Friday, April 30, 2010

Birds of California!
























Ramshackle jangle-pop. Fuzzy shoegaze. Surfy horns. Boys racing for their lunchboxes. A useless stream of consciousness to try to summarize Birds of California. Actually, they're a six piece that's comprised of Tim Brown and Donna McKean of Lunchbox, Stewart from Boyracer, and Ron Mckean, Amr Toppozada, and Jeremy Goody, who all just happen to be awesome. And they actually do mix the aforementioned elements to make some fantastic indie-pop. The genre bending single Great Expectations is available as a free download from Tweefort-cum-February Records just in time to keep you cool during the terrible transition to summer. I suppose I should also elaborate about Tweefort's evolution to a record label. Danny and the gang are going to be focusing more on putting out ace music such as this, and the Fictional West single I mentioned a while ago, than booking.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Very Truly Yours!

























I just made a root beer float, and gave the new Very Truly Yours album Things You Used to Say, a spin on the stereo. It was an excellent combination. Very Truly Yours say they're influenced by Heavenly and Camera Obscura, and I wouldn't disagree. I would probably be content listening to Kristine sing the dictionary, especially if she had Katie backer her up. Add the some guitars, strings, keys, glock, and drums and you've got a hit. Now replace the dictionary with something handwritten and heartfelt and you've got a smashing album. Honestly it's good enough that I can't even do a track-by-track review because it seems uncouth to do anything but let it play through. So, if you like Camera Obscura and other pretty sounding pop things of that ilk, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy from Skywriting Records so you can fully enjoy summer!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

SF Popfest Lineup Anncounced!

Yeow!

Our Dearest Friends,

Everything is set for San Francisco Popfest 2010! Come join us from May 27 - 30 for the fun. Our full lineup is below. We have a very limited number of festival passes still available via our website (http://www.sfpopfest.com) for the discounted price of $48. If you'd like more information about SFPopfest, please sign up for our mailing list at our website and join our facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=45263827262&ref=ts).

Date: Thursday - May 27
Venue: Rickshaw Stop
Doors: 8pm
Ages: All Ages!
Tickets: $10 advance & $12 door
Ticket Link: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/7429
Tune-Yards
Eux Autres
Knight School
Social Studies

Date: Friday - May 28
Venue: Bottom of the Hill
Doors: 8pm
Ages: All Ages!
Tickets: $12 advance/door
Ticket Link: http://www.stubmatic.com/bottomofthehill/event/4354
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
Nodzzz
Antarctica Takes It!
English Singles

Date: Saturday - May 29
Venue: Hotel Utah
Doors: 2:30pm
Ages: All Ages!
Tickets: $6 advance/door
The Orange Peels
Dream Diary
Leaving Mornington Crescent
The Corner Laughers

Date: Saturday - May 29
Venue: Rickshaw Stop
Doors: 8pm
Ages: All Ages!
Tickets: $12 advance & $14 door
Ticket Link: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/7431
All Girl Summer Fun Band
Still Flyin'
Cars Can Be Blue
BOAT
The Art Museums

Date: Sunday - May 30
Venue: Dolores Park
Doors: 2pm
Ages: All Ages!
Tickets: Free!
Our second annual acoustic picnic show with:
Math & Physics Club
Watercolor Paintings
TeamAWESOME!
The Hairs
Normandie Wilson
Girl Band

Date: Sunday - May 30
Venue: Rickshaw Stop
Doors: 7pm
Ages: All Ages!
Tickets: $12 advance & $14 door
Ticket Link: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/7435
Cats on Fire
Math & Physics Club
The Tyde
My Teenage Stride
Devon Williams

We hope to see many of your smiles come May!

Best,

SFPopfest crew x (Aaron, Debbie, Kardyhm and Stuart)

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The Winter EP for Spring



























I think this might be my most overdue post to date, but that's alright because it involves free music, and that never has an expiration date. Well, it does, but this is still fresh.

I got a wonderful email from Christoffer of the long defunct, but now revitalized, Cafe2001 record label saying just that; they were back in business. What's more, their first release ever, and first new release are both available for free download from their site.

Unlike Matthew from Shelflife I didn't know about this compilation, until now, so it was an introduction to a whole slew of new bands for me. For the most part, the 14 tracks span the spectrum of that Casio backed brand of indie-pop. If you've exhausted the Casiotone for the Painfully Alone back catalogue, give Toyen a spin. Want something to compliment Au Revior Simone in your next mix tape? Give a listen to that TAFKA Pasaan track. If you've ever wondered what a bunch of Norsemen on a beach in the Mediterranean in the 60's would sound like, that's in there too.

There's also a brand new EP over there as well. I'm not quite sure what to say about Remington Super 60. They play some beautiful indie pop with fragile keys swirling behind gentle everything. Sounds pretty twee until you hear that Burt Bacharach and a couple acid jazz-y groups are major influences.

Anyways, go here and download them both because they're great.