I Luv Mondays: Hits of the Bay 2023

Will of I Luv Mondays recently put together TWO Hits of the Bay 2023 episodes to recap some of the best local music from the past year. Here are some highlights from the 40 artists featured across the episodes, including links to both episodes!

Part 1: Listen in full here

"Drugstore Perfume" by Asha Wells: A spellbinding drum part guides us down a grand staircase of sparkling acoustic guitar to a groundfloor truth: that meeting you has changed everything, undeniable as drugstore perfume.

"Talkin' on the Internet" by Spiritual Cramp: It's mundane reality that the internet is bad but it's refreshing to be called out personally, because I really am wasting my time, and rock like this offers so much more.

"Ramona and Child" by Michael James Tapscott: A sublime roll of the drums and brisk acoustic strum carry forth a tale of growth, or its underdog cousin: acceptance.

"House of Cancer" by Credit Electric: On album six Credit Electric’s hovering pathos takes on saxophone and more with magically no additional weight borne, save for the blues of reaching out, and hearing nothing in return.

Part 2: Listen in full here

"Soft Altar" by Aux Meadows: Friendly fellows of time and space need but ninety seconds to send this wisened acoustic smoke signal rising above the horizontal field, fading like quiet fireworks in the distance.

"dead end" by MUFFLER: That screaming you hear is part of the song, it's not just in your head.

"Residue" by Public Interest: A moonlight tour finds a city changed, your neighbor terrible, your will surging as the drums accelerate.

"Places that You Go" by AroMa: AroMa’s mellifluous voicings ride a powerful rhythmic tension between trust and individual need in a relationship.

"Beginning to Begun" by Spiral Dub: This record is a lot of party, but it's this last-call ballad that gets me most, heralding the dawn reckoning to come.