We are Under The Stars people. You know the drill, lovers of music and culture. This weekly column stays on message with strong-ass opinions, presenting new music releases and upcoming shows, hustling with the changes, and thinking outside the margins. Hop in. And thanks for spending some time with us. Let\u2019s go\u2026<\/p>\n
CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA, COHERENCE (MACK AVENUE RECORDS)<\/p>\n
The first time\u2014absolutely\u2014I heard and saw \u201cAre You Gonna Go My Way,\u201d with fully Afroed-out jazz drummer Cindy Blackman moonlighting in Lenny Kravitz\u2019s rock band to keep the lights on: She\u2019s going full Keith Moon HAM, beating up those damn drums like they owed her milk money. Having a vigorous conversation with Sheila E. \u201cWho the eff is that?\u201d was the question every kid watching MTV asked. She\u2019d immediately, within a matter of seconds, stolen the moment, possibly the video and the song, from Lenny\u2019s whole red velvet shirt-cape vibe. The ensemble in the video for the title track. The one with the armholes?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ferocity\u2014you can\u2019t fake it, and she never has.<\/p>\n
Blackman has tackled, bludgeoned, and knocked the bejesus out of everything from post-bop to fusion as a drummer, bandleader, and composer, outplaying some of the absolute best jazz musicians on the globe.<\/p>\n
Coherence, a jazz-rock funk heater of an album, finds her centrally located in her element, playing the shit you\u2019d expect she\u2019d prefer to play if that\u2019s what brought home the most bread and bacon. We\u2019re talking big rocking cymbals, booming bass drums, and that fat-funky fabulous pocket she keeps time with, just plays ride or die, especially on the low-boomin Hendrixian \u201cThe Message Is Love,\u201d where her husband Carlos Santana wails on into the stratosphere while Emilio Modeste takes the lead with melodic to molten saxophone lines.<\/p>\n
The temperature of the track? Slightly Billy Cobham explosive fusion, with just a touch of Tony Williams\u2019 attitude. And dammit, Cindy keeps on top of it all, comping in between when it\u2019s needed, lining up big, bam, boom drum hits at the top and bottom of song codas, rocking right alongside basslines from Felix Pastorius. With this type of heat, Cindy is taking no shorts, leading the charge, urging everybody, \u201cDamn, can\u2019t you keep?\u201d And they do.<\/p>\n
Pick up the album here.<\/a><\/p>\n BLACK RAVE CULTURE, BLACK RAVE CULTURE VOL. 4<\/p>\n You\u2019d think in the 21st century that we would not need a three-person unit called Black Rave Culture, right? Finally, late in the 20th century, we\u2019d figured out that not every Black person you see in a DJ booth strictly plays hip-hop. We\u2019d moved on to thinking more, uh, I don\u2019t know, progressively. Welp, we have not.\u00a0<\/p>\n Assumptions are the worst. Am I right? Ask me, a Black dude, a person who FOREVER was asked in a DJ booth at The Top, now Underground SF, while playing the darkest Ray Keith drum and bass records: \u201cYou got any hip-hop?\u201d From Black folks, nice white folks, old heads, and, for sure, youngs. Maybe Republicans who got lost and drunk and stumbled onto Haight Street for some late-night freaky Saturday night adventures and young libs who either ate too many pot brownies or just have not figured it out. (I have no proof on the political slant, but my DJ booth spidey senses are pretty reliable.)\u00a0<\/p>\n So mid-set, mid-mix, I\u2019d have to explain this is a drum and bass or electronic music party.\u00a0<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t ask the cool, hip, Caucasian woman who DJ\u2019ed before me.\u00a0<\/p>\n Naah. Let\u2019s see if the black dude got any hip-hop.<\/p>\n And lemme make this crystal. I love hip-hop; I came up on \u201990s East Coast golden age biz, but at the time, post-Biggie and Pac getting shot and killed, slain by gun violence, and caught up in a chess match larger than they could maneuver, I started to venture out, searching for new sounds, circa \u201998. Too much champagne and Henny talk; not enough soul.<\/p>\n Drum and bass, broken beat, techno, some house, and a myriad of other genres got my attention. Refueled my DJ fire, if you will. So, short answer? Yeah, we do need James Bangura, DJ NativeSun, and Amal, the three producers behind the blunt-speak name of Black Rave Culture. Vol. 4 is exploding with house, techno, footwork, two-step, dub, and baile funk\u2014seen through a lens of the Black experience.