The San Francisco based alternative folk rock artist, Megan Slankard is gearing up to release a new album entitled Running on Machinery, due out on May 19th. We’re very excited to be able to premiere the title track from the record!

Running on Machinery is a power-packed folk track that tucks away its folk sensibilities deep beneath an outgoing, heavy alternative pop rock compositional style. If you listen closely enough, you can hear that the song still encompasses an acoustic guitar rhythm deep within it. Slankard’s voice is strong and confident and we really enjoy that she took a chance with this track to do something that is not traditional. It doesn’t matter what genre she decides to put herself under, Megan Slankard exhibits that she understands great music production that puts out a really strong final recording.

A lot of independent artists like to make awesome bedroom recordings, but that style isn’t for everyone. Slankard put out a high quality studio recording that was produced by Alex Wong. However a Bay Area artist chooses to express themselves, we’re all for it.

Xiu Xiu may be getting a little too big for the britches of The Deli Magazine San Francisco, but we’d like to give them a shout anyway. It is important for us to continue to highlight this local music duo because they are an emerging experimental art rock powerhouse who will probably never get the mainstream or even indie media coverage they deserve due to their highly off kilter and at times, grotesque art and music style.

This Friday (May 15th), Xiu Xiu will be supporting the soulful Canadian rock band, Timber Timbre at The Fillmore in San Francisco. Timber Timbre sounds like a nice blend of The Black Angels and The Black Keys. They sound good and they sound cool (like James Dean cool), so experiencing their live show after Xiu Xiu’s out of the box performance will allow you to let your hair down and dance and shuffle around a bit. Don’t miss this show!

A brand new single from the San Francisco based experimental black metal band, Mamaleek has emerged. The new track is entitled, Nothing But Loss and is the very first single to be released from the musical duo’s (who are also brothers) upcoming full length album, Via Dolorosa (which Vice kindly defined as "Way of Suffering" in Latin, a reference to the street in Jerusalem down which Jesus supposedly dragged himself to his death).

The exciting thing about Nothing But Loss is that it is not normal at all. It’s an intense metal track that sounds like the guitar riffs are being guided with a slide (if you’re not sure what is slide is or what slide guitar is, it would behoove you to look it up for reference) and has almost a country, honky tonk style to it. It’s pretty cool to hear the guitars wail and whine beneath death metal vocals. The graveling screaming is almost romanticized because of the slight sweetness of the music, as Mamaleek chose to write the song in a higher octave, so it’s not the usual creepy black metal style that’s played in the lowest tones of E or A. The unique choices the band makes in regards to how they interpret black metal makes them all the more relevant as a ground breaking band.

At the end of the song, it slows down and breaks down a bit to create a dramatic tapering off of strangeness. The song is surprisingly pleasing to listen to and has a lot of character. They have a scary band name and an even scarier album name, but don’t let that put you off. Mamaleek’s new album is due out on May 26th via The Flesner Records

San Francisco based art rock singer/songwriter, Lila Rose will be celebrating the release of her album, WE. ANIMALS. The event will take place tomorrow on May 7th. Apparently, the new live show is comprised of a full multimedia rig including 3D mapping onto a structure that Lila will be singing from…that’s exciting news. It’s always good to learn that something new and innovative is going to emerge right before your eyes! Lila is a pretty gutsy performance artist, so you should definitely be ready to experience something a bit off the wall!

The downtempo, indie folk musical outfit, LYNX and talented folk artist, Mariee Sioux will be supporting Lila Rose tomorrow night. Support awesome local musicians who bust their tails to create awesome and elaborate shows for your inspiration and entertainment.

Bay Area based experimental folk rock singer/songwriter, Todd Umhoefer, better known as Old Earth has given us the pleasure of premiering his brand new EP entitled …until they’re called. If the name of his collaborative music project doesn’t give you an idea of the sound of his music, we can surely report that this new Old Earth release is rootsy, earthy and folk rock based with strong elements of avant classical music.

The album features four other musicians, mysteriously referred to as, Burnett, Fritch, Lopez and Moen bring an eerie "Sleepy Hollow" style of depth to the three track EP. There are a couple creative elements that we like: first thing is that the three songs are composed to musically play into one another, making the EP one long 12 minute track. We also like that Umhoefer collaborates with a female vocalist, as mixed gender collaborations seem to be cropping up in the local folk scene these days. We’ve recently seen Travis Hayes work a female voice into his new music and we think it’s cool.

Old Earth is a polished but not self serving solo project that has a lot of sincerity and even more portential. He’s got the "knowing" vibe of Neutral Milk Hotel and is willing to take creative risks

Enjoy Old Earth’s ….until they’re called in its entirety below via bandcamp.com

It’s always horrible when someone from our community suffers from serious illness and challenging life changes. We regret to report that Sivan Lioncub of the popular San Francisco based art rock band, Everyone is Dirty has suffered from liver failure due to an allergic reaction to antibiotics. Her friends have been putting on a series of benefit shows to help her pay off her incredible medical bills.

