August 2013 – INDIE ROCK CAFE

Best Singles & Albums of July 2013, Vol. II – Smallpools, Soft Metals, Fairchild, D. Lynch & Lykke Li, Love Language, Kid Karate

Posted on 08/29/201312/18/2019 by Max Hammer

The-Cairo-Gang — The Cairo Gang's "Tiny Rebels" was one of 35 top singles for the second half of July

With festivals and other events ruling the schedule during July and August, we’re still catching up with releases dropped in the six weeks. A couple of weeks ago, volume one of the Best Singles & Albums of July 2013 was posted, but the aforementioned fests – and other exciting posts were working on that we think you’ll appreciate – have delayed volume 2.

Now that the summer fest season is coming to a close with fests like last weekend’s inaugural First City Festival in Monterey, California, we’ll be getting back to regular posting of indie and DIY singles, playlists and band profiles (and there’s a lot in the pipeline), and in a couple of months, the first ‘Best of 2013’ posts will be coming out. Regardless that it is a bit late, there were terrific releases from the second half of July that could be categorized as “can’t miss,” including underground indie DIY bands and artists that are among some of the best of the year, as well as top-notch new releases. This post features a couple dozen of them.

Listeners responded enthusiastically to Volume One of the Best Singles & Albums of July 2013, streaming and downloading tens of thousands of times 27 top singles from albums dropped in the first half of July, featuring dozens of artists, including rock veterans like Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices) to fairly popular indie bands like Maps; small label artists like Little Legend, who like other terrific, new-to-us bands – Twin Peaks, Royal Forest and Sensual Harassment (all who dropped albums in early July) – are now a band to watch into the coming year. Plus, new material from solo artists like Gregory Alan Isakov and the songwriter/singer and musician known as Thundercat also stand out as artists to watch in 2014.

smallpools-ep — The debut, self-titled EP from a new band to watch, Smallpools

As stated above, Volume One featured many DIY, obscure artists and bands, who have had practically no coverage on the web, including bands like Grids, Driftwood Miracle, Futurist, Drops, Animals in Cars, Lions For Real, Ladada, Horsha On The Moon, among others, who had excellent singles from their new releases that needed to be posted. It’s a shame that so many terrific artists go largely unnoticed each month – we do our best with limited resources to highlight as many as possible, even if it simply means adding one of their songs to a playlist without providing very much additional information. Altogether, there are more than two dozen MP3 singles to stream or download in the first volume, and plenty of new artists and bands to explore. And if you want to hear even more amazing music and fill up your iTunes library, browse through popular playlist series like 5 DIY Bands to Watch; Best New Music Releases of 2013; Artist of the Week; 7 Bands You’ve Gotta Hear; Top 10 Songs playlists, among others.

And now, the second and final volume of singles from new releases dropped between July 16th and July 29th. We’re working diligently to catch up with August, which will also be divided into two volumes, and will include, as all the reviews of new releases do, songs from the popular ‘indie’ artists and bands, as well as the unsigned, obscure and under the radar bands that many times you’ll only hear on Indie Rock Cafe.

First Half of the Second Half of July’s Top Singles – Smallpools and Soft Metals

The following playlist represents singles from new releases dropped during the third week of July from indie artists that are more likely to be known among indie rock enthusiasts. However, there are also plenty of DIY artists and bands in this playlist (as with many IRC playlists) that even the most avid indie music consumers have never heard before – at least until today.

Smallpools is a new IRC indie band to watch in 2013-14 thanks to their self-titled debut EP that includes the incredibly catchy, upbeat single, “Mason Jar,” driven by thundering beats, a fast-paced rhythm with a blistering bass line, oh-ah choruses, and lightning speed synth and guitar jams. Plus, another track that has helped increase the popularity of Smallpools in recent months is “Dreaming,” and the music video (above) that was released just six weeks ago and already has over a quarter of a million views. It’s not hard to see why this band is blowing up.

Next, check out the dark electro pop track, “Tell Me,” from the album Lenses. by DIY band Soft Metals’ .The track also has a pronounced industrial techno aspect to it. But what stands out most about this song is the the main riff on “Tell Me” – it’s somewhat reminiscent (although it’s a bit of a stretch) of the ominous riff from the Kill Bill movies that was used as a warning that some serious mayhem was about to go down. The riff from Kill Bill is actually Quincy Jones‘ original riff, with a modern spin, used in the 1960’s TV series, Ironside. However, while the riff had a similarly dark intent on the old TV show, it was nothing even close to the scale of violence and bloodshed that Quentin Tarantino unleashed in the Kill Bill series. In fact, the “Ironside excerpt” remains one of the scariest sound bites in popular culture to this day, right up there with the screeching violin of the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock‘s classic horror thriller, Psycho.

“Mason Jar” – Smallpools from Smallpools EP – July 16th

“Tell Me” – Soft Metals from Lenses – July 16th

Oz Band on the Radar: Fairchild

First up, is a DIY indie pop band from Oz that music lovers in the United States need to hear because we think they’re pretty amazing, and so far, have remarkably received almost no coverage from the tens of thousands of indie music blogs on the web. The band is Fairchild, formerly Fairchild Republic, from the Gold Coast of Australia. Fairchild is one the most popular new indie pop bands in the cafe right now, thanks largely to the incredibly catchy retro-pop hooks and dance grooves of the masterfully produced single, “Burning Feet,” from the band’s self-titled debut EP released on July 24th.

The band scored a huge victory when the respected producer and mixing engineer, Catherine Marks, signed on to produce the band’s debut EP. Marks has produced and mixed for talented bands like Foals, Death Cab For Cutie, The Killers, Interpol, and White Lies. Based on her accomplishments, Marks clearly knows how to pick talented artists that she wants to work with in the studio. Plus, she usually works with signed bands, so the fact that Marks choose to work with Fairchild also says a lot about the band. “Burning Feet” will ultimately be a top DIY track of 2013, and their self-titled debut EP is one of the best debuts of the second half of 2013. It’s time for this band to break out in the U.S.

