(Photo Credit: Brian Prichard)
Castleface Records is at it again, releasing another killer album that was recorded live at a venue in San Francisco. This time, San Francisco psych/noise/electro trio Bronze are given the Live in San Francisco treatment, releasing an entire seven song set from a recent performance in The City. The latest track from the album is the discordant garage grinder “Maniac,” and it is a doozy. The four minute cut kicks off with a sharp squall of feedback that precedes a finger-tapping pinwheel of a guitar riff. The vocals are buried deep in the mix; rarely are they very audible between the crashing drum beat, whirling electronics and somersaulting guitar riffage. In those few moments which he does rise to the forefront, singer Rob Spector sounds like the bastard son of two of Northern California’s finest, Jello Biafra and Lux Interior.
The studio version of “Maniac” was first included on Bronze’s third full length album, In Stone, which was released on Not Not Fun records. That album followed the band’s first two previous LPs, their debut Copper and sophomore effort World Arena. Bronze’s Live in San Francisco will be available on March 25 via Castleface Records. Other bands to release albums in the Live in San Francisco series by Castleface include the Ty Segall-fronted Fuzz and Tim Presley’s White Fence.
The band consists of three members, drummer Brian D. Hock, Spector, and electronicist Miles Friction. The trio have been carving out a spot for themselves in San Francisco’s crowded punk scene, first making their mark at the Trojan Cavern in the city’s eastern neighborhood of Dogpatch. Bronze formed after Hock moved halfway across the world from Berlin, Germany to his hometown of San Francisco, where he became a roommate of Spector at the warehouse/venue The Cave. As Thee Oh Sees’ frontman and Castleface Records boss John Dwyer puts it so eloquently:
“For 9 years they have been slowly simmering in a pot
For 9 years I have been seeing them usurp every gig they have been on
I’ve never seen a bad Bronze show…
He goes on to describe the band as John Carpenter, Silver Apples, Liquid Liquid, Birthday Party, Harold Grosskopf, Klaus Schultze, Cluster, and Brian Ferry with a field recorder taped to his tux jacket. While a lovely and fitting description for such a manic band, even it fails to completely capture the energy and schizophrenic nature of Bronze’s music.
Live in San Francisco tracklist:
1. Dulcinea
2. Played
3. Maniac
4. The Angle
5. Re Enactment
6. Golden Handcuffs
7. Showdown of Sorts
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