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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.

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.

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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. The four-piece leans toward jazz improvisation with a roc… (more)

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.

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.

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By Phil Lehman

Liking this album came out of nowhere for me. The first minute of the EP’s opening track, “The City I Love,” is fine — but nothing to take note of: grungy and guitar-driven with some extremely fuzzed-out leads. Then the chorus kicks in and the song transforms with rich harmonies and a clear organ backdrop. Guitar and drums take a backseat. The change was entirely unexpected and I actually had to backtrack to make sure I heard it right. The second track, “Spark,” starts similarly; again, it’s not until the minute mark that a chorus in harmony seems to lift the song out of a dark, introspective lilt.

Meek’s voice is not necessarily one that would aspire to fantastical vocal heights. However, the Livermore resident seems to be the rare case of a lead singer far more comfortable singing in harmony with other voices than solo. And he uses this to his advantage in each song. While the album was very much a DIY project and the fuzzboxes belie the music’s rock roots, the harmonies create lush textures across grunge landscapes that give the songs a transcendent quality. Given the album was recorded in the church where Jonathan’s father preaches, this should come as no surprise. Read the rest of this entry »