Shellshag, Street Eaters, The Driftwood Singers

In attempts to dance about Shellshag's architecture, they've been explained as an amalgam of The Breeders, Sonic Youth, The Ramones, DFA, David Byrne, Guided By Voices, Moldy Peaches and early Superchunk—and, because they're a male guitarist/female drummer duo, those touch points (Jack and Meg, Matt and Kim, Juicifer) get tossed around like so much confetti, too. They've played with everyone from Iggy Pop, The Slits, The Cramps, Lightning Bolt and J. Mascis to Evan Dando, Les Savy Fav, Shonen Knife and their label mates Screaming Females, and their first (and now out of print) Gary Young EP was recorded by Pavement's Gary Young in 2004. Together, Johnny "Shell" and Jen "Shag", have forged a legacy on both coasts over the course of this crazy thing we call life: as seminal members of the '90s DIY scene in San Francisco, they ran the now-legendary public arts space Starcleaners, the former home of the Dandy Warhols, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Residents and others, they launched their own label of the same name, releasing Destroy Me, I'm Yours in 2007, and they moved to Brooklyn, forming Shellshag and becoming integral members of the Jersey-based Don Giovanni family of artists and musicians.

Shellshag - Resiliant Bastard
Shellshag@MySpace

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Street Eaters from Oakland, Ca. will be releasing two new songs on a 7" picture disc, the first picture disc release on Starcleaner Records, on November 8th. Starcleaner Records is the record label founded and ran by Shellshag whom you might remember from their album (of the year?), Rumors In Disguise, that came out earlier this year on New Jersey's stellar Don Giovanni records. Both Megan March and Johnny Geek, equal parts of Street Eaters, were born and raised in the Bay Area of California where they met Shellshag. Their sound teeters back and forth from bellowed call and response vocals alongside blown out bass and drums to shared melodies complete with enough "whoah-oh"s and "hey"s to get stuck in your head for days.

Street Eaters - Useless Eyes
Street Eaters@MySpace

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While most of their contemporaries are surfing the blogosphere daily to figure out what new hip direction they should take their band in to get some notice, LA’s Driftwood Singers have taken a very un-contemporary route. The duo of Kris Hutson and Pearl Charles play a simpler kind of folk that one might’ve heard on the southern front porches of 1930’s America. The Driftwood Singers debut EP, Look! carries on where their demo’s left off. After attempting to record the songs in a studio, they decided to record them at home on a hand held cassette recorder that was then cleaned up in mastering. The resulting 5 songs are showcased in a way that lets you feel the warm crackle of the phonograph they appear to be coming from. Inspired by beat poetry and murder ballads, songs like “Coco Ellis”, “Come Across the Tracks” and “Rosalee Little” are irresistible gems for anyone with an old soul and an ear for the yester year.

The Driftwood Singers - Coco Ellis
The Driftwood Singers@MySpace

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SONG OF THE DAY: Avey Tare - Lucky 1
(from Down There, out October 26th on Paw Tracks)

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WATCH LIVE: Black Francis - The Golem (DVD)
(out November 16th exclusively from Black Francis Web Store)

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