Bands From The Bay That You Should Know

Check out 15 great artists from the San Francisco Bay Area that you should know.

By Gus Turner & Constant Gardner

The San Francisco Bay Area includes the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, and is home to over 7 million people. Musically, the area is best known for the vibrant rock scene that went hand in hand '60s counterculture/hippie movement centered on San Francisco, and the hyphy scene, which includes nationally known artists like E-40 and Too $hort.

Scratch the surface a little, look past the hip-hop that area is now known for, and you'll find a buzzing, varied, and vibrant scene, full of great bands and producers who deserve a little more shine. From garage rock to pop to shoegaze to beats music, here are 15 artists from the Bay that you should know.

BANDS FROM NEW YORK YOU SHOULD KNOW

MUSIC FROM AUSTRALIA YOU SHOULD KNOW

MUSIC FROM NEW ZEALAND YOU SHOULD KNOW

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2. Xiu Xiu

A foremost presence in the modern art-rock scene, Xiu Xiu braintrust Jamie Stewart has been pushing at the conventions of indie rock and alternative sound since 2002, when the band was first formed in San Jose. And with his recently released Angel Guts: Red Classroom (recorded after a move to LA) Stewart is proving that, even over a decade later, he's still fearless in his mission to radicalize a genre that is constantly being co-opted by the mainstream. "Selling-out" has become a pretty outdated notion in recent years—hell, even Bob Dylan had a couple commercials in this year's Super Bowl—but that doesn't mean that bands like Xiu Xiu, which remain dedicated to pushing back against popular trends in music, should be undervalued as well.

3. James & Evander

Hailing from Oakland, the synth/stoner-pop duo of James & Evander first came onto the scene with their 2012 single, "Ambigamy", which was recorded as a part of their debut album, Bummer Pop. The two—whose actual names are Adam Myatt and Glenn Jackson—came together back in 2007, when they were attending art school and happened to share a common interest in experimental music and synthesizers. Thus far, the pairing has proved to be fruitful. Creating rich, layered webs of electro-pop, complemented by an atmospheric sensibility, the music promises to create a mood of both an introspection and calm. Bummer pop? Maybe. But James & Evander do an admirable job of proving that it isn't always a bad thing to get down in the dumps.

4. Ty Segall

As one of the hardest-hitting acts in garage punk and lo-fi rock, Ty Segall has carried the torch of rock n' roll bands of the past, such as Black Sabbath, The Stooges, and Black Flag. However, Segall has shown many sides of his personality as a musician, even taking influence from decidely mellower acts like Neil Young or Gene Clark. But, whatever his influence, the San Francisco-based artist has been remarkably prolific in his short-lived career, releasing a slew of albums and side projects since 2008, when he put out his eponymous debut via Cassette. Whatever you're looking for in rock music, it's likely that you can find it lying somewhere in Ty Segall's discography.

5. Tycho

Though Tycho has been around since 2004—when he dropped his first LP, Sunrise Projector—it was his debut with the well-known electronic record label Ghostly International that brought his music to a larger audience. Dealing in chillwave and ambient electronica, Tycho's 2011 release, Dive saw a rise in popularity for the musician, and now has fans and critics ready for his upcoming album, Awake. The title for his forthcoming project is fitting. Tycho's brand of electronic isn't the type that's littered with bass drops and colliding soundbytes. Instead, it's the kind of music reserved for quiet nights, and epiphanies, the kind that makes you feel like you're opening your eyes for the first time.

6. Mikal Cronin

A frequent collaborator with his fellow Californian Ty Segall, noise rocker Mikal Cronin first made his solo, studio debut in 2011, when he released, Mikal Cronin. Since then, he's signed with Merge Records, and put out a follow-up LP, the aptly-titled, MCII. There may be nothing flashy about his album titles, but Cronin displays a formidable talent in creative song writing and arrangement. MCII shows Cronin wearing a number of different hats throughout his album, as he oscillates between dirty garage rock and lighter, doo-woppy pop, sometimes on the same song. Having played in a number of other bands since 2005—including with the Ty Segall Band on their 2012 album, Slaughterhouse—there's really no reason that you shouldn't have become at least somewhat familiar with Cronin's body of work by now. If not, it's time to get started. You've got a lot of catching up to do.

7. Trails & Ways

With 2013's Covers Tape and Trilingual, the dream bop co-op Trails and Way, showed an affinity for modernized bossa-nova and bursting, sunny-day tunes. Highlights of their recent releases include "Nunca" and "Tereza" which are deceptive in their energy and emotion. Trails and Ways seems to go one direction with their sound—often flooding their with songs with a potent blend of synths and guitars—before some triumphant vocals or a relentless backbeat cuts in to shift the mood. It's pop music that is conflicted within itself, but succeeds by finding that all-too-happy medium.

