DO THE FEEDBACK

Going to see the Dwarves @ Amoeba tonight

2010-06-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

I hope it ends like this:

Commence crying....now!

2010-05-15T00:51:00.000-07:00

Womp: There it is

2010-05-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

We're going to become a real blog again. There are a million videos and pictures coming your way soon. I think.

Sleigh Bells

2010-05-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

Call me a party pooper, but I've always hated dance music. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I hate dancing (it has everything to do with that), but I've never been able to get into a dancey group because they always felt so...weak. Until Sleigh Bells that is if only for the fact that every track of theirs hits SO MOTHER FUCKING HARD. I listen to almost nothing but garage rock and I've still never heard something this distorted. Every bass note sounds like 1,000 cardboard boxes getting shot at by a canon and the guitars are just plain eeeevil. I seriously can't get enough of this nonsense. Please join me in going deaf:

Their myspace doesn't have any tracks so don't bother with it.

Kobe!

2010-04-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

I was in L.A. over the weekend, catching a Lakers game and I got interviewed on TV! It was pretty awesome.

GO SPORTZ!

Fill yr Earholes With: Palm Yard

2010-04-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Palm Yard - The Breeze from 1019 Records on Vimeo.

We're playing a show with these doods in Oakland on the 21st and I'm not going to lie to you, I'm preeetty excited to drunkenly run around some guy's living room while they play. Their tunes are fun and fuzzy as shit, just the way I like it. Also, they put out tapes and for some reason I'm way into tapes lately so help me keep a dead medium alive and go buy that shit here. Or you could always just download it for free. Like a jerk.

Tiny Ass Hamburgers

2010-04-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

I hate hipsters, but for some reason I love hipster rap. It's a conundrum that I wrestle with on a daily basis. Regardless, this new Das Racist mixtape is worth a download, even if it does make you feel gross to listen to.

Now I just want some Whitecastle.

4/20!

2010-04-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

Almighty Defenders @ GAMH tomorrow.
Let's all go to this and be the STONEDEST.

Game changers: GULL

2010-03-10T00:26:00.001-08:00

WTFuck is this? I don't even understand what is going on here, I just know that I love it more than I've loved something in a long time. I paused Sober House for this. I DON"T PAUSE SOBER HOUSE FOR ANYTHING!

You can download a bunch of his stuff here.And buy it here. And you damn well should.

GULL on the myspaces.

Guess who's still great?: The Sandwitches!

2010-03-09T23:12:00.000-08:00

Yup, still got it. They played in New York, like the big shots that they are and from the looks of these videos it was pretty awesome. For some reason we haven't seen them in awhile and there's really no excuse for that. These were shot by someone named Ray Conception. If that's someone's real name, then good on you sir (ma'am?). Also, I put theses in backwards order because we're gangster like that. Look out "the system," you're about to be BROKEN.
"Back to the Sea"

"Kiss Your Feet"

The Sandwitches on myspace

Thee Oh Sees @ The Parklife Gallery - 2/26/10

2010-03-08T17:01:00.000-08:00

An art gallery show usually means one of two things from a band: a reverentially slowed down set or an especially gnarly one, because fuck it. Guess which one this was? You were right (I hope). It was free, you could bring your own beers in, someone threw confetti and cake everywhere and I'm fairly sure I saw a stuffed fetus get crowdsurfed over the audience. You know, same ole same ole. They forgot to bring a bass pedal, but thankfully they just enlisted the help of a half-drunk 18 year old to hit the floor tom every once in awhile and it basically sounded the same. I know sometimes it turns into www.ohsees.gov arond here, but as long as they keep being awesome (and playing places it's easy to get drunk at) we'll probably be there. Below are some of the videos we shot, the rest can see at our youtube page.

