Music nerds: Under the Stars is a quasi-weekly column that presents new music releases, upcoming shows, opinions, and a number of other adjacent items. We keep moving with the changes, thinking outside the margins.
Let’s get it!
MADISON MCFERRIN AT THE INDEPENDENT, JUNE 2
If you follow the trades, and read the tea leaves after SXSW, one name keeps popping up like weed stores in underserved communities all over SF. Now, I could have told anybody—for free—previous to this year’s most expensivest (shout out to Two Chains) music, tech, and film hot-mess-of-a-week in Austin that Madison McFerrin is not to be slept upon. But you cool hipsters who prefer to buy the sticky icky from Ras Trent, will still wait for the official word to come from a puffy jacket.
But let’s run it:
“She’s like Patrice Rushen doing songs about fighting on road trips, a magnetic performer who’s a decade in and can have a crowd in the palm of her hand, ready to be crushed by each vocal run or devastating turn of phrase,” Vinyl Me Please stated in a SXSW 2023 column.
When this genre-bending singer-songwriter, this daughter of Tha Gawd that is Bobby McFerrin, touches down in June at The Independent for what should be a sold-out show, I’ll be ready for her big bag of danceable instrumentals, vocal acrobatics, and mystical amalgam of soul, jazz and hip-hop brought with the utmost singularity.
Pre-order her debut album here and grab those tickets here.
AUTOMATIC AT THE INDEPENDENT, MAY 2
An athlete’s mettle in sports is measured by their ability to produce when it counts the most. Automatic, a Los Angeles-based post-punk band, came through last September, when California’s power grid was at an all-time high. The group took on the opening slot for The Osees at The Chapel—sweaty dude central—on a fuggin’ hot eve.
I’ve been a fan of this band for a minute: the way its members use synths instead of guitars gives its arrangements a quirky funk feel. After overcoming numerous instrument connectivity issues on stage (as well as the fact that it was as hot as balls) and despite starting an hour later than planned, lead vocalist and synth player Izzy Glaudini, drummer Lola Dompé, and Halle Saxon-Gaines on bass, brought the goods.
This power trio put an entire hall of 400 sweaty, grizzled, unshaven, stinky AF mostly white dudes in a trance, with Glaudini twisting up the magical time-trip frequencies on her trusted Moog Subsequent 25 and the trio ripping through two albums and various B-sides from their brief-but-staggeringly-great discography. Knottily-harmonized motorik grooves took off, conquering a difficult situation.
I can’t say enough good things about this band—I just hope they headline here in San Francisco someday. (((folkYEAH!))) Presents, make that shit happen!
Tickets are sold out, but it’s worth it to get crafty to see them open for Crumb.
ALLAND BYALLO, FILL LIGHT SHINE (FULL BLEED)
At a Bay to Breakers renegade DJ gig on the corner of Divisdero and Hayes in the late aughts, I had a lesson retaught to me. It came via Byallo, who San Franciscans remember as one of the founding members of [KONTROL], the seminal 2000s monthly party at the EndUp that introduced the city to the minimal techno sounds flowing from Berlin and was one of North America’s most respected techno events.
The lot of us (the Mag 7 crew) started around 8 or 9 a.m. on Bay to Breakers Sunday, taking DJ shifts to contribute to the festive morning vibe. Music to stretch by, if you will. Unbeknownst to me, Byallo was listening to my set and actually repeated back to me half of the drum and bass records I barely culled together in the wee dawn hours. Somehow I wedged Tom Browne’s “Funkin for Jamaica” in the midst of some ruff and tumble Ray Keith and Bad Company dark-head anthems, which turned that corner (across the street from Popeyes, y’all) into a whistle-blowing step show for about five minutes. Folks kept coming out of the woodwork, redirecting traffic, making a joyful racket. For a brief shining moment, Divis turned into Brooklyn.
It’s a DJ highlight in my book for sure. Point is … music moves people.
Byallo’s releases over the past couple of years on his Full Bleed imprint have been an ongoing experiment, placing different versions of broken-beat at various tempos and chord progressions. I’m sure that the fact he’s retired from clubland has allowed other sensibilities to creep into the thick batter.
