I have a love-hate relationship with creating TOP 20 playlists of local bands. On one hand, the playlist becomes my favorite thing to listen to for the next year. Additionally, it makes it super easy for me to recommend bands to friends. I also love posting a link to the playlist in my friend’s Facebook feeds when they say, “tired of my music, I need a new playlist.”

Down and Outlaws are Peter Danzig, Kyle Luck, Chris Danzig, Jon Carr. In the year following Down and Outlaws’ debut album release, the San Francisco quartet has played San Francisco’s famed Outside Lands festival, shared bills with the likes of Meatbodies, Dead Meadow and members of Pavement, and honed their live shows

The Huge Release Party for the Literary Magazine In case you haven’t heard, we just put out an incredible literary magazine called The Dreams I Dreamt: Letters to San Francisco thanks to a grant from the Civic Joy Fund. It’s a gift to San Francisco, where 19 of The City’s

If you weren’t listening to these hot Bay Area bands in 2016 you can fix that in 2017.

The year has come to an end … some might say finally, while other is may be wishing for a couple more days. Everybody is focused on what will happen in 2017 but for just a second longer I would like to celebrate 20 bands that released epic songs in 2016.