Hang with us in the Mission tomorrow and experience some of our favorite local artists

New music from experimental dance producer Tom Marsi, dark dancehall magus Kush Arora, and crunchy fuzzy electric from Whitney's Playland + show recs

Mar 17, 2023

Party with us tomorrow!

WC01 is the first in a quarterly party series curated by Bay Area artists, and for this outing we’re being treated to live performances by Aroma, James Wavey, Louda, and Mild Universe—plus DJ sets by Tyla Wave and DJ Chatoyance. Sound by Scheherazade Soundsystem. Sup Street Food will be serving up South East Asian bites, and we’ll have beverages as well. We’re looking forward to connecting with everyone and kicking off this new community music project!

Secret sunny outdoor spot in the Mission. DM for address.

In the meantime, listen to this Spotify playlist featuring songs by artists performing at WC01 plus some of their favorite music and influences.

— White Crate

EXPERIMENTAL DANCE MASH

I’m not right about a lot of things, but I’m right about at least one thing: Y’all are really sleeping on Tom Marsi. Honestly some of the rawest talent out there right now when it comes to her production, but most importantly, her creativity. This month, she released FLIPFOOTS, a super fun and bouncy, D&B- and footwork-flavored, hyperpoppy rhythmic manipulation, along with supporting edits by local favorites Tomu DJ and rainsdeaf.

Tom Marsi’s eclectic musical interests and influences find quirky friendship in just about every project she sets her mind to, managing to convince unsuspecting crowds that just about anything under the mish mash umbrella of “experimental” belongs on the dancefloor. For example, my brain has never associated Wicked and Soldier Boy anywhere close to the same wavelength, but if anyone would, it’s fucking Tom! She knows how to make us silly humans MOVE, even when we don’t think we want to.

Catch her spinning vinyl around the Bay just about anywhere tbh, djing hard at the soon-to-be iconic WET parties, or tune into her streaming shows on Lower Grand Radio (The Lady Hour) and BFF.FM (The Lost Hour).

— Elise Mills

FIT FOR AN UNDERGOUND TOAST

“One for the dancers, riddim addicts, and hybridizers from soundsystem culture.”

Kush Arora (aka Only Now), one of the Bay’s chief producers of dark and gritty dancehall, has joined forces with Brooklyn producer HMXGOD (aka Hitmakerchinx) on Alley Ghost, a trio of instrumentals just waiting for an underground toasting. Cinematic in its deployment of sound production and wobbling its way onto the dancefloor, each track here pulses and thumps with deep drum and bass, balanced out by twittering vocal samples and clarion synthesizers. Made either for the late late night warehouse party, or maybe just the deep recesses of consciousness.

See Kush Arora perform as Only Now alongside KOKOKO! and DJ Sep on May 4 at Public Works.

— Ronny Kerr

SWEET, AIRY SIMPLICITY

“I think all that time we spent alone during the pandemic helped spark a lot of creativity and the output for a lot of people.”
— Inna Showalter, singer for Whitney’s Playland, interview in SF Examiner

No one should be surprised that Whitney’s Playland is from the Sunset. Even without the heavy hints in their name and album title (Playland at the Beach famously stretched along the Richmond side of Ocean Beach from the 1920s to 1972) something about the simplicity of the few tracks we have from Sunset Sea Breeze—even the crunchy, fuzzy “Mercy”—reflects the slower pace of life out that way. (It isn’t particularly Sunset-y, but “Rain Song” is deliciously ‘90s, and it’s my favorite of the bunch.) Sunset Sea Breeze is out on Paisley Shirt Records tomorrow, so check it out if you like electric guitars, drums, sweet airy vocals, and little else.

See Whitney’s Playland play live at a couple upcoming dates:

— Jody Amable

LIVE

Our top show recommendations for the coming week:

[rock] Nothing Natural (tape release), Xui, Ex-Heir, Cherie — March 17 at Tamarack

[classical] Free Key Choir sings songs by local artists Sour Widows, Katsy Pline, Cole Pulice, Emily Brown, Cunstomer Servixxx — March 17-18 at St Paul Lutheran Church in Oakland, March 19 at St Luke’s Episcopal Church in San Francisco

[jazz] Idris Ackamoor & the Pyramids — March 17-18 at the Presidio Theatre

[club] DJ Wawa, R-Pal, Infinite Jess — March 17 at Underground SF

[folk] The Brothers Comatose, Andrew St James, Wolf Jett — March 17-18 at the Great American Music Hall

[rock] Chime School, Tony Jay, Whitney's Playland — March 18 at Thrillhouse Records

[rock] WC01 ft. Aroma, James Wavey, Louda, Mild Universe, Tyla Wave, DJ Chatoyance — March 18 at DM for address

[experimental] Mind Mirage, Parallel, Briana Marela, Semi Trucks — March 18 at Unimatrix Zero

[rock] Blues Lawyer, Umbrellas, Hits — March 18 at Thee Stork Club

[hip hop] Rich Iyala, Monk HTS, Professa Gabel, MC Pauze — March 18 at Elbo Room Jack London

[club] WET- THE WINTERWRECK WET B2B FEST ft. Aluvdream b2b Ritchrd, Cherub420 b2b Clearcast, Redbeans b2b Tomu DJ, Tastemaker b2b Farsight, Tom Marsi b2b Bastiengoat, JiaLing — March 18 at TBA

[rock] True Loves, Suzanimal — March 22 at Amados’s

[rock] Son Rompe Pera (Album Release Show), Juicebumps, Body Double — March 23 at the Great American Music Hall

[experimental] Only Now, Las Sucias, Murder Murder, Ani Klang, Leila Abdul-Rauf — March 23 at Elbo Room Jack London

[club] Smartbomb ft. Liv.e, Bored Lord, Stoney Creation — March 23 at Crybaby

Want even more? Join our Patreon to get access to the full Bay Area concert calendar, featuring specially curated recommendations for upcoming Bay Area shows.

White Crate