We go to music festivals to see the musicians we love, but it’s also the best way to discover new music.
I remember seeing Durand Jones & The Indications for the first time at Outside Lands in 2018 and then the following SXSW twice. My partner and I have been so obsessed with the group that their song “Is It Any Wonder?” was the second song at our wedding’s first dance (“Suavecito” was the first). I went to the second annual Mill Valley Music Festival to see Durand Jones’s solo set, but even better to see something new.
I always jump the gun on these festivals and listen to all of the artists beforehand. My most highly anticipated performance was the psychedelic African rock ensemble from Oakland, Orchestra Gold, but there were a few other notable new discoveries including The Dip and Valerie Jones – all of whom you can see live video of below.
I got married a week before SXSW. We took a proper mini-moon on an island off of Mexico, Isla Holbox, but ended the trip at SXSW. When I told people the grand finale to our wedding vacation was at South by, some thought it was hilarious, others were a bit confused, and one person said I had to include it here, someone I respect very much.
I’ve never experienced such a heartfelt sense of community than at my wedding. People from distant parts of my partner and I’s life came together and started relationships of their own. Something I’ve always dreamed about. Creating new communities is as important as maintaining old ones, and SXSW has become a complex, interconnected community of new and old.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes up a community. As much as I know one of the most important roles is a curator of content (like myself), someone who brings new people (and old friends) together is even more important. There’s no greater gift you can give someone than introducing them to someone you know – other than giving them your time and attention.
Brian Zisk, founder of SF MusicTech Summit, has been that person bringing people together at least for me and the dozens of people he’s introduced me to. He also gave me one of the most sincere compliments about Silence Nogood. One where you know they were actually listening. Thank you, Zisk, and everyone I met through him over the years.
As important as the personalities were at SXSW, the music is still the main show. I took the 1,084 artists from SXSW’s Official playlist and cut it down to about 10%, which is a little higher than last year.
More than music this year, web3 has been what I’ve chosen/had to immerse myself in to pay the bills, including this bill. I’ve especially fallen in love with NFTs for what they can do for music and other communities. The first NFT I ever bought was a project by Channel Tres & omgkirby and my second one is the picture above, called “The Journey” by Valfré.
Festivals have been the highlights in music for me for at least the past 10 years I’ve been in The Bay. This year especially had some really good concerts with two performers at the top of my “Music of the Year” list – Luna Li and Rema. My third top is Bill Evans, but unfortunately, he’s been dead for some time. I found him through my Late Night Jazz research and he would’ve made up half of the list if that was acceptable for a public playlist.
The hardest thing about making a playlist is what not to include. I can appreciate that Fred Wilson kept it to about a dozen, but it’s 82 this year for me. Wish there was a way to highlight my top 10 on Spotify. It’s not necessarily the first ones on the list.
What’s your favorite tune of 2022? from this list or otherwise.
Omgkirby created a collection of 5,550 generative songs, each sold as an NFT. Each song has one sample from five different categories/properties, including 33 vocals, 34 lead, 33 FX, 32 drums, and 33 chords. Things get more complicated from there on how each song was arranged and their rarity, but the math behind it all is less interesting fur me than finding the best sounding on the secondary market, scooping it up, and using it in every which way.
It’s an interesting task going through dozens of the 5,550. Unlike usually crate digging where the music is infinitely different, this style of generative music is almost infinitely the same, trying to discern the difference between samples used. Also, unlike typical crate digging, when you purchase the NFT, you own “complete publishing and masters rights for the song – this includes uploading it to DSPs (Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, etc.), using it for your own content (podcast intro, YouTube content, etc.) or by any other means of exploiting the track.”
In my search, I focused on vocals first and found a “S2 Autonav” that fit perfect for a podcast intro, but it got nabbed before I figured out how to purchase the damn thing. I ended up finding a “S2 Doo Op” that may not be the perfect podcast intro, but I’ve got a few other uses for it. So I bought #2081 and put it up on SoundCloud for free. If anyone wants to do anything with it, all I ask is that you let me know what you did!
The beauty in an NFT collection like this is that you have a thousand or more advocates who have bought stake in the collection and have full legal right to make anything creative out of it – almost paying to create content marketing for the project. 9dcc, one of the first phygital projects linking physical shirts via NFCs to their digital counterpart, just released the trailer for their second project. It doesn’t sound like an original beat from the collection, but it definitely has some elements, as well as their own unique spin spreading the word in their own iterative way.
