Cardboard People is the Bay Area’s quintessential art-pop-electronic-soul band. Like other dynamic duos before them (Sylvan Esso, Sofi Tukker, Eurythmics, etc ), Cardboard People is rooted in the creative relationship of two visionary musicians Yunoka Berry & Jim Greer, each possessing unique skill sets and a shared vision for erasing boundaries around gender, race, and musical genres. Cardboard People brings positive, inclusive energy that lights people up when they perform and their sets at the Independent, Joshua Tree Music Festival, Noisepop and other great plays in 2025 have been spreading the word about their infectious live energy. In the studio, collective efforts with luminaries such as Big Freedia, Del the Funky Homosapien and a diverse cast of local friends cement proof that the two are creating a colorful genre unique to them, made with box-cutters, synthesizers and a radical free spirit.
Devotion to music has driven Spacemoth's Maryam Qudus —a performer, composer, and producer based in Oakland—for as long as she can remember. At age twelve, she traded chores for guitar lessons; at sixteen, she took on after school jobs to pay for voice lessons. From a young age, Qudus was determined to find a place for herself in music, and after years of building a reputation as a sought-after producer and studio engineer, she’s found a prominent place for herself. She’s collaborated with countless artists, including clients like Toro y Moi, Spellling — and La Luz, who she joined as a full-time member after producing the band’s most recent album “News of the Universe”, out on Sub Pop
Since 2017, Michael Michael Motorcycle’s been releasing a steady stream of Bay Area ear worm weirdness out into the world. The San Francisco guitar duo of Michael Pannone and Jesse Cobb combos with the mighty rhythm section of Marin County’s Jono Clay and Greg Moye to deliver a unique brand of harmony focused guitar driven music that draws from genres like indie rock, folk, Americana, dream pop and good ole rock and roll.
Suzanimal is a Bay Area indie pop-rock band that makes danceable, groove-driven songs about bugs, naps, doubts, ideas, swimming, fear, parties, games, imposter syndrome, cooking, infinity, shady Airbnb hosts, and more. You know in teen movies when there’s a sick live band playing at a house party, and they’re way cooler than actually seems realistic for the situation? That’s what Suzanimal shows feel like. At times the band sounds a bit like Talking Heads, Remi Wolf, or Tame Impala.
Singer, songwriter and bassist Suzanne Galal - a scientist and pharmacy professor by day - picked up a bass guitar for the first time at the age of 30, and began writing songs soon after. The band includes a cast of veteran Bay Area musicians, including Benjamin Andrews, AJ McKinley, Andrew Laubacher and Brendan Liu of Con Brio (on guitars, keys, drums and trumpet, respectively). The band quickly earned a reputation for engaging live performances and genre-defying style. A Suzanimal show is designed to make you lose yourself to the rhythm — with just enough of the unexpected to keep you on your toes ‘til the afterparty.
Chroma Sea is an audiovisual project based in San Francisco, California created by Paul Ouellette and Michael Valenzuela. The duo's sound has been described by White Crate as “an aqueous ambient techno adventure" which spans a range of genres from Vaporwave and Trip Hop to Shoegaze and Drum and Bass. Together with an ever-growing list of local visual artists, they create immersive and hypnotic visual worlds to be paired with their live performances. In 2023, they released their debut album Portals with Ryan Celsius Sounds on VHS/Cassette and have another on the way for 2026.
starbelliedbug is a noisy, dream rock band from San Francisco, made up of Caitlyn Davis on bass and vocals, Shaye Hesford on drums, Chris Reza on guitar and vocals and Hayden K on guitar. Originally making songs in their living room as duo, Chris and Caitlyn met Shaye and Hayden in 2025 and they began playing shows. starbelliedbug hopes to pay homage to the US and UK shoegaze scenes of the 90’s, through their dreamy guitar tones, wispy vocals and heavy drums. Inspired by bands such as Majesty Crush, Drop Nineteens, My Bloody Valentine, Hum and Catherine Wheel, they are exploring their sound and groove as a newly formed band.
Manik Khan has been steeped in the ancient melodies of North Indian classical music since birth. The youngest son of the legendary Sarod maestro, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, he grew up listening to his father in countless concerts and attending his classes at the esteemed Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, CA.
