With Outside Lands already in the rearview mirror, another festival moves in. The always fun and quirky 20th Street Block Party invades the city’s Mission District for a day music, food, art, and comedy this Saturday, August 18.
The festival brings in some of the top up-and-coming artists in the world of indie rock for a big block party that celebrates all that is great in the independent music scene in San Francisco and beyond, and all it’ll cost you is a $10 suggested donation to benefit the Mission Language Vocational School. Considering that you can’t even buy a $5 bill for $10 in San Francisco, this is the deal of all deals when it comes to music festivals.
Past performers include indie heavyweights Chicano Batman, Rogue Wave, Mac DeMarco, and Neon Indian to name a few. But the best thing about the festival is the music discovery, getting a chance to find out about new bands that you may have never heard about any other way. Case in point, last year I stumbled up the band The Tambo Rays while standing in line for a churro, and the blew me away so much so that they quickly rose to the top of my list of my favorite local bands. Since nothing gets me more jazzed up and tingly than sharing new music I put together this handy-dandy guide to the artists that you need to check out at this years 20th Street Block Party. Oh, and don’t forget to get some (48) churros while you’re there!
Empress Of
25-year-old Lorely Rodriguez is the one woman army behind dream-pop phenomenon Empress Of. Her series of 1 minute-long demos that she released on YouTube first brought her to the attention of music fans and the “blogosphere” back in 2013, and since then the Berklee School of Music grad has showcased at major festivals including SXSW and the Pitchfork Music Festival. Her rising prominence in the indie scene has landed her on tour with Florence + the Machine and Jungle, and lead to a collaboration with rising R&B star Khalid. Empress Of headlines the main stage of the 20th Street Block Party from 5:45-6:35.
The Marias
In need of some new music that you can sip guava juice mimosas by the pool to? Who the hell has time for that? Regardless, The Marias make the type of dreamy pop music that you can close your eyes to and be transported poolside in an instant. The L.A. based psychedelic dream pop band with a love for all things 60’s got me hooked on their sound a few months ago through one of their two Spanish-language songs “Déjate Llevar,” with its bossa nova influence and sultry sung/whispered lyrics. Don’t miss out when The Maria’s take the main stage from 2:30-3:00.
Jeff Rosenstock
Is he punk, or is he indie? Is he ska/punk with an indie twist? Or maybe he’s a one-man rock opera with a punk attitude. It’s hard to label Jeff Rosenstock, but the dude has been consistently pumping out high energy songs for well over a decade both as a solo act and as the frontman of The Arrogant Sons of Bitches. Jeff is known for his raucous live shows so get ready to be sweat upon when he takes the main stage from 3:45-4:45.
Check out the full lineup here.
20th Street Block Party
Saturday August 18th
11:30am to 6:30pm
20th & 19th Street between Bryant and Harrison
$10 suggested donation for the Mission Language Vocational School