“Burning Feet” – Fairchild from Fairchild – July 24th

We’ll be writing more about this band in the coming weeks. Fairchild has previously opened for artists like Neon Indian, Parachute Youth, Kids of 88, Cub Scouts, Last Dinosaurs, The Medics, Battleships, and The Cairos.

Latest Singles from Feral Children, BEACH, A Grave With No Name, David Lynch and Lykke Li, and Others

Seattle band Feral Children self-released their latest album, Too Much, Too Late, that features a more finely-tuned expression of the band’s sound of buzzing guitars, thumping bass and punk-rock tendencies, as the fast-moving, blazing track, “Rewind The Rerun,” demonstrates. Other top tracks for July include unforgettable singles like A Grave With No Name‘s song “Aurora,” with it’s heavy-hitting beat, grinding synths and jangly guitar strums; the haunting beauty of “I’m Waiting Here,” a musical collaboration between David Lynch and Lykke Li, and “While The World Burns,” a magnificent composition from the promising and talented singer/songwriter Svavar Knútur. There are also a some good singles from the first half of July off new albums by La Luz, White Dove, WL, Gauntlet Hair and BEACH.

“Rewind The Rerun” – Feral Children from Too Much, Too Late (self-released)

“Aurora“ – A Grave With No Name from Whirlpool on Lefse Records

“Bad Apple” – Gauntlet Hair from Stills on Dead Oceans

“I’m Waiting Here” – David Lynch feat. Lykke Li from The Big Dream on Sacred Bones (music video)

“While the World Burns” – Svavar Knútur from Ölduslóð (Way of Waves) on Red Eyed Transit

“Brainwash” – La Luz from Brainwash 7″ on Suicide Squeeze

“You’re Not Really Here” – WL from Hold on Prospect & Refuge

“Love Was A River” – BEACH from In Us We Trust on Short Story Records

“Cold Mountain” – White Dove from The Hoss, The Candle on RSRCH+DVLP

Last Week of July Music, July 23rd – July 30th: The Love Language, Van Dyke Parks, Weekend

The last week of new releases for the month of July spawned a number of standout singles from artists and bands that we’ve enjoyed in the past – such as Merge recording artist, The Love Language, or the popular indie rock band Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros (who just released their self-titled debut on Vagrant; even though it’s not their debut album) – and new, promising DIY and under-the-radar bands that we had never heard of before until recently, like The Cairo Gang or Dizzy Bats.

Sharpe sheds some old skin and doubles-down on influences like gospel and blues on the new, self-titled LP, featuring the lead single, “This Life,” in which Sharpe sounds like he is channeling Ray Charles. Next, the popular San Francisco indie band, Weekend, return with a trippy psych rock track, “It’s Alright,” that is also available as a music video, which contains a series of black and white photographs of everyday (and some not so everyday; i.e., bondage items and gator skulls; the latter of which adorns the cover of the album, Jinx) items like a skate, a cross, flowers, a whistle, figurines and a switchblade.

Temples’ Fully ‘Hippiefried’ Retro Psychedelic Pop

The hot UK band, Temples, tears a page from the psychedelic era (the trend is real), stepping into a time machine of sorts, and traveling back to sometime in 1967 or ’68, with the single, “Shelter Song,” from their debut double seven-inch on Fat Possum. The “Shelter Song” music video (above) includes the psychedelic era kaleidoscope and lava lamp visual effects, flashing colors, faded, overly-contrasted and overlapping photographs, and even some of the hippie attire. “Shelter Song” has a fairly constant, big drum beat that is the backdrop for wave after wave of distorted electric guitar riffs, R&B bass hooks, joyful tambourines, trippy keyboards, and layers and layers of reverb-heavy vocals and choruses – all wrapped up in even more reverb.

Overall, it’s a wonderfully produced song, and includes lyrics like “/Take me away to the Twilight Zone/” and “/We stayed up late in a dream/.” Had this song actually come out in 1968, 45 years ago, it likely would have been a hit record. Back then, however, you would have to go to a cool and funky local record store and buy the 45 vinyl or the vinyl album (we’re glad to be old enough to have been at the tail end of the ‘age of the record store’; it was the place to hang out on weekends and nights during the high school and college years. But the record store was killed by iTunes.)

The single, “Hold Back Time,” by the Van Dyke Parks does just that. In fact, this song appropriately follows Temples’ retro psych pop because it too has a retro feel to it. “Hold Back Time” actually holds back time as far as to the 1960’s, which is evident in any aspect of the single. You could have fooled us if you said “Here’s this song from 1969, do you know who it is?” and we would have thought of every 60’s band and artist before thinking it was actually from an indie band and released in 2013. And that’s part of the magnificence of the broad net of music we generally call ‘indie.’ Whatever it really is, it certainly is whatever kind of music someone wants to make without a huge budget or a label – and the freedom to create results in so much amazing music. The whole purpose of IRC is to capture as much of this amazing music that most people are missing out on before it disappears forever. No one is going to like every song we post, but hopefully, everyone hears music that they enjoy either for the moment or for repeat plays.

“Hold Back Time” – Van Dyke Parks from Songs Cycled on Bella Union

“Calm Down” – The Love Language from Ruby Red on Merge Records

“This Life” – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros on Vagrant

Fu*k Buttons and Gogol Bordello

Up next is the latest track from Fu*k Buttons off the band’s fifth album, Slow Focus (of the alternate, ‘Slow Fuckus‘). Next, Gogol (no relation to Google) Bordello returns with the spaghetti western-style single, “Lost Innocent World,” from the album, Pura Vida Conspiracy. Truth be told: we don’t like the single all that much, but we included it anyway since we know there are some hard core Bordello fans among you. The song is a bit flat; Bordello’s singing sounds a bit amateurish.

“The Red Wing” – Fu*k Buttons from Slow Focus on ATP Recordings

“Lost Innocent World” – Gogol Bordello from Pura Vida Conspiracy on ATO Records

Radar Bands The Cairo Gang, Coke Weed, and Musician Grant Hart

The Cairo Gang sound nothing like the imagery their band name might suggest. Their newest single, “Tiny Rebels,” is a slow, melancholy tune that sounds like it could have come right out of San Francisco in 1967. (We’ve been noticing an uptick in psychedelic influences in the music of many indie rock bands in 2013, which was evident by performances from bands like Deerhunter at last weekend’s first annual First City Festival in Monterey, California. And yet what was also impossible to miss was the number of young people, particularly, teenage and young adult women, who were dressed basically like hippies, although they refer to it as “hipster style.” You can read more about it in our First City Debuts post.)

