Archive for the ‘Alameda’ Category
Paul Manousos
February 2nd, 2007 | 
Author: MySpace (listen to “It’s Gonna Be Alright,” “Beautiful Girl”)
Official site
Hometown: Alameda
Next local show: 2/7, The Uptown Nightclub
Recent release: For Better or Worse, 2005
We don’t have many Heartland rockers here on the West Coast, but East Bay native Paul Manousos is definitely one of ‘em. “Something caught me,” is all he can say of his lifelong connection to music. Five years of incubation in a music-loving household led him to sit down at the family piano and play. By age sixteen he was writing songs on guitar — moved to make his own racket by eternally influential rock ’n’ rollers like Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello, Roy Orbison, and Bruce Springsteen.
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Totimoshi
MySpace (listen to “Viva Zapata,” “In Virgo”)
Official site
Hometown: Alameda
Next local show: None planned
Recent release: Ladrón, 2006
Ready for the heavy shit? Totimoshi can bear all manner of sludgy, stoney weight upon you. This despite having only three members and not being the slightest bit Japanese. Maybe the title of the new record (“thief” in Spanish) is a better indicator. Japanese, Latino, or Martian; Totimoshi is for real. The band’s been hand-picked to open for the Melvins and Helmet, godfathers of modern heavy. With nine years and four albums to its name, it’s poised to — any day now — become the next buzz band in the new hipster/indie metal scene led by groups like Mastodon, the Sword, and Isis. To be fair, Totimoshi are much closer stylistically to those indefatigable Melvins, who copped Black Sabbath’s slow chug 20 years ago and never looked back. If there’s any young band ready to introduce that sound to new ears, it’s this one.