vs self is a band from Southern California
Knumears is a three-piece melodic hardcore band from Southern California, blending heavy intensity with atmospheric layers.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are an American indie pop band from New York City. The band was formed by Kip Berman (vocals, guitar), Peggy Wang (keyboards, vocals), Alex Naidus (bass), and Kurt Feldman (drums) in 2007. The band reunited in 2025 to celebrate 15 years of their debut, self-titled album which was included on "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums" list by Pitchfork.
New Jazz Underground, an American trio, have been described as “an innovative and ultra creative collective striving to establish themselves as a defining voice for the genre of Jazz and beyond”. Their music signals a merging of traditional sensibilities in Jazz such as the blues, swing, and improvisation with the modern influence of hip-hop, pop, and afro-latino music. Listeners were introduced to the trio’s undeniably fresh sound through viral videos of the band performing in their living room. Hundreds of thousands viewed videos such as: “they can hate but we still swingin’”, “f**k/s**t/c**t/jazz”, “sad boy jazz”, as well as many others featuring the band's exuberant chemistry, effortless musicality, and raw ambition in sound.
Dynamic and powerful performers, New Jazz Underground possess far-reaching talents that are re-energizing the contemporary music world from the inside out. They dedicate themselves to the music continually and serve as a burgeoning benchmark for the future of Jazz to come.
Two Shows: 7:00 PM and 8:30 PM
Phil Manzanera is one of the UK’s best-known musicians and record producers, having shot to prominence in the early ‘70’s as the lead guitarist with the seminal band, Roxy Music. He is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading guitarists and record producers, combining his live playing with writing and producing new music. He was awarded the OBE in the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours list: ‘musician and producer. For services to music.’
The frontman of psychedelic/electronic indie pop outfit Black Moth Super Rainbow, enigmatic Pennsylvania-based artist Tobacco casts summery spells with analog synths and tape machines. As a solo artist, Tobacco employs many of the same styles and strategies that fuel his work with the band, but with a darker, more fractured edge. Integrating elements of hip-hop, electro, and experimental rock, and generally featuring vocoder-masking singing, his tracks are gritty and tape-damaged, yet filled with pop hooks. Following four BMSR full-lengths throughout the 2000s, Tobacco made his solo debut with 2008's Fucked Up Friends. While still active with BMSR, he continued issuing solo albums, including 2014's grimy Ultima II Massage and 2020's surprisingly more polished Hot Wet & Sassy. Additionally, he collaborated with Zackey Force Funk as Demon Queen and Aesop Rock as Malibu Ken.
Mux Mool aka Brian Lindgren is an American electronic musician known for his eclectic style of instrumental beats and dance music with releases on Ghostly International and Young Heavy Souls and has been featured prominently on Adult Swim bumps since 2008. He is also half of Opal Drums along with collaborator and turntablist Jon1st, a project that debuted in 2025.
Nowandformerly is the sonic alias of Kevin Figueroa — a bedroom experimentalist, self-taught visual alchemist, and rhythm-obsessed shapeshifter born in California’s Central Valley and raised between the dust of Michoacán and the concrete pulse of San Francisco.
Rooted in DIY ethics and noise-drenched honesty, Nowandformerly is a one-man force: drums, guitars, synths, voice — all warped through his own lens. His music bleeds genres, fusing post-rock atmosphere, ambient textures, and drum-heavy experimental rhythms into immersive soundscapes that hit hard and haunt quietly. Every track is self-recorded, self-produced, and paired with visual elements Kevin builds himself — a raw, audiovisual world built from scratch.
Formed in 2020 by Frankie Soto, Jose Medina and Cyrus Vandenberghe in Oakland, California. Still Ruins craft their sound by blending Sophisti-Pop and Dream-Pop rounded out with a Post-Punk edge. They released their debut self titled EP on Smoking Room(Vinyl/Digital) in of January 2024 with a debut full length album coming out in 2026
Hudson Freeman is a Brooklyn-based Lofi-folk artist, inspired and forged by the DIY Midwest. The 27-year-old Freeman continues to record and perform songs equal-parts resonant, reflective, and poignant. He has quickly emerged as one of indie's most enthralling new voices. His recent full-length, is a Folk Artist, helped solidify his presence as the kind of songwriter unafraid to tackle life's most draining contradictions: modern identity, digital disconnection, and faith.
Born to Evangelical missionaries, Hudson started writing songs upon a radical break at the age of thirteen when his family suddenly moved from the suburbs of Dallas to The Kingdom of Eswatini. The profound influence of indie big-hitters like Sufjan Stevens and Bon Iver as well as college years spent in Springfield, Missouri made a do-it-yourself Midwesterner out of Hudson. Now, his new song "If You Know Me" has recently started drawing in attention from the masses, catapulting Freeman into a wider spotlight than ever. It's a moody blend of bedroom pop, folk, slowcore, and post-emo, stitched together by a singular guitar riff and mantra-style lyrics, confirming Hudson's undeniable knack for melody.
