chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 13/04/2026New (old) essay is online.notagspodcast.substack.comSan Francisco's techno boom is a warning to the worldChris Zaldua updates his prescient 2024 essay from No Tags Vol 1. 062
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 12/03/2026The paywall is now down in case you don’t subscribe to First Floor and you’d like to read it ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ 020
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 10/03/2026I wrote an essay for Shawn Reynaldo’s First Floor newsletter about an emerging moment in electronic music events that is absolutely not club-centric.firstfloor.substack.comThe Ambient Events Moment Is RealMoving past the trappings of the club and the dated template of the chillout room, a new wave of events is specifically centering vaporous sounds and focused listening. 1154
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 12/02/2026We are so utterly cooked. ‘… Live Nation’s behind-the-scenes push for a negotiated deal [reflects] a broader Trump-era pattern in which politically connected lobbyists … override … career antitrust staff — fueling the perception among critics that “the fix is in.”’ticketnews.comThe Fix Is In? DOJ Antitrust Turmoil Boosts Live Nation Bid to Escape Ticketmaster Monopoly TrialAs new reporting suggests the Justice Department may be nearing a settlement that could spare Live Nation Entertainment a courtroom... 042
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 04/02/2026I published an interview with Bay Area psychedelic folk duo Phipps Pt., whose album “Songs We No Longer Sing” was one of the best things I heard in 2025.certainsound.netBay Area duo Phipps Pt. on iteration, collaboration, and psychedelic folkLovage Sharrock and Jon Leidecker discuss Bay Area experimental music history, '70s French experimental folk music, and the challenge (and the joy) of developing a genuine collaborative process. 011
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 22/01/2026I really can’t believe how good this mix is. Slo-mo house, natty rankin digidub, drumless techno, airy jungle, half-time, trip-hop, 90s IDM cuts I’ve never heard. Honestly reminds me of Coldcut ‘Journeys by DJ,’ same zone. I think it’s all vinyl if you care about that.soundcloud.comaka-Sol at Dripping 2025spirit journey from Dripping resident aka-sol. Lakeside 1192
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 20/01/2026This is true 👇 The root cause is Substack, whose business model atomizes writers and pits them against each other. It’s effectively the Spotify model, but for writing. Also, to be very clear: You don’t write ON Substack, you write FOR Substack. Writers on Substack are NOT independent. 080
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 09/01/2026“ambient” music? sorry? dont understand—oh you mean Atmospheric Experience Music oh yeah i get it now 160
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 09/01/2026mask off moment for a dear friend here in San Francisco he’ll be performing live for us inside the ‘stratus in the void’ atmospheric experience room at Parameter 11, May 14-17, 2026 his excellent records are (and many more) available via @brianfoote.bsky.social ‘s family of labelstheguardian.comAdd to playlist: the mysterious chillout milieu of False Aralia and the week’s best new tracksSomewhere between record label and artist project, False Aralia harks back to microhouse and dub techno with its deep, detailed productions 071
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 07/01/2026Wrote a recap of my year in left-field music. Included are a handful of thoughts (Micro-Essays?) plus mini-reviews of a lot of records that I loved: freak folk, neo-psy, some rap, techno-bass compilations, etc.certainsound.netThis Is Not a Year-End ListInstead, it's an open-format catalogue of the things that mattered in 2025, plus a lot of excellent records. 020
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 30/12/2025new record from 2hollis’s dad’s bandintlanthem.bandcamp.comTouch, by Tortoise10 track album 020
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 23/12/2025I just wrote an essay about one of my favorite records of all time, which I think is also one of the most influential albums of the past decade.certainsound.netHTRK's "Psychic 9-5 Club," eleven years laterReminiscing on the Australian duo's third album, which influenced a generation of records to come. 091
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 22/12/2025Hi I have been working behind the scenes for about two months now to curate and organize part of this “don’t call it a festival” type event. I love paying artists. 2131
