Ladybug Transistor
Rickshaw Stop
∙
San Francisco
Thursday, December 12 at 8 pm PST
Serves Food
Outdoor Patio
Concert Venue
Bar
Thursday, December 12 at 8 pm PST
Serves Food
Outdoor Patio
Concert Venue
Bar
Entry Options
Details
Description
Thursday, Dec 12
Talent Moat presents
LADYBUG TRANSISTOR
Tony Molina
The Telephone Numbers
Plus DJs Jessica B, Josh Miller (of Chime School) and Holly Coley
7pm doors
$20 adv / $23 door
all ages
Originally released in 1999 on Merge Records, The Albemarle Sound, the third full-length LP by Brooklyn, New York’s The Ladybug Transistor, exists just outside its fixed point in time and space. Perhaps the last great pop album of the 20th century, The Albemarle Sound is like few records from the turn of the millennium, its attention turned to the intricate arrangements of late 1960s pop and the strange and familiar environs of home.
The notion of home is important to The Albemarle Sound, not just lyrically and thematically, but in the fact that the album was recorded, mixed and produced in a Victorian house in Flatbush named Marlborough Farms. The Ladybug Transistor was formed in 1995 as the home recording project of singer and trumpeter Gary Olson, and by 1999 the group had swelled to include siblings Jeff Baron (guitar) and Jennifer Baron (bass), Sasha Bell (keyboards and flute), San Fadyl (drums), and Julia Rydholm (violin), who lived together at Marlborough Farms, a home filled with instruments, recording equipment and a piano room where the group made demos.
Musically, these scenes are given voice by Olson’s rich baritone and animated by arrangements that meld elements of the kind of baroque, orchestral pop practiced by Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach with the sweeping cinematic vistas of Luis Bacalov, imbuing their surroundings with California sunshine and an occasional bit of western swagger. Each of The Albemarle Sound’s 12 songs are soundscapes unto themselves, entire neighborhoods built by the careful employment of voice and instruments, every part exquisitely placed to prick the ear and pull the heartstrings at just the right time.
For the 25th anniversary of The Albemarle Sound, the record has been lovingly reissued on silver vinyl by Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records. The CD includes 12 bonus tracks which break open the year-long recording process with the inclusion of rare B-sides, four-track demos, instrumentals and alternate mixes, further highlighting the band’s mastery of songcraft while teasing out the intricate worlds those songs contain, making a case, as fans of The Ladybug Transistor have known for decades now, that The Albemarle Sound is as infinitely rewarding to return to as it is to visit for the first time.
This fall, The Ladybug Transistor will embark on a tour in celebration of the 25th anniversary of “The Albemarle Sound,” supported by Slumberland artists Lightheaded on the East Coast and Tony Molina on the West Coast. https://www.instagram.com/theladybugtransistor/
Northern California native Tony Molina has a restless, multi-faceted musical personality. He got his start playing in hardcore bands, but over time developed two distinct styles that are very far removed from that sound. Initially under the name Ovens, then as a solo artist, he crafts bite-sized chunks of melodic pop that can be broken into two sub-headings: quiet acoustic guitar-led ballads and noisy electric songs that sound like Teenage Fanclub with J Mascis and the Fastbacks’ Kurt Bloch spearheading a dual guitar attack. https://tonymolina650.bandcamp.com/
The Telephone Numbers: pure pop for sad people. https://thetelephonenumbers.bandcamp.com/