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.
SPIRITUAL CRAMP, RUDE (BLUE GRAPE MUSIC)
It’s exciting and puzzling, watching punk wiggle in the opening decades of the 21st century.
There is a debate in this past summer’s revamp of Superman, where a very believable Lois Lane, played by the all-gas-no-brakes Rachel Brosnahan, argues that real punk works best when it is rebellious and anti-establishment. Meanwhile, new-school Clark Kent/Superman, played by the Saturday morning cartoon-like David Corenswet, believes that genuine kindness and hope can be the most radical, and therefore punk, act. That wasn’t a narrative I expected from a movie framed around a dude wearing tights and a cape, which made it all the more interesting.
But listen, I am more interested in everything the San Francisco/West Coast self-proclaimed punks, Spiritual Cramp, have to suggest on their radio-ready, mostly mainstream, and charming release, conveniently named Rude.
It’s a total gas watching vocalist Michael Bingham schelprockin’ down Clarion Alley, totin’ a boombox, breakin’ out those weeble-wobble disco moves in front of the Painted Ladies. You see that his heart truly still is in SF, although he had to move to LA in 2021.
So Rude is for sure—100 percent—his sloppy wet kiss to the city he still loves.
Trust, I get it.
But as much as they claim to be punk, the album’s cover art features the band in front of the San Francisco Opera House. This choice of location suggests that they aspire to be considered alongside legendary Bay Area artists such as Sly and The Family Stone, Huey Lewis and The News, Aretha Franklin, The Donnas, and Tower of Power—all of whom have iconic album covers that were photographed in the Bay Area.
Punk? I dunno. Smart? Very.
Now we can delve into the exciting journey of the fictional Wild 87 radio station, which broadcasts this record through San Francisco neighborhoods, showcasing the sounds that Cramp can produce. Vocalist Michael Bingham and bassist Mike Fenton pay tribute to their punk influencers, including the Ramones, Interpol, The Killers, Devo, and Viagra Boys, seamlessly blending influences into their sound, even amid expansive synth washes.
However, the standout moment for me here is a dub-influenced duet with Sharon Van Etten, titled “You’ve Got My Number.” This track features wobbly, gelatinous production, before launching into a full-on power-pop chorus. While this may not fit the traditional punk mold, it certainly signals a band poised for greater success, potentially ready to fill stadiums. Punk or not, I hope Bingham gets to return to The Bay, his home, as many have had to leave due to financial struggles. But one singular thing remains clear: Rude is financially viable.
Grab tickets for their coming home show at Great American Music Hall in March here, it will sell out! Buy Rude here.
NEW DROPS FROM IMMORTAL CREWS
Creating and maintaining a distinct sound and a unique musical identity is incredibly challenging. Particularly one that hasn’t been heard before—and making it thrive is even harder. It’s not about popularity or commerce; achieving sonic resonance is the goal.
Three groups, De La Soul, Lush, and The Pharcyde—who all sound vastly different—exemplify a concept for which many artists strive, but often fail to attain: immortality.
All have new projects—some reissues, some major anniversary releases, and one heartfelt fresh product—that still demand our attention because from the start, all drew from the cultural zeitgeist and, poof, manifested a distinct ripple in music. That’s left them beloved by fans, newcomers, and sometimes, by mainstream culture way after the fact. Not to mention the legions of bands they’ve inspired. So let’s take a moment to appreciate these artists; they remain unparalleled.
THE PHARCYDE, LABCABINCALIFORNIA (30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) (CRAFT RECORDINGS)
This sophomore album is a significant milestone that has propelled many a golden-era hip hop group from great to legendary status. This includes Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, De La Soul’s De La Soul Is Dead, A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory, the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, and Digable Planets’ Blowout Comb.
The Pharcyde’s Labcabincalifornia belongs in this esteemed cohort.
Like all of the previously mentioned, it just moved differently. Originally released in 1995, Labcabincalifornia marked a creative apex for the group. Produced alongside J Dilla, the album called out the false narratives being perpetrated in hip hop at that time with inventive, jazz-adjacent tracks that sounded far and away from anything else previously made by their contemporaries.
