See Moir Music: Early October
Thinking about every two weeks is about the right amount of frequency and corresponding information density for these. Let me know!
Where I’ll Be
I just realized that all 4 of these shows are solo, so if you will be at one of these shows, hit me up!
Fri 10/11 — Pete Tong at Halcyon
Looking forward to stopping by Halcyon again, despite the weird crowd last time. At least there are no steps to trip on like in Audio!
Sat 10/12 — MSTRKRFT at Audio
Will do my best to not trip on the steps at Audio.
Wed 10/16 — Maribou State at Regency Ballroom
I have to keep reminding myself to be excited about this show. I have a feeling it will be one of those shows where I get excited after they start playing...
Sat 10/26 — Kölsch at Audio
Talked myself into seeing him. Hoping the fact that it’s Halloween-themed will make it more fun, not less.
Conflicts and considerations
Sun 10/13 — Darius and Starfari DJ set at Phoenix Hotel Poolside
Starfari is great, Darius is too, and maybe it will be warm again this weekend!
Fri 10/18 — Dancing About Architecture: A Night of Music Writers at the Makeout Room
Uhhhh go see some music writers read some of their stuff as part of LitQuake/LitCrawl?? I’m very sad I can’t go to this.
Sun 10/20 — Day Party with Alex Cruz at Everdene Rooftop / Virgin Hotel
Still haven’t managed to see him live, and that streak will continue.
Sun 10/20 — Justice DJ set at 1015 Folsom
I’m pretty sure seeing Justice is never a bad idea. This is super sold out, but make it happen if you can.
Sun 10/20 — JOSEPH at The Fillmore
If you want an indie-folk vibe instead of electro DJ, go to this show.
Thu 10/24 — MEUTE at Great American Music Hall
A marching band from Berlin does arrangements of electronic music. Just try to stop watching this video of them playing Flume. I’ve watched it at least 10 times.
Fri 10/25 — Amtrac at The Great Northern
Amtrac shows up every few months here in SF, but The Great Northern is a beautiful venue. This is Stranger Things / Halloween themed, so maybe his set will be synthier than it might be otherwise.
Fri 10/25 — Bicep DJ set at 1015 Folsom
I mean you could just do a double header and go from The Great Northern to 1015. I’ve done it. It’s probably safer to just decide which DJ you want to see more. (spoilers, it’s Bicep)
Thu 10/31 — I still don’t hate myself so I’m not going to any shows on Halloween but:
RL Grime’s record label is hosting a warehouse party?! I’m not cool enough for that but you might be.
Just Announced
Or at least newly on my radar.
Thu 12/5 Franc Moody at Rickshaw Stop. Highly debating this one based entirely on the funky basslines of this remix I’m obsessed with. Tickets go on sale Friday, maybe at 1 am but probably actually at 10am?
Tue 12/31 Claude VonStroke and Christian Martin (Dirtybird) at Mezzanine for the last show EVER at Mezzanine. End of an era. (I won’t be there).
Other notes
Recent great releases
The Hood Internet presents 1979
This track by Ginerva called Burning courtesy of my all time long time music blog, The Burning Ear.
Caribou just released a new song. I recently learned that Daphni and Caribou are the same person.
Shazamming while Dancing
Hot Chip on 9/25 was a delight. They clearly love performing, and I had an incredible time despite only recognizing a few songs. 🕺
Tinlicker on 9/27 was free (not $10 like I thought) because I leapt on that RSVP, but boy howdy I was too stressed to enjoy the music and the crowd was just too much for me. Left before Tinlicker came on. 🤷🏻♀️
Bombay Bicycle Club on 9/28 was a heartwarming crowd that reminds me why I still go to indie rock shows. 🚲
Anjunadeep Open Air on 10/5 took a whole lot of effort to make it to but was worth it. 🏝
Scouting around the Salesforce terminal for the bus to Treasure Island only to discover there are BUSES UPSTAIRS. Who looks up an escalator to find a bus? Not me. Didn’t help that none of the fancy electronic signs were functional.
Then I got there, got off at the first stop, which was close but not quite close enough to where I needed to be. Made a random friend and walked along the Jobs Corp buildings and ducked through a construction site fence, then made it to the entrance unscathed!
Shoutout to the security guard who let me bring in my ziploc full of bread.
The sets were a great time, the sunset was gorgeous, and the crowd was a delight. I shazammed what I wanted to for the DJs I stuck around for, David Hohme, Cubicolor, Dosem, Luttrell, and Dusky. I skipped the last hour of Dusky’s set because 4.5 hours was enough dancing.
Read Moir Music
Last newsletter I shared some articles about how data analysis and streaming is changing music, both in the industry and its production. This time I want to share a little about how software has a similar effect. The podcast Switched on Pop had an episode on a beats marketplace that sold Lil Nas X the beats the backed his global hit with Miley Cyrus’s dad, but that’s just one effect that software (and the Internet) has had on music.
“Every piece of common software is easily distinguished by it's [sic] default sound fonts.” claims an article by the online music magazine Ledger Note. They’re not wrong. Jace Clayton talks about this phenomenon with the sample packs available with the free software FruityLoops in his book Uproot: Travels in 21st Century Music and Digital Culture, which I will keep recommending until you all have read it.
Vox’s Earworm crops up again with a show on how an “orchestra hit” made its way into a number of popular music tracks—all by virtue of being one of the default sounds included with the synthesizer (software in the hardware). Engadget also covered another default sound (all the way back in 2015) that made its way into a number of hits from the Casio Casiotone MT40.
I pretended this interlude was about software, but really it’s about default sounds out there in the world, and the fact that we aren’t really sure who’s making them, or where they’ve come from, or what the simplicity of access of these default sounds means for the past, present, and future of music creation.