Indie Legends Superchunk Coming to the Independent on October 21

Photo Credit: Alex Cox

Upon seeing an album with track titles like “Care Less,” “No Hope” and “Everybody Dies,” the baseline assumption would be that the listener is in for a miserable experience. 

In fact, “Song in the Key of Yikes”—the latest Superchunk album that is home to those songs—is the farthest thing from a bummer record. It’s an absolutely fucking ripping good time and one more reminder why the North Carolina band is a beloved indie rock institution.

Thematically, the group’s chief songwriter, Mac McCaughan, doesn’t cover his eyes or stick his head in the sand for the album—we are living in dark, authoritarian times and the lyrics reflect those miseries. But underpinning those narratives is a fierce, ragged collection of up-tempo, guitar-heavy anthems, forcefully emphasizing that while the world might be shit, we don’t have to be happy about it.

“An important aspect of our music has always been that contrast between the content and the form,” said McCaughan. “Some artists can make music that’s both dark lyrically and dark musically, but we’re never gonna sound like The Birthday Party—that’s just not who we are. We make this kind of loud guitar music. The lyrics reflect reality—we’re not trying to put a happy face on everything, but at the same time, music can be this escape, and so we want to play the kind of music that can get people into a different place for a moment.”

Superchunk will offer that place of escape for San Francisco fans on Tuesday, when the band plays at the Independent. In addition to performing tunes from “Songs in the Key of Yikes,” the band will dip into its lengthy catalog, which dates back some 35 years to their self-titled debut album (which includes the song “Slack Motherfucker,” a generational anthem that helped give rise to the “slacker rock genre”.) 

The band took a lengthy hiatus in the early 2000s, allowing for McCaughan to pursue his other project, Portastatic, but open returning with their 2010 album, “Majesty Shredding,” Superchunk has been remarkably and brilliantly consistent. Despite being more than three decades in the business, the band sounds as vibrant, vital and urgent as ever.

“Songs in the Key of Yikes” starts off with “Is It Making You Feel Something,” a propulsive indie rock number that plants its foot firmly on the pedal and doesn’t relent at any point. That kind of taut, manic energy remains throughout the album. 

Again, belying their mordant titles, tracks like “Everybody Dies” and “Care Less” are blistering anthems of defiance, with the former featuring scorching, through-the-roof choruses and the latter specializing in chunky, heavy riffs burnished with white noise surroundings.

Adding to the underlying sense of oppositional potency are McCaughan's impassioned vocals. He’s always had a boyish, lilting cadence and his deliveries on this album imbue each track with a youthful rascality. His unique singing gives lines like “Yeah, I'm a train that's on fire/ Drag me away,” (from “Train on Fire”) a little extra boost of irascibility—an ever-present middle figure to punctuate his dispatches of distaste. 

“I’ve never really loved the sound of my voice—I have to write words to sing, but I always thought of my voice as more of just another melody happening,” said McCaughan. “I wish I could sing like Torres or Sharon Van Etten, but I’m not that kind of vocalist. I do think we’re making efforts to not bury my vocals as much like we did on our early albums, but for the most part, we’re just trying to make do with what we have.”

McCaughan’s modesty notwithstanding, his voice is a trademark of sorts for the band, a reminder that Superchunk have and always will be at the forefront of the indie rock scene. That’s due in large part to McCaughan’s other job—as the co-founder of Merge Records, one of the most hallowed labels in the business. Along with consistently churning out amazing releases on an annual basis, Merge is responsible for foundational indie rock records like “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” “69 Love Songs” and “Funeral,” among countless others. 

“When we started Merge, we really thought we were just joining a bunch of people who were doing the same thing,” said McCaughan. “We just wanted to be K Records or Amphetamine Reptile Records—a place to put out our friends' singles or tapes. That’s all we had in mind and it wasn’t until we put out a few albums from bands outside of North Carolina that we realized something might be different.”

Few bands have that kind of legacy to contend with and uphold, but as evidenced by “Songs in the Key of Yikes,” Superchunk have no interest in mining the past or basking in passive nostalgia. They’re still doing their thing, angry and righteously pissed off. It’s an approach we should all appreciate right now.

Show Details:
Superchunk with Case Oats
Where: The Independent
When: 8 p.m., Tuesday, October 21
Tickets: $38, available here.

Crushed Elicit Deep Emotions with Beguiling Mix of Confessional Lyrics and Hazy Atmospherics

Photo Credit: Ben Rayner

With its lowercase styling and arcane spelling, “cwtch”—one of the highlights of Crushed’s great new album “no scope”—may seem at first glance to be a masterclass in obliqueness and opacity.

But the track is songwriting at its most vulnerable and candid—a fearless glimpse into the backstory of Crushed songwriter Shaun Durkan, who makes up one-half of the alt-rock duo alongside Bre Morell. Durkan, a Bay Area native, has long been open about his struggles with substance abuse, and “cwtch” is a tormented glimpse into the mind of an addict, punctuated by powerful lines like “I took the pills you gave to me/And now you live inside my spine.”

It's a powerful statement and one that’s almost painfully earnest. Nevertheless, Durkan said he had few concerns with publicly baring his heart on sleeve—he was merely continuing in the tradition of other musicians he’s long admired.

“When I can tell someone's opening up and they're having a conversation with me about something they're struggling with—I feel so much more invested in that song,” said Durkan. “All my favorite artists do that—those are the ones that I’m drawn to, because I can relate.”

