Mission Mission

Seattle’s The Virgin Islands, opening for Cursive at Great American Music Hall as a part of Noise Pop last night, think San Francisco is a nice place:

It’s nice to be in a nice place. You guys in San Francisco try to act all tough and cool and indifferent… but you’re really all just nice.

Aw, thanks!

At Cafe du Nord, it’s a show starring the Soft Pack, that band that used to be called the Muslims. They’re kind of surfy garage rock. Local faves Shannon and the Clams support, along with FIDLAR and Surf Club, who are also surfy garage rock. Tickets and details here.

Upstairs at the Swedish American Hall, it’s Mac McCaughan from Superchunk doing a solo thing, with Rachel Haden, who sang the lead on Weezer’s “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams,” and a couple other acts opening. Tickets and details here.

They’ll be at FIFTY24SF at 4pm apparently (before heading to their sold out headlining gig at the Regency later tonight). High on Gold reports:

The group will be presenting a special, one-night only installation to coincide with their tour stop in San Francisco in support of their newest LP, TEN$ION. In addition to the installation, Die Antwoord will be presenting and releasing a special collector’s vinyl sculpture of Evil Boy, made in collaboration with Good Smile Company. Select vinyl pieces will be hand-detailed on by Die Antwoord’s Ninja. [link]

They played Soft Bulletin in its entirety, fueled in part by at least one trip to Zeitgeist.

Rolling Stone was on the scene:

Before launching into it, [Flaming Lips frontman Wayne] Coyne invited Noise Pop’s producers onstage and presented them with a certificate that came directly from San Francisco Mayer Ed Lee, declaring February 21st- 26th Noise Pop Week. As if local music fans hadn’t known that already, for the past 20 years.

Read on for the full review.

[Photos by C'mon Pony and Drew Beck]

And there’s a cozy bench in front of it so’s you can put your feet up!

Noise Pop 2012 continues at Bottom of the Hill (and lots of other venues) through the weekend. Fresh & Onlys play there tonight, Thao and John Vanderslice tomorrow and Bob Mould Friday.

This Saturday, Debaser celebrates its 4th anniversary with a special party at the Elbo Room, featuring 90s rock downstairs, 90s hip hop upstairs, and prizes for the best 90s rock and hip hop T-shirts. RSVP and invite your friends!

This will apparently also be the last Debaser in its current format. Henceforth and through the end of 2012, Debaser will take place on the 2nd Saturday of every month at the Knockout, and each Debaser will use music from one year only (but spanning both rock and hip hop), starting with 1989 and ending with 1999. You can RSVP to the first of this series here.

[Photo via treatzone on Flickr]

Girl Walk // All Day is a super cute and life-affirming dance music video, featuring a bunch of people improv-dancing their way across New York to the entirety of Girl Talk’s album All Day. It’ll be closing off SF IndieFest tomorrow night at the Roxie Theater with a screening and accompanying dance party.

Here’s a little more about the film, plus a trailer:

A young dancer finds herself bored with her ballet rehearsal. One day, she impulsively quits, then takes a ferry to the city. Feeling incredibly inspired by what she sees, Anne dances her way across New York, using the city as her stage. Throughout her journey, she meets characters of all types, including a series of like-minded dancers, who’ll inspire new movements, engage her in small battles, and teach her to fear, love, laugh and live anew. From the ferry to museums, subways, ball games, bridges, bodegas, graveyards, flower shops, and more, Anne’s journey will bring her far and wide as the city explodes with dance!

She’s our fave!

Anyway, that’s right, Noise Pop 2012 is underway. Lots of the best stuff is sold out, but there are plenty of alternatives. Have a look at the schedule.

(Ash Reiter’s most recent EP, “Heatwave,” as you can see, is available on iTunes, or you can stream it free on Facebook.)

I spent the first $6.80 of this cab ride home from the Lower Haight trying over and over to get Shazam to tell me what this song is, but it couldn’t, so maybe somebody out there can. Or anyway, let’s all just enjoy this awesome song.

(Also, do read Awesome Tapes from Africa.)

RSVP and invite your friends!