Featured Artists
MGM GRAND New Gree is a dance on tour that not only happens anywhere, but is happening all the time. The fashions worn on the road are the costumes of the dance. The terrain of the performance is demarcated by props; flags, lights, mirrors and projections. MGM's rock band concept is transformed into a band of female cowboys not cowgirls, and the New Gree group is always on guard, ready for long stillnesses, quick getaways, telepathy and remonstrance. An aim, but not goal of New Gree, is to dance in complete unison with eyes closed, navigating safely through densities of people and space. Ulteriorly, the choreography works with shifting formations of energy and hyper-reality in relation to the mobile audience, building additive layers of past and future performances, past and future influences, and linking everyone and everything in the accumulative journey of now.
www.moderngaragemovement.com
Performing: Sat., July 19 at the New Langton Gallery
William Hooker is an artistic whole, a vast circle of vision and execution. A body of uninterrupted work beginning in the mid-seventies defines him as one of the most important composers and players in jazz. As bandleader, Hooker has fielded ensembles in an incredibly diverse array of configurations. Each collaboration has brought a serious investigation of his compositional agenda and the science of the modern drum kit. As a player, Hooker has long been known for the persuasive power of his relationship with his instrument. His work is frequently grounded in a narrative context. Whether set against a silent film or anchored by a poetic theme, Hooker brings dramatic tension and human warmth to avant-garde jazz. His ability to find fertile ground for moving music in a variety of settings that obliterate genre distinctions offers a much-needed statement of social optimism in the arts. A disciplined, adaptive, and energetic approach to his medium insures that the oeuvre of William Hooker will continue to grow thicker and richer.
William Hooker has released over 40 critically acclaimed CDs. As a composer, he has received commissions from Meet the Composer, the NY State Council on the Arts, Real Art Ways ,Walker Arts Center and others, and has led many creative ensembles with musicians from diverse backgrounds, including DJ Olive, Lee Ranaldo, David Murray, David S. Ware, William Parker, DJ Spooky and Thurston Moore. Hooker often reads his poetry during performances as part of the musical compositions.
www.williamhooker.com
Performing: Sat., July 19 and the Hemlock Tavern
Jel is a long term producer/beat maker, co-founder of Anticon records. Live MPC rhythm section and beat conductor.
www.myspace.com/jelanticon
Performing: Thurs., July 17 at the Eagle
French Miami Formed in 2006, this trio has exploded on the San Francisco scene with their quirky mix of disco keyboards, screaming guitars, catchy vocals and solid drums.
As a three piece, each member takes on multiple roles. Singer Jason Heiselmann seamlessly switches between baritone guitar, drums, keyboards, and singing -- sometimes all in the same song -- and guitarist Roland Curtis is known to play his guitar and keyboard at the same time. Drummer Chris Crawford stays locked on the drums, his signature BOOM! creating the backbone of their sound. Whether they're playing in a sweaty house party basement or in front of hundreds of people, French Miami's raucous live performance commands the dance floor.
www.myspace.com/mrfrenchmiami
Performing: Sat., July 19 at Argus
Willow Willow Singer/songwriters Miranda Zeiger and Jessica Vohs discovered their gift for harmonizing together not long after meeting in kindergarten.
Their intense, lifelong, musical bond results in a magical purity impossible to contrive. Their smart, classic-sounding, melodic pop songs are what elevate this duo to the realm of the exquisite.
Willow Willow have been performing, primarily as a duo with an acoustic guitar, in the San Francisco Bay Area for about five years. With the recent addition of a subtle rhythm section as well as various, occasional guest musicians, their sound has been gradually filling out and evolving. The band's enchanting sound can be heard in their recently released debut album on local label Mod Lang Records.
www.myspace.com/willowwillow
Performing: Wed., July 16 at the Knockout
THE DRIFT are an instrumental four-piece from San Francisco who are comprised of trumpet, electronics, guitar, keyboards, upright bass and drums. The music combines elements of rare groove, dub, out jazz, and more esoteric leanings that conjure a unique musical space free of traditional confines, simultaneously frenetic and sublime.
