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Brujoz is your standard punk rock band, which is not at all a bad thing. Guitar, bass, drums. Their set started with rapid fire, fast paced songs with unintelligible lyrics. Very punk with the stage antics to match. Partway through the set they transitioned to more grungy songs with ultra heavy distortion, and then ended with more warp speed punk. They are kids, but they are politically aware kids. They talked about ICE and Palestine, which everyone knows about, but also brou

Riki took the stage first at a sold out Strummer's. Her sultry, plaintive, almost whispered vocals paired with the smooth sway of her hips got the night off to a very sensual start. The industrial driving dance rhythms, with syncopated beats and layered synths, provided an energetic backdrop to the more laid back stage presence. She was making love to the audience, not fucking us. She took out a guitar for a few songs and used it to add more layers to the beats, no solos just

This was one of those nights at Strummer's, which doesn't happen that often, when the venue is close to empty but the performers deserve a packed house. It was an all-acoustic show, with each act providing a different flavor of folk music. First up was a man, a banjo, and a whole lot of honesty and vulnerability. Little Foot took the stage first with a voice that sounded like a cross between Ryan Bingham and Marcus Mumford, but he played banjo instead of guitar. He's got some

Qiensave, a quintet from Salinas, got the night off to a high energy start. Their energy was infectious with choreographed dance moves and big smiles. I'm not exactly sure how to categorize their music. Latin, caribbean rhythms with guitar that was Santana-esque at times and lyrics almost (entirely?) exclusively in Spanish. Some of their songs had nice, long jams. Their website describes them as a 'Cumbia Urbana group... with roots stretching back to Michoacan', which is an a

Didn't really take many notes during this show... GIRLPUPPY started the night off with a solid shoegazey set. Unless I got things totally wrong, it looked all their bass lines were coming from a guitar that had been tuned waaaaaaaaay down. Up next was Launder, and they put on another good shoegazey performance. This is the second time this year I've seen them and they were just as good as the first time. Beach Fossils was the final act of the night. When they leaned into thei

Ka’ikena opened the night with a smile and heartfelt crooning. He was all by his lonesome, singing over reggae beats. He spoke a lot in Hawaiian, and even sang in Hawaiian at some points. It's a beautiful language to listen to, and it's good to see an artist working to keep the language alive (insert obvious comparison to Kneecap), but the one downside is that I have no idea what he was saying, although the words he gave seemed to be heartfelt and conveying a message of peace

Chicano Mosh started the night off with a high energy set of full on punk fucking rock. Throughout their performance they put out good vibes and positive energy, and the crowd gave it right back to them by gladly acquiescing every time the band asked them to form pits in front of the stage. The singer was constantly swinging back on forth with his guitar while the bassist was dancing with his bass. Some of their songs were in Spanish, and it was obvious that their heritage an

Hot Flash Heat Wave brought psychedelic reverb-ed out surf rock with punk-esque drums and some jam band elements. The vocals sounded like they were hooked up to the reverb pedal too and buried underneath the rest of the band, which gave them a shoegazey sound. A lot of their songs had extended jams, and they did a great job of building up the jam, staying within the melody, and reaching a very pleasing crescendo wtih good soaring guitar solos. Some songs reminded me a lot of

2/10 - Fresno, CA This was the first show of the year for me, and it was good one. Ray and Paul opened and I was pleasantly surprised by...

11/14/24 - Strummer's Judging by the photo used to promote them, and their description as an 'electro pop duo', you could understandably...

11/11/24 - Strummer's   The club side at Strummer’s was once again alive last night with the up-tempo, high energy sounds of masterfully...