As I mentioned, the Botticellis (myspace) came down to KZSU last night to do an in-studio session. They played a great set of tunes off of their recently released album Old Home Movies (which came out Tuesday on Antenna Farm Records) as well as some new songs and a cover.

Here’s their setlist and some exclusive mp3s from the session:

• I Feel Betrayed
• Table by the Window
• Stay with my Brother
• Old Home Movies
• Lucy Lucia
• New Room
• When I Call
• Up Against the Glass
  the Botticellis - Up Against the Glass (live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
  
• Flashlight
  the Botticellis - Flashlight (live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
  
• Awaiting on You All
  the Botticellis - Awaiting on You All (live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
  

I think the sound turned out really well, thanks to Smurph, KZSU’s live sound engineer, and Alexi and the Botticellis. I’ve heard a lot of live sets at KZSU and none of them have sounded quite like this. I think it turned out pretty well.

The new tunes sounded great, especially the lead off tune, “I Feel Betrayed”, which I’ll be looking forward to hearing a studio version of.

You can check out my photo album for a few more shots of the band.

Make sure you tune in next week’s live session with Two Sheds.

Posted every Thursday On Sale Soon is a weekly series of the tickets going on sale that weekend.

Where to get tickets: The Independent, Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, Fillmore, Warfield, and other Livenation venues. Another Planet booked venues like Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, Palace of Fine Arts, etc. Bimbo’s.

On sale now/ Thurs May 15:
6/11 Judy Mowatt @ Slim’s

Pre-sale Thursday May 15:
7/4 San Francisco Symphony @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
7/25 Toby Keith. Montgomery Gentry, Carter’s Chord, Mica Roberts, Trailer Choir @ Shoreline Amphitheatre

8/16 Rock The Bells w/ A Tribe Called Quest with Nas, The Pharcyde, Mos Def, Q-Tip, Rakim, Redman, Method Man, De La Soul, Raekwon, Spank Rock, Ghostface, Dead Prez, Wale @ Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain

On sale Friday May 16:
7/24 Jay Brannan, Annie Stela @ Bottom of the Hill

On sale Saturday May 17:
7/17 Boys Like Girls, Good Charlotte @ Berkeley Community Theatre

8/9 Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, Sly & Robbie, The Expendables @ The Greek Theatre

On sale Sunday May 18:
6/30 Prezident Brown & the Solid Foundation Band @ the Independent

7/6 Todd Rundgren @ Great American
7/8 Tilly and the Wall @ Great American
7/11, 7/12 The New Mastersounds @ the Independent
7/17 The Long Winters @ the Independent
7/17 Blue Highway @ Slim’s
7/18 Jimmy Eat World @ The Fillmore
7/19 The Grouch, The Bayliens @ Slim’s
7/20 Warrior King @ Slim’s
7/29 Chromeo @ The Fillmore

8/4 The Hush Sound, The Cab, The Morning Light @ Slim’s
8/4 The Faint @ The Fillmore
8/22 The Waybacks @ Great American
8/25 Extreme, Kings X @ The Fillmore

On sale Monday May 19:
7/7 Boston @ Mountain Winery
7/17 Tom Jones @ Mountain Winery

10/19 Tina Turner @ HP Pavilion

Double check all information as venues and promoters often change on-sale times and days up until the last minute.

Posted every Thursday On Sale Soon is a weekly series of the tickets going on sale that weekend.

Where to get tickets: The Independent, Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, Fillmore, Warfield, and other Livenation venues. Another Planet booked venues like Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, Palace of Fine Arts, etc. Bimbo’s.