"Ghost in the Trees"

"Warm Slime"

BONUS!:
A joke

Thee Oh Sees

All Stoner Rock, All the Time

2010-02-24T11:54:00.000-08:00

We're still finishing up Gonerfest 6, because we are the worst. To be fair, we've also been planning a mini tour so that's our excuse. I know...sorry. In the meantime though: ELECTRIC WIZARD!

A sampling of youtube comments:
"It's like being choked by biker while youre on Robitussin, in a good way"
"legalize drugs and murder"
"this song makes me think of a horde of mutated bulls with flaming feet raging through the dessert..
It's just that awesome..."
and finally,
"Everyone's opinion blows. This song does not." Well said, guys. Well said.

Watch This: : [

2010-02-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

When I moved to SF for college (back in the early 1940's) I remember how happy I was that places like Slims, Cafe Du Nord and especially Bottom of the Hill existed so I could still go see shows without being 21. Also, I did all my underage drinking in cars before shows, not in the venue's thank you very much. 7x7 did a little video about the A.B.C. hasslin' the all ages venues. Scope it here.

Watch This: Mountain Man in SF

2010-02-11T14:57:00.000-08:00

I'm not 100% sure what this Yours Truly thing is, except that they are local and make amazingly gorgeous videos of good bands doing what they do around the city. What more is there to know? A couple days ago they featured Mountain Man and, no shit, it could not have been better...

Mountain Man "Mouthwings" [part 1 of 3] from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Mountain Man "Honeybee" for Yours Truly [part 2 of 3] from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Mountain Man "Babylon" [part 3 of 3] from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Honestly, these could not be better.

Download This: The Egads

2010-02-05T11:35:00.000-08:00

Low and Behold

Come on, don't be a pussy, just do it.

Budget Rock - San Francisco 2009

2010-01-14T10:42:00.000-08:00

If you want to see more stuff or just avoid having to read any of my awkward blathering you can see a ton more purty pictures here and watch a bunch of grainy, blown out videos here.

Well this certainly is long overdue. If any of you were holding your breath for our take on this year’s Budget Rock, well, you’d be dead, so I guess no harm no foul. All I know is as lovers of all things “garage,” we’re damn lucky to live in city that hosts a festival like this one. The kick off party at the Eagle Tavern (a personal favorite) was the perfect way to get in the mood, if you will, and my first chance to see Hunx and His Punx camp it up and ramp it up in the most awesome way possible. That dude’s see-thru, nylon body suit budget must be INSANE. There's really no reason not to see them every time they play. Real talk. Aaaand, The Primitivas laid down some of the grimiest riffs rock n roll riffs since the Oblivians, busted up leopard-print bass amp notwithstanding. They finally have tracks up on their myspace, so go soak in all the glory like a PBR filled jacuzzi.

Young Offenders:

Primitivas:

Hunx and His Punx:

Cheap Time:

We missed the Friday show, like a bunch of jerks, but Saturday’s all day, pizza and liquor fueled rock and roll extravaganza at Thee Parkside more than made up for it. Between awesome sets by The Pizzas (so many puns!), Personal and the Pizzas (so many sunglasses!) and the pizza-eating contest (I almost barfed!), I’m pretty sure I contracted gout, but it was so totally worth it. Also, five dollars for a shot and a beer is a deadly/delicious combo. And duh, like I need to tell you, R’ N’ R Adventure Kids and Nobunny played the songs that make the kids go apeshit. If I wasn’t a 56-year-old arthritic man I’d have been right up there crowd surfing with the best of ‘em.

