Tag Archives: black mamba

Jamuel Saxon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. to Crash September’s Rumble

Click to enlarge

This month’s Rumble at Bar Pink features indie up-and-comers Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and local musical hitman Jamuel Saxon, and will be held on Saturday, September 11.

Joshua Epstein and Daniel Zott are the Detroit-based duo behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.. They are known for incorporating many styles and substances into their music — they like samplers and drum machines, but they’re also not above playing to the indie-folk crowd.

Epstein and Zott describe their debut EP, Horse Power, as a “quasi-psych mix of folk, hip-hop inspired drum programming, and effervescent pop within which Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. machines a series of chicanes, straightaways, washboards, and u-turns that when assembled make for quite the interesting ride.” Additionally, Epstein and Zott like to wear Nascar outfits onstage. For a sample of their sound, we’ve got the video for “Nothing But Our Love,” and two MP3s — one of which was remixed by Jamuel Saxon — below.
Continue reading…

Contest: Win The Moviegoers’ New 7-inch

Inventions like the iPod and Pandora can reduce music to a blurry background din, yet no matter how jaded we become, certain songs can still pierce the fog.

“Avalanche,” by San Diego’s The Moviegoers, is one of those songs. From its moving spoken-word verse, to its soaring chorus — which features lush harmonies by band members Richard Hunter-Rivera and Jessica Monday — the track is a stirring triumph, and one of the best songs to come out of San Diego in recent years.

“Avalanche” was originally featured on the band’s out-of-print Be A Man EP, but it’s been re-recorded for inclusion on the their new 7-inch, which will be released on August 12th. And as good as “Avalanche” is, it’s only the record’s B-side; imagine how great the A-side, “Big High School,” must be.

The 7-inch was recorded by local knob twister-extraordinaire Keith Milgaten, of Jamuel Saxon/Black Mamba/The Vision of a Dying World fame. Mangoose, the label partially run by Hunter-Rivera, will release the record. The band will celebrate the fruits of their labor with a release party on September 4th at the Tin Can Ale House, but if you can’t wait until then to hear the songs, don’t despair: we generous folks at Owl and Bear are giving away a free copy.

For your chance to win The Moviegoers’ new 7-inch, send an email to contest@owlandbear.com with your name and mailing address. The winner will be selected at random on August 30.

Contest haters and the perpetually unlucky can pre-order the 7-inch here.

Album Review: The Paddle Boat – ‘I Wonder if the Water Ever Tires of the Sea?’

The Paddle Boat

When The Paddle Boat first began to play shows in San Diego, no one knew quite what to make of them. Their hushed aesthetic tended to be too quiet for bars and their century-spanning influences too diverse for easy categorization, but the band nevertheless built a reputation as one of the city’s finest live acts. Seasoned performers though they might be, the band’s recorded output has until now been sparse, consisting of only the four songs from the self-titled EP they released earlier this year.

In its eleven brief minutes, the EP demonstrated that The Paddle Boat were able to flourish within the recorded idiom, utilizing savvy production to add dimension to their already rich sound. But it remained to be seen how the band would fare over the course of an entire album. Now, the group has released I Wonder if the Water Ever Tires of the Sea?, their full-length debut and the true test of whether The Paddle Boat can be as enthralling a recorded band as they are a live one. Continue reading

The Vision of a Dying World Just ‘Don’t Understand’ (MP3)

The Vision of a Dying World

Jackson Milgaten gets a lot of press. Whether it be as co-founder of red-hot San Diego label Single Screen Records, his work promoting and booking shows under the Action Jackson Promotions moniker, or for his omnipresence in a slew of “side projects” that include Cuckoo Chaos, The Paddle Boat, and Maren Parusel’s backing band, a lot of metaphorical ink is spilled on Milgaten’s behalf. So much so, in fact, that it can be hard to remember that his main band, The Vision of a Dying World, is still around and kicking.

In case you do need a reminder, the band will be releasing a new EP, titled I Will Not Fear What I Don’t Understand, this Saturday at the Soda Bar. The songs were recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jackson’s equally busy brother/Vision guitarist Keith Milgaten (also of Black Mamba and Jamuel Saxon fame) and marks the band’s first release since 2007’s Skelephone Call From The Eastern Side. Here’s a little background on the EP from Jackson himself: Continue reading

Black Mamba Eat Octopus, Discuss New EP

Black Mamba

In anticipation of the band’s star-studded EP release show at the Casbah tomorrow night, CityBeat has published an interview with Aimee Sanchez and Keith Milgaten of San Diego dream-pop quartet Black Mamba. In it, the pair discuss the new EP, fleshing out the band’s sound, and what it’s like creating music with your significant other:

“I remember the first time we hung out,” Milgaten recalls. “It was at my house. We looked at Aimee’s MySpace page so I could hear her music. I was really blown away by it, even though her recordings were very, uh, very demo-y at the time—.”

“That’s because they were demos!” protests Sanchez with a giggle.

Milgaten smiles. “Yes, they were demos. I was fascinated by her singing style and how she wrote for the piano. I could tell that she was very special.”

And cute, right?

“I’m trying to pertain to the subject,” he laughs. “You don’t even want me to go off on how cute she is.”

Aren’t they adorable? Come by the Casbah tomorrow and bask in the warmth of their gorgeous, sensual compositions. The Paddle Boat, Tape Deck Mountain, and Drew Andrews will be on hand to make the evening even more special.