Noise Pop 2017 is upon us. For eleven straight days, we will be enjoying the finest in film and music that the scene has to offer. There is literally too much to do, and there is no way you can be everywhere at once, so here is a quick guide to the best of the fest. Of course, you may disagree with my choices, and if so, there’s the full schedule to choose from.
Phono del Sol is the kind of festival that the Bay Area has been sorely missing. As much as we all despise LA, there are low key, inexpensive outdoor indie rock festivals nearly every weekend. Phono del Sol (alongside Oakland’s Burger Boogaloo) have been doing an excellent job filling this void during the dog days of Summer. This year is the 4th year that live music has invaded the Mission, along with delicious food trucks and frosty cold beverages. The weather was nearly perfect, and music was amazing.
Put down your spiked hair. Pull those safety pins out of your pierced ears. Trade in the leather jacket, the studded belt, the plaid pants, the violently political message, the inability to enjoy anyone within your immediate proximity unless you’re physically engaged in violence towards them. But don’t stop enjoying yourself. This is not the place for the energy to drop, for the volume to descend, or for the spirit of radical thought to become extinguished. This is the place for two-minute songs and stagedivers and snarling fuzz and harrowing reverb, all compacted together into a stick of dynamite that keeps burning for almost five solid hours. This is the first stop on the tour for Ty Segall, a veteran to the Bay Area garage-folk-psych-rock scene, which, tonight, has taken up residence in the Great American Music Hall, and is here to demolish the foundations — both figuratively and a significant bit literally.
As we near SXSW, we find that the quality of touring acts increases dramatically. This week is full of difficult decisions, and even a farewell tour by one of the most underrated and innovative bands of all time.
For some silly reason, we’ve all decided that we need to spend the change over of the year in “party” mode. We count down til midnight, then pick somebody to make out with when the clock strikes 12. Well, I’m a firm believer in any excuse to go to a show, as well as any excuse to make out with somebody, so here’s a list of the best six shows to spend your New Year’s Eve with.