The 17th annual NoisePop Festival has been set for February 24 – March 1, 2009. Early artist confirmations include New Pornographers front man AC Newman, No Age, Pinback side project Goblin Cock, Dear And The Headlights, the Bay Area debut of Clues and a very special performance by Antony and the Johnsons, kicking off a festival roster that will include over 100 bands.
Noise Pop Festival badges will be available to purchase starting at 10:00 AM on December 10, 2008. To buy badges, go to the Noise Pop 2009 website.
I love AmieStreet. It’s become one of my new favorite music sites and latest obsessions. They have great music and a very cool, community-driven concept that makes it really cheap to get music. But you have to be on top of your music game. It works like this:
All songs on Amie Street are priced from free to 98 cents. Instead of the arbitrary $0.99 per song, on Amie Street the community determines the price of music. Every song starts free, or very cheap, and increases in price, up to 98 cents, as more and more people purchase it.
This variable pricing system ensures that you get music at a fair, community-driven price point, and makes it easy for you to find the type of music you want. Then you’re encouraged to talk about the music you like by putting money in your account for more downloads when you recommend songs that continue to rise in price. All the music is DRM-free! Go get an account if you don’t have one already.
And make sure you take advantage of these great album deals…
Taking their name from a minor Shakespearean tragedy, this New Jersey punk rock band is making waves and getting compared to the likes of The Kinks, The Pogues, Bruce Springsteen, and even Arcade Fire. They’ve built a reputation for their rowdy live performances. If you’re in San Francisco, you can see them tonight at The Rickshaw Stop opening for No Age.
This San Francisco-based trio has already built a following around town with their energetic live performances of avant-electronic music that fuses psych heavy synths and spacey delays. They’ve toured and opened for the likes of Black Moth Super Rainbow, Modeselektor and Crystal Castles. Their self-titled debut is out now and you can get it at Amie Street right now for $1.32. Drink it up!
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Blitzen Trapper last night at The Independent. (And was equally amused when I realized I was standing next to The Morning Benders while watching it. Cool.) Although I felt like I was seeing an entirely new band. I saw them a couple of times in the past year supporting Wild Mountain Nation, but this was a wholly different performance. They stuck to Furr almost exclusively. And lead singer Eric Earley was clearly channeling Bob Dylan. I think the only song from the vault they pulled out was in fact ‘Wild Mountain Nation’. The music was tight, the harmonies were beautiful. Much more subdued than their usual blitzkrieg. And I must say my favorite song of the night, while not necessarily one of my favorites on the album, was ‘Love U‘. They took me someplace else during that song. Awesome.
I have two tickets to giveaway to see one of my favorite newcomers, Nova Scotia-based Wintersleep, at Slim’s in San Francisco on November 24. Send an email to theOCMD@gmail.com by this Wednesday, November 19th to win. I’ll pick a winner randomly.
Reportedly, they put on an excellent live show. As one fan put it, ‘Wintersleep turned me from a casual listener to a fan in one show.’
Thanks to Ken and Jon, I was able to squeeze into the sold out show Monday night at Bottom of the Hill to catch one of my favorite bands this year, Women. I hadn’t seen Bottom of the Hill quite that packed before and there were clearly two distinct crowds – those who came to see Women and those who came to see Swedish psyche rockers, Dungen.It was clearly a case of the hipsters vs. the hippies. In in my opinion, hipster band Women clearly won. Their lo-fi sound did not disappoint. My only complaint is that they weren’t opening for label mate, Chad VanGaalen. Now that would have been a stellar line up.
While I’ve never been able to wrap my head around Dungen, I did stick around to see if they could change my mind. They didn’t. Every time I hear their music I think I’m listening to Thai karaoke and immediately want to turn it off. It’s not fair, I know. I’ve just spent too much time in seedy Bangkok bars and San Francisco’s Thai karaoke hot spot, Ozone, I suppose. Musically, Dungen is talented. There’s just something about Swedish in song that doesn’t translate for me. At all.
My first reaction to seeing Brooklyn-based Crystal Stilts take the stage at Bottom of the Hill last night was, ‘Yeah, girl drummer!’. The next was Napoleon Dynamite meets Meg White. That was the visual anyway. Lead singer, Brad Hargett, does evoke a Napoleon Dynamite vibe not only in appearance but also in his emotionless, monotone delivery of each song. It was hard not to compare drummer Frankie Rose to Meg White with her long raven hair, pale skin and stripped down, minimalist drumming style.
The overall effect? Eh. I loved their EP and am really enjoying their new album Alight of Night, but as live performers they leave a bit to be desired. Maybe it was an off night but they seemed out of synch – starting and stopping songs a few too many times. At one point during show the keyboard fell off its stand, causing some commotion and a bit of levity. But overall the spellbinding show I had heard so much about wasn’t there for me.
That’s the way it works sometimes though. I would much rather see Dr. Dog live than listen to their albums. And Crystal Stilts are definitely worthy of a listen. I like it very much. I would just rather listen to their album than see them live.
Brett Dennen’s show at The Independent in San Francisco has long since sold out. However, you can enter to win 2 spots on his guest list for any of his upcoming shows on his tour if you sign up for his email newsletter here.
I haven’t been able to get enough of the Panda Bear cover of‘Boneless’from Germany’s The Notwist. These guys have been making music for nearly 20 years. They started as a hardcore punk band in the 90s and have slowly evolved into a fusion of indie pop and electronica. Their latest album, The Devil You + Me is a good album that gets better for me with every spin. They have a Radiohead meets Belle & Sebastian kind of vibe that feels really nice on my headphones.
If you’re in San Francisco, be sure to catch their lush, electro-fuzz sound tonight at Bimbo’s.
As much as I hate The Warfield, seeing Southern rock gods, Kings of Leon, play there Saturday night was well worth it. It was like seeing a southern version of U2 play in teeny tiny venue. The crowd was so into it, singing along with every song they played, pumping their fists in the air. Having sold out two nights at The Warfield, it seems like people are finally catching on to this good ‘ol American rock-n-roll band. They seem poised for superstardom, despite Pitchfork’s pitiful 3.8 rating of their new album, Only by the Night. They’re a bunch of snobs anyway.
I’m a sucker for their rock ballads, so my favorite song of the night was ‘Arizona‘.
the OCMD 