East Bay punk duo Street Eaters prepare for new album with single ‘Paralyzed’
(Street Eaters, photo by Leo Docuyanan) Street Eaters are two friends who have been making music together since at least 2009. Any band that's been putting out music that long has really figured out how to operate together; between coordinating schedules, goals, and song writing intentions, it's not always a walk in the park. Last year's LP Blood:Muscles:Bones saw Megan March and John No collaborating on 10 tracks of driving, angular punk songs, whose vocals were simultaneously catchy in a pop-punk sense, and also eerie in an icy, San Francisco post-punk vein. Fast forward over a hundred shows and several continents [...]
Video Premiere: Down and Outlaws – “I Don’t Care (I Don’t Care)”
Down and Outlaws are back with a new music video for their latest single, “I Don't Care (I Don't Care)” (which we premiered last week). The true rock n’ roll band has brought a visual component to the fist-pumping, chorus-singing, head-bobbing single. Directed by Dylan Ozanich, the video follows a bear (okay, a man in a bear costume) as he goes through the motions of his day. Waking up in the morning, getting ready, being yelled at by his boss, getting in an argument with his girlfriend, etc. Then, sporting some new pissed-off looking eyebrows, he goes rogue, stealing booze [...]
Summer Peaks share acoustic EP ‘Adorn the Night’
Brentwood pop darlings Summer Peaks just dropped the follow-up to one of my favorite releases of 2014 with the release of their acoustic EP Adorn the Night. It's just four songs, but it should hold you over until they release their next full-length, which they'll be recording in September for a January 2016 release. Like their debut, Saturday, Summer Peaks evoked a wide variety of moods on the brief Adorn the Night, with each member adding distinct vocals and songwriting styles. Summer Peaks perform tomorrow night at The Milk Bar, followed by an August tour with Kera and the Lesbians [...]
Happy Diving release “So Bunted” and record EP
This song is the combined feeling of resignation, frustration and exhaustion that immediately follows the exchange 'how are you?' 'good, and you?' 'good.' Which is by no means a ding – the song booms. Happy Diving's “So Bunted” is just over two minutes, a loud and succinct sentence, ramped up with bounce and the constant threat (or tease, depending who you are) of feedback. This is the first of two songs on the So Bunted 7” EP, and their first release on Topshelf Records out July 17. Like your all-time favorite suburb, the song is pent up and warm, it [...]
Painted Palms – “Disintegrate”
I spent a significant part of 2014 listening to Painted Palms' Forever. The way the songs often looped in and out of themselves, all the while integrating new and addictive hooks - I seemed to discover a new earworm from that album every time I listened. We're knee-deep in to 2015 now, and Painted Palms have a new album on the horizon . . . appropriately, the album is entitled Horizons, and is scheduled for release on September 4th via Polyvinyl. The first single, "Disintegrate," is everything I loved about Forever and more. It's multilayered and buoyant; tightly woven, and [...]
Fine Points release first single off debut album
I wish there was a way to translate the beginning of this song into written English – to literally spell out the way the guitar saunters front and center – because it's a lovely way to start a song, and could be a lovely way to start a paragraph. “Astral Season” is the first single from Fine Points' debut album Hover, out July 17 via Dine Alone Records. It was recorded at New Telos, a church turned recording studio studio in Oakland. The bay area duo, Matt Holliman and Evan Reiss, are former members of Sleepy Sun. What introduces itself [...]
Album Premiere: DSTVV – ‘Target Demographic’
Ah, at long last, DSTVV is back. Fronted by Joel Cusumano, DSTVV has created smartass "industrial grungegaze" for the past three years. They even released the first (as far as I can tell) song to name-drop The Bay Bridged. (Unfortunately, another scenester name-dropped in the song didn't care for their reference, Cusumano took it off the internet on his own. Oh, well.) Today, we're pleased to share you DSTVV's latest, Target Demographic, out on cassette via Death Records. While Target Demographic features the relentless hard-hitting drum machine and grunge guitar riffs you've come to love from DSTVV, Target Demographic also [...]
Premiere: Down and Outlaws releases new single “I Don’t Care (I Don’t Care)”
There are a lot of hyphenated rock bands out there. You know the variations: electronic-rock, folk-rock, dance-rock, noise-rock, alt-rock, and on and on, until you can't find your way out of the sub-genre rabbit hole. Down and Outlaws don't need no hyphen. They're completely comfortable being known as just a rock band. A rock band that plays rock n' roll. It's that simple. No hyphens necessary. Their latest single, "I Don't Care (I Don't Care)," perfectly exemplifies that fact. Featuring a fist-pumping, singalong chorus, rumbling tom beat and a guitar solo to make Angus Young proud, it's a chain-smoking, leather-clad, [...]
Get to know: Killer Whale
When asked about his inspiration for his latest album as Killer Whale, Thomas Johnson told me "I basically wanted to make a psychedelic rock n roll record." But his end result, Ocean Blood, gives us so much more. Yes, psych rock vibes are present, but Johnson also seamlessly integrates country, folk, and even jazz elements. Synths, layers upon layers of vocals, and programmed drums add a great sonic touch, but you get the feeling Johnson would be compelling with just his twangy voice and a guitar. Johnson, a Baton Rouge, LA native now living in San Francisco, recorded the album [...]
Field Medic shares a new music video, and “Hella Haikus”!
I think it's safe to say Kevin Patrick of Field Medic is the hardest working man in folk business. Between his releases with Rin Tin Tiger, this solo project, countless D.I.Y. music videos and Sunroom Recordz & Salon label responsibilities, he has somehow found the time to write some poetry. Haikus to be precise - short but dense and packed with meaning. My personal favorite from the collection entitled "Hella Haikus Vol. 3": bring your fears into the world of the living & learn they are empty Can you dig it? There's many more where that came from (33 actually) [...]