|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
x 
 
•  |
|
Listings are
in the opposite order of appearance: headliner is listed at the top,
next is the support band(s),
and the last band listed is the opener.
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
Saturday September
9 2023  8:30PM doors -- music at 9:00PM ••• ALL AGES $18 in advance / $23 at the door --------Tony Molina not playing his set All Girl Summer Fun Band agsfb.com lo-fi pop rock Kids on a Crime Spree slumberlandrecords.com/artists/show/102 power-pop punk Tony Jay (LP release) power pop punk Alicia & Mike Shulman & Tony Molina Alicia from Speakeasy Studios SF and Mike Shulman from Slumberland Records spinning [as of 9/30/23]
Sadly, Tony Molina has to postpone headlining this show due to an unforeseen accident in which his hand was cut badly, requiring surgery on one of his fingers. Tony will still be at the show helping DJ with Alicia from Speakeasy Studios SF and Mike Shulman from Slumberland records. Fellow Slumberland recording artist Tony Jay is stepping in to open the show. His record comes out September 15th! Tony Molina plans to reschedule his release as soon as he recovers. All Girl Summer Fun Band -from Portland, OR -Portland’s All Girl Summer Fun Band has been in existence now for 25 years! Pretty impressive considering the original plan was to only be a band for the summer of 1998. They decided it was too much fun to stop then and have decided that it’s still way too much fun to stop now! While the original member lineup did change a bit (bassist, Ari Douangpanya, left in 2005 to focus on raising her son), the band has continued on as a three-piece consisting of Jen Sbragia, Kathy Foster and Kim Baxter. The remaining members released their third full length album, Looking Into It, on their own label in 2008. They played a few shows in support of the album but then their lives got busy, causing them to put AGSFB on hold. Since then Foster has been focused on her other music projects (The Thermals, Roseblood, Hurry Up, Slang). Baxter has been recording solo music, running a film production company with her husband, and raising her son. Sbragia has been working as a graphic designer, playing music with her other band, The Softies, and raising her two children. The three always knew, however, that when they had time, they would return to playing AGSFB shows and perhaps even record and release more music together. As long as it’s still fun, AGSFB will always be around! Kids on a Crime Spree -from Oakland, CA -Good news, everyone! Kids On A Crime Spree are set to release a new record on Slumberland this coming winter. It’s been over a decade since We Love You So Bad was released, the Bay Area indie band’s ephemeral debut EP on Slumberland. Since then Kids On A Crime Spree have released a handful of solid noise-pop singles — “Creep The Creeps” in 2013, and two 7? splits with Burnt Palms and Terry Malts in 2016 and 2017, respectively. All short, punchy, and to-the-point releases. With the new record, however, Kids give us something their devoted fans have always wanted … more! Fall In Love Not In Line is a 10-song full-length record, a first for them. Cut at 45rpm, the album clocks in at a brisk 25 minutes, and it’s a solid assemblage of noise-pop exuberance in all respects. Singer-songwriter Mario Hernandez, drummer Becky Barron, and guitarist Bill Evans wrote and recorded Fall In Love Not In Line in Mario’s analog home studio in Oakland, CA. You can feel the DIY charm that resulted from those sessions as soon as the needle drops. The songwriting still has hints of a meticulous Brill Building inspiration filtered through the sonorous feedback of Henry’s Dress and a sprightly ebullience reminiscent of The Aislers Set’s perfect pop, but it handily transcends their influences into territory that’s uniquely Kids. It’s a move that Mario calls, “a conscious decision to move beyond our idols, both in recording method and lyrical content.” In “When Can I See You Again?” Mario sings what feels like the perfect love song reprise for the current climate, “When can I see you again / When can I see you before our world ends / When can I see you again” as the song’s melodic clamor comes to a soft fade. Longtime Kids fans will still find the familiar pelting drum beats, bouncy basslines, unassuming ringing guitar lines, and Mario’s distinctly melodic vocals. But there is more warmth here than in previous efforts; more shifting of tempos and melodies; a unity of purpose that can only come from years of playing together and listening to each other. The result is simply gorgeous. Tony Jay -from San Francisco, CA -Recorded entirely in 2021, Perfect Worlds, the newest album by San Francisco's mysterious lo-fi pop legend Tony Jay, delivers an intimate record of thirteen dreamy, assured arrangements. Fresh off the heels of "Hey There Flower" (re-released by Mt.St.Mtn after a sold out Paisley Shirt Records run), Perfect Worlds marks Tony Jay's first album with Slumberland Records and further cements Tony Jay's status as dejected crooner of the quotidian par excellence. Drawing inspiration from failed relationships, lack of sleep, a bicycle injury, and depression, Tony Jay pairs catchy melodies and hushed vocals with ethereal instrumental tracks. Headed by Michael Ramos, the former drummer of April Magazine, and current member of Flowertown, Al Harper, and Sad Eyed Beatniks, Tony Jay began recording in 2006 and added a live band in 2017. Perfect Worlds, recorded in Ramos's bedroom and mastered by Mikey Young, features Kelsey Faber, Alexis Harper, and Cameron Baker, with guest vocals by Karina Gill (Cindy, Flowertown, Sad Eyed Beatniks). Characterized by subtle observation and wry wit ("If my words disarm, it's just my charm"), Ramos's lyrics embody a restlessness coupled with Tony Jay's signature hopeful resignation. "I wonder if the birds will return this year." Here are the daily ins and outs of heartache, isolation, and yearning. But here too is attention, a will to go on even amidst surrender. Tony Jay will "Walk up that hill without you / for the hundred thousandth time." Ideal company for those days when you're not sure you'll ever make it out the door, Perfect Worlds is a welcome reminder that, "You don't have to make decisions/ the grass will continue to grow." Studded with instant classics, Tony Jay's new album encapsulates the isolation and loneliness of the past few years. "I watch my neighbor install new lights on his home / I'm quite concerned they'll keep me awake all night." Dreams decay and worlds dissolve. Time passes, tapes get rewound. But even tracks with titles such as "Without Connection" have a way of making listeners feel less alone — comforted by the knowledge that, "From way up here the waves look calm." With a track called "In Daly City" and song openers like, "The morning news brings in more stories of displacement," this album further solidifies Tony Jay's position as a bard of the Bay. And while Perfect Worlds focuses primarily on the interpersonal and the everyday, it manages to allow moments to accrue, and to let in the larger context: "Isn't it obvious that we're running out of time / like ice in a jar, it melts every time. If the world has your back / then who has your eyes." "In a perfect world I'd find a place down in the basement," begins the title track, and the refrain repeats, "You just can't escape it." Interspersed with otherworldly instrumental tracks that call to mind a machine struggling to work underwater, whale mating calls (could they be robo whales?) combined with droning synth, horns, chimes, this album also provides space for listeners to make new worlds of their own. Our times may be inescapable, but we're fortunate to be able to wall ourselves in with fantasies of our own creation alongside Perfect Worlds. |
 |