SoCalled
SoCalled (Montreal, Quebec) is experimental hip hop mixed with klezmer and traditional Jewish song influence.

"SoCalled, AKA Josh Dolgin, is again showing why he is one of the most acclaimed producers around. His second album, GhettoBlaster, is the reinterpretation of Jewish music through hip-hop. Digging deep into the crates to find samples that would accurately reflect him, SoCalled has assembled a unique collection of breaks from Yiddish theatre, cantorial music and a variety of other Jewish songs. The contrast of the deeply powerful traditional singing on (Rock the) Belz with the breezy rhymes of the MCs pulls at you from so many more directions than your average hip-hop song. It is SoCalled’s ability to highlight the commonalties in the tones of various languages that make this project a universal, cross national, linguistic success." - Jive Magazine

"One of the most deliciously demented minds in beat science." - Village Voice

Zoyres
Zoyres performs original and Eastern European traditional music (klezmer, Balkan, etc.), often in quite untraditional ways, with new arrangements and an improvising/experimental bent. (bio)

Charming Hostess
Charming Hostess is three women in a whirl of eerie harmony, hot rhythm and radical braininess. Our music is intensely physical, rooted in the body--voices and vocal percussion, handclaps and heartbeats, sex-breath and silence. We live where Jewish and African diasporas collide, incorporating doo-wop, Pygmy counterpoint, Balkan harmony and Andalusian melody. Our music is deeply engaged with text and with questions of authenticity, montage, and the effect of music on non-verbal languages. (bio)

Punk Rock Sideshow w/DJ Tragic & the Duchess of Hazard, every Monday

Judgement Day
Brothers Anton and Lewis Patzner started off playing strictly classical violin and cello duets but quickly turned to the dark side with a new metal band called Judgement Day. Now, with the help of hard rock drummer Jon Bush they're known throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for their intense live club shows and shred-fest guerilla street shows. Violinist Anton has been featured as a touring member of Bright Eyes and The Faint and both Anton and Lewis will be featured on the upcoming Taking Back Sunday record. Their critically aclaimed debut album "Dark Opus" is a half-hour epic that includes everything from crunchy hardcore breakdowns to gigantic, soaring, full orchestral, full choral madness. (bio)

Captain Ahab
"Musically, LA's Captain Ahab first full-length is a bricolage of the most euphoric moments of the trance and happy hardcore genres. In previous releases, the band has dabbled in everything from execrable rap-rock (check out their Snakes on a Plane contest-winning "Snakes on the Brain") to Miami booty bass.
The duo is able to pull off such exercises in genre because singer/programmer Jonathan Snipes approaches the lyrics of the songs less as caricature and more as a conduit for forbidden, excessive emoting." - California Aggie

Boss the Big Bit
“BTBB are the number-one party band in the Sacto-area. They mesh an unfettered indie-rock aesthetic more akin to its beer-drinking, slacking older cousin than its contemporary adolescent, squeaky and precious counterpart with elctronics a la Aavikko and French 1970’s Perrey/ Kingsley grooves (with generous serving of Commodore 64 emulation mixed-in.) Forces include Teddy briggs (aka Chief Briggum) singing catchy pop melodies and killing his drum set in common time, stopping oly to let his home-made sampling contraption “the green machine” interject; Gonzalo Eyzaguirre (aka G2) alternating with the Chief on vocals while simultaneously playing his casiotone keyboard and a guitar that squeals like a synthesizer; and Andrew Bell, who coats the backline with jagged low-end moog sounds. Their long-awaited debut record will hopefully be available in March (KDVS Recordings first CD Relaese.).” –Andy Pastalaniec, KDVS Recordings

Free Jazz from Slavery Faulouah

Jana Hunter
*Jana Hunter is from Texas, the fifth of nine children. She played classical music throughout her youth, but that doesn’t really explain why she writes such haunting songs. Hunter is one of those rare artists whose craft does its work on listeners before they even notice. Deceptively simple, clear and concise, these songs surround and envelop, seeping into the skin until they are a part of you. Featured on the Devendra Banhart-curated, Arthur-produced CD Golden Apples of the Sun and sharing a recent split vinyl-only release on Troubleman with him, Jana Hunter’s album is the initial release on the Gnomonsong imprint, a spectacular new label begun by Revolver USA, Devendra Banhart and Vetiver’s Andy Cabic. - Midheaven.com

“Jana’s frail, reedy voice and delicate finger picking make her sound like a young man lost in a peat bog and plucking toads from toadstools to see whether they’ll spill their secrets.” --Boston Phoenix

Hiss Golden Messenger
The new band from Mike Taylor of Court & Spark.

