Techno pop producer Jessy Lanza pursues the hypnotic 4 AM feeling on her new DJ-Kicks mix
La Doña joins San Cha on "Oveja Negra"; ambient techno from As You Like It resident Mossmoss; plus a minor hit from the Summer of Love
When you see tourists videos for going to San Francisco it’s not the same as New Orleans where there’s someone playing music on every corner well, why can’t we do that and put music on every corner, why can’t we be the next Austin, why can’t we be Nashville why can’t we be a world-renowned music city because music drives tourism and people will come for the music.
Good questions asked by Bottom of the Hill owner Lynn Schwarz in a press event with Mayor London Breed as they announced that SF had secured $2.5 million in state funds to fund venues, artists, and infrastructure as part of a new outdoor concert series kicking off next year. I feel like I’ve heard this type of good news about the government saving music venues before, but it seems like the money often gets tied up in bureaucracy. Well, here’s to hoping it’s different this time.
Peace,
ronny
THAT NEW NEW
I made this in pursuit of the bleary 4 AM feeling; the moment when you hear sweet soul-burner vocals with drum patterns that won’t let you go home. There always has to be melody – whether it’s vocal or rhythmic, there has to be something catchy, something joyful and ultimately something that will connect with the listener.
Jessy Lanza is weird. Her album art is weird. Her music videos are weird. And even though she has played sets around the globe, filling up dancefloors with house jams, she always manages to sneak in a little experimental weirdness. She’s also the only person that moved to the Bay Area during the pandemic. That’s pretty weird, but it also means she has automatically become one of my favorite Bay Area DJs. Today, Lanza is the latest artist to release a mix in the esteemed DJ-Kicks series, which goes back to the 90s but has managed to retain its high quality and freshness up to the present. (This year alone, Special Request, Jayda G, and Disclosure contributed mixes.) As with other DJ-Kicks releases, the mix deeply reflects the artist’s unique style, so Lanza’s is centered around house but taps into warped R&B and pop to transform the sound into something seemingly foreign. Immediately danceable, endlessly intriguing. By the way, if you missed Jessy Lanza at Public Works last month (or even if you didn’t), you can still get tickets to see her perform at Starline Social Club on Dec 9.
Bay Area rappers Ant Mays and Zaydo teamed up on the single “No Rush.”
SF indie rocker Carlie Mari released the cute and upbeat track “Yeah Song.”
“Working on myself & healing more everyday.” Still on a streak of singles, LA/Oakland rapper C5 released “Fade Away” featuring Lil Bean.
She wanted me to be a part of it because she really felt a connection with my family when she came up here. We had a party and she became emotional. Half of my family is queer and we’re doing shit that was not typical of a Latino family back in the day. We’re still extremely open, radical, loving, and caring.
La Doña guests on the new ranchera-inspired single “Oveja Negra” (“Black Sheep”) by LA singer-songwriter San Cha. Read more in a full interview with La Doña on 48 hills.
Rexx Life Raj guests on the remix to “King of the B”, a track that originally appeared on 2Heavy by fellow Berkeley rapper Gee Pop.
Alongside Busta Rhymes, Mary J. Blige, Usher, and more, Oakland artist Jane Handcock guests on Snoop Dogg’s new album, Algorithm. She also appears on “Art of Seduction,” a new track from fellow Bay Area rapper D-Lo.
SF-born-and-raised hip hop duo The Jealous Guys released Art of Hip Hop, Vol. 1 on Audio Vandals.
Nearly a year after the EP Summer Quarter, Oakland singer-songwriter Madeleine Kenney returns to celebrate her 30th birthday with the single “I’ll Get Over It.”
Blackrose, Big Aren, and Rayven Justice join Salinas artist SHAHIR on “The End.”
Bolinas-based electronic music pioneer Suzanne Ciani appears alongside Ryuichi Sakamoto, Julianna Barwick, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Skee Mask, Helena Hauff, Sigur Rós, Imogen Heap, Steve Roach, Laraaji, and more on @0, a new ambient and classical compilation album curated by English duo Coldcut. Ninja Tune will be donating their share (50% of net receipts) to three charities: CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), Mind, and Black Minds Matter.
“Meditating on lost epochs, feeble mythologies, and the many deep gulfs in human knowledge and perception.” Oakland composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer William Ryan Fritch released Built Upon a Fearful Void on Wisconsin label Lost Tribe Sound. Somewhere between ambient and classical, the double album was recorded in Petaluma using a wide variety of instruments, including pipe organ, reed instruments, voice, viola da gamba, prepared piano, pedal steel, viola d’amore, and banjo.
3kelves teamed up with Jakarta producers We Are Neurotic on disco house single “Lake Temescal Blues” b/w “Lushness.”
San Ramon’s Ripple Music shared “Hedonist,” the first single from the upcoming album The Ocean by Houston doom metal trio Fostermother. Out Feb 10. Additionally, Rebel Waves Records (an imprint of Ripple Music) released Everything in Sight by Virginia Beach psychedelic rock group Snake Mountain Revival.
Oakland’s Sentient Ruin Laboratories announced The Infernal Expanse by dark ambient-to-death metal band Somnolent. Out December 3.
MAYBE MISSED
Scotland-born, SF-based DJ and producer Mossmoss (who is also a resident of As You Like It) released process a week into last year’s pandemic shutdown. Featuring two tracks—“fever dream” and “sparkling disintegration”—the single is a dreamy soundscape of ambient techno, the perfect thing to play wrapped up in a warm blanket against the darkening days.
CLASSICS
Let's go to San Francisco
Where the flowers grow
So very high
Sunshine in San Francisco
Makes your mind grow
Up to the sky
Released in August 1967—three months after the super famous song “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” by Scott McKenzie—“Let’s Go to San Francisco” is a lesser known single by the Flower Pot Men. A bunch of session musicians led by British songwriters John Carter and Ken Lewis (who had previously provided backing vocals for the Who), the group never had a bigger hit than this: It charted in the top 10 in the UK, Norway, and New Zealand, but #1 nowhere. Perhaps that’s not surprising. It’s a perfectly enjoyable product of the Summer of Love, complete with Beach Boys-like three-part harmonies, but it’s nothing revolutionary. Still, half a century later, I’d be inclined to put it on for a little midday daydream.
SHUFFLE ON
Listen to the Lower Grand Radio mix - Recorded Nov 4.