The annual Aftershock rock festival illuminated Discovery Park this past weekend Oct. 10-13, with a legendary lineup featuring Slayer, Slipknot, Iron Maiden and Mötley Crüe, among other talented artists.

The festival held a record-breaking crowd of nearly 160,000 attendees from all 50 states and 30 countries altogether.

Some of the larger non-headliner crowd draws included: Halestorm featuring the captivating Lzzy Hale, the timeless Evanescence, punchy Disturbed and angsty Falling in Reverse.

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Although bigger names drew most of the ticket sales, the smaller, more underground bands were the real foundation of the Aftershock experience. Here are some lesser-known eclectic acts you need to add to your playlist.

Descartes a Kant

The genre-imploding Mexican band that will knock your spacesuits off

Descartes a Kant, or DAK, is a female-fronted group from Guadalajara, Mexico that combines elements of retro-futurism, punk, shoegaze and cabaret in a uniquely theatrical performance.

The act is intentional, yet their sound perplexes many, bassist Ana Christina Moreno said.

“It’s very avant garde, I would say. It’s very performative and theatrical,” Moreno said.

Despite the trend of rock bands involving prominent female members, bands with female leads at Aftershock were sparse. Lead singer and guitarist, Sandrushka Petrova, said she acknowledges the difficulty of being a woman in a man’s space.

“There’s this double challenge of not only being a girl in a rock band but also playing weird music,” Petrova said. “But I think things are changing now. I do think festivals need more representation of female bands, but it’s very cool we had this opportunity as a girl-led, non-metal band and Mexican.”

Since the positive reception of records such as “Victims of Love Propaganda” and “After Destruction,” the band has been growing to reach a larger audience outside Mexico.

Guitarist Memo Ibarra said he appreciates the opportunities DAK has given him to travel and show their music to the world.

“Being able to go to Slovenia and play a show, and go to Oaxaca and play a show, and then this tour taking us to different parts of the world, that for me is the best part,” Ibarra said.

Descartes a Kant is currently on an international tour that will make its way through San Francisco on Nov. 3 at Rickshaw Stop.

Oxymorrons

With two “R”s, not one

Oxymorrons defines their act as “a melting pot of sounds, styles and cultures that can never be distinctly defined or shoved in a box,” and their performance last Sunday embodied that ideology wholly.

The idiosyncratic quartet knows their persona and owns it, both on the stage and in their sound. Best described as an alternative hip-hop band, this New York City group likes to rile a crowd up, so audiences leave with a message in mind.

Vocalist Dave Bellvue said he judges a musician by how much they can excite a crowd of people who don’t know their music, citing his confidence in their own crowd.

“Rocking a crowd of people who know you is a lot easier than rocking a crowd of people who have no clue who you are,” Bellevue said. “Look at these people who have never heard of us, and watch them do everything we tell them.”

The band materialized as a force of sonic resistance, with their EP “Mohawks and Drugs” and album “Melanin Punk” being stark reminders to their audience that the Black experience is both rebellious and joyful.

“A lot of people know the Black experience as the trauma experience,” Bellevue said. “You know all of our struggles, but there’s a lot of fun, there’s a lot of joy, there’s a lot of art. There’s so many other sides to it.”

Guitarist Jafé Paulino said that there’s an expectation on POC bands to constantly physically and verbally resist oppression, but that there’s so much more than protesting that goes into it.

“To speak about being oppressed and who our oppressors are – we’ll do that forever,” Paulino said. “But on the other side of that, there’s so many genres of music, so many dance styles, so much vernacular that has come from the Black people. The Black American experience is the joy that we still make sure we experience while we’re being oppressed.”

Jager Henry

The star carrying a legacy as he steps into his own spotlight

Jager Henry is paving his way into the music industry with angst, flair and an increasingly iconic discography. 

His EP “Heart of Thorns” made waves on the Soundwave Stage last Sunday with its well-curated sound combining rock, metal and alternative.

As the son of Jason Bonham and grandson of John Bonham, the original drummer for Led Zeppelin, Henry is no stranger to the glow of the spotlight. Nevertheless, Henry said performing on the Aftershock stage via his own determination fills him with gratitude.

“I was just trying to absorb it and be grateful for the moment it was happening,” Henry said. “I remember myself here two years ago as a fan, and I told a random stranger I’d be on stage one day. And in a full circle moment, he was in the crowd and remembered.”

Henry said his family’s connection to music only fostered his comfort in exploring his own sound.

“I tried doing the hip-hop stuff, and I tried doing this, but I kind of always just messed about. I always saw inspiration, especially coming from my family,” Henry said.

Henry said he has his sights set on future albums and appearances and encourages fans to be on the lookout.

Jigsaw Youth

The missing piece to your punky puzzle

Jigsaw Youth brought a back-end grunge sound all the way from Staten Island to Sacramento as the opening band Friday on the Shockwave stage.

The all-female punk band has a cadence reminiscent of 90s alternative rock, complete with choppy, chuggy chords and powerfully tense vocals.

The lead vocalist and bassist for Jigsaw Youth, Maria Alvarez, said she doesn’t let being an all-female band deter her from making the music she wants.

“I feel like I have a double-edged thought process on being an all-female band because sometimes it’s like, ‘I’m a girl in a male dominated world’ and all that, and the other part of me is like ‘It doesn’t really make a difference what I am, I’m just going to play,’” Alvarez said.

In August the band released their single “Waiting,” which leans into a spacey and melodic atmosphere.

Maria said that, for now, the band plans to continue releasing singles in place of a full album.

“We’re a totally independent band. We have no label managers, and it’s really expensive to put out an album,” Alvarez said. “We have two more singles to release, and then those four songs are gonna be part of a whole EP.”

In spite of the challenges that come with being an independent band, Jigsaw Youth has been turning heads across the country on their current tour. They just wrapped up touring with another Aftershock performer, Bob Vylan, as they prepare to play Shiprocked in Miami.