Tag Archives: San Francisco

Ahead of the Curve: Kill Paris and Louis Futon Shine at Mezzanine, SF 4/25 [Event Review]

KillParisWritten and photographed by Dominic Powell

Boulder-based Kill Paris‘ self described “future funk” sound has evolved as a result of his ability to adapt and remain at the cutting edge of the future electronic landscape over a 4+ year career under the moniker. His most recent album, Galaxies Between Us, truly captures his progression combining an atmospheric, other-worldly aesthetic with intricate, often playful, elements of electronic dance music. Over the weekend, Eye Heart SF brought both Kill Paris and Louis Futon, another ninja favorite, to Mezzanine in San Francisco for a night full of forward-thinking music that rattled the dance floor. LF

’G Eazy – Lets Get Lost Ft. Devon Baldwin (Louis Futon Remix)’
’Louis Futon – Sir Rock’

Since he first began putting out original productions in late 2013, Louis Futon has been growing his musically inclined fan base one smooth track at a time. His remixes of G-Eazy, Logic, and Future have served as a blue print for other artists who have jumped on board with the lyric-heavy future genre in recent months. Additionally, the Philadelphian’s original productions such as “Sir Rock” (featured prominently in Ta-Ku’s popular mixtape) and “Drnuk” have put to rest any doubt about Louis Futon’s artistic talents.  His set perfectly brought that sound to life captivating the audience with a unique fusion of future electronic, hip-hop and funk. Louis Futon’s remix of G-Eazy’s “Lets Get Lost” had the whole crowd singing along and his originals pushed the boundaries of club anthems.

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’Kill Paris – Baby Come Back’
’Kill Paris – Operate ft Royal’

In a testament to his instrumental abilities, Kill Paris took the stage wielding an impressive array of devices: a Livid CNTRL:R MIDI controller, Pioneer CDJ’s, and a Roland AX-Synth 49-Key Keytar Synthesizer. He jumped right into his set, getting the crowd going with his own unique outer space blend of electronic music. His new material from Galaxies Between Us was well received by the crowd. At one point, he stepped out from behind his CDJ’s and began playing his Keytar while high fiving the frenzied crowd. He managed to play a healthy dose of his newer music while allowing the crowd to get involved and jump around to his older tunes, such as “Baby Come Back“. KP also mixed in some songs by his favorite artists – Cashmere Cat and Porter Robinson – before ending with his hit Royal-featuring single, “Operate.”

The combination of Louis Futon and Kill Paris made for a truly dynamic and inspiring night with a diverse representation of the future of electronic music. If either are coming through your city, we’d highly recommend checking them out–you can find upcoming dates for KP here and LF here. In the meantime, check out some more photos from the show below. Continue reading

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Hippie Sabotage’s SF Debut at Subculture SF, 3/26 [Event Review]

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’ Hippie Sabotage – Waiting Too Long’
’Lana Del Rey – West Coast (Hippie Sabotage Remix)’

Although still relative newcomers, Hippie Sabotage have already proven an impressively dynamic production duo. The brother tandem have produced for some of hip-hop’s freshest talent, re-imagined radio hits as chilled-out anthems and created eclectic originals that fall in the middle of that spectrum. We were lucky enough to catch Hippie Sabotage at the third installment of Subculture SF’s newly launched bi-weekly event series at Hawthorn and their performance was a perfect reflection of their diversity in sound. Their set combined the duo’s influences and different musical explorations all the while keeping the dance floor moving steadily all night. Surely, there was a plethora of unreleased material in their set but two notable moments were their remixes of “West Coast” and “Habits (Stay High),” both favorites among fans and the ninja staff. You can watch some video footage of their Tove Lo flip here.

Last Thursday was a first for us at both a Subculture SF show and Hawthorn and it’s definitely an experience we’re looking forward to doing again. Tucked away in the Financial District, Hawthorn camoflauges with its surrounding but, when you descend into the venue, it’s got an intimate, ideal set up for a DJ set. Having already hosted Kill Frenzy and Kittens, Subculture SF has done a great job thus far bringing top-notch talent as well as solid supporting acts to match. Their next show is set for April 9th and will feature Falcons, of the Athletixx crew—you can grab tickets here. Enjoy some pictures courtesy Subculture SF below.  IMG_9644 Continue reading

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Lido’s SF Debut at Rickshaw Stop, 3/12 [Event Review]

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Lido<3
Lost (feat. Muri)

Over the last couple years, Lido‘s diverse compositions have played an important role in defining “Future” music, a broad term used to categorize the post-EDM wave of electronic artists. The young Norwegian producer’s sound defies definition by spanning from unconventionally jaw-dropping remixes to soulful, downtempo originals and everything in between. Lido’s versatile inspiration and talent makes for an eclectic live performance, which we were lucky enough to witness at his first ever San Francisco appearance at Rickshaw Stop last week.

