by Petyr Campos
DIIV was the headline act Sunday night at the Gray Area / Grand Theater as part of the Noise Pop Music Festival, showcasing multiple music artist across multiple venues throughout San Francisco from February, 20th thru March 2nd. DIIV is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York City, formed in 2011. They has a very loyal following having spoke to multiple fans at the show who came from out of state to see the band play Sunday night.
Promoting their fourth and latest album, Frog in Boiling Water was four years in the making. The performance incorporated a lot of multi-media elements including short video vignettes, audio and messages from band members. Guitarist Zachary Cole Smith hobbled onto the stage with crutches having previously injuring his foot. As he sat in a chair, an image of his swollen foot was projected onto the back screen to the sympathetic groans of the audience. DIIV played a two hour set that was loud, thumping and hypnotic.
DIIV is a four piece band comprised of Zachary Cole Smith (vocals, guitar), Andrew Bailey (guitar), Colin Caulfield (bass, keyboards, guitar, vocals) and Ben Newman (drums).
Will Kraus who goes by the moniker Kraus, is an American shoegaze band. Kraus’s music has also been described as noise pop, dream pop and noise rock for anxious people. His rough yet sentimental music typically combines heavily manipulated melodic samples with live instrumentation and vocals. Kraus has release four studio albums and in 2021, Carly Wu of Far Out Magazine elected his second studio album ‘Path’ as the 18th best shoegaze album of all time. Kraus hails from Dallas, Texas.
Starting the night was Pure Hex. Born in San Francisco’s DIY music scene, this 5-piece band has conjured their own spellbinding take on alternative rock and ‘90s grunge nostalgia. Pure Hex is comprised of Marta Alvarez on vocals, Zach Dighans and Hussain Khan on guitars, Hussain-guitar, Luke Clingerman on bass and Jon Annunziato on drums.
Marta’s vocals and Zach and Hussain’s guitars have airy and dreamy quality to them accompanied by edgy drums. Their sound is reminiscent of The Cocteau Twins, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Land of Talk in their earlier days. During their performance, Marta jumped off the stage and into the crowd and created a 30 second mosh-pit before getting back on the stage.
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