Friday Rock City: Who in the hell green-lighted this tripe!!??
by The Scene on March 29th, 2009
Well, we were actually the ones that green-lighted this music video, and it’s finally launched as of this Friday! Dubious Ranger can now put another notch on their bedposts, as they officially have appeared in something that looks waaaay too expensive for any of these guys to appear in. It just seems weird. And awesome. And weird. Oh, and completely fucking insane.
The Scene says watch it:
Show of the weekend: DNA Lounge Sunday Feb 22
by The Scene on February 22nd, 2009
Some people don’t find the Oscars entertaining. Hugh Jackman may be a song and dance man, and Mickey Rourke may be the ugliest Cinderella story of the year, but every year people seem to forget that those Oscars are pure milquetoast.
So what’s your alternative remedy? The Scene has many friends playing tonight at the DNA Lounge in SOMA, San Fran. The show is, unfortunately, a Battle of the Bands, however that fact is balanced by the goodi-ness of many of the bands involved. We’ve got the following SF indie bands playing from 6pm-11pm…
DUBIOUS RANGER
ROBERT GASTELUM
FEAR THE FIASCO
OF THIS CITY
THE SCARLET PIMPERNELS
THE PUNDITS
STEREO FREAKOUT
JHANA
WILD SIDE
Buy tickets this way: https://cart.dnalounge.com/order/?item=50879
Get there this way: 375 11th St. @ Harrison, right near Slims
Oh and Nate Silver already predicted the Oscar winners if you’re really a sucker for suspense: http://nymag.com/movies/features/54335/
Thursday Rock City
by The Scene on February 10th, 2009
Hey Scenesters, so this Thursday, we’ve been informed of a great lineup playing at Retox in San Francisco from 9pm til 1am, and it looks to be a big whammy, in the parlance of our times. The gritty nitty:
What: Fat Skeleton (dancey psychadelic metal/electronica/rock from Modesto), Mass Fiction (Slammingly catchy pop-rock/electro/classic rock from Berkeley), and Fat Water (Electro-experimental avant-garde noise jams)
Where: Retox, 628 20th St, San Francisco, 21 and over only
When: Thursday, Feb 12, 9pm-1am
How Fat: Two Fats and a Massive. Now THERE’S a great name for a cock-rock band.
The Scene likes all of these bands. A lot. We’re going… are you?
Fleet Foxes… really?
by The Scene on December 19th, 2008
So it’s been a while since we’ve posted anything, due primarily to a heap of recent craziness, whether taking the form of finishing up two new Nothing Room releases, dealing with a particularly harsh San Francisco winter season, dealing with a bedroom flood caused by said winter season, spending too much time on Reddit, and dealing with that pesky gorilla that recently escaped from the zoo and has a tendency to punch us in the nose just as we fall asleep.
What’s made us come out of hibernation? How about the obligatory Best Music of 2008 lists coming from every possible wazoo of a publication this side of Mordor. More importantly, we’re trying to deal with our continuing confusion regarding everyone else’s musical tastes and preferences. The Fleet Foxes full-length, an incredibly beautiful work of folk magic, soaring harmonies, and softly poetic lyrics, has officially given Pitchfork a great big boner. A hardcore boner. Like, watching Total Recall at the age of 11 hardcore boner.
What can we say to dispute Pfork’s decision to give Fleet Foxes the #1 spot? The album is majestic, the singing is pure and beautiful, the songwriting is memorable and pleasing, the production and arrangements all ring true. Yet, when people look back on the year 2008 some time down the road, will they really remember Fleet Foxes as the band that changed everything? Has this band really made an album that, while never having a notably bad moment, is enough to infiltrate our hearts and minds to a point where Natalie Portman can say with a straight face “This band will change your life?”
No offense to FF, but The Scene thinks not. We love the album, are happy that the band has reaped widespread fame and adulation, and for us it is among the best of the year, but for once in a lifetime we actually agree with Rolling Stone; this is a #11 best album, not a #1. You want a #1 best album? Well, then either do something completely new and do it brilliantly (and any truly original work is bound to have pimples and warts, just like any brilliant astrophysicist or IT professional who secretly records Captain Beefheart covers in his bedroom), or do something traditional, and make it perfect. Wait, not just perfect, startlingly perfect. Blow us out of the water, whether through bombast or intricate subtlety. Grab us by the hearts, grab us by the brains, kick our faces in with your masterpiece. But you can’t just settle for beauty. Lots of music is beautiful; it’s your job as an artist to go beyond that term and create something whose importance is impossible to accurately convey.
We’re not just gonna be negative nancies though and deride everyone else’s decisions… We’re all about constructive criticism around the scene. So what is our #1 album of the year? You’ll have to wait until January 1st, when we release our own toppermost of the poppermost list… unlike some people, we actually understand the concept of a calendar.
And as a parting thought, here’s something to remind you how important music really can be… the type of thing that can truly be looked upon with a declaration of “yes, this changes everything”…
San Francisco Halloween Bash: Everybody Gets Slayed
by The Scene on October 25th, 2008
Hey there ladies and gents, been a long time since we’ve posted anything, what with the economy, an addiction to shwarma, and a man-bear hybrid that refuses to stop chasing us around. Luckily, that quick bastard is taking just enough of a breather to let us chat about the place to be this Halloween. The Scene and some of our best buddies are getting together this Friday, Hallow’s Eve, at Irelands 32 for an excellent show and party, aptly dubbed “Everybody Gets Slayed”. Theme of the night: Haunted Saturday Morning Cartoons. Do you remember the theme song from Dino The Last Dinosaur? We don’t, but you can make up the words if you’re hammered enough. The gist:
1. It’s an Irish pub in which you don’t have to be embarrassed that you blame witchcraft and illiteracy on the beer you just spilled on yourself.
2. From 7-8, you can get your body rocked by hot spins from DJ Hot Rod. He’ll make you dance, we promise.
3. From 8-9:30, your favorite indie insaniacs Dubious Ranger will be powering through earth-shaking art-rock and freak-out pop– including covers by none other than David Bowie, Blondie, Talking Heads, and The Beatles– and blowing you away in general. They will be dressed as Ghostbusters, fucking aye.
4. There will a costume contest that won’t make any sense because that guy who spent $1000 and 40 hours building his Mum-rah outfit will lose.
5. 10-12: Your favorite hair rock + polka/klezmer 8-piece funk band, Sex With No Hands, will hit you across the face with 1.2 Gigawatts of laser-light-show power and accordian+vocoder sexual magic.
6. 12-onwards: best Halloween afterparty in town, featuring Portland’s Excellent Gentlemen. Imagine Chromeo, but more slow-jams, and they can actually sing without autotune. Yaaaaay.
7. Did we mention the entire night will feature a huge laser-light-show? Yeah guess we did.
This all sounds awesome. The Scene says Go.
You can get tickets here: http://everyonegetsslayed.eventbrite.com/