He initially studied Tabla under the guidance of Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, but the greater call to follow in the footsteps of his family brought Manik, at the age of 13, to formally train on the Sarod with his father. He spent his formative years accompanying his father on stage, touring for the last decade of his father's extensive and iconic performance career. Manik's own solo career has brought him throughout India, South America, and the U.S.
with B. Hamilton, Tom Conneely & Birds of Paradise, Agouti
Presented by Popscene and Noise Pop Festival 2026
Jamie Fine
Ottawa-born singer/songwriter Jamie Fine uses her music to inspire audiences to explore emotions we all feel but often struggle to express—ranging from anger and isolation to joy and connection. Her unique ability to convey intense emotion is her superpower. For Jamie, music is deeply personal: “I write music for me—it’s cathartic. It helps me process my experiences.” Releasing music, she admits, feels vulnerable: “The safest place in the world is in my head. Sharing my music is like opening that space to others, aiming to create a safe place for them to explore their own emotions.” Jamie values unfiltered, honest conversations with family, friends, and her audience: “Real connections feed my soul like writing and performing.” Time with loved ones keeps her grounded. A four-time Juno nominee, Jamie’s music has over 100 million global streams. Her hit single If Anything’s Left reached Platinum status in Canada and Double-Platinum in South Africa. With nearly 1.5 million followers worldwide, fans are drawn to her energetic personality, quirky humor, and openness. As her audience grows, Jamie’s goal remains to create inclusive, emotional spaces through her music.
The critically acclaimed West Coast-based experimental hip-hop trio, "clipping" is fronted by Tony and Grammy winning actor, rapper and writer, Daveed Diggs along with producers Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson. They initially rose to prominence with their debut album MIDCITY and follow up, CLPPNG. In 2016 they released their opus, SPLENDOR & MISERY, a science fiction concept album that garnered international critical acclaim, including a Hugo Award nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation. This was only the second time ever a music album was nominated for a Hugo Award, putting them up against the likes of GAME OF THRONES and BLACK MIRROR. Their follow up, THE DEEP, garnered similar attention including another Hugo Award nomination as well as influencing a Simon & Schuster published novel of the same name. Most recently the band diverted from their sci-fi storytelling and released a set of horror-based concept albums, THERE EXISTED AN ADDITION TO BLOOD and VISIONS OF BODIES BEING BURNED. Line of Best Fit's Jack Bray hailed it as "sonically intriguing" and "another successful experiment for the group and one of the eeriest examples of modern hip- hop to date."
Tortoise is widely considered one of the most influential music groups of the last 40 years, with a wide-reaching impact on the contemporary music scene. Pitchfork says: “Imagine a graphic showing all the bands the five members of Tortoise were in before they came together and then all the bands they went on to play with after. At the top of the funnel you have groups ranging from dreamy psych-rock to earthy post-punk crunch, including Eleventh Dream Day, Bastro, Slint, and the Poster Children; on the 'post-Tortoise' end are groups focusing on electro-jazz and twangy instrumental rock like Isotope 217, Chicago Underground, and Brokeback. In this graphic, Tortoise is the choke point, the one project that has elements of all these sounds but is never defined by nor committed to any of them. Instead, Tortoise floats free, a planchette moving over a Ouija board guided by 10 sets of fingers, where everyone watches the arrow float in one direction but no one is quite sure how it gets there or who is doing the pushing.”
Open Mike Eagle found comedy in contemporary American horrors on albums like 2014’s Dark Comedy and catharsis in exposing his past on 2020’s Anime, Trauma, and Divorce. Now, the incisive, hilarious, and idiosyncratic purveyor of art rap praised by The New York Times, Pitchfork, and The New Yorker manipulates time like Dr. Strange on his new album, Component System with the Auto Reverse.
Playing 2 Nights with Tortoise at Great American Music Hall on Feb 27-28.
Orcutt Shelley Miller is an avant-rock trio comprised of three highly celebrated figures of experimental music: Bill Orcutt (Harry Pussy), Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) and Ethan Miller (Howlin Rain, Comets On Fire).
Lyrics Born [aka Tom Shimura] is a hip-hop legend who’s been shattering glass ceilings since his start in the ‘90s San Francisco Bay Area home base. The first Asian-American solo rapper to perform at Lollapalooza, Coachella, Outside Lands, and on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Lyrics Born is now Snoop-Dogg-approved with the OG rapper hyping on Instagram LB's recent single “Take It 2 Far” from his recent studio album, Goodbye, Sticky Rice (October 2024).
Kelsey Kindall, originally from Hershey, Pennsylvania, and now based in San Francisco, has released five projects on all streaming platforms, earning over 200,000 streams and 100,000 listeners with her unique sound and storytelling.
