Having only begun his journey in 2015, Jackson Philips left his pop band, Carousel, to become a solo instrumentalist under the name Day Wave. Drawing heavily from a Beach Boy’s sound that is tinged with new wave influences, Jackson Philips has created a lush atmosphere of music that exudes Summertime vibes. Although he has not released an official full-length album yet, there will definitely be some buzz around Day Wave at SXSW 2016. –From The Deli Magazine’s Current SXSW Print Issue

The San Francisco based garage rock band, Hungry Skinny will be playing Bottom of the Hill with The Lower 48 and Mars and the Massacre. You’re not going to want to miss this show! Hungry Skinny was formed in San Francisco’s tenderloin district in 2011. They have recorded and released 3 EP’s with Light Rail Studios; "Ain’t Walkin’ You Home", "Nobody Cares", and "Birth & A Murder".

“If the Beatles and Jack White gave birth to a musical baby, it would sound something like The Lower 48 – and yes, the band is just as ferocious as one would imagine, as we discovered in our interview. The trio’s multi-instrumental thick wall of sound is marvelous because the lead singer isn’t just a lead singer, the bassist doesn’t only play bass, and the drummer doesn’t only drum; they all carry the weight of at least two players effortlessly…”

Mars and The Massacre is an LA-based Psychedelic/Garage Rock band originally hailing from Indianapolis, IN. Formed in early 2013, the group of martians has already gained a strong following in Los Angeles, being known particularly for their entrancing and unpredictable live shows.

The Psych-Pop girls of Snow Angel, doused with hard hitting drums, bass, omnichord, guitar, keys and electric sitar turned all the way up to 11, are back with more sunshine, funkier jams and full moon, crystal power in the year of the monkey! In short, a technicolor rainbow cheer party, sing-a-long, group hug with a happy ending. Eight girls strong, can’t go wrong!

Snow Angel, originally from Oakland, is the brainchild of Gabby La La, who is most famous for touring with Les Claypool’s Fancy Band. Claypool also produced and released La La’s first album "Be Careful What You Wish For…" on his record label.

Snow Angel self-released their first 7" record in April 2015, and the girls will release their first full-length album in 2016 on cassette and digital. Partnering with Off Planet VR, the girls will couple the debut of their first album with a virtual reality experience, artfully joining the past and the future into a unique musical experience. The virtual reality segment of their release will tell the story of the girls of Snow Angel as flower cats in space, protecting a cat nebula, getting blown away by a cosmic wind to Earth, and finding their way back home.

Flowers, cats, space, all tied together with unstoppable positivity and girl power—all available to view in a 360° virtual reality experience—what’s not to love? By contributing to their Kickstarter campaign, you get an all-access pass to “Snow Angel in VR”, all while supporting music and women in the arts.

Today Day Wave releases his highly anticipated sophomore EP, Hard To Read via Grand Jury. Hard To Read was performed, produced, mixed and mastered by Day Wave directly to tape, and the result is a beautiful 5-track EP bursting with California sunshine. Packed with ethereal, lo-fi vocals, captivating hooks, and celestial guitars awash with subtle synths, Day Wave builds an entrancing sonic milieu that makes him one of the most exciting up-and-comers today.

We’re excited to premiere the newest music video from the San Francisco based band, Scary Little Friends. The band’s oddly intergalactic video for their single, Everything at Once from the band’s new EP entitled, Silent Revolution. The video is inspired by the album’s cover art, bringing Silent Revolution’s black and white outter space photo to life!

“This is one of those places that made the Mission District special,” says band-leader, Chris Jones. “Like so many other great places, it had to close last year, but we were lucky enough to be able to say goodbye. We’ll miss the Bad Movie Nights, Live ‘Twilight Zone’ viewings, and underground sketch comedy. We dedicate this video to owner Jim Fourniadis, and all he and his venue have done for San Francisco.”

Jones continues, “(Director) Blake (Boxer) kept us far away from the usual, serious-faced style of music videos that you’re used to seeing. She took it in a fun and psychedelic direction instead. We think it’s really unique.”

After a triumphant debut release from her band, King Woman last year, Kristina Esfandiari has returned with her deep, moody music project, Miserable. Her new song, Oven explores suicidal tendencies due to the rejection of a lover.

