Ben Quad, Macseal
The story of BEN QUAD is punctuated by moments of randomness: a chance meeting via Craigslist bonding over bands like Microwave and Modern Baseball. An out-of-nowhere name drop from indie tastemaker Ian Cohen lauding their debut album, 2022’s I’m Scared That’s All There Is. A one-off sonic curveball that somehow turned into their biggest song – and, without them realizing it at the time, a brand-new freedom to reinvent themselves. But serendipity has done more than bring Ben Quad here, to the release of WISHER, their first LP for Pure Noise Records: It’s taught them to thrive inside the unpredictable, to harness a no-limits musical mentality and self-effacing sense of humor and turn it into some of the most resonant, captivating emo of today. Well, actually, post-emo. “This is our love letter to the genre,” singer/guitarist Sam Wegrzynski says of the album. “It’s an amalgamation of all the shit emo kids like: screaming, synths, pop sensibilities all mixed with crazy emotional stuff. What’s post-emo if not the next evolution?” The Oklahoma City-based quartet have always been evolving. I’m Scared That’s All There Is cemented them as a force in the modern emo movement, landing them on bills with the likes of Hot Mulligan and Knuckle Puck. The standalone single “You’re Part of It” added a harder, screamo-tinged edge to their sound, while an outpouring of support to a social media shitpost declaring “If ‘You’re Part of It’ gets 10K streams by Wednesday, we’ll put out a screamo EP” took them even further down that road with Ephemera, their 2024 EP. (The song currently boasts more than 4 million streams.) Now, with Wisher, the band deliver a true follow-up to their debut that fully embraces everything that’s followed it since. The 10 songs on Wisher find Wegrzynski, Edgar Viveros (lead guitar), Henry Shields (bass/backing vocals) and Isaac Young (drums) pulling from every corner of their record collections: jagged punk riffs, glassy math-rock, sticky pop hooks and glitchy production that push toward something futuristic. But rather than a scattershot collage, these elements recur as motifs – a melody here, a guitar line there – stitched together with purpose and intention. First single “It’s Just A Title” serves up a groove factory complemented by smooth vocals and lifting keyboards, while the frantic “Painless” rips through speakers with the ferocity and melodicism of They’re Only Chasing Safety-era Underoath, if their guitarists spent more time studying Midwest emo than metalcore. “Did You Decide to Skip Arts and Crafts” welcomes Treaty Oak Revival singer Sam Canty – and a well-placed banjo – onto a genre-blending Tumblr-era throwback, “Classic Case of Dead Guy on the Ground” ascends with a preposterously sublime falsetto hook, and the brooding “West of West” brings things full circle for the band with a cameo from Microwave’s Nathan Hardy. Website · Instagram · Facebook · TikTok Macseal Website · Instagram · Bandcamp · Facebook · YouTube
The Jayhawks
For more than forty years, The Jayhawks have created music that embodies the enduring spirit and soul of classic American songwriting. The Jayhawks emerged from Minneapolis in the post-punk era of The Replacements, Hüsker Dü and Soul Asylum. They pioneered today’s Americana movement through a series of classic albums that introduced rock audiences to their unique musical stew of country, folk, soul, Britpop and rock ‘n’ roll.The band has played most every major music festival, from Farm Aid to Primavera Sound, Pinkpop to Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky. In the tradition of The Band and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Jayhawks have toured with and served as backup band for many of music’s most acclaimed visionaries, including Ray Davies, Roger McGuinn, and Johnny Cash.Today, Gary Louris, Marc Perlman, Karen Grotberg and Tim O’Reagan continue to record and tour worldwide. Over 12 studio albums and three live albums, The Jayhawks are still building a legacy of music that stands the test of time.The band once again teamed up with legendary producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed) to create their upcoming album entitled Sanctuary Park, set to be released late summer 2026. Website · Facebook · Instagram · YouTube
Frog
