Todd Walberg emailed over these photos of Thee Oh Sees recently taken last month at Pickathon in Happy Valley, Oregon. Why not a little post love for one of the best bands here in San Francisco?
Ever listen to our 2007 podcast interview with front man John Dwyer? It's a good one. Music in Providence, Start of the Coachwhips, Touring, Fighting in Toronto, Drugs, Recording, Favorite Shows, New Ohsees Album, Meric Long, and much much more... Recorded Nov 7, 2007 in the Mission District of San Francisco. Take a listen.
Thee Oh Sees are currently on tour with Ty Segall. They play in Brooklyn this Saturday, Sept 22nd. They return back to SF with a show on 10/12/2012 Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA w/Sic Alps + Sonny Smith & The Mallard
Thee Oh Sees perform "Contraption" and "Soul Desert" live on KEXP from the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland during Musicfest NW. Recorded 9/10/10. www.kexp.org
A $75 donation gets you a collab print featuring the aforementioned artists... Here, check the vid below so Mike Aho of Sounder can tell you all about it.
One of our local bands is FOPS which consists of Dee Kessler (Thee More Shallows) and Chadwick Donald Bidwell (Ral Partha Vogelbacher) - They just released this video for Cheater Carolina off the "For Centuries" EP available from Monotreme Records.
Great song. great video, and did we read something about a new Thee More Shallows album?
Our buddy Mike Aho of the Austin based group ((sounder)) releases a new baby blue 7" through Mt. Inadale featuring the song We'll Turn The Coffins Into Gardens & Don't Bring it to Life (only $8.50 here). Cover artwork from Travis Millard.
((SOUNDER)) 'We'll Turn The Coffins Into Gardens'. Live at the Mohawk, Austin
Aaaaaa, have you tried Spotify yet? We love it here at Fecal Face and have been discovering new music like the one man band, Dirty Beaches, here. Having a limited library of music/ listening to the same old shit was getting very annoying. Spotify, so far, has been a miracle in discovering new music. Also, pretty great that it ties into social networks as well making a breeze to share music you're into with friends... Ok, enough with the free Spotify ad, but for real. Great great great.
We signed up for the premium Spotify account ($10/ month) and you can play music through your phone and can even listen to something like 3,500 songs in offline mode... meaning that you can have your phone on airplane mode (no wifi or phone service/ i.e., an airplane flight) and have up to like 3,500 songs on your phone to listen to... Love this thing! The future in music loving.
If you're into Spotify, you can click here at listen to the tunes we're jammin' here at Fecal Face.
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Dirty Beaches is playing here in San Francisco at the Velvet Room and Redwood Room of San Francisco’s Clift Hotel August 19th. FREE - IAMSOUND Records is hosting another series of free shows in the swanky Velvet Room and Redwood Room of San Francisco’s Clift Hotel in June, July and August of 2011. Bands include Mark Gardener (from Ride), Cults and Dirty Beaches along with guest DJs. Clift Sessions 2011
Performances at Velvet Room + Redwood Room from 9pm to 1am
Monday, June 27 – Mark Gardener (From Ride) + “Upside Down” Creation Records film screening
Sunday, July 24 – Cults
Friday, August 19 – Dirty Beaches
Our old intern Kevin Luna from back in 2005 directed this video with music by the band Buddy Bag who live back and forth between SF and NYC. The video was shot on an island in the Swedish archipelago at around 3am a few weeks ago... Like it, Kevin. Great work.
Allen Cordell emailed over his most recent fanatastic music video for the French electronic duo Gentlemen Drivers - EP Asphalt released by Because Music (Justice, Klaxons, Jarvis Cocker, Charlotte Gainsbourg, etc...)
Allen's done videos for Beach House, Dan Deacon, Tobacco, Cloud Nothings, etc. - Great work.
Mirkarimi introduced his resolution to save 90.3 fm KUSF yesterday... From the nearly unintelligible stenographer transcript of the proceedings, the vote breakdown went like this:
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi: Aye
Supervisor Scott Weiner: Aye.
Supervisor John Avalos: Aye.
Supervisor David Campos: Aye.
President David Chiu: Aye.
Supervisor Carmen Chu: No. [told you so!]
Supervisor Malia Cohen: Aye.
Supervisor Sean Elsbernd: No.
Supervisor Mark Farrell: No. [ again, told you so]
Supervisor Jane Kim: Aye.
Supervisor Eric Mar: Aye.
