Review & Photos: Metz, White Lung, Mrs. Magician @ Bottom of the Hill, 4/30/13
By the start of Tuesday night's show at Bottom of the Hill, the turnout was a little concerning. With a bill headlined by Metz (one of Sub Pop's newer novelty punk bands) and their Canadian tour mates White Lung, you'd think it would have a heavy attendance. But at 9:15, when San Diego surf pop openers Mrs. Magician started their set, the room was maybe a quarter of the way full. By White Lung, it was packed, and rightfully so, for a pretty solid lineup of loud and heavy. It's often been argued that Metz falls into a 90s punk/indie [...]
Legs – "Don't Say a Word"/"Shades of Grey"
Legs, a duo from Oakland, recently released their second EP entitled s/t. Legs is comprised of Matt Bullimore and Jeffrey Harland, who were both members of The Dashing Suns. The duo has been "Legs" since January 2011, and have zeroed in on a big, muddy, sweeping sound that is a bit of a departure from their sunny, more poppy work with The Dashing Suns. Legs is one of the few bands who I would love to see in an arena or on a massive festival stage - their echoing walls of sound were simply made for big spaces. Check out [...]
Friday: Mrs. Magician heads to Bottom of the Hill with The Mantles and Kids on a Crime Spree
Mrs. Magician has been one of San Diego’s best kept secrets up until recently. Having released only a handful of 7-inches between them, along with singer/guitarist/songwriter Jacob Turnbloom’s 30-track cassette of bedroom-recorded songs, their first full length, Strange Heaven, was rush-released on Swami Records when a tour with Cults was announced (with Mrs. Magician’s Cory Stier drumming for both bands). They also toured with the reunited Hot Snakes earlier this summer and have been enjoying the success from their debut since. “We’re chill,” they tell me via email. Hesitant to call them indie power pop for the sweeping generalizations one [...]
Live This Month: June 2012 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #279)
Live This Month: June 2012 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #279) 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. From the electronic pop of Exray's to the fiery punk of White Lung, June's concert calendar features a wide variety of highlights. Like Exray's, Still Flyin and Adios Amigo are also celebrating new albums this month, but it's not just the locals who have exciting records to offer. Japandroids' latest finds the band in peak DIY noise pop form, [...]
San Diego's Mrs. Magician playing three SF shows, releasing John Reis-produced album
San Diego-based rock and roll group Mrs. Magician will be playing three shows in San Francisco at the end of the month and in early April, promoting their new album Strange Heaven, which is already available digitally and will be released physically on April 17th through Swami Records. Strange Heaven was produced by John Reis (Rocket From the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes), and Mrs. Magician has been described as a "Southern California dream gone awry" in the way they fuse melodies reminiscent of the Beach Boys with 70s and 80s punk humor. The group recently was chosen to open for [...]