Album Premiere: Unconditional Arms, ‘Formation’
Jeff Wright of Unconditional Arms So I think it's safe to say we're all in a transition period, right? Both as individuals and as a society? Yeahhhh. That's why the timing for the release of Formation, the new album from Unconditional Arms, could not be more apropos. The Oakland post-rock group has been in a constant state of transition since its inception ten years ago. And, IMHO, post-rock is the perfect music for self-isolation anyways — it's almost scientifically engineered for deep introspection and emotional catharsis (I don't want to count the times I've driven around in the [...]
Band Art with Megan Badilla
We’re always interested in artists whose collaboration with the music industry goes beyond the realm of typical. Artist Megan Badilla has had her hands in a lot of different projects in the Bay Area and we had the pleasure of sitting down and speaking with her. Badilla is a California-raised (shout out to Salinas!) and USF-educated lady who has lived in San Francisco the past several years. She feels very enamored with the music and arts scene here, and it shows through the many connections she’s made throughout the music and arts world. We chatted about the types of work [...]
Band Art with Annie Bacon
“This album was all about centering connection, which is what I see as my purpose as an artist.” Annie Bacon’s folk rock has touches of Ani DiFranco and Joan Osborne but with more twang and the power of modern messages. Bacon wrote the songs off her second album, Nothing Stays the Same, over the course of a couple of years. Much of this album was created in 2016 after having visited Nashville for the first time. “It’s like I got a shot,” she says. Nashville was a place where everyone was writing and playing music; the industry felt like such [...]
Band Art with Cody Blanchard
“I like surreal art that doesn’t take itself too seriously,” says Cody Blanchard as we discuss the vaguely disturbing but wonderfully intriguing images from books like Shel Silverstein’s Falling Up or Grimm’s fairy tales. Blanchard mentions the work of Hieronymus Bosch. “I like that dark and silly and surreal work....the idea from Dadaism: taking really ordinary, everyday objects and mixing them together in surreal ways.” Blanchard, the well-known guitarist and vocalist for Oakland’s beloved Shannon and the Clams, creates art in many realms outside of his Clams stardom. In addition to his solo music career as King Lollipop and just [...]
OMCA celebrates 50th anniversary with a hella big birthday bash this Friday
Since the headline pretty much spells it out, we'll just give you the important stuff on OMCA's hella big birthday bash: It's Friday at OMCA. Free admission. Music. Food trucks. Drinks, games, birthday card making, custom fortune cookies, dance party, Destiny Arts Youth Performance, Kev Choice Ensemble and DJ D-Sharp. Galleries and exhibitions are open past the usual bedtime (a.k.a. 10pm) and to get you warmed up for it, OMCA has curated together a special Spotify playlist featuring Bay Area classics, like Tower of Power's "You're Still a Young Man", The Pointer Sisters's "He's So Shy" and other tunes from [...]
Band Art with Jesse Rimler
“The idea isn’t to draw a specific musician, but to capture the feeling of making music.” It’s always exciting to find a multi-faceted artist: The writer meets musician meets illustrator. It was that very combination that drew us into the world of Jesse Rimler. Firstly, if you’re lookin’ for a good time, I suggest you plunk yourself down in front of a Jesse Rimler comic book. His work is funny, relatable, intimate, and wonderfully illustrated. Creeper, Rimler’s latest work, features a curious boy who gets kicked out of the house by his asshole older brother, leaves the semi-suburbs of San [...]
Band Art with Harry Nordlinger
What first caught our eye about artist Harry Nordlinger was the album artwork he did for San Francisco band Schlotman. Earlier this year, the band released their first LP and asked Nordlinger to design the cover art. “They asked for something to do with birds and I could make the rest of it up. And I came up with this four-paneled, surreal idea.” Animal Glamour by Schlotman Nordlinger creates art for bands and venues all over the Bay Area. Among his favorite venues to design for are Bottom of the Hill, the Chapel, and Elbo Room, and he takes inspiration [...]
Audium 11 coming this fall
Audium, a sound-sculpture theater in San Francisco, has announced the premiere of their latest composition. This is the second composition from father-son duo Stan and David Shaff, with a design installation from visual artist and dancer Ryan Elisabeth Reed in the gallery space. The latest composition, Audium 11, will explore the theme of gathering. From our everyday motions to subconscious worries hovering to the surface, Audium 11 will incorporate urban sounds with abstract electronic twists to uncover the complex layers within all of us. Just as past compositions, the performance will be done in complete darkness, as Stan and David [...]
Celebrate “Interdependence Day” in Jack London Square
This July 4, the free annual “Interdependence Day” block party is back at Jack London Square! Produced in partnership with Oakhella, Youth Aid, and Field of Verge Alliance, the Interdependence Day Block Party is a time to celebrate the many cultures that create Oakland and our country. Field, one of the organizers, says, “It’s a time to suture historical disconnects to help us unite in new, positive ways, and celebrate the confluence of our livelihoods, identities, futures, and our pasts.” The all-day celebration will feature multicultural programming across music, dance, art, and food. A variety of buskers will be located [...]
Gray Area Festival merges art, music and technology from July 25-29
Photo: Mariah C. Tiffany Since 2014, the Gray Area Festival has brought art, music, design and technology together through its immersive conference and experiences at San Francisco's Grand Theater. 2019 marks the fifth year in a row and this time, the festival brings virtual and augmented reality plus immersive, sensory installations into the fold. The ISM Hexadome, brought from Berlin's Institute for Sound and Music, coupled with robotic exoskeleton performance Inferno cross-pollinates the analog with the digital for an experience, quite unseen before. The Gray Area Festival is multi-day event with opportunities to capture their events individually or through an [...]