Press

The Buzz

SPIN
Americana enthusiasts Port O'Brien and frenetic folkies the Dodos play the SFxSXSW showcase
March 2008

Oakland's Port O'Brien may have been collectively suffering from sore throats, as Neil Young-sounding frontman (and part-time Alaskan fisherman) Van Pierszalowski revealed, but luckily a little extra scratchiness goes a long way for the Americana quintet, who played the SFxSXSW showcase at Bourbon Rocks on Saturday. [Read]

7x7
Southern Exposure: SF Makes Its Mark on SXSW
By Melissa Goldstein
March 2008

Proving you can take San Francisco bands out of the city, but you can't take them out of rotation, Talking House Records' SFxSXSW showcase at Austin's Bourbon Rocks focused the spotlight on the Bay Area's music talent. We're happy to share with Texas, but since our loyalty is to the hometown team, here we offer a rundown of the showcase's highlights [Read]

Contra Costa Times
SXSW: Bay Area in the house!
By Jim Harrington
March 2008

It's hard to go an hour without running into somebody from the Bay Area at SXSW. Indeed, I think there are people here from the Bay Area than any other city besides Austin. OK, that might be wrong - there's got to be more Los Angeles cats than Bay dawgs, right? Yet, it sure doesn't seem that way. [Read]

EQ
Room With A VU
By Matt Harper
July 2007

Disguised by a warehouse façade and hidden away incognito in San Francisco's SoMa district, the brainchild studio of a "who’s who" producer collective of Bay Area musical movers and shakers (a.k.a. Talking House Studios) lies in wait to facilitate the sonic shaping of the next great project. Yes, Talking House was designed and built by famed architect John Storyk and the Walters-Storyk Design Group. Yes, it clocks in at nearly 9,000 sq. ft. And yes, that SSL 9000 K was pulled from the now tragically deceased Hit Factory in New York City. [Read]

GU Magazine
Their Name is MUD
By Jac Perry
March/April 2007

It's 1:30 a.m. Guam-time and my cell phone rings a dedicated ring tone—the heavy riffs of AC/DC's "Back in Black" signaling MUD lead guitarist, Mr. Alan Kao, calling. I greet him to begin genuine, albeit sycophantic banter. After much laughter Kao elaborates for me what he briefly mentioned in an e-mail. "We went on our first tour, we rented a minivan that was a total piece of shit, and it died in the middle of the dessert. We had four cell phones and none of them worked! We had to sleep on the side of the road where all the huge trucks where flying by. We were afraid to go outside because of coyotes." Vermin never got the best of MUD that night. The next morning, highway patrol discovered the van, called a tow truck and the band was rescued. [Read]

San Francisco Examiner
Showcase brings Bay Area grooves to Austin
By Janet Pak
March 20, 2007

Austin, Texas - Bay Area bands stormed through town to play the first official "San Francisco X South by Southwest: San Francisco Comes to Austin" showcase, gaining new fans, promoting their music and attracting a wider audience. [Read]

PRO SOUND NEWS
San Francisco's Newest Content Machine
By Jeff Touzeau
December 2006

Outside, it's a non-descript, two-story warehouse building located in San Francisco's up and coming "South of Market District", hiding inconspicuously beside other similar-looking structures on the block. But inside, there's acoustic perfection, sonic flexibility and creative enablement. [Read]

POST
Talking House Online In San Francisco
November 2, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO - John Storyk and the Walters-Storyk Design Group recently completed studio design work that turned a two-story warehouse on Bryant Street in San Francisco's burgeoning South of Market district into a an acoustically and aesthetically unique recording studio/office complex/gallery known as Talking House Productions. [Read]

MIX
Talking House Productions
By Tom Kenny
October 2006

Records are now tracked at a home in Malibu and mixed in a cottage in upstate New York. Scores are prepped on a laptop in Miami, brought to a Czech stage for live strings, then mixed and posted at a facility in London. [Read]