RED MEAT MATINEE SHOW + TOM HEYMAN ~ $10 ~ 4:00pm - 6:30pm
 Catch an early Sunday show at our all-time favorite club the Make Out Room in SF CA! Doors at 4pm, Tom Heyman at 4:30pm, Red Meat at 5:30pm. |  |
CHINA + TROUBLE IN THE WIND + JOE BOURDET ~ $8 ~ 7:30pm - 2:00am
| CHINA https://chinatheband.bandcamp.com/ And Then Nothing Happened is the new album from Bay Area folk-rock band China. Working on the same vintage MCI console from Muscle Shoals that Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, and Cat Stevens used, producer David Glasebrook recorded the band live-in-the-studio to analog tape in order to capture the natural chemistry of the group. The band was encouraged to experiment and use auxiliary instrumentation to bring their new songs to life with distinctive character—‘Bitter Sailor’ paints its refrain with mandolins like some lost sea shanty, ‘Carnations’ is buoyed by a horn section straight outta Memphis, and Side B opens with a psychedelic swirl of sound. Once again, the collection of songs revolves around the cinematic songwriting that has become the band’s trademark. This time the characters are a bunch of beautiful losers caught in a freeze frame hovering somewhere between mundanity and epiphany like something out of a Raymond Carver story. In the album’s opening track ’Marnie’ the narrator looks back at a love that’s gone but not forgotten, wondering if it’s really all over for good; on the title track ‘And Then Nothing Happened’ the narrator comes to terms with his broken dreams and the reality of a life where there’s nothing left for him after last call. After each listen, the takeaway slowly sinks in, like a starry eyed revelation on an all night drive. These songs are about all of us, our uncertainty and doubt, our successes and failures, our struggle to find meaning in a world that’s often meaningless. And there’s something beautiful to that, like carnations springing up from a cracked concrete sidewalk or a couple of friends staggering home from the local bar. TROUBLE IN THE WIND https://troubleinthewind.bandcamp.com/ Trouble in the Wind has been labeled as folk, Americana, alternative, country, surf rock …etc but the Southern California quartet likes to call themselves “rock and roll”. The band’s stripped-down organic sound is a multi-instrumental collective fronted by songwriter Robby Gira, whose staggering powerful voice creates the center of attention of their songs. The group’s instrumentation of accordion, upright bass, brushes, banjo and guitars color the emotional songs which blend and range from ballads to surf folk to soulful rockers.  |   JOE BOURDET https://joebourdet.bandcamp.com/ Musician Joe Bourdet is operating somewhere within the definition of a California singer-songwriter and one gets the impression that it’s comfortable territory for the Golden State native. The music of his debut release reveal first loping, then driving acoustic guitars, delicate harmony vocals cascading into intertwining slide guitar lines, and all laid out in a bed of tastefully executed rhythms and textures (The sublime George Sluppick of Memphis TN is on drum duties here). Lyrical themes involve pastoral imagery, betraying a love for California’s Sierra Nevada range. They also contain a subtle existential subtext, as if the music presented is that of a seeker, one perceiving beauty, reaching for something that can't be fully articulated or understood, and that that’s OK. Also a producer and engineer, Joe Bourdet is responsible for much of the production duties on his records supplemented by long time collaborator engineer/guitarist Jason Soda. Joe Bourdet is from Nevada City CA. He currently resides in Los Angeles CA. Credits include two full-length albums with the band Whispering Pines, an album with the band Painted Hills led by the late great Josh Schwartz, and an early stint as guitarist for artist/producer Jonathan Wilson. His works as a composer include the musical soundtracks for the films 'Patagonia Trips #Yuki_Surf' and 'Fishing for Unicorns.' Additionally, his music has appeared in the TV series 'Dusk Till Dawn,' 'Damages,' 'Franklin and Bash,' and a documentary about the legendary venue ‘Pappy and Harriet’s’ near Joshua Tree National Park called 'The Pioneertown Palace.' |
