Nik Havert

Stuck hit the gym, and your face, with “Deadlift.”

Stuck—the Chicago based trio of Greg Obis (vocals, guitar), David Algrim (bass), and Tim Green (drums)—release “Deadlift,” the second single/video from their forthcoming album, Optimizer, out March 27th via Exploding in Sound. Arriving on the heels of the “tightly-wound” (Brooklyn Vegan) lead single, “Instakill,” “Deadlift” is slower and sadder, delivering an unsparing look at the loneliness of workout culture; on the song’s chorus, Obis sings: “I know, I know, // you’ve heard it before // I never feel so alone // when the weight hits the floor.”

“I have become somewhat of a gym rat over the last several years,” Obis reflects. “Lifting weights has been indispensable for my physical and mental health. And yet, when I’m in a dark place, the gym can sometimes underscore feelings of loneliness and futility. ‘Deadlift’ uses the gym as a way to look at how atomized we have become; fixating on ourselves in public, locked into our fitness routines with our headphones, barely acknowledging the other people in the room, optimizing our wellness while racing to a red light.”

The song’s video was directed, produced, and edited by Austin Vesely and stars performer, actor and comedian Alex Grelle. “Austin Vessely’s video takes on these ideas from the opposite direction,” says Obis. “Working with him and Alex Grelle on this was a real treat. Alex is an incredible performer and improviser, and I still laugh when I watch him go all out in the video. We gave Austin very little to work with here in terms of a concept, and we’re super stoked with what he came up with.”

Watch the Video for “Deadlift”

Optimizer, the third album from Stuck reports live from the front lines of a society on the decline, where every attempt toward self-improvement only locks you into a more efficient downward spiral. The album is their most ambitious and eclectic collection of songs yet, without losing the nervy, quirked-up approach to post-punk that they’d established on their first two full-lengths.

To record Optimizer, Stuck reached out to engineer and producer Andrew Oswald (Marble Eyed, Powerplant, and Smirk). Oswald suggested that they track at Electrical Audio, the legendary Chicago recording studio once run by the late Steve Albini. With Albini’s passing still fresh, the opportunity to record at Electrical took on a personal significance for Obis; recording at Electrical would simultaneously help a local institution fill out their calendar in a moment of tragic instability and affirm Stuck’s place in a lineage of fiercely independent Chicago rock bands. Stuck are proud, in the humble way that any good Midwestern folks are proud, of embodying that archetype. Not only did Obis take over Chicago Mastering Service from Shellac’s Bob Weston when the latter decamped abroad, but Stuck’s choice of album title subconsciously mirrored Big Black’s classic Atomizer.

Optimizer continues their incorporation of synthesizers and also brings along more backing vocals, bigger choruses, and even blast beats. Oswald made his name recording extreme metal bands like Mortiferum and Caustic Wound. Though it is by no means a metal record, Oswald brought that genre’s level of tactile closed mic detail to Optimizer, resulting in the most high-definition and physically propulsive Stuck record yet. Previous Stuck albums needled you, using fast twitch guitars to keep you on edge. Optimizer goes straight for the emotional haymaker.

Pre-order Optimizer

Watch the Video for “Instakill”

Stuck Live
Fri. Apr. 3 – Detroit, MI @ Outer Limits
Sat. Apr. 4 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
Sun. Apr. 5 – Montreal, QC @ L’Esco
Tue. Apr. 7 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s
Wed. Apr. 8 – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right
Thu. Apr. 9 – Boston, MA @ Deep Cuts
Sat. Apr. 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Warehouse on Watts – Cambridge Hall
Sun. Apr. 12 – Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong
Fri. April 24 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village [Record Release Show]

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: MOTSUS – Atlas

Belgian stoner metal trio MOTSUS have returned from the galaxy next door with a new record, Atlas, that continues their exploration of heavy riffs and cosmic themes. “Atlas” can refer to the character of Greek myth who held the world upon his back, never succumbing to its heavy weight, or the comet discovered by the Atlas telescope in Chile in July 2025. The album’s cover seems to be a drawing of a futuristic science research outpost / doomsday shelter, possibly built from storage containers, and, knowing MOTSUS’ prior output, is probably on another planet or even floating in space.

