Derelicts
The Junior Panthers
(Get Lost)

This EP from the Junior Panthers has made perfect listening for the unseasonably warm, sunny weather we’ve had in the City for the past week, the kind of music that makes me want to drive down Highway 1 with the top down (if I had a top to put down), volume cranked to ten. The follow-up to the former Damsels’ 2003 self-titled debut album, Derelicts features five songs (and one untitled bonus track) that show the growth of the band through a solidified lineup and a greater depth to the music, while still bringing the jangly, shake-your-booty guitar pop that fans have come to rely on from this San Francisco four-piece. Clean production showcases the band’s breezy harmonies and tight rhythms as they channel Going Blank Again-era Ride, especially on “Paranormal,” with singer Edwin Gomez doing a spot-on Mark Gardner. Other highlights include the ebullient power pop of the lead track, “Pills,” and the Dandy Warhols guitar fuzz on “No Turning Back.” Call it the feel-good record of the year; the Junior Panthers will help keep things warm and sunny long after the end of our Indian summer.

– Jennifer Elks

From the Soil to the Soul
Tommy Guerrero
(Quannum)

If smooth, stylish, head-nodding, funk-fueled, West Coast-flavored instrumental rock is your thing, well then climb on board, cuz From the Soil to the Soul is all of that. Former skateboard pro Tommy Guerrero busts out his fourth full-length album with restrained gusto (if there is such a thing) by boosting up the bottom end, quickening the tempo and layering the luxurious melodies. At first listen, one might say, “Hey, yo, Tommy’s got a brand new bag.” But one might be mistaken. Sure, the San Francisco native busts it on the funky tip more than ever (“No Guns More Glory” features a Hammond B3 organ to anchor the bumping funk groove), but he keeps listeners on their collective toes with a rocking yet vaguely funk album, while tossing in elements of hip-hop, soul and a string of Latin flavors (like the percolating “Salve”). “Badder Than Bullets” reminds me of the Who’s “Eminence Front” without the put-on, while “War No More” flirts with near-funk, jazz and hip-hop. The quiet contemplation of “Mission Flats” leads into the shoulder-swaying vibe of “1966” (the year Guerrero was born). And then you got “Don’t Fake It,” a true blues-flavored funk track complete with vocals that burrow into your head while you find your butt shaking to and fro – damn straight. From the Soil to the Soul may not be my favorite album of the year, but it’s got an earnest, laidback energy that maintains interest. Plus it’s the perfect soundtrack to throw on when smoking some herb. And if that ain’t San Francisco, I don’t know what is.

– Tim Pratt

Telescope Mind
Tussle
(Smalltown Supersound)

Don’t mess with the Tussle. The San Francisco quartet has your back – and your head – firmly protected for the long haul. As the Mission District-based band reemerges with its second full-length CD, Telescope Mind, it’s clear Tussle has made strides in both its songwriting and recording skills. Telescope Mind finds Tussle firmly entrenched in the percussion-oriented clip-clopping instrumental musical style à la 1980s beat innovators Liquid Liquid (and surprise, surprise, a few tracks feature contributions by Dennis Young and Sal Principato of that same New York band), most notably in the percolating “Pow!” Yet Tussle, who recorded the album with Quinn Luke in San Francisco, is by no stretch a copycat band. Infusing elements of rock, hip-hop, punk and synth-pop to create an amalgam of unique, shuffling rhythms, punchy basslines and pulsing percussive beats, Tussle’s seemingly surface-level monotony somehow seeps into your skull with its catchy, head-nodding arrangements and unique directions. “Second Guessing” doesn’t seem like much of a track to the casual, non-educated listener but the barnstorming bassline, haunting synthesizer layers and multi-faceted beat rhythms burrow ever deeper into your brain upon repeat listens. In fact, much of Tussle’s work has that element – doesn’t seem like much but you’ll be damned if you don’t find yourself going back and pushing play time and time again. It’s that sort of endearing quality that has Tussle entrenched in your head for all eternity. Or at least, until their next album. Damn, when’s that shit coming out?

