Show Preview: Shuteye Unison at Bottom of the Hill 8/30

By Julia Cooper

It’s a family affair Saturday at Bottom of the Hill when San Francisco’s Shuteye Unison, a baby to the local live scene, plays one of its first shows. But the trio, featuring Daniel McKenzie (vocals/guitar), Jon Fee (vocals/bass) and Jake Krohn (drums), will be in good company: also playing are local headliners the Action Design, featuring Krohn behind the kit; San Francisco’s Built for the Sea (McKenzie’s other band), and Portland’s Carcrashlander, fronted by friend Cory Gray. (more >>)

Don’t count McKenzie and Fee as total newbies to the live scene, however. As core members of San Francisco’s the Rum Diary, a band that's now on hiatus, the duo was a veritable touring machine. At the tail end of the group, Fee and McKenzie sought another musical outlet and began writing songs for a new project. Once they recruited Krohn, Shuteye Unison was born.

With touring such a constant for the Rum Diary and a string of European dates planned with Built for the Sea, McKenzie says he is reveling in writing and recording with Shuteye Unison. “You need a certain amount of music to see musical shape," he said.

Shuteye’s self-titled debut was released in spring on Parks and Records, an environmentally-conscious label Fee co-founded with his wife, Mimi Fee. Shuteye’s sound ripples with soaring guitars, ethereal shoegaze melodies and paced arrangements that undulate into peaks and valleys, culminating in a particularly ambient entry into the local rock music scene.

Recording with better equipment at Closer Recording studios, run by Tim Mooney of American Music Club, and experimenting with microphones and instrumentation, such as a vibraphone, keyboards and stringed instruments, resulted in a more polished sound, McKenzie said. “Not all of it we kept in the mix, not all of it was super audible. It’s just nice to add other dimensions.”

Shuteye Unison is a project that has bubbled since McKenzie and Fee grew up together in Humboldt County, where there wasn’t much to do but music. “We learned how to play instruments with each other back in high school,” McKenzie said. “He’s just always been my writing partner, the outlet for the kind of music that I really want to play.”

The Action Design, Shuteye Unison, Built for the Sea, and Carcrashlander play Saturday, Aug. 30, 9 p.m., at Bottom of the Hill. All ages. $8 advance, $10 door.

CD Review: Evacuee's 2 to 32 EP

By Glenn Jackson

Evacuee is a San Francisco three-piece that makes music on the harder side of indie rock. Somewhere between These Arms Are Snakes, Fugazi, and maybe even Pavement lies Evacuee's catchy yet dissonant songs. The most distinctive aspect of Evacuee is their overall sound. Intensely whiny vocals spill over a thick mesh of guitars and bass while drums constantly drive the songs forward. (more >>)

On their EP 2 to 32, Evacuee presents four distinct songs -- the standout of which is "Webster Groves." Probably their most memorable melody on the EP, "Webster Groves" moves from a catchy guitar riff and vocal to a progressively harder pattern and back again, climaxing with one last melodic build and finally ending with the original riff.

One very apparent similarity runs through all four songs: the vocal style. Although different members of the band sing on different songs, they all sing in a similar style that can only be described as a throaty, whiney, at times almost goat-like sound. Whatever it is, it is a very unique and refreshing sound in the Bay Area scene.

Evacuee performs at El Rio on August 13th with Project Alpha and the Pentacles and is currently working on an upcoming full-length album.

CD Review: TOPR's Marathon of Shame

By Glenn Jackson

TOPR (Top Ramen) has been on the Bay Area scene for a good length of time. He's got four releases to his name prior to The Marathon of Shame and a respected history in the Bay Area hip-hop scene. However, this is the first album of his I've heard and like most indie and underground hip-hop albums, I can't listen to the whole thing. Sorry. The beats and the lyrics are pretty solid throughout most of the album but there is nothing to it. Most of the same themes, beats, and rhymes, as a lot of decent hip-hop records, just nothing spectacular. (more >>)

TOPR's delivery lacks a certain uniqueness and I find it hard to think of a white underground rapper that his style doesn't remind of. The obvious comparisons to Slug (of Atmosphere), Sage Francis, etc. may seem too obvious but are unfortunately pretty accurate. TOPR's lyrics are definitely the standout aspect of this album. His experience as a battle emcee pays off in some great lines such as "I'm sick of groupie girls and their stupid pills / Bitch, don't go out until those bruises heal." But TOPR's lyrics are at their best when describing the "urban struggle" in the Bay Area. The album's final song, "Here's to You," is a powerful anthem for a modern, young working class. The chorus, "So everybody in the house put your hands up if your job sucks or you've ever been in handcuffs / Something ain't right / We deserve more out of life / I raise my brew, here's to you / And everybody in the place to be who thinks to themselves everyday, 'man, this ain't the way it should be' / It ain't right / We deserve more out of life / I raise my brew, here's to you" is an intelligent and resonating theme to end the album on.

