View more photos in "Silversun Pickups & Metric @ Verizon Droid Launch."
Indie rock music met tech at last Friday's Verizon Droid Launch at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco, where Canadian Band Metric and Silverlake band Silversun Pickups played to celebrate the launch of Verizon Droid, an iPhone contender that has sold an estimated 100,000 units in its first weekend on the market and was much anticipated by key members of the technology community including Techcrunch demagogue Michael Arrington.
Yes, mobile snobs might salivate at the Droid's Google-powered navigation system, but the real question is (as always), "Will the product appeal to people beyond your average early adopter and win the hearts of mainstream users who are already pretty addicted to their 'Jesus Phones'?"
Perhaps that is why the company chose more low key (i.e. hipster) bands to helm its S.F. launch, winning over the tech savvy as well as the dillentate with it's eclectic taste. See: Weezer mySpace "Secret Shows" for another example of excellent target marketing.
Metric sparkles onstage
Let me use rest of this post to posit a theory: Our sister publication LAWeekly had an interesting run-in with the Pickups last week, which resulted in drunkeness, revelry and a torn up reporter's notebook. While I did not find a Delorean, yours truly ended up at Osha Thai (the Denny's of Thai food presumably) and don't really remember how I got home.
I wasn't even supposed to write this review; my originally assigned writer also came down with a bad case of Silversun Pickups amnesia.
My theory is the Pickups are cursed; you see a Pickups show and end up remembering, well not much, but in a good way (after all the band was named after a liquor store). Perhaps then the new Verizon Droid can help you find your way home, if not your actual memories from the concert?
In any case, you know what they say about photos (and even more so, video via Handstamp Music) ...
Metric's Emily Haines
In the realm of manipulative marketing tactics, it doesn't get much
better than a love letter. "Do you love J.Crew?" the email wants to
know. But before you have time to think about it, the subject line
assumes your devotion to the brand and announces, "We love you too."
Moon @ the Red Vic (through Wed.)
Moon is one of my favorite films of 2009. Created by David Bowie's son Duncan Jones, the movie riffs off 2001: A Space Odyssey but has its own pop culture sheen and subtle humor. Without saying too much, it's the story of astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), whose work on the moon is not what it seems once he discovers a crash outside the safety of his solo space craft. Bell is aided by Gerty, a robot buddy voiced by Kevin Spacey who may or may not be working towards the same mission. With an eerie minimal electronic soundtrack, Moon is like a thoughtful sci-fi music video, beautifully shot and fun to watch.
The film plays at the Red Vic through Wednesday.
Themselves - "Oversleeping" in Utah from anticon. on Vimeo.
Jel and Doseone hit the scenic expanses of Utah for a live Themselves performance--before rolling fields of grain--of their song "Oversleeping." The song is from the duo's third album, CrownsDown, and features Themselves' signature glitchy hiphop and blink-and-you'll-miss-the-meaning rapid flow of Doseone. The rapper slows just a bit in the chorus, just long enough to impart to fans that's he's stolen his way to the top of the indie heap.