On Internal Drone Infinity, Winnipeg’s Living Hour transforms the passage of time into something both urgent and sacred. Anchored by Sam Sarty’s vivid lyricism, shaped by years as a projectionist conjuring stories in a dark theater, the band explores the quiet magic hidden in everyday life. Their fourth album drifts between dreamy noise rock, folky slowcore, and fuzzy indie-pop, coining a genre all their own:“yearn-core.”With wistful vocals, textural distortion, and poetic detail, Living Hour capture the ache of memory, the mess of feeling, and the beauty in what remains.
Christopher Owens – the celebrated singer-songwriter and former frontman of beloved indie rock band Girls – announces I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair, his first new album in seven years and his return to True Panther Records, out October 18, 2024.
Conjuring up female leads like Stevie Nicks and Madonna, Sedona sang before she could talk. Her voice spellbinds, with popcentric melodies and soft rock nostalgics, echoing the timeless female rockers who came before her. On the heels of her debut record, she advises listeners to proceed with passion...
Bay area based non-binary artist Asha Wells brings the self assuredness of a classically-trained voice, to the unfettered freedom of the self-taught instrumentalist. Their arrangements are unlimited and yet laboriously braided. forming a cathartic amalgam of art folk and chamber pop with a new age sonic twist.
Marie Davidson has always gone against the grain. The French-Canadian producer’s first four albums established her as a transgressive force in dance music, with her 2014 debut Perte d'identité (Loss of identity) laying the foundations of organic electronics and introspective storytelling that she would continue to build upon. Each release probed her “dualistic” relationship to nightlife while becoming increasingly saturated in its abundance of sounds, from Detroit techno to Italo disco, finally reaching a fever pitch on 2018’s Polaris Music Prize-nominated Working Class Woman. Putting the pitfalls of club culture and her own fractured identity under a withering satirical lens, Working Class Woman doesn’t wrestle with the existential as much as fling it around the dancefloor.
Kaifeng-born, now London-based Yu Su is a musician, DJ, sound artist and occasional chef. As one of the most prominent Chinese artists with a highly unique voice working across the globe in the last 5 years, her output covers all the ground you’d expect and more. Her multiple critically acclaimed records on UK’s Technicolor (Ninja Tune), Netherlands’s Music from Memory and China’s own Bie Records has seen her nominated for Canada’s Polaris Prize. She has co-produced music with John Carroll Kirby, Duval Timothy and is known for remix works for Parquet Courts, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, and many more. As a DJ, she is unpredictable, idiosyncratic; just “casually having the dance floor transfixed” have put her on the spotlights at clubs and festivals internationally like Dekmantel, Glastonbury, Boiler Room, iii Points, Nuits Sonores, Rainbow Disco Club, Phonox and so on. She has also recently been featured on the cover of Mixmag magazine, marking the first Chinese cover star. She has composed for feature films and fashion brands like Sacai, Jimmy Choo and London/Shanghai based SAMUEL GUÌ YANG.
Pillowprince is an Oakland/LA-based grunge gaze band that makes rock from cracking folds of leather and glittering chain link, from nights of red-gelled stage lights and mornings after that are way too bright, from hair matted with joy and danger and most of all from bodies making places for themselves only they know.
Songwriter and guitarist Olivia Lee sings about queer joy, pain, love, and subversion, punctuating raw sincerity with vibrant brooding guitar riffs. Together with Silas Snyder on drums and Liza Stegall on bass, they create dense, propulsive shoegaze anthems.
dog eyes is the Bay Area indie folk duo of Hailey Firstman and Davis Leach who write emotional extremes with a gentle touch. Rather than first-person confessionals, their work focuses on the pure and sweet of the mundane and the ache and nag of the universal, told like memories, hazy and fragile. Their 2024 record holy friend drew attention acting like a magnifying glass for life’s tiniest moments, but their new EP blue bird rain cloud expands that aperture while keeping their delicate breakability intact.
Marrying the pristine jangle of electric 12-string guitars with nervy, hooky songs, San Francisco’s Chime School conjures a unique and instantly recognizable form of indie pop, rooted in the buoyant, driving pulse of their 1980’s and 90’s forebearers, while still locked in a kaleidoscopic stare with the genre’s 1960’s originators.Fresh off overseas tours to the UK, France, and Spain in support of their sophomore LP “The Boy Who Ran The Paisley Hotel” (Slumberland Records) Chime School are set to return to Noise Pop 2026 to support Slumberland Records labelmates PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART.
