The Numbermen

Jamal Smith (aka 10-19 The Numberman) is one half of Parker & the Numberman, a hip-hop trio with Jack King and Brandon Zamudio. Their EP Early was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Album at the 2011 San Diego Music Awards. The following year, the band (reduced to a duo) won a Best Hip-Hop Album SDMA. He went solo in 2014 with a four-song cassette tape, the Natalie Rose EP, and his album Solus Superstes won Best Hip-Hop or Rap Album at the 2018 San Diego Music Awards. He’s now releasing new music with a trip-hop quartet, 10-19 and the Numbermen, described as “a psychedelic outfit bent on exploring the outer edges of traditional rap music, stretching and bending its boom-bap boundaries into a surreal mix of rhyme, rhythm, and melody.” The new project pairs him with multi-instrumentalists/producers Joel Kynan, Brian Scafidi, and Sean Burdeaux. Recorded in January and released on local It’s Okay I’m Crying Records, their debut EP Spokes was preceded by singles such as “Smooth Piss” (which also came with a music video) and “July 10th.”

The Color Forty Nine

A new single and video from the Color Forty Nine dropped for “String Ladder.” According to Phil Beaumont, “The video is a collaboration with Chris Wassell and Lianne Mueller [Ship in the Woods]. I went down a number months ago to Chris’ house in Tijuana and asked him to make a painting for the various lines of the song. We discussed the lyrics in general and then, with a glass of mezcal by our sides, he would paint a panel while I sang the song acoustically to him. In the four minutes or so of the song, he would be done with the painting and it was on to the next. By 3 am, we had 15 paintings. We then passed these along to Lianne who set about plucking elements from each drawing and animating them, creating an abstract narrative that threads the viewer through each painting.” Their upcoming seven-song EP, due July 23, includes “What Would I Know? Yo que sé?,” featuring famed Cafe Tacvba singer Rubén Albarrán. The video was animated by Hugo Crosthwaite, who won the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery prize in 2019 for Portrait of Berenice Sarmiento Ortiz. “Without knowing him personally, I reached out and presented the song in hopes of collaboration. By the end of one weekend, we had spoken and he came up with a plan for the video. He spent the next three months drawing and animating.”

Wanted Noise

Pop-punk island rockers Wanted Noise just dropped two new singles, “Go Get,” and “More Sunrises,” previewing their upcoming album Next Generation. The video for “More Sunrises,” directed and edited by Jeff Dirdack, features the band skateboarding around San Diego in search of beer. According to singer-guitarist Caleb Adkins, “The concept for this video came from a day in the life of the Wanted Noise crew. In the making of this video, we camped out for the weekend at our drummer’s pad in Leucadia, with the whole band plus director-producer Jeff and director of photography Pat. It was a blast, bombing hills with Taylor riding sitting on a cooler on a longboard, skating through North County neighborhoods, and rocking out on the beach. Everywhere we went, people were stoked and asking us about Wanted Noise. We chose to make our drummer Taylor [Wagner] the starring character, since drummers need love too. Inspiration for the song ‘More Sunrises’ came after Jin [Salamack, bassist] and I made a quick trip south from Santa Barbara back to San Diego, just before sunup. After playing an epic show, we were stoked on life and looking to personify the idea of recognizing the great times in life, in a ripping posi-punk tune.”

Rymo

Born in San Francisco and raised in San Rafael, Slightly Stoopid drummer Rymo (Ryan Moran) was bitten by the music bug shortly after his 10th birthday, citing John Bonham and Neil Peart as particularly influential. After earning a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in 1993 for their five-week summer program, he attended SDSU beginning in late 1994 until 2000, when he earned his BA in Music. He’s been a full-time member of Slightly Stoopid since 2003 and his YouTube channel Rymostoopid has over 60 drum lessons posted and more than a million views. He just released a solo album called Kinetic, preceded by singles for the title track and “Skooby Snax.” Guest players include celebrity bassist Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, ABWH, Pink Floyd, King Crimson) and YouTube guitar sensation Marty Schwartz. Local Chapman Stick player Tom Griesgraber helped record, produce, perform, and engineer the album. Also contributing are members of Slightly Stoopid, and film composer Farzam Salami added Middle Eastern percussion and stringed instruments on several tracks. “This album is a sonic journey,” says Rymo. “The music touches down in various sounding regions around the globe and takes the listener on a ride.”

Joshua Bassett

San Diego native Joshua Bassett writes music, produces, and plays five instruments. He’s best known as Ricky Bowen on the Disney-plus show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. Signed to major label Warner Records, Bassett was only 16 years old in 2020 when he released his first original songs, “Common Sense” and “Anyone Else.” which within a year had together earned over 20 million streams. His single “Lie Lie Lie” debuted at number 33 on the Billboard Emerging Artists chart and garnered praise from the New York Times, Elite Daily, Pop Sugar, and Teen Vogue. Bassett has a new single for “Feel Something,” with an accompanying video that he co-directed with his creative director Sarah Carpenter. The clip features Bassett and three friends embarking on an evening street adventure that begins at a self-service car wash and takes them through shopping cart wars, an outdoor movie screening, and more. He has a collaborative track with his Disney-plus co-star (and recent Saturday Night Live sensation) Olivia Rodrigo, “Best Part/Even When.” Nominated Favorite Male TV Star at the 2021 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, he made his season two debut on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series on May 14.