http://www.thedriftmusic.com
Performing: Thurs., July 17 at the New Langton - Collision
Tiny Vipers
www.myspace.com/tinyvipersss
Performing: Thurs., July 17 at the Hemlock Tavern
The Blank Tapes I, Matt Adams, write, record, sing & play all of The Blank Tapes music with an exception of a few friends lending their voices and talents for recordings and shows. I was living down in Orange County for a long time and briefly lived in LA until I got tired of the Southern California life and headed north to San Francisco after i finished my 2nd CD "Landfair" in the Summer of 2005. (the first album being Country Western Honky Tonk Saloon Blues 2002) The album has 23 songs which were recorded onto 8-track cassette tapes (hence the name). The album won best "pop/rock album" at the independent music awards and reached 161 on the CMJ charts January 2006. i have yet to hear my music played on the radio but supposedly my friends and other random people have been hearing my songs played all over the country. We've been touring all over the place too! Mostly on the west coast and NY area, but plans to tour across the US and Europe are in the works. When that happens, let us know if you have a space or show you'd like us to be a part of.
www.myspace.com/theblanktapes
Performing: Thurs., July 17 at Hotel Utah
TUSSLE came on the scene in 2001 and immediately made a name for themselves with their uncontrived take on rhythm music. Their "coveted 12inch singles" (The Wire) on Troubleman Unlimited first caught the eyes of international crate-diggers and tastemakers alike - among them the Optimo DJs, John Peel (RIP) and Trevor Jackson. Behind those records, they toured Europe and Japan and played alongside a diverse cast of bands and artists, mirroring the band's no-genre approach - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Karlheinz Stockhausen, !!!, Deerhunter, Gang Gang Dance, eYe (Boredoms), Zongamin, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Deerhoof and summer 2007 found them touring a epic 7 week US tour that included dates with Hot Chip, YACHT and ADULT.
Upon release of their debut album, the critically-lauded Kling Klang, the group were selected for URB's prestigious Next 100; and Pitchfork picked the group as one of 5 artists to watch in the future. They continued playing unorthodox spaces/venues and in that time played in art spaces such as Deitch Projects, the Frieze Art Fair in London, San Francisco MOMA, and Jack Hanley Gallery, travelled to Scandinavia and did U.S. tours with Architecture in Helsinki, Outhud, Eats Tapes and Yellow Swans.
Since then, the group's line-up has shifted. Bassist Andy Cabic left the group amicably in 2005 to be a permanent fixture in Devendra Banhart's group and to concentrate on his solo project, Vetiver. Initially, this called the very future of the band into question. But sometimes blessings come in disguise. On Telescope Mind, Tussle's original drummer Alexis switched from drums to bass and percussion and new drummer Warren - who's played with Damo Suzuki and Daevid Allen of Soft Machine/Gong fame - taking his place, the resultant album captures a group expanding their scope to dizzying effect.
Tussle today still consists of two drummers, (Warren Huegel and Jonathan Holland), bassist Tomo Yasuda (electronics guru of Hey Willpower) and knob twiddler Nathan Burazer. Nathan and Jonathan have been making music together since their North Carolina days in the early 90s, where they became roommates shortly after Nathan left a religious cult (where he learned to play the his first instrument, the guitar). The two moved to San Francisco to go to art school, eventually meeting Warren (originally from Southern California) and Tomo (originally from Japan) through mutual friends. To this day, Tussle still lives in San Francisco, California, although their label resides in Oslo, Norway.
www.tussle.org
Performing: Thurs., July 17 at the GRAY AREA GALLERY
Nancy Garcia is a New York based choreographer/musician/artist making performance work since 1997. Her work has been shown at several New York venues, including Greene Naftali Gallery, Tonic, Dixon Place, Movement Research Festival, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Knitting Factory, and throughout the US, Japan, and Europe, at festivals such as All Tomorrow's Parties (UK).
She has had the pleasure of working with
choreographers Nancy Meehan, Felicia Ballos, Jamm Leary, Chase
Granoff, musicians Thurston Moore, Rat Bastard (Laundry Room
Squelchers), Monotract bandmates Carlos Giffoni and Roger Rimada,
and video/sound artist Aida Ruilova, among others. In May 2008, she
received a Master's degree from New York University's Interactive
Telecommunications Program in the Tisch School of the Arts where
she developed a multi-channel video dance performance (Untitled, 7
Looping DVDs) in an attempt to expand definitions of choreography in
an age of electronic communication and physical displacement.
www.nancygarcia.org
Performing: Fri., July 18 at the New Langton - Collision
Garcia & Thurston Moore at No Fun Fest, May 16, 2008
Earlimart
www.myspace.com/earlimart
Performing: Sat., July 19 at Café DuNord
The White Buffalo is quite possibly a legend in the making. A throwback to the time of hard touring, hard drinking artists who really lived what they sang about. Everything about him is big, from his imposing physical size to his amazing vocal range. He's as comfortable playing in a dive bar as he is in front of thousands in a European arena. With only an EP out, but literally hundreds of songs written and more coming all the time, the future is exciting for a guy who has that much raw talent.
