tofu and whiskey holiday guide for san francisco bay guardian

Gabba gabba buy 

What to buy your headphone-obsessed loved one? Our picks, from boxed sets to lovely local scores

TOFU AND WHISKEY'S HOLIDAY GUIDE Before I expound on anything, I've got to spit this out: buy local. If you're going to buy something; in particular, if you're going to buy actual vinyl records or CDs or books or musical equipment, get them from an independent store in the Bay Area.

Support Aquarius, Amoeba Music, Black Pancake Records, GROOVES, 1-2-3-4 GO!, Recycled Records, Rooky Ricardo's, Rasputin's, Streetlight, and the smaller mom-and-significant-other type stores; otherwise, the brick and mortars will slowly die and we'll be stuck rifling only through the virtual library, which will inevitably lead to a host of other problems (loneliness, fatigue, hive mindedness) [...]

goldies 2012: waters for san francisco bay guardian

GOLDIES 2012: WATERS

Salty sea-referencing lyrics; grungy, fuzzed out guitar-work; and seriously tripped-out music videos

GOLDIES "It's been a great year for me," says Van Pierszalowski, slightly out of breath after pushing his bicycle up a seriously steep hill. "It's been the first year that I've lived anywhere in a long time" [...]

goldies 2012: the mallard for san francisco bay guardian

GOLDIES 2012: The Mallard 

The band makes "inside-out-echo-laser-garage-psych-rock" 

GOLDIES You always hear of those artists that simply must keep creating, regardless of location, monetary resources, health, or free time. It's the urge, the craving, something deep in the pit of their being. Idle hands and all that. I get the feeling this is just how it is for Greer McGettrick, the Mallard's lead vocalist-guitarist. There's a fire in her belly, and it burns from a sonic tinder [...]

kitty pryde Q&A for san francisco bay guardian (web)

Kitty Pryde on Riff Raff, candy, and going viral

What exactly does it mean to be a pop star these days? Does it mean you have masses of eager (young) fans, breathless feature articles, and a healthy growing buzz on so-called tastemaker sites? Can you do it without a major label, without a proper album, without really touring? Seems like the answer for now is...maybe. It's a world we're all just beginning to crack open. One thing I know for sure, Florida teen rapper Kitty Pryde wouldn't have blown up quite like this before the web [...]

pink thunder cover story for san francisco bay guardian

Hi-fidelity weather

Michael Zapruder's 'Pink Thunder' project blends poetry, free-verse pop, and hard-wired found art

MUSIC Shellacked gummy worms, cherubic Ebay'd figurines, one of those ships in a glass bottle usually reserved for nautical-themed offices, a red bike reflector, a holarctic blue copper butterfly, a vintage stenograph. The physical items sit on separate pedestals as part of the release for Michael Zapruder's newest album, Pink Thunder [...]

tofu and whiskey: zammuto for san francisco bay guardian

Lightning strikes twice

Catching up with Zammuto, plus a new Future Twin track and Woodkid's next concert

TOFU AND WHISKEY If experimental artist Nick Zammuto was pulling from a storied sample library after all those years with beloved former band the Books, he's now building from scratch with his new band, Zammuto. The first Zammuto record sprang from a more angsty place, a fear of the unknown after the breakup of the Books. Skyping from a McDonald's in Springfield, Mass., a humble Zammuto admits to fears about "lightning striking twice," regarding his musical evolution [...]

tofu and whiskey: ssion, misfits cover bands for san francisco bay guardian

Candy apples and razor blades

SSION, Crypts, Hunx, and Misfits cover bands bring out our Halloween spirit 

TOFU AND WHISKEY While I don't miss living in Long Beach, Calif. too much (save for some particular pals and the endless flat biking roads), I do sorely yearn for the yearly costumed Halloween performance — at steak restaurant/dive bar the Prospector — of the Shitfits, a Misfits cover band made up of local musicians. Luckily, in San Francisco, there are numerous bands-costumed-as-other-bands shows in late October, including at least one Misfits tribute: Astrozombies, a full-time tribute act, which will do the horror-punk legends right at Hemlock Tavern [...]