Native San Franciscan folk artist Justine Lucas is using her music to raise funds for earthquake relief in a small village called Maleng, Nepal. Specifically to help the survivors of the affected area rebuild their homes that were demolished by the quake, Justine’s focus on this cause comes from her personal connection to the village. To assist her friend’s Nepalese family and all the neighboring families, in their tight-knit community, she will be donating 100% of any album download sales for the rest of July.

“I really believe in supporting this kind of small-community effort, it’s like DIY fundraising,” says Justine, “There’s no overhead and therefore it has an immediate impact on improving life for the affected victims. Because the funds are going directly to the villagers of Maleng, it allows them to rebuild their homes in a way that restores their culture and is functional for their way of life. It means they’re getting what they need, not some culturally-irrelevent version of what American government assumes they need.”

If you’re interested in helping the villagers rebuild their homes, you can go to Justine’s site and download any album for your donation:
https://justinelucas.bandcamp.com

A little about Justine’s music: her art showcases musical storytelling and an intimate approach to performance. She currently lives on tour as an independent and self-produced artist, traveling and expanding her exposure to traditional folk musics in different countries.

We’re proud to premiere the film noir, short film style music video for Now You Know from the San Francisco based rock musician, An Intimate Evening with Michael Shaw. Now You Know is a track from Shaw’s 2015 album, This is It which was independently released last month. The music video is shot in a thick, stark black and white tone and tells the story of the indiscretions of a young priest. The video is not your usual independent music video, choosing to embed itself within an "era ambiguous" plot of the most traditional taboo, but that’s why we like it.

"The lyrics for "Now You Know" address the struggle for truth and honesty in a relationship, and the resulting fallout from such candor. The song chronicles me coming to terms with someone who had me on a pedestal.

With the video, we wanted to capture the tension of the lyrics in the song, while not being literal with the narrative. Working with the director, Ian Colon, and the producer, Jamie Shaw, we arrived at something heavily inspired by The Maltese Falcon and Lolita. The video was shot at some of the most iconic locations in the San Francisco Bay Area – a private dock in Sausalito, St. Hilary’s in Tiburon and the streets of North Beach.

While shooting the hotel scene in the early hours of the morning in North Beach, our hazer set off the hotel’s fire alarm. So at one in the morning, the whole hotel was evacuated. The crew threw a blanket over the hazer and took off down the street with it under their arms before anybody caught on. We found ourselves out in the street with about 100 tourists in their pajamas and the SFFD rushing up to the hotel in two fire trucks, with sirens blaring. So, who set off their fire alarm that night? Now you know.” – Michael Shaw

Check out this video and purchase the album via Itunes.

"Now You Know" An Intimate Evening With Michael Shaw from Ian Colon on Vimeo.

Oh, this is going to be a good show. The Oakland based dreamgaze-grunge band, Night School (Graveface Records) will be sharing a bill with the Brooklyn based minimal, art pop band, Pony Farm and the Baltimore based dreampop band, Wild Honey. This show is regionally eclectic, but the music will flow together really well.

We at The Deli Magazine have local Baltimore/DC and NYC blogs, so we’re excited to cover bands who have been written about on other local Deli sites! We like when our fave national bands tour because we get to write about them on our home turf!

If you like riot grrrl rock, shoegaze, dream pop and home grown Brooklyn lofi rock, you’ll be right at home at The Knockout on Thursday, July 16th! We recommend you make it a point to support some great underground music!

We’ve got a fresh new band in town who has landed on our fare soil via Philidellphia! The Total Bettys are a super fun pop punk band who are gearing up to release a new EP entitled, Connect with the Couch which will be released on July 24th with a kickoff concert at the Oakland Octopus Literary Salon. They’ll be giving away a free zine at the event featuring original art and lyrics created by lead guitarist Bri Barrett.

The Total Bettys are a four piece pop-punk outfit based in San Francisco and the East Bay. Songwriter Maggie Grabmeier and guitarist Bri Barrett joined forces in March of 2015: they came for the face melting girl-power, and they stayed for the friendship. Recorded in Bri’s apartment and mixed by Matt Regan of Hand and a Half Records, The Total Bettys’ debut EP Connect with the Couch features fun, upbeat pop punk energy with witty, self-deprecating lyrics. The Total Bettys draw influence from bands like Bully, Chumped, and Best Coast.

The Bay Area based musician, Michael Bang will perform live on Sunday, July 12th at the 2nd Sunday Concert Series at Open Door in Richmond. Bang will play with his avant-classical-folk ensemble for ”a hot night of BBQ and ethereal, rock-tinged folk”. You can also check out a live performance by Andrew Ledford of The Tet Holiday at this event.

Just to let you know, you’ll be walking into the United Methodist Church in Richmond because they’re responsible for putting on these monthly concerts and they serve BBQ to the the attendees! The acoustics should be amazing so get out and check out something different. We love every music venue in the Bay Area, but we’re never afraid to encourage Bay Area music lovers to mix it up!

Tonight is going to be a legendary night of rock and roll at Oakland’s The Night Light. Angelina Moysov of the Oakland based ballad-centric rock band, Persephone’s Bees will perform as a special guest as she shares the with bill with the Portland based band, Hollow Sidewalks and Los Angeles based, Greg Ashley Band.

