Into The Fog

Into The Fog is a psychedelic jamgrass band from Raleigh, North Carolina that combines timeless songwriting with progressive instrumentation and tight harmonies. The group consists of Winston Mitchell (mandolin), Derek Lane (upright bass), and Connor Kozlosky (guitar), with everyone contributing on vocals. The band’s members have varied musical backgrounds that range from bluegrass to funk, which helps create Into The Fog’s genre-jumping sound. The band has released three studio albums and two live records. Their latest, Carolina Moon released in August of 2024, expands upon their latest sounds incorporating collaborative songwriting, improvised jams, and a focus on harmony. Live shows are a keystone of the Into The Fog experience, as the band expands songs to highlight their instrumental prowess and push the boundaries of the newgrass sound. . Into The Fog has shared the stage with the likes of Sam Bush, Keller & The Keels, Town Mountain, Daniel Donato, Arkansauce, Shadowgrass, Big Richard, and The Grass Is Dead. No strangers to the festival scene, Into The Fog has played FloydFest, Rooster Walk, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Charleston Bluegrass Festival, Earl Scruggs Music Festival, The Big What? and more. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok

Lutalo

Lutalo’s highly visceral folk goes electric on The Academy, the Vermont multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer’s debut LP. Recorded in January 2024 at the storied Sonic Ranch and co-produced alongside Jake Aron (Snail Mail, Protomartyr, L’Rain), The Academy feels like watching the best underground film you’ve seen in years; establishing Lutalo as a singular voice of this generation of indie rock. Lutalo describes The Academy as their “first chapter” – a time capsule of the lessons they’ve learned in their 20-something years of life. “This record is exactly that: a ‘record’ of my early life,” they say of their debut album, out via Winspear. “The experiences, thoughts and feelings I was holding at those times and am currently processing. To me, this is the first big stamp of my existence I’m sharing.” While Lutalo’s 2022 EP Once Now, Then Again introduced them as a lo-fi acoustic guitar wunderkind, The Academy is bigger and bolder without compromising Lutalo’s inviting sense of emotional intimacy, inspired by alt-rock veterans like Thom Yorke and Rob Crow as well as electronic greats like Aphex Twin and Bowery Electric. The Academy’s grander arrangements are heard in the biting adrenaline rush of “Ocean Swallows Him Whole,” or the anti-war jangle of album closer “The Bed.” Their lyrics are often deeply intuitive, flowing as a stream of consciousness, albeit with weighty meanings. With their unique baritone and finesse for lyrical world building, Lutalo cuts to the bone–while only just beginning to reveal the depth of their artistry and vision. Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | YouTube

