Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Comments (0) By SF Weekly Staff Wednesday, Jul 25 2012

Sizzle

Warm weather at Phono Del Sol.

Farewell, Dominant Legs.

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• With excellent indie rock bands, low prices, and gorgeous weather, the Bay Bridged and Tiny Telephone's Phono Del Sol Festival was a treat. Unknown Mortal Orchestra and the Fresh & Onlys were especially good, even if the crowd wasn't totally focused on the music.

• We toured the construction site for the new SFJAZZ center, and came away impressed. In addition to offering a beautiful new performance space, the Franklin Street building will aim to invite everyone — not just jazz heads — inside for more casual shows on a regular basis. It won't only host jazz, either.

• Despite Muse's awful anthem, music at the London Olympics might not totally suck. Electronic duo Underworld is directing the sounds for Friday's opening ceremony, working with film director Danny Boyle. Given their work together in films like Trainspotting, we're expecting something great.

Fizzle

• We don't know what they're smoking, but the folks over at Oyster.com claim that there are somehow five better U.S. cities for live music than San Francisco. Their No. 1? Brooklyn. Not NYC, just Brooklyn. Whatever, guys.

• We went to see Shut Up and Play the Hits, the new LCD Soundsystem documentary, on the one night it played in S.F. But our experience was tainted by the awful, distorted sound at the Landmark Embarcadero, which soiled much of the live performances. We'd advise against seeing music documentaries there.

• S.F. indie-pop band Dominant Legs is undergoing a major transition — and moving out of town. Its last show in the form we loved was at this weekend's Phono Del Sol Festival. We're not sure what's in store next, but the band's only full-length, Invitation, remains a local classic.