This weekend should probably be an official holiday in San Francisco, because we know everyone will be celebrating the annual tradition known as Treasure Island Music Festival. The Bay Area plays host to tons of great fests and year-round music, Treasure Island certainly has a special place in our hearts.
For 2016—the fest’s 10th anniversary and also the final one to be held on the island in the San Francisco Bay before the area undergoes extensive redevelopment (rumored to be the last ever, but we hope the fest can find a new home!)—the organizers from Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment have assembled quite a show. To help you make the most of your big weekend, here are five acts you definitely need to catch, from headliners to emerging artists.
Sigur Rós
To anyone thinking of ducking out early to beat the rush and skipping the Icelandic post-rockers just because they haven’t put out a new record since 2013, we have two words for you. Those words are "don’t" and "lasers."
Christine and the Queens
Héloïse Letissier calls the music she creates by herself and with her drag queen backing band "freakpop," lacking a better genre name for brilliant work that incorporates elements from Kanye West to Serge Gainsboug and is often accompanied on stage by amazing choreography.
Kelela
Ethiopian-American Kelela started her musical career crooning jazz standards and flirted with metal before diving deep into U.K. dance music styles, eventually blending it all together into a beautiful, modern take on R&B that’s made her a fast favorite for fellow musicians like Bjork and Solange.
Deafheaven
The blend of shoegaze and black metal that catapulted Deafheaven to star status continues to impress, with their most recent release, New Bermuda, hitting many critics’ best-of lists for last year.
Kamaiyah
Even at a big festival it’s important to celebrate local artists, and Oakland-based rapper Kamaiyah has been doing the Bay Area proud of late. Take a little bit of Missy Elliot and TLC with some Sade keyboard and tons of swagger and you get a sense of Kamaiyah’s break-out style.
