What’s Happening This Week? A Guide To Shows Around The Bay, Dec 12 – Dec 15
The biggest benefit show for last weekend's Oakland fire tragedy will be at the Fox Theatre this Wednesday. Monday, December 12 Julia Lewis, Brogan Bentley @ Thee Parkside Free show, $1 Anchor Steam beers, and Calebrate hosting? Yes, please. Pylon Reenactment Society, Cruel Summer, Mall Walk @ The Independent An Athens, Georgia local favorite, Pylon disbanded after guitarist Randy Bewley died in 2000. Instead of replacing him, Pylon Reenactment Society was born with members from Casper & the Cookies, The Glands, and pianist Damon Denton to pay tribute. Gladys Knight with the San Francisco Symphony @ Davies Symphony Hall The "Empress [...]
Dreamgaze Festival expands to San Francisco
Burnt out from the crowds of stampeding human cattle that was Outside Lands? Here's a fest off the beaten path, and into the realms of weird. The Los Angeles creative collective DreamGaze is reaching its shoegaze / post-punk / dream-pop tendrils north. Plan your next Saturday, August 29, accordingly because LSD and the Search for God will headline, with White Cloud (members of Deafheaven), Surf Club (members of Craft Spells), Balms, and many other bands performing. Spinning between sets are a slew of local DJs including Baby J (Popgang), Dometrious James (White Cloud), Jamie Jams, and more. The location is secretively "The Cave" for [...]
Song Premiere: Cruel Summer – "Leeches"
The first half of 2013 has been a monumental six months for Cruel Summer. The jangle pop band completed their debut 12” EP, played the Noise Pop Festival, and snowballed some buzz along the way as we all waited for the record to be pressed. As it sometimes goes with anything D.I.Y., it can take independent record labels a little longer to press records than it does for major labels - and thus after a few months of waiting, Los Angeles based label Mt. St. Mtn. has finally finished pressing Cruel Summer’s self-titled EP. The result is well worth the [...]
Gothic Tropic, Seatraffic, Cruel Summer play ProFans showcase at Brick & Mortar, 5/19/13
Professional Fans is bringing its fourth official showcase to Brick & Mortar Music Hall on Sunday, May 19 with performances by Gothic Tropic, Seatraffic, and Cruel Summer. Expect a night of sunny California pop jams with subtly relatable undertones of emotional turmoil. Gothic Tropic is a trio from L.A.'s Echo Park comprised of Cecilia Della Peruti, Daniel Denton, and Lia Braswell. The band's sound echoes its moniker, fortifying rhythmic jungle pop with dark and witty themes. Listen to "Flesh Dance" off the Awesome Problems EP, below. Rising San Francisco synth-pop duo Seatraffic, a Professional Fans favorite, will also perform at [...]
Live This Month: March 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #301)
Live This Month: March 2013 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #301) In Live This Month, we sample some of the great local and out-of-town bands performing in the coming month in the San Francisco Bay Area. With South by Southwest leading much of independent music to converge in Austin later this month, tons of bands are hitting the road. All of them, it would seem, are playing in the San Francisco Bay Area in March. Even if you aren't going to SXSW this year, you can still catch plenty of buzzed-about acts, like Thurston Moore's [...]
Lovely Bad Things, Blank Tapes, Lake and Cruel Summer at the Hemlock 2/27/13 (Noise Pop 2013)
The Lovely Bad Things are SICK! No, really they have some kind of flu or something. The drummer was particularly sweaty but it didn't seem to slow him down one bit. In fact the band was the loudest, fastest and noisiest of the evening. I can't wait to see these guys when they're healthy! They even played Priscilla's special request for "Paperface" by Weezer. If you are headed to SXSW, catch them at the Volstead 3/16th. SF's Cruel Summer kicked off the evening. The 2 women in the group provide great vocal interplay and the band slides effortlessly from fuzz/noise [...]
Interview: Cruel Summer talks debut EP and Noise Pop show
A year and a half after Cruel Summer’s conception in fall 2011, the band is finally gearing up to release their debut, self-titled EP in late March 2013, right in time to follow up their Noise Pop show at the Hemlock Tavern tomorrow, 2/27/13. Needless to say, Cruel Summer’s gears are turning quickly. Consisting of four members - singer and guitarist Thea Chacamaty, guitarist Josh Yule, drummer Sean Mosley and bassist Chani Hawthorne - Cruel Summer’s upcoming EP gives us just a little taste of what the band has to offer, a freshly brewed rock sound reminiscent of shoegaze and [...]
Cruel Summer shares new track off of upcoming EP
Jangle-monsters Cruel Summer have shared a new track that will appear on their upcoming EP (release date TBA) on Mt. St. Mtn., so expect limited edition noise-pop awesomeness with spectacular packaging in the near future. “Carquinez” (yeah, like the bridge that takes one to lovely Vallejo) was recorded in March by Jason Kick of Maus Haus fame at Secret Studios. A popular song during their live sets, it starts out whispy and crescendos into an intense explosion of fuzz and feedback, while settling back down on its dreamy little cloud in the end. Only complaint is that it doesn’t last [...]
Taking Stock of December: A dozen of our favorite songs from the blog last month
It can be extremely difficult to keep track of all of the new music that's constantly floating around the Internet. Here's our latest month-in-review mix collecting some our favorite new (or new to us) songs recently posted on the website. Gathered in the mix are a dozen new tracks that were posted on TheBayBridged.com in December, with links below to download each of them individually. The Bay Bridged - Best of the Blog December 2011 Mixtape Tracklisting: 1. Terry Malts - "Tumble Down" 2. Cruel Summer - "White Flag" 3. POW! - "Cyberattack!!" 4. Poor Sons - "Scales" 5. Royal [...]
Friends of Friends: Getting to know Cruel Summer
Friends of Friends is a new feature on The Bay Bridged, where a little name-dropping never hurt anyone. We interview a local band and get the lowdown on the music scene from their point of view. Who will they recommend for the next installment? Keep reading to find out. Cruel Summer by Cruel Summer When I wedged myself into the corner where the stage met the beer-caked floor at The Knockout's packed POW! show last month, awaiting the night's opening act, Cruel Summer, my thoughts alternated between shock and awe. The amount of buzz around a band with no releases [...]