SOPHIE tributes Prince at 1015 Folsom Darius Kay April 27, 2016 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews On Thursday night, 1015 Folsom grooved and popped to the crystalline textures of EDM in 2016. At the decks was British “hyperpop” producer SOPHIE. Preceded by a respectable set by the forward-looking pro...
Basement bring wild British hardcore sensibilities to Slim’s Darius Kay April 12, 2016 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews If you had a chance to go to Slim’s in San Francisco Saturday, odds are you didn’t have much of a voice the next morning. Supported by a bill of vigorous acts at a breakneck pace, Basement headlined a n...
Revisiting Revolver Darius Kay April 1, 2016 Columns and Opinions In 1966, people were out in the streets. It was a parade. “GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE!” It was an enthralling drama. “Waits at the window… wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door… who...
Mac DeMarco to arrive at the Fox Oakland for Another One Darius Kay October 23, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews Monday night, Canadian guitarist and songwriter Mac DeMarco will take the stage at the Fox Theater as part of his 2015-2016 World Tour. DeMarco recently released a sublime mini-album Another One via Captu...
Black Lips and Ariel Pink underwhelm, or deliberate, at Bimbo’s 365 Darius Kay October 16, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews As college kids and in one way or another, we're all coming of age. We're still having many "first" experiences -- accumulating necessary prerequisites to launch ourselves into uncertainty. We check off checkbo...
Welcome to Basedworld: The Social Media Success of Lil B Darius Kay September 7, 2015 Columns and Opinions Between his SUPERB performance and a cover shoot for fellow UC Berkeley student publication Caliber, you might say that East Bay rapper Lil B is "locally world famous." Or, while catching up on the evening new...
Shlohmo returns to the Bay with two dates after sophomore album Darius Kay April 26, 2015 Album Preview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVR10CD2Alk Los Angeles avant-garde EDM DJ Shlohmo will be playing two shows next week in the Bay Area: Thursday night in San Francisco at The Fillmore and Friday night on UC ...
Ride take us for a spin at the Warfield Darius Kay April 17, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews Tuesday night, the crowd was filled with an odd combination of professional forty-somethings and spry, ambitious twenty-somethings, but everyone had something special in common -- utter infatuation with a b...
Action Bronson demonstrates talent and wit at The Warfield Darius Kay April 11, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews On Tuesday night at The Warfield in San Francisco, the room got dark and The Eagles were summoned, softly at first, then blasting thoroughly into the back row. After several openers including Earl Sweatshir...
Twin Shadow Eclipse-d by pop tendencies and own potential Darius Kay March 21, 2015 Album Review courtesy of Warner Bros. Records It’s no question that George Lewis, Jr., the man behind synth-pop/rock project Twin Shadow, is a very strong songwriter. Over the past eight years, Lewis's career has b...
Freddie Gibbs gets emotional, divides crowd at The New Parish Darius Kay and Dan Savo March 10, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews On Friday night, or rather early Saturday morning, Freddie Gibbs, a formerly Indiana- now West Coast-based rapper, approached the stage at The New Parish in Oakland. Within the first two songs, we knew exac...
Purity Ring experience growing pains, ache on sophomore effort Darius Kay March 3, 2015 Album Review 1 Comment Edmonton-based Purity Ring blasted onto the scene in July 2012 with their debut record, Shrines, settling into a rift in the gray area of indie rock and electronica that has grown to be very popular over ...
Gang of Four ask the question, What Happens Next? Darius Kay February 23, 2015 Album Review, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews In 1978, Sony introduced the first portable stereo, the Walkman. College kids everywhere laughed their asses off at Animal House, the Bee Gees released “Stayin’ Alive,” and Gang of Four released “...
Dillon Francis and his alternate persona play Fox Theater December 18 Darius Kay December 21, 2014 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews On Thursday night after some brutal finals, we found ourselves at the elaborate Fox Theater in Oakland for a show by visceral/audio powerhouse and EDM darling Dillon Francis. After a couple underwhelming ope...
We came, we saw, we Slowdive-d: band shines on reunion tour Darius Kay November 10, 2014 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews 1 Comment On Saturday night, a British band whose last release graced the revolutionizing musical world in 1995 played the elegant Warfield in San Francisco, with just about every possible kind of person in attenda...