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Beam emits from Oakland, CA with a light touch and a heavy heart. Songwriter and lead chanteuse Helene Renaut originally hails from France and sculpts bright, brooding songs infused with the airs of Syd Barrett, Nick Drake and Jackie DeShannon. Most of the repertoire is sung in English with a Brit-Folk to Pop sensibility that you can sway to. Having played around the Bay Area for three years and sharing the stage with the likes of the Moore Brothers, Bart Davenport, the Fruit Bats, etc., Beam is as much a bright light that dazzles as a late night fire from which to take comfort. Vervein challenges the indie rock status quo and avoids the perils of girl band pigeonholes by creating their own unique, lushly hypnotic "Girl-Swirl" sound. The core of this trademark sound consists of lead singer and guitarist Jessica Congdon and bass player Rachael Fuller's ethereal vocals interwoven with swirling layers of guitars, cello and organ backed by the driving rhythms of bass and drums. Likened to Galaxie 500, the Breeders and Mazzy Star, Vervein creates filigreed textures that may unfold into expansive orchestral washes, descend to brooding dirges or unwind into dreamy, introspective spaces. Sean Hayes plays Appalachian Ambient Folk music like an Irish Rooster channeling Nick Drake. All night till sunrise music. "Antique Glow" is the second album by San Francisco based singer-songwriter Kelley Stoltz, who recorded and plays most of the instruments on the album. "Antique Glow" is currently available on limited vinyl LP with handpainted covers and will be released on cd this August by SF's Jackpine Social Club label. As reviewed in the Ptolemaic Terrascope, Stoltz' record is "half recycled art object, half top quality album containing folk and Moog odysseys of limitless charm and strangeness, the record mixes electronics, chimes, guitar and reflective vocals over its 12 tracks; Beefheart trashcan blues, 60's garage with shortwave. Think Gorky's Zygotic Minci and Mercury Rev; 'Here Comes the Sun' if Phil Spector had produced it." Hudson Bell's music and style, while intrinsically rooted within the traditional American music of his childhood South, traverses folk and rock in a way that bridges the gap between the country and the city. By way of acoustic and electric guitars, piano/keyboards, drums etc., the music comes off in a post-traditional and make-and-do vein via the early-80's punk and post-punk ethos. A fiction writer and storyteller as well, Bell's tunes are intertwined with compelling and poignant lyrics that pull the listener in as if they're hearing a long lost friend. His latest album, Captain of the Old Girls (Upperworks), was compared by critics to the likes of early-R.E.M., Lou Reed, Neil Young, Dinosaur Jr, among others. Bell currently lives in San Francisco. Formed four years ago by Piano Magic guitarist Charles Wyatt and Dart keyboardist Matt Greenberg, Charles Atlas have covered a varied sonic territory, anchored by gentle, spacious compositions juxtaposed with unsettling tonal collages. Now joined by multi-instrumentalist Sacha Galvagna and cellist Zoe Keating, the latest iteration of CA relies on looped strings, clockwork timing, the interplay of chiming guitar and piano, and occasional brasswinds. For this performance, the band will be joined by a guest vocalist. playinginfog.com |
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