Download Mixtape 1 | Download Mixtape 2
Download Mixtape 3 | Download Mixtape 4
We’ll be doing plenty of “Best of 2010” retrospectives over the next few weeks, but it seems appropriate to kick off our look back at the past year with a more comprehensive survey of San Francisco Bay Area indie music in 2010. It’s always something of a struggle for us to understand how the Bay Area music scene is viewed by rest of the indie music world. From our vantage point, for every The Dodos, Girls or, most recently, The Morning Benders — all great bands justly receiving national acclaim — there are plenty of less championed gems in the Bay Area universe. This year, blog buzz focused in large part on the worlds of garage, lo-fi, and shoegaze, and SF artists like Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, The Fresh & Onlys, and Weekend were some of the year’s most acclaimed acts. Increased recognition of more Bay Area bands is a great thing, but it would be foolish for outsiders to pigeonhole San Francisco as a lo-fi-only city.
In an effort to serve up an overview of SF rock, folk and electronic pop in 2010, we’ve compiled a four-part mixtape showcasing songs from 58 SF Bay Area bands that released full length albums or EPs (no singles — sorry!) this year. Three and a half hours of local tunes might appear daunting, but that’s part of the point: there are so many talented artists in the Bay that there’s no better way to get a taste of things than to just immerse oneself in the music.
The Bay Bridged 2010 Mix (Part 1 of 4)
The Bay Bridged 2010 Mix (Part 2 of 4)
The Bay Bridged 2010 Mix (Part 3 of 4)
The Bay Bridged 2010 Mix (Part 4 of 4)
One final caveat: obviously, an endeavor like this is going to forget or omit worthy acts we’ve written about this year, most likely due to absentmindedness or an inability to find an mp3 for inclusion by press time. In sum, this list isn’t the definitive guide to everything released by someone with a Bay Area zip code in 2010, just a bunch of really good music by folks in the Bay’s numerous indie micro-scenes. Enjoy!
Tracklistings for all four mix parts below:
Part I
1. The Mantles – “Lily Never Married”
2. Burnt Ones – “Gonna Listen To T Rex (All Night Long)”
3. Grass Widow – “Shadow”
4. Eux Autres – “Go Dancing”
5. Donovan Quinn – “Mom’s House”
6. Sea of Bees – “Marmalade”
7. Kelley Stoltz – “I Remember, You Were Wild”
8. John Vanderslice – “I’ll Never Live Up To You”
9. The Fresh & Onlys – “Be My Hooker”
10. Ty Segall – “Girlfriend”
11. Weekend – “Coma Summer”
12. Hank IV – “Garbage Star”
13. Bare Wires – “I (heart) You Tonite”
14. Girls – “Heartbreaker”
15. Tamaryn – “Love Fade”
16. Royal Baths – “Nikki Don’t”
17. Thee Oh Sees – “I Was Denied”
Part II
1. Skeletal System – “Dialogue”
2. Dominant Legs – “About My Girls”
3. Fops – “Solid Copper Huntress”
4. Exray’s – “Everthing Goes”
5. Elephant and Castle – “The Look”
6. Maus Haus – “Winter”
7. The Actors – “Through a False Door”
8. Sugar & Gold – “Stay Soft”
9. Blackbird Blackbird – “Summer Heart”
10. James & Evander – “Turtle Two”
11. The Soft Moon – “Tiny Spiders”
12. Electric Sunset – “Here Comes Midnight”
13. oOoOO – “Burnout Eyess”
14. Eskmo – “Cloudlight”
Part III
1. The Sandwitches – “Song of Songs”
2. Emily Jane White – “Victorian America”
3. Bird By Snow – “There Is A Marriage”
4. il gato – “On Feathers & Arrows (on Burnt Pine)”
5. Greg Ashley – “Requiem Mass Part I”
6. Sean Hayes – “When We Fall In”
7. Kacey Johansing – “Oh, Brother”
8. Walking in Sunlight – “Rich Wife Full Of Happiness”
9. Birds & Batteries – “Strange Kind of Mirror”
10. Devotionals – “Chest Like Expansive Wings”
11. Barn Owl – “Light From The Mesa”
Part IV
1. Magic Bullets – “Sigh The Day Away”
2. Still Flyin’ – “Higher Than Five”
3. Social Studies – “Charioteers”
4. The Morning Benders – “Promises”
5. Geographer – “Kites”
6. A B & The Sea – “Bone Dry”
7. My First Earthquake – “Neon for You”
8. The Ferocious Few – “Porcelain Doll”
9. The Dont’s – “Which Side You’re On (The Pirate Song)”
10. Sunbeam Rd. – “House Boats”
11. The Velvet Teen – “No Star”
12. Grand Lake – “Louise (I Live In A Fantasy)”
13. Rogue Wave – “Good Morning”
14. Shuteye Unison – “Our Future Selves”
15. Judgement Day – “Peacocks / Pink Monsters”
16. The Definite Articles – “Bumbershoot”
