May 2013
2 posts
10 tags
Brief Encounters with Coachella
Coachella, the desert music festival itself, is a disgusting death trap. A dust filled snowglobe with ten different wind up music cranks going at once. I knew this going into it. My previous experience with Coachella was in 2006, and as a high school senior I was enchanted by my first music festival experience. Depeche Mode, Madonna, Animal Collective, Dungen - it was an amazing year. But...
5 tags
Savages
I wanted to blow the lid off this band before anyone else in the blogosphere had had the opportunity to own that claim. A few have, but I don’t care about sending that lid farther across a the veritable football field of the interwebs.
I first heard about Savages about six months ago when a friend played with them in NY at their first show in the US. He immediately texted me explaining that I...
April 2013
4 posts
9 tags
Prepare for Coachella Weekend Two
Coachella, weekend two, is approaching. For those embarking on the journey, Kat Nadler offers a helpful and ever practical pre-coachella prep list to help you make the most of your weekend.
1.Browse dumpsters for the perfect headpiece.
2. Save trash bags so you don’t have to use the porta-potties.
3. Bring all 2012 issues of J-14 magazine for autograph-ops.
4. Research the difference...
6 tags
Iggy Pop Doesn't Wear A Lot of Makeup
Iggy Pop doesn’t wear a lot of makeup. He has a very working class, almost animal face. In the right temperament his eyes become crystal balls, so huge that you want to rub your hands on them. Usually they’re contained in some mascara and eyeliner aura.
I don’t look anything like Iggy Pop. I have some mid-western farm stock features that have been pissed upon by Irish...
6 tags
Winona Forever At Lost Weekend
Thanks to everyone who made it to our Winona Ryder tribute night at Lost Weekend. We’re one step closer to making printing dreams come true for Issue Two! For those who missed it, this is what is looked like. Photos by Chris Stevens.
Poppin’ Bandz
Eagerly, my friends and I approached the large silver doors of a small blue, two story building nestled among the towering concrete giants of San Francisco’s SoMa district. With Juicy J’s* lyrics fresh in my head and a fist full of crisp dollar bills, we were on a quest to experience the free (repeat, free) buffet of a well known local adult establishment. We knew upon entry that our Friday...
March 2013
1 post
5 tags
Winona Forever
We’re hosting a Winona Ryder Double Feature at Lost Weekend Video tomorrow! Come out and see Heathers and Reality Bites. Mobile food vendor Boris Portnoy of Satellite Republic will be there serving delicious food at 6 pm. Auction with Winona themed prizes starts a 7:30, and movie starts at 8.
See you there.
February 2013
1 post
8 tags
Kubrick
I dread my birthday every year. It placates to my insecurity and applies a pressure that makes me abort any attempt to plan a celebration. This year, however, I decided to go to Disneyland with some other people and make a couple of days of it in Southern California. Because when you turn 27, you deserve a day at the happiest place on earth, damn it. As it turns out, it was a harrowing day of...
January 2013
5 posts
7 tags
Jessica Pratt
I’ve known Jessica Pratt for about three years. We share a mutual love for Psychic TV, black cats, and five dollar Thrift Town finds. I’ve always distinguished her as an internal, observant woman with a dry sense of humor that is usually delivered in a comedic tone of voice; most likely telling a story about the disagreeable clientele that stand in line at the bakery she works at on weekend...
7 tags
THE LAB // BENEFIT WINTER SHOWCASE 1/19
MIKE DONOVAN + ERIC PARK HEADLINE THE LAB
tomorrow Saturday, January 19th 2948 16th Street at Capp
Mike Donovan and Eric Park are recording a new LP this month. Mike and Eric played together in Yikes. Yikes is the John Dwyer project that Mike off-handedly claims that, “No one understood or liked.” “I’ve wanted to work with him since then. On the 19th...
20 tags
BAD NEWS: BEST BAND 2012
Sarah Bernat is one half of the Skinny Puppy-infected project BAD NEWS. BAD NEWS topped our Local / California Best of Bands of 2012. Hear them now.
Honorable Mentions: Cathedral X, Thee Royal Baths, Artificial Blood, Ashe Williams, Goth Chix, DeathDay, Jessica Labrador, Tied To The Branches, Pharaohs, Brogan Bently, Hazel’s Wart, Gerritt Wittmer
22. Tender Buttons
21. Group...
30 tags
HOLY OTHER: ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Welcome to the Decades Best of Music Year End 2012 feature. Below is our list of artists that made the Decades staff short-list this year. Tune in at 6pm New Years Day for our Best of Music Year End for Local / California acts. Pictured above: Holy Other in Munich.