Clad with keyboard, microphone, beat pad and electronic drum set, Lido’s stage set up features enough instruments, including his voice, for a full band allowing him to put on a performance that transcends categorization. Original tracks like “Money” and “I Love You” transformed beautifully live, but it was truly the unexpected turns that made the night. At one point, Lido broke down into straight gospel from his childhood–it was a moment when fans seemed to look around with a bit of confusion before being drawn in to its soulfulness. With such a broad range of styles, the transitions may have actually been the single most impressive aspect of the set. When Lido dropped his throwback original  “She Cried Ice,” which few realize is the piano sampled in Cashmere Cat‘s “With Me,” and merged it with “Lost,” the crowd completely lost it. The reactions aren’t what you normally think of at an electronic show given the emotional depth, which fostered an atmosphere of awe and positivity all the way up to his triumphant closing remix of Kanye West‘s “FourFiveSeconds.”

Check out some pictures, courtesy Justin Yee, below along with a video of Lido’s “She Cried Ice” performance from the show by Scott Benton

Lido-7 Lido-1 Lido-9 Continue reading

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Mosaics Talk their Musical Vision, Influences and San Francisco [TMN Exclusive Interview/Event Preview]

We’re really excited to be teaming up with the Make It Funky SF collective to put on a series of showcases in California highlighting local talent. Launching this Saturday, February 21st at El Rio in San Francisco, the first installment will feature experimental indie band Feed Me Jack and the folky, electronic vibes of Mosaics with support from acoustic soul duo, The Kakaroaches making for an eclectic mix of styles. As part of the series, we’ll be catching up with some of the performers to shed light on up ‘n coming musicians. RSVP at the link below. 

M o s a i c s
GLAM

The emergence of electronic music has created a fascinating rippling effect across genres as more and more artists find creative ways to combine musicianship with the seemingly limitless capabilities of modern studio technology. San Francisco band, Mosaics, have perhaps one of the most novel fusions we’ve heard yet using unconventional, percussive acoustic guitar to create samples that can be manipulated, arranged and layered with unique vocals into brooding, experimental compositions. Their debut LP, Of Colors, helps establish their forward-thinking sound proving refreshingly original without losing accessibility or catchiness. We had a chance to catch up with Mosaics band members Devon Kelts (guitar, vocals), Tyler Hill (production, keys), Grady Lee (vocals, guitar, bass) and Westin Joy (drum machine, bass) about their collective vision, musical influences and experiences as musicians in SF. Get to know Mosaics below and come out to see them this weekend at our first ever Music Ninja show in the Bay Area!

RSVP: Make It Funky & Music Ninja Present: Feed Me Jack, Mosaics and The Kakaroaches

 

TMN: Can you tell us a bit about how you all first met?

Devon: Tyler and I went to Loyola Marymount down in Los Angeles to study music and composition. We were best friends from college and decided to move up to San Francisco to try to make it as musicians. We did a couple musical projects that were kind of just our own thing but we didn’t really put out anything. Mosaics was the final iteration of those projects where we felt like we had a sound that was something we could stand behind. We needed a passionate musician and strong vocalist to get our LP Of Colors finished so we brought on Grady. It ended up working out really well and he made some really strong contributions in helping us finish the record. Then we needed someone to help us play live—Wes and I were already friends and he was pretty excited about the opportunity so we brought him in. He already has experience with production and has similar musical tastes so it worked out quite nicely.

TMN: Your music falls at this really interesting intersection of folk/acoustic, experimental and electronic. Can you talk a bit about the vision behind Mosaics?

Tyler: I think that the vision essentially started with Devon and I painting sonic landscapes on the computer. We wanted to create a sound that could be considered pop but still is drawing all of this original material in from things we’ve created. When we did our first EP, we had a concept where all the songs heard were coming from the guitar. So, basically we made an album all from samples created from hitting the guitar for drums, creating pads out of the guitar using production techniques and obviously writing melodies with lyrics. Our goal is to make something that is very authentic and artistic, but can still have that pop catchiness and drive.

