Blackbird Blackbird & Others This Saturday is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

We’ve got a wonderful trio of guests for tonight’s program. It’s going to be one of the most musically diverse shows we’ve ever had!

We’ll first welcome into our studio a band from Oakland by the name of Bam! Bam!


This Oakland based two-piece have been kicking around thrashy, lo-fi garage pop jams for the better part of the last year. Though the group has yet to officially release any of their recordings, they have been steadily building a fan-base, taking their no-frills sound with them up and down the coast of California and taking no prisoners along the way. Fans of Black Tambourine, Beat Happening and fellow s.f. lo-fi artist Grass Widow ought to take note of this band, for once they get around to putting out non-demo recordings into the world, their star is bound to take off.

Tune in at 8:30 to catch the ladies of Bam! Bam! as they come to our studio to perform some songs live in the studio and talk about what the future holds for the band.

Then we’ll welcome Dan Potthast to our studio.

Once hailing from St. Louis, Missouri, this ska-punk legend has firmly planted himself in Santa Cruz. As a founding member of MU330, as well as the leader of Dan P. and the Bricks (among other projects), Dan has been making music for over twenty years. He’s opened for acts like Streetlight Manifesto, continues to make music that appeals to fans of Buck-O-Nine, and is active to this day.

Dan P. will be joining us live in the studio tonight to talk about making music in his adopted home town and the upcoming show with his band The Stitch Up this Saturday night, March 26th at the Crepe Place, where they will be performing alongside The New Trust and The Smoking Popes.

Last but not least, we have for you a very special interview with Victims Family.

This legendary Santa Rosa punk band is world-reknown for their unique fusion of hardcore punk, jazz and experimental noise. As a Nor Cal institution that has existed for over 25 years, Victims Family have performed with the likes of The Dead Kennedys, Nirvana, Green Day, Faith No More, and hundreds of other incredible bands. Though the group has sporadically broken up over the years, they’ve come back together in 2010 to perform and re-release their first three records on vinyl, starting with 1990′s White Bread Blues.

I chatted up the group’s guitarist, Ralph Spight, last night via Skype on a breadth of subjects, and if you tune in to the show tonight, you can hear our conversation in full. One of the things we did talk about is Victims Family’s show this Saturday night, March 26th at the Catalyst with Catacomb Creeps and (Rising Tide alum) Noise Clinic, which is bound to be a hellraiser of a concert.

These and more when you tune into the show tonight starting at 8:30pm! Listen live at www.kzsc.org or tune in to 88.1 fm.

Victims Family, Dan Potthast and Bam! Bam! on The Rising Tide tonight! is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

The first of which is Gay Genius.

Gay Genius

This local two-piece group is comprised of Nessie from Nessie and Her Beard and Tyler from James Rabbit, both of whom are Rising Tide alum in their own right. The duo banded together as a result of a rapturous performance piece at one of SCUM’s Panbandamonium events that took place last year and got together to write last year’s release, Perfect Dark. The two trade harmonies and lead vocal duties over synth pop beats that recall Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Soft Cell, among others.

Gay Genius will be coming on to the show on friday night to talk about their collaborations, their forthcoming live performances (including a show this Saturday night, the 22nd) and what the future holds for Gay Genius!

Later on in the evening, The Rising Tide will host SF’s own The Art Museums as guests.

The Art Museums

The duo of Josh Alper and Glenn Donaldson have played in a number of folk and americana oriented acts both in Santa Cruz and in the bay area. However, joining forces as the Art Museums has taken their music in a decidedly different direction. As last year’s Woodsist-issued Rough Frame EP can attest to, the band plunders the sounds of lo-fi indie pop music from the genre’s forebears (i.e. Television Personalities), echoing The Pastels and Guided By Voices, among others.

The group will be performing alongside The Sandwiches, The Soft Bombs and local artist Rachel Fannan (formerly of Sleepy Sun) at Slim’s in San Francisco next tuesday, January 25th. But before that, the Art Museums will come on the radio to talk about the show, let us know about their upcoming work, and regale us with stories of being a band to watch for in the big city!

Tune in for these and more on The Rising Tide on KZSC! Tune in to 88.1fm if you’re in the Santa Cruz, Monterrey Bay or San Benito counties, or online at www.kzsc.org starting at 8:30pm!

You can also follow our blog at http://therisingtidekzsc.blogspot.com/

Gay Genius and The Art Museums on The Rising Tide Tonight is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

Wooster

Tonight, on The Rising Tide, our primary musical entertainment is the local band Wooster.

What can be said about Wooster that hasn’t already been said? They are a highly acclaimed soulful rock act that has graced local institutions like The Catalyst while also taking their talents both up and down the coast numerous times over the past few years. And while the year 2010 may be winding down, the band is planning to end the year with a bang, performing a special New Year’s Eve show at Moe’s Alley. But before that, the band will appear tonight on The Rising Tide to talk about their experiences of being in a band, and what it’s like to be one of Santa Cruz’s most talked-about bands!

Also gracing the studio with his presence is my friend and fellow blogger, Nick Bane of Bane Shows.

Nick has been putting on events at the 418 Project in downtown Santa Cruz, as well as The Mill Gallery (R.I.P.) and now 150 Pioneer St. He’s a testament to one man ability to bring artists including Maps & Atlases, Baths, Memoryhouse, members of Vivian Girls, Blackbird Blackbird and the like. He’ll be coming on the show to talk about the shows he’s got coming up, and to discuss what it’s like to be a DIY promoter in a town like Santa Cruz.

