There are a couple of events The Deli Magazine San Francisco would like to shout out: The Acid Test Part II at SUB/Mission and Fuzz Box SF Presents: Meatbodies, Zig Zag and Male Gaze at Brick and Mortar Music Hall. Both events are TONIGHT and we hope you’ll make an effort to make it out and support homegrown independent parties.

Mod revivalist bands, TOY and The Electric Magpie will be playing The Acid Test Part II. Get dressed up in your fave 60s retro attire and dance the night away at SUB/Mission.

If you’re into underground garage rock, you can make your way to Brick and Mortar Music Hall where local DJ extraordinaire, Al Lover will be spinning records while Meatbodies, Zig Zag and Male Gaze perform live.

We’ve given you a couple of great options, and both venues are in walking distance of one another, so we encourage you to go forth and party. –je

San Francisco based psych soul musician, Mark Nelsen has been embarking on a unique musical journey with his new project, Mark Nelsen Band. Nelsen, who is best known for his work as the lead guitarist and vocalist for the San Francisco based heavy psych ensemble, Electric Shepherd has been celebrated for his stellar songwriting and potent psych soul riffs.

We’re excited to premiere his new single entitled, Screwball (Change The Weather), which consists of two tracks: Screwball (Change The Weather) and Takes Two.

This single sounds a bit different from Nelsen’s previous solo album which exuded a folk psych ambiance. Screwball (Change The Weather) is a heavy, almost rockabilly single, that is fast paced and resembles tones that borrow from AC/DC, with touches of pop, psych rock and metal within them. These songs should definitely be taken seriously because he has proven to be a great songwriter and arranger time and time again from his previous releases and live shows. Nelsen went down a new avenue compositionally, but it works and we like it.

You can catch Mark Nelsen Band live TONIGHT at The Deli Magazine Sponsored Event at DNA Lounge (upstairs) featuring headliners, The Dollyrots with local riot grrrl rockers, The Shanghais, and anti folk, singer/songwriter Whorhaigh Kayado. –je

Breakdown Valentine is heading an earnest effort to bring electro pop to the Bay Area in a big way. This San Francisco based electro-shoegaze band will be playing a Deli Magazine San Francisco sponsored event with the likes of The Trims and Parallels at DNA Lounge May 23rd.

But before that happens, we would like to share a video teaser for Breakdown Valentine’s newest single, Breaking Visions. Their 2014 EPK, produced by Aja Pilapil of AJAPOPFILMS, has an intimate feel as it cuts rapidly from behind-the-scenes shots to performance shots. The single, which proves to be a dance-inducing number with up tempo guitar licks and synths will surely be a go-to tune for the summer. The single, Breaking Visions, will be available on Bandcamp on May 27th. –Erin Dage

San Francisco based neo psychedelic rock band, Sleepy Sun will be supporting the legendary soul musician, Charles Bradley tonight at the Regency Theater.

This is one of those line-ups a true music lover should not miss. Both musical artists are highly talented and certainly surpass the level and compositional quality of underground music. If you want to attend a seriously once in a lifetime line up in an intimate venue, you should make it out to the Regency Theater tonight and support Sleepy Sun as they open for a very important headliner, and a cherished musician in contemporary soul music. –je

San Francisco based indie rock band, Go By Ocean will be celebrating the release of their debut album with a release show at The Chapel this Friday. The band’s new upcoming album, Paper Thin Hotel is a lush and ethereal sounding rock album that is officially due out on May 20th. Paper Thin Hotel was produced by local legends Tim Bluhm (of the Mother Hips) and David Simon-Baker (who has produced Los Lobos, Jackie Greene, The Mother Hips, and ALO).

The show will be supported by Roots Americana band, San Geronimo and singer/songwriter, Fred Torphy. You won’t want to miss this event! 

Tonight, the Hemlock Tavern is hosting a show featuring WAG, Curtin and Sea Knight.

Opening the show is Sea Knight, a band that seeks to combine dream pop, shoegaze and psych rock. The band recently came out with their debut EP, Where are you. Curtin is a Chicago-based band that consists of members of the Brooklyn based traditional folk band, Country Mice. If you’re into slow jams and psych infused music, this may be the band for you. Look out for their newest album, One for the Doghearted, this summer. WAG, a San Francisco based band influenced by grunge, surf rock and post punk, will be headlining the show. Their debut album, No Worries drops on May 31st. Listen to a single from the album called, Tin Crown below.

Do your best to make it out to this well curated psych folk show. – Erin Dage

San Francisco based garage pop musician, Luke Sweeney has released a brand new music video for his single, Miss Me? The video is a very funny tongue and cheek, vignette style short film featuring some of the Bay Area’s best and brightest bands in the local music scene.

Appearances from Social Studies, Warm Soda, Vandella, The Aerosols, Midtown Social, and members of Two Gallants and Trainwreck Riders shows that Sweeney is not only a talented musician in his own right, but has a great connection with music community that surrounds him.

