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On Thursday, June 15th @ 11AM, Velvet Einstein sits down with David Harrington of Kronos Quartet.  Together, they will discuss the Kronos Quartet’s Fifty For The Future project, its origins, challenges and successes.  Catch the upcoming Kronos Festival at SF Jazz (6/22-6/24), which will highlight pieces from Fifty For The Future. 

For 50 years, San Francisco’s Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet has reimagined and redefined the string quartet experience. This year’s annual festival highlights works from the landmark Kronos Fifty for the Future commissioning and legacy project.

Kronos Quartet hosts its annual hometown festival, showcasing pieces from the Kronos Fifty for the Future repertoire—works by Rhiannon Giddens, Philip Glass, Zakir Hussain, Angélique Kidjo, Terry Riley, Wu Man, and others. Featuring performances by three guest quartets—Aizuri Quartet, Attacca Quartet, and Friction Quartet—and appearances by guest musicians Rafiq Bhatia, Soo Yeon Lyuh, Victoria Shen, and more.

Join Excuse My French on Wednesday, June 14th @ 2PM when he speaks with versatile singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Wesli, before his performance at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on June 15th.

Born in 1980 to a financially-challenged family of seven children in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wesli (Wesley Louissaint) built his first guitar at the age of eight by stringing an old oil can with nylon fishing line. From these humble beginnings, he has gone on to become one of Haiti’s most inspiring and celebrated musical ambassadors.

Be it in an acoustic formation (guitar, voice and percussion) or with his bigger band, Wesli consistently delivers a rich, festive and uniquely engaging sound. He conquers the heart of his audience through complex musical arrangements and universal messages of hope, truth and peace. Bringing together a wide range of Montreal and Haitian talents, Wesli’s music unites Haitian voodoo and rara with roots, reggae, Afrobeat, electronic music and hip-hop flavors.

Wesli’s most recent release, Tradisyon, focusing on Haitian roots, acoustic and traditional styles, was released in October 2022.

Tune in to KALX Live! 9pm to midnight on Saturday June 17th to hear Dick Stusso hosted by Sly Ida. 

Hi, Bay Area local Nic Russo here. Longtime KALX listener, sometimes caller talking about Dick Stusso. Dick Stusso is a joke that got out of hand. Not really a pun. Dumber. More dumb? Richard Russo is an author of no relation. Dick Stusso is dying to give you musical satisfaction. Dying and crying. And loving. Thank you.

——

Dick Stusso is a mess. The third album from everyone’s favorite increasingly unhinged rock phenom is a document of slow, full mental unraveling in a money-chasing saga set with a world in perpetual decay as its backdrop. With S.P., the man behind the Dick Stusso persona (specifically, California-based singer and songwriter Nic Russo, who is doing much better than his fictional counterpart) has created his most out-there and toothsome record to date, plunging his listeners into a world that might seem strange—that is, until they take a look at what’s actually around them too.

S.P. is the first Dick Stusso record in four years, following his stellar Hardly Art debut In Heaven from 2018—but this latest missive is more of an indirect sequel to the buzz-building 2015 release Nashville Dreams / Sings the Blues, diving deeper into Dick Stusso’s crumbling psyche and dystopian surroundings. If our introduction to Dick was someone trying to pursue their dreams and turning into a failure as a result, S.P. reflects the moment where, in Russo’s words, “The character is becoming unlikable. He’s succumbing to what is taking place around him.”

Join Sex 14’s on Thursday, June 8th @ 2:30PM when he speaks with cellist // composer // performer, Zoë Keating, before she appears at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley for two performances on June 10th & 11th.

Zoë Keating has spent the last 20 years exploring the landscape of sounds a string instrument can make. She coaxes sounds out of the very edges of her cello, adeptly layering them into “swoon inducing” (San Francisco Weekly) music that is unclassifiable yet “a distinctive mix of old and new” (National Public Radio).

She is known for her use of technology – which she uses to record and sample her cello onstage and in the studio – and for her DIY approach – composing, recording and producing her works on her own terms, without the help of a record label.

As a cellist Zoë has played with a wide range of artists, including Imogen Heap, Amanda Palmer, Guy Sigsworth, Tears for Fears, DJ Shadow, Dan Hicks, Thomas Dolby, Sean Ono Lennon, John Vanderslice, Rasputina, Pomplamoose and Paolo Nutini.

Zoë lives in Burlington, VT and her latest projects include scoring for a three-part science series that will be revealed in Dec 2023 and a motion picture scheduled for release in 2023.

DJ Massari recently caught up with London based musician, producer, DJ and broadcaster, Nabihah Iqbal, when she played Cafe du Nord in SF this past week.  Tune in on Friday, June 9th @ 1:30PM to hear their conversation and listen to some of Nabihah’s favorite song selections.

Nabihah has hosted radio shows on NTS and BBC networks like Radio 1, 1Xtra, Asian Network, World Service and 6Music since 2013. Since her debut album was released on Ninja Tune in 2017, Nabihah has toured the world extensively as both a live act and DJ. Performance highlights include the V&A Museum, MoMA PS1 and SXSW as well as Glastonbury Festival, Warehouse Project, Printworks, Boiler Room, Worldwide Festival and Sonar.

Latest album, DREAMER is a wrenchingly intimate and sweetly playful project. There is a pronounced melancholy underpinning the album, but cracks of sunlight make their way out. Ultimately, the album signals a shift, elevating Nabihah’s work to new heights as she adds new colours to her palette.

This week’s KALX Live  is about D-A-N-CING. Tune in to KALX Live! on Saturday, June 10th at 9PM when DJ Disco (nee Donut) Monoxide hosts San Francisco’s very own Top Secret Robot Alliance for a live in-studio performance and interview.

In the year of our Dance Lord  2007, two of the handsomest, most robotic dance machines ever to take human form, Dion Thünder and Lucious Sandstone, came together to form Top Secret Robot Alliance and make all of our dance dreams come true. Top Secret Robot Alliance (TSRA) serves up electronic rock/dance/dance punk/ electropop for all ladies and gentlemen, other gentlepeople and robots.

Be sure to Choose Dance and catch TSRA live on the KALX airwaves this Saturday night, when they reunite for the first time since you last saw them. You do not want to miss even a moment.