Five Finger Discount is a new series where we say what up to some artists and musicians via five completely random questions.  Thanks Ricky for being the first and possibly the last.

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Catherine Lagman is a down to earth humble girl with a big heart and a love for art, photography, design and people in general.  Kinda on the nerdy tip with with a passion for coding mixed in for kicks, but don’t front for a second!  This girl will tear down SF, getting her “Funky Cold Medina” on like nobody’s business.  The art skills are raw and speak for themselves with deep rich flowing lines and outbursts of color that fit her vibrant personality.

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Written by S. Todd

So it’s going down, Lower Branch’s One Year Anniversary Blowout July 22nd at 111 Minna!  There will be a host of dope artists including Zamon, Robert Bowen, Ricky Watts, as well music by DJ Quest, Fist Fam, and Rec League and a ton of others will be there displaying their art and rocking the mic.  I recently got the chance to sit down with one such artist, Hazel Jeans out of Martinez California to find out what we can expect from him as an artist and at the show…      (Click Here to Read More)

Picking up where his highly acclaimed ‘Safe as Milk Replica’ left off, San Francisco producer Al Lover presents his latest work ‘Distorted Reverberations (of Reverberating Distortion)’. Continuing his journey into the depths of fuzzed out boom bap chaos, ‘Distorted’ is a collection of some of today’s best garage and psych rock tunes sampled and chopped up into tweaked-out, neck snapping instrumental hip-hop slabs.

From the crunchy deconstruction of Ty Segall’s version of “Fist Heart Mighty Dawn Dart”, driven by spastic breaks, piercing tambourine and haunting guitar howls, to the phased out twangy tones and grimy claps of Davila 666’s “Yo Seria Otro”, that resembles what a peyote trip into the future might sound like, ‘Distorted’ sifts through to the rhythm and blues roots of current psychedelic rock and mutilates it over classic breaks in a “wall of sound” fashion not unlike classic Bomb Squad or Dust Brothers production, only drenched in liquid acid.

Inspired by the revitalized garage, and psych scene in SF, Al Lover takes his own approach to the effects used by local bands and applies them to his MPC with the aid of various guitar pedals and recording techniques. The layering of different tones and effects used on the samples produces a beefy, aggressive, original sound not heard in instrumental hip-hop today. The Idea being to experiment with new ideas while directly siting influences and source material as a way of sharing the music sampled with those who have yet to hear it, thus hopefully helping to further connect the underground music community.

Permission to sample the material was granted by all of the bands.

Please go grab the free album here www.coolallover.com

Writing taken from Al Lovers site credit coming soon

Lower Branch One Year Anniversary Artist July 22nd 2011

Chris Anway is a bad ass, straight up! He is not your average sit at home, meditate and paint type of dude. When I walked in Chris was blasting a fat Bay Bridge back piece on this dude with sharks (read more)

This Thursday come support our good friends and check out the Swimmewear Fashion show displaying the clothing of our friend Brian Swimme.

10-2am 3411 Lounge Macarthur Blvd. Oakland Ca.

Last night was bananas and if you missed it you missed out!  Two of the hardest working, wall crushing crews from LA and San Francisco came together under one roof to put their talents on display.  Just ask Dave Chapelle who was apparently in the house for a hot second.  LA JAE made the trip north and killed his set behind the tables while San Francisco locals TopR and Grand Invincible shut shit down.  The art was nothing short of fresh.  This installment will be on display at the Project One Gallery until the 15th of may, I suggest you get there.

Alex Pardee, Axis, Atlas, Haste, Esel, Nicnak, Greg “Craola” Simkins, Hex, Dment, Shaun “Kasl” Singer, Natoe, Aura, Dytch 66, Richard “Xpres” Taylor, Mers , Robert Bowen , Pastime , Adee , Ricky Watts, Marcos LaFarga, Defie, Satyr, Timber, Werm, Rome, Rebuke

Nuff Said



Art doesn’t always stand still, sometimes art moves.  Flowing through LSD kaleidoscope like transitions of raging color. No dissin my girls early 90’s fly girl pants either!

Brain and eye candy brought to you by Holton Rower

Laura Gonzalez is young and still relatively new to the SF art scene, having just turned the fresh let’s get crazy age of 21 she is more than ready to conquer the walls of galleries from here to Bangladesh. Laura was hit at the December 6th Collision Course Art Show at the Briefspace Gallery located in San Francisco’s Metreon. Droves of art enthusiast made multiple stops to admire and discuss her work while Dj’s spun in the background and adult beverages flowed like melting ice packs.  ( CLICK HERE ) to read more

Camilla D’Errico is a big kid, a big kid with one hell of a talent.  She is “shy and eccentric with a twist of craziness.”  Camilla has been Illustrating comic books, crushing comic con, painting like she’s gone mad and designing toys for over 12 years now.    Her list of employers has ranged from Ride Snowboards all the way to Disney.  Her skills and imagination are second to none.  With her career exploding as we speak it’s amazing Camilla has time to sleep let alone hold it down with us here at Lower Branch.                                                   To read more (CLICK HERE) 11-9-2010