Under the Stars: Noise Pop phase one beams in Cali power players

Well, hello lovers of music and culture. We are Under the Stars, a quasi-weekly column that stays on message with strong-ass opinions, presenting new music releases, upcoming shows, and other adjacent items. We keep it moving, hustling with the changes, thinking outside the margins. We’ve been doing this for five years… Spend some time with us… and RIP D’Angelo…

NOISE POP FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2026 MUSIC LINEUP: PHASE ONE

Noise Pop’s lineup has been announced for its 2026 Festival, running from February 19 to March 1 and featuring headliners that include Chicago-based rock band Tortoise, Los Angeles’ clipping.—the sci-fi rap trio led by Oakland-raised film star Daveed Diggs, marking their first Noise Pop performance since 2017—and Napa vocalist Shannon Shaw of Shannon & The Clams. 

But that’s just the surface. Once you delve deeper into the off-the-beaten-track shows featuring local bands on stage in alt spaces, and witness crowd-surfing at eccentric mod dives with drinks or shots only known to certain neighborhoods? That, right there, is what makes this 33-year-old festival slap with Bay essence.

With local artists like Oakland’s Veotis Latchison, a vocalist and musician of raw soul, deep groove, and fearless expression, think James Brown meets Anderson. Paak, alongside indie-pop stalwarts Chime School, the solo project of San Francisco-based musician Andy Pastalaniec, who pays tribute to deep cuts of UK indie pop through jangly guitars and melodic hooks. Those homegrown talents, which were also announced in the first drop, get to share the bright lights with the likes of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and DeVotchKa.

Add to it, Noise Pop organizers are inviting Bay Area musicians to submit their work for a chance to play at a venue during the festival. The ever-inventive promoters have teamed up with Seattle-based radio station KEXP, which expanded into the Bay Area last year, for a special competition in which the winning artist records a Live on KEXP performance.

All of these unique experiences take place over 11 days of sweat-inducing shows and fiery performances from quirky jazz groups like SML, or the electronic Turkish-inspired modern music of the captivating Oakland band Beats Antique. Plus art shows, happy hours, film screenings, and secret after-hour parties. And that’s just phase one.

JAY SOM, BELONG (POLYVINYL)

Energy flows in both directions. For every breakthrough, breaking down a wall, eliminating a ceiling, expanding a genre, or successfully entering a field where people who look like you didn’t previously have space—all of that progress takes a toll.

Everybody Works, the non-traditional indie-rock communique debut from Melina Duterte, also known as Jay Som, redefined the genre. Yes, it was ahead. Rizz-stastic; a glow-up. Hollering at the male-dominated genre from one of many musicians leaving a new cultural imprint on not just what indie-rock in 2017 could be, but what it would look like moving forward in the 21st Century. Duterte recorded and produced it in her cozy Oakland bedroom over three “heavily caffeinated” weeks, and that collection of dream-pop, shoegaze, acoustic-folk, and smooth R&B made it accessible, super relatable, personal, and full of heart. It even topped the Best of 2017 lists on all the major music platforms at the end of the year.

Supposedly, the goal for her next album, 2019’s Anak Ko was to blend “Cocteau Twins and Alanis Morissette”—something very introspective and romantic. After fulfilling all expectations for a burgeoning career, she made a move for herself by taking a personal break. Who knows? Maybe going from working in a cafe in Oakland to being a featured name on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and being asked what it means to speak for an entire generation, in just over two years was, I dunno… a lot? Meanwhile, her contemporaries—Mitski, Lucy Dacus, and Michelle Zauner (aka Japanese Breakfast), to name a few—who are breaking down the indie-rock barrier with modernity, like herself, are getting thrown into the media blender. We’re talking mix, puree, stir, chop, and liquefy settings.

The pushback for being groundbreaking became toxic.

But here’s what dope. Jay Som “taking a break” looks like oh I dunno, Melina Duterte cultivating her passion for production and audio engineering, making music with Palehørse’s El Kempner as Bachelor, working on the GRAMMY-winning boygenius album, contributing to Lucy Dacus’ latest Forever Is A Feeling, and joining boygenius as a touring band member. So yeah, a break was more like a reset. Now she’s even based in LA. Linking up with contemporaries and pushing through in one way or another as a collective. Far less toxic.

Belong, aptly titled, feels like an artist relying on her ideas, pushing out all the noise of celebrity, and finding, once again, the joy in creating. Check the opener “Cards on The Table,” an electronic music bopper that slaps in a different genre altogether but still rings in that Jay Som category of inventiveness. Which gets followed up with a power-popper featuring Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eats World that turns out to be an underlying theme of the album “Float, don’t fight” we get a pop-obsessed version of Jay Som that has some retro Police moves, innit. Which again are cross-ups nobody would really expect on a Jay Som album, but we’ve been through this before.

Son. Let Duterte cook.