www.thewhitebuffalo.com
Performing: Thurs., July 17 at Hotel Utah
The Ian Fays are a folk-electro-girl-pop quartet from San Francisco. The group is fronted by twin sisters Lizz and Sara Fay and has an assorted back-up band, featuring their other sister, Lena Fay, on xylophone, hand cymbals, triangle, etc., as well as a keyboardist, drummer and the occasional trumpet or kazoo player. They wear matching outfits at every show and are known to give out amazing party favors to audiences.
www.myspace.com/theianfays
Performing: Fri., July 18 at Hotel Utah - Performer Magazine Night
Jesse Quattro
www.myspace.com/j4solo
Performing: Sun., July 20 at the Argus
Bat Mukumba The brainchild of Brazilian natives Alex Koberle and Emiliano Benevides and Americano bassist Carl Remde, Bat Makumba is the crossroads between the equatorial beats of Brazil and the punk, rock and funk influences of the U.S. and Europe. Locals to San Francisco, Bat Makumba's show is a hip renegade carnaval party full of tropicalia tinged ska, punk influenced forro, and rock infused samba. Since their debut in 2000 Bat Makumba have garnered critical acclaim and a dedicated fan base throughout the West Coast. Winners of a California Music Award for Best Latin Alternative Album, Bat Makumba have been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of Five Latin Bands to Watch, nominated for an SF Weekly Music Award, and their debut album was named one of the Best Records of the Year by the East Bay Express. Incorporating the varied influences of horn player David Gibbs, keyboardist/guitarist Jonnie Axtell and drummer Aaron Kierbel, Bat Makumba's live show brings together an international palette of musicians and instrumentation (including accordion, zabumba, megaphone, clarinet and alfaia). Named after the 70s classic Tropicalia song by Caetano Veloso + Gilberto Gil (popularized by Os Mutantes), "Bat Makumba" loosely translates to mean the mixing of Brazilian traditionalism with international pop culture. Don't miss this kinetic, percussive music... join the renegade carnaval party that is Bat Makumba.
www.myspace.com/batmakumbamusic
Performing: Sat., July 19 at Balazo 18 - Latin Module
Hard Place
www.myspace.com/hardplace
Performing: Fri., July 18 at the Knockout
The Extra Action Marching Band is a collision of big band and ecstatic turmoil. Despite their name they rarely march, but rather shimmy, crawl, mob and charge. Trumpets pounce like eagles and tubas drip ass-bouncing blurps from fat fingers. Drums shudder under wild eyed and white knuckled drummers, and through it all winds the flag team; glittering and sinuous creatures who masterfully pulsate pom-poms in a hypnotic fantasy. The listener is hoodwinked, soaked, and savaged into giddy abandon. Powerful and empowering, the Extra Action Marching Band seduces the pre-civilized will. They are immediate and visceral - more of a sweaty invitation than a show. They are a parody of idioms with shattering volume - guerrilla theater with the rug rolled up. Extra Action has performed in back alleys ,the countryside of serbia,and at the Hollywood Bowl, they have played Black Sabbath in a synagogue for dancing octogenarians - but the preferred venue is a small locked room with the heat turned up. As the sound boils into a spinning crossfire, sweat and flying hair tangle in a delicious knot. Audience and band submit together, to each other, to the whim and fancy, to satisfaction. Irresistible.
http://www.myspace.com/extraactionmarchingband
Performing: Fri., July 18 at the Eagle
Patrice Scanlon is an electronic musician, dancer, and recovering clarinetist working in the San Francisco Bay Area. As an undergraduate student, Patrice studied clarinet, composition and digital arts at Stetson University in Deland, Florida. She later earned an MFA in Electronic Music from Mills College in Oakland, CA where she focused her musical experiments with dancers, choreographers, and other musicians.
Scanlon often works collaboratively, recently composing music with Fred Frith (on The Happy End Problem and Imitations) for Amanda Millers The Pretty Ugly Dance Company in Freiburg, Germany. When beginning a new work, Patrice uses field recordings, studio recordings and synthesizers, which are transformed through time stretching, modulation and distortion until the ultimate timbre is achieved. As a dancer, Patrice is always searching to create musical rhythms that teeter between the familiar and the unfamiliar.
