Get smitten: Moggs

I fucking love when this happens. I'm innocently browsing The List for some show of worth to take place the coming weekend, skipping over the same old same old all-punk/all-metal bills that dominate many a San Francisco dive bar lineup, scanning through the Celine Dions and the Coldplays stinking up the HP Pavilions out yonder until I can pare The List down to the nitty gritty: bands that I kinda sorta am familiar with yet am still hesitant about investing more time/money in, and bands that I know absolutely nothing about. This is how I found Moggs. How the hell I hadn't heard of the Petaluma duo before now is an anomaly seeing as how they've toured the Bay Area religiously since 2001. I spotted their scheduled appearance March 15 at the Hemlock Tavern and wandered over to their MySpace page, where I was blown away upon first listen of "Smoke, Mirrors," a brooding rock groove that conjures the off-kilter guitar riffs and percussive blitzkrieg of Slint along with the unemotive (a good thing) vocals and fuzzy shoegaze wash of Autolux. Clean and pure dirty art rock at its finest. I think some covert music society may have been keeping guitarist/vocalist Justin M. and drummer/vocalist Cara LP a secret to keep this totally sparkling local band all to themselves. It's good to explore the unknown ...

Disco - Moggs

Best show of February: Deerhunter @ Mezzanine, Feb. 24, 09

They were just getting warmed up.

Deerhunter's playing a free show in SF!

I missed Deerhunter when they played the Great American Music Hall in November for a very good reason (Wintersleep made an extremely rare excursion to S.F. from the faraway land of Canada). But the gods of rock 'n' roll must be on my side, because here the Atlanta-based band is coming back, three months later to play another show ... for free. The bitch part is that I'll have to wait in a thick queue of rabid indie-rock-lovin, tight-pants-wearers, with no guarantee of even getting in. But I'll try. Tuesday, Feb. 24 @ Mezzanine, Noise Pop '09 kickoff-party. RSVP here to put yer name on the list, if that'll even help.

Tennessee, here I come: Bonnaroo's lineup is the shit

Holy guacamole, Batman. The Bonnaroo 2009 lineup was leaked tonight ... an it's not for the faint of heart. June 11-14 in Manchester, Tenn., check it: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Phish Beastie Boys Nine Inch Nails David Byrne Wilco Al Green Snoop Dogg Elvis Costello Solo Erykah Badu Paul Oakenfold Ben Harper and Relentless7 The Mars Volta TV on the Radio Yeah Yeah Yeahs Gov’t Mule Andrew Bird Merle Haggard MGMT moe. The Decemberists Girl Talk Bon Iver Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate Rodrigo y Gabriela Galactic The Del McCoury Band Of Montreal Allen Toussaint Coheed and Cambria Booker T & the DBTs David Grisman Quintet Lucinda Williams Animal Collective Gomez Neko Case Down Jenny Lewis Santogold Band of Horses Robert Earl Keen Citizen Cope Femi Kuti and the Positive Force The Ting Tings Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Kaki King Grizzly Bear King Sunny Adé Okkervil River St. Vincent Zac Brown Band Raphael Saadiq Ted Leo and the Pharmacists Crystal Castles Tift Merritt Brett Dennen Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue Toubab Krewe People Under the Stairs Alejandro Escovedo Vieux Farka Touré Elvis Perkins In Dearland Cherryholmes Yeasayer Todd Snider Chairlift Portugal. The Man. The SteelDrivers Midnite The Knux The Low Anthem Delta Spirit A.A. Bondy The Lovell Sisters Alberta Cross

The Coachella 2009 lineup is a tragic disappointment

Behold, below, the 2009 Coachella lineup. I've bolded the bands I actually would want to see.

FRIDAY, APRIL 17: Paul McCartney, Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Beirut, The Black Keys, Girl Talk, Silversun Pickups, The Ting Tings, The Crystal Method, Ghostland Observatory, Crystal Castles, The Airborne Toxic Event, We Are Scientists, N.A.S.A., Patton & Rahzel, M. Ward, The Presets, The Hold Steady, A Place to Bury Strangers, Felix da Housecat, Buraka Som Sistema, Ryan Bingham, Bajofondo, Peanut Butter Wolf, Noah & the Whale, White Lies, The Bug, Alberta Cross, Los Campesinos!, Craze & Klever, Molotov, Switch, Gui Boratto, Steve Aoki, The Aggrolites, People Under the Stairs, The Courteeners, Cage the Elephant, Dear and the Headlights.

SATURDAY, APRIL 18: The Killers, Amy Winehouse, Thievery Corporation, TV on the Radio, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, MSTRKRFT, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Atmosphere, Mastodon, TRAV$DJ-AM, Henry Rollins, Crookers, Turbonegro, Hercules and Love Affair, Superchunk, Glasvegas, Dr. Dog, Drive-By Truckers, Booker T & the DBT’s, Amanda Palmer, The Bloody Beetroots, Surkin, Para One (Live), Calexico, Liars, Bob Mould Band, Zane Lowe, Electric Touch, Blitzen Trapper, James Morrison, Drop the Lime, Glass Candy, Thenewno2, Gang Gang Dance, Billy Talent, Ida Maria, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Zizek, Cloud Cult, Tinariwen.

SUNDAY, APRIL 19: The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Throbbing Gristle, Lupe Fiasco, Paul Weller, Peter Bjorn and John, X, Antony & the Johnsons, Roni Size, Public Enemy, Jenny Lewis, Groove Armada, Paolo Nutini, Christopher Lawrence, Lykke Li, The Kills, Okkervil River, M.A.N.D.Y., Clipse, Sebastien Tellier, Fucked Up, Perry Farrell, The Horrors, Late of the Pier, K’naan, Junior Boys, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Supermayer, No Age, Vivian Girls, Shepard Fairey, Themselves, Gaslight Anthem, The Knux, Mexican Institute of Sound, The Night Marchers, Marshall Barnes.

Looks like I'll be saving $300+ on April 17-19.