Arts Fishing Club

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Max Frost

Growing up can be a funny thing. The older you get, the more freedom you enjoy. As such, you can act more like a kid (when appropriate, of course!). Max Frost walks a fine line between exhibiting childlike excitement during the creative process as a producer and multi-instrumentalist and lyrically embracing a tried-and-tested perspective as a seasoned songwriter. As such, the Austin, TX-born and Nashville, TN-based sonic outlier breaks the rules (and the walls) between sounds and vibes, delivering a fiery, fascinating, and free interpretation of what pop music can be in the 21st century. On the heels of hundreds of millions of streams, sold out shows, and praise courtesy of Variety, NPR, Rolling Stone, and many more, this balance defines his debut for Nettwerk Music Group, Shelby Ave Pt. 1 EP. “In my life, I feel more like an adult than I’ve ever felt, but musically I’m more like a kid than ever,” he affirms. “I stopped worrying about creative consequences and over-projecting expectation or concern into the world. It’s freed me up in a great way. I’m able to make what I want to make because I’m writing for myself. I’ve done that in the past, but there are less complications and obstacles now.” As a kid in Austin, Max grabbed a guitar at the age of eight and never put it down. He achieved his first taste of virality with “White Lies” and “Adderall,” paving the way for his full-length debut Gold Rush in 2018. The standout “Good Morning” scored a slew of syncs, including Pepsi, ESPN, CBS, Shameless, Grey’s Anatomy, The War With Grandpa, and American Idol. He emerged as the rare presence who could share the stage with either Gary Clark, JR. and Fitz and The Tantrums or Panic! At The Disco and Twenty One Pilots. Between packing headline shows, he delivered show-stopping performances on Good Morning America and Live! With Kelly and Ryan. He even found himself in the studio with none other than Sir Elton John. 2022 saw him elevate again with the Flying Machines EP. Atwood Magazine praised the latter as “a freshly independent, free-spirited return that soars with irresistible energy, unbridled passion, and intimate, captivating wonder,” while American Songwriter applauded his “playful, poignant psychedelic pop fusion.” In the wake of the project, he escaped Los Angeles and put down roots in Nashville. He wrote and recorded in a house on Shelby Ave, hence the name of the EP, and creatively realized a vision all his own. “It’s like I’ve had nine lives in my career,” he admits. “Unlikely things outside of my control have happened and given me other opportunities or opened up completely different worlds. Of course, I needed to keep making music. More than ever before, this feels like a new chapter. It’s a philosophical change. Everything is new and on my own terms.” This energy courses through the first single “Creep Back.” A thumping upright piano melody sets the tempo as a slick bass line and bold beat move in lockstep with one another. Max’s hypnotic high register takes hold on the hook, “I hate the way you creep back in my mind. Don’t you know it happens all the time, and I get so lonely, lonely babe.” Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | TikTok

The Hard Quartet

The Hard Quartet… … is a band. But what is a band? A band, perhaps, can be thought of as a body, a corpus, in which physically discrete lifeforms comprise a chimera that shrieks with one voice. In this particular band, which is one of mil- lions in the world today, four players selflessly merge, become musical, and emit rock ‘n’ roll that is familiar but new, warm but icy, melodic but Sphinx-like in its seductive and subtle riddles… essentially, The Hard Quartet has leveled, cultivated, and made lush an entirely new steppe in the ecosystem of guitar-bass-drums-voice agriculture. But we should now introduce the men of the HQ because after that, since you know your shit, you’ll be all: “Him? Him too? And, oh my god, him? Wait, not just them but also him?” and you’ll, rightfully, expect an album that musos and casuals alike will proclaim a “landmark.” So, check it out: Let’s do this alphabetically according to last name, which is the most democratic method. Ladies and gentlemen, the Hard Quartet is: Emmett Kelly, a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist best known for his work in The Cairo Gang as well as in the company of artists such as Will Oldham, Ty Segall, Azita, and many more. Stephen Malkmus, a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist best known for his work with Pavement, the Jicks, Silver Jews, Straw Dogs, and eponymously. Matt Sweeney, a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist best known for his work with Chavez, Superwolf, Super- wolves, and in the company of a panoply of artists from Guided by Voices and Cat Power to Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond. Jim White, a drummer and songwriter best known for his work with Dirty Three, Xylouris White, eponymous- ly, and with such stalwarts as PJ Harvey, Smog, and Venom P. Stinger. Do you see? Four Titans, basically. And here they are, now, today, starting a band—a band which they’ve gone ahead and named The Hard Quartet, for Christ’s sake—which is a bulletproof, effortless amalgam of their completely distinct and completely broken-mold utterances. Perhaps, on the streets and the messageboards, you’ve heard rumors and mutterings about the death of rock. Maybe you’ve read a critical essay about it in an academic journal. We implore you to reject this crackpot theory propagated by unbelievers and philistines who haven’t listend to Danny & the Juniors once in their lives. The Hard Quartet, through its very existence and onward via its dedication to electrified reels, hymns, paeans, and rave-ups, is mathematical, empirical proof that human beings slashing at strings, pounding at skins, and opening their mouths to intone tuneful, mythic messages is here to stay. It will never die; we’ll dig it to the end. What follows is a selection of musings, aphorisms, and slogans of the HQ clergymen. Perhaps you’ll want to fold it up and keep it in your pocket for easy reference in times of rudderlessness. Think of it as a sort of Meditations for the soon-to-be faithful, an Aurelius for the audiophile, a peek through the stubborn skull into the pink bumps and grooves of the pulsating brain shared by Emmett, Stephen, Matt, and Jim—also known, from this day until the sun goes out, as The Hard Quartet. Website | Bandcamp