On May 10th at Bottom of the Hill, Tricycle Records is hosting an event in support of Sivan’s unfortunate experience. The event will include performances by:

The Lovemakers
The Union Trade
Brasil
Paisano

DJ Sets by Pegasister

We’ve got to help each other out in hard times. Make your way out to this show on Sunday night. Get more info about the event here.

We’re excited to premiere the San Francisco based indie blues rock band, Fritz Montana‘s new music video for their single, Call to Arms. This awesome live music video shows the band’s amazing stage presence and performance abilities. The song is catchy and well produced, and has an evenly blended combination of contemporary indie rock style and vintage blues flavor. Not all "genre-bending" bands can completely pull off a sound in a manner where you don’t have to "try" to get into their art. Call to Arms is believable and enjoyable to listen to.

The best news about the release of this music video is that it is a prelude to two local performances they have coming up including the Napa Valley based BottleRock Music Festival:

May 1st San Francisco, CA @ Fort Mason Center
May 30th Napa, CA @ BottleRock Napa Valley Festival

Make sure you get your tickets to both events and support another awesome, hardworking local independent band!

TONIGHT is the last night of the Sugar Candy Mountain Residency at Amnesia! If you’ve been lucky enough to make all of the Tuesday night shows in April, you should be super proud of yourself for supporting a hard working local band! Tonight is a very special night because the former San Francisco based psych folk troubadour, Mark Matos (Trans Van Santos) will be performing on the bill with the uber talented San Francisco band, Luke Sweeney. Ash Reiter (Sugar Candy Mountain), Luke Sweeney and Mark Matos have contributed so much to the Bay Area music scene that it’s going to be a really exciting night of close knit friends and artists. 

We got a really cool exclusive quote from Mark Matos:

"I will be bringing out the original Os Beaches line up tonight for the first time in years: Ben from Hi Lo Ha, Jo L from Annie Girl & The flight, Joe M from Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah plus Annie Girl (Annie Lipetz) are making an appearance with us, which makes it as close to a Family Folk Explosion reunion as it’s going to get for a minute. Looking forward to seeing you!"

The nouveau psych rock band, Psychic Jiu Jitsu has released their debut full length, self titled album. The thing about Psychic Jiu Jitsu is that they don’t fit anywhere near a "genre check box" where you can neatly explain and entertain yourself with a number of comparisons to bands of the past, present or future. The album is refreshingly "out there", kicking the ten track collection of songs off with the female vocal infused opening track, Yulia’s Capture at the English Front starring the band’s long time friend and muse, Yulia Gorman. The next track, Dreamachine is another oldie, but goodie deriving from early jams and recordings, becoming sketched out and perfected by a number of live performances of the song.

If you’re looking for a friendly rock record in this album, you’re not going to find it. The next songs: Berlin Space Party, World of Warldorf and Don’t Bore Us are unapologetic, youthful, fast paced and experimental. Anyone who doesn’t have a sense of humor, a love of experimental music and/or a young spirit won’t get these songs and will never make it through the entire album. You’ll get a pastiche of musical styles with the second cluster of songs as Slow Ringing in My Dreams is a funk infused track while Golden Hair of the Sweet Sea Heir is a whimsical country/folk influenced song that moves right into the space ambient sounding song, Something Glistens. Otto Vom is the 9th song of the album and is appropriately (sort of appropriately) 9 seconds long. The final song, Black Marketeers of WWIII is a post apocalyptic track ending the album with an almost 8 minute ode to futuristic doom. You’ll either like the Psychic Jiu Jitsu album or you won’t. It’s not wise to make a chore out of listening to the album, but you should go into it with the determination to venture into uncharted psych noise territory. This is a good debut effort from the band. If they choose to record another album, you should listen to that too, just to see how far out they plan to get over time.

One of Oakland’s premiere live music clubs, The Night Light has been going strong for three years, and the venue wants to celebrate with a massive party! The Night Light has booked over 650 live performances and is gearing up to throw a three day bash that includes 25 bands, 12 DJs, 6 comedians and whatever else they may have up their sleeves to make sure you know they appreciate your business and attendance!

A party: If you want it, we advise you to go and get it.
We have a link to the full line up right here for you.

The popular San Francisco based garage noise band, Wild Moth will be supporting Domino Records artist, Alex G at Bottom of the Hill on May 24th. As the micro scenes of the Bay Area begin to grow smaller and smaller, we’re happy that Wild Moth and their long time scene mates, Happy Diving will be sharing a bill with one another yet again. Some bands just go together like chocolate and peanut butter. So, if you’re into yummy treats like that, you should head down to BOTH and support a couple of cool local bands.

Headlinging the show will be the Philidelphia based musician, Alex G’s music is weird, loud and seemingly lofi if not simply recorded to give you that "bedroom recording" effect. If it has been a while since you’ve attended a decent avant-noise show, this would be the one to check out!

San Francisco based psych gospel rock band, Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah have a show coming up tomorrow night at Brick and Mortar Music Hall in San Francisco. They’ll be performing live with psych band, Triptides, mod revivalist band, The Electric Magpie and surf metal band, Father Howl! This is guaranteed to be a mind melting rock experience presented by psychedelic visual artist and promoter Mad Alchemy. Make sure you support local music and build up as much psych rock enthusiasm your mind, body and soul can muster!!