Though the year has only just begun, it's never too early to start speculating about and dissecting this year's hardcore festivals. The organizers behind the Black N Blue Bowl have already announced a date-May 28th-and are boasting of a lineup worthy of pants-shitting. Given last year's Supertouch and Yuppicide reunions as well as co-headliners Cro-Mags [...]

Seeing how our staff has distinct tastes and opinions on music, it would be nearly impossible for us to determine a 10 Albums of 2010 list as a single entity without excessive bloodshed. Therefore in the next two weeks, we'll be posting multiple Top 10 Albums of 2010 lists as determined by Loud Loop Press editors and contributors. Today, contributor Britni Day body slams us with her list for Top 10 Albums of 2010. Before we start, I'm sure my lovely Editor-In-Chief, Richard Giraldi, would like me to [...]

In the Tarot, the Ten of Swords card appears to be a bit of bleak little fellow. At first, the card foretells of a relentless attack from life, but in the same breath speaks of how things can only get better from here. In Chicago, Ten of Swords is Adam Hitchell's newest project and tells the story of how he has braved the darkness and is finally seeing life's dawn in his first full album, Dry Spell . Hitchell utilized more than just his own expertise [...]
The San Francisco band is the perfect cure for your weekend concert comedown. Rating: 0.0/ 5 (0 votes cast) Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for contests and links that don't make it onto the blog.

The Dry Spells released their debut album, Too Soon For Flowers , in 2009, and after hearing just one song I ordered a copy of it. The Dry Spells might not be a name you know yet, but you might be familiar with some other projects they have been involved in such as Citay and Sonny and the Sunsets . After hearing the record for the first time all the way through I was still wondering how an album as powerful as this wasn't being talked about all over. While [...]

Every month, we dedicate the first week's podcast to highlighting some of the great local and out-of-town bands performing soon in the San Francisco Bay Area. We've got eleven great bands playing some excellent shows this month, so head out and see some live music! Subscribe to The Bay Bridged's podcast to get each week's new episode downloaded free to your iTunes! About the bands: Thao with The Get Down Stay Down [...]
Earlier this week, the organizers behind Virginia's annual United Blood festival announced a preliminary list of the bands scheduled to perform at its fourth installment, which runs once again at Alleykatz in Richmond from March 26th through the 27th. For lovers of hardcore young and old, the lineup should seem damn impressive. In no apparent [...]

No better way to start up the year than a show with a band who blazed through the year past, The Dry Spells . The female-fronted Americana band will be playing a free evening at Oakland's Uptown Cafe with Little Bridges and Whiter Light . On The Dry Spells' Too Soon For Flowers as his pick for best album of 2009, the host of NPR's All Songs Considered : "[Too Soon for Flowers] was my comfort record all year long, over and over again [...]
After hearing The Dry Spells' album Too Soon For Flowers it comes as little surprise that the band shares a good portion of its members with Citay. They balance folk and the kind smoldering 70's rock balladry that moved Stevie Nicks' shawl to action, bent strings in Pentangle and Fairport and has more recently been embraced by fellow Frisco-dwellers The Sandwitches. The band leans toward crisp-winded folk that opens up like an expanse of grey skies wrought with terrible, turbulent winds. Tim Green's production gives The Dry Spells the same cutting cleanness that he's imparted to Citay over [...]

The Dry Spells are Tahlia Harbour on guitar and vocals, Warren Huegel on drums, Adria Otte on guitar, April Hayley on violin, tambourine and vocals and Diego Gonzalez on bass. California storm-lined folk-rockers, The Dry Spells (all members, or former members, of Citay ) originated as an empowered, all-female gig. Though they let some boys in, it's still a girls' band. Batwood kicks off with harmonies that evoke an approaching train, followed by a Salem-witchlike, shadowy folk story that steps up to their biggest violin-enhanced frenzy. Evangeline curiously folks along with a [...]
For a limited time, the folks at Antenna Farm Records are offering up a free digital download of Euphoria Is All We Know . This release celebrates the local label's history by featuring songs from the (mostly) Bay Area-based artists that have graced Antenna Farm's roster since 2003, including Papercuts , the Botticellis , Bart Davenport , and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone . More information, tracklist, and MP3 after the jump. The title of this compilation (presumably) comes from the opening lyric [...]

photo by jai carillo schön, dass mich bloggerkollege oliver mal wieder an antenna farm records erinnert hat. denn die haben ja nicht nur den guten bart davenport am start oder je suis france oder die von mir sehr verehrten winfred e. eye, nein auch the dry spells . dabei handelt es sich um eine vier bis fünf frau/mann- crew aus san francisco. ihre spannende herangehensweise fusst auf dem wechsel von akustischen und elektrischen elementen sowie ausgefeiltem harmoniegesang. dabei sonnen sich eindeutig die damen im [...]

It would've been a pretty down week for new releases, but thanks to some bumped up digital releases dates from The Cave Singers and The Dodos , this week got a lot better. Other new releases include albums from Robert Pollard , Patrick Wolf, Malcolm Middleton, Cobra Starship and an EP from The Darlings. Playlist: New Releases 08.11.09 The Dodos - Time to Die Stream / [...]

Every month, we dedicate the first week's podcast to highlighting some of the great local and out-of-town bands performing soon in the San Francisco Bay Area. We've got a dozen great bands playing some excellent shows this month, so head out and see some live music! Subscribe to The Bay Bridged's podcast to get each week's new episode downloaded free to your iTunes! About the bands: Tender Forever ("Heartbroken Forever") [...]

The Dry Spells , with their layered electric and acoustic instrumentation, are one of the Bay Area's many contributions to the exploding psych-folk scene. Tracks like "Batwood" begin with plenty of rhythm and structure and devolve into a flurry of guitar riffs and violin. Other songs feature solid backbone and somber tambourine. Can tambourine be somber? This one is - under searing guitar melodies. The Dry Spells - "Lost Daughter" As with all self-respecting indie/folk/psych/rock/acoustic /electric/hybrid outfits, The Dry Spells feature one member with a biblical name, one beard and [...]

Featuring Rainbow Arabia, The Most Serene Republic, We Were Promised Jetpacks, The Riverdales, The Audreys and The Dry Spells. Rainbow Arabia "Haunted Hall" from "Kabukimono" (Manimal Vinyl) The Most Serene Republic "Heavens To Purgatory" (mp3) from "...And The Ever Expanding Universe" [...]

Better late than never, right? First a disclaimer: I am sure that every tourist, no matter what their native language and wherever they go, encounters translations in other countries that display a lack of deep knowledge of their language. In every language there are subtle meanings that aren't explained in word-to-word translation dictionaries. So I am not making fun of our Chinese hosts, but we did enjoy the humor in these signs. The lovely painting above was hung in the ladies' restroom of a very nice vegetarian restaurant in Beijing, which I [...]
Thursday : Papercuts , Port O'Brien , Still Flyin' @ The Independent Papercuts - "You Can Have What You Want" Friday : Sugar & Gold , Music for Animals , Castledoor @ Rickshaw Stop Sugar & Gold - "Slice Me Nice" Friday : Magic Bullets , Shannon and the Clams , Bridez @ Bottom of the Hill Magic Bullets - "The Book is Closed" [...]

Father's Day is Sunday....don't tell us you forgot?! Hmm, tell you what, we've got you covered this time if you're still scrambling for that last minute perfect gift. This year, why not give the gift that keeps on giving? FREE MUSIC. Below, download any or all of the free songs, compilations, and EPs that have come our way this past week for dear old Dad. As always, some are EAR FARM favorites, some might be more your bag than ours, all are free for you to enjoy... just click the band name for the band's [...]