Honorable Mentions: Thieves Like Us, Laurel Halo, Micachu, Soft Metals, CFCF, Noveller, oOoOO, Weekend, Grave Babies,...
December 2012
3 posts
Christmas + Movies
Tomorrow is Christmas, which DECADES does indeed celebrate because DECADES is an atheist Jewish Witch. And a lactose intolerant Scorpio. With that in mind, we have contributor Richard Procter sharing with us his favorite films for the occasion. We’ll let him take it from here:
You need several elements in a film for it to meet the arbitrary standards I’ve just devised that make up...
A Guide to the Apocalypse (If you live in the...
On our impending day of fire and judgement I hope to take to the streets with the looting fervor of a 6-year-old on Halloween. Since I live in the Richmond and ‘exciting’ is the last word I’d use to describe the places around here, I need to get creative with how I go about this. Continue reading for my looting prep list.
—Jared Frazer
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1) Tia Margarita’s
I’m not a...
Michael Sarah
Those who were at the DECADES launch party in June may recognize the work of artists Sarah Lesher and Michael Kahan (one of their lovely prism prints were part of our group art show), who together create art under the name Dear Triangle. If you have not seen their prints, then get a car a drive to Santa Cruz. Tonight is the opening reception for their collaborative print show...
November 2012
3 posts
7 tags
CONSTRUCTIVE INTERFERENCE: A White Hunter
There are several people who reside in the East Bay that I know who I am convinced are soulless. This judgment of them, that they have no souls, strikes you in a way prior to the judgment of whether people have souls at all; so don’t worry if you have your own opinion on the matter. You’d agree when you saw them that there’s some… Lacking.
I have found, without discussing...
Macaroni and Cheese. For Life.
Choosing from a menu at a restaurant you’ve never been to before is fraught with peril. Your tastebuds, stomach, wallet, and bowels will all have to live with your choice for the next several hours. The bigger the menu, the less likely you are to hit upon that one certain dish that this kitchen can prepare particularly well. But every once in awhile, when you do make that lucky choice, you...
Official poster art by Elizabeth Brown
RSVP here.
October 2012
3 posts
We're Having a Party
WE ARE HAVING A PARTY AT KNOCKOUT (SF) next month 11/29 with Jeweled Snakes, Disappearing People and A White Hunter. DJ’s Mashi Mashi, Nako and Shannon (Chasms) will be spinning dark jams // more treats and information TBA †††
17 tags
Pushing The Void: Cathedral X
For a project very experientially immersive, the work of the performance project known as Cathedral X, really appreciates when it is received as both a product of theory and intuition. Glean something of what they do from our conversation with them below in anticipation of their weekend residency at The Lab this Friday and Saturday evening. Cathedral X preforms with TINT on 10.19 and...
Disco Deep Fry
Thanks to everyone who came to our Disco Deep Fry over the weekend. We had a lovely time frying with you. Photos courtesy of DECADES staff, lovers and friends Kelly Tingle, Kat Aileen, and Angelica Harris.
Angelica Harris, frying an Oreo.
Performer Yetunde Olagbaju, dazzling the crowd. Photo by Kat Aileen.
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DJ Amber Waves, bringing the Disco jams. Photo by Kelly Tingle.
The...
September 2012
3 posts
Getting Orbital with Garen Ingleby of Moonbell
Garen Ingleby fronts the noisy/dreamy San Francisco group Moonbell. He recently sat down with Decades to discuss Moonbell’s recent work and their new artistic direction spirited by their new lineup. Staff writer Zach Gottesman and Ingleby explore the merits of analogue gear, dissolving the shoegaze handle and their new line up. Zach Gottesman: Moonbell recently worked with Stacia...
Reuniting with Pete and Pete
I’m nostalgic for last week’s Pete and Pete reunion show - a live reunion show oozing with nostalgia for the early ‘90s TV-series about nostalgia. In a surreal gathering at the Orpheum theatre in Los Angeles, the cast and creators of this short lived TV series gathered for an on-stage reunion put on by Cinefamily. To complete the night, the band Polaris performed gems like “Hey Sandy,” “She is...
August 2012
5 posts
CATCHING UP WITH SAM COOPER AND ALEJANDRO COHEN OF...
