Win tickets to GRAY/V, a showcase of live audiovisual art and sonic experimentation

Reviews of new music by Outer Sunset (the band, not the neighborhood) and Whine, who opens up for SPELLLING at GAMH tomorrow, Friday, April 4

Apr 03, 2025

Are you a fan of live audiovisual art and sonic experimentation?

Then you should go to this event:

Taking place Thursday, April 17 at Gray Area, GRAY/V features a handful of our favorite musical creators in the Bay across the experimental electronic and hip hop spectrums: Jerod S. Rivera, Elias FS, Cat Lauigan, and Kahj & Versâam.

Interested? We have a pair of tickets to give away! Enter here →

— White Crate

BREEZY ALT ROCK

Outer Sunset is another link in the time-honored chain of bands named after places (see Boston, Kansas, Chicago, umm… America). But it’s also an apt one. For all who know the Outer Sunset neighborhood’s charms, the name says quite a lot: It’s beachy, relatively laid-back, and eclectic. As it turns out, so is the band.

There’s definitely a lot of late 90’s/2000’s alt-rock to be heard in Outer Sunset’s latest EP Soft Glow. But within that framework there are plenty of surprises. The opening title track shimmers into existence, warming you up with hooky melodies and gratifying slow burn. “Saffron” ups the ante with Bloc Party-esque dance rock and is immediately followed with a shift in energy, signaled by slide guitars in the alt-country “Little Johnny.” “Never Enough” is kind of mathy, showcasing the four musicians’ musical chops, riffability, and talent for functioning as a tight, cohesive unit. Then you have “Satellite,” which opens with mellow guitar before morphing into an anthem, ending with a huge chorus and screaming vocal/guitar solo outro.

Can’t resist the breezy, sometimes sunny atmosphere of Outer Sunset? See them perform live on Friday, May 23 at Kilowatt alongside Spaceface, The Breathing Room, Mayya, and DJ n0be at Total Accord 2025!

— Ben Einstein

WICKED TWO-PIECE THRASH

“There’s no new ideas in the world. There’s only new arrangements of things […] Life changes every minute. The world is being created every minute and the world is falling to pieces every minute. Death is present everywhere, as soon as we’re born.” — Henri Cartier-Bresson

Opening with a minute-long monologue by the French photography master Henri Cartier-Bresson is one way to send a message. Especially if the rest of your album is viciously thrashy metal, wickedly crunchy and devouring, yet all instrumental.

Released in February, Guns on Television is the latest full-length by Whine. It’s always impressive when a duo can sound this full and loud: With Marie de Courcy on guitar, Dylan Clevenger on drums, and the two of them playing a bunch of other instruments (including “chains”), Whine’s new album rarely offers quiet reprieve. Instead, it’s shred, shred, whip, whip, whip… In other words, the perfect canvas for finally capturing their practiced chain performance. And for wordlessly speaking to the world’s ever-present balance of life and death.

Also sending a message? SPELLLING, one of the Bay’s local indie icons, who this week kicks off a tour for their new album Portrait of my Heart with Whine in support. Whine sounds so hardcore compared to Chrystia Cabral’s melodious voice, the pairing might have seemed disjointed in another era, but the new album from SPELLLING is decidedly heavier on guitars, especially on the latter half (“Drain,” “Satisfaction,” “Love Ray Eyes”).

See Whine open up for SPELLLING at the Great American Music Hall tomorrow, and then see them cover Dopesmoker in its entirety at the Crown on—you guessed it—4/20.

— Ronny Kerr

SHOW RECS

Our top show recommendations for the coming week:

[experimental] QUEEN BEE RECORDS MICROFEST #1 ft. Jordan Glenn's Beak, Green Mitchell Trio, Wobbly, duo B. vs Liberty Ellman — April 3 at Thee Stork Club

[rock] Thrown-Out Bones (EP release), Waterstrider, Blü Egyptian — April 3 at Rickshaw Stop

[alternative] Asha Wells, Dani Offline, Stephen Steinbrink — April 4 at the Crown

[cumbia] Discos Resaca Collective, Combo Tezeta, Discotera — April 4 at Ivy Room

[rock] SPELLLING, whine — April 4 at Great American Music Hall

[jungle] PROGRAM ft. Jordana, 40split, Discnogirl, sfcowboy — April 4 at Underground SF

[techno] Marie Davidson (live), Josh Cheon, Femmelectric, nonsuit — April 4 at the Great Northern

[metal] Nite (album release), False Figure, Sleepbomb — April 5 at First Church of the Buzzard

[rock] Bob Mould, Craig Finn — April 5 at the Fillmore

[experimental] The Turntable Trio ft. Maria Chávez + Victoria Shen + Mariam Rezaei, Las Sucias — April 5 at Gray Area

[techno] DIGI-DIVAS ft. LSDXOXO, Jasmine Infiniti, Tom Marsi b2b Lonald J. Bandz, Papa Bitch (Papa Xanny b2b Just Another Bitch), DYLUSION — April 5 at the Great Northern

[experimental] Peaces, Danishta Rivero, Aine Nakamura + Kevin Corcoran Duo — April 6 at Battery Wallace

[alternative] Towhead (EP release), Slugfeast, Half Calf, I've Never Been Here Before — April 6 at Oakland Secret

GET TICKETS TO TOTAL ACCORD!

We’re co-hosting an epic celebration of Bay Area music, showcasing amazing local talent at six awesome shows across four of our favorite venues. Get tickets →

White Crate