by
Alec Adams on January 12, 2022
This writer is utterly devastated to realize that early 2010s music has now come around for its time in the nostalgia spotlight. The once forward-thinking jams of MGMT, STRFKR, Foster the People and alt-J now bring listeners back to a simpler time, when one could dance with friends and do crazy things…
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by
Alec Adams on January 12, 2022
Jack Harlow isn’t afraid to ask bold questions of his listeners, such as in his song “WHATS POPPIN,” which dares to ask—what is popping? The answer of course is “Jack Harlow’s career,” as the man has been on a meteoric rise to the top of the rap game since his 2020 debut…
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by
Mike Huguenor on January 5, 2022
The first time Demone Carter hung with Sultan Banks was at a high school backyard battle rap. By the time Banks walked in, Carter was already waist-deep in a slow-moving rap battle that had long since become a war of attrition.
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by
Alec Adams on January 5, 2022
San Jose’s own JC Smith is quite possibly the definition of old school cool. Wielding his gorgeous Gibson 335, Smith has played classic-sounding soul blues all across the world, most recently releasing a live album with the South America All Stars. Smith may think globally, but he also acts locally; he hosts…
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by
Alec Adams on January 5, 2022
In the same way that “all politics is local politics,” it follows that “all punk is local punk.” The great legends of punk music—the DIY Pantheon—are all raised on the same values as the groups in our neighborhoods that keep on holding it down. “Keep music affordable” and “Keep music accessible to…
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by
Mike Huguenor on January 5, 2022
The 408’s own DJ Sonz kicks the weekend off at Fuze Bar and Grill this Friday. Never a stranger to a good time, Sonz knows how to get a club going with a fluid mix of dancefloor rocking rhythms, crowd-pleasing hits and nuggets from the underground. His true expertise, however, is in…
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by
Mike Huguenor on December 31, 2021
2021, like 2020 before it, is a year that looks best in the rearview mirror. The last twelve months have been filled with all manner of, let’s say, bumps in the road—new COVID variants, pervasive supply chain issues, decreased unemployment benefits and the looming restart of student loan payments. There’s no shortage…
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by
Metro Staff on December 31, 2021
Look at this past year with 2020 hindsight and things now don’t seem so bad. Lest we forget, last December marked COVID-19’s one-year anniversary—and the virus was going strong. Santa Clara County was stuck in the purple tier and under a stay-at-home order. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had been granted emergency…
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by
Mike Huguenor on December 29, 2021
Bay Area party rockers Just Friends were on the second day of their ten-week 2020 tour when COVID-19 hit. “We were in D.C.,” recalls singer Brianda Goyos Leon. “Before the show half of the tour got canceled, and then after it was completely canceled. We didn’t have any money. We drove overnight…
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by
Alec Adams on December 29, 2021
It’s important to start off the new year with the right tone, and that means starting off emo. Since the release of their 2018 debut, awakebutstillinbed (aka absib) has been San Jose’s #1 representative in the emo ecosystem, bringing the world their frantic and compelling combination of pained vocals and harrowing guitar…
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