Indie dream pop duo from San Francisco, CA, now transplanted to Austin, Texas, the Live Music Capital of the America! Find all our albums on Bandcamp: http://sentineldream.bandcamp.com
Feb 24, 2009
Sentinel invited to play The Ant Show~ Red Devil Lounge, San Francisco
Feb 16, 2009
Feb 7, 2009
Sentinel on the slopes in Switzerland
Snowboarders and all lovers of snow,
Check out where our Avalanche-Dance-Remix has been hanging out:
http://www.burtonamtour.com/videos1.php
Podcast Adelboden-Lenk - Da Gran Masta of Switzerland.
Fun to watch!
Sentinel
Jan 30, 2009
DANCE REMIX OF AVALANCHE !
You know us as a local indie dream pop band, playing around the City (San Francisco & Oakland). But behold, we're branching out! We just finished a dance remix of Avalanche, from our album Kites Without Strings, for one of our close friends who loves this song, and can't get enough of it.
FREE download through Soundcloud!
Dance On!
Sentinel
Jan 21, 2009
Sentinel live at the Red Devil Lounge, February, 2009
Sentinel is up and running again for another show Sponsored by Ant Show:
Catch us at:
Red Devil Lounge
San Francisco, CA 94609
February 19, 2009
Doors open 9pm
Cover: TBA
Other great Bay Area Indie bands include, The Catholic Combs, Please Do Not Fight, and The Blank Slates.
Don't miss it!!!
Dec 21, 2008
INSOMNIA RADIO FEATURES SENTINEL XMAS SONG !
SENTINEL: LET IT SNOW
DECEMBER 21, 2008
BY: CHARLES STEPCZYK
Oakland dream-pop favorites Sentinel recently sent us a cover of Let it Snow, just in time for the holidays. Originally released in 1945 as “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”, it hit number one on the Billboard charts the following year.
If you like the track, they are offering it up for free in the spirit of the holidays.
Happy holidays to you and yours on behalf of Sentinel and the Insomnia Radio crew. Cheers.
LISTEN TO THE SONG HERE: http://insomniaradio.net/2008/12/21/sentinel-let-it-snow/
Nov 24, 2008
NSSN Contest on LIVE 105 !!
Good NEWS - NSSN Contest on LIVE 105 !!
Tonight we made the top 25 bands of Bay Area, and now we need you to
vote for us! Out of those 25 band, the top 5 will go on to rock out at
the Not So Silent Night Local Band Showcase @ Cafe du Nord. The #1
top band, from that night, will open the stage at NSSN 2008, at the
Oakland Arena! Wow.
Click here to log in to your Activist account & cast your vote for
us! If you don't have a LIVE 105 activist account, it's very easy to
create one.
Forever Grateful,
love and light,
Sentinel
p.s. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Oct 19, 2008
Sentinel Live on Peralta TV !!!
Hey Guys and Gals,
Yes, it's true, you can catch a performance with some really lovely tunes from our past albums, on 9th floor radio, TV show.
The "Live From Laney" performance will be aired on TV the following dates/times.
Mark your Calendars! :)
Fridays -
October 24th, 11pm-11:30pm
October 31st, 11pm-11:30pm
November 7th, 11pm-11:30pm
On Peralta TV, Cable Station 27 (Berkeley)
and 28 (Oakland). People can also watch through
the 9th Floor Radio website, www. 9thfloorradio. com;
just click the "watch online" button.
The link to 9th Floor TV programming:
http://www. 9thfloorradio. com/tvschedule. html
yours, Sentinel
Oct 10, 2008
Oct 5, 2008
Live105 FM = Request Us!
Listen to your FM radio 105.3, tonight, Sunday, 7-10pm. It's SoundCheck with Aaron Axelson and Miles the Intern.
You can request us by texting from your phone to: 36105 or 105 from your Sprint phone!
Or Call those lovely DJ's to hear our latest from album, Kites Without Strings !
Request Line : 415-478-LIVE
love and light,
Sentinel
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Sep 6, 2008
Aug 27, 2008
Sentinel Song Featured on Insomnia Radio
Insomnia Radio link to article
Sentinel : Avalanche, by Charles Stepczyk
August 27, 2008
Sentinel, a dream-pop four piece from Oakland has returned with another very solid effort on their May 2008 release, “Kites Without Strings”. Avalanche is the second track off their new CD, a beautiful and ethereal pop-driven snapshot portraying jumping into the quick moving avalanche of newfound love without any cares in the world.
Sentinel formed in 2000 in Long Beach, California as a project between musical visionary Dennis Bestafka and long-time vocalist Tarabud. Following Airborne Infantry deployment in Iraq, Dennis returned to the San Francisco area in 2003 to rekindle the project and later picked up local musicians Jenna Tiano and David Serotkin. They then put out a few well received albums in the space up to the recent release of ‘Kites’.