There’s nothing I want more at night than some good jazz. I never set aside enough time consistently to get away. Hoping this helps.
I’ve wanted to make a jazz playlist for far too long. I almost kind of did, twice. I always focused too much on the electronic/hip-hop inspired beats. They have the qualities of jazz, but were ultimately more than that. I finally took the time to find nothing but jazz or at least most of it.
To start off this list, Bill Evans– who may be my favorite artist of this year, even though he’s long gone.
The inaugural Portola Music Festival is running on San Francisco’s Pier 80 the last weekend in September, also known as my mother’s birthday (that Sunday). It features 68 of my favorite emerging & established musicians, including Channel Tres, Kaytranada, and Jungle. As my friend called it, “it’s better than a highly curated portion of Coachella.” And of course it’s put on by the same people, Goldenvoice.
There’s no better measure of hype around a festival than when more friends ask if I’m going. Check out my favorite picks below. I’ll see you there.
Happy birthday, mom!
I made this for a friend a few months ago that wanted a playlist with uplifting music. It feels like a compliment to my Keep Calm playlist, which was for when we went into the pandemic, and this is the outro, hopefully.
The silly reason I never posted this playlist on Silence before is that I couldn’t find good art for it. Then comes along Midjourney, something similar to DALI-2, that can generate images based off a string of text, and presto here she is! Guess what my input text was.
The title is based on the first three songs of this list.
Mill Valley’s inaugural day long music festival was quaint and well put together. It featured five bands on one stage, but my partner and I were there for La Doña.
We first saw La Doña at the opening of the new KQED building back in November. She’s becoming a staple of San Francisco music and represents it well with her family filling out the rest of the band. When I found out she was opening up Mill Valley’s first festival, I knew this would be a perfect setting to see her and her family perform again.
Mill Valley Music Fest was a romantic getaway from the city in the beautiful Spring sunshine and a backdrop of the Napa hills. Plus, it ended at a reasonable time. Let’s normalize day partying.
It’s been three years! I miss SXSW live and in Austin, but a pandemic broke my favorite live event of the year and all others in 2020 & 2021.
2022 is my fifth year at South by! Looking back, I realized that live music was the second most important reason I go. More importantly, it’s to better understand culture and how it ticks. There’s no better place for that than live music, and SXSW is one of the best showcases around the world.
There’s been a theme with every showcase and this year pushes my boundaries like all good things do. I may have thought back in 2016 with my Women Behind the Boards post that there was and still is a lack of DJ’s who identify as women. I don’t know if I can say the same for lead vocalists, thankfully. The latest example, all of my top picks at SXSW 2022. Half of which I got to see, half sadly I did not.
TEKE::TEKE and Annabelle Chairlegs had such good performances (separately) that I saw them again (separately). Some of the most expressive faces I’ve ever seen in a show – pictures above and below. Sadly, I only got to see Joseph once, but it was in the majestic St. David’s Historic Sanctuary and their voices gave me electrofying goosebumps.
Three of my other most anticipated vocalists I didn’t get to see live. Petty Booka was online only :( I’d love to create a play about their music, which is a blending of Japanese and Hawaiian music. The music had such strong visuals for me. Luna Li cancelled her tour, which I was suppose to see in San Francisco and Austin, but I did catch her set online when she was in Oakland. It was one of those weekdays where I couldn’t make the trip, ugh. Still, a lovely show. Jacks Haupt was the only show I actually could’ve missed and did so because my plane arrived in Austin a few hours too late.
I miss the days of Hypem at SXSW, seeing Anderson .Paak more than a few times, but the music is just as rich in culture from around the world this year. Thanks to my photographer, Chris, and for the company, Regina and Alejandra <3
Noise Pop’s annual festival has been my live music kickoff to the year since I moved to San Francisco, and it’s good to have it back.
Like I did first in 2019, I went through every single artist to figure out my schedule. I love how drastically different the music is this year for me. Most of it surprisingly chill, jazz music, but styles stretch as far as trap metal, hyperpop. Maybe I’m just expanding my tastes, but of course it dips into my usual staples of indie and even more so soul.
Check out all the content from the shows below, but if you consume one thing, watch Alice Phoebe Lou’s “Only When I” video.