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 12/12/2025Phenomenal writing by @drewdaniel.bsky.social Good lord, “end of year list season” is so utterly cooked. We have got to move on from this schtick, everyone. Please.thequietus.com13 Reasons Why I Can't Pick My 13 Favourite Records, By Drew Daniel | The QuietusA few weeks ago, I was asked to write a Baker’s Dozen for the Quietus, a breezy exercise in which I would pick my 13 favourite recordings, write a short paragraph about each one and, voila, the job wo... 182
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 11/12/2025Had a bummer convo back when with a super-talented new artist who produces and runs a label, and she mentions that she uses ChatGPT for all of the copy for her label, because why not? It’s easy, free, and good enough. I also see ChatGPT all over social posts from ‘underground’ artists and labels. 191
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 09/12/2025RE: that Autechre guitar record I’m pretty sure this track by Italian band Larsen, 20 years old now, is a cover of Autechre “VLetrmx21.” Thoughts? Whole record rips btw.escapefromtoday.bandcamp.comG, by EFTfrom the album Larsen "Play" 480
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 03/12/2025I wrote an essay about the encroachment of fake machine-generated music products in the music industry. You should read it.certainsound.netThe music business is utterly enshittified. What's next?Ruminations from the epicenter of Slopworld. 021
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 03/12/2025sold’s set was one of my highlights of the excellent Chillits programming this year 140
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 02/12/2025Nine years ago, we lost thirty-six people in the Ghost Ship fire. A couple years ago, word spread that Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman were in talks to produce a television series based on the event. I wrote this in response.sfchronicle.comWho owns a tragedy? Lessons from a canceled Ghost Ship TV showAuthors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman shelved a television project about the fire following outcry from victims’ friends and families. When storytelling about trauma, what is appropriate —... 1142
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 01/12/2025my writing does really poorly on this website but people i trust and respect tell me they enjoy reading it so is good enough for me (affirmation voice) 040
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 01/12/2025I’m realizing that there’s something interesting, and additive, about the way I use hyperlinks when I’m writing. I use them like footnotes, but maybe a little different, even denser in meaning. Anyway here’s a new essay. Sorry for doom looping LMFAO voicecertainsound.netThe music business is utterly enshittified. What's next?Ruminations from the epicenter of Slopworld. 031
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 19/11/2025you ever land on that kind of lasercut techno that gets you excited about DJing dance music again. music is good 060
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 18/11/2025sharing a mix recorded earlier this year at Chillits — I think it turned out really nicely — inspired by poetry and the spoken word, including a few spoken word bits of my own layered onto a couple tracks #abstract #experimental #lyrical #beatless #DontCallIt’A’Wordsoundcloud.com55. DJ CZBeyond / Below 55 by @djczsf. Received November 2025. Photo by Chris Zaldua 171
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 31/10/2025i know it’s a total dead zone on here for gigs, but: gig alert tix: ra.co/events/2272797 281
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 28/10/2025Published a long interview with San Francisco legend Jonah Sharp aka Spacetime Continuum and his son Jasper, aka Cahl Sel, one of the only intergenerational electronic music duos I know. Includes original photography and vintage rave flyers from Jonah’s archive, likely never published before.certainsound.netIntergenerational electronics: Spacetime Continuum & Cahl SelA longform interview on Cahl Sel's new album, Reflective Records, live performance, West Coast rave history, and more. 3349
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 23/10/2025thinking about how i read an excerpt of an essay by someone reflecting on their time at the recent 3-day Parameter x Endzeit weekender (unreal rave experience) which compared it to their time “at Goldman” 040
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 17/10/2025Editing an interview with Jasper Sharp, aka Cahl Sel, and their dad, Jonah Sharp, aka Spacetime Continuum. Real San Francisco rave history in here—also the first interview I’ve done with original photography. Gonna be publishing some flyers from Jonah’s archive too. Crazy Autechre history here. 050
