Here at 48hills, we see this as a watershed year for Bay Area music. The quality, attention to detail, and unique verve that’s infused the collective music scene with fresh, weird, and banging ideas, right here? Yep. There are no trends, friend. Just waves. So, buckle up.
Jittery electronic, wiry groove frequencies, indie guitar-driven projects, retro mystical side projects, punk manifestos, lo-fi buzz dreamscapes—our creativity is always shifting, so there’s no way any type of evil SkyNet AI interference could completely compromise Bay inventiveness. Never has, never will.
Here are the projects that we had in our local ear:
SPACE GHOST & TEDDY BRYANT
Space Ghost aka Sudi Wachspress is a staple in the Bay Area dance music scene, and ever since the launch of his Peace World Records imprint, more and more people are starting to get it. Space Ghost & Teddy Bryant teamed up this year for the Majestic Fantasies album that shines a light on late ’80s and early ’90s sounds that possess that swing. Through the prism of R&B, UK street soul, house, and g-funk, both artists polish up what seems to be back in the cultural zeitgeist these days—but for the discerning listener, it never went out of style.
ORCUTT SHELLEY MILLER
Orcutt Shelley Miller is a San Francisco-based avant-rock trio comprised of three highly celebrated figures of experimental music: Bill Orcutt (Harry Pussy), Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), and Ethan Miller (Howlin Rain, Comets On Fire). That’s how they describe themselves. But one listen to this self-titled, five-track instrumental manifesto that breathes and bleeds punk meets big rock pomp and grandeur, you hear jam-band gold and moonlit punk coexisting in your earhole. It’s the stuff ole Neil Young was crazy horsin’ about all these decades ago.
Magnificent.
RAVEN
San Francisco artist Raven‘s GNOSIS release rewards patient listeners with ambient views, settling into its patterns before the album’s beats materialize through drum machines and handclaps. But don’t be misled. “Unlimited Edition,” the second-to-last song here, gets into the ether with chewy bass lines you’ve been patiently waiting for and step-to-it directives, through bouncy refrains.
SPELLLING
Oakland’s own SPELLLING dropped Portrait Of My Heart this year, a release that saw them double and triple down on the rock aesthetic thing, and within this presentation, it moved with swift intent. This being Chrystia Cabral’s fifth album, the ideas, a specific cohesiveness not just afoot—more like, it’s blaring. Wilding-out R&B, that flips into rock and then metal that somehow all fit tidily within the SPELLLING universe. That’s a place in space more and more people want to be.
LATE ASTER
Just one listen to “Ctrl-F Discipline” by the San Francisco experimental electronic duo Late Aster composed of Anni Hochhalter and Aaron Messing? You’ll be hooked. Again and again and again. The song name is a hat-tip to the magical qualities of the DIY-friendly recording device from the late ‘90s, the TASCAM Portastudio 414 MKII. It delivers lo-fi resonance characterized by an omnipresent buzz, creating this charming, warm hiss that’s hard not to like.
Also understand this: Both landmark debuts by Portishead and De La Soul were recorded on a TASCAM 242. So it’s safe to say that magic is built into the machine, no matter the project.
Late Aster’s debut full-length album City Livin’ is said by the group to be “a nod to lo-fi ambient and hip-hop,” but I hear freestyle, bedroom dance-pop, and groove-based synth jammers that give an off-woozy type atmosphere: head-nodding for days. The album’s title was chosen after the lead track itself was created, inspired by the song’s gravitation around a monochromatic core that represents active motion, the vibrancy of a downtown, and the inner workings that keep its inner mechanism ticking.
SPIRITUAL CRAMP
These Spiritual Cramp punks have a hard time saying goodbye, too. That’s the inclusive world vocalist Michael Bingham and his San Francisco/West Coast self-proclaimed punks travel, sing, yell, and even schelp-rock through Clarion Alley on Rude. And it’s joyous, man. We see and hear him totin’ a boombox, breakin’ out those weeble-wobble disco moves in front of the Painted Ladies, lettin’ everybody know 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.
This exciting journey of the fictional Wild 87 radio station, which broadcasts this record through San Francisco neighborhoods, showcases 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.
Trust, I get it. Inclusive punk, especially with a dub-influenced duet with Sharon Van Etten that flosses with wobbly, gelatinous production, before launching into a full-on power-pop chorus?
Spiritual Cramp’s Rude is aiming for a higher elevation.
