Dominic Miranda strips the atmospheric guitars and pounding drums normally pervasive in his indie-rock band, Record Winter, and opts for an intimate acoustic solo performance at Good Karma on June 21 for a special live recording. Despite how loud and dynamic Record Winter’s music can get, according to Miranda, his solo shows are even more intense.

“Solo, rather than with the band, it’s very straight forward. There’s no distractions. You can hear everything I’m saying very clearly. In the band, we have three guitarists, so people are paying attention to the sonic noises,” Miranda says.

People like to hear what Miranda is saying and glimpse the raw emotion of his music when he plays solo. According to Miranda, “I get a lot more comments after a show when I play solo, then with the full band.”

He plays solo from time to time when the opportunity arises. He usually plays mostly Record Winter tunes, but he have a handful of songs that are exclusive to his solo sets.

The Record Winter were one of the first bands in San Jose, nearly a decade ago, to break the metal, screamo mold here and play full-fledged lush guitar-driven indie rock. Their music is mood-driven, highly textured and plays heavily with dynamics. They have recorded several EPs already. Miranda has not captured very much of his music is solo form. He could think of no better way to do so than with a live recording.

Dominic Miranda plays at Good Karma on June 21 at 8pm. The show is free.

San Jose local Leslie Hampton, who owns Side With Us Records, has not only done her best to involve herself with every San Jose indie rock band worth mentioning, she has worked hard to expand her roster to include several cool indie bands from all over the Bay Area.

One of them, Survival Guide, who’s members hail from Sacramento and the North Bay, have just released a video for their song, Prohibition Pts 1 & 2, which is off of the new Wilcat 7”.

Prohibition Pt 1 & 2 was shot in the San Francisco Regency Ballroom by director Mike Sloat, whose music video resume includes Nerf Herder, Velvet Teen, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and Machine Head. The video matches the eerie tone of the music by taking lots of slow panning shots of the band in large empty rooms, creating a vibe reminiscent of horror film The Shining.

Survival Guide’s electronic, indie-rock mixture has evolved over the years through members Emily Whitehurst and Jaycen McKissick’s prior bands. Whitehurst was most known for her pop-punk group Tsunami Bomb and McKissick for his political hardcore band Pipedown. The two joined forces in Action Design, where their punk rock chops were toned down to a more 80s New Wave sound. For Survival Guide, they dropped the drums all together, slowed the music down and gave the songs a more spacey, trippy overtone. But they are not entirely electronic-pop; There are too many dark indie guitar tones. Look out for their debut full length in the near future.