San Francisco band, The Electric Magpie is headlining tonight at Milk Bar. They’ll be serving up a blend of ‘60s psych rock and mod, while Los Angeles-based, the Cigarette Bums deliver a blend of blues-infused budget rock with a slight surf influence. Also keeping it slightly bluesy is Sad Tires. Listing themselves as blues punk, their talent lies within their artfully crafted guitar riffs. And opening all the festivities is LA based garage rock band Criminal Hygiene. With an ever-so-slight The Replacements-esque influence is awesome. They recently released an EP called “Withdrawn” on Cultist Records earlier this month.

Be sure to see “Friday Night Fuzz Disco” at Milk Bar in San Francisco tonight! – Erin Dage

This Year’s Readers’ Poll Winner: Major Powers & the Lo-Fi Symphony

We’re sincerely pleased to congratulate Major Powers and the Lo-Fi Symphony for winning The Deli San Francisco Best of 2013 Readers’ Poll (for emerging artists). This hard working band was able to beat out 50 of the Bay Area’s best and brightest emerging bands for the coveted title of our Year End Poll’s top artist. This self-proclaimed “Adventure Rock” ensemble creates large overtures of sound that resemble bands like Weezer, and a more lyric and melody driven Andrew W.K.. We wish them the best of luck, and are always proud to see emerging bands succeed in the Bay Area.

Keep a lookout for an exclusive interview with Major Powers next week!

Runner Up: Down Dirty Shake

Down Dirty Shake is an incredibly enthusiastic band that always throws a hell of party. We’re so happy to give them an honorable mention because they crusaded hard and were in the lead early on in the voting process. With over 300 votes, this band didn’t do to shabby and we want to highlight their hard work, and their ability to pull their fans together. They’re always winners in our eyes.

Down Dirty Shake’s live shows are always a blast! Make sure you make it out to experience their high energy performances and psychedelic soul vibes.

Runner Up: The California Honeydrops

This is another early frontrunner band! The California Honeydrops are a veteran Bay Area group that deserves a lot of respect for their loyal fan base and great music. With a smooth classic rock and roll, blues sound, you’ll appreciate their well produced throwback musical style and songwriting. Make sure you support this amazing local band in all their endeavors. – Jordannah Elizabeth, Editor

Great American Music Hall hosts a stellar line up of intensely talented female singer/songwriters. On Thursday, February 5th, Kacey Johansing and Mara Hruby will co headline with similarly talented and musically smoldering musicians, Emily Moldy and Sparkbox.

This completely local assemblage of artists guarantees a full night of moving soundscapes that will keep you fully engaged and trembling from these musician’s powerful feminine presences and supremely crisp musical styles.

Mara Hruby and Kacey Johansing’s artistic approach to alternative, contemporary folk are full of depth, but distinctly different from each other. Hruby is slightly less traditional with her compositions, as they embody an experimental, electro acoustic style, with touches of hip hop influences. Emily Moldy is a pure minimalist folk composer and will perform solo while playing acoustic guitar. Sparkbox is a new project from two other Bay Area based artists, Kelly McFarling and Megan Keely. These two women are also staples in the close knit Bay Area folk community, and will be sure to bring an elegant combination of harmonies to the stage.

Make sure you make your way to the Great American Music Hall tomorrow night for an extremely well curated show. –je

The Deli SF will be curating events in 2014! Our first show featuring live performances from Midnite Snaxxx, Primitive Hearts, Quaaludes, No Bone and Bestfriend Grrlfriend will take place on March 8th at SUB-Mission. A part of the proceeds of this show will go to the Bay Area Girls Rock Camp! If you’d like to curate a Deli Sponsored event, or have a show, event or fundraiser already in the works that you’d think we’d be interesting in promoting, contact us.

We are happy to support emerging Bay Area bands and causes that develop and benefit the local music community. –Associate Editor, Jordannah Elizabeth

Contact: Erin.d@thedelimagazine.com
CC: sfeditor@thedelimagazine.com

Local promoter Shirley Sparks Presents has put together an excellent lineup of music featuring, POW!, Massanger, Los Craters and The Electric Magpie for this Saturday at The Hemlock Tavern. Since releasing Hi-Tech Boom on Castleface Records, POW!’s synth-driven, fuzzed-out warning to San Francisco has been rapidly gaining attention after Thee Oh See’s Jonathan Dwyer described it as a “punk eulogy to our fair city.” The minimalist post-punk trio is sure to live up to the hype and put on a killer show. SoCal garage dwellers Massenger and Los Craters will bring their freaky surf rock sounds to the party while SF’s The Electric Magpie look to obliterate your face with their feedback-laden raga rock.

So stop by The Hemlock Tavern, SF’s most intimate rock club, to check out some of the best emerging indie bands on the west coast! – Ethan Varian

Tonight the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco is hosting a positively sweet show with the likes of Midnite Snaxxx, Primitive Hearts and So What.

