Pre-postapocalyptic, post-honky-tonk-prog-skronk, space-tropicalia, math-lounge

Innerds was founded by Brandon Relf (Sleeping People) and Bobby Bray (The Locust, Holy Molar). By 2016, with the addition of Chad Deal (Phantom Twins) on bass, the band had changed its name to INUS (The Institute for Navigating the Universal Self), describing their sound as “pre-postapocalyptic, post-honky-tonk-prog-skronk, space-tropicalia, math-lounge.” The experimental noise rockers have a new video for their track “We Are Our Computers’ Genitalia,” from their 2019 album Western Spaghettification. Filmed by Omar Sanchez with band bassist Chad Deal, “The video was created by Hoyote, a San Diego-based muralist, illustrator, and mixed media artist,” according to Deal. “His 2-D animations were projected onto a variety of 3-D surfaces spray-painted white: an outdated computer monitor on a lazy Susan, thrift shop tech offal, a Styrofoam skull, myself, and our buddy Omar in a body suit and VR mask. We filmed over multiple sessions in Jamul, In-Ko-Pah, and on Hoyote’s rooftop. Then, he added another layer of 2-D animations over the footage. The video tells the story of a person’s anatomy being spontaneously taken over by computer parts: a joystick phallus, laptop speaker breasts, vein-like wires, etc, until they are fully transformed into a computer.”

The titular frontman for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes was recently inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame by his friend Jon Bon Jovi. Local label Pacific Records has signed Southside Johnny and is releasing his new album Grapefruit Moon: The Songs of Tom Waits Remastered. The tribute to the local troubadour will be available in a digital edition, soon to be followed by CD and vinyl versions. Featuring LaBamba’s Big Band, the album covers Tom Waits’ music with Big Band-style arrangements and instrumentation. One song, “Walk Away,” features Waits singing, and the remaster will contain an unreleased bonus track of Waits’ “Straight to the Top” recorded at the former Nokia Theater in New York City. Other selections include “Yesterday is Here,” “Down, Down, Down,” “Walk Away,” “Please Call Me Baby,” “Grapefruit Moon,” “All the Time in the World,” “Tango Till They’re Sore,” and “Johnsburg, Illinois.” The Pacific roster has also included locals Sprung Monkey, Rebecca Jade, Sandollar, Dead Giveaway, Falling Doves, Skyler Lutes, Warrior Finches, Ryan Hiller, and Jonny Tarr, as well as around 30 other artists from around the globe.

“This year, I’m releasing a bunch of new music, one song at a time, starting in the next few weeks with the song ‘Tutu,’ an upbeat celebration of life,” says singer-songwriter Marklyn Retzer. Due as a single on April 2, the song has actually been around for a while, and can be seen and heard in an acoustic version done last year for the Kinship Café website. Retzer began playing solo acoustic coffeehouse shows around town in the early 2000-teens before releasing his debut Beach Days, followed by Presence and then his Dandelion Tattoo EP, which premiered in early 2018. The latter was recorded with local producer and engineer Ben Moore, featuring guests like drummer Matt Lynott (the White Buffalo), bassist Chris Swann (Egyptian Acid Rock, Tom Curren Band), and singers Lacy Younger and Krista Richards. March 26 will see the release of “(I.A.I.O) We Are San Diego,” a fan anthem for the San Diego Loyal Soccer Club, in advance of the May kickoff of the team’s second season. According to Retzer, “I.A.I.O. stands for Independent, Authentic, Inclusive, and Optimistic.” Retzer will soon shoot a music video and is seeking footage contributions. “I’m looking for dancing, fun-having, life-living clips [with] safe spacing.”

Founded in 2007, Synrgy is a reggae rock band following in the same Birkenstocks as local light-ups such as Tribal Seeds, Dubbest, Mighty Untouchables, J Boog, Slightly Stoopid, Stick Figure, Iration, Rebelution, and E.N. Young, who remixed a Synrgy single earlier this year. The nucleus of the group formed in Arizona, before relocating to Humboldt County in northern California in 2008, then Oregon in 2011, and San Diego in 2015, before finally settling in Rosarito Beach, Mexico. The band’s singer-keyboardist Brian Zach told the Reader in 2017 that “When I started the band in Flagstaff, we were the only reggae band in Arizona. Now there are hundreds of Arizona reggae bands.” Zach also offers scuba training and diving tours as the operator of Zach’s Scuba Shack, where he’s been developing a knack for underwater photography and videography that he posts online. Despite the pandemic, Synrgy has managed to land a few gigs, including an hour-long acoustic solo set earlier this month at Seaport Village alongside likeminded reggae rockers Ocean Natives. Zach also occasionally performs and records solo, including and 18-track acoustic album called Dream On. He’s releasing a new solo single on April 9.

Singer-guitarist-bassist Jeremiah Silva of Oh, Spirit and Action Andy & the Hi-Tones is the talent behind the Dreamcoats, a new group “providing dreamy neo-retro sounds,” as the band says in their social taglines. Their debut single dropped at the end of last year, “Know Your Name,” a trippy Xanax-laced stream-of-consciousness hummer that rolls along on a cloud of paisley bong smoke. They have a couple more singles in the pipeline, including a track that dropped earlier this month called “Chill With You” that wouldn’t sound out of place coming from PM Dawn or God Lives Underwater. It was released digitally and on vinyl, and their recent single for “Love Game” was also pressed on vinyl, albeit only one single copy. The one-of-a-kind pressing was awarded to a listener at the end of one of the group’s online giveaway contests to promote both tracks.