We don’t do this that much, or often enough, here at Under The Stars, but let’s take a chance once again. This is the inspirational edition. What does that mean? Each entry here is either influenced by something from the past or has the potential to be an avenue or boulevard of inspiration for someone in the future.
It’s Under The Stars, baby. Let’s go! But first…
The ebbs and flows of what makes music journalism pop in the 21st century remain a relentless game of catch-up. I can’t imagine Lester Bangs, Nelson George, or even Cheo Hodari Coker back in the day adding this blog or that newsletter to their main gig.
Because the gig was the gig.
But hey, things change. Human Behavior. Be humble. Father Time remains undefeated, always.
I’m always impressed by writers who can consistently shape a theme, like weekly. That type of stuff doesn’t really happen organically. Yet, in the midst of putting this column together, the idea of being inspired by someone or something else started to develop.
Doing YouTube research for Brandee Younger, a rare and new-to-me Prince track popped up of him jamming/rehearsing/working out the ’80s cut “You Are In My System.”
That track was made famous by the group The System circa ’82 and then reworked by Mr. Robert Palmer around ’85 or so. I always dug it, and preferred the original, but Palmer for sure put his funk stink on it too. Both tracks? Black radio staples, despite Palmer’s cultural appropriation of the track.
It still hit.
But to find this Prince version, which may or may not be new to the record nerds—and indeed, I am talking about my DJ friends—sparked this thing in my brain: Everyone is influenced by somebody. It reinforces the notion that even at our most singular, siloed 2026 version, we’re always being influenced. And that’s a beautiful thing.
[Not to belabor John-Paul’s excellent point, but this killer 1998 remix of The System’s release by Kerri Chandler has been popping up again in deep house sets—revived after DJs turned on a lesser 2023 remix. Is that reverse influence?—Marke B.]
Let’s get into the column, folks…
BRANDEE YOUNGER, UC THEATRE, SAT/25
Grammy-nominated and 2025 Doris Duke Artist Award recipient Brandee Younger, the harpist from Hempstead, New York, has a resume that reads like an astronaut’s. The musician, composer, and educator is rightly celebrated not just for doing something generational, such as redefining the harp in jazz, classical, pop, R&B, and hip-hop. Yes, her excellent albums include Gadabout Season and Brand New Life, which won a 2024 NAACP Image Award, and she has collaborated with Common, Pete Rock, and Lauryn Hill. But it’s her impact, which is explosive for such a young artist, that has brought a newfound superstar energy back to the jazz idiom for the harp.
That mission is summed up in a quote she gave to Smithsonian Gateways about one of her many projects. “People often associate the harp with Celtic or Western European classical music, but it’s one of the world’s oldest instruments, and its presence spans the globe.”Simply put, with that focus, she’s 110 percent dope. Grab tickets for the UC Theatre show here.
MOS DEF, THE ECSTATIC (RHYMESAYERS)
Yasiin Bey, the artist formerly known as Mos Def, was missing out on fans getting real close to the follow-up to his career-breaking full album Black on Both Sides. Arriving 10 years later, which can be two lifetimes in hip-hop years, The Ecstatic came in fully formed and highly reviewed, but the momentum had waned. In the same way De La Soul’s catalog was not to be found digitally until a couple of years ago, this Mos Def release, with producers Madlib, Oh No, and the late J Dilla, disappeared from official Internet channels in the streaming era.
Rejoice: The Ecstatic, originally released on Downtown Records, will return in physical form, including a 2xLP that comes with a 120-page hardcover book and 7′ of bonus tracks, “The Size” and “The Tournament.”
The reissue introduces Bey’s work with Minneapolis imprint Rhymesayers Entertainment. In a partnership with Qobuz, Bey will allow his release to be located on a streaming platform known for high audio quality and fair pay-per-stream for artists. Plus, we get reminded why this emcee is regarded as one of his generation’s greatest.