Pre-sale Thurs May 8:
8/16 George Benson, Boney James, Ramsey Lewis, Norman Brown’s Summer Storm featuring Chante Moore, Paul Taylor & Alex Bugnon @ Sleep Train Pavilion

On sale Sunday May 11:
6/3 The Cool Kids@ the Independent
6/7 The Dan Band @ the Fillmore
6/12 Vopli Vidoplyassova, Russian Solution @ the Independent
6/18 The Fratellis @ the Fillmore
6/22 Morgan Heritage @ the Independent
6/26 Billy Idol @ the Fillmore

7/3 the everybodyfields, Jim Bianco @ the Independent
7/5 Th’ Legendary Shack*Shakers @ the Independent
7/6 We Are Scientists @ the Independent

7/9 Israel Vibration @ the Independent
7/11 James Hunter @ Bimbo’s
7/18, 7/19 Lettuce, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue @ the Independent
7/26 Cute Is What We Aim For, Ace Enders, Danger Radio, Powerspace @ Slim’s
7/28 No Age, Mika Miko, Abe Vigoda @ Great American
7/31 Cavalera Conspiracy, Dillinger Escape Plan, Throw Down, Bury Your Dead, Incite @ The Fillmore

9/12 Nightwish with Sonata Arctica @ The Fillmore
9/13 Dr. John & The Lower 911 with Shannon McNally @ The Fillmore

9/22, 9/23 Spoon @ The Fillmore

On sale Monday May 12:
6/26, 6/27, 6/28 Butch Whacks & The Glass Packs @ Bimbo’s

7/5 Stevie Wonder @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
7/8 Stevie Wonder @ Sleep Train Pavilion

8/14 Alan Jackson @ HP Pavilion

Double check all information as venues and promoters often change on-sale times and days up until the last minute.

P4K’s reporting that reunited My Bloody Valentine will be playing the SF Design Concourse in September.

Wait, so you’re putting the most perfectly distorted band ever in a large and long metal box? I recommend against going to shows there anyway, but this one just takes the cake. That place will offer absolutely zero definition in sound[1] and I really doubt that the majority of people who end up going will be happy.

[1] Yes, this is a bad thing. I call them the most “perfectly” distorted because it’s a wall of sound but you can still distinguish the sound clearly. If you add in thousands of echoes, it’ll probably be just muddy and noisy sounding.

This is an action packed post, kiddos. Brace yourselves!

The Morning Benders, talking through tin cans; photo by Adrian Bischoff

The Morning Benders (myspace) release their debut album, Talking Through Tin Cans today on Plus One Records. They’ve got a pretty kickin’ deal going that if you buy their digital album, you get it, plus some b-sides, and a ticket to their CD release show either in SF or LA. The LA release show is at the Echo on Thursday (May 8th) and the SF show is at 330 Ritch on Friday (May 9th). More about the deal here. You can also get more info about the shows here.

You can also check out a free in-store at Virgin Megastore downtown (2 Stockton St) tomorrow evening at 7pm. Be sure to get there early so you can get a spot close.

All the songs I’ve heard from Talking are really good. I’m pretty excited to hear the whole thing.

the Morning Benders - Crosseyed (mp3)

the Morning Benders - Boarded Doors (mp3)

I sat down at a recording studio and music offices in the Mission with Chris Chu, the Morning Benders’ songwriter, singer and guitarist, last week to catch up and ask him a few questions as the album release approached.

–

Adrian Bischoff of ipickmynose: Are you excited that the album’s finally coming out?

Chris Chu of the Morning Benders: Quite. Quite.

A: It’s been a while since you recorded it, right?

C: Yeah, it’s been a while. I think that’s sort of what happens.

A: It’s been … eight months or something… last August.

C: Yeah. August. So it’s been a while.

A: Have your opinions of the album changed since then? Or the songs?

C: Um, yeah, definitely. I guess I haven’t listened to it in a while. That’s what happens, you know. You obsess over it for so long, you don’t want to ever listen to it again. You get over that after a while and you can put it on again and be more objective about it. It’s cool. I mean, everything we’ve gone through is a learning process. I’m the sort of person who’ll look back and think about all the things I would do differently or want to change for the next time and that sort of thing…

A: Is that what happened with the EPs? Because you recorded some of those songs again.

C: Yeah, the EPs were definitely a learning process because I was recording them and that was my first time ever recording, so I was just learning that for the first time. I sort of knew going into them that those weren’t going to be what I had intended them to be because we were really limited. We were really limited, obviously. What we had was just whatever was around my house.

