The Freelance Whales’ record Weathervanes has been out since April and it’s available on their site, where you can also indulge by downloading their single free. Busking (in their case, “freelance” busking?) in New York subways has allowed them to bare down the sound to acoustics and try out new songs on charmed strangers. They’ll be doing a free live set at Amoeba Records on Haight Street at 7 p.m. Finally, they will stage an opening act (in support of The Shout Out Louds) in full plugged-in splendor with synths, harmoniums, drum kits and waterphones on the gilded stage of the Great American Music Hall at 8:30 p.m.

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MuseZu caught up with Matthew “Zippy” Zipkin, guitarist for the Metal/Prog-Rock San Francisco outfit The Illness. The band is vying for a slot on the Vans Warped Tour Ernie Ball Battle of The Band’s stop at The Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View in June. Zippy talks to us about the sudden exposure, the ethical weirdnesses of internet voting and what makes them a band bound for the big stage.

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The rock world has made demi-gods out of bands for decades but it’s also swallowed up a good number of these. Musezu,com pays homage to bygone stars with a series that focuses on the Seventies, the Eighties and the Nineties and the top acts of their time. It’s probably too early for the Aughts, sorry. [...]

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Chart toppers – not as popular as they seem.

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In certain ways I think I had the strangest moment in my life on Friday night.  I made sure to hit “record” in my brain so I could relay this to you all this morning.
If you’ve ever been “backstage” at the Hotel Utah in San Francisco, you would know that it’s more like a garage, [...]

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Single bass drum and a banjo cradled between his knees, a mic set up on one of those accordion holders, the One Man Banjo man is a singular figure. In the middle of the song “Harlequin King” he switches speeds and becomes the smoothest crooner. Banjos are not just about frenzied strumming—this  is a blues [...]

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Sounding good on stage is an art in and of itself.

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The Vinyl Princess is the latest teen novel from Yvonne Prinz, cofounder of Amoeba Records, the independent music chain with stores in San Francisco, Berkeley and Hollywood. It follows 16-year-old Allie, lover of all things musical and preferably analog, as she spends a summer working in (where else?) an independent music store.
It has [...]

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[The following is a special feature by freelance journalist Heather Mack. ]
In the far Southeast corner of San Francisco, tucked among ancient train tracks and imposing warehouses, a little piece of musical heaven is making a name for itself. It’s called the Accordion Apocalypse, and it’s a true place of revelation for the charming albeit [...]

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Cowboys on horseback galloping after villainous outlaws, guns blazing in the hot desert sun : the stories of the Far West have always been a fascinating part of Americana. But to the band members of San Francisco outfit The Green Door it was the Spaghetti Westerns films of the 60’s that really thrilled them. In [...]

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