Hey. Welcome to Under The Stars, where we talk about San Francisco music: past, present, and future. A column that presents new music releases, upcoming shows, opinions, and other adjacent items. We keep moving with the changes and thinking outside the margins. We’ve been doing it for about five years. Thanks for hanging with us. Let us get to it.
INTROSPEKT, “THE TRANSMISSION” FROM MOVING THE CENTER (TEMPA)
When it was announced that the New York-based artist Introspekt would be releasing her debut album on the once-defunct Tempa imprint, it signaled all the authenticity co-signs one could muster. And it was the unofficial official declaration that “Brostep is dead.”
Out on June 20, Moving The Center pays homage to the South London roots of dubstep while also course-correcting the damage done by those out-of-control, obnoxious productions that the genre got tagged with the “brostep” stink for a while back. Introspekt, known for her UK Garage acuity, turns down the wonk and increases the bass. Lead single “The Transmission” tells a good tale.
Pre-order here.
KELLY FINNIGAN FT. RENALDO DOMINO, “KEEP ME IN MIND” (COLEMINE RECORDS)
Let’s speak facts. Kelly Finnigan has been putting in that work, knocking tunes fresh out of the box with that vintage old-school goodness. That soulful analog feel that makes you want to shake when the spirit hits you. I dare you to roll through the Lone Palm on 22nd Street and not hear a Monophonics cut while sipping your afternoon away. Those Bay Area roots stay connected.
This time around, Finnigan, along with Renaldo Domino on accompanying vocals, knocks the dust off of “Keep Me In Mind,” a track first recorded by the Buffalo, NY duo Samson & Delilah and released on ABC Records in 1967. Finnigan’s production, similar to the first, is a grit-and-groove showcase with an animated horn line, making this mid-tempo stomper a single that will have dancers reaching into their get-down bag for some cold-crushing moves. With that lockstep rhythm section and the two voices working the bejesus out of some type of Sam & Dave wizardry, the tune has legs, ankles, and most importantly, that stuff.
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Grab it here.
TUNE-YARDS, “HEARTBREAK” FROM BETTER DREAMING (4AD)
“Making art in this day and age for me is a battle for focus; we’re in an age of interruption,” says Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards about their upcoming sixth album, Better Dreaming. The Oakland-based duo, who stay proactive with what they preach, are known for their film score and composition work, including the Boots Riley film Sorry to Bother You and the TV series “I’m a Virgo.”
They continue that collaboration with Riley on the upcoming NEON feature, I Love Boosters, starring Keke Palmer, LaKeith Stanfield, and Demi Moore. This dedication to art by local artists, and just watching the way they move, speaks directly to who they are. With lovely earworms such as “Heartbreak” and the video directed by Garbus, we can look forward to a project that elevates.
Pre-order here.
JULIA MESTRE, MARAVILHOSAMENTE BEM (MR BONGO)
Need a quick shot of ’80s disco, arranged with love and nostalgia, leaving the irony someplace else? Julia Mestre turns in an album’s worth of homage to Donna Summer and Sade’s vintage arrangements, complete with softened hues and a sophisti-pop mood.
Mestre, the Brazilian polymath, has nostalgia on her mind, and it’s suited to take us to the max.
Pre-order it here.
NOW, “IN PATHÉCOLOR” FROM NOW DOES THE TRICK
There is a crisp brevity to the album liner notes of old. Newfangled bands of the digital age sometimes capture that talent. Take, for example, what some peers are calling the “coolest” band in San Francisco. Maybe?” I like what NOW, William Smith (Cindy), Hannah Forrester (Thunder Boys), and Oli Lipton (Cindy, Violent Change) manufactured for a descriptor in their Bandcamp notes section. Check it:
Now is a DIY recording and performing pop group from the SF Bay Area with a predilection for ’80s UK cassette culture, pulp novels, beat groups, glamour, and B movies. Shattered to perfection.
That shows vision. Here’s another zinger: Now slips their hand into the pocketbook of modfathers without being nicked by nostalgia. God, that’s good.
Shows more vision. And pleasurably complements their mod-forward visual for “In Pathécolor” which, as a song title, also hits a couple of the cool points as well.
Dang. Maybe NOW is the “coolest” band in San Francisco? Maybe?
Check for yourself and pre-order here.
BUZZED LIGHTBEER AT KILOWATT, FRI/2
Let me put you up on game: Buzzed Lightbeer is a San Francisco band that is always on everybody’s lips. I’m serious; on a random night at Benders, Rickshaw Stop, GAMH, and even The Chapel, I’ll be talking to a bartender or running into friends or people I see at music shows. About ten minutes in, I get: “Yo, you check out Buzzed Lightbeer yet?” And of course, I have to say no, because I have not.
There are two—wait, three things that indicate they are worth all the water people are carrying for them. One, their videos are the shizz. They are. Two, when bartenders talk about bands, that’s real. Because bartenders hear a shit ton of bands, so if they dig ’em, that’s real. And third, this band got interviewed by PLAYBOY MEXICO, where they talked about the importance of representing the underground and queer scenes in music. Dammit, I gotta see this band.
Grab tix here.
