Bay Area Girls Rock Camp has a public event coming up this Sunday, April 11th. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the BAGRC, they are the non-profit Oakland organization now in its third year of bringing music education and empowerment to girls ages 8 to 18. Ladies Rock Camp, the weekend program modeled after Girls Rock Summer Camp, features an environment where participants learn/practice instruments, form bands, write an original song, attend workshops, and perform in a live concert in three days. For many of the women, this is the first time with their chosen instrument and maiden voyage of taking the stage.

In addition to seeing some music and supporting a music education program in the Bay Area, attendees of the Ladies Rock Showcase are eligible for drawing prizes such as health and wellness packages from local acupuncturists and yoga studios as well as museum passes and gift certificates. All proceeds go to towards Bay Area Girls Rock Camp and its programs.

Ladies Rock Camp Showcase
Sunday, April 11th – 3pm 
25 Women. 6 Bands. ALL ORIGINAL SONGS!
Oakland Metro Operahouse (630 3rd St., Oakland)
$5-10 sliding scale

-Nicole

It’s another weekend on the horizon and damn it all if the Bay Area is not getting its act together with good shows to get out and see.

Thursday the 8th at Kimo’s would be a good place to start for the female-fronted dirty garage sounds of The Mallards with Street Sirens and Trumpet Solo, 9pm.

Of course if you find yourself in Mission on Thursday, instead of up the hill on Polk street, Orchestra of Antlers (who topped the Deli’s Year End Readers Poll) will be playing with Not To Reason Why, Clarissa Explainsitall, and Commissure, 8pm.

Reverb-drenched noise rockers Weekend, who currently hold the Deli’s Album of the Month award, will be filling up the Hemlock on Friday. Playing with Fever Dream and Australia’s Love Diagrams, this show is surely not to be missed, 9pm.

This week certainly seems to have had a lot of mention of the activities of Stomacher (having just won the Deli’s Band of the Month followed shortly by the release of a video) and to cap it all off this Saturday they’ll be playing at the Great American Music Hall with Tornado Rider, 3rd Rail, and I the Mighty, 8pm. Of course, yet another mention of Stomacher will be garnering some complaints from the peanut gallery concerning overexposure, but to that I say tough titties. I said it once before and I’ll say it again, so I can have the credit for accurate prediction: keep your eyes on Stomacher, this will be their break out year.

That about rounds it out for this week. Check back again for another round of picks next week, and bands, do continue to keep us updated on your schedules and you may find yourself mentioned here.

–Ada Lann

In a current mainstream music climate that views each new song as a disposable commodity, solid musicianship is hard to come by. Which is why it is so refreshing to hear Pine & Battery’s new album, 2. The new release seamlessly blends the styles of Alternative, Rock and Pop into an epic statement to let down your walls and accept life as it comes. From the first track, to the last song front-man Jeff Campbell on guitar offers the perfect counterpoint to Andy Weller’s searing guitar leads while bassist AJ Leighton and drummer Rick Munoz lays down the perfect rock rhythm.

With the first song Alibi, the theme of the album is set as Campbell sings to there are no alibis left, he can see through the facade. With the problem identified, on the next song Brass Tacks Campbell tells us “It’s time to let go.” But even without listening to the words of Campbell’s strong vocals, the guitars throughout the next two songs and the entire album give the listener a sense of becoming free as they weave across the rhythm like a kid in a galactic playground.

The turning point of the album comes with the fifth track, Tide, which aptly lives up to its name as the song starts off with a somber guitar and drums that seem to roll in like the tide. In the song accepting what we have been given finally becomes clear as Campbell belts out “In spite of everything tides bring what they bring/ and wash you away before you’re gone.” With that, the song builds up to a crescendo then dissipates into a hopeful coda which setting up the next song Latest & Greatest perfectly as it rockets out the gate.

Finally our electric journey ends with the epic and brooding song God. In the song, Campbell leaves us admitting that he will never really for sure the mysteries of life and yet somehow he is ok with this. This sentiment is echoed nicely with the raw sweeping guitars that seem to reverberate across the dimensions of time. From start to finish, 2 is a solid listening experience which makes me wish there were more bands like Pine & Battery, who actually release statements with substance.

-Nick Codling

Check out Pine & Battery on April 23rd at Bottom of the Hill.

Stomacher, recent winners of the Deli SF’s band of the month poll, have just recently released a new video for their song "Untitled/Dark Divider." A visually stunning stop motion montage, this video is an impressive pensive compliment to the spacious and contemplative track that it accompanies. The video is currently featured on Vimeo’s home page, and has already reached 7000 views. Check it out!

