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Yousif Kassab on August 9, 2017
This year marks the tenth edition of the Outside Lands music and arts festival, which means it’s just short of its big double-digit anniversary. The festival isn’t saying goodbye to its prepubescent years without a fight. The lineup this year is full of artists with albums of new material to play—with the likes of Solange, Gorillaz, Little Dragon, A Tribe Called Quest (R.I.P. Phife Dawg) and Fleet Foxes all making appearances. Metallica and The Who will be there as well. … You know, as the chaperones. Continue reading »
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Yousif Kassab on August 9, 2017
Music is typically a pursuit for the ears, but some songs occupy a time and place. Just as the olfactory sense can bring back vivid memories of things past, music has the power to transports listeners to new places. Los Angeles producer Mndsgn (pronounced “Mind Design”) conjures smoke-filled rooms and dimly lit house parties with his spacey R&B and jazz-influenced compositions. His latest LP, Body Wash, is a magenta-tinged, 16-track journey into a psychedelic bubble-bath. Continue reading »
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Yousif Kassab on August 9, 2017
Some music is just universal. No matter what kind of day you had, or how subconscious you might feel, once you hear it you have to move. The work of Seattle producer Sango falls in this category. His newest project, De Mim, Pra Você is a combination of baile funk and light trap, informed by years of tinkering with and sampling Northern Brazilian funk sounds like the ones found on standout track “Que Nada.” His set at The Ritz will likely bounce between these influences and a more laidback, hip-hop inspired sound like the one found on single “Dance for Blessings.” Continue reading »
Generations before the fantastical cast of characters from the Harry Potter series captured the imagination of America, the British were worming their way into our collective consciousness through rock & roll. From The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks on to Oasis, Blur and Pulp, our allies across the pond have been exporting amazing tunes for more than half a century. Few appreciate these blokes more than Silicon Valley songwriter David Brookings, who will perform a set of Britpop covers before an outdoor screening of Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone on Saturday night.
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Camille Miller on August 4, 2017
Latin Grammy-nominated DJ Dusty’s trap inventions are a tribute to life on the Southern Texas border where Latin music history and the infinity of MPC sampling collide. The producer’s bass-heavy dance music is a tropical soup of Tejano classics, Chicano soul music, classic rock, and hip-hop that beckons to his roots in the coastal city of Corpus Christi, Texas. A pioneer of the cumbia electronica genre, Dusty is all about mixing up samples and people, often collaborating with Latin artists across the globe. In 2015, he was hailed as one of Rolling Stone’s “10 New Artists You Need To Know.”
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Yousif Kassab on August 3, 2017
Famed guitarists and songwriting duo Rodrigo y Gabriela have been doing this for awhile. Across their 17-year career the rock and new flamenco players have released five studio albums, performed at countless festivals and even played a set for Barack Obama during his presidency. Their self-titled sophomore LP was just re-released with a pair of unreleased tracks. So the two will likely draw from that for much of the show. The album includes well-known renditions of “Orion” and “Stairway to Heaven,” by Metallica and Led Zeppelin respectively. They will be joined by singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur. Continue reading »
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Camille Miller on August 3, 2017
Things are still up in the air when it comes to The Echo Mountain Boys, a young bluegrass trio that released their first album in May. All we know for certain is that a banjoist, guitarist and demonologist bassist have vowed to dismiss worldly concerns and play music instead. The result is Demos—a three-song set of fast-paced fiddling and quick country vocals that attest to their old-time talent. This acoustic spasm of American roots music is coming live, with guest artist Nomad on the solo guitar. Continue reading »
There’s nothing quite like a BBQ to enjoy the summer swelter, so I thought I’d invite some folks over to enjoy the day. Enter my good friend’s husband, who, since having two kids back-to-back, has not seen the outside of his house except to go to work. Not a minute went by without one of his baby-free hands clasping a frothy beer or one of my famous old-fashioneds. “Pace yourself,” I told him. “It’s only 4.” But this guy putting out a grease fire in his throat. By the middle of the party he was rocking back and forth like a boat in a storm. I thought I needed Dramamine because the guy was making me seasick. Beer splattered with his every step, bits of food flew with every word he slurred, corn on the cob turned into corn on the coffee table. Plates were knocked over. Glasses toppled. Even on his way out, he accidentally crushed the antique shoe rack I bought at an estate sale. “I’m so sorry about my husband,” his long-suffering spouse offered on her way out, a baby on each hip. “I didn’t think I’d have a third kid to babysit today.”
I Saw You is an anonymous “man on the street” column. Email your rants and raves about co-workers or any badly behaving citizens to [email protected], or send to 380 S. First St, San Jose, 95113. Submissions should stick to about 100 words.
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Camille Miller on August 2, 2017
The longest-running touring music festival in North America, the Vans Warped Tour, is returning to Shoreline with its annual dose of punk, metal, hardcore, screamo and a sprinkling of electronic and hip-hop. American Authors, a four piece New York band best known for their hit singles “Believer” and “Best Day of My Life” will be there, along with post-hardcore band Silverstein and Christian metal band blessthefall. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Veteran acts, including Sick of it All, Strung Out, Adolescents and Hatebreed are also on the bill. Continue reading »
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Yousif Kassab on August 2, 2017
Visual albums can be unforgiving. They generally take an exponential amount of time and effort to create compared with their audio-only counterparts. And with the exception of Prince’s Purple Rain and Beyonce’s Lemonade, few such efforts have succeeded in pulling in viewers beyond an artist’s core fanbase.
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