When we got into the studio that was what was so cool about it. We got to flesh out the songs how I wanted in the first place.

A: I read somewhere that one of the EPs–I forget which song–but the second song you ever recorded was on one of the EPs.

C: The first song I ever recorded was “Grain of Salt”. And it took me like three times. I have a bunch of versions of it. We’ve actually been talking about–because that song’s not on the record, but we still like to play it. So we’re thinking about putting out an EP of just “Grain of Salt” recordings because there are so many different versions of it.

A: That’d be awesome. You should get some other bands to cover it as well.

C: Yeah. That’d be cool. I didn’t think of that. That’s a good idea.

A: I’ll expect a royalty check.

C: [laughing] Yeah…

I recorded acoustic demos but that was just like putting a mic up and hitting record. But the first time I tried to record a band or a song was “Grain of Salt” and I did it piece-by-piece.

A: I mean, historically, that’s not, like, how bands work. People sit in their basements for 10 years and record on a four-track and then finally release an album. Do you feel like you’re–I don’t know–bursting onto the scene quickly?

C: I don’t really think about it that way. I think try to not think about it too much or deliberate too much and just let it happen like it needs to happen. I don’t feel you need to be tinkering away on songs for years and years before you put them out. Because it takes away a lot– I think, some of the spontaneity, some of the early creative hit or whatever–or energy.

So I kind of like the spirit of recording things haphazardly and putting them out. I started writing songs a few years ago, so that was sort of a new thing. Most of these songs are some of the first songs I’ve ever written.

A: Do you think that–obviously it’s a lot easier to record a song and get it out there [now] with the internet, so do you think ten years ago that you’d have been releasing songs as quickly?

C: That’s a good question. I think we probably would. We would have found some way to do it. People have been recording things for themselves for a good amount of time, like you were saying, on a four track. We probably would have done that or whatever was cheaper. It just so happens that recording on your computer or something is the cheapest way, because you don’t have to really buy anything else. Yeah, the internet is obviously a good tool for getting your music out there. That would have been a lot harder or a lot different.

(Find the rest of the interview, a new video and the flyer after the jump.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, San Francisco’s annual folk, bluegrass, old-timey and country festival held in Golden Gate Park every October, has announced their first acts for vol. 8, 2008. Mark your calendars for October 3-5, 2008.

The line up includes:

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss featuring T Bone Burnett
Loudon Wainwright III
Gogol Bordello
Hazel Dickens
Bonnie Prince Billy
Asleep at the Wheel
Mike Farris & the Roseland Rhythm Revue
The Del McCoury Band
Bad Livers
Robert Earl Keen
Iris DeMent
Jerry Jeff Walker
The Desert Rose Band
Earl Scruggs
Greg Brown

I have no idea why a legend like Earl Scruggs is billed that low.

If you can handle the ridiculous crowds and pricey concessions, HSB is a pretty amazing festival.

I’m really excited to announce that I’ll be hosting four great local bands over the next five Wednesday. All of these will be at 9pm PST on KZSU. You can listen at 90.1FM in the Bay Area or online[1].

This week’s band is Geographer, who puts on a great live show of their melancholy indie pop sound.

• April 30: Geographer
• May 14: the Botticellis
• May 21: Two Sheds
• May 28: the Ian Fays

[1] The newish 192kps AAC+ stream sounds gorgeous, very clear, by the way. I’d recommend trying it out.

Posted every Thursday On Sale Soon is a weekly series of the tickets going on sale that weekend.

Where to get tickets: The Independent, Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, Fillmore, Warfield, and other Livenation venues. Another Planet booked venues like Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, Palace of Fine Arts, etc. Bimbo’s.

