Christopher Owens

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

J.R. White's First Post-Girls Interview: "I Do Have Some Animosity Over How It Ended"

The only former member of Girls who has talked about the end of the band is singer-songwriter Christopher Owens. Until now. Over at Paste, writer Philip Cosores has a long, hard-won interview with Chet "J.R." White, the bassist/producer half of the lauded San Francisco indie rock band. And parts of ... More >>

Christopher Owens' Lysandre: A Love Story With Too Many Assurances

As the singer and songwriter of the S.F. rock band Girls, Christopher Owens often seemed to teeter on the edge of an abyss. Songs like "Laura" and "Hellhole Ratrace" are propelled forward by their desperate yearning, by the sense that Owens is losing something he loves, heading toward something he h ... More >>

Top 9 Trends in Local Music From 2012

Why Did Christopher Owens Leave Girls? Too Many People

Many of us were quite surprised earlier this year when Christopher Owens, frontman of the acclaimed S.F. band Girls, suddenly announced his departure. After laying low for a while (and doing some modeling!), Owens is back with a new solo album, Lysandre, due in January, which he recently previewed a ... More >>

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

Christopher Owens Debuts Solo Album Lysandre at the Lodge, 11/9/12

Christopher Owens Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 The Lodge In his first public performance since leaving the celebrated local rock band Girls, Christopher Owens debuted his new solo album, Lysandre, at an intimate, sold-out, and very brief show in San Francisco last night. Playing at the Lodge, a luxurious, ... More >>

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

Christopher Owens Announces Solo Album With the Lovely "Here We Go"

Anyone wondering what Christopher Owens would be up to after he left S.F. band Girls earlier this year just got a rather exciting answer. Owens plans to release his debut solo album, Lysandre, on Fat Possum come Jan. 15, 2013. And today he released the first single from the new album, "Here We Go" ... More >>

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

Girls Are Over: Key Moments in the Career of One of S.F.'s Best Indie Rock Bands

Yesterday, Girls singer-songwriter Christopher Owens announced that he was leaving the band, apparently to make music on his own. "My reasons at this time are personal," he wrote on Twitter. "I need to do this in order to progress." We can't say we know exactly what's going on here -- other than th ... More >>

Girls' Christopher Owens Says He's Leaving the Band

In a string of Tweets this morning, Girls singer Christopher Owens announced that he's leaving the band he started with bassist and producer J.R. White, apparently bringing to an end one of San Francisco's most fruitful indie rock partnerships. "I am leaving Girls," Owens tweeted. "My reasons at th ... More >>

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

The 10 Best Bay Area Music Videos of 2011

From Seventeen Evergreen's "Polarity Song" video.​ Ah, the music video: In three decades, these modest clips went from insider promo tool, to prime-time TV staple, to Internet meme-generator. And despite all the online noise and bustle of 2011, a good music video is still a fantastic way to gr ... More >>

Get Intimate as Girls' Perform "Love Like A River" For an Empty Room

​ Watch this: "Love, Like a River," the closing ballad off of Girls' latest album, Father, Son, Holy Ghost, played beautifully in a room with no audience. That's the whole idea behind the For No One series, which has also featured Titus Andronicus and Neon Indian. But playing to a lonely house ... More >>

SF Bands the Sandwitches and Girls Unveil New 7-Inches, New Songs

SF's The Sandwitches​ There is something unassuming yet special about the 7-inch, that tiny disc of vinyl only big enough to hold a song on each side. They spin faster, they cost little, yet they wield all the magic of a real record. They are, in other words, the perfect format for a post-albu ... More >>

Album of the Year: Handicapping the Race for the Best Record of 2011

It's almost November -- the month when music scribes pull their ears out of whatever Sonic Youth/Public Enemy/Kate Bush playlist they normally exist to and begin cramming for that all-important professional exercise: The annual Best Of list. Picking the 10 or so best new albums of the year and placi ... More >>

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

Sunday: Girls Perform a Muscular, Vulnerable New-Old Rock at Great American Music Hall

Girls Sonny & the Sunsets Carletta Sue Kay Oct. 9, 2011 Great American Music Hall Better than: The worn-out Roy Orbison tapes in your parents' attic. Subtract the voice of singer-songwriter Christopher Owens, and many of the songs on the latest album from San Francisco's Girls sound like they coul ... More >>

Girls' Father, Son, Holy Ghost -- A First Listen

​ I've been everywhere with the San Francisco band Girls: Love 'em, hate 'em, find them overhyped, find the detractors overly cynical. I think they like it that way. Girls' hugely-acclaimed 2009 Album blew me away for a week. Then I found myself having trouble rekindling that need to hear it a ... More >>

