Get Down at the Oakland Drops Beats Music Crawl this Saturday, 4/19

April 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment

ODB_POSTreal

Oakland Drops Beats //
Downtown Oakland
April 19th, 2014 //

This Saturday, Downtown Oakland plays host to the inaugural Oakland Drops Beats Music Crawl. A celebration of the music, art and local flavor of the East Bay community, ODB 2014 aims to promote more live music entertainment in the downtown area with the specific goal of having a space for Bay Area youth to congregate, collaborate and perform.

The day kicks off on the Outdoor Stage with sets provided by members of the non-profit organizations Youth Radio, Bay Area Girls Rock Camp & Todays Future Sound. After the Youth Showcase commences, the crawl is on with a fully packed schedule of talent presented by VAMP, Calimade, Oaktown Indie Mayhem, Anticon., Naming Gallery, DJ Oracle, A Thousand Wordz, MOCO and more!

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Featured artists include:
Kev Choice performing on 15th St. and Webster, Outdoor Stage @ 5pm
B. Hamilton performing at The Naming Gallery @ 8pm
Dayvid Michael (Calimade) performing at Le Qui Vive @ 3:30pm

Click here to view the full schedule.

Come out, get down and support your local scene! For more information on how to become a part of the Oakland Drops Beats Music Crawl visit the Oakland Drops Beats website, and check out more info on facebook and twitter.

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Bridge School Benefit Returns THIS WKEND

October 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Photo by ams vans blog

Organized by musician Neil Young and his wife, Pegi, the Bridge School Benefit Concert is an annual, all acoustic, non-profit charity event held every October at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. All proceeds directly benefit the operations of The Bridge School.

The Bridge School is a non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure that individuals with severe speech and physical impairments achieve full participation in their communities through the use of augmentative & alternative means of communication (AAC) and assistive technology (AT) applications and through the development, implementation and dissemination of innovative life-long educational strategies.

The artist lineup is as stellar as always this year – Guns N’ Roses will be Slash-less, Foster the People will drop the glitch-pop for smooth strums, and Gary Clark Jr. will continue his rise to stardom. But will Wayne Coyne break out the human hamster ball? (Answer: yes) Check out the lineup below:

•Neil Young & Crazy Horse
•Jack White
•Guns N’ Roses
•The Flaming Lips
•Sarah McLachlan
•Foster the People
•Lucinda Williams
•Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers
•k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang
•Gary Clark Jr.
•Ray LaMontagne

Filed Under: This Wkend

Treasure Island Music Festival: 10 best-looking sets

September 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Looking at the artist lineup for the sixth annual Treasure Island Music Festival, a couple things are obvious right away. Saturday’s lineup resembles the Sahara Tent with DJs dominating the bill, and the first day lacks a true headliner. And Sunday’s lineup looks slightly more upbeat and dancey than in past years with the inclusion of M83 and Gossip, but Best Coast and The xx will help keep a mellow tone to Sunday.

As usual, TIMF will offer 26 sets of music over two days and stages, with no music overlapping. And as TIMF begins to adapt to changing live music & festival trends – namely that beats sell out shows and rock generally doesn’t anymore — let’s examine the 10 best-looking sets from artists that perform with instruments, computers and both.

10 best looking sets

The xx

The xx recently released their second album “Coexist,” and it’s been listend to a lot. The new album provides many songs that should have an interesting live interpretation (Reunion, Swept Away), and this is the first time the bay area gets a chance to see The xx support their sophomore album. One could argue M83 should be the Sunday headliner, but The xx are certainly deserving of the top spot after releasing two albums of stellar material.

The Presets

The Presets released their new album “Pacifica” in mid September, and it’s compulsively listenable. It’s catchy, diverse from track to track, and loaded with Aussie desperation and charming apocalyptic undertones. The Presets kick off their tour at home down under, headlining a handfull of shows at the Parklife tour. Then it’s off to TIMF. But before sub-headlining in the bay, the electronic duo of Julian Hamilton & Kim Moyes will play the 450-pax capacity The Independent in SF the night before TI. That should be a loud, intimate affair.

M83

M83 has been on tour supporting “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” for over a year, and they must be close to wrapping it up. Only Bon Iver has toured longer on a recent album. M83 will be visiting the bay area for the 3rd time on this tour, but the good news is they’ve been getting better live as the tour goes on. They are playing different setlists from show to show, utilizing slick transitions, and extending songs into drawn out dance jams.

Matthew Dear

Matthew Dear is a DJ, dance-music producer, & live musician. He’s produced microhouse & electronic music for a decade, and he leads a band when performing live. As his bio states, “He maintains four aliases (Audion, False, Jabberjaw, and Matthew Dear), each with its own style and distinct visual identity.” So is Matthew Dear a character or the man himself? One certain thing is Matthew Dear’s new album, “Beams.” Most of the tracks are electro-house pop gems, built on repetition but get more addictive with each listen (See “Her Fantasy,” “Headcage,” & “Up & Out”). It’s all weird in a very good way.

