{"id":1735,"date":"2022-06-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sofarsoundsblo.wpengine.com\/blog\/articles\/5-san-francisco-east-bay-artists-to-listen-to\/"},"modified":"2022-06-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T00:00:00","slug":"5-san-francisco-east-bay-artists-to-listen-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/articles\/5-san-francisco-east-bay-artists-to-listen-to","title":{"rendered":"5 San Francisco\/East Bay Artists to Listen to\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While the landscape of San Francisco continues to evolve, the Bay Area remains home to countless amazing artists. Thanks to this incredibly rich music scene, these days if you find yourself at a Sofar show in SF, you might see a harpist, spoken word artist, and an Indie Rock band all sharing the bill. Every genre, every instrument\u2014 the community has a deep musical history and we\u2019re thrilled to share some of our local favorites. <\/p>\n<h2><strong>1. Afterthought<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>From the second his performance starts, you feel at home. Afterthought, the Bay Area-based rapper, producer, and community activist welcomes you in with the help of his incredible band. In his most recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/v\/listeningroom\">Sofar Listening Room Session<\/a>, he brings the full family: an eight-piece band complete with trombones and saxophones. Together they elevate his performance and bring his message to life with a truly celebratory feel. So much joy, warmth, and community flowing from his music. <\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_MmCRfnifls\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<h2><strong>2. Speakeas\u0113<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>With over 40 shows on the books, Speakeas\u0113 has cemented themselves within our community. The neo-soul, funky project always makes an unforgettable addition to our shows. They absolutely brought it for our 2017 Halloween show, both in costumes and in sound. The rich vocals draped over a silky chord progression and clean drums\u2014 it\u2019s a jazzy little number and just a sample of why we can\u2019t get enough of this band. <\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IiX7-3OB0WA\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<h2><strong>3. Christian Kuria<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s always a magic to seeing a young artist and knowing they are bound for great things. What a joy to watch that journey unfold. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve experienced with Christian Kuria. You can see the potential in his performance video from 2017. A gorgeous and captivating voice. Now, just five years later he\u2019s touring the world and sharing his art with over 1.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify.<\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LuTGgwT3xXs\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<h2><strong>4. Ruby Ibarra<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We caught up with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tpPDP2O_4VA&#038;t=764s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rapper,<strong> Ruby Ibarra<\/strong>, a couple summers ago when we partnered with Stella Artois for some incredible performances<\/a>. A mainstay in the community, Ibarra dropped her first project back in 2012 and instantly made a name for herself. The Filipino artist has wonderful writing and brings such a great energy to our shows. Check out that Stella session for a little taste! <\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tpPDP2O_4VA\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<h2><strong>5. Rexx Life Raj<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Another Bay Area legend, the ascending Hip-Hop artist has been making splash after splash after splash. He brings a fresh feel to the west coast rap sound, bringing a kind of timeless production to his work. In his session with us, he performed Level Up, showcasing a dynamic delivery alongside two bandmates, no one afraid to have some fun. A prolific artist, with seven albums in the bag already, and has released singles in 2022 featuring <strong>Wale, Fireboy DML, and Larry June<\/strong>. Lucky for us, a lot to enjoy and even more to look forward to. <\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aKVjN3Lnqmc\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<p>Words by Max Himelhoch<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo credit: Speakeas\u0113 performing Sofar San Francisco, photo by Jon Bauer<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the landscape of San Francisco continues to evolve, the Bay Area remains home to countless amazing artists. Thanks to this incredibly rich music scene, these days if you find yourself at a Sofar show in SF, you might see a harpist, spoken word artist, and an Indie Rock band all sharing the bill. Every [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}