Atmospheric rock band TREASVRE gets straight to the point on new EP "Stick the Knife In"
Castle Face meditates on krautrock with new Bronze album; Gunna Goes Global and Stunnaman02 wonder why we "Hella Weird"; Passwurdz drops solo album "Flowers"
Thank you to everyone who tuned into White Crate on Lower Grand Radio last night. Mae Powell was straight magic.
If you missed it, the very talented singer-songwriter has a few more shows coming up. In fact, it’s April, and everyone’s over deltacron, so concert season is in full effect. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the best shows on my radar over the next week:
FRI APR 8
[latin] La Doña y Sus Cuates — Brava Theater Center
[indie] Kids on a Crime Spree, Blue Ocean, Sob Stories, R.E. Seraphin — Golden Bull
[experimental] Public Memory, Black Taffy, and Mind Mirage — Elbo Room
SAT APR 9
[metal] Wayfarer, Leila Abdul Rauf, Phantasmal Abyss — Elbo Room
SUN APR 10
[classical] English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner — Cal Performances
[jazz] Oluyemi and ljemoa Thomas — West Oakland Sessions
[neoclassical] Kali Malone — Grace Cathedral
[rock] Psyched! Radio SF Presents: Margaritas Podridas — Knockout
[electronic] Sherelle, Bored Lord, Guerilla Pump, Adam Kraft — Crybaby
WED APR 13
[hip hop] SMARTBOMB w Ovrkast, Xyla, Astu, Alora & 4D, Flatspot — Crybaby
THU APR 14
[metal] Succumb, Diabolic Oath, Penury — Elbo Room
Peace,
ronny
THAT NEW NEW
Do a search for “atmospheric rock” and you’ll be directed to pages and pages on post-rock. But this is different. It’s direct and to the point, not long and meandering. Still, post-rock fans will find much to enjoy on Stick the Knife In, a new five-track EP by SF group TREASVRE. Heavy and explosive, the music is built on a solid foundation of classic drums, bass, and guitar, but rises to higher heights through blissful synth chords and ethereal female vocals. Celebrate with the band at their record release party at Amado’s on April 30.
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“They are real-deal weirdo kings of San Francisco and their spell is not easily dissipated once cast.” The latest release from Castle Face Records, Absolute Compliance is a full-length album of psychedelic, entrancing electronic rock by Bronze. It’s non-nostalgic krautrock, made by musicians well aware of the power of mantra. Alongside Automatic, Bronze will be opening up for the Osees for a three-night stint at the Chapel in September (Mon Sep 5, Tue Sep 6, Wed Sep 7).
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Is Santa Cruz in the Bay Area? If so, then what about Sacramento? Good questions, good questions, and yet I’m no cartographer. Just a humble writer and music lover, I can only say that friends of folk rock music will heartily enjoy Eely by Santa Cruz artist Elliott Ok. Country twangs, the satisfaction of slide, simple honey sweet drumming, and Japanese plum wine-inspired poetry—it’s all here.
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Sometimes you want heavy, but not too heavy. Not like a death in the family, heavy. More like, we are one with the ocean and the stars and all one consciousness, heavy. And so: “Heavy” by Fauxes has that right amount, pounding out a whirling psychedelic jam that will have your head nodding just enough. The group will be playing at the Knockout this Sunday for Psyched! Radio SF Presents: Margaritas Podridas.
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Sometimes people act hella weird. That’s just how it is. Now there’s a song about it: “Hella Weird” is a straightforward new single by SF rappers Gunna Goes Global and Stunnaman02 featuring Klarrity on the hook, exploring the strange, stupid, and unfortunate behavior we too often witness in our fellow humans. Oh well.
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Look no further for the week’s best thing in Bay Area hip hop: Passwurdz, an Oakland artist part of the music collective Grand Nationxl, dropped his first solo album Flowers. Blooming in sync with the season, the springtime work is mostly low to midtempo, soulful, groovy, tongue-twisted, and endlessly introspective. It’s a solo, personal work, but features an all-star list of guest appearances from across the 510 and beyond, including JANE HANDCOCK, Ian Kelly, D.Bledsoe, Kate Lamont, Roux Shankle, ZHARMILA, Kevin Allen, Mani Draper, and Brookfield Deuce.
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“I want to say what I mean. Be practical, precise, to the point, and, at the same time, diplomatic.” Born in 1946 and raised in Louisiana, Pastor Champion didn’t have an easy life. Between his mother being accosted by the Klan, his father’s gambling, and his own 90-day stint in jail for using a “whites-only” bathroom, the pastor had many sad stories of pain and injustice to tell, but he didn’t want to talk about those things. Instead, it seems, he preferred to sing of the good things, preaching the word of God. I Just Want to Be a Good Man, out now on David Byrne-founded label Luaka Pop, captures a recording of Pastor Champion (who served at the 37th Street Baptist Church in Oakland) singing and playing simple gospel songs on a two-track Nagra reel-to-reel before he died at the end of 2021. Honest music, a heart laid bare.
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If someone only knew the stereotypes, this is probably exactly what they’d imagine came out of SF: electronic music performed live with code. It may not actually be the only thing here, but it does exist, and it’s actually quite the trip. Here’s a nice introduction to the genre: Live Code Volume 1 is a generative dance and IDM set by R Tyler (associated with algorave collective AV club), performed with code at Algorithmic Art Assembly at Gray Area, South by Southwest (SXSW), and Algorave's 10th birthday live stream in March 2022. According to the release: “the coding process was projected on a screen for the audience to read. Every note and beat was made with code that was edited and executed live.” Plug me in.
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The Reds, Pinks & Purples appears here often. Glenn Donaldson is simply wildly prolific, so it can’t be helped. The newest three-track EP, Life in the Void, features a couple songs much like the artist’s chamber pop that has come before, but the last song “Evening at Land’s End”—entirely instrumental and nearly 10 minutes long—appears to be a companion piece to the title track from last year’s Summer at Land’s End. It’s slow and seemingly simple but deep with feeling, perhaps like the network of trails at the city’s end, leading nowhere but full of peace.
SHUFFLE ON
Listen to a megamix of the best music from the Bay Area in 2021.