After the vote, President Chiu's announcement "the Resolution is adopted" was met by applause by the KUSF supporters who showed up for public comment... From what I gleaned, the resolution needed unanimous approval to be effective, so what exactly is the implication of its "adoption"?
Basically, it appears that the SF Board of Supervisor's agreed (mostly) to ask the FCC nicely to cancel the sale, but the decision is still in the hands of the FCC. So, we write them. The stupid part is, despite being the Frikkin Communications Commission, this has to be done with snail mail.
The address is:
Federal Communications Commission
Office of the Secretary
445 12th Street, SW,
Room TW-A325
Washington, DC 20554
While you're dusting off stamps and trying to remember how letters work, you should write to USF's Michael Bloch- the letters will be included in a public file for the FCC. Michael Bloch's on our side, so be nice.
Michael Bloch
University of San Francisco
College of Arts and Sciences
2130 Fulton Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
Last I heard, KUSF was still $3000 short of the cash they needed to retain a lawyer, information on how to make a tax deductible donation can be found here. - As an aside, the USF Faculty Association Policy Board adopted a similar resolution yesterday, Feb 7 2011, requesting that the University cancel the sale.
Roisin Isner, music editor, fecal face dot com
"Cities" drops April 1st, 2011, album art by Tony Kincses
If a boat departs from a harbor and during its voyage successfully replaces every single part, is what eventually docks by all rights the same boat? Similarly, if every cell in our bodies is regenerated every seven years, is it still the same body? While I can’t attest to the Biological accuracy of that last example, the question remains: can I rightly call "Cities" the second Downer Party EP?
Forget everything you've ever heard about The Downer Party- who made a name for themselves with 2009's irreverently lighthearted pop debut "Ego Driven Lust Creatures." Since that release, the band has undergone a complete metamorphosis of membership, resulting in a very different kind of project. This Downer Party, arguably distinct from the one we met in 2009, emerges anew with "Cities"- a departure into more contemplative waters, leaving in its wake a richer and more textured sound.
photo by Andrew Callaway
from left: Josh Merry (bass/backup vocals), August Churchill (guitar/backup vocals) Sierra Frost (guitar/lead vocals), Chris Crawford (drums)
The EP is at once a love letter to and about cities, speaking aptly about places that can also be people, and indeed a metaphor for self. "Cities" was executed start to finish by the band in Churchill's basement, which in and of itself might fail to impress, until one recalls Frost's veteran career of label representation; this marked decision to work in an insular manner demonstrates the band's commitment to- and consumption with- the growth of the project. The opening track, Country Kids, is an eat-your-heart-out for any San Franciscan, superimposing visions of empathy and idiosyncrasy against the vibrant backdrop of our city. The drums on the song Chicago, which you can listen to here, cleverly mimic a beating heart, at once aligning the physiology of the listener with the music and stripping away their skin with the track's starkly raw intensity. The thesis of the EP, succinctly summarized by the final line of the final (and title) track, reads "and how can it be, that we live with those we love in different cities." Thoughtful lyricism throughout sheds light on complex relationships between people and the places they find themselves, real or imagined. The maturity of these observations is all the more impressive when one considers that their author, Sierra Frost, is still a few months shy of 21.
If you've been on this site, you've already heard about the shady closed door sale of beloved our beloved community station, 90.3 fm KUSF. I'll resist waxing on about the importance of this old and established San Francisco fixture, and instead focus on what we can do. By the time you are done reading this, you could have done (almost) all of them.
As you also might have heard, Supervisor Mirkarimi was scheduled yesterday (2/1/11) to introduce his proposition to block the sale of KUSF to the Board of Supervisors. He asked for a continuance of one week- this is a good thing.
Supervisor Mirkarimi addressing the crowd yesterday, photo by Gina JustGina
This is one week where we can accomplish some serious community organizing. The nub and thrust of the whole thing is to make it blatantly and unavoidably clear that the loss of KUSF is unpopular. The board will resume on Tuesday, February 8th to vote. In the meantime, take every step you can to voice your opinion to the Board of Supervisors, like:
1. Call and Keep Calling- If you don't know your district, check this district map. Then check here for the contact information of your Supervisor here. If you call during normal business hours, your call will be answered by your Supervisor, or an aid. Calling after they close is also effective, jamming up the voicemail can do wonders. Tell them, firmly, that you urge them to stand with Sup. Mirkarimi to block the sale of 90.3, and restore broadcast programming of KUSF.
