Golden Birds

MySpace (listen to "Sugarbear," "Thermometer")
Official site
Hometown: Berkeley
Next local show: Stay tuned; Spring shows promised!
Upcoming release: TBA, 2007?

Golden Birds are still the best Bay Area indie rock band no one's heard of. And the group's 2005 LP Carrier is one of the best local CDs we've heard in years. You can quote us on that. Although the band has kept a low profile through infrequent shows and limited recordings, especially over the past year or so, what it has produced is pure gold -- rhythmic, melodic, entrancing gold. The core of the group -- singer/guitarist Webster McBride and bassist Karl Tupper -- actually formed as Carrier in 2003, changing to Golden Birds upon discovering another indie rock group of the same name in Colorado. (more >>)

McBride did something last summer that earned the band its biggest bit of press. He completed a road trip across the country where he played an acoustic set on the capitol building grounds of all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., in 51 days. That means one show a day, for 51 straight days, with all the driving miles in between. He even flew to Juneau, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii, while a friend drove his minivan to the next state on the route. And he did it all without once paying for lodging. Absolutely crazy, if you ask us, but he pulled it off swimmingly.

The band is currently working on a new EP (possibly called Softwar) with producer (and ex-band member) Hrishikesh Hirway, who now plays as The One AM Radio. McBride and Karl Tupper are joined here by Leyna Noel, Matt Brown, and Will Holtz. This lineup is scattered across the Bay Area and the state, but -- and this is not a knock at Tupper's excellent contributions on bass -- its heart resides at Fort Oregon, McBride's house in Berkeley (if you live around here, try driving by it sometime...).

FLY LIKE AN EAGLE:
-In April 2006, Golden Birds flew to Chicago to play the inaugural Mission Creek Music Festival Midwest (an offshoot of the highly successful Mission Creek Music and Arts Festival, which was founded ten years ago in San Francisco). This coming March 30, the band will travel to Iowa City, Iowa, to play year two.
-New Golden Birds member Leyna Noel is a longtime friend of the band. The 25-year-old released her first solo album in 2004 and has a new one coming soon called From the Mouth of the Jar.
-Drummer Matt Brown also plays in the LA-based band Foot Foot, for which his brother Josh sings and plays guitar.

Tempo No Tempo

MySpace (listen to "Static," "A Different Weapon")
IMEEM site

Hometown: Berkeley
Next local show: 3/2, Oakland Metro
Recent release: The Get Down, 2006

Believe us, we'd be the first to say we're done with the whole dance-punk thing. On principle alone, we're just tired of it. Because face it, most of the bands suck. We get it: You discovered Gang of Four. You have a stylish haircut. You think it's cute to coerce indie rockers to dance. Done yet? Tempo No Tempo don't escape the latter trap, needlessly bragging on their MySpace page that they sound like "the first time you danced in public and felt okay about it." But what makes Tempo No Tempo different from the Rapture et al is that TNT are from Berkeley and obviously not interested in assimilating into the dying dance-punk masses. (more >>)

How do we know this? Because, for one thing, they have normal haircuts. This is very important. Also, of course, there's the music. Tempo No Tempo are equally familiar with Wire, Interpol, and the Strokes, crafting danceable rock music as opposed to exaggerated beats with pointy guitar parts. They also cite local post-rock heroes From Monument to Masses as an influence. This doesn't manifest ostensibly in their tunes, but certainly can't be a bad thing. It's also promising that they include an acoustic song on MySpace: proof that TNT are looking more to establish themselves as a legit rock group with strong songs than to merely associate with a subgenre that has attracted so many substanceless followers.

Tempo No Tempo is a young band, formed by four UC Berkeley students in 2004. The songs they've churned out so far are promising -- especially "Static," which comes from their debut EP, The Get Down, home-recorded and self-released last year. Sounding both youthfully exuberant and strikingly mature, the song could catapult the band to much bigger things if heard by the right person. Over the last year, TNT has earned the attention of Pitchfork and local music mag The Deli Magazine, as well as an opening slot for LA group Ima Robot.

CONCERT NO CONCERT
-Tempo No Tempo play tonight, that's right tonight, with fellow local groups Panda and Facing New York at the Metro in Oakland. More local bands should round off the bill. Only $10! Head over if you have the chance.
-For those of you who are busy tonight or outside of the East Bay, Tempo No Tempo has shows coming up at Epiphany's in Santa Rosa (4/6), the Boardwalk Bowl in Santa Cruz (4/13), and Streetlight Records in San Jose (4/14).