“Tiny Rebels” – The Cairo Gang from Tiny Rebels on Empty Cellar Records

“Sunseekers” – Coke Weed from Back To Soft on Heavy Friends

Following the Cairo Gang is Coke Weed‘s latest track, “Sunseekers,” which would have been such a better song if they sped it up and gave it more of a punch. After all, the title of the song is “Sunseekers,” of course are known for being sunny, upbeat and pop oriented. Following Coke Weed is a new single, “Is The Sky The Limit?” from Grant Hart. The multilayered track includes dreary organ and dulcimer playing which makes it sound like a sad carnival of gypsies performing an interpretation of a haunting song from The Phantom of the Opera soundtrack.

“Is The Sky The Limit?” – Grant Hart from The Argument on Domino Recording Co.

Hunx and His Punx, Kid Karate and Mean Lady

Turn up the amps and get ready to punk out with a band that is from our backyard – San Francisco street punk quartet Hunx and His Punx. The front man, Hunx, aka Seth Bogart, started Punx back in 2008 after years in a gay pop band called Gravy Train. Bogart wanted to rock harder, and since then, he and his punx have been doing just that. Following Hunx and His Punx is another loud band, the garage rock band Kid Karate, whose new single, “Two Times,” has been making the rounds on the web. For a perfect contrast, we posted new Mean Lady, who doesn’t sound mean at all on her new single, “Far Away.” After the Mean Lady, the indie pop band, The Memories, deliver a soft, lazy summer afternoon love song, “I Remember You.”

”Bad Skin” – Hunx and His Punx from Street Punk on Hardly Art

“Two Times” – Kid Karate from Lights Out EP (self-released)

“Far Away” – Mean Lady from Love Now on Fat Possum

“I Remember You” – The Memories from Love Is The Law on Burger Records

Self Releases From Filigar, Dizzy Bats, Fialta, Kid Karate

There were a number of self releases that had a fair amount of publicity behind them. First up is the band Filigar, which we’ve posted about in recent years, and who now have a terrific new single, “New Local,” that starts out with a piano introduction, and is followed by an immediate launch into a full-fledged power pop track with heavily melodic hooks, harmonica infusions and an excellent interplay between the bass and drums. Dizzy Bats presents the single “Batman and the Joker” and “Photographs,” from the band Fialta, is one of the best singles for the final week of July. Plus, listen to the garage rock of Kid Karate,. Diggin’ that.

“New Local” – Filligar from Hexagon (self-released) – July 23rd

“Batman and the Joker” – Dizzy Bats from single only (self-released) – July 21st

“Photographs” – Fialta from Summer Winter (self-released) – July 23rd

Top Singles from Promising DIY and Under The Radar Bands: Colours, Alex Riggen, Wind Up Rabbit, Tikkle Me

The following section of the best singles for the second half of July include – as so many IRC posts do – songs from DIY and small label releases by artists and bands that have had little to no coverage within the indie music blogosphere. First up is “The Illusionist,” from the band Colours; a sullen song from Iowa lo-fi indie pop artist Alex Riggen; the spooky pop of “Hearts On Ice” from New York indie quartet Wind Up Rabbit; the hip-shaking song from Orlando’s indie dance/pop outfit, Stockholm; the chunky single from New Orleans power pop/garage rock band Missing Monuments; the sprawling, suspenseful, near-epic single, “Niagara,” from Stockholm girl duo, Tikkle Me; Edinburgh band The Phantoms add some spook to their rock on the new single, “Coming For You.”

Most of the bands in this final section of the singles playlist for the second half of July 2013 have not been featured in a playlist of new singles anywhere else on the web – this is it. Hopefully, you’ll find some new artists to add to your like list and some new songs that you’ll be listening to in the coming days, weeks or maybe even months. What is always special about this part of the new releases series is the exclusivity of great music it provides for the tens of thousands around the world who follow IRC regularly for music they often will not find anywhere else on the web available in MP3 format.

“The Illusionist” – Colours from Skin & Bones – July 23rd

“Milk Milk” – Alex Riggen from Milk – July 23rd

“Hearts On Ice” – Wind Up Rabbit from Wind Up Rabbit – July 23rd

“That’s Not Your Girlfriend” – Stockholm from Emerald City – July 23rd

“She Keeps Me Warm” – Mary Lambert from single – July 29th

“Wastin’ Time” – Lights At Night from Lights At Night – July 30th

“Answer the Call” – Missing Monuments from Missing Monuments – July 30th

“Niagara” – Tikkle Me from Niagara – July 31st

Modest Mouse, Passion Pit, MGMT, Beach House and Other Artists Headline the First Annual ‘First City Festival’ in Monterey

Posted on 08/27/201312/18/2019 by Max Hammer

Tens of thousands of festival goers were treated to an impressive list of indie and alternative rock artists and bands this past weekend at the first annual First City Festival in Monterey, California. The fest, featuring headliners like Modest Mouse, Washed Out, Passion Pit, MGMT, Beach House, Purity Ring, among others, drew large crowds each day of the two-day music festival held in the idyllic location of the Monterey Fairgrounds, where large grassy open spaces are shaded by groves of beautiful cypress trees and graced by fresh ocean air from the nearby Monterey Bay. It’s a perfect location for a mini-festival. In addition to three stages, there was also a vaudeville stage that drew crowds throughout the course of the festival. Plus, there were food and drink vendors, booths, charging stations, and even games and rides available at the adjoining carnival grounds.

Listen to the full playlist of songs from Day One artists via Spotify

Indie rock legends Modest Mouse closed the festival with a one and half hour set on Sunday night that included a bunch of their newer material mixed with some of their older, and more well-known, material, including highlighted tracks from the band’s mesmerizing 2000 album, The Moon and Antarctica. The band performed excellent live renditions of “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes” and “I Came As A Rat.” They also crunched out classic indie rock songs like “Dramamine” (which we included on our First City Spotify playlists) and “Float On.”