Tune in to KZSC at 8:30 to hear from these and many more on tonight’s Rising Tide!

Wooster and Nick Bane live on The Rising Tide is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

First off, let me introduce you to The Groggs.

The Groggs

This local garage rock three-piece is slowly becoming an institution in the city of Santa Cruz. If you want to listen to a band whose music feels like a five o’clock shadow repeatedly punching you in the face, then this is your band. Echoing recent garage rock revivalists like The Black Lips and Mark Sultan, The Groggs are a band that have made a name for themselves amid a scene as vast and colorful as Santa Cruz’s by playing loud and playing fast. They’ll join us on The Rising Tide tonight to talk about their recently released EP 3D, to talk about their upcoming shows this month, and play some previously unheard new songs!

Our second guest tonight is a local artist by the name of Getaway Girl.

Getaway Girl

As Getaway Girl, local singer-songwriter Courtney Jones displays her virtuosity with the piano, crafting gorgeous and captivating songs in the vein of fellow piano-based singer-songwriters like Regina Spektor. Getaway Girl imbues a familiar style of music with a fresh new perspective, using her experiences in the world to break away from the pack and set herself apart from everyone else. Tune in Friday night at 8:30 to hear Getaway Girl perform songs from her new EP, Say It Through The Flowers, and to hear about her upcoming performance next Friday night at the Asana Tea House in downtown Santa Cruz.

These and more if you tune in to 88.1fm or go online to www.kzsc.org tonight around 8:30 and listen to The Rising Tide on KZSC Santa Cruz!

Tonight on The Rising Tide is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

For tonight’s (11/19) Artist Spotlight, we’ll be hosting SLO’s very own Morgan Enos, a solo artist who performs under the monicker sea birds.

Morgan’s take on slow-burning electric folk music exemplifies his talents as a promising singer-songwriter, one whose songs have a depth to them that is impossible to write off as deliberately minimalist or simplistic. We’re very fortunate to have sea birds grace our studio, and you should tune in this Friday night to hear from the SLO native, as well as hear him play a couple of tune on-air.

Also, there will be plenty more in store on tonight’s episode of The Rising Tide.

sea birds live on The Rising Tide is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

One of KZSC’s newest shows is The Rising Tide on Friday nights (8:30pm – 10:30pm), helmed by DJ PassiveTheory is bringing to the airwaves the kind of local musicians and voices that need to be heard!

Grand Lake

This Friday night, the San Francisco-by-way-of-Berkeley indie rock trio GRAND LAKE will be KZSC’s guests live on The Rising Tide! We’ll learn a little about this promising new act, talk about their upcoming show at the Crepe Place, on January 24^th, where they’ll be opening for Maus Haus (more information, including ticket prices, available on the Crepe Place’s website, here). The trio is in the midst of promoting their Louise EP, a four-track recording featuring Silver Jews and Port O’Brien covers, and live on The Rising Tide the group will perform a number of songs off this EP and the rest of their songwriting playbook in what will surely be an intimate affair with an burgeoning musical talent!

SCHEDULE OF GUESTS FOR THE RISING TIDE:

- 1/29 – CP WILSEA (sc) – (1019 Records, Wolf Crystal, Palm Yard)

- 2/5 – HERMIT CONVENTION (sc)

- 2/12 – COOL BAND NOW (sc)

New show spotlight: The Rising Tide is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

Another new arrival at KZSC: The new Beach House record “Teen Dream” is out now on Sub Pop. Straight forward consensus? The best I’ve heard of them so far. Which is saying something. A lot of the lo-fi qualities from their previous two records are gone. Each song is a bit less shrouded in fog and there’s more of a range of emotion. The emotional build-up in some songs is more impressively huge than so much of what they’ve created before. Not to say that the height is better or worse than the echoing quality of their previous work–but it’s certainly something. The album is cleaner but still calls upon the same haunting qualities — the same organ, Victoria’s ever-powerful voice, and incredible song writing. It’s a favorite for me already. Here’s a weird video of the new song “Norway” for some audio sampling. For more listening, listen to selected KZSC programming or check out their myspace.

This is one strange “Teen Dream” is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

Tune-Yards/Merrill is wonderfulllll!

So here’s the thing about re-issues. Often they’re just an excuse to get more attention to something that has already gotten a good deal of attention. HOWEVER, here’s one re-issue that I’m okay standing by: Tune-Yards’s “Bird Brains”. This album is undoubtedly my favorite album of 2009 (and I refuse to give that a second thought). A mix of scrappy sound samples, African folk songs, stomps, claps, shouts and yells all stitched together beautifully to tell the story of the dirt, your dirt, of tigers, of fires, of children and of berry picking. This stuff is big. Big news. Merrill Garbus, the genius behind Bird Brains, made this whole album in a downright dirty homemade fashion, purposely only using free software and only releasing the album through her website for donations (as little as one cent would’ve bought you the best CD of 2009– go figs).

It’s an album that, put simply, deserves way way way more attention than we can give it. Got it? It deserves to be re-released. And, wonderfully, there are 2 bonus previously unreleased tracks, “Want Me To” and “Real Live Flesh”. Check out “News” at Merrill’s myspace and try not to fall in love, k?

Oh you fell in love, really? Because I’d like to tell you about an awesome opportunity to go see this Merrill Garbus aka Tune-Yards: The Natural History Museum in LA, January 8th. It sounds mindblowing, if you ask me. Let’s go!

yessss diarama yessss

Tune-Yards re-issue? is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz