Continuing on his latest North American tour, the Brooklyn musician, George Lewis Jr., better known as the synth-pop artist Twin Shadow, stopped in San Francisco this week for two sold-out shows at the American Music Hall.
Lewis is touring with keyboardist Wynne Bennett and a couple of touring band members. Lewis and Bennett collaborated on the recently released sophomore Twin Shadow album, Confess, which Lewis self-produced.
“Five Seconds” – Twin Shadow from Confess*
* MP3 version of Confess is on a special, limited time sale via Amazon for only $5.99. The CD edition is $8.99 and the special vinyl edition is $17.98
Among the biggest crowd pleasers Thursday night were some of Twin Shadow’s newest songs on Confess, like “Golden Light,” “When The Movie’s Over,” and “I Don’t Care,” all of which have a decidedly more pop-driven groove than the songs on his acclaimed 2010 debut, Forget.
Photos by Ryan Holmes
A native of the Dominican Republic by way of Florida, Lewis moved to Boston in 2000 and formed the band, Mad Man Films, with drummer Joseph Ciampini, now of Hooray for Earth. Not satisfied with recording music for theatre and films, Lewis moved to Brooklyn and started the Twin Shadow project.
From San Francisco, Twin Shadow and his touring band, head down to southern California, then throughout the desert west, the central U.S., the south, the northeast, and then all the way back to San Francisco for yet another show at the American Music Hall on October 16th, before taking a two-week break. Twin Shadow will resume its 2012 tour with a sold-out Halloween concert in Manchester, England on Oct 31st. From there, Twin Shadow will tour western Europe for two weeks before wrapping up a 36-city, nearly four-month long tour.
Some people may wonder why a popular, rising artist, who has played many music festivals, including Coachella (2011), Lollapalooza (2012), and Bonnaroo (2011), was not booked for America’s newest big music festival, Outside Lands, which just celebrated its 5th anniversary last week in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. It could be any number of reasons, but Bay Area fans still got to see Twin Shadow in a smaller venue than the Polo Fields, the former which offers more intimacy, and often, better sound quality.
Photographs of Thursday night’s show (Aug. 16th) by San Francisco photographer Ryan Holmes. His personal website is Sixteenth & Broadway.
Best Coast were one of the hottest new bands of the past year
In the fifth and final poll for the Best Breakthrough Band of 2010, readers overwhelming selected Los Angeles lo-fi surf rock pop trio Best Coast with 42% of 520 votes. The band was started by songwriter and front woman Bethany Cosentino (formerly of Pocahaunted) and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno. After going through a couple different drummers, the duo officially signed on former Vivian Girls member Ali Koehler as drummer.
After a couple of successful EPs in 2009, Best Coast released their debut LP, Crazy For You, in July 2010, and it quickly became a hit, so much so that the album even peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard Top 200. The LP was released on the indie record label, Mexican Summer. Apparently, Jerry Seinfeld, Bruce Springsteen and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) are fans of Best Coast. Here are some of our favorite Best Coast tracks, but first here is the band’s newest track that was recorded with Wavves and released last month and included in our new Christmas Songs playlist.
“Sun Was High (So Was I)” – Best Coast from s/t single, 2009
In the latest poll in Break-Through Bands of 2010, Best Coast won by a landslide
At a distant second place is the one-man chillwave star, Twin Shadow (12%), followed by Horse Feathers (10%) in third place. Even though Best Coast are such a huge new breakout band of 2010, we’re surprised that such huge new talents like Cloud Nothings and Twin Sister only registered 6% of votes apiece to round our the Top 5.
We have to say that for this latest poll, it was expected that Best Coast would take the top spot – we just didn’t realize it would be with such a steep landslide. Then again, Best Coast have been selling out shows from coast to coast, and packing in crowds at music festivals as well as garnering approval from their contemporaries, the mainstream press, bloggers, and most importantly, fans. Can’t wait to our fingers on the next Best Coast release – you can bet you’ll hear about it first on IRC.
Twin Shadow Does The Drums and Hooray for the Earth
Nowadays in the indie music mixers world the name George Lewis Jr. might not be immediately recognizable, but when follow-up and say he is the man behind Twin Shadow, most indie followers know who that is. Not only did he place No. 2 to Best Cost in this latest poll, he also did a recent remix of Hooray for the Earth’s “A Place We Like” and The Drums’ “Me And The Moon.” Twin Shadow’s terrific debut, Forget, is one of the best debut’s of the year.
“A Place We Like”- Twin Shadow with Hooray for the Earth vs. The Drums
“Slow” – Twin Shadow from Forget
“Thistled Spring” – Horse Feathers from Thistled Spring
Bonus: “Drain You” (Nirvana) – Horse Feathers
“Even If It Worked Out” – Cloud Nothings
“All Around and Away We Go” – Twin Sisters from Color For Life
Stay tuned for the final poll. We’re going to take the top two voted bands for each of the five polls to create a Top 10 poll in which all of you will decide the Top 10 Break-Through Bands of 2010. Take a look at the previous four polls, containing dozens of the best new bands and best new songs of 2010.