–Ada Lann

With an interesting bit of news to start off your weekend, Friday sees the continuation of a recent trend of avant/noise artist’s remixing each others songs. Recently we posted about a number of remixes that were done of the railcars’ song "Cathedral with No Eyes;" now it seems the railcars are beginning to return the favor. Good friends of the railcars, New York’s Philip Seymour Hoffman, have apparently been gaining a lot of traction, going on tour with Truman Peyote, so the railcars decided to give their song "Spring Break 2011" their own treatment. Check it out below.

–Ada Lann

Certainly everybody’s Thursday competition (if you’re trying to play anywhere else in the city anyway), Epic Sauce has gone and once again put together another impressive line up for their show series at Milk. A free show, this Thursday the 1st will see Man/Miracle and Butterfly Bones celebrating the release of their split 7-inch. Red Blue Yellow (who recently played a Deli Presents show) and Beehive Spirit will also be playing, 8pm. Though it is free you are strongly encouraged to RSVP here.

If free shows are not your thing however (or rather lets say you want to rock out with some awesome garage girls), on the same night you can catch The Splinters playing with Ty Segall and The Baths at the Eagle (debateably a NSFW site), 9pm.

Friday night out in the East Bay, Veil Veil Vanish, Mister Loveless, Chambers (a band featuring former members of Death of a Party), and The Ferocious Few will also be playing a free show at The Uptown starting around 9. Of course it is advised that you get there much earlier then that as starting at 6 (and boasting $2 Pabst) East Bay Express, Sony, and Amoeba will be hosting a listening party for the new MGMT album (to be released on the 13th) with free CDs given to the first 50 people to arrive.

If you’re only planing on being out Saturday night (or just find you ears still unsatiated) head over to the Hemlock around 9:30 for the psychedelic sounds of The Love Dimension, Honey, The Spyrals, and Greg Ashley.

Lots to see and lot’s for free this week. Head out and enjoy some good music and check back with us next week for another round of suggestions.

–Ada Lann

Birds & Batteries’ Up To No Good is a complex blend of creepy and dance-y.

Hard to categorize throughout, Michael Sempert’s disaffected and sliding vocals hold this 2009 EP together through five eclectic tracks that bring ominous bass together with psychedelic guitar, creepy keyboard chimes, and distorted whistles. They only break from the task of making the listener feel like he’s lost in the dark by occasionally turning on their dance party floor lights.

This EP is intricate, and lends itself to multiple listening sessions. “The Villain” starts you off feeling alone and confused, with plenty of well-placed synth noise to bolster the freaky guitars and dark lyrics. The excellent harmonies are the lightest part of the song, with the backup voices sounding downright cheery compared to the lead vocalist’s slow drawl. The eerie theme developed in this first track sticks around for most of Up To No Good. Though the short “Lonely Guns” elevates the tone into something more upbeat in preparation for the jaunty third track, “Out in the Woods,” you still hear plenty of those whistling keyboard runs in both tracks (complete with a sudden tempo change or two) to keep you tripping out about the whole experience. There’s even judicious use of that slide whistle sound that makes me think I’ve spotted a UFO, X-Files style.

You know the sound I’m talking about.

“Lightning (UTNC Version)” is their get-up-and-dance track, switching the beat over to a drum machine (or just a well-emulated drum machine feel) that occasionally drops out to leave the vocalist and keyboard on their own. Once I’m reminded to be freaked out, they turn the beat back on. This track is great but it is a partial break from the resonating feel of the rest of the EP. It’s their dark synth-pop moment punctuating the EP’s crescendo before they drop it back down for the final track. If Up To No Good was longer than 20 minutes (and I truly wish it was) I’d expect one or two more songs in this vein, and as it is I’m left wanting more.

Concluding with “Sneaky Times,” they finish up with some compelling vocals that alternately stretch out and rush through the lyrics in between really phenomenal bass lines, bringing us back down from “Lightning” into a slower groove. This is a great final track on a great EP, a good mixture of a funky feel with the unhinged hollowness that I came to expect by the end Up To No Good.

Birds & Batteries never commit themselves completely to any particular genre here, but still end up with a bizarrely cohesive feel that you should definitely experience for yourself. For the San Franciscan with a vehicle, they’ll be playing in Davis on April 10th. I on the other hand, will eagerly wait for a San Francisco show date to materialize.

–Kyle Wheat

Editors Note:  Birds and Batteries Up To No Good can be purchased digitally at iTunes.  For a hard copy contact Birds and Batteries here.

For a limited time, The Blank Tapes are offering their fourth full length release, Home Away From Home as a free download. The 10-track album includes a couple recognizable songs, Driving Out Of My Mind and We Can Do What We Want To, that have been played in The Blank Tapes shows from the past year as well as the slightly gritty Black Hair and Don’t Mind which features a very catchy melody played on ukulele.