Crushed, who will open for indie-pop outfit Cafuné on Wednesday at Bimbo’s 365 Club, have earned widespread plaudits for their interpretation of a unique blend of styles not typically associated with hipster circles. Their love of 90s alt rock artists like Duncan Sheik and Natalie Imbruglia is clearly evident in their sound, as is their appreciation for trip-hop artists such as Massive Attack and Portishead. But above all, Crushed embrace the confessional genre, as both Durkan and Morell pour their hearts out completely on “no scope,” a gorgeous and haunting album of lovelorn ballads and diaristic revelations. 

“I think we both try to be as honest as possible,” said Durkan. “For me, if anyone can learn something, or feel like they’re not alone, by listening to something that I’ve gone though, then I feel like that’s a huge win for both of us. For me, and the listener.”

Durkan, who’s also the founder of Bay Area post-punk greats Weekend, first connected with Morell (a member of indie goth band Temple of Angels) over Twitter, as both publicly confessed their appreciation of 90s radio rock. That online communication quickly turned into a creative partnership, and the band’s 2023 debut EP, “extra life,” was a surprise hit, given that both members of the group had limited expectations for the project.

With glowing critical reviews and a string of well-attended live shows, the duo emerged on the radar of the music industry, and Crushed eventually signed with Ghostly International, a revered indie label that leans toward electronica-focused artists. Durkan conceded that making the follow-up to “extra life” had a different feel, as the band’s higher profile meant that there were new expectations for the group.

“I would be lying if I said that there wasn’t additional pressure,” said Durkan. “It’s a very different experience when you’re making something that you don’t ever expect anyone to hear versus creating something with the intention of people hearing it. That being said, we tried not to let that guide our decision making. I think one of the biggest lessons we learned from our first EP is that it really pays to trust your instincts. Audiences pick up on that, even if they don’t know necessarily what they’re picking up on. It just resonates because it feels authentic.”

Much like the first release, “no scope” is drenched with atmosphere, as swirling guitars, spectral samples and ambient soundscapes create a rich, textured feel to every song. Tracks like “starburn,” “weaponx,” and “heartcontainer” showcase the band’s ability to meld woozy, hypnotic beats with lyrics and narratives that pierce through that haze. Like Durkan, Morell is unafraid to pen lines that are desperately plaintive, highlighted by the opening couplet of “heartcontainer,” when she mournfully laments that “I’m on my knees/ I’m crying for you.”

Spoken word vignettes are interspersed throughout the album, acting as palate cleansers, with the final coda—“airgap 2”—feeling like the final moment before one emerges from a deep, dreamy sleep.

Despite their relatively new partnership, there is clearly a kinship and chemistry between Morrel and Durkan. During a recent interview with New Musical Express, Morrell described being brought to tears by a melody that Durkan wrote that eventually turned into “starburn,” the group’s lead single and one of the last songs recorded for the album.

“It felt like an honor to hear her say something like that,” said Durkan. “I guess sometimes when you’re in a band, it feels like some of this stuff exists in a vacuum and it’s not until you talk to someone that you realize how this music might have affected them. It definitely makes it worthwhile.”

Eliciting those emotions is clearly something Crushed specializes in—and the band doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Durkan said he wrote some 40 songs for the debut LP, so there is plenty of material to work with, and the band has plans to embark on some headlining tours after their current jaunt opening for Cafuné concludes at the end of the month. In short, there should be plenty of future opportunities for fans to bask in the cathartic, connective manner that first inspired Durkan and Morell to start this project.

“We both write very personal lyrics, but it’s not just the words that make it special,” said Durkan. “I mean, that’s why we love doing this and why we feel so inspired. There’s something about the words and music being paired together that makes it magical. It’s like the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Show Details:
Crushed with Cafuné
Where: Bimbo’s 365 Club
When: 8 p.m., Wednesday, October 8
Tickets: $35, available here.

Post-Hardcore Outfit Hundred Bliss Enthusiastically Lean into Absurdity

Photo Credit: Marisa Prietto

With its history of strident politicism, abrasive sound and unrelenting intensity, hardcore music is usually categorized by a handful of familiar codifiers—terms like visceral, raw and aggressive almost always make an appearance. 

And so obviously, warm and fuzzy are not usually among those descriptors, but that’s exactly how guitarist and vocalist Jeff Day feels about his new band, Hundred Bliss, a post-hardcore outfit from Los Angeles that will be playing at 924 Gilman in Berkeley on September 27.

“I just feel so comfy in this space,” said Day. “I’m better at this kind of music then maybe the softer, indie stuff I’ve been exploring over the past few years. To me, this is how I express myself best. Of course, I like restraint at times, but I love being loud and crazy. This is an opportunity for me to explore that in a way I don’t get to in other places.”

Day’s endearing feeling of snugness is the result of several unique characteristics of Hundred Bliss. The band—composed of Day, vocalist/bassist Garrett La Bonte, vocalist/guitarist Nathan Burger and drummer River van den Berghe—has no sole primary songwriter, with all the members contributing equally. And their music—while  punishing sonically—is remarkably playful and funny, full of sardonic humor and ridiculous narratives not normally found within the hardcore universe. 

