Woop, our nerdCaps Xmas night went OFF!! what a great time, thanks to all who came out for probably our best show of the year!
Cassolette – Annie
Radical Boy – Charlie Manson
The Spook School – …That’s When I Ran Away
Paws – Kill a Familiar
Honeyslide – Made For You
Sailors of Neptune – When She’s Gone
The Garlands – Chandeliers
Guided By Voices – She Lives In An Airport
Best Friends – Mankind
NEGATIVE NANCY – I Wanna Be Your Batman
Slowcoaches – No Brainer
Sauna Youth – Planned Designs
Constant Mongrel – In The Night
Woollen Kits – Teenage Love
Island Twins – The Wolfs Lair
The Tranzmitors – Sunday Morning
Cold Pumas – Fog Cutter
SEX HANDS – Janice
Roomrunner – Super Vague
Playlounge – Conor, Oh Burst?
Bos Angeles – If Our Parents Were Gone
Dolfinz – Kitsch Craft
Joanna Gruesome – Lemonade Grrrl
Bhurgeist – Shelf Song
woop, we’re super excited to get a nerdCaps exclusive guest mixtape by the most awesome Nancy Parker, chock-a-block with the finest 50′s and 60′s doo-wop, pop, r&b and crooning girl groups!
Nancy was instrumental in the underground-pop pirate radio scene that blossomed in London in the late 1990′s, co-founder and longtime runner of legendary station Pop Pop Pie, known to enjoy playing short, methodically elaborated playlists, often sticking to specific themes, years or track numbers.
1. The Cookies – Chains
2. Little Eva – Locomotion
3. The Bobbettes – I Shot Mr Lee
4. The Trashmen – Surfin’ Bird
5. Ellie Gee & The Jets – I Go, You Go
6. The Delicates – Black And White Thunderbird
7. The Honeys – Shoot The Curl
8. Duane Eddy & The Rebelettes – Boss Guitar
9. The Orlons – Surfin’
10. Darby Sisters – Go Back to Your Pontiac
11. Little Pattie & The Statesmen – He’s My Blonde-Headed Stompie Wompie Real Gone Surfer Guy
12. Ellaine & The Shandels – Tell Me That You Care
13. Chris and Kathy – All You Had To Do (Was Tell Me)
I was recently bemoaning the fact that it’s been a while since i found a record i was truly excited by, one that you want to play back-to-back, that fills your head with dreams, yer belly with butterflies, makes you dance at the top of bridges overlooking cities.
Slowcoaches’ “We’re So Heavy” fills that void perfectly – pure perfect unadulterated noise-pop, stop-start shout-a-long pop-punk – a thick viscous wall of noise penetrated by lazer guided guitar melodies searing afterimages into yer neurons, like the finest lines of a pro-skater using the centrifugal force of gravity to effortlessly fly around a concrete-bowl. Full of fuck-yous and fuck-ups, the whole EP is a big fuck-off to banality, a paen to fun, to DIY lifestyles, to travelling the country, playing in sweaty pub back rooms, meeting like-minded bands, sleeping on couches, having the time of yer life. It’s the sound of orange sodium street lamps reflected on wet pavements, the feeling of getting yer wet jacket off and the taste of your first pint while the first band cranks it out on the small stage, the smiles and waves to your fellow underground-POP gig-going coterie.
Lucy Furr has been a longtime-player in the San Francisco Underground-POP scene, with her current [ir]regular club night, Phonomance, running since 2007. The music policy is broad and accepting, stretching the definition of pop to it’s limits, as long as the music makes people smile, dance or cry! A true vinyl purist, Lucy has stood firmly with her club philosophy of only playing 7″ records, and only having guests who will abide by her rules. We caught up with her over a coffee to fine out more..!
nC: “hey Lucy, how are you?”
LF: “I’m great! Thanks for asking me to get involved, I really enjoyed the first issue of the zine, some really nice band interviews and on-the-road stories from your road trip to SF.”
nC: “Thanks, we had a great time putting it together, it was a great way to explore our new city and really get a feel for the local scene, with great nights like your own Phonomance! We’re psyched to come along for the next one on saturday – can you tell our readers a little of what to expect for the evening?”
LF: “Phonomance is a proper bedroom dance party, hosted by myself and Jennifer Jordan, mostly focussed on new and upcoming releases and bands, plus we always bring in guest DJs from local bands to play their fav records – whatever they like, stuff you’d not normally expect to hear out in a bar or club, a chance to really get as obscure as you like, with an appreciative crowd.”
nC: “Where does the name Phonomance come from?”
LF: “We literally stole the name from the Phonogram comic! That book first came out in 2006 and the concept was eerily similar to what we had been doing in the Underground POP scene – As our club night got busier, we started to notice a point in the evening when the energy in the room was fully glowing – everyone lost in the music, spinning off a million thoughts and emotions – thinking about how that feeling was amplified and sustained in a shared experience, a completely magical sensation. So many previous cultures have explored and experience similar, but its been lost to us due to its lack of recognition by science – thats only now starting to change as science starts to reach the boundaries of newtonian physics, and we start to acknowledge energy forms and behaviors out-with our normal perceptions! It’s the new POP-Science!!”
nC: “Serious stuff, haha! And what about your stance on 7″ vinyl, where does that come from?”
