San Francisco synth rockers, Maus Haus, are poised to break out. They’re already climbing the charts at CMJ and now they’re set to kick off this year’s Noise Pop festival at The Mezzanine with the likes of My First Earthquake, !!! and Sugar & Gold. The band will be unleashing their new 7 inch the same night (that sounds kind of perverted, doesn’t it?) featuring the tracks “Winter” and “Zig Zag”. Consider yourself informed.
Channeling Elliott Smith, San Francisco’s Andrew Galluccio gives his take on indie folk as The Northern Key. His self-titled album is out now on SF’s very own Tricycle Records. Truly a local project, the album was recorded and mixed by The Morning Bender’s Chris Chu at Different Fur Studios. Andrew will be performing at Noise Pop this month, opening for Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros at Bimbos on February 28.
Hey SF: Just learned from The Bay Bridged that Deerhunter will be playing the Noise Pop Festival opening night after party on February 24 at The Mezzanine for FREE! RSVP here.
Whoo hoo!
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.
Listen to AC Newman, ‘Miracle Drug‘
Listen to Goblin Cock, ‘Stumped‘
The sun sets on Treasure Island
Judah rocks it for his first festival.
Judah Meets The Morning Benders!
The Treasure Island Music Festival epitomizes the ideal festival experience for me. You could almost say it’s the anti-festival. The crowd size is small – around 10,000 a day, the location is beautiful, the line up is thoughtfully curated with the most cutting-edge indie artists, and the event organization is impeccable – no lines for food, beverages or toilets and only 2 stages scheduled with non-competing performances so the attendee never has to choose or compromise. The result is a beautiful day of rockin’ music. In an era where behemoth, corporate festivals reign supreme, these qualities do not go unnoticed. Kudos to Noise Pop and APE. Please, keep up the good work and don’t change a thing!
Day 2 of Treasure Island was one of the better festival line ups I’ve yet to see. Fleet Foxes, Dr. Dog, The Kills and – most of all – The Raconteurs were the highlights for me. ‘The Rockin-tours’ as Judah calls them. Quite astute for a 3 year old, for these gentleman do ROCK. I’ve had the pleasure to see them twice this year (the first time at Bimbos!) and can say with certainty that, after last night, Jack White has firmly secured a spot in my rock god pantheon. Which is precisely what separates a Raconteurs show from so many of the shows I see these days. It’s just straight up, fist pumping, good ‘ol rock-n-roll. When’s the last time you’ve seen a good rock show? The kind that just makes you want to bang your head and play air guitar. I’m hard pressed to recall one. Rock fist forever, Raconteurs.
What do you think: Is Jack White the rock god of our generation?
Here’s one of my favorite songs from the Sunday set:
The Raconteurs, ‘Level’:
the OCMD 