Frog is a 2-3 person guitar band from the swamp in New Rochelle, NY. They issued their self-titled debut mini-album “Frog” on Brooklyn’s now defunct Monkfish Records which Gold Flake Paint called “The best American guitar record of the year. Seriously. It’s like every cult band from the past decade bottled into half an hour of music.” The duo returned in 2015 with their highly acclaimed debut LP “Kind of Blah” on the UK’s Audio Antihero Records which included the fan-favorite singles “Judy Garland” and “Photograph.” Frog promoted the album with a tour of the UK, which was later documented in the 2018 film ‘Kings of Blah’. In November 2018, they issued their long-awaited follow-up “Whatever We Probably Already Had It” mini-LP on Audio Antihero. This was followed in August 2019 with the freak-folk opus “Count Bateman,” featuring the sleeper stoner hit single, “You Know I’m Down.” Website · Instagram · Spotify
Russian Circles
Across the span of their previous seven studio albums, Chicago-based instrumental trio Russian Circles traversed a diverse topography of sounds, moods, and approaches with their limited armory of drums, bass, and guitar. It’s difficult to chart an evolution in their sound when their records have always felt like well-curated playlists. It wasn’t uncommon to hear drone-heavy meditations, dazzling prog exercises, knuckle-dragging riff-fests, haunting folk ballads, and tension-baiting noise rock all within the span of one album. Still, it’s difficult to ignore the progression from the pensive and intricate melodies of Enter (2006) to the layered distorted dirges of Blood Year (2019). It’s been a gradual sonic shift owing to the band’s rigorous tour schedule and a predilection towards playing their more authoritative material on stage. But with their latest album, Gnosis, Russian Circles eschew the varied terrain of their past work and bulldoze a path through the most tumultuous and harrowing territory of their sound. As was the case for so many artists in the age of COVID, the obstacles of geography and isolation forced Russian Circles to reevaluate their writing process. Rather than crafting songs out of fragmented ideas in the practice room, full songs were written and recorded independently before being shared with other members, so that their initial vision was retained. While these demos spanned the full breadth of the band’s varied styles, the more cinematic compositions were ultimately excised in favor of the physically cathartic pieces. Gnosis was engineered and mixed by Kurt Ballou. Drums and bass were tracked at Electrical Audio in Chicago to maximize the natural room sounds of the rhythm section. Guitar and synth overdubs were conducted at God City in Salem, MA to take advantage of Ballou’s vast inventory of amps and effects pedals. Despite the entirety of the album being written remotely, the songs were recorded with the full band playing together to retain the live feel of the material. Owing to the climate of the times and a new writing method, Russian Circles created their most fuming and focused work to date—an album that favors the exorcism of two years’ worth of tension over the melancholy and restraint that often colored their past endeavors. Website · Facebook · Instagram
Liana Flores
“This record is the story of the country girl moving to the city,” Liana Flores says. “It’s bossa nova meets pop, inspired by the people, relationships and glamour of city life.” Since the release of her acclaimed 2024 debut album Flower of the Soul, British-Brazilian singer-songwriter Liana Flores has been at the forefront of a bossa nova revival. Drawing on the ’60s sound of genre pioneers like João Gilberto alongside pop songwriting, Flores combines the dual aspects of her cultural heritage to create an emotive sound. Following extensive tour dates across North America, Asia, and Europe, Flores now returns with a new EP, And so it goes…, that expands her palette to encompass the playful and ebullient experiences of moving from her rural hometown in Norfolk to St. Andrews before coming to London. The result is a six-track collection that shifts between the finger-picked guitar and gossamer bossa vocals of “So it goes,” the upbeat funk inflections of the heavy-grooving love song “So Mysterious,” the Carole King-influenced folk storytelling of “Here to Stay,” and the sprightly, glittering pop melodies of “Silvershoes.” “These songs were informed by my experiences living in the city and touring for the first time. I grew up and studied in small towns with nature in my surroundings, so that’s what came naturally in terms of lyrics. With So it goes, the lyrics are more centred on human connection, and I wanted to explore a part of my identity that’s more playful and matter-of-fact. I also wanted to challenge myself to write songs with strong melodies that would be fun to sing or to get ready to.” Raised by an immigrant Brazilian mother and British father in East Anglia, Flores first began learning music while listening to ’80s and ’90s bossa nova artists like Bebel Gilberto and Leila Pinheiro alongside Top 40 pop radio. In her late teens, she picked up a guitar and started emulating finger-picked bossa