Ask The Staff: What do you want your First Concert After to be?
(Ceremony and Perfume Genius: Estefany Gonzalez. Lizzo: Ian Young.) As chroniclers of the Bay Area's live music scene, we are obviously so, so excited for concerts to come back. Well, kind of — some of us have some trepidation about the speed at which live events are announcing their return, considering that, though case numbers have fallen dramatically, we're still in an active pandemic. But that doesn't mean a number of us haven't been daydreaming about what the perfect first concert to see after this is all over (or at least mostly over) would be. So we asked the staff: [...]
Noise Pop 2020: Stephen Steinbrink, Mutual Benefit soothe souls at Starline
On the first night of Noise Pop, festival attendees at Starline Social Club were greeted by a calming presence in the form of Stephen Steinbrink, Sonoda, and Mutual Benefit. Often, "intimate" is an overly romanticized way to harp on the ability of an artist to command a room, but here, it was clear that the small audience of under 100 were willing to be captured from the start. Steinbrink, an Oakland-based artist, opened the night with an acoustic set, beckoning others to settle into the night. In the small room, audience members mostly sat as Steinbrink worked through much of [...]
Review & Photos: Mutual Benefit, Dan Casey, Dim Peaks @ Rickshaw Stop
Photos by Tanner Pikop It was a relatively mellow Saturday night at Rickshaw Stop this past weekend, with members of Mutual Benefit, Dim Peaks, and Dan Casey mingling around the merch table before the show got started. Dim Peaks frontman Niilo Smeds was first to take the stage with his acoustic guitar, joined by Russell Highbee on an electric six-string. The pair remained seated for the duration of the set, as did about a third of the audience. Spectators were sitting on the floor as far back as the sound booth, gazing up at the stage through songs [...]
Mutual Benefit explores the boundaries of modern folk music
I first met Jordan Lee at Mutual Benefit's San Francisco debut at The Milk Bar in 2011, when he performed alongside Holy Spirits, Phantom Kicks, and Steffaloo. The show was presented by Father/Daughter Records and See The Leaves, and featured an unparalleled visual backdrop by Think or Smile. Lee's kind, mild-mannered demeanor and self-deprecating sense of humor put a very human face behind Mutual Benefit's early Bandcamp recordings, in a surreal collision of the "blogosphere" and the tangible world. Mutual Spirits (split 12" w/ Holy Spirits) by mutual benefit Fast-forward to present day, and Mutual Benefit is becoming a household [...]
Live This Month: January 2014 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #324)
http://media.libsyn.com/media/thebaybridged/LTM_January_2014.mp3 Download: Live This Month: January 2014 — an audio guide through SF concerts this month (Podcast #324) 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. As we mentioned several podcasts ago, The Magik*Magik Orchestra has been adding welcome orchestral layers to local indie artists' works for years. The orchestra's five years of work is being celebrated with a special concert at the Fox Theater this month, where they'll be joined by a bevy of great acts, including past collaborators How to Dress [...]