Since moving to San Francisco, Kelsey has performed at venues across the city, performing at the Independent, Make Out Room, Brick and Mortar, Kilowatt, The Faight, and Hotel Utah, Café Du Nord, Swedish American Hall and various venues as a Sofar Sounds artist.
Kelsey’s music has been featured in Clout, Flex, and Lock magazines, recognized for the power of her story-driven lyrics and hard hitting beats. On stage, Kelsey brings her theater background to life with dynamic performances, hilarious storytelling between songs, and a connection that invites the audience to share the moment with her. Her shows are full of joy, inspiration, and a sense of celebration.
seiji oda is a Japanese-American rapper and producer from Oakland, California. his signature sound “lofi-hyphy” combines ambient soundscapes with his Bay Area hyphy roots. this juxtaposition represents seiji’s unorthodox approach to creating music that feels both familiar and futuristic.
Bay Area artist/producer Trackademicks has captivated the attention of those who have a taste for soulfully-charged synth chords, mobbin’ bass lines, slappin’ drums, and genre-defying sounds.
Heavily influenced by the textural undertones of R&B and Sophisti-Pop of the mid 1980’s, Trackademicks has crafted tracks for everyone from Kamaiyah to Teedra Moses, Phonte (Little Brother) to Lyrics Born. In addition to his early involvement with Atrak’s Fool's Gold Records and his own crew, the HNRL (pronounced Honor Roll), Trackademicks has been a fixture in the Bay Area music scene since the Hyphy Movement during the mid-aughts, producing the cult classic remix to E-40’s hit Tell Me When To Go. His penchant for remixing is expressed through his masterful, dancefloor-friendly [Re]Mixtape series, featuring remixes of artists like SZA, Don Tolliver, and Little Dragon.
Originally from Los Angeles, Tetza is now Oakland-based after years in Brooklyn and NYC. Blending groovy pop with R&B influence and Y2K nostalgia, she pairs clever and often unserious lyricism with smooth walls of self-arranged background vocals and a soothing yet surprisingly powerful voice. Entering the industry as a professional freelance songwriter and session vocalist, Tetza released her recent EPs summer reading and good morning from neptune, showcasing her signature mix of playful confidence, emotional honesty, and cinematic pop production. She has also built a fast-growing online audience through her Ariana Grande x Wickedmashups, as well as her signature “If I Had a Verse On…” series on TikTok and Instagram, reaching millions of viewers. She has performed at venues including DROM and The Meadows (NYC) and O’Reilly’s and Music City SF (San Francisco), and has received praise from online publications for both her music and her dance-forward visuals - elevating self-produced pop into a fully realized and colorful world.
With multiple songwriters, sinuous harmonies, and rock riffs born out of an intensely communal creative process, Galore — bassist Ava Rosen, guitarist Griffin Jones, guitarist Ainsley Wagoner, and drummer Hannah Smith — embodies the spirit of a true musical collective.
Galore released their second full length album, Dirt,on July 25, 2025, on Speakeasy Studios SF. The album’s theme is in its name. In ten songs, Galore takes us back to the sandbox of creativity on an exploration of what makes us human through layers of jangly, off-kilter guitars, interwoven harmonies, and incredible pop sensibilities.
A power pop solo project from San Francisco musician Garrett Goddard, the dates made their debut in 2018 with the jangly, melodic Ask Again Later.
Known in West Coast indie circles for his involvement in punk- and garage-based bands like Personal and the Pizzas, King Tuff, and Girls, Goddard took inspiration from bands like Big Star and Teenage Fanclub for his first solo endeavor. After first releasing a 2016 single under the name Gary with a Circle Around the "A", he concocted the dates’ warm mix of strummy guitar pop and sunny harmonies and completed Ask Again Later
with Moonlust, LiL MC & Frisco Baby, DVX & Mami Mia
The brainchild of composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Liam McCormick, orchestral indie band The Family Crest was started as a recording project with co-founder John Seeterlin (bass) as a final release before bowing out of the industry. Instead of leaving music, they were inspired by their peers to set out to reinvent how a band could be created, starting The Family Crest with an audacious and bold vision of cultivating a musical community. “We always liked making music with people - getting a bunch of people together and singing. So we put ads everywhere,” says McCormick. “We posted on Craigslist, distributed flyers, and emailed old friends from school.” The outcome was greater than the original duo imagined, with over 80 people credited on the first recording the band produced and over 500 musicians credited throughout their catalog.
You can’t know Beats Antique until you’ve been a part of its journey, and experienced the act as an entity with a life of its own. A stage show that demands more music; music that needs costumes, ships and masks and shadow dances; an audience that comes for art, and takes away stories to feed their imagination.
