I’m feeling mellow

I truly enjoy it when the music community comes to me with new songs I
should listen to.  I can only keep track of so many songs from the
Hype Machine.  Speaking of the Hype, they sure have upped the ante on what blogs get noticed.  What ever happened to Mp3blogs.org?  I mean I’m not the 3hive or Totally Fuzzy type that
pours out links 10 times a day.  I like the writing aspect, but I
know that links to tunes is all most people care about.  So I
better get to work:

In the words of the musician himself, Bill Ricchini:

I am a songwriter from Philly nowliving in NYC. I
recently
recorded my second record for the Transdreamer/Sony label out on Aug
23rd everywhere. The album is baroque folky romantic popin the best
sense, think Beach Boys, Badly Drawn Boy, Village Green Kinks, Belle
& Sebastian, Left Banke but with a bit of Nick Drake, Todd Rundgren
and other influences. It was produced by myself and Bryce Goggin
(Pavement, Breeders, Lemonheads).

Bill Ricchini : Eugene Hill

And a shout out to the new Yerbird label that features the band Sounds Like Fall
from Ames, Iowa.  Screw the details, right?  Give me the
links!  But I will say, a very nice melodic, twangy, country
ballady sound.  It does sound like ‘Fall’ and it reminds me the
summer is over, bummer.

Sounds Like Fall : St. Majella
Sounds Like Fall : Pretty Little House
Sounds Like Fall :  Dust Pile

Grady McFerrin

Concert
posters have always been a special collectors item. From early
psychadelic posters of the 60’s to the Frank Kozic punk rock creations
of late.  These
posters are not just cool and works of art in their own light,
but  they serve as reminders of a moment in time when a great band
took the stage at a classic venue.  One
particular artist that I personally admire is Grady McFerrin out of
Brooklyn.  His work evokes a magical carnivaliesque 19th century
world of dreams and nature. His pieces usually diplay a peculiar touch
of
florid ornamentation or mechnical intricacy. He uses few colors in a
neutral and muted color
style.  Sometimes his posters remind me of Terry Gilliam’s work,
but most of the time I’m caught by his uniquely mythical
interpretations of the bands he presents in his commisions. Many
of his posters hang in the museum of San Fransico’s historic Fillmore
auditorium.  Here’s one of my favorites and follow the links
below to see more:

My Morning Jacket
Modest Mouse
Bright Eyes
Black Keys
Calexico
Yonder Mountain String Band
Grady McFerrin Illustrations

San Francisco Music

There are places to go, believe it or not.  The old argument used
to be “the scene is dead, no good clubs” but I think those days are
behind us.  Pehaps the best new clubs to emerge from the ashes of
a bygone era are The Independent, 12 Galaxies, the Hush Hush Lounge on Mondays and Thee Parkside.  The classic spots like Bottom of The Hill, Cafe Du Nord (picking up it up as of late with the Swedish American Hall above), Bimbo’s, The Great American, and the Fillmore
(if you are willing to pay over $20 for a ticket) still continue to
draw class acts, but what’s happened to the local music scene? 
Most bands headlining these clubs are from other places.  Has the
practice space real estate crisis killed the SF rock star?  I hope
not, but it seems that the shortage of garages and tolerant neighbors
continues to kill the bedroom jam sessions.  But here are a few
local folks you may not have heard about who continue to create in
garages:

I hear the Goldenbirds made a living out of playing in their livingroom in Berkeley.  They’ve got a new album coming out called Transamerica
in honor of tall buildings and banks (i’m just guessing here). Their
sound conjures up memories of Kings of Convenience and some Belle and
Sebastian and it seems that Transamerica has a more acoustic feel than
previous recordings. 

The Goldenbirds : Thermometer
The Goldenbirds : Sioux Falls South Dakota
The Goldenbirds : Sugarbears

And a shout out to a great bunch of guys (actually, I only know the
Chulada brothers) who are still playing and loving it.  I used to
play music with Brett and Mike up in Santa Rosa when there really was a
good scene for awhile.  I’ve yet to see their new ban The Love X Nowhere (TLXN) but I’ve been very surprised by just listening to the mp3’s on their site. 

TXLN : Unworthy
TXLN : Song for Carrie
TXLN : Freedom
TXLN : Our Song