When The Lights Go Down In The City
They've moved away from San Francisco to a small town in Connecticut, but we're still claiming Mates of State as our own. The birth of the couple's baby girl Magnolia hasn't slowed their relentless tour schedule: on Tuesday they play their first of two nights at Great American (The Court & Spark open Tuesday and Asobi Seksu on Wednesday). We've got a copy of their latest record Bring It Back, out now on Barsuk Records, to give to one lucky winner. Listen to songs from the new record, check out their mesmerizing animated video for "Fraud in the 80s" below and enter to win. (Contest ends 11/21; winner will be notified via email.)
If you fancy a good chanteuse or troubador, it's a good week for you. Here are our top 3 singer-songwriter show picks for this week:
- Tonight one of our favorite singer-songwriters Joseph Arthur plays with Apollo Sunshine and Etienne de Rocher as part of the Rhapsody Original Music Experience at the Independent.
Listen to Joseph on NPR's World Cafe.
- On Saturday, Saddle Creek songstress Maria Taylor (also of the duo Azure Ray) plays a set of her solo songs at Hotel Utah with Craig Ceravolo.
Listen to Maria on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic".
- On Tuesday the Pernice Brothers perform at Cafe du Nord with Elvis Perkins. Be sure to listen to Elvis' music and make up your mind before thinking about the fact that his father's name is Anthony.
Listen to an acoustic set Elvis played on KEXP.
The rest of this week's show picks, after the jump.
Tonight Ladyhawk play their forlorn, Sebadoh-inspired rock at the Hotel Utah with The Dying Californian and Dame Satan. Irving returns to Bottom of the Hill on Friday. On Saturday, celebrate a CD release with the locals in Luxxury at DNA Lounge as part of the circus-themed Bohemian Carnival . The Slits are at Mezzanine and Minipop plays with Two Seconds, a delightful female duo from San Rafael, at Bottom of the Hill.
Also on Wednesday, blog-hater Jared Leto returns to San Francisco with his band 30 Seconds To Mars to play MTV2's $2 bill at the Warfield, but tickets are $25. We're not sure what $2 has to do with it. Maceo Parker will show you how it's really done at The Fillmore. Elbo Room presents a pre Thanxgiving Rock N Roll Blow Out featuring Stiletta, Three Weeks Clean, The Giant Haystacks and DJ Pickpocket.
Two Seconds photo by Julie Schuchard.