Subject: Music

• Rock the Bells Announces Bay Area Dates

  Rock the Bells 2007, San Francisco America's premier (and possibly only major) hip-hop touring festival, Rock the Bells, has announced the date and venue for the 2009 edition: August 9, at the Shoreline Auditorium in Mountain View. While ASD much prefers the parking lot of the stadium where the Giants play, we'll take our live hip-hop extravaganzas anywhere we can. Scheduled RtB performers this year include NAS & Damian Marley, The Roots, Common, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, KRS-One, House of Pa

  June 8, 2009

• Track of the Day: Julian Priester

  One secret ingredient in the elephantine new Sunn O))) record, Monoliths & Dimensions, is Julian Priester. The murky, dirgey album's coda comes from the trombonist, who adds free jazz to "Alice" after a record's worth of metal, drone, and other bone-compressing free for alls. (He also plays a conch shell on opener "Aghartha.")Priester's been involved in the jazz scene since the '50s. He's played with Sun Ra, Max Roach, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, and Freddie Hubbard, among others, veeri

  June 8, 2009

• The Jacka reprises hyphy with a gangsta twist

  June 10, 2009

• Hey DJ! Friday Q&A: Beto

  DJ Beto is the perfect subject for a DJ Q&A. He's a Latin Musicologist who digs through bug-filled crates in Central and South America in order to find the choice cuts from Costa Rica, Columbia, Cuba, and beyond. When Beto gets retro, he's feeling mambo jazz and classic salsa, and he's busy on a book about Latin jazz and dance music spanning a period in history long before he was born. This DJ doubles as a writer, a compiler (he's released a couple excellent comps for the Soundway label), an

  June 12, 2009

• Ten Known (and Little-Known) Facts About Tupac

  Thug Immortal: Tupac Shakur 10. Pac was born June 16, 1971 in East Harlem, NYC. He also lived in Baltimore, Marin City, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. 9. The name Tupac Amaru is a reference to the last indigenous Inca ruler of Peru, who died in 1572. Amaru's name was later adopted by Tupac Amaru II , the leader of an 18th-century uprising against Spanish colonialists and by the Tupac Amaru rebels , a Communist anti-government group which formed in 1984. Clearly, the name Tupac Amaru is n

  June 16, 2009

• Aerosmith Announces Bay Area Date

  Steven Tyler Though "Boston's Bad Boys"--technically they're Grandpas by now--jumped the shark several years ago, probably around the time "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" was featured in the God-awful movie "Armageddon," they're no denying Aerosmith have more stamina and staying power than the Energizer Bunny on Viagra and a double-espresso. There's also no denying that frontman Steven Tyler's lips rival Angelina Jolie's and Mick Jagger's for sheer mass. Or that guitarist Joe Perry is a more well-

  June 17, 2009

• Hardly Strictly Bluegrass '09: Steve Martin, Neko Case, and more

  Steve Martin is a wild and crazy guy...who happens to dig bluegrass. The above video is from a performance he had last September with The Steep Canyon Rangers in that band's home state of North Carolina, with the white-haired comedian plucking away on the banjo. Martin will bring these boys and their banjos to Golden Gate Park the weekend of Oct. 2-4 when the group headlines this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass fest. Also on deck to perform: Neko Case, Doc Watson, Okkervil River, Earl Scruggs,

  June 22, 2009

• Treasure Island Headliners Leaked: Girl Talk, Flaming Lips, MGMT

  J. Michelle MartinThe Flaming LipsThis year's Treasure Island Music Festival should be another one for the weekender history books, if the early leaked acts booked to perform are any indication. Unofficially on tap to perform Oct. 17 and 18 are MGMT, MSTRKRFT and Girl Talk (Sat) and Flaming Lips (who have a new record coming out), Beirut, and Decemberists (Sunday). These six are pretty top-tier acts in the indie rock/indie-leaning electronic worlds, and, well, Flaming Lips and outdoor music even

  June 23, 2009

• S-Rod

  June 24, 2009

• Santero summons orishas to the club scene

  June 24, 2009

• Femi Kuti

  June 17, 2009

• Dirty Projectors continue to rise above

  July 1, 2009

• “I Wanna Get Famous"

  July 1, 2009

• Sayonara, Vibe

  Shawn MortensenVibe's First Cover Hang on to those back issues of Vibe, folks. As of today, they're officially collectors items. As reported by Daily Finance, the New York Times, and RapRadar, Vibe is ceasing publication effective June 30. According to a letter from Vibe CEO Steve Aaron, the magazine is shutting down because of the following factors: "the collapse of the capital markets" (translation: we're in debt big-time); "the print advertising collapse" (translation: fashion companies and c

