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Arriving at the Catalyst Monday night, a place I have struggled for air let alone space to dance, I was thankful to see a moderate sized turn out. The venue took on a new atmosphere with the comfortable not compacted situation. The few that did make it to the show were obvious die-hard fans and for good reason.

Originally from New Orleans and a Hurricane Katrina survivor, Pell is not the typical sound we hear coming out of that region. He works with more electronic beats switching vocally, as he says, from “affectionate wordsmith to hook-smashing crooner”. He comes across aggressive not because of a violent nature but because of the strength in his intelligent, passionate statements line after line. Pushing the boundaries of the current popular trap / dubby sound, Pell’s foundation is more rhythmic and more ambient. This new trip-pop dreamscape to sonics of rap had the crowd floating.

February 26th and 27th, marked another successful year for the Bay Area concert Wobbleland hosted by Vital Events. Lines wrapped around The City National Civic with people eager to dance all night to the sweet sounds of EDM. Headliners Hucci and GTA dropped killer tracks, but honestly all the DJs brought their best to the weekend. From the opening performers to the headliners, the dancing never stopped! On top of their usual indoor main stage, Wobbleland included an outdoor tent introducing two stages for first time. The second stage was perfect if you wanted to get outside for some air and still enjoy the show. Wobbleland 2016 was a huge hit. I think my favorite part, besides the music, has to be the crowd. It must have been the music or simply the bay area people, but everyone was so friendly and dancing. The weekend was a huge success and KZSC thanks one of our own, Santiago Torrecilla, for inviting us to join!

Esperanza Spalding caused KZSC's phones to ring more than usual this week, after airing a ticket giveaway for Spalding's highly-anticipated Santa Cruz show this Saturday. In case if you missed the news, GRAMMY® award-winning jazz singer, composer, and bassist, Esperanza Spalding will perform…

This past week, the Noise Pop festival of San Francisco swept up the city in exciting shows ranging from Carly Rae Jepsen to Kamasi Washington. Although we at KZSC weren’t exactly able to see the big names of the festival, we did get a peek behind the press curtain and what we saw was amazing. Two shows in particular that blew us away were the Thermals and Diane Coffee shows at the Brick and Mortar Music Hall

We are officially kicking off the "Local Artist of the Week" blog series here on the world-famous KZSC Website! To start off strong, we will be showcasing Solar Glory, a Santa Cruz-based space rock/experimental/drone/post-prog/psychedelic group! Check out their Facebook Page…

KZSC Santa Cruz 88.1FM , College Eight, and Oakes College bring you a free music festival, on Friday February 26th from 4 to 7 pm. West Fest 2016 on the UCSC's College Eight Upper Lawn, incorporates music from psychedelic space rock and gameboy tunes to a Grammy-nominated cellist Rushad Eggleston. The line-up features acts who have years of experience and some that have only gotten their start in recent months. Check out the long-awaited release of the line-up below!  Also, see the Facebook Event link for more information.

Two stars of Hawaiian music are at the Rio Theatre Thursday February 4th--Keola Beamer, composer, singer-songwriter, accomplished slack key guitar master and Henry Kapono, singer-songwriter, actor, and rocker. Moanalani Beamer will grace the stage with hula. These gentlemen of music brought us many of the original songs that have formed the identity of Hawaiian music since the 1970s.