The Pizzas:

Johnny and the Limelights:

Personal and the Pizzas:

Pizza Eating Contest:

Rock N' Roll Adventure Kids:

Nobunny:

After Nobunny made everyone’s head explode, the staff shuffled everybody outside the venue to either get back in line for the late night show, wander over to Bottom of the Hill for that show or schlep home with tears in their eyes. I can’t vouch for the BoftheH, but the lineup for Thee Parkside show was beyond killer. After Nobunny’s fancy rabbit mask came the slightly more cost effective paper bag masks on the Handsome Sexies, which would have done a fine job of keeping everyone’s identity a secret if they hadn’t immediately fallen apart. For the sake of confidentiality we decided to just obscure their faces ourselves. Your welcome, Handsome Sexies, your secret’s safe with us. As excited as I was about finally seeing the Mummies I was pretty jazzed about having soul jams and racial slurs hurled at me by Harold Ray Live In Concert first. On top of having some of the best stage banter I’ve ever encountered, the HRLIC dudes can really lay down some exciting shit. It was impossible to dance because everyone was so smashed up against the stage in anticipation for the Mummies, but you could see it in their eyes that they really really wanted to. The extended 20 minute vamp on 25 Miles to kill time before the Mummies wrapped up their BotH show was more fun than it had any right to be and if they’d played it for another 20 minutes I’m not sure if I’d have minded one bit. If someone could please resurrect HRLIC from the dead I would gladly give you my couch. And let me tell you, that bitch is PLUSH. Words can’t really describe how excited I was to see the Mummies. Excuse me, THE MOTHER FUCKING MUMMIES! Ahem. Those guys are garage rock royalty and really I don’t have any words to describe the show. Just kidding, I have so many words: hot, loud, bad, good, drunk, Sonics, farfisa, drunk. If these guys ever decide to play another show (and you don’t have to fly to Spain for it) just drop whatever you think you’re doing and go. Actually, fuck it, fly to Spain. I hear hotels there are cheeeap. Even after playing a whole set at BotH they managed to play long enough at Thee Parkside that the venue shut down the PA and even then Trent just gathered all drum mics and shouted into them. It really don't get more budget rock than that. This dude filmed the other Mummies set on some crazy VHS contraption, so if you ask really really nicely, you might be able to get yourself a copy. Maybe.

The Handsome Sexies:

The Younger Lovers:

Okmoniks:

Harold Ray Live in Concert:

The Mummies:

I’m not going to lie, because I would never lie to you, mom, but I was a little spent by Sunday night’s wrap up show. Still, an excuse to drink and see the Thee Ohsees is an excuse to drink and see Thee Ohsees so we were there. We were able to catch Dan Melchior and Und Das Menance as well and between the super primal 2 drum set up and the evil as fuck guitar lines it really made me wonder how so many shimmery hugs and kisses pop bands get labeled garage all of a sudden. I’m looking at you Japandroids. I’m looking right at you. (also, seeriously Pitchfork: Best Coast?) At this point it’s goofy to keep writing about Thee Ohsees. They’re like this blog’s Waterloo: either you were there, or you don’t understand. Yeah, they set up on the floor. Yeah, they managed to knock over all their own beers before the set even started. Yeah Eric Oblivian sort of half assedly hit Gris Gris drums with a maraca while they were playing and Ty Segall played a bit of guitar. Yeah it was wild. Yeah I remember the majority of it. Seriously, Thursday at the Eagle. Seriously.

Dan Melchior and Und Das Menace:

Thee Ohsees:

Honestly, it’s crazy how good the bands were, how cheap the shows were, how cheap the drinks were and how much fun we had. Let’s do it again next year, please? And as always, thanks to Cookie Wolf for providing those insanely good, diabetes ridden peanut butter cookies for everyone to snack on between sets. I don’t know how I would have made it through the festival without em. OH! Speaking of long overdue, Gonerfest 6: coming right up. I promise.*

*Promises in no way legally binding.

Pssst, speaking of Harold Ray: BONUS!!!!! Shangorillas @ The Knockout - 10/??/2009
Our buddies in The Mindless Things were playing this show and for some reason we showed up to the venue at midnight and missed their whole set, but we did get to catch the Shangorillas, so all was not lost. They are incredible. And playing … this month. Win/win.

The Shangorillas:

R.I.P.

2010-01-13T14:27:00.000-08:00

Waiting For Something - a short documentary about Jay Reatard

Jay Reatard | MySpace Music Videos

Murray Chrustmas!

