Treasure Island Music Festival Lineup..

The Treasure Island Music Festival was an absolute blast last year. The island makes for an awesome venue with breathtaking views and the comfortable grounds. I didn't know if the good folks from Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment would be able to top last year's roundup of artists, but they did. Here's some info about the upcoming festival:

"After an immensely successful inaugural year, Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment are thrilled to announce another stellar line-up for the Treasure Island Music Festival. The two-day festival will once again take place in one of the world’s most breathtaking settings: an island smack-dab in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. Picking up where it left off last year, Saturday, September 20th will feature cutting edge electronic and dance oriented acts with Justice closing. The Raconteurs will headline Sunday, September 21st which features a one-of-a-kind line-up of highly regarded established and emerging indie rock bands. Here is the confirmed line-up for each day so far.

Saturday September 20th
JUSTICE
TV ON THE RADIO
GOLDFRAPP
HOT CHIP
CSS
ANTIBALAS
AESOP ROCK
AMON TOBIN
FOALS
MIKE RELM
NORTEC: BOSTICH + FUSSIBLE

Sunday September 21st
THE RACONTEURS
TEGAN & SARA
VAMPIRE WEEKEND
SPIRITUALIZED
OKKERVIL RIVER
TOKYO POLICE CLUB
THE KILLS
DR. DOG
JOHN VANDERSLICE
THE DODOS
FLEET FOXES

Additional artists are yet to be confirmed but the total number of performers will be 28 over the two-day event. Single day tickets cost $65.00, Two-day tickets cost $115.00.

Worth every penny.

Why I LOVE Noise Pop.

Every year I get excited about the bands headlining at Noise Pop. And inevitably, I walk away with a new love affair with at least one of the bands that would open for them. Last night my Noise Pop discovery was The Builders and The Butchers who opened for Helio Sequence at the Independent. Their style is a grimy southern rock with bluegrass, folk, and punk influences. Each song is written and performed with a haunting dark passion that makes me believe they've lived everything they were singing about (murder, thievery, and rambling) as great storytellers should always be able to do. If someone can find postings with lyrics.. please let me know.

More photos on The Bay Bridged

West Indian Girl + Dios Malos @ the Troubadour

It was a dark and stormy night in Los Angeles. My business travels had brought me there for one night and I was fortunate enough to be there on the same night West Indian Girl was headlining at the Troubadour. I had never been to the Troubadour and it was high on my list of venues I need to see before I die. The weather conditions were horrendous yet I battled through the rain with a very 'Blues Brothers' mission-from-God mentality.

Upon entering the Troubadour I was standing in a dank atrium that reeked of rock and roll. To the left I saw a main bar room. Ahead of me, there were doors with a sign above that read 'SHOWROOM'... Given my excitement, It might as well have said 'MECCA'. If you don't know the history associated here, read up here. I had been dying to see this place, and it lives up to everything I've heard, and more. While I still believe that pound for pound, San Francisco has better venues to see live music, the Troubadour has immediately risen to the top 5 places I would ever want to see live music.

Thankfully, I was able to share this experience with one of my oldest and closest friends who I hadn't seen in ages. He recently moved to LA and hadn't been to the Troubadour either.

Of the four bands on the bill that evening, I only saw the last two. Opener, Dios Malos fka Dios, from Hawthorne, CA bring a sweet freshness of sound to the stage that you will enjoy. Album reviews are mediocre at best, but the passion they exude on stage is enough to make me think that somebody fucked up while recording the album. Catch em live if you can... and keep an eye on the drummer as he will have you in stitch with his stage antics.

Headlining was West Indian Girl. Now, if you recall.. I caught a piece of West Indian Girl at the Treasure Island Music Festival several months ago and I liked what I heard enough to buy the album.

West Indian Girl is a psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles. Their name is derived from a strain of LSD that was designed in the 60's by Bear Owsley and Nick Sands. The biggest trip for me, however, was the diversity among the group. I mean, the lead singer, Robert James, looks like the guy from the Spin Doctors, and the bassist, Francis Ten, looks like Dave Navarro. I think the similarities also extend into their musical style. Relax, I'm not bagging on them (or the Spin Doctors).. I think it speaks volumes that each member has their own set of talents, their own look, and their own style.

