Kata Rokkar’s Pictures of 2009

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Tags: Band of Skulls, bimbo's 365, bottom of the hill, Cafe Du Nord, Cymbals Eat Guitars, dan deacon, Fanfarlo, House of Nostromos, J. Tillman, LENKA, Outside Lands Music Festival 2009, Passion Pit, Popscene, Q-Tip, sleepy sun, Tenacious D, Thao with The Get Down Stay Down, the Flaming Lips, The Great American Music Hall, The Independent, The Limousines, The Mae Shi, The Raveonettes, The Walkmen, theSTART, Treasure Island Music Festival 2009, Triclops!
Posted in Art and Photography | No Comments »

Kata’s Weekend Showcase: Off To Boston Edition

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

I’ll be blogging (hate that word) on the road this coming week. In fact as you read this, I’ll already be in Boston drinking heavily and celebrating my friend’s birthday. Good times. Anyway, I have quite a few reasons why I’ll be in Boston. Here are my top 5…

1. Opening Day at Fenway with the Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays! Courtesy of my good friend Katie. GO SOX!

2. Friend’s crazy Birthday pub crawl. Maybe a drunk post tonight…who knows what could happen?

3. Mates of State / Black Kids / SUNBEARS! show at the newly renovated House of Blues. Good to finally see my boys in SUNBEARS! perform.

4. Zombie parade on EASTER DAY! Will I bring a camera? Yes. Will there be a shitload of Zombie Jesus’? I’m guessing yes on that one.

5. Boston Pillow Fight Today! I don’t know where it’s going to be (yet) but I’ll definitely be there.

Mates of State – My Only Offer

Moving on…

To celebrate the new releases of Michael Zapruder ‘Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope‘ and 1090 Club ‘Natural Selection‘, SideCho Records are giving away an exclusive package to one lucky person! You will receive a copy of ‘Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope’, ‘Natural Selection’, Michael Zapruder Tshirt, Posters from Michael and 1090 Club, and more. All you have to do is sign up for the SideCho Records Newsletter by emailing contests@sidecho.com.

Michael Zapruder ‘Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope‘ and 1090 Club ‘Natural Selection‘ is now available through iTunes, your local record store, and through the SideCho Store. Every order through the SideCho Store comes with a special SideCho Records Sampler download.

Michael Zapruder – Ads For Feelings

Hey! You know that band theSTART? Probably not, but you might want to get to know the band’s side project, Normandie. A very dark 80s-ish mix of Blondie and Portishead. You like the sound of that? Well then download this low quality demo and tell me what you think.

Normandie – Little Sister (demo)

Some interesting new releases this past Tuesday. First off is the wonderful Great Lake Swimmers with Lost Channels. I seriously love this album and can already tell you that I will be listening to this album over and over on the plane. It’s very solid release, go buy it. Peter Bjorn and John return with Living Thing. Not as many catchy tunes as I would have expected, but it’s not bad. The Whitest Boy Alive’s Rules is growing on me a bit. Oh and the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, It’s Blitz, came out. I love this album so much. I’m so glad these guys went in this direction, it suits them well.

The Whitest Boy Alive – Island

No this isn’t the cover of the new My Chemical Romance album. I wouldn’t do that to you after my little April Fools gag. This is the cover of Cage’s new free E.P. I Never Knew You. He says it will be available soon, but I’m not sure when that exactly is. But here’s the dark El-P produced title track from the upcoming and much anticipated E.P.

Cage – I Never Knew You

Tags: 1090 Club, cage, Great Lake Swimmers, mates of state, Michael Zapruder, Normandie, Peter Bjorn and John, SUNBEARS!, The Whitest Boy Alive, theSTART, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Posted in Kata's Weekend Showcase, Music | 1 Comment »

This Week In Bay Area Live Shows: Mar 8 – 14

Sunday, March 8th, 2009

We’re switching things up here at Kata Rokkar. No more long lists of Bay Area live shows on the Sunday post. It’s gotten tedious and time consuming and frankly I don’t think anyone really reads the whole thing. What will be happening is a separate calender page opening in the next few days. I’ll be posting the best of the Bay Area shows there from now on. This post will be dedicated to highlighting what’s good this week and reviews of any shows I may have attended. If you are sweating right now and wondering where to go to find the best in Bay Area shows until we launch the calender, head over to The Bay Bridged and click on their calender. While you’re there, check out their podcasts, show coverage, and comprehensive interviews.

Okay enough of that. Last Thursday’s theSTART show was full of the band’s greatest songs from their last 8 years as well as a sneak peak at their latest project, Normandie. What I love about theSTART is that they are a band that could have given up 5 years ago and no one would have blamed them. The criminally underrated band pushed on despite changes in line-up and poor record sales. They constantly evolve and mesh styles like shoegaze, glam pop, dance, and goth rock to create a style all their own. With the assistance of lead vocalist Aimee Echo’s signature vocal style, the band still performs beautifully live with their high energy sets. You can still catch the band on tour or at this year’s SXSW.