“Appointments” (Jesus this is my fave, the Jay Som I’ve missed all these years, sorry got excited) arrives at the midpoint between Elliot Smith and twangy roads. Like that ending scene in Good Will Hunting, when he’s in that car that definitely is not making it 3000 miles to California, but we’re all still floating, still fragile, all human. It’s a vibe. Assuring us Duterte still possesses all those closed-door personal moments that can just melt the bejesus outta your heart, the quieter she gets. Star power can’t be taught. She conveniently shuns it, but that can’t be ignored or denied when arrangements, songs, and production acumen align to churn out heartfelt arrangements such as this. Man, she’s back, sooooo back.

Here’s what’s also dope. She reminds us that Jay Som, aka Duterte, is a studio rat. Comfortable making music, being behind the boards, mixing, diluting, and adding to alchemy as evidenced by the breabeat, pitched up vocal little ditty “A Million Reasons Why”, that flickers like a fading lamp until the tenderness runs out of gas. For as much as she has front and backloaded this release with high-level talent, it’s the songs where it’s just her that are interesting, almost as if the pressure is off to make something pop., which is why (maybe) Paramore’s Hayley Williams is here for the mid banger “Past Lives”, which works. But gimme those stolen moments, those quiet moments, the ones she took six years off to find again. That’s the Jay Som nobody can beat, nor impersonate.

Pick up Belong here.

NAS WITH SYMPHONY, NOVEMBER 05 AT BILL GRAHAM CIVIC AUDITORIUM

You might think that after three decades, with a fully celebrated career not only in hip-hop but also as an actor, performer, timeless poet, and rhyme master (I just saw him in the Billy Joel documentary on Max this summer), Nas would slow down. Not so fast, my friend. Illmatic, his debut album from 1994, is a certified five-mic masterpiece, according to the legendary platform The Source magazine, a groundbreaking hip-hop glossy that covered hip-hop culture when mainstream music magazines didn’t think it would be profitable. 

That quickly changed. 

His bars are so legendary that Denzel Washington, arguably the best actor on the planet right now, used his lyrics in the recent Spike Lee film “Highest 2 Lowest” in a penultimate scene, acting with ASAP Rocky. It wasn’t in the script, which is why Denzel went rogue and surprised everybody. For those keeping score, Denzel generally doesn’t quote Emcees. But, it’s Nas, Mang. That’s weight.

The heavily anticipated Nas and DJ Premier joint album is looking to be released sometime around Christmas, which will make fans exhale, finally. So when Nas performs with the National Symphony Orchestra at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, attendees should be ready for the movie soundtrack experience of his debut, Illmatic — a feat that only an Emcee with a three-decade career could bring to life as an orchestral piece. You can surmise that if he were asked about his non-stop energy, he’d probably quote his song “NY State of Mind”: “I never sleep, ’cause sleep is the cousin of death.” 

Grab tickets here.

YAZMIN LACEY, TEAL DREAMS (AMF RECORDS)

If you were to dial in and focus on one standout quality that the UK singer-songwriter Yazmin Lacey possesses—though she has many—it would be her remarkable ability to get wonderfully quiet and sing just behind the beat. This talent, that knowledge of performance, has been evident throughout her numerous EPs and is particularly highlighted on her 2023 debut album, Voicenotes.

There is a track here on her second and wide-reaching sophomore full-length album, Teal Dreams, called “Grace (ReflectiveDub)” presenting that strength, from this East London native, that’s swirling ever so gently, with that ska, lovers rock, and Caribbean heritage that informs Lacey’s devastatingly affectionate instrument.

I’ve stated before, and I stand by it: Lacey’s voice is reminiscent of a trumpet. It can dance, be muted, or delicately touch all the notes. However, as a vocalist, she never has to raise her volume to be heard. In fact, it’s often the opposite—the quieter she is, the more powerful her frequency resonates.

Teal Dream continues presenting Lacey as one of her generation’s foremost vocalists who can amalgamate all the modish versions of jazz, neo-soul, dub, and R&B with the emotional intelligence of a contemporary blues singer’s brilliance.

It’s no coincidence that the neo-soul multihyphenate, Academy Award-winning director, and musician Questlove is a fan of Lacey’s work. This connection makes sense when you consider his close relationship with the late D’Angelo, as well as the diverse range of black, brown, and beige expressions of neo-soul they both created and explored. It’s a connection that tracks, heavily. We can only hope she makes it to San Francisco soon to give us that trademark quiet cool, so we too can bear witness to this ascending vocalist, and wait in eager anticipation for the next syllable, vowel, or phrase to come.

Purchase Teal Dreams here.

SML, HOW YOU BEEN (INTERNATIONAL ANTHEM)

Here in SF, if you’ve ever been returning from a night of… whatever kept you out until the early morning, you’ve probably passed by Civic Center Park, across from City Hall, at sunrise and observed the peace and tranquility of those who choose to do Tai Chi as golden rays appear overhead. I don’t care how bitter or burnt you may be; that collection of souls, young and old, all races in various modes of peculiar activewear, who choose to start their day in a way that gives them confidence and/or strength that their immediate future will be positive—Mang. 

It’s beautiful. Sobering.

Seeing that Tai Chi, the softer or ambient version, if you will, of Kung Fu, serves as a reminder that the gift is within the movement; it doesn’t have to be amplified with hard or forceful results. Spirituality resides in the flow.

