Results tagged “johnvanderslice”

November 2004 - September 2007

John Vanderslice is someone you can truly count on. Aside from his incredible talent, we're always impressed with his indie rock work ethic. He keeps his studio Tiny Telephone open as an incubator for top quality recordings, he's always good for a genuine smile and a hug when we run into him, and about once every 18 months or so he releases another incredible album through Seattle-based indie Barsuk Records. His latest release Emerald City offers a somewhat gentler take on his always-unique melodies and music and a move towards even more intricate and adventurous lyrics. In the first song alone, he sings about the kookaburra tree, frangipane, bundestag and terabytes. He builds and inhabits fantastical tales and delivers them in such a convincing way as to make you believe he lived through them. In honor of John playing a free show at Amoeba Records at 2pm on Saturday, we're giving away a copy of Emerald City to two lucky winners. Listen to "White Dove" and enter to win. (Contest ends 8/14; winner will be notified via email.)

SFist re-runs an interview with John Vanderslice. He's playing at Noise Pop tonight.

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.

We headed to Cafe Du Nord last Friday to catch the sold-out early show by Emily Haines and The Soft Skeleton. By the 9pm showtime, the band was still soundchecking behind closed curtains and didn't start playing to the crowd until an hour later, but it was worth the wait. Haines crouched behind the keys, bird-skinny and soft-voiced, embodying the delicate yin to her animated Metric persona's yang. Eerie old black and white film clips played in the background while she drenched the crowd with slow, forlorn song movements. This introverted version of Haines was just as intense as you'd expect her to be. Between songs she debated whether or not she should talk to the audience more, and when a woman in the crowd encouraged her to, Haines thought and then replied, "I don't feel like it." Then she let the songs speak for her.

SFist interviews Michael Taylor from the Court and Spark

Once again the musical offerings in San Francisco are so plentiful and compelling that they force us into stressful choices. The upside is that no matter what you decide this week, you really can't go wrong.

Shanghaiist probably knows a little more about China than the Chicago Sun-Times. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The city does to have a music scene. Don't even front like they don't. They also have Dorito bananas and white guys shopping for wives. What they don't have is any more tolerance for jaywalkers.

Now that Noise Pop is over, things are settling down at live music venues across the city, and we miss it a little.

Holy crap Noise Pop! We're going, are you?

Special Noise Pop 2006 edition

SFist reviews Feist, John Vanderslice, Youth Group, and The Boticelli's at Bimbo's as part of the Noise Pop festival

SFist interviews John Vanderslice. Repeated for the Feist/ Vanderslice show at Noisepop 2006

In case you haven't already heard us say this in ten different ways, Feist is a genius. That's why we're so excited to offer one of you a pair of tickets to go see her Noise Pop show tonight at Bimbo's. There's something for everyone in tonight's lineup: Feist will indulge your taste for something smooth, sophisticated, and heady; John Vanderslice (one of our favorite humans) takes the singer-songwriter genre in a quirky and creative direction, while still giving you something to ponder; Sydney, Australia's Youth Group are a mellow and melodic recommendation for fans of Pinback, the Pet Shop Boys and Death Cab; The Botticellis, which we don't know much about, open the show.

So many of our favorite artists are coming to town this week, including John Vanderslice, Feist, Orenda Fink and Metric. There are also some strange celebrity bands coming through, the SF Jazz Festival is happening, and giveaways are back!

John Vanderslice. Helllooooo...over here...brought to you by SFist. Oh, wait, we don't need to act cool, we've got plenty of readers (thanks for asking). We love them because they love to argue over breasticles!

SFist inteviews musician John Vanderslice

The Bay Area should be proud of at least two high profile record releases from local artists this week. Oakland's own The Lovemakers drop their major label debut Times of Romance on Interscope Records, and San Francisco's John Vanderslice keeps it real by releasing his latest, Pixel Revolt, on indie stalwart Barsuk Records.

How did we miss this last week? Mixing two offenses recently made popular by Minnie Driver (actors playing the role of "earnest singer-songwriter") and Shawn Colvin (artists appearing on "Oprah" to divulge details about personal struggles in the same week their new CD comes out), Robert Downey Jr. came out with his debut album The Futurist last Tuesday. That was the same day of his "Oprah" appearance, for anyone who's counting.

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