Weekend

While a lot of Bay Area bands tend to embrace the sunny, psychedelic side of their city's sound, San Francisco's Weekend have seemingly chosen to embrace their hometown's foggier side. Formed in 2009 by Shaun Durkan (bass/vocals), Kevin Johnson (guitar), and Abe Pedroza (drums), Weekend quickly made a name for themselves with their post-punk-shoved-through-a-shoegaze-filter sound. The trio's pounding bass'n'drum rhythms lay the groundwork for Johnson's wall of reverb-drenched guitar noise, giving the songs a dark, subterranean feeling. The whole package is tied together by Durkan's murky vocals, which feel both distant and warm, like hearing a My Bloody Valentine song on a fading radio station. After a couple of limited vinyl singles, the band signed on with Slumberland Records and released its full-length debut, Sports, in 2010. After a year that saw them touring and getting lots of good press, they returned in September of 2011 with the less noisy but still intensely poppy Red EP. ~ Gregory Heaney, Rovi