“Driver” is suitable for playing while in orbit or for terraforming a distant planet with its rumbling drums and chugging guitars. “Duna” downshifts into trippy, melty psych-rock and lets you drift for over eight minutes along some gravity well that is either holding up or pulling down the planet, depending on your perspective.

The heavy sounds of “Exploder, Pt. II” are great. You’ll find yourself slowly head-banging as it rolls around your head and the room and the air around you. It fills every space for almost ten minutes until “Short Notice” gives you a two-minute rest before “Turboslak” shows up to pull you into an asteroid field in deep space, and you’re not sure if you’ll come out of it with one hundred percent hull integrity. The guitars and drums hammer like rocks of various sizes bouncing off the ship while you start landing procedures on one that looks like a good place to build the structure on the album’s cover.

Atlas is another good one from MOTSUS. Put it on, fire the ignition, and take off with it.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom of MOTSUS.]

Review: 88Kasyo Junrei – Hachi Tasu Kyu

It’s difficult to describe 88Kasyo Junrei (“Pilgrimage to 88 Places”). They tend to keep a lot of stuff about the band secret, only release their albums through their own label (PPR – Psychedelic Progressive Revolution), rarely translate their lyrics into any other language in print (and even leave them cryptic in Japanese, preferring fans interpret their songs however they’d like), and have only played outside Japan once (in France in 2019). I found out about them by stumbling upon one of their music videos (“Saramato” – a 2023 song about a utopian city that exists either in their minds, in another dimension, or in the future) on YouTube while going down a rabbit hole of Japanese metal bands like Ningen Isu and Bo Ningen.

Their newest album (the ninth in fourteen years), Hachi Tasu Kyu (“8 Plus 9”), is a massive wallop (two discs) of prog-rock, psychedelic trips, and metal shredding mantras. Most of the songs on the album, and their catalog as a whole, have prominent Buddhist and Shinto themes (as also reflected in the band’s name).

Opener “Nōsōkyoku” (“Brain Damage”, a single released in 2024) tosses you head-first into their wild world with stunning guitar work from Katzuya Shimizu. “Yaoyoroz” has grand sweeps of heavy riffs mixed with shoegaze drone…and drummer Kenzo never lets up the whole time, sounding like he must be a cyborg by how relentless and exact his drumming is. “Fukyōon” (“Dischord”) is the first single off the album, and it’s a great choice as it showcases each of the member’s talents. Bassist and vocalist Margarette Hiroi is on fire throughout it with his tension-building and releasing vocals and insane riffs, while Shimizu continues burning the place down with his shredding and Kenzo plays so hard and fast it sounds like he’s trying to drill to the Earth’s core with his kit.

The groove and funk of “Chikagoro Dō Shiteru?” (“What Have You Been Up To?”) and “Yukō” is slick. Both are fun tracks showing that 88Kasyo Junrei could be a prog-funk band anytime they want. After the brief “Insuon 1” (“Instrumental 1”), we get the frantic, rocking “Ale.!!”

“Zekkyō NOW!” (“Shout NOW!”) starts out with ripping thrash metal guitar from Shimizu and then Hiroi and Kenzo are off to the races, putting down a jaw-dropping groove that never lets up for a moment. The album’s “Unlucky Side” ends with “Furafura” (“Nirvana”) – a ballad-like track with Kenzo’s big drum fill flourishes, Hiroi’s bass a skipping stone across still water, and Shimizu’s guitar ranging from shoegaze to psych-jazz tones.