“Surrender to the sax.” Pharaohs make their San Francisco live debut this evening at Public Works at THE CHASE with Ash Williams, Jason Kendig, SMAC with visual stimulus by Caitlin Denny. Below is a conversation with Decades staff writer Griffin Madden and electronic dance duo Pharaohs, edited for publication. Photo courtesy of the artists.
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GRIFFIN MADDEN Decades...
Chatting With Evan Caminiti of Barn Owl On His New...
I’d never heard anything quite like the Painted Caves project before. In a suburbia where none can help but recognize Don Cheadle in all Afro-Americans and where music like this doesn’t leave the basements it may or may not be created in. I was sadly sheltered away from any Evan Caminiti-like influence. And but now, I got to talk to the man himself on his music, his turn toward...
13 tags
ON TOTAL BLAST: Gatekeeper
Hot on the heals of love: Contributors Griffin and Gael Madden with Aaron David Ross and Matthew Arkell at the Governor’s Ball last year at Todd P’s 285 Kent.
As far as dance electronica goes, Gatekeeper (Bushwick via Chicago) is definitely an outlier, but they ostracize themselves from the norm with more than just their Körpermusik infected mood. For instance, Gatekeeper...
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is in San Francisco. To celebrate his arrival I thought we could all take a break and make some egg creams for an afternoon/early evening beverage.
Woody Allen loves syrup, can’t you tell by this photo? Thus, he must love egg creams. For both Woody Allen and egg creams are quintessentially New York.
Forge on for the recipe:
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This is what an egg cream looks...
July 2012
3 posts
MEET: Moonbell
Chain together a substantial number of effects pedals for every musician in sight. Buy at least an ounce of medical-grade, hydroponically grown Cannabis indica. Listen to The Verve’s album A Storm In Heaven ad infinitum; these are the steps I imagine that Moonbell might take to prepare for an ordinary day of practice.
If this is indeed how SF-based Moonbell, (debut LP out on...
MEET: Some Ember
Here are some alternate, non-judgmental and probably inaccurate titles for Some Ember’s album Hotel of Lost Light: ‘Sounds of Sands,’ ‘Hamlet Takes Acid And It Doesn’t Really Work,’ ‘If LCD Soundsystem Wasn’t From New York (Princeton, NJ),’ ‘My Lonely Trip to Coney Island.’
Dylan Travis of Some Ember, currently residing in the Bay Area, takes on the wickedly harsh game of storytelling...
Photographer: Sophie Peoples
The first image seen in DECADES is a test. Like one of those ink blots an analyst shows their patients. What one sees in the image could be analyzed to interpret their current state of mind. A depressive on the verge of collapse? A happy-go-lucky freak? A shoe fiend? I am always curious to find out what the photo evokes for every individual. The photo:
The image was...
June 2012
5 posts
Videographer: Jared Frazer
Once upon a time we made a Kickstarter video to help us fund the first issue of DECADES. The creation of this video was a magical collaboration with filmmaker Jared Frazer, who we hope continues to create greatness for DECADES. When not helping us raise oodles of money, Jared highlights the nooks and crannies of San Francisco for Tribute SF. Now, an interview:
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Chasms Live at The Lab for Decades Magazine...
lulususerfriendly:
Decades Magazine
Chasms (SF)
Noveller (Brooklyn)
The Birth of Decades
Thank you to everyone who came to our release party over the weekend! It was a beet stained bloody good time. We will be sharing oodles of images from the night with everyone soon. In the meantime here are a couple of snapshots:
Magazines, in the flesh.
Enter the Prism.
DECADES model, Zenaida Sengo
PS: If you were in attendance and have some amazing photos or videos from the night that...
Release Party Tonight
Our release party for DECADES Issue No. 1, The Beet Stain Issue, is this evening at the Lab! For those who are still stumped on what to wear, we present some ideas:
Limited Edition Noodle Scarf with Felted Sauce, from B Fiber and Craft Emporium.
Muscle Leggings from Black Milk Clothing.
Dare You dress from Nasty Gal Vintage.
Diamond Platforms from Pixie Market.
Handmade black...
May 2012
10 posts
Photographer: Olivia Coffey
Olivia Coffey, who studied fine arts and photography at UPenn and now lives in San Francisco, started her photography passion the same way most people do: with a disposable camera at summer camp. Camp Ramah, a Jewish camp in Ojai, Calif. is where I met Olivia in 1997. Her photographs of smiling girls in front of orange groves dancing Israeli jigs was just a start. For the first...
