From Central Richmond to Nob Hill \u2014 with a cameo from Berkeley\u2019s own UC Theatre \u2014 San Francisco\u2019s annual Noise Pop Festival brought waves of bands that traversed genres and subcultures, allowing for music lovers of all shapes and sizes to come and listen. Kicking off Feb. 19, the 11-day festival rang out as a true celebration of music, encouraging Bay Area residents to journey through a city landscape of unique settings and sounds. Although a week of live music may have caused practically permanent hearing damage, Noise Pop provided me with a catalog of artists incredibly varying in style, but identical in musical caliber, making the loss absolutely worth it.<\/p>\n
On the first Saturday of Noise Pop, I was transported to the early to mid 2000s by DeVotchKa and its tribute to the soundtrack of \u201cLittle Miss Sunshine.\u201d Primarily known for its tracks in the critically acclaimed movie, the Colorado-based quartet provided the audience with ripples of nostalgia as the group performed songs such as \u201cThe Winner Is\u201d while snippets of the film projected behind them. As scenes of Paul Dano\u2019s character screaming in guttural disappointment played, the indie millennial audience euphorically swayed to DeVotchKa\u2019s cinematic sound. Presenting a diverse instrumentation with violins, sousaphones and even an accordion, DeVotchKa\u2019s whimsical folk pop sound sonically fed those in attendance the indie revival they needed.<\/p>\n
Journeying to another side of the city, Wisp performed at the Great American Music Hall the next day. The emo rock groups Junebug and Car Underwater opened the concert with screaming vocals and dense, alternative musicality. Primarily consisting of teenagers and 20-somethings, the audience was readily prepared for a night of fried vocal cords and sweaty collisions. However, even with the piercing, loud atmosphere, nothing was as airy and light as Wisp\u2019s lead singer Natalie Lu\u2019s voice. While Lu\u2019s croon was a softer presence within the band\u2019s overall shoegaze, nu-metallic sound, it still inspired the audience to mosh well into Monday that Sunday night.<\/p>\n
Come Tuesday, I was searching for some sonic shelter from the week\u2019s rainy beginnings, which ultimately came in the form of R&B artists Dana Williams and rum.gold. Walking into Rickshaw Stop, I was instantly struck by the softness of Williams\u2019 voice, which beautifully wove together runs and vocal flips with her sweet string-plucking.<\/p>\n
Despite the venue\u2019s small size, which allows for a comfortable intimacy, rum.gold\u2019s strong emerging presence seemed to enlarge the space. While sat upon a pile of clothes that mimicked his lyric and sonic vulnerability, his vocals soothed the audience as they swayed to his airy voice and hypnotic band. Mesmerizing the audience through their musical charm, both artists\u2019 soulful voices provided solace from the stormy weather outside.<\/p>\n
Noise Pop\u2019s promise of promoting local bands was made apparent once entering San Francisco\u2019s beloved venue, Bottom of the Hill, on Thursday. Including indie rock performances from the Bay Area\u2019s own Small Crush, starbelliedbug and Carpool Tunnel, each band spoke to the raw artistry of the city. Although Carpool Tunnel did not come on until after 10 p.m., the crowd continued to dance and collide with unwavering excitement; the flourishing sound flowing through their performance spoke to them being an indie staple. Despite being alone in the crowd, the energetic, community atmosphere of the venue and bands made this detail easy to forget.<\/p>\n
As music lovers entered more than a dozen venues and witnessed more than a hundred concerts, Noise Pop curated a diverse lineup that beckoned people to explore varied artistic spaces by hopping from one show to the next. While the idea that one could pop into several shows in a single night is somewhat unrealistic given the distance between venues, Noise Pop still shines as a staple of San Francisco\u2019s independent music scene. Highlighting musicians from emerging indie bands to rapper-singer-songwriter CupcakKe, who performed at Public Works, Noise Pop is made for everyone. My hands are still stained with layers of venue stamps, but each mark reminds me to listen to music the way it was meant to be heard: live!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Central Richmond to Nob Hill \u2014 with a cameo from Berkeley\u2019s own UC Theatre \u2014 San Francisco\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[62996,93925,93932,93919,93933,93927,93921,93923,93924,76308,93926,26854,89363,76305,11565,93928,93929,101,103,102,104,106,105,93930,93931,93922,93920,20545],"class_list":{"0":"post-202417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-bottom-of-the-hill","9":"tag-car-underwater","10":"tag-carpool-tunnel","11":"tag-central-richmond","12":"tag-cupcakke","13":"tag-dana-williams","14":"tag-devotchka","15":"tag-great-american-music-hall","16":"tag-junebug","17":"tag-little-miss-sunshine","18":"tag-natalie-lu","19":"tag-nob-hill","20":"tag-noise-pop-festival","21":"tag-paul-dano","22":"tag-public-works","23":"tag-rickshaw-stop","24":"tag-rum-gold","25":"tag-san-francisco","26":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","27":"tag-san-francisco-news","28":"tag-sf","29":"tag-sf-headlines","30":"tag-sf-news","31":"tag-small-crush","32":"tag-starbelliedbug","33":"tag-the-winner-is","34":"tag-uc-theatre","35":"tag-wisp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}