World Famous In San Francisco

Last night was the clap and Davell and the Transistors played, which is this guy's project. Other than the fact that we love the clap, this caught my eye because it seems that Mr. Dog Swan was in a band called the Long Shoremen which my friend, who also turned me onto The Units, had suggested I check them out as well. I never did because I could only remember that he had recommended two bands and that one was The Units, but when I saw the name in print I instantly remembered. I searched (a little) for some sounds on the internets but came up empty handed but did turn up that they were on subterranean records which I always hear mentioned but more in terms of being a record store of sorts. From the looks of the website, which was last updated in 2002, that may be no more. This led to a little more searching and I turned up this nifty article about SF synth punk on Terminal Boredom and a Trouser Press article which ties the Long Shoremen to Voice Farm which is another eighties SF synth band that egg city radio just posted about.

So there's a nice bit of reading there for you. Its like we're in school, which I'm sure is exactly what you're looking for in this blog! Anyway, Davell and the Transistors was a lot like how the Trouser Press described the Long Shoremen -- a poetry damaged art/sound experiment that I think he was channeling via some late night night UHF broadcast which he received via some bunny ear antenna helmet he made late at night in his bedroom. Seriously, although I have no proof that he channeled anything and he certainly wasn't wearing that helmet (the one he wore was cardboard). I'm not sure that review sounds positive, but it was funny and I liked it.

It was a little slow last night at The Clap, but the audience was full of people in bands; we saw Greg Ashley, Brian Glaze, an ex member of The Time Flys, and Penelope Houston. I don't know what that means really, except people in bands (and us at World Famous) don't have to worry about getting up on a Wednesday morning or anywhere to be for the holiday. Um, yeah.

I take a break from the blog for a little bit and then when I come back it looks like somebody went and gave up their blog. Quitter!

photo taken from http://www.janchipchase.com/

Is it just me, or does pitchfork need to open up a reader forum so I can occasionally complain about the crappy music they continually push. You know what I mean, this indie music with choruses full of rowdy/drunken/hopeful/defiant actual choruses of people shouting out over music that has had too many instruments added to it for its own good.

Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed (or maybe I should stop reading pitchfork in the morning), but I was looking around at bay area music blogs like the owl, the bay bridged, and the deli and they all looked like mini pitchforks to me, even if they do focus on bay area music. I'm sure the people running these blogs are perfectly nice people just doing their thing (isn't everybody?), but it annoys me that pitchfork seem to be the tastemakers.

Poking around the deli a little more I came across this:

Mission Statement
The primary goal of The Deli is to expose SF based musical artiststhat have not yet reached a level of international fame.

Ok, cool. There are tons of bands in the city who could use more exposure. The band of the month contest is fun (I think). The list of bands is along the right hand side of the main page is great (but I can think of more than a few local staples that are missing). Same for the list of labels on the left.

But then I looked at the "HOT IN SF NOW" section and I saw Deerhoof listed. Ok, fair. Those kids are hot, they have it going on. And I think Deerhoof is a really great band. But I checked -- those guys definitely have an international level of fame. They're constantly playing those ATP festivals, they played with the Roots, Radiohead, the Flaming Lips (and many more I'm sure), Tomlab releases their records in europe, The Wire consistently writes about this band... oh need I go on? Maybe they should come down off the list for some other band who can't even get more than thirty plays a day on their myspace page. Can you imagine??

I also came across this:

CD Submission Policy
The Deli SF only reviews music from Bay Area based artists. Please submit your CDs via mail only if they have proper packaging (we won't review CD-Rs with hand-written titles)

And this I don't get. Local album reviews are great, but they won't accept a CDR? I know its hard to wade through a pile of CDRs, but come on! If the mission is to expose bay area artists this seems counter-intuitive -- only bands who can afford a small run pressing of their music will be considered? Perhaps I'm being too harsh? Perhaps I don't know what 'proper' packaging is. Perhaps all these guys mean is stick a label on your CDR? Perhaps I'm too literal minded -- I know all my boyfriends say so!

I don't know about all that, but you know what? All you bands with CDRs with handwritten faces send them over here to world famous, we'll try and review them!

Not that this blog isn't awesome, but sometimes I think my posts could provide more insight rather than just vomiting up first impressions for (poor?) comedic effect. But that's the concept and I'm sticking with it. Here's some other San Francisco blogs about music and the scene that we've been reading:

http://www.mostlymeat.com
This blog makes me laugh fairly consistently. The posts may seem ironic (blue oyster cult, good times, pictures of cute cats) but he always talks about his kids and parenting skills and its pretty sweet. Besides, who doesn't like B.O.C., good times, and cute cats? This dude may be a regular poster to the sf indie list, but I don't hold that against him.

http://deadeyeisalive.blogspot.com
A new blog by the drummer of Mon Cousin Belge about being over the bear scene in San Francisco. I think, its what he wrote about in his first post. And I think he's right. The bear 'movement' is about rebelling against the gay uniform (muscled, blond on top, hairless everywhere else, following relentlessly bad fashion trends) and being more comfortable in your own skin. This should be awesome, I'm against any scene's uniform but these guys have ended up just like the gays they hated except in winter clothing (round belly, no hair on top, hair everywhere else, and anything that matches worker boots). Way to get it all wrong fatties!

http://detailedtwang.blogspot.com
I found this blog this morning when I was trying to figure out how much the Wooden Shjps show is tonight. It caught my eye because its named after an obscure art damaged British band from the seventies who do an excellent drums and vocals only cover of the Television Personalities' "Part Time Punks". It looks like lots of informative posts about music on the fringe, past and present.

What is up with boring music blogs? A quick search of the hype machine or elbo.ws reveals page after page of blogs talking about the exact same music that can be read about on pitchfork. Most of the time, and I know I'm out of step with the rest of the kids, I didn't care about it when I read it on pitchfork.

Here are two blogs out of SF which especially irk me:

www.stereoscope.fm -- why not just take this whole site down and put a link to pitchfork in its place?
www.indiebears.com -- the same could be said here, except these guys have the good sense to atleast inject their own personal stories into the mix. Hilariously, (unintentionally so?), the first thing these bears talk about is eating and the last thing they talk about is eating. Write what you know I guess...

Here's three blogs I like (one from SF, two from LA):

cobaininacoma.blogspot.com -- a radio show, music video mondays and entries about acts local to SF and LA make up for detailed reviews of the new LCD soundsystem record.
www.eggcityradio.com -- formally postpunkjunk. Apart from his prog fascination -- a cable access show, obscure album rips, themed semiweekly mixes. Fun!
www.donnalethal.com -- While this isn't really a music blog, ms. lethal is seriously funny and name checks Reid Paley, whom I don't really like but is a name I haven't heard since I left Pittsburgh.

Hey kids, check out the hijinx over at cobain in a coma. Super fun!



Photo by matt irwin for dazed&confused.