The Eels' Mr. E on Becoming Jimmy Page's Hero, Playing in China, and Making Difficult Albums

Eels​ Before Girls' Christopher Owens, there was another rock star whose curiously tragic backstory prefaced any mention of his name. Mark E Everett, or Mr. E, of The Eels is undoubtedly one of the most interesting rock stars around. Despite his reclusive demeanor, often hiding like the Unabo ... More >>

Girls' "Vomit" Video: A Haunting Tour of S.F. in a Cherry-Red Mustang

The main character of Girls' new video​ Who knew that Girls' Christopher Owens and J.R. White were gearheads? Not us: We were surprised as all hell to find that the the band's clip for "Vomit" -- the epic first single off its upcoming album -- is largely a love-poem to a cherry red '60s Musta ... More >>

S.F.'s Girls Announce New Album: Father, Son, Holy Ghost

​ Earlier this week, the True Panther label released a hint about the second full-length from S.F.-based indie-rock outfit Girls. It came in the form of a strange web widget that was apparently based on the album's cover art. Today, more details are finally out. Girls' latest album is called F ... More >>

Photos: A Sneak Peak at Girls' New S.F. Studio, Thanks to (What Else?) Twitter

"Outside the door to the studio," White says. (And yes, we feel creepy doing this.)​As we discovered last fall during a conversation with Girls' Christopher Owens, the critically adored/pretty great indie-rock duo is building itself a studio here in San Francisco to record its next album. We've be ... More >>

My Top 10 Tracks of 2010, Apparently a Good Year in S.F. Rock

All hail the Fresh & Onlys, local proprietors of one of my favorite songs of 2010.​No, this isn't some not-so-sly effort at hometown boosterism. Three of my favorite songs from this year just happen to come from artists who nominally call S.F. home. Seriously. Anyway, some of the others on her ... More >>

The Six Best Heartbreaking Lyrics on Girls' Broken Dreams Club EP

​Broken Dreams Club is the typically anguished title of the latest record (out today!) from San Francisco's Girls -- a six-song, 35-minute EP that polishes the edges and trims the hedges from the achy vintage rock of the group's lauded 2009 debut. On the new songs -- which are actually older Girls ... More >>

Download Girls' 'Heartbreaker,' from Its Upcoming Broken Dreams Club EP

Girls' Christopher Owens (left) and JR White (right)​Here, then, is the new material about which Girls' Christopher Owens warned us: A more shiny, polished, but still damaged-as-hell take on vintage pop, aka "Heartbreaker." It's the first song from Broken Dreams Club, a new six-song EP from Girls ... More >>

Girls' Christopher Owens: 'I Hate To Say I'm in a Band'

Girls' JR White (left) and Christopher Owens (right)​San Francisco indie-rock band Girls got national attention almost immediately. The release of yearning, grainy pop songs such as "Lust for Life" and "Hellhole Ratrace" -- made before Christopher Owens and JR White had even formed a band --& ... More >>

Wow: French People Think Girls' Christopher Owens is Fashionable

Wow MagazineIs Christopher Owens really fashionable? Tell us in the comments.​So S.F.'s Christopher Owens (of blew-up-last-year band Girls) is now modeling for French people. Owens was the subject of a recent fashion column in France's Wow magazine in which he's photographed wearing (merely) a red ... More >>

Bay Area Music Links: Free Tickets and Coachella Smackdown

The National: On May's to-do list of upcoming shows​Girls' Christopher Owens refutes accusations that he invented his tragic life story. [Pitchfork] Win tickets to Jazz Mafia's hip-hop symphony, Brass, Bows and Beats, at Yoshi's on Sunday. [The Bay Bridged] A few of the shows coming up in May ... More >>

The Morning Benders head east and pair with a Grizzly Bear

Girls Bring Lovers Upbeat Heartache on Valentine's Day

Bao Nguyen​The boys in Girls have been out on the road, earning their keep and spreading good news of great psych-pop joy. They're arriving back in town just in time to help you and your schmoopy get down on Cupid's special day. "Our friends are a big part of our world, so it's definitely nice whe ... More >>

Girls

Music Awards Program Guide

Girls hook fans with addictive debut of hazy hits

Last Night: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Girls at the Rickshaw Stop

Sandy KimGirls: None of those females are actually in the bandThe Pains of Being Pure at Heart, GirlsTuesday, July 21, 2009Rickshaw StopBetter than: Being at Popscene in the late '90s.There's a point in every great band's career when its hometown crowds realize something has changed, and definitely ... More >>

2008 Music Awards Nominees

SF Weekly Music Awards Nominee: Girls

"Hot" Girls: Sweet San Francisco Shoegaze