That's what the She's said

I know, I know, it's been awhile, does that mean that we can't just immediately get back to business? In the words of my life coach, can we not just go, "straight to third?" When he says it isn't even a question but more of a proclamation of intent that you really have no choice in, he says those words and his hand is already...sorry that's not what this post is about. Or is it? *Keith Morrison voice*

While I have been away I have not been without music. We have hippy drum circles at occupy. Tear gas canisters make a terrible percussion sound when bounced off of a peaceful protester's head. The tinkling of urine in our hobo encampment is like softly raking a cymbal. We chant, we sing, we unify!!! Shattered glass and shaking spray cans are the music of my revolution!!!...I totally wasn't at occupy, I did get some new video games though so you can draw your own conclusions as to where I have been. Arkham city!!! *Flourishes cape and spills coffee mug*

Now this is where the post could have began. We went to see Thao and the Get Down Stay Down at the Great American Music Hall.  This was at the tail end of a crazy weekend.  Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Jeffro!!  The opening band for Thao was, The She's. They were awesome and adorable. Check out their myspace here.

 The group consists of Sami Perez, Hannah Valente, Eva Treadway, and Sinclair Riley. The crazy thing is that all of them are about sixteen years old. Apparently they have been playing together since mid-elementary school. They site influences like, the Morning Benders, the Donnas, Beach Boys, and Girls, which proves they are way cooler than you when you were a sixteen year old. I think when I was sixteen despite all my rage I was still just a rat in a cage or I was waking up in the morning and stepping outside taking a big breath and getting real high, or was that middle school?

What's going on?  My name is Mystery, I'm here to talk about kino-escalation and bouncing.  Everyone creepy as shit?  Good.  Everyone have their goggles?  Good.  Let's do this, you like magic, guuurl?

It doesn't really matter, what does matter is how great these girls were.  Thanks to Sami’s years of experience in the SF Girls Chorus they have awesome vocal harmonies. They are like a more alive Mountain man on surfboards with more instrumentation. They kind of remind me of Tennis, Best Coast, or The Ronettes and that's not a bad thing.  60's influenced girl pop, which is a pretty close approximation of the most perfect word combination for my musical leanings and interests. Their stage banter was so great too, they were seriously adorable, and I don't use that word a lot, I stopped after that incident at that Biker bar, what? It was an adorable lazy eye.

The She's at The Great American Music Hall

They were just so happy to be there on stage and they made you instantly happy to be there with them. Thao said she saw them at the Noe Valley farmer's market which in itself is fucking adorable. *Thao smells the kale, music drifts above the arugula and past the artisan falafel maker, her ears perk up* "You there!! Awesome band full of bad assery and happiness inducing musical skills, you are coming with me!!" *They all ride off on an extra long horse* I am pretty sure that's how it went.

At the end of their set I bought a copy of their ep from one of their mothers, literally, no joke, how great is that?  Check out their Myspace for samples of their music. They are really talented musicians and a solid band. They have a great knack for song arrangement and structure. Here is there video for, "Running."

If you would like to see them in person, SK and I will be going to their record release party at the Bottom of the Hill on Saturday Dec. 3rd. They are playing with Tijuana Panthers and Melted Toys. Grab your tickets for $10 here

Upcoming Shows

September
Fleet Foxes are playing the Greek theater in Berkeley on Saturday September 10th. Tickets are $39.50 plus service charges and can be found here.

Fleet Foxes - Grown Ocean from Fleet Foxes on Vimeo.

Zion-I, who are always playing around here.  They live in Oakland after all, will be playing the Fillmore on Friday, September 16th.  The show is always worth going to, tickets are $35 including service charges and are available here.




Bon Iver will be at the Greek as well on Thursday, September 22nd. Tickets are $39.50 plus service charges, grab them here.

TV On The Radio will be at the Fox theater in Oakland. I like the Fox a lot more than the Greek. Much more intimate, the Greek is awesome, it's just so big. Anyway, they will be here on Tuesday, September 27th. $35 plus charges. Get yo tickets here.

Braids who I am a big fan of will be at The Bottom of The Hill in San Francisco. Their show is on Tuesday, September 27th, the same night as the TV On The Radio show. Tickets are $10 and you can get them here.

Braids - Plath Heart from blair neal on Vimeo.

October

Toro Y Moi has a two show stint at the Great American Music Hall.  Saturday and Sunday, October 1st and 2nd.  $21 tickets are available here

On October 8th and 9th, Girls and Sonny and the Sunsets will be at the Great American Music Hall.  This should be an excellent show. Tickets are $20 and are available here

The Drums are playing the Independent on Friday October 14th.  Tickets are $15 and are available here. The Drums have previously been featured on a couple of Indie mixes, specifically Indie Mix 5.

Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, whom I still carry a very bright torch for will be at the Independent on, Sunday October 16th.  I think I can safely put this in the will definitely attend category.  Also in addition to them being awesome, the tickets are only $16.  Grab them here.

November

Lykke Li will be at the Fox Theater on Wednesday, November 9th.  Tickets are $35.  Grab them here.  I like to change the lyrics of her song, "I'm your prostitute," into a kid friendly song called, "I'm your bandicoot." I may attend just to pitch her the idea and show her my costume.

I am a big fan of Blind Pilot. I will be going to this one for sure.  They are playing the Great American Music Hall on Saturday, November 19th. Grab tickets for $18 here.

Bush Baby, tenso drummer, Kero/Esna and Glee/Thao

This video has been flying all over the web. As an associate professor of webology I had to analyze it...for academic purposes. The craziest thing about this video to me is who the model is. The model in this video is Daisy Lowe, Daisy Lowe is Gavin Rossdale's daughter. The fact that people are jocking Gavin Rossdale's daughter means I am fucking old. My girlfriends used to looove them some Bush/Gavin, now the spawn of their teenage crush is some current teenager's crush. It's just not right I tell you. *Shakes fist at a teenager*

Daisy Lowe for UK esquire HD from Greg Williams on Vimeo.

Here is another music related video. This two year old footage has recently caught fire, who knows how these things work. The video shows the cover band Rick K. & the Allnighters -- "America's Most Exciting Show Band" -- playing ZZ Top's "Sharp-Dressed Man." How fucking intense is the drummer? AMAZING!!

Interview with new sensation here.


Kero one has a new album in the works. From Kero's bio.

"Considered by some as a mogul in the jazzy hiphop genre, Kero One, a San Francisco rapper/producer/DJ, stands as a true testament to the do-it-yourself success story."

Here he is getting his collabo on with the smooth jazziness that is Esna.  The album, "Kinetic World" drops on June 15. You can pre-order the album,  at Plug Label store.


Thao, who I fucking love in case you didn't know has a new video.  The Thao and The Get Down Stay Down "Body Video" is directed by Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray on Glee).  It's in support of Oxfam America.

I guess they are skype buddies, totally not jealous...just let me be alone for a second. Diana also has some other videos with Thao where she sings live with the band, giving her assists on, "Bag Of Hammers" and another song or two. Sounds awesome huh? Yeaaaah Diana kind of sucks live in the video, she seems to be a tad bit off to me. Also how bad was her version of, "A Man's World?"  She has a pretty pop voice but there is not a lot of power or depth to it, she needs to stick to the sweet and sugary, her toned down version of, "Say A Little Prayer" was spot on.  Anyway, instead of the aforementioned horrible live performance video in it's place I give you the official video for, "When We Swam."