Fierce, urgent, angry. Or at the very least freaky and unpredictable.
Here’s the third round of our favorite Bay Area albums of 2023. From Ragana to Gumby’s Junk, the artists on this list either keep it weird or go heavy and dark, shattering and screaming the hidden compartments of the heart.
Desolation’s Flower – Ragana
Their poetry? Seething. Their values? Staunchly self-evident. Their viscerality: On one hand, a beacon for connecting with what it means to be human, what it means to feel alive. And on the other hand, the urgency of survival, even when the world is burning.
Ragana’s Desolation’s Flower arrived via The Flenser highly anticipated, with the duo carrying out yet another beautiful lament. Fierce, urgent, and angry, their sound has always been a grounding, necessary soundtrack for a world rife with cognitive dissonance. Seeing them live for the first time earlier this year was a spiritual experience, and one I won’t forget.
Engulfed by fire, their light shines ever so brightly from a distance. In the past, Ragana have cheekily called themselves esoteric doom metal, but their music is by no means inaccessible. In fact, their music gives ample permission to openly grieve and go mad. Like the stinging nettle, it is a healing balm for pain as well as profound grief.
— Elise Mills
Control Sessions (Live at Gilman 9/24/22) – Gumby’s Junk
If you’re gonna play 924 Gilman on the 24th day of the ninth month of the year, you’ve really gotta nail it, right? I don’t make the rules, I’m just an amateur numerologist. In any case, here’s one band who did just that. On their live album Control Sessions (Live at Gilman 9/24/22), Oakland art rockers Gumby’s Junk play music mostly from last year’s full-length Apple House, stitching together freaky spaced out krautrock jams, honey soprano ghoulish wailing, and mathematical post-punk upchuck. It’s less chaotic than that sounds. This is a band that seems to have it all figured out: Just imagine if King Crimson forgot everything they ever released and happened to play their first live show at the most legendary punk venue in the Bay. [Ed. note: The album was originally released on Control Records but now doesn’t seem accessible on Bandcamp or any streaming sites.]
— Ronny Kerr
Factory – Cheree
“I wish I could escape from this gilded cage.”
Trudging punk with an industrial edge, Factory is a six-track EP recorded by Cheree at Oakland’s Sharkbite Studios. Standing out most affecting from the start is the crispy digital crunch of the programmed drums, providing the mechanical rhythm for guitar and bass to match up against in cutting syncopation. And on top of the piled up throne of shattered metal shards sits vocalist Vanessa Hernandez, screaming black and white lyrics with not a glimmer of hesitation. Pick up a limited edition cassette or 12″ vinyl of the EP from Cherub Dream Records. Play it loud.
— Ronny Kerr
JUMBO – Juicebumps
How could Devo sound more unhinged? Have them reborn in roaring 20s Oakland and ask them to record an only-so-slightly-subtly spooky post-punk record right in time for Halloween. JUMBO by Juicebumps (Rocks in Your Head Records, Time Room Records) is a wild, cheery ride—think Knott’s Scary Farm—packed with kooky duets, spangled synth syncopation, and dozens of other sugar-bursting musical treats. Believe it: The live show is even more thrilling.
— Elliot Engel
The Magi – Harjo
If you are drawn in by the high-pitched laser tone that opens “The Great Memory,” then there is no straying from the path of The Magi. The third full-length album from SF electric guitar trio Harjo consists only of this seven-and-a-half minute prelude and an enthralling second piece (the title track), which journeys through cosmic baffling drone for a magisterial 42 minutes. The slow, crushing sonic bath will be familiar territory for drone lovers, but the album likewise contains delicious moments of surprise—especially when the players incorporate wide gaps of silence. It is a silence utterly deafening, serving to cleanse the ears’ palette before circling back to the monstrous triple stacked distortion. A worthy trip.
— Ronny Kerr
Sir Kim – Kim
DNA Lounge, 2022. Noise Pop Fest. King Woman headlining. But earlier in the night, in the small room upstairs, a lesser-known trio began summoning their own blood red bludgeoning of sound. It was my first experience hearing Kim, and I’ve since been eager to hear their evolution in the studio.
Nearly two years later, the Oakland band returned with their first full-length album Sir Kim, a doom metal monstrosity worthy of a little hearing loss. Wasting no time, the work opens with the full sound of plodding riffs and elegiac, witchy recitation on “MADAM,” giving way to a screaming plunge into the abyss, the riffs swelling into megalithic pillars. Kim maintains that energy throughout the album—as much as the band’s performance, the production and mixing work stands out, with no accidental noise or thinness here. It just sounds good in the way where you’re not quite sure it can be too loud. Of note: The album also includes a cover of “Jackie” by Sinéad O’Connor, taken from her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and according to the artist the second song she ever wrote.
— Ronny Kerr
Caramels for Grandpa – Everyone Is Dirty
Yet another local juicy alternative band to put on your radar! Their mesmerizing album Caramels for Grandpa is a sweet punkish dedication to Everyone is Dirty bandmates’ grandfather: “Holocaust survivor. Cantor. Tailor. Black market hustler. Cruise ship comedian.”
This is dreamy, melodic, sometimes sound-wall-y baroque pop you won’t want to miss. Sivan Lioncub’s vocals are rich as syrup, epically cascading upon a series of strings and guitar magic, backed by a seriously talented rock band. Everyone is Dirty’s unique sound captures the essence of indie rock, folk influences, and whimsical genres, leaving you breathless, nostalgic, and undoubtedly craving caramel.
— Elise Mills
Voice 2 Skull – Body Double
“Everyone is feeding on my energy
It could happen to you
Because it happened to me
Voice 2 Skull”
Candace Lazarou’s glammy goth punk quintet Body Double offers up Voice 2 Skull, an EP of five quick and grabby headrockers. In spite of their rage, fire, and noise, one of the most satisfying aspects of the band’s studio recordings are how they contrast crisp and clean minimalism (e.g. opening bassline on “Boil Down to Love”) with layers of crunch and instrumentation (e.g. last minute of Voice 2 Skull). Even better is seeing them live, and watching Lazarou like a demon fully embodying the music she writes.
— Ronny Kerr
A Wormhole Is a Freeway to the Stars – Grooblen
With a release timed right after one of planet Earth’s biggest cosmic moments—the summer solstice—Grooblen’s second full-length album A Wormhole is a Freeway to the Stars sees bandleader Ellie S. (also the founder and creative director at Big Leap Collective) stretching out in her intergalactic brand of cabaret rock. Unlike a lot of the dude-led work in the psych world (no offense, I love a talking, drawling, vocal-stoned bro), Ellie has a voice to make heads turn. Dipping into humming lows and swelling into ecstatic highs, that voice commands the alien spaceship on this goofy ride through the cosmos. For a taste, check out epic rock and roller “Gastropod” or the slow burner “It Costs $0 to Be Kind” (Ellie’s favorite song on the album).
— Ronny Kerr