On the second disc (the “Lucky Side”), we have several singles that 88Kasyo Junrei have released since 2021 that haven’t been collected on an album until now. “Naraku Subuūfā” (“Hell’s Bells” – first released in 2022) is the first, sounding like it’s being played through an old radio at first, and then it bursts into a fast rocker (with vocals) after about a minute. Then comes “Insuon 2” (“Instrumental 2”), which shows off even more of their prog-chops. “Kichiku” (“Brute / “The Dark Side of the Moon” – also from 2022) brings forth more of the band’s love of grunge-metal, as some of it sounds like it was heavily influenced by Alice in Chains.

Hiroi’s bass groove on “Deishun” (“Muddy Springtime” / “Dusty Springfield”) will leave you speechless. Speaking of being gobsmacked, wait until you hear “Saramato” (“Paradise City”). I don’t know how Kenzo plays it without collapsing from exhaustion. If this song doesn’t make you a fan, I don’t know what will. “Garakuta no Sabaku” (“Desert Moon” / “Desert of Impurity and Rubbish”) has a cool, strolling groove throughout it, complete with a short drum solo from Kenzo. “Maka-maka-maka” (“A Love Supreme”) is bonkers. You’re not sure which member is playing faster.

“HOTOTOGISU” (“Silly Love Songs” / “Lesser Cuckoo”) is, unfortunately, not a cover of the Wings song (which would be amazing), but it’s just as quirky and fun. “Maen” (“Desire” / “Demon Flame”) reminds me of early 2000s alternative metal before it became overrun with “bro-rock” and “nu-metal” and was still experimental and not just cookie-cutter rock. It blends into the short and chaotic “8989” to wrap up the journey

It’s a stunning record, one that makes you want to dig up everything they have and then fly to Japan to catch them live even once.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Orbital – Orbital 2 (1993)

Orbital‘s second album doesn’t really have a title (like their first). It’s commonly known as “Orbital 2” or “The Brown Album” (Because, you know, the cover is brown…and their first album is sometimes called “The Yellow Album” because, you know, the cover is yellow.).

Regardless of what you call it, it’s a techno classic starting with the Lt. Worf-narrated “Time Becomes” that lets you know time will loop, curve, and rebound on itself across the span of the record. The looped sample of “Even a stopped clock can give the right time twice a day.” on “Planet of the Shapes” further explores this theme of stretched, repeated, and warped time. Once the drums kick in, you’re dancing for almost nine straight minutes.

The next four tracks become one long, beautiful techno suite. Starting with “Lust 3-1,” and then drifting / floating / bumping / bouncing through “Lush 3-2,” “Impact (The Earth Is Burning),” and “Remind.” The first of the quartet has become a primer on what early to mid-1990s electronic music was at the time: Bright synths, big beats, and transcendental grooves. “Lush 3-2” flows right out of it and, somehow, becomes even better for dancing. The layered beats on it keep driving you forward, getting your heart rate up and your joints lubed for the third part of the suite. “Impact” is over ten minutes long, so I hope your cardio is good. By the time you get to “Remind,” you’re pretty much in an industrial club.

The repeating synth groove of “Walk Now…” is top-notch, bringing in sizzling house riffs on top of rave beats. “Monday” is almost an ambient track, amd “Halcyon + On + On” has become a rave classic by this point, having been remixed by probably hundreds of DJs across the years. It uses sampled female vocal sounds to lovely effect and the beats on it are crisp. It will throw you back into the early Nineties right away if you were anywhere near rave culture then.

The whole album will do this, even the weird “Input Out” ending with its strange, repeating sample that becomes almost hypnotic by the end. “The Brown Album” (not to be confused with the Primus album of the same name) still holds up today as prime rave music.

Keep your mind open.

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Melodi Ghazal takes us “Higher” on her new single.

