Christopher Victorio

Local group Maus Haus playing the Noise Pop closing party on Sunday, March 3, at 1772 Market.

Much of the negative commentary we heard about this year's Noise Pop festival ran along one of two narratives. The main criticism was that the 21st edition of the local indie music festival disappointed with a lack of strong national headliners. The big-type lineup of Toro y Moi, !!!, Starfucker, and a DJ set from Amon Tobin, people said, didn't stand out from the excellent variety of shows during a standard springtime week in San Francisco.

The other criticism, which tended to come from more diehard types and even a few local musicians playing this year, viewed Noise Pop as indie-lite: The festival for casual showgoers, who prefer safer, NPR-approved acts like Thao Nguyen or STRFKR over more adventurous, difficult music.

There's some truth to both of these arguments. But ironically, by failing to book some of the major headliners of previous years and lining up lesser-known acts instead, Noise Pop helped diffuse the latter criticism and bolstered its reputation as a host of local talent.

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Amelia Sechman

DIIV at Brick and Mortar Music Hall on Saturday night. All photos courtesy of Amelia Sechman.

DIIV
Wax Idols
Sisu
Lenz
March 2, 2013
Brick & Mortar Music Hall // Noise Pop 2013

Better than: Watching bands rest on their laurels.

Full of moonlighting indie aficionados discussing an Animal Collective EP, Beach House's live set, or tweeting not-so-clever commentary on the between-set music selection, the eager Noise Pop crowd was more enthused by conversation than music during the sets of Wax Idols and Sisu on Saturday night. Wax Idols' transformation from a shambolic garage outfit to austere post-punk quartet left the crowd cold. Sisu's songs veered between electro-damaged atmospherics and pop chord progressions, but the combination felt unnatural, and the audience was hesitant to emotionally invest.

Judging by the show, indie rock's new presentation is more like early-'80s Manchester than French New Wave. Perhaps the stark ensembles writhing about the stage alienated the crowd. At a glance, even the merchandise table looked like the drab concrete outside: a big gray palette with shadows casting angles.

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Thao & the Get Down Stay Down at the Great American Music Hall for Noise Pop 2013. All photos by the author.

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down
Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside
Before the Brave
Kacey Johansing
March 2, 2013
Great American Music Hall // Noise Pop 2013

Better than: DJ sets.

Noise Pop has been doing its homework. Saturday's show at the Great American Music Hall was a thoughtful billing, with a variety in the openers that helped to set the stage for a multitalented headliner. It was as if each opener was an ingredient to make up all of the flavors of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down. The recipe of the night: Kacey Johansing's feminine ballads, plus Before the Brave's Americana twang, plus Sallie Ford's rock 'n' roll, equals Thao & the Get Down Stay Down. The evening was made up of new songs, as all but one of the groups released a new album in February.

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Gil Riego, Jr.

STRFKR at the Regency Ballroom.

Starfucker
Blackbird Blackbird
Regency Ballroom
March 1, 2013

Better than: That second time you saw Phoenix, this time at an arena.

Midway through Starfucker's Noise Pop set at the Regency Ballroom, something strange is happening. The band is in the middle of strumming the opening moments to the bass-led journey that is "Reptilians," precluded here by an airy rendition of "Say to You." On stage, Starfucker looks composed. They're focused less on moving and more on maintaining the current song's groove. And if you stand still for just a moment ... the ground isn't shaking.

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Christopher Victorio

!!! at Great American Music Hall last night.

Along with White Arrows, the Yellow Dogs, and the Mallard -- which covered a brutal industrial work by Throbbing Gristle instead of playing its regular set -- !!! played at Great American Music Hall last night for the third evening of Noise Pop 2013. As is usually the case with a !!! show, frontman Nic Offer got rowdy with the crowd, and the crowd got rowdy back. Here, courtesy of brave photographer Christopher Victorio, are some rather entertaining pictures of said rowdiness. Enjoy.

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Christopher Victorio

Body/Head at Rickshaw Stop last night.

Body/Head, Horsebladder, Burmese @ Rickshaw Stop
Jason Lytle @ Brick and Mortar Music Hall
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 // Noise Pop Festival Opening Night

Better than: The ambient soundtrack at your local Guitar Center.

Noise Pop 2013 kicked off last night with something relatively rare for the 21-year-old indie music festival: Actual noise.

Well, okay: Hardcore fans of the genre wouldn't consider ex-Sonic Youth member Kim Gordon's new avant-rock duo, Body/Head, to be proper noise. But her careening, chaotic set with fellow guitarist Bill Nace certainly fell more in the realm of art music than pop music. It was a surprise choice for the opening night of a festival that has seemed in recent years to be inching toward more mainstream sounds.

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YACHT plays this Saturday for Noise Pop -- and the show isn't sold out.

Hey, so Noise Pop 2013 starts today! And if you don't have tickets or a badge to this year's most-anticipated shows by this point, you probably aren't getting in. (Sorry!) That doesn't mean, however, that you're out of luck when it comes to checking out San Francisco's premier club-based indie music festival. There are still some promising shows with tickets available. For those of you who are just getting your weekly agendas straight, here are five good Noise Pop shows to consider.

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Damien Jurado will perform at the Chapel on Friday, March 1, as part of the Noise Pop festival.

Been a little crazy 'round here this week, which is why we're slow to bring you the latest additions to the Noise Pop 2013 festival -- some of which are surprising, and some of which aren't. The biggest name added to this year's fest, which runs Feb. 26 to March 3, is no doubt folkie indie dude Damien Jurado. Other notables: Moody Florida electronic outfit XXYYXX, local indie-pop-rockers Wax Idols, North Bay no-longer-strictly-hardcore rockers Ceremony, and bedroom-pop legend R. Stevie Moore. Check out the full list of additions here:

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The Thermals

After last week's announcement of the first batch of artists for the 2013 festival, Noise Pop is back already with more additions. New acts include Starfucker, the Thermals, and Califone, plus a few locals you might've heard of.

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Anna Gulbrandsen/City Pages

Amon Tobin performing during his ISAM show

There's a chill in the air and the skies are intermittently cloudy, so it must be getting close to time for the Noise Pop festival, right? Well, yes: Today, organizers announced the first installment of the lineup for the festival's 2013 edition. The big names so far are Amon Tobin, Toro Y Moi, Rogue Wave, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, and Jason Lytle. The festival runs Feb. 26 to March 3 at various clubs around S.F. Here's the full list of performers so far:

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