Commitment to the full performance art form is how Beats Antique fuses musical worlds, pulling on global sounds for experiments on the fringes of cinematic cabaret, informed by electronic mash-ups and inspirations who have joined them on the journey such as Les Claypool, Alam Khan, The Glitch Mob, Too Many Zooz and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Dubbed the African Dracula, Hugo de la Lune is an Ethiopian American vocalist and composer whose work merges soul, psychedelia, and indie R&B into a sound that feels both ancient and otherworldly. His music carries the pulse of ritual and the tension of transformation, moving through themes of desire, divinity, and rebirth with haunting precision. Each performance evokes a cinematic intensity that is as vulnerable as it is commanding.
Two Shows: 7:00 PM and 8:30
Sarah Tudzin is in high demand these days. Not only is she a lauded engineer and producer who has helmed recent records by boygenius, Weyes Blood, and Speedy Ortiz, but her own band, Illuminati Hotties, has also emerged as one of the sharpest and most sensitive acts on the pop-punk side of indie rock this century—“tenderpunk,” she has often called it. On Illuminati Hotties’ radiant and bittersweet third LP, Power, Tudzin pairs that sense of modern professional busyness with scenes inspired by the extreme highs and lows of her personal life in recent years. To wit, the day before Tudzin released 2020’s surprise Free I.H, her mother died. But weeks before that, Tudzin had met the person who has since become her longtime partner, the one with whom she can share all these troubles. It’s not hard to imagine, then, all that propels Power.
Presented by Popscene and Noise Pop Festival 2026
Clover County grew up under the sweet orange blossoms and the spiky palms of sunny Central Florida. She began songwriting at the age of 13, teaching herself to play from her dad’s collection of 1980’s songbooks. She drew inspiration from documentaries and interviews with influential women in music, such as Stevie Nicks, Carol King, Taylor Swift, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dolly Parton.
The name “Clover County”, is a tribute to all the places she's called home. After moving from Orlando to Denver, Atlanta to Birmingham, to Athens, Clover grew tired of seeking a sense of home and relying on the next city to be the “lucky one” where things would fall into place.
CFCF is the moniker of Mike Silver, an indie electronic producer from Montreal, Canada, who established himself as an inventive remixer before making his commercial production debut in 2008. A self-taught musician, Silver's style has evolved and matured throughout the years, ranging from his earliest hip-hop production experiments to chiptunes, progressing to the Balearic disco of debut full-length Continent (2009) and ambient/new age explorations like 2015's The Colours of Life. Throughout much of his work during the 2010s, Silver has exhibited a sincere appreciation for "uncool" genres such as soft rock and smooth jazz. He is also co-credited with developing the concept of "night bus," an Internet-spawned movement that encompasses feelings rather than specific genres of music. CFCF was nominated for Best Remixed Recording at the 2015 Grammy Awards, for his remix of 's "Berlin by Overnight." His subsequent work has explored his formative influences, with 2019's Liquid Colours re-creating the commercial side of atmospheric drum'n'bass and 2021's Memoryland evoking several styles of electronica and alternative rock.
Bay Area artist and songwriter Trinity Ace strings together themes of family, religion, violence, redemption, and forgiveness under a seven-piece orchestral ensemble. She brings her evocative lyrics and earworm melodies to her band of close friends and collaborators—Reid Devereaux, Declan Lewis, Tammer Bagdasarian, Korey Loberg, Ben Stolz, and Patrick Madden—whose respective projects, including Double Helix Peace Treaty and Poor Image emerged from a tight creative ecosystem in San Francisco's Richmond District. Her new singles, Martyr and Talisman are sprawling and ambitious tracks that settle into stunning, indie-folk-rock amalgamations that combine the blunt yet poetic storytelling and wry sincerity of Silver Jews and Leonard Cohen's biblical, slow-burn imagery. Unmistakably idiosyncratic yet strangely familiar, Trinity Ace and her band conjure a transfigured vision of Americana that reckons with the mythologies haunting our national imagination.
Poor Image is a 7 piece americana tinged slowcore band based in the Bay Area. The project came to fruition when members Reid Devereaux, Nick Ferguson, Keenan Lewis, Declan Lewis, Patrick Madden, Tammer Bagdasarian and Nick Ross, who spent their formative years between Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and San Jose, decided to join forces. Poor Image’s recent debut self titled album out on American Death Records is about coming of age strife and trying to “make it” in the age of supersaturation.