Devon: We wanted to unite things. Often times really unique ways of playing the acoustic guitar are kept in a purist category. Meaning that they just play the instrument and nothing else. It’s very seldom that you see people with unique approaches to acoustic guitar uniting with the world of electronic production. Our goal was to find a way to unite the two in a tasteful manner and maybe, in that unification, to create something that’s new and novel.
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[SF Giveaway + Exclusive Interview] Buku & Willy Joy w/ Washed Out & Make It Funky, 12/5 @ 1015 Folsom

’Willy Joy & Buku – Punani’

Bass music is in a constant state of evolution with new sub-genres emerging each year. The artists who shine in an often over-crowded space, though, are those who manage to be unaffected by the current trends around them. Two producers who stand out in the realm of trap/dubstep/future tunes are Chicago’s Willy Joy and Philly’s Buku, who recently teamed up for the two-track Meaner & Leaner EP. While Willy brings a festival-ready, big-room sound, Buku provides a far-out bounce and funk making them a force to be reckoned with as a duo–both in the studio and on stage.

Buku and Willy Joy will be taking over the upstairs room at 1015 Folsom SF this Friday, December 5th, as part of their Meaner & Leaner Tour and we’re excited to be offering a couple VIP passes to the show, which will also feature sets from Washed Out and the DJs of Make It Funky SF among others. We also had a chance to catch up with Willy and Buku in advance of the show to chat a bit about their musical backgrounds, the tour life and how they first met. Enter the contest and enjoy the interview below–if you win, you’ll also get a meet & greet with Buku & Willy in case you’ve got any questions for them we haven’t already asked! Please keep in mind that all participants in this contest must be over the age of 21 and bring a valid ID to the venue to pick up their tickets. The winner will be notified via email Friday morning. Tickets are also still on sale and available for purchase here.



 

TMN:  Thanks for taking the time guys! First off, can you tell us a bit about how you first linked up? A Chief Keef show was involved, right?

Willy Joy: The first time we met was when we were booked on the same show in Washington, DC. It was in a big complex, and Chief Keef had a show in another room of the building. We kept sneaking away from our own show to go watch his. It was a definite bonding moment.

TMN: What caught your attention about each other’s sound?

Willy Joy: Buku has such a strong sonic identity – you can instantly tell if a track is his, and its such a dope, cohesive sound. I’m always drawn to people finding originality in established forms, and he’s carved out an entirely new lane for himself. That’s a long winded way of saying his tunes bang super hard.

Buku: I was and still am infatuated with the amount of energy Willy has in his music. From listening and playing together, I’ve learned quite a bit how to keep the party going wild. When he plays his tunes and special edits live, I usually have to grab hold of something concrete nearby.

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GoldLink Hangs with Rick Rubin at 1015 Folsom in SF, 9/25 [Event Review]

GoldLink
Bedtime Story [Prod. Louie Lastic]

Upon our first listen of GoldLink’s debut project, The God Complex, we immediately knew he had the potential to change the landscape of hip-hop. From a technical perspective, the DMV-bred emcee has an impressive, quick-hitting flow with an equally adept vocal range making for a versatile, dynamic sound. What really sets him apart, though, is his openness to work with forward-thinking producers and, maybe even more importantly, the connection his unique, unabashed lyrics find with his audience. Whether it be fun tracks like “Ay Ay” or more introspective cuts like “When I Die,” GoldLink very much feels like a genuine voice that can represent his generation for years to come.

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[Event Review] Two Nights of Slow Magic

Slow Magic at The Independent in SF. Photo cred: Justin Yee (@yeesus)

Slow Magic at The Independent in San Francisco. Photo cred: Justin Yee (IG: @yeesus)

Gold Panda
Brazil (Slow Magic Remix)

In support of his stellar new album, Slow Magic launched the How to Run Away tour last week with over 20 U.S. dates scheduled between now and mid-October. Two of our ninjas had the pleasure of covering a couple of the tour’s earliest stops and were both blown away by the energy of the performance. Read each of their accounts below and check out the mysterious producer’s upcoming tour dates here. In case you missed it, you can also read our recent interview with Slow Magic here. Continue reading

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