MAGIC FIG
San Francisco’s psych-pop supergroup Magic Fig has hit time-traveling paydirt. “Flammarion,” the lead single from their debut full-length album, Valerian Tea, is symphonic and harmonic, featuring a full sound palette comprising piano, synthesizers, glockenspiel, organ, 12-string acoustic guitar, and electric guitar.
Vibes in waves for days here, that radiate warmth, eccentricity, and wonderful tactile flow.
The group consists of veteran Bay-area musicians, including Inna Showalter (vocals, mellotron), Jon Chaney (keys), Muzzy Moskowitz (guitar), Matthew Ferrara (bass), and Taylor Giffin (drums), all of whom are members of various bands, including The Umbrellas, Healing Potpourri, Almond Joy, Whitney’s Playland, and Blades of Joy.
bastiengoat
Bay Area producers Bored Lord and bastiengoat are reppin’ The Bay’s electronic music output to the world with a dominant flex. No attitude, not extravagantly flashy in presentation—they are just coming up with that authentic type of thump. Period. This release SAFE I’ve come back to again and again, cause somehow bastiengoat has managed to blend so many things into one special thing. We’re lucky here. bastiengoat’s SAFE, with juke, bounce, South African gqom, breakbeat, and other Black dance styles doing things so subtly, proves it.
MAE POWELL
Folks in the Bay Area were probably first introduced to Mae Powell with her 2021 call-to-action single “Fuck I.C.E.,” a song whose title speaks for itself. Unfortunately, today, like friggin’ right now, it still needs to be cranked to 11. But to hear such a song born out of anger for all the obvious reasons, coming through in Powell’s voice—an audible patina that maintains a casual lyrical jet stream of warmth, whimsy, and acidic humor, even with such a serious topic—is arresting. When she declares, “Call your representatives/Call your best friend, call your racist Grandma/And say, ‘I love you, but something has got to change,’” it’s rendered with poise, control, a paced tempo, and calm delivery. She says later in the song, “You can’t fight hate with hate, it’ll only make it grow” with wizened flow, like she just Instacarted some avocados. But you still get the gravity of the moment and understand that Mae Powell is dead serious about this matter. That’s star power, people.
Making Room For the Light, her debut for the Colemine/Karma Chief imprint, shows she’s a dreamer, lover, and believer—it’s all right there in the title. These 11 songs in 40 minutes allow Powell to teeter, pause, stretch out, and be comfortable telling stories of self-love, nailing the perfect balance of intimacy and vulnerability by way of that free and easy ’70s Laurel Canyon tapestry. She’s got a Carole King pen game, with Bessie Smith-meets-Margo Timmons of Cowboy Junkies delivery, with just a dash of Peggy Lee cool, too.
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: THE FIRST FAMILY: LIVE AT WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL 1967
Sly and The Family Stone served as the house band at Redwood City, California’s Winchester Cathedral from December 16, 1966, to April 28, 1967, lighting up the club with their dynamic, crowd-pleasing performances. The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967 was recorded in the early hours of March 26, 1967 by Sly and The Family Stone’s first manager Rich Romanello. Upon the group’s signing to Epic Records later that year, Romanello put its seven-inch analog tapes into storage, where they sat for 35 years. The reels were rediscovered in 2002 by Dutch twins Edwin and Arno Konings, renowned Sly and The Family Stone archivists, and carefully restored by their co-producer, Alec Palao, for their new release.
The album captures the essence of a transitional phase in Stone’s music where rock, funk, soul, and R&B were merging to create something innovative, yet light years away. He was drawing on his experience of being a radio DJ, Grace Slick’s first producer for “Someone to Love,” his production input for a pre-fame version of The Grateful Dead, back when they were known as the Warlocks in the early 1960s. So far ahead, so early. But it’s still beyond belief what Sly was able to do with this multi-gendered, racially mixed band lineup. One “so future” (to quote Andre 3000) that moved fluently from R&B covers to original arrangements, unique with all the voices, energy. Here is early wit and flair from the man Miles Davis feared would one day figure out jazz and put him out of business. It’s mournfully ironic that this unearthed revelation of a lost show would materialize now, but it was indeed a warning shot that a musical riot, never heard before, was about to launch.
STAR 99
STAR 99, a San Jose-based band started during the pandemic, incorporates the right amount of crunch, twee, ennui, and indie-pop to give you all the feel-bads. Add to it a couple of good-on-ya choons, these four friends, who I guess lived in a “disgusting house in downtown San Jose,” have focused their priorities with a ripping release, Garmin, which brings a hybrid genre to the already-inundated fuzz-and-burn alt-rock Bay Area grouping.