nova guitar chords by ear, first covering Tom Jobim standards, then writing her own songs combining the bossa guitar style with her own introspective lyrics, expressing loneliness, self-doubt, and endurance. “Music is the way I best communicate and connect with the world, through the listener, collaboration with fellow musicians, and the guidance of my musical forbears. I’m particularly drawn to the use of sophisticated harmonic structures in popular song – Tom Jobim, Kate Bush, Stevie Wonder and Brian Wilson were early inspirations.” Debut EP The Water’s Fine! was released in 2018, while ensuing 2019 EP Recently delved deeper into Flores’ current reimagining of Brazilian singer-songwriting with its combination of syncopated melodies and warm vocal harmony. EP track “rises the moon” became a surprise hit, picking up traction across TikTok and social media in 2021, although by that point Flores had decided to take a break from making music and focus on her degree instead. Bandcamp · Instagram · YouTube · Spotify
HARBOUR
Since their formation in 2014, HARBOUR has gone from packing rooms in their native Cincinnati, to selling out venues across the United States. Members Ryan Green (vocals/guitar), Jarett Lewis (guitar), Zack Lemons (guitar), Ryan Sulken (drums), and Devon Turner (bass) have curated an infectious high energy sound that transfers seamlessly into their live shows. During their tenure as a group, HARBOUR has delivered 5 full length albums – the latest of which, entitled Great, Big, Insignificant, was released in October 2025 after much anticipation. After supportings artists such as Bilmuri & Wilderado, HARBOUR successfully completed their first multinational headline tour in 2025. With more shows on the way in celebration of the new album, and even more music in the works, the band’s future is sure to be anything but insignificant. Website
The Hails – Duckpond Tour
Following a string of encounters too strange to be coincidence, Robbie Kingsley, Franco Solari, Dylan McCue and Zach Levy came together to form The Hails. Despite first playing in an insular Miami high school music scene, the band officially formed at the University of Florida in Gainesville, turning the tattered carpeting and beer bottle lined shelves of their shitty college house into a distinct, refined sound that is now synonymous with their name. After graduation, the group made the pilgrimage back to their home of Miami, the city that directly influenced the sound of their early shimmering singles “Younger” and “Stay,” debut EP He Seems Upset (2020), and the subsequent Alive in Strange Ways (2021).After releasing their debut album What’s Your Motive (2023) and gaining international praise, The Hails have created their own unique style of collaboration with band members living in Miami, DC and Brooklyn. Recent highlights of the road include holding court at festivals like Governors Ball, III Points and Okeechobee, interspersed between sold-out headline shows and tour support for The Revivalists, Quarters, The Beaches, flipturn and the moss. This year will see The Hails back out on the road as they ready for the release of their second full-length album later this year. Instagram · Facebook · TikTok · YouTube · Spotify
The Tubs
Upon arriving in the United States for The Tubs’ first tour of the country, frontman Owen Williams told The New Yorker, “We’re here to unite the country. We’re gonna come, like, three times. By that point, I think this place will start healing.” Then, joyously, they did just that, piling into a van and criss-crossing the States, bringing their literary, bleary-eyed, world-weary, night-of-your-life highwire act to the masses when it was needed most. Along the way, they signed to Merge Records, who will release The Tubs’ third full-length album, Hard Life, on September 11, 2026. The Tubs have never lacked for ambition — on Hard Life, theirs is to complicate the Tub-ullar experience. Having perfected their sound across two albums and hundreds of shows, the London-based Celtic jangle boyband — Williams (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass), Dan Lucas (guitar), Taylor Stewart (drums), and Max Warren (bass) — push themselves even further into the shimmering heart of virtuosic indie rock. They’re joined by frequent collaborators Lan McArdle (vocals), George Nicholls (guitar), and Rachel Kenedy (keyboards), all of whom have orbited various Tubs and Gob Nation-adjacent efforts dating back to Joanna Gruesome, but the secret to Hard Life’s lushness is the addition of fiddle player Chris Haigh, an instructor and session musician who left an indelible mark on British pop on Steps’ “5, 6, 7, 8.” Mirroring Williams’ use of trilling on vocal melodies, Haigh’s fiddle shades