"How long will they mourn me?" Tales of the Town shouts the deeply Black history of Oakland
Plus more new Bay Area music from La Doña, Juanny Depp, Maria Jose Montijo, Sour Widows, Tomu DJ, the 1981, and a superduo of Hannah D’Amato and Rob I. Miller
Wanna have a dance party? In your living room? Next Thursday work?
One of the grooviest house producers in the Bay, Moto Tembo is joining me for a couple hours of deep house and dance perfection next week on Lower Grand Radio. Join us at 8 PM PT on Thursday, November 3.
Peace,
ronny
HOMEGROWN TRUTHTELLING
“As my generation is forced to move out of the Town to find housing and some of the further cities like Antioch, Stockton, Tracy, and Modesto, the people that contributed to a culture here in Oakland aren’t even going to be here anymore to talk about these stories.” — Delency Parham
Quote taken from ‘Tales of the Town’ is a love letter to Oakland’s Black history, a new piece in Oaklandside sharing the back story to a new compilation album, podcast, and multimedia project created by Parham and Abbas Muntaqim to tell a century’s worth of Black history through audio, film, photos, and music. Though only a half hour long, the EMPIRE-assembled compilation is packed to the brim with substance, poetry, and bone bare truth told by many of the best in Bay Area hip hop: Mani Draper, Rexx Life Raj, ALLBLACK, Kevin Allen, Pallaví aka Fijiana, 22nd Jim, JANE HANDCOCK, G-Eazy, P-Lo, LaRussell, Guapdad 4000, Shy’an G, Ian Kelly, and so many more.
FUNKY CUT, SPOKEN CLARITY
For a brand new hip hop diamond, check out Bryce Savoy III. Though he now resides in Los Angeles, Bryce Savoy was raised in East Oakland—and you can hear it all over these tracks. Tapping into old-school G-funk as much as hyphy, the new EP blazes through three perfectly cut and polished hip hop tracks that provide the setting for Savoy’s storytelling from his life in the Bay and beyond, making sure you know he’s a rapper with a meaningful mission: Alongside four other Black men native to Richmond and Oakland, Savoy created The Black Neighborhood, a nonprofit inspired by the Black Panthers to provide Black people with “the knowledge, resources and tools to become productive, stable and self-sufficient members of the community.” Good for the head, good for the world.
CHIPTUNE-TWIDDLED SOUL
“Making this EP taught me how to feel again after years of being an empty shell of myself. So I hope when you listen to it, it helps you feel something too.” Opening with a monstrously bassy, cinematic, vaporwave-tinged opening sequence, Sunsets doesn’t initially seem like it’s going to be a heartfelt R&B album. But the debut EP from Mountain View-born, East Bay-based artist Sunday Soleil is just that, exploring personal stories and emotions in an atypical sonic boundary between glitchy chiptunes and sparse soul arrangements. From the melancholy yearning on “Worlds Collide” to the thumping heart beating within “Treasure Chest,” the work instantly transports you into the artist’s emotional consciousness.
MORE SELECTIONS
“Mañanas Tristes” by La Doña ft. Fernington
corrido, latin, San Francisco
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Whisper Swish by Flex TMG (Hannah D’Amato of Fake Fruit and Rob I. Miller of Blues Lawyer)
pop, punk, disco, Oakland
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DIRTY XXX by JUANNY DEPP on AMOR DIGITAL
dembow, latin, reggaeton, San Francisco
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“Realismo Mágico” by Maria Jose Montijo
alternative, electronic, latin, Oakland, Puerto Rico
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“I-90” by Sour Widows
alternative, rock, San Francisco
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NB021 by Tomu DJ on NO BIAS
club, dance, electronic, San Francisco
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Polaroids by the 1981 on Dandy Boy Records
indie, pop, rock, Oakland
LIVE
Our top show recommendations for the coming week:
[hip hop] Full House(s) Show (in support of the empty house tax in SF) ft. Stunnaman02, Gunna Goes Global, Frak, Afterthought, AlienMacKitty (A.M.K.), Baghead vs. Will Randolph V, and DJ Jenset — Oct 28 at Bottom of the Hill
[latin] La Doña — Oct 28 at Bandcamp Oakland
[hip hop] Hyphy Halloween ft. the Federation, Sake One, Whatsupalbert, JBUK — Oct 28 at Crybaby
[experimental] Talk Show, Cel Genesis, Realware, Infinexhuma — Oct 28 in San Jose
[rock] Duster, Sour Widows — Oct 28 at the Chapel
[classical] Reicha Society performing Reicha and Beethoven — Oct 29 at St. Paul Lutheran Church
[club] Third Harvest ft. Tomu DJ, Fiera Ferari, Faited, Kilbourne, Adonai, DJ Shadowban, and Taraneh — Oct 29 at Oakland Warehouse Renegade
[rock] Drugdealer, Reverend Baron, Nico Georis performs A Rainbow in Curved Air — Oct 31 at the Chapel
[r&b] Spellling, Spacemoth — Oct 31 at the Independent
[r&b] Satya, Shavon Moore, August Lee Stevens — Nov 2 at Cornerstone Berkeley
"What if I was just experimenting and feeling and making things?" Interview with Oakland sound artist Briana Marela