LF: “Ah, well, you see a 7″ record is the perfect symbolic vehicle of concentrated emotion! There are so many dreams and aspirations encoded into the ritual of getting a 7″ record pressed – accumulations of generations of DIY kids striving to change the world, or at least blow the speakers! So much time and thought that goes into the planning and recording of those 3 1/2 minutes. Each 7″ then becomes a store of that energy build-up, like a battery, awaiting the perfect moment to emit it’s sonic radiation, resonating across space, time, and dancefloors! Those 3 1/2 minutes can last an eternity. When you DJ with only 7″s, the magik is so much stronger! ”
nC: “Yow! and do you have any guests coming along this saturday?”
LF: “Yeah, we have Jeffrey from The Waxed Kerbs coming in, which we’re super excited about! He’s been a long time friend and supporter, a pro skater from Santa Monica who has the most amazing collection of punk vinyl! You’ll have an ace time for sure!”
nC: “yay, sounds great! And I believe you have some record reviews to finish the interview?”
LF: “Yes, absolutely, these are some of my current favorite records, which you’ll be guaranteed to hear on saturday!”
nC: “thanks Lucy!! x”
Guantanamo Baywatch – “Sad Over You” // GBW tour edition 2012
“50s Beach Party theme tune of rawkus rock ‘n’ roll good times – spine tingling guitars race hip shaking bass and pounding rhythmic, scream-along vocals, creating a super tsunami of complete utter dancefloor wig-outs!”
The Sandwitches – “Summer Of Love” // 1-2-3-4 GO! Records
“Completely out of time – as prim and perfect as a Victorian seaside holiday town, striped beach chairs, the flickering 8mm of memory, a tapestry woven of cresting voice and darting guitar, telling/playing an eternal story/melody – above all else its the vocals in this which captivate, which dance and contort, inspire and conspire – which ultimately break your heart and leave you gasping for more..”
Dirty Cupcakes – “I Want It” // Fuzz City Records
“Amphetamine fueled girl group raw fuzz, sunflower dresses and crazed moshpits, big grins, one-two, one-two – rattlesnake love – i want it!”
Lake – “Gravel – Selector Dub Narcotic Re-Grade” // K Records 2012
“Seductive from the get-go, a skeletal metallic clank of a drum loop, generously spaced and drifting aside the ethereal voice and comforting warmth of the bass – bass so central and balanced with the dub-informed sense of form, adding a enhanced widescreen feel to the original version”
Fidlar – “No Waves” // Mom + Pop Music Co 2012
No waves my ass, this is a tidal wave of kinetic energy, a perfect pop-punk song, simply impossible not to jump around to and sing-along when this comes out the speakers!”
The Beets – “God” // Captured Tracks
“Like a slacker cover band of Tarantino soundtracks, this beatific track bounces along on an elastic bass and live wire surf guitar, with a drawling laconic wash of chorus and howls, hypnotic repetition and difference and repetition and…”
Big Surr – “Cosine Tangent” // Infinity Cat Records 2012
“Ah, this is a beautiful amorphous ghost of an anthem, like a photocopied zine cover, a time lapse teenage lifetime – the vocals echo into place, just another smudged layer of emotional focus, the slow steady falling rhythm of the drums like the motion of dreams – constant, but too slow, too slow – trapped in an action, lost in the moment with no way back, but then, the soaring guitar lifts you, gull like, to float above the morass, the wind in your face, tunnel vision, the only thing left to matter is the destination, all focus on the end, the glorious, yet sad moment of closure, when the needle returns to the beginning and everything stops once more, awaiting your action/reaction, waiting on you pushing the start button for just one more glorious rendition. ”
// PHONOMANCE happens every second saturday at POW! Cocktail lounge on the corner of 6th and Mission, 9pm – 2am // Lucy Furr will be guest DJ at the second nerdCaps night, on Friday 5th October – more details to follow //
“This new nerdCaps night looks pretty good, I really like their playlists and the bands they’re putting on.”
“Yeah, I’m up for going to check it out. Do you know much about this Stephen and Claire who’re putting it on? Everyone seems to be talking about them.”
“Not much – they just graduated from Art School, supposedly doing really esoteric high-level conceptual work. I met them at a party last weekend, everyone was fawning round them, but I dunno, they seem a little too… ‘Stepford’ for my liking.”
“Ha-ha, you’re just jealous they look so beautiful and happy! This city’s musical scene could do with a little more excitement, so i’m happy to see them shake things up.”
“Fuck! Look at this flyer, there’s a band called The Tummy Fur~!”
“I don’t get it – why is that so bad?”
“My new band is called The Furry Yums – that means there’s two of us with Yummy Fur based-names! And on top of that, there’s that DJ girl as well! *gah!!*”
