Stoni, COMMANDO and Others Serve Excellence at Noise Pop 2023

Update, Feb. 28, 2023: According to a statement from the New Parish, the Junglepussy concert on Feb. 26 ended early because of technical difficulties. Ticketholders can redeem tickets to a future concert at the venue by emailing info@thenewparish.com.

Original story, Feb. 27, 2023:

Beloved music festival Noise Pop celebrated its 30th anniversary Feb. 20–26 with headlining sets from Yo La Tengo, Boy Harsher and Duster. A wealth of performances by hip-hop artists, cumbia bands and punk outfits at venues across the Bay Area reminded show-goers that nothing can replace witnessing musical excellence live on stage. The KQED Arts & Culture team hopped around the concerts for a week, and were left with a renewed appreciation for the craft and creativity that abounds in our local live music scene. Here’s what we saw.

A Queer Mosh Pit for COMMANDO

Tuesday night at San Francisco’s Bottom of the Hill, COMMANDO emerged on stage like a dazzling rock ’n’ roll chimera. The supergroup brought together seven completely different veteran musicians, and their exuberant performance celebrated queerness in all its forms.

Juba Kalamka (formerly of the 2000s hip-hop crew Deep Dickollective) opened the show with “Meatswinga (Morello Muh Mello),” his low voice revving like an engine as the band members thrust their hips towards the audience. As nu-metal guitar by Principal Dammit and Van Jackson-Weaver and Andy Meyerson’s powerful rhythm section set the energy in the room ablaze, Honey Mahogany delivered operatic high notes, and Drew Arriola-Sands detonated screamo growls. Lynnee Breedlove (of revered early-’90s queercore band Tribe8) commanded the mic with a punk swagger, and surprised the audience with a tender spoken-word homage to Prince’s genderfluid self-expression.

COMMANDO sets out to be the queer role models the band members never had growing up, and at Bottom of the Hill that vision came to life. Trans and gender non-conforming teens with Xs on their hands, too young to drink, moshed in the front to lyrics about punching Nazis. And after witnessing seven diverse, skilled musicians owning their personal power on stage, everyone else set off into the night carrying a little piece of COMMANDO’s boldness with them. — Nastia Voynovskaya

ovrkast., Michael Sneed and demahjiae Transmit Love Through Soulful Raps

On Wednesday evening, Oakland artists ovrkast., demahjiae and Michael Sneed electrified Brick and Mortar Music Hall’s small San Francisco stage, connecting heart-to-heart with an eager crowd of hip-hop lovers. As ovrkast. performed his 2020 single “Try Again,” the audience scooted closer while he rapped about feelings of inadequacy and picking himself back up. His voice sounded raw, capturing a desperation that resonated with the crowd as voices chanted along to the hook: “You can’t win, you ain’t shit / Try again, try again / Do it all over, try again.”

Each artist brought a different energy: as Sneed performed his 2019 track “Reinvent,” he mirrored a crescendo of instrumentation — yelling out as he neared the edge of the stage, playing with flow and encouraging the crowd to get loud. demahjiae slowed the pace, sauntering as he rapped songs off of his 2020 project And, Such is Life.

Together, the three artists were in complete sync, supporting one another with harmonies and on-the-spot improvisations. After demahjiae performed one of his latest tracks, “Hold Me Down,” the trio embraced, expressing that the show was ultimately about love and gratitude for everyone involved. “To know my brothers are behind me backing me up is the most beautiful thing I could ask for,” said demahjiae. — Kristie Song

Ritmos Tropicosmos and Combo Tezeta’s Mystical Cumbia

On a frigid Friday night, a tropical cumbia dance party kept Albany’s Ivy Room nice and toasty. Oakland six-piece Combo Tezeta kicked off the baile with a garage-band take on ’60s and ’70s classics and originals, with distorted guitars and jangly synths layering psychedelic ooze onto timbales and güiras. The musician’s solos revealed hard-won skills, but the band members looked remarkably chill as they played together fluidly.

Ritmos Tropicosmos brought playful energy to their experimental cumbia, with vocalist Eli Reyes embodying a mystical master of ceremonies as haunted circus melodies swirled. With lyrics about mummies, ancestors and legends like La Llorona (“This one will test your Spanish,” Reyes said from the stage), the band created an otherworldly atmosphere that inspired people to dance and rejoice in community — how you might imagine a party in the underworld. — Nastia Voynovskaya

L.A. Witch’s Magic Transcends a Crowded Bar

The popular Mission dive bar Kilowatt returned as a Noise Pop venue for the first time in 25 years. After hosting concerts between ’94 and ’98, Kilowatt long ago replaced its soundboard with dart boards.

Friday night’s L.A. Witch show, the first of their two Noise Pop performances, was only the venue’s second attempt at hosting live music since new ownership took over — and you could tell. Overcrowding marred the entire evening, an issue further complicated by the fact that the Kilowatt bathrooms now live behind the stage and were impossible to access. (Folks had to resort to running across the street to use Delirium’s facilities.)

But L.A. Witch made the claustrophobic conditions worth it. The charismatic trio sounds like The Jesus and Mary Chain and Mazzy Star birthed a love child back in the ’90s that’s now all grown up and inviting you on an ill-advised road trip. That reverb-drenched adventure was consistently alluring. Frontwoman Sade Sanchez was unflappably cool throughout the night, and the set itself was pure magic, making you want to drown your sorrows one moment and twist like Mia Wallace the next. If only there was enough space in Kilowatt to do so. — Rae Alexandra

Stoni Makes Her Mark

Stoni makes waves whenever she posts a car freestyle or hops on a track with one of her fellow Text Me Records artists. But the Oakland MC has spent years quietly training in her dojo, and still has yet to drop a debut album (although we hear it’s finally coming this year). Her masterful set Sunday night at Oakland’s New Parish, opening for Junglepussy, showed it’ll be worth the wait.

Stoni rapped with infectious confidence and laser-beam precision, and the audience gasped and cheered at every smack-talking bar — each one more audacious than the last. But the wildest part of the show was during a song about getting one over on a rich dude, when actors joined her on stage and enacted a full-scale performance of a robbery. Then, one of the masked “assailants” removed her mask, and it turned out to be fellow Oakland MC Fijiana, who joined Stoni for the next track.

I’ve never seen the audience demand an encore from the first opening act, but it happened at New Parish Sunday night. The venue cut Stoni’s mic when she tried to come back, but she returned during Tia Nomore’s also excellent performance with a live band. Unfortunately, the celebratory close to Noise Pop came to an abrupt ending — headliner Junglepussy left the stage without an explanation after three tracks. “So sorry to my fans, blame @noisepop,” she wrote on her Instagram story. KQED has reached out to Junglepussy’s team and Noise Pop for comment, and will update this story if we hear back. — Nastia Voynovskaya