8. Christopher Owens

Christopher Owens, the ex-frontman of Girls, the indie/garage-rock duo who split up after two albums, got quickly back to work as a solo artist, releasing a record called Lysandre. Although it didn't quite reach the heights of his work in Girls, Owens’ unpretentious, personal lyricism remains a real strength, and his songwriting ability should remain unquestioned. He's been quiet on the release front for a while, but if you see his name on a track, you should always be excited to check it out.

9. Wild Moth

Like all good shoegaze or post-punk artists, Wild Moth is at their best when the situation is at its most chaotic. They saturate every song with distortion, head-banging their way through track after track, particularly on Over, Again, their latest album released back in September. Coming from San Francisco, and signed to Asian Man Records, the band specializes in these densely constructed songs, and their efforts aren't going unnoticed. If you happen to be in the Bay Area on March 21, be sure to catch their show with fellow up-and-comers Perfect Pussy.

10. The She's

Though they haven't released an album since 2011's Then It Starts to Feel Like Summer, The She's have been anything but inactive, continuing to play in the San Francisco area, and slowly releasing a few songs and music videos over the past couple of years. Their music is a California dream, the bubbly kind of surf rock that calls for long summer days and even warmer nights, and their video for "Running"—released back in October—shows off that leisurely life that we all wish we could have. Perhaps it's comfort that's been keeping them back from a new album? Whatever the case, we hope that their hiatus doesn't last too much longer.

11. Wooden Shijps

One look at the space-rock outfit, Wooden Shjips, will tell you that these guys are no spring chickens but, surprisingly, they've only been around as a group since 2006, and dropped their eponymous debut in 2007. In 2013, the group released Back to Land, a colorful and eclectic album that hearkened back to the hippie heyday of San Francisco in the '60s. As far as nostalgia trips go, there are few guitar-based bands that are doing it better right now.

12. Giraffage

A glitchy, soulful producer out the Bay Area, Giraffage produces heartfelt electronica on his latest LP, Feels, which saw its release back in February of 2013. The album—available for download on Giraffage's Bandcamp—is his second full-length, and is sure to portend bigger and better things for the San Francisco local. With a European tour just around the corner, and a recent project where he remixed the whole of The-Dream's 2007 album Love, Hate, don't expect Giraffage to stay under the radar much longer.

13. Friendzone

Comprised of James Laurence and Dylan Reznick, the San Francisco hip-hop production duo Friendzone has steadily been making their name on the West Coast rap scene, primarily through their collaborations with local stars like Main Attraktionz. However, it was their production on A$AP Rocky's "Fashion Killa" that truly started generating buzz for the two. Driven by static force, synth lines, and chirpy soul samples, be on the lookout for their sound on even more rap records in 2014, including Main Attraktionz upcoming, 808s & Dark Grapes III.

14. Sun Kil Moon

Mark Kozelek's style of songwriting is one of the most unique in all of alternative music right now. Simply put, the guy just spills his guts out on every song for you, unafraid to say exactly what is on his mind, regardless of who or what it concerns. On "Ben's My Friend"—a track from his forthcoming album, Benji—Kozelek admits his jealously toward friend and fellow musician, Ben Gibbard, painstakingly describing a Postal Service concert he saw one night in August. What separates Kozelek from other songwriters is that exact attention to detail, and his ability to make the most mundane nuances seem profound. Meditating on death, male relationships, and a myriad of other existential concerns, Kozelek shows that, even in middle age, it's still hard to pretend that you've got the world all figured out.

15. oOoOO

Unfairly grouped in with the "witch house" movement, a tag which he never embraced, producer oOoOO's sound is thick with emotion and heavy with a subtle sense of longing, and sometimes even despair. Songs like "Stay Here" are really elevated by the presence of a vocalist, but even with his purely instruemental work, there is a real sense of human emotion that much purely beat-based music lacks. Chris Dexter, the man behind the music, now also has his own label, Nihjgt Feelings for fans to keep an eye on.

16. Bells Atlas

Four-piece Bells Atlas draw on a diverse and international range of influences in their bright indie-pop music. Tagging their music as "Afro-Indie Soul," their sound is delicate and multi-layered with strong, unique vocals from lead singer Sandra Lawson-Ndu. With a whole album already to their name (listen here), hopefully the band will have more new music on the way soon.

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