Fleet Foxes

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

Live Review, 5/5/12: Father John Misty Skips Right to the Fun at Bottom of the Hill

Father John Misty Har Mar Superstar Worth Taking Saturday, May 5, 2012 Bottom of the Hill Better than: Five bearded dudes in flannel lulling an audience to sleep in perfect harmony. Father John Misty has two songs left to play. But Josh Tillman (or J. Tillman, or "the former drummer of Fleet Foxes ... More >>

J. Tillman on Becoming Father John Misty: "My Music Was a Bigger Deal to Me Than Being in Fleet Foxes Was"

Back in January, Fleet Foxes drummer Josh Tillman tweeted an announcement: "@fleetfoxes, the best and last band that would ever have me. Tokyo is my last show. Fleet Fans, sorry if I was ever distant/obtuse to you. X." This week, Tillman released his first solo album under the new moniker Father J ... More >>

First Aid Kit on Discovering Roots Music Through Bright Eyes, and Growing Up in a Punk Household

Standing on the precipice of mainstream acclaim, the sisters comprising the Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit are among an emerging generation of musical disciples of bands like Bright Eyes and Fleet Foxes, whose own sound is a modern twist on traditional American country. It's a little bit of an unlik ... More >>

Jack White's Solo Debut, Blunderbuss: A First Listen

For some reason, like the Craig Finn solo album, I'm kind of dreading this. Jack White's one of my generation's greatest, which is partly the reason I'm always worried about when he'll Clapton out. Without his cro Meg-non secret weapon on drums (well, drum, singular -- as in one at a time), he came ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Saturday 3/17/2012

So, we come to it: the end of all things. Four days of madness, Doritos, Skrillex and finally, St. Patrick's Day. Before we bid SXSW 2012 farewell, allow us to share our favorite moments from SXSW day four. Later, we'll let you know which shows weren't so hot. Find our favorites below, and if there ... More >>

Marissa Nadler on Funding Records with Kickstarter, Sexism in Music, and Being Shy

"The real Marissa is filled with passion," she says. "I'm fiery, not celestial."​ By CHLOE ROTH Massachusetts-based songwriter Marissa Nadler performs this Sunday, Dec. 18, at Cafe Du Nord with local songstress Emily Jane White. We caught up with Nadler while she was working on a mysterious v ... More >>

Learning to Deal With the Great Music Deluge

Are we suffocating from too much music?​ Two years ago, Broken Social Scene's Charles Spearin released The Happiness Project, an experimental album that brought together concepts associated with field recordings, sociology, jazz, and phonetics. If you think that sounds pretentious, you're righ ... More >>

Live Review: The National Converts to Arena Mode at Bill Graham Civic

Matt SmithThe National at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Saturday night. ​ The National Local Natives Wye Oak Dec. 3, 2011 Bill Graham Civic Auditorium Better than: Seeing any other American rock band. "Anyone got extras? [To his partner] Hey, whatcha got?" "Just a hard dick and some bub ... More >>

Fleet Foxes' New Video, Plus Robin Peckinold on the Questions of Adulthood and Touring with Joanna Newsom

Fleet Foxes​ By CHLOE ROTH If you saw Fleet Foxes at the Greek Theatre in September, you'll remember the stunning kaleidoscope-galaxy-paper-cutout projections that accompanied their performance. "It's kind of nerve-wracking, the idea of touring with the Walkmen," Fleet Foxes front man Robin P ... More >>

R.I.P. Bert Jansch, 1943-2011

After battling lung cancer for the last couple of years, Scottish folksinger and guitarist Bert Jansch passed away this morning at age 67. Jansch was one of the pioneers of a picking-oriented, depressive folk style that influenced such fellow cult musicians and luminaries as Donovan and Nick Drake ... 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 >>

'Slightly Damaged': A Conversation with Iggy Pop

​ 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 >>

Fleet Foxes: Show Preview

​ 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 >>

Iggy Pop on Playing with the Stooges, Where He Can't Go in America, and More

Iggy and the Stooges​Music stories from SF Weekly's latest print edition: "Slightly Damaged": A Conversation with Iggy Pop: After two rings, a gravelly voice picks up the phone and mutters a chewy "hello." There's no publicist or handler -- this is Iggy Pop himself, taking press calls at wh ... More >>