Esfandiari told Noisey, “Oven’ is about someone I was once so intimate with making me feel like they never cared. That can make you feel insane, and it causes you second guess everything you thought was real. It’s about feeling extremely frustrated over miscommunication between you and someone you truly loved.”

With all the "darkness" that created this tragically beautiful song, the track is touching, honest, raw and a very brave piece of music for her to have shared. Esfandiari is arguably one of the Bay Area’s most talented artists. Keep your eyes and ears on her current and future releases. -je

​San Francisco based folk musician, Mark Nelsen has released a new music video for his new country single, ​​Tennessee Valley​. Nelsen is a founding member of the neo psych band, Electric Shepherd, but even after breaking away from the heavy psych rock sound of his full band, Nelsen’s sound is very diverse within the realm of his own solo work. His previous release, Homeward was an ode to space travel and self discovery, embodying far out, reverbed and electric guitar compositions. His new single, Tennessee Valley / Girl from Mendo​ is a stripped down country record.

Nelsen is always going to have a very traditional almost Appalachian folk undertone to his music, but ​Tennessee Valley​ (which is no where near Appalachia) just came outright with a simple and unapologetic country folk style. It will be interesting to hear what genre Mark Nelsen touches on next.​ –je

Oh, East Bay, it’s near that time of year again! Burger Records and John Water’s Burger Boogaloo has just announced the line up for their upcoming 2016 event!

The party animals at Burger Records have a lot coming up in 2016. They’ve just announced details for their annual two-day Burger Boogaloo which will happen June 25 & 26 at in Oakland, CA’s Mosswood Park. John Waters returns as host, and he’s bringing his Cry-Baby star Traci Lords with him. The musical lineup includes Thee Oh Sees, The Intelligence, Shannon & the Clams, The Trashwomen, Mummies, Young Fresh Fellows, Angry Samoans, Flamin’ Groovies, The Dwarves, and more. Ticket sare on sale. Full daily lineups are below.

Elsewhere: the 2016 Burger Revolution, a one-night worldwide event of burger-fueled rock n’ roll uprising, will happen on March 5. New York shows are still being worked out, but you can see all scheduled shows (and join the Revolution yourself) here. Burger will also be at SXSW and while details or what they’ve got planned is still TBA, they will be hosting Burger Records Hangover Fest IV at San Antonio’s Paper Tiger on Sunday, March 20 with Shannon and the Clams, Night Beats, La Luz, White Lung, Guantanamo Baywatch, All Dogs, Vaadat Charigim and more. Tickets are on sale. You can watch a promotional video and check out the complete announced lineup below.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25TH HOSTED BY JOHN WATERS

MEET & GREET WITH TRACI LORDS
THE TRASHWOMEN
MUMMIES
REAL KIDS
THE LYRES
THE INTELLIGENCE
THEE OH SEES
OKMONIKS
ANGRY SAMOANS
AMPLIFIED HEAT
PSYCOTIC PINEAPPLE
YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS

SUNDAY, JUNE 26TH HOSTED BY JOHN WATERS

KING KHAN & THE SHRINES
FLAMIN’ GROOVIES W/ ROY LONEY
SHANNON & THE CLAMS
TERRY & LOUIE (EX-EXPLODING HEARTS)
SETH BOGART
THE SPITS
BUCK BILOXI
GIORGIO MURDERER
SODA BOYS
DEATH VALLEY GIRLS
THE DWARVES
FADEAWAYS

(originally published in Brooklyn Vegan)

The San Francisco based rock band, Abbot Kinney has been kind enough to share a new song with you through our wonderful music blog portal! Abbot Kinney has been consistently putting out great music and their new song, It’s the Middle of the Night is leading us all towards the official release of Abbot Kinney’s upcoming EP, The Night which is due out on April 29th. The Night’s album release party will take place the same night at Bottom of the Hill as Abbot Kinney will celebrate by opening for Panic is Perfect!

Take a listen to It’s the Middle of the Night and we’ll continue to keep you posted on the release of the full EP, The Night!

You can pre-order the album at http://www.abbotkinney.com.

