When The Lights Go Down In The City
Special video bonanza!
Last night we made it out to the Noise Pop BAGeL Radio happy hour at Thee Parkside just in time to see Peloton. That's right, in case you haven't heard or experienced it yet, Noise Pop is in full swing here in San Francisco. Thee Parkside was packed with festivalgoers and BAGeL fans and DJ Ted couldn't help but beam proudly at the full house. It's good to see music fans supporting internet radio. [Speaking of, yours truly is back on BAGeL this afternoon at 4pm PST with our third show ever (tune in via iTunes or at the BAGeL website), playing new songs from Feist and El Perro Del Mar, plus tracks from Menomena, The Constantines, Midlake, Volcano I'm Still Excited!, and a song by an artist that just might get us kicked off the station for good. We reckon Ted's a softie though and maybe he'll forgive us.]
Getting back on the subject of Noise Pop, we hope you already got your plans squared away because many of the shows are already sold out with only a few tickets being released on the night of the show. Unless you were smart enough to buy a badge before they sold out completely, looks like you'll be crossing your fingers and standing in line or trolling for extra tickets on Craigslist. There are still tickets available to many of the movies in the Noise Pop Film Festival, you can always hit the free happy hours and the Expo this weekend looks to be a lot of fun. And if you're not anywhere near San Francisco, the fine folks at Lala.com are providing free streams of all the live shows! To make sure you're in the mood for all this, watch this clip of the Extra Action Marching Band getting the Noise Pop opening party started with a bang.
As for this week's recommended shows, tonight Langhorne Slim and Trainwreck Riders co-headline Rickshaw Stop. Over at 330 Ritch, Popscene presents guest DJ Ted Leo plus an album release party for Albert Hammond Jr. On Friday, there are several great Noise Pop shows to choose from. Get down to your roots with ace songwriters Jolie Holland and David Dondero at The Fillmore. It's weird and wonderful at Swedish American Hall with Vic Chesnutt, Zach Rogue of Rogue Wave and Alela Diane. Get fresh at the Independent with Autolux, Snowden and Malajube. The Bottom of the Hill goes totally old school when The Donnas play a rare intimate show with Boyskout, Bellavista and Push To Talk.
Watch Malajube's video for "Montreal -40°C":
On Saturday at Great American, fill up on the strange folk of Brightblack Morning Light, Women and Children and Mariee Sioux. Mezzanine throws a huge party with Ghostland Observatory, our hometown favorites Honeycut, The Gray Kid and Landshark. On Sunday we're hoping to work our way into an afternoon show by fellow Texans Midlake.
Watch the video for our favorite Midlake song, "Young Bride":
After everyone takes a few days off and rests up, the fun starts again on Wednesday night. It'll be a good night for some cocktails when DJ Foodcourt, Primetime and our buddy David Katznelson take over the decks at 12 Galaxies. We have mixed feelings about Razorlight; maybe they'd get us off the fence if we saw them play live at Slim's. Also on Wednesday, The Mountain Goats and Pony Up! play their first of two nights at The Independent.