On sale now/ Thurs April 24:
5/19 -miyavi- @ Slim’s

6/20 Thievery Corporation, Seu Jorge, Bebel Gilberto, Los Amigos Invisibles, Federico Aubele @ The Greek Theatre at UC-Berkeley

7/25 Stone Temple Pilots, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ The Greek Theatre at UC-Berkeley

8/2 John Mellencamp, Lucinda Williams @ The Greek Theatre at UC-Berkeley

On sale Friday April 25:
6/3 Matt Wertz @ Swedish American Hall
6/9 Erykah Badu with The Roots @ Paramount Theatre

On sale Sunday April 27:
5/20 De Novo Dahl, Tally Hall, Low vs. Diamond @ Slim’s

6/2 Chevelle with Sick Puppies @ The Fillmore
6/12 Teddy Geiger, Hilary McRae, Scott Harris @ Great American
6/12 Russian Circles, Daughters, Young Widows @ Slim’s
6/13 Pride & Joy @ Bimbo’s
6/14 De La Soul, Sage Francis, Hieroglyphics, Blackalicious @ Berkeley Community Theatre
6/16 The Almost, Emery, Envy on the Coast, Army of Me @ Slim’s
6/17 The Helio Sequence @ Slim’s
6/21, 6/22 O.A.R., Jeremy Fisher @ The Fillmore
6/24 Mosh Ben Ari, Yossi Fine @ The Independent
6/25 Les Dudek @ Slim’s
6/25 US Air Guitar Regional Finals @ The Independent
6/28 Grand Archives @ Slim’s
6/28, 6/29 Tea Leaf Green @ Great American

7/6 Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis @ Mountain Winery
7/14 Aimee Mann, Marc Cohn @ Mountain Winery
7/16 Lynyrd Skynyrd @ Mountain Winery
7/18 Joseph Arthur @ Great American
7/26 Emmylou Harris with Jimmy Gaudreau, Moondi Klein @ Nob Hill Masonic Center
7/27 Emmylou Harris with Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein @ Mountain Winery

8/5 Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo @ Mountain Winery
8/19 Yes @ Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View
8/26 Patty Griffin with Amos Lee @ Mountain Winery

9/14 Tim Finn @ Great American

Double check all information as venues and promoters often change on-sale times and days up until the last minute.

Note: All 70-some shows at the Mountain Winery go on sale on Sunday. Only the highlights are shown above. Full schedule below.

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I’m a fan of the San Francisco International Film Festival. They bring in some cool movies every year. The 2008 festival, the 51st, runs this year from April 24 to May 8.

Still from the Golem

Here are the films this year that are music-related:

• Cachao: Uno Mas M 4/28 6:30p @ Kabuki, F 5/2 1:15p @ Kabuki This is a documentary about legendary Cuban bassist Israel “Cachao” López and includes concert footage and interviews. The producers are expected to be in attnedance.
• Fados Sa 4/26 2:45p @ Castro , M 4/28 1:30p @ Kabuki, Tu 4/29 8:45p @ Kabuki This is a film about fado, the “uniquely Portuguese song genre of longing, sadness and nostalgia, whose roots have been traced to the early 19th century”.
• Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans Sa 5/3 1:00p @ Kabuki, Tu 5/6 3:45p @ Kabuki, W 5/7 9:00p @ Kabuki This is a documentary which is about what the title says it’s about and has components about many things, including the music. The producer, director and subject are expected to be in attendance.
• the Golem F 5/25 9:30p @ Castro I’ve talked about this cool silent movie with live, original accompaniment by Black Francis (of the Pixies). The other musicians include Ralph Carney, Jason Carter, Eric Drew Feldman, Duane Jarvis, and Joseph Pope.
• Medicine for Melancholy W 4/30 9:15p @ Kabuki, Su 5/4 8:15p @ PFA, W 5/7 3:30p @ Kabuki This feature film is not so much about music but one with a really solid indie soundtrack. Looks like an interesting movie otherwise, though.

You can check out their full complement of films here.

Posted every Thursday On Sale Soon is a weekly series of the tickets going on sale that weekend.

Where to get tickets: The Independent, Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, Fillmore, Warfield, and other Livenation venues. Another Planet booked venues like Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, Palace of Fine Arts, etc. Bimbo’s.

