Editors Blog
Thee Oh Sees
Top 5 San Francisco Bands
The Bay Area is hometown to lots of worthy up-and-coming musicians. SPIN's Abigail Everdell picks her must-hear faves.
By Abigail Everdell 12.03.08 7:11 AM
Thee Oh Sees
I spent five days over Thanksgiving happily soaking up the clear air and giant burritos of my hometown, San Francisco. The Bay Area is full of amazing bands who can only occasionally come up with the resources to tour the rest of the country. So I decided to bring them to you via SPIN.com. Below are the top five groups that make me wish I had never left home. Be sure to check them out if they come to your town.
The Dodos |
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Meric Long and Logan Kroeber's catchy, mostly-acoustic pop mixes honey-sweet vocals and fancy guitar picking with complex, impatient rhythms. I guess it could be called folk, but your irrepressibly tapping feet may disagree. Though the Dodos have only been around since 2006, two well-received LPs and a tireless touring schedule have helped the group build a buzz sizeable enough that you needn't worry about them going extinct.
Listen: The Dodos, "The Ball" |
Thee Oh Sees |
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I've noticed recently that a lot of the great music coming out of the Bay Area shares a garage rock heritage -- characterized by uncomplicated song constructions, stompingly high energy, and lo-fidelity production. The noisy riffs, boy/girl vocals, and consistently appealing melodies of former Coachwhip John Dwyer's Thee Oh Sees (otherwise known as OCS, Ohsees, etc), add up to the best and most developed example of the aesthetic, which may be the reason everyone I ask about S.F. bands mentions them first.
Listen: Thee Oh Sees, "Ghost In The Trees" |
Papercuts |
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Jason Quever's sun-bleached folk is the perfect soundtrack to an aimless drive along the Pacific Coast Highway. Weaving echo-shrouded vocal harmonies through psych-indebted organ and quavering strings, Humbolt county native Quever's compositions float somewhere between '60s folk nostalgia and the warped limbo of too long spent on the beach. Can't Go Back, Papercuts most recent release on Devendra Banhart's Gnomensong label, is a tonic for winter blues as effective as the brightest full-spectrum bulb.
Listen: Papercuts, "John Brown" |
Sic Alps |
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Matt Hartman and Mike Donovan pile heavy stomp and grimy fuzz onto classic pop structures, and jam like the only good amp is a blown amp, working up an impressive sweat in the process. The past few years have seen releases of material old (the early works compilation A Long Way Around to a Shortcut) and new (US E.Z.), both of which have brought the duo some long-delayed attention. Catch them live for a lesson in how impossibly loud and fuzz-ariffic a pop song can get.
Listen: Sic Alps, "Bathman" |
Numbers |
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Art punk mainstays Numbers have kept dancefloor skronk alive since the turn of the millennium, relying on Dave Broekema and Eric Landmark's guitar/synth combo and Indra Dunis's pounding rhythms and vocal leadership. Though the trio have maintained a consistent devotion to jarring and off-kilter music, 2007's Now You Are This saw them moving from abstract no wave noise towards a restraint akin to S.F. neighbors Deerhoof. But don't get too comfortable with the buzzing synth and slowed pace, these guys can still pack a serious punch.
Listen: Numbers, "The Ball" |
Bay Area bands and artist in general are definitely undefinable by a singular genre, I agree - well alot of them are. When bands form, they all bring to the table a mixture of their own culture and respect thus, creating an entirely new sound that needs to fit somewhere. Like the indie band 3rd World America from San Francisco .. lead vocalist used to be a rapper so you hear it in his delivery, Guitarist used to be a metal head and you hear it in the notation ... the combined sound is one that feeds a wide range of listeners liking for "multiple styles of music".
Consistently San Francisco bands want nothing to do with the legacy of Black cultural contributions to rock including intricate rhythms, jazz chords and traditional musicianship. For an interracial city like San Francisco I am disappointed with the very anglo and stale sound that comes out of there. As a president of record label part of the EMI group, I am not inspired by these picks at all. At least I will not be handing record deals out for this. Let me hear rock as it should be from Prince to James Brown a mix on cultures not a know your market, audience formula anti music genre.
Ted Mason
President
Mi5 Recordings
dark justice
Kelley Stoltz is on my top 5-
Awesome! Can't wait to check these out!!! (Can Hot Toddies be #6? ;)
what about Tea Leaf Green?
where are The Mumlers? San Jose counts as the Bay Area!
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