Artist: White Fence Album: Family Perfume Vol 1 & 2 Hails From: Los Angeles (via Bay Area) Release Date: April 3 (vol. 1); May 15 (vol. 2) Featured Track: “It Will Never Be”
Tim Presley is a genius. Let’s just state the facts and get that out of the way. The member of Darker My Love and The Strange Boys has put out quite a catalogue of solo work under the moniker White Fence since 2010. This week he’s out with Volume 2 of his double album, Family Perfume. It’s a magical mystery tour of a musical journey. With a little Kinks in there too. But don’t let the 60s homage fool you. Live, he’s touring with a full band that will, quite simply, melt your mind. The tour’s kick off set in San Fran with Ty Segall was one I won’t soon forget. Oh, did I mention his recent collaboration with Ty? Dream team. And one of the best live shows I’ve seen this year.
Artist: Ty Segall Album: Goodbye Bread Hails From: SF Featured Track: “You Make the Sun Fry”
The one and only Ty Segall is setting out on a few West Coast dates with Mikal Cronin next month. It’s a show not to be missed, for sure. Having recently seen the pair at El Rio, I can honestly say they will melt your mind. After all these years of shouting my love from the rooftop for this artist, I’ll spare you the hyperbole and cut to the chase. Just do it.
Fri. March 2 — San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall w/ White Fence, Mikal Cronin, Feeling of Love
Sat. March 3 — Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour w/ White Fence, Mikal Cronin, Feeling of Love
Sun. March 4 — San Diego, CA @ The Casbah w/ Mikal Cronin, Feeling of Love
More stellar music headed your way this Wednesday, February 9 at Great American Music Hall with a benefit concert presented by The Bay Bridged supporting The Coalition on Homelessness. Talk about a SF garage rock powerhouse line up. Geez. The only thing missing is Nobunny. Where’s he? Ah, well he’s also playing that night but at a different show at The Knockout. February 9 must be an auspicious date for garage rock bands. A great night for music on all fronts. Get tickets for the benefit here.
It’s 10:10 AM on 10/10/10. A perfect 10. These tri-numeral dates come around once a year and this year it falls on the number 10. Is it an auspicious day or a bunch of hullaballoo? There is a certain completeness of order with the number 10. For the Chinese the number is lucky, representing perfection or completion. We’re born with 10 fingers and 10 toes after all. Perfect beauty is measured on its scale. Top 10 lists are ubiquitous. And any respectable album contains at least 10 songs.
If you’re technologically-inclined, today is a “binary” day. The ones-and-zeros representing the binary code or the mathematical language “spoken” by computers to create all things digital. Converting the date 10/10/10 to binary code gives us 101010. And in the binary counting system, that number translates to 42, which means…absolutely nothing.
But hey, it’s a nice theme for a post isn’t it? And everyone loves a top 10 list. So, here’s mine. The 10 albums I’m obsessed with on this month, this day, this year. The albums I have on heavy rotation right now and keep coming back to again and again. Ten, in a long list, of albums you should most definitely own. Listed in no particular order, they are:
The OCMD has been planning this post for some time, but as of May 13, it became top priority. On May 13th at the Verdi Club, OCMD’s @indierockgirl, Julie, was treated to a surprise birthday party with live music provided by her local favorite Ty Segall. While shredding 2 guitar strings to pieces, Ty finished the set with a pogo-inducing cover of T.Rex’s “20th Century Boy”, and our new series was born: UNDER THE INFLUENCE. In this first installment we recognize the profound influence of T. Rex.
Marc Bolan founded Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1967 and released 4 essential albums before shortening the name to T. Rex, and making 8 more records including the most infamous, Electric Warrior, which held his biggest hit “Get it On (Bang a Gong)”. With a bit of glitter under his eyes and a deep sense of his feminine side, he single-handedly created glam rock- the first in a long line of androgynous rock idols (Bowie, Lou Reed, New York Dolls, and many more to come…). Tragically he died 2 weeks before his 30th birthday when his girlfriend drove his purple Mini into a tree less than a mile from his home.