Grimes

Claire Boucher, or Grimes, has had a busy year. News of her Tom Sawyer-like adventure established her as a free spirit, and as someone unafraid to be different. Her synthed-out beats have a weird syncopation, and the vocal delays make Claire’s voice seem angelic. It’s all oddly pretty and pretty innovative. In her music video for “Oblivian,” it’s hard to take eyes off of her, even with all the distractions in the video. Grimes recently toured on a train through Canada with Skrillix & Diplo, and Diplo tweeted a photo claiming to show Claire on MDMA. When the year began, it looked like Lana Del Rey would be the breakout female star of 2012. It’s now looking like a toss-up between Grimes & Azealia Banks. Matthew Dear should come out & perform with Grimes to see how weird Saturday can get.

Divine Fits

They’re not a supergroup, but Divine Fits is a new band that consists of Britt Daniel from Spoon, Dan Boeckner from Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs, Sam Brown of New Bomb Turks, and keyboardist Alex Fischel from Papa. They sound like a super-charged Spoon, and that’s fine because Spoon was sounding pretty stale on their last tour. Their album “A Thing Called Divine Fits” provides a strong listen the first time, as the songs are well crafted and ooze with personality.

araabMUZIK

Ladies and gentlemen, araabMUZIK is the hardest working DJ in show business. He spins for AS$P Rocky and over-uses the “this is araabMUZIC” sexy audio stamp. And while he’s technically a button pusher, look at him push those buttons! This man is the current king of MIDI. Abraham Orellana, aka araabMUZIK, exhibits serious skill and utilizes crafty editing of his video feed in a live festival setting. At Coachella this year, the video feed cut to different cameras shots exactly when he taps a new button. This creates a dizzying and overwhelming feeling which enhances the beats and overall experience.

Toro Y Moi

Chazwick Bundick is Toro Y Moi, and he gained success in 2010 with his chillwave sensibilities. But since last year, Chazwick has beefed up his band, and their live sound today is much closer to progressive rock. Treasure Islands will be an ideal setting for this psychedelic and spacey set.

Gossip

Gossip will surely pick up the tempo Sunday. Singer Beth Ditto once proclaimed, “Our mission is to make you dance, and if you’re not gonna dance, just stay at home and listen to the oldies station.” We’ll see if Gossip can get the Sunday indie crowd dancing. This would be an impressive feat following a Best Coast set.

Sbtrkt

SBTRKT (subtract) is the stage name for Aaron Jerome, a musician and producer from London. When performing live, he brings frequent collaborator Sampha along to belt out live vocals, play keyboards, & trigger vocal loops. Jerome plays drums while triggering samples and mixing elements live.

5 More not to miss:
-Public Enemy
-Los Campesinos!
-Tycho
-Best Coast
-The Coup

NIGHT SHOWS
Thursday October 12th
•Shigeto ~ California Academy of Sciences
•Willie Nelson ~ The Fillmore
•Anders Osborne ~ The Independent

Friday October 13th
•The Presets / K. Flay ~ The Independent
•The Raveonettes ~ Bimbo’s 365 Club
•Das Racist ~ DNA Lounge
•The Oh Sees ~ Great American Music Hall
*Housse de Racket ~ Rickshaw Stop

Saturday October 14th
•Araabmuzik / Five Knives ~ The Independent
•SBTRKT (DJ Set) ~ Mezzanine
*Elite Gymnastics ~ Monarch
•Juno What?! ~ Boom Boom Room

Sunday October 15h
•Jamie xx / John Talabot ~ Public Works

Subscribe to the Treasure Island Music Festival Spotify playlist.

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Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival: 10 best looking sets

September 13, 2012 by 5 Comments


Subscribe to the “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival” playlist on Spotify.
View the full schedule at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass website.

The twelfth edition of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, from October 5th-7th in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, will prove to be a bittersweet occasion. Founder & 100% funder of this free festival Warren Hellman passed away this past December after a battle with leukemia. Hellman built his wealth as a co-founder of the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, but always had a passion for music. Hellman called his festival a “selfish gift,” one that he, the musicians and the community could all enjoy. In 2006, Hellman said, “How could you have more fun than that? What the hell is money for if it isn’t for something like that?” Hellman set up an endowment to make sure Hardly Strictly continues long past his death. The city of San Francisco honored Hellman after his passing by renaming Speedway Meadow “Hellman Hollow.”

So this will be the first year Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival takes place in Hellman Hollow. Coincidentally or by design, the artist select is going back to it’s roots before they added “Hardly” to the festival name. The first three years were ‘Strictly Bluegrass.’ Last year Buckethead performed. This year, most acts playing the festival are in some way countrified.

