Introduction
Trying something new. My name is Roman Martinez, I come from the Central Valley in one of the most diverse cities in California, that being Stockton, California. I grew up here my whole life and really don’t plan on moving far from my hometown. Stockton has always been a rich city in terms of culture, and to prove my point, such accolades as having the oldest university in California (University of the Pacific), The first Sikh house of worship (Gurdwara Sahib of Stockton), The first city in California to not have a name of Spanish or Native American origin, at one point had the largest Filipino population in the Little Manila district in Stockton, and lastly, being in Stockton, you can find nearly every cuisine available in the city!
There is some notable figures to come out of Stockton. The first one I would like to mention is Dave Brubeck, a jazz pianist that had lived in Stockton until his death in 2012. He was known for his outstanding performances in jazz and his composing skill, also was known for having formed one of the first racially diverse quartets in the U.S. post World War II. Brubeck’s album Time Out was the first jazz album to reach over a million copies in sales and was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. He started the Brubeck Institute at University Of Pacific, to help jazz students with educational opportunities, having even his own street ‘Dave Brubeck Way’ that leads into the college campus.
Chris Isaak is a singer, guitarist, and musician born and raised in Stockton, California. He graduated at Stagg High School, attended both San Joaquin Delta College and UOP, and also became a famous rockstar in the early 90’s. Some of his work is featured in David Lynch’s movies and shows and his most popular song to-date is “Wicked Game”. Debuting in the late 80’s, he signed to Warner Bros. Records and his debut album Silvertone, was released on January 10, 1985. Chris Isaak was born in Stockton, but had really close friendships to Fleetwood Mac’s singer Stevie Nicks and director David Lynch. He has acted in some of Lynch’s films and even had his own TV show The Chris Isaak Show. he was also featured in Cartoon Network’s Over the Garden Wall, on of my favorite cartoons, as the character Enoch.
Pavement, the name of a rock band which was formed in Stockton, consisted of members Stephen Malkmus, Scott Kannberg, Mark Ibold, Steve West, and Bob Nastanovich. Formed around 1989, they were indie rock artist that had similar vibes to bands like the Replacements and the Fall. They are known for their ‘stream of consciousness’ style vocals, almost describing their music as spoken word. They are influenced by bands like Sonic Youth, Echo & the Bunnymen, and R.E.M. They are also credited for influencing the 90’s landscape with ‘slacker’ culture and dissonance sounds that shaped indie rock in the latter years. The main vocalist and guitarist, Stephen Malkmus, has released music alongside another band he’s in, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. Their debut album Stephen Malkmus, was released February 13, 2001, which I tend to favor more over his Pavement discography.
These notable figures all have one things in common: Music. I have been living my whole life with a tune in my ear, and it happens to be different over time. I love music and I have decided into venture into the music field. Not sure what music I love making as of now. Mostly electronic and experimental sounds, I tend to always seem stuck at a point where I cannot fathom how there is so much music to discover. We are at a point in time where I believe everything has been done already, but I’d love to contribute something to at least one or more genres. I’d like to introduce myself as Briggs. I am a dweller under the bridge, and I happen to DJ under the moniker Iggybreaks. Almost anagram-esque, I intended my artist name to be somewhat symbolic, and for most of my life, I never wanted to be on the spotlight, I am an anxious person who tends to be more reserved than outgoing. I am merely curious when it come to music, because my most of my family background has history in music. As I learn more and more about music production, it makes me want to be someone who is outgoing and extroverted. Music has changed my life for the better and it will continue to change my life. I hope to see that whoever is reading this, would like to follow me along my journey to express myself and create a space for people who don’t necessarily fit in anywhere, but still want something to appreciate and also expresses how they feel as well.
The 209 Rave Scene
First of All, let me explain some things before introduce everyone what kind of third spaces we have in Stockton and other areas in the San Joaquin valley. A rave is a party usually where DJ’s get together and play music for people attending the rave. Raves usually have EDM playing at unwarranted places such as warehouses, natural environments such as public parks and forests, and of course anywhere that the cops cannot find to have the rave shut down. EDM withholds all subgenres of music you can dance to, most popular ones you’d hear at a rave would be Techno, Hardcore, Acid, Trance, Jungle, Breakbeat, Happy Hardcore, and most likely subgenres including a four-on-the-floor rhythmic beat pattern. Raves can be warranted within clubs or venues, usually with big name artists or producer DJ’s, but being at a rave, will make you understand that it is kept underground for many reasons. Raves have been around since the early 90’s, just coming after the House era of music. The 209 is an area code mostly represented by Stocktonians, and covers the northern region of the San Joaquin valley. This includes Modesto, Merced, Tracy, Lodi, and of course Stockton. Stockton is most identified with the 209 area code because of area code splits that hasn’t affected the city Stockton as a whole.
The rave scene I am aware of that happened in the 209 is currently in Stockton. As of May 2026, there has been several raves that has introduced a third space for us in Stockton and other cities near us. A girl by the name of Valeria, took matters into her own hands when she realized she can do something no one has ever done before. If you’re a seasoned raver in the 209, you know that a lot of events such as raves happen either in the bay area or up north in Sacramento. Valeria, who also goes by Claudia, had became an organizer for raves specifically in the city of Stockton. I just so happen to be on the same timeline where I am introduced to raving in San Francisco, and Claudia and I both reside in Stockton. I had messaged her asking to DJ for her upcoming events, and she has the generosity of allowing me to play at her events. Six months prior to my public DJ performances, I had bought a small DJ controller, the DDJ-200, and I wanted to get more into music, so I thought what better way to learn about arrangement and mixing than DJing?? Of course it took a couple months to learn skills such as beatmatching, phrasing, EQing, and reading a room, last one is still in practice since I have yet to perform more in public. As soon as I learn some basic skills on DJing, I grabbed my camera, and would record my sets in my room, mostly playing music that I liked at the time. It became a big jump from doing just home mixes to public performances, as I could no longer just play for myself. I tend to be inspired by artists like A.G. Cook and GFOTY. Shygirl became a house name for me, because she has such good music that has the vibes of sexiness. Other artists I love to play include Arca, Charli XCX, Six Sex, Frost Children, DJ Rashad, MCR-T, DJ Sharpnel, S3RL, Danny L Harle, basically everyone involved in PC Music, Sophie, Machine Girl, and Miss Bashful. Still a plethora of artists to name but that’s a few.
