For those that may have missed last year’s Laurel Summer Solstice Music Festival or just wanted to look back, here’s the list. The best part is that these performers either live or near the Laurel District:
TRIVALVE
From the world renowned beach mecca of Oakland, Trivalve is an instrumental surf trio that delivers driving, energetic, upbeat, tightly executed and reverb soaked surf classics and originals.
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PORCH
Taking their own quirk of experimental, indie noise, Oakland’s Porch advantage their background angst of growing up while being taunted by the neighborhood bullies and took it out on their instruments. Check out this article on them at Metroactive.com.
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THE NORTHERLIES
The Northerlies are a San Francisco-based pop music-making team who enjoy robots, faraway places, old stories, animals, nice people and love.
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CARL LOCKETT TRIO
Carl Lockett is a Bay Area legend, whose style crosses the boundaries of jazz, funk, blues and pop. Lockett’s music has been described as “the most exciting, exhilarating musical ride ever, at the same time wrapping one in the most luxurious, warm sounds, as if riding in a plush limousine.”
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RAFAEL LANGA
Lyrical reggae tunes. “We bring the music and we bring what the eye can see. The truth of love.”
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THE ROGERS
The Rogers are bringing you their own take on Americana, borrowing from gypsy jazz, folk, honky tonk, Afro rhythm, sweet slide guitar as well as dueling guitars, while the singer croons along to the tunes. We have all met through a local music store, the Acme House of Music.
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HEDDY FUR
Smoooooth way out different kind of music.
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THE GLOWING STARS
There are many chiptune artists, but not a lot of chiptune bands. The Glowing Stars — guitarist/ vocalist Lizzie Cuevas and drummer/Game Boy synth programmer Matt Payne — combines the clicky waveforms and perfect arpeggios of 8-bit processors with the fury of live drums and distorted guitars. Influenced as much by Frank Zappa and Freddie Mercury as Mega Man and Metroid, the band’s wistfully emotional lyrics are more boy-meets-girl than Game-Boy-meets-end-boss. With customized game hardware sharing the stage with 100-watt half-stacks, The Glowing Stars are half Weezer, half Wario – in other words, utterly unique. Here’s a review from their performance at the Rockage Festival on Metroactive.com.
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ANEWABYSS
We are a very ecclectic metal band that puts an emphasis on improvisation in our music.
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THE GREASE TRAPS
The Grease Traps are an Oakland-based quartet specializing in deep funk, instrumental soul, and afro rock. Featuring current and past members of bands such as Brown Baggin and Orlando Julius’ Afrobeat Orchestra, it is an eclectic mix of like-minded musicians whose primary goal is to get down.
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LUNAFISH
San Francisco Bay area based band LunaFish authentically interprets and recreates what is arguably the most innovative period of rock and roll, the psychedelic rock of the late Sixties and early Seventies, when songwriting and versatile instrumentation were king.
Not limiting themselves to standing only in the past, LunaFish is creating new original music with a debut major release scheduled for Summer of 2012. With trademark warm and exciting guitars, solid rhythm section and soaring vocals with harmonies, the band is currently recording new original music that captures the musical spirit of the past and combines it with present day creative strokes of refreshingly talented songwriting skill.
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MATTHEW JOSEPH PAYNE