SFBG ›

Noise title=

Noise Pop 2013: !!!, White Arrows, the Mallard at Great American Music Hall

03.01.13 - 2:41 pm | Ryan Prendiville |
(0)
Nic Offer of !!! at Great American Music Hall. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
Offer requests audience participation. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
Then flaps his wings. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
And cops a feel on himself. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
!!! at Noise Pop 21. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
The Mallard at Great American Music Hall. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
White Arrows, back to back at Great American Music Hall. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
More White Arrows. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
The Yellow Dogs made it to Great American Music Hall. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
The Yellow Dogs play Noise Pop. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.

It's hard to be Nic Offer. Not because he's a tortured artist struggling with celebrity or some other cliche, but because he busts it on stage in a way that's difficult to match. A couple songs into !!!/Chk Chk Chk's Noise Pop show at the Great American Music Hall last night, the lead singer and number one dancer hustled along the row of tables between the crowd and the stage. "I need my catwalk," he said, picking up all the glasses, water cups, and beer bottles along the way. Read more »

Eagle beer bust to relaunch on Sun/3: Leathermen and friends rejoice! (UPDATED)

03.01.13 - 9:24 am | Marke B. |
(3)

UPDATE: We've just received word that this is not the official weekly relaunch -- just a one time beer bust until more changes can be completed (hopefully very soon). But all are welcome on Sunday. Scratch that -- new owners Mike and Alex have just confirmed that they've passed inspection and the Eagle will be officially open for business starting this Saturday night! 

It's been a long time coming, but many months, a new roof, and several opening postponements later, we have it on great authority that that great bastion of drunken leather biker rock 'n roll whorishness, the SF Eagle, civic institution of the highest blackout magnitude, is back.

And what better kickoff than the return of its legendary beer bust on Sun/3, celebrating the coronation of our new Mr. San Francisco Leather?

Read more »

Noise Pop 2013: R. Stevie Moore is cool, plays Bottom of the Hill

02.28.13 - 2:52 pm | Ryan Prendiville |
(1)
R. Stevie Moore, and his blue beard, at Bottom of the Hill. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
R. Stevie Moore plays it cool. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
Noise Pop with R. Stevie Moore. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
Goodbye to Blue Beard. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
Fresh and Onlys at Bottom of the Hill. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
Fresh and Onlys at Bottom of the Hill. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
Burnt Ones at Bottom of the Hill. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.
Burnt Ones at Bottom of the Hill. Photo by Ryan Prendiville.

R. Stevie Moore is cool. When was the last time you saw a 60-odd-year-old* man standing on stage shouting "where my bitches at" and repeated calls of "swag"? That kind of thing never happens.** (Though it did last night at the Noise Pop show at Bottom of the Hill with Moore, Fresh and Onlys, Plateaus, and Burnt Ones). Read more »

Noise Pop 2013: Cruel Summer, Lake, and the Blank Tapes at Hemlock

02.28.13 - 11:35 am | Emily Savage |
(0)
Cruel Summer with the Noise Pop backdrop. Photo by Marcus Klatt.
Cruel Summer's Chani Hawthorn. Photo by Marcus Klatt.
Cruel Summer's Thea Chacamaty. Photo by Marcus Klatt.
Eli Moore of Lake at the Hemlock Photo by Marcus Klatt.
Lake at the Hemlock. Photo by Marcus Klatt.
Lake's Ashley Eriksson. Photo by Marcus Klatt.
Lake at the Hemlock. Photo by Marcus Klatt.
Eriksson's turn on lead vocals. Photo by Marcus Klatt.
Matt Adams of the Blank Tapes at the Hemlock. Photo by Marcus Klatt.
The Blank Tapes' Pearl Charles. Photo by Marcus Klatt.

It's a low-key kind of Noise Pop year compared to the past three or four, without the huge, attention-grabbing headliners of yore  (looking at you, Flaming Lips at Bimbo's), but Wednesday's show at the Hemlock Tavern could have been nuzzled in nicely in any very early NP lineups, which is what made it feel authentically true to the inherent spirit of the festival.

No pomp or glitz, no big names or sold-out, packed-to-the-gills chaos. I initially went to see Olympia, Wash.'s Lake, a twee, lo-fi indie pop quartet with great hooks, but found much enjoyment out of the two bands that sandwiched that act (Cruel Summer and Blank Tapes), perhaps even more so? Read more »

Nite Trax: Is Beatport the new Wal-Mart of techno?

02.27.13 - 12:23 pm | Marke B. |
(3)

When I heard that super-popular, infuriatingly designed dance music download site Beatport had partnered with Shazam earlier this month, I wanted to write something about how the valuable mystery of the underground might be compromised by anyone being able to hold a phone up to immediately identify and download a track. And then I wanted to contrast some of the fun measures DJs might take to prevent their tracklists (one of the few proprietary things left that can really distinguish a good DJ) from being exposed, with the simple joy of finally stumbling upon a song you'd been looking for for 22 years that instantly projects you into your gloriously wasted youth because yay Internet. The partnership might not be so bad, after all, if it leads to new discoveries and interesting subversions.