While the band played brilliantly through old and new material, things didn’t go so well when Mouse’s vocalist and guitarist Issac Brock tried to instruct the crowd to hold their breath for four seconds. When that odd request failed, Brock made even a stranger one, asking the crowd instead to boo loudly and spit on each other. Thankfully, that failed as well. That confused people, but the band’s set was so good that it didn’t matter one bit at the end of their set. Modest Mouse was the perfect band to close out a spectacular weekend featuring some of the biggest artists of indie music, from the pioneers, like Modest Mouse, to artists that have become so popular that they’re now pretty much mainstream, like Passion Pit and MGMT.

Prior to Modest Mouse, who performed at the main Redwood stage, was a performance on the Cypress stage (located at the opposite end of the grounds) by Purity Ring. We opted to juggle sets from Deerhunter, who performed a remarkably buzzy set with excellent jams (perhaps to honor the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival at the same location, a festival that was the first major and heavily promoted rock festival in the United States) that blazed through the sky like the changing light and colors of the setting sun. Deerhunter were one of our favorite sets of the day.

In order to catch all of Deerhunter’s set, a festival goer who was not staying for the set up and performance of Purity Ring, had no choice but to miss some of Neko Case’s set. Case was essentially the opening artist for Modest Mouse, put on a predictably tight performance, selecting a range of songs from the band’s discography.

Earlier on Day Two, was a full afternoon’s worth of talented artists, including Toro Y Moi, Lucero, Devendra Banhart, Dr. Dog, Capital Cities, Antlers, The Dodos, Generationals, Avery Tare’s Slasher Ficks, Akron/Family, Seventeen Evergreen, Bleached, among others. That’s the kind of line-up we’re used to seeing at the bigger, already established and popular festivals like Coachella, ACL and Bonaroo.

Listen to more Day Two artists via IRC’s Spotify playlist

With all of those terrific bands performing one after another all afternoon, it’s hard to totally comprehend that the day’s headliners, which always draw the largest crowds, had yet to perform. As the sun began to dip little by little in the other direction, the number of Passion Pit and MGMT hipsters were increasing by the boat loads. It’s easy to conclude that many came to the festival just for one or two artists. And while the success of Passion Pit and MGMT grew out of the indie underground buzz, they are now clearly more mainstream than just a popular indie buzz band.

For example, in just the first few notes MGMT played of their popular song “Time to Pretend,” the enormous crowd roared with overwhelming approval as big crowds periodically do in the first few notes of wildly popular song. Again, a consistent theme we noticed about First City, the sound is amazing as far as outdoor festivals go. While MGMT delivered a good show, it wasn’t their best as one writer, Jody Amable, reported for a Bay Area blog called Bay Bridged. She wrote that MGMT: “rolled out the same old show they’ve been doing for years, featuring a whole lot of trippy visuals in retina-melting shades of neon to go with their brand of feathers-and-face-paint electro pop,” and while psychedelic visuals are a ‘time honored tradition’ for rock that originated in the Bay Area to begin with (and MGMT is a San Francisco band), the visuals were “starting to upstage them [MGMT] a little bit.” It’s true that the visuals aspect of the set was old hat, but the main annoyance was the temporary blinding effect and disorientation caused by overly contrasted and brightened visuals that flashed on and off repeatedly.

If you were trying to take photos from a few rows or more from the stage with a phone camera, chances are you got little else but big, blinding splashes of neon colors across the picture. Maybe that’s why they did it. Maybe it’s a secret government brainwashing mechanism. No, but seriously, tone it down guys. Or maybe it goes so well with MGMT’s hipster image and fan base that it’s purposely made to be way over the top.

By the time the closing act for Day One, Passion Pit, came on, the arena was packed with tens of thousands of people crammed into the fairground’s dusty Redwood stage area (which is built more for rodeos than music concerts). Passion Pit topped off the first day of what was an amazing afternoon and evening (11 hours total) of music. The band played with the quality of performance one would expect from such an accomplished band that started out DIY, went indie and are now admired by millions of young people around the world.

First City’s inaugural would have been solid even if all of the artists scheduled for Day One were spread out over two days. Yet, there was still another blockbuster day of performances from excellent bands still to come.

As we noticed all weekend, the sound at First City was spectacular, and there are likely a number of variables for that – one of course being the size of the grounds and the stage areas – relatively small compared to bigger festivals with a line-up the caliber of First City’s. Often times, a new festival can’t get dozens of popular indie bands booked for a variety of reasons. There are few debut music festivals that have a powerful lineup like First City did. We’re already curious about what they have in the works right now for 2014. First City is also a music festival that was clearly designed for indie rock fans. However, the festival’s name is attributed to the fact that Monterey was the first capital of California.

In the few reviews of the festival, there is not much emphasis placed on the sound quality. Sure, there is plenty of cred to the sound engineers – that’s a given. But the relatively small area, compared to Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park, keeps the sound contained and the number of trees and mostly wooden structures in and around the fair grounds absolutely help to provide a better, fuller sound inside that space. Now we can see part of the reason why Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Janis Joplin all became famous directly as a result of their performances at Monterey Pop Festival in June of 1967. The sound, even with the little sound quality technology that existed at the time, must have been incredible.

To that point, there is the once best-selling official soundtrack from Monterey Pop as well as the film by the same name. See our preview of First City that includes an embedded video of rare concert bonus footage that was not released on the official film (no idea who posted it, but YouTube could remove it at anytime).

While there is some tweaking to do here and there, for the debut of a new festival, the organizers, Golden Voice, did a spectacular job, and they also brought a major rock festival back to the place where they were born nearly a half century ago. Plus, it’s simply a terrific spot to have a music festival for the ambience, ease of parking, fresh ocean air, moderate temps, and definitely for the acoustics. During his Father John Misty set, Tillman even commented to the crowd that there was something wrong with anyone who didn’t think it was an ideal place for a music festival.

The Monterey Fairgrounds has been home to the world famous Monterey Jazz Festival for the past 55 years. In fact, from September 20th to September 22nd, three weeks from now, the Monterey Jazz Festival will celebrate is 56th year, further solidifying its place in music history as one of the world’s oldest and continuously running music festivals.