Each tune explored a different musical direction and they were all pleasing to listen to. In live performance the band is extraordinarily tight and the songs were all very well done. My friend asked if the two leads wrote songs individually which I thought was quite astute. It was almost like hearing two different bands on stage. It was JamBand-Psychedelia. Perhaps this is where things don't quite work for me. I felt as if each song only got me half-excited... but never brought me over the edge. Like I said, the songs are great on the album, and overall pretty good live... but I found myself bored enough to battle through the crowd and stand in the cold rain to smoke a cigarette where I heard others' melancholy longings for the je ne sais quoi that this performance lacked. The band played right through encore theatrics, which I think all bands should do. They ended with my favorite tune off their new album 4th and Wall called, "All My Friends". They scored major points with me by pulling some major creativity. Drummer, Mark Lewis, came up with an instrument that looked like a piccolo (it may have been). Bassist, Francis Ten, pulled out (with extraordinary dramatics) a toy piano... perhaps it was a fisher-price model. Keybordist, Nathan Van Hala, played a Harmonium... and it was a nice way to punctuate my mild discontent with them saying, 'fuck you, we'll play it how we want to, and we don't give a fuck if it sounds good or not." Catch them live this week at NOISE POP on 2/27 opening for MINIPOP at Bottom of the Hill.

NOISE POP 2008 - TILLY AND THE WALL

At this point, it may be difficult to predict what bands I'll be going to see on the final day of Noise Pop, but I'm sure glad one of my options is Tilly and the Wall. Their sophomore release, Bottoms of Barrels, is much more... um... clappy?... in a pixies-meets-architecture-meets-the-pipettes way. I don't know.. I'm never good at those comparisons. But I do know is that if you have a CSS remix of one of your songs, you are a force to be reckoned with. In any case here are a couple of tracks for you to hear for yourself. The first and third tracks are off the new album... and the second track is from their first album, Wild Like Children.

Tilly and the Wall will play on Sunday March 2, during Noise Pop at The Rickshaw Stop. Opening will be Capgun Coup. In the time I've taken to write this post, I've already developed a liking to Capgun Coup's raw basement-style indie pop. Definitely maybe going to see this show.

Rickshaw Stop - March 2, 2008
Show @ 6:30 - $15, ALL Ages

NOISE POP - THE GUTTER TWINS

Much hype has been surrounding the collaboration of Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan called The Gutter Twins. I haven't heard a single measure of any of their songs from the upcoming release, "Saturnalia". In fact, I think the only people who have heard what they sound like are people that have seen them live as The Gutter Twins, and those number few. They haven't posted any of their songs online and creating a lot of mystery around it. So, of course, because I can't have it... I want it. I'll have to wait until March 1st when they play Bimbo's, which will supposedly be their CD release party too. Here's a press release with a little background:

SEATTLE, WA - Sub Pop veterans Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan return to the label in its 20th year under the moniker The Gutter Twins for the March 4th, 2008 worldwide release of Saturnalia, their highly anticipated first album. In addition, the band has announced a handful of very special US and European show dates to preview the complex and carefully crafted songs in advance of the official record release. Show dates and on sale information provided below.

Mark Lanegan rose to fame as singer for the much loved Seattle band Screaming Trees and Greg Dulli as the magnetic leader of the Afghan Whigs. Following the break up of both groups, Lanegan and Dulli went on to achieve significant notice on their own. Lanegan continued to release successful solo albums, as well as create vivid partnerships with the likes of Belle & Sebastian singer Isobel Campbell and Queens of the Stone Age. Dulli, meanwhile, innovatively fused indie, soul and electronic sounds in his post-Whigs ensemble the Twilight Singers, who released their first album, Twilight As Played By The Twilight Singers, in 2000; the most recent Twilight effort, 2006's Powder Burns, proved a crowning achievement, landing on many year-end best lists.

The Gutter Twins was born out of a rumor told by Lanegan to a journalist after the two artists began collaborating together in various ways in 2002. What started as a rumor grew into an honest and raw record, and while Saturnalia brings together the driving forces behind '90s favorites, the record does not rest on the sonic laurels of these singer's previous successes.

3/1/08 - Noise Pop - Bimbo's, $18, 18+

NOISE POP 2008 - BAND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Some people get excited about birthdays and holidays, others go nuts for fleet week or pride week. The time of year I get most excited about each year is Noise Pop. Six nights of music and a hundred or so bands playing at the best venues across San Francisco. They bring "nationally-known indie rock, electronic, punk and cutting edge musical artists teamed up with the best local bands, transforming the city into an almost week-long celebration of the finest that the underground and not-so-underground has to offer."

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 2

Since there will undoubtedly be some tough decisions to make, I'll be spending some time making my 'fantasy schedule' and I'll report back here with my thoughts. Here is the list of bands that have been announced. Check back often, as this list will multiply in size. I've provided a quick NOISE POP 2008 link on the side-bar for convenience.

A Place to Bury Strangers
ASG
Blitzen Trapper
British Sea Power
Capgun Coup
Cursive
Darker My Love
Fleet Foxes
Fu Manchu
Fuck Buttons
Gutter Twins
Holy Fuck
Jeffrey Lewis
The Magnetic Fields
Minipop
Monotonix
The Mountain Goats
Panther
Saviours
Tilly And The Wall

NOISE POP 2008 WEBSITE