It’s been almost a year since rising Portland artist TOPE packed up his bags, dropped the single Miss Me When I’m Gone, and moved to Oakland to pursue music full time.

TOPE has released the visual for the Stewart Villain produced single, Better Place. Directed by Evan Croker and filmed in some of San Francisco’s most iconic locations: Dolores Park, Clarion Alley, Grace Cathedral, and the Golden Gate Bridge – visually, Better Place might be TOPE’s most striking video to date. Lyrically, TOPE picks up where he left off on MMWIG. He gives us the details on his move to the Bay, personal life, budding music career and much more over a classic Lauryn Hill sample freaked by one of the NW’s top producers.

Oakland’s NineteenEightyEight (aka 1988) has released their debut album! NineteenEightyEight started as the bedroom project of Luis Gutierrez, drummer of much-loved, psychedelic post-rock band Religious Girls, however, live 1988 has grown into a full band featuring revolving contributors from the Bay area music scene. NineteenEightyEight occupies a late-night dreamspace, where the drive of Post Punk crosses over with disco rhythms, horror movie atmosphere, and wasted, ghostly vocals meet washed out guitars and synths, creating a singular vibe not locked into any particular time or place. Check out their music and support up and coming local bands!

San Francisco based electro singer/songwriter, Luke Sweeney announces the release of his new 7” release sharing the a-side single, Red Hot Demands. ​ Red Hot Demands is the a-side of a special 7-inch / 12-page novella ​release with a super-limited edition (30 copies) of clear, square 7" flexi-discs. The track is a psychedelic pop adventure that takes you on a driving trip featuring Sweeney’s vocal capabilities, a punching rhythm section and an addictive melody that commands your feet.

Outer Limb, the secret b-side, is a mostly instrumental track that showcases the pounding rhythm section, shredding guitars and overall talented instrumentation of Sweeney’s full band. Luke Sweeney will also be playing at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco on Tuesday, May 10th with his full band, in support of NIGHT MOVES.

San Francisco’s one-woman tour-de-force, Future Twin, has recently dropped the brand new single, Are You Rested (Enough Yet)? Take a listen to this lovely, moody new effort by a San Francisco staple. 

Future Twin is a San Francisco-based creative, fresh and energetic shoegaze outfit… or punkadelic… or moongaze… or old-time soul creative orb of sound. We´re excited to here some new music and are always happy to share the art of such a talented local musician.

Oakland based corporate punks, Toyota are performing live in Oakland and San Francisco tonight and tomorrow! This nerdy group of punks has been on the go for the past year as they have released an EP, started a record label and have embarked on a west coast tour all in the name of maximizing revenue and building an empire. Inspired by 70s punk with a contemporary twist of added aggression and technical proficiency, Toyota performs with a captivation that is both curiously engaging and wildly irritating.

At their core, they are a simple squad of entrepreneurs on the prowl for the biggest bang for their buck, unsuspecting business men hiding under the guise of punk “musicians” to sell out fast. Help them out picking up their newest EP, out this week on Discontinuous Innovation Inc.

Catch Toyota on Thursday at the Hemlock with Lysine, Lil Dowager and Unraze or Friday in Oakland at the Stork Club with The World, Ex-Debs and Violence Creeps. –Julia deAnda

The Oakland based duo, Rogue Wave will release Delusions of Grand Fur on April 29th via Easy Sound Recordings, but starting today the record is streaming in its entirety. Rogue Wave’s first album in 3+ years and their sixth studio album, Delusions of Grand Fur is set to smash any preconceptions of Rogue Wave’s sound and is the most truthful, powerful, and urgent sonic blueprint of the band to date.

Delusions of Grand Fur – a title chosen as a riff on the tendency of fresh-faced musicians to misperceive the reality of band life – marks the reinvigorated return of Zach Rogue, his longtime band mate Pat Spurgeon, and their fellow band members. Recording and producing the entire LP themselves at their home studios in Oakland, Rogue Wave focused on storytelling throughout the album and worked without recording demos versions of songs—instead, the demos would simply become the songs. With this DIY approach, Rogue Wave has seized creative control of its identity and the end result is a clear snapshot of who the band is today.

Catch Rogue Wave Live in May:
5/5 – Oakland, CA @ Starline Ballroom
5/7 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent

Foxtails Brigade has released their new self-titled album, out today, April 8th on OIM Records. Produced in the Bay Area by Jeff Saltzman (Blondie, The Killers), this record marks the Oakland-based band’s third full-length LP, but serves as a cohesive statement of who they are and the direction they’re headed. Baeble stated that the record “propels itself forward on the airy but piercing voice of Laura Weinbach, soaring almost vaudeville-esque strings, and a sound that combines Sondheim-esque theatrics with contemporary pop intimacy.”  The band recently celebrated with a record release show at Swedish American Hall in San Francisco and are now on the road in the midst of a month-long April tour.