As a graduate of the esteemed Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Melodi Ghazal is intrinsic to Copenhagen’s storied indie scene. Her full-length debut, Idol Melodies, is out March 6, 2026 via Anyines, blending ’80s pop and Iranian folk traditions. Today, Ghazal shares the second single, “Higher.” Moody riffs and jagged verses culminate in a slow jam chorus. Touching on dissolution of the self, “Higher” imbues nostalgia with complexity.

On the single, Ghazal shares: “This is a song I personally needed, perhaps as a form of manifestation. I sing about the dissolution of the self. About those moments where you can suddenly shift perspective – and really feel the shift – from the shutting-down, everyday trip, to the big, opening image of love and connection. It sounds a bit New Age in such a short description, but that is nevertheless the theme of the song. I sampled my friend Peter’s guitar recording and chopped it up, perhaps with indirect inspiration from the chopped, country-sounding guitar in Madonna’s ‘Tell Me,’ which I think is a fantastic track. The form was meant to be simple and repetitive, because I wanted it to feel like the repeated caress of warm skin. And I also think that at times I noticed myself having the Spice Girls’ ‘Viva Forever’ as a reference somewhere in my head during the process. Maybe it’s because of the comforting effect of nostalgia, that I have some clear references when listening to this song and remembering how it came to life – because this song I just wanted to be comforting to me.”

Melodi Ghazal’s output is reflective. The Copenhagen native was raised by Iranian parents, and an interest in music was nurtured at cultural gatherings. As a child, she delved into pre-revolutionary Iranian hits and the Los Angeles pop that emerged in the 1980s and ‘90s. Later, she discovered hitmakers including Dido and Celine Dion on VH1 and MTV. At her mother’s encouragement, she took up piano lessons.

Ghazal fell into stasis for almost a decade. “I stopped quite abruptly with the occurrence of my self-consciousness, especially about otherness in a very white context,” she remembers. “I felt a need to be anonymous.” She enrolled in university, but grew depressed working a day job. During one down swing, she felt the desire to write songs again and started an adult education program. Two years later, she was accepted at the groundbreaking Rhythmic Music Conservatory — a school that counts ML Buch, Astrid Sonne, and Clarissa Connelly as alumni.

Ghazal’s full-length debut, Idol Melodies, is titled in reference to spiritual symbolism and a yearning to dissolve oneself. The album materialized gradually, with initial daf frame drum ideas sparking as part of her thesis at RMC. Allowing intuition to guide, tracks began with elements ranging from riffs to synthesizer presets. On a trip to London, she collaborated with Anyines label founder Villads Klint (Minais B) and NTS resident Coby Sey. Peter Bruhn Rasmussen contributed electric guitar, while Albert Hertz played acoustic. Rising Danish songwriter Fine Glindvad was a consultant in the final stages. “In the process of writing songs, I am always navigating a feeling of longing that appears when the melody is right,” she says. The end result is spry and mercurial, echoing keyboards and downtempo grooves cloaked in fuzz.

Idol Melodies is catchy and eclectic, inspired by Sufi dervishes, Madonna’s conversion to Kabbalah, and Googoosh’s displacement. “I have paraphrased Hafez in several places throughout the album and worked with circular movements in the productions,” Ghazal shares. On “Destinies and Melodies,” she sings of surrendering to inexplicable forces that yield creativity. Atop the silvery strums of “Numb,” she decompresses from a challenging period in which loved ones were hurt. “In My Room” is the tenderest moment, using adolescent introversion to probe a relationship with newly immigrated parents. The whole record is sonically direct, yet emotionally textured.

Weaving Middle Eastern percussion and English-Persian vocals, Ghazal cultivates protectivity. Associative streams impact a journey of self-dissolution and connection. “Something had been simmering in me, and it came out in the underlying melancholy and searching,” she muses. A current of change steers Idol Melodies, which ruminates on a breakup, personal crisis, and ensuing transformation. Flowering between stretches of malaise, Idol Melodies shrouds storminess in magic.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Andi at Terrorbird Media.]

