seven-piece band has a great, thoroughly San Franciscan in spirit, show this week and it could use your attention: Kimo's tonight (Tuesday) with Fierce Bad Rabbit, Wesley Woo, Halftime Heros. Read more »

Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

Let's get this out of the way: the boys behind Religious Girls are neither pious, nor female. They are however, worthy of your time, ear drums, and ultimately, devotion. I mean, the band once described itself as "spider-jazz clusterfuck" ---- which is why I'm naming Religious Girls our first Localized Appreesh (you'll see a different local music act in this slot every week). The Oakland-based arty noise trio bestows upon listeners a synth-y wave of gurgling keyboard, waterfalling beeps, and crashing drums. The vocals are repetitive, tribal, soothing; for the most part lacking actual words. Like a more ambient Battles.

If you want to see Religious Girls with Born Gold and Part Time for free* this week, then scroll down below the quick and dirty bio:

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