The tapestry of music that includes jazz, soul, and Middle Eastern inflections, with Bey’s witty lyrics and quick mind working effortlessly, is a needed project. A proper example of when creativity and intellect fuse in the right way. You can find the physical reissue here.
THE CHUTES, “SCRAPING THE LAST BITS OF LIGHT” (DANDY BOY RECORDS)
From the visuals to the voices, there is twee regionalism, jangle-pop care, and genuine sweetness emanating from the first single by The Chutes, the San Francisco-based husband-and-wife duo of Kenny and Erika Calderon-Turner. Both veterans of the Bay Area hardcore scene, they’ve opted for project artwork from a vintage postcard and a retro-video feel for their first single, “Scraping the Last Bits of Light.” With ’80s college rock distinction and a sonic kinship with regional label Slumberland Records, these Chutes have arrived. Pre-order the 7-song debut here.
DIAGONAL LINES, RICKSHAW STOP, JULY 29
When local musicians Galine Tumasyan, Brian Jackson, and Michael Mann met at one of SF’s premier shoegaze club nights, “Cool as F**k,” at the Make Out Room, they realized they all shared a musical obsession, and the trio began writing together. That party in the Mission District, featuring Britpop and shoegaze flavors, has been uniting artists for a long time.
You may recognize the name Galine Tumasyan from her previous endeavor, Seablite, the acclaimed indie pop band formed in 2016 that blended ’80s/’90s jangly “fog pop.”
Seablite called it quits last year. But Galine’s new project, Diagonal Lines, is currently recording their debut album at OX4 Sound in Oxford, England, with Mark Gardener of Ride, and they plan to hit the road with their new material in 2027. They will be supporting Gene Gallagher’s British rock trio, Villanelle (yep, he’s the son of Oasis singer Liam Gallagher), at Rickshaw Stop on July 29, alongside Misfire SD, as part of Popscene, the city’s ongoing showcase for burgeoning British and alternative acts. It should be a night full of new obsessions.
Grab tickets here.
BECK MEETS 19TH & CAPP
Beck David Hanson, known to the world as Beck, is 55. Kinda crazy how life just goes along. Many writers have lamented the 30th anniversary of his shape-shifting indie-twirl record from 1996, ODelay!, with its hits including ’90s radio staples “Where It’s At” and the transformative “Devil’s Haircut”—I kind of dug that one.
While I’m not always the biggest Beck fan, I do think his unforeseen left turn, Midnite Vultures, the ’99 follow-up, where he does in fact pull heavy-duty inspiration from Prince—turning to once again the “hip white dude playbook” move of copping a black thing musically (it’s a trend many have said made half of his career)—always stuck out to me more.
At the time, he said he thought the indie world got a little too serious, a little too political. And hey, maybe we all just needed to dance. Touché, Homie. At the time, I was living in a four-bedroom apartment in the Mission around Capp and 19th, where stuff pops off 24 hours a day, and my all-time favorite housemate (I miss ya, Corey) came home with the Beck CD the day it was released, and having a dance party in her room with her girlfriends all night, shouting the lyrics to “Debra.”
I met you at JCPenney/ I think your name tag said, ‘Jenny.” I cold-stepped to you with a fresh pack of gum. Somehow I knew you were looking for some.
Say what you want about cultural appropriation. But those lyrics? Yeah, that shit is kind of fly; I can’t front. It was real cute and did what music is supposed to do. Move your spirit.
Speaking of being moved, it seems the small screen is reacting to the bazooka year film is having. The absolutely unfounded MJ quasi-lifetime-feeling biopic Michael grossed a billion bucks worldwide. That indicates a lot of folks saying IDGAF about factual storytelling.
I mean, it’s great hearing all those lush Quincy Jones charts in the proper sonic delivery system of a movie theater, and as much as Coleman Domingo does a helluva job as the monstrous Joe Jackson? They got no Janet in this film, people, like Janet Jackson, she does not exist. And as pointed out by a dear friend, ole Quincy Jones here is light-skinned? Fraudulent.
