Jason Falkner Launches West Coast Mini-Tour

This news has us extremely, extremely excited. If you read HAD devoutly, then you at least know that we have more than a bit of a soft spot for power pop musician extraordinaire, Jason Falkner. It's been a big year for the (sometimes absent) man: Falkner's I'm Ok, You're Ok has just seen domestic release, while his fantastic latest record All Quiet On The Noise Floor is still sort of floating around in the ether of the internet (okay, and Japan) waiting for it's day in the sun.

Nonetheless, Falkner always seems to be on a bit of a prolific kick, whether it be live or in the studio, and this fall is no exception. After a show at Spaceland in Los Angeles last month, Falkner has lined up a set of rare west coast appearances to (presumably) give fans a much needed taste of his newer material.

Falkner will be stopping in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco at the beginning of next week. While there's no word yet as to whether it will be a solo or a full band affair, we can more than promise you that it'll be worth your while. If you're doubting us, check the awesome HD vid (above) from June in Austin, or the killer new track "Evangeline" from All Quiet On The Noise Floor (shh!). Either way, be there!

Jason Falkner West Coast Mini Tour 2010

Seattle - The Triple Door - Sept. 20
Portland - Doug Fir Lounge - Sept. 21
San Francisco - Slim's - Sept. 23

mp3: Jason Falkner - Evangeline

Ben Kweller Adds Dates, Slim's In June

We mentioned last month that we were really digging on Ben Kweller's new record, Changing Horses. As such, we were psyched to discover that Kweller has added a second leg to his US tour that will find him on the West coast in June. Among others, Kweller will be making a stop here in San Francisco at Slim's.

Having caught Kweller's show at the Fillmore a couple of years back, we can assure you that he delivers in a live setting. Granted, it's in the presence of many young women who are more than a little into Mr. Kweller. That doesn't change the fact that Kweller delivers a killer, super energetic set. We're even more curious given the country bent of his new record. Will it be a country band? Will Kweller play older material with new arrangements? All those questions and more can be answered on June 17th. Tickets are on-sale now.

mp3: Ben Kweller - On Her Own

Ben Kweller Summer 2009 Dates
Jun 13 Avalon Salt Lake City, Utah
Jun 16 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, Oregon
Jun 17 Slims San Francisco, California
Jun 19 El Rey Theatre Los Angeles, California
Jun 22 Club Congress Tucson, Arizona
Jun 25 House Of Blues Houston, Texas
Jun 26 Granada Theater Dallas, Texas
Jun 27 Emos Austin, Texas

Reminder: Little Joy Is At Slim's Tonight

If you find yourself looking for a dose of Tuesday evening rock and roll (and you can deal with an all ages, probably crowd), well, look no further! Little Joy will be at Slim's this evening for the super price of $13! The band has been getting a lot of positive hype lately, and we here at HAD have been digging on their debut record quite a bit. Should be a great show, but if you need a taste before you buy, check out their latest video above. "No One's Better Sake" is definitely one of the record's more upbeat tracks, and the video is a dose of 60's throwback music video, complete with low res video and cheesy screen graphics. Remind you of anything? Just sayin'.

Want To See The Strokes Live? Well, How About One Stroke? Little Joy's Coming To Slim's!

In our continued rumblings about the status of The Strokes, you may recall that one of the many side projects is drummer Fabrizio Moretti's band Little Joy. The band's new record came out Tuesday, and they are heading out on a nationwide tour starting tomorrow.

To our ears, the record sounds a bit like Walkmen-infused Strokes, with a touch of reggae and folkiness put in for good measure. Sure, that sounds insane, but listen and see if you don't agree. What's more, we'd be lying if we said that Rodrigo Amarante didn't remind us a bit of one Julian Casablancas on his more croony days.

The band will be returning to their California home base at the beginning of December, and we have the honor of hosting the last show of the tour right here in San Francisco at Slim's! Tickets go on-sale Sunday at 10 AM - get em while they're hot. Thanks to Music Induced Euphoria for the tip.

