We’ve long loved the music of Birds & Batteries, the San Francisco quartet whose two full lengths have mixed electronic sounds, alt-country riffs and swooning melodies to create some great, dynamic rock. The band’s appearance on our The Bay Bridged, Volume 2 compilation was pure rock and roll, but they continue to reinvent themselves on the Up To No Good EP, out October 26th, which songwriter Mike Sempert describes as “a spooky-funky adventure.”
At their EP release show, Birds & Batteries will bring together all of their diverse sounds in one very special performance. The band’s first set will focus on their more electronic side, and will include a performance of the new record in its entirety. The second set will spotlight the group’s rock-pop expertise, featuring some special guest musicians. It sounds ambitious as hell, yes, but we wouldn’t expect anything less from this band.
Birds & Batteries (EP Release — playing two sets!)
Telegraph Canyon
DJ Elise (SomaFM)
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Cafe Du Nord
9pm, $12, 21+ (Purchase advance tickets here)
About the bands:
With the Up To No Good EP, Birds & Batteries once again refuse to be pigeonholed, capturing the band’s inventive songwriting through an addicting electro-funk lens. “This is some freak-funk, alt-electro right here. Blast it in honkey-tonk dives and haunted houses alike.†(RCRD LABL) “Such smartly sequenced albums translate into hypnotically cohesive live sets. Birds & Batteries complement their electro-western tunes with pulsing dance numbers… and breezy pop gems.†(The Stranger) “So gorgeous I find myself playing it over and over again…[I]t lulls you into magic.” (Future Sounds) “Sweeping arrangements and the occasional sonic freak-out add to the already rich landscape.” (East Bay Express, “Best Music of 2007”)
Be sure to check out Fort Worth, Texas’s Telegraph Canyon, who are building a devoted following through relentless touring and an acclaimed new album, The Tide and the Current. “[A] soul-bearing, deliberately paced, at-once epic and restrained force, beautifully arranged both in its instrumentation and in its vocal harmonies.” (Dallas Observer) “Long shadows, lonely spaces and Chris Johnson’s aching, well-creased tenor: These are the defining elements of Telegraph Canyon’s masterful second album…Its live shows — thrilling spectacles of musicianship augmented by densely textured, folk-oriented songs.” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
