San Francisco's Noise Pop Festival rolls into first full week
Celebrating its 32nd year, the annual Noise Pop Festival continues Tuesday with a busy schedule of local and national acts including Death Cab for Cutie songwriter Ben Gibbard, hip-hop maverick Earl Sweatshirt and more.
A San Francisco institution ever since it began as one night of loud, tuneful local bands back in 1993, the festival has expanded this year to ten days of music, film and art featuring some of the most respected names in independent music. While the focus remains on the cutting edge of indie rock, the eclectic festival also features modern R&B, global grooves and even avant-garde electronic music. Noise Pop will also be returning to unusual venues with multiple events at Grace Cathedral and Mission District art spaces Gray Area and the Lab.
After going dark on Monday following a busy opening weekend to the festival that included sold-out shows featuring St. Vincent, the Reverend Horton Heat and Chat Pile, Noise Pop ramps up the activity on a number of fronts Tuesday. Feb. 25 marks the beginning of four days of collaboration with radio station KEXP's live session series broadcasting from 25th Street Recordings in Oakland. This week's Live on KEXP feature artists headlining shows during the rest of the festival (Cymande, Wyattja) in addition to some hand-selected local acts including electronic favorites Toro Y Moi, rising Oakland rockers Fake Fruit and experimental punk band Marbled Eye. Tuesday will also commence the annual series of free happy hour shows at popular Mission District dive Bender's that will offer a range of performers like Fake Your Own Death (led by ex-Elephone guitarist Terry Ashkinos) and local songwriter Jacob Aranda.
Other highlights on Tuesday include the first of two nights with acclaimed Odd Future member and rapper/producer Earl Sweatshirt, who will be performing two completely different sets at the Great American Music Hall with support from Navy Blue and El Cousteau and a special set from Death Cab for Cutie/The Postal Service principal Ben Gibbard at Grace Cathedral that includes an opening performance by Sea Lemon, the dreampop solo project of Seattle-based musician Natalie Lew.
Wednesday finds August Hall hosting a sold-out show by influential and heavily sampled British funk outfit Cymande. Formed in the early '70s by Afro-Caribbean musicians who had ended up in London, the band was discovered at an underground club in Soho by British producer John Schroeder. The band had some success with its eponymous debut and the bass-driven minor hit single "The Message," touring the U.S. with soul vocalist Al Green, jazz keyboardist Ramsey Lewis and like-minded global funk band Mandrill, but a lack of impact in their native country led the group to dissolve after three albums with a fourth that didn't see release until 1981.
However a resurgence of interest spurred by the creative sampling of their songs by De La Soul, EPMD, The KLF, MC Solaar, Heavy D and the Fugees eventually spurred a one-off reunion in 2006. That was followed by a full-blown revival a decade later that included a new album and Cymande's first U.S. tour since 1973. The band has since been the subject of an acclaimed documentary and released another new effort entitled Renascence last year. Brooklyn electro-soul duo Bathe opens the show.
Wednesday will also mark the first San Francisco appearance by reunited Austin-based band the American Analog Set in 20 years. Crafting a mix of lush, delicate dream-pop and minimalist post-rock instrumentals, the group earned a loyal fan base starting in the mid-1990s. While the band went on an extended hiatus in 2005, they released For Forever, their first album in 18 years, late in 2023 and played their first live shows since 2011 in Austin last year. The group's back catalog is also receiving a deluxe reissue treatment by Numero Group, who put out a box set of their first three albums in 2024 and will release a second box later this year. These two shows at Grey Area in San Francisco's Mission District will feature AAS playing a 90-minute set drawn from the band's first six albums with San Francisco songwriter Byron Mayhew warming up the crowd. Also in the Mission on Wednesday is a showcase for two local left-field R&B artists at the Kilowatt that includes psychedelic jazz/soul act the Futuredelics, experimental MC/producer/songwriter James Wavey and his band with indie-rock openers the Moondrops.
Thursday's schedule includes a sold-out appearance by acclaimed Irish folk quartet Lankum, who will share the stage at the Great American Music Hall with British songwriter Cameron Picton, celebrated Detroit rapper/beatsmith Danny Brown headlining at Public Works, a pair of sold-out shows by jazz-influenced modern R&B songstress Dani Offline at SFJAZZ's intimate Joe Henderson Lab, and the presentation of electronic avant-garde artist Byron Westbrook's immersive composition Translucents at Mission District nonprofit experimental art and performance space the Lab with an opening performance by San Francisco musician Thomas Dimuzio on Buchla 200e modular synthesizer. More details about Noise Pop's full schedule of events, tickets and festival badges can be found at noisepopfest.com.