Rebelski takes you down some lovely “Roads” with his new single.

Unfolding from a place of quiet familiarity into widescreen cinematic scope, established composer and producer, Rebelski unveils his latest emotive single, “Roads.” A richly layered and immersive track that stands among the most expansive in his catalogue, the long-standing collaborator with artists including Doves, Peter Hook and The Light and Echo and The Bunnymen releases the single, rooted in cinematic, jet-age nostalgia, as he moves closer to the release of his latest album, Algorithms, on March 13, 2026.

Opening in recognizable Rebelski territory, “Roads” begins with a gently unfolding piano motif, intimate and reflective in tone before passing into territory built upon by a lineage of electronic and cinematic greats. Playing into stated late-20thCentury influences, Rebelski hints at David Axelrod’s orchestral soul, Boards of Canada’s hazy electronica and John Carpenter’s deeply affecting, narrative soundtracks in pushing forward Algorithms’ own, structured story.

Having previously light—touch released the first of the album’s singles, “Today,” in late 2025 (subsequently supported with attention from BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 3) and followed-up with the motorik “Momentum” at the turn of the year, Rebelski detailed Algorithms as the final album in a considered trilogy. Recorded in studios and outdoor spaces across Manchester, Barcelona, and Shropshire, the album follows 2023’s Simplicity and 2024’s Monochrome to form a document of artistic preoccupation, musical experimentation and human connection to vibration, tone and timing.

In releasing “Roads,” Rebelski’s music reads like the soundtrack to an unseen film, playing along to journeys spooling through memory, landscapes seen and moments remembered. Working towards a body of work that challenges the narrative of inevitable technological takeover and leaves untied edges where robotized perfection could attain ‘perfection,’ human-first recording techniques ensure organic detail sits at the heart of each composition.

Rebelski says: “The music on Algorithms tries to occupy the spaces in between motion and stillness and action and pause, taking up its own territory with quiet but definite, assertive confidence. Various influences, from film soundtracks to groundbreaking synth composition have been woven into a framework that’s relevant to the present, trying to balance out feelings of retro warmth and the need to document human presence in the music with recognition of contemporary recording practices.”

Pursuing personal solo endeavors in between meeting the uncompromising demands of international touring, Algorithms was completed in stolen periods off the road while absorbing the influence of each country Rebelski counts himself lucky to pass through.

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[Thanks to Rob at Perspective.]

Kyle Alfred Hillig faces reality on his new single – “Our Remaining Pig.”

Tacoma, Washington songwriter Kye Alfred Hillig returns with “Our Remaining Pig,” the second single from his upcoming album The All-Night Costume Company, out March 4, 2026. The track pushes deeper into Hillig’s emotional terrain, pairing alternative-country and indie rock with a writer’s instinct for metaphor, restraint, and uncomfortable honesty. Where the album’s first single reintroduced Hillig’s voice, “Our Remaining Pig” begins to reveal the stakes.

Hillig has spent more than two decades rooted in the Puget Sound music scene, balancing songwriting with the realities of work, community, and long stretches away from the spotlight. Across nine solo albums, he’s developed a reputation for sharp melodies and lyrics that refuse to look away from difficult truths. His songs often sit at the intersection of personal reckoning and shared experience, finding meaning not in resolution, but in saying the hard thing plainly. Fans of The Jayhawks, Neil Young, Uncle Tupelo, Father John Misty, Kevin Morby, MJ Lenderman, and early Wilco will recognize the lineage, even as Hillig’s voice remains distinctly his own.

“Our Remaining Pig” takes its title and emotional core from an image that surfaced during Hillig’s time in art therapy. “I drew a man on his family farm wading across a river toward the final living pig, knowing he had to slaughter it,” Hillig explains. “You can tell he doesn’t want to do this, but sometimes the hard thing is exactly what must be done.” In the song, that image becomes a parallel for a relationship at a breaking point, a moment where avoidance only deepens the damage. “Sometimes couples just need to say the honest and painful thing,” he adds. “No one benefits from avoiding the suffering that comes with growth.”