You can find the new album at CDBaby as well as over on iTunes. If you’d like to hear some songs from past albums, take a listen to some past IR: San Francisco shows, specifically #42 and#49. [cs]
Download | Subscribe | Subscribe in iTunes | Subscribe to All
Aug 8, 2008
WestCoast Perfomer Magazine Review by Keane Li
Westcoast Performer Magazine Review of our album Kites Without Strings, by Keane Li
Sentinel's latest offering, Kites Without Strings, follows their 2007 EP, Sequels and Hunches. The album's dream-pop sound exists enigmatically with a defiance for normal principles: it's ambient and gentle, but energetic and without silence. Inspired by the band's exposure to the cultural and natural beauty found in the Bay Area, this mix successfully describes its four members' experience in living one thing and its opposite.
The eight-track album opens with "Ohlone," leading in with a catchy pulse of rhythmic drums and synth that builds into a driving chorus drenched in polyphonic vocals. The track starts off the album well, providing an upbeat indicator for the following songs.
Midway through, "Spades" serves as a percussive awakening from the dreamlike wistfulness of the album's initial half. Drums drive and keys stand out via repeating riffs adding a refreshing zest, while ambient vocals fill where synthetic sounds sat on previous tracks. It feels organic and vibrant, like sunlight breaking dawn.
The album concludes with "Heroine," a sultry song crawling in Phrygian. The imagery created from Sentinel's lyrics model the band's exotic, modal sound, which is especially meaningful as it represents guitarist Dennis Bestafka's experience as a soldier in Iraq: "There is a tribe on lonely land / Shadows cast the shapes on evening sand." It's a profound escapist end to a profound escapist album.
Filled with sumptuous synth, ultra-reverberated vocals and saturated guitars, Kites Without Strings erupts like one long, happy wall of sound. Most of the songs on the album employ a similar upbeat pop vibe, creating a cohesive quality that might make differentiating them difficult. Thankfully, there isn't a single bad track here, so this little bit of homogeneity proves itself more than welcome. (Self-released)
Sentinel's latest offering, Kites Without Strings, follows their 2007 EP, Sequels and Hunches. The album's dream-pop sound exists enigmatically with a defiance for normal principles: it's ambient and gentle, but energetic and without silence. Inspired by the band's exposure to the cultural and natural beauty found in the Bay Area, this mix successfully describes its four members' experience in living one thing and its opposite.
The eight-track album opens with "Ohlone," leading in with a catchy pulse of rhythmic drums and synth that builds into a driving chorus drenched in polyphonic vocals. The track starts off the album well, providing an upbeat indicator for the following songs.
Midway through, "Spades" serves as a percussive awakening from the dreamlike wistfulness of the album's initial half. Drums drive and keys stand out via repeating riffs adding a refreshing zest, while ambient vocals fill where synthetic sounds sat on previous tracks. It feels organic and vibrant, like sunlight breaking dawn.
The album concludes with "Heroine," a sultry song crawling in Phrygian. The imagery created from Sentinel's lyrics model the band's exotic, modal sound, which is especially meaningful as it represents guitarist Dennis Bestafka's experience as a soldier in Iraq: "There is a tribe on lonely land / Shadows cast the shapes on evening sand." It's a profound escapist end to a profound escapist album.
Filled with sumptuous synth, ultra-reverberated vocals and saturated guitars, Kites Without Strings erupts like one long, happy wall of sound. Most of the songs on the album employ a similar upbeat pop vibe, creating a cohesive quality that might make differentiating them difficult. Thankfully, there isn't a single bad track here, so this little bit of homogeneity proves itself more than welcome. (Self-released)
Jul 7, 2008
Album Lyrics
This is for all you who have requested Kites Without Strings lyrics:
Ohlone
Chorus
You shake, it shocks, but you never leave the flock
You hurt, it haunts, no turning back the clock
It ticks, it tocks, you’re sinking like a rock
It drips, the drops let the heart go cold and dark
We’re all that remains
When I plug my ears
We’re all that remains
When I can’t see clear
We’re all that remains
When I leave from here
We’re all that remains
Chorus
You shake, it shocks, but you never leave the flock
You hurt, it haunts, no turning back the clock
It ticks, it tocks, you’re sinking like a rock
It drips, the drops let the heart go cold and dark
We’re all that remains
When I shed my tears
We’re all that remains
When the end is near
We’re all that remains
In a hundred years
We’re all that remains
Avalanche
How could any love feel so good
Oh they told me it would hurt… SO WHAT
I was a hanging on the words you said…. THE WORDS
Oh I never thought you feel so good
Cinnamon and Sugary boy to gaze on
It’s an avalanche love and how could they not believe us
Cinnamon and Sugary boy to gaze on
It’s an avalanche love and I don’t ever want to save us.
