White Crate — Dec 18, 2020
An epic Bay Area Verzuz to close out the year, four new cassette mixes from Lower Grand Tapes, and Khruangbin unearths a neglected Santana record.
Hello friends, family, and random subscribers!
Thank you for joining me on this journey. Today, and for the foreseeable future, I’m trying something new. While I’ll continue to post reviews of my favorite Bay Area music new and old on White Crate, from now on these weekly emails will be dedicated to compiling everything from the Bay that has found its way to my eyes and ears.
As always, just reply to this email to send over some amazing local music that everyone should know about!
I also want to acknowledge two important moments in Bay Area music from the past week. First, December 16 marked the anniversary of SF disco star Sylvester's death. This in the same week that composer Pauline Anna Strom was found dead in her San Francisco apartment. Though not a household name, Strom released synthy, experimental new age music under Trans-Millennia Consort, earning her plenty of fans in the underground for decades. The release of next month’s Angel Tears in Sunlight, her first new album in 30+ years, coincides with widening, well-deserved recognition of her work. Truly gone, but not forgotten. In her honor, the newest edition of Tim Sweeney’s Beats in Space begins with one of Strom’s compositions. Rest in peace.
- ronny
THAT NEW NEW
Join the launch party for SF house and techno party promoter-turned-record label As You Like It, celebrating the release of Christina Chatfield’s Ascent/Descent EP, a late-night ode to the 303. Streaming live on Fault Radio on Sat Dec 19 from 6-10 PM PT.
Bay Area hip hop legends E-40 and Too $hort will face off on Verzuz, a web series where R&B singers and rappers battle by performing hits from their discographies. Streaming live on Sat Dec 19 at 5 PM PT.
Josh Cheon, head of SF label Dark Entries Records, recorded an ambient downtempo mix for London’s Phonica Records, featuring tracks by John Maus, Patrick Cowley, Saint Etienne, Aaliyah, and Cocteau Twins.
Lower Grand Tapes, the cassette mixtape imprint of Oakland community station Lower Grand Radio, just put out four releases: The Rich Black Girl (New Orleans bounce), Jungle Referendum (all 90s jungle vinyl), dub Memories (throwback and modern dubs), and Drum Major Instinct (drum-heavy jazz). Typically, these are cassette-only releases, but you can also pick up Jungle Referendum on Bandcamp - All proceeds of digital sales will be donated to People's Breakfast Oakland.
Robert Yang of party crew Honey Soundsystem launched Piece of Work, a new label in SF. Stream two experimental tracks from the label’s first release Heirloom by 羅伯特, aka Yang himself. (h/t First Floor)
Bay Area vogue dancer, choreographer, and performer Sir JoQ provides vocals on the track “Stunna” from Brooklyn-via-Oakland producer Jasmine Infiniti’s new EP Prove It. Read more about Jasmine Infiniti’s special brand of queer, infernal techno here.
Toro y Moi just released a remix of “3 AM” from HAIM’s Women in Music Pt. III (2020). Also be sure to check out “Ordinary Guy”, one of the best singles of the year.
SF hip hop crew The Watershed is releasing an album through Audio Vandals on January 1. Check out the dreamy, laid back single “Been Here Before”, produced by Baghead, which dropped earlier this month.
Berlin-based label, event series, and monthly radio show Rec Room released a compilation featuring “Usage” by SF artist Xyla: “I've always wanted to release a conceptual dance track, and I think this is such a good example of how many genres - breakbeat, bass, trance, RnB, and even pop music - influence my work.” Also check out her new album Ways.
On their latest latest BBC Radio 1 Residency mix, Disclosure caps an hour of house and classic UK garage with the premiere of uptempo disco banger “Open Up” by Korean-born, SF-based producer 3kelves. The song is slated to appear on an upcoming release by theBasement Discos (Valencia, Spain). In the meantime, check out the mix (song appears around 55:00) and a song 3kelves released in May called “San Francisco”.
MAY HAVE MISSED
In October, indie duo Lunchbox released After School Special, a quick 24 minutes of fun bubblegum pop. The couple, Tim Brown and Donna McKean, have been making records in their Oakland basement for two decades.
Earlier this month, Oakland pop punk band neutrals released a new single "Personal Computing", featuring two songs and five minutes of ironic, catchy post-punk.
CLASSICS
If you’re going to travel the world, what better place to start than California?
Even though Khruangbin touts the international hub that is their hometown of Houston, their LateNightTales mix (which just dropped this month) starts here in the Bay with a track by Carlos Santana, who rose to fame in hippie 1960s San Francisco. Read more.