Kim Gordon helped open up Noise Pop 21 at Rickshaw Tuesday, February 26th with her post-Sonic Youth project Body/Head with Bill Nanace. Our Do415 photographer, Bailey Greenwood was there to catch Body/Head’s first San Francisco performance along with Horsebladder, and Burmese.

Do415’s Bailey Greenwood caught the SF performance of retro-rocker DJ McPherson at Slim’s on December 12th. Looks like we missed out on a great dance party!

Wintersalt 2012 is coming to Fort Mason Festival Pavilion in just over a week! If you haven’t locked down a NYE party, or have too many to choose from, why not celebrate surviving the Apocalypse with Diplo, Travis Barker, DJ Shadow, Dillon Francis, Theophilus London and many more. Do415 is also giving you a chance to win a pair of VIP passes!

Metz, the 3-piece hardcore band took the stage at Bottom of the Hill on Monday night and our photographer James Pawlish captured some great moments from the show.

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North Carolina’s Bowerbirds rolled through San Francisco last week by way of the Great American Music Hall. It was the final stop on their 2012 touring schedule, and for the foreseeable future at that. There’s a kind of grace to Bowerbirds’s music, like all great folk music, that straddles that line between pretty and haunting. Bowerbirds seem to just be doing it better than most these days. Dare I say even better than their friends that make up of Bon Iver. This, thanks in large part to the freak-folk four piece’s third LP, The Clearing, which was released in the spring, and is quite possibly the band’s best yet.

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We caught up with the San Francisco natives, Lemonade, when they came to play a show at the Rickshaw on June 17th. Callan discusses the the new album, San Francisco and what the future holds for Lemonade.

How have people received the new album?

I am personally a huge fan. The people that feel it seem to really connect with it far more than any other record we released. When we played the material on the last tour with neon Indian we felt a lot of love every night and it was really beautiful. Naturally people misunderstand us. They always have. This record is really direct and personal and I am sharing my heart. I hope people feel emotions they aren’t used to feeling when they listens to artists like us, whatever exactly artists like us is. I think it is about time.

Are you excited to come back and play in San Francisco? Do you miss it here since being in NY?

Yes definitely. Always. We actually try to visit as much as possible. So many of our friends have left but we are always happy to reconnect with those who haven’t, and I feel like we say this a lot but Mexican food is just such a bummer in New York.

Where do you find inspiration for your eclectic sound?

We like producers. It’s interesting to talk about the evolution of genres but when it comes down to the production there are so many similarities between new age and dance music and late 80’s R&B and balearic house or techno or dub or whatever. Sometimes you focus on the kick patterns and sometimes the bass moves around more and you stretch out the instrumental passages or whatever but all of it has really strong production similarities. I think that we are just trying to find our favorite sounds which happen to reoccur again and again in many genres of music. Just because we hear the same sounds in a Sade song or an Art of Noise song or an Alicia Keyes song from last year it doesn’t produce a lot of mental conflict for us. It just seems to fit.

What do you think the future holds for Lemonade?

The future of Lemonade has always felt really uncertain because we go through such extreme phases of inspiration and we never really settle comfortably into any genres or write for any existing audiences. In the immediate future I know that we will be totally immersed in this record for a while. We will become the record this summer. Hopefully we can do some more writing soon because we have so many ideas to work with. The next songs will probably be less blue and less soft focus and a bit sharper and brighter. Also it won’t be 4 years between albums this time. I don’t have another 4 years of patience in me.

Tastemaker Questions

What is (what would be) your twitter bio?

The dude at Ears of the Beholder. Co-founder of MEGABLAAG + City

Limits Records. Co-organizer of NightLife events at Cal Academy.

What upcoming event are you most excited about?

How To Dress Well at Rickshaw!

What is your favorite event space (gallery, venue, etc..) in the Bay Area?

For different reasons: Rickshaw Stop, Bottom of the Hill, Public Works

What artist or musician are you most proud of discovering before

everybody else? (this is your chance to brag, without actually being a

braggart, you’re just answering a question)

Julia Holter, Com Truise, Yalls (definitely not the very first person)

What is your favorite neighborhood in the Bay Area? Why?

