PreTeen

After surveying a variety of sounds coming from the Bay Area this year, we’re ending our look back at 2011 with the world of indie rock, indie pop, singer-songwriters and folk-rock. While there were a lot of Bay-based success stories this year, no artist probably had a better year than tUnE-yArDs, and w h o k i l l is an innovative, ultra-catchy collection of experimental pop deservedly revered as one of the year’s best albums.

Beyond tUnE-yArDs, however, the list of big names releasing strong records this year shows why the Bay has the deepest talent pool in indie music today. 2011 saw new records from John Vanderslice, The Dodos, Thao & Mirah, Girls, Ganglians, The Sandwitches, Vetiver, Dominant Legs, Little Wings, Papercuts, Weekend, and many, many more. Seriously, that’s a pretty amazing list.

This three-hour-long, two-part mix surveys over 50 Bay Area artists who released new records in 2011. Follow each link in the track lists below to look back at our coverage of these artists in 2011. - The Bay Bridged

25. Bare Wires // “Ready to Go”
24. Monster Treasure // “I Don’t Give a Shit”
23. The Tambo Rays // “Doubt”
22. Sonny and the Sunsets // “Teen Age Thugs”
21. The Fresh and Onlys // “I Would Not Know the Devil”
20. Dominant Legs // “Hoop Of Love”
19. Magic Trick // “Daylight Moon”
18. Surf Club // “BB”
17. Pamela // “Lie Down (Eye Contact)”
16. Lilac // “Cathedral”
15. Rank/Xerox // “Nausea”
14. Ty Segall + Mikal Cronin // “Fame”
13. Part Time // “I Wanna Take You Out”
12. Permanent Collection // “Let it Go”
11. Melted Toys // “Rose Again”
10. Wax Idols // “Gold Sneakers”
9. Ganglians // “Drop The Act”
8. Blasted Canyons // “Blood On The Wall”
7. Terry Malts // “Tumble Down”
6. Royal Baths // “Darling Divine”
5. Ty Segall // “Where Your Head Goes”
4. Thee Oh Sees // “The Dream”
3. Sic Alps // “Breadhead”
2. Mikal Cronin // “Get Along”
1. PreTeen // “The Motorcycle Accident” - Positive Destruction

Preteen is twee-pop from San Francisco with a dose of west coast psychedelia. The opening track on Keep It Nice, ‘Irene’ lays down an oversaturated electronic beat and introduces lazy vocals with a simple melody. It sounds like Pavement being awakened by an unforgiving barrage of sunrays that are aggravating a serious rave hangover. Following that, ‘Left Hand Blues’ continues the lackadaisical arrangements, but adds a bit of lushness and elegance. ‘The Motorcycle Accident’ is Byrd-like, with chiming guitars, and ‘Song # 9’ complements with harmonica. Keep It Nice is pleasant, low-fi entertainment. - The Dadada

drank more beers than I can count on both hands last night. And then capped it off with an assortment of drugs and a half-pint of bourbon. Somehow San Francisco’s PreTeen’s delightfully disparate pop sound helps take the edge off the light creeping in through my makeshift curtains. Somehow PreTeen’s melodic bass back-end applies a universal salve to the day old liquor kicking my brain around and it’s malevolent cohorts doing similar work on my digestive tract. Somehow PreTeen pushes through all of this with a flaming hot blade of catchiness and etches a diagram of good, solid, original pop music on the throbbing mass of my enflamed brain.

I know very little about this band, but they’re giving away their rock solid 5-song EP right here. - Sound on the Sound

A band name like PreTeen makes looking for more information online feel like a dangerous, FBI-baiting gamble, but this young SF group’s Keep It Nice EP offers some seriously catchy, offbeat jangle-pop. The band’s giving away the five-song set on Bandcamp, and I encourage you to download it now. - The Bay Bridged