Valeria has thrown four raves so far. The first one occurred on May 16th, 2026. The theme was PLUR, a common theme in the rave scene that stands for Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect. The second event was My Little Pony themed, dubbed Ponyville Rave thats occurred on June 27th, 2026. The third was dubbed the Gyaru Rave, taking inspiration from Japanese Gyaru culture and occurred on July 25th, 2026. The most recent rave’s theme was Swag, which occurred August 15th, 2026. The amazing part about these raves is that they are themed, so everyone is welcome to come dressed for the occasion, or just enjoyed the music. The creativity that has gone into the raves is beyond fascinating, as people from the 209 collaborate to make art available for the people attending. This includes the kandi accessories, cosplays, photography, original music, and food/snacks thats is supplied at these raves.
Now, what does a rave mean to me? I believe a rave is where you can be yourself, enjoy the art that we have, and live in the moment. I never really liked dancing in front of anyone. I always thought I could never dance in public because I never tried learning how to dance. When I’m at these raves, no one is looking, and that’s the fun part, is I can dance freely without having the look of judgment or, validity of how good I am at dancing. I know I’m not good at dancing (LOL), but I do it anyway because it fun. A rave means I can act upon my personality, and enjoy the music without criticism on how the music sounds. Of course, objectively, I would love to hear something that is rhythmically pleasing and melodic, but it’s nice hearing the different kinds of music that has came before us and what it takes to actually have a supportive community within my realm of DJing. A rave means I’m able to express myself through the means of music, and maybe others can relate in such a way that maybe I’m playing their favorite song, or maybe I introduced them to a song that has some sort of context to make them feel pleasing and accepted. I can say a lot of the music I play for raves brings me back to the start of high school. I was early in the hyperpop scene and was attracted to the genre. I remember playing a lot of artists my friends would question me about or critique because they have never heard of them. Sophie is such a good example because I was listening to her at the time of her second album Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-insides. Her music introduced me to a lot of experimental artists such as Dorian Electra, Babynymph, and ThatKidd. Record label PC Music also had me hooked back in middle and high school to experimental music and sound synthesis. This all comes full circle since prior to DJing at raves, I had no idea such genres existed like Happy Hardcore, Schranz, or Gabber. It makes sense that I can enjoy these genres because record label PC Music is influenced by early Happy Hardcore, Gyaru culture and Eurodance. To conclude this entry, I’d like to thank Valeria for putting me on and providing a space where people can get together and enjoy their time off the working-class environment we have in Stockton. I’d also like to thank DJ ihaveabomb, who helped me learn a few things at my first rave and Chris, both who run the collective KandiKorps, and provide sound systems to us in the 209 area. I’d also like readers to meet the DJ’s going in order from left to right: MoxBPM, Ketamine Princess, ihaveabomb, G!ZMO, MDMAngel, iggybreaks, Dr1ft, and Froggin.
Traditional: A Conversation with Oneself
It’s Summer 2026, having realized a hopeful and open-minded individual is learning about music production, we sit down and talk with the artist Briggs. He is an electronic producer, curating such beats in the genres of Hardcore, Electropop, and Juke/Footwork. He has come a long way to finally understand the process of blogging and what it takes to actually sit down and talk with people. So instead of doing just that, he would love to talk about his album Traditional. Coming from the two, zero, nine… this is Briggs.
What made you decide to create an electronic album?
Something I’ve always been a fan of, electronics. Simply put it this way, I enjoy words and the derivatives of such. We are essentially able to listen to music because of biological matter that we somehow were able to discover not too long ago. It would be neat being in a room of knowledgable people understanding why we are able to perceive sound and why electronics play big roles in shaping music and sound waves, of course. I was also introduced to electronic music early in my life. The first EDM song I’ve heard had to be Sandstorm by Darude. Then it was Mike Posner, then Calvin Harris, and so these artists made me discover new artists from features, production work, remixes, interviews, and then it just so happens to be that I get really interested in life before I was born in terms of pop culture and music. It’s safe to say though that my favorite ‘electronic’ has to be my dad’s first iPod, which also brought me upon more music to discover in my latter years.
Is there a meaning behind the album name?
There is absolutely a meaning behind the name for this album. I always had an interest for music production. Since the start of high school, I’ve tinkered with GarageBand and at the end of high school, I was making music on my Soundcloud. When I got my hands on a Macbook, I started using Logic Pro, and actually wanting to become a producer, I invest time to study about different aspects of what it takes to produce a song entirely on your own. Now that I have said enough, its traditional that I would make Banda or Corrido songs. It might be traditional for me to know how to play the saxophone or accordion. Although, that is my heritage, I don’t believe in traditions and that’s the point. We are so accustomed to the past, that we might end up being contradictory, valuing other people’s past, strips us away from the present. Being appreciative and prideful is to be fond of, but when you follow tradition, you become selfless.
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We do not allow guests to bring their own wine, beer, or spirits to our restaurant. We have an extensive beverage menu, including a wide selection of wines, beers, and cocktails for you to enjoy.