Electro-pop outfit, The Limousines have been brewing up tunes for almost 2 years now and still don’t have a record to show for it. What they do have is a live show filled with flashing fluorescent lights, heavy beats, and techno-pop songs buried in static. Thursday’s show at the Rickshaw Stop was a unique and entertaining look into a group that has been molding it’s identity over the past few years. While they do not have any shows lined up right now, according to lead vocalist Eric Victorino, they do have various record labels circling and interested in showcasing their potential. This could be good news for fans of a band that has yet to release anything outside of their myspace (or this website).

As for this week, the Cut Copy show is obviously sold out, so good luck trying to find tickets on craigslist. Today Jim Norton is doing a show at Cobb’s Comedy Club, that should be a good time. Secret Chiefs 3 are playing Masada Book II in full over at Yoshi’s in San Fran on Tuesday. There’s still some tickets left for the Asobi Seksu show at the Independent. And do your best to make it out to the local Amoeba Records at 6pm on Friday to see a solo set by freak-folker Phosphorescent for free before he heads over to Café du Nord that night.

See you out there!

theSTART – The 1234

The Limousines – Dancing At Her Funeral (Demo)

Asobi Seksu – New Years

Phosphorescent – Reasons to Quit

Tags: Amoeba Records, Asobi Seksu, Cut Copy, Jim Norton, Phosphorescent, Secret Chiefs 3, The Limousines, theSTART, This Week In Bay Area Live Shows
Posted in Music, This Week In Bay Area Live Shows | 1 Comment »

This Week In Bay Area Live Shows: March 1st – 7th

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Are you enjoying Noise Pop Festival? Well if you live out here in Bay Area you should or a least should have. You see, Noise Pop wraps up today with No Age at the Bottom of the Hill and Les Savy Fav and The Mae Shi at the Mezzanine. I unfortunately have been missing out due to a extremely busy work schedule. But what I’ve been hearing from The Bay Bridged, ipickmynose and Hippies are Dead, it’s been going very well. The rest of this week looks promising as well. Particularly this Thursday with M.Ward at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, theSTART at the Bottom of the Hill, Soilwork at Slim’s, Pop Levi at The Independent, Cut Off Your Hands at Popscene, and The Limousines at the Rickshaw Stop. Another good week in the Bay Area. See you out there!

Sunday – 1st:

Noise Pop 2009 Closing Night Party
Les Savy Fav and The Mae Shi
Mezzanine
444 Jessie Street @ Mint
San Francisco CA 94103

No Age and White Circle Crime Club
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th Street
San Francisco CA 94107

Monday – 2nd:

Chris Isaak
Amoeba Records
1855 Haight St
San Francisco CA 94117

Tuesday – 3rd:

Raphael Saadiq
The Fillmore
1805 Geary Boulevard
San Francisco CA 94115

Wednesday – 4th:

Jimmy Eat World and Reubens Accomplice
The Fillmore
1805 Geary Boulevard
San Francisco CA 94115

Thursday – 5th:

M. Ward
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
San Francisco, CA

Soilwork, Swallow the Sun, Darkane and Warbringer
Slim’s
333 11th Street
San Francisco CA 94103

Fujiya & Miyagi, Pop Levi and Project Jenny, Project Jan
The Independent
628 Divisadero Street
San Francisco CA 94117

Roxy Epoxy, theSTART and The Action Design
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th Street
San Francisco CA 94107

Cut Off Your Hands
Popscene
330 Ritch Street
San Francisco CA 94107

Estelle
Mezzanine
444 Jessie Street @ Mint
San Francisco CA CA 94103

Har Mar Superstar, The New Trust and The Limousines
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell St
San Francisco CA 94102

Friday – 6th:

Lambchop
The Great American Music Hall
859 O’Farrell Street
San Francisco CA 94109

Mickey Factz
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell St
San Francisco CA 94102

Saturday – 7th:

Akron/Family and Citay
Hemlock Tavern
1131 Polk Street
San Francisco CA 94109

Automatic Loveletter, A Cursive Memory and Tickle Me Pink
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th Street
San Francisco CA 94107

The Bad Plus and Wendy Lewis
Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA

Mickey Factz – Incredible

The Bad Plus – Variation d’Apollon

theSTART – Shakedown!

Les Savy Fav – The Slip

M.Ward – Never Had Nobody Like You

Tags: Akron/Family, Automatic Loveletter, Chris Isaak, Cut Off Your Hands, Estelle, Fujiya & Miyagi, Har Mar Superstar, Jimmy Eat World, Lambchop, Les Savy Fav, M. Ward, Mickey Factz, No Age, Noise Pop Festival, Pop Levi, Raphael Saadiq, Roxy Epoxy, Soilwork, the bad plus, The Limousines, The Mae Shi, theSTART
Posted in Concerts, Music, This Week In Bay Area Live Shows | No Comments »