“There were always core reference points we turned to when making our music—bands like Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes, and of course Fugazi,” said La Bonte. “And while I don’t think we pull directly from The Fall, we really tried to emulate that tongue-in-cheek humor of that band.”

The first Hundred Bliss release, a four-song collection called “EP1”, came out on June 27 and their second EP, with two additional songs, followed on September 19. The songs are marked by gang vocals, waves of blasting, thunderous guitar riffs and adventurous tempo changes. 

For a group still in its early days, the band sounds remarkably tight and locked-in, a focused approach that’s a reflection of the group’s members. Each is a veteran of numerous bands, and Burger and Day most recently played together in a post-rock outfit called  Cave Diver. La Bonte records under his own name in addition to performing in other collectives and van den Berghe is the drummer for the scrappy and beloved slack-rockers Pardoner, who formed in San Francisco.

“It felt like such a natural fit from the beginning,” said Burger. “Pretty much right away, it felt good—you don’t get that feeling too often. Just this sense of connection from the beginning.”

The band’s first EP starts off with the thunderous “Bounce,” a clanging, hard-charging number highlighted by staccato bursts of noise and Burger’s cheeky, hip hop-inflected vocal interlude. The breakthrough pace marked by “Bounce” never relents over the four songs, with sinister and spindly guitar riffs melding seamlessly with a propulsive and insistent rhythm section.

All the songs feature surrealist, stream-of-consciousness lyricism and a few are outright hilarious. On “American Motor,” La Bonte muses about being an angel, but realizes he’s “just touring the heavens in a Ford” and on the album closer, “Unreasonable Vibe,” Day breaks free from a bout of existential malaise by screaming out, “It’s fucking Mickey Rooney!,” a keen observation that has nothing to do with the rest of the song. The latter song descends into a gleefully chaotic wall of white noise, capped off by a feral trumpet performance from van den Berghe.

“I don’t know if it was my idea to add that last part in, but I did tell everyone I had a trumpet,” said van den Berghe. “We just piled like 20 – 30 takes on top of each other for that part, which made for a pretty fun day in the studio.”

Although the band’s lyrics don’t comment specifically on the shitshow that’s American society right now, a sense of absurdist anger and exasperation permeates the songs—something that can be only natural, given the dismal state of affairs today.

“It’s hard not to have things bleed into your music, especially these last five years, where it’s been one unprecedented time after unprecedented time,”  said La Bonte. “And I think for Jeff and I, we came from these bands that had these overtly aggressive and frustrated lyrics. But Jeff talked about finding ways to kind of joke around with that frustration—to write these goofy lyrics and riff on weird shit. I think it was important for us not to, you know, all wear black and be a moody band.”

It's a formula that is as winning as it is refreshing, especially now, when lighthearted ridiculousness is in short supply. With just a handful of songs under their belt, Hundred Bliss said they’re focusing most of their efforts on recording new music, putting any major touring plans on the backburner, for now.

“I know we are all excited about writing together,” said Day. “We might play some shows in LA, and when opportunities come up, maybe get out of town. But our interests really are in putting out new music. I think we’re all excited to see what comes next.”

Show Details:
Hundred Bliss with Facet, Trough and Animal Planet
Where: 924 Gilman Street, Berkeley
When: 7 p.m., Saturday, September 27
Tickets: $15, available at the door.

Hotline TNT Embrace Pop Leanings on Great New Album

Photo Credit: Sara Messinger

Just after the one-minute mark on “Julia’s War,” the standout track from Hotline TNT’s brilliant new album, “Raspberry Moon,” there is a glorious cascade of “na na na nas”—the latest continuation of a time-honored vocal tradition used by musicians for decades.

That classic wordless interlude—employed by everyone from the Beatles to One Direction to Michael Jackson—has long been a staple of pop music, and Hotline TNT’s choice to include that section in “Julia’s War” elevated the song into instant classic realm. But for Will Anderson—the Hotline TNT songwriter known for perfecting the anti-pop genres of shoegaze and slowcore—the decision to include those well-worn flourishes was not an easy one.

“Those were originally not supposed to be in the song—they were just placeholders until I could come up with real lyrics,” said Anderson, whose band plays at the Great American Music Hall on September 24. “And then I just never did. So, we got into the studio and started mixing the album, and I kind of got cold feet. I looked at Alex [Farrar], who was mixing the album and just flat out asked him if this was a good idea. I was definitely scared of going that route. But he told me to go for it, and I’m pretty happy we kept those in the song.”

“Julia’s War” is just one example of Anderson and Hotline TNT honing the blown-out, maximalist sound of their previous two records into a tighter, more polished approach. They haven’t abandoned their roots—there are still plenty of wonderfully loud moments of white noise on the album—but “Raspberry Moon” represents an intriguing step forward for the band.

After playing in various groups for years, Anderson started Hotline TNT in 2018, and the band’s breakthrough came in 2023 with the release of “Cartwheel” a critically lauded release (the best record of the year, in this writer’s opinion.) “Cartwheel” saw Anderson find thrilling ways of wrestling and harnessing dissonance and squalling feedback into unconventionally catchy tunes.

For “Raspberry Moon,” those big hooks and earworm melodies come easier, with the band sanding down the rougher edges from “Cartwheel.” Anderson’s vocals are clearer and the guitars and synths aren’t quite as layered—that mountain of noise has been terraformed into more of a large hill.