– Tim Pratt

The Tragic Treasury
The Gothic Archies
(Nonesuch)

Stephin Merritt and Lemony Snicket – what a dour and perfect pair. Who else but Merritt, the man behind the Magnetic Fields, the 6ths and the Future Bible Heroes, could write music dreary yet droll enough to accompany Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events? Fans of both Merritt and Snicket will find lots to snicker about in The Tragic Treasury. With this side project, his “goth-bubblegum band” the Gothic Archies, Merritt (with Snicket on accordion) sings songs inspired by each book in the series, the final installment of which, The End, is also released this week (Note: For those of you who haven’t kept up with the books, these songs won’t spoil any surprises). Merritt’s morose lyrics perfectly complement the Snicket stories, starting with “Scream and Run Away” (from The Bad Beginning), with tips on what to do if you encounter the villainous Count Olaf, which will sound familiar to anyone who has ever been to a Snicket reading. Other highlights (lowlights?) include “How I pray for death to begin / When you play the violin” (“When You Play the Violin” from The Austere Academy), “Shipwrecked with you / I can’t think of a single thing I’d rather do / And that’s why I decapitated the crew” (“Shipwrecked” from The End), and the gloom-pop bonus track, “We Are the Gothic Archies.”

– Jennifer Elks

Meet You at the Monolith
The Monolith
(Fortune Records)

monolith [mon-uh-lith] n. An organized whole that acts as a single unified powerful or influential force.
With sounds ranging from hazy synthesizer wanderings to dinner party pop-rock to mellow, acoustic guitar reflection, the Monolith take you down a well-worn path paved by bands from the Beatles to Quasi. Their challenge could be to become truer to the meaning of their name - "an influential force" - by emulating their influences less. Songs such as "Tonight" and "Sunday Keeps Returning" provide glimpses of a signature sound built from lilting beats, empathetic lyrics and some unexpected vocal harmonies (as in the instrumental piece, "Intermission Darling"), and the band flex a few surprising instrumental cameos, including strings on "Pins and Circles" and draw organ on "Middle of the Movie," but instead of illustrating a fundamental sound, it seems more like pleasant, post-production icing. Overall, Meet You at the Monolith is a promising effort to connect with timeless pop traditions, but it would be more engaging to hear them make some of their own.

– Rene Wilson

The Day I Turned to Glass
Honeycut
(Quannum)

If you’ve lived in San Francisco long enough, you’ve likely heard of singer Bart Davenport, either for his solo work, leading R 'n' B wonders the Loved Ones, or playing bass with Persephone’s Bees. His latest project teams him up with longtime musicians RV Salters (alum of Afrobeat heir Femi Kuti) and Tony Sevener (of Santa Barbara’s Summercamp) for the genre jumble of crooner pop and beats known as Honeycut. The mixed-up lineup makes more sense on tape. With Davenport, you know where he comes from and you roughly know what you’re going to get, which in Honeycut’s case is a strong showing of some blue-eyed soul via bedroom Prince, Depeche Mode and Duran Duran. I’d almost want to add him to a roster that includes Jon Spencer and Jamie Lidell (yes, the list of cracker soul) but for the fact that the ‘80s electronic slickness loses a little street cred for the boys. But when you’re headed for the disco, who needs credibility? Standout tracks include the giddy instrumental “Aluminum City” and guilty pleasure of “Shadows,” which returns me to the soundtrack of my childhood. It’s more pop for the masses than Lidell’s blue-blooded Brit groove, so choose your battles … and don’t forget your hot pants.

– Nicole Harvey

Waving, Not Drowning
Citizens Here and Abroad
(Turn)

Without the vocals – those ethereal, otherworldly lead vocals that recall Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser – San Francisco’s moody pop/rock outfit Citizens Here and Abroad might fall flat. I don’t mean to offend the hardworking musicians that fill the space, and do it well, around Adrienne Robillard’s flighty, dreamlike singing. But it is her soaring vocal style that lifts the band above mediocrity. The music suits Robillard’s voice, not the other way around. Because her singing is free from musical punctuation, so too are the song arrangements. When her vocals carry for what feels like miles, so does the wiry feedback off the tail end of a guitar. And when she sings as if she were lost in space, the rhythms find their way there, too. Standout tracks include “In The Dark,” with its quiet/loud emotional punch and heavy, raw slams to the kit; “Deer in the Headlights” for its gritty guitar thrashing (unique to the album) and dreary, subdued singing; and closer “Nerves” for its hazy instrumentation and feeling of druggy, Velvet Underground-like disarray. Offering warmly textured, original songs that travel and gaze, Citizens Here and Abroad is, without question, a band comprised of talent – it’s just that good talent often needs a good leader, and in Robillard's voice they no doubt found that.