The 6 Best Ways to Get Kicked Out a Turntable.fm Room

Welcome to your new home.​If you're like half the Internet (the lame half), you're currently infatuated with the newest reason the USA will soon only be known as China's once-great fallen rival: Turntable. This is the website that lets you DJ with friends and strangers instead of working, walk ... More >>

Broaden Your Horizons with a Free Sampler from the Mission's Porto Franco Records

Seth Ford Young has a moody take on Satie's "Gnossienne #1"​Pause the MGMT, get over your Fleet Foxes obsession, give up on Lady Gaga, and shove this in your ears instead: A new Spring 2011 Sampler from the Mission's own Porto Franco Records, featuring a bunch of talented local artists making the ... More >>

S.F.'s Papercuts Make a Dreamy, Stunning Sub Pop Debut

Seth Ford Young has a moody take on Satie's "Gnossienne #1"​Pause the MGMT, get over your Fleet Foxes obsession, give up on Lady Gaga, and shove this in your ears instead: A new Spring 2011 Sampler from the Mission's own Porto Franco Records, featuring a bunch of talented local artists making the ... More >>

The Dodos Have a Brawl in Ultra-Noir 'Black Night' Video

​Good week for sumptuous and slightly sinister black-and-white videos from San Francisco acts. This one, for "Black Night," the first song off of No Color (aha!), finds local duo The Dodos channeling equal parts Johnny Cash and Fleet Foxes over an ever-stranger, ever-tenser assemblage of split-sec ... More >>

France's Revolver on Learning English From the Beatles, and Why It's Tough to Cover Elliott Smith

Revolver ​Maybe America isn't ready for Revolver. Or maybe Revolver isn't ready for America -- after all, its Myspace page is still partially in French. This Paris trio sounds like what would happen if Franz Ferdinand was on Saddle Creek Records, replacing bass guitar with cello to create a d ... More >>

Phantom Kicks and Holy Spirits Haunt Milk Bar

Phantom Kicks. Get it?​Phantom KicksHoly SpiritsMutual BenefitSteffalooJanuary 20, 2011@ Milk Better than: Attending a sermon about the Father, the Daughter, and the Holy Sneakers Holy Spirits​What kind of chutzpah does it take to name your band Holy Spirits? A deeply solemn kind, if Aaron Hodg ... More >>

Stornoway "Fuel Up" A Delicate, Cozy Indie-Folk Portrait

Stornoway​Here's a beautiful new tune from the Oxford, England four-piece indie-folk outfit Stornoway, which is currently making its away across this vast and treacherous land on its first-ever U.S. tour. "Fuel Up" is like a more relatable Fleet Foxes tightened up and christened with a bow of a Br ... More >>

Monday's Pick: Joanna Newsom at the Fox Theater

Joanna Newsom​Joanna NewsomRobin PecknoldThe Fox Theater, Oakland8 p.m., $32If Joanna Newsom had emerged in the 1970s, she'd likely have been on the Virgin or Harvest labels with simpatico songster-mavericks Kevin Coyne, Kevin Ayers, and Roy Harper. In 2002, Newsom -- after years studying composit ... More >>

J. Tillman at Bottom of the Hill

​J. Tillman July 28, 2010 @ Bottom of the Hill Better than: All the other epically bearded folksters with acoustic guitars. It was a pretty unassuming start to the set -- some bearded guy entered the stage, sat on a chair with an acoustic guitar, and with basically no introduction, launched into ... More >>

All Shook Down: A cross-section of the festival schedule

​J. Tillman July 28, 2010 @ Bottom of the Hill Better than: All the other epically bearded folksters with acoustic guitars. It was a pretty unassuming start to the set -- some bearded guy entered the stage, sat on a chair with an acoustic guitar, and with basically no introduction, launched into ... More >>

10 Things: Good Bands, Gay Pride, Free Market and The Life and Death of an Italian Cat

Portland's The Caps, performing at Summer Solstice Spectacle on Saturday​On this fine Pride weekend, let's step back and take a moment to appreciate all the superb events our foggy town has to offer without high costs or shitty attitudes. Where else in the world can you find citywide Michael Jacks ... More >>

Play That Bluesy Music

Portland's The Caps, performing at Summer Solstice Spectacle on Saturday​On this fine Pride weekend, let's step back and take a moment to appreciate all the superb events our foggy town has to offer without high costs or shitty attitudes. Where else in the world can you find citywide Michael Jacks ... More >>

