Awards: Most Political, Best Personalities

Club: Audio-Visual

Quote: "Freedom creeps in from the shadows."

"If you do something, make it sincere, make it mean something," says Peter Swanson, an ecstatic, politically minded version of Andrew W.K. The latest full-length release by Swanson and musical partner in crime and Bay Guardian staffer Gabriel Mindel Saloman is on Brooklyn's S.F.-underground-scene-loving Narnack Records, but don't expect Yellow Swans to be another Bay Area prank band whose sole intention is to get people dancing at parties.

I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to wanna have fun, or even that the electronic-punk two piece are, by any means, humorless or stodgy, but if Yellow Swans were to command you to do something, it would be something like "Keep partying, but do something afterward too." Without being so direct, Yellow Swans ask listeners to "bring the neon war home" on the album of the same name. The title dares society on two levels. First, the "neon war" refers to the U.S. media's fantasylike representation of international conflict as a spectacle of neon green missiles viewed through the impersonal lens of a night-vision camera. Yellow Swans call for us to think of war in terms of reality, with real blood, death, and agony.

On a more personal level, the title of their release appeals to fellow members of the arts community to break the separation between underground subculture and politics. "In a society that's participating in so much violence," Swanson adds, "[artists] should be responding to it."

Swanson and Saloman joined forces in the summer of 2001 in Portland, Ore., with the idea of marrying the aggressive sounds and performative aspects of punk rock with music more akin to that of Kid606 and Blectum from Blechdom. They moved to the Bay Area this summer, with 25 self-released cassettes and CD-Rs under their belt. Sonically, it's easy to lump Yellow Swans in with other noisy S.F. Spockmorgue bands, but they're not afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves, play without masks and costumes, and come across without irony. Using a drum machine, mixer feedback, electronics, vocals, guitar, and contact mics all funneled through two subwoofers, they make some of the harshest noise possible. "We're not a populist band. We're not trying to be like Bruce Springsteen." (Sarah Han)

Yellow Swans play with Tussle, Dynasty, and Eats Tapes Sept 15, Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $8. (415) 621-4455; Oct. 4 with Pidgeon, Marsh, 1062 Valencia, S.F. Call for price. (415) 826-5750.

For more information on Yellow Swans, go to www.jyrk.com/yellowswans.