Abbot Kinney is a rock band that thrives on big vocal hooks, a heavy, intricate rhythm section and an ambitiously grand scope, and while lead singer-songwriter Jared Swanson was certainly influenced by the “alternative” label of yesterday, his music wholly belongs to the 21st century. The group’s new EP The Night not only challenges the listener’s conception of what an indie rock song can sound like in a scaled-down, irony-charged modern music scene; it also represents a sonic evolutionary step forward.

We’re very excited to premiere the San Francisco based band, YOURS new track, Goldmine. Make sure you listen to this track and support local artists!

"Realizing the drastic changes happening around us in San Francisco over the last couple years opened up the doors for writing Goldmine. As SF continues to become this money making machine, it also starts to have an impact on a lot of struggling industries. The massive flood of tech driven individuals, increased house prices, and expensive day to day living has made it hard for the creative minds to make a living. However, the upside is that you hope with all this money laying around some good may come out of it for us like new venues and more spending on music sales or commercial opportunity. We’ll see what happens to this golden city in the next couple of years…."

The birth of YOURS started long before the name, when founding members Kazmo Vilmar and Milton Nieves met during the college days in Tallahassee, Florida. It was in this place that their musical bond bloomed; it was during this time that they shared experiences which would spark a common interest. From the time they met up until graduation day, Kazmo and Milton with the help of some friends played the hits all the college kids were talking about while compiling some ideas of their own. After getting some degrees, the summer of 2010 they packed all they could fit into a trailer and drove across the country to their destination and place that they would call their newfound home of San Francisco, California. Walking on historic Haight street one day, the concept of YOURS was brought to life, and for them it came to represent all they would hope to.

After 2 years of songwriting and recording, YOURS debut EP was released in early 2013, followed by a handful of shows at local venues including Bottom of the Hill, Brick and Mortar, El Rio and The Knockout. After cycling through some additional members to help make the live show that more appealing, YOURS decided to start prepping the release of a new record. The latest EP was recorded and produced at one of the greatest analog labs in the country, Tiny Telephone Studios. Headed by the legendary John Vanderslice, Tiny Telephone Studios enabled YOURS to experiment with all their funky analog equipment and state of the art tape recording. It was a great experience for the group and with the help of well known Bay Area producer, Jamie Riotto, the band is stoked for everyone to listen to these new tunes.

Press Photo (credit: Russie Sanders)

Editor’s Note: "AHH…THE NAME IS EMOTIONAL, BABY!" is a play on the Bootsy Collins and Bootsy’s Rubber Band album and album cover…just in case you didn’t catch it! -je

Emotional is the lovechild of Death Records founder and long-time Bay Area music community leader, Brian Wakefield. Brian has been a part of the Bay Area music scene since early ‘00s, and has worked with numerous bands in the SF music scene.

Emotional’s LP "Ahh…The Name Is Emotional, Baby!” floats us away into a hazy, yellow daydream of synthy, easy-going guitar chords and genuine vocals that narrate your most treasured nostalgic days. The heavy layering of slow, synth sounds beats upon aching melodies and raw lyricism and are the pieces of this album that make it one beautiful, progressive oxymoron. Heartbreaking sentiments with carefree beats, songs like “Hand 4 Hire” will make you want to press repeat and lay in a perpetual state of stoney thoughtfulness.

In support of their upcoming LP release of "Ahh…The Name Is Emotional, Baby!", in perfect timely fashion, Emotional will be playing a live set in San Francisco at Amnesia on February 14th alongside The Memories and Idiot Glee. Whether it’s a time of celebration for your and your lover, or a single night out with your beloved friends, Emotional is there to hold our hand this Valentine’s day, share their new sounds, and remind us that it’s ok to get emotional sometimes. –Lindsay Stickney

TOUR DATES
02.14 – Amnesia – San Francisco, CA w/ The Memories,Idiot Glee
02.21 – Amnesia – San Francisco, CA w/ Magic Trick, Grace Sings Sludge, The She’s
02.26 – The New Parish – Oakland, CA w/ Parquet Courts, Chris Cohen, The World
02.28 – Amnesia – San Francisco, CA w/ Sam Flax, Friendless Summer, Cole Lodge