AMOEBA RECORDS JOINS THE RUMBLE SAN FRANCISCO TEAM

THE RUMBLE: SAN FRANCISCO has added yet another indie cornerstone to it's team of SF partners - AMOEBA RECORDS. The family includes The Owl Magazine, Bagel Radio, The Noise Pop Music Festival, The Bay Bridged, The San Francisco Bay Guardian and Spin Earth, which is pretty much the indie rock Mount Rushmore of the Bay area. We're all committed to helping up-and-coming bands get as much attention as possible in a time where the establishment is no longer working on developing bands.

The Amoeba store on the end of Haight Street near the entrance to Golden Gate Park is a mecca for music heads, especially in a city where the % of people that are DJ's rival any city on the planet. I think I've personally spent enough for a college education in this location, and I bet my brother is probably there right now flipping through bins.

Our next Rumble: SF party is on June 9th @ Cafe Du Nord.

NOISE POP 2010 REVIEW: CAFE DU NORD SHOWCASE

Photo courtesy of Kimberly Chunn

This past Friday night the Noise Pop Festival presented an epic night of music befitting the musical roots of San Francisco. Featuring THE FEROCIOUS FEW, SONNY & THE SUNSETS, THE GROWLERS and THE MUMLERS - a virtual dream Future Sounds of Bay Area bands; this lineup took the packed crowd at Café Du Nord back some forty odd years to time that all that mattered was the music. The only indication of modern times was the faint glow of cell phone screen illuminating the dark walls of the club.

First up were The Ferocious Few, a two piece led by troubadour Francisco Fernandez. More accustomed to serenading passersby on the streets of SF; Fernandez looked right at home playing aggressive acoustic cuts off their soon to be released full-length, Juices (Birdman). Accompanied by Daniel Aguilar on drums, The Ferocious Few steadily kicked off the night with sincerity and heart. I first caught The Ferocious Few when they tore up the small stage in the Blue Palms room at the Hollywood Brew Fest back in November and was glad to see that they still played with such fervor.

Clad in Beach Boy’s esque Hawaiian shirts, Sonny & the Sunsets took the stage and captured the crowd their simple and sweet guitar plucked tunes. Led by Sonny Smith, this four piece was minus singer/guitarist Thalia Harbour, her absence forcing a more stripped down performance, but the nonetheless emotive and entertaining. Their 10 song set was packed with light jangley gems, including my current obsession, the heartfelt “Too Young to Burn.” Sonny and company are a welcome change from the lo-fi grunge pop filling the scene right now, as their songs packed the perfect amount of punch, yet still retained the genuine sweetness of 50’s/60’s pop.

The Growlers channeled their own Almost Famous, as their traveling entourage included 60’s styled groupies with floppy hats, thigh skimming dresses and face paint. Their alcohol induced bravado lent itself to a soaring jam session that looked as if it was ripped from the pages of Rolling Stone, when they used to write about music and be headquartered in San Francisco. Noticeably absent for the first song, lead singer Brooks Nielsen stumbled on stage, sorrowfully announcing, “I fucking passed out,” paving the way for a raucous set featuring soon to be classic tracks like “Barnacle Beat,” Soul of Coral” and “Something Someone Jr.” Nielsen’s vocals combined with bassist Scott Montoya’s skillful playing showcased The Growlers patented brand of psychedelic surf rock and most definitely added to this night of throwbacks. All fur hats, dancing band-aids (Penny Lane!) and impromptu make-out sessions on stage, this Long Beach staple by way of Costa Mesa made me proud to be from the OC.

Culminating this night of vintage influenced sounds, San Jose natives, The Mumlers brought down the house with a soul wrenching live performance that won’t soon be forgotten, Will Sprott’s vocals harkens back to era of bourbon soaked jazz and blues clubs, thus the vintage speakeasy vibe of Café Du Nord (also the new home of the SF Rumble) was very fitting. A beautiful collision of clarinets, keys and horns, The Mumlers delivered a mind blowing set full of cuts off albums Thickets & Stitches and Don't Throw Me Away. A sea of couples emphatically danced to “Shake That Medication,” which sounded even better live. Personal fav’s included “Coffin Factory” and “Raise the Blinds.” The Mumlers are the kind of band that always keep you wanting more, as their legitimate musicianship, soulful lyrics and tenderness recall a time when music was meant to make you feel. The Mumlers live performance is heartbreak hotel personified, and I mean heartbreak in the best way possible.

Posted by Veronica Pulcini

THE RUMBLE: SAN FRANCISCO TONIGHT @ CAFE DU NORD

Dear San Francisco, You may think we've moved on and are spending time in the other seven cities the Rumble takes place in each month, but the fact of the matter is that we took January off just to bring you our biggest Rumble yet. This Wednesday night, THE RUMBLE: SAN FRANCISCO moves into it's new home - CAFE DU NORD - and we've made it a night you won't forget. Where do we begin?

For starters, we've brought more friends to the party, literally, as we've added partners to the Rumble SF in the form of THE BAY BRIDGED, THE SF BAY GUARDIAN, MR ROBOTO PRESENTS and the NOISE POP MUSIC FESTIVAL. This week's Rumble party is the official NOISE POP WARM UP party to get you prepared for NP2010 which starts on February 23rd.

This party also represents the 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY of THE OWL MAG - that equals 'one 'hella long time' to those counting. The Rumble also goes even deeper to celebrate BAGEL RADIO's 7 YEAR ANNIVERSARY. Our original partners are no Johnny-come-lately's to the Bay Area music scene.

