Noise Pop announces Phase 1 lineup, including local acts Ultra Q, Spiritual Cramp, and more
New music: The official soundtrack to "Rent Check" by Family Not a Group, monstrous doom metal by Kim, and five remixes of Baalti's masala-spiced club music
Noise Pop just announced phase 1 of the next edition of their yearly Noise Pop Festival, spanning multiple venues across San Francisco and taking place over ten days from February 22 through March 3. It’s a citywide musical celebration and a great kickoff to the year:
While headliners Snail Mail and The Mountain Goats are sure to garner the most attention, our focus is on the local acts that anchor this festival to the Bay: Ultra Q, Spiritual Cramp, Chokecherry, The Reds, Pinks, and Purples, and Stephen Steinbrink all appear in this first round announcement, with surely more to follow.
Check out Noise Pop for more information, and consider picking up one of the super limited festival badges, which guarantee access to all shows, even sold out shows if you arrive early enough. We look forward to this festival every year, and are looking forward to the next phase to drop.
Are there any local bands that deserve a spot on the 2024 fest lineup? Let us know in the comments!
— White Crate
THE RAP AND FABRIC OF SF LIFE
“Whether it’s gentrification in San Francisco or what’s happening in Palestine, we see the establishment as people who continue to support the structures that are in place now that will put profit — put wealth, capital — over people’s lives.”
— Baghead, KQED
Family Not a Group (FNG), the super tight community-powered SF-based hip hop crew, just took its friends-and-family-music-making to the next level with the release of Rent Check. The official soundtrack to the web series of the same name (written, co-directed, and starring comedian Mike Evans Jr.) features not just FNG’s 17 members but dozens of other rappers and collaborators, amounting to almost an hour of loving celebration, braggadocio, witty lyricism, social justice, passion, and poetry. It’s a reflection of the series plot itself—and of the lives of many artists trying to make it in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the world. But though the politics and protest of the music sometimes comes front and center (as on “Cut the Stimmy”), it’s usually simply woven into the fabric, just a part of the music like it’s part of life here.
If you ever want to recite the alphabet using the names of underground Bay Area hip hop, here’s a comprehensive list of all the artists featured on the Rent Check soundtrack:
Afterthought
Allura Lex
Baghead
Cartel 360
Cello Miles
CIN
Cynny
Daylite
DJSAY
EaSWay
Frak
Isaiah Mostafa
Grand-O
HMZA.
JaaayStayTrue
Jada Imani
The Jealous Guys
Jordan Huez
Kaly Jay
Lehnen Raphael
Luna the Blooma
Maya Canales
MC Pauze
Mekkzou
Mike Evans Jr.
Mungo Baby
Nic Fury
Ozer
Qing Qi
Rio Westside
R$ire
Serg2x
Sin Q
Slim Collins
Stoni
Stunnaman02
SundaY
Teeko
Tongo Eisen-Martin
Vazh
Will Randolph V
XANUBIS
5iLL
Read more on KQED: How the Web Series and Album ‘Rent Check’ Are Fueling a ‘San Francisco Renaissance’
— Ronny Kerr
BLOOD RED BLUDGEONING
DNA Lounge, 2022. Noise Pop Fest. King Woman headlining. But earlier in the night, in the small room upstairs, a lesser-known trio began summoning their own blood red bludgeoning of sound. It was my first experience hearing Kim, and I’ve since been eager to hear their evolution in the studio.
Nearly two years later, the Oakland band returns with their first full-length album Sir Kim, a doom metal monstrosity worthy of a little hearing loss. Wasting no time, the work opens with the full sound of plodding riffs and elegiac, witchy recitation on “MADAM,” giving way to a screaming plunge into the abyss, the riffs swelling into megalithic pillars. Kim maintains that energy throughout the album—as much as the band’s performance, the production and mixing work stands out, with no accidental noise or thinness here. It just sounds good in the way where you’re not quite sure it can be too loud. Of note: The album also includes a cover of “Jackie” by Sinéad O’Connor, taken from her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and according to the artist the second song she ever wrote.
— Ronny Kerr
SPICY CLUB REMIXES
Mixing up musical masala from Bombay to the Bay, Baalti released five-track EP Better Together in June, crossing Bollywood and South Asian samples with modern, flavorful club sounds. This week the SF-based duo returns with Better Together (Remixes) on London/LA label All My Thoughts, featuring five different producers reheating the tracks and blending in a bunch of new spices.
There’s mesmerizing deep house from Seb Wildblood on the remix of “Kirpa,” stomping bass in the red from SUCHI on the remix of “Spilling,” and cosmic soul-electrifying trance from Tom VR on the “sunrise” mix of “Staying in Touch.” Plus, we can’t fail to mention fellow SF producer Farsight flipping the midtempo junglist “Buttons” into a basement rave-worthy UK garage cut.
— Ronny Kerr
SHOW RECS
Our top show recommendations for the coming week:
[experimental] Mills After Mills: Three Days of Crazy Love — Nov 10-11 at the Lab
[r&b] Liv.e, Aroma, Cheflee — Nov 10 at Cornerstone Berkeley
[indie] Camellia Boutros, The Breathing Room — Nov 10 at Smiley’s Saloon
[club] NO BIAS ft. Qemist, Ritchrd, Cherub420, Trauma Unit, Zero Idea — Nov 10 at Underground SF
[hip hop] DJ Lucas, Sly C, Papo2004, Afterthought, A.M.K. — Nov 11 at Drop 84
[rock] Half Stack (record release), Club Night, Spiral Dub, Flamingos — Nov 11 at Thee Stork Club
[rock] Michael James Tapscott, Mauro Samaniego, Go By Ocean — Nov 11 at DM organizers for address
[experimental] Jon Carr, Free Music, Zekarias Musele Thompson — Nov 12 at Eternal Now
[experimental] Other Minds Festival 27 — Nov 14-19 at Taube Atrium Theater & Gray Area
[r&b] Raphael Saadiq — Nov 14-15 at Paramount Theatre
[indie] Seablite (record release), Supercrush, The 1981 — Nov 14 at the Knockout
[rock] Fearing, Treasvre, Sacred Skin, Vosh — Nov 14 at Great American Music Hall
[punk] Spiritual Cramp (record release), Claimed Choice, Fentanyl, Slugger — Nov 15 at Kilowatt
[jazz] Steven Lugerner's SLUGish Ensemble — Nov 16 at SFJAZZ
[ambient] Laurel Halo, Joel St. Julien, Leila Bordreuil — Nov 16 at the Lab