You can trace where pop music lives in 2025 to Dilla’s production on this album.
Pharcyde, both then and now, remain hip hop royalty. That Spike Jonze-directed video for “Drop” helped jettison the group back into the Billboard Hot 100 again. Remember, “Passin’ Me By” was already a hit in 1992 from their breakthrough debut, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde.
But the “Drop” remix by The Beatminerz had East Coast radio and era dance floors in fits.
Fatlip, Slimkid3, Bootie Brown, and Imani, who came together as Pharcyde in 1989 in the South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles, made their own path in the midst of the gangsta rap era, and they knew that Dilla, a producer from outside the bubble, could propel them into unknown regions.
In a 2013 interview with The Urban Daily, Slimkid3 revealed that the band linked up with the beatmaker born James Yancey thanks to a powerful mutual connection: “We met Dilla through Q-Tip. We thought Q-Tip was actually JD but he wasn’t. And when we finally met JD he was this short guy from Detroit, always wore his Kangol hat or what have you,” the rapper recalled. “But Tip had brought us this cassette tape, and on that tape was the loop from ‘Runnin’ and from ‘Drop’ and all that. And we were just sitting at Q-Tip’s apartment listening to all these loops and beats man, and the rest is history. If it wasn’t for Q-Tip, we would have never met JD or had those beats. We were kind of like the first ones… we branded that shit.”
Pre-save Labcabincalifornia (30th anniversary edition) here.
LUSH, GALA (2025 REMASTER) (4AD)
How did they achieve that sound? That’s the question many tape enthusiasts, vinyl collectors, and CD lovers asked themselves upon first hearing Lush. The group’s track “Sweetness and Light” features dreamy, hazy guitars and a complex, layered presentation. It has elements reminiscent of the Stone Roses, parts of Sonic Youth, and hints of Slowdive—yet at the same time, it remains singular. From the tripped-up polyrhythmic, pummel-bubble aerospace of “De-Luxe” to the streamlined ABBA cover “Hey Hey Helen,” we have a band that could, if they wanted to, be the darlings of 1980s into ’90s pop music. However, they chose to exist in their own skin, remaining peculiar, enjoying onstage camaraderie, and penning some of the most dynamic guitar pop of their era. They do it all without resorting to the simple, watered-down, sappy-yappy, sugary music that plagued radio at the time. They created pop that is weird and daring, so it resonates today. As a matter of fact, go buy a Beths album; you’ll find it Lush.
This mixed-gender band is celebrating the 35th anniversary of their compilation album Gala, a showcase of their distinct musical styles: indie, shoegaze, and Britpop. This celebration includes the re-release of their EPs “Scar” (1989), “Mad Love” (1990), and “Sweetness and Light” (1990) on vinyl. It arrives at the perfect time, given the post-pandemic resurgence of interest in shoegaze. The collection is available as a deluxe boxset featuring three 12″ records and one 7″ record, as well as in standard LP, CD, and cassette formats. What an exciting moment to elevate this beloved indie band from the 20th century, whose sound remains evergreen.
Purchase here.
DE LA SOUL, CABIN IN THE SKY (MASS APPEAL)
De La Soul’s 10th studio album Cabin In The Sky, released on the Nas-owned imprint Mass Appeal, produced by DJ Premier, Super Dave, Pete Rock, with features by Killer Mike, Yukimi from Little Dragon, Common, Nas, and Black Thought, reflects the times. “There’s a vulnerability in these songs, because everything we’ve been through has brought us to this moment, to this album, honoring what we’ve lost and lifting up what still remains. That duality. That’s life, and that’s De La,” stated Kelvin Mercer a.k.a. Posdnous in the press.
