John-Paul Shiver
John-Paul Shiver has been contributing to 48 Hills since 2019. His work as an experienced music journalist and pop culture commentator has appeared in the Wire, Resident Advisor, SF Weekly, Bandcamp Daily, PulpLab, AFROPUNK, and Drowned In Sound.
New music: Jeff Parker’s ‘Suite for Max Brown’ is jazz for a digital world
The concepts which evolved into Suite For Max Brown, prolific guitarist Jeff Parker's tribute to his mother, were engineered during his fall 2018 residency at the Headlands Center for...
Noise Pop’s latest round showcases newcomers
Earlier this month Noise Pop, the annual independent music festival that takes place in San Francisco the week of February 24-March 1, announced its fourth wave of performers. With...
Comedian Moshe Kasher’s ‘Crowd Surfing’ album mortifies, delights
Packing 10 tales of embarrassing scenarios involving everyday people caught in tawdry situations, Crowd Surfing, the new comedy album from Oakland native Moshe Kasher sees the self-proclaimed "Phil Donahue of the...
New Music: Werkha strikes dance floor gold with ‘The Rigour’
Widespread critical acclaim on releases from Yazmin Lacey, Kaidi Tatham, and Children of Zeus made underground and mainstream heads around the world acknowledge First Word Records in 2018. For 16 years this London-based imprint has...
All Ears: 17 music releases to look forward to in 2020
Between embargoes and secret release dates that see artists dropping projects when a Twitter trend is to their benefit, it's a little perplexing assembling a strong list of music projects that...
New music: Orion Sun brings winter warmth with ‘Ne me quitte pas’
Here we are, dead-ass in the January winter of a new decade. Maybe at the brink of war? And the future, like clockwork, Googles up a new vessel of artistic creation...
For thriller ‘Uncut Gems,’ an electronic soundtrack of erupting chakras
Daniel Lopatin, AKA electronic musician Oneohtrix Point Never, teams up with directors Josh and Benny Safdie a second time to deliver a supernaturalistic score, which documents the inner dreams of the sociopathic New Yorker dirtball Howard "Bling" Ratner—whose...
LA producer Elusive steps into a fidgety ‘Ambient Void’
For his 20-plus year career and the latter part of this decade, Elusive—the Los Angeles based producer—has remained steadfast about that work.
Making music with like-minded creatives who understand experimentation...
Our critic picks 2019’s Music of Note
There is no through-line to this 2019 Music of Note line-up. Just honest music that runs the gamut of progressive soul, breakbeat mayhem, a couple of sublime DJ mixes,...
Burger Boogaloo 2020 announces killer lineup
Alice Bag, who fronted first-wave LA punk band The Bags and appeared in Penelope Spheerisʻ eye-opening 1981 documentary The Decline of Western Civilization, adapted to modernity by blogging and...