Little Joy Tour Dates:
Nov 7 2008 Station 4 St. Paul, Minnesota
Nov 8 2008 Subterranean Chicago, Illinois
Nov 9 2008 Magic Stick Detroit, Michigan
Nov 11 2008 Hard Rock Cafe Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Nov 12 2008 The Khyber Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nov 13 2008 Mercury Lounge New York, New York
Nov 14 2008 Maxwell’s Hoboken, New Jersey
Nov 15 2008 Wonder Bar Asbury Park, New Jersey
Nov 16 2008 TT the Bears Cambridge, Massachusetts
Nov 17 2008 Virgin Megastore (Union Square) In-Store Performance New York, New York
Nov 18 2008 Black Cat Backstage Washington D.C., Washington DC
Nov 20 2008 Atlanta Room at Smith’s Olde Bar Atlanta, Georgia
Nov 21 2008 Exit/In Nashville, Tennessee
Nov 22 2008 Duck Room at Blueberry Hill St. Louis, Missouri
Nov 24 2008 Jackpot Music Hall Lawrence, Kansas
Nov 25 2008 The Conservatory Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Nov 26 2008 The Lounge on Elm Street Dallas, Texas
Nov 28 2008 Warehouse Live Studio Houston, Texas
Nov 29 2008 The Parish Austin, Texas
Nov 30 2008 Cain’s Ballroom 2nd Stage Tulsa, Oklahoma
Dec 2 2008 Larimer Lounge Denver, Colorado
Dec 4 2008 Martini Ranch Scottsdale, Arizona
Dec 5 2008 House of Blues - 5th Street Side Stage San Diego, California
Dec 6 2008 Detroit Bar Costa Mesa, California
Dec 7 2008 Troubadour Los Angeles, California
Dec 9 2008 Slim’s San Francisco, California

Local New Release Deluge At Slim's Thursday Night

If you're looking for a taste of what's up and coming on the local music scene, Slim's is your spot this Thursday night: Tartufi, Built For The Sea, and Low Red Land will all be playing, and all releasing new discs - on the same night! All three bands definitely seem to fall pretty firmly into the "atmospheric indie rock" department, but we were pleasantly surprised by the fact that each seems to be pretty firmly defining their own flavor.

Low Red Land has some nice fuzzy distortion riding over some pretty angsty vocals, while still holding onto melody - think Modest Mouse or Two Gallants. Headliner Tartufi is driving home a pretty layered-vocal folky vibe - not typically our cup of tea, but certainly well executed (and voted best indie band by the Bay Guardian, so what do we know...). Our fave of the bunch at the moment is Built For The Sea - the band manages to hang onto some sweet female vocals while still driving home a nice edgy rock delivery. We'd be lying, too, if we didn't admit that front woman Lia Rose seems to be a dead ringer (vocally) for Zoey Deschanel.

So, there you have it: if you're sitting there on Thursday night, wondering what to do, you've got a whole menu of locally-grown rock available to feast upon. Enjoy!

mp3: Tartufi - Until The Ocean Swallows The Stars
mp3: Built For The Sea - The (Re)adjust
stream: Low Red Land (myspace)

MGMT To Play Slim's

It's getting to be that time of year in San Francisco where a huge number of bands book shows either just before, or just after, their appearance at Coachella. If you're to believe the hype, one of those bands that is "must see" is Brooklyn's MGMT. The band will be stopping by Slim's on April 24th, along with opener Howlin Rain.

To our ears, MGMT has a pretty strong Robert Plant vibe on the vocals, but manages to go into other, less Zeppelin-y, territories with the rest of their sound. There is a fair amount of sonic experimentation, and a degree of psychedelica that reminds us more than a little bit of the Flaming Lips. To mention the band in the same sentence as Evangelicals would not be a misstep either.

Tickets are on sale now.

mp3: MGMT - Time To Pretend

Concert In The Rain: Liars and No Age at Slim's

Last night at Slim's, despite torrential rain and Liars' frontman Angus Andrew's obvious back injury, No Age and Liars managed to put on a killer rock show. Both bands benefited from a huge amount of crowd enthusiasm, and delivered in turn.

After waiting in two (!) lines in the rain, we managed to get inside for the second half of No Age's set, which was fantastic. We here at H.A.D. had never listened to the band before, but they delivered a solid set of noise/post punk tunes. Probably the only downside was that the songs were so short: quite a few felt like they ended before they even started! The crowd was really into the band, and there was even a request for them to come back after Liars. In some ways, the show seemed to almost be a double bill. We have no doubt that No Age will be back in their own headliner capacity in short order.

When Liars did make it on stage, it was clear from the outset that Angus Andrew's recent injury news flash is definitely a reality. The usually active singer was slow in walking, and slumped a bit to one side. After standing for the first song, he proceeded to sit down next to the drum kit for the duration of the set.

Even seated, however, Andrew managed to deliver as much as possible on his usual antics. He was thrashing about, moving, waving and twitching through the entire set. The rest of the band was in fine form as well, with the addition of a fourth (Jeremy...?) to fill out the line up. Many of the albums' more complex sonic experiments were reproduced surprisingly successfully on stage. The band delivered killer versions of songs both new and old, including "We Fenced Other Houses With Bones Of Our Own", "Broken Witch", and "Plaster Casts Of Everything".

