Cindy is a key part of the San Francisco/Bay Area dream pop, fogpop, lo-fi scene. Led by Karina Gill, the band is Will Smith of Now, Staizsh Rodrigues of Children Maybe Later and Oli Lipton of Now and Violent Change. The songs are hazy and nostalgic pop-craft with lyrical backbone.

If Frank Ocean and Sade had a baby, ASTU would be it. Part retro soul, part nineties R&B pastiche, part New Wave-inspired synth-pop, ASTU’s music refuses to pledge allegiance to a single vibe. The vocalist, songwriter and producer has the ability to find an easy, irresistible groove and turn it into an unhurried banger. A Black, queer and gender expansive artist, ASTU left life as a minister and found themself in R&B, expressing their sexuality, identity and life experience in their music.

ASTU’s expansive body of work spans music, film, and theater - composing for Disney and Pixar, giving voice to ‘Miss Motors’ on the multi Emmy-winning series “Go! Go! Cory Carson”, and bringing powerful narratives to life as a director and playwright. In June 2024, they made their theater debut as the writer, director and producer of Sanctuary, an afro-fantasy musical reimagining church through Black trans and queer ever-evolving myth and folklore. From silky, slow jams to 80's inspired R&B anthems, ASTU keeps us wanting more.

Variance Magazine describes their sound as "...kin to some of Solange’s recent material with the whispering confidence of Kelela..." while Himmat Media raves, "...their unapologetic queerness..transcends the conventional, offering a safe haven where listeners are free to explore their own identities."

Jessica Powell is the CEO and co-founder of AudioShake, a sound-splitting AI technology that makes audio more editable, accessible, and useful, powering new creative use and monetization across the entertainment, tech, and speech industries. Powell spent over a decade at Google, where she sat on the company's management team. She is also an award-winning author whose work has been published in the New York Times, TIME, WIRED, and elsewhere.

Gabriel Lopez is a music journalist, radio DJ, and dues paying member of the IWW. He hosts the Bay Area local music show Vinelands on KEXP 92.7FM Saturdays from 6-9pm, and the online radio shows Garment & Fool’s Cavern on Lower Grand Radio and Hyde FM respectively. When not digging through the releases of Mexican ambient labels or 80’s private presses he is getting lost in the woods, losing to prodigies (he swears they are) on chess.com, and droning on about his favorite bugs at the club. Photo by Gabriel Saravia.

Ted Kartzman believes in the power of music, and has been inspired since childhood by how music shapes our culture. Ted has spent the past 25 years immersed in the independent music industry, applying technology and to help level the playing field for independent artists, labels, distributors, festivals and brands.

In 1999, Ted co-founded startup JamBase.com and moved to San Francisco where the promise of the world wide web was alive and golden, with the goal of supporting like minded bands and getting free concert tickets! Through a tour date engine and music news portal, he built a 1000+ client marketing company, a business that is still alive today.

As legal digital music was becoming real, he moved into digital music licensing, partnering in 2001 with Listen.com to launch a white label of pioneering music subscription service Rhapsody. Ted worked on the first streaming subscription deals for live music, then directly for Real Networks after Rhapsody was acquired, overseeing global independent label licensing. In 2008, Ted went to work at San Francisco based IODA to manage clients as VP of Client Services, then was hired by Google, working first at Android and then on the team that launched Google Music and then Google Play, licensing over 100 million tracks in the process.

In 2015, Ted moved to YouTube, managing relationships with the largest independent music distributors, maintaining his commitment to independent voices.

Today, Ted coaches arts and technology startups and founders on how to grow and develop their business, how to manage partnerships and build culture, helping independent businesses grow with integrity.

DJ Juanny draws inspiration from the sounds of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the UK, often blending them with samples from films, TV, and pop culture.

His journey into music began in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, where he worked at a revered clothing and sneaker shop which served as a hotspot for notable Bay Area DJs who played sets and sold mixtapes, sparking Juanny's obsession with DJing. He started throwing parties, spinning tracks sourced from the more obscure corners of Soundcloud.

After a stint living in Miami, Juanny became passionate about bringing the emerging club sounds of his adopted home back to the Bay Area. This led to the creation of the party series and netlabel, AMOR DIGITAL. Soon after, JUANNY dove into music production, self-releasing a string of EPs before releasing “SUCHITOTO” via the seminal Mexico City label, N.A.A.F.I & “MIATA” through Oakland label NO BIAS.

Outside of the Bay Area, he has played in Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Milwaukee & NYC. He’s DJ'd at Outside Lands, Boiler Room SF and has opened for artists like Ms. Nina, La Goony Chonga & MJ Nebreda.