How could any love feel so good
Oh they told me it would hurt… SO WHAT
I was a hanging on the words you said…. THE WORDS
Oh I never thought you feel so good
Wreckage
All forgotten inlets
All you could not say
Falling in the silence of your stare
Sacred now a memory
What we would’ve known
Had we made a kingdom come undone
Summer’s done
Never let me go
Wreckage save me
We are Winter’s glow~!
All the land forsaken
Salvage words unsaid
Hearing traps of silence in your head
Mindful of the holy
How we could’ve been
Had we made a kingdom come undone
Summer’s done
Never let me go
Wreckage save me
We are Winter’s glow~!
Misfit
Making your mark, you go A.W.O.L.
Every glare leaves you scared
Night spent without a warning
Beatings only you could bear
Chorus
Strike me down, I’ll come back around
Hurt me now and I’ll forget it all …..
Trespassing memory gone wrong
With you tonight
With you tonight
Taking your part, you are not there
Shaken till you feel the ground
Days and no one heard a sound
Secrets that are never found.
Chorus
Strike me down, I’ll come back around
Hurt me now and I’ll forget it all …..
Trespassing memory gone wrong
With you tonight
With you tonight
Skylark
Handle with care
You’re the magic of the whole affair
And I never seemed to cross that line
When you wanted me to pay the price
In the season of our lives
I’m next in line
When you build that ride into the SKY
Paper Airplane
Bending the light
Paper Airplanes
Catching the light
Paper Airplane
Crossing the night
Handle with care
You’re the magic of the whole affair
And I never seemed to cross that line
When you wanted me to pay the price
In the season of our lives
I’m next in line
When you build that ride into the SKY
Spades
Heartbreak wars we played so well
You kept us divided with my friend pretending
Now you’re making meds and pulling
All the pieces back together again, so afraid
You ….. Cross that bridge
Land on her continent
See land, you’re home.
Heartfelt love you planned so well
You kept us at arms with all promises
Now you’re moving in on wounds we left so open
And we tried to forget were so dead.
You ….. Cross that bridge
Land on her continent
Sea, land – you’re home.
Underground
Shut down and wounded so… You don’t know
What Ways up or to where you can go.
There’s a new life on the horizon, but can’t find
A rhyme or reason at all with these signs
So check back another time. I trust I
Won’t be making a promise next time.
*************
You cut all ties you know. They don’t know
Where you’d gone when they needed you so.
A new look and different shore. It’s not use
Recognizing your face anymore.
In your heavy heart, a thicket grows
And it’s dark, the play you go when the world so cold.
Heroine
There is a wind that drives the rain
Seas burn the tide of clouds away
High shines the sun in blinding glare
Moon clips the view & hides the flare
There is a tribe on lonely land
Shadows cast the shapes on evening sand
Mission in the static comes in clear
We move beneath the stars in golden fear.
Chorus
Time swallowed a capsule of you!
Galaxies unfolding on in on you!
Millions of miles they return to you!
Stars are born with the grains of you!
Chorus Repeat.
Ohlone
Chorus
You shake, it shocks, but you never leave the flock
You hurt, it haunts, no turning back the clock
It ticks, it tocks, you’re sinking like a rock
It drips, the drops let the heart go cold and dark
We’re all that remains
When I plug my ears
We’re all that remains
When I can’t see clear
We’re all that remains
When I leave from here
We’re all that remains
Chorus
You shake, it shocks, but you never leave the flock
You hurt, it haunts, no turning back the clock
It ticks, it tocks, you’re sinking like a rock
It drips, the drops let the heart go cold and dark
We’re all that remains
When I shed my tears
We’re all that remains
When the end is near
We’re all that remains
In a hundred years
We’re all that remains
Avalanche
How could any love feel so good
Oh they told me it would hurt… SO WHAT
I was a hanging on the words you said…. THE WORDS
Oh I never thought you feel so good
Cinnamon and Sugary boy to gaze on
It’s an avalanche love and how could they not believe us
Cinnamon and Sugary boy to gaze on
It’s an avalanche love and I don’t ever want to save us.
How could any love feel so good
Oh they told me it would hurt… SO WHAT
I was a hanging on the words you said…. THE WORDS
Oh I never thought you feel so good
Wreckage
All forgotten inlets
All you could not say
Falling in the silence of your stare
Sacred now a memory
What we would’ve known
Had we made a kingdom come undone
Summer’s done
Never let me go
Wreckage save me
We are Winter’s glow~!
All the land forsaken
Salvage words unsaid
Hearing traps of silence in your head
Mindful of the holy
How we could’ve been
Had we made a kingdom come undone
Summer’s done
Never let me go
Wreckage save me
We are Winter’s glow~!
