Huichica Music Festival Returns to Sonoma with Allah-Lahs, Midlake, ESG
SONOMA -- Garage rockers Allah-Las, Texas indie-folk group Midlake pioneering Bronx electro-funk outfit ESG, indie-pop band Turnover, beloved LA psychedelic rockers Wand and African psych band W.I.T.C.H. are are just a few of the bands playing the 2022 edition of the Huichica Music Festival happening in Sonoma this weekend.
Presented and organized by Northern California concert promoter (((folkYEAH!))) and winery operator Jeff Bundschu, the Huichica (pronounced "wah-CHEEK-ah") Festival was started as a smaller, more intimate alternative to larger festivals like BottleRock Napa and Outside Lands with a narrower musical focus while still offering the type of gourmet food and expansive wine options those festivals are known for. The North Bay fires in the fall of 2017 threatened the winery, Gundlach Bundschu and the grounds where the festival takes place luckily remained undamaged.
Organizers took a calculated risk two years when they announced prospective dates for mid-October, but the continuing coronavirus pandemic forced the festival's postponement until fall of 2021, when it was held without a hitch. The relatively small size of the festival's crowd and the amount of real estate available at the winery allows for plenty of social and/or physical distancing, an aspect that may provide some comfort for any concerned attendees amid the current surge of cases in the Bay Area. The two-day festival kicks off early Friday afternoon.
Friday headliners ESG first started making their unique style of kinetic funk over four decades ago when the South Bronx-raised Scroggins sisters founded the band in 1978, playing clubs across New York City. The group rose to international fame when UK label head Tony Wilson saw them perform in Manhattan and offered to record their music for release on Factory Records.
Working with producer Martin Hannett (Joy Division, New Order and many others), ESG recorded their spare intense funk tracks "Moody" and "UFO" that would influence legions of musicians ranging from hip-hop arts who heavily sampled songs the band's 1981 EP to post-punk and new-wave acts drawn to the group's edgy dance sound. ESG would record and perform into the '90s and beyond as their original vinyl releases became coveted collectors items and notable bands including the Beastie Boys, the Dirtbombs and Interpol citing the pioneering group as an influence. Still fronted by Renee Scroggins and now featuring second generation members of the Scoggins family, ESG will bring Huichica to a feel-good dance party close Friday evening (the group also headlines Public Works in San Francisco Thursday night).
Another significant draw on Friday's bill is veteran indie psych/folk band Woods. Anchored by main songwriter/guitarist Jeremy Earl and multi-instrumentalist/producer Jarvis Taveniere, the Brooklyn crew has been making their eclectic style of lo-fi music since the mid-2000s, most notably the band exploration of Ethiopian jazz and African pop on its 2016 effort City Sun Eater in the River of Light. The band also plays the Chapel in San Francisco Thursday. Additional highlights of the day's schedule include SoCal bedroom pop weirdos Oog Bogo, solo experimentalist Matt Baldwin, Memphis-based psych rockers Spaceface (featuring former member of the Flaming Lips Jake Ingalls), longtime Oh Sees singer/keyboardist Brigid Dawson, indie-rock super group Taper's Choice -- which includes players from Vampire Weekend, Real Estate, Darkside and Arc Iris -- soulful LA Latin-tinged rock quintet the Altons, who have released a pair of singles on the Daptone Records subsidiary Penrose, and cheeky indie-funkateers Thumpasaurus.
While Friday's reduced list of performers will only utilize the smaller Giraffe Stage and the larger Redwood Barn performance area, Saturday's full day of music will feature bigger acts on the winery's Amphitheatre Stage. Closing Texas folk-rock group Midlake first came together in 2000, formed by graduates of the North Texas School of Music. While initially taking a jazz-influenced approach, the group shifted its sound to a melancholy style of indie-folk informed by both the '70s singer/songwriter sounds of Laurel Canyon and the British folk-rock movement. The band shifted gears when songwriter and frontman Tim Smith departed during work on their fourth album and guitarist Eric Pulido stepped in as lead singer for the acclaimed 2013 effort Antiphone, their first for ATO Records. Midlake went on an extended hiatus to allow members to explore other projects, but returned earlier year with their first new music in nearly a decade with the dynamic songs and soaring vocal harmonies heard on For the Sake of Bethel Woods. Midlake will additionally headline their own show at the Chapel Sunday night.
The balance of Saturday's 22-band line-up includes a wide range of musical offerings, from the hazy, laid-back garage psych of LA band the Allah-Lahs and the tuneful dreampop of indie acts Turnover and Tamaryn to the jangly psychedelic surf-rock of guitarist/singer Shana Cleveland's band La Luz, gauzy, understated NYC soul-pop group the Shacks and alternative-rock duo Mystic Chords of Memory, featuring of Christopher Gunst of Beachwood Sparks and Jen Cohen of the Aislers Set. One of the more anticipated acts on the Amphitheater stage is legendary Zambian psychedelic groove band W.I.T.C.H., whose name is an acronym for We Intend To Cause Havoc.
A pioneering force in Africa's "Zamrock" movement that found singer Emanyeo "Jagari" Chanda and company mixing their native music with Western psychedelia and funk, the band recorded raw, landmark album Introduction and Lazy Bones during the '70 that found a new audience after being reissued a decade ago. Chandra revived the band at around the same time, fronting a mix of African and European musicians to perform the band's ecstatic psychedelic grooves to adoring live audiences. W.I.T.C.H. will also be returning to the Bay Area on June 22 to headline the Chapel in SF. The band takes the stage during the height of a busy afternoon that also includes unhinged LA glam/punk group Starcrawler (fronted by towering lead singer Arrow de Wilde, who manages to channel Iggy Pop, Joey Ramone and Ozzy Osbourne with her manic onstage theatrics) and guitarist/songwriter Cory Hanson's beloved psychedelic-rock juggernaut Wand.
Other recommended acts include throwback soul crooner Bobby Oroza (one of several modern R&B acts from the Big Crown Records stable performing over the weekend; he also plays at the Chapel on Monday, June 13)), earnest indie rockers Dummy, veteran singer Kurt Heasley's long-running shoegaze outfit Lilys, and notable songwriters Damien Jurado, Jess Williamson and Oliver Ray, and luminous harp player Mary Lattimore. For complete music line-up, more information on the festival's food and beverage options, local vendors selling wares and tickets, visit the Huichica Music Festival website.
Huichica Music Festival
Friday-Saturday, June 10-11, 12 p.m. (Fri.) and 11 a.m. (Sat.) $85-$295; children 12 and under free
Gundlach Bundschu Winery