Bands have been doing covers of Bolan’s work ever since (Big Star, Replacements, Shins, Yo La Tengo, Flaming Lips, Blondie, the Melvins, KMFDM, Elf Power, Teenage Fanclub, Bauhaus…..). But in recent years the first true echos of Bolan’s sound came via Devendra Banhart. His warbly singing, guitar style and dedication to freak folk revival are clearly influenced by T. Rex (as much as he denies it).
As posted on the OCMD last month, Indianapolis band Burnt Ones recently tipped a hat with “Gonna Listen to T-Rex (All Night Long)”. A great idea by the way as T. Rex does sound best after 2am.
Perhaps the most blatant rip off goes to Chicago’s excellent Smith Westerns -just check out “Girl in Love”. These kids are way too young to know T. Rex this well, yet they have the glam looks and Electric Warrior sound to truly honor the musical genius.
If you don’t own some of Bolan’s work, get to it. I know there is a lot of music out there and many of these recordings need a few listens to reveal themselves, but do yourself a favor, make time! Long live T. Rex, RIP Marc.
Artist: Ty Segall Album: Melted Release Date: May 25, 2010 Track: “Ceasar”
Speaking of lo-fi love, Ty is getting ready to release a new album “Melted” on Nashville’s Goner Records next month. He’s been trying out his new tunes on the road and, no surprise, I like what I hear. Lucky for me (and you) he’ll be back in town at Bottom of the Hill 6/27 with Grass Widow and one of my new favs, The Baths. Feel the love.
Last Thursday night The Eagle Tavern played host to a great night of down and dirty garage rock featuring local acts Ty Segall, The Baths, The Splinters and Nashville-based Jeff the Brotherhood. First off, I need to say that The Eagle Tavern is my new favorite bar. As one of San Francisco’s better known gay bear/leather bars, it’s not a destination that was on my radar. But what a great venue, vibe and fun people! They have the best beer garden in town. And I got a kick out of teasing the bartender, who handed me the beer list, by ordering ‘whatever’s most popular with the ladies.’ After a momentary blank stare, I got a Stella Artois.
It was my first time catching up with The Baths and look forward to hearing more from this group. Especially when they put out music on some other format than cassette tape. (I feel a trendspotting series coming on.) Luckily it appears the uber cool label Woodsist will be putting out their debut LP soon…which is a very good sign. I dig their sound and something about them gave me a Girls vibe, but maybe that was just the lead singer’s dress and shawl getup and the fact that Christopher Owens often takes the stage in similar attire. Whatever the case, file them under one to watch.
The band of brothers, JEFF the Brotherhood, took the stage next and delivered a scorching set. If you haven’t checked these guys out, do so. How can you not like a band that tapes Jeffro Tull on their drum kit? Always a crowd pleaser, these guys know how to work the audience with Jake spending more time off the stage than on it. Then there’s Jamin on drums who wails on his set with the kind of bounce and enthusiasm as Animal of The Muppets. Seriously, check it out.
Ty Segall closed out the night with a kumbaya set of old tunes and a handful of new ones. Members of The Baths joined in on the fun. And if Ty wasn’t already adorable enough, the love and sweetness he was throwing down for his girlfriend (the bassist for The Baths) throughout the night was just too cute for words. When he dedicated “Lovely One” to her my heart melted too. So uplifting and inspiring it was that I almost regained my faith in humanity. Almost.
Thursday night San Francisco’s The Eagle Tavern (for real) plays host to a garage rock orgasm featuring not one, but TWO of my obsessions, Ty Segall and JEFF the Brotherhood, along with local up and comers The Splinters and The Baths. I caught this tour de force in Austin last week at The Mohawk and, like a junkie, am ready for another fix. This one’s as good as it gets, folks. Be there, if you’re man enough. And bring your bare ass and chaps.