Miss Me?’s satirical look at the challenges of auditioning for rock bands will surely make you break out into laughter. Sweeney’s fictitious accounts of rejection and social turmoil are almost as accurate as they are hilarious. He also did a great job in adopting the talent of videographer, Emily Sevin and editor Neal Jonas as his vision (Sweeney wrote and directed the video) is brought to life, while exhibiting seamless transitions and high definition quality.

Congrats to the band for making a super adorable and bright video!

You can catch Luke and his band (which includes members of Girls, Stone Foxes and Plum) live on May 30th at Starry Plough in Berkeley, CA. –je

A superb lineup featuring The Okmoniks, Meat Market, The Beat-Offs and Petty Things curated by Shirley Sparks Presents goes down tonight at the Hemlock Tavern

Meat Market is a hardworking scene approved Oakland based band that sonically blends elements of punk, surf and garage rock. The Beat-Offs are a fairly new San Francisco-based band – go to the show to hear what they sound like, because the band doesn’t have any music posted on the internet yet. Petty Things is a band from Arizona, and this year, this garage pop band released a full length album on Gnar Tapes and Rubber Brother Records called Year of the Dog. And last but not least are The Okmoniks. As a band based in Arizona and California, they play kicky keyboard-heavy tunes that will have you dancing. For further reference, be sure to check out their release Party Fever on Slovenly Recordings. –Erin Dage

Tonight, Brick and Mortar Music Hall is hosting a show of the psych rock variety with Rose Windows and Psychic Jiu-Jitsu.

Psychic Jiu-Jitsu is a San Francisco-based band who plays spacey, psych-influenced tunes. Their neo psychedelic live performances are raw, tripped out and esoterically potent. Rose Windows is a band hailing from Seattle, Washington. They blend elements of grunge and psychedelic music, and have recently released a new single entitled, There is a Light. They’re signed to the legendary record label, Sub Pop and are currently stopping through San Francisco on their west coast tour.

If you’re looking to get your chakras rattled and your third eye cleansed, make your way out to this show!

Spider Heart, Void Boys, Sea Dramas along with the brand new San Francisco based musical outfit, Vollmer will be celebrating the growth and community involvement of The Deli SF! SF based community and intercultural advocate Jason Wyman will also grace us with a reading celebrating the Bay Area and our amazing music community.

We have a little folk rock, some dream pop, experimental garage and heavy psych waiting for you at the Elbo Room TONIGHT. Be there by 9 pm!

COME JOIN THE DELI MAGAZINE SAN FRANCISCO TONIGHT. We’re gonnah party!!!!!!

For those sorely lacking in the rock ‘n’ roll department, be sure to check out a show with the likes of Midnight Sons, Down and Outlaws and Sweetwater Black at tonight at Bottom of the Hill.

Sweetwater Black is a Bay Area based trio that reflects influences from bands like the Black Keys and Black Sabbath. Like Black Sabbath, the band has sludgy-sounding instrumentals backed by powerful vocals. Down and Outlaws is another San Francisco band that’s bluesy, soulful, and above all – raw sounding. Last year the band came out with Backwards From The Dead, a solid and well-recorded release. And headlining is Midnight Sons, a band that does its best to make homespun rock ‘n’ roll with elements of ’60s and ’70s country music. The band is also expected to release an EP soon – check out a few choice tracks from the upcoming release below. –Erin Dage

Oh Boy…we’re giving away an awesome release by the San Francisco based garage – surf rock – psych band, Void Boys! The auspicious limited edition collection of the band’s new single, Starfish is creating a buzz around the Bay Area because of the single’s intricate vinyl covers. They’re so beautifully designed, we suggest you jump at the opportunity to get your hands on one of 100 limited copies of Starfish. These 10 inch pressings are going for $20 a pop (as they should), so we’re down to give away a copy (or a few) on us! We love it when bands share their unique style and secret artistic gifts with the world!

Email sfeditor@thedelimagazine.com to enter to receive a Void Boys’ Starfish single!

If you want to buy a copy and support this hard working emerging band, check out Pretty Penny Records, and buy this album direct from the label!

More About the Album:

"(Each record is hand painted and printed by Shannon Bodrogi and Jian Giannini. They were created using Photocopy lithography, an alternative photographic printmaking technique. Additional mediums include watercolor, acrylic, collage, and ink. All are varnished and come with an insert silkscreened by Shannon.)

The one hundred covers of unique and varying styles, mediums and themes, reflect the single they are housing. “Starfish” is loosely about the perceived metamorphosing of humanity, both figuratively and literally. How at times, people can seem to lose their human form with enough distance, whether physical or emotional, and the new shapes and associations that are brought to light with this space. Starfish, being invertebrates, are always changing form, twisting their bodies into an illimitable amount of shapes and contortions. We paralleled this idea of infinite distortion of form using scans of our hands, arms, faces, hair, etc. As a whole the body of work has a feeling of deliberate chaos and grungy intricacies, much like the single itself."

1-100 L-R Pretty Penny Records