Queens MC Despot has been a bit of a hip-hop punchline for quite some time. Dude has flow for days, but he’s never put out an album. But that’s ok, cause as the title of this post says, I’m here to tell you that “It’s Not Too Late For Despot To Take Over The World.”
If today’s cool new video for “House of Bricks” is any indication, biding his time looks like it can work in his favor. Despot works in a strange corner of art/nerd rap and there’s a massive void in the post-Das Racist era of that sphere. He’s co-signed by some well-accomplished friends (El-P, Dev Hynes, Vampire Weekend) and if he continues to actually put out music, the formula is in place for when his album finally arrives, for it to be slapped with the coveted red BNM tag from Pitchfork.
The solo project of Vampire Weekend bassist Chris Baio (Baio) is materializing into something far more accessible for indie rock heads than his first two predominantly electro/dance EP’s. “Sister of Pearl,” the first single from his upcoming album, The Names (out 9/18 on Glassnote Records),is one of the most interesting and downright infectious tracks of the first half of 2015.
There’s a world-class craft spirits scene in the Bay Area, one founded on both tradition and innovation. On one end of the spectrum, there’s a traditional distiller who’s been in the business for over 30 years, and on the other, there’s a young company making whiskey distilled from beer. The grain-to-glass movement is picking up steam and there’s much to discover throughout the Bay.
While only a few of these distilleries have an operating tour and tasting room, their bottles are available at hundreds of bottle shops and bars throughout the area. This is our way of enlightening you to what’s happening right here in your backyard: Fine single-malt American whiskeys, craft vodka and liqueurs, some of the best gin in the world, and we’ve even included cocktail recipes to get you in the mood. Cheers!
Who knew that Torrance would become such a beer mecca? Tap rooms in office parks? Somehow, it totally works and there are four up-and-coming breweries in close enough proximity to each other that you can forge a lovely little South Bay beer crawl on a Saturday, Sunday or gasp… a weekday?! So designate your drivers and here’s how it’s done (keep in mind that this jaunt is reversible.)
Two years after construction started, the 49ers new Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara is ready to go for the 2014–15 NFL season. Excitement from 49ers fans has been met with equal skepticism, largely because well … the San Francisco 49ers aren’t based out of San Francisco anymore! But money talks and Bay Area fans are going to have to get used to trips down to Silicon Valley for football games.
This post originally appeared in The Bold Italic on 10/22/14.
(My Between Two Slices column in SF Weekly is a result of version 2.0 of this post which was slated to come out less than two weeks after The Bold Italic ceased operations. Enjoy!)
San Francisco is #blessed with some of the finest sandwich shops in all of the land, thanks in part to the blend of cultures that are so close to each other geographically. You could take a leisurely stroll to North Beach for a classic Italian number-one day and hit the FIDI for roast-beef amazingness for the second. You can stop at a signature Jewish deli in Nob Hill or walk another few blocks to a place with “the best Vietnamese sandwich in America.” There are Korean steak subs in the Mission, and the turkey sandwich of your life is a stone’s throw away from Golden Gate Park. Is your mouth watering yet?
It’s always slightly chilly in SF. What better way to cure the cool-weather blues than with hot, chunky noodle soups? At its most basic, pho is Vietnamese noodle soup that’s typically made with beef stock, herbs, and spices, and simmered for several hours. Pho is served with rice noodles and various cuts of beef (Pho Tai) or chicken (Pho Ga). In San Francisco, the Vietnamese population’s influence is strong, and the traditional cuisine across the city reflects different styles of pho. It’s become a cultish comfort food, and we’ve ventured out to different parts of town to bring you our 11 best bowls of pho in San Francisco.
Producer Adrian Younge’s much anticipated Linear Labs: Los Angeles project is out today featuring collaboration tracks with Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier (swoon), Ghostface Killah, The RZA, Raekwon, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, The Delfonics and more.
London’s HAELOS lie somewhere between the tribal get-up grooves of fellow-Londoners Jungle and sultry electronic outfit London Grammar…That’s a lot of London’s, I know. But where HAELOS set themselves apart, is in their gravitation to 90’s trip-hop vibes.
Everything Ecstatic 