Starting the show off is So What. This power pop band of sorts is influenced by “bubblegum, terrace stompers, nastiness, naughtiness, and aggravation” and aims to have “a good time…all the time.” Also playing is Primitive Hearts, a power pop trio from Oakland. They definitely take a few notes from the Ramones, and the band released a full-length album “High and Tight” last year. Filled to the brim with undeniably catchy tunes, we at the Deli recommend you give it a listen! Capping off the night as headliner is Oakland punk band, Midnite Snaxxx. Serving up budget rock with great hooks and garage rock flair, the band is not to be missed. Known for their quintessential self-titled release, the band is comprised of past members of Trashwomen, Bobbyteens, Cyclops, and Loudmouths.

So if you’re looking for a sugary-sweet punk show, this is your best bet! – Erin Dage

Hailing from the Richmond District of San Francisco, The Richmond Sluts have been playing in the underground garage rock scene since 1998. Revved up rock with a psych and punk sound, they are influenced by The Rolling Stones, The Clash, The New York Dolls and The Stooges. Having gained notoriety with their self-titled full length LP released in 2001 on Disaster Records, The Richmond Sluts have played alongside bands such as The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Blending psych, shoegaze, folk and even 70’s country, Asteroid No. 4 has seen a revolving cast of musicians come and go alongside founding core members Scott Vitt, Adam Weaver and Eric Harms. Playing since the late nineties and having toured the US, UK and Europe extensively, the band ranges in influences from Echo and the Bunnymen to The Flying Burrito Brothers among countless others. 2006’s “An Amazing Dream” was considered by fans and critics alike to be the group’s first album that displayed a sound completely their own and absolutely electrifying.

Formed in 2009, Black Mambas from Los Angeles range in sound from bluesy to garage to glam, with influences from The New York Dolls to The Joneses. The Mambas have a spirit about them that is exciting, young and fresh, and their debut full length is out now on Wild Records. – Tyler Weeks

Beautiful Machines‘ Disconnect : : Reconnect begins with the electro pop mammoth song, Tragic, adorned with a pair of airy and sawtooth synths, deep club drum beats, an instantly recognizable chorus melody and yes, this song is played with actual guitars. This track is a club climax stunner. It’s the one that provokes a concert goer to disregard bitter creditors, buy that perfect cocktail, abandon inhibitions and social cowardice and mount the dance floor while letting their limbs become possessed by a sound that carries them through the moment.

We then drop into a bit more of an industrial track titled Birds and Bees, which is textured and glittering, a compositional gift Beautiful Machines are noted for. There is a yearning that can be sensed in vocalist Conrad Schuman’s psyche that seeps into the band’s songs. Their new upcoming release Disconnect :: Reconnect continues in an emotional swell and release, and is always danceable and ever growing in an inflammatory exploration of rhythm soundscapes and electro popisms at their finest. Professional yet brimming with vicious emotion, this band has Impeccable musicianship and carefully crafted songs that give this electro pop landmark its credibility and beyond all else, listenability. –Hunter Stroope

Catch Beautiful Machines live at Public Works in San Francisco tonight with Pixel Memory, Bubblegum Crisis and Brouhaha DJs.

Animammal Official Trailer from Beautiful Machines on Vimeo.

The Elbo Room in San Francisco is hosting an awesome line up TONIGHT! 

With Lee Gallagher on vocals, guitar and harmonica, Jacob Landry on Guitar and Joe Miller on Drums, create a dynamic and comfortable sound as they incorporate folk and traditional music into psych-rock. Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah are also straightforward, commanding and urgent in their lyrical content. Gallagher’s tall, enigmatic presence, excellent songwriting ability and perfectly high-pitched vocals are guaranteed to garner attention. While The Hallelujah’s sound can have an acoustic folk influence as well as modern psych, they are sure to be a promising act to go see and listen to in the coming year. 

The Love Dimension has been rocking clubs here in the Bay Area for the better part of six years. Led by the powerful vocal duo of Jimmy Dias and Celeste Obamsawin, the group is rounded out by one of the scene’s most respected and best rhythm sections, Sonny Pearce (Electric Shepherd) on drums and Tommy Anderson (MoonFox, Electric Shepherd) on bass, along with Devon Farney on Keys. Described as “sacred psychedelic country garage punk country surf,” they are a live force not to be reckoned with, rhythmically intense, with a heavy dose of spirituality and introspection both lyrically and in their performances.

Led by Clay Andrews, one of the local rock scene’s strongest advocates, The Spiral Electric has been recording together since 2010, and premiered live in 2012. The band quickly evolved into a five-piece, and their current lineup of Andrews and Percy along with Sonny Pearce on Drums and Ty Gerhardt on Bass, has played to captive audiences at venues such as The Chapel, Brick and Mortar and Oakland’s Uptown. The Spiral Electric has toured the US West Coast of recent and they are currently recording their first full length LP.

