[more photos of The Mantles, by Robert Khoury]

Tuesday
Plastic Villains, Cool Ghouls | Bottom of the Hill, 6pm [free show/ noise pop party]
Wild Moth, Heist, Street Justice | The Knockout, 8:30pm
Wet Illustrated, Magic Leaves, Noah Gundersen | Brick and Mortar Music Hall, 8pm [free]

Wednesday

Thursday
Lana Del Ray | Amoeba, 6pm [free]
Gardens & Villas, Young the Giant | Rickshaw Stop, 9pm [popscene]
Flails, Dimples, Mo Odds, Pink Films | Thee Parkside, 9pm
The Younger Lovers, Los Headaches, Guitar Magazine | Hemlock Tavern, 9pm

Friday
Bare Wires, Toys that Kill, The Pharmacy | 1-2-3-4 Go! Records, 7pm [all ages]

Saturday
Brother Jt, Nothing People, Swiftumz | Hemlock Tavern, 9:30pm
Digital Leather, Blasted Canyons, Glitz | 1-2-3-4 Go! Records, 7pm [all ages]
The Mantles, Pamela, Rat Columns | Engine Works (17th & Capp), 9pm [positive destruction showcase]

Sunday
Indian Jewelry, Jealousy | Hemlock Tavern, 9pm

Anything else?

-

Presenting an evening with The Mantles - one of our favorite live bands - in what will be their welcome return from an unexpected (and unfortunate) hiatus Saturday, February 11th in the Mission District. Venue will announced one week before the show. Joining them will be an absolutely stellar crop of supporting bands, including our buds in Pamela (it’s their EP release party), and Rat Columns. We have three pairs of tickets to give away for this one - just RSVP here and like the video posted in the event to enter.

Pamela‘s got a new 7″ out on Southpaw, featuring a re-do of “Cactus” — a track that was featured on their sold-out debut tape Pamela is Hungover. Listen below, and check back tomorrow for details on a Positive Destruction-cohosted record release party.

The Bay Area absolutely smashed it in 2011, with some of our favorite artists releasing amazing albums, EPs and cassettes that we’ve been listening to endlessly this year. It was incredibly difficult to cull the past 12 months to our favorite 15 releases, but we did it anyway. Check them out below and let us know what you think in the comments.

15 The Sandwitches // Mrs. Jones’ Cookie

mp3:
The Sandwitches // “Lightfoot”

14 Bare Wires // Cheap Perfume

mp3:
Bare Wires // “Cheap Perfume”

13 King Lollipop // Woodland Whoopee Songs

mp3:
King Lollipop // “Cheeseburger and Fries”

12 Pamela // Pamela is Hungover

mp3:
Pamela // “Lie Down (Eye Contact)”

11 Weekend // Red

mp3:
Weekend // “Hazel”

10 Wet Illustrated // Wet Illustrated

mp3:
Wet Illustrated // “Gypsy Town”

09 Ty Segall // Goodbye Bread

mp3:
Ty Segall // “Goodbye Bread”

08 Swiftumz // Swiftumz

Hunx collaborator Christopher McVicker managed to release one of the most understated albums of the year under the moniker Swiftumz. “Don’t Trip” is an immersive collection of hazy, moving jams that transcends the limits of bedroom pop.

mp3:
Swiftumz // “4EVA”

07 Rank Xerox // Rank Xerox

Rank/Xerox // “Sterile Regions”


Rank/Xerox // “Nausea”

06 Blasted Canyons // Blasted Canyons

Never before has an ode to weed and ice cream sounded so raw, explosive and all-together effortless.

mp3:
Blasted Canyons // “Ice Cream Man”

05 White Fence // Is Growing Faith

mp3:
White Fence // “And By Always”

04 Ty Segall // Singles 2007-2010

mp3:
Ty Segall // “Bullet Proof Nothing”

03 Wax Idols // No Future

The debut LP by Wax Idols features singer/songwriter Hether Fortune elevating the charming pop sensibilities found on her earlier work to a complete full-length, with lyrics veering from the lovesick to the macabre.

mp3:
Wax Idols // “Gold Sneakers”

02 Mikal Cronin // Mikal Cronin

This scuzzed-out compilation of pop songs marked a solid debut album from Moonhearts/Ty Segall collaborator Mikal Cronin. Unexpectedly wistful and incredibly catchy, this is a record we’ve been spinning endlessly.

mp3:
Mikal Cronin // “Get Along”

01 Thee Oh Sees // Carrion Crawler/The Dream

Thee Oh Sees scorched through 2011, releasing two mind-blowing full-length albums and a singles only double-LP all while maintaining a frenetic touring schedule that recently concluded (with Total Control). Carrion Crawler/The Dream was announced only a few weeks after Castlemania, and proved to be the “pummeling” record John Dwyer promised it to be. An instant classic and our unequivocal favorite record of 2011.

mp3:
Thee Oh Sees // “The Dream”

Thee Oh Sees // “Carrion Crawler”

Here are our top 10 favorite artist Bandcamps - our favorite source of high-quality streamable music - all of which we have written about before. Let us know if we’ve missed anything:

1. Burnt Ones

Features: Free download(s); full-album stream; extensive discography.

2. Art Museums (Burundi Cloud)

Features: Full-album streams; extensive discography; memories.