Currently the Technical Director of the Intermedia Arts Program at Mills College, Patrice also performs at local Bay Area Venues, and develops interactive systems with Max/MSP and the Cyclops object. Using a digital video camera, the images of the dancers are captured into a grid that divides the stage into zones, for example, 8 columns and 8 rows for 64 zones. When there is a difference in light, a zone triggers which then triggers a specific sample, effect and spatial location. The interaction between the dancer, the software, and Scanlons own musical improvisation generates a fluid and often poetic interplay between motion and sound.
www.myspace.com/patricescanlon
Performing: Fri., July 18 at Million Fishes
Justine Electra Live i sing and play guitar which i combine with loops to get a blues-electro sound. I was signed to the "City Slang" music label last year and have just completed my 1st album "Soft Rock" which is very song-oriented, kind of laid back electro-blues.
myspace.com/justineelectra
Performing: Wed., July 16 at the New Lanton - Collision
Torsten Kretchzmar Since Sprockets and Kraftwerk defined the art of good old German abstract entertainment, Torsten Kretchzmar will surprise you with his new multimedia show "I Know What Girls Like" that will make everyone wonder.
www.kretchzmar.com
Performing: Wed., July 16 at the New Lanton - Collision
The Moore Brothers Growing up in Altadena, California, Greg and Thom Moore shared a room for 15 years, in which they amassed a tiny collection of LP's stolen from their parents. Over time, the Cowsills, Bee Gees, and the Beatles gave way to Thomas Dolby, the Cocteau Twins, and the Incredible String Band. On May 5, 2003, the Moore Brothers released their second album, On and Out, which was released on Amazing Grease Records. It features the same production and rhythm section team as their debut album, Colossal Small. Producer Jon Erickson supplies the bass while Andrew Borger (Norah Jones, Preston School of Industry, Tom Waits) plays drums. Like its predecessor, it features a wide array of styles and moods that showcase the Brother's close harmony singing and their individual talents as well. The themes explored on the album include problematic relationships, marriage, and nuclear explosions.
www.themoorebros.com
Performing: Wed., July 16 at the Knockout
Lady Genius is a five piece San Francisco band that includes Ashley Brewer (vocals/keys), Kyle Williams (vocals/guitar/keys), Jason Byers (guitar), Brian Caraway (bass) and Matt Stromberg (drums). The band formed in early 2007 after the dissolution of Byers' and Williams' previous group, Volunteer Pioneer. Lady Genius' short, layered pop songs feature shimmering keyboards and echoing guitars that are coupled with crisp drums and cutting boy/girl vocals.
www.myspace.com/ladygeniusmusic
Performing: Sat., July 19 at the Hotel Utah
Volumen Cero is composed of Luis TambIay (vocals/bass), Marthin Chan (guitar and keys) and Josh Sonntag (Guitar). Based out of Echo Park in Los Angeles, California. Volumen Cero, posses a diverse Latin American background, hailing from Chile, Peru and Mexico. Representing a new generation of Latinos in the US, this bilingual and bicultural trio offers a fresh take on rock and roll. They fluidly transition through both Latino and Anglo worlds performing in Spanish and English. They have been at the forefront for Latinos that perform nontraditional music and have achieved critical-acclaim and success. In 2004, Volumen Cero made history when they became one of the first Latin Alternative groups ever to be profiled on MTV's Advance Warning, which aired on MTV and MTV2. In 2005, Volumen Cero received Latin Grammy Nominations for best rock album by a duo or group for their critically acclaimed album Estelar and guitarist Marthin Chan was also nominated for best rock song, as writer for JD Natasha's "Lagrimas." With the release of their third album Estelar, the band's first single "Autos" spent over 10 weeks in the #1 spot and 20 weeks in the top 3 of R&R's Latin Rock Chart. The band is currently putting the finishing touches on, I CAN SEE THE BRIGHT SPOT, their fourth studio album set to released mid-2008.
www.myspace.com/volumenceromusic
Performing: Fri., July 18 at Balazo 18 - Latin Module
ariel pink and haunted graffiti
In fact, Ariel Pink is the closest thing to any real punk ethos to come around in a long while — far more than any spiky-haired, leather-clad revivalists or aging legends out for one more moment in the spotlight. But beyond all the iconoclastic rebellion he exhibits, there is also real sadness to his music that forms a perfect compliment to all the frantic energy and cleverness. It is the same melancholy sweetness found in the more haunting works of the Carpenters or Beach Boys, though far more deliberate and intense in its darkness.