“’Julia’s War’ is definitely the most straightforward pop song we’ve done so far,” said Anderson, who has made news recently for his principled stand to abandon Spotify and the company’s amoral owner, Daniel Ek. “When we finished that one, it almost felt like a radio song, we thought that could be our ‘Shrek 5’ soundtrack song. And the rest of the album has more clean guitars—there’s even an acoustic ballad in there. We definitely cleaned things up, but I wouldn’t say it was because of some reaction to ‘Cartwheel.’ It really just happened organically.”

Not only do Anderson’s vocals rise above the din of noise on the album, but his lyrics represent some of the more hopeful and endearingly candid declarations he’s ever penned. 

In the past, Anderson has been a master of chronicling fractured, fraying relationships, but on “Raspberry Moon” his outlook is downright romantic. Songs like “Candle”—with the couplet “I wanna try/Get butterflies,”—and “Dance the Night Away” offer unashamed avowals of love—hopeful departures that are rooted in real life contentment.

“This album has more triumphant love songs than anything I’ve ever written before, for sure,” said Anderson. “There are a lot of songs about my current relationship, which is the happiest one I’ve ever been in. There are still some sad songs on the album—there will always be memories of the bad stuff, and sometimes those sad songs are easier to write. But, overall, I find this album very hopeful.”

Anderson and Hotline TNT have frequently been the (reluctant) centerpiece of the ongoing topic of “shoegaze revival,” but “Raspberry Moon” proves once again that the band is not limited to a single genre. Always more of a Teenage Fanclub power-pop group than a maxed-out My Bloody Valentine noise rock outfit, “Raspberry Moon” further roils the debate of the band as shoegaze saviors.

Nowhere is that more evident than in the gorgeous ballad “Lawnmover,” a sparse, acoustic guitar number that feels like a lost track from Big Star’s “#1 Record”.

“It’s not like I sat down and tried to write a Big Star song, but I’m definitely not shying away from that inspiration,” said Anderson. “That song was definitely new territory for us, which made it really exciting to write.”

Hotline TNT have extensive touring plans for 2025—jaunts that will take them all across North America and Europe—and Anderson said the band will likely continue playing live into 2026. After that, they’ll return to the studio to write the next chapter of the Hotline TNT story.

“We’ll probably take some more time on this next record, but we already have 3 – 4 demos written,” said Anderson. “I definitely have bigger ideas for this one. We are eager to keep building on this thing.”

Show Details:
Hotline TNT with Big Bite and Combat Naps
Where: Great American Music Hall
When: 8 p.m., Wednesday, September 24
Tickets: $28.50, available here.

SF Janglepop Heroes The Umbrellas Promising Something New for Upcoming Album

Photo Credit: Kay Redden

When discussing their upcoming new album, the members of San Francisco janglepop mainstays The Umbrellas all impressed that the sound will be “different.”

Just how far they stray from the Paisley Underground-indebted aesthetic they mastered for their first two albums remains to be seen, though.

Hyper-pop? Southern gothic? Full shoegaze? Screamo? 

All those genres were briefly and cheekily mentioned by the band—a winking nod to the fact that “different” doesn’t mean “absolutely batshit crazy different.”  And really, it turns out that the most significant distinction in the new approach might just be patience (sorry for those waiting for a 100 Gecs meets Johnny Cash mashup.)

“I think the main difference for this album is that we’re trying to be much more intentional with each song,” said drummer and guitarist Keith Frerichs. “We’re sitting a little while longer with each track. I think the songs reflect that more focused approach.”

The first two Umbrellas were peerless documents of indie-pop perfection—confectionary for the ears. Approximating the earnestness and approachability of bands from the Sarah Records label with the keen pop sensibilities of acts like Strawberry Switchblade and the jangly off-kilter nature of groups such as Aztec Camera, the records were a uniquely ideal distillation of 80s independent music. 

Although an integral part of the San Francisco music scene, the band—comprised of guitarists/vocalists Morgan Stanley and Matt Ferrara and bassist Nick Oka, in addition to Frerichs—record and produce all their music, insisting on working within their core group. Right now, they have about 30 minutes of material for their upcoming album, which they are recording in Ferrera’s Richmond District home (material which just narrowly avoided being destroyed earlier this year when a major fire tore through the building next door.)

While their first two records—2021’s self-titled debut and 2024’s “Fairweather Friend”—share many similarities, there are also telling differences in the two releases. The band’s inaugural effort was a gloriously low-stakes release, a loveable lo-fi collection of twee-pop gems, whereas the follow-up showcased a more polished and confident group, capable of putting out bigger hooks and catchier choruses.

According to Ferrara, that evolution was just the natural progression of a band getting to know each other and maturing as musicians.

“That first album was pretty shambolic, because we had never really recorded together,” said Ferrara. “I had never recorded a pop band before. Morgan was never in a band before. The rest of us were all in weird punk bands before this. Of course, it was going to take us some time to figure things out.”

But with more experience and familiarity—the band has now been together for eight years—they are more interested in pushing the bounds of what defines an Umbrellas album. The current recording sessions for LP3—tentatively set to be released next year—offer a tantalizing look into what that might mean.

The new demos include mandolin, standup bass, trumpet and accordion—instruments that would have no home in the Umbrellas first two albums. Ferrera said he’s been taking vocal lessons (from local musician Anna Hillburg) and the band hinted that the arrangements for the new tracks are more layered and less controlled, drifting away from the pop classicism that defined their earlier work.

