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Mike Huguenor on March 4, 2020
“Believe,” the last single by San Jose singer-songwriter Socorra, was a nugget of pure melancholy pop in the spirit of “Dreams,” by the Cranberries. But on Muddy Water, her new EP, the powerful vocalist trades in the alt-rock chord progressions for a bluesy riff pulled straight out of the Mississippi Delta. Has…
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Anne Gelhaus on February 12, 2020
While next month is the fifth anniversary of Drink & Draw at Art Boutiki, this week marks two years since Carlos Velazquez and Alca Ulsan began co-hosting the monthly, all-ages event. To celebrate that milestone—and their engagement—the couple invited Sonido Clash–cofounder Fernando Julian Perez (a.k.a. DJ Tlacoyo), Chulita Vinyl Club–founder Claudia Saenz…
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Matei Predescu on January 8, 2020
Hailing from San Jose, Stickup Kid draws inspiration from other energetic Bay Area pop-punk crews like Green Day. It’s no surprise, then, that they were signed to Oakland’s Adeline Records, founded by the Billie Joe Armstrong, before the record label folded in 2017. Stickup Kid has been gigging since the 2009 release…
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Mike Huguenor on December 18, 2019
Some people come to the Bay Area for a job. Others come for love. Falyn Walsh had a different reason. “I was really into East Bay punk,” she says. “I came to start a band.”
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Matei Predescu on August 28, 2019
For Kendall Sallay and Dirk Milotz, the two core members of Portland-based experimental dream-pop group Starover Blue, home will always be San Jose.
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Erika Rasmussen on August 14, 2019
This pair of Los Angeles-based bands takes two distinctly different approaches to video game music. Super MadNES goes hard, crafting shred-tastic heavy metal renditions of classic console and arcade scores. Deploying twin finger-tapping runs and twinkling synths, they rip through netherworldly scales at a blistering pace as they take on tunes from…
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Matei Predescu on July 17, 2019
At 23, indie R&B singer-songwriter Ian Santillano is shining with artistic potential. Santillano hails from Hayward but is quickly gaining traction within San Jose’s DIY music scene. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist, Santillano’s lush guitar harmonies and bouncy bass lines complement his understated vocals with a waviness reminiscent of contemporary R&B acts like Daniel…
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Matei Predescu on July 11, 2019
Local guitarist and composer Mason Razavi looms large in the Bay Area jazz scene. His critically acclaimed albums and regular engagements with the San Jose Jazz Festival are a testament to his expertise and sensitivity as an artist. Razavi’s latest project, Quartet Plus, Vol. 2, highlights his creativity as a forward thinking…
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Erika Rasmussen on May 2, 2019
For the past six years, comic books and live music have lived in harmony at Dan Vado’s venue. Vado, who founded Slave Labor Graphics in 1986, opened his combination comics shop and performance hall in 2014. To celebrate six years on Race Street, Sacramento band The Gold Souls will bring their seductive…
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Erika Rasmussen on April 17, 2019
The touring production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash Broadway hit is back in the Bay Area, playing at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre through September. For those Hamilton-heads who can’t make it to San Francisco—or simply want to double their dose of Alexander and Eliza—the San Jose Pop Up Choir will perform all the…
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