Latest Local Music - Fractal, Beautiful Machines, Cash Pony, Moetar and Atomic Ape... and Mirthkon!

There is a huge amount of good original new music that is looking for an audience. Most of what I listen to is from bands you've probably never heard of, so I'm going to share some updates and some local gigs that are happening over the next few days in the SF Bay Area. I encourage you to go to the gigs and buy a CD, or buy the album online to support local musicians. There is a Facebook group for Bay Area Prog rock that's worth tracking.

Earlier this week Fractal released the first track of a free album of improvisations. They plan to release the tracks on soundcloud around once a month. It's hard to categorize what they sound like other than excellent musicians composing instrumentals in real time. They tend to have interesting sound effects, looped phrases and are known for using odd time signatures. I've been a non-playing member of this band since they started, helping in various ways including naming this album "Fractiles".

I've been meaning to write this for a while, and my deadline is that tonight (Thursday Jan 30th) there is a gig including Beautiful Machines in San Francisco. I can't attend, but I do have their first album and have been listening to it a lot over the last few months. They write songs with influences from 80's synth-pop bands, and remind me of Japan or Duran Duran perhaps. Their bass player Van is one of my favorite local musicians, he used to play in Headshear and has a unique and interesting style on fretless bass. Here's a trailer for a video of Animammal from their album "Disconnect :: Reconnect".



On Saturday I will be in Oakland for a gig with three of my favorite local bands. Please come along!

Moetar are a pop band with a unique sound that blends jazzy female vocals and prog rock instrumentation into some very commercial sounding songs. They don't sound like Muse, but if you like Muse I think you will like Moetar. They have a unique mix, and I've played their first album regularly over the last year or two. Their second album has been recorded and is due for release soon. I've seen them live several times, and try not to miss a gig, they are awesome and deserve to be a big hit. Here's a video they made for Butchers of Baghdad from their first album From These Small Seeds.

Cash Pony have played with Moetar several times, and I bought their CD at a gig, then just kept playing it. It's an interesting mix of instruments, with a bass sax and an electric sitar on some songs. It's interesting uptempo pop songs, and they have a very smooth sound on the CD, but I can't figure out what to compare it to. Take a listen to a live version of 1000 Layer Curry Dawg and get their Carpal Tunnel Vision Quest album.

Years ago, there was an amazing local band called Estradasphere. They released several albums that I still listen to regularly. They have dispersed, and the guitarist Jason Schimmel has a new band called Atomic Ape with a new album, Swarm. I haven't heard them before, but am looking forward to seeing them live for the first time on Saturday. Here's a rather dark video of them playing for a radio show.

Update - I just found out that on Feb 15th MirthKon and Secret Chiefs 3 are playing a gig in San Francisco. Not yet sure if I can make it to attend. Yet another of my favorite local bands, intensely complex virtuoso playing. Matt the bass player in Mirthkon is also the keyboard player in Moetar. If you like Frank Zappa you'll like MirthKon, and you should give the video below a listen.

My Music 2009

an eclectic list of the CDs that I played most: by Amanda Palmer, The Duckworth Lewis Method, Fractal, Japonize Elephants, Zoe Keating, Tony Levin, Mirthkon, Muse, Queens of the Stone Age, Neil Young.

Some of it was released in 2009, some of it was new to me in 2009, here are links to the albums.

Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer
Neil Hannon - The Duckworth Lewis Method
Fractal - Sequitur
Japonize Elephants - 40 Years of our Family
Zoe Keating - One Cello x 16: Natoma
Tony Levin - Stick Man
Mirthkon - Vehicle
Muse - The Resistance
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Neil Young - Fork in the Road

New music: MirthKon's Vehicle

Some of the most inventive new music is coming from "unknown" bands in the greater San Francisco region. Through my connections with Fractal I have been a fan of Headshear for many years and now MirthKon have released their first full CD, "Vehicle". Fractal and Headshear have played many gigs together, and MirthKon founder Wally Scharold played in Headshear for a while a few years ago.

I have seen MirthKon play a few times, and they are currently on a west coast tour, having recently played SF and Berkeley, they are in Hollywood on June 5th and San Diego on June 6th, then Chico on June 18th, and Eugene and Portland on June 19th and 20th. They have a conceptual video extravaganza to enhance the musical experience at live shows.

So, what do they sound like? Well, lets start by saying that if you like Frank Zappa, and wished he was still putting out new music, then you will be very happy to take this Vehicle for a ride to Joe's Garage. Its impossible to really say what Zappa sounds like, since the mix of styles and influences is so diverse, but MirthKon have some of the same elements, along with their own unique character. There is a strong dose of humor, very complex rhythms and time signatures, some jazzy vocals on a few tracks, but a largely instrumental mix that combines clarinet and saxophone with guitar, bass and drums

They dub it "The first full-length CD from the Bay Area's most hyphenated thrash-jazz-prog-chamber-core ensemble", which probably doesn't help much. I have been happily playing it over and over again in my car for the last week, expand your musical horizons and support local music by getting your own copy....

miRthkon is:
Wally Scharold - guitars, vocals, composition, sound design, conceptual design, text, video, producer
Rob Pumpelly - guitars, composition
Nat Hawkes - bass guitar, vocals
Carolyn Walter - piccolo, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
Jamison Smeltz - alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, vocals
Matt Guggemos - drums and percussion
Jarred McAdams - video, text, conceptual collaborator

Music - Amanda Palmer and Estradasphere

I listen to a lot of music, and the really good stuff gets played over and over again while I'm driving. I also think while I'm driving that I should write a blog post about my favorites but then I forget... until now!

My favorite new music for 2007 was "Palace of Mirrors" by Estradasphere. I found that I never tired of it, and listened to it for months on end. It helps that their music is extremely varied in style and impossible to categorize. You can find out more and listen to music at their web site. I suggest you start with "Smuggled Mutation", there is no such thing as a typical Estradasphere song as they combine just about every musical genre, usually in the same song. However this track shows off their talents very well. There is a live DVD of Palace of Mirrors which is also extremely well done. I have seen them play live several times and they are an excellent live band.

During 2008 Estradasphere collaborated with Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls, and her new album "Who killed Amanda Palmer" has become my favorite pick for 2008. The web site is very interesting, giving a lot of background story details about the making of the album and videos of most of the tracks. The music is distinctively Amanda, but expanded well beyond the Dresden Dolls format, with a much fuller sound on some tracks. The key for me is that the music is very moving and emotional, and can sustain interest for a lot of repeated listening.

I'm also still waiting for Fractal to finish their second album "Sequitur", I've been listening to pre-release versions as they work towards the final cut. I'm not holding my breath, as its taken years to get this far, but its getting very close to being completed.