the vocalist’s rueful croon like a bruise. On “Stoop to Me,” the folkiest, jangliest pop song on the album, Haigh’s licks complement Williams at his most self-deprecating, the lopsided smile of a guy trying not to let on how wounded he is in unrequited love. On album opener and title track “Hard Life,” it’s the sweetness of the ascending fiddle lines in the mix that weds the harshness of Williams’ lyrics to The Tubs’ fist-pumping anthemics. The hard line Williams takes here and elsewhere on Hard Life further troubles one’s idea of a Tubs song. The persona familiar to listeners of Cotton Crown and Dead Meat — to quote Williams, “navel gazing about romantic abjection, London squalor, and the indignities of grief and OCD” — is still present, but so too is a second voice, steelier and more experienced. “The second persona doesn’t have much time for the first,” Williams explains, “often haranguing him for his self-indulgence and immaturity; sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly.” It’s the scold who takes center stage on lead single “Who’s Gonna Love You Now?” His questions, from the titular one to more concrete concerns like “Who’s gonna pay the rent?” existing in mocking opposition to ideas like moving to the city and really starting to live. Though Williams plays the crank, the song is a raver, guitars ringing out over an organ-brightened horizon. “It’s your life,” Williams sings, the life chugging away beneath him sounding exceptionally keen. He wouldn’t have much sympathy for the lovelorn Williams of “If You Don’t Love Me” — hell, his whole existence seems like a warning that the kinds of romantic entanglements one suffers when they’re young will end in loneliness, failure, and an inbox choked with unread Substacks. Linktree · Instagram · Facebook · Bandcamp · Substack
Karina Rykman – Late Checkout Tour 2026
Karina Rykman plays bass, sings, jumps around, and laughs a lot. In doing so, she has garnered rare attention and avid listenership. Straddling the worlds of jam rock and indie pop drenched in psychedelia, Karina’s effervescent presence comes to life in musical form. Born & raised in New York City, Karina Rykman’s musical path began in her early teens playing in bands whenever she could while attending a veritable ton of live music as a fan. By the end of her senior year at NYU, Rykman’s virtuoso talent & infectious spirit saw her invited to join pianist Marco Benevento’s band (as recommended by Ween bassist Dave Dreiwitz), with whom she’s performed countless shows including dates with Vulfpeck, Dispatch, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, & many more. Rykman soon formed her own namesake band, accompanied by Adam November (guitar, loopers, effects) and Chris Corsico (drums). She quickly earned a reputation as an unmissable live act – a bombastic exposition that floats freely between dreamy indie pop and thick, distorted rock – with “fun” as its guiding light. Tearing up sold out headline performances to ravenous fans, show-stealing festival performances (including Bonnaroo, Peach Music Festival, and Sweetwater 420 Fest), opening for Khruangbin, My Morning Jacket, the Tedeschi Trucks Band (+ many more), plus recent appearances in the house band on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, Karina stays busy. Rykman released her debut album, JOYRIDE via AWAL in August 2023. Written & recorded with childhood friend and producer Gabe Monro, the album serves as a vivid canvas for Rykman’s vibrant expression & chameleonic songcraft. JOYRIDE features Trey Anastasio as co-producer & featured musician, contributing guitar on five of the album’s nine tracks. The bassist/vocalist’s concerts are often packed with fans who feel more like friends—a testament to her undeniable charisma and her embrace of the live music community—and that circle continues to expand at alarming rates. Website · Facebook · Instagram
The Wldlfe
The Wldlfe, comprised of Jansen Hogan, Carson Hogan, & Jack Crane, entered into the independent scene in 2016 with their smash EP “New, 2016” and have continued to grow one the most steadfast fanbases around through their consistent releases and relentless appetite for touring. An electrifying live act, The Wldlfe has toured sold-out shows across North America in 2023, 2024, and 2025 while cultivating an audience hungry for more. Frontman Jansen Hogan’s magnetic stage presence and infectious charisma, paired with the skillful instrumentation of Carson Hogan and Jack Crane, leave fans with unforgettable experience. With over 100 million global streams to date, The Wldlfe released the Deluxe version of their highest streaming project yet, Heaven is a place, 2024. Website · Instagram · Facebook · Spotify · YouTube · TikTok