When Angus got up again for the last song it was clear that he really absolutely had needed to be seated for the show. There was such an obvious level of pain and immobility. Still, when the band closed the set with an amazing version of "The Other Side Of Mt. Heart Attack", it was quite nice to see the singer standing and making his way to the crowd.

Speaking of Mt. Heart Attack, probably one of the strangest aspects of the show was hearing the Drums Not Dead songs (of which there were many) out of order. We here at H.A.D. have largely consumed that record via the DVD surround mix, and listened to it as a single entity. Hearing the songs out of order gave them new individuality, and perhaps changed our consideration of some completely. We're still digesting.

So, there you have it. The Liars and No Age, in the face of adversity, are out on tour and kicking ass.

Many more photos available on the h.a.d. flickr feed.

Liar's At Slim's In January, On-Sale This Sunday

Much as we had hoped back when they played Bill Graham with Interpol, Liars are returning to San Francisco for a headlining gig. On Friday, January 25th the band will be playing Slim's to an all-ages crowd. The show goes on-sale this Sunday, December 16th, so get 'em while they're hot!

About Last Night: Caribou @ Slim's

Having spent the better part of the last month listening to Caribou's new disc Andorra, I was quite pumped for last night's show at Slim's. It seemed like a great combo: fantastic band with a great new album, intimate venue, and a live act that had been quite hyped on its cross country travels. A lot of that did wind up to be true: the band's live act is incredibly solid and well orchestrated, and the crowd at Slim's was psyched to be seeing the band in such an intimate setting. To my ears, unfortunately, the band just wasn't hitting the sonic heights achieved on record.

Specifically, one of the biggest pieces of Andorra that has really grabbed me is all the synth and vocal layers. They contribute to make the record have its distinctively eerie combination of 60's pop and experimental rock. They lend a lot of the character that makes the record stand out from the crowd. Last night both were conspicuously low in the mix. Moreover, much of the synth work that was present was driven by a laptop, rather than played live. While I realize that it's a necessary evil at times, it's still always a disappointment to realize you're not getting something completely "live".

Ultimately, the band did deliver an inspired, energetic, drums/bass/guitar combo, with a kickass light show to boot. It's just that something about the performance left me feeling a bit empty, and like I'd rather go home and flip on the record. Maybe I'll do just that.

More photos at the H.A.D. flickr feed.

Lemonheads, Walkmen, On-Sale This Sunday

Adding to yesterday's news of Feist and Fiona Apple On-Sales, Sunday will also feature on-sales for the previously mentioned Walkmen show, as well as a newly announced Lemonheads show. The Walkmen will be playing the Independent on November 13th, while the Lemonheads will be in attendance at Slim's on November 30th.

Remember kids: winter means shows!

Man Man @ Slim's In October

If you like your genres mixed, your performers painted, and your shows crazy, then this may be the announcement for you. Man Man will be playing Slim's on Thursday October 25th, with the opener yet to be announced. I personally haven't given the band much listen thus far, but with all the hype they've been receiving it seem likely some readers will want to be hitting up this show. Me, I'm still on the fence and trolling hype machine for mp3s. Should be a spectacle.

Tickets go on sale this Sunday, September 2nd, at 10 AM.

mp3: Man Man - Black Mission Goggles

Scissors For Lefty @ The Warfield 9/13

In the past six months, I've become a card-carrying Scissors For Lefty fan. The local band has been getting hyped for the last couple of years since their inaugural release Bruno, and their live show has always been mentioned as part of the appeal. I finally managed to catch them at Slim's via Noise Pop this past March opening for the French Kicks, and I was glad I did. The band has a great up front guitar-rock sound that is immediately familiar, yet also has a unique swagger and danceability. Lead singer Bryan Garza oozes charisma, and did a great job pulling in the crowd to the band's set - at one point even stepping down into the crowd. More to the band's credit was the fact that many of the songs were from an album not yet released in the US at the time, and they still had the crowd loving every minute of it.

Since March, the band has had a lot going on: their second disc Underhanded Romance finally saw its release in the US, the band has been playing shows non-stop, and they were even picked for the main stage at Live 105's BFD. I missed the CD release at the Independent, so lucky for me that they're opening for The Bravery at the Warfield on September 13th. I'm very curious to see what all this success has done for them - I'm hoping only good things.

mp3: Scissors For Lefty - Ghetto Ways
mp3: Scissors For Lefty - Lay Down Your Weapons