South of Gilman St.
Welcome to South of Gilman St., an mp3 streaming/internet radio site dedicated to the music that put the Bay Area punk scene and the Gilman St. Project on the map. Click on the Listen link to tune-in (this may require some tweaking in your browser) or point your favorite mp3 player at http://stream.southofgilman.org:8000 and start enjoying.
And while you're listening, explore the database to find out more about the bands, albums, and songs you're listening to and even make requests. Don't forget to rate stuff you like (or dislike)!. The console is a little window that will keep you up on what's currently playing while you're exploring other parts of the site. There's even a forum where you can chat about stuff as well as see and post flyers and album art.
Want to know more about the site? Here's some info. Curious about what the Bay Area scene was like? The liner notes from the seminal Turn It Around 2x7" really captures what Gilman St. is about. For a more recent perspective, check out an interview with band-member and punk insider Jesse Luscious.
News
2024-04-21 - 25 Years!
A listener wrote in (hey Pete!) and reminded me that last month marked the 25th anniversary of the launch of this stream. And while I forgot to note the anniversary, my memory of the start still hasn't faded!
I've talked before about the journey this site has taken from a technical perspective quite a lot but something I've been musing on lately is how listening habits have changed in that time, with advances in technology, shifts in culture, and my own personal music tastes. This site started in 1999, when "mp3" was still in its infancy (or, at least, toddler-cy) and the music I listened to was largely still via cassette tapes and compact discs. I still regularly purchased physical media, though that shifted from local independent retail stores (Amoeba) is a local fave and still around!) to online, usually directly from the label if I could help it.
At some point, in the iPod era, I realized all I was doing with the CDs I purchased was ripping them once, then filing them onto a bookshelf that was running out of space. So I decided to skip that middle step and just buy digitally.
Then, in the early 2010s, I started a subscription to a streaming service (Google Play Music, specifically - RIP) and purchase of music became an increasingly rare activity. It was all there to listen to, any time, so why bother?
Of course, it wasn't all there - much of the kind of music featured here, whether the actual bands or their descendents in sound, is not the kind easily found on "mainstream" sources such as GPM or Spotify. This bothered me (and still does a little) - I sort of turned my back on following certain genres of music for the ease of streaming. Which in turn, changed what I listened to as I became a slave to both the catalog and The Algorithm.
This is where things stand today. It's Youtube Music now (gaah I hate is so much and miss GPM) and honestly, the catalog has become a lot better for niche music like this as the services have become bigger. Hell, I even posted a while back about finding "new" Crimpshrine on YouTube. And while I remain ambivalent about The Algorithm, I must grudgingly admit that I've discovered some great stuff in the recent past due to recommendations.
Nevertheless, since I'm just streaming 99% of the time now, I just don't have the media anymore to add here. I feel kind of bad about that, but 25 years is a long time to expect everything to stay the same. And the music featured here was always meant to be an homage to a certain time, anyway. Still, I wanted to share a couple of recent discoveries that I have really liked and have added them to the stream. Both fit the sound here perfectly despite being very recent releases and fitting in at different ends of the spectrum. The Spielbergs - Vestli is really soulful and hard driving in the way that reminds me of Fuel and Monsula. Get Jealous - Casually Causing Heartbreaks scratches that weakness I've always had for girl vocals and power pop hooks. Have a listen, enjoy, and see you in another 5!
2023-03-24 - "New" Crimpshrine?
I was randomly exploring on YouTube when I stumbled upon a Crimpshrine "album" I'd never heard of. Now, you should know Crimpshrine is my most beloved band so this was a bit of a shock.
None of the songs are new - they are all cataloged here - but some sound a little different. I don't know if they are alternate mixes or from a recording session only recently unearthed. Another Day (my favoritest of their songs) in particular has an odd ska-like rhythm that I don't know if I care for.
If you know anything about this, please share! You should be able to give it a listen via this YouTube Playlist
2022-10-20 - The console plays the stream again!
I've been tinkering on and off with the new server to try to get things in a better place. One nice outcome is that I was able to fix stream playback from the console. It's been mostly broken ever since Flash player was finally laid to rest (so it's been awhile).
I don't usually use it myself, but it can be pretty convenient if you don't regularly use a standalone mp3 player/client. Give it a try!
2022-06-29 - New server
I don't know if anyone noticed the site being up and down for the past couple of weeks but I was forced to drag the 10+ year old site kicking and screaming into a 2020s infrastructure and let me tell you, it was ugly.
I think it's mostly working now - I'm listening to the stream, browsing the site, making requests, posting on the boards, etc. If you notice anything busted, let me know!
2021-09-15 - The Lookouting!
I just learned about a one time special event back in 2017 celebrating Lookout Records, at Gilman, naturally. I love that all these bands "came back" to celebrate Lookout's history and I love how they all sound, with hardly a hint of the passage of time.
You can buy/listen to the album at Lookout's Bandcamp; I've also added it to the mix here.
They posted one video, MTX playing Gilman St. (sic - kinda weird they dropped "At"), that I'm aware of. I wish they would share the whole show!