Know Good Music
Photo by Elaine Tantra Sombr was my second favorite musician of 2025. Olivia Dean was my first. I recently snuck into her play a Super Bowl party at Pier 48 with Shaboozey opening. So I had to see Sombr next. Sombr played just before The Backstreet Boys on the main stage at BottleRock 2026. His set was a lot better than expected. I have many issues with Sombr's social media strategy–listen to…
My 9th year at SXSW. So I thought it was a good time to name my favorite performances since 2016 and go a little deeper into 2026. · 2016 : Tickle Torture @ The Iron Bear with a lubed up set more erotic than Prince. · 2017 : Duckwrth @ Banger's playing a most vibrant day-party set. · 2018 : Joey Dosik @ Zilker Park . A pop up in the park was picnic perfect. · 2019 : Celeste @ St David's Church .…
It’s perplexing that a 52-card deck has more combinations than atoms in the known universe, meaning every shuffle is likely the first time that specific order has ever existed. If you apply that conundrum to a music playlist, even a "Top 10" would result in a distinct playlist from everyone on Earth (if we all made one). My top 10 's top 1 was Olivia Dean, and I'm sure many others (it's been her…
Thread work by ctballer_ Yuga Labs' Apefest is the future of festivals. It’s less about what happened at their 5th year in Las Vegas during ComplexCon and more about what happens before and after. Composability is key to any festival or community’s longevity. After 15 years of covering live events, I see most people stay within their own friend groups that don’t mix often enough with others.…
Music from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and now the 90s carries a nostalgic warmth that feels perfect for summer. Like our Late Night Jazz series, I’ve been pulling together definitive lists from the 20th century, and Classic Summer is the latest for a hot summer day. It was meant to drop the 4th of July, 2020, but like all good comprehensive playlists, it took way more time than any person should put…
My two favorite live performances of 2024 were Mon Laferte at Festival La Onda (BottleRock's sister festival) and Jalen Ngonda at The Swedish American Music Hall . This year both played BottleRock 2025, but I didn't get to see either. I intended to once again see the Queen of latin musical dramas, Mon Laferte, at BottleRock on Friday, but she had to postpone her show until Saturday. I couldn't…
Mill Valley Music Festival has been a go-to for its intimate charm and consistent selection of soul. 2025 marked its fifth year running and my fourth time going. My top three shows have been Thee Sacred Souls in 2024, La Doña in 2022, and Durand Jones in 2023, but they had some hefty competition this year. Sunday was packed with soul— Thee Sinseers & Monoponics with their retro style, Sister Nancy…
10 years at SXSW. Technically 2020 shut down and 2021 was online, but 10 years I've been enjoying a city filled with live music more dense, diverse, and good than anywhere in the world. This was the first time I went to weekend one, which is the main attraction for the conference. It was informative. I got to see Ben Stiller talk Severance – the best show in the past 10 years – and something dear…
The debate over whether a musician's legacy lies in an album or a single is more contentious than ever as music shortens and singles dominate the internet. While both clearly play a role (like all good things), I lean toward the single. The album is too rare for me. I'll take it a step further, it's not just the single, but more specifically a moment within the song that defines the musician.…
Daily Goodies is like no other playlist we've made before. Every other playlist has been static with very little updates, but this list updates at least a few times a week. Ideally daily. We also clip the best moment of each song, cut a video to match, and upload to Instagram and TikTok . Follow along. View Full Article »
Jalen Ngonda played a sold-out show at The Swedish American Hall in San Francisco this September. You can tell his voice is more than a 70's soul knockoff in his recordings alone, but it's nothing like hearing him live 10 feet away. Not even one of my favorite musicians over the past 5 years, Aaron Frazer, who had the song at my wedding's first dance, could showcase live like Ngonda. I saw Frazer…
I remember the first time I heard Aaron Frazer. With Durand Jones & The (rest of the) Indications at Outside Lands in 2018. Durand and his band were one of the most memorable sets of the 8 years I've been to OSL . Most memorable was hearing a high pitched vocalist in the band but took me a good 3 songs to figure out who it was. The drummer in the back, Aaron Frazer. Now he is very much in front.…
Photo by Priscilla Rodriguez Festival La Onda was BottleRock's first run at a second weekend that was all latin music, new & old. Not dissimilar from Coachella's third weekend, Stagecoach. And reminds me a lot of Lost in Riddim too. Each of these California festivals bring together the top performing musicians from a culture around the world, whether in country, afrobeats or latin music. The first…
Photo by Charles Reagan BottleRock 2024 was my third visit to the music festival in Napa. The first year in 2017, my partner and I heard Charles Bradley sing , which brought us to tears. The second year in 2021, we saw Jon Batiste play a charismatic set , which the crowd reflected back. Six months later, he won Album of the Year at the Grammys. So my third year had a lot to live up to and it did…
Performing live looks so hard to me. I see a lot of musicians give so much and the crowd can be so tough, especially me. I'd be worse than 99% of them. I may just be projecting, but rarely do I see someone as present on stage and in the crowd as Josh Lane, lead singer of Thee Sacred Souls. I don't think I've seen someone work a camera so well since Rema at Lost in Riddim . I first saw Thee Sacred…
Forest Claudette's song, Violence, is top of the "Songs to see at Sxsw" playlist for this year, not because it's the best song (still up there), but it has the most important message. We cannot speak about anything until we speak on the horror of genocide and all other forms of violence. Peace is our only future. I spend over four months digging into the thousands of artists for SXSW each year and…
There was a big debate among "end of the year" music playlisters. Not that big, five people. If a song wasn't released that year, can it be included in an end of the year playlist? Should it be included? The consensus of the 5 was it cannot and should not. I disagree. Songs released that year should be prioritized and age of release should be weighed in, but discoveries of the year are just as…
It’s nice to just talk to someone. 1 on 1, without interruption, about what’s important to them. It’s hard to do that in public. There are lots of distractions, including my sobriety. I originally wanted to interview Lindsey of Annabelle Chairlegs at her show during Psyched! Fest in SF, but I got too tired and tipsy. I’m glad we got to chat over video after her tour ended. Lindsey's got…
I've prepared a few playlists for wedding receptions & dinners over the past few years, so since I just had a wedding of my own, to celebrate I finalized those playlists here. It's centered around millennials since I'm a millennial but covers at least the last 60 years of mostly American pop music and a few important tangents. There's music I intentionally left out. The music doesn't focus on the…
We go to music festivals to see the musicians we love, but it’s also the best way to discover new music. I remember seeing Durand Jones & The Indications for the first time at Outside Lands in 2018 and then the following SXSW twice. My partner and I have been so obsessed with the group that their song “ Is It Any Wonder? ” was the second song at our wedding’s first dance (“ Suavecito " was the…