(see Part Time @ Thee Parkside this Thursday)

Monday
Ty Segall, RTX, Heavy Cream // New Parish, 9pm $10/$12 (18+)
La La Vasquez, Terry Malts, Pamela // The Knockout, 9pm (21+)

Tuesday
Cull TV Launch Party // John Colins Bar, 8pm $FREE
Teen Daze, Yalls, Speculator // Public Works, 8pm $6 (21+)

Wednesday
White Hills, Carlton Melton, Dirty Ghosts // Rickshaw Stop, 8pm $10/$12
Blackbird Blackbird, Radiation City, Appetite // Bottom of the Hill, 9pm $8 (21+)
Symbolick Jews, We Are Hex, Endroit, Catharsis For Cathedral // Elbo Room, 9pm $7

Thursday
Part Time, Pamela, Permanent Collection, Surf Club // Thee Parkside, 9pm $5 (21+)
Personal and the Pizzas, Straight Arrows, Angora Debs // The Knockout, 9pm $5 (21+)

Friday
Zounds, Culture Kids, Dadfag // Thee Parkside, 9pm $10
Th Mrcy Hot Springs, Uzi Rash, Nectarine Pie, Fut // Hemlock Tavern, 9:30pm $6
Bare Wires, Courtney and the Crushers, Lotus Moon, Nectarine Pie, Smokestacks // Eli’s Mile High Club (Oakland), 6pm

Saturday
Peter Hook and the Light // Mezzanine, 9pm $22
Robbers on High Street, Allah-Las, Freedom Tickler // Hotel Utah, 9pm $10
Rank/Xerox, Kitchen’s Floor, Fat History Month, Yi // Hemlock Tavern, 9:30pm $7
Tartufi, Battlehooch, Birds & Batteries, Bare Wires, Phantom Kicks & more // Treat and 18th St., 12pm $FREE

Sunday
Lumerians, Naked Lights, Infinity Riders // Bottom of the Hill, 9pm $10

-

Extremely stoked to announce the following: Positive Destruction is partnering with our friends at Thee Parkside to throw our first Presents event Thursday, September 15th. The line-up features some of our favorites, including Mexican Summer-signed artist Part Time, the new Splinters side-project Pamela (it’ll be there tape release party), ex-Young Prism Jason Hendardy of Permanent Collection — and the San Francisco-premiere show for Stockton band Surf Club. DJing will be POW!‘s own Byron Blum.

Advance tickets are on sale for 5 bucks. Tickets at the door will be $7. Show time at 9pm — and since every band playing is amazing in their own right, you will want to get their early. 21+

RSVP at the Facebook event page here.

mp3:
Part Time // “I Wanna Take You Out”

Pamela // “Lie Down (Eye Contact)”

Surf Club // “BB”

Permanent Collection // “Let it Go”

Truly psyched to premiere the downloadable version of this track from the eagerly-awaited debut EP from one of our favorite bands so far this year, SF-trio Pamela. Listen to it below:

mp3:
Pamela // “Lie Down (Eye Contact)”

Pamela is Hungover is limited to 100 copies on NYC cassette label Whoa Whoa and can be pre-ordered here (includes digital download) for 5 bucks. Look for a 7″ from our friends over at Southpaw Records soon too.

[Thee Oh Sees in Brussels]

Monday
Project Film, moonbell, Horsefly // Kimo’s, 9pm
Fucked Up, Trash Talk // The Independent, 9pm $15
Cults, Guards, Writer // Bottom of the Hill, 9pm $SOLD OUT
Cold Cave, Austra, Prurient // Great American Music Hall, 8pm $16s
Thurston Moore, Kurt Vile & The Violators // The New Parish, 9pm $20/$25

Tuesday
Symbolick Jews, Baby Talk, The Gems // El Rio, 7pm $5
Ghost Animals, Kids on a Crime Spree, Permanent Collection // The Hemlock, 9pm $7
Thurston Moore, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Hush Arbors // Great American Music Hall, 8pm $SOLD OUT

Wednesday
Audacity, Culture Kids, Hysterians // The Knockout, 9pm $5
Dunes, Grass Widow, Cold Showers, The Petals // Thee Parkside, 8pm $8

Thursday
Eat Skull, Unnatural Helpers, Uzi Rash, Street Eaters // The Hemlock, 9pm $7
Thee Oh Sees, Royal Baths, Mike Donovan, Blasted Canyons // The Uptown (Oakland), 9pm $10/$12
Sleepy Sun, Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, w/ Secret Guest TBA // Engine Works (17th x Capp), 9pm $5

Friday
Woods, The Fresh and Onlys, Mantles // The Independent, 9pm $16

Saturday
Those Darlins, White Arrows, Motopony // Bottom of the Hill, 10pm $12
South Bay Surfers, Okmoniks, The Shruggs, Night Howls, S’Lobsters // Thee Parkside, 2pm $8
The Spits, The Black Jaspers, Personal and the Pizzas, Therapists, Apache // Thee Parkside, 9pm $15
Brilliant Colors, Pamela, Swiftumz, Dream Homes // Dreamers and Make Believers Salon (487 14th St. x Guerrero), 9pm $5

Sunday

Anything else?

—

stream:
Pamela // “Nobody (Cold Shoulders)”

Pamela (formed by members of The Splinters and Lilac/Wet Illustrated) put up another entry on their Bandcamp, a clashing, cathartic 90-second jam that crescendos with a sort of failed plea: “I want to open you up/But I can’t.” Look for a 7″ soon via Southpaw Records (August 15th?), and catch them tonight @ Thee Parkside in support of POW! and The Bummers (w/ Ty Segall) with Rock Ceremony — tickets here. In addition, they will be supporting the Brilliant Colors record release show, July 30th at Hair Salon (487 14th Street / cross street Guerrero) with Swiftumz and Dream Homes. More info on that show here.