Unpiano | Music Blog

Some places just have a “sound” and San Francisco is one of them. Its not just a group of related people consciously borrowing from each other, its a subtle line of connectivity that transcends generations and scenes and finds its way into recordings, most of the time without the musicians even noticing. There’s something about smokey voiced S.F. folky Norma Tanega’s first LP from 1966 that I hear in everything from The Aislers Set, to Romeo Void, to Deerhoof, to Jefferson Airlplane, to Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, to the Sic Alps and so on. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, its a sound, a small guitar lick, a chord progression, a quirky lyric, but as the record moves from track to track I find myself thinking “that sounds like (insert any S.F. favorite here)”, and even more so, “that sounds like a wall of fog pouring over the Golden Gate into the bay”.

Norma Tanega – Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog
Norma Tanega – A Street That Rhymes at 6 A.M.

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While every other blog is talking about how Switfumz sounds like R Stevie Moore, Ariel Pink and John Maus (are those really the only people to ever record in their bedrooms?), all I hear is Ween and maybe the Busy Signals – but with leather jackets sporting patches from The Damned. I hear a Ween record that has been elevated to a different level by vocals that were held under and drowned in sticky sweet reverb. Add some tough melodies and picky guitar that finds all the right notes at the right times and you have Chris McVicker’s newest project – released on Holy Mountain. He has managed to create a record that sounds like the crispness and excited energy of Autumn, just in time to watch the leaves change. Also, and in a somewhat unrelated fashion, he has the funniest Twitter of any musician we have ever talked about on here.

Swiftumz – Angelita

Stream the rest of these tracks by scrolling through the Flash Player below:
Swiftumz – Day We Met
Swiftumz – 4EVA
Swiftumz – Tuff Guy

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Like a beat up old Mustang whipping around mountain curves at midnight, Pink Films floors it hard on each and every song. Wow, that sounded much cooler in my head, but the point is that this band makes me think of driving. Fast, loose and probably through the desert like all good garage should. Tim Tinderholt, who has fronted and played in a slew of San Francisco bands over the last couple years (Snakeflower 2, Countless Others, SF Water Cooler), takes the hint from his influences and nudges the guitars deep into the red. Fuzzed-out almost to the point of obliteration and picky in all the right places, the tracks take you back to garage in it’s prime and make you thank God that some musicians remember that dirty harmonies still have a place in rock n’ roll. They just released a new 7″ which you can probably pick up somewhere in the city and which you should do now.

Pink Films – Can I Get Lost
Pink Films – Pay A Price
Pink Films – Wrong Direction

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Tycho is one of the few solid hold-outs from the late 90′s / early 2000′s downtempo hey-day.  His last (and only) LP, Past is Prologue (previously released as Sunrise Projector), is a cult favorite that fits in perfectly next to Kruder and Dorfmeister and Boards of Canada.  The difference is that Tycho came out of nowhere, and receded back into the shadows shortly after.  About 10 years ago, his album came out with little fanfare, and was later re-issued by Ghostly International, giving it a little more exposure, but Tycho has remained in the underground for the better part of a decade.  We’ve all been waiting patiently for a follow-up LP, and we’re finally about to get it!  Ghostly recently posted the new song Hours on their Soundcloud page, and if it’s any indication, Tycho’s second LP, Dive, will be another downtempo cult classic.

P.S. This is not Chillwave, okay?  Dude’s been doing this for years and years, please let’s not say Chillwave in here.

Tycho – Hours

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Bonus:
Tycho playing “Coastal Brake” with his live band! (video)

Once again exquisite female harmonies and jangly pop melodies bring San Francisco one step closer to defining it’s sound in the pop music spectrum. Dreamdate have been kicking around the Bay for more years than the average person lives here and has gone through a variety of line up changes. However, all that maturing has certainly seemed to pay off. While 2009′s album Patience was slightly underwhelming, this year’s Melody Walk has upped the songwriting with a nod to darker themes and greater sense of urgency. You can almost hear the wind whip down from the ocean and turn that happy pop sensibility of the past into an icy glare. Since our Summer here in the city continues to keep me shivering in my chair, this all fits together nicely.

Dreamdate – Pyramids
Dreamdate – Melody Walk
Dreamdate – 8 Sleeves

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Bonus:
Dreamdate – Melody Walk (video)

//photo by robert khoury

Oh Spring weather.. you’re here just in time. I can barely motivate to write this post after months of dark and stormy skies, but seeing a bit of sunshine has given me hope and reminded me of hot summer nights. That got me thinking about what music would be accompanying me on my warm San Francisco evenings and I decided that it would be SF’s own Melted Toys. The first song I heard of theirs I swore was Beach Fossils, the second song I thought was Ariel Pink, but the third song.. the third song was just right. ‘Lost Connection’ is dark, loose, and dirty – just like I like it. Still reminds me a bit of John Maus but everyone’s got a bit of something else in them so what can you do? Everything about Melted Toys sounds to me like being on a bike at night while warm air whips all around you. Only a band from the city of hills could make a record like this. Coincidentally, they are playing with Beach Fossils on their next SF appearance and are also on the new comp of San Francisco bands that’s coming out on City Limits at some point. Stoked for the summer – 4AM here I come.

Melted Toys – Lost Connection
Melted Toys – Come On
Melted Toys – Saturday Night Kids

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//photo by mike rosati

Guerneville’s Evacuee have put out a pretty sharp sounding record, must be due to the crisp air out there or something. Having perfected the warbling scream (which is actually pretty incredible to hear), they have developed a sound that draws references to equal parts Spoon and No Age, with just the right amount of melancholy mixed in for good measure. Just remember that before you jump in too quick with that No Age comparison, these guys have been around for going on five years now. Somewhere in that five years they also managed to play more shows that I can even remember which is a sight in itself. I recommend keeping an eye out for them next time they’re in town and then going here to download their album.

Evacuee – New Mountain
Evacuee – Real Winners
Evacuee – Grandmother’s Survival Float

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Dang.. Sometimes it seems like I’ll never have enough time to write up every single band I hear about before they get old and stale (in the blog world that’s like 3 whole days). Anyways, please accept this list of bands that are super good and should be looked into in more detail. Also, this may have been the laziest blog I have ever written.. ever.

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Swimsuit – Sunlight (link)
Tamaryn – Love Fade (link)
The Suzan – Ha Ha Ha (link)
Horrid Red – Pink Flowers (link)
Beach Fossils – Fall Right In (link)
Sic Alps – Do You Want To Give $$? (link)

Not sure why it took me so long in warming to The Lambs. Sometimes when you listen to music all day, your mental filters break down and you have to repeat stuff for the real meaning to sink in. Made up of band members like Aaron Morgan from The Finches, and Kelly Nyland from The Papercuts/Lazarus, Lambs have the same poppy bass lines and soft distortion that I always hold close to my heart. They have been playing a slew of shows around the city lately and while the tracks below seem a bit rough, in the last several years I have come to find that the rough recordings are always the ones I like the best. Bands always re-record everything in the studio and lose the original energy – which is what drives rock and roll like this. So take these songs, hang on to them, and put them somewhere safe. That way you can use that energy to get your heart racing when you need it.

The Lambs – Night Sweats
The Lambs – In The Streets
The Lambs – Brother Sister White

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I’ll be playing records this evening from 5-9pm at the dump in honor of Ferris Plock’s Artist In Residence opening. I know it’s a bit of a trek, but you can take the T streetcar right there if you don’t have a car or just hop on Caltrans. Should be really fun and it’s rumored there will be a pile of dumpster goodies free for the diving as soon as the show starts. Come by and say hi?