Beatport has a lot of crappy mainstream tracks on it, and the back catalogue is incredibly spotty, but it has some great stuff, too, and it's giant. (I go there once in a while to hear what a sizable audience is listening to and catch up on new releases.) And it does at least nominally reward musicmakers with some money and exposure, an opportunity to sell their handmade bedroom creations. It's kind of like Etsy for pimply boys. If Beatport-Shazam helps people find and buy some great new tracks, then fine. I also remember how cute the Denver-based Beatport was in the beginning, its candy-raver-like representatives handing me alien-looking free download credit cards at Pride and Love Parade and the Detroit Electronic Music Festival. Awww.  

But then I read this super-annoying but awesomely candid Billboard interview with Beatport CEO Matthew Adell about the partnership, and thought, "Hey, if they're gonna treat underground music as just a big business to be repackaged and monetized, (albeit one they seem to enjoy at least a little), then they can defend the Shazam partnership from angry DJs their own damn selves." 

Read more »

Localized Appreesh: The Dandelion War

02.27.13 - 11:14 am | Emily Savage |
(0)

Localized Appreesh is our thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

Sigur Rós, Explosions in the Sky, Radiohead, the Antlers – Oakland's the Dandelion War has received some outsized, and crazy positive, comparisons and reviews during its four short years of existence, particularly thanks to 2012's excellent, ambient We Were Always Loyal to Lost Causes (Deep Elm) LP.

All of it's accurate, by the way. The Dandelion War makes mood music for the brain. The post-rock five-piece boasts the build ups and crescendos of Explosions, the alien echoing otherworldliness of mid-career Radiohead, the pleasing falsetto and hypnotic soundscapes of the Antlers, and tiny pulsing heartbeat and cave-deep reverb of a dewy Sigur Rós. Read more »

Kacey Johansing goes walking with her 'Ghosts'

02.26.13 - 1:56 pm | Emily Savage |
(0)

Singer-songwriter (and former Geographer member) Kacey Johansing released her stunning sophomore album, Grand Ghosts, today. And how grand it is. Lush, moody, and dreamy, too. You can stream it now on her Soundcloud.

Along with Geographer, Johansing was also once a member of Honeycomb, and is currently one-half of experimental folk duo Yesway. Or, you might remember San Francisco's Johansing from the Localized Appreesh column last fall, in which the Kalamazoo, Michigan-born, Colorado-raised musician told me: “I love it here so much and am incredibly grateful to be a part of such insanely talented, creative, and supportive musical community.” Read more »

Christmas in February: The Residents come home

02.26.13 - 11:31 am | Nicole Gluckstern |
(0)
The Residents' "Randy" at Bimbo's. Photo by Nicole Gluckstern.
The Residents' "Bob" at Bimbo's. Photo by Nicole Gluckstern.
The Residents' "Chuck" at Bimbo's. Photo by Nicole Gluckstern.
Christmas in February at Bimbo's. Photo by Nicole Gluckstern.
"Randy" wants you. Photo by Nicole Gluckstern.

Bimbo's was packed to the rafters Sunday night for the triumphal homecoming show of music-and-neo-surrealism group the Residents, which was celebrating 40 years of relative obscurity with a blowout tour.

The stage was set with a whimsically unseasonal Christmas theme — huge inflatable candy canes, Santa, and Frosty the Snowman — draped with a hand-lettered banner emblazoned simply with the band name. 

The days of elaborate sets and 16-piece ensembles are over for the Residents, and their current incarnation — a stripped-down trio of masked musicians known simply as “Randy,” “Chuck,” and “Bob” — relies mostly on electronic sampling and assorted effects to create the unsettling soundscapes and dissonant jangles they’ve been (un)known for since their very first public release in 1972 — the “Santa Dog” single.

Read more »

Party Radar: You are and will be a High Fantasy

02.25.13 - 3:03 pm | Marke B. |
(0)

Everybody's floaty-wierdo, cutting edge (but not all showy about it) Tuesday dance + drag hangout, High Fantasy at Aunt Charlie's, celebrates three years of ethereal tomfoolery, Tue/26. It's a legacy!

Read more »

Nite Trax: 222 Hyde is closing :(

02.23.13 - 10:06 am | Marke B. |
(10)

Oh jeez, sad news this morning from EO, owner of great, actually-underground rave cave 222 Hyde. Due to a change in ownership of the nightlub's building, and some continued trouble with the ABC state liquor and license patrol, 222 will be closing March 9.

There's gonna be a huge closing party that night of course! (Stay tuned for details.)

This marks the loss of one of the most truly open-eared venues to come along in a while, a space that had room - well, a little room, at least, that basement dancefloor got packed! -- for ambitious electronic experiment as well as balls out crowd pleasers, but always on the cutting edge. The staff is pretty great, too -- and the space itself is a historic nightlife landmark. I don't want to make any grand statements about the blandification of SF nightlife, you've heard it all before, but 222's size insured that lesser-known acts, or ones not so familiar in the US, could perform to a vibing dancefloor, rather than risk the cost of larger venues. (And I regret not making it to some of the recent parties like Wednesday's "What?!" party and the appearance by Skooz. Next time!)

EO will continue on with his ear-grabbing electronic music production -- I wish him and his staff well and thank you for the music! Let's make sure the next few weeks and the closing party are real blowouts. EO's message to me after the jump:

Read more »