SML—the Los Angeles-based experimental jazz supergroup featuring bassist Anna Butterss, synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, saxophonist Josh Johnson, percussionist Booker Stardrum, and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann—has a new album titled How You Been. This time, they have unlocked or repositioned their superpower as mastering compositions that lean a bit more downtempo—not slow—just juggling what they handle with a lower BPM, closer to a heartbeat, opening a new avenue of discovery.

This makes their second voyage more revelatory without repeating what they’ve already conquered. Listen, the high-energy rhythmic onslaughts are still frequent and cold hittin’, peep the first released track “Takin’ Out The Trash,” we’re back at square one with the full five, pushing rumbling fusion, repetitive meditation, funky highlife grooves put down by the badassery coming from bassist Anna Butterss and percussionist Booker Stardrum, while the remaining three paint the nebula in atmospheric verve.

The album name How You Been gives the breakbeat dynamo, flushed with dissonant guitar accents, peak Herbie chameleonic shufflefoot tempo, circular saxophone atmospheric layers, and a bit of metallic Miles fusion versions, it’s a jam, loaded from tip to tail with ideas about afrobeat and prog-rock making a podcast in the 21st Century. This just rocks on all fours, a burner for sure.

But this time around SML gets the serious groove in the come downs, such as “Moving Walkway” that brings in that morning sun, atmospherics of nature waking up around that moogish drone, the symphonic end of things, remains gazing upward, measuredly, relaxed and gentle. “Brood Board SHROOM” is that Tai Chi in motion, flowing as rhythm, with symphonic bass tones descending in the background, while everything appears to be slow, but hitting all the chakras with a different type of force.

Yeah, that’s some heady shit. In a cold-ass world, maybe being heady isn’t so bad. 

How You Been goes far beyond a simple check-in; it’s a psychedelic blanket that keeps you warm, looking upward. And that’s alright.

Pick it up here. And check them out at Noise Pop above.

CRUCIAL REGGAE SUNDAYS AT GOLDEN GATE BANDSHELL NOVEMBER SCHEDULE

Just about every Sunday from 4:20pm, heh, to 7:30pm at the Golden Gate Bandshell, you can get your cool runnings in order amidst the trees and breeze for no cost. Crucial Reggae Sundays brings free, family-friendly reggae music to the historic bandshell at Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park. Hosted by residents Irie Dole (Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi), Guidance (Infinite Guidance Sound/Nice Up Radio), and DJ Sep (Dub Mission), the day party features special guest live performances and DJ sets every week.

Here is the final month of this year’s season for Crucial Reggae Sundays featuring:
November 2:  Jah Mikey (Jah MikeyOne Sound) with Irie Dole
November 9: Ubuntu Festival (I Am Because We Are) featuring reggae veteran Pato Banton & The Now Generation with Antoinette Rootsdawtah, plus Irie Dole, Guidance, DJ Sep, and many special guests, co-presented with Value Culture  (12 pm-7:30 pm)
November 16: King Jam (Japan) with Irie Dole
November 23: Final session of the season with residents Irie Dole, Guidance, and DJ Sep 

RIP PAUL DANIEL “ACE” FREHLEY, CO-FOUNDER AND LEAD GUITARIST OF KISS

Listen, I grew up in the burbs on the East Coast. Yes, as a family, we went to Brooklyn for all the holidays, catching mad traffic I-95 could throw at any point, no matter how early we hit the road in the Subaru wagon. The fact is, I went to predominantly white public schools. Even with the radio stations in the burbs, if you had one radio station that played “black music,” that means there were three white stations before and after it.

Your ear was gonna hear everything.

With that, I embraced the greatest non-formal education there will ever be: Appreciating all types of music.

Or at least giving something a shot before dissing it.

As a junior high school student in grades 7-9, we held our dances in the sour-milk-smelling cafeteria. Some teachers would hire a local radio DJ to play music that was appropriate for us at the time. Whenever “Beth” by Kiss played, conversations would stop, Dungeons and Dragons discourse would cease, and students would start plotting who to ask for a slow dance. It was one of those songs that everyone recognized; it was time “to dance.” To this day, I still smell sour milk when it comes on.

When I moved to San Francisco, I’d go record shopping on Saturday mornings in the Mission District or the East Bay. This was during the mid to late ’90s, and I noticed that KISS records were everywhere. I picked up their album titled “KISS” just for the cover, which featured the band members in their whiteface makeup. Which. Let me tell ya, always felt weird, but nobody really talked about it. Anyway. Since it was only a dollar, I thought the art, which, yes, seemed a little questionable, would make a great addition to my album collage wall. 

But there was this track called “The Love Theme From Kiss” and I was just like, “Oh, I gotta hear this”, and it turned out to be this little two-minute-and-change rock ditty instrumental that was just so chunky, bluesy, and riffy that it was really asking to be sampled. I never got to the sampling, but it gave me a better appreciation of the whole KISS thing, which, at some moments while growing up, was just a bit exhaustive. But on that track, the KISS Army, let it rip for sure.

Sail On, Ace Frehley.