– Jenny Tatone

Dan the Automator Presents 2K7
Various Artists
(Decon)

San Francisco producer Dan “the Automator” Nakamura has been making dope hip-hop for some fifteen years now. Known for his intricate melodies and ever-banging beats, he is responsible for a long line of much-loved concept albums. Since hitting the big time via Dr. Octagon with Kool Keith back in 1996, Nakamura has put in work on eccentric projects such as Deltron 3030 (with Del and Kid Koala), Handsome Boy Modeling School (with Prince Paul), Lovage (with Mike Patton), and the first Gorillaz album. On 2K7, he enlists a diverse crew of collaborators to serve up basketball-related rhymes over his neck-bending tracks for NBA 2K7, Sony’s newest basketball game for Playstation.

Like most compilations, the results vary wildly from track to track. Bay Area allstars San Quinn and E-40 rock it properly on the old-school-influenced "Baller Blockin'," while the Hieroglyphics squad (and especially Casual) drop clever quotables all over the rugged drums of "Don't Hate the Player." New York favorites Ghostface and A.G. (of D.I.T.C.) impress on the grimy vibe of "2K007," and the scratch-filled "Catch Me," featuring skate-rap buzz artist Lupe Fiasco and Dilated Peoples’ Evidence, is arguably better than anything on each of their recent LPs.

Not every song is a slam dunk however, as efforts by Mos Def, Slim Thug and Fabolous aren't so much bad as they are just kind of boring. Another drawback is that every song on here is loaded with basketball references, which makes sense since it's the soundtrack to a hoops video game, but it also prompts more than a few cliché rhymes. Regardless, the majority of the album is solid, making 2K7 another quality effort from Bernal's baddest beatmaker.

– Brolin Winning

The Land of Pure Imagination
Roger Joseph Manning, Jr.
(Cordless Recordings)

Sometimes I think I listen to so much sad music that happy poppy music might just make my head fall off. Picture me in the back of a room filled with the all-ages striped-shirt mafia, arms crossed, unmoved. As the sweet, sweet pop begins to work its magic on the hard layers of early '90s British introspection I’ve built around me like a fortress, I begin to nod along like the kids all around me, I get into it, and ... my head falls clean off.

Roger Manning used to play keyboards in Jellyfish, a band I liked back in high school because they reminded me of Redd Kross, and because singer Andy Sturmer played drums and sang, which is like being ambidextrous in my world. Since then, Roger's played with Air, Beck and Moog Cookbook, to name a few. The Land of Pure Imagination, his latest solo release, is a good album if you like it when your vocalist is singing and smiling at the same time, and if you're making a film adaptation of a '70s girl novel, it's instant soundtrack. If you don't like your pop with horns, keys and trembling folk vocals, you gotta at least show a little respect for the man who owns more peerless analog synths than you ever will: http://ilovejamming.com/roger.mov.

– Nicole Harvey

Fish and Flying Creatures
D.W. Holiday
(Three Ring)

I always have mixed feelings when Americans attempt British psychedelia (this album definitely lives in a modern music-scape with borders marked by Spiritualized, Syd Barrett, Robyn Hitchcock and other anglodelic acts); much as I love the tradition, it is what it is largely because ... well, because it's British, with all its hang-ups, history, culture and so forth. Which isn't to say that D.W. Holiday's sound is derivative so much as it is a statement about stylistic preference. Though it's hard to relocate a sound without echoing elements of its origin, it makes me wary to hear ancient folky chords and baroque ornamentation knowing that it's affectation or unconscious homage; the forced simplicity of some lyrics was occasionally too much as well. Nevertheless, some songs, like "When HC Died," manage to shine through as genuine and uncontrived.

It’s hard to make judgments without seeing this band live – it's not unheard of for acts of this bent to get a little overindulgent in the recording process; the high production quality of Fish and Flying Creatures could be a reflection of that. A leaner live act might convert me.

– Eric Becker