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 15/10/2025I wrote about some new records I’ve been listening to on repeat. I don’t know about you, but I’m discovering so much incredibly good new music that it’s overwhelming. The Music Business today is shit—but the records coming out these days are incredible.certainsound.netNow Listening: London post-everything, electroacoustic beauty, outsider popRecords by Tracey, rest symbol, Khaled Kurbeh, Sunju Hargun, and Paul Arámbula. 540
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 01/09/2025Just published a huge interview with Orphx, two of the best to ever do it, on three decades of industrial and techno history. There’s some incredible archive photos in here plus some deep lore on the Canadian techno and experimental music scene.certainsound.netOrphx: Three decades of rhythm 'n noiseCanadian artists Rich Oddie & Christina Sealey have collided industrial music with techno's rhythmic frontiers for 32 years running. 152
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 21/08/2025Can’t shake the feeling that ‘newsletterization’ is a disempowering, disenfranchising, and atomizing condition for writers to work in—effectively analogous to what streaming has done to musicians (and record labels). 130
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 05/08/2025Fell off my writing schedule a bit because it’s been a weird and unsettling summer, but here are five new records you should listen to right now: Davis Galvin ex_libris sachi’s mirror Roomer schuttle + Jorg Kuningcertainsound.netNow Listening: Ambient dub, mood pop, alt rock, joyous clubMusic by Davis Galvin, ex_libris, sachi's mirror, Roomer, schuttle + Jorg Kuning. 072
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 22/07/2025Picking tracks to play in the club has me remembering Oh Holy Shit Techno Is Good (Sometimes) 020
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 09/07/2025here is an event i am organizing Friday August 8 Gray Area, SF Purelink live (SF debut) Daria Lourd (Bored Lord) live (ambient/dub set) myself and Matt DJing tickets: ra.co/events/2211385 010
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 08/07/2025I wrote about Dripping, a multivalent music and performing arts festival in the woods of New Jersey. “Events like these remind me … that music is a communal and participatory artform … [& that] the musical experience—live and direct—still has the power to shock, delight, and unravel me.”certainsound.netDripping 2025 reconfigured my festival calculusDiscomfort, acceptance, surprise, and exaltation in the woods of New Jersey. 070
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 03/06/2025Read about (and listen) to new records by: Mineral Stunting @lighghtmusic.bsky.social Plumes of Enceladus @stringbot.com Lara Sarkissian @larasarkissian.bsky.social Yetsuby Cahl Sel certainsound.net/now-listenin...certainsound.netNow Listening: Introspective Dance Music, Crab-Walk Rhythms, Diasporic Drum'n'BassRecords by Mineral Stunting, Plumes of Enceladus, Lara Sarkissian, Yetsuby, and Cahl Sel. 071
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 18/05/2025Recorded a proper mixtape for the first time in a long time. Thanks to my friend Pressing and Noods Radio for hosting the mix. on.soundcloud.com/bkqD6Rjxg41Y... 192
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 08/05/2025it seems no matter what i cannot pull myself away from putting on music gatherings here’s stratus, a new series dedicated to soundsystem music outside of club spaces. our first up features special guest CZ Wang (two CZs for the price of one) Saturday May 24, 4-10pm 040
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 30/04/2025‘The reduction of [the creative] impulse to at-will text prompts and online gadgetry, whose outputs recycle and remake without consent the work of human artists, symbolizes the fundamentally anti-humanist triumph of technology over creativity.’ certainsound.net/silicon-vall...certainsound.netSilicon Valley Hates YouThe Silicon Valley death drive is the resoundingly anti-human, anti-creative conceit at the root of generative AI development. 151
Reposted by chris zalduageorge 💿 @deejaygeejaygee.bsky.social · 28/04/2025Yeah I support LGBT L ong reverb tails G uitar pedals B asslines T ransgender 16215
chris zaldua @cz-sf.bsky.social · 26/04/2025met a guy at the wine bar last night and Tetsu Inoue came up in conversation and we both quickly agreed that Organic Cloud is probably the greatest album of all time youtu.be/2v6pmM1KWl4youtu.beTetsu Inoue - Organic Cloud (Full Album) [1995]YouTube video by Music Delivery Service 030