David Jolicoeur, also known as Trugoy the Dove, one-third of this influential hip hop group, passed away on February 12, 2023. In an unusual twist of fate, his passing occurred just as the group’s classic albums were being made available on streaming services for the first time. On March 3, 2023, their discography from 1989 to 2001 was released, accompanied by physical reissues. But Cabin In The Sky serves as a marker of where the group stands today. Trugoy’s voice, production ideas, and spirit resonate throughout the album. With its blend of soulful sampling and modern beats, the tracks mirror the group’s signature style, while pushing its artistry into a valiant, grown-folk region. This makes it fitting for younger fans, helping them connect with De La’s formative period of 1989-2001.
Purchase here.
NIA CEPHAS, COSMICOLOGY (LITTLE VILLAGE FOUNDATION)
West Oakland artist Nia Cephas has released her debut album Cosmicology through Little Village Foundation. Cephas incorporates a variety of influences into her music, drawing from bossanova, samba, Middle Eastern folk, pop, blues, reggae, and jazz. This blend reflects her rich multicultural musical journey.
She was discovered by award-winning blues singer-songwriter Alabama Mike, who invited her to sit in with his band at a Little Village artist appreciation gig in Berkeley. Soon after, Jim Pugh, head of Little Village Foundation, signed her to a deal.
Recorded at Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Studios in San Jose over the course of a year, Cosmicology features standouts such as the funky bossanova of “Frequencia,” a nod to the singer’s Afro Brazilian background, “Autumn Nights,” a reggae ballad with nightime groove, and “400 Years,” a folk rock tune describing the way the effects of slavery resonate today.
Purchase the record here.
KEIYAA, HOOKE’S LAW (XL RECORDINGS)
People say all the time that “you have your whole life to write your first album”. KeiyaA’s debut Forever Ya Girl got all the nods, all the daps, for making new pathways in the journey of introspection; turning R&B, jazz, electronic music, and soul into a new math. After the accolades faded out and the depression floated in like rippling waves upon a beach, KeiyaA took insight from the sounds that were around her at that time; video game influence in her synths and drums, chip tune accents, rendering some real intoxicating panoramic auditory vistas.
All the personal internal stuff happening with this earth-shattering, incredible sophomore album release? hooke’s law is from a Chicago-raised, New York-based artist pulling us deep into the auditory buttermilk. We’ve seen R&B getting abstract—animated, slutty, and slo-mo through various modern arrangements. Is all art political? Certainly, soundscapes can reflect the hellscapes we’ve endured. This playwright puts sound production to extra work, a sign of someone in downright survival mode.
Peep that atmospheric heft in “lateeee”, where that bass needs to be paying rent and sign up for apartment insurance, it puts all the stuff our artist is going through into low-end sub-bass dialect. Oh, it speaks. Understand this, though, KeiyaA, should be on several people’s futuristic R&B production call sheets.
Pick up hooke’s law here.
DIRECTIONS IN STEREO: PSYCHEDELIC EDITION AT 540 BAR, NOVEMBER 28
Join resident DJ Circuit73 at 540 Bar on the last Friday of the month for Directions In Stereo from 7-11 pm. He’ll be queuing up a “psychedelic” astral consciousness for this edition, with special guest DJ Nickeleye on the 1’s and 2’s.
It’s gonna be an all-vinyl variety mix to the max, traveling through various planes of existence, enhancing spiritual awareness and connection with the universe through music, spanning all genres and eras from the past to the present.
So dust off your third eye, align those chakras, and come down to enjoy this human-curated, music-listening event that is manifesting itself in the heart of the Inner Richmond. With local craft beer, seasonal cocktails, quarterly art shows, and vintage pinball machines, it’s a get-centered type of a Friday night.
Oh yeah, no cover.
Get more info here.
SIS AND THE LOWER WISDOM, SAINTS AND ALIENS (NATIVE CAT RECORDINGS)
Jenny Gillespie Mason, who performs and records as Sis and the Lower Wisdom, has announced a new album. On January 9, the Bay Area artist—who renamed the performance project after a collaboration with a larger group of LA-based musicians—will release Saints and Aliens early next year. Pulled from two years of Gillespie Mason’s writing and recording processes, plus collaboration with producer and bassist Dougie Stu, the album moves with post-rock nuance and subtle grace, as evidenced by lead single “Crocus Man”.
Pre-order Saints and Aliens here.