But what about the music? Headlining and playing all The Rumble west coast dates in February is JAGUAR LOVE. They've had back-to-back rawkin' Rumbles in Seattle on Monday, and last night in Portland @ Holocene, and are on fire rolling into the Bay.

We've been trying to get MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE'S local show schedule to mesh up with our night and our persistence finally paid off as they support Jaguar Love and again, get you prepared for their NP 2010 performance. Opening up the evening will be the sounds of BUTTERFLY BONES, another up-and-comer that's headed for Noise Pop this month.

The O.G., our resident DJ BAGEL TED will be handling the DJ duties as no Rumble SF party feels right without Ted as the selector.

The party is FREE if you RSVP here
http://sonicliving.com/rumble26

Cafe Du Nord is located at 2170 Market Street

JAGUAR LOVE PLAYING ALL WEST COAST RUMBLES IN FEBRUARY

The perfect set up for Valentine's Day, we're thrilled to announce that JAGUAR LOVE will be playing ALL of the west coast RUMBLE dates in February. We've been clocking them for some time, but this new album, 'Hologram Jams' is filled with just that, JAMS! The record drops in March on Fat Possum and we've already been banging 'Started A Fire' and 'Polaroids & Red Wine" on the FS show on WOXY, but this disc runs deep.

The Rumbles have some new twists and turns starting in February that add spice along the way. We've moved the Rumble Seattle to the HAVANA SOCIAL CLUB in Capitol Hill.

In San Francisco, we say goodbye to our friends at Harlot after 2 years, and move over to Market to CAFE DUNORD to accommodate the growing list of SF partners, as we've added THE BAY BRIDGED, MR ROBOTO PRESENTS, the SF BAY GUARDIAN and even NOISE POP MUSIC FEST to the family. The Rumble: San Francisco will be the Warm Up Party for Noise Pop 2010, as well as the 5 year anniversary of THE OWL MAG and the 7 year anniversary of BAGEL RADIO!

The Rumble: San Diego will now find a home at BAR PINK in North Park, the coolest neighborhood in SD.

We're also thrilled to announce a new Rumble city - AUSTIN, TEXAS in February. More on this announcement but we've moved on to join our WOXY brothers and sisters at BEERLAND on Feb 11 and we have some amazing partners jumping on in the indie rock capitol.

JAGUAR LOVE - THE RUMBLE TOUR

Feb 1 - Seattle @ Havana Social Club
Feb 2 - Portland @ Holocene
Feb 3 - San Francisco @ Cafe DuNord
Feb 4 - Los Angeles @ 3 Clubs
Feb 6 - San Diego @ Bar Pink
Feb 7 - Las Vegas @ The Aruba

MORE ABOUT JAGUAR LOVE:
Jaguar Love is one of two bands that have sprung out of the 2007 break-up of experimental hardcore band The Blood Brothers (the other being Past Lives, comprising ex-singer Jordan Blilie, ex-drummer Mark Gajadhar, ex-bassist Morgan Henderson, and original Blood Brothers guitarist Devin Welch). In Jaguar Love, singer/pianist Johnny Whitney and guitarist Cody Votolato are ex-members of that band, and Pretty Girls Make Graves member Jay Clark was the drummer: Due to unforeseen differences, Jay Clark has left the band. As of Januay 21, 2008 the band has signed to the independent label Matador. The Blood Brothers’ music could be described as a schizophrenic split between raging hardcore punk and jagged art-punk with Surrealistic lyrics.

The three bands that developed as side-projects during The Blood Brothers’ existence—Whitney’s experimental post-hardcore bands Soiled Doves & Neon Blonde and the band’s other lead vocalist Jordan Billie & Votolato’s hardcore/thrash band Head Wound City—illustrated this. Jaguar Love has so far shown many characteristics found in Whitney’s past side-projects, albeit there is no electronica influence as heard in Neon Blonde and the “spazzcore” elements of Soiled Doves have been relatively toned down. In favor of the chaotic sound for those bands is the feeling of a more fully-fleshed out band with more concentration on melody, a lyrical maturation, and traditional songwriting that stylishly culls influence from indie rock, art-punk, soul, post-hardcore, jazz-rock, and glam metal. They are currently touring after finishing writing and recording the album [album]take me to the sea[/album] which is due out in august with production and recording duties being handled primarily by Clarke. Whitney’s clothing company Crystal City, which he co-owns with his wife Amy, has already designed and produced a handful of t-shirts for Jaguar Love.

TUESDAY NIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO: NOISE POP BEGINS WITH LILOFEE & DEERHUNTER

Meet me up in San Francisco on Tuesday night for the opening night event of NOISE POP 2009 as the mighty DEERHUNTER grace the Mezzanine supported by our favorite SF act, LILOFEE.
DJing the night are family members AARON AXELSEN and DJ OMAR of Popscene. I miss my Noise Pop days of going to as many shows in one night as possible on every night of the festival, only to collapse with Kevin and Jordan on the final night.

LILOFEE PICKED TO PLAY NOISE POP OPENING NIGHT WITH DEERHUNTER

San Francisco's indie rock festival, NOISE POP, is coming up in February and the whole thing kicks off with the opening night gig at Mezzanine featuring DEERHUNTER - with support from LILOFEE. The show and the festival kick off on February 24th at venues all over SF.