Poet: Nicole Reber
The first time I witnessed Nicole Reber read poetry was at a Pratt organized reading in Brooklyn. Her dry and monotone delivery warmed my heart, and her poems were subconscious thoughts I connected with, but never thought to express in words. Nicole’s poems appear in the first issue of DECADES. Here we share a poem not featured in the first issue and an interview...
Sarah Lipstate Is: NOVELLER
I laughed when I saw Noveller’s music pegged as “Drone” (genre) by a music organizer software. This would be accurate for all those cold-blooded meaning-sappers. Because that’s the exact de-deification of music that criticism and organization excel at. It’s like calling Zeus the Father of Lightning a body-builder in a toga. “Who’d you say you were going to see again tonight?” “Ah. Eh....
Decades Contributor: Lacey Johnson
Journalist and photographer Lacey Johnson investigates the world of modern Witchcraft for the first issue of DECADES. But aside from her DECADES feature on a 16-year-old Witch in Connecticut, Lacey is known for being a standout photographer. I had the good fortune of attending Columbia J-School with Lacey. She was in my Reporting & Writing 1 class, so we will forever have that RW1 bond. She...
MEET: JEALOUSY
The one-man act known as Jealousy (debut LP Viles out on the Chicago imprint Moniker Records last year) has tapped into an endearing albeit strange sound. His haunting vocals are backed by upbeat Krautrock guitar progressions with echoes a-plenty; these sounds allow for one’s mind to wander. Maybe this is the type of music border patrol listens to when driving through the desert at midnight after...
DECADES Release Party
The time has come! Decades is being released into the world on June 2nd! Our first issue is an exploration of beet stain, chola, witchcraft, disco, breast milk madness and we can’t wait to share it with everyone. In celebration of our release we are throwing a party at The Lab.
Music begins at 8pm featuring Noveller (Sarah Lipstate), Jealousy, Chasms and Tied to the...
DESIGN HEAVY: SAM CULKINS OF CULK INK. SAN...
Self-made man Samuel Culkins resides in the Avenues of fog beach town San Francisco where out of his 23rd and Cabrillo garage the Bay Area via Rhode Island designer wields his craft. Bent on 80’s surf and skate imagery, Culk’s boyish tendencies lend themselves to compelling combinations of vintage playboy mag imagery and Dionysian ideals of California mythology. His minimalistic...
MEET: MELTED TOYS
This band is called Melted Toys and this band has capitalized on crafting with the ore, dreampop. The primarly linguistic attraction to this culture of music is the monosyllabic noun + descriptor. They conform attractively at this, and they have a good handle on somewhat-sort-of-charming guitar hooks. While performing, each bandmember will withdraw into his instrument with a focus of genuine...
Decades in New York
Sky and I just returned from our pilgrimage to New York. I found it interesting that people kept asking, “What are you doing here?” as if every decision in life needs a proper purpose. Honestly, we scheduled this trip to eat a hamburger. Our meal at The Spotted Pig reconfirmed my belief that April Bloomfield’s burger is the best burger in the world.
Aside from burger eating, I...
Meet: Permanent Collection
With loud, fucked-up Jesus and Mary Chain guitars and narcotized vocal swoons, Permanent Collection makes music that you can take drugs to with your friends (or with strangers). PC started out as the solo project of SF dark workhorse Jason Hendardy. He cut out the super dreamy EP Delirium on his own imprint Loglady Records back in 2011 and has now brought on Megan Dabkowski, Brenden Nerfa and...
April 2012
2 posts
We're Having a Party!
Decades teams up with Positive Destruction to bring you Melted Toys, The Memories, Permanent Collection and Cool Angels: A night of post-post, shoegaze and swashbuckling guitars. We are excited to dance, drink and celebrate independent music with friends as well as meet any of you that we haven’t met just yet. Advance tickets here.
DJ sets by Byron Blum (POW!) and Jess Labz
Saturday, May...
Brandon Jew
For our first issue we spoke with chef Brandon Jew from Bar Agricole, who shared with us some wise words on beet stains, his last meal on earth, and the importance of eating nato. We have an excerpt today on our Kickstarter and below.
A recipe for his asparagus with green garlic custard, pickled mustard seed, wild garlic flowers and preserved lemon vinaigrette will be in Issue One of Decades.
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