Shine On

Jamie Jams was on KALX with DJ Poindexter this past week for 3 whole hours of Pre-Popfest Poppery.

The gang discussed the history of Popfest, gave away a few tickets to the shows and played songs from all the bands.

Check out the EXCLUSIVE playlist after the jump!
 
Legs - Two Colours
Permanent Collection - Sundays 
Hotpants Romance - Wild Bikini
Chain and the Gang - Deathbed Confession 
The Gimmicks - Roda 
Sisu - Two Thousand Hands
Still Flyin’ - Good Thing It’s A Ghost Town Around Here
Dream Boys - Sworn
Chastity Belt - Ponytail
Jacuzzi Boys - Los Angeles
Burnt Palms - Just For Me
Small Faces - I’ve Got Mine
Bee Gees - Turn of the Century
The Orange Peels - Your New Heroes
Sea Lions - I Should Be Sleeping
Heathers - Teenage Clothes
Ski Lodge - I Would Die To Be
Dark Beach - Phenomenon
Traditional Fools - Davey Crockett
Rubber City Rebels - Paper Dolls
Golden Grrrls - Paul Simon
Surf Club -  Swoon 
Bearhug - Debris 
Island Boy  - Heart Attack
Kahimi Karie - What Are You Wearing?
Anna Karina - Petite Lola 
Cruel Summer - Leeches
Orange Juice - Felicity  
Ohio Express - Had To Be Me 
Mantles - Don’t Lie
Strawberry Alarm Clock - Pretty Song From Psych-Out 
James Molkeha - Maui Girl 
My Bloody Valentine - Only Tomorrow
Heathers - Colossi of Memnon 
Nacho Business - Spend the Night
Colleen Green - Number One 
BOAT - Inside Of An Aquarium
Still Flyin’ - Travelin’ Man

Heads Up: 7 must-see concerts this week
05.20.13 - 12:57 pm | Emily Savage

The sparkly avant-pop star is the major music news this week in the Bay, however there also is the annual (and reliably well-curated) SF Popfest, plus a bunch of other shows you should be checking out as well, like Japanese doom masters Boris, Swedish indie popsters the Shout Out Louds, the gritty B-side soul goodness of the Detroit Cobras, and local rock’n’roller Mikal Cronin — high on the release of a celebrated new solo album,MCII.

Here are your must-see Bay Area concerts this week/end:

Sea Lions
The pizza-loving Sea Lions (think a more beachy Vaselines) come to the Bay via Oxnard, Calif. courtesy of this weekend’s SF Popfest. And that fest lineup for the evening is rather ingenious, bookended with the awesome “stoner-punk” LA shredder Colleen Green — go now and check fuzzy “Heavy Shit” — along with distorted-pop maker Permanent Collection, and more. 
With Still Flyin’, Burnt Palms
Fri/24, 9pm, $12
Café Du Nord
2170 Market, SF
www.cafedunord.com

Click here for the full article.

Shine On 012 with Sisu feat. Sandy Vu of the Dum Dum Girls.

The comeback kids: Indie-pop straight poppin’

05.24.12 - 3:38 pm | Julia B. Chan |

So what exactly is indie-pop? 

SF Popfest organizer Aaron Ehrlich describes it as having “some sort of jangly guitar sounds,” but wouldn’t elaborate with further descriptions, understandably. “It’s kind of like the Supreme Court’s definition of pornography: you know it when you see it. When you hear it [indie-pop music] you can tell it,” he construes. “It’s really hard to provide any pithy definition.”

“As a genre, it goes back to the mid-’80s,” recounts Mike Schulman of Slumberland Records, “when it became a term to describe a specific kind of music that had bands looking back to the Byrds for inspiration, or sunshine-pop stuff like Mamas & Papas, or Sagitarrius and mixing that up with girl-groups and the Ramones.” More pop-oriented punk ala the Buzzcocks, the pleasant sounds of the Smiths and the noisy leanings of the Wedding Present poured out of the indie-pop blender, “It’s a pretty broad banner,” Schulman surmises. 

Slumberland Records is an independent label started by Schulman in 1989 and has been operating out of Berkeley the last 20 years. Not a purely indie-pop label per se, but Slumberland has been a key player in the scene past and present. Boasting such previous acts as the Aislers Set, Henry’s Dress, and Go Sailor in the ’90s, the label still has its fingers oh-so-delicately pressed on today’s indie-pop pulse with bands like Terry Malts, Frankie Rose, and Veronica Falls. 

