Daniel Toccalino looks a bit out of place in San Francisco’s music scene. The city has its share of alt-country rockers, jam bandish rock, experimental pop, singer-songwriter and straight-forward pop rock. Leopold and His Fiction are a threesome set apart with a brash, bluesy garage rock sound that draws influence from a plethora of artists.
Turns out that Daniel is originally from Detroit, which explains the workingman’s sound and blue collar work ethic. Ain’t No Surprise kicks off with a slow rolling throwback-country blues track called “One For Me To Find.” From there, you’ll hear a bit of the Black Keys (Broke), Bob Dylan’s “Tombstone Blues” (Ain’t No Surprise), M. Ward (Tiger Lily) and then the album winds down with some more country-infused tracks (Pretty Neat and Katie Mae).
We shared a few cold ones with Daniel at SXSW 2007 and he’s one helluva guy. They’ve been playing shows mostly in the Bay area so if you find yourself in San Fran, check them out.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I love these guys. Their sound is right up my alley. Is this album a reissue? I thought it’s been out for a while.
His voice reminds me of Devendra Banhart, but theses tunes are a tad more people freindly.
just released January 13th for the first time. they do have another full-length record that came out a few years ago though.
Yeah, i’ve been digging on this cat for a few weeks now.
Nice, nice, nice, nice.
i’d say it’s time for Pete to kick ‘em in the grill.