First City will most certainly return next year based on the feedback we’ve been hearing, and a number of artists who openly praised the festival to the audience during their sets. Although the festival did not sell out of tickets by the time the gates opened on Saturday at 11 am., the crowds we saw, particularly at the Redwood stage for the top headliners, certainly seemed to be in the tens of thousands. Monterey Pop had 55,000 in attendance. From looking at the crowds in different locations throughout the two days, we’d say it was closer to 55,000 than not. The most striking similarity we could see to Monterey Pop 46 years ago was the attire. As was the case at Outside Lands just a few weeks ago, there were thousands of teenage girls and young adult women dressed in hippie-style attire, from dresses and flowery head bands to ripped jeans and colorful blouses and even polyester. For anyone who has seen many images over the years of the attire of the real hippies from the actual original time period, seeing all the hipsters as if they walked off a 1969 photograph, was trippy, mostly because it was so right on, right down to the straight, long hair and minimal facial make up.

If you’re already thinking about festivals to attend next summer in California, follow news during the coming winter and spring about First City via their mailing list. Plus, if you’ve never been to the San Francisco Bay Area (Monterey is part of the central coast region, some 110 miles south of San Francisco), and you have the ability to do so, it’s strongly recommended to spend a few extra days to see San Francisco and other amazing places in the Bay Area and central coast, including Monterey’s famous Aquarium, the 17 Mile Drive, the redwoods, and the Golden Gate Bridge, to name a few. If luck has it, the second annual First City will occur the weekend following, or proceeding, San Francisco’s hugely popular Outside Lands Festival. That’ll make it possible for visitors to California, who also love music festivals, to attend both fests. Bundling for vacations is always a good idea, and if this year is any indication, attending First City in 2014 should be high on the list for indie rock fans.

First City Festival Premieres with Modest Mouse, Beach House, Passion Pit, MGMT, Toro Y Moi

Posted on 08/18/201312/18/2019 by Max Hammer

Powerhouse indie rock artists such as Modest Mouse, Passion Pit, MGMT, Beach House, Toro Y Moi, Devendra Banhart and Neko Case will headline the inaugural of the First City Festival in Monterey, California next weekend, August 24-25th. Dozens of other popular artists and bands, including Deerhunter, Washed Out, Okkervil River, The Hold Steady, Father John Misty, Dr. Dog, and The Dodos, are scheduled to perform at the premiere two-day music festival.

With the blockbuster success of the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival last weekend in San Francisco, fest fever is running high, and for many music lovers in northern California, and beyond (especially those who were unable to attend the sold out Outside Lands), First City is a fest not to be missed.

While its location on the beautiful coast of Monterey Bay is idyllic, the main draw of First City is the amazing lineup. Altogether, there are more than 30 top-notch artists and bands scheduled to perform on three stages from noon to 11 pm Saturday and Sunday. They include, in addition to the already mentioned headliners, Georgian electro artist Ernest Greene, better known by the stage name, Washed Out; Austin’s homespun sons, Okkervil River; Brooklyn indie rockers The Hold Steady; Texas psychedelic rockers The Black Angels; famous songwriter and instrumentalist J. Tillman‘s (Fleet Foxes) newest project, featuring the moniker, Father John Misty; Portland experimental country/folk band Blitzen Trapper; plus, Civil Twilight, Delta Rae, Tennis, Quadron, Eli “Paperboy” Reed, Guards, and Guy Blakeslee. That’s just on Day One.

View the full schedules, and create a custom schedule, for Day One and Two.

“Love Is Greed” – Passion Pit from Gossamer

“Electric Feel” – MGMT from Congratulations

“Real Love” – Beach House from Teen Dream

“Amor Fati” – Washed Out from Within and Without

“Bad Vibrations” – The Black Angels from Phosphene Dream

“Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings” – Father John Misty from Fear Fun

“Love the Way You Walk Away”– Blitzen Trapper from American Goldwing

Listen to the full playlist of songs from Day One artists via Spotify

Day Two Lineup and Schedule for First City

On Day Two, in addition to top headliners Modest Mouse, Neko Case, Toro Y Moi and Devendra Banhart, artists and bands set for Sunday include Brooklyn psychedelic band Deerhunter; Candanian electro duo and Juno Award nominee Purity Ring; Philadelphia indie rockers Dr. Dog; New Orleans rockers Generationals; Los Angeles indie pop duo Capital Cities; Memphis country-punk rock band Lucero; Brooklyn indie rockers The Antlers; Portland experimental folk outfit Akron/Family; San Francisco indie rock duo The Dodos; as well as Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks, Bleached, Seventeen Evergreen, Electric Guest, and Light Fantastic.

“Dashboard” – Modest Mouse from We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank [Explicit]

“The Ocean Breaths Salty” – Modest Mouse from Good News For People Who Love Bad News

“Middle Cyclone” – Neko Case from Middle Cyclone

“Say That” – Toro Y Moi from Anything in Return

“Helicopter”– Deerhunter from Halcyon Digest

“How Long Must I Wait” – Dr. Dog from Be The Void

Listen to more Day Two artists via IRC’s Spotify playlist

First City is a festival tailor-made for indie rock fans. With a line-up that rivals any two-day festival in the U.S. this year, the cost of admission, in our opinion, is well worth it, especially for avid indie rock fans. How many opportunities does any music lover get to see this many fantastic bands all in one place over a two-day, 22-hour music marathon?

Last week, festival organizers, Golden Voice, announced a number of after parties that include a DJ set from Passion Pit on Saturday night at the Blue Fin in historic Cannery Row. Also on Saturday evening The Hold Steady will perform a show with Eli “Paperboy” Reed at Planet Gemini, located across the street from the Fairgrounds. Get tickets for Passion Pit or The Hold Steady; as with the festival two-day passes and single day passes, there are no added fees. Carnival rides and games will also be available, which can be purchased via the official First City website.

First City is the latest of a number of major music festival to premiere northern California in recent years. With the success of the Outside Lands and Treasure Island music festivals in San Francisco, it sure seems very likely that First City will be as well.