Musically, the track unfolds with patience and weight, anchored by a vocal performance that carries some of the emotional directness and upward reach associated with early The Killers, paired with a Springsteen-like earnestness in tone and delivery. Fuzzy bass lines hold down the bottom end, giving the song a low, unsettled hum, while keys rise and fall throughout the arrangement, cutting light through the darkness without resolving it. Guitars remain measured and deliberate, letting the tension build rather than explode, until the chorus opens into something big and genuinely emotive, a release that feels hard-won rather than theatrical. The result is a song that feels expansive but grounded, willing to sit with discomfort instead of rushing past it.

Recorded at Ex Ex Studios in Seattle and produced and mixed by Johnny Nails, “Our Remaining Pig” continues to reveal the shape of The All-Night Costume Company. It’s a song about choosing honesty over comfort, about crossing a river you’d rather not enter because staying put is worse. As a second glimpse into the album, it signals a record unafraid of discomfort, and a songwriter willing to sit with it long enough for something true to emerge.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Chad at No Rules PR.]

Review: Nick Schofield – Blue Hour

Inspired by Miles Davis‘ In a Silent Way, Nick Schofield‘s Blue Hour comes along just when we need it most. In a time when everyone is screaming (inward and outward, for right and wrong reasons depending on the individual) and everyone could use some grounding, Schofield helps us all stand still for a bit.

As the story goes, Schofield improvised and recorded the drum and synthesizer parts for the album in one day as he made his own riff of Davis’ classic album. Schofield then teamed up with trumpeter Scott Bevins who also improvised and recorded his parts in one day and without hearing anything Schofield had made beforehand.

The result is another stunning, beautiful record from Schofield. “Sky Cafe” and “Magic Touch” swell, soar, and soothe. The snappy, crisp beats of “Dream On” and its bright synths belong in a meet-cute scene from your favorite lost 1980s romantic comedy. “Goodnight Sun” and “Imagine Space” are almost krautrock-jazz with their looping synths and echoing trumpet.

“Natural Wonder” is like a lone trumpeter is playing across the street from a New Age bookstore that’s playing meditative synth music through their outdoor speakers. “Hidden Corner” will make you want to curl up in one with the song in your ears and a good book. The looping synths of “Hotel Cloud” relax you as Bevins’ trumpet carries your luggage while you chill out at the bar. “Kyoto Kiss” sends you from a hotel in the sky to a nice, modern spa in Japan where you’re in hurry to leave.

The album ends with the simply named “Times” to remind us that time can stretch if we let it. Time can become meaningless and nothing to worry about if we let it. The whole album reminds us of this in a time when we’re all rushed, grumpy, or just plain exhausted. We need albums like this to settle us.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]

OHYUNG puts you into a dream state with “Nevada.”

OHYUNG, the solo project of Brooklyn artist, DJ, and film composer Lia Ouyang Rusli, today shares “nevada,” the second single from her forthcoming album IOWA, arriving March 6. The track opens with a massive boom—”whether thunder or gunshots, the sound is an awakening of the spirit,” Rusli says. The field-recorded sample loops throughout the piece as a glacial melody pulses and swells beneath, intertwined with choral voices and wailing synths.

Of “nevada,” Rusli says the track evokes “open land and a holy reverence for space and openness. And in that space there may be a painful memory, but that memory is softened by time, letting beauty in.” The track is paired with a one-take visual that picks up where the video for lead single “all dolls go to heaven” left off. Among its early praise, Paste recognized that track as one of their “5 Songs You Need to Hear This Week,” describing it as music that “sweeps through the sea-level holy, uncouples from its textures, and climbs into the mouth of a liberated afterlife.” Together, these tracks signal OHYUNG’s anticipated return to ambient music—cinematic snapshots of their year in the Midwest.

