Unfortunately, the crowd was somewhat thin for last Wednesday’s lineup presented by Ears of the Beholder and Kata Rokkar. Wednesday is perhaps a hard thing to ask of a San Francisco audience. Regardless, the evenings well thought out lineup saw three bands deliver fantastic performances.

It was quiet and cool at the Rickshaw when Sunbeam Rd took to the stage. Initially I was a little put off by what seemed to be a mixing error that was quickly fixed, but was soon sold on this band when one of their two lead singers (who switched depending on the song throughout the set) began horribly abusing his guitar, to great effect, as the their first song ended in a great crescendo.  A wash of delicious noise, this swirling looped ball of chaos firmly took hold of my attention and set the tone of Sunbeam Rd’s performance. A brooding but high-energy cavernous indie-rock is the best description their sound, something along the lines of an encumbered Jesus and Mary Chain or a more ominous Yo La Tengo. However you may classify their sound, Sunbeam Rd was a delight to see and I hope to catch them again sometime soon.

The Actors followed with a dramatic change in temperament. With a capacious synth-pop sound reminiscent of a fusion between Band of Horses and MGMT, The Actors filled the spaces between people with their reverb-laden songs. Comprised of three exceptionally talented musicians (two of whom continually switch between instruments throughout the set) The Actors steadily built a captivating groove so that by the time they got to the most powerful song of the set, “First Date,” the whole room had broken out in dance.

By the time the Phantom Kicks took to the stage the crowd had finally fleshed out a bit, though to what I would expect for such an interesting line-up. Featuring a brand new member, the Phantom Kicks kept the energy high delivering their loop heavy synth-pop with a new-found depth. The new member on the synth allowed the other two to focus on building the signature guitar lines that define the Phantom Kicks. Received with much enthusiasm by the crowd (to the point where someone took it upon themselves to spin off the edge of the stage), this was by far the best set I’ve seen by the Phantom Kicks.

In spite of the fairly thin crowd, last Wednesday’s Rickshaw show was an incredible success with Sunbeam Rd, The Actors, and the Phantom Kicks each delivering extraordinary performances. Do your best to catch anyone of these fantastic bands the next time they play.

[Additional Photos Here]

–Words and Photos Ada Lann

Coming out of Thanksgiving it looks to be a spectacularly busy week for live music. Here are a few selections.

Tonight catch the Dominant Legs at Cafe Du Nord with Holy Shit and Melted Toys, 8pm.

Wednesday seems to be a blog themed evening with a Kata Rokkar and Ears of the Beholder sponsored show at the Rickshaw. Featuring former Artist of the Month winners Phantom Kicks alongside The Actors and Sunbeam RD, this looks to be a spectacular evening of music, 9pm.

Competing on the same night out in Oakland, Bay Area Bourgeois will be presenting a night of electronic music at Era Art Bar with Elephant and Castle, James and Evander, and Business 80, 8pm.

Thursday get up to the Hemlock for French Miami with support by The Horns of Happiness and Teenage Sweater, 9pm.

Friday Popscene will be presenting a San Francisco vs Chicago themed show, at the Rickshaw, with The Butterfly Bones, Hey Champ, and Moneypenny, 9pm.

Finally on Saturday, wander down to Bottom of the Hill for the Terrorbird Holiday Extravaganza featuring Maus Haus, Fol Chen, Brent Amaker and the Rodeo, and Exray’s, 9pm.

–Ada Lann

It may be Thanksgiving this weekend but no amount of Turkey will apparently stop live music. For those sticking around the city this weekend, here are a few selections from the calender.

Tonight at the Stork Club in Oakland Man/Miracle will be playing with Seatlle’s Lonsome Shack, 8pm.

Friday night dance away whatever weight you may have gained the previous day out at the Knockout where Joshua Rampage of Maus Haus will be testing his mettle as an in house DJ, 10pm.

Saturday catch the dark and drone-y psych rock of Tokyo Raid at Cafe du Nord with The Secret Secretaries, Nectarine Pie, and Fox & Woman, 8pm.

Just a brief look this week. Enjoy your holiday!

