Pepper Rabbit
April 7th at Milk, San Francisco

The Rumble is an event held in 16 cities throughout the States and two in the UK, brought to you by Future Sounds, a Los Angeles-based company that facilitates the promotion of new bands, does artist management, and engages in other musical ventures, like trying to save the (currently) ill-fated Woxy before they ran out of cash. Future Sounds acts as a circuit for unsigned artists by taking them on tour, using local support to expose them to various industry professionals and regional music fans. The Rumble event is also promoted and assisted by musical partners, such as SonicLiving, Owl Magazine, and Bagel Ted Radio.

The Rumble is free if you RSVP, and only $5 if you don’t. This free-to-cheap ticket price directly fosters music community in the cities where it’s presented. We all know everyone’s strapped for cash in this climate, and to dangle a promise of good music and cool people for no monetary expense is invaluable. Last night’s Rumble in San Francisco was held at Milk, a club that’s been known in the past almost exclusively for its live hip-hop but in recent months has been taking efforts to book more live bands there, thus bringing to the Upper Haight a rock ‘n’ roll venue of its own. (Thank god, because I just moved to the Haight from living a block away from the Independent, my favorite venue in the city, and I miss that proximity.)

But I digress. While the Rumble is a great event on its own, bringing together friends and perhaps even introducing new music industry players and colleagues to one another, the band slated to headline last night was one I was especially excited to hear, even thought I hadn’t even heard of them prior to yesterday afternoon. Pepper Rabbit is a trio from Silver Lake, Los Angeles, and they remind me of the Shaky Hands, holding onto the same clackety, psych-pop aesthetic, but less precious and wheedling and more exploratory and somber. The singer plays guitar and keyboard and has a really incredible voice, while the drummer and bass player hold down the rhythm section, which gets up-tempo and bouncy but just as quickly turns on its heel to become more saturated, irregular, and sonically dense. For three guys to manage such a dynamic sound is no easy feat. And somehow, in the dark, back corner of Milk, they orchestrated a sense of unexpected sunshine to ward off the chill coming in from the west, keeping the ocean breeze and fog at bay, at least for the moment. But maybe that’s the optimism in me talking: Pepper Rabbits are going to going to find some coveted musical mileage this year, mark my words.

Listen: Pepper Rabbit, Various Tracks [at myspace.com]