Archive for the ‘Genre’ Category
Thee More Shallows
April 28th, 2007 | 
Author: MySpace (“The Dutch Fist,” “Night at the Knight School”)
Official site
Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 5/3, Amoeba Music San Francisco
Recent release: Book of Bad Breaks, 2007
Thee More Shallows is a band NASCENT’s been wanting to cover for quite some time; we were just waiting for the right moment. With the quirky San Francisco indie-pop group’s third album — and anticon Records debut — out last week, now is definitely the time.
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From Monument to Masses
MySpace (“Sharpshooter,” “Comrades and Friends”)
Official site
Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 4/20, Bottom of the Hill
Upcoming release: TBD, 2007
“Like an open-mouthed kiss from God” is how a friend once described the experience of seeing From Monument to Masses live. Not having ever made out with God, it’s hard for us corroborate that statement. But it’s even harder to dismiss it; From Monument to Masses are unequivocally incredibly fucking awesome.
Maldroid Signs to an Indie
Oakland band Maldroid announced yesterday it has signed to progressive San Francisco “music company” Fuzz. While the group did receive major label attention in the aftermath of its YouTube music video victory in November, it opted to sign with a like-minded indie in order to retain complete control over its image and products.
Maldroid has designs on some unusual steps in the future, such as releasing a full-length album as a series of singles and ultimately packaging the record as a DVD, with each song having its own video. Fuzz, for its part, goes by the slogan “Music Uprising” and hopes to “revolutionize the music industry,” so chances are good that many of Maldroid’s new ideas will be seen to fruition. Of course, some of the band’s plans, such as more elaborate music video production, will require increased financial backing that Fuzz may or may not be able to provide — certainly not to the extent that a major could.
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.