You can download your own copy of the album here. Catch them at Amnesia Bar on Thursday, April 1st playing with Shakes, Pony Village (from Portland) and Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt.

-Nicole Leigh

Last week, the Bay Area lost long time San Francisco resident and photographer Jim Marshall. Jim  helped shape the image and record the history of rock and roll in the 60’s and 70’s. If you recall ever seeing iconic images of Jimi Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival or Johnny Cash giving the camera the finger at a San Quentin prison performance, then you’ve seen some of Jim’s work. In addition to his documentary style portrait photography, Marshall also shot over 500 album covers. He was known to be as rebellious as the figures he captured and was an important part of the legacy of Bay Area music.

You can check out a virtual collection of his work at www.marshallphoto.com

-Nicole Leigh

Photo courtesy of Scott Sommerdorf

While many of you may be out of town this week for SXSW, or perhaps on some other well deserved spring vacation, for those still around there are a few good shows this coming weekend that should be worth your attention.

On Thursday the 25th Epic Sauce will be putting on it’s second show in it’s new series at Milk. Starting around 8pm several groups (including Neon Indian – headlining with a DJ set) will put on what is promised to be an epic dance party. Though Boyz IV Men and Sweat Wet (who apparently are anti-myspace) are the only local representation, this show is certainly worth a mention as those sauce-y folks over there are really trying to get something interesting started with this series.

You’re a damn fool if Hemlock isn’t your destination on Friday for Spencey Dude and the Doodles. They will be playing with The Aerosols and The Coathangers, and with a line up like that this will surely be an exciting and rocking show, 9:30pm.

Of course if down-tempo is your flavor for the weekend then there is something just for your pallet. Head up to Kimo’s Saturday night for 7 Orange ABC who will be sharing a bill with Meta, 9pm.

Lastly on Sunday, the Rickshaw will be hosting the Young Prisms with a roster of other out of town bands including Pictureplane, Small Black, and Washed Out. Young Prisms are fresh back from a tour and definitely worth seeing. From the Rickshaw site it looks like the show may be sold out, but if you can scuttle yourself a ticket you won’t be disappointed.

Looks to be a good weekend shaping up. Hope you can make it out for some of these events, or if not then to the many others that are also going on in the next few days.

–Ada Lann

Backed by the funk infused bass of Sean Stillinger and the hip hop influenced drum beats of Darrin Thomas, virtuoso guitarist Renzo Staiano and front woman Alex Lee of Le VICE kept bodies moving last Thursday at El Rio. With a little help from some friends singing back up and playing keyboards, the band celebrated the release of their self titled debut by playing several tracks from the album including the catchy come on Uh Huh and introspective Why Fight.

Studio SQ also set up shop recording the whole thing on some technological device that baffles the technologically inept [like myself]. Renzo and Alex really know how to work a crowd and the photo above shows a rare moment when the two were not in continuous motion. There was a lot of love exchanged between the stage and the crowd and the band played until well past midnight when the audience continued to press for more.

If you missed the party, fear not, you can catch Le VICE in two weeks at The Rickshaw on April 2nd.

– Nicole Leigh, words and photo

This entry is from our Open Blog. You too can post about your band by clicking here.

"SanFolk Disco is the brainchild of JL Stiles and he is the glue that will hold each of these bills together like a secretly broken vase by opening and hosting each show. If you do not know of his incredible talents already, here are three facts you need to know immediately: Fact #1: JL Stiles is the freakiest white fingerpicking guitarist in this great country right now. Fact #2: JL Stiles believes he has come up with the algorithm for the pure soul of music. Fact #3: JL Stiles has a mind that sees music in a similar way to how J.S. Bach saw music, however Bach never played the blues. "Simultaneously classic and original, Stiles lays into his 12-string guitar with the vigor and ambition of a streetwise punk who just discovered Leo Kottke" (Blues Revue)

SanFolk Disco is a new monthly series of shows that aim to hover over the bountiful but disparate music scene of the great, legendary city of San Francisco, Ca, and, just as in bygone eras of pre-history, reach a bony hand from above to three blazing comets of musical ice and fire, and collide them monthly at a specified place and time in The Universe. The next show is on April 15th at Cafe Du Nord, SF, 8pm, featuring Bart Davenport, J.L. Stiles & Kacey Johansing, the following show will be May 13th, also at Cafe Du Nord, SF, featuring Eric Mcfadden, JL Stiles & Jenny Kerr. SanFolk Disco demands that you become a good citizen and have a damn good time while doing it.