Here are 10 shows to consider attending:

Tribute to the Fouding Fathers: Warren Hellman, Earl Scruggs & Doc Watson

The world has also lost two legends in the past year that were fixtures at Hardly Strictly. Earl Scruggs & Doc Watson will only be with us in spirit, and the first set that pops off the artist list is this tribute to Hellman, Scruggs, Watson. Expect this set to end Saturday or Sunday on the Banjo Stage. Expect a superjam that will include Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Elvis Costello, Buddy Millar, and every performer that was close with trio being celebrated. Expect plenty of tears.

The Head & The Heart

This group from Seattle Washington was formed in 2009, have put out one self-titled album, and keep filling bigger venues by the month. In June they sold out a three show run at the Fillmore San Francisco. The Head & the Heart is popular for a good reason – they are a must see live act.

Rubblebucket

Rubblebucket is an American indie-dance band from Brooklyn, NY. They are captivating to watch, they put out a wall of sound, and they make you want to dance. There are eight musicians in the group, and they are lead by musical couple Alex Toth and Kalmia Traver.

Keller Williams, Steve Kimock & Kyle Hollingsworth featuring Bernie Worell, Wally Ingram & Andy Hess

This set looks like a Bonnaroo super-jam. Keller Williams has plenty of experience in this type of roll leading String Cheese Incident at many one-off shows. Steve Kimock is one of the best electric guitarists in the world. Seriously. And Kyle Hollingsworth is the keyboardist from String Cheese Incident. This should be a jam-filled fun time.

The Lumineers

Much like The Head & The Heart, The Lumineers have put out one hugely successful album and their star is rising. The three main components to the group ooze with charisma. The core of the band consists of Wesley Schultz on guitar and lead vocals, Jeremiah Fraites on drums, percussion, mandolin and vocals, and Neyla Pekarek on cello, mandolin, piano, and vocals. The songs from their self titled album are ridiculously catchy. This group from Denver, Colorado are a must see live act.

Chris Robinson Brotherhood

Do you like Chris Robinson’s voice and the music of the Grateful Dead? Yes? Than this is the show for you. Chris Robinson toured with Phil Lesh and friends for a couple years, and it clearly rubbed off on him. He ended the Black Crows and fully committed to this jam band. Neal Casal is a filthy guitarist who is right up there with Steve Kimock. It would not be surprising to see Phil Lesh or Bob Weir join the group for some Grateful Dead numbers.

Conor Brings Friends for Friday

For the first time in 2011, Conor Oberst was invited to curate his own stage on Friday, and Golden Gate Park was witness to Bright Eyes, M. Ward, Kurt Vile and other great acts. Conor has been invited back this year, and he’s bringing Jenny Lewis, Ben Kweller, Beachwood Sparks, Chuck Prophet & Mission Express, & Simone Felice. Conor should be performing his solo material on the Rooster Stage. Put in for a vacation day at work, get there early, and park your ass in Marx Meadow for a lovely afternoon.

The Civil Wars

The album “Barton Hollow” from The Civil Wars was released in early 2011 to massive critical success. The band won the Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Folk Album in 2012. The duo, singer-songwriters Joy Williams and John Paul White, craft emotional songs that build with beautiful harmony, and should fit the tone of the weekend.

Red Baraat

As their website states, Red Baraat puts out “…a sound so powerful it has left the band in its own utterly unique and enviable class. These days you are as likely to find Red Baraat throwing down at an overheated and unannounced warehouse party in their Brooklyn neighborhood as you are at the Barbican or the Montreal Jazz Festival, or Lincoln Center.” NPR called Red Baraat one of their favorite live shows of 2011. These upbeat party-starters will get butts shaking.

Steve Earle & the Dukes (and Duchesses)

TV oriented people might know Steve Earle as Harley Watt, the actor who plays a musician on Treme. TV oriented people are wrong. Steve Earle is a musician who can also act. Earle is a political lefty from Texas, and he has the ability to entertain just as much with stage banter as he does with his songs. He performed a solo set at the Warren Hellman celebration concert in February, which included a song he wrote for Warren Hellman. We should hear that one again at 2012 Hardly Strictly.

10 More Shows Not to Miss:
ALO
Claypool Duo de Twang
Elvis Costelo Solo
Emmylou Harris
Heartless Bastards
Moonalice
Nick Lowe
Soul Rebels
The Chieftains
The New Orleans Bingo! Show

Subscribe to our “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival” playlist on Spotify.

Night Shows in San Francisco
Friday October 5th:
Dead Winter Carpenters – Brick & Mortar
Break Science – Mighty
Reckless Kelly – Slim’s
Dry the River – The Independent
Shpongle – The Warfield

Saturday October 6th:
Jenny Lewis – Great American Music Hall
The Soul Rebels – Boom Boom Room
John Talabot – Public Works
Big Gigantic – The Regency Ballroom
Glen Hansard – The Fillmore

Sunday October 7th:
Conor Oberst – The Fillmore
Michael Kiwanuka – The Independent

What sets are you looking forward to?

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