If you are not registered to vote, call anyway. If you are registered in one district, but live in another, call both supervisors. If your Supervisor is Ross Mirkarimi, call Mark Farrel of D2. It's adjacent, and he's one of the more conservative leaning Supe's.
If you are not a San Francisco resident, but live within the broadcast radius of KUSF, you can still call- call all of them.
2. Email, Email All of Them- emails can also be found on the Board of Supervisors website. A succinct sample would be:
"Dear Supervisor ________,
I urge you to vote in favor of Mirkarimi's proposition on Tuesday, February 8th. KUSF is a valuable community asset, and I wholly oppose it's sale.
-Best Regards,
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Excited to see opening band Beach Fossils most of all and ended up being blown away by headliner Bear in Heaven last night at The Rickshaw Stop here in San Francisco. Beach Fossils bounced about like a high school version of New Order or Joy Division. I like the music. It sounds familiar and a huge fan of New Order, but it just lacked originality and a spark that I was hoping for. In between the two acts is Twin Sister who would be the musical child of Bjork, Blond Redhead and Jamiroquai, of all bands. Although, I could hear them, I was behind a few too many tall fellas to see anything but the light show. (Hey Rickshaw Stop, raise the stage a foot for your smaller patrons).
When Bear in Heaven went on, something clicked. The sound is thick and full. You know, let's quote Pitchfork as they wrote about Bear in Heaven when they presented the band "Best New Music" award for their album Beast Rest Forth Mouth: Mostly made up of textural, spacious three- to four-minute pop anthems with towering choruses, BRFM is a welcome reminder that an album doesn't have to be bombastic to feel huge and important. Take out the earbuds and let it fill a space: This is music that's bigger than your iPod—music you'll want to feel all around you. Though not quite coming out of nowhere, BRFM seems like a surprise gift—a striking consolidation of the spiky psych-prog tendencies of their debut into a pop framework. -Pitchfork
Hey, Jon Philpot of Bear in Heaven is a Fecal Face fan (bottom right photo)... See them as they are touring the USA and Europe right now. You won't be disappointed -->Check the dates.
Fresh off their tour of the Southwestern United States (and a bit bloodshot in the eyes), Mister Loveless' newest release, the Three Words EP, hit shelves just a fortnight ago.
Having so effectively channeled an aesthetic which fits comfortably between Echo and the Bunnymen and Joy Division, and despite the relative youth of its members, Mister Loveless resonates strongly with the generation who came up during the 70's and 80's. ~read on
I headed down to LA to check out the DANCEiSM monthly Dance Party at the Echoplex, and within a few minutes discovered something well beyond my expectations. While Electronica music events are usually synonymous with Raves, and despite the party's inception in the warehouses of LA, a Rave it was not. This party was patently devoid of sixteen-year-olds with plastic bracelets coating their limbs, and saucer-like pupils. In fact, this event was surprisingly free of drug use of any kind. While far from being a sober crowd, dancing did take priority as the activity of the evening.
Since our last interview with Brooklyn's Matt and Kim was so much fun, we decided to catch up with them again as they came through San Francisco to promote their new album.
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Audio revisionist Mark Gergis aka Porest discusses Sublime Frequencies, Tourrorists! and other sonic morsels from a comfortable cruising altitude.
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Gabe interviews this SF based "pulsating hypnotizing synth grooves" who recently opened for krautrock legends Cluster and would eat Brian Ferry if need be.
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We really really really love this UK based band who'll be coming state side in the coming months! Read our interview with Emma and Mia from this great four piece.
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This Brooklyn based band is the kind of band you'd want to play at your birthday party every year... They're playing at Bottom of the Hill March 1st with Erase Errata as part of Noise Pop.
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Like wearing a watch but don't want to bother with all that pesky technology, Barcelona based artist Axel Brechensbauer has you covered... We also dig this great truck sculpture.
This day may have been inevitable, but now it's finally here. In its attempt to take over the world - or at least everything that can be bought and sold in the world, Amazon is launching an art gallery.
