I am a fan of artists with a few thousand listeners apiece. This is not a flex. As a fan of small acts, I rarely expect to have a chance to see them live, and I definitely didn’t expect to see three of them at once. But organizers at the notorious DNA Lounge in San Francisco created that exact opportunity when on the first Thursday of December they hosted Diegointhedark, myspacemark, zane lynchetti, nastynovocaine and hvrts for each of their first live shows ever.
To be honest, I was not normal about it. At my big age of 20 I should not have been fangirling this hard over people only four years my senior at maximum. But I was ecstatic. For artists this small, it’s a miracle to book anything. When they do get around to performing, it’s almost always in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, London or one of the other major metropolises of the world. The 7×7 unswept corner at the mouth of The Bay, despite being near and dear to my heart, is often far from the minds of these young, middle-class Hollywood-aspiring hooligans. Lucky for me, myspacemark is from San Francisco, and in direct messages with fans he expressed a desire to host his first show in his hometown.
This show had everything: a late start; an even later run time; last-minute talent falling ill and being replaced — Diego could not sing or talk and hvrts flew from Miami to tag in; the sweat of 80 of my next-closest Spotify listeners; and a stage as crowded as possible so everyone who helped out could get a little spotlight. Rather than standing still in their best outfits and farming aura from the performers, everyone on stage, from the videographer to the DJs to Chole from Chameleon Vintage, brought energy and knew every word. Jordan — a.k.a. nastynovocaine, a.k.a. the mind behind the design at nonverbalrebuttal.com — encouraged the crowd to get closer to the stage, mosh harder and let loose.
Let loose, they did. Talent leapt from the stage to the pit and back again throughout the night, dapping up every fan they could reach. Bottled water rained over the crowd. It felt as much like a show as it did a celebration of success.
“You’re doing great, man,” one fan said after hvrts admitted he was feeling the nerves.
When Zane told the audience, “Get ready for myspacemark — the reason you all came,” he was met with a shout of, “Nah, I came for you too!”
nastynovocaine, panting from the fervor of his first performance, said, “I don’t make music, I just make clothes, but Mark’s the kind of person who brings it out of you.”
The man of the hour, myspacemark’s first words into the microphone were, “Thank you for coming! My mom’s here!” Despite singing about being higher than the clouds, these artists were still down to earth.
It’s difficult to distill what exactly makes these artists so motivating. Pretty much anyone can croon in autotune, and to the untrained ear that’s all this music is. Yet rather than shy away from autotuning, these artists lean into it — hard. It makes the music nearly intoxicating. The — admittedly direct and simple — lyrics are slathered in vocalisers and blended with complex production that underpins every track. Diegointhedark, myspacemark and Zane all produce their own music and share beats collaboratively.
Each artist brings their own unique flair and motifs to their songs, but they’re united by sampled music from Gen Z’s now-fleeting youth. They pay homage to pop icons like Ellie Goulding and Kesha on tracks sampling the artists’ hits. They shamelessly plug their interests — like Guiseppi Zanotti shoes and the Netflix show “Ozark” — in songs showcasing their name. It’s all so addictive because it’s honest, and the core message of this music is positive and uplifting — even if it might be difficult to see that beneath the vignette of fast cars and slow fashion.
Modern artists of all genres seem to be chasing a blend of futurism and nostalgia — Dua Lipa’s 2020 album “Future Nostalgia” is a masterful example of this mix — and the subgenre broadly referred to as “plugg” is no exception. myspacemark’s name alone communicates exactly who he is and the angle his sound takes. His earlier work displays this the best, with songs about jailbroken iPhones and using Frutiger Aero art for song covers. Everything from his UGG boots to his #BEENTRILL tee screams Tumblr.
Underground rap is rich with artists trying to out-niche one another, but it’s clear that these first-time performers have a healthy interest in archive fashion. Rather than shouting out Chanel, Gucci and Dior, these artists write songs about their personal closets. Roberto Cavalli and Robin’s Jeans get as much airtime in their music as strawberry aloe drinks and travel plans.
Whether you’re a Joeyy devotee or an Ankith Woods Instagram Reels warrior, it’s important to be a fan. Small rap acts, like small artists of any genre (including our local Sex Ed), are in it for the love of the game, and support is world-shifting for these young people. Speaking to performers as well as their videographers and supporters after the show, it became clear that these were still real people — humble, even a bit shell-shocked, riding the high of the symbolic representation of their dreams coming true. That entourage on stage in a motley of designer and homemade clothes were all close personal friends of the performers, equally energized from the rush of the show. This sounds like standard fare — of course an artist has supporters — but in a scene where everything from mink coats to personalities is fake, it was beyond refreshing to see. No matter what small act you support, if and when you have the chance to, make sure to say it to their face.
