What’s Happening This Weekend? A Guide To Shows Around The Bay, Feb 24 ― Feb 26
Catch Tacocat in Oakland Saturday night at Starline Social Club. Friday, February 24 Garrett Pierce @ The Lost Church Burbank, CA singer-songwriter with a penchant for covering the British R&B singer known as Seal. ALO, Moon Hooch @ The Fillmore Moon Hooch is a Brooklyn-based jazz fusion trio currently touring in support of their third LP, Red Sky. Phosphene, O.C.D., Trash Vampire @ Bender's Bar & Grill Noise Pop's happy hours at Bender's are always chaotically loud, disastrously fun, and soundtracked by emerging local bands. Headliner for tonight's is Phosphene, who describe themselves as the "under-underground" of the Bay Area [...]
Bands In Portrait: Phosphene shoot for the moon, recalibrates
Phosphene (photo: Robert Alleyne) Kevin, Matt and Rachel, collectively known as Phosphene, come across as a very patient band. Shortly after they arrive to shoot some portraits, lead vocalist Rachel puts on Lambchop's album FLOTUS. It’s calm, sprawling music with intricate instrumentation and subtle vocals. The music fits perfectly into the background, yet when I listen back to the album a few weeks later, it opens up to reveal its complexity. In many ways, Phosphene is like this. The band released their second record, Breaker, during 2016 and it is music which grows with each listen. The sparsity of the songwriting and [...]
Oakland’s Phosphene prepping sophomore record, ‘Breaker’
The Oakland trio of Phosphene has launched a crowdfunding campaign in support of their second full length album Breaker. Rachel Frankel (Vocals, Guitar), Matt Hemmerich (Drums), and Kevin Kaw all return following their summer 2014 debut. This round has them camped out at Different Fur Studios with Sean Paulson (Tobias Jesso Jr, DIIV) recording a six-pack of new shoegazey indie rock. Two of which have been rolled out earlier this year; “Silver” and “Be Mine”. This is the second consecutive record the band has helped fund by bringing in the good people of the internet. They've upped the ante in [...]
Premiere: Phosphene – “Be Mine”
Each member of Phosphene contributed in their own unique way to the creation of the Oakland-based trio's new single, "Be Mine", which premieres today exclusively on The Bay Bridged. "It began as an acoustic, George Harrison-inspired demo that Rachel recorded," drummer Matt Hemmerich recently told me over email, referring to his bandmate and girlfriend, singer/guitarist Rachel Frankel. "I started writing lyrics based on the melody, and once the structure of the song was solidified, Kevin [Kaw] took us aback by blasting a crazy guitar solo at the end." Frankel and Kaw also swapped their traditional roles on this track, [...]
Get To Know: Phosphene
Oakland indie rock outfit Phosphene released its self-titled debut last summer, an LP recorded and mixed at San Francisco's Tiny Telephone Recording. Just a few months following that album, the trio of Rachel Frankel, Matt Hemmerich, and Kevin Kaw got the opportunity to record a new track, "Silver"," at Different Fur, courtesy of Converse Rubber Tracks. "Silver" officially dropped in December of last year and, like the entirety of Phosphene, is some incredibly chill indie rock that can also get you grooving in no time fast. This dichotomy is evident throughout Phosphene's brief but impressive catalog – all musical [...]