The picturesque seaside town of Monterey, located some 120 miles south of San Francisco, was made famous around the world as the inspiration for many of John Steinbeck’s historic novels, for the magnificent Monterey Aquarium, and for the beautiful Pebble Beach golf course.

In the arena of music, the coastal city is widely known as the location of the annual Monterey Jazz Festival, one of the longest continuously-running music festivals in the world. But it is best known in the history of rock for the Monterey Pop Festival (June 16-18, 1967), the first major outdoor rock festival in the United States. Some of the greatest rock and roll artists of all time – Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and The Who – received their first major exposure to America at Monterey Pop.

With the subsequent film and album, and press and radio air play, the now iconic artists became international rock super stars as a result of their appearances at Monterey Pop. The festival is also widely credited as a pivotal moment of the “Summer of Love” in 1967. Monterey Pop attracted 55,000 festival goers at the Monterey Fairgrounds, the same spot First City will kick-off it’s debut on August 24 and 25th.

Watch the Monterey Pop Festival, as well as bonus performances (of nearly two hours long), and various shorter performance videos via YouTube, including Jimi Hendrix’s historic performance when he burned and smashed his guitar.

The name for the First City Festival comes from the fact that Monterey was the first capital, or ‘first city,’ of California before it was moved to Sacramento.

Festival Goers Treated to Legendary Lineup at Outside Lands Music Festival; McCartney, NIN, Phoenix, RHCP, Vampire Weekend

Posted on 08/12/201312/18/2019 by Rick Sosa

Tens of thousands of music lovers descended on foggy Golden Gate Park this past weekend for three days of live music from artists and bands like Paul McCartney, Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, Nine Inch Nails, Yeah Yeah Yeahs , Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Those giants of music were just some of the headliners at the 6th annual Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco last weekend. OSL has quickly become one of the top major music fests in the United States.

As a festival known for its emphasis on representing a diverse range of genres from folk to rock and hip-hop to pop, Outside Lands did not disappoint. On Friday evening, the legendary Paul McCartney, now 71, performed for three hours, playing a string of Beatles’ songs he penned, from “Lady Madonna” and “Get Back” to “Blackbird” and “Ob La Di Ob La Da,” with tens of thousands of festival goers singing along. When great masses of people sing together in unison, it really sounds amazing. McCartney also played many Wings‘ songs, including classic 70’s radio hits like “Band on the Run,” “Listen to What The Man Said,” “Silly Love Songs,” and “Jet.” McCartney and the band also performed a number of songs from the former Beatles solo records as well.

paul-main-pic4 — McCartney performed a wonderful rendition of his classic song, "Yesterday," which many respected music critics consider one of the greatest ballads ever written. Photo by Leopold Ruiz

The stage, which is impressively gigantic considering that it was constructed in days (and has to be taken down in a couple of days as well) contained two gigantic screens, which for McCartney’s set were extended to at least 40 to 50-feet high. The picture quality was stunning, and to see a full shot of McCartney from head to toe on two massive screens was a unique perspective, and raised the bar for festival video displays.

Throughout his three-hour set, photos of McCartney through the years were splashed on the background screen. And if all of that wasn’t enough, the show included a thrilling fireworks display that illuminated brilliantly through the night fog.

Earlier in the day, festival goers crowded around stages to hear a host of artists like Band of Horses, Surfer Blood, The National (all on the main Land’s End stage) with other artists like Wild Belle, Twenty One Pilots, Zedd, Yeasayer and Pretty Lights, all of whom performed on the Twin Peaks stage, which as the venue map shows, was all of the way at the other end of the grounds, some three football fields apart.

The smaller stages like Sutro and the Panhandle featured sets from an array of artists ranging from The Heavy, Rhye and D’Angelo to Houndmouth, The Men, Daughter, Wavves and Chromatics. For fans of all types of music, Outside Lands definitely delivers in that regard.

Listen to IRC’s Spotify playlist for Day One of Outside Lands

outsidelands-crowd2 — Crowds packed a fog shrouded Golden Gate Park Saturday for Day Two of Outside Lands

Day Two: Young The Giant, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Tallest Man on Earth, NIN, Phoenix

On Saturday, Day Two of the festival, crowds flooded in early, with lines, just to get into the festival grounds, backing up for blocks. Day Two started off at noon with Bhi Bhiman and Locura, followed soon after by The Soft White Sixties and Social Studies.

Indie favorites Young The Giant took the main Land’s End stage in the mid-afternoon. The Los Angeles band, who’ve been recording their sophomore album for months, emerged to perform for a huge crowd that latched on to the band after the release of their debut album. Of course they performed a number of their popular radio-friendly songs like “Cough Syrup” and “I Got.”

nin-stage — Nine Inch Nails rock the Land's End stage on Day Two of Outside Lands. Photo by Leopold Ruiz.

Over-lapping with Young The Giant, for the most part, was The Growlers at the Sutro stage in nearby Lindley Meadow. The long-time indie band from Orange County in southern California started off their set with “Nosebleed Sun” and performed a number of their other fan favorites like “What It Is,” “Someday,” “Wandering Eyes” and “Sea Lion Goth Blues.”

Also over-lapping with those bands was the performance from Youth Lagoon who were performing at the second main stage, Twin Peaks, which is located far away from where Young The Giant and The Growlers were performing.

Alternative rap posse Jurassic 5, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, Baauer and Bombino finished out the afternoon schedule for Day Two, opening the way for evening performances from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Head and the Heart, Kurt Vile and The Violators, The Tallest Man on Earth, Grizzly Bear, The Mother Hips, and the Saturday night closers, Nine Inch Nails and Phoenix.

chocolands-outsidelands — Choco Lands played out a familiar theme of art exhibits and expressions in the tree-covered areas of the Outside Lands festival grounds. Photo by Leopold Ruiz

Nine Inch Nails, which turns 25 next year, performed their dark hard rock on the Land’s End stage to a massive audience. The band ripped out some of NIN’s newer songs to start off their set, including tracks like “Copy of A” and “Disappointed,” which will appear on the band’s upcoming eight album release, Hesitation Marks.

