AltWeeklies Wire
Laura Veirs Gets Excited for Summernew
Classic finger-picking and Laura Veirs' girly vocals characterize the feather-light songs she's written about sweet summer days on her seventh album, July Flame.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Amber Schadewald |
03-10-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: July Flame, laura veirs
Snap Sounds: Elephant9's 'Walk the Nile'new
Norwegian power trio Elephant9 lays on the acid-laced, "wildly cavorting in fields of fusion" prog (light on the kraut and pop, more in tune with the jazz) on their second long-player, Walk the Nile.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
02-24-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Elephant9, Walk the Nile
Thank You Rides Far-Out Waves of Ambiguitynew
Terrible Two's best quality is precisely that we don't know what to make of it. That's the point of the album and what makes the band a close fit with post-rock's steez.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Brandon Bussolini |
02-25-2009 |
Reviews
Scoping out George Evelyn's Nightmares On Wax ruminationsnew
George Evelyn (a.k.a. Nightmares on Wax)'s music sonically embodies the phrase, "Let's just chill a moment." And despite his scary moniker, most of what Evelyn creates will induce sweet daydreams.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Tomas Palermo |
02-04-2009 |
Reviews
Fleet Foxes Tears Back the Centuriesnew
In their quest to fuse pre-rock 'n' roll sounds with indie-rock sensibilities, Fleet Foxes don't simply settle for 20th-century American Music 101. Rather, their time-travel extends all the way back to the Black Plague.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Todd Lavoie |
06-25-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Fleet Foxes
The Explorers Club Channels the Beach Boysnew
Everything on Freedom Wind has been faithfully rendered, from its lush, four-part harmonies to its evocative timpani-rolls to the CD booklet's resemblance to a well-worn record sleeve with the vinyl edges showing through.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Todd Lavoie |
06-18-2008 |
Reviews
'Flowers' for Kathleen Edwardsnew
Edwards has bubbled under since her 2003 debut, widely celebrated by music cognoscenti with reliable ears. But her world-weary folkie moves reminded me of Lucinda Williams and other sepia-tone, anachronist comers of the period. With Asking for Flowers, she has finally distinguished herself from much of alt-country's fringe-fetish ghetto.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kandia Crazy Horse |
05-14-2008 |
Reviews
Bradford Cox Takes a Solo Flight as Atlas Soundnew
The erstwhile Deerhunter vocalist is one of the few shoegaze suitors who seems clued in to the searing -- and often distressing -- tensions that distinguish My Bloody Valentine from followers like Slowdive and Ride.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
03-05-2008 |
Reviews
Dengue Fever: Adept at Twisting Genresnew
Ever the intrepid globe-trotters, the septet are equally adept at twisting Ethiopian jazz, Bollywood soundtracks, and Middle Eastern pop into their sweltering garage rock tribute to pre–Pol Pot–era Cambodia.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Todd Lavoie |
01-23-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Dengue Fever, Venus on Earth
Oregone's Funky 'Floor' is Beckoningnew
The band's tightly executed debut, The Killion Floor -- named after their teeming recording studio -- bursts with soulful enthusiasm and the scene's signature expert musicianship.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Tomas Palermo |
01-23-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Orgone, The Killion Floor
Vampire Weekend Dials Up '80s Nostalgianew
It's too early to tell whether the band will survive adolescence, though it's certainly bought some time with its ascending bass lines, squirmy guitar refrains, staccato string arrangements, and endearingly monotone vocals.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
01-23-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Vampire Weekend
Marvin Gaye's Everlasting Sublimenew
Breakup and concept albums may be part of the central tenets of rockism, but Marvin Gaye combined the two to produce Here, My Dear that trumps both modern music history and his personal specificities of time and place.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kandia Crazy Horse |
01-23-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Marvin Gaye, Here, My Dear
Meat the Figurinesnew
When the Deer Wore Blue has an eerie yet upbeat, cinematic feel to it, and could serve as an alternate to Air's The Virgin Suicides soundtrack, if the movie had a different ending in which the sisters didn't kill themselves but instead moved to Denmark to shack up with an indie band -- and then killed themselves.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Duncan Scott Davidson |
10-10-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Figurines, When the Deer Wore Blue
Franz Ferdinand Hearts the Fire Enginesnew
Together for a brief 18 months, the Fire Engines released a handful of EPs, many on Bob Last's fantastic Fast Product–Pop Aural imprint. Hungry Beat collects these long-out-of-print EPs.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Alexis Georgopoulos |
09-12-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Hungry Beat, The Fire Engines
Kaskade Still Commands Big Room Housenew
From the rich gospel singing of the first track, Axwell's "I Found You," and the piano arrangements of Joslyn's "Funk 2 Night," the affable producer delivers mainstream house at its most radio-friendly — and that's a good thing
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Peter Nicholson |
08-29-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Bring the Night, Kaskade
