Justin Townes Earle makes country music that plays lonesome and pretty on his latest LP Midnight at the Movies (#14 on our list of best albums of 2009). Live, Townes Earle’s sound is louder and grittier and enhanced by pure charisma bred from real talent and a solid musical pedigree.
Local readers can catch his live [...]

[Photo: Laura Ciekot, Stranger Dance archive]
Along with some guy named Jack Black, Tenacious D’s Kyle Gass has given the world musical treasures like “Inward Singing” and “Cock Pushups.” Gass has also spent the last eight years praising the rock gods with with his other band, Trainwreck. The five-man act does rock and roll with Skynard [...]

Taking a cue from Jack London’s 1904 nautical adventure, Alex Church named his musical endeavor Sea Wolf and set forth into chamber country/rock waters. The result is pretty, atmospheric music that would serve well as the soundtrack to many a London novel.
White Water, White Bloom, Sea Wolf’s third release, was produced by Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Monsters [...]

The Dodos‘ Meric Long and Logan Kroeber combined their loves of country picking, West African Ewe drumming and heavy metal to create one of the more unique indie rock outfits today. No longer just the pride of San Francisco, their percussive and eclectic sound have made fans in all corners — from the headquarters of [...]

Last month’s Bon Iver sunrise show at LA’s Hollywood Forever Cemetery was an awe-inspiring and uniquely memorable musical event for the ages, which led us to wonder: how the hell did it happen? Stranger Dance caught up with the cemetery’s Executive Vice President Jay Boileau for the inside scoop on how Justin Vernon ended up [...]

After the May release of Manners, Passion Pit quickly became indie’s pop music darlings of the summer. The LP built on the buzz surrounding the band’s 2008 Chunk of Change EP, which featured the now ubiquitous, dare-you-not-to-dance track “Sleepyhead.” Stranger Dance caught up with Passion Pit’s drummer Nate Donmoyer on the band’s current tour.

StrangerDance: What [...]

The Phenomenal Handclap Band is an eight member octopus of sound out of New York, and they make music that will make you dance. Their eponymous first album (released in June by Friendly Fire) features a slew of guest appearances from the likes of Jon Spencer, Lady Tigra and Jaleel Bunton.
At the middle of the [...]

After releasing five albums and playing the drums with a little band called Fleet Foxes, a man known as J. Tillman is set to release Year in the Kingdom on September 22nd (via Western Vinyl). This is a man who writes and plays unbelievably gorgeous music, yet is not safe from obscurity. However, the growing [...]

Baltimore’s Ponytail blends frantic guitar riffs, pounding drums and nonsensical vocals to present a live show that has a reputation for being a spastic explosion of awesomeness. In fact, they were named “Best Live Band” by Baltimore City Paper in 2007. Combine that with the fact that they first started playing together when they were [...]

[Locals Only is a weekly feature where the Stranger Dance staff focus on the best and brightest of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. Feel free to hit us up with any information on local bands, musicians, shows, and other music-related events and projects.]
There are various ways to be directly involved with your local [...]