New Year’s Eve is funk’n jam packed in the Bay Area
(photos: Estefany Gonzalez, Kate Haley, Ria Burman) This New Year's Eve, prepare for more music than you can handle. As we mentioned previously, December 2019 is uncharacteristically loaded with excellent music. Funk'n jam'd, if you will. The weekend leading up to and through New Year’s Eve especially is full of heavy funk, jam, and spirited rock that will satisfy any music aficionado's dancing fever. Especially for a Tuesday. Keep your calendar handy: Several acts have multiple nights of music planned, giving you more opportunity for less FOMO — and with multiple sets of music, you might be able to do [...]
Review: The String Cheese Incident “Shine” at the Fillmore
The String Cheese Incident at The Fillmore (photo: Joshua Huver) For those who haven't heard, the String Cheese Incident are the six piece Colorado based jam-grass pioneers steeped in EDM. 2019 marks the band's 25th anniversary together. Beginning Wednesday, October 2 and continuing through October 5, the String Cheese Incident (or SCI) performed two sold-out performances at the Fillmore in San Francisco and the Fox in Oakland. The pair of performances on Wednesday and Thursday were spectacular, carrying plenty of weight. SCI hadn't performed in that room in over 20 years. The last time they did was a three-night run [...]
Review + Photos: CAKE + Ben Folds at the Shoreline Amphitheatre
Ben Folds (photo: Joshua Huver) The second act of the wildly successful 2018 tour featuring '90s indie legends Ben Folds and CAKE stopped at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View last Friday, September 13. Last summer's tour of the Midwest and East Coast saw the co-headlining duo turn out one of the highest grossing acts of the summer according to Pollstar. The show opened with the Boston-based electrofolk multi-instrumentalist duo Tall Heights. Guitarist Paul Wright and cellist Tim Harrington. Unfortunately, while I did not make it to the show in time to catch their act, a mention was warranted because it won't [...]
Video Premiere: E.G. Phillips’ “Lighthouse at the Edge of the World”
(photo: Andy Strong) The creativity that blossoms out of San Francisco often feels unparalleled in variety and, in some cases, density. Local resident and singer-songwriter E.G. Phillips is one such creative that wholly embodies that varied creativity. Not only in his own output, but also by going out of his way to include fellow artists to join him, be it at an open mic, on his record, or at unique birthday celebrations. In early 2019, Phillips released an album called At Home At Sea with the aide and encouragement of producer Ben Osheroff. The impetus for the entire record comes from the [...]
Review + Photos: Madlib x Freddie Gibbs at 1015 Folsom
Madlib and Freddie Gibbs (photo: Joshua Huver) On Sunday, September 8, world-class beat-maker and hip-hop producer Madlib and rapper Freddie Gibbs hosted a sold out and sweaty night of bumping beats at 1015 Folsom in San Francisco. This marks the first return to the Bay Area in over a year for Madlib. The duo have been on the road performing in random corners around the country more than they have been touring proper, nonetheless supporting their second full length LP Bandana. The second in a planned trilogy, Bandana follows 2014's Piñata with the planned conclusion Montana merely a distant calendar point in the future. [...]
Review + Photos: Iron Maiden at Oracle Arena
Iron Maiden (photo: Joshua Huver) On Tuesday, September 10, the world infamous English heavy metal band Iron Maiden crawled through hellfire to shake the Oracle Arena through its core. Led by the trademark galloping of founding bassist and principal songwriter Steve Harris, Iron Maiden features a remarkably similar lineup to the band's heyday throughout the 1980s. The triple guitar threat of Dave Murray's inspired blues-rock legato sweeps, Adrian Smith's choice melodic chord voicing and the largely improvised hard rock lead of Janick Gers come together for a cacophony of sound. Drummer Nick McBrain is a monster on the drum kit. Relentless double-bass [...]
The Wood Brothers at Terrapin Crossroads
The Wood Brothers love the San Francisco Bay Area. Evidenced as much by their second two-night run in the area in less than six months. They play two nights at Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael tonight, August 20 and tomorrow August 21.That previous two night run, a smoking hot tour closing weekend at the Fillmore, was just announced last week as the official live album, Live at the Fillmore. The brothers Oliver and Chris Wood enjoyed immense critical and popular success individually for well over a decade. Oliver cut his chops in the R and B funk group King Johnson [...]
Review + Photos: ALO at Moe’s Alley
ALO (photo: Joshua Huver) ALO, or Animal Liberation Orchestra, the four-piece funk-jam and feel-good groove machine from the San Francisco Bay Area “blew out the walls” of Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz, CA on Friday night. The two-set deep-dive through their catalog (including brand-new additions) served as an excellent warm-up to their headlining set at the Petaluma Music Festival on Saturday. While the band came into what it is today while students at UC Santa Barbara, their friendship began as middle schoolers just over the hill from Santa Cruz in Saratoga, CA. Throughout the set they reminisced on growing up around [...]
Review + Photos: Lauren Wahl and Simply Put debut new album at Kuumbwa Jazz
Lauren Wahl (photo: Joshua Huver) On Saturday, August 3, Lauren Wahl & Simply Put left a raw and energetic set on the stage at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center. The band celebrated the full-length debut album Field Notes with a standing-room-only show and several guests. Ironically, Simply Put is hardly that. The band is a rotating cross-section of the Santa Cruz music scene and constantly evolving upward. Beginning as a busking duo with fiddler Mariah Roberts, Simply Put was a personal, free-spirited and fun release for Wahl. But with Roberts' encouragement, she continued to dig in and go for it. Not everyone that [...]
Tommy Alexander brings new record with three area shows
(photo: Joshua Huver) Tommy Alexander, the college baseball standout turned troubadour, released a brand new album last week. The album, baby you're blue is a collection of songs new and old. Alexander has been road-testing most of them since 2016, including the title track. He'll be playing a ton of local Bay Area dates in support of the record this August. The tour kicks off on Thursday, August 15 at Bottom of the Hill here in SF. On Saturday the 17th, the band will be playing the bar at Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael before shooting down the coast. On their way [...]