Matt CrawfordSF Station Writer |
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 | Bringing it Back San Quinn has been bubbling at the surface of the Bay Area rap scene for more than 15 years with gritty tales of turf life in San Francisco's Fillmore District, but he still struggles break out of the bubble that keeps most Northern California rappers out of the national spotlight. The rapper is hoping that will change with [b]Scokland[/b], his collaboration with Keak da Sneak, an Oakland rapper in a similar situation after the hyphy movement failed to catch on outside of California. San Quinn spoke about his neighborhood and his new album with Keak during a phone interview. More » |  |  | Historic Movie House Re-Emerges as Mid-Size Music Venue The landscape for Bay Area performance venues changes February 6th, when Oakland’s Fox Theater, after decades of dormancy and deterioration, hosts Social Distortion. More » | |  | Hoping to Make History in D.C. As Barack Obama makes history with his first term in the White House, D.C. rapper Wale is hoping to do the same. After lighting up the internet with a couple of free mixtapes that had many proclaiming him the "next best thing" in hip hop, the rapper is aiming to put his hometown on the map with his debut LP this spring. He’s already caught the attention of Jay Z, Lil Wayne and producer Mark Ronson, who helped him land a deal with Interscope Records through his Allido imprint label. Wale performs with his band at Mezzanine on January 31st. He spoke with SF Station during a phone interview from Washington the day after Obama’s inauguration. More » | |  | Sensual Healing Odds are, whether you wanted to or not, you’ve encountered Ne-Yo’s music at some point in your life. In addition to numerous R&B hits of his own, he’s left his mark on pop music with chart-topping songwriting collaborations with Rihanna, Beyonce and others. He performs at Oakland’s Paramount Theater on February 6th before heading to the Grammys in L.A. on February 8th, where he is nominated in six categories, including Album of the Year for [b]Year of the Gentleman[/b]. He spoke with SF Station during a phone interview from a tour stop Nottingham, England. More » | |  | Genre-Bending Brazilian Returns to SF Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Curumin brings his eclectic mix of soul samba, funk and other genres back to U.S. soil this month with a tour that stops January 22nd at Slim’s, where he will be joined by label mates Blackalicious, Tommy Guerrero and Lateef. The São Paulo resident released his second album [b]JapanPopShow[/b] with Bay Area record company Quannum Projects last year. More » | |  | Birds of a Feather The Raveonettes had a banner year in 2008: The duo’s third LP [b]Lust Lust Lust[/b] was released in the U.S. with positive reviews across the board, Sharin Foo had a child, Sune Rose Wagner released his first solo album, and they both closed the year with a series of four EPs. The band greets 2009 with a brief tour before retreating to plot their next release. They stop in San Francisco for a show at Bimbo’s on January 23rd. Wagner spoke with SF Station during a phone interview from New York. More » | |  | The Eagle Has Landed Like the thick fog that swallows San Francisco on winter mornings, [b]In Ear Park[/b], the second LP from New York duo Department of Eagles, is comforting and unsettling all at once. Recorded in a New York church, the album meanders from flowering guitar arrangements to light-footed folk stomp in a reverb-drenched haze. Fred Nicolaus, one half of the duo that includes Daniel Rossen (also a member of Grizzly Bear), spoke about the album and the band’s first extensive tour during a phone interview from Manhattan. The band performs at Café du Nord on January 25th. More » | |  | Two Native Sons San Francisco’s native sons Two Gallants will share their last performance of the year -- and likely their last show together for several months -- with local fans on December 26th at The Fillmore. After recording and touring behind their self-titled third LP, released September 2007 on Conor Oberst’s Saddle Creek label, the duo is ready for a break to work on other projects, according to singer/guitarist Adam Stephens, who spoke with SF Station during a phone interview. More » | |  | Goin’ Big With Mr. Ricky Reed Armed with a gold dookie chain and an 80s thrift store wardrobe, those nifty sunglasses with the green arm bands that you see everywhere these days, and vicious auto-tune vocals, Wallpaper’s Eric Frederic embodies the 'me generation' with his alter ego Ricky Reed. The singer doesn’t start the party with jams about going big on the weekends and textual romance -- he is the party. Frederic spoke with SF Station during a break from working on the Bay Area-based group’s debut LP, which he says will build off of the electro funk of the recent [b]T Rex[/b] EP, with a more expansive, band-oriented sound. More » | |  | Do Your Little Dance on the Catwalk If CSS doesn’t make you dance, you might need to see a doctor. The band from Sao Paulo has been doing laps around the globe nearly nonstop since its 2006 debut on Sup Pop. It stops in San Francisco in support of its second LP on the label [b]Donkey[/b] for a Show at Bimbo’s on December 12th. Luiza Sa (guitar/keyboards) spoke with SF Station during a phone interview from London between the European and Japanese legs of the tour. More » | |
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