Live This Month: June 2013

A whole slew of great Bay Area bands are celebrating the release of new albums this month, and we’ve included songs from a number of them in this episode. As we say in the show, The Mantles have long been one of our favorite local bands, and early cuts from Long Enough To Leave indicate it’s another winner from this jangle-pop quartet. Similarly, the title track from The Spyrals‘ new LP offers rock and roll equally (and skillfully) informed by the worlds of garage and psych. In addition, we’ve also included new music from local post-punk band Creative Adult and East Bay Afro-indie soul band Bells Atlas.

On the touring front, Valleys craft expansive atmospheric pop with a strong sense of dynamics, a sound that they’re able to deliver live despite only having two members. As Monster Rally, visual artist Ted Feighan crafts pop songs out of samples of old records; he’s put out several albums on Oakland’s Gold Robot Records. Finally, if it’s lo-fi with a weird streak that you’re looking for, both Japanther and Total Control are arriving in SF this month. Total Control’s show finds the band sandwiched between Fuzz and Thee Oh Sees for what promises to be a hell of a show.

Enjoy the podcast and then go see some concerts!

The Mantles — “Brown Balloon”
Celebrating Long Enough To Leave with shows at the Rickshaw Stop on June 14 and the White Horse Bar on June 22.

Valleys — “Hounds”
Coming to Bottom of the Hill on June 26; Weeknight and Disappearing People also play.

Cold Cave — “God Made The World”
Boyd Rice joins Wesley Eisold’s band at Public Works on June 15.

Japanther — “Stolen Flowers”
Playing on June 28 at Bottom of the Hill with Defiance, Ohio and Psilovision.

Creative Adult — “Bulls In The Yard”
Supporting The New Trust at Bottom of the Hill on June 21.

Total Control — “The Hammer”
The Australian band’s US tour concludes with a show at the Eagle Tavern on June 8 and one at The Uptown on June 9.

Buffalo Tooth — “Only Son”
Performing at the Hemlock Tavern with The Trashies and Scraper on June 12.

The Spyrals — “Out of Sight”
Celebrating the release of Out of Sight at the Brick & Mortar Music Hall on June 26 with Deep Space, Disappearing People, Al Lover, Max Pain, and DJ Darragh Skelton.

Blitzen Trapper — “Love the Way You Walk Away”
Joining Fruit Bats, Cass McCombs, Damien Jurado, Jessica Pratt and more at the Huichica Music Festival on June 14 and 15.

Monster Rally — “Honey”
Headlining the Brick & Mortar Music Hall on June 23, with support from Steezy Ray Vibes, Shortcircles, and duckyousucker.

D33J — “Park (Tape Version)”
D33J’s North American tour with Baths comes to the Great American Music Hall on June 29.

Hands — “Trouble”
On June 21, the LA band’s tour stops at Brick & Mortar Music Hall; also performing: Be Calm Honcho and Ally Hasche and The Bad Boys.

Bells Atlas — “Incessant Noise”
Throwing an album release party for Bells Atlas at The New Parish on June 14 with The Seshen and DJ Treat-U-Nice.