Tuesday: Blonde Redhead at The Independent
Blonde Redhead tours America in support of its ninth full-length album, 2014’s Barragán. And thank the indie gods — this album deserves many victory laps around this earth. All Music Guide was one of many publications who rightly applauded, noting the album is “just as poetic, mysterious, and bewitching as Blonde Redhead's more baroque albums...Barragán is a quietly audacious set of songs that ranks among the band's finest music.” Which, if you paid any attention to Misery is a Butterfly and 23, speaks volumes about this massively influential early-'00s NY-based alt-rock band.
Tuesday/Wednesday: Neon Indian at Social Hall SF
Composer Alan Palomo’s dreampop hallucinations continue on his soon-to-be-released third album titled VEGA INTL. Night School, which took a crazy turn in its incubation. The long-awaited follow-up to 2011’s wondrous Era Extraña nearly disappeared completely after Palomo’s laptop went missing. He told SPIN “my roommates were asleep...At some point I just nodded off on my stoop. It was the most Behind the Music moment that’s ever happened to me. But when I came to, someone had swiped my laptop.” And poof, a full album of demos had vanished. Indie heroes: they're just like us!
Wednesday: Mac Miller at The Regency Ballroom
Straight outta Pittsburgh, PA, 23-year-old Mac Miller coes to SF having just presented the world with his major label debut, GO:OD AM, which you can and should stream on NPR’s First Listen in preparation.
Wednesday: Best Coast at The Fillmore
It wouldn’t have been all that surprising if Best Coast had fallen into one-hit wonder status after the blinding success of debut album Crazy For You. Trolls conveniently accused the band of gimmickry and nostalgia-leveraging, but there was clearly depth and vision behind the project. And, now, judging by early returns on 2015’s California Nights, the band’s third full-length release, Best Coast is clearly a multi-trick pony. SPIN summed it up well: “With songs and production this pumped, they’ll continue to make waves far outside their beloved home state.”
Thursday: Against Me! at Slim's
TEENAGE ANARCHISTS, UNITE.
Friday: Mavis Staples/Joan Osborne at The Fillmore
Lordy. It’s time to pay respects to soul queen Mavis Staples. The résumé says it all: Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, seven Grammy nominations, civil rights activist, Prince collaborator. The stories this woman can and could tell.
Friday: Future Islands at Fox Theater
Future Islands has made it, y’all. The Baltimore indie pop group has taken the blogosphere and American music halls hostage over the past few years with perhaps the most mesmerizing live performance in all of indie rock. Lead singer Sameul T. Herring is a man possessed onstage, and must be appreciated and applauded and worshipped in person. Don’t believe me? Believe David Letterman.
Criminally underrated Danish alt-rock band Mew return to North America for the first time since 2009, teaming up with SF’s Dodos along the way. The band is pimping out its latest work of utter genius, + – (‘plus-minus’/PIAS), which Pitchfork called “one of the most magnificent-sounding rock records you’ll hear all year.” This band should really be mentioned in the same breath as indie rock’s finest bands of the last 15 years — indie historians, adjust your rearview mirrors accordingly.
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