2009-12-25T09:54:00.001-08:00

Some assholes

2009-12-17T18:06:00.000-08:00

Post-Holiday Brain Explosion

2009-12-17T17:58:00.000-08:00

Remember when we used to update this thing? Me either! We've got gigantic Gonerfest/Budget Rock posts coming soon, though in actuality they probably won't be up until its time for the next Gonerfest. Dexter isn't going to watch itself guys! In the meantime, those doods at Cut Division (www.cutdivision.wordpress.com) actually put stuff up and interview people and do real blog stuff. And they put on shows now. They do everything! Their first one is with Ty Segall, St. Mawr, Slow Loris and The Egads ('member them?). Chchcheck it out.

New Favorite Band Alert: The Feeling of Love

2009-11-28T22:26:00.000-08:00

Um, why aren't we all listening to this band? All the time. Forever. Is it the name? Let's discount that because its a Jon Spencer reference and, once you hear em' you'll realize is craazy appropriate. Its definitely not because they need to bring more heat because I'm pretty sure you couldn't possibly bring more heat. TFOL used to be one dude and now it's threeish dudes and it sounds like Pussy Galore covering Blues Explosion. I've been drinking. Just see for yourself:

keep seeing for yourself:

BONUS: You can download some of their jams here at RCRD LBL.

Gimmie Tinnitus!

2009-10-24T10:51:00.001-07:00

Shannon and the Clams, Sandwitches, Mystery Lights and Baths @ The Eagles - 9/10/09

2009-10-22T01:26:00.000-07:00

This is one of those shows that we went to, had an awesome time, hung out with friends, went home tipsy and happy with arms full of merch and then tooootally forgot we took pictures at. Oops on us x1000. This post even features the debut of our newly acquired video camera! Our giant, bearded friend Mike came along and, it being the Eagle Tavern, he was quite popular. When he’s not busy being a gay icon he is also a lover of psychedelic music and the Baths were right up his ally (no pun intended). The drowsy vocals and shimmery guitar on top of a simple tom and snare drum set up sounded like the 13th Floor Elevators on (even more) codine and it was definity “slowly bob your head in time with beat while attempting to not spill your drink on everyone’s shoes” music, but was a kind of underlying ugliness that I totally dug. I picked up their 7” at Amoeba not that long ago and it is some super chill out, den in, get stoned shit for sure.

As often as we go to shows its still freakishly easy for bands to fly under my drunken radar and sadly, Mystery Lights was, until last month, one such band. BUT NO LONGER. The singer/guitar player was rowdy as shit! Dude was all over that stage like syrup on a pancake (bad analogy, but its 7 in the morning and my ass is HUngry) in a way that really makes you appreciate the spectacle of seeing live bands all the time. Musically, it sounded like the Kinks if the Kinks were all 20 and didn’t hate each other quite as much. They are definitely a band I’d be happy to run into again, just as long as I have warning enough to duck under the flying guitar necks.

Every time we write about the Fresh and Onlys, which is kind of an unhealthy amount, I always feel inclined to mention how much I enjoy the two girls who sing and play percussion. Along comes the Sandwitches; which is basically that without all the extra hoopla. Both of the girls have unworldly gorgeous voices and it was bizarre to hear a place like the Eagle come to such a hush, especially after the wildness of Mystery Lights. The Sandwitches were our video camera test subjects so apologies up front that all the songs are cut off, put I think their awesomeness shines through regardless. Mike has a crush on the brunette. Here’s to hoping neither of them (or both of them) read this.