–Ada Lann

This weekend The Deli SF will be a proud sponsor of the third annual SFX Music Festival.  This year’s line-up includes Music for Animals, The Hundred Days, Mister Loveless, The Ferocious Few, Hyena, The Steelwells, and Vanaprasta with DJ sets by Dj Omar, Dj Austin, and Dj X Boyfriend.  Starting around 2 in the afternoon on Saturday the 20th, SFX will run all day and late into the night out at Kelly’s Mission Rock.  Make it a point to head out to the Dogpatch this weekend for food, booze, and good music.

Quite a lot a head on the calender. Here are a few selections.

Start of tomorrow at Milk where the Religious Girls will be playing with Zs, Arrington de Dionyso, and Moe Staiano, 8pm.

Catch the Royal Baths Thursday at Bottom of the Hill with Grass Window and Wild Flag, 9pm.

Friday wander up Polk Street to the Hemlock where The Love Dimension will be headlining The Parties record release show alongside Trevor Childs & the Beholders, 9pm.

Finally, on Saturday head back down to the Bottom of the Hill where White Cloud will be playing with Tunng and Carta, 10pm.

–Ada Lann

Providing yet another excellent event at Milk to occupy your Thursday plans, Epic Sauce will once again be presenting a fantastic line-up. This time around sets will be provided by locals Skeletal System and Melted Toys alongside Woodsman and Craft Spells. Make your way up on the Haight around 8 for this night of great music.

Start the weekend off this Thursday at the Rickshaw where local phoenix Blackbird Blackbird will be opening for Candy Claws and Chain Gang of 1974, 8pm.

Wander out to the Mission on Friday and check out Lazarus with Benoit Pioulard at Amnesia, 7:30pm.

Saturday make your way to the Hemlock for a line up featuring two Artist of the Month winners, Foolproof Four and Ash Reiter, alongside The Trophy Fire, 9:30pm.

Finally, close out your weekend with another Artist of the Month at the Hemlock, the Thralls, with support by Spiro Agnew and Portland’s Reverse Dotty, 8pm.

–Ada Lann

With a week full of elections results and baseball winnings one might forget that there are several exciting shows on the calender. Here are a few selections.

Tonight to 111 Minna will host a free barrage of bands featuring sets by Maus Haus, My First Earthquake, Shortkut, Trackademicks, Ghosts on Tape, DLRN, Electric Sunset, King Most, Prince Aires, and A-Ron, 9pm.

If you can’t stomach the bridge traffic, out in Oakland our friends at Bay Area Bourgeois have put together a free show at Era Art Bar and Lounge with Swanifant, Spiro Agnew, and a DJ set by Business 80, 8pm.

Thursday night former Artist of the Month winner Honey will be playing with Wet Illustrated and Burnt Ones at Amnesia, 9pm.

Head out to the Uptown in Oakland on Friday for another free Maus Haus show with Birds and Batteries and James and Evander, 9pm.

Saturday, back out at Amnesia, Songbird Winter Series and Con Brio will host the Music to Freak to Series Preview featuring sets by Sioux City Kid, Con Brio, Juliet Strong, and Kris Gruen, 9pm.

–Ada Lann

In spite of being along side the various Halloween festivities the show schedule this weekend still seems quite busy. Here are a few selections.

Tonight the Knockout will play host to one of the most exciting Future Night Presents to date. A monthly showcase featuring the newest in dance music, this month’s Future Night line-up will feature the suddenly sensational Blackbird Blackbird, fresh of their appearance at CMJ, with DJ sets by residents J. Kick, Danny Glover, and The Pope. Make your way out into the mission for this hump day dance-party, 9pm.

Thursday at Bottom of the Hill The Hundred Days will be playing with The Dig and The Henry Clay People, 9pm.

On Friday out in Berkeley, the ever enigmatic folk band Burbank International will be playing at Mama Buzz with Nick Sinetos, 8pm.

Saturday make your way out to the Hemlock for a special Halloween covers show entitled Secret Satan with Love is Chemicals, The Dont’s, HIJK, Jake Mann and the Upper Hand, and The ’86 Mets, 9pm.