This summer Amazon is planning to launch a Fine Art Gallery where customers will be able to purchase original artwork offered by a select group of invited galleries via Amazon.com. ~continue reading
A new HBO documentary looks at the work of street artist JR, whose giant portraits force people in troubled areas to confront the humanity that's all around them... On the day JR found out he'd won the $100,000 TED Prize, the French pasteup artist found himself in China being questioned by police for doing his thing on the streets of Shanghai. ~continue reading
Street artist JR HBO documentary premiered yesterday, May 20th
Art lovers, collectors and gallerists will gather on Thursday for Hong Kong's inaugural edition of Art Basel, sealing the city's status as an international art hub and Asia's leading art destination... Hong Kong has surged to third place in the global art auction market behind New York and London and Western galleries are falling over each other to open franchises in the former British colony. ~continue reading
Our buddy Ferris Plock opens a small show of drawings at Benny Gold on 3169 16th St this Friday, May 24th (7-10pm) featuring 31 drawings priced at 75-140 bucks.
Ferris also released the video Fingered! he produced with animator Jim Dirschberger. View it
Wowzas, there's a lot of art happenings this weekend, and while you're making the rounds, be sure to stop at SFAI's MFA show Currency opening Friday, May 17th at the beautiful old SF Mint Building (88 5th Street).
SFAI's 2013 MFA graduates—working in painting, photography, printmaking, film, sculpture, installation, digital media, performance, and across media—will present work that embraces the Institute's signature spirit of experimentation and conceptual risk-taking.
Opening reception: Friday, May 17, 7–9 pm & running through Sunday 11-6pm daily. -- complete details
London based Pedro Matos opens the solo show Building Castles Made of Sand this Friday in Los Angeles at the Martha Otero Gallery featuring a new series of oil paintings on canvas and azulejo panels - a traditional Portuguese medium of hand-painted, tin-glazed, ceramic tile work.
TrustoCorp's all new work for their exhibition at LeBasse Projects in Culver City, Los Angeles is a perfect continuum from past work that embraces the bipolar "have/have not" socioeconomic identity of Los Angeles, which they recently established their new studio in.
I didn't know if you came across this video yet, but I ran into my friend Brian Hanson yesterday who helped film and edit it. It's a film short documenting the work and philosophy of Huntington Beach surfboard Shaper Tim Stamps. Super rad and really inspiring! Anyhow take a peek.
Last year, Eric Caruso a teacher at Harry Wirtz Elementary School (Paramount, CA, near LA) had an idea to invite some artists to paint some murals at the school because there wasn't an arts program for the kids. That brilliant idea resulted in some awesome murals by artists Seitaku Aoyama, Yusuke Hanai, Rich Jacobs, Tim Kerr and Albert Reyes.
Ryan De La Hoz' show in the Upper Haight at RVCA runs through this Saturday... And the next time you're in the Mission, be sure to swing through his new shop on 14th St, Cool Try... We need to get over there soon and do a little photo feature for ya.
The Book and Job Gallery (San Francisco) really stepped it up with the opening of Daniel Chen's loveBlast on May 4th. Complete with a doorman, piano player, old fashioneds, and some really nice paintings, I could hardly believe I was at the Book and Job. The paintings varied in size, and the show was balanced nicely between them, the spray-can work on the walls, and the smaller drawings displayed throughout. The kind notes Chen wrote on the walls are certain to brighten your day, and the rest of the work is definitely worth a look. It was a very classy evening and I hope they continue to intersperse shows like these into their schedule in the future
FFDG opened up the group show featuring original works by the artists of the world famous Skull & Sword tattoo last Friday here in San Francisco. Thanks to the huge crowd who turned out to support these four incredibly talented artists. Here is a taste of the show, and be sure to swing in to view in person. The show runs through June 8th.
Gary Baseman's retrospective "The Door is Always Open" at the Skirball in LA opened recently to massive crowds in a huge celebratory opening party. The exhibition is so complex and personal, delving into Baseman's background, family history, and all the layers of prolific work that he has done over the years. After the opening festivities winded down, I caught up with Baseman for an interview. We discussed the underlying meaning to some of the components of the show and how it felt for him, coming from such an honest personal perspective in putting this massive show together.
Fertile Menace, a new show of Mark Mulroney's (NY) work opened at Ever Gold on May 4th and it's not one to be missed. It is intelligently hilarious, with jokes riffing off sex, Foucault, and the body, and while it makes you laugh it's also going to make you think.
Our buddies Jay Howell, Andreas Trolf, and Jim Dirschberger are hyped as their show, which they've been working on for like 2 years, premieres on Nickelodeon Saturday. From the trailers we've seen so far and from what Jay has told us about, the show is going to be pretty epic. Congrats to those radical fellas.
