While Kelley Stoltz's nigh-religious reverence for all things Beatles, Beach Boys and Kinks has been at the fore on recent albums Below the Branches and Circular Sounds, his new album, To Dreamers, blends a bit more post-punk abandon into its layered everyman pop. Tasteful horn adornments blow against tom-tom beats and 12-string guitars meet reverbed mellotrons, under Stoltz's warm vocals.

The album begins with "Rock & Roll with Me," a big beat electric invitation that fades into the melodic stirrings of "Pinecone," a gently moving Pacific breeze. Later, the deceptively ethereal pluck of "Ventriloquist" is coupled with heavy lyrics, "Seems like there's no one at all who's speaking for me." The motorik élan of "Keeping the Flame" and the electric whirring of "Little Girl" offer new moods, and it's clear that To Dreamers has maintained the kaleidoscopic core of sounds heard on Kelley's previous records, while making inroads into new sonic terrains.

As on prior albums, Kelley plays most of the instruments heard on To Dreamers himself, though two of the songs here were recorded by Kelley and his band live in the studio. One of these is a cover version of the '60s nugget "Baby I Got News for You," by "Big Boy" Pete Miller, who performs on the recording, dusting off the very valve amps and guitar used on the 1965 original, to add vocals and fuzz.

Kelley, now a veritable godfather to the burgeoning San Francisco under/over-ground (folks like Thee Oh Sees, Sonny & the Sunsets, The Fresh & Onlys), has blazed a path since the late '90s as a home-recording guru and multi-instrumentalist.

No slouch on the live front, he was asked to open the Raconteurs first US tour in 2006, toured the USA and Europe with the Dirtbombs in 2008, and through a twist of volcano ash-cloud karma, was the support act to childhood heroes Echo and the Bunnymen, in 2010. His songs have been used for international ad campaigns for Volvo and Marriott Hotels, as well as in television and movies.

I would wager that the entire reason behind music itself is to dream. From the young kid strumming a tennis racket along with the Ramones, to the box seats at the opera, the goal is the same. What music does and should do is allow us to lose ourselves and be transported, to find the mystical land where milk and honey meets Xanadu. See where you go with this new Kelley Stoltz record—an album of tunes oddly familiar and yet surprising, like a dream itself.

Sweet Chariot is a San Francisco quintet whose members prefer old gear and cold beer. They play timeless power-pop, classic biker rock, and dusty desert jams trimmed in the bygone tones of west coast canyon-twang.

With the Mumlers, Will Sprott’s penchant for conjuring the specters of haunting ‘60s folk butts heads with Big Easy brass and bright organs. He wears his influences on his sleeve, borrowing from heyday rock ‘n’ roll just enough to leave room for his own embellishments, of which his soulful voice stands as a distinct highlight. Sprott’s solo work is stripped of some of the Mumlers’ pizzazz, but you’ll find that even more exposed, his talents are given wiggle-room to burst and bloom.

Super-catchy power-pop-garage trio featuring former members of Sir Lord Von Raven, White Music, and Thunderbleed aka Blind Vengeance, recalling best of the Records, XTC, and Snarlshall Crenshaw. "The A-side from the The Wrong Words' debut single, out in the fall on Trouble in Mind Records, is a super-catchy piece of caffeinated garage pop." --Bay Bridged

Often referred to as "SF's most adorable" urban folk rock band, Super Natural is a San Francisco-based foursome that serves up a unique and modern take on sixties folk, eighties punk and new wave, nineties indie rock and the timeless themes of love, hate, greed, justice, revolution and struggle. The rich but sometimes edgy guy/girl harmony driven lead vocals, traditional folk themes and melodies and simple punk power chords bring on comparisons ranging from X, Richard & Linda Thompson and Mates of State to Fairport Convention and Pavement.

Religious Girls are a diverse group of multi-instrumentalists, with each member hailing from separate musical backgrounds that ranges from metal to noise to math rock and pop. Using their talents, Religious Girls focus thier energy into creating beautiful harmonies and layering them over intricate percussive ryhthms. Preferring to play on the floor near listeners rather than a distant stage, they feel that no matter how high of quality a recording may be the live set is what moves people, and therefore focus on creating intimacy with the crowd. Collectively, the band has tried to push aside the standards of popular song writing with non-repeating structures, an intricate mathmatical style, and a carefully laid out set in which all songs are interweaved into one. Religious Girls offers an intense and dramatic set, leaving viewers in awe by the end of the performance.

Oakland quartet that could be the Bay's own Animal Collective. "As they began their set, my whole perception of noise and music was completely blown out of the water. Religious Girls took the rhythmic pounding of HEALTH and the tropical loveliness of High Places and made it their own, a completely new sound that was as beautiful as it was harsh and brutal. ... The manipulated vocals through the microphones and the call and response keyboard and drum melodies amazed me and captivated me in the best way. They were absolutely fucking terrific." --KEXP Blog