"The biggest fans of Bay Area music" Watch an interview with White Crate on What's Poppin! Live at The Complex
New this week: Quinn DeVeaux releases one of the best soul albums of the year, Humanhead's morbid harcore punk debut, and our weekly show recommendations
It’s the fate of every content creator: One day, there must be an admin reveal.
Ronny and Elliot, the founders of White Crate, joined What's Poppin! Live at The Complex for a conversation about how we became possibly the biggest cheerleaders of Bay Area music and why we’re so excited about our next event — WC05 curated by Text Me Records — a day party happening next Saturday, July 13 at El Rio.
— White Crate
VIBRANT BLUE BEAT SOUL
Quinn DeVeaux has been a quiet fixture it the Bay Area music scene for the last decade, performing his solo brand of “blue beat soul” while also lending his talents to other beloved groups like the California Honeydrops. All of it pulls from quintessential American genres—blues, R&B, soul and a little bit of country.
Released by Kentucky label SofaBurn, his new album Leisure is handily making it into my best of the year. Vibrant and stirring, the album is classic Quinn, with an exciting pivot in production: It’s got a richer, wall-of-sound style that his other releases typically don’t, and it carries lots of blues and soul hallmarks without being by-the-book. Songs like opener “Very Best Thing” and closer “Holy” both make for a feel-good time with fill-you-up horn sections and organ riffs, but the mournful tone of “Give Love a Try” and unexpectedly sparse production on “I Wanna Know” won’t let you forget the diverse and adventurous musical legacy he has built in the Bay. There’s so much energy packed into this record it almost feels like you are seeing it live.
— Jody Amable
MORBID HARDCORE
Morbid. Grappling among the reeds, looking up at a cold dark sky. Bay Area hardcore quartet Humanhead just released their debut self-titled EP, a wildly rampaging 13-minute sonic fury. Featuring members from SF bands Brume and Disastroid, Humanhead tightly weaves surprisingly dynamic moments—a pretty voice, grungy alt rock stylings, a guitar riff you could almost call gentle—into the expected hardcore punk palette. Like colorful threads adding dimension to a monochromatic fist of rage. Recorded at Sharkbite Studios, it’s a beautifully polished production, no matter how messy the decapitation.
— Ronny Kerr
SHOW RECS
Our top show recommendations for the coming week:
[rock] Double Helix Peace Treaty, Starfish Prime, Preschool — July 4 at Golden Gate Park
[fest] Downtown First Thursdays ft. Cheflee, August Lee Stevens, NAIMA — July 4 at 2nd St and Mission St, San Francisco
[experimental] Horse Lords, Evicshen, Foreign/Domestic — July 5 at the Lab
[club] DTE x EVILGROOVE x VITAMIN1000 ft. Pink Concrete, Are:Gone, Lindsey Herbert, Pleasures, BAD JUUJU, mothbot, Trauma Unit, Vertigo — July 5 at F8
[country] BAY BEATS ft. Laura Benitez and the Heartache, Camellia Boutros, Jose Najera and the Bernal Beat — July 6 at the New Farm
[experimental] SMARTBOMB ft. Standing on the Corner Art Ensemble, Maylee Todd, Musele Project, Zachary James Watkins, Diego Gaeta performs Dakim — July 6 at SFJAZZ
[club] MOVELTRAXX x CLUB TRISTE ft. Big Dope P, DJ Earl, bastiengoat, Mars Kasei, Ani Klang, JTRA — July 6 at F8
[fest] MOSSWOOD MELTDOWN ft. The B-52s, The Mummies, Redd Kross, Pure Hell, Hunx & His Punx, Big Freedia, Egyptian Lover, Go Sailor, Bush Tetras, Gibby Haynes & the Paul Green Rock Academy, Pansy Division, Die Spitz, Wifey, Sheastie Boys, Diesel Dudes, Space Lady, Trap Girl, Gumby's Junk, Baus, Hot Laundry — July 6-7 at Mosswood Park
[classical] SF Symphony ft. Jessica Vosk — July 7 at Stern Grove
[hip hop] TYSF (album release), RBL Posse's Black C, DJ Clayton Williams, DJ Notice, DJ Casanova, DJ Tiff Nasty — July 7 at the Midway
[rock] Beck with the Berkeley Symphony — July 10 at the Greek Theatre