It's party time: WC03 curated by Dani Offline, with support from Cheflee, Azuah, and DJ Mizu

Epic sweeping jazz by SLUGish Ensemble, spacey jazz funk by Jay Stone and Dougie Stu, lofi bedroom pop by Tony Jay on Slumberland, and crooning country soul by Jacob Aranda

We're excited to announce WC03—the third in a quarterly party series curated by Bay Area artists—taking place Saturday, October 7 at our secret sunny Mission back patio.

It is our pleasure to introduce our next curator Dani Offline, a multi-talented singer, songwriter, producer, you name it—she does it all and makes it look effortless. Not just an up-and-coming artist that you need to look out for, she is also an inspiring part of our community and we couldn’t be more excited to highlight her music and her deep connections within the Bay Area’s music scene.

In addition to Dani Offline, we’ll be treated to the atmospheric, soulful R&B of Cheflee, the intensely personal lyrics and lush arrangements of Azuah, and the superior taste and skill of vinyl DJ Mizu.

Sea2Sea will be cooking up flavorful Vietnamese dishes, and of course we’ll have beverages to cool you down during San Francisco’s late blooming summer heat. Make sure you add this to your calendar, the location will be shared via DM during the days leading up to the event.

— White Crate

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MATHY MINIMAL CHAMBER JAZZ

Big and epic sweeping jazz born astride the city’s tallest peak, In Solitude is a new collection of mathy minimal chamber works by the Steven Lugerner-led SLUGish Ensemble. Lugerner—who plays bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, and alto flute on the album—is joined here by five other musicians, bringing to life seven compositions written in isolation during the first year of the pandemic. The music is directly inspired by the place where the compositions came together, in SF’s Miraloma neighborhood (in between Glen Canyon and Mount Davidson), where Lugerner took daily walks during lockdown. Captured at 25th St. Studios in Oakland and released by Slow & Steady Records, these are seemingly simple arrangements but vast in spirit, reminding one of the big name in the space (Kamasi Washington) though the artist specifically name drops west coast rock groups Covet, CHON, and Floral as inspiration.

— Ronny Kerr

SPACE FUNK RAP STEW

“In this moment I rejoice
In this moment I am still and free of choice
Full of breath, filled with noise
To the neck, I stand poised”

Laid out on a blanket of spacey, Roy Ayers-reminiscent jazz funk, Jay Stone flows of internal emotions, self-healing, and love on new album Stone Stu. The “Stu” refers to a stew of concepts: The stew of what we feed ourselves, the stew of sounds that make up the album, and the gumbo-like stew of collaborators, including Lauren Dupree, Anml Plnt, Sandu Ndu, and Oakland-born, Brooklyn-based rapper and producer Nappy Nina. It’s also a cute reference to Stone’s “brother from another” and the album’s primary producer Doug Stuart a.k.a. Dougie Stu, the LA-via-Oakland artist who has previously released his own solo jazz music as well as work with Brijean. Humble, full of gratitude, and brimming with taste, Stone Stu is in no rush and has nothing to prove but the fact of its own nourishment.

Celebrate the album release with Jay Stone tonight at Tamarack in Oakland.

— Ronny Kerr

LANGUID LULLING LOFI

I’m from Daly City. Whatever the vibe of Daly City is, that’s me. So when I hear a new song called “In Daly City” that actually sounds like traversing those long, winding suburban stretches of foggy hills and cracked asphalt, it’s like hearing another side of myself. But this is for anyone into the languid, lulling sound of lofi bedroom pop: Out on Slumberland Records, Perfect Worlds is the latest work by SF artist Tony Jay, current member of Cindy, Flowertown, Al Harper, and Sad Eyed Beatniks as well as former member of April Magazine. There’s no mistaking that it belongs to the sound world of all those bands, a land where sung verses drift and hide in and out of hazy instrumentals, everything awash in a melancholy kind of tranquility. Just one of many possible perfect worlds.

— Ronny Kerr

SOULFUL COUNTRY 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 has had its fair share of fantastic country music albums this year, 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 in Marin County near Novato.

Featuring a dozen-plus collaborators and released by Speakeasy Studios, War Planes is a spiritually inspired, life-affirming new album by Jacob Aranda. Aranda is 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—a longtime contributor to the Bay Area music community. On the new album, he flexes his songwriting ability, crooning of beautiful 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.”

Celebrate the album release with Jacob Aranda at the 4 Star Theater on Friday, October 6. 

— Ronny Kerr

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SHOW RECS

Our top show recommendations for the coming week:

[rock] Jeff Moller, Trudy Monk, Duke II — Sep 22 at Mars Record Shop

[rock] George Jr & the 9/11s, Vivian Panache, UFO Baby, James Wavey, Sunny Acres — Sep 22 at Peacock Lounge

[hip hop] Jay Stone — Sep 22 at Tamarack

[rock] Room 308, Uncle Chris, Peña — Sep 22 at Eli’s Mile High Club

[fest] All Day Music ft. Goodnight, Texas, Richie Cunning — Sep 23 in North Beach

[fest] Ever Higher ft. The Philharmonik, Treasures, The Hot Takes, Tess & the Details, The Helltones, Swiss — Sep 23 at Jerry Garcia Amphitheater

[fest] The Community Garden ft. SWALK, Chulita Vinyl Club, Soul Light Collective, Fuzz & Sway — Sep 23 at Xochi the Dog Cafe

[country] Valerie Ponzio, Miko Marks — Sep 23 at Lesher Center for the Arts

[country] Katsy Pline, Dick Stusso, Cindy, Matt Robidoux — Sep 23 at Eli’s Mile High Club

[experimental] Sounds of Slowing Down — Sep 23 at the Lab

[metal] Nite, Dark Meditation, Darkness Everywhere — Sep 23 at Kilowatt

[punk] The 924 Gilman Lot Party — Sep 24 at 924 Gilman

[experimental] Field of Fear, Blood of Chhinnamastika, Ash Doom — Sep 26 at the Knockout

[rock] Good Reverend, PVJR, In Life — Sep 27 at the Golden Bull

[rock] Blues Lawyer, Whitney's Playland, Sob Stories — Sep 28 at Thee Stork Club

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