Category Archives: music news

Video Premiere: Heavy Hawaii – “Super Bowl XXIX”

San Diego’s Heavy Hawaii have just released the video for their new track, “Super Bowl XXIX.” The eerie clip finds the band members wearing masks and performing a synchronized dance routine in a parking garage. Could the masks be a metaphor for the identity-stifling helmets that football players are forced to wear, while the parking structure represents the cold, rigid conformity of the football field? Yeah, we don’t think so either.

“Super Bowl XXIX” is alternately poppy and funereal, allowing its I-IV-V riff to hang around just long enough to get stuck in your head. The song is the A-side on Heavy Hawaii’s new 7-inch, which also includes the tracks “Boy Season” and “Live Outside.” The record is available now on Art Fag Recordings in a limited run of 500, and you can order a copy for yourself here.

Mrs. Magician Announce Release of Debut Album

San Diego’s Mrs. Magician have announced the release of their full-length debut, Strange Heaven, on John Reis’ Swami Records label. The 13-track album — which was produced by Reis — will drop on April 17, but if you can’t wait until then, a digital download will be available beginning on March 6.

In support of Strange Heaven, Mrs. Magician will be embarking on a cross-country tour with Cults, whom you might remember from our fancy Best Albums of 2011 list or the writings of lesser-known publications like Spin, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, etc.

The tour will begin on the East Coast and move west, but Mrs. Magician will actually play two San Diego dates: the first with Cults at the Belly Up on March 21, and the second with Reis’ band Hot Snakes at the Casbah on March 27. If you like good music, you’ll probably want to catch both shows.

You can view the tracklist for Strange Heaven below, along with Mrs. Magician’s complete list of tour dates. Continue reading…

Turning Portuguese

Photo credit: Makenna Combs

The people at Bring on the Bright Lights sure have been busy. Since establishing the event series in October — of which Owl and Bear is a co-sponsor — the concert organizers have added some much-needed excitement to the San Diego music scene and succeeded in making 4th & B notable for something other than ’80s cover bands and whatever “HUNKS the Show” is. Continue reading…

Video Premiere: Jesse LaMonaca & The Dime Novels – “The Lament of Tumbleweed Hawk”

http://vimeo.com/35448221

Local troubadour Jesse LaMonaca and his band The Dime Novels are set to release their new album, The Lament of Tumbleweed Hawk. The follow-up to 2010’s Until The Stars Came Out boasts thirteen tracks of Americana goodness, and they just made a video for the title track. Continue reading…