Local musician Nicki Bluhm sings with her band, the Gramblers, at August’s Outside Lands concert in Golden Gate Park. The concert drew close to 50,000 attendees each of its three days and hosted over a dozen Bay Area acts—this year’s musical and gastronomic extravaganza.
The impact felt by Bay Area artists during August’s Outside Lands festival in Golden Gate Park, brought a local feel to the mega-concert, which drew close to 50,000 spectators each of its three days. Between vaudeville, Americana, hard rock, spoken word and DJ spinning, there was an eclectic mix that offered something for every taste. Keep the following acts on your list of area names to watch for in the coming year.
Mike Shine/ Dr. Flotsam and the Carny Bastards
Mike Shine is a Bolinas artist who creates paintings and performances. This year’s show also hosted a special stage in the woods of McLaren Pass called Dr. Flotsam’s Hell Brew Review, a live installation by Shine that has grown in popularity throughout its years at Outside Lands, especially after Jack White made a surprise appearance on the ragtag stage in 2012. At the center of the show is Pyotr Flotsam, the dark, Mephistophelean ringleader who controls the other costumed throw-back mime-like vaudeville actors.
Slim Jenkins
Playing the Flotsam stage at the same time as the headlining act of Kanye West was San Francisco-based Slim Jenkins, a group of tall, skinny guys in striped suits who play a fusion of American rock, jazz and blues. They have strong presence and sound and have played at venues from Slims in the SOMA to the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
Bassist Timothy Vickers said he enjoyed the opportunity of giving a more indie crowd what they wanted. “I think there were a lot of people that wanted something alternative to Kanye West, so it worked out really well for us.”
Drummer Felix Macnee, who lives in the Western Addition, said the band, who closed out Café Du Nord on New Year’s Eve, often takes trips to the Castro for munchies. “You can get good pizza down in the Castro,” Macnee said. “When we play late gigs we love to go to Orphan Andy’s and have the best milkshake.”
Tycho
By contrast, San Francisco-based Tycho has no vocalist. Bandleader Scott Hansen started out as a more insular laptop DJ/producer and then added his other band members a few years ago. He said bringing guitarist/bassist Zac Brown and drummer Rory O’Connor into Tycho’s creative fold expanded his songwriting and propelled the project forward. “It took the music and recontextualized it, made it a little bit more driven, more visceral,” he said.
“All of us have been here several times before so this is definitely kind of a dream to play this,” he said. “And that was actually, no joke, the biggest and best show we’ve ever played. That’s as good as it gets.”
The music is instrumental but the live sound, when coupled with Hansen’s trippy videos of occult symbols overlaying other images of pyramids and natural settings on large TV monitors throughout the Twin Peaks stage, did manage to lift the wordless musical experience above the mere ambient.
Hansen said he was enjoying the food at the venue, but as a local, he was no stranger to good eats, name-dropping Gracias Madre as one of his favorites.
“I live in the Mission, so there are a number of great restaurants around, to my financial detriment.”
Niki Bluhm and the Gramblers
Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers played a dynamic afternoon set on the first day at the Sutro Stage that hit a fever pitch at its crescendo with the swath of revelers bouncing and screaming. The folk-rock band relies heavily on Bluhm’s soulful vocals and big stage presence, along with the strong musicianship of the Gramblers, namely the talented lead guitarist Deren Ney. Just when they do go a bit country-western sounding at times, they bring it back to a folk, soul or rock sound. Nicki lives in San Francisco with her husband Tim Bluhm of the SF indie band The Mother Hips. As a Grambler, Tim plays guitar, keys and sings backup.
Mikal Cronin
Mikal Cronin
Mikal Cronin
If you like head-banging heavy rock bands with hair and a grunge feel, these guys are for you. A mosh pit broke out during their Friday afternoon performance on the Panhandle stage, hair whipping, distortion guitar resonated. Cronin used to live in Los Angeles but now calls San Francisco home, now associating with fellow SF rocker, Ty Segall, who played the same stage at Outside Lands in 2011.
Trails and Ways
Trails and Ways make bossanova dream pop in Oakland. Lead singers Emma Oppen and Keith Brower Brown, both UC Berkeley grads, went abroad to Brazil and the other to Spain. When they came back they fused the music of Brazilian jazz, Latin pop and basement dream pop. The two female and two male members of Trails and Ways all sing, sometimes in foreign languages. Through 2012, they rode a swell of singles and covers, and are currently working on their debut album.
Finish Ticket
This five-piece indie rock band from Alameda played on the Panhandle stage on Saturday afternoon.
The Tumbleweed Wanderers
Returning to the music festival was Oakland’s Tumbleweed Wanderers, who combine folk and rock while weaving smooth transitions from banjo-rock to soul. Since forming in April of 2011, the band has found a wider audience, from their early performances at small venues to selling out shows around the Bay Area.
Christopher Owens
Singer/songwriter Christopher Owens, former front man for the indie rock band Girls, played a daytime set the second day on the Sutro Stage. Owens was born in Florida but moved to San Francisco after spending nine years in Texas. Last year he released his debut solo album, Lysandre.
Watsky
Hitting the large Twin Peaks stage on Sunday was Hip Hop artist Watsky (George Virden Watsky), who grew up at 5th Avenue and Fulton Street, just steps from Golden Gate Park. Watsky combines humor and storytelling with poetic lyricism on top of a full band experience. He returned to the city in April 2013 and sold out the Fillmore after being featured on the TV show Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry on HBO in 2007. His most recent album Cardboard Castles peaked at #1 in iTunes hip-hop.
The Brothers Comatose
The San Francisco quintet blends Americana, folk and bluegrass. A number of stringed instruments grace the stage in their performances, including fiddle, mandolin and banjo. They played the Panhandle stage on Sunday afternoon.
Local DJs
Shawn Reynaldo
Shawn Reynaldo
Shawn Reynaldo
Shawn Reynaldo spun in the DJ tent on Saturday afternoon. Originally from San Jose, DJ Shawn Reynaldo now lives in the Mission. He said one of his musical partners lives in the Castro on Douglas Street in a crazy old mansion that was once a hospital, a place he often visits. “He literally lives in the spire. It looks like a castle. So I go there a lot — it has an amazing view of the city.”
He’s a co-founder of the renowned Icee Hot parties, a monthly house and techno party that moves locations. “We try to keep it small, like 200 or 300 people. Occasionally we have a bigger one.”
Deejay Theory
Repping Faction Sound Crew and leading online Caribbean lifestyle magazine LargeUp.com, Deejay Theory continues to push the DJ / producer role forward in his home base of San Francisco, CA and throughout the world. Creating music all his life and now a key player in the explosive tropical bass movement, Theory has a natural strength for producing and flipping a broad range of formats, putting his signature touch on everything from Demi Lovato to Mavado. Think dancehall meets club music, bass meets soul, turntablism meets rave, tropical disco meets the pool, and we’re literally just getting warm.
Motion Potion
Motion Potion is a DJ/producer based in the city with almost two decades of experience. After spending the last several years working on his production companies Silent Frisco and SunsetSF, “MoPo” seems poised to reemerge onto the scene in 2014.
Shouts!
Shouts! is a project by San Francisco music producer Jason Apple. After many years of producing as Ground Control, Shouts! became a way out for more experimental, felling-driven music while still working a dance floor. Shouts! aims to mix music and mood.
Lights Down Low
LDL is a DJ project initiated by Corey Sleazemore and Richie Panic. Now rotating parties between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It has been a primary fixture in the city nightlife over the last five years. LDL had the privilege of being the last Bay Area-based act to rock the DJ tent.
photos by Ted Andersen
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