Here's a little taste of work by the artists of the world famous The Skull and Sword tattoo shop who open their show at San Francisco's FFDG on Friday, May 17th (7-10pm).
Following his solo exhibition "The Collected" at Gallery Wendi Norris, painter Amir H. Fallah is in the throes of developing more new works for upcoming international exhibits. We spent some time in his studio in Highland Park, Los Angeles recently, discussing his process and inspiration.
We were first introduced to the photography of Spanish born NYC based Bubi Canal when he emailed us his great video Trust in Me a couple years ago. His solo show Special Moment recently ran at NYC's Munch Gallery in February, and he recently released his newest video Chrystelle below.
Although I missed the opening of Northern-California photographer Michael Garlington's newest show, Constructed Realities, I was fortunate enough to see the work still up during the Metaphysical fundraiser a couple weeks back at 111 Minna. Metaphysical fundraiser, an auction to benefit Wayne Ernzer. --- The ghoulish photographs in their heavy, hand-made frames are reminiscent of photos from the old west, and the glass crucifixes, complete with fetuses and guns, emphasize the accumulated time within the works themselves. Whether you're looking at the frames, the photos, or both, this show deserves a visit, and a walk through the golden archway Garlington constructed around the front door.
Fecal Face contributor Rachel Ralph (rachel(at)fecalface.com) has been profiling this Oakland based painter as he travels about Japan. In this segment, we feature some photos as he prepared for this show and residency at Spes-LaB in Tokyo which opened last weekend. Arnold will be featured in SFMoMA's Minna Street windows on June 8th.
Last Saturday, here in SF's Mission district, Guerrero Gallery opened two new shows with Philly based Alex Lukas and SF based Richard Colman respectively. Colman's work occupied the project space while Lukas' work and foliage was presented in the main space. Worth getting to if you haven't already.
Just got back to SF after a little trip south to Sayulita, Mexico. After 10 years without a vacation, me and the Mrs. headed south for some mental time off sitting in the sun, swimming and enjoying the watery Mexican beer. Here are some photos as we get back into the swing of things again.
Athens, Greece based designer, architect and artist Dimitris Polychroniadis emailed over more of his work which consists of mixed media, pop-humorous diorama sculptures that make a comment on the harsh realities my country and much of the world is facing at the moment.
FFDG will open a group show with the artists from the famed Skull & Sword Tattoo on Friday, May 17th (6-9pm). Artists: Grime, Henry Lewis, Yutaro, and Lango. Below are a series of videos on Grime for Vice's Tattoo Age produced in 2011. Fascinating look at one of the greatest tattoo artists alive today.
ARYZ (Spain) opened his newest gallery show at Fifty24SF last Friday and, if you live in the Bay Area, you need to go. This dude can obviously paint, and he doesn't need an entire building to show his impecable skill. The show has lots of small works on paper which contrast his highly-defined line work to his hard-edged painted objects. The contrast between the hard and soft was the most striking thing to me about his work, since I had never seen it in person before, and the washes blend with the thick paint seamlessly. The show also contains a larger work on canvas, a huge head suspended in the back of the room, and a big wood sculpture of a wolf figure. This diversity in such a small space was impressive, and those of us that went to the opening even got to meet the man in person. If you didn't make it out this weekend, check it out before May 31st when it closes and these works will be off to some very happy new homes.
Water McBeer is please to announce its latest exhibition "Precious" a solo exhibition by David Bayus (April 6 - May 4, 2013) -- David Bayus born 1982 holds his BFA from the Savannah College of Art and his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. David lives and works in San Francisco and is a founding member of the basement collective. This will be his first exhibition with the world renown Water McBeer Gallery highlighting his most recent achievements with paint and digital media. David Bayus will be exhibiting 5 relatively large-scale mixed media works along with a collaborative object featuring Hungarian sculptor H.R KOONS.
The Shooting Gallery handed over the reins to the Red Truck Gallery (a New Orleans based gallery) which curated their new show, Hard Time Mini Mall and opened the it on Saturday night. This is my favorite show (so far) in the Shooting Gallery's new space and was packed full of art, a mini bar, and cowhide rugs. The Red Truck Gallery chose works with clear craftsmanship and it was easy to see in Ian Berry's denim assemblages and Chris Roberts-Antieau's awesome quilts. The space was completely packed, making it hard to see each piece individually, but this show deserves a second trip anyway. I look forward to spending more time with the chandeliers, automatons, and paintings before the show comes down on May 4th.
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