Last month, San Francisco-based producer Slaptop, returned with a brand new single "Passenger." With an esteemed co-sign from The Magician and his label Potion Records, "Passenger" proved to be another critically acclaimed jewel for Slaptop’s growing discography. Before 2016 comes to a close, Slaptop is dropping another brand new single titled "I Try." A future bass crossover single, "I Try" enlists the enigmatic vocals of Olivia Florentino for a rich and multi-layer ear-full of sound. Aside from being Slaptop’s newest single, this also represents the debut release on his own label- Sunsquad Records.

Naming Gallery in Oakland, California, is a multi-purpose arts space where people congregate on Saturday nights. This 360 documentary explores the how the arts center has become a staple for young artists to congregate, despite the fact that it exists in a historically beleaguered neighborhood. In August 2016, a fatal shooting occurred outside the gallery where hundreds of people were celebrating. “If we let this destroy us as people, we won’t be able to gather, we won’t be able to share art with each other,” says Imari, a musician who is part of the Naming Gallery community. “To stay open is the only thing I can do right now.” It was directed by the Oakland-based Variable Labs.

Sunhaze has released their debut album entitled, Wishful Thinking. Sunhaze originated from the vision of Danae Labraña, a San Francisco transplant hailing from the shores of Santa Barbara. Fellow San Francisco State alumni Priscilla del Rosario with Erin Walter then added their native Bay Area-influenced elements to a handful of Labraña’s singer-songwriter works. The last two additions Brandon Iljas and Aaron Chin completed the lineup soon after and as a group, they began molding their sound.

San Francisco-based artist/producer Jacob Montague has announced a new project called Tsutro, and will be releasing a self-titled debut LP February 10, 2017. The new Tsutro album—mastered by Dale Becker (Beyonce & Ryan Lewis) and drawing from a diverse collection of sounds including pop, worldbeat, future garage, ambient & downtempo—sounds at first like one band backing a new guest vocalist on each of its 10 songs. But in reality, Montague hasn’t even met most of the singers, let alone recorded with them.

"With most of the tracks," he explains, "I took a phrase or two from an existing song, then built all new music around it."

Despite the collage-like approach, Montague is hesitant to call any of the songs remixes—which makes perfect sense considering Tsutro’s unified arrangements. As much as the album relies on minimalist electronic textures, there’s an unquestionably organic connection between the instrumentation and the carefully curated vocal stems.

Mark Nelsen Band has a new single called In My Own Defense and we’re excited to share it with you! We reviewed Mark Nelsen’s solo single, Screwball (Change the Weather) two years ago, which is a part of this same collection / album being released. Nonetheless, the songs by Mark Nelsen Band are heavier rock n roll / alternative and bluesy.

"Our newest track ‘In My Own Defense’ foreshadows the long overdue ‘Change The Weather’ LP – a collection of heavier, bluesier band recordings from 2012-2015. Finally this album is coming out! This particular song is an upbeat rocker who’s remorseful narrator searches for peace of mind under the moonlight. He’s unsure why he’s guilty and wonders if he really must change. Something like that." – Mark Nelsen

The San Francisco based electro pop band, Date Night has released a strange animated video for their single, Sex Bruise. The band teamed up with a group of animators, choreographers and weirdos to create a 4D, motion capture heavy music video for the first single off of Date Nite’s eponymous electronica album. The video, shot in a Potrero hill robotics studio, combines 80’s video game art, sea punk, vaporwave, sassy emoji’s and plenty of mayhem. Check it out!

San Francisco based pianist, Lara Downes will release her next solo album, America Again on October 28, 2016. The album’s title is taken from Langston Hughes’ poem, Let America Be America Again, written in 1938.

Downes’ 2016 album, America Again, explores music that expresses different facets of the American dream – its hope, its impossibility, and its necessity. Lara Downes conceived of the album in June 2015, in response to the Charleston, SC shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. She recorded the album in March 2016 at Sono Luminus’ studio in Boyce, VA. Downes writes of the meaning in the album, “Today, as I write these words, we are living again in troubled times. For too many Americans, circumstance and skin color still keep the promise out of reach, the dream deferred. The hard-won rights and long-sought justice for which our parents and grandparents fought are too easily slipping away. The rifts and rivalries that divide us as a nation seem to run deeper than ever. But still, we dreamers keep dreaming our dream. This music is a tribute to the generations of Americans who dream the impossible: black and white, men and women, immigrants and pioneers. It tells the story of their journeys, their loves and longings, their hardships and their hopes. American music is made of everything we are, coming from so many different people and places, expressing so many different dreams

The San Francisco based band, Be Calm Honcho has released a new track, Bad Man.

