Every heavy music fan should know Zulu. On their incredible 2020 EP, My People… Hold On, the LA act mix hardcore with spirituals and performance art, and center the experience of African American women. “As a Black woman, I stand at the intersection of racism and sexism,” Aleisia Miller testifies over hypnotic piano on album opener “Blackcurrant.” A minute later, Zulu explode into an exhileratingly brief hardcore suite spanning blastbeats, beatdowns and breaks that culminates in the album’s title plea. At X-Bar, they’re joined by tourmates Scalp and San Jose’s own Spy, whose 2020 EP Service Weapon is pure dystopia soundtrack.

Zulu
Fri, 7pm, $10
The X-Bar, Cupertino

Munich is far away and plane tickets are expensive. Fortunately for local punk rock fans unable to make it out to Deutchland for the world’s largest beer festival, the X-Bar is throwing an Oktoberfest of its own. Punktoberfest boasts two stages and 10 bands, along with $2 PBRs and $2 slices of pizza. The bill includes In Her Own Words, All is Fair, Grandma’s Cat, Living Among Giants, UP&GO, Can’t Complain, Crosswalkband San Jose, Nalamora, Free Candy and Perfect Score.

Punktoberfest
Sat 4pm, $10
Homestead Bowl & X-Bar, Cupertino

Despite some dazzling math rock chops, and a growing fanbase, local singer, songwriter and guitarist Yvette Young is still green when it comes to playing in a band. Her new math-prog rock group, Covet, makes their South Bay debut this Saturday at Homestead Bowl, playing their second show ever.

This doesn’t mean Young is new to music. She’s simply been going it alone for the majority of the past five years. She started posting videos of herself playing music to YouTube in 2009, when she first moved to L.A. Young quickly found an audience, but still only occasionally played shows, and never in L.A.—only in San Jose when she was visiting home on vacation.

“I got a lot more fans through Facebook and YouTube than shows,” Young says. “It just comes with the territory of the Internet generation, where everything’s online. It’s funny because I don’t have a lot of local fans. I have fans across the sea, in other countries—that’s just how I got most of my fans.”

Her solo material is a natural fit for YouTube. Unlike Covet’s hard-edged, driving prog-rock elements, Young’s solo material is intimate acoustic music—a blend of gorgeous singer-songwriter folk tunes and technical math-rock licks. The songs are catchy and emotional, but part of the appeal lies in watching her fingers work their magic, as they fly between the bridge of the guitar and its fretboard, picking and tapping what sounds like multiple guitar parts at once.

Earlier this year, Young released her solo Acoustics EP, but Covet is where she’s placing her focus these days. Upon moving back to San Jose, the songwriter immediately set to assembling her band. It took a while, but she found Ben Wallace-Ailsworth (drums) and David Adamiak (bass) to play with, and together they started developing several songs she had written on her electric guitar specifically for an ensemble. As a trio, they are able to wow audiences with their combined technical prowess, but showing off isn’t what Young is going for. With Covet, as with her solo material, her goal is simple: to make music that sounds good.

“When I write, I want it to sound pretty,” she says. “That’s all I really care about. I listen to a lot of post-rock, and a lot of it is very beautiful. There are moments of planned dissonance, but it’s to create tension to resolve it again with something beautiful.”

Young has developed a unique finger-tapping technique, which she attributes to having learned to play piano before ever picking up the guitar. “I started piano when I was four,” she says. “It helps with separating your right and left hand, so you can do different things. As a soloist, I’ve had to find ways to play so that when people close their eyes, they hear something really full.”

Her success on YouTube led to a solo tour in Japan earlier this year, where she played in front of as many as 100 people at one show. Before going there, a friend showed her some fan-made cover videos of her songs, but it was still a shock when she went there and met people who’d waited years to see her live.

“I was super surprised I even had fans there. It’s so crazy,” Young says. “A ton of people came up to me after the show for pictures and autographs. I’ve never signed autographs before, so it was very awkward, but also flattering. It felt like a dream.”

She hasn’t made many solo videos for YouTube lately. When she uploads something it’s generally to show off new gear or give people a sneak peek of something Covet is working on.

“The band is my priority right now because I’ve been sitting on these songs for so long and I want to get them fleshed out and recorded,” she says. “I love playing as a band way more than solo because the attention is dispersed and not only on me. I’m bad with crowds. I definitely still value my solo work. I am working on a few more acoustic songs. I always feel like there is so much to do, so many ideas, but so little time.”

Covet play Homestead Bowl in Cupertino on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 8pm. More info.

The last record the Thermals released, Personal Life back in 2010, was not quite the frantic explosion their fans expected. It was a downright hook-driven, midtempo, New Wave production—quite different from the unhinged urgency present on early indie-punk recordings.

