Welcome back to Under the Stars, a quasi-weekly column that stays on message with strong-ass opinions, presenting new music releases and upcoming shows. We keep hustling with the changes, thinking outside the margins. Hop in. And thanks for spending some time with us.<\/p>\n
KAREN NYAME KG, EPIPHANY (BLACK ACRE)<\/p>\n
In the hands of this Black woman producer, the swing of the UK Funky genre is far more important than the snare.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Karen Nyame KG, who\u2019s been making big noise in the club scene for a minute, is done charging it to the game, too. Epiphany, her most recent release, features lush Afrocentric production and showcases her vocals when she chooses to bless us with them. She\u2019s busy making tracks that give insight to other producers; find the feel in tracks, and don\u2019t rely on tired tricks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Epiphany marches around like the elite Black breakbeat that it is, with sparkly accents of jazzy, way-past-3am-type house joints. The opening track, \u201cIn My Room\u201d is a forward-facing roller, and \u201cAllure\u201d later on proves a nice balance of thick, full bass hits and elevated song structure. <\/p>\n
But, for my money, \u201cEpiphany\u201d is the one. An instrumental that takes its time to make its mark but works itself beautifully into a dubby mind-fucker of an earworm, reminding us all that sometimes tracks speak louder using no words. It pleasantly makes you lose track of time. That takes talent. And that\u2019s exactly what Karen Nyame KG has plenty of.<\/p>\n
Grab it here.<\/a><\/p>\n MARBLED EYE, FOREVER (DIGITAL REGRESS)<\/p>\n Oakland post-punk luminaries Marbled Eye know how to build up into a hectic moment: guitar riffs that seem to have complaints built them, yammering solos, stop-start stuttering drums, and push-pull audio energy, erupting crowds into chaos. Completely wrecking some tightly compacted backroom performance space. <\/p>\n So, yeah, while playing into all those riotous moves, they still have the smarts and chops to craft pop wizardry. \u201cSomething\u2019s Different\u201d will have all types of music fans humming those words, bouncing to those tempos, and wondering where they can catch these East Bay heroes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pick up Forever here.<\/a><\/p>\n ONRA, AFTER DARK (ALL CITY RECORDS) <\/p>\n This Parisian producer, an early day-one featured DJ at the famed Sweater Funk party in SF, has two slightly different things going on: He\u2019s an \u201980s R&B dude who can\u2019t imagine a seductive night without synths, incense, and a little saxual healing; or he\u2019s a serious MF Doom-head who\u2019d like to give a little extra time to those sometimes cheesy but most of the time sincere Quiet Storm joints that Doom sampled the hell out of.<\/p>\n I\u2019m looking directly at Sade\u2019s \u201cKiss of Life\u201d for the track \u201cDoomsday\u201d and Anita Baker\u2019s \u201cSweet Love\u201d for \u201cHoe Cakes.\u201d Not to get psychological or political, but two things can be true at once.<\/p>\n After Dark is Onra\u2019s \u201csoundtrack to an imagined late-night film.\u201d But for us, blessed with that magical Bay Area weather, meaning fog and low clouds blowing in the marine layer, this French producer has created the perfect nighttime companion for moving about in the fog on the way to your next nocturnal adventure.<\/p>\n Keep the Kashif vibes flowin, and pick this up here.<\/a><\/p>\n FACTA, WITNESS EP (WISDOM TEETH)<\/p>\n The East London-raised Oscar Henson, aka Facta, has been a shrewd player in the UKG-meets-Bristol techno movement. He\u2019s almost earned the \u201cbuy it when you see or hear it\u201d kind of designation.<\/p>\n Also, he\u2019s forthright. Need me to make it make sense? Bet. Let\u2019s sort it.<\/p>\n When he\u2019s figured something out, he\u2019ll give you the straight, raw-dog business production after he initially hits you with the proper release. Some cats just want to keep making money, caking up, over and over, but Facta? He\u2019s committed to his principles, true to the game, baby.\u00a0Which is why he is currently running things as a vetted beatsmith.<\/p>\n His short but oh-so-giving Witness EP holds three tracks that get at it, give you the body-high dancefloor vibes to keep it sweaty this summer, and he\u2019s out. No time for the flim-flam, \u201cI\u2019m trying to be arty\u201d BS. Bag that shit for the winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Supposedly written in the afterglow of his \u201cgulp\u201d 2025 release, these tracks appeared after touring and writing for his new live show; the three-track EP acts as a darker, club-ready counterweight, with tracks that are all killer and no filler.<\/p>\n Pick it up here.<\/a><\/p>\n DJ-KICKS: TEED, VARIOUS ARTISTS, (!K7 RECORDS)<\/p>\n Full disclosure. Before this, the 86th edition in the DJ-Kicks series, launched in Berlin in 1995, I had no idea who the eff DJ Teed was. And I kind of didn\u2019t care. I\u2019m the first to say, give the foundational people preference first. Like those who opened Berlin up\u2014Laurel Halo, who\u2019s creating tremendous electronic music in the Midwest; Detroit legend Robert Hood; and folks who bring a different flavor to the table like LA\u2019s D\u0101M-FunK & the first South Korean woman to DJ at techno institution Berghain (that\u2019d be Peggy Gou). Luckily enough, along with Theo Parrish, all of the deserving folks\u2014you notice not a single pale-looking Dieter type on the list\u2014have been given the designation because they earned it.<\/p>\n But in the liner notes on Orlando Higginbottom, AKA TEED, a British artist who relocated to Los Angeles, he bluntly put it that his aim for this installment was to provide the oh-so-American action of \u201cthe pre-game mix.\u201d<\/p>\n And dammit, I have to give it up; that\u2019s kinda clever. Because it means all TEED has to do is make something lively, colorful, and joyful, and then the rest of the night is up to the DJ at the club. So what\u2019s homeboy working with here? Sunshine in the parking lot, day-drinking vibes, pumping uptempo house, and a vibe and swing in the mix that gets going by the second\u2014not the seventh track. He even has his own celestial rework of KC & The Sunshine Band\u2019s \u201cPlease Don\u2019t Go\u201d that feels a little Axel Foley-ish, in the good way.<\/p>\n So grab a little sunshine and pop this in.<\/p>\n