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS! These kids are the reason we decided to keep doing this silly blog and yet it’s only the 2nd time in a year I’ve got to see them do their thing. Shame on me. I cannot get over how fucking good every member of this band is. What’s that you say, you like their perfect mix of doo wop and garage rock, but you wish they would only dress up in horrible, nightmare inducing animals masks while they played? WISH GRANTED! You think that Shannon has one of the most powerful, heart melting voices in all of rock and roll, but you’d really just wish they’d cover the theme song to Muppet Babies? THEY TOTALLY DO! You’ve been getting my daily, 5AM phone calls about how amazing they are, but you don’t live in the greater Northern California area? YOU’RE IN LUCK!: they are getting ready to embark on a nationwide tour, bringing their 60’s soul goodness right to your faces. I promise if you go see ‘em, I’ll stop calling.

Shannon and the Clams - http://www.myspace.com/shannonandtheclams

Sandwitches - http://www.myspace.com/thesandwitches
-Eh, fuck the video I tried to take, this one is way better anyway. I need some practice.

Mystery Lights - http://www.myspace.com/teenagecatgirlsthemysterylightshow

Baths - http://www.myspace.com/baths
-It's a silent movie, which isn't exactly helpful in hearing what a band sounds like, but it is the Baths so, take what you can get I guess.

Additional photos!

photos © julie remensperger 2009

Themselves teach kids how to rap better than you

2009-10-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

You know we love Themselves. And Oakland. And we secretly all want to be BOMB freestylers. But that probably won't happen, so instead here's a video of Dose and Jel hanging with some kids who are dropping more science than you or I ever will.

XLR8R TV Ep. 129: Freestyle 101 with Doseone and Jel from XLR8RTV on Vimeo.

Monotonix and Triclops! @ The Independent – September 17th, 2009

2009-10-05T14:51:00.001-07:00

When you walk up to the bar during a show and the bartenders aren’t selling drinks in bottles because the bands playing that night are too “interactive” you just know it is ON. It’s hard to imagine that in other cities there is a more fitting opener for a Monotonix show than Triclops!. They are both loud, wild, theatrical, and if you go see them live you are more than likely to get shit all over you. Not literally, thank God, but you might end up with globs of hair gel on your pants, which I can now tell you from experience looks NASTY. Thankfully, Triclops! are more than worth a couple vulgar stains. Its difficult to pay attention to just how massive they sound when you’re dodging flying debris and flailing limbs, but during those brief moments of relief, you realize you’re listening to a group of sludge punk masters at work. Their pummeling music would be badass even if they were lacking a deranged singer, but pairing the two together it’s like the musical equivalent of a double stuffed Oreo: extra deeeelicious. And messy as fuck. I’ll accept my award for metaphor of the year in the mail please. Also, I tore the insides out of a six-pack and the singer wore it on his head like a crown. What more do you need? Go see them. Right now. I don’t care if they’re playing a show, go watch them eat pizza or something. It’ll probably be crazier than most of the others bands you’ll see this year.

One night, at 3AM, I received a text message from my friend Dominick in LA that simply read, “He just poured an entire beer down his ass crack onto my head,” and I knew EXACTLY who he was talking about. There are precious few more primal feelings one can have in 2009 than being at a Monotonix show; drum hoisted over your head, beer everywhere, with a hairy, sweaty man perched precariously above you, drumming away, howling like a madman. They should change the word cathartic to monotonix –they basically mean the same thing. I now own a shirt that has a dirty shoeprint on the shoulder that will never wash out and I’ll keep it till I die. Tribal drums, dirty Cheap Trick guitars and Iggy Pop vocals have never felt so good. On top of being the most enjoyable, insane live act running, the dudes in Monotonix are super nice guys! They ended up using some of the pictures Jules took the last time we saw them (LINK) as promotional material so they got us into the show for free (which left us with extra beer drinking and shirt buying money, a luxury these times of economic crisis) and they were so incredibly appreciative of everything. I will see them anytime, anywhere. That’s a promise, and I only break promises to my sisters and my ex-girlfriends. Hopefully you’re neither.

Triclops!
Monotonix

Now let me ask you a question- after watching the Monotonix video #1, would your next thought be- "gee I bet they'd appear on a children's show"?

Additional photos!

photos © julie remensperger 2009