Dan Deacon gets (almost) acoustic, plays Fillmore in March
Ever wonder what Dan Deacon’s real voice actually sounds like? Now is your chance to hear it. The Baltimore musician, typically known for complex and mind-boggling electronics and sound combinations has just completed his first vocal-focused album, Mystic Familiar, out January 31 on Domino Records. Single “Become a Mountain” displays more of Deacon’s voice than we’re used to, accompanied by warm and confident keys surrounded by synthtastic musical vibrations. In the years since 2015’s Glass Riffer, Deacon has scored eight films and performed arrangements of his music with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The album’s shift was influenced by this collaborative [...]
Surprise! Dan Deacon to play the HackTheHits after-party this Saturday
Surprise! The beat-bending musical wizard known as Dan Deacon is hitting the Bay Area this Saturday. I know, right? You may be just as flabbergasted as I was when I saw a sponsored Facebook post about the event on Monday morning. Normally, I dismiss these kinds of posts because A) they're trying to buy my eyeballs (right?) and B) they get kind of redundant after they show up on my feed time and time again. But this time, I thanked the gods of targeted marketing, because finally they got something right. If you're like me and happened to miss Mr. [...]
The Bay Abridged: Jan 20 – Feb 2
In this recurring feature known as The Bay Abridged, our staff writers will provide short, witty recaps on shows they attended around the Bay Area. A scene check, a heat check, and sometimes more — stop by every Wednesday for the most comprehensive and concise recap of last week's Bay Area concert scene. Howe Gelb & Sylvie Simmons at The Chapel (SF) Jan. 24 SF treasure Sylvie Simmons played a beautiful Donovan tune "Catch the Wind" and a slew of brand new songs including a tear jerker called "Nothing". Howe joined her for the last few songs in full Curious [...]
Noise Pop 2015: Check out all of our festival coverage!
Jessica Pratt at The Chapel (Photo Credit: Jon Ching) Got any plans for the weekend? If you're like us, you're still recovering from the week that was Noise Pop 2015, and you're not quite ready to wrap your brain another show-filled weekend. Well, if you'd rather stay in this weekend, wear your pajamas around the clock (don't forget Daylight Savings Time starts Saturday night), drink some herbal tea, and go on a Netflix binge, we don't blame you. But, at the very least, you can relive some of the best moments from Noise Pop with this wrap-up of all [...]
Noise Pop 2015: Dan Deacon brings energy and crowd participation to The Chapel
Photos by Jon Ching Dan Deacon – Baltimore's hero of the experimental underground – delivered a classic, highly interactive performance on Saturday night at the Chapel. Using a full light rig to its maximum synchronized potential, Deacon gave the Noise Pop audience exactly what it wanted: dancing, lights, pulsing maniac bass lines, organized dance parties, crowd-surfing, and a heavy dose of his trademark cat-in-a-bag falsetto vocals. I would argue that there isn't a lot of differentiation between songs during Deacon's set — they all sound almost exactly the same. I also think Deacon knows this, and it's why he peppers his [...]
Noise Pop Festival announces first bands for 2015, badges and tickets on sale this week
Our friends at Noise Pop announced the first batch of bands playing the 2015 edition of their iconic San Francisco indie music festival, and they're off to a great start. The lineup so far features a host of local Bay Bridged favorites (Giraffage, Cathedrals, Six Organs of Admittance, Tony Molina) as well as artists from far-and-wide (Caribou, Dan Deacon, Slow Magic, Surfer Blood). Early Bird festival badges are $125 and go on sale for TODAY at 11am PST – once those are gone, Regular Badges will go on sale for $150. Badges give you access to all general admission shows. [...]
Review & Photos: Station to Station @ 16th Street Station, 9/28/13
After 4,345 miles, Doug Aitken's Levi-sponsored Station to Station reached it's final destination Saturday night at the 16th Street Station in Oakland. Since it opened September 6 in Brooklyn, it has kept rolling via rail in a westerly direction. One night stands in Pittsburgh, Chicago, St. Paul, Santa Fe, Winslow, Arizona, Barstow and Los Angeles have taken place between the Brooklyn and Oakland bookends. 16th Street Station in Oakland is no longer an active station. It was built in 1912 as a passenger station for Southern Pacific, and since the 1989 earthquake it has been divorced from its original purpose [...]
Review & Photos: Guided by Voices, Girls, Ty Segall among many highlights at FYF Fest @ Los Angeles State Historic Park, 9/3/11
Photos by Tod Seelie The Northern Californian antipathy toward Southern California (and concurrent Southern Californian indifference toward us Northerners) is as cliche as it is preposterous, though, as a NorCal native, I am genetically-bound to resist traveling to Los Angeles unless only the most tempting or compulsory of events beckons. Last weekend's FYF Fest, with its stacked lineup promising a smorgasbord of indie rock, punk, and electronic acts, was too compelling to pass up, and, thankfully, it did not disappoint. The central hook for the FYF trek was a chance to see Guided by Voices, who I'd never seen before, [...]
Noise Pop Photos: Dan Deacon, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Sister Crayon, Lily Taylor
Dan Deacon Ed Schrader's Music Beat Sister Crayon Lily Taylor
Recommended at Noise Pop, 2/22-2/23: Merge Records bands, Admiral Radley/Typhoon, Dirty Ghosts, and more
We'll be offering our Noise Pop picks over the next several days. Then, as the festival proceeds, our writers and photographers will be reporting back from a whole bunch of Noise Pop events. Looking forward to something in particular? Let us know in the comments. Cafe Du Nord hosts a mostly Merge Records showcase on Wednesday night (8pm, $15), with resurgent indie pop pioneers Versus joining The Love Language and Telekinesis. The last band recently released 12 Desperate Straight Lines, a super-catchy album borne out of Michael Benjamin Lerner finding himself last July "with no band, a case of vertigo, [...]