Friday night at Annie's Social Club in San Francisco, Snake Flower 2 are stirring up some trouble as they celebrate the release of their long-awaited first full-length album, Renegade Daydream on Tic Tac Totally Records. With an impressive range and an impossible to pigeonhole knack for clever song construction, Matthew Melton and company are bursting at the seams with enthusiasm over their first long-player. If you've been paying attention to the string of singles Snake Flower 2 have been dropping over the past year or so, it should come as no surprise that their album continues along the same wobbling psychedelic pop platform with an underlying angry punk edge that shows the San Franciscan influence has taken hold even further than last reported. The echo-phonic reality of the recordings leaks through like a bygone faction of Pink Fairies devotees finally brought to a biker rally, only to find themselves taking the wrong drugs and wearing those obnoxious floppy leather hats to everyone's amusement. Be sure to grab up their Iekk! and SYA singles before it's too late, and grease up your palms in anticipation of the CD/LP, for a heady dose of slippery, lysergic good times, finally in the proper foot long format.
Openers, Tea Elles, are another iridescent Bay Area combo who take the simple, plodding 2-chord aesthetic and hammer away like a 60s Greenwich Village folk slop street ensemble, resulting in a unique and atmospheric take on primitivism. Not too far removed from Thee Oh Sees in their wonderfully derivative off-the-cuff meanderings, Tea Elles charge forward, leaving the drifting Syd Barrett-isms to the wind as they pick a groove apart and lock it down with ease. Add these guys to your list of other promising bands with off-putting names that you should check out, if you're inclined toward the modern San Francisco psych sounds. And just as the night falls, be sure you're not late for the sadistically sappy hard glam rock of Wyldyouth, who return the night to the 80s cheeseball mentality, yet without the unfortunate mesh half-shirts. Whether you're into their shtick or not, drag your ass out to Annie's on Friday, and save some cash for the Snakeflower 2 album, waiting at the merch table.
check out a clip of Snake Flower 2 at 12 Galaxies in SF, courtesy of mmelton, right here...