Puzzle is a solo endeavour created by Fletcher Shears in 2012. With 20+ albums under his belt he has garnered a slow but steady amount of growth and attention while putting the majority of his focus into his other project; The Garden. Through the years he has done a very select amount of touring and playing live but has managed to tour in the U.S., Japan & Mexico. In the last 6-7 years his music has garnered attention at a more rapid pace and he has now begun to play more often. During live shows, Puzzle is known for having an energetic and sometimes aggressive stage presence. Similar to with The Garden, the Puzzle live shows often teeter between unpredictable and bombastic to more melodic and stripped back. His most recent full length album, "The Rotten Opera" is available everywhere now.
Born and raised in Orange, California, Wyatt Shears is an artist who is best known for his song writing and aesthetic vision.
Taking influence from a wide variety of genres including Socal and UK punk , 70’s funk and drum and bass , wyatt has helped to establish a sound that is very recognizable internationally and that has become an important staple for southern california. Establishing enjoy in 2010 and the garden soon after in 2011, both projects developed a style and vision of their own and continue to be cornerstones of california based collective vada vada.
Born in Iran but finding her artistic sanctuary in California, In 2011 Mozhgan co-created "We Are Monsters" with Jason Greer. This visionary party experience became an escape for those seeking refuge from the mundane. Mozhgan and Jason, later joined by Solar played a diverse array of sounds and created a space without the boundaries of genre and expectation. Mozhgan is known for her captivating dark sound infused with percussive psychedelia. She has toured worldwide for the past 10 years and played at venues like Panorama Bar and De School, among others and become an anticipated regular at US festivals and parties like No Way Back and Sunset Campout. With a deep passion for creating immersive musical experiences, Mozhgan transports her audience through a sonic journey that blends her diverse cultural background with cutting-edge rhythms. Whether at intimate raves or expansive festivals, she invites listeners to lose themselves in the magic of her sound.
SF lifer Jeremy Castillo has long been a fixture of the SF dance music scene. He was a founding member of Club Lonely, a seminal SF institution that he ran with Vin Sol and DJ Primo. Jeremy now runs music/wine bar and record label Bar Part Time - "probably the best wine bar in the world." He is also responsible for curating the bar's impeccable bookings and unmissable mix series.
Expect downtempo, synth pop dubs, house you've never heard but need to, and a wide range of other tunes, all focused on the floor.
San Francisco-based Vertigo captivates crowds with her dissonant and syncopated cuts, creating genre-bending sets that blend moments of intense body movement and emotional introspection. With her distinctly punchy and aggressive style of mixing, the Vitamin1000 resident masterfully weaves glitchy, dub-inspired melodies and percussive bass lines, sculpting psychedelic and texture-heavy soundscapes. She is also one part of duo CYBER1A alongside bad juuju, a project exploring the heavy range of bass, breaks, electro, and techno.
Tropa Magica was formed by brothers David and Rene Pacheco in 2018. Inspired by the songs and vibes of their 90’s East LA backyard parties. The band blends in the guitar and rhythms of 60’s Peruvian Cumbias and 90’s grunge with a southern psychedelic twist that transports the listener into a tropical psychedelic dance party.
Over the past six years, Flaco el Jandro has been furthering the trajectory of Chicano music through a series of independently produced EPs and singles—each carrying a distinct sound and story, yet unmistakably Flaco. Hailing from California’s Salinas Valley, his work reflects a deep connection to place, culture, and community. Flaco has served as a music director at the world-renowned El Teatro Campesino and has collaborated extensively with arts organizations and nonprofits throughout the tri-county area. In addition to his solo work, he is an active producer, currently developing projects with multiple emerging artists from the Salinas Valley. In March 2025, Flaco released his third EP, Salaztlán, a project deeply rooted in the sounds and cultural landscape of his hometown. The EP’s lead single, “Almas Vagabundas,” premiered in Remezcla’s New Música Friday and Salaztlán was later recognized as one of Vogue México’s 30 Best Latin Music Albums of 2025. Most recently, Flaco has been touring internationally as both a supporting act and a member of legendary California songwriter Chuck Prophet’s band, in support of the album Wake the Dead—a cumbia-infused fusion record shaped in part by Flaco’s influence and arrangements. Driven by a commitment to honor his roots while pushing Chicano music forward, Flaco el Jandro blends infectious rhythms with heartfelt lyricism. His work captures the spirit of his ancestors while creating a sound that resonates across generations.
Minneapolis’ Prize Horse make “a fuzzy, dreamy form of alt-rock that manages to be heavy and spaced-out at the same time” (Stereogum). The trio’s debut album, Under Sound, embarks their musical evolution which takes flight with ethereal, fuzz-laden tones departing from the grittier layers of their previous 2021 Welder EP.
