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 Valentine’s Day abutting ideas.
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…
LOVETEMPO, THERE IS A LIGHT
With the idea of Valentines in the air, my ear intuitively searches for that disco, soul strut. Somethin’ easy on the ears, tantalizing on the feet, and a bit of that reserved stroll to it. And leave it to lovetempo, a Brooklyn-based musician and a former Bay Area multi-instrumentalist to kick off those kinds of Valentine vibes.
Lose your heart to “Never The Same”, his medium stepper, modern disco take that harkens back to instrumental Bobby Caldwell arrangements that never make you sweat. It comes from lovetempo’s forthcoming self-released debut album There Is A Light, out on vinyl in April. On it, Brooklyn-based musician Mattie Safer, of Poolside and The Rapture fame, is joined by in-demand producer/musician Dougie Stu, one-half of the tropicalia-infused ’70s mellow disco duo Brijean. On track “Never The Same”, the two conjure up booming swoon, relaxed sway, and a compelling framework where loft-jazz and subdued 4/4 tempos share a lazy grace.
Pick it up here.
SOENEIDO, JUNGLE GUNS
Words can reap the praise, but it’s music, actual sounds, that will always establish the rep.
As stated in the brief and informative “Six emerging artists you need to hear” DJ Mag feature, Oakland’s Soeneido keeps it a bean about how he began: “I started off DJing between a shitty Gemini turntable and a CD player, and would learn to beat-match by mixing between one record and the CD player.” For anyone who’s ever graced the DJ decks, that’s Soeneido signaling the secret handshake of having “want to.”
This jungle, drum and bass, and breakbeat hardcore artist makes music that’s so future that it’s nostalgic. What do I mean? These days, contemporary drum and bass comes fresh cut with breakbeat flourishes, referencing the early stage of Reinforced Records out of Dollis Hill London, UK (1988-’93) when that imprint was just pressing mostly breakcore records, way before jungle and drum and bass slid into the scene. Today’s punched-up revivalism operates like a snapping cold wet towel on the bare cheeks of snorzeville wannabe jungle. I’m here for it.
You can hear that fierce attack on the savage bass-toned steppa “Jaguar Teeth.” But I urge you to go further down the discovery hole with this artist, starting with his vinyl-only mixes, where you’ll hear him crossing all uptempo electronic music styles with DJ scratches flying about, cutting in and out of gabber, acid house and UKG like it was BPM butter.
Pick up Jungle Guns on his own Bandcamp label LOTEK here and prepare for a 2026 onslaught of releases from this Oakland based, ear-catching artist.
DHARMA, KYSO 004 (KYSO SOUND)
I tend to give uninformed folks the gas face when they refer to “club music” as disposable or common. That divine genre in question—when done with heart—can be enigmatic and just so raw, literally altering your life choices, one night at a time. Dharma, the Sunderland-born producer and host of a London club night, who’s had a serious streak of quality productions released on the R&S imprint, lays out two gobsmackers here: “Up The Pace” and “Oversize”, which play opposite one another. A treat indeed.
The former is a straight-ahead garage burner with equal parts Vox and a warbly bass perfecto combo that will knock in the nightspot and move furniture in the living room. “Oversize”, a drip-drop, tension-builder-type chirpy-bubbler, with Defcon 4 intensity. It keeps you riding those “when is this sucker finally gonna break?” rollercoaster twists.
Ambitious productions here for the sound warriors. Leave the gas face home.
Grab it up here.
TAKUYA KURODA, MIDNIGHT CRISP (FIRST WORD RECORDS)
When this veteran trumpet player and arranger from Kobe, Japan touched down for a four-day residency at Black Cat Jazz Supper Club here in SF, with the Chris McCarthy Quintet last May? Those extended compositions, which fused jazz, soul, and hip-hop, came from Takuya Kuroda’s intellect and hard work. They got just a bit sharper after his time spent with DJ Premier’s BADDER band. Takuya entrenched himself in the NYC jazz scene circa and previous to 2020, performing with the likes of Akoya Afrobeat and one of hip-hop’s most influential DJs and producers. Premier’s influence and acumen traverses through all musical styles.
Premier said, “The BADDER Band project was put together by my manager, and an agent I’ve known since the beginning of my Gang Starr career. He said, ‘What if you put a band together that revolved around a trumpet player from Japan named Takuya Kuroda? He’s got a hip-hop perspective and respect in the jazz field.” For Kuroda to hold that position, it went well beyond respect into the territory of a vision of the future.
Kuroda’s 2022 release Midnight Crisp, recently repressed by First Word Records outta the UK, comes double-barreled with that Premier influence, along with soul, funk, post-bop, fusion, and hip-hop. It bucks a general trend of jazz albums influenced by hip-hop coming off stiff, refusing to push ideas, just satisfied with running the hook, an idea already established.
But similar to Kassa Overall’s CREAM from last year, which converted hip-hop classics into jazz-tinged burners full of new vistas and off-the-cuff vitality, Kuroda is firing off the rip. Playing bars, flowing with his trumpet. None of that stale adjacent biz in the buttermilk; just jazz notes flying in the park. It’s what made his affiliation wth DJ Premier paramount. We will keep an ear and eye out for the next time Kuroda hits Black Cat, but in the meantime, revisit this on-point statement of purpose.
Grab it here.
MEKU, DUCK!DEM (OFF BEAT)
No sleep till Manchester. That’s all the wobbly bass bits of vibe-wise directive rollin’ from this newcomer’s EP. OFF BEAT, the cutting-edge UK bass, UK funky, and post-dubstep music label from The Rainy City, maintains that “in yo face” percussive rep, with these four tracks dippin’ and zaggin’ throughout the low-end music universe. It’s “GDZ,” though, that showcases this lineage from post-dubby compositions to new-fangled jungle by way of chopped-up R&B vocals. Listen, every warbled, tension-filled bassline could use a melody or two and a diva, sing-humming to boot, about the post-apocalyptic blues.
Keep your eyes on MEKU here.
I LOVE YOU, WHAT ARE WE?: MAE POWELL, DINNER DATE, CILANTRO AT THE 4-STAR THEATER, FEBRUARY 14
That one day of the year when people go crazy over chocolates in a heart-shaped box?
It can get weird. Back when I worked retail at a local supermarket, I witnessed two tech bros throw fisticuffs over the last bunch of red 12-stem roses in the parking lot at 8:30pm on Valentine’s Day. That’s not the energy nor the vibe you are looking to put back in the world. This year, the 4-Star Theater has you covered with some appropriate, and more importantly, special and unique activities for you and your would-be hunnybunny.
Mae Powell, the Bay Area-based singer-songwriter with sunflowers in her heart, leads a Valentine’s Day bill called “A Sweetheart Special Valentine’s Day Show” that asks that timeless question “I Love You, What Are We?” A Bay Area mantra, right? The event features Dinner Date (f.k.a. Secret Secret), a collaboration between four friends who grew up in San Francisco. They penned that earworm-jammy that politely told Elon to get the eff outta Cloud City.
Rounding out the bill is the band Cilantro, an alt-indie rockband from San Francisco formed around the songs of singer/guitarist Mars Wagner.
All of this, plus the opportunity to buy your hunny (or yourself) a last-second vinyl record next door at Tunnel Records. Now, that’s super-sweet.
More info here.