“These songs are definitely less structured—there’s not as much AB, AB, AC stuff—that verse-chorus-verse thing,” said Stanley. “We have more interesting instrumental bridges and are really trying to be a little less conventional.”

The Umbrellas will offer up a glimpse of that new sound on Thursday, when the band plays on the rooftop of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, a local showcase staged by (((folkYEAH!))). They’ll be joined by Oakland post-punkers Fake Fruit and San Francisco indie rockers Now, in a performance that highlights the impressive depth and breadth of the Bay Area music collective.

Umbrellas are now carefully plotting out their next moves, keen to take time with the new album. Like most San Francisco musicians, the members of Umbrellas all juggle multiple band roles—Stanley plays in the Telephone Numbers, Ferrara in Magic Fig and Oka and Frerichs in the Government—so timing and scheduling is always a challenge.

Regardless, the Umbrellas will not be making a mad dash to put out the third record, a lesson in forbearance they’ve learned to increasingly appreciate during their tenure.

“There was a tendency in the past to rush things—we always really wanted to get something new out, because there was this fear that people would forget us,” said Stanley. “But we’re all so comfortable in our lives right now that there's just not that pressure to release something until we’re ready.”

“We want to put out a great record,” said Ferrara. “That’s going to require a little time. But we want to make sure it’s the best we can do.” 

 Show Details:
The Umbrellas with Fake Fruit and Now
Where: SF MoMA
When: 5:30 p.m., Thursday, September 18
Tickets: $35 ($15 for MoMA members), available here.

Metal Legends Baroness Playing First Two Albums at GAMH On September 17

Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz

They always say it will be just like riding a bike—everything will come flooding back in no time.

But what if said “bike” is a devilishly intricate set of prog-metal treatises? How are you supposed to casually wade back into 90 minutes of complex guitar arrangements, strange time signatures and countless tempo and time changes?

That was the dilemma facing John Dyer Baizley and his band, the post-metal legends Baroness, as they attempted to unpack their first two albums, “Red” and “Blue,” for a tour in which they’d play those classics in their entirety.

“It was definitely interesting revisiting these albums that were, like, psychotically overloaded with parts and technical movements,” said Baizley. “But there is something wonderful to me in the challenge of playing this music. It’s like we’re on the edge of our seats every time we play these songs—you kind of just hold on for dear life and see where it takes you.”

On September 17, Baroness will bring that white-knuckle experience to the Great American Music Hall, where they’ll play a setlist that includes all of the tracks from those early compendiums.

Tireless road warriors—you can find Baroness playing in the most unlikeliest of locales throughout the country and beyond—the band is currently in-between album cycles, with their latest release, “Stone,” now nearly two years old. That itch to constantly get out and perform before their fans, led to the idea of Baroness revisiting their early work.

“Over the course of our career, we’ve really tried to avoid doing any gimmicks or delving into nostalgia, but we’ve also discussed the idea of exploring our back catalog more,” said Baizley. “We are working musicians—we tour as much as humanly possible, so from a practical standpoint, it made sense to dedicate ourselves to this idea at this time, since we’re currently in a bit of a lull in our album support cycle.” 

The fact that neither album is celebrating a noteworthy anniversary—“Red” came out in 2007 and “Blue” arrived in 2009— actually made the touring idea more palatable, Baizley said, as it would remove any notion that the band was trying to cash in on some arbitrary milestone.

Regardless of the motivation, fans will be in for an immersive and unique auditory gift hearing the older records played live. While Baroness always played selections from the two albums in their regular live sets, this tour marks the first time in more than a decade that many of the songs from “Red” and “Blue” will be performed. Those albums—immediately hailed as paragons of the genre—showcased an insanely ambitious band and hinted at an evolution that would take Baroness beyond the strictures of the metal scene.

“I think when we wrote “Red,” we were absolutely trying to do as much as we could, with what we had at the time,” said Baizley. “And we looked at that as our opening salvo, so we needed to follow up with something even more bold for “Blue.” But after touring those albums nonstop for five years, we realized that we couldn’t maintain that course. We needed to write songs that were more performable.”

The results of that more restrained technical approach were “Yellow & Green” and “Purple,” the towering dual masterpieces of the Baroness genre—ones that saw them further push the boundaries and definitions of what could be termed “metal.” For “Purple,” the band teamed up with indie rock production maestro Dave Fridmann, a partnership that resulted in Baroness earning their first Grammy Nomination, for the song “Shock Me”—a rare industry acknowledgement from a group always outside the edge of conformity.

As great as those later albums are (and there isn’t anything less than an absolute gem in the entire Baroness discography) it’s thrilling to go back to the visceral early days of the band. Tracks like the “Red” album opener “Rays on Pinion” and "Steel That Sleeps the Eye" from “Blue” showcase an absolutely fearless band—one willing to go outrageous lengths to perfect and hone their sound. There is joy in falling utterly lost within the byzantine movements of a song like “Isak,”—a “Red” album standout that illustrates the band’s willingness to explore every conceivable guitar sound.

Those older albums are also a testament to the staying power of Baroness—a band that has experienced its fair share of obstacles. Baizley is the group’s only holdover from the “Red” and “Blue” days, and after a devastating bus accident in 2012—in which several members endured serious injuries—there was a serious question if the group would soldier on. Unsurprisingly, given his convictions, Baizley kept the band together and its current lineup—drummer Sebastian Thomson, guitarist Gina Gleason and bassist Nick Jost—is the most stable in the band’s history.