"The Marathon Shame" is out now along with a full-length DVD.

Single Review: Geographer's "Can't You Wait"/"Rushing In, Rushing Out"

Photo by Dominic Santos










By Glenn Jackson

The amount of indie rock groups in the Bay Area music scene can be overwhelming at times. For some reason there is an unbelievable amount of 20- and 30-somethings who somehow find their way to starting an indie rock band. With this in mind, I swallowed my prejudices towards the genre and gave Geographer an honest chance. Fortunately for me, Geographer is great. (more >>)

Geographer delivers two wonderfully indie songs with a level of musicianship that is scarcely found in the Bay Area indie rock scene. The first track, "Can't You Wait," begins with a four-on-the-floor kick pattern and an unbelievably catchy guitar melody. Shortly into the song come the lyrics. A sweet, full voice begins to tell a story with an engaging personal tone. The track builds, adding cello, keys, and layers of vocals which lead up to an incredibly catchy synth line/disco beat chorus. In indie fashion the song builds up and down on this same theme returning at the end for one last disco beat chorus. "Rushing In, Rushing Out", the second track on the single, slows down the tempo slightly but continues on the same general path laid out by the first song. A sweet synth melody leads you through another personal and powerful vocal, filled out nicely by a steady and lush cello performance.

Geographer reminds me why I, and a whole lot of other people, fell in love with bands like Broken Social Scene. Geographer celebrates the release of their full length album at Cafe Du Nord on August 17 with Cotillion and Judgement Day.

CD Review: The Bad Hand's This Is No Time for Modesty

By Julia Cooper

San Francisco experimental trio the Bad Hand seems like the kind of group that'll try anything once. On This Is No Time for Modesty, the band's staple rock instrumental base of guitar, Rhodes piano, and drums gets invaded by a gaggle of other genres and sounds, resulting in an ambitious mix of kitchen-sink sonic collages with varying degrees of success. (more >>)

The band certainly offers enough surprises to satisfy anyone bored with the verse-chorus-verse same-old same-old, as the musicians follow a slew of paths within the album and on the songs themselves. Just when you begin to brace yourself for an all-instrumental record, “Hell Bent” drops in soft, girly vocals; or dirgy grunge falls into good ol' Southern blues on “Then He Tried to Kiss Me”; or an interlude of fart-like kazoo sounds (“Short Door”) creeps into the batch.

Some of the tracks that fail to catch on weave together so many melodic and genre-hopping fragments that they leave listeners with little to grasp onto. The occasionally rough mixes, as on the hard-rock mishmash “How to Know When” and on the tail end of the disjointed “South Door,” which awkwardly melds a church organ with Southern blues guitar, can make one wonder: Are these guys all playing the same song?

But the band is legitimately enjoyable when it tones it down a few notches and sticks to one groove, like on “En Attenant De Baiser,” a proggy swirl of fuzzy guitars and shifting time signatures that drifts into funky jazz percussion and discordant piano tinkers; “The Twist,” which melds a paced electro pulsing with rainforest flutes and romantic whispers; and the best track, “Lo Ha,” a somber acoustic tremolo piece blended with funereal violin for a chilled out and downright lovely ambiance.

Perhaps most admirably, This Is No Time for Modesty showcases a band with oodles of energy that, when focused, can traverse a range of music and still pull it off -- most of the time.

CD Review: Stegosaurus Rex's The Dino Soars

By Glenn Jackson

On The Dino Soars, Stegosaurus Rex presents an interesting collection of homemade electronica. Unlike most bedroom computer-made albums, The Dino Soars jumps across styles, touching on hip-hop and house beats, downbeat trip-hop, electro-pop, and even a bit of experimental, droney electronica. (more >>)

Where the album really shines is with the more beat-oriented tracks. Opening song "East Bay Kickback" starts the album off strong with a great sample and a solid drum beat, making it the kind of song you would hear in your head while drinking a beer outside on a warm Oakland evening. Another standout track is "Six Sixteen." A great sample and solid hip-hop beat drive this track as it steadily moves through the opening string loop to a chopped-up vocal chorus and back again to the string loop as it is filtered out.

