Shake your hips to a Latin dance party live album by SF psych rockers Peña
Plus more new releases: Afrofuturist jazz classic by Sun Ra, warmy sunny house by 3kelves, baroque pop by Everyone is Dirty, self-care sounds by ONIKHO, and dystopian goth by Shrinkwrap Killers
Have you seen our coooooool colorful show recs on Instagram?
Well, just so you know, these are really just the tip of the iceberg. If you follow us on Patreon, you can get access to our full concert calendar and see all the amazing shows we recommend around the Bay over the coming weeks. Plus, you’ll rest easy knowing you’re supporting this project, completely dedicated to the local music community.
— White Crate
BOSSA NOVA DANCE PARTY
We all deserve a little treat once in a while, especially if we’re patiently waiting for something really exciting like a trip to Spain or a debut record from latin lo-fi band Peña. That regalito arrived yesterday in En Vivo, a seven song live EP recorded at Hyde Street Studios and performed by Nico Peña and his amazing friends. All songs are sung in Spanish, in one take, and all are originals except a wonderfully psychedelic take on the classic Peruvian Cumbia party starter Cariñito. Having witnessed the buoyant crowd at their Bottom of the Hill show last weekend, I can confirm that these songs translate the unhinged bossa nova dance party that is a live Peña performance. And as hinted earlier, there is a full-length record around the corner. Hopefully this EP will satisfy your thirst for the time being, and please: Shake those hips!
— Elliot Engel
AFROFUTURIST JAZZ CLASSIC
Equal parts science fiction, Blaxploitation, and musical performance with a dose of surrealism, Space is the Place stars Ra on a mission to recruit young Black Americans for a space colony, using music as the vessel. He plays a card game with a pimp called the Overseer in order to determine the fate of the human race, and he opens an Outer Space Employment Agency at a youth center in Oakland, eventually transporting numerous people on his spaceship.
Paul Simpson, Allmusic
Directed by Sun Ra, filmed in Oakland and Berkeley, and starring the jazz legend himself, Space is the Place is a foundational work of Afrofuturism. And like Sun Ra himself, it is a constellation of things. It is a film made in 1972 and released in 1974 telling the fantastical story described above. It is also the name of a 1973 free jazz album by Sun Ra with music entirely different from the film soundtrack. But the soundtrack also exists, and it finally got released in 1993. Now, three decades later, that soundtrack has been reissued as a box set by Sundazed featuring 45 minutes of bonus material on three colored vinyl along with the film on Blu-ray and DVD.
Like the film itself, the soundtrack is a deeply philosophical, cultural, cosmic exploration of Blackness in America and the universe, connecting the past, present, and future through music that is all at once experimental, spiritual, and, of course, jazzy. This is foreground music meant to challenge not just the senses but entire frames of reference and perception, at times dizzying, at times grounding, a procession from the crumbling apocaplyse to infinitely imaginable possible existences. The world is yours.
— Ronny Kerr
WARM SUNNY HOUSE
Whatup Ibiza! Whatup Tokyo! Whatup Lagos! Barcelona and Mexico City! San Francisco, Oakland, yeah, Los Angeles can come too. New York, Paris, London, Munich, it’s summertime, so everyone around the world must be talking about… House music. One of the Bay’s best disco house baes, producer 3kelves this week published HOUZ Edits Vol. 1, a compilation of all five of their edits originally released through Warsaw label Houz. Every track joyous and high-spirited, swinging from the upper 120s to the low 100s, pumping up Lizzo, DNCE, SZA, Kendrick Lamar, and Frank Ocean into the warm and sunny stratosphere. Get it while it lasts.
— Ronny Kerr
DREAMY MELODIC BAROQUE POP
Yet another local juicy alternative band to put on your radar! Lucky for us, they’re performing at the Makeout Room every Thursday in June. Their mesmerizing new album Caramels for Grandpa is a sweet punkish dedication to Everyone is Dirty bandmates’ grandfather: “Holocaust survivor. Cantor. Tailor. Black market hustler. Cruise ship comedian.”
This is dreamy, melodic, sometimes sound-wall-y baroque pop you won’t want to miss. Sivan Lioncub’s vocals are rich as syrup, epically cascading upon a series of strings and guitar magic, backed by a seriously talented rock band. Everyone is Dirty’s unique sound captures the essence of indie rock, folk influences, and whimsical genres, leaving you breathless, nostalgic, and undoubtedly craving caramel.
Don’t forget to snag yourself a limited edition copy of their “Box of Caramels” (12’’ vinyl) as an extra listening treat, and a ticket or two to their upcoming shows!
— Elise Mills
SOUNDTRACK TO SELF-CARE
“The arc of the album represents my journey through loss, love, heartbreak from loss of said love, mental health struggles, and finally discovering a woman inside that just gives no fucks because she’s been through so damn much.”
I didn’t realize this album had a track called “Hypnagogia” until I’d already listened to it a couple times in sleepy, dream-drifting states. Rodeo Pantheon is the first full-length album by ONIKHO (aka Oakland artist Carina Ho), and I personally found it the perfect music to fall asleep to. Not to say it’s boring. In fact, the half hour work is richly complex with layers and layers of sounds throughout, but always adding up to a pleasant gentleness. We originally described the title track, first released back in December 2021, as an “indietronica ice cream sundae for the ears”—and it’s been on repeat ever since. The rest of the album flows from there, and we’d recommend it to anyone looking for a soundtrack to self-care.
— Ronny Kerr
BLISTERING DARKWAVE
“The New Wave Space Punk synthetic superhero(es) Shrinkwrap Killers birth the first entry in a delirious sci-fi saga titled Feed the Clones. A fever dream dystopian exploration into the sentient mind of a machine spiraling to its doom.”
That’s it, that’s the post.
jk.
I just have to add: redefining post-punk in the 21st century is a new beast, and Shrinkwrap Killers from Oakland label Transylvanian Recordings is killing it. As the Cold(hot) War of AI among the lovely leaders of our tech dystopia ramps up, we have more to say about the machines than ever before. Feed the Clones Pt. 1 features blistering, oversaturated doomy guitars cloaked in darkwave garb, accompanied by deceptively mechanical goth vocals. Many of the sounds on this album are reminiscent of a more jaded Gary Numan if Tubeway Army had adopted a metal sensibility in 1979; that alone scratches an itch I didn’t know I had!
— Elise Mills
SHOW RECS
Our top show recommendations for the coming week:
[club] Gerd Janson, Tony Humphries, Nite Fleit, Ritchrd, AUNTEESAM, Bastiengoat, discnogirl — June 9 at Public Works
[hip hop] YUNGMORPHEUS, Fly Anakin — June 9 at Eli’s Mile High Club
[electronic] Synthwoods Campout ft. Joachim Garraud — June 10-11 in the Santa Cruz Mountains
[club] Five Years of Fault Radio — June 10 at 670 & 684 Commercial St, San Francisco
[punk] Low Praise, Juicebumps, Hits — June 10 at Thee Stork Club
[club] Discnogirl b2b DJ Buck, Mars Kasei b2b Jtra, DJ Caro b2b Golem, Tom Marsi b2b Tomu DJ — June 10 at text for location
[latin] Thee Heart Tones, Discos Resaca Collective, Mariposas del Alma — June 11 at St. James Park, San Jose
[alternative] Maria BC, Cole Pulice, Sally Decker — June 11 at Ivy Room
[experimental] Franck Vigroux — June 15 at Gray Area
[club] Capturelight, Skorpion, Corrine, Kinetik, Shibumi — June 15 at Underground SF