Bad Man tells the story of lead singer Shannon Harney’s brother who is currently serving a jail term. She explains: "In and out of the justice system, various addictions, the whole gamut of trauma and trouble and family can go through. It’s very personal, it’s very dear to me and the themes it tackles are important to the people who gravitate towards my music.

“I wrote this song for my kid brother in jail,” shares Be Calm Honcho’s vocalist Shannon Harney. “In and out of the justice system, various addictions, the whole gamut of trauma and trouble and family can go through. It’s very personal, it’s very dear to me and the themes it tackles are important to the people who gravitate towards my music.”

The Oakland-based pop-soul band Bells Atlas are gearing up to drop a standalone single, “Spec and Bubble.” Attempting to neatly describe the sounds that Derek Barber (guitar) Geneva Harrison (drums, percussion, keys) Sandra Lawson-Ndu (vocals, percussion, keys) and Doug Stuart (bass, vocals, keys) produce together is no easy task. Kaleidoscopic and richly layered, each new foray by the band expands the wide, colorful sonic palette from which they paint dazzling, vibrant structures from.

Sunset Exotic is the solo project of singer/songwriter/producer Charlie Foltz. His first mixtape titled “Oddity”, consists of the two flagship songs of Sunset Exotic, recorded at Charlie’s studio in Santa Rosa, California in June of 2016. The mixtape borrows elements of 80’s new wave, London synth pop, and modern french electronic music and explores the themes of love, manipulation and bitterness in a revealing tone full of brutally honest self assessment. Sunset Exotic aims to be sonically massive with moody undercurrents that are reminiscent of artists like Talking Heads, Gorillaz, Blood Orange, The The, and David Bowie. Currently, Charlie is wrapping up the debut EP that will release early next year under the Sunset Exotic banner. ​

"I started building up this collection of synthesizers from the 80’s and 90’s back in 2014 and immediately began to shoehorn them into just about every FRENCHGIRLS song we were making at the time. At the beginning of this year, I got really obsessive about making these grandiose productions with a combination of guitars, bass, drums, drum machines, and my synth collection to a point where I just figured, “Why not make a few albums of this?” Recently, I’ve found myself being inspired by a lot more artists like Midge Ure, Gorillaz, Talking Heads, Blood Orange, The The, Tame Impala, and Prince. They have this crazy ambitious production style that taught me how to think of individual roles within a band as non-static and flexible vs confined to just the one instrument that each member plays. Its been a pretty liberating way to write and for right now, I’m really digging that style of arranging and producing. “Oddity" is kind of my way of finally turning in a few pages of overdue lab notes from a bunch of late nights in the studio this year." –Charlie Foltz

Don’t miss Ocean Beach Music and Art Festival’s 2016 music line up on October 8th!

This Year’s Ocean Beach Festival’s Music Line Up This year the world-renowned Noriega Street will be home to the third annual Ocean Beach Music and Art Festival. This FREE festival will be dedicated to the cultural and historic value of Ocean Beach. The Outer Noriega Merchant Association (ONMA) along with its great residents are joining together to celebrate the vibrant beauty that is Noriega Street. This family friendly festival will feature six stages, over ten food vendors, two beer gardens, over twenty live music acts, live art installations, a kids zone, mobile petting zoo, and a pumpkin patch. So please join us on October 8th for a day to remember!

Travis Hayes
O
Meernaa
Claire George
Spooky Mansion
Down and Outlaws
Tino Drima
The Electric Arrows
French Cassettes
Chickenhead Johnson
Bear Call
The Old Folks
Edward Dix
James Houdini
DJ Platinum Patton

Bay Area based singer-songwriter, Emily Afton has released a new collection of hauntinly beautiful songs. Her album is entitled, Archetype and can be heard in its entirety via Soundcloud.com. We’re always excited to share new music with The Deli readers and this new album is a total gem!

Archetype is a crossroads of Emily Afton’s path as a songwriter. It brings together new ideas & old concepts, taps into her psyche, and draws from the canon of contemporary tastes while creating something distinct. The album is indicative of Afton’s changing artistic tides, ebbing from guitar and piano driven folk and flowing to alt pop circuitry and back over a period of about a year. Her decision to change her name from ‘Emily Moldy’ (her last name is Moldenhauer, Afton is her middle name) was also inspired by the broadening musical horizons in full view on Archetype. The album is a perfect introduction to Afton’s inspired persona, drawing the listener in close with a Siren’s song that stops before the rocks get too close.