  July 1, 2009

• Everything Must Go Play Pyrate Punx Party

  EKAphotographyAnti-Flag: Everything Must Go I have seen the future and its name is Everything Must Go. The Oakland quartet, fronted by the irascible Jake Hout, is quite possibly the Bay Area punk rock's scene's next breakout act-proud heirs to the legacy of such legendary groups as the Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Green Day, Rancid, A.F.I., and Neurosis. Maximum Rock & Roll called them "Oakland's best band in years," and I tend to agree. To be honest, I never really paid much attention to the u

  July 6, 2009

• Joachim Garraud

  July 8, 2009

• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart stock up for indie stardom

  July 15, 2009

• De La Soul

  July 22, 2009

• The Father, the Son, and the Holy Sax

  July 22, 2009

• Bobby Ray’s alter egos duke it out

  July 22, 2009

• NPR: Rap as Geopolitics

  Il(l) like Kim Jong: Lil' Wayne National Public Radio has an interesting take  on beef in the rap world: it's essentially a mirror of global politics, according to Marc Lynch, a professor at George Washington University and the director of the Institute of Middle East Studies. ""The way that rappers compete with each other -- this is soft power," Lynch is quoted as saying. "This is the way you try and make a reputation, try and get what you want, and you have to do it through this very in

  July 22, 2009

• Arty Party This Weekend: Mexican Institute of Sound @ YBC

  Napoleon Habeica​Yerba Buena snagged a great musical act for this Friday's opening of its new Wallworks exhibit: Mexican Institute of Sound. The band is the brainchild of DJ /producer/president of EMI Mexico Camilo Lara, who uses the moniker as an excuse to mix together traditional Latin music with modern electronica. On his records you hear bits of everything from cumbia to cha cha cha, spiked by left field sound effects. Lara says Latin music comes out of him naturually--or, as he told SF We

  July 29, 2009

• Last Night: Seisiún at the Plough and the Stars

  ​Seisiún Sunday, August 2, 2009The Plough and the StarsBetter than: Drunk frat guys making all the noise at Irish bars.With so much live entertainment happening in San Francisco every night  of the week, it's easy to forget about the musical events that go on with zero fanfare. For every band in town or act touring through, there are handfuls of performances by musicians who don't need their names on the marquee. Often times, they don't even need a stage, or much feedback from the crowd.

  August 3, 2009

• High on Fire Prepping New Album

  ​Oakland metalheads High on Fire are hard at work on a new collection of music that frontman Matt Pike promises will share with the masses "the dark seas of our new riffs and tragic stories." Next month they hit the studio to record their fifth album, working with producer Greg Fidelman (Metallica, Slayer, Johnny Cash). There's no specific news on song or album titles, but the band wants fans to know the new stuff will be "heavier, louder and more intricate." Really, is there any other way to

  August 4, 2009

• Rock the Bells

  August 5, 2009

• Sunn O))) slowly inverts expectations

  August 5, 2009

• Method Man vs. Redman: tale of the tape

  August 12, 2009

• Rafael Casal and Mistah F.A.B. give props to modern Yay Area communication

  August 12, 2009

• Quantic and His Combo Barbaro Play Tonight

  He makes musical statements, too: Quantic​ Hey there Latin lovers! Er, make that Latin music lovers. If you like rhumba, meringue, salsa, son, cumbia, and other variants on the South-of-the-border theme, you might not want to miss the debut San Francisco appearance of Quantic and his Combo Barbaro. Quantic --aka Will Holland--is a musical explorer and a bit of an ethnomusicologist who's made forays into soul, Latin, reggae and indie dance music under various monikers, including Flowering Infe

  August 14, 2009

• Last Night: Method Man/Redman, Ghostface Killah at Mezzanine

  ​ Method Man/Red ManAugust 16th, 2009 Mezzanine By Noah Sanders Better than: Watching How High sober. Last night's Method Man/Redman show could've been swiped directly from the two veteran rapper's significant mid to late-nineties heyday. Everything was there: the clouds of weed smoke funneling upwards from the crowd, the bass-heavy party raps about chronic smoke and gettin' down, and, of course, the two massively blunted emcees commanding the stage. With one of the shoddiest light show