DeVotchKa “A Tribute to the Music of Little Miss Sunshine”
In a serendipitous moment on “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” the radio station KCRW in Santa Monica changed the trajectory of both indie cinema and one of Denver's most distinctive musical voices. When filmmakers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris heard DeVotchKa's evocative sound drifting through the airwaves, they knew they'd found the emotional heartbeat for their film “Little Miss Sunshine.”
That instinct proved prophetic. DeVotchKa's soundtrack and score for the 2006 film became inseparable from its story. The bittersweet orchestration to the Hoover family's cross-country journey, captured the themes of hope, resilience, and beautifully imperfect dreams. The band's signature sound gave the film its unmistakable soul, turning moments like young Olive's final dance into cultural touchstones.
The work earned DeVotchKa a Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and the film won two Oscars. Introducing the world to the band's cinematic, lush orchestral sound, songs like "Til the End of Time" and "How It Ends" transcended the screen to become anthems.
Now, two decades later, DeVotchKa will be celebrating this landmark collaboration with a special 20th anniversary tour, “A Tribute to the Music of Little Miss Sunshine.” The performance honors not just the music that helped define a generation of independent film, but the unlikely journey that began with a radio station, a perfect song at the perfect moment, and a story about never giving up on what makes you different.
Join DeVotchKa as they revisit the soundtrack and score that launched them into the cultural conversation – a reminder that sometimes the most beautiful twists of fate create the most lasting art.
Graham Hunt has an intuitive ability to carve out his own space within the long, confusing history of American pop music. The Wisconsin-based songwriter has spent the past four years hard at work building a trilogy of records that synthesize timeless guitar pop chops with a layered approach to production and a sly lyrical eye. His music balances the surreal with the quotidian, the melodic with the rhythmic, the cryptic with the triumphant–often proving that slacker playfulness and Heartland earnestness are not mutually exclusive. Timeless World Forever, the final entry in this trilogy and Hunt’s first release for Run For Cover, provides closure on a formidable body of songs while opening the gates for a new stage in the artist’s long, prolific career.
JEFFREY LEWIS & THE VOLTAGE (Blang Records UK/Don Giovanni Records USA)Indie 4-piece band from NYC, lyrical genius urban garage rock/folk with multi-media illustrated/cartoon songs mixed in, worldwide fanbase (300 draw in NYC, 600 draw in London, 200 draw in LA, Paris, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland).
RIYL: Daniel Johnston, Yo La Tengo, Velvets/Lou, Modern Lovers, Kimya Dawson.
“Weird? Very… but also downright inspiring” (****) – Rolling Stone
“Jeffrey Lewis is an amazing musician, and if you don’t know his songs you probably have a hole in your heart that can only be filled by his words… I did!” – Regina Spektor
“Jeffrey is the best pure songwriter I know of… ‘Sad Screaming Old Man’… is one of my favorite songs ever written” – David Berman (Silver Jews)
The mind-spinning indie-rock/folk/art of Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage developed when songwriter and comic book artist Jeffrey Lewis began recording homemade cassettes in New York City in 1998; his critically acclaimed, unusual and word-dense songs lead to Jeffrey signing to Rough Trade Records in 2001 (record label of The Smiths, The Strokes, Belle & Sebastian, etc.), and the project evolved into a live touring cult sensation around the world. Creating a brilliant style of scuzzy urban indie-rock-folk, like a 21st Century mash-up of Sonic Youth, Pete Seeger and R. Crumb, Jeffrey’s band has played countless gigs all over the world, including playing as the opening act for icons like the Mountain Goats, Daniel Johnston, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Dinosaur Jr, The Fall, Dr. Dog, Pulp, Roky Erickson, The Vaselines, and more.
His most recent official album is “The EVEN MORE Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis,” recorded by Roger (Yo La Tengo, Sleater-Kinney) Moutenot, and released on Don Giovanni Records (USA) and Blang Records (UK/Eu) in March 2025 (garnering rave reviews).
Jeffrey continues to wring folksy spiel and garage bohemianism from his ramshackle guitar, whether with his full band or solo, while sometimes incorporating his often subversive visual artwork and cartoons into live appearances. His comic book series Fuff ended with issue 12, and his new comic book series Statics is awaiting the 2025 publication of issue 3. The feature length film “Roll Bus Roll: A Jeffrey Lewis Documentary” by filmmaker Ilya Popenko has begun being shown at various festivals and screenings around the world since late 2024. Some of Jeffrey’s audio/visual projects have been hosted by the History Channel website, such as “The Story of Sitting Bull,” a Jeffrey Lewis illustrated song which won a Webby Award in 2011 for “Best Writing on the Internet.” Jeffrey’s “The Story of Keith Haring” was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in 2021.
As of 2025 the 4-piece line-up of Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage includes Mallory Feuer on violin and keyboard, Valerie Marchesi on bass and Brent (Moldy Peaches) Cole on drums.
