San Francisco’s own garage-pop talent Mikal Cronin headlined at Rickshaw Stop last night, offering an official album release show for his wonderful new LP MCII. For those unfamiliar with MCII, I’d highly recommend a listen as it offers an excellent introduction to Mikal’s work. However, judging by the sold-out crowd at Rickshaw, it seems at least the Bay is well acquainted with Mr Cronin’s tunes.
On that Bay note, it’s worth beginning with Mikal Cronin’s connection to the San Francisco garage rock scene and, more specifically, Thee Oh Sees & Ty Segall. Collectively, the three parties are responsible for some of the most prolific and quality music on the West Coast over the last few years. Each have played supporting roles for one another, whether in recording or in the live setting. Case in point: the excellent Reverse Shark Attack album I picked up, which features both Segall and Cronin. Anyhow, with Saturday night’s show, I have now had the fortune of catching each of the three live in the Bay recently. And it became abundantly clear how they feed off each other and yet how stylistic differences separate them. Thee Oh Sees air-tight, razor sharp rhythm and tenacity makes for an unbeatable live show. Ty Segall’s guitar prodigy work is simply amazing to watch. And, as Saturday’s show demonstrated Mikal Cronin offers arguably the finest songwriting skills of the trio.
Additionally, in the era of mega-buzz and all-too-soon hype, it’s extremely refreshing to watch the eventual rise & recognition for Thee Oh Sees, Ty and Mikal. If you scope the sheer quantity of live performances and recordings amongst the group, it’s very apparent that they’ve certainly put in the effort to reach the levels they’re currently at. Rather than one-hit, Hype Machine meteoric rises, these artists have slowly but surely climbed the ranks with consistent development. This is not to downplay their earlier work, but it made for a solid narrative while watching Mikal delight the San Francisco audience for the MCII release show.
Now, onto the actual show, right? Mikal & Co offered a healthy balance between MCII material and his debut album. As mentioned, the former presents Mikal’s song writing and arrangement abilities, packed with plenty of pop sensibilities. Yet juxtaposing the newer, cleaner material with his debut album’s raw, garage-inspired “wall of sound” jams proved where his roots lay. The setlist ventured between the two, which made for a solid balance. While Mikal definitely relies on noise at times, I will say that sounds got a bit blended during some tracks. But the mix worked out very well for the more nuanced MCII songs.
Additionally, kudos to Mikal for bringing along some talented pals for the gig. As compared to Ty Segall’s more dominant solo guitar work in the live setting, Mikal handled the rhythm and vocals while passing off lead/solo duties to his bandmate. This came across less as “I can’t do both” and much more as a disciplined, well planned effort to bring the best possible MCII live rendition possible. A packed house, bobbing crowd, stage-divers and ample applause agreed full-heartedly last night. Future Mikal Cronin tour dates below.
| 05.25.2013 | San Francisco, CA | The Rickshaw | |
| 05.28.2013 | San Francisco, CA | Amoeba Records | Free + All Ages at 6 p.m. |
| 06.06.2013 | Portland, OR | Mississippi Studios | |
| 06.07.2013 | Seattle, WA | Tractor Tavern | |
| 06.08.2013 | Missoula, MT | Ole Beck VFW Post 209 | |
| 06.10.2013 | Minneapolis, MN | First Ave and 7th Street Entry | |
| 06.11.2013 | Chicago, IL | Empty Bottle | |
| 06.12.2013 | Detroit, MI | The Lagerhouse | |
| 06.13.2013 | Toronto, CAN | NXNE | 6/13-15 |
| 06.16.2013 | Montreal, QC | Il Motore | |
| 06.17.2013 | Allston, MA | Great Scott | |
| 06.18.2013 | Philadelphia, PA | Kung Fu Necktie | |
| 06.20.2013 | New York, NY | Bowery Ballroom | |
| 06.21.2013 | Washington, DC | Comet Ping Pong | |
| 06.22.2013 | Asheville, NC | Emerald Lounge | |
| 06.23.2013 | Atlanta, GA | The Earl | |
| 06.24.2013 | Nashville, TN | The Stone Fox | |
| 06.25.2013 | Memphis, TN | The Hi Tone | |
| 06.26.2013 | Dallas, TX | Club Dada | |
| 06.27.2013 | Austin, TX | Mohawk Inside | |
| 06.28.2013 | Marfa, TX | Padre’s | |
| 06.29.2013 | Tucson, AZ | Club Congress | |
| 07.19.2013 | Chicago, IL | Pitchfork Music Festival | July 19-21 |
| 07.25.2013 | Lisbon, PT | Musicbox | |
| 07.26.2013 | Barcelos, PT | Milhoes de Festa | |
| 07.29.2013 | Madrid, ES | El Sol | |
| 07.30.2013 | San Sebastian, ES | Surfilm Festival | |
| 08.02.2013 | Katowice, PL | OFF Festival | |
| 08.03.2013 | Venlo, NL | Zomerparkfeest | |
| 08.04.2013 | Binic, FR | Binic Festival | |
| 08.05.2013 | Lorient, FR | Le Galion | |
| 08.06.2013 | Bordeaux, FR | Relache Caserne Niel | |
| 08.07.2013 | Paris, FR | Le Gibus | |
| 08.08.2013 | Haldern-Rees, NL | Haldern Pop Festival | |
| 08.09.2013 | Oslo, NO | Oya Festival | |
| 08.10.2013 | Gothenburg, SE | Way Out West | |
| 08.11.2013 | Copenhagen, DK | Pumpehuset | |
| 08.12.2013 | Hamburg, DE | Hafenklang | |
| 08.13.2013 | Nijmegen, NL | Doornroosje | |
| 08.14.2013 | Groningen, NL | Vera | |
| 08.15.2013 | Hasselt , BE | Pukkelpop | |
| 08.16.2013 | Biddinghuizen, NL | Lowlands Festival | |
| 08.17.2013 | Skipton, UK | Beacons Festival | |
| 08.18.2013 | Brecon Beacons, UK | Greenman Festival | |
| 08.24.2013 | Los Angeles, CA | FYF Fest |