Towards the end of the ’90s an amazing frenzy of activity popped up in the Bay Area: Indie-pop had exploded into the spotlight, and with it’s tight-knit community in tow. “It was a magical two- or three-year period where there were shows every week,” Schulman reminisces, “and you would go to the show and see all these familiar faces and everyone would be down front singing all the lyrics to the songs. It was really thrilling.”

During this time, Schulman and Slumberland were experiencing a career high with signee The Aisers Set, “They started getting bigger outside of the Bay Area and touring nationally,” he says, “and it was just super exciting”

The biggest difference between then and now, is how immediately noticeable the subset has become. “There will always be an indie-pop underground with fanzines and small labels doing stuff. It seems like, maybe now, indie-pop’s a bit more overground … visible.” The industry has changed drastically since the ’90s allowing for music to become more accessible, therefore aesthetically acceptable and almost mainstream. With help from the Internet (and its infinite wisdom and blogs) and the current trend of very melody-based compositions, indie-pop may be experiencing another renaissance. 

Currently popular bands like the Drums and the Pains of Being Pure At Heart — who refer to indie-pop as a big influence and are clearly informed by it — have garnered both attention and commercial success.

“We’re in a period where it’s cool to be melodic. People are ready to hear it,” Schulman says. Bigger labels such as Hardly Art, Sub Pop, Fat Possum have also lent a hand in shining a light towards the music as press tends to pay attention to those who make the most noise — literally — and in turn the people listen,  ”… and there’s a knock-on effect,” he concludes. 

Droves are expected this weekend to SF Popfest’s three-day event. The festival starts Friday evening at the Hemlock with headliners Seapony and support by BOAT, Black Elephant and Desario. Saturday’s all-day show at The Knockout sees Kids on a Crime Spree, Surf Club, Manatee, Dead Angle, Cruel Summer, plus the Shine On DJs. The event ends on Sunday back at the Hemlock with TV Girl, Allen Clapp and his Orchestra, The Bilinda Butchers, Outerhope. More concert and ticket information can be found at sfpopfest.com.

“Indie-pop is this perennial thing,” breathes Shine On DJ Jamie Guzzi. Indeed.

Julia B. Chan is a writer and hosts “Play for Today,” a program on Radio Valencia — www.radiovalencia.fm — every Friday from 6 to 8pm. Follow her on Twitter @onTheBeat.

 SF Popfest 2012: Day 1

Fri/25, 5pm, $10

Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF

www.hemlocktavern.com

SF Popfest 2012: Day 2

Sat/26, 4pm, $10

The Knockout, 3223 Mission, SF

www.theknockoutsf.com

SF Popfest 2012: Day 3

Sun/27, 5pm, $10

Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF

www.hemlocktavern.com

San Francisco Popfest, May 25-27

Kimberly Chun

Thursday, May 24, 2012

8:30 p.m. Fri. $10. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk St., S.F. (415) 923-0923. www.hemlocktavern.com. 4 p.m. Sat. $10. The Knockout, 3223 Mission St., S.F. (415) 550-6994. www.theknockoutsf.com. 8:30 p.m. Sun. $10. Hemlock Tavern. www.sfpopfest.com.

- Kimberly Chun, 96hours@sfchronicle.com.

Pete, Postbox, San Francisco | Popfest

If you inhale and exhale deeply 10 times in succession to clear the “But I’ll never get to them all!” anxieties from your mind, the profusion of music festivals can be a wonderful thing.   Don’t worry, you’ll get to Glastonbury when it returns from hiatus. In the meantime, more local fests develop personalities of their own, and so it is with San Francisco Popfest.

Going head-to-head against the pulsating glitter machine that is I Love This City (as well as Sasquatch!, in the Pacific Northwest) liberates Popfest from having to be anything more than it is: a showcase for fresh talent, chiefly twee pop and sweet-tempered post-emo.  Not unlike Lando Calrissian’s gas mining operation that evaded the Empire’s scrutiny, these three days (Friday, May 25–Sunday, May 27) are pleasantly intimate in scope and will only set you back $28. That’s $2 per band, or the combined tips from two four-tops at the crappy restaurant you work at. Highlights include Seattle’s Seapony (which just played NYC’s Pop Fest), the Stone Roses-esque Desario (from Sacramento) and the L.A.-based TV Girl.  

Too small to shut the city down, too urban for camping—Popfest will be the place where, in eight years’ time, you can brag that you saw The Greatest Set of All Time way before That Band was ever cool. Click the image of Seapony for the full lineup.  

