Steve Gunn and Julie Byrne The Chapel January 16, 2018 All photos by Mariah Paz @dothebay. On a Tuesday night, the Chapel saw a healthy turnout attending for the latest show on the Steve Gunn/Julie Byrne Tour. These two young artists have been garnering a lot of attention in their dedication to song craft, tradition, and impressive acoustic guitar techniques. Gunn has been getting a fair amount of attention with a very prolific discography currently on Matador records as well as a recent live appearance on CBS the morning of the show. Though on record Gunn usually has a full…
Author: Jeff Yih
Jeff Yih
Jeff Yih is currently the bass player for both the Jean Genies David Bowie tribute and local Psych-folk band the Sea Drama. He's reviewed records for MRR during the Tim Yohannon era and has been to too many shows and owns too many pieces of physical media. While not lindy hopping or practicing on the wheels of plastic, Jeff can be found doing extensive digs at all bay area record store, checking out live music as well as playing the occasional live gig.
The Dream Syndicate The Independent December 16, 2017 Photos by Jeff Spirer. On a Saturday night, The Dream Syndicate ended their current tour in San Francisco, guitarist/vocalist Steve Wynn noted that the last time around, the Dream Syndicate also ended their tour in the city at the now defunct I-beam, the year was 1988. As Wynn noted, it’s been for 25 years that the Dream Syndicate had taken a break; an incredible amount of time. This current incarnation finds Steve Wynn and the rhythm section of Dennis Duck and Mark Walton intact; the three of them have been together since…
The Black Angels The Fillmore October 20, 2017 All photos by Jeff Spirer. On a Friday night, the Fillmore hosted sold out crowd to Austin TX’s Black Angels, impressive considering that both Sparks and Dinosaur Jr. were both playing that night in town. The band has been around since 2007 with 7 releases to date and has been Roky Erickson’s live backing band as well as getting their music onto various TV shows. The band’s 1½ hour set mostly emphasized songs from their latest LP Death Song with the rest of the set consisting of multiple songs from their debut…
EMA Rickshaw Stop October 30, 2017 All photos by Jeff Spirer. The Monday before Halloween saw the Rickshaw Stop play host to three female-fronted projects: co-headliners The Blow and EMA and opener Ah Mer A Su. This show felt very under the radar, coming in among all the events/shows that always accompany the Halloween season in San Francisco. The buzz act was co-headliner EMA, named after the initials of founder Ericka M. Anderson. Hailing from South Dakota, and having played in Los Angeles, Oakland (with “folk-drone” band Gowns), and now based in Portland, this show can only be seen as…
Thievery Corporation Masonic Auditorium October 29, 2017 All photos by Jeff Spirer. With beautiful shrouds of fog rolling into Nob Hill on the last weekend before Halloween, Thievery Corporation played the last show of their five-week tour at the Masonic in San Francisco. A grand old concert hall that has had its interior upgraded from the traditional red carpeted seated theatre-in-the-round to a spacious multi-use rock venue, the setting both outside and inside was a appropriate backdrop for the multi-faceted, style-encompassing outfit from Washington DC. Having started in 1995 as a live cooperative wrapped around the musical interests of DC…
The Dream Tashaki Miyaki Metropolis Records Consisting of singer Paige Stark and guitarist Luke Panquin, Tashaki Miyaki finally debuted their long player The Dream after six years of various EP/single releases. As evidenced by their interview here, the band finds themselves in the company of bands like Mazzy Star and the Jesus and the Mary Chain which truth be told is a comparison that’s not too off. There is also an element of “shoegaze” in their studio-enabled modern psychedelia that brings up My Bloody Valentine. Like those bands, Tashaki Miyaki utilizes traditional sounds (ie: drums, keys, guitars, strings) and reverb…