"Like other Taylor projects, the new band is a joint venture with guitarist Scott Hirsch, plus drummer John Hofer of Mothers Hips and, as often as possible, keyboardists Patrick Main and Matt Cunitz, and Mother Hips guitarist-singer Tim Bluhm. The Court & Spark, formed in 1998, evolved from alt country-rock toward a psychedelic folk and dub-influenced sound on its 2004 CD 'Witch Season.' Hiss Golden Messenger takes off from there and stretches out into the improv-rock territory of Traffic and the Grateful Dead.

Although elusive about the origin of his new band's name ('I always loved the Jazz Messengers, but I think it will have to make itself evident over time'), Taylor knew 'exactly' what he wanted the as-yet-unfinished Hiss Golden Messenger album to sound like. 'I wanted something that is very groove heavy, even if it's slow. There were three beats I told everybody had to be on the record: The 'Waylon Jennings beat,' which John Hofer calls 'the honky stomp'; the backwards dub groove; and the Klaus Dinger (of the German band Neu!) kraut-rock groove. The turning point was when we got John, because he had this Dave Mattacks (Fairport Convention) feel that is not overly technical but really solid. The drummer is the most important thing to me, and John is the best drummer I've ever played with.'" - Derk Richardson, SF Chronicle

The Lonelyhearts

Casy & Brian
Grimy electronic trash danse!

Chief Death Rage
The pride of Denton, Texas, Chief Death Rage!

"Chief Death Rage also rocked out in a reverbed out spacey Sabbath vein and totally blew me away. Imagine proto-metal without the annoying guitar tone and with Moe Tucker on the drums, if she had grown up listening to American hardcore in the 1980's and was a cute skinny boy with curly hair." - The Economist

Social Studies
How in heart are we with Social Studies?! One of SF's best coolest pop bands. Sweet like Mexican Coca Cola not that corn syrup junk.

"On their debut EP, This Is the World's Biggest Hammer, San Francisco's Social Studies excel in ardent electropunk and get high marks for their cheerful blend of Casiotone-charged melodies and stripped-down tempos...the quartet knows how to rock a dance floor by playfully weaving a nostalgic arcade hook between flushed bursts of guitar and disco drums..." - SF Bay Guardian

The Ian Fays
"The Ian Fays make sweet dramatic music, creating a mesh of lo-fi Mirah-esque vocals, paired with the dreamy acoustic/electronic juxtaposition of something much like Azure Ray. The band recently signed with Italy's Homesleep Records and released their album The Damon Lessons. - Skatterbrain

Sweetie
Sweetie is a new band with members of Century Schoolbook and the Nervous Breakdowns.

The Time Flys
Oakland, California's enfant-terribles The Time Flys are back with another blast of rock'n'roll rebellion. Performing at the pinnacle of their powers, these guys (and gal) pick up right where their debut, Fly, left off. Together, Sir Eric "The Masher" Von Ravenson, Andy Freeze (aka Andy Jordan of The Cuts), Erin Error and Peter P. Juvenile seamlessly fuse mid '70s glam, late '70s proto-punk, and even later '70s Killed By Death-style punk to create music that, in these stale times, sounds remarkably fresh. The combination of guitar, bass, drums and attitude hasn't sounded this great since the heyday of Sire Records.(bio)

The Greatest Hits
"The Greatest Hits are five punk rockers playing songs that come natural. You can call it punk, glam, or rock. They call it 'Trash Bin Alley Rock,' Nils Forever is the singer and songwriter for The Greatest Hits. When he takes the stage eyes focus on his flashy outfits and raw, vulnerable presence. The melodies he sings are filled with the attitude of Axl Rose, the sexual tension of Marc Bolan, the darkness of Alice Cooper and the pop sound of The Beatles and The Beach Boys. (bio)

The Luxury Sweets
And now, out of the primordial ooze of Santa Cruz punk rock comes The Luxury Sweets! Five musical ulsters that have a passion for rock n roll in this age of ear bleeding grindcore and melodramatic half-breed indy bands. They have taken the raw medium of basic human emotion and applied it to the feel of the 50s 60s and 70s to produce a potentially nostalgic remembrance of the 1977 movement combined with classics like Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent to produce a new and exciting form of rocking unheard in todays lineups.

In front, a man that knows no shame and belts out crystal clear melodies with diamond like precision. Two Gibsons raging with the fury of 50 years of guitar licks and fire fingers to back them up while still carrying flawless harmony. On rhythm we have a pounding P-Bass driving the train and sticks of rage to keep the insane tempo. If you are looking for a fun, fast and exciting evening full of harmony and rolling licks then in the company of The Luxury Sweets is the place to be. (bio)

(memo to bands: admitting to your lack of shame can help get you booked!!)