Down and Outlaws have a perspective on rock n’ roll that rings true: “Rock n’ Roll isn’t a sound. It’s not an attitude. It’s a need, it’s a fight, it’s the saving grace in the wake of a broken heart or something lost.” With influences that range from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to Lynyrd Skynyrd to Tom Petty, the San Francisco based band led by Peter Danzig on Vocals, Kyle Luck on Guitar, and the “gut-busting” rhythm section of Jon Carr and Chris Danzig, aims to save their audiences with rock n’ roll the same way they were saved by it. – Tyler Weeks

Some bands need four or five people to create a wall of sound. But when it comes to Street Eaters, a truewave East Bay punk band, there are only two people needed to create a full, enveloping sound. With Meagan March on drums and John No on bass, this husband and wife duo takes an approach similar to that of The Evens – Ian Mackaye’s and Amy Farina’s project. By splitting the duties 50/50, Street Eaters posseses post-punk sensibilities and riot grrrrl influences.

Baus is an Oakland-based trio with a sound that’s derivative of no-wave and post-punk. In true no-wave style, Baus makes music that is not consistent with any solid music genre. Employing noisy vocals and guitar, amidst funk-influenced drum stylings the band creates music that cannot be weighed down by the expectations or cliches of a set genre.

Many punk bands lose their “bite” after a while. But this isn’t the case for Ultra Bide, a Japanese band that blends elements of noise rock and post-hardcore. Getting their start in 1978, they still haven’t gotten rid of their aggressive and primal nature that made them so popular in the first place. Last year they released “DNA vs. DNA-c” on longstanding Bay Area label, Alternative Tentacles.

Be sure to check out Ultra Bide, Street Eaters, and Baus at the Knockout tonight. –Erin Dage

Seasides, DJ Andy Human and Cosmonauts are playing the first night of Sprindrift’s two Bay Area shows this weekend. The first show will take place TONIGHT at the Night Light in Oakland. Seasides is a Bay Area-based band highly influenced by ’70s glam rock with a little bit of garage rock attitude thrown in. Also playing along Spindrift is Burger Records band, Cosmonauts. This band rejoices in reverb-heavy, trance influenced musical stylings.

The second show, occuring on January 26th at San Francisco’s Brick and Mortar Music Hall features the Cosmonauts, California Raga Association, Cool Ghouls and DJs, Tony the Tyger and Jodie Artichoke. The first band to perform will be San Francisco-based band, Cool Ghouls. Hot off their self titled album release last year, the band is known for crafting catchy psych rock tunes loaded to the brim with harmonies. Next is California Raga Association. If you’re looking for a deeply spiritual experience with psych music thrown in, this may be the band for you. According to the group, California Raga Association is a “musical magickal spell that energetically aligns any computer or stereo it is being played through.”

Los Angeles based, Spindrift can now properly be considered an institution of sorts. Seeking to combine elements of psych rock and spaghetti westerns, they have cultivated a sound all their own. Influenced by bands such as The Doors, My Bloody Valentine and Hawkind from the start, the band has gone above and beyond in their creative endeavors. Nearly 20 years later they have two films under their belt – “The Legend of God’s Gun” (2008) and “Spindrift – Ghost of the West,” which is said to be released this year. By marrying film and music together, Spndrift has proven time and time again their importance in the independent music scene.

That said, be sure to see them live in the Bay Area. You have ample opportunities!  –Erin Dage

Not every submission we get here at The Deli is post-worthy; even making it onto the edge of the blogosphere is an admirable feat. These runners up of The Deli Magazine San Francisco’s Open Submission Poll deserve a more than honorable mention, from the classically sweet croonings of Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah to the dance-anthems of The Trims, our wide span of audience is never without fresh new talent to sink their teeth into. For fans of a classic music revisited, Bonnie & The BANG BANG offer sweet, groove-worthy jams and a bevy of lyrical experimentation. 

The Trims take the 80’s beach scene and stir it up with a spacey reinvention while creating their own uniquely discernible sound.  Tall Sheep evaporates pop punk and rains it out through a pink cloud with smile-inducing vocals and grungy synth effects. For a hauntingly thrilling experience, listen to Cazadero for dark basslines and soothing vocals. Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah offer up shrill, exciting vocals and a warm, full sound that commands to be placed on playlists with the classics.  Soulful voices and reverberating, confident melodies place Feral Fauna high on the must-listen list.  The Galloping Sea is a power-quartet who masterfully touches on a crazy wide range of genres from soulful, bluesy ballads to daring guitar-and-trumpet partnerships.  Beautifully poignant lyrics are paired with tranquil yet powerful acoustic and electric guitars thanks to North Home.  The Deli thanks you for your submissions, and your talented contributions to the music scene. Keep up the amazing production! –Kat Collins