Later in the two and a half hour set featuring 19 songs, NIN performed many of their most well-known songs, like “Closer,” “Came Back Haunted,” and “The Hand That Feeds.” For an encore, Trent Reznor, the only original NIN band member, belted out “Hurt” with his fellow band members before a crowd that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the festival grounds, a younger generation’s band, the popular French electro-pop outfit, Phoenix, performed to an equally large, and enthusiastic, audience, delivering tracks like “Entertainment,” “Lasso,” and “Lisztomania,” to open their one hour and fifteen-minute set. Prior to Phoenix, Brooklyn indie folk rock band Grizzly Bear performed on the Twin Peaks stage while The Head and the Heart played at the Sutro stage and while festival headliners, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, rocked the main stage at Land’s End.

The biggest downfall, in our opinion, of a festival like Outside Lands, where the two main stages (Lands End and Twin Peaks) are some three to four football fields apart, is missing sets from bands that are playing basically at the same time. The distance between the two main stages makes it nearly impossible to see a half set from one band and leave in time to catch most of the second half of the other band’s performance.

This dilemma occurred a number of times during the festival; in fact, sometimes three or four bands and artists were playing at the same time. The issue with overlapping performances occurred a number of times on Day Two including during the block of time from 6:30 to 8:30 pm when Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Tallest Man on Earth, The Mother Hips, The Head and the Heart and Grizzly Bear – three of our favorite artists at the fest.

During their 13-song set, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs stirred up a massive, excited crowd of tens of thousands of mostly younger (under 25) festival goers who were packed in from the front of the stage area all the way back to The Dome – the spot (see here on the official festival map) where deejays and mix masters performed all weekend, and which often obscured the sound from the main stage for people furthest from the stage.

Karen O and the YYY’s opened with “Sacrilege,” followed by “Gold Lion” and “Mosquito.” By mid-set, the band knocked out the ominous “Heads Will Roll,” and saved signature songs like “Maps” and “Zero” for the latter half of their performance. A gigantic image of the band’s YYY logo graced the backdrop of the enormous Land’s End stage.

Other artists that played on Day Two included Social Studies, Locura, Milo Greene, James McCartney (Paul McCartney’s son), Cherub, and newer favorites of cafe patrons, Atlas Genius.

* Listen to a Spotify playlist of Day Two artists from Outside Lands 2013.

rhcp-3 — The Red Hot Chili Peppers closed Outside Lands with a masterful and energetic performance. Photo by Leopold Ruiz

Day Three Delivered Red Hot Chili Peppers, Camper Van Beethoven, Kaskade, Vampire Weekend

Day Three of Outside Lands kicked off with artist like Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, The Easy Leaves, The Wild Feathers and Little Green Cars. The legendary 80’s underground band, Camper Van Beethoven, from Santa Cruz, California, graced the Sutro stage. CVB performed many of their cult classics, like “Take The Skinheads Bowling” and the crowd pleasing “Northern California Girls.”

kurtvile5 — Kurt Vile and The Violators jammed on the Sutro stage in Lindley Meadow on Sunday to a lively crowd. Photo by Leopold Ruiz

Philadelphia indie folk rockers, Kurt Vile and the Violators, sounded superb during their set; that is, when they overcame technical issues. Vile opened with the standout track “Jesus Fever” from the 2011 album, Smoke Ring For My Halo. However, the on-going sound issues made the song sound flatter than it does on the official recording.

The natural surroundings actually prevented the sound issues from being even more disruptive. That’s mainly because the Sutro stage is located in smaller area, where a grassy meadow (Lindley Meadow) carpets a long and narrow raven that is shaded and shielded by towering clusters of eucalyptus and pine trees.

It was necessary to leave the Kurt Vile set a bit early to get back to the Land’s End stage to catch one of IRC’s favorite indie rock bands of recent years – Foals. The Oxford, England band formed in 2005, and in 2008, released their well-received U.K. debut album. Nonetheless, it was Foals’ 2010 sophomore album, Total Life Forever, that launched the band’s popularity in the States, a wild wave that they have surfed swimmingly all the way to their headline status at Outside Lands.

Foals opened their set with “Prelude,” that was quickly followed by songs like “Miami” and “Olympic Airways.” As the band’s 10-song set progressed, the audience, many who were claiming their spots close to the stage for the later headlining bands like Vampire Weekend and festival closer, Red Hot Chili Peppers.

foals-3 — The U.K. power indie rock band Foals were one of the main headliners for the closing day of Outside Lands 2013. Photo by Leopold Ruiz.

Following Foals, it was off to the eastern side of the festival grounds to the Panhandle stage to catch some of King Tuff‘s set, after which it was time to return to the west side once again to the Sutro stage to catch Dawes, who have previously performed at OSL. Dawes played songs like their opening track, “From A Window Seat,” as well as “Most People,” “Fire Away,” and “Time Spent in Los Angeles.” We missed all but one song of Daryl Hall & John Oates headlining set, but it did not phase us much; we’re not really fans of their 80’s radio pop music.

Approximately 15 minutes before the end of Dawes’ set, we headed over to the adjacent Land’s End stage to catch Vampire Weekend‘s headlining performance, and thus having to sacrifice sets from veterans Willie Nelson & Family, indie rock newbies Ms Mr and the powerhouse songwriting duo Matt & Kim. Unfortunately, these are the difficult and regrettable decisions that have to be made at any festival with nearly 100 artists, five stages and 65,000 people.

vampire2 — Vampire Weekend opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the Land's End stage on the last day of Outside Lands. Photo by Leopold Ruiz.

Vampire Weekend, it goes without saying, was one of the main draws of Day Three, and were essentially opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers, a compliment for any band. VW has improved immensely, in all ways, from when we first saw them at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco in 2008, before they exploded into a worldwide ‘indie rock’ pop sensation. The band took the stage to a roaring welcome from the juiced up audience, which was as interesting as it was thrilling, considering that most of those in the audience were long in place to see the closing set from the RHCP.

Perhaps there are more RHCP fans who are also Vampire Weekend fans, and vice-versa? Regardless, VW opened their 17-song, 70-minute, set with the crowd pleasing favorite, “Cousins,” followed by other VW singles like “White Sky” and “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.” The New York band also performed most of their other signature tracks like “A-Punk,” “Horchata,” “Oxford Comma,” and “Walcott,” much of the time with the crowd singing along.