On sale now/ Thurs April 17:
5/8 The Kehoe Nation w/ Marc “MIRV” Haggard, Slowfinger @ Slim’s
5/22 Mates of State @ Slim’s

10/12 Amorphis, Leaves’ Eyes, Samael, Virgin Black @ Slim’s

On sale Friday April 18:
5/22 Adele @ Bimbo’s

On sale Saturday April 19:
6/16 Mad Caddies @ Bottom of the Hill

On sale Sunday April 20:
5/20, 5/21 Santana @ The Fillmore
5/22 Raheem Devaughn, Chrisette Michele @ The Fillmore
5/23 Lord Loves A Working Man, The Struts, Swoop Unit @ Slim’s
5/27 Lizz Wright@ the Independent
5/30 Orgone, Darondo & Nino Moschella, LoCura, DJ Vanka @ the Independent
5/31 Blue Turtle Seductio, On the One @ the Independent

6/5 Or, the Whale, Pete and J @ the Independent
6/5 Dethklok, Chimaira, Soilent Green @ The Fillmorec
6/6 Honeycut@ the Independent
6/7 Cypress Hill with Flogging Molly, The Kooks, Pennywise, Alkaline Trio, Everlast, Anti-Flag, MGMT, The Whigs, Ludo, Atreyu, Airborne Toxic Event, Moby, MSTRKRFT, Santogold, Steve Aoki, Lyrics Born, Mike Relm, Play Radio Play @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
6/13, 6/14 Rebirth Brass Band @ the Independent
6/17 Sea Wolf, The Jealous Girlfriends, Patrick Park @ the Independent
6/19 The Dodos, The Ohsees, dreamdate @ the Independent
6/20 Brad Paisley, Jewel, Julianne Hough, Chuck Wicks @ Shoreline Amphitheatre

7/11 King Khan and the Shrines, Jacuzzi Boys @ Great American
7/19 Gram Parsons Tribute w/ Dave Gleason’s Wasted Days, Mover, Elisa Randazzo, The Real Sippin’ Whiskeys @ Great American

8/7 Wednesday 13 @ Slim’s
8/15 Steve Miller Band, Joe Cocker @ Sleep Train Pavilion

Double check all information as venues and promoters often change on-sale times and days up until the last minute.

Note: a bit of a disappointing note this week as both Great American and Slim’s have raised their “convenience” fees from $2 per ticket to $3 to $4 per ticket. Shame on them.

Starting tonight there’s a really solid set of shows for a few days here. I’ve never been one to wait for a weekend to go to a show, but maybe you need a little push. Do it!

the Botticellis @ Bottom of the Hill, August 2007

Wednesday, April 16

• Half Handed Cloud, Lake and the Mumlers @ the Rickshaw Stop (HHC is good local ADHD pop; Lake was solid when I saw them before.)
• Solas @ Yoshis (SF) (Solas is a great Irish band)

Thursday, April 17

• Ian Fays, the Catholic Comb and Here Here @ the Bottom of the Hill (I like the Ian Fays’ intimate indie pop. The Bay Bridged & Playing in the Fog present)
• Or, the Whale, Low Red Land @ the Hemlock (I’ve made no secret of my love for Or, the Whale’s sweet country sounds)

Friday, April 18

• Elf Power, Two Sheds @ Bottom of the Hill (Elf Power is an E6 psychedelic indie pop band. Two Sheds have really impressed me lately)
• the Botticellis, Paper Cuts @ Cafe du Nord (Botticellis CD release for Old Home Movies which is definitely solid)

Two Sheds @ Cedar Street Courtyard, SxSW 2008

I’ve updated concerts list and concerts attended list (yup, I went to more concerts in March than I went to in all of 2003. Ridiculous!)

I’m also in the mood for buying tickets. Here’s what I just got:

• 4/18 Elf Power, Two Sheds @ Bottom of the Hill
• 4/24 Her Space Holiday, Lymbyc System @ Bottom of the Hill
• 4/29 I’m from Barcelona @ the Independent
• 5/5 Laura Veirs, Liam Finn @ Bottom of the Hill
• 5/18 El Perro del Mar @ Bimbo’s

Remember, when buying tickets, there are some less expensive ways to get them.