“When we started this band, I wasn’t capable of looking 20 years into the future,” said Baizley. “But because of what music means to me, I don’t think I ever considered stopping this thing—maybe that was a little stupid of me. My thought process was always this—‘I’m in a band, these songs are very much from my heart and soul, and that makes me proud to go out and perform them.’”

Backed by his stellar bandmates, Baizley will do just that next week in San Francisco—a performance that will surely teeter perilously on the edge of safety—just like riding a bike.

“When I go to a show, I want to see a little chaos and a little magic,” said Baizley. “And that’s what these “Red” and “Blue” gigs have been all about. Just because you know the albums, doesn’t mean the show will be predictable.”

Show Details:
Baroness with Weedeater
Where: Great American Music Hall
When: 8 p.m., Wednesday, September 17 
Tickets: $40.62, available here

Real Estate Touring Behind “11-year, 7-month” Anniversary of Classic Album, “Atlas”

It’s a milestone one can never forget—a special moment in time forever etched in one’s memory.

This isn’t a silver or diamond jubilee we’re talking about. Those are a dime a dozen. 

No—this is something far more important: the 11 year, seven-month anniversary—that time-honored benchmark celebrated by all. This week, Real Estate—the indie-rock institution with ties to the Bay Area—will continue that tradition by embarking on a tour honoring the 139-month birthday of their iconic third album, “Atlas.”

Ok, yeah, we all know that Real Estate just threw out a totally arbitrary date as an excuse to tour behind a beloved album. But as the band’s bassist Alex Bleeker explains, in a world where live music faces endless competition for people’s attention, you gotta dig up something to get the crowds out.

“Yeah, if we’re being frank, this is a great record and an important one for our career, but this is really more a fan service thing,” said Bleeker, who lives in West Marin. “But we’re all about servicing the fans, because that services us, and we love that relationship. We’re always trying to figure out a hook to get people to come to shows—to get off the couch and stop watching Netflix and come see us one more time.

On Friday and Saturday, Real Estate will bring their “Atlas” shows to a couple of Bay Area locales off the traditional road circuit—Felton and Mount Tamalpais (correct, a mountain.) These will be the band’s first shows without longtime guitarist Julian Lynch, who recently announced his defeature from the group under amicable terms.

The Friday show will be at the Felton Music Hall (formerly Don Quixote’s) and the Saturday gig will be part of the annual Sound Summit Festival—a scene music gathering set at the Mountain Amphitheater on Mount Tamalpais that will also include Canadian indie-pop maestros Alvvays and Sacramento veterans Cake.

“For someone who lives in West Marin, it doesn’t get any more local than Mt. Tam,” said Bleeker. “I’ve always wanted to play at Sound Summitt—every year they release the lineup for this fest and we aren’t on it, I get super bummed. So, yeah, can’t wait to play on Saturday.”

While Bleeker will be enjoying the stunning views, fans will get the benefit of hearing one of Real Estate’s most venerable albums. A strikingly consistent band—they’ve truly never released even a mediocre album—“Atlas” saw the band perhaps at the peak of their powers, harnessing the languid rock modicum of the Feelies and the Clean while creating pastoral harmonies reminiscent of XTC and California 60s surf outfits. It’s a standout vehicle in particular for Real Estate guitarist and chief songwriter Martin Courtney, who grew up with Bleeker in New Jersey.

“Atlas” received one of the highest rated reviews of the year from Pitchfork and landed on countless best-of lists, capitalizing on a moment when indie rock truly was in the Zeitgeist.

“We all absolutely love this album, but I also think it benefits from the time and place of things,” said Bleeker. “I often wonder if our last album, [2024’s] “Daniel” had come out around that time, if it would have received a similar reaction. But yeah, there are all these extra, non-musical things that contribute to a feeling that people have for a particular album, and I can’t deny that, because that’s true for myself as a music fan.”

Many of the songs on the album never fell out of the band’s live rotation, and a few—“Talking Backwards” and “Had to Hear”—rank among Real Estate’s most-played tracks. “Talking Backwards,” a flitting, ebullient pop piece about relationship miscommunications, actually almost never made it on to the album, according to Bleeker.

“That was this classic case of us bringing the album to our record label and them being like ‘we’re not hearing a single here,’” said Bleeker. “And so, Martin went back into the lab and banged out ‘Talking Backwards’ . I knew right away that one was right on the money. It sounds super cliché, but yeah, it was one of those moments when everyone benefits.”

In addition to those tracks, “Atlas” included one of Bleeker’s most memorable songwriting contributions to Real Estate. “How Might I Live,” is a mournful, forlorn ballad about doubt and despair, punctuated by Bleeker’s wounded and lamenting opening line, “How might I live to betray you?”

While the song has some hopeful undertones, the themes nonetheless are weighty and deep, but Bleeker said it hasn’t been too difficult revisiting that track.

“I can connect with the emotions that I was feeling when I wrote that song and I remember exactly what it meant to me at the time, but once it’s written and recorded, it just takes on a different energy and life,” said Bleeker. “That’s one of the things that’s therapeutic about writing—once it becomes a song, it’s like a separate entity, somewhat removed from its original meaning.” 