<\/p>\n The DC group was created organically during the COVID years when all three members were locked in their houses with nothing else to do but create. Now all three members are making some of the sweetest-sounding, smooth, and flowing electronic music out there. With correct low-end pressure intact, tracks like \u201cGeekin\u2019, are full of dreamlike rizz, kick drum bass love, articulated with that DMX \u201cwhut\u201d sample in the background just going off. Or the two-steppy, synthy UKG joint by the name of \u201cModule Select\u201d that you can foresee the amount of understated damage it will cause on the dance floor.<\/p>\n This is, as promised, \u201cRepresentation, Intentionality, Education.\u201d<\/p>\n Look for it here.<\/a><\/p>\n PEARL & THE OYSTERS, MONKEY MIND (STONES THROW RECORDS), AT THE INDEPENDENT, AUG 22<\/p>\n I\u2019ve kept my phasers locked on this LA-based French-American duo, Joachim Polack and Juliette Davis, since their 2021 debut, Flowerland<\/a>. What\u2019s the frequency, Kenneth?\u00a0<\/p>\n Sunny, good-feeling pop; exotic, luxury \u201970s rock; Brazilian and Japanese city-pop by way of funk, disco, R&B, softies, and boogie. But don\u2019t let all the hipster signifiers fool you. These cats can play Jack. I\u2019ll save you all the Stereolab \u201chigh on red wine and good hard cheese\u201d references; over the past five years, Pearl & the Oysters have consistently put out some of the most chilled-out, blissed-up, vibey records to date. Yes, some tunes sound like the intro to your favorite old TV show. And I think as much as it may look easy to do, this type of music is difficult to make. You\u2019ve got to believe in those Fender Rhodes stretches. Dedicate yourself to the joy these tunes disseminate. It\u2019s enmeshed in the belief in humanity\u2019s goodness.<\/p>\n They sound like incredible, ineffable summertime playfulness. They played at Bliss Fest a couple years ago and do, in fact, hit SF as much as possible, and all reports have been more than positive. So pop a bottle of crisp ros\u00e9 before heading down to The Independent and get ready to bathe in that ebullience as only Polack and Davis can deliver it.<\/p>\n Grab tix here.<\/a><\/p>\n MAE POWELL AT DELUXE, SUNDAY, AUG 23, $5\u00a0<\/p>\n There were varying points of operation during which anybody who was in search of a cocktail, some stoic sounds, and a particular vibe on Haight Street, besides the Magnolia type, could have attended at the mystical, magical times of the former Club DeLuxe. The Church of Frank Sinatra was a popular weekly vintage cocktail and big band party dedicated to the music of \u201cFrankie Bots\u201d and the Rat Pack, historically hosted on Tuesday nights, where \u201cdress to impress\u201d was the standard. <\/p>\n Today, The DeLuxe is a new experience in that same classic venue. It just reopened this summer after three years of being closed<\/a>, and still possesses a 1930s aerodynamic design aesthetic, but now murals are on the walls documenting the club\u2019s earlier days. An all-new sound system has improved the fullness of the room, finally complementing the sophisticated look. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s what\u2019s also new: their booking. The word is that blues, indie pop, Spanish-guitar music, rockabilly, and even Grateful Dead textures will flow from the stylish venue. So I suggest checking out SF\u2019s own essence of cool, Mae Powell, on Sun\/23, who is performing at The DeLuxe, and admission is $5. You already know what to expect from her: that classic and unique fusion of telling stories of self-love, nailing the perfect balance of intimacy and vulnerability by way of that free and easy \u201970s Laurel Canyon tapestry. Last year\u2019s Making Room For The Light was Powell\u2019s bluesy, folksy, jazz-inspired fakebook of the heart that ran the city abuzz late last summer.<\/p>\n Expect Powell\u2019s sweetness and vulnerability, combined with those rock star vibes; that\u2019s what she does expertly.<\/p>\n More info here.<\/a><\/p>\n AUTOMATIC AT THE INDEPENDENT, OCTOBER 13<\/p>\n LA post-punk group Automatic, who are now a duo of Izzy Glaudini and Halle Saxon after drummer Lola Domp\u00e9 left earlier this year, deliberately removed the guitar from their band, creating a vast space filled with many versions of dance rock and indie music\u2014they crafted their own fonk (with an o), similar to how Devo and ESG groove. They are avant-garde, futuristic musicians, and unsuspecting fans are always being converted\u2014I\u2019ve seen it. They were still finding their new footing at Outside Lands<\/a>, but the groove comes back around in a couple months: Automatic is still the shit, and I stand by it. 1000 percent.<\/p>\n