Photo By Jeff Kravitz

San Francisco – Outside Lands, San Francisco’s great outdoor music and arts festival starts on Friday. 60,000 people show up at Golden Gate Park to see scores of bands and enjoy some of the best food and drink San Francisco has to offer.

Friday’s at Outside Lands are always great and this year is no different. While everyone knows about Kanye West and The Artic Monkeys, we thought you might want to know about some of the great new bands playing on Friday as well. Here are three of the noteworthy newcomers.

Aer

Twin Peaks Stage, 12:45-1:30 PM - For fans of: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Das Racist, Sublime

Aer—made up of Massachusetts natives David von Mering and Carter Schultz—happily blend a multitude of styles, including rock, reggae, and even ska, into a unique blend of instrumentation that acts as a frothy, buoyant sea, upon which the duo’s rap vocals blissfully ebb and floe with the tides of the music.  Aer released two mixtapes at the beginning of the decade, and released their debut LP, The Bright Side in 2012.  The duo released their self-titled sophomore album earlier this year.

Holy Ghost!

Lands End Stage, 3:35-4:35 PM - For fans of: Cut Copy, Chromeo, Duran Duran

NYC elementary school buddies Nick Millhiser and Alex Frankel formed Holy Ghost! in 2007 after the dissolution of their former hip-hop group Automato, whose only LP was produced by DFA founder and LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy.  The duo have released two albums, their eponymous 2011 debut, and last year’s Dynamics, both of which are soaked in gritty, playful, disco-inspired beats and infectious hooks.  This will definitely be one of the best dance parties of the weekend, as their live show transcends their already super-polished studio recordings.

 Mikal Cronin

Panhandle Stage, 4:30-5:10 PM - For fans of: Kurt Vile, Built to Spill, The Shins

Singer-songwriter Mikal Cronin hasn’t been part of the indie music scene for very long, but has already released two solo albums and has collaborated with famed eccentric Bay Area musician Ty Segall.  Cronin mashes heavenly vocal melodies onto gritty guitar sequences, allowing for a delightful juxtaposition of rough and tender that encapsulates a staggering breadth of emotion, executed through raw, organic talent.

• About
• Latest Posts

Corey Bell

Corey Bell is no stranger to music.Having spent the better part of the past decade at concerts and music festivals around the globe, he finds he is most at home in the company of live music.Originally a native of New England, he has since taken residence in New York and New Orleans, and now resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.He achieved his Bachelor of Arts from Goddard College in Vermont via an undergraduate study entitled “Sonic Highways: Musical Immersion on the Roads of America," in which he explores the interactions between music, natural environment, and emotion while travelling along the scenic byways and highways of the United States.His graduate thesis, “Eighty Thousand’s Company,” features essays regarding the historical and socio-economic facets of contemporary festival culture intertwined with personal narrative stories of his experiences thereof.He is the former editor of Art Nouveau Magazine and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from California College of the Arts.

Latest posts by Corey Bell (see all)

• Jagwar Ma’s ‘Every Now & Then’ is Quite the Ride - July 31, 2017
• 2 New Bands at Voodoo Music Festival Day 3 - November 4, 2016
• 5 New Bands at Voodoo Music Festival Day 2 - October 30, 2016

Related posts:

3 New Bands You Can’t Miss At Outside Lands New Bands Highlight Record Store Day’s Black Friday Releases New Bands At SXSW – Friday