Greg Ashley is the singer of the influential psychedelic rock band, The Gris Gris. Ashley’s solo band is an experimental, avant rock band that can be considered trippy, but more like Lou Reed and less like Pink Floyd. Hollow Sidewalks features Jason “Plucky” Anchondo who is known for his work in the legendary neo psych bands, The Warlocks and Spindrift. There’s going to be a lot of history hanging out and performing at The Night Light tonight. Enjoy some great music as these hardworking musicians show the crowd how it’s done!

Oakland’s Wicked Man is an undeniably unique act with influences ranging from Fela Kuti and Ali Farka Touré to the songwriting prowess of John Prine and Andrew Bird. The group’s new single, Soil Leaking Water is an eclectic blend of bluesy fingerpicking, soaring synths, electronic drums, and darkly haunting vocal melodies.

The track is birthed in sounds of sweltering, trance­-like guitar licks, comes of age in its jazzy­pop­funk groove, and builds strength with eclectic frontman Yonatan Tietz’s soulful vocals, keyboard master Andrew Kunz’s synth work and drummer/percussive coordinator Max Denny’s self­-sampled electronic functions. As a band, their sound has evolved and expanded upon the bold 2014 debut Fingership EP, growing into a more intricate tapestry of fantastically enticing rhythms that leaves us all chomping for more.

Give this track a listen. Hell, give this track ten listens. Put it on at yer July 4th backyard BBQ. It’ll grow on you, that’s for sure. Wicked Man will be releasing their next EP in September and touring the West Coast in the fall. More info is available on their official website, wicked­man.com. – Justin Kohlberg

We’ve learned that the Bay Area has the unique opportunity to hear composer, Bryce Dessner (of the Brookyln based indie rock band, The National) perform his orchestral composition, St. Carolyn by the Sea (for orchestra and two electric guitars) at Pier 27 on the Embarcadero from 12-2 pm.

The event is hosted by the San Francisco Symphony and it’s going to be cool to see the city get a little bit of postmodern classical music whiffing and whirling through the air! Not a lot of people know that Bryce Dessner is a classically-trained musician and he’s written a lot of orchestral/classical pieces. 

You can take your friends and family to this event…and this is probably the best cheap date opportunity of the year!

The popular San Francisco based electro pop artists, Painted Palms have released a new single entitled, Tracers after returning from a bit of a hiatus. We’re excited to hear some new music from them and are equally excited to hear that they’re set to release their full length album, Horizons on September 4th on Polyvinyl.

Check out this fresh new track that is more upbeat than their earlier work which was darker, more washed out and somber. We like what they were doing then and we dig what they’re doing now. Check out this track and we’ll keep you posted on when they line up local live performances.

The San Francisco based avant indie-folk rock band, Owl Paws has given us the opportunity to share their new ballad, Eyes Of The Prey from their upcoming debut full length album, Reservoir. Our recent coverage of Rin Tin Tiger’s new single and upcoming album ties into the endeavors of Owl Paws, as the bands are celebrating together with a double album release show at The Independent on July 10th with Growwler.

Owl Paws’ sound and rhythms veer more towards indie rock and less towards folk and country, giving them a crisp and contemporary feel. Their new single, Eyes Of The Prey is a sentimental and honest ballad that sounds airy, but is also mixed with a tinge of loneliness that seems to reflect a bit of the isolating element of modern times. The lyrics are somewhat abstract, but they do reflect the band’s understanding of the depth of human emotion and experience.

The band’s full length album, Reservoir will be released digitally via Bandcamp on July 7th. We’re excited for their new album and hope you’ll support this local band’s art and efforts.

The San Francisco based psychedelic gospel band, Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah will be performing live at Slim’s in San Francisco on July 8th. They haven’t played a Bay Area show since April so if you’ve missed them, this will be your opportunity to experience their entrancing live show again.

The band will be supporting the fresh, postmodern blues rock band, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas. This is going to be an exciting show because the energy and poignancy of both band’s understanding of throwback American music shines through their music. We love their interpretations of blues and gospel and appreciate the authenticity of their musical execution. These bands are pros and they play like it.

Lee Gallagher and Jessica Hernandez’ voices will pretty much blow you away. Make your way out to Slim’s on July 8th! You won’t regret it.

The San Francisco based avant indie band, The Dodos are set to put on a special performance at California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco on July 9th. The band is continuing to support their sixth studio album, Individ which was released in January.

Individ is an intensely jaunty, tight sonic ride.” Long & Kroeber showed off a new set of skills in the video for the single, “Competition”, and completed a video trilogy with “Goodbyes & Endings”. Individ is the opening of a new chapter for the Dodos, recorded right on the heels of 2013’s Carrier, writing the material as they went, quickly, without questioning, drawing on instinct and the knowledge one gains from performing with the same person for nearly a decade.

One thing you can count on is that this show is going to be interesting and will set you in an environment that is very different from the average music venue! Don’t miss this special opportunity to see The Dodos in a unique artistic setting!