WATCH: “NEVADA”

IOWA follows last year’s You Are Always On My Mind, praised by Pitchfork as “an extraordinary burst of pop,” and marks Rusli’s first ambient album since her 2022 breakout imagine naked!, which was named one of NPR Music’s Best Albums of the Year. An evocation of Rusli’s year living in Iowa City between 2023 and 2024, the album documents a time when she became embedded in the local DIY music scene and made between composing scores for the acclaimed films Happyend (dir. Neo Sora) and Sorry, Baby (dir. Eva Victor).

Rusli describes IOWA as “an ode to the vast beauty of the Midwest, fields of corn, rolling hills, harsh winters, tornado sirens, and the trans people that survive despite the threat of right-wing christofascism. IOWA is my love letter to Iowa City and the Midwest, my experimental trans Bruce Springsteen Nebraska.” The album is a stripped-down, self-produced album that foregrounds atmosphere and restraint. The record pares back earlier maximalism to reveal ghostly textures built from field recordings, manipulated devotional samples, and restrained synth pads, with moments of rupture interrupting otherwise serene compositions.

Following upcoming DJ sets in Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea, OHYUNG will celebrate the album’s release with a performance at Stone Circle Theatre in Ridgewood, New York, on March 6. Presented in partnership with Trans Music Archive, the event will feature an opening performance by YATTA, a DJ set from Bitepoint, and food by Jessie Yuchen, and will serve as a fundraiser for the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund. A physical vinyl edition of IOWA will also be released via Trans Music Archive, with all proceeds benefiting the fund.

Check out “nevada” above, and stay tuned for more music from IOWA ahead of its March 6 release.

Keep your mind open.

[Float over to the subscription box.]

[Thanks to Cody at Terrorbird Media.]

New Colossus Festival announces its massive 2026 lineup.

Returning to New York City’s vibrant Lower East Side and expanding to six days, the New Colossus Festival begins on Tuesday, March 3, and runs through Sunday, March 8, 2026. This showcase festival and industry conference offers a unique opportunity to discover the next wave of emerging artists across multiple independent NYC venues, including Arlene’s Grocery, Baker Falls, Berlin Under A, The Francis Kite Club, Niagra, Nublu, Nublu Classic, Parkside Lounge, Pianos, Silver Lining Lounge & Sour Mouse

The New Colossus and DITTO Music will also once again present a series of panels and workshops called Colossal Conversations. Discussions on artist management, touring, production, sync licensing, festivals, publishing, and other relevant topics focused on the future of the global independent music scene.

Founded in 2019 by music industry veterans Mike Bell, Lio Kanine, and Steven Matrick, The New Colossus Festival has quickly become the first stop in the US for many emerging international artists. Past festival alumni include: A Place To Bury Strangers (US), Baby Queen (ZA), CHAII (NZ), Delivery (AU), Ducks ltd. (CA), GIFT (US), Hachiku (AU), Jaywood (CA), Kiwi Jr. (CA), La Securité, (CA) NOBRO (CA), Peel Dream Magazine (US), Penelope Isles (UK), Personal Trainer (NL), Pom Poko (NO), Pom Pom Squad (US), Robber Robber (US), Sid Simons (US), Slow Fiction (US), Sobs (SG), Starcleaner Reunion (US), The Orielles (UK), Thus Love (US), Water From Your Eyes (US), Ultra Q (US), Zoon (CA)

Named after Emma Lazarus’s 1883 sonnet featured on The Statue of Liberty, The New Colossus Festival is a multi-day, multi-venue showcase and conference that brings together emerging musical talent from around the world to New York City’s Lower East Side.

Badges Available on DICE: https://www.newcolossusfestival.com/badges

For more information and updates, visit newcolossusfestival.com

Full the full line up here: https://www.newcolossusfestival.com/artists2026

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]