San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
Smile Now Cry Later
Wednesday, Feb. 9
PLAN A: Murder By Death, The Builders and the Butchers, Damion Suomi & The Minor Prophets @ The Casbah. You could call them art-country or post-folk, but that wouldn’t get to the bottom of Murder By Death’s esoteric awesomeness. Conjuring comparisons to Johnny Cash and Radiohead, the Indiana-based outfit write smoky, lushly arranged concept albums about devils, zombies and whiskey. PLAN B: As the Sun Sets: Fire!, Parker & The Numberman, DJ Collagey, Itchy and Scratchy Show, Day- Go Produce @ Ruby Room. Parker & The Numberman have stylish rhymes, tight beats and a catchy single— “Caught Up,” a clever send-up of a snooping girlfriend— that’s just waiting to go viral. BACKUP PLAN: Bushwalla, Dawn Mitschele, Alysse Fischer @ Belly Up.
Thursday, Feb. 10
PLAN A: Cee Lo Green, Vokab Kompany, The Nervous Wreckords, plus DJs Claire, T-Mazee, Mac Luv @ Fluxx. Vokab Kompany and The Nervous Wreckords are both solid local bands. And Cee Lo Green is a fine singer, an excellent songwriter and an accomplished producer. But the main reason I’m excited about this show is the chance to hear a club full of people yell “Fuck You!” at the top of their lungs. BACK- UP PLAN: Peewee Moore, Bill Cardinal and the Canyon Band, Sickstring Outlaws, DJ Gonzo @ The Casbah.
Friday, Feb. 11
PLAN A: Fol Chen, Dudes, Hands @ Soda Bar. Fol Chen may have an apocalyptic streak—their cryptic band bio on their label’s website could’ve come straight from a Philip K. Dick novel—but the L.A. outfit welcomes all chaos with open arms. Case in point: The infectious single “In Ruins,” a love song set in a ruined cityscape, with a twirling refrain that could’ve easily been lifted from a Saturday-morning cartoon. PLAN B: Netherfriends, Wet Years, Werebear @ Tin Can Ale House. Netherfriends clearly take cues from Animal Collective and Man Man, but the Chicago pop project (which revolves around mastermind Shawn Rosenblatt) could just as likely have taken all of its inspiration from an imaginative 5-year-old. Beatific songs like “Lead You Through the Misty Fog of Milwaukee Ave” burst with all the trippy color of a finger painting. BACKUP PLAN: Film School, The Dabbers, The Howls, Tapedeck Mountain @ The Casbah.
Saturday, Feb. 12
PLAN A: The Tree Ring, John Heart Jackie @ San Diego Woman’s Club. I could say all sorts of lovely things about Generous Shadows, The Tree Ring’s superb new album—the full-bodied texture of the strings, the luster of Joel P West’s vocals, the always-surprising song structures, the fact that I get chills down my spine whenever I listen to “Dreams Where I Am Sleeping”—but instead I’ll just direct you to the feature on this page. PLAN B: Nobunny, Shannon & The Clams, The Widows, Mexico City Rollers, Dreamdate @ Til-Two Club. Don’t let the frontman in the creepy bunny mask distract you: Nobunny bangs out some seriously catchy rock ’n’ roll inspired by the likes of The Cramps and Chuck Berry. PLAN C: Innerds, Upsilon Acrux, Christ Waves @ Tin Can Ale House. If it’s ear-splitting math-rock riffs you’re after, don’t miss the atonal guitar attack of Inners or Upsilon Acrux’s two-guitar, two-drum barrage. PLAN D: TV Girl, Dirty Gold, Letting Up Despite Great Faults, DJ Corey Casey @ Bar Pink. I’ve written a whole lot about why I like TV Girl and Dirty Gold, two red-hot new local bands, but don’t skip out on Letting Up Despite Great Faults, who play cozy indie-electronica with shoegaze tendencies.
Sunday, Feb. 13
PLAN A: Sugar and Gold, Yip Deceiver, Jamuel Saxon @ Soda Bar. Sometimes all a hipster needs is some unabashedly catchy electro-pop. No lo-fi murk, no delay effects, no irony: Just a straight-ahead beat and a catchy melody. But if the hipster can’t stand Ke$ha, of Montreal sideproject Yip Deceiver makes for a suitable alternative. BACKUP PLAN: Jarrod Gorbel, Atlantic / Pacific @ Bar Pink.
Monday, Feb. 14
PLAN A: Ana Tijoux, Smile Now Cry Later, DJ Artistic @ The Casbah. Check out our feature on this page about Ana Tijoux, a French-Chilean rapper who recently clinched a Grammy nomination for her solid record, 1977. PLAN B: Bantam Feather, Problem with Dragons, The Dead Class @ Til-Two Club. According to The Dead Class’ bio on Last.fm, the U.K. trio’s hobbies include “mugging helpless old ladies” and “running very fast with scissors.” But what they’re really good at is delivering high-octane punk with crazed surfrock riffs and disjointed breakdowns. BACKUP PLAN: Roxy Jones, T.S. Brooks, Samhears, Nothingful @ Soda Bar.
Tuesday, Feb. 15
PLAN A: Everest, Voxhaul Broadcast, Infantree @ The Casbah. Neil Young is a huge Everest fan, and the band’s 2010 album On Approach won critical acclaim. Indeed, the Los Angeles outfit plays the kind of anthemic rock you can’t help but swoon over. But don’t be too bummed if you miss them tonight: They’ll be here every Tuesday for a month. BACKUP PLAN: Joey DeFrancesco, Gilbert Castellanos & Ramon Banda @ Dizzy’s (338 7th Ave.).