“Reflect, Rotate” on his current Fill Light Shine release is a slow crawl through wobbly organ chords, meandering about those attitudinal basslines, all entering unknown space. Calling it jazzy would be so vanilla for something so deserving of chocolatey praise. The dude, even in retirement, remains fueled by low-end heaviness.
Gwan sir. Pick it up here.
KIRK DEGIORGIO, MODAL FORCES / PERCUSSIVE FORCES (BBE MUSIC)
“Beth El” is a track from Kirk Degiorgio‘s upcoming thumper of a library-music-styled album that I’d call beans on while vinyl digging at a rekkid stow. Simply put, Modal Forces / Percussive Forces is analog synth bombs on one side with funk-fueled, percussive workouts and heavy breaks on the other—Christmas for beat heads, producers, and me. Warm color chords, dusty drums, and all the 1970s font vibes you could imagine.
If you don’t know who Kirk Degiorgio is just listen to “Beersheeba” and you’ll find out. Quickly.
Pre-order here ’cause this will sell out for sure.
VINYL WILLIAMS WITH CINDY, AND R.E. SERAPHIN AT THE CAFE DU NORD, APRIL 16
If you think Lionel “Vinyl” Williams’ music is a trip in recorded form, you’re not alone. Go see the composed soft-focus psych-pop champion from Los Angeles perform live. Odd time signatures propel this aggressive shoegaze performance into ‘shroomed-up territory. All those lyrics about inner revelations mashed together into a Curt Boettcher meets Arthur Verocai shifting bop?
Ridiculous.
Last August, Williams, and his four-piece band brought that energy to The Chapel, kicking off a series of concerts commemorating the venue’s 10-year run of bringing quality and diverse talent to San Francisco on a weekly basis. During the last decade, I saw Chromeo, Seablite, Osees, and many others at The Chapel. Each performance, unique and specific, retained its own distinct beauty—a feat accomplished by few venues, local or national.
But Williams, grandson of acclaimed film composer John Williams, has previously cited the Bay Area’s Once & Future Band as a major modern influence on his music, and played and toured with Toro Y Moi’s Chaz “Bear” Bundick early in his career. His live shows are a fine time for contemplation via the head-nod expressway.
Get tickets here.
PEARL & THE OYSTERS, COAST 2 COAST (STONES THROW)
2021’s Flowerland by Pearl & the Oysters, the LA-based French-American duo of Joachim Polack and Juliette Davis, surged with Brazilian R&B influences, retro accents, and sunkissed tropicalia essence. It blissed the bejesus outta every vinyl groove on the record. Definitely ting-ting.
When they perform at The Chapel on May 31 in support of their upcoming full-length Coast 2 Coast, the mood will be more blue-eyed AOR. Such a night for sailing. With a vocal cameo from Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier on the new album and a new contract with LA imprint Stones Throw, this band is on the rise.
Pre-order the release here and get tickets for the show here. Local acts Mae Powell and Healing Potpourri will be playing in support.
FAKE FRUIT NEEDS WHEELS
That’s right, one of San Francisco’s favorite indie bands—they’ve opened for international alt royalty such as Alvvays, Dry Cleaning, and will support upcoming local legends Deerhoof on May 8 at Great American Music Hall—requires a van to literally keep it moving.
According to their GoFundMe page, after years of touring in a Toyota Highlander or borrowed vehicles, “The Fruits” are “finally ready to buckle up and ask for some help buying a van! We’ve been touring in an unsustainable manner, and with our sophomore record (completely self-funded) under our belt, we really need wheels to hit the ground running.”
Pitchfork described the Oakland band’s debut s/t album, released in April of 2021, as “a whirlwind of biting critique, nervy post-punk guitars, and absurdist humor.” After seeing them multiple times in various settings around The City, I can personally attest to the fact they are a force. Let’s assist them in leading the indie-band renaissance that is taking place in The Bay IRT.
Let’s help our buddies out. Make a donation here.
