Scene & Heard: San Francisco, CA

posted in: Features • Pop • Reviews & Playlists • Rock

The name San Francisco paints a pretty vivid picture. You instantly think steep city streets, sunny weather, trolleys and Golden Gate Bridge. With such a vibrant environment, great live music and unique artistry seem the logical accompaniment. The city’s historic roots in rock ‘n’ roll earned the area the distinction of the San Francisco Sound. The label indicates a style of rock in the ’60s and ’70s that pioneered new chord progressions and unorthodox feels thanks to acts like Sly & the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, and Santana.

Outside of the rock/pop realm, you’ll find many classically-oriented establishments worthy of the San Francisco name. The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, led by esteemed conductor, pianist and composer Michael Tilson Thomas is a destination for standard orchestral repertoire and new worldwide premiers. The Bay area also recruits worldwide musical talent to attend the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The school specializes in new music performance and composition. They have boasted notable graduates like Pulitzer Prize-winning, minimalist composer John Adams and internationally-known composer Peter Scott Lewis.

Being a popular sunny destination, San Francisco wouldn’t be a viable music scene without a huge summer festival. Outside Lands fits this bill. With the slogan Music. Food. Wine. Art., the festival certainly has its priorities in order. This year’s festival will take place August 14th-15th  at the Golden Gate Park. Here are some highlights from the lineup: The Strokes, My Morning Jacket, Gogol Bordello, Wolfmother, Kings of Leon, Phoenix, Social Distortion and Tokyo Police Club.

As far as local venues go, one of the most eclectic calendars we found was at the Argus Lounge. This venue caters to electronic acts, live bands and DJ’s all in the same setting. With a simplistic Web site and a knack for booking up-and-coming acts with a great show, this place makes our list. Of course, in a city with such a pool of classically trained musicians and high-class instrumentalists, we had to find a viable jazz club. Look no further than Yoshi’s Jazz Club and Japanese Restaurant. This unique combination creates a distinctive flair at either their SF or Oakland location. SF Weekly supports this club as one of the best jazz lounges in the city.

There are so many venues, in fact, that San Francisco-based indie rock/instrumental specialists The Union Trade couldn’t pick just one. “It is a split between a few that we’ve played a bunch of times: Bottom of the Hill, Cafe Du Nord and Rickshaw Stop,” commented the band. “Anytime we play one of these venues we are excited, and fans love seeing bands at all of these venues.” These choices are no surprise as the venues are known for hosting rock, indie or electronic talent no matter when you stop in.

Of course, the band also recommends musicians  network on the Internet to secure shows as an out of town band; a common practice when touring through a major market like SF. If you’re a visitor, The Union Trade recommends checking out an online publication like SF Weekly or The Bay Bridged for some good venues.

“[The SF music scene is] phenomenal and completely underrated,” said The Union Trade, “[But], we’ve for sure created quite a network of local bands and regional acts that help make the scene tighter and make getting shows in other cities easier.” They mentioned that the average listener craves a driving electronic indie song or an upbeat pop/rock act.

While The Union Trade defines themselves as a “post-rock, instrumental indie” act, they’ve flourished in a non-instrumental scene. They write instrumentally structured songs that usually contain extended sections of vocal melodies and lyrics to maintain interest and add diversity to their music. This is quite the opposite of a normal rock song where the instrumental sections are the ones that add diversity to the vocally driven structures. “We always want to have at least one purely instrumental song, because instrumental music is a foundational part of what The Union Trade is,” concluded the band. Hear it for yourself:

The Union Trade boast numerous OurStage badges,  and has opened for notable acts like The Appleseed Cast, Two Gallants and Morning Benders. They even earned a featured spot during the 2009 SXSW music festival. The band just finished tracking their EP which will be released in the fall at which point they’ll do a nationwide tour in support of the release.

If you’re in San Francisco, be prepared to visit a bunch of different venues as the city is full of opportunities to hear some of the best indie/rock, experimental electronic, and yes, instrumental music in the country.