  August 17, 2009

• Last Night: Pissed Jeans at Bottom of the Hill

  ​Pissed Jeans, Mi Ami, Hissing WoundTuesday, Aug. 18, 2009Bottom of the HillBetter than: Yer typical '90s nostalgia.On record, Allentown, PA's Pissed Jeans are feral. Frontman Matt Korvette could be singing about getting a massage ("Request for Masseuse") and the tension in his voice could hammer the knots into your neck, no matter how slow and tar-thick the music. So you'd expect that live, the group would ramp up the rabid factor, really showing the crowd the fangs barely contained in the sn

  August 19, 2009

• Ricardo Lemvo brings the Mambo to GAMH Tomorrow

  Ricardo Lemvo​ Along with Habib Koite, Ricardo Lemvo  is one of those guys who always seems to be on every Putumayo world music compilation, playing funky Congolese-inflected Latin music. Though he's currently based in Los Angeles, Lemvo hasn't appeared much on local stages, so world music fans in general and Afro-Cuban aficionados in particular might want to check for his show Saturday at the Great American Music Hall. If you're unfamiliar with Lemvo's sound, here's a video clip of him

  August 21, 2009

• Outside Lands Day 1, Pearl Jam, Tom Jones, Black Joe Lewis

  Chritopher VictorioTom Jones​Pearl Jam, Tom Jones, Incubus, Black Joe Lewis & the HoneybearsOutside LandsFriday, Aug. 28, 2009Better than: Anything else you could be doing in Golden Gate Park on a Friday night.The opening day of the second annual Outside Lands was, overall, what I'd call a pleasant experience. There were no big hassles, and no outstanding peaks either. It was a meat 'n' potatoes evening of music on a night when everything from the concertgoers to the weather seemed in coop

  August 29, 2009

• Five Classical Music and Opera Events to See This Fall

  September 2, 2009

• The Maestro

  September 2, 2009

• Slavic Soul Party

  September 9, 2009

• Kingdom

  September 9, 2009

• F.N.M At We All We Got Tonight

  www.OneShotMediaProductions.comHe'll Slapp You: Traxxamillion​​ South Bay producer Traxamillion was arguably as big a force in the hyphy movement as any artist. His hot-shit beats backed everyone from Keak Da Sneak to Mistah F.A.B. to Dem Hoodstarz to Too $hort to 41Fever. He even produced MC Lars' "White Kids Aren't Hyphy." And he has the distinction of having a PSP app, the Traxxpad Portable Studio, named after him. Traxx's newest project is F.N.M. (Fly N*gga Movement), a group with fel

  September 11, 2009

• Just Tweet It

  September 23, 2009

• Hammer, from the waist down

  September 23, 2009

• Kid Koala reimagines heavy rock with the Slew

  September 23, 2009

• Tim Exile

  September 23, 2009

• New Bay Area punk oral history unearths dead babies, stinky roadies, and strong community networks

  October 7, 2009

• Weekend Pick #2: Buju Banton

  Opti-Mystic Soul: Buju​ Three-time Grammy nominee Buju Banton has been credited with ushering in dancehall reggae's conscious revival with 1994's "Murderer," an anti-violence tune which preceded the ascension of such artists as Sizzla, Capleton, and Fantan Mojah. Beginning his career as a popular toaster with a rapid-fire tongue--which occasionally dipped into slackness, as on the sexual prowess-affirming "Stamina Daddy" and the still-controversial "Boom Bye Bye" (which he no longer perf

  October 9, 2009

• Music Awards Program Guide

  October 14, 2009

• Music Awards: Crown City Rockers

  October 14, 2009

• Music Awards: Lazer Sword

  October 14, 2009

• Treasure Island: Indie-rock elders move forward

  October 14, 2009

• What To Do? Tonight's Pick: Punk Rock Sideshow

  ​Punk Rock Slideshow at the Hemlock "You can blame Al Gore for the dearth of quality punk rock in the jukeboxes of America:he had to go and invent the internet. What a bum! Even dives with great jukes are phasing out their custom mixes in favor of those hateful touch-screen Toxic Boxes. The solution? Ditch the juke and enlist deejays instead. At the Hemlock's Punk Rock Sideshow, DJ Tragic and the Duchess of Hazard pluck gems from their deep collection of punk and hardcore records, guarante

  October 26, 2009

• Track of the Day: Jern Eye

  Jern Eye​San Francisco's BOAC has a number of notable remixes and tracks that he's produced on his Web site. He's tackled hip-hop's titans (his version of Eminem's "Crack a Bottle" sounds so much fiercer than the original) and worked with indie faves (Sunspot Jonz and Luckyiam). I'm really digging BOAC's remix of Oakland rapper Jern Eye, though. Jern's new album Vision is out now, and he teamed with the local producer to spin off a fresh version of "Get Down." The single has BOAC playing piano

  October 29, 2009