We are Under The Stars people. You know the drill, lovers of music and culture. This quasi-weekly column stays on message with strong-ass opinions, presenting new music releases and upcoming shows, hustling with the changes, and thinking outside the margins. Hop in. And thanks for spending some time with us. Let’s go…
megiapa, “OPEN YOUR EYES,” INTENTIONS (INTERNATIONAL ANTHEM)
Hailing from Chicago’s underground beat scene, megiapa is International Anthems’ latest signing. According to legend, this up-and-comer was heavily inspired by the contemporaneous Low End Theory scene in Los Angeles and by artists like Madlib, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Flying Lotus, and Daedelus. megiapa’s early music was made in her headphones at home, where she stitched together samples in Audacity. When she started playing out, she was one of the few female artists on the Chicago beat scene and was also unique in that world in that she brought a mic to sing over her own beats. Her upcoming debut album Intentions is slated to drop at the end of September, to shining accolades from none other than King Britt (“A timeless journey into the cosmic worldbuilding of megiapa. Omnipresently magnificent!”) Good things seem to be on the way.
Pre-order here.
BLISS FESTIVAL AT PRESIDIO THEATER PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, AUGUST 16
“Reliable” is what immediately comes to mind when thinking about Bliss Fest. In a time when music festivals keep popping up like random shoegaze bands, the Presidio Theater’s Bliss Fest is consistent in bringing local talent to their wonderful green space out back, providing a weekend or afternoon of family-friendly fun at a more than decent price of $25.
Let me amend that description: reliable and rare.
Elliott Peck, one of the most in-demand vocalists in the Bay Area and on the West Coast, will headline this year, bringing his all-in vocal easiness that never sounds put upon. Known for extending her collaborative circle to include blending symmetry with everyone from Phil Lesh and Bob Weir to Stephen Stills and Lukas Nelson—that grade of talent explains why well she’s revered on the home front and internationally.
Peck writes and sings with a gusty, unprocessed realness, using blunt-speak emotion and uncomfortable truthfulness. Her versions of country run through several variations of the blues and not just a blue-eyed version. Similar to last year’s Bliss Fest headllner Martin Luther, Peck is an original who walks her own way. Kudos to the bookers for finding unity between the years, albeit from very different artists. We called this event the gold standard of San Francisco summertime outings for a reason. Come early to catch the opening acts, like the high-energy cumbia of Combo Tezeta and the harmony-focused, guitar-driven Michael Michael Motorcycle.
More info here.
NAS, THE ROOTS, AND DE LA SOUL AT SHORELINE, AUGUST 29
When the world-famous hip-hop band The Roots performs at the end of this month—and in support of wordsmith Nas and the legendary group De La Soul? Expect the rappers in attendance to whip out their phones and tap into their best note-taking apps, because school will be in session at this self-labeled “Great Night in Hip-Hop.” We’re talking Oscar-winning drummer Questlove and the over-50 emcee Black Thought, still a top-five all-time lyricist, running through the group’s discography, possibly the Main Source classic “Looking At The Front Door” (that’s still my shit), and other foundational funk, disco, and feel-good rhythmic workouts.
These superheroes carry mics.
Grab tix here.
THE WOMACK SISTERS WITH THEE SACRED SOULS AND LA LOM AT THE GREEK, AUGUST 15
As the granddaughters of the legendary Sam Cooke and the nieces of Bobby Womack, Kucha, Zeimani, and BG Womack, aka The Womack Sisters, found themselves from an early age being courted by music executives and record companies, most of whom lacked the intellect to link the performers with worthy surroundings.
Instead, industry brass would attempt to mold them into trendy, cookie-cutter projects, seeking to exploit their family name—but apparently, not respecting the wealth of musical history ingrained in their personal DNA. Strange, because with one real quick listen, anyone can hear that these three women have been singing ’60s soul before they could talk.
The ladies also grew up on the road, harmonizing, performing, and seeing what happens behind and in front of the curtain. They were raised to become professionals. So when The Womack Sisters started working for the storied Daptone Records, producer Gabriel Roth (aka Bosco Mann) recalls, “The chemistry was instant and undeniable. For me, it was never about their name. They sang for me, and I just fell in love with their voices. I knew we had to make music together.”
