Free Noise Pop Fest Happy Hour ft. Sadie Alan, Credit Electric, and Jacob Aranda
New interview with Sadie Alan and reviews of previous releases by Americana, country, and folk-adjacent artists Credit Electric and Jacob Aranda
Noise Pop Fest is upon us! And we’re super delighted to share that White Crate is hosting a free happy hour show at Bender’s on Wednesday, February 26!
As part of a weeklong free happy hour series at Bender’s Bar & Grill, White Crate’s showcase at Noise Pop features Americana, country, and folk-adjacent artists Sadie Alan, Credit Electric, and Jacob Aranda. It’s not just our first Noise Pop show, it’s also another opportunity for us to highlight three of our favorite artists in the Bay!
Read our interview with Sadie Alan, and scroll on for reviews of the other artists.
— White Crate
AMBIENT TWANG, ALIVE
There are some songs we wish would go on forever. For me, “ghost pine eyes” is one of those songs. Every time my ears reach the end of those three-and-a-half minutes, I feel my body wondering with hope, “Is this one of those false pauses? It must be. The song will continue again.” But no, all things end.
That’s just to speak of the third track on six, the third full-length album by Credit Electric, a tough-to-categorize group from the Bay Area led by Ryan LoPilato. Many of the songs are twangy as heck and blessed with pedal steel, so we have to call it country. But it’s also got this melancholy indie sound, like slowcore composed in solitude at the seashore. Sometimes, it’s nearly ambient. Or at least downtempo. It’s a little bit machine-like and yet completely alive. It’s the work of a single mind yet also the melding of several. It’s quiet, present, reflective. Personal? Yes. Perhaps, in a world where bombs and murder still reign, that’s what makes it essential.
Why the number six? LoPilato explains:
There are six elements of tragedy. I’m not really a theater person at all but I appreciate the original intention of tragedy: pain awakening pleasure. Other synchronicities also provoked the title. In the Quran and in the book of Genesis the heavens and earth were created in six days. There are six lines in a hexagram, found in cosmological diagrams in Hinduism and Buddhism. There are six points in the seal of Solomon and the star of David. Saxophones have six tone holes, guitars have six strings.
Most of the bass and keyboard used on the record was made by Yamaha, which has six letters. Yamaha means “mountain blade” which is a reflection of a samurai’s legacy. Six is a military term for what is behind you. It takes about six months to recover from the breakup of a long term relationship. The album carries a theme of being present in reflection.
— Ronny Kerr
GOSPEL-ROOTED CROONING
“I grew up very religious. There was a lot I loved about it, a lot that left me traumatized and broken. It wasn’t until I moved to the Bay Area that I started singing my songs in front of people. […] I can’t help but write and sing songs for myself. It helps me, soothes me, heals me.” — Jacob Aranda
SF and Oakland have had their fair share of fantastic country music albums recently, but one might expect to hear much more of that kind of music coming from, well, the country. Here’s one from Nicasio, that little community up near Novato.
Featuring a dozen-plus collaborators and released by Speakeasy Studios, War Planes is a spiritually inspired, life-affirming album by Jacob Aranda. The son of a Mexican father (who he sings about on “Dream of Mexico”), the child of a Midwestern upbringing in Illinois, and—as one of the members of the Paula Frazer-led country rock outfit Tarnation—Aranda is a longtime contributor to Bay Area music. On this album, he flexes his songwriting ability, crooning of friends who’ve passed, familial alienation, troubled childhoods, and more. The work reaches its apotheosis in “Sing a Song, Say a Prayer,” where backed by a chorus Aranda channels his own gospels roots (and those of country music itself) to suggest we all “try to believe in what’s not there.”
— Ronny Kerr
SHOW RECS
Our top show recommendations for the coming week:
[new age] Nate Mercereau ft. Idris Ackamoor and Carlos Niño, Mejiwahn — Feb 20 at the Chapel
[rock] Sarah Coolidge, Fieldress, Affectionately — Feb 20 at Thee Stork Club
[experimental] Lia Kohl, Cheryl E. Leonard — Feb 20 at the Lab
[techno] THROTTLE 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY ft. Jeff Mills, Adra, Max Gardner, Dials — Feb 20 at 1015 Folsom
[experimental] SUTROFM ft. Matt Sussman, Raven, Nihar Bhatt — Feb 21 at the Lab
[rock] Spy (record release), Extinguish, Slugger, Slumped, Lurks — Feb 21 at Neck of the Woods
[electronic] Geographer "Animal Shapes Anniversary" — Feb 21 at August Hall
[breaks] Tomu DJ, YoungLove Erix, blessingsnore — Feb 21 at Mothership
[rock] Flamin’ Groovies, The Losin' Streaks — Feb 22 at 4 Star Theater
[experimental] Bored Lord, Big Hongry, The Musele Project — Feb 22 at Eternal Now
[rock] Outer Sunset, Peña, Mint — Feb 22 at Bottom of the Hill
[techno] b0nitababy, sfcowboy b2b @@, moth b2b espurr, Soeneido b2b lethargy, EVY — Feb 22 at Monarch
[rock] Blue Zero, Expose, figure eight, Anemic — Feb 23 at Thee Stork Club
[rock] Fake Your Own Death, Lucky, Town Bully — Feb 25 at Bender’s Bar & Grill
[rock] King Dream, Animal Prince, Ephemerald — Feb 26 at Ivy Room
[funk] The Futurelics, James Wavey Band, The Moondrops — Feb 26 at Kilowatt
[americana] Sadie Alan, Credit Electric, Jacob Aranda — Feb 26 at Bender’s Bar & Grill
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