San Francisco Popfest, Friday, May 25, 8:30 p.m., at Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk St. Saturday, May 26, 4 p.m. at the Knockout, 3223 Mission St. Sunday, May 27, 8:30 p.m., at Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk St.

Landlocked

Stockton’s Surf Club devotes tidal wave tempos, vocal harmonies to young love

05.22.12 - 5:33 pm | Ryan Prendiville |

arts@sfbg.com

MUSIC Pavement. That’s all I really associate with Stockton. Personally, I’ve only been there once, few weeks back on my way to Yosemite, and I just drove through — 205 to 120 — stopping once for gas. So pavement all the way. Yet, despite the lack of waves, it’s home to Surf Club, a sunny four-piece that’s recently released its debut EP, Young Love, on Death Party Records.

Read the full article here.

SF Popfest Day 2

With Surf Club, Kids On A Crime Spree, Manatee, Dead Angle, Cruel Summer

Sat/26, 4pm, $10

Knockout

3223 Mission, SF

(415) 550-6994 

www.theknockoutsf.com

May 22, 2012

Surf Club may be from Stockton, but that doesn’t mean they’ve got the Land Locked Blues. On the contrary, their sound is pretty light and breezy summer pop, with — as you might have guessed — plenty of surf rock sounds mixed in. And as it turns out, their sound is still very much shaped by their hometown, even though it’s miles and miles from the coast.

I talked with Surf Club singer/guitarist Frankie Soto about wanting to escape Stockton, his favorite SF venues, and how 60s girl groups helped shape his sound. Check it out after the jump.

Surf Club plays the Knockout as part of SF Popfest on May 26th with Kids On A Crime Spree and Manatee.

Kids On A Crime Spree, Surf Club, Manatee, Dead Angle, Cruel Summer
The Knockout
May 26
4pm, $10

Read the full article here. 

May 16, 2012

SF Popfest returns for a fourth year for indie music lovers with a sweet tooth. This year’s festival spans three days and two venues, featuring 13 bands and three Djs for what should be a very confectionery Memorial Day weekend. Standouts include Kids on a Crime Spree, Cruel Summer, Manatee, Desario, and Black Elephant (just to name a handful), while the kids from Shine-on will take Saturday into the wee hours of Sunday morning with an indie pop dance party.

Check out the full schedule and get your tickets here, but first, listen to this mix made by Jamie Jams of Shine On to get you psyched:

Tracklisting:

1. Seapony – “Dreaming” 00:00
(Go with Me, LP; Hardly Art, 2010)
2. Cruel Summer – “White Flag” 02:17
(Rocinante Records, 2012)
3. Outerhope – “Twenty Years from Now” 06:38
(A Day for the Absent, LP; Numberline Records, 2009)
4. Boat – Landlocked 11:32
(Dress Like Your Idols, LP; Magic Marker Records, 2011)
5. The Bilinda Butchers – “All My Friends” 14:35
(Regret, Love, Guilt, Dreams, LP; Fastcut Records, 2011)
6. Allen Clapp – “Snow in the Sun” 19:35
(Something Strange Happens, LP; Bus Stop, 2006)
7. Desario – “Call Out Your Rivals” 21:23
(Mixer, LP; Test Pattern Records, 2012)
8. Black Elephant – “Roce Et Roule” 25:14
(Trabajo Records, 2012)
9. Kids on a Crime Spree – “To Mess with Dynamite” 27:18
(We Love You So Bad, LP; Slumberland Records, 2011)
10. Surf Club – “Young Love” 29:29
(Young Love EP; Death Party Records, 2012)
11. Manatee – “Indecision” 31:40
(Slumberland Records, 2012)
12. TV Girl – “Baby You Were There” 34:56
(Benny and the Jetts, EP; Small Plates Records, 2011)

Read the full article here. 

Hey Everyone,

Perhaps you are wondering where the heck those nifty Shine On kids went.  The answer it seems, is the Knockout!

Shine On will be moving to Saturday night at the Knockout starting in January.  It looks like we are going to be 2nd Saturday in January, 2nd Friday in February, and then moving to a permanent slot as the 4th Saturday starting in March.

We hope this is good news for everyone!  Please note, this is not the same weeks as Oldies, so if you were saying to yourself “I’m already at the Knockout every day of my life” this should technically only mean you are there your usual once a week - at least.

Thank you to our wonderful hosts the Public Works for their understanding and support!

Jamie

Shine On et al.