The band, in fact, received plenty of emails and letters from fans addressing the album’s change of sound.

“People like this band when it’s irrational and crazy, when it kind of rails against the world,” says lead singer/guitarist Hutch Harris. “We learned what made people fall in love with this band in the first place, ’cause they told us. They definitely told us.”

Those fans will be happy to know that the Thermals are returning to form for their upcoming record, Desperate Ground, which comes out April 16 on Saddle Creek Records. And those early classic Thermals records—the first three—will be reissued on vinyl on March 5.

According to Harris, Desperate Ground sounds a lot like More Parts Per Million (2003), their first record, and the critically acclaimed The Body, the Blood, the Machine (2006), their third album. He insists that the return to the noisy, chaotic sound is unrelated to the fans’ response but has more to do with what music has been playing in their iPods.

“We’ve just been listening to a lot of the bands that we grew up with, like the punk bands we loved: Agent Orange, Black Flag. When we were making Personal Life we were totally listening to the Cure and New Order,” Harris explains.

The first single off Desperate Ground, “Born to Kill,” released Feb. 11, isn’t quite the fiery mess that characterized More Parts Per Million, but it definitely swings the band back into punk-rock territory once again. As the title suggests, the lyrics talk bluntly about death, violence and war, which are ongoing themes on the album.

“Human violence is such a huge part of all our lives. The story of human history is mostly war and violence. It’s just inevitable. It’s not an anti-war record. It’s not a pro-war record. It’s definitely right in the middle. It’s more talking about how war and violence are inevitable,” Harris says.

This isn’t the first time the Thermals have taken on specific issues on an album. The Body, the Blood, the Machine discussed religion and fascism at length, which was, in part, why critics fell in love with the album.

When the Thermals do approach political content, they aren’t so much political in the traditional sense as they are sharing their own experiences, what they’ve seen as regular people and how these issues have affected their lives.

“Too many punk bands want to preach,” Harris says. “I don’t feel like I want to tell people that this is how it is, and this is what’s wrong. We’re not trying to tell people what to think or do.”

The immediacy found on those early records was actually a stark contrast to Harris and bass player Kathy Foster’s previous band, Hutch and Kathy, which they started shortly after moving to Portland. (They lived here in the South Bay until they were 21 and played in such bands as Haelah and the Urban Legends).

They spent a full year writing and recording their one and only album as Hutch and Kathy. It’s a carefully crafted, bouncy pop record that garnered almost no attention. For fun, they pulled out their four-track and wrote and recorded several songs without the extensive planning and meticulous recording techniques: just raw and intense. These songs eventually became More Parts Per Million. It wasn’t long before Sub Pop wanted to release it.

“A lot of times when you’re making something, you’re trying to do something different than what you just did. It was like writing a song in a day, recording it that day, mixing it the next day. It was fun and refreshing to work that way, which was the opposite way that we had been working,” Harris says.

Even though capturing that same immediacy was important for Desperate Ground, they spent nearly two years writing songs for it. They tossed out a lot of songs, anything that didn’t sound just like they wanted.

“We weren’t going to rush to make another record. We were going to make sure that we were going to make a record that we really liked,” Harris continues.

Instead of a four-track, they recorded Desperate Ground at a studio in Hoboken, N.J., with producer John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth). They finished recording only hours before Hurricane Sandy tore through the region. “We were holed up in the producer’s house with no power for another four days,” Harris recalls. “We’re just sitting and drinking wine in the dark waiting for the storm to pass.”

Back in 2001, California was in the middle of an energy crisis and was suffering several large-scale blackouts unlike the state had ever seen. As unfortunate as they were, they did inspire what would become an annual tradition in the south bay—the Brownout show.

The first show was at the Fishbowl in Sunnyvale in April 2001 and featured Xiu Xiu (who were a five-piece band at the time) and the Velvet Teen. Both bands played all-acoustic sets—a sort of tip of the hat to energy problem. Even now, after the dust has settled on the energy woes, the Brownout shows continue on, with the 11th installment on January 12 featuring Record Winter, Mike Huguenor, Colorscout and more.

As the shows evolved, they became more of a mixture of acoustic and electric indie rock bands. This year features headliners (the very not-acoustic) Record Winter, who have a heavy folk influence layered with lot of processed guitars and keyboards, creating a lush wall of sound that is fluid with dynamics and creative tones.

