Noise Pop and Amoeba Music continue the ever-popular and biweekly vinyl party Noise Pop Record Collective with a show this Tuesday, September 11th hosted by Sonny Smith of Sonny & The Sunsets! The party goes from 8pm till midnight at San Francisco's The Homestead.

Bewitched at the drop of a needle, "nomadic psychedelic folksinger" Earth Girl Helen Brown owns my heart...
A customer turned me on to this jam as I was ringing up his purchase, the debut record from one of the fictitious artists associated with Sonny Smith's 100 Records project. Considering that more than a few of my favorite bands began as an inside joke (like the Sugarcubes) or some similar spontaneous venture (hello OOIOO) the scheme beneath Earth Girl Helen Brown's Story of an Earth Girl six song EP (on Forest Family) would be easy to miss if it weren't for the intergalactic, martian-love blues that color this collection of stellar musicianship --- a pleasant oddball mix of doo-wop, (earth) girls in the garage, Muscle Shoals soul, and a heady dose of feminine mystique.

"I Walked All Night" - Earth Girl Helen Brown


Captained by Heidi Alexander of the Sandwitches, with sandy sister Grace Cooper also on board along with a crew of SF local hitmakers (including Kelley Stoltz, John Dwyer and Sonny Smith, of course), this infinitely enjoyable record sets the bar way high for future endeavors. Limited to 500 copies on 10" white vinyl, Story of an Earth Girl dredges memories of some of my past loves and style crushes circa 80's (an obvious influence?), 90's (Meryn Cadell's "The Sweater"!!!) and all points beyond: xoxo!

Ever since the music industry tried to quietly kill off vinyl, it appears that the medium, complete with its accompanying cover art form, has triumphantly resisted eradication. In fact, not only have records, along with album & singles & ten-inch cover art, refused to die -- they've actually grown in popularity with a whole new generation of appreciative vinyl fans.

As we well know, these days vinyl sales are continually going up and it seems you can't go a week without encountering some wonderful new album cover art show somewhere. Not only are curators presenting classic album cover art on exhibition, but this week one most innovative individual is presenting an exhibit of all new & original record cover art by many different artists complete with all-new corresponding music -- fictitious songs for fictitious bands!

Bay Area artist Sonny Smith (of Sonny & the Sunsets) melds his love of both music and art in a unique new gallery show titled 100 Records that opens tomorrow (April 9th) at Gallery 16 in San Francisco. The diverse & tireless San Francisco artist, who just recently returned from SXSW in Austin, TX with the Sunsets (the band he formed three years ago with Tim Cohen and Kelley Stoltz and whose changing lineup now includes Ryan Browne, Tahlia Harbour and Zack Ehrlich), spent the past year meticulously piecing together the 100 Records show in which he created the names and song titles for 100 different fictitious bands.

San Francisco's own Sonny & the Sunsets are releasing an album of confident, cool rock songs that have an easy, loose vibe to them called Tomorrow is Alright on Secret Seven/Soft Abuse Records! [Secret Seven is the same label that put out (with Empty Cellar) The Two Sides of Tim Cohen, and is soon to release The Sandwitches 12"...] It comes out November 17th as a vinyl only, limited release of 500 copies and will be available at Amoeba. The album features a wallop of guest appearances by San Francisco stalwarts Kelley Stoltz, Tim Cohen from The Fresh and Onlys, Tahlia Harbour of The Dry Spells and Heidi Alexander from The Sandwitches, among others. Sonny, whose musical endeavors have taken him through the years from piano bar gigs in Colorado to Marin's Headlands for an artist's retreat, chatted with me about his past, present and future.

MIss Ess: So you grew up here in San Francisco? How did you start playing music? Who helped you get going and what artists influenced you as a kid?

Sonny Smith: I learned when I was a kid. I was given a guitar. Van Halen.