The Integratron's Psychedelic Musical Experience in the SoCal Desert

​Last week I took a big break from Internets and everything, really, to head down to Joshua Tree. But the one thing I couldn't stay away from was music, especially music that was performed in a dome built by a man who believed in aliens and located his acoustically-perfect creation in some high-en ... More >>

Cheat Sheet for Cassettes to Care About in 2010

​Toro y Moi Chazwick Bundick's brand of chillwave is less grandiose than Washed Out and less distinguished than Neon Indian but makes better-suited cassette listening with more minimal dance grooves than nostalgia-evoking 80s chintz effects. You can even dance (grind?) to "You Hid" sober. ​N ... More >>

Last Night: Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit

Christopher VictorioNeil Young and Adam Sandler​Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit Concert October 25, 2009Shoreline AmphitheaterCheck out our Bridge School slideshow by Christopher Victorio here.  Better Than: watching AC/DC play at Marine World. Combine a huge rock' n roll show with a scho ... More >>

The Bridge School Benefit

Christopher VictorioNeil Young and Adam Sandler​Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit Concert October 25, 2009Shoreline AmphitheaterCheck out our Bridge School slideshow by Christopher Victorio here.  Better Than: watching AC/DC play at Marine World. Combine a huge rock' n roll show with a scho ... More >>

Bridge School Benefit Announces Lineup

At the Bridge: Fleet Foxes​ The annual Bridge School Benefit lineup, which happens October 24 & 25 at the Shoreline Ampitheater, has been announced. In addition to mainstay and organizer Neil Young, this year's talent list includes Coldplay's Chris Martin, No Doubt, Sheryl Crow, Monsters of F ... More >>

J. Tillman slips out from under Fleet Foxes’ radar

At the Bridge: Fleet Foxes​ The annual Bridge School Benefit lineup, which happens October 24 & 25 at the Shoreline Ampitheater, has been announced. In addition to mainstay and organizer Neil Young, this year's talent list includes Coldplay's Chris Martin, No Doubt, Sheryl Crow, Monsters of F ... More >>

The Dodos 

Time to Die  (Frenchkiss)

New Dodos Record Due This Fall

Big news from the Dodos camp this morning. The local indie pop act finished up work on its third full-length, Time To Die, which will come out September 15, while also expanding its membership by one. Time to Die was recorded in Seattle with famed producer Phil Ek, the man behind many of the big Nor ... More >>

Last Night: Devendra Banhart at the Independent

Lauren DukoffDevendra BanhartTuesday, April 14, 2009The IndependentBetter than: Paying nearly $300 to bake in the Southern California sun with thousands of other music fans.It feels like there's a defacto music festival in the Bay Area right now as a number of acclaimed and underground bands perform ... More >>

Noise Pop fosters industry while playing it safe

Lauren DukoffDevendra BanhartTuesday, April 14, 2009The IndependentBetter than: Paying nearly $300 to bake in the Southern California sun with thousands of other music fans.It feels like there's a defacto music festival in the Bay Area right now as a number of acclaimed and underground bands perform ... More >>

MP3 of the Day: Uzi & Ari

(Photo by by Serina Nielson) Strange when an indie record store in Salt Lake City lists among its most popular releases a relatively unknown band from San Francisco. But in the Jan. 22 issue of Rolling Stone's "local favorites" column, the Bay Area's own Uzi & Ari's Headworms was listed amo ... More >>

Eight Steps to a Better 2009

(Photo by by Serina Nielson) Strange when an indie record store in Salt Lake City lists among its most popular releases a relatively unknown band from San Francisco. But in the Jan. 22 issue of Rolling Stone's "local favorites" column, the Bay Area's own Uzi & Ari's Headworms was listed amo ... More >>

Top Ten Americana Albums of 2008

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

Getting 'Touchy' in 2008

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

The Dutchess and the Duke and the haunting debut

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

Photos: Treasure Island Music Festival

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

Last Night: Treasure Island Day 2

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

MP3 of the Day: Fleet Foxes

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

Treasure Island picks: in haiku form!

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

Fleet Foxes at the Independent 9/19

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

More Treasure Island News: New Bands, New Art

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

Fleet Foxes: the new buzz on Seattle's softer side

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>