White Crate — Dec 25, 2020
Were you one of the millions getting hyphy to E-40 and Too $hort's Verzuz?
Happy solsticetime fellow space apes! And Merry Christmas to those celebrating.
The music world is naturally quieter this week, so the biggest thing that happened in Bay Area music was probably the Verzuz battle last Saturday: East Bay hip hop legends E-40 and Too $hort gave a musical history lesson on the popular web series where R&B singers and rappers battle by performing hits from their discographies. Nearly three million people tuned in.
If you missed the Verzuz like me, you can watch the replay on Apple Music. I would’ve loved to watch the stream live, but I was having a little backyard BBQ with my cousins. Coincidentally, we were listening to another kind of Bay Area music from another time: An impeccable funk/soul/r&b mix from 1993 by well-loved SF DJ Cameron Paul. I’d never heard his name before, but now I can’t wait to learn more.
- ronny
THAT NEW NEW
Floppy Disk, the sister label to Oakland’s In-N-Out Jungle, issued its first release, a limited edition flexi-disc featuring “In Orbit”, a hardcore breakbeat track by M27. For more jungle from In-N-Out and M27, check out The Secret Sauce Ep.
Jazzman Wax is based in Spain, but I had to share his great deep house track “San Francisco” featured on the BEST OF 2020 compilation and available as a free download today only from Valencia-based theBasement Discos. The track was originally released in April on THE MISSION [TBX019].
SF-born, Atlanta-raised rapper Larry June released Numbers, a new mixtape with features from Emeryld, Jay Worthy, Monroe Flow, and more. Now based in SF, June says his style is a fusion of influences from the west coast and Atlanta.
Mysterious techno producer Selim X of Vaguetracks released an hourlong piece titled FULL MOON REFLEXION, available only on Bandcamp for $21.21. An ambient piece by the artist was previously released on LIGHT BEINGS VOL. 2 by SMARTBOMB.
Another artist previously featured on the same SMARTBOMB mixtape, Oakland producer 4D released Breakbeats and loops Vol.1 (bsides and singles from 2017-2020), a collection of unused but worthwhile beats, ahead of their upcoming project in vertigo.
MAY HAVE MISSED
Back in May, Oakland duo Night Sea released Still, a gorgeous ambient dub techno album following in the footsteps of greats like GAS (Wolfgang Voigt), Dettinger, and Rhythm & Sound. It’s one of my favorite albums of the year.
Just before their Verzuz battle, E-40 and Too $hort released a “bundle album,” Ain’t Gone Do It/Terms & Condition, featuring Mistah F.A.B., G-Eazy, and Freddie Gibbs.
Earlier this month, SF producer Mister REY dropped laidback beat tape wonders&mysticisms, “inspired by grief/loss.” Good listen all the way through.
Virtual Dreams: Ambient Explorations in the House & Techno Age 1993-1997, a compilation released by Music from Memory earlier this month, includes two pieces by SF artists from the 1990s. First: “Flurescence,” a mostly beatless seven minutes of nature-tinged ambient techno by Spacetime Continuum (aka Jonah Sharp), taken from Fluresence E.P. (1993) on Sharp's own Reflective Records. Second: “Sunshine’s Theme - Sunshine’s Remix,” an eight-minute trip hop jam by Dubtribe Soundsystem originally released as a 12” in 1994. (h/t Conifold)
Earlier this month, KQED published The 10 Best Bay Area Albums of 2020, featuring Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, Kronos Quartet, Dougie Stu, and more.
CLASSICS
If you can get past the “pornocore” skits and lyrics—or, hey, maybe you’re into that—the first project from Kool Keith's alter ego Dr. Octagon features fire contributions from Dan the Automator and turntablist DJ Qbert. It’s one of the Bay’s best hip hop albums from the 1990s.