Cheeks, people; this flick is cheeks. But the box office is open for that business, and it’s booming. Leading up to this popcorn-laden summer, it’s the small screen, those streamer shows, that kind of set the pace. Here’s a hands-down binge-worthy one to fire up/revisit in the dog days of July.
“WIDOW’S BAY” ON APPLE TV
Believe the hype! I don’t dig horror; it’s not my jam.
But “Widow’s Bay,” on Apple TV, grinds up comedy, dread, and “Twilight Zone” weirdness into an endearing, reimagined serialized tale that feels old-style and nouveau with every spooky-hilarious episode. British actress Kate O’Flynn, from the very bad Bridget Jones movies, has two of the best episodes in this original series. She straddles that horror/comedy line like a seasoned Sacramento bullrider.
Created by Katie Dippold and set on a superstitious New England island cursed for centuries, the story follows a PR-obsessed mayor (Matthew Rhys) desperately trying to boost the local tourism economy, only for the town’s supernatural legends to violently come true. What the press release summary fails to convey is the care each character receives; nobody here is playing everything for straight laughs, and that makes it a gift.
Get ready for visual needle drops from JAWS, Halloween, and other killer thrillers, crossed with salty New Englanders who’ve known something is afoot.
atmos bloom, EVERYTHINGNESS (SPIRIT GOTH RECORDS)
Assembled on a bedrock of psych-rock, shoegaze, and lo-fi bedroom chillwave, Tilda Gratton and Curtis Paterson—who started as bandmates and seven years later are lifetime partners—have turned big feelings into noodling-esque mid-Cure sounds and melancholic bops for their sophomore release, Everythingness. The life force, chi, rolls over and through by way of guitar arpeggios that deliver charmed drone tension, and sync up with Gratton’s whispery vocals. An album fueled by experiences and moments, Everythingness provides and enchanting voice and mature soundscapes.
I’d love to see them at a local venue such as Rickshaw, The Chapel, or GAMH on a mellow but happening Thursday night for sure. Get Everythingness here.
WHITESNAKE, THREE DEFINING WHITESNAKE CLASSICS (CRAFT RECORDINGS)
Make fun of the big hair, gaudy videos, and the overall large grand scale of the music biz in the ’80s; there was a lot of collaborative inspiration going on. Such as Michael Jackson admitting to Daryl Hall that the thumping intro bassline of Billie Jean was directly stolen—excuse me—inspired by Hall & Oates’ massive hit “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).”
During the recording of We Are The World, MJ confessed to Hall that he repurposed the feel and thump of the duo’s hit, and Hall commended him for getting the essence of the groove succinctly. Or Phil Collins denying that his 1985 hit “Sussudio” (a name that was originally just a placeholder but eventually became his own) was heavily influenced by Prince’s timeless prophecy of the future, “1999.”
But the latest wild story from the camp of ’80s tunesmithing is one from Whitesnake. You know that teased coif, tight leather, unbuttoned shirts, and flashy makeup crowd? Welp, in the mid- to late ’80s, Whitesnake exploded from a popular British hard rock band into worldwide splendor, becoming one of the decade’s most successful rock acts.
The David Coverdale hit-making hair metal factory could not bake a music video without Tawny Kittain sprawled out on the front hood of a Jaguar. Well, it seems that according to American Songwriter, their mid-tempo slow burner “Is This Love” was originally written for Tina Turner.
An admission of feelings, it was one of Whitesnake’s big hits.
Coverdale and John Sykes might have pitched it to Turner if it weren’t for label head David Geffen, who immediately identified it as a keeper. This fall, Craft Recordings revisits that landmark period with vinyl reissues of Slide It In (1984), Whitesnake (1987), and Slip of the Tongue (1989).
You can pre-order three classic reissued Whitesnake albums from Craft Recordings here.