The album also features some great uptempo tracks. On tracks like "Polar" and "Fleeting Disco Do," Stegosaurus creates great disco-style house. Catchy samples that he cuts and rearranges as the song progresses, solid bass lines, and some good 'ol techno beats make these tracks dancefloor-worthy.

Where this album doesn't work as well is in the less beat-oriented and vocal tracks. These tracks especially lack in production value. The sounds are thin and dull compared to the earlier mentioned songs and have a hard time fitting in with the rest of the album sonically. A little more cohesiveness throughout the album and a step up in production level could put Stegosaurus Rex on the same level as a lot of the stuff on Ninja Tune Records.

CD Review: The Drift’s Memory Drawings

By Julia Cooper

As the summer solstice fast approaches and seasonal wanderlust fuels the itch to hit the highway, so does the need for a chilled-out soundtrack to accompany exploratory road trip wandering. To that end, and apropos of their moniker, San Francisco’s the Drift have crafted the perfect vehicle for both relaxation and rumination while meandering along long and winding roads on their second full-length, Memory Drawings. (more >>)

The four-piece leans toward jazz improvisation with a rock bent, akin to Tortoise, fused with post-rock deconstruction and build -- not unlike Temporary Residence labelmates MONO. Such an amalgamation of free-form music is particularly conducive to travels because of the way instruments can roam as freely as they do on the album’s seven tracks, which come across more like epic movements than offerings subject to a platform as short-sighted as radio.

The musicians fluidly weave through songs that may kick off in one groove, only before descending into cyclical troughs and build back up again to peaks. With no words to muddle up the mix, song titles such as “Lands End” and “Smoke Falls” meld with the music’s meditative ambiance to convey points of their own.

Guitarist/keyboardist Danny Grody, who’s also in Tarantel, provides striking ambient soundscapes, whether he’s calling up a thick layer of feedback as he does on “Uncanny Valley” -- which could be the theme for a James Bond film turned horror flick -- or a sea of underwater tremolo as on the spare “Golden Sands.” Drummer Rich Douthit works both delicate jazz splashes of cymbals and driving hip-hop style beats to keep the album and the listener rolling.

But what really shines is bass and brass. Trumpeter Jeff Jacobs demonstrates both regality and a carefree spirit with his ear-catching touches of horn, while Safa Shokrai’s chocolate jazz thumps and upright bass grooves hearken back to classic dub tracks that round out the sound with some down-to-earth soul.

More than anything, the tight musicianship and instrumental nuance ruling this intricate work spotlight new musical pathways to discover upon each listen, which makes Memory Drawings a worthy investment for fans who like to explore complex art as much as they do foreign lands.

CD Review: Mochipet's Microphonepet

By Camden Andrews

Mochipet: Local favorite electro/glitch artist? Break-tastic beat master? Hip-hop producer? Some geek behind a laptop? Big purple dinosaur? This time he's a general, leading an army of vocalists including Dubphonics, Jahcoozi, Hustle Heads, and members of the Hieroglyphics and Living Legends crews on a victorious, genre-defying march in his new album Microphonepet. If you're familiar with the San Francisco club/party scene, you've probably already heard all about this album and the buzz surrounding it. If not, I would recommend getting your hands on it immediately. (more >>)

It's always been difficult to pigeonhole Mochipet (David Wang) into one particular style or genre, but he really covered all his bases on this one. Songs range from supersonic glitchy whirlwinds, groovy house tracks, funky hip-hop numbers, fat bass-heavy club beats, seductive duets, and even lyric-centered raps about life on the streets, each heavily influenced by the guest MCs. What's most surprising about the versatility of this album is that none of Wang's explorations are artificial or emulative. While each track is certainly unique, his remarkable creativity and refusal to adhere to any sort of conventional rhythm scream out a sound that is undeniably his own.

Wang also maintains a much stronger sense of cohesion in each of the songs on Microphonepet than some of his other more intense mashup and breakcore material. There's still all sorts of twists and turns throughout the beats, but the solid sound structures make the music much more listenable.

There's an energy to this album that makes it immediately infectious. This energy combined with Wang's creativity make it a perfect party mix for diverse tastes, but also throws plenty of surprises to make it interesting if you're just listening by yourself. Keep this in your CD player and see how long it takes you to get sick of this album, I dare you.