While not the primary songwriter for Real Estate, Bleeker fronts numerous other projects and on September 27, he’ll play with the West Marin Grateful Dead Appreciation Society (Bleeker is one of foremost Deadheads in the indie rock world) as part of a benefit concert for Mesa Park in Bolinas. Real Estate is also working on new material, which Bleeker said they hope to release next year.

“Obviously, there are a lot of factors beyond our control, but we hope to have something out in 2026,” said Bleeker. “I’ll say it’s very likely we will have a few singles out by this time next year, at the very least.”

For a band as admirably and durably great as Real Estate, the next album will surely be a memorable one, which can only mean one thing: start making your calendars for 2038, when that classic 11-year, seven-month anniversary tour starts.

Show Details:
Real Estate with Subtle Orange
Where: Felton Music Hall
When: 8 p.m., Friday, September 12
Tickets: $41.15, available here. 

Sound Summit Music Festival
Where: Mountain Theater, Mount Tamalpais
When: 11:30 a.m. – 7 p.m., Saturday, September 13
Tickets: $138.50, available here.

Singer-Songwriter Luke Sweeney Playing His Impish New Album At 4-Star Theater on Aug. 29

Photo Credit: Ginger Fierstein

One of the lead singles on Luke Sweeney’s carnivalesque new album, “Novel Tea,” is the puckish, “Subsidize Our Rent,” a cheeky plea to support artists living in a world that is increasingly untenable for creative types.

It feels particularly prescient—not only has their vanishingly small social safety net evaporated even further by devastating federal funding cuts, but algorithmic heavy steaming services have marginalized outsider artists in favor of pop stars and nefarious AI outfits.

And although that track feels wholly of the moment, it was actually written more than five years ago—a sadly clairvoyant statement made by Sweeney that has only gained resonance in the past half-decade.

“I wrote most of these songs a long time ago, and when I went to record them a few years later, I don’t think I changed a single lyric,” said Sweeney, who will play a record release party on August 29 at the 4-Star Theater as part of Andrew St. James’ Fast Times showcase. “The experience of going back to listen to those songs was just really heightened by the current climate. I don’t want to say those songs were prophetic in any way, because I was writing from a real perspective at the time. But those conditions have just grown—I feel like we’re getting more and more crowded, while at the same time getting more and more isolated and lonely. It’s a struggle out there.”

Those are heavy themes for sure, but “Novel Tea” is anything but a bummer album—in fact it’s the exact opposite. Infused with sardonic humor, the record is an impish, picaresque journey, filled with coming-of-age stories, prankish tales and, yeah, the occasional social commentary. 

Set against all these backdrops is Sweeney’s trademark penchant for sonic exploration. Each song is a blurry mix of offbeat instrumentation and whimsical arrangements, creating a Beach Boys-inflected atmosphere that imagines what kind of ingenuity Brian Wilson could conjure with a shoestring budget. 

“A lot of guitarists will insist upon touching the guitar every day—doing the Jimi Hendrick thing of like sleeping with the instrument—and for a long time, I did that kind of thing,” said Sweeney. “But after a while, things change and you get restless with that singular focus. For this album, I was literally using child toy instruments for a lot of the demos, and Robin [MacMillian], who I worked with on this album, just rolled with it. There’s a lot of fantastic musicians out there who takes themselves very seriously, but I’m just not one of them anymore.”

Those Casio-heavy histrionics naturally imbue the album with levity, a mood Sweeney sought to create after the beautiful poignancy of his prior album, “Rishi,” which delved into the tragic death of his daughter.

“It wasn’t so much a response to “Rishi,” but it was more about going back to making a record of songs and stories that didn’t have a specific focus or dedication,” said Sweeney. “There are songs here about my life just like any other record, but the themes are obviously a lot less heavy than ‘Rishi.’”

Some of the songs on “Novel Tea” back 10 years, to when Sweeney was still living in San Francisco (he now resides in Nevada City.) Sweeney said there wasn’t a specific impetus to release the songs now, other than the desire to avoid these tracks collecting “digital dust.” He already has material written for four new albums, so he was eager to address some of his back catalog of songs.

That doesn’t mean that “Novel Tea” is a disjointed collection of odds and ends—there is an uncanny sense of coherence to the tracks, with many of the songs sweetly delving into youthful nostalgia. “Young Kids” is a buoyant synthpop treat, a breezy number filled with faux-strings and paeans to the beauty of fledgling love. “Burn’n Ambition” is a chugging power pop anthem, deftly capturing the wide-eyed wonder of being young, and
“Sum’r Nights,” is a gorgeous ballad reminiscent of the Kinks’ masterpiece, “Waterloo Sunset.” 

Album standout “Probably Me” is a Calypso-inflected chamber pop piece, in which Sweeney humorously details the multiple versions of himself, and the aforementioned “Subsidize Our Rent” has him doing his best Randy Newman impression—all rollicking piano interjection and witty vocal deliveries. The central takeaway of that song “subsidize our rents/when shit gets hard,” is so simple it’s almost koan-like, serving as a reminder again that although many of Sweeney’s subjects—young love, maturation, discovering the world—feel timeless, others are despairingly still topical.

Whether it’s something as direct and literal as a plea for housing assistance or an idea as ephemeral as the fleeting, ineffable nature of adolescence, Sweeney understands that  music is a universal language—a way of actualizing a feeling or emotion that is waiting to be discovered.

