San Francisco garage pop outfit The Mantles return with their sophomore LP, Long Enough to Leave. The band has given us a sneak peek from the new album with the psychedelic-leaning, garage pop track “Hello”. For fans of their 2009 self-titled debut LP, this track is sure to please. (more…)

Post-rock, perhaps more than most genres, has an inherent ability to lump together artists so diverse they seemingly should not fit in even close to similar categorical sub-genres, yet alone within the exact same sub-genre. Post-rock, then, features artists as wide-ranging as folk-centric epic-masterpiece purveyors Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, the soft-loud-soft instrumental rock-ists Explosions in the Sky, and this band – Tartufi – who blend lovely melodies with dreamy vocals against intense face-melting rock. (more…)

Kacey Johansing is back today with Grand Ghosts, her sophomore LP, blending styles of folk, pop and jazz into a mystical sound on par with My Brightest Diamond or St. Vincent. Moody and laid back, Johansing casts a dreamy haze throughout highlight song “Pinecone”, sliding her vocals up and down to compliment a light, jazzy shuffle in backing instrumentation. (more…)

“Doom Room” has a new video, and it’s a bit weird. I like it. It’s off Little Wings‘ new LP, LAST. “Doom Room” features heavily bearded Little Wings brainchild Kyle Field, clad in shorts and a straw hat, wandering what appears to be the southwest; maybe rural California not far from his home in San Francisco. (more…)

Brian Kelly calls his music Americana, but there are additives that give it a twist. He throws in the terms “loud” and “gothic” on occasion. It makes sense — Oceanography‘s music is thematically draped in all the proper elements. Roots, tradition, American history. Yet it’s far from traditional Americana music. Songs like “Reggie Jackson” and “American Cars” side on the obvious. But my focus today is our soundcloud premiere of “Drinking Water”, the final track on Oceanography’s sophomore EP Parachutes of Plenty. (more…)

There’s a moment within “The Seed” where Owl Paws have a decreasing chromatic pattern vaguely reminiscent of “Paranoid Android” off Radiohead’s monumental release OK Computer. This is not something you’d expect to hear from a self-described orchestral folk-pop band. But there it is; a Radiohead reference. (more…)

What a progression! In 2010, Social Studies released their debut LP, Wind Up Wooden Heart, adorned with lovable indie-pop songs. At the time, I likened it to a matured and female-fronted pre-Islands band The Unicorns. But revisiting it, I also hear some Mates of State references. Still, none of the likened-to-this, or sounds-like-that do this band justice. Not then, and even less now. “Terracur”, off Social Studies’ sophomore LP Developer, debuted last week, and it demonstrates a substantial progression for the young band. (more…)

Young Moon is San Francisco’s Trevor Montgomery, and his new LP, Navigated Like The Swan is out later this month on Western Vinyl. The press release notes that Swan is “an exceptional record that is a grower.” I can’t argue with that; it certainly is. (more…)

Dos is a luscious pop-rock album with highly infectious hooks and a surprising volume given the often laid-back style of vocals and guitar riffs. In five songs, Adios Amigo keeps things diversified, with the subtle “Chicken” and the monumental “Pretty Pretty Princess”, yet it’s all very cohesive with the band’s signature vocal style. (more…)

San Francisco duo Mark Zannad and Brandon Harrison create mesmerizing dreampop basked with shoegaze and plentiful with vocal hooks on their new song “Crimes”. It’s the title track on the duo’s new single, released under the moniker Seatraffic. (more…)