"I'm the king of bad vibes," he says. "I always wanted to make the saddest music that ever was. I'm incapable of not doing it. So I make avant-garde music using pop music. The pop quality in my music is so sad because it's nostalgic – it is the sound of a happiness that's not there anymore."
from la weekly cover story dec 2-8 2005
anavan
L.A. trio ANAVAN first appeared in 2004, in the wake of the handful of percussion-centric bands who'd been stirring-up the underground for the previous couple of years. With their drum kit taking center-stage (and their helmet-mics firmly in place), I prematurely assumed at first sight that their sound would owe much to the likes of PINK AND BROWN and LIGHTNING BOLT. I was wrong. ANAVAN's empassioned, dare I say sexy, postpunk groove bypasses the cerebral yardwork of noise and pummel-rock, by aiming squarely on the listener's need to shake something. Free your mind and... well, you know the rest.
Birthed from the pregnant stew of downtown's now legendary all-ages venue, The Smell, ANAVAN cracked their shell alongside groups like ABE VIGODA, HEALTH, and MIKA MIKO. Their sound, however, owes as little to their local peers as it does the aforementioned duos. The most obvious break from convention was (and still is) the conspicuous lack of guitar - an absence one forgets shortly after the first glorious note is struck. You see, any group of haircuts can leave something out. In a city full of 5-, 7-, hell, even 10-piece ensembles, the concept of "less is more" starts becoming something of an emergency. When less equals as much more as ANAVAN delivers, the wheat has already begun showing the chaff where to stick it. "Power trio" hardly does them justice.
Needless to say, I was sold on them, post-haste. Their self-produced, self-titled debut album was released on GSL in 2006, followed by appearances at the label's showcases for the largely underinformed heads of industry at Austin's SXSW and New York's CMJ music festivals. U.S. tours ensued and a cult following rapidly took shape. A Japanese single was released in 2007 by Every Conversation Records. Now, in 2008, the band will at last set foot on foreign soil.
ANAVAN have shared staged with NO MEANS NO, CRYSTAL CASTLES and MONOTONIX; they've toured with HEALTH and CLIP'D BEAKS; they've lent their gear to a thousand other bands you have and haven't heard of, and they're just getting started. Flagbearers for no particular scene or agenda, ANAVAN are as unique a Los Angeles institution as Ron Jeremy, The Smell, and taco trucks. And no, they in fact are not from Alaska.
- Sonny Kay | GSL Records 2008
rainbow arabia
they are danny and tiffany preston
the music that they create is an exciting dance party with a blend of live instruments, samples, and amazing mixing abilities. they are an explosive visual/audio experience that is not to be missed. a very new band that mcfm is very excited to have on our lineup.
live footage at http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=342492066&blogID=409352001
hecuba
Hecuba's dubbed-out drone-moan is the L.A. version of New York bands like Excepter or Gang Gang Dance: sexier, cleaner, not as gnarled, more open spaces, more vocals, hippie-friendly, less concerned about their record collection, would rather dance to hip-hop than talk about it, not afraid of a little glitter, better filling your lungs than your nostrils, has photo shoots, trims beards. They're using all the same glitches and squonks and hisses and growls (and most importantly the hoooosss of what is presumably an electronic cuica), and use them to motor Isabelle Albuquerque's slow-churned pop spiritual. She sometimes sings in tune and sometimes deliciously out of tune, which means it's polished, but just-not-polished enough to count as neo-no-wave death-disco or whatevs. Ergo, in a sun-beaten Los Angeles parking lot where No Age is Nirvana, Hecuba front the college-radio playlist of the steaming tarmac with their version of PJ Harvey swamp-poppy To Bring You My Love or Suzanne Vega's quasi-industrial 99.9F°. (Spoiler: Second time around she's rapping like M.I.A. and Yoko Ono. And then namechecks Yoko to drive the point home.)
In a flash, Albuquerque is all three Ronettes, harmonizing in a split-second of bliss, just ro-oh-owe-ohlling over a '60s girl-group-style shimmy. Or, more accurately, in the same way Blondie evoked a lo-res, hi-attitude one-woman girl-group on tracks like "(I'm Always Touched) By Your Presence Dear" or "In The Flesh." Or even more accurately, Hecuba is like that lo-res Blondie over the hi-res organ-punk goth-frolic of Celebration. The highs high and the lows simply desolate. - CHRISTOPHER R. WEINGARTEN