This mixtape was first published on KQED.org.

From the Dead Kennedys and Crime to Operation Ivy and Green Day — to say nothing of countless pioneering and influential bands — the Bay Area’s punk legacy looms large over the genre. Even today, a wide variety of local bands continue to breathe new life into punk’s many forms, with groups like Joyride!, Los Huaycos, and Butanna offering up vital new takes on pop-punk, skate-punk, and politically-charged punk rock, respectively.

Equally impressive, though, are the sizable number of Bay Area bands pushing punk into surprising new directions. Tiny Head, Acrylics, and Lil Dowager, for example, fuse elements of hardcore to heavy rock, noise, and math rock sounds. Meanwhile, the barely Googleable Toyota has released two collections of songs that are nervy, unpredictable, dissonant and compelling.

Given recent national events, punk rock feels especially important, and this mixtape showcases over a dozen San Francisco Bay Area punk bands with new and recent albums. Whether it’s exemplifying the best of more traditional sounds, or continuing to mutate the genre, all of these bands are pushing punk music forward in new and exciting ways.

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Track Listing

Violence Creeps – “Window Shopper”

Acrylics – “Shame”

Tiny Head – “Tiny Head”

Quaaludes – “Incoming Liberation”

Joyride! – “Center Divide”

Los Huaycos – “Cerebro Vomitado”

Butanna – “Burn It Down”

Lil Dowager – “The Walk To End Life”

Toyota – “RAPIDPROTOTYPE (excerpt)”

Fussy – “Fussy’s in Your Head”

Syndicate – “Partisan”

Straight Crimes – “Yr A Shithead”

Stucko – “Every Person Will Disappoint You”

Cursed Graves – “Focus Up”