Music

Honestly, not many artists make it out of my part of town. Carmichael is an idyllic suburban soccer mom paradise, which is not the most conducive for music of any emotional weight. This is why I’m especially thankful there are still artists like Michael Ray (not to be confused with…

Are you a human? Do you like fun? What about music? If you answered “yes” to one or all of these questions, then I suggest you check out local indie folk group, Be Brave Bold Robot’s album release party for their new Short Raps Project compilation, which promises to be…

In a recent interview I conducted for SF Weekly, I learned how privileged we are in the United States. Nigerian star Femi Kuti wants you to know he presently does not have electricity, and, if he does, it is very short-lived. The son of the late Fela Kuti, arguably the…

Sob Story Once upon a time, I almost gave up on journalism, mostly because in every interview, bands started saying the same exact things: “We’re going to change the music scene forever, man!”; “We have a unique sound that nobody has ever heard!”; and “We need to up our social…

“I have to actively contain my excitement for #HOFDAY this year,” event co-founder Robbie Metcalf tells Submerge. He’s obviously fired up for his company HOF’s second annual music festival, going down on Saturday, Aug. 27 at River Walk Park in West Sacramento (UPDATE: the event date has been moved to…

Fans of creative and challenging music, listen up, local musician Ross Hammond has a treat for you. His first ever Gold Lion Arts Summer Festival takes place over three nights, June 24–26, 2016, and will see four different eclectic acts perform each night. From the psychedelic art rock of Oakland’s…

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but in the case of Astronautica’s new album Gemini, the name is exactly perfect. The album contains the ideal grooves for strapping on headphones and blasting through the stars, or—as the artist behind Astronautica, Edrina Martinez, recommends—listening to while “driving…

If you’re hell-bent on knowing the real names of all band members in Greenville, North Carolina’s Valient Thorr, you are doing it wrong. After a successful six-album run on Volcom Entertainment (home to Pepper, Riverboat Gamblers and Guttermouth), Valient Thorr are back with a bad ass new album on Napalm…

The name suggests apathy, but as artists Who Cares put their lives on the line to be one of best hip-hop groups in Sacramento. Originally formed by Ernie Upton, aka Ernie Fresh, and Maxwell McMaster on production, Who Cares is the perpetual opener of rap shows. The self-anointed second-place finishers….

It’s a good time of year to be a fan of local music. We here at Submerge have always called the summer months “album release season” because it seems like local artists wait until the temps rise to release their newly recorded works. Check out this list of just 10…