Otherwise, enjoy your Halloween weekend.

–Ada Lann

“That’s the cool thing about art, it can transcend things,” mused San Francisco based singer-songwriter Emily Jane White, when I sat down with her in the recording studio to discuss her music. “Everything I write is from my perspective, so it’s filtered through my body, my lens,” White explained. She went on to say that although her viewpoint is one of the white middle class, political statements expressed through music can go beyond the original meaning they had to the writer, and reach out to other people while still giving voice to the songwriters experience. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately—what makes music political, how is it political. It is automatically, music has to be political, because the personal has a political nature to it. When it’s a big issue, then you are one amongst many expressing yourself. But when it’s something specific, like a catastrophe, then I try to be more subtle and suggestive about it.”

[read the entire article after the jump]

Catch Emily Jane White perform tonight [Friday, October 22] playing with The Northrn Key and many fantastic comedians at Snob Theater presented by Kata Rokkar. $10 located at The Dark Room at 2263 Mission Street, between 18th and 19th San Francisco, CA

There seems to be a burgeoning movement of early 60s garage-inspired neo-surf rock developing around us of late. Locally with Sonny and the Sunsets, Hunx and his Punx, and the Royal Baths, and nationally with acts like Harlem and Vivian Girls, there is a wave of kitschy low-fi rock innocence crashing upon the music community. Riding high on this wave, and taking the best traditions of The Kinks, The Dashing Suns debut album Really Like You is an exciting jovial explosion of good old-fashioned rock and roll.

Ripped right from the Smiley Smile playbook, "Good Bad Vibrations" opens the album in a psychedelic swirl that would make Brian Wilson proud. By far the odd ball out on the album, “Good Bad Vibrations” (interesting and exciting as it is) differs greatly in style from the rest of the songs. Perhaps its strangeness is its purpose; quizzically opening the listener for the explosion of gritty rock that follows.

Taking off like a rocket, “Sally Moore” fires away from the eerie loops that proceeded it and really sets the mood of the album: youthful exuberance in brief volatile intervals rarely exceeding three minutes. The grittiest song on the album, and one of my favorites, “Sally Moore” is a thunderous wall of distorted guitar with a fabulous, mostly two-note solo that really highlights potential for perfection in pure simplicity.

Along with its high level of energy, Really Like You’s simplicity is one of it great strengths. Lyrically, the themes don’t extend much farther than adolescent notions of love and relationships, simple rhymes, and straightforward metaphors. This could seem incredibly superficial but in a world of such weight, unassuming levity is something of a breath of fresh air.

There is a particularly unique sort of depth to what can otherwise be termed shallow music. Shifting focus from technical aspects towards the expressive often better highlights the basic emotive value of a song; rawness that can be as deep as a magnum opus. Think of the depth in the pure expression of punk rock. Achieving greater accessibility to the fundamental feeling of the music by stripping the pretense of the form can codify a system of complex ideas that is expressed intangibly. For The Dashing Suns the energetic sound of fun can be just as loaded and invigorating as the most complex of soundscapes.

Catchy and exciting, Really Like You is highly recommended. Firmly rooted in the traditions of Herman’s Hermits and The Troggs, Really Like You is a twelve track adventure into some fantastic rock and roll. Rising with the tide of like-minded 60s garage inspired groups,The Dashing Suns Really Like You should have no problem reaching the crest of this wave.

–Ada Lann

While many may still be musically burnt out from Treasure Island, another week presents us with another round of selections from the calender.

Thursday night at Milk Epic Sauce will be putting on one of it’s biggest shows to date. With French Miami headlining along side Religious Girls, Copy, and Guidance Councler, the later two both of Portland, this should make an excellent night to be up on Haight St, 8pm.

Friday night head over to the Rickshaw for Bare Wires and the Burnt Ones opening up for Pierced Arrow, 8:30pm. 

Saturday take yourself to Thee Parkside for Budget Rock 9 featuring Skipper, Shannon and the Clams, Tropical Sleep, Larry and the Angriest Generation, and Midnite Snaxxx, 2pm.

–Ada Lann