Extra Classic

We've liked most of we've heard from the newish S.F. outfit Extra Classic -- so far, it's all been evocative, grainy rocksteady with plenty of dub flavors. Until now, that is: Yesterday, Extra Classic hit Yours Truly with a dim-the-lights track called "Give Me Your Love," which sounds like a gorgeous '60s soul outtake. Think lolling tempo, piano and organ flavors, and singer Adrianne Verhoeven reaching high up into the upper registers.

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Oh friends, what a special year 2011 must be to earn two, yes, two (!) new albums from San Francisco titans of garage-rock Thee Oh Sees.

First, in the spring, came Castlemania. Next, on Nov. 15, we shall receive another full-length, titled Carrion Crawler/The Dream. Why? Who? Where? These are distracting questions -- and "Carrion Crawler," the newest Oh Sees track you can hear right now, is enough of a distraction on its own...

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This has been a breakout year for San Francisco artist Luis Vasquez, who records and performs as the Soft Moon. It saw release of his excellent self-titled debut album on the Brooklyn label Captured Tracks -- 11 songs of pummeling, noirish gloom that instantly gained the Soft Moon a national reputation.

After tours and numerous high-profile S.F. shows -- including an excellent Noise Pop Festival set -- Vasquez is about to release more music. His Total Decay EP is out on Oct. 31 (Halloween!), and you can hear the title track now.

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"God bless you and your American thighs," he sings.

Considering it's track two of the Blockbuster Album of 2011 -- and the latest single -- you must know the song: Adele's "Rumour Has It" [delightful British spelling sic]: A stabbing post-breakup romp with the R&B diva's soaring voice front-and-center.

It wouldn't have been the first choice of material for Oakland crunk-pop misfit Wallpaper -- and that's exactly why his cover, just posted by Live 105, is a little shocking. Also, the lyrics: Somewhat ironically, Wallpaper's Ricky Reed nastied-up the tune to ensure his version won't ever get played on the radio, at least not without a lot of bleeping. Hear it after the jump.

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So Beastie Boys mastermind Ad-Rock put his own spin on the excellent "Gangsta" by Oakland's own tUnE-yArDs. In case you missed the band's big-deal set this weekend at Outside Lands, the original version of "Gangsta" already gets crowds moving heartily. For the remix, Ad-Rock pairs vocal samples from singer/instrumentalist Merrill Garbus with his own titanic boom-bap and squeaky synths. The track is available on a forthcoming 12 inch single from 4AD with the original version of "Gangsta" and another remix by Cut Chemist.

But just imagine what it would sound like if Garbus herself guested on Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, and you can more or less guess what this remix sounds like: thick, swaggering, and still more than a little weird. Take a listen after the jump.

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Cody Edison

Mikal Cronin

Mikal Cronin is a friend and musical associate of San Francisco garage-rock wunderkind Ty Segall -- and he might be the newest name local rock fans need to know (if they don't already). With a self-titled debut coming out Sept. 20 on Trouble in Mind, Cronin dropped a preview in the form of "Apathy," a loud-quiet rocker that's about as addictive a grunge jam as we've heard in a while.

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T-Pain and Mistah Fab

Here's another maverick move from Oakland's Mistah Fab. It's called "City Nights," and it's a radio-friendly pop rave up featuring the Auto-Tuned likes of T-Pain and production by the Cataracs (whom you may know from last summer's "Like a G6").

Here Fab ditches the two personas he's worn most often through this year's mixtapes -- grim realist and high-rolling hustler -- and becomes a full-on party boy, rhyming about getting down in various cities around the world with T-Pain as his wingman. It's not like anything we've heard from the hyphy prince recently, and we could easily picture it playing on everyone's car stereo for the rest of this agonizingly warm summer.

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And in comes a good new thing from a rising local band: Mister Loveless' new single "Nineties Children," a fierce exploration of (what else!) coming of age in the Clinton years. We introduced you to these dudes last year, after they opened for the Wedding Present and went on to play our first-ever All Shook Down Festival. Now, Mister Loveless has a new album, Grow Up, dropping July 19. The first single is fast and tight -- hear it after the jump.

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Dominant Legs is finally planning its debut album. The S.F. duo, which includes Girls live guitarist Ryan Lynch, stirred up some buzz last year with a few sweet, bouncy bedroom-pop tracks. Now, Lynch and Hannah Hunt are back, planning to release Invitation, their first full-length, on Lefse Records Sept. 27. That's the cover art above; we've got the first single, "Hoop of Love," for free download after the jump.

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The cover art for West. Look familiar?

Here it is, the first new song from West, the upcoming album by long-running but too-little-discussed S.F. psych outfit Wooden Shjips. The song is called "Lazy Bones," and it is anything but lazy. Rather, it's like one big trippy sprint, with deep vocals leaving druggy trails all over a repeating, fuzzed-out guitar riff for just under four minutes. In other words, it's friggin' fun.

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