Now that the celebration of the San Francisco Giants’ World Series victory and parade have passed, it’s time to catch up with a bundle of sweet new songs, including free and legal MP3s from Crystal Castles, The Radio Dept., Club 8, Woodsman, Smith Westerns, Twin Shadow, Woodsman, Junip & Run Roc.
During the past two years, the Ontario, Canada experimental electronica duo Crystal Castles, comprising of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass, have exploded in popularity on the indie scene and beyond. Their 2008 self-titled debut LP was voted one of the top 50 albums of the 2000’s by NME magazine. In this awesome new track, “Not In Love,” the duo collaborated with The Cure‘s frontman Robert Smith.
“Not In Love” (with Robert Smith) – Crystal Castles
Labrador Records’ Recording Artists Drop New Singles
The Swedish indie pop band, and Labrador recording artist, The Radio Dept., have dropped a new single single, the title track to Never Follow Suit, a new “dub” EP from the band that will drop next week. Only 1,000 12-inch vinyl EPs have been pressed. The EP contains five tracks. We’ve also included “The New Improved Hypocrisy”, a single not on the EP that the band quietly released this past September.
Plus, their label mates, Club 8, have a new MP3 single for the Nov. 23rd release of a limited edition seven-inch, Closer Now. The track, “Closer Now,” is a melodic fusion of psychedelia, Stone Roses‘ guitars, West African chants and rhythms mixed with Club 8’s special blend of Swedish pop hooks.
“Follow Suit” – The Radio Dept. from Never Follow Suit EP
“The New, Improved Hypocrisy” – The Radio Dept., unreleased single
“Closer Now” – Club 8 from Closer Now 7″ – Nov. 23rd
Denver’s Smith Westerns Announce Debut LP for January Drop
This past summer was a grand one for Denver’s rising band, Smith Westerns, whose name recognition and fan following grew by leaps and bounds, due in part to a wildly successful cross-country tour and blogger love. Just the other day, the band announced the official release for their sophomore album, Dye It Blonde, and provided the track listing and album art (pictured above). Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House), produced the new LP. Although we do not yet have an official single from Dye It Blonde, the short film, Friends Forever, features a performance of the band playing “All Die Younger”.
The film was shot by popular indie artist and photographer, Ryan McGinley, who captured Smith Westerns’ performance at this year’s Pitchfork Festival. In addition, the film also features footage from San Francisco rising indie band, Girls‘, gig at Pitchfork. Interestingly enough, both bands will be featured in IRC’s Best Bands of 2010. Don’t miss the Soundcloud stream for the fabulous track, “Weekend.”
Twin Shadow Does The Drums and Hooray for the Earth
Nowadays in the indie music mixers world the name George Lewis Jr. is immediately connected to one-man outfit, Twin Shadow, another break-through ‘band’ of 2010. In the past week or so, Twin Shadow have remixed Hooray for the Earth’s “A Place We Like” and The Drums “Me And The Moon.” Twin Shadow’s terrific debut, Forget, is out now in the U.S., and for the rest of the world (ROW), on November 15, 2010.
“A Place We Like”- Twin Shadow vs. Hooray for the Earth
Earlier this year Lefse Records released Woodsman’s Mystery Tape EP, and will follow it up in January with their Rare Forms full length from which the track below, “Insects”, is taken. Woodsman is an experimental ambient post-psychedelic band based in Denver. Influenced by hazy mountain passes, the cinema of Stan Brakhage, and early 1970’s improvisational recordings by Miles Davis, Woodsman has crafted aural offerings that are uniquely one of a kind.
“Insects” – Woodsman from Mystery Tape EP
Junip’s New Material Remixed By Run Roc
After some years on hiatus,the band Junip returned in September with the awesome LP, Fields. Junip was formed in the late 1990s by drummer Elias Araya, singer and guitarist José González, and organ and moog player Tobias Winterkorn. The band is now on tour stateside through Thanksgiving, and are sharing a Run Roc remix of one of the best songs on the EP, “Always.”
“Always” (Run Roc Remix) – Junip
Anya Marina Preps New EP To Drop Nov. 15th
California-bred and now Portland, Oregon-based singer Anya Marina will release her Spirit School EP on November 15, providing the first glimpse of new material from Marina since her 2009 single “Satellite Heart,” which was featured on The Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack. The new EP features guest appearances and mixes from Courtney Taylor-Taylor (Dandy Warhols) (featured below), Sam Fogarino (Interpol), and Michael Lerner (Telekinesis), among others. Marina says Spirit School is “a collection of similarly misfit songs that are very dear to me.”