Misfit
Making your mark, you go A.W.O.L.
Every glare leaves you scared
Night spent without a warning
Beatings only you could bear
Chorus
Strike me down, I’ll come back around
Hurt me now and I’ll forget it all …..
Trespassing memory gone wrong
With you tonight
With you tonight
Taking your part, you are not there
Shaken till you feel the ground
Days and no one heard a sound
Secrets that are never found.
Chorus
Strike me down, I’ll come back around
Hurt me now and I’ll forget it all …..
Trespassing memory gone wrong
With you tonight
With you tonight
Skylark
Handle with care
You’re the magic of the whole affair
And I never seemed to cross that line
When you wanted me to pay the price
In the season of our lives
I’m next in line
When you build that ride into the SKY
Paper Airplane
Bending the light
Paper Airplanes
Catching the light
Paper Airplane
Crossing the night
Handle with care
You’re the magic of the whole affair
And I never seemed to cross that line
When you wanted me to pay the price
In the season of our lives
I’m next in line
When you build that ride into the SKY
Spades
Heartbreak wars we played so well
You kept us divided with my friend pretending
Now you’re making meds and pulling
All the pieces back together again, so afraid
You ….. Cross that bridge
Land on her continent
See land, you’re home.
Heartfelt love you planned so well
You kept us at arms with all promises
Now you’re moving in on wounds we left so open
And we tried to forget were so dead.
You ….. Cross that bridge
Land on her continent
Sea, land – you’re home.
Underground
Shut down and wounded so… You don’t know
What Ways up or to where you can go.
There’s a new life on the horizon, but can’t find
A rhyme or reason at all with these signs
So check back another time. I trust I
Won’t be making a promise next time.
*************
You cut all ties you know. They don’t know
Where you’d gone when they needed you so.
A new look and different shore. It’s not use
Recognizing your face anymore.
In your heavy heart, a thicket grows
And it’s dark, the play you go when the world so cold.
Heroine
There is a wind that drives the rain
Seas burn the tide of clouds away
High shines the sun in blinding glare
Moon clips the view & hides the flare
There is a tribe on lonely land
Shadows cast the shapes on evening sand
Mission in the static comes in clear
We move beneath the stars in golden fear.
Chorus
Time swallowed a capsule of you!
Galaxies unfolding on in on you!
Millions of miles they return to you!
Stars are born with the grains of you!
Chorus Repeat.
Jul 1, 2008
Glasswerk.co.uk review
"Kites" Album review by Glasswerks in UK
Category: Music
Sentinel are back again. Kites Without Strings is a fairly short album (8 tracks) but its packing a punch. They seem far bolder than ever before – rocking up the rock aspect of their act as well as the vocals being as dreamy as ever.
What is perplexing about Sentinel is that they seem to have been around far longer than they actually have. There has been two previous albums and even a Singles album passed through the Glasswerk reviews. And yet they have only been an act since 2006.
Its nice then to see that they have retained their image and also checking out what they can do with it. 'Kites Without String's in an altogether friendlier affair and probably their most pop album so far. A bit of easy access won't hamper their artistic integrity.
Founding members Dennis Bestafka and Tarabud the Guitarist and Vocalist respectively are probably the two members that carry the most signifying sound that is Sentinel. That doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon. Sentinel are therefore blessed with a sound that is immediately identifiable. 'Kites Without Strings' continues that sound. Sentinel now has a solid back catalogue that they can now hope will stretch overseas and grab new listeners. And anyone who likes the sound of a track they may hear is bound to find it easy to like the rest of their wonderful collection.
by Steven Hurst
6:22 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment -
Category: Music
Sentinel are back again. Kites Without Strings is a fairly short album (8 tracks) but its packing a punch. They seem far bolder than ever before – rocking up the rock aspect of their act as well as the vocals being as dreamy as ever.
What is perplexing about Sentinel is that they seem to have been around far longer than they actually have. There has been two previous albums and even a Singles album passed through the Glasswerk reviews. And yet they have only been an act since 2006.
Its nice then to see that they have retained their image and also checking out what they can do with it. 'Kites Without String's in an altogether friendlier affair and probably their most pop album so far. A bit of easy access won't hamper their artistic integrity.
Founding members Dennis Bestafka and Tarabud the Guitarist and Vocalist respectively are probably the two members that carry the most signifying sound that is Sentinel. That doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon. Sentinel are therefore blessed with a sound that is immediately identifiable. 'Kites Without Strings' continues that sound. Sentinel now has a solid back catalogue that they can now hope will stretch overseas and grab new listeners. And anyone who likes the sound of a track they may hear is bound to find it easy to like the rest of their wonderful collection.
by Steven Hurst
6:22 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment -
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