We´re excited to share the news of the upcoming Slow Motion Cowboys, The B-Stars and Indianna Hale show at Rickshaw Stop on Thursday, April 21st!

My ode to Pete of Slow Motion Cowboys: Pete Fields is one of my favorite people, one of the best songwriters in the Bay Area, and he is one of my oldest friends in SF. Slow Motion Cowboys was a side project when I met Pete back in 2004, a band he started in college in Olympia and occasionally revisited after returning to SF. It’s been incredible to watch them grow as a musical entity. When I first moved to SF, I went to tons of Trainwreck Riders shows (a country/punk band that Pete also is in). He’s got the music community thing down, and as an SF native, his songs really bring out the spirit of this city, and his new album addresses some of those changes many of us our mourning, but in the most authentic way. I’m grateful he’s stuck around and continues to make art despite challenging times.

Now Slow Motion Cowboys are bringing it to the next level and are on the brink of releasing a new album, In Exile/ On the Mesa. After all these years, I am honored to be working on their big album release show, with help from my friend and collaborator, Joe Deakins, through Seaweed Sway. 

Joe made an excellent radio mix of Slow Motion Cowboys, The B-Stars, and Indianna Hale. Here it is:

We also planned it to fall right around Pete’s birthday, so this is a double-celebration, if anyone’s keeping track. Pete’s real birthday is Friday (tax day ahhh). – Jessie Woletz, Seaweed Sway

The San Francisco based band, MOSAICS is releasing a new EP entitled Year of Valor on May 20th!

Combining the songwriting strengths of Alt-J and the production agility of Four Tet and Apparat, MOSAICS are a San Francisco trio making music for the modern world in all its jittery, glittering glory. With unconventional guitar lines, overlapping samples, and intricate production, they marry artistry and accessibility to create a sound that comes across like an old friend after a long journey- transformed entirely, but warmly familiar.

The band was formed with the ambition to paint sonic canvases with the mediums of modern technology. By following this principle and folding in organic inspiration, they have crafted their own method of songwriting that, by fully embracing the limitations of “bedroom production,” brings the art form to bold new ground. Naming Michael Hedges, David Bowie, Yeasayer, Moderat, Nine Inch Nails, and Radiohead among their chief influences, Mosaics have an ear to the past, but make music for the here and now.

Come to El Rio on Saturday, April 9th at 9pm to enjoy a vibey night of psychy, shoegazey, post-punk sounds from some essential San Francisco bands. Members of Dissolve and Swanox are coming together to perform their first show ever as Blades of Joy. The internet has literally nada on the project, so get there on time to watch (and listen to) the mystery unravel.

Cruel Summer will be playing as the middle band to the nights ensemble, swooping you up into their time capsule and transporting you along a stream of fuzzy dreamy pop vibrations and happy chord progressions to what might seam like the 80s but is actually the side room to a dive bar in Bernal, with a backyard where smoking is still welcome.Cruel Summer only recently stepped out from a brief hiatus to show face at this years noise pop festival, but they’re back at it again this weekend performing as a crucial leg to a killer lineup.

Bay Area OG’s Terry Malts will be closing out the night down there by the river, with some beloved pop-punk hits. These dudes have been busy releasing LPs, establishing a label, and writing an album since their last full length release, but it’s been three years since they delivered “Nobody Realizes This is Nowhere” and their fans are greedy. We. Want. More. The upcoming, untitled album is due sometime this year, and is rumored to be the album where the Malts get out of their funk, exactly what we think we want to hear from the boys, but what is it?! Who knows, another mystery that cannot be solved until after the sun sets this Saturday, April 9th at El Rio. –Julia deAnda

​It is always a pleasure to premiere new music. Today we are happy to share an acoustic version of the San Francisco based band, Talkie´s EP, ​Songs From the Hablas. Enjoy this well produced, acoustic album and make sure you check them out live at Great American Music Hall on April 8th with Sunrunners, Meet Me in Orbit and St. Ranger!​​

"Shortly after releasing Hablas, we were invited to play at Super Bowl City. We showed up, and there wasn’t much room, nor enough juice to power all the amps. We ended up playing the set acoustically and realized it sounded rather good. A few days later, we tracked our favorites in the studio. Bang."​​​ – Talkie

The San Francisco based band, French Girls have released a cover of The Strokes´ The End Has No End. Take a listen and check them out TONIGHT at Hemlock Tavern with Everyone is Dirty and Fever Feel!

¨The sound of our previous albums have ranged from surf rock to grunge, but we have spent the last year retooling our sound. These days our sound is somewhere in the middle of a 3 way standoff between T-Rex, Tame Impala, and The Talking Heads. Because we’ve been been hard at work developing an art direction to exist along side of our new album, our singles have been taking awhile to release. To make up for our lack of releasing anything new, I’ve recently produced a cover of The Strokes’ “The End Has No End” and had artist Oakland artist Salina Shelton design a single cover to accompany it.¨ -Charlie of Frenchgirls