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Sitar player, performer, and North Indian Classical musician, Arjun K Verma, joins Velvet Einstein on Thursday, September 28th @ 5PM to discuss Verma’s recent collaboration with Alam Khan and the Del Sol Quartet ahead of their appearance at the Presidio Theater in SF on October 13th.

Arjun has spent his entire life steeped in the tradition of North Indian Classical music.  The son of internationally performing sitarist Roop Verma, who was a disciple of Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar, Arjun began learning sitar from his father at age five.

As a composer, Arjun has written commissioned works for documentary film, opera, and live performing arts, and has arranged numerous works of Indian classical music for ensembles of both Indian and non-Indian instrumentation. 

In 2023, Arjun collaborated with Alam Khan on composing and recording a crossover album rooted in Indian classical and European classical music: The Resonance Between, featuring Del Sol String Quartet and tabla players Ojas Adhiya, Ishaan Ghosh, and Nilan Chaudhuri. This work, created in collaboration with composer Jack Perla, endeavors to express the search for identity as multi-ethnic musicians, employing both South Asian and Western musical influences in a contemporary style.

Join DJ Massari on Saturday, September 23rd @ 6:30PM when he hosts Portola Music Festival creator // producer, Danny Bell, for an in-studio interview.  Tune in to hear Massari and Danny preview the upcoming festival at Pier 80 in SF on September 30th and October 1st.

Portola Music Festival is a two-day event focused primarily on electronic music. The event is organized by Goldenvoice, the producers of Southern California’s iconic Coachella festival. It’s named after San Francisco’s Portola Festival of 1909, a Mardi Gras-like event hosted by the city after the earthquakes and fire of 1906 to advertise to the world that it was back and open for business.

This year’s lineup is a solid followup to last year’s stacked set of acts and includes headliners Skrillex and Eric Prydz presents Holo, as well as Major Lazer, B2B, Major League, The Blaze, Hot Chip, Nelly Furtado, Flying Lotus, Basement Jaxx, Avalon Emerson, Polo & Pan, FKJ, Thundercat and many others.

Photo Credit: Misha Vladimirskiy

On Tuesday, September 19th @ 11AM, Pacifica sits down with NYC based bedroom pop musician, Hannah Jadagu, before Jadagu plays SF’s Brick & Mortar Music Hall on September 20th.

Fresh out of high school in 2021, Hannah Jadagu released her debut EP, What Is Going On?, a collection of intimate bedroom pop tracks recorded entirely on an iPhone 7, which was, at the time, Jadagu’s most accessible mode of production. An off-the-cuff approach to music making and instinctive ability to write unforgettable hooks belied the intensity of Jadagu’s subject matter. In a short run time, What Is Going On? confronts some of the nation’s most urgent struggles all through Jadagu’s compassionate perspective.

Written in the years between graduating from high school in Mesquite, TX and her sophomore year of college in New York, latest album Aperture (Sub Pop) finds Jadagu in a state of transition. 

“Where I grew up, everyone is Christian; even if you don’t go to church, you’re still practicing in some form,” Jadagu says, laughing. “Moving out of my small hometown has made me reflect on how embedded Christianity is in the culture down there, and though I’ve been questioning my relationship to the church since high school, it’s definitely a theme on this album, but so is family.”

Photo Credit: Sterling Smith

Join Melodrama on Saturday, September 16th @ 12:30PM when she speaks with Adrian Galvin of Los Angeles based indie pop project, Yoke Lore, ahead of his show at The Fillmore in SF on September 18th.

Yoke Lore’s first full length album, Toward A Never Ending New Beginning is set to solidify Galvin as an indie pioneer, transcending beyond the genre with his unparalleled talent for captivating listeners with his distinct artistic vision and introspective lyricism.

The 14-track album chronicles his journey of turning strengths into weaknesses, personal growth, and discovering who Yoke Lore truly is. It’s an album full of reflection and raw, unfiltered honesty that will most definitely connect with listeners on a deeper level. Combining electronic beats with subtle instrumentation, each song on Toward A Never Ending New Beginning is sonically diverse and thoughtfully crafted, taking listeners on a journey of self-discovery along with Galvin.

Photo Credit: Tanner Deutsch

On Thursday, September 14th @ 5PM, Off The Griddle speaks with Bay Area experimental pop musician, SPELLLING, ahead of her performance at Through The Looking Glass Festival hosted by the historic Oakland children’s amusement park, Fairyland, on September 16th.

SPELLLING, the moniker of Oakland based Chrystia Cabral, returns with SPELLLING & the Mystery School, a collection of richly envisioned new versions of songs from throughout her critically-acclaimed discography.

Recorded with her touring band (est. 2021), these reimagined studio tracks follow Cabral’s spellbinding career — from her 2017 breakthrough debut Pantheon Of Me, to 2018’s multidimensional synth-based project Mazy Fly, and her expansive third album, 2021’s The Turning Wheel, breathing new life into the extravagant orchestrations she’s written and produced entirely herself.

Cabral plans to bring her otherworldly live set through a special performance at Atlas Obscura’s Through The Looking Glass Festival this weekend, held at Children’s Fairyland, a historical children’s amusement park in Oakland that her own mother used to frequent as a child. There, she will unravel her mythical songs that interrogate ideas of self-concept and political history, aided by the backdrop that will no doubt bring out her music’s other dimensions of playfulness, innocence, curiosity, and joy.

Photo Credit: Sarah Eiseman

Join Jon The Reptilian on Friday, September 15th @ 10AM when he sits down with Kansas City guitarist // singer-songwriter, Samantha Fish, before she plays The Independent in SF on September 17th.

As one of the most dynamic forces in the blues world today, Fish has made her name as a multi-award-winning festival headliner who captivates crowds with her explosive yet elegant guitar work, delivering an unbridled form of blues-rock that defies all genre boundaries.

Fish’s latest album, Death Wish Blues, finds her collaborating with guitarist // musician, Jesse Dayton. Dayton boasts an extraordinary background that includes recording with the likes of Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, touring as a guitarist for seminal punk band X, working with Rob Zombie on the soundtracks for his iconic horror films, and releasing a series of acclaimed solo albums. is a body of work born from a shared passion for pushing the limits of blues music.

Death Wish Blues is a body of work born from a shared passion for pushing the limits of blues music. Produced by the legendary Jon Spencer of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the new album ultimately melds their eclectic sensibilities into a batch of songs both emotionally potent and wildly combustible.