It was announced recently that Feist, who, according to some is helming the new adult contemporary sound, recorded a version of “1 2 3 4″ for Sesame Street.

I found one kid that’s already been bitten by bug. This is Mates of State’s daughter Magnolia doing her version of the song (via the band’s entertaining babble blog):

How old is she? Like 3 or 4? Watch out all you kid bands, this one’s gunning for the charts.

Feist, by the way, hits Berkeley’s Greek Theatre July 19. The Mates of State have no Bay Area shows scheduled despite having Washington and LA shows scheduled with a few days in between.

The very DIY Awesome Fest 2 takes place next Friday and Saturday nights at Arena Theater up in Point Arena in Mendocino.

the Morning Benders performing recently in Austin, TX

It features such ipickmynose favs as the Morning Benders and Port O’Brien in a pretty solid slate of bands.

It’s a little bit of a drive, but check out the full line-up:

Friday April 18th
Thee Oh Sees (San Francisco, CA)
Port O’Brien (Oakland, CA)
Morning Benders (Oakland, CA)
Girls (San Francisco, CA)

Saturday April 19th
The Growlers (Los Angeles, CA)
Golden Animals (Los Angeles, CA)
Chief (NYC)
Adam Stephens (from the Two Gallants)

You can get tickets here.

Posted every Thursday On Sale Soon is a weekly series of the tickets going on sale that weekend.

Where to get tickets: The Independent, Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, Fillmore, Warfield, and other Livenation venues. Another Planet booked venues like Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, Palace of Fine Arts, etc. Bimbo’s.

On sale now/ Thurs April 10:

On sale Friday April 11:
6/8 Erykah Badu with The Roots @ Paramount Theatre
5/22 Adele @ Bimbo’s

Pre-sale Saturday April 12:
7/26 John Mayer with Colbie Caillat, Brett Dennen @ Shoreline Amphitheatre

On sale Sunday April 13:
5/10 Baba Ken & Kotoja @ Slim’s
5/13 Built For The Sea, Overview, Silian Rail, The Hundred Days @ Great American
5/17 Bryan Adams @ The Independent
5/18 Dresden Dolls @ The Fillmore
5/23, 5/24 Tainted Love @ Bimbo’s
5/27 Flight of the Conchords @ Nob Hill Masonic Center
5/28 Stephen Marley, Gully Bank Sound @ The Independent
5/29 The Fiery Furnaces @ Great American
5/30 Hank III & Assjack @ The Fillmore
5/31 Bootsy Collins & The HardesWorkingBand, Bobby Byrd Band, Escapism, I-Candi, Djizzle, ZionPlanet10, Freekbass @ The Fillmore

6/4 Big B and Dirtball, Potluck, DGAF, FNB @ Slim’s
6/8 Local H, The Photo Atlas @ The Independent
6/10 Crystal Castles, dd/mm/yyyy @ The Independent
6/11 Neil Hamburger with the Too-Good-For-Neil-Hamburger-Band @ Great American
6/19 Dirt Nasty, Andre Legacy @ Slim’s
6/20 Lightspeed Champion, Flowers Forever @ The Independent
6/21 Death Cab For Cutie @ The Greek Theatre at UC-Berkeley
6/24 Yael Naim @ Bimbo’s
6/26 The Spill Canvas, Ludo, Steel Train, Liam and Me @ Slim’s

7/2 Constantines, Ladyhawk @ Slim’s
7/4 Charlie Hunter Trio @ Great American
7/15 The Black Dahlia Murder with Kataklysm, Vader, Cryptopsy, The Faceless, Despised Icon, Aborted, Born of Osiris, Psycroptic, White Chapel @ The Fillmore
7/19 Feist @ The Greek Theatre at UC-Berkeley
7/23 New Riders of the Purple Sage @ Great American
7/26 Steely Dan @ The Greek Theatre at UC-Berkeley

9/10 Finntroll, Warbringer @ Slim’s

On sale Monday April 14:
10/21 Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Reefer Band @ Shoreline Amphitheatre

Double check all information as venues and promoters often change on-sale times and days up until the last minute.