You don’t need us to tell you how the Bay Area music scene can be a bit of a polarizing discussion topic. To be perfectly honest, we think that’s a giant bummer, since it gets in the way of enjoying the outsize amount of sonic talent our strange corner of California has to offer. So instead of taking yet another tired stance on the infamous Bold Italic article, we thought we would spend a little time shouting out a few of our favorite new and established songwriters currently making marvelous sounds right here at home.
But before we get into that, we want to be transparent. The Bay can feel like a bit of a boys’ club from time to time, so we decided to leave all-dude bands out of this particular roundup. Call it feminism or just common sense, but the women and non-binary musicians in the Bay have been punching above their weight since the 60s. Needless to say, we’re stoked on that. We’re especially stoked on these eight amazing acts. Consider your playlists refreshed.
Shoegaze and dream pop get a bad rap in 2018, mainly because it wasn't so long ago that those particular revivals were completely inescapable. But if a case may be made on behalf of the genres’ remaining virtues, Pllush are among the most qualified to make it. Founded in 2014, the quartet categorize their sound as "sob rock", an admittedly apt description of the fuzzy guitars and meandering melodies that anchor their music. In essence, Pllush's music heads nowhere fast, but every lush, sweeping hook makes it well worth the ride.
photo: Destroy Boys Facebook
We were thrilled when Destroy Boys hit the top ten highest-voted bands during our Play Noise Pop 2018 contest, and we were even more thrilled when Noise Pop chose the duo to win the whole shebang. But we can’t claim that we were shocked - the band’s star has been on the rise in a big way over the last year. We recommend starting with “Vixen”, a pummeling cut emblematic of how effortlessly Alexia Roditis and Vi Mayugba twist the last thirty-odd years of West Coast hardcore into versatile and approachable punk capable of co-existing with Dead Kennedys and Tacocat.
photo: Erik Oseto
With tracks named "19th Ave" and "Fort Funston" on debut album dark / gold, SOAR could be from nowhere else. (Let the record show that in addition to being indicative of the band’s hometown, "Fort Funston" is also a lovely, scuzzy indie rock jam.) Currently signed to San Francisco's own Father/Daughter Records, SOAR pair grungy, nineties-inspired guitar work with unimposing but undeniably beautiful harmonies and an open-hearted lyricism that's impossible to fake. Did we mention how that combination recently caught the trained ear of whoever curates The New York Times’ Spotify playlists? Because it did.
Part retro soul, part nineties R&B pastiche, part New Wave-inspired synth-pop, ASTU’s music refuses to pledge allegiance to a single vibe. We were immediately blown away by the Oakland-based songwriter’s ability to find an easy, irresistible groove and turn it into a unhurried banger. Equally impressive? The depth and complexity of her buttery alto on Patterns, her just-released debut album. Perhaps it goes without saying, but we’ve kept her on repeat ever since. We recommend starting with silky slow jam “Staycation / Runaway” and the textured, trip-hop-esque “Paperheart”.
Modernizing a genre emblematic of the sixties is no small feat, but Oakland psych-rock (and psych-pop, depending on the song) quartet Snow Angel don’t seem to be having too much trouble with the task. Armed with an electric sitar, a penchant for all things rainbow, and a stable of understated-yet-groovy basslines, Snow Angel exist in a sonic wonderland suspended between CocoRosie and Khruangbin - not bad company, all things considered.
Ah-Mer-Ah-Su isn't afraid of the touchy subjects, to say the very least. The performer tackles gender, race, mental illness, and privilege across her catalog of sparse yet soulful art-pop reminiscent of Mykki Blanco and Angel Haze. (“Klonopin” is a self-aware mental health bop we’ll never get tired of.) Onstage, the Oakland-based songwriter nothing short of an astounding, evocative one-woman show. The spotlight is long overdue.
photo: Emily Hayward
You may have heard Kaila Baće before - the Berkeley-based songwriter was a member of indie-pop outfit Big Tree and space-facing synth-pop duo Bows. But Baće recently decided to go it alone via Firemaid, her new solo project focused on her self-described "anthems for empaths". Only a few singles in, Baće's songwriting is already as pristine as it is conscious of our contemporary mess. She offers her own evocative take on a protest anthem with "This Is How I Love", a sweeping cut that crescendos into a rally cry for everyone trying to stay soft in a world hellbent on making us hard. File under: soul-healing jams.
It's impossible to talk about breaking up the Bay Area boys’ club without mentioning the OG woman power quintet: The Ace of Cups. Swept under the rug by male-dominated rock history narratives, The Ace of Cups formed in 1967 (a.k.a. when having no guys in your band was virtually unheard of) and caught the ear of San Francisco and Jimi Hendrix. The band opened for Hendrix in Golden Gate Park, but broke up before they could record an official debut album. A collection of demos and live performances called It's Bad For You But Buy It finally dropped in 2011, but that wasn’t the end of The Ace of Cups' story. Five decades later, the band has reunited and begun recording that long-overdue debut record. We can’t wait to listen.
We may be a bit biased, but we think music just sounds better here. Say no to silence with our every awesome Artist Mix playlist.
