Mesh Magazine

Tartufi
Us Upon Buildings Upon Us
Self-Released

Us Upon Buildings Upon Us is the excellent new album from San Francisco’s Tartufi. Though a duo (Lynne Angel on bass, guitar and vocals and Brian Gorman on drums), the band’s sound is anything but sparse, as they create lush harmonies with slightly distorted guitars, melodic, sweet but thick bass playing and occasional keys. Angel’s voice is a powerful instrument in itself, creating and sustaining soaring vocalizations over Gorman’s snapping, off-beat drumming. These seven epic songs (with most tracks over five minutes) never become monotonous, instead they expand into atmospherics that crescendo, break down, change tempos and always satisfy.
–Brian Brophy

Listen to “If We Had Daggers They Would Fly”.

The Morning Benders
Loose Change EP
Portia Records

Berkeley is a sundry old town. Somewhere amidst the accomplished authors in the hills, the free-speechers asleep in the park, the academics at the lecterns, and the schoolies locked in the dungeon of books, there lies a team of rock-n-rollers called The Morning Benders. These upstarts are young but not brash, paying reverence to the sounds of early rock ‘n’ roll with ever-current lyrical themes of love lost and loneliness in their debut EP Loose Change. “Heavy Hearts” hits the hardest with a memorable melancholic crescendo allowing singer Chris Chu to wail away his forlorn frustration. In the end, you remember these kids are young and will bounce back with hearts mended and guitar picks poised for more rocking, stirring it up in Berkeley like a tie-dye T-shirt.

Listen to “Heavy Hearts” by the Morning Benders.

Xiu Xiu
The Air Force
5RC

Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu is one of those rare musicians who can push music to new, disturbing places and have the talent to get away with it. His band Xiu Xiu’s new album, The Air Force starts off with the dark, dark ballad, “Buzz Saw” with Stewart’s eerie vocals mixing it up with ominous piano chords and other alarming sounds. Next up is the much more accessible, and brilliant, “Boy Soprano”, which almost sounds as though it could belong on an Depeche Mode album until it reaches its bliss-inducing chorus: Boy soprano/take me away from here/Boy soprano/where will we go tonight?. Other standout tracks are the beautiful “Vulture Piano” with its warm electronic sounds and driving drumbeat, and “Save Me Save Me” with the dichotomy of its inviting melody and deceivingly disturbing lyrics.
–Brian Brophy

Listen to “Boy Soprano” by Xiu Xiu. 

The Fucking Ocean
Le Main Rouge
Double Negative Records

The Fucking Ocean’s debut full-length, Le Main Rouge, is a somewhat frantic but never grating post-punk album in the vain of Erase Eratta and The Ex. The band weaves in out of styles within each song. The noodle-y guitars of the opening track, “Literacy Test” give way to urgent, staccato chords, which give way to only bass and drums. “Adam” features off-kilter rhythms which give way to a sugary guitar riff in the middle and confrontational pro-choice lyrics, “Do you remember when women used to have to risk their lives just to live again?” The most melodic song, “Bombs in the Underground” is also the fullest sounding track, and even mixes a bit of dub-sounding bass and guitar playing. “Elias (Has Been Waiting For An Hour)” features some amazing drumming and is the album’s standout track.
–Brian Brophy

Catch the band live at Bottom of the Hill with Kid 606 & Friends and Warbler on Thursday, November 16th at 9PM. All ages, $8.

Citizens Here And Abroad
Waving Not Drowning
Turn Records

Citizens Here And Abroad builds on the band’s debut Ghosts of Tables and Chairs, on this, its sophomore release, with an expanded
musical pallete adding more intricate instrumentation and complementary vocals. Though the band has been pegged with the shoegazer tag in the past, it is only on this album’s final track, “Nerves”, with its droning guitars, that the label really seems apt. The band’s songs, though often melancholic, have a propelling percussive quality that lends itself to body moving rather than ground-staring. The standout track is the opener “Stranger”, where guitarist Adrienne Robillard sings “I’m not like them/I’m stranger/it’s always the same, same conversation, the question/where do we go now?” on this song of modern day alienation.
– Angela Marx

Listen to “Accelerator” by Citizens Here And Abroad.