If you’re lacking in plans for the evening, despite all the potential that surrounds you, the surely you will be wandering over to the Hemlock for tonight’s Deli SF Presents show.  Headlining this time will be the cavernous reverb-drenched band White Cloud, with support by psyche-rockers The Paranoids and the visually stimulating Red Blue Yellow. The show will start around 9 and is but a measly $7 for entry.   I promise you it will be worth your time.

–Ada Lann

Of course your Friday should already be planed, what with the exciting line-up The Deli will be presenting at the Hemlock, but if your still undecided, or looking for another show or two to attend this weekend, here are a few selections from the calendar.

This Wednesday Studio SQ, who proudly sponsor our band of the month poll, well be presenting a show at Milk featuring Le Vice, Tim Car, George Cochrane, and Dude House, 8pm.

The following night, again at Milk, local blog Epic Sauce will once again flex it’s nearly invincible booking muscles and provide us with another amazing line-up. Headlined by Maus Haus (whose inclusion in this year’s Treasure Island Music Festival, incidentally, is righteously exciting) and featuring support by Skeletal System, Psychic Handbook and Rangers, this show is one of many this week not to be missed, 8pm.

Offering some stiff friendly competition, The Bay Bridged on Friday night will be presenting their now yearly Regional Bias show and fundraiser, at the Verdi Club, featuring Thao Nguyen, Man/Miracle, Exray’s, and John Vaderslice, 8pm.

Finally, on Saturday Little Teeth will be opening up for Sleepytime Gorilla Museum at the Great American, 8pm.

That about rounds out this week.  Hope to see many of your shining faces at the Hemlock this Friday.

–Ada Lann

This Friday The Deli SF proudly presents White Cloud, The Paranoids, and Red Blue Yellow at the Hemlock.  Surely there is no better way to end you week than having portions of clothing (perhaps socks?) rocked off.  Friday July 23rd at 9pm.  No excuses.

Continuing what has been a fascinating series, tonight local blog Kata Rokkar will be putting on their fourth Snob Theater, once again in the intimate space of the Dark Room in the Mission. This time around local country folk band, and previous artist of the month winner, TV Mike and the Scarecrowes will be playing with Sean Hayes along side comedians Coree Spencer, Loren Kraut, Dave Thomason and Miles K. Starting at 10, if you haven’t had a chance to check out one of these shows yet they come highly recommended. More information about the comedians and the bands can be found here.

–Ada Lann

Although the San Francisco duo Two Gallants are known for their tales of murder and outlaws in the Wild West, Tyson Vogel and Adam Stephens have recently branched off into very different solo projects. I spoke with Tyson and his band members about his new project, the Devotionals, whose first album came out yesterday on Alive Records. Vogel teamed up with violinist Anton Patzner (who has played with Bright Eyes and Judgment Day), cellist Lewis Patzner (Judgment Day), Andrew Maguire (vibraphone player from Honeycomb), and drummer Jeff Blair.

Deli: Does Two Gallants and the Devotionals come from a similar place?

Tyson Vogel: “Personally, I feel as much honesty in each project. It is a very different angle I am taking with the Devotionals though. Otherwise, it would be incorporated into material for Two Gallants. Adam and I kept each other going for so long, but there became a need for personal conservation, it came naturally for us to branch off into solo work. We had been touring for six years nonstop. We were building our music careers, but the other side of our lives was being neglected.”

[read more]

With several Mission Creek events peppered about the Bay Area this week, and yet another powerhouse line-up brought to you by Epic Sauce on Thursday, this weekend looks to be quite busy for anybody making their way out to see some live music.

As mentioned above, head over to Milk on Thursday where Epic Sauce will be presenting Weekend, Ty Segall (performing solo), Terry Malts, and Whirl, 8pm.

Head back over to Milk on Friday for another great show with Loquat, The Downer Party, and Ross Sea Party, 8:30pm.

On Saturday stroll out to Thee Parkside where The Dont’s will be playing with Drink Up Buttercup and I Come to Shanghai, 9pm.

Of course if you do nothing else this weekend you must head down to McLaren Park on Saturday afternoon for Mission Creek’s big outdoor show. It’s free so you really have no excuse.

–Ada Lann

This is an entry from our open blog. Anyone who finds themselves checking the Dudes With Beards Eating Cupcakes site too often is sure to enjoy this video.

Wanda and Wonder is in the midst of releasing their first EP. Together Lucas Noah and Forrest Lewinger make up the members of the group Wanda and Wonder. They grew up in the South East and started making music several years back. They now live and work in Oakland as musicians, artists, and rap producers. We’re giving you a chance to download it here first. and its FREE. Hope you like it. Let them no what you think by emailing them at forrest.lewinger@gmail.com

You too can post about your band by visiting this site. 

-Nicole Leigh

Your art could live in college radio infamy. 90.7 KALX just announced their annual t-shirt and sticker design contest – entries are due by Friday, September 3rd. The winners will not only have bragging rights, but their art will be featured on merchandise available only by donating to KALX during their fundraiser this October.

Design criteria and submission information can be found here.

-Nicole Leigh

If you have yet to make plans for this weekend, or more specifically this Saturday, then surely here is something that should be given a lot of consideration. Local blogs Kata Rokkar and Epic Sauce will be putting on an early show show, Saturday afternoon, featuring a collection of San Francisco and Portland Acts. Starting around 4 on the back patio at El Rio, and featuring free food and drinks specials, San Francisco’s Phantom Kick and Skeletal System will pair up with Portland’s Reporter and Spesus Christ to bring the afternoon noise. With what are promised to be ass-shaking DJ sets by Boyz IV Men and Soft Metals (as icing on this cake), perhaps this little event should be placed high on your weekend priorities.

–Ada Lann

On Friday, put your gloves on and head down to the Knockout where The Magic Bullets will be celebrating the release of their LP with Dreamdate, Wax Idols, and The Lambs, 9pm.

Alternatively, out at the Bottom of the Hill on Friday, SFIndie.com’s Summer Fest will be hosting Music for Animals, The Hundred Days, and the Foreign Report, 9:30pm.

This Saturday Social Studies, who will be celebrating their CD release early next month, will be playing at the Great American Music Hall with Au Revoir Simone and Alexa Wilding, 8pm.

Lastly, on Sunday Head up to Cafe Du Nord where Birds and Batteries, whose latest album is currently the Deli’s album of the month, will be sharing the stage with Grand Hallway and The Moanin’ Dove, 8pm.

–Ada Lann

Mark your calenders in advance for an early August all-ages show with a killer lineup at the Rickshaw Stop. On August 7th, Maus Haus, 60 Watt Kid and Montra will all help San Francisco’s Social Studies celebrate their second release Wind Up Wooden Heart.

The band has recently been riding on a wave of publicity from the first track released from the album "Time Bandit," a remix of which was posted as a free download on Filter Magazine last week.

Wind up wooden heart is officially available on July 27 from Antenna Farm Records. Preview the track "Holler Boys" below:

-Nicole Leigh

From the outset Business 80’s debut Strangers With Me quivers with a looming sensation of darkness. It oozes a sadness that lurks in the darkest corners of its sound. A collage of glitching synthesized sounds, live instruments, and ominously sung vocals, Business 80 is the latest project by local songwriter H.A. Eugene (whose previous creation, Burbank International’s City of Burbank, put him squarely on the Bay Area’s music scene map) and a dramatic turn from the tender folk sounds of his previous work.

A mostly electronic album, Strangers With Me is broken into three movements, each (for reasons not outwardly clear) named after Tenderloin bars (Koko, Hemlock, and Ha-Ra). With driving industrial rhythms and often piercing electronic squelches throughout Strangers With Me, apt comparisons to acts like Nine Inch Nails (or a much harder version of Depeche Mode) certainly jump to mind, peppered with a spirit of IDM from the likes of Plaid, Autechre, or even Squarepusher (maybe a stretch).

Opening amidst a wash of penetrating electronic sounds and almost choked vocal gurgles, the eerie and despondent "Koko" begins the section of the same name. As with most the songs on this album, an intricate depth characterizes the soundscape of this song, with multiple pieces waiting to be found amidst the layers. Trapped in a loop, the album title is repeated endlessly as the synth sounds punctuate the space of the song. The result of this, as the line "strangers with me" is muttered ad nauseum, is an unnerving level of violence to the loneliness evoked throughout "Koko."

"Who Died?" follows, and with it’s crescendoing viola line it may well be my favorite track on this album (the track that follows being a close second). Coupled with an ethereal-sounding arppegiated synth-line, and one of the more forceful and driving bass outros I’ve had the pleasure of hearing, this song really sends chills down the spine.

If "Who Died?’s" outro is an emotional ascension, "Mad at Nothing" is its zenith. Certainly the funkiest track on the album, "Mad at Nothing," if for its title only, really captures the spirit of Strangers With Me. There is a feeling of impudent rage that permeates throughout the narrative of these songs. From the anger and the drive that pushes the vamping repetition of the line "never learned shit, got stupider stupider," to the flailing rage that percolates from Mad at nothing, to the suffocating impotence of "Getting Sick for Real" and "This Place Where We Used to Play," there is an invisible force that torments the character of Strangers With Me.

All things considered, with its tumultuous layers of electronic sounds, Strangers With Me is an alluring and schizophrenic emotional ride. Peppered with rage, terror, loneliness and pure driven anguish Strangers With Me is a fascinatingly complicated album.

–Ada Lann

Note: Copies of Strangers With Me can be aquired at Business 80’s CD release show, at El Rio on July 1st, or for free by contacting H.A. Eugene here.