sonny

i like songs. i'm less into albums. i like digital music. i don't own a record player. you can see my "music writer cred" falling off a cliff to certain death. but i never had it to begin with. so, let if fall away with all the pretensions and encyclopedic knowledge of 90s shoegaze essentialism. i'm just a guy that likes some music. and one of the bands i'm particularly a fan of these days is sonny and the sunsets, a san francisco band led by the quirky sonny smith. (sonny is also a writer, by the way, with various plays and short stories to his credit. : )

i first heard 30 seconds of a sonny song on kalx's "the next big thing." i felt it immediately and when the dj mentioned an upcoming show, i made a blackberry note to go and see the show. i first saw sonny and his sunsets at the bottom of the hill in san francisco in january or february 2010 opening for two other bands. the bottom of the hill is a great venue with great sound, and sonny rocked. he has this beautiful, twangy, old-school guitar. it looks a little bit acoustic country, but it plays electric. not sure if he just added electric pickups or if it was made electric. it's made of this bronze wood and you can tell this guitar has been through an entire life of ups and downs. it's chipped in places, and you're just hoping it stays together when sonny starts to play hard. their music is country, blues, folk, and indie all at the same time. and sonny can play. he can't sing so good, but that's ok. he can definitely sing well enough to pull off his songs, and that's all that matters.

recently sonny and the sunsets have been enjoying a bit of "hype." they played sxsw and their newest "single" from their newest ep was featured on pitchfork. even Spin got in on the fun and reviewed sonny's last full album, "tomorrow is alright." Spin only gave the album a 6 out of 10, which isn't great. but it's honest. the album has a couple great songs with quite a few so-so songs to complete the deal.

sonny and the sunsets live show at the bottom of the hill rocked. the bassist played this pink bass with a pick and he fucking rocked shit. i got a little bit of a beatles vibe watching the bassist play, but you mix that in with portland indy flavours, texas country silliness and a good dose of the delta blues. they played uptempo and i thoroughly enjoyed their 45 minute set, which began with a great version of "don't be dumb," a great song that is, painfully, not on the album.

ok, fast forward a few months to today. here's a link to the pitchfork page:

sonny songs

you can listen to his newest track, "the hypnotist." this song is incredibly good. the guitar picking is fantastic. and the melody and lyrics make you feel strange, strange but good, soft and funny and sweet. but not at all mushy. it's too wonderfully strange to be mushy. mashed potatoes it is not.

"all my life I've been a misfit, but now i'm with the hypnotist."

you can also listen to "too young to burn," probably the best song off his "tomorrow is alright" album.

wow, i just checked their myspace site:

myspace.com/sonnythesunsets

and they have a whole host of new shows, opening for various bands across the country. wow. that is amazing. last time i checked they had three shows lined up in san francisco. well, you've been warned, go out and see 'em.

Anthony