Moon Zooz: Too Many Zooz + Moon Hooch

Self-described “Brass House” trio Too Many Zooz make manically kinetic instrumental music that combines avant-garde jazz, EDM, punk rock, and sundry other traditions into their own distinctive brand of high-energy dance music. A viral sensation since they first emerged as New York subway buskers in 2013, Too Many Zooz have evolved into a globally recognized phenomenon who tour often and produce YouTube videos that have garnered millions of views. Formed in 2013 in New York City, Too Many Zooz features the talents of baritone saxophonist Leo “Leo P” Pellegrino, trumpeter Matt “Doe” Muirhead, and drummer David “King of Sludge” Parks. Pellegrino and Muirhead initially met while students at the Manhattan School of Music where they studied jazz. They eventually joined forces with percussionist Parks, whom Pellegrino had played with in a separate busking outfit. They began playing live at various New York subway stations and quickly attracted crowds with their aggressive instrumental sound and Pellegrino’s ability to dance and hype the audience like a DJ while playing. In 2014, a video of the band went viral and helped set the stage for the group’s meteoric rise. In 2016, the trio released their debut full-length album, Subway Gawdz, which featured guest spots from Kreayshawn, Armani White, members of Galactic, and Beats Antique. That same year they were featured on Beyonce’s Lemonade album, and performed with Beyonce and The Dixie Chicks at the CMA’s. Over the course of the next several years, Too Many Zooz continued to release EP’s and singles – including ZombiEP (2019), a concept album about a fictional band playing a music festival during a zombie outbreak, plus collaborations and remixes with The Floozies, Beats Antique, Spencer Ludwig, Moon Hooch, Dot Cromwell, Nitty Scott, Lester London, and RoRo. All of that set the stage for the band’s 2024 sophomore album Retail Therapy – a 13-song chronicle of auditory subway cinema that features appearances from Moon Hooch, Thumpasaurus, Lucky Chops, and Too Many T’s. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok Moon Hooch began busking in the subway platforms of NYC in 2010, quickly getting noticed by the NYPD, who had to ban them from locations that couldn’t handle the crowds. In a few short years they were opening for the likes of Beats Antique, They Might Be Giants, and Lotus, while selling out their own headline shows at marquee venues around the United States and Europe. Their unconventional sound and techniques, utilizing found objects like traffic cones, landed them appearances on NPR’s Tiny Desk in America, “Later…with Jools Holland” in the UK, “Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year” in Australia, and private audiences with the Premier League’s Chelsea F.C. They are currently touring the world. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok

John Vincent III

After touring his acclaimed, self-released 2019 debut album, Songs From the Valley, John Vincent III was ready for a bit of a break. Nearly four years later, the 27-year-old Nashville/Houston-based folk troubadour has distilled that once-in-a-lifetime experience into his beautiful and evocative sophomore full-length, Songs for the Canyon. Co-produced by Vincent with Tom Elmhirst (Adele, David Bowie), and featuring additional production from Tony Berg and Ryan Hadlock, Songs for the Canyon is a massive leap forward from a proudly DIY artist who has already built a diehard fan base on the strength of his heartfelt, stripped-down, classic folk sound. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube

2hollis

2hollis is a 20 year old producer, singer, composer and songwriter from Los Angeles by way of Chicago. He makes music in the experimental, rap, electronic and pop realm thus far. He shoots and edits most of his visuals alongside creating the art for his releases. The internet has blown up with his various songs already and he has begun to sell out his tours from North America to Europe including his moshpit inducing stint being chosen to open the Ken Carson North American tour recently. Pitchfork calls him “a remarkably distinctive, eagerly experimental savant whose sound never stalls or stagnates.” He is recently signed to Interscope Records. Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud