Fronted by brothers Jim Blaha (baritone guitar and vocals) and Mike Blaha (guitar and vocals) with their buddy Dave Roper (drums), the Minneapolis, MN-based trio The Blind Shake have been a vital part of Minneapolis’ and the Midwest’s underground/independent music scenes for quite some time, as they’ve released seven full-length albums. including last year’s Breakfast of Failures and Fly Right, which was released earlier this year, along with a large collection of singles, and collaborations with fellow Twin Cities musician Michael Yonkers and John Reis, who’s best known as the frontman of Rocket From the Crypt. Throughout their time as a band, the Midwestern trio have developed a reputation for a sound that’s primitive, primal, brutish and forceful – all while channeling old school surf rock. Hearing them should make you want to jump, shout and enter a mosh pit, no matter how old you are. 

Interestingly, the folks at Castle Face Records have devoted their time to recording and releasing the work of several West Coast-based psych rock acts; however, they’ve also spent time recording the live shows of several regional and nationally known acts performing in San Francisco in a series known as Live in San Francisco. Recorded around the time of the OBN III’s live session back in 2013, the Blind Shake’s Live in San Francisco session captures the band just as they were starting to blow up nationally with a number of releases through Goner Records, Swami Records, and Slovenly Recordings. The first single off Blind Shake: Live in San Francisco is a blistering, forceful and primal, version of “I’m Not an Animal” that turns into a cretinous stomp, completed with simplistic, shouted lyrics – and frankly, it’s fucking awesome.