See Moir Music: Late October
Where I’ll Be
Fri 11/1 — Solumun at the Midway
I might make it to this show thanks to a friend’s spare tickets. We’ll see if my feet are capable of dancing again by that time…
Sat 11/2 — Born Ruffians (and Last Dinosaurs) at The Fillmore
I’m just going for Born Ruffians, who killed it when I saw them at Slim’s. Planning to leave after their opening set ends to go to a DJ set for a community I’m in.
Mon 11/4 — Two Door Cinema Club at Fox Theater
Saw them 2 years ago at the same venue by myself. It was a great time. Looking forward to another great show in the same spot, but with more company this time!
Conflicts and considerations
Fri 11/1 — Electric Guest at Regency Ballroom
I don’t need to see them play again. Still like their music tho!
Fri 11/8 — Goldroom (Live) at Mezzanine
I’ve seen a lot of his DJ sets this year and last year. Not sure I need to see his live set.
Sat 11/9 — Spencer Brown at Public Works
Recently got vaguely into him. Not sure if it’s enough to go see him. Check out Nightwalk.
Sat 11/9 — Purple Disco Machine at Audio
Discoooooo. They’ve been doing a bunch of good remixes lately but I don’t listen to them much. Here’s one they did of a Rufus du Sol track.
Thu 11/14 — Madeon at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (Billy G)
Am I still in college? No. Am I still considering this? Yes.
Fri 11/15 — Polo y Pan at Fox Theater (Sold out)
Saw them at Treasure Island Music Festival last summer and they were a DELIGHT. Delayed buying tickets to this so missed the GA floor, and elected not to get balcony tickets because dancing just wouldn’t be the same.
Just Announced
Fri 1/17 — Miniature Tigers at Rickshaw Stop
Indie I haven’t listened to in awhile but it’s delightful. Check out The Wolf.
Wed 1/22 — Maverick Sabre at Rickshaw Stop
His song I Need is incredibly good. But I haven’t listened to many more of his songs beyond that.
Fri 2/21 — Jungle (DJ set) at 1015 Folsom
Jungle is great fun, and a DJ set from them would likely be delightful.
Fri 3/26 — Anna of the North at Rickshaw Stop
I like a few of their songs, but not enough to see them live.
🎫Fri 4/17 — Floating Points at Gray Area
Giving myself until April to get past the trendiness and become a real fan. Gray Area is a fun venue, but lacks good airflow, but I’ll be there regardless.
Noise Pop’s first wave lineup is out! I got the badge last year but didn’t take full advantage, so don’t plan to do that again this year. Here are the notable shows on sale from that first wave, imo:
Wed 2/26 — joan and Ralph at Cafe du Nord
I like a couple songs by Ralph and missed them when they last came through SF, but I’ll wait to see what else gets announced for this night.
Fri 2/28 — Maya Jane Coles at 1015 Folsom
I put together a quick lil playlist of the top 5 songs of all the artists on the Noise Pop lineup and saw that her top song had Bonobo on it. That was enough to start listening immediately and now I’m a fan and highly considering this show.
🎫Sat 2/29 — Jacques Greene at Starline Social Club
Had inconvenient timing discovering him this year, so looking forward to checking him out next year.
Other notes
Recent great releases
warner case put out his EP, dance music for dancing, vol. 1.
Tourist’s latest album Wild is out.
Shazamming while Dancing
Pete Tong on 10/11 I skipped. Will definitely buy tickets to see him again. 🎧
MSTRKRFT on 10/12 was full of cathartic bass-y techno. Sobey opened, and was good too. 🤘🏻
Maribou State on 10/16 I also skipped. Oops. I guess 9 shows in September and a series of solo shows in October meant I was flakier on myself. 🥐
Bicep on 10/25 was great fun. My body was too tired from 6 days straight of conference work, so I only made it to 2am instead of closing it out at 3. Love the renovations at 1015 tho, much more open and enjoyable space now! Here’s the playlist: 💪
Kölsch on 10/26 was surprisingly my favorite show of the month?! Excellent set and excellent support from J.Remy. Some artist overlaps with the Bicep show too, here’s the playlist: 🍺
Read Moir Music
I recently finished the book Personal Stereo by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow (part of the Object Lessons series), and it got me thinking about the role that personal devices play in our relationship to music. The age we first start listening to music at, plus how we listen to music, can have an immense effect on our relationship to music.
The book reflects on all the ways that a personal stereo, by way of stereo sound, headphones, and cassettes, upended the preexisting notions of how to experience music. It made things much more personal, and to a large degree, more isolated. But I found that in the intentionally narrow scope, the book ignores personal stereos that access radio. Listening to radio on a personal device can, rather than isolate you in a stereo soundscape, instead give you a direct connection to other people playing music that might matter to you. You can build a personal connection with DJs and the music that they play, listening to particular stations at particular times.
Sharing these thoughts about radios in an email newsletter almost make me think that they have something in common—building an identity through media, casting out content into the void and hoping you get listeners (or readers), but also on some level, doing it just for yourself.
I also wonder what is replacing radio for the teenagers growing up and listening to music and finding their identities. Are they entirely consuming music from Spotify’s algorithms? Or is it more of a “same same but different” scenario, where they’re still sharing music and learning from others, but via playlists made by people on Spotify or sites like 8tracks, in addition to Soundcloud and Youtube.
I might just look for this added layer of personal connection and broadcasting because radio and a radio walkman were a huge component of my relationship to music growing up. I wrote about it in Autobiography through Musical Devices several years ago, recounting the devices and the different forms of media that I’d encountered as my relationship with music grew and changed over the years. These days the devices are fairly static, but the ways I encounter new music are myriad. More on that next time, perhaps. How do you discover and consume music these days?