The Mission, because I live there. Also, I really like the area

around Precita Park.

What has the best burrito in the city?

Taking into account proximity, I’d say El Metate or El Farolito

What is the Bay Area missing?

Lately I’ve wanted SF to have a mini-golf course.

If you had to order the same drink at a bar for the rest of your

life, what would you choose?

Shot of whisky and a beer, that’s basically one drink right?

Here We Go Magic is playing tonight at The Independent. We were able to catch up with them beforehand to see what they have been up too…

I recently heard you picked up John Waters in Pennsylvania, how was the experience? Are you more likely to pick up people now, it makes a great story. 

He was the first hitchhiker we’ve ever picked up, once we

realized it was him it was a no brainier. As a rule we don’t usually

pick up hitchhikers cuz every seats already taken.

Your new album A Different Ship was released in May, how do you think this album differs from other ones? How was working with a producer for the first time? 

It has more space and clarity. Working with Nigel was very natural.

I see you guys are playing some big festivals like Field Day, Evolution in the UK and Bonnaroo in Tennessee, what are you hoping to get from the audience and fans? Enthusiasm

What do you think the future holds for Here We Go Magic?

here we go magic will go till we drop. 

Anything you want to say to the city of San Francisco? Holla!

Also, This isn’t a questions but I absolutely love the music video for

“How Do I Know”

Thanks!

We got the chance to catch up with the Crystal Fighters before their show last week at the Independent. Here are some great photos and answered questions!

Here are responses from Crystal Fighter’s Gilbert Vierich!

**Your music is a melting pot of cultural, musical and stylistic influences, what do you think ties all of these aspects together?

I think its probably intrigue and curiostiy that ties it all together. Myself, Sebastian and Graham, all have a love for different types of music and we all love making it.

**How has this past/current tour been treating you. Are you getting the reactions from American fans you are looking for?

Being able to finally tour the USA properly is amazing. Its a great place and has so many different music scenes and all the cities have their own feeling. People seem to be liking it, and its amazing that when we go to places that we have never been before, there are people there to come and listen. Its a real pleasure to be able to do this. Thanks everyone for coming out so far.

Beyond that we have been touring with friends (and band) Is Tropical, who have not only been killing it on the stage, but have made the whole tour hilarious. Its really great to share stuff like this friends.

**Have you ever been to San Francisco before, what is your favorite part of this city?

Yeah, last time we hit up SF was a few months ago off the back of SXSW. It was pretty awesome, we played at Mezzanine for a Kitsune Clube night with Computer Magic.

This time though we are at The Independent and its an own show, so really looking forward to the slightly different vibe this time round.

I guess we didn’t get much of a chance last time to check it out. It was all burgers and soundchecks.

**When watching live footage, you truly bring the music alive with your energy. Did you always know performance was going to be an important part of the music? How do you think your live shows enhance the music?

When we first started, playing to people that was the only thing it was about. We would play, write more, change the music for the next weekend, and then go to the next tiny gig. We did that for about a year, playing over 100 shows in london alone. Then once people started to get to know us more, they wanted things to listen to, so we decided to make an album. From there our live show has just developed and developed, and its really the being of our music. And when we do play we take the album versions on to a higher level, adding more elements and allowing the songs to breath heavily.

**What do you think the future holds for the Crystal Fighters? Can we look for any new and exciting influences in your songwriting?

Currently we are writing our second album. We still feel we have a lot to discover with combining old basque influences with modern music, and we have come across so many new styles of music since we wrote the first one, so we hope it will sound like a natural progression. Apart from that, hitting up some festivals in August and having an awesome summer. Hope you do too!!

What are you going to do tonight, San Francisco?

Maps & Atlases, The Big Sleep, Hands @ Bottom of the Hill

Blitzen Trapper plus Sydney Wayser @ Mystic Theatre

Slide & Trevor and Mariam of World Town Present Lemonade @ Slide