As the last shows of Outside Lands 2013 were drawing near, it struck us just how fast the entire event zoomed right by. But this happens at all festivals – there’s just too much to see and to much to do. It was now down to the last two headliners – the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kaskade. We decided to split up to cover each separately. While it will be remembered for many great performances, these two top acts, scheduled to close out Outside Lands 2013, were among the most memorable.

kaskade-2 — Kaskade brought his groovy beats and synth pop waves to OSL 2013's final hours with a superb set. Photo by Leopold Ruiz

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who are easily one of the most popular rock bands of the past two decades, took the stage Sunday night to the roar of 40,000-plus festival goers who jammed the west side of Golden Gate Park for the closing set, while the remaining crowd of some 25,000 people, packed it in for the Twin Peaks performance by electro-pop beats artist Kaskade.

RHCP hit the ground running, opening with jam session that got the band and the massive crowd pumped up for the first song, “Can’t Stop,” followed by an electrifying “Dani, California” and “Otherside.” The band was just getting warmed up.

With the exception of what can only be classified as odd banter from iconic RHCP bassist Flea, the band ripped through an amazingly executed set of crowd pleasing songs that included “Under the Bridge,” “Give It Away,” and “Californication,” to name just a few of the 15 songs, including two encores.

Despite Flea’s strange ramblings, the RHCP would not have the power they do without Flea’s legendary bass riffs. And while As their name implies, RHCP were red hot, a stark contrast to the foggy, drizzly, windy and cool weather that surrounded them. Oh, and just a personal note, but the lip hair doesn’t work.

There were many festival goers that were torn by having to choose between the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kaskade. And as with the RHCPs, Kaskade made certain that his fans would also be treated to a fantastic closing set for Outside Lands 2013, delivering a two-hour set of dance beats mixed masterfully with Kaskade’s unique electro pop grooves.

outsidelands-wonderworld — In addition to three 10-hour days of live music, OSL 2013 also offered explorations of artistic themes like Wonder World. Photo by Leopold Ruiz

Although the sun failed to break through the thick, gray fog over the three days (which is typical for San Francisco in August), that did not dampen festival goers enthusiasm. In fact, we’ve heard many say it’s preferable to the scorching heat and humidity of most other big summer time festivals.

Each day of the OSL festival, some 65,000 people flowed into the city’s Golden Gate Park, walked long distances between the five stages, browsed the many art exhibits and murals set up in the park and trekking through the forested areas that included temporary wonder lands like Choco Lands, a chocolate-centric area that included just about everything one could imagine made with chocolate.

What a way to end another historic Outside Lands festival. In fact, OSL, together with the Treasure Island Music Festival (which also began in 2008), has brought major outdoor music festivals back to San Francisco, which itself is arguably the birthplace of outdoor music festivals (which then were often free, featured a limited number of bands, were much less organized, and certainly didn’t have corporate backing) as they were an integral part of the Haight-Ashbury ‘hippie’ scene that emerged in the mid to late 1960s.

outsidelands-lights — A grove of lights illuminate a forested area of Golden Gate Park during Outside Lands. Photo by Leopold Ruiz

Major outdoor music festivals in San Francisco and the surrounding region pretty much ended in 1969 with the tragic events of the Altamount Music Festival, promoted in the weeks leading up to the fest as the “Woodstock of the West.”

Sadly, that didn’t turn out to be the case. IRC will be publishing an extensive look at music festivals in the San Francisco Bay Area and northern California in the next couple of weeks and we will also be covering the upcoming inception of the new First City Music Festival (August 24-25) in Monterey, with a line-up featuring MGMT, Modest Mouse, Passion Pit, Neko Case and many others.

Stay tuned for more coverage of Outside Lands 2013, with additional playlists, photo galleries and video to be added in the coming days.

Artist of the Week: Barcelona’s Francis White

Posted on 08/03/201312/18/2019 by Max Hammer

It didn’t take long to be drawn in by the music of Barcelona singer/songwriter, and art student, Francis White. The 23-year-old Spanish art student started his musical career out by playing other artists’ songs, but soon found himself writing and recording his own songs, many of which were written and rehearsed while sitting at the laundromat with his dog. He played the various instruments – guitar, bass, drums – in his bedroom again and again until he achieved the tracks he needed to mix the instruments and record the vocals.

Within a relatively short period of time (less than one year), White realized that he had enough songs that he was satisfied with to release his self-titled, debut album, one that is truly emblematic of a DIY artist from start to finish. Released in May, the results are songs like the upbeat, driving pop song, “Calipso,” which is arguably the crown jewel of his debut. The arrangements are inspired by “vintage sounds, soft vocals and lo-fi recording sound,” as White himself put it.

“Calipso” – Francis Whitefrom Francis White

We’ve listened to the album a number of times in the past couple of months, and one of the things that stands out is the range of musical styles that White embraces, from mid-tempo folk/pop ballads, such as “Like a Stranger,” and the hard rocking “On My Way” to the more edgy, punk-leaning angst of “Pleased To Meet You.” His music is as diverse as his biggest musical influences, including Richard Hawley, The Drums, Crystal Castles, The Beatles, and Salim Nourallah, among others.
“Like a Stranger” – Francis White from Francis White

Most people would probably agree that a self-taught artist in his early 20’s who writes, sings, plays, records and mixes all of the instruments for his songs, and then spends God knows how many hours mixing them all together, deserves extra points. Not many people can do that, even most other musicians. Although we certainly like these lo-fi recordings, it’s exciting to think how they’d sound with a great producer, engineered and mixer who all understood the importance to maintain as much of the gritty, DIY, lo-fi mystique as possible.

In choosing White as an Artist of the Week, we took all of these factors into consideration. The bottom line is that White has clearly demonstrated talent, ambition and promise, and we’ll be watching his progress. There are not many artists at his age that can pull off a feat like that from A to Z. Maybe in a year or two from now, more fans of DIY one-man bands will know about Francis White.

“On My Way” – Francis Whitefrom Francis White

“Pin Up” – Francis Whitefrom Francis White

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