Digging into SF IDM from the late 1990s, and singer-songwriter folk tales from the post-COVID Mission
This week, we share two older releases: One ambient industrial from 1999 and the other indie folk from 2023. While the recordings come from the past, the artists themselves are still present, both playing shows here in the Bay in the next two weeks.
Dig in.
— White Crate
AMBIENT INDUSTRIAL ‘99
Characteristic 1990s IDM beats rise and fall away in a wash of atmospheric, cinematic soundscapes on Further, the second album by Gridlock. Originally released by Pendragon Records in 1999, the album has just been reissued on vinyl for the first time by Viasonde, an Oakland label owned and operated by one of the duo’s original members Mike Cadoo. (Cadoo also runs n5MD.)
Cadoo and his collaborator Mike Wells emerged from San Francisco’s metal scene, and used their background and experience in that heavier field of sounds to concoct towering pieces of dark ambient (“Untitled 5”, “Under”) and industrial music (“Sever”, “Scrape”). Further is the second of four Gridlock albums to be reissued by Viasonde, presenting a close look at the evolution and intertwining nature of metal, industrial, techno, and ambient.
In honor of Wells, who passed away in 2022, half of the proceeds from the sale of this reissue will go to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
See Vague Lanes (a duo made up of Mike Cadoo of Gridlock and Badger McInnes of Here We Burn) perform alongside Yama Uba, Songs for Sabotage, and Steilacoom at the Knockout on Sunday, August 3rd.
— Ronny Kerr
THE MISSION ON FIRE
“Here come the lawyers and the landlords, and you can’t tell which is which
And the Mission is on fire, and there’s some people getting rich”
Released in 2023 after more than two decades of life in the rapidly transforming Mission District, 24th Street Blues (the sixth solo album by Tom Heyman) is folk rock doing what it does best: capturing a real person’s stories and feelings from a particular place in a particular time.
The opening title track sets the scene with a blend of the good, bad, and ugly, as Heyman sings of September summer days, late buses, and encampment sweeps. Later on the album, “The Mission Is on Fire” reflects on the tragedy of residential fires in the city, made doubly tragic by the fact that when dozens of people lose their homes, the capitalists stand to benefit.
On the same collection, there are also songs telling simple, plain stories of youthful tenderness, desperate yearning, and hard life working and living on the road, from Watsonville and Monterey to Humboldt. They are songs of experience, tenderly remembering younger days of innocence while resolutely bearing witness to the unsung calamities of the present.
— Ronny Kerr
SHOW RECS
Our top show recommendations for the coming week:
[rock] SPELLLING, Kelley Stoltz & Gabriel Lopez — July 17 at SFMOMA
[r&b] The Seshen, Cardboard People, Ian Santillano — July 18 at 240 Front St, SF
[rock] Double Helix Peace Treaty (EP release) — July 18 at the 4 Star Theater
[club] NO BIAS ft. Equiss b2b bastiengoat, Bored Lord b2b Finishher, Tah, DJ Juanny, Tekmuje — July 18 at F8
[hip hop] SF HIP-HOP FESTIVAL ft. Tha Dogg Pound, Digable Planets, Souls of Mischief, Mix Master Mike w/ Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Rexx Life Raj, DJ Noodles, D-Sharp, Rob Swift & Sinista, and more — July 19 at the Midway
[rock] The Reds, Pinks & Purples, Hits — July 19 at the 4 Star Theater
[electronic] Spacehall Sound Machine, Secret Sidewalk — July 19 at the Faight Collective
[jungle] FLUX ÆTERNA x FAT CAP SOUND ft. T-Cuts, Tony Manfre, Amandroid, 40split, EK, SOBA, M27, Keishaboy — July 19 at F8
[punk] MOSSWOOD MELTDOWN ft. Devo, Osees, Diesel Dudes, Bratmobile, Shannon & the Clams, Kreayshawn, Twompsax, and more — July 19-20 at Mosswood Park
[ambient] NOTES OF MOSS ft. jmo corleone, eileen sho ji, nimesay — July 20 at Ancestral Healing Farm
[jazz] Zheniia — July 20 at the Black Cat
[punk] Surplus 1980, Rip Room, Mommy Mommy — July 20 at Kilowatt
[country] Anna Hillburg, Mary Simich, Noelle and the Deserters — July 23 at Jack Kerouac Alley
[hip hop] Deltron 3030, Kid Koala, Lealani — July 23-24 at the Regency Ballroom
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