Also sharing the bill is Mike Huguenor from punk bands Shinobu and Hard Girls, who’s solo EP Bardamu is a self-conscious alt rock gem. Colorscout, a rock band that mixes folk, pop and soul and Cartoon Bar Fight will also perform with Mathew Joseph Payne (from chiptune band the Glowing Stars), Casey Jones (A whimsical, heartfelt folk singer) and James Scott (who comes from Olympia, Wash., and is promoting his new offbeat folk-rock album “Kind”) rounding out the bill.

The only question is: who is going to strip down and play an all-acoustic set, and who’ll just play a standard plugged-in full band set? Considering the threat of a rolling blackout is next to none, we’re betting on the latter.

Record Winter, Mike Huguenor, Colorscout and others
Homestead Lanes, Cupertino
Sat, 8pm, $8

Monkey may very well be San Jose’s longest running, consistently-active band. The band emerged in 1995, but unlike a lot of Monkey’s contemporaries, it never mixed punk rock and ska. Monkey always stuck strictly to the traditional more R&B-based sounds of ska’s first wave.

We caught up with Curtis Meacham (vocals/guitar) to ask him about the side of San Jose he knows best.

What part of Silicon Valley are you from?

Originally, I grew up in Sunnyvale, but I’ve lived in Downtown San Jose a couple of times and it’s always been a blast. There is actually a lot of community feel that can be experienced in San Jose on different levels. In a way, it’s always entertaining.

What’s your favorite place outside of San Jose?

Well, I like Telluride, Colo., for the beauty, Victoria, BC, for the people, and Belgium for the amazing food! Right now, I live in Campbell and it’s pretty cool… only, not as cool as Belgium.

What’s the best show you’ve seen in San Jose?

Easily, Prince at the Shark Tank a couple of years back. He came twice in the summer and I caught both shows—absolutely amazing. Aside from that, there’s the crazy Cactus Club shows, like the Twinkie fight during Big Sissy Brigade’s show, or the on-stage beer enema during the Diesel Queens.

Who’s your favorite local musician or band?

There’s a lot of really cool talent in San Jose. For fun factor, there’s always FTB. For good songwriting, there’s David Brookings. For ass-kickin’ guitars, there’s the Gillbillies.

Where’s your favorite place to get a drink in San Jose?

The Cinebar is always the cheapest, but aside from that, I always visit Rachel and her band of merry men, down at the Caravan.

Where’s a cool spot to get clothes?

Working Man’s Emporium. You can get some cool Dickies, Carhartt and Ben Davis there.

What’s your favorite spot for a cheap meal?

Any Vietnamese restaurant—and I do mean amy! Seriously, how can you make such a rockin’ sandwich for $3? it boggles the mind.

What’s the best thing about living in Silicon Valley?

It’s close to everything: 30 minutes from the beach, 40 minutes from SF and three hours from serious mountains.

Where’s the best place in SJ to go relax?

The back room at Trials pub. It’s low key and there’s a fireplace. How much more relaxing can you get?

Where’s the best place to see a show in San Jose?

Believe it or not, it’s the X Bar at the Homestead Lanes in Cupertino! Hands down. But then you say: “Hey, that’s not in San Jose, proper” …and to that, I say “Suck it Trebek!”

What’s San Jose’s best kept secret?

That damn orange sauce.

In February, unknown San Jose rapper Antwon released the video for his song “Helicopter,” which quickly became the subject of music blogs all over the internet, most notably spin.com. It’s now creeping up on 80,000 views and counting.

What made “Helicopter” an Internet sensation was how seamlessly the director mashed together scenes from the Steve McQueen 1960s car chase flick Bullitt with footage of Antwon and his crew walking around those same San Franciscan streets.

But the real gem in the video is the song itself. It’s a unique hybrid of party-rap, stoner-rap, emo-rap and nerd-rap, without actually falling into any one of these pre-existing rap genres.

“A lot of people will tell me, ‘oh you’re an Internet rapper.’ My stuff got big on the Internet because I couldn’t get it big anywhere else,” Antwon says.

In fact, the majority of music blogs that wrote about Helicopter were not rap-oriented. Antwon has yet to get much interest from the hip-hop community.
“Rap music has its own media, like The Source or XXL, but a lot of rappers don’t fit into that mold. It’s easier for me to get into Fader and stuff like that. My audience isn’t a really strong hip-hop audience. They are people that listen to a lot of different stuff,” Antwon says.

The music for “Helicopter” is actually an instrumental song called “Helicopter Does Not Exist,” which was produced by Walsh, for his own 2010 EP, Smoke Weed About It. It’s a funky, dissonant electronic track with an authentic retro vibe that could easily pass for a cool soundtrack to a ’70s action flick that never existed. Antwon contacted Walsh and asked if he could rap over it for his mixtape Fantasy Beds. Walsh told him yes.