“There are things communicated in music that we’re already feeling, but we’re unable to process them until we hear that one song,” said Sweeney. “There’s a certain lyric or a melody or a beat, that just hits us in a certain way, right? All the songs on this album are very personal and I’m not trying to generalize anything. But I try to find that place where we can all feel something together. Even though this album was written year ago, I think the emotions I describe are something we’re all feeling now—maybe even more so than ever.”

Show Details:
Luke Sweeney with Mayya and Andrew St. James
Where: 4-Star Theater
When: 8 p.m., Friday, August 29
Tickets: $14, available here.

Horsegirl and Their Thrilling, Newfound Minimalism, Coming to GAMH on August 16

Photo Credit: Ruby Faye

For years, Penelope Lowenstein, the singer-guitarist of indie rock trio Horsegirl, looked for certain markers to determine if one of the band’s shows was a success. Those signs usually came in the form of frantically dancing crowds, crashing mosh pits and high-decibel roars of approval.

However, in the wake of the band’s recent shift from precocious noise-rock practitioners to minimalist auteurs, Lowenstein has reassessed the merits of a standout performance.

“I feel like my relationship to performing has completely changed from record one to record two,” said Lowenstein. “On this new album, there are slower songs in the set, there are love songs—there is a lot of empty space in the arrangements. Now, I see couples having intimate moments in the audience, or people signing along to the words and it’s such a different feeling. We’re tapping into something much more emotional now, and that’s really wild and fun as a musician to witness.”

That “record one” cited by Lowenstein was Horsegirl’s blistering debut album, “Versions of Modern Performance,” an electrifying blast of feedback and defiant dissonance inspired by acts like Sonic Youth and Television. Recorded while the band—bassist/vocalist Nora Cheng and drummer Gigi Reece round out the trio—were still in their teens, the album garnered widespread critical plaudits and earned the group opening spots on tours for indie rock legends like Pavement and Wilco.

 The band could have easily cloned that formula for their follow-up album, but instead Horsegirl took a daring left-turn, producing a sparse, toned-down and emotionally vulnerable follow-up, this year’s excellent “Phonetics On and On.”

Lowenstein and company will bring their newly found appreciation for restraint to the Great American Music Hall on August 16, where they’ll be joined by fellow minimalist maestros Cindy, the great San Francisco outfit that toured with Horsegirl last year.

For “Phonetics On and On,” which was released in February, Horsegirl pursued negative space and withdrawn, hushed atmospherics in lieu of cranked-out guitar histrionics. Inspired by the pared-down approach of the Welsh collective Young Marble Giants, who released one legendary album, “Colossal Youth,” in 1980, Lowenstein said the group found it thrilling to peel away layers of music until only the most elemental traces remained.

“We took a long break between our albums and it wasn’t something we really verbalized going into making this record, but I think we were all in the mindset of making something super different,” said Lowenstein. “It felt really exciting to us—to create something very minimal as a three-piece. We tried to think about strange ways of using our instruments—using the guitar as a percussion piece and then letting the bass carry the melody. There were so many fun possibilities, just letting different instruments take on these unusual roles.”

The result is an entrancing collection of barebones rock—as equally visceral as the band’s voluminous debut, albeit from a different emotional register. Tracks like “In Twos” and “Julie” are masterclasses in the realm of artful absence, hinting at grand, cathartic payoffs that never arrive. “Sport Meets Sound” is a playful, loping number full of earnest, slightly offset vocal harmonies, and “Well I Know You’re Shy” is another bass-driven piece that revels in its understated approach.

Perhaps the most jarring track on the new album is its most nakedly gorgeous one—the Americana-inflected ballad, “Frontrunner.” Full of thick, Twin Peaks-esque guitar chords and cooing, plaintive vocals, the song is unlike anything in the band’s catalog and represents an exhilarating glimpse into what might lie ahead for Horsegirl.

“We’ve been getting asked a lot about that song, because it is so different for us,” said Lowenstein. “It was from the time when Nora and I lived together and I was having just a terrible day with personal heartbreak—that kind of stuff. We just stayed in the apartment all day together and wrote that song. We ended up recording it basically exactly the same way it sounded when we captured it in our phone’s voice memo function. It’s the sound of two roommates living together who also happen to be in a band.”

All members of the band are still living together, although now they are in New York—removed from their hometown of Chicago, where they were a key member of an absolutely dynamic music scene. Alongside contemporaries like Friko, Lifeguard and Sharp Pins (the former put out one of the best albums of 2024 and the latter two have produced a couple of the finest records of 2025), Horsegirl helped make the midwestern metropolis ground zero for engaging indie rock (it’s also a decidedly family affair—Lowenstein’s brother, Isaac, is the drummer for Lifeguard.)

While forever indebted to Chicago, Lowenstein said the band is excited about living in New York, a change of scenery that mirrors the band’s fresh artistic aesthetic.

“I think it was important for us to move away and find our own footing somewhere,” said Lowenstein. “We’re not teenagers anymore—we needed to find ourselves, to do our own thing. And I think we’re really embracing that right now.”

Show Details:
Horsegirl with Cindy and Godcaster
Where: Great American Music Hall
When: 8 p.m., Saturday, August 16
Tickets: $20/$25 (Sold Out!)