When The Lights Go Down In The City
We had a great week of music last week, starting on Thursday night when Live 105's Madden invited us to join him on air. Along with SFists MattyMatt and Jon we talked for a half hour about local music, Muni and of course Gavin's hair. Madden was a friendly and gracious host and we thank him for inviting us! On Monday night Cursive packed The Fillmore for a straightforward set of songs from their new record and a few older tracks. We could see the crowd in the front singing, screaming and dancing right along for the entire set, so we were a little surprised when the band didn't return for an encore. But we won't complain too much, it just leaves more time to hang out after the show. Tuesday night brought the Twilight Singers back to Great American for another soulful, sultry set.
Who's excited for next year's Noise Pop Festival? Dates for the 15 year anniversary of San Francisco's independent music, film & arts fest were announced earlier this week, so clear your calendars from February 27 – March 4, 2007. Confirmed performers include the original lineup of Sebadoh, John Vanderslice, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists & Jolie Holland, with lots more TBA.
Let's talk about shows coming up this week. Local music photographer Peter Ellenby is celebrating the release of his photography book "Every Day Is Saturday." For over a decade, Ellenby has documented the artists that make up the Bay Area music scene and beyond, including Bright Eyes, Death Cab, The Donnas, and many more. Head down to 111 Minna for a free event on Thursday to shake his hand and get your book signed, or wait for the big rock release show on Friday at Bottom of the Hill with performances by Oranger, John Doe, Overwhelming Colorfast and lots of others.
This Monday night one of our favorite new bands of '06, Scanners, are in town. Listen to their song "Raw" right now. Go ahead, we'll wait. We highly recommend their debut album on Dim Mak Violence Is Golden (read our review of it) for its frenetic energy and singer Sarah Daly's Harvey-esque vocals. We're giving you a chance to see them live this week; enter to win a pair of tickets to their show at Cafe Du Nord on Monday. (Contest ends 10/27 at 2pm; winner will be notified via email.)
Read the rest of this week's show recommendations, after the jump.
Tonight Scrabbel are at Hemlock and Popscene presents The Kooks @ 330 Ritch. On Friday you should head to Mezzanine and challenge a stranger to a dance-off during the so-wrong-it's-right genius of CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy). On Saturday, Bimbo's has a singer-songwriter extravaganza with Shawn Colvin, Buddy Miller and newcomer Brandi Carlile. Fans of Patty Griffin's ringing voice and intense style should definitely give Brandi a listen. Micah P. Hinson plays an early show at Cafe Du Nord with Victor and Greg from Camper Van Beethoven. On Sunday two brilliant female voices take over the city with Regina Spektor at The Fillmore and Evanescence at The Warfield.
Jenny Lewis returns on Monday with The Watson Twins to the Fillmore. Bonnie Prince Billy sets up residence at Great American for two nights. We'll be at Cafe Du Nord to see Scanners with ¡Forward, Russia!. Anyone here a Tindersticks fan? We just got former Tindersticks frontman Stuart A. Staples new solo CD Leaving Songs in the mail and it won us over with its sophisticated, stripped-down subtlety. Watch the video for "That Leaving Feeling" with Lhasa de Sela (Real Player). You have a rare chance to hear Stuart's voice at Bimbo's Monday night.
Tuesday is Halloween, so if you're not running through the streets in costume you might want to head to 12 Galaxies for a Scary Halloween Bash with Extra Action Marching Band. They'll probably end up running through the streets anyway. On Wednesday Finest Dearest celebrates the release of a new old-school 7" at Cafe Du Nord.
CSS photo by Mariana Juliano.