And that’s the secret handshake, an unspoken language that The Womack Sisters and Daptone are working with on this self-titled debut record that feels like a third or fifth release. And I don’t say that lightly. Somehow, Kucha, Zeimani, and BG are channeling a previous era in soul music that moves with the same nuance and polish of a Bobby Womack album, but are still cutting their own trail, making their own name.
From mission statement “My Sisters and Me” to the organ samba handclapping earworm “If I Let You,” which depicts the eager joy of a new love, to the lush two-step directive “If You Want Me,” their debut heralds the arrival of the next generation. It winks at an established legacy, while giving Daptone a shiny new talent to go along with the label’s other up-and-coming vocalist Jalen Ngonda, adding up to a one-two combination Daptone haven’t seen since Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley.
Grab the release here. Get tickets to the show here.
VALERIE JUNE AT THE CHAPEL, AUGUST 17-18
This Grammy-nominated singer’s trademark “pinched vocals” create haunting landscapes that represent all corners of music, and seem to be country-based. That “organic moonshine roots music,” as she calls it, creates a tapestry draped in psychedelic folk, indie rock, Appalachian, bluegrass, soul, and gospel.
But when you hear and see her live, all those classifications disappear. They become mere words. Those crossed-up influences fall pleasantly as rainwater.
Last year, during her performance at The Palace of Fine Arts Theater on a summery June eve, she addressed the crowd, thanking them for coming by, and made sure to mention her love for Muir Woods, how special the trees are, and how they look out for one another and the forest, communicating how magical it would be if human beings could learn from the trees. That organic moonshine sensibility? Sounds like common sense.
Grab tickets here.
KELELA, NEW AVATAR (WARP) & NIA ARCHIVES, EMOTIONAL JUNGLIST (ISLAND RECORDS)
Many folks—like Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Toro y Moi, Helado Negro, Khruangbin, Mitski, Japanese Breakfast, and Phoebe Bridgers—moved into the indie-rock record bin in the 21st century when certain quadrants of the press declared that rock was dead. Meanwhile, Charlie XCX announces the dance floor’s demise, all while chain-smoking Marlboro Reds and singing about… rock.
While all this plays out in the front, we’ve had an alternative back alley where two—count ’em, two—adventurous records have recently emerged, both made by Black women who not only embrace shoegaze, post-punk, and alt-rock climates, but actually use those templates to reach new plateaus.
Kelela’s New Avatar reaches back to her indie-girlie beginnings, when she wrote her first song in a punk house. The lead track “idea1” channels that energy at the top, where she energizes the shoegaze model, turning guitar into a new harmony as she sings, “Pride and delusion hide the solution deep in the ground.” Two songs later, “Goin’ Down” uses guitar riffs to present a “we’ve been doing this too long” tone edged with flat-out despair, while slowed-down breakbeats guide. More of that sadcore banger energy continues with the tracks “outta time” and the soulful melancholy of “against me” bleeding into “crystalize”; these arrangements find kinship with the best versions of Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
Meanwhile, Nia Archives, the English record producer, DJ, singer, and songwriter, has doubled down on new ways to refurbish the past with the oncoming future. Early on, in her kind-of-funny-named new album Emotional Junglist—anyone who knows or has been any type of DJ knows these people (ahem) possess many little and big feelings about music—it sounds like The Smiths are the repurposed source material to throw all those chopped Amen breaks over. It’s genius. With over 15 tracks, there is nary a one that goes past four minutes, an acceleration of the jungle/drum and bass formula.
Nia also produced an emotional little song with Sampha, “Tender,” that has all those grumbly bass tones deep in the background. There are perky, poppy jump-up forays as such on “This Could Be” that feel very Cure-ish, and the serious jungle bish of “Get Me Down” featuring Jorja Smith.
No matter the configurations, Emotional Junglist might not be built for the 3am “rewind my selecta” crew, but the album presents a cool take on drum and bass in 2026, smashed up against some old rock ideas.
Both Kelela and Nia Archives find a way forward by grinding up patterns of the past.
