Posts Tagged ‘live’
Single Review: Geographer’s “Can’t You Wait”/”Rushing In, Rushing Out”
July 29th, 2008 | 
Author: 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.
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.
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Live Review: Railcars and Handsome Furs @ Bottom of the Hill 4/15
By Matthew Jordan
Oh, deceitful memory! Every show seen at protean Bottom of the Hill leaves an entirely different impression. Bottom of the Hill is not the seedy den of patched woolens and greasy-headed rockulidge of Sebadoh shows past! It is not the brightly colored, enthusiastic pop brilliance of AC Newman and the yuppies, blazered and bangled, cheerfully listening, smiling, ecstatic! Bottom of the Hill could be anything to anybody.
CD Review: Maldroid’s Oakland Lad’s Club
By Julia Cooper
Maldroid’s history would make any new band jealous: the quick courting by music industry honchos; the backing of local radio; the appearance on Good Morning America — all surfaced without a single recording or live show to speak of. Winning a YouTube music video contest in 2006 propelled the Oakland seven-piece into the national spotlight, leaving behind a trail of listeners eager to see just what these guys are made of.
With the April 15 unveiling of their debut full-length just around the corner, the Oakland Lad’s Club EP, released in September, offers a brief two-song, two-remix appetizer of pop anthems fit for rock airwaves. On “You Wanna Touch It,” Maldroid transforms into sexed-up robots, fusing a soaring Bon Jovi chorus (“Turn off the lights and take off your clothes/ I’ll show you mine if you show me yours”) with spaceship synth sounds and a thick ‘80s hair metal thump of guitars and drums. “Heck No! (I’ll Never Listen to Techno)” continues the band’s let’s-party spirit with a page taken from Devo’s deviant new-wave songbook in, oddly, a Radio Disney-friendly burst of bouncy keyboard blips.
Live Review: The Velvet Teen @ the Rickshaw Stop 3/19
By Camden Andrews
I knew the Velvet Teen rocked, but I didn’t know the Velvet Teen ROCKED!!!! In fact, they rocked so hard during their show at the Rickshaw Stop that I stayed and missed the last BART home, and I wasn’t even angry. I was humming the tune to “Radiapathy” all the way home on the transbay bus.