She’s Green
Likened to a soft summer rain, she’s green is a Minneapolis-based dream-inducer composed of vocalist Zofia Smith, guitarists Liam Armstrong and Raines Lucas, bassist Teddy Nordvold, and drummer Kevin Seebeck. The band has played many shows throughout the Midwest and East Coast, sharing bills with acts such as Hotline TNT, Glixen, Friko, and more. The Star Tribune recommends bringing “earplugs and maybe a tissue for their set.” They initially received recognition through their first two released singles, “river” and “smile again”, both recorded and mixed at home. A raw emotional intensity shines through their honest and explorative songwriting process. After the release of their debut EP Wisteria, they were named one of First Avenue’s Best New Bands of 2023. In April of 2024, they got the most votes from industry professionals for MPR station The Current’s first annual Scouting Report Poll of the top rising artists in Minnesota.
Violenteer
GOON
We always think we have a plan. We will walk into a situation with a purpose and an idea, only to find that life has other things in store for us. Goon frontman and creative mastermind, Kenny Becker, had a record’s worth of new songs ready to record, studio time booked, and a vision for how it would all play out. But weeks into the recording, life hit him like a lightning bolt in the form of the sudden dissolution of his marriage and his subsequent psychic spiral. Blindsided by heartbreak, the music Becker had written for the record began to take on new meaning. What had come from joy was now something closer to agony. In the friction of that moment, Becker pushed his band—and his songwriting—into stranger territory. Facing down the pain and disappointment of life, the band created a masterpiece with their new album, Dream 3. Goon began in 2015 as singer and multi-instrumentalist, Kenny Becker’s, solo project, releasing a compilation of his best home recordings, the 2016 EP Dusk of Punk. With a full band in tow, Goon released the band’s first full-length, 2019’s Heaven is Humming on Partisan Records. Becker recruited a new band—Andy Polito on drums, Dillon Peralta on guitar, and Tamara Simons on bass—and recorded the self-released Paint By Numbers 1. A second LP, Hour of Green Evening, soon followed, as well as another EP, Red Ladder, in 2022. To support Hour of Green Evening, Goon hit the road hard, touring and playing shows with Built to Spill, Jadu Heart, Slow Pulp, Teethe, Squirrel Flower, and many others. In the midst of all this, the band signed with Philadelphia label Born Losers and began recording their next LP with Claire Morison at Wild Horizon Sound in Los Angeles. Dream 3 melds the intimate, lo-fi stylings of Goon with the live-band sound of Hour of Green Evening; a veteran band exploring every aspect of their sound, pushing themselves into new musical and emotional realms. The result is an often darker, more introspective album, built on personal loss and the chaotic crumbling of the outside world, without losing Goon’s signature sense of strangeness and wonder. Weaving lyrics about personal and ecological collapse with references to baseball, aliens, and Tony Soprano, the record expands Goon’s sound while holding close to the core identity of the band. Dream 3 offers an exquisitely crafted sonic world, one full of heartbreak and pain, but also brimming with color and life, the hope of better days to come. Dream 3 is a startling progression for Goon, a record filled with pain and heartbreak, yes, but healing as well. For all the imagery of death and decay, it’s also suffused with light—“lace light,” “half light,” “light through an orb weaver,” “morning light,” “microwave light, “flashlight,” “sunlight.” It’s the light that makes things happen, causes plants to grow, sets the world alive. And it’s in the light we find ourselves changing, in our fiercest struggles and in our quiet moments, always on the verge of becoming something new again. Dream 3, with its pain and troubled beginning, is a testament to the slow work of the light cutting through even the darkest places.
Wake Sessions
Wake Sessions is from Omaha, NE. Mixing electronic and rock sounds together. A sound that fans of all genres can enjoy.
Rosali
North Carolina-based artist Rosali makes songs that take their time in revealing their full power. What might first appear to be restrained, introspective compositions will stretch slowly outward, snagging your attention with a subtly sideways guitar lead or an exceptionally raw lyric you didn’t catch the first time around. A child of two musicians, Rosali grew up as part of a large family that sang together and taught themselves various instruments, finding the earliest forms of her musical voice harmonizing and making up songs with her sisters. As an adult, Rosali merged this musical upbringing with an active involvement in Philly’s experimental and D.I.Y. community. Her 2016 solo debut Out of Love was released on Siltbreeze, a long-running label that champions abstract noise and challenging listening. While Rosali’s earliest work was far nearer to folk-informed rock than harsh sonics, it held an intensity of its own in its strange angles and unexpected vulnerability. Second album Trouble Anyway expanded on the debut with clearer production and more involved arrangements. A host of friends from Philly’s freak scene contributed to the album, including appearances from ambient harpist/pianist Mary Lattimore, Purling Hiss/Birds of Maya shredder Mike Polizze, glistening lap-steel from Mike Sobel, understated percussion from War On Drugs drummer Charlie Hall, and several others. Trouble Anyway brought Rosali a new level of exposure, with a flood of positive critical press and tours supporting acts like The Weather Station and J Mascis. Along with her solo work, Rosali’s output has materialized as a broad spectrum of disparate collaborations, including the hypnotic garage trio Long Hots, slow-burning psych scrawl in duo Monocot with Cloud Nothings drummer Jayson Gerycz, and Wandering Shade, a three guitar improv act with Headroom’s Kryssi Battalene and Thrill Jockey artist Sarah Louise. Aspects of the more free-floating side of Rosali’s oeuvre inform her songwriting process, with songs often emerging from the ether of lengthy improvisation sessions, new ideas congealing through a boundless exploration of possibilities. Brought to life with help from Omaha’s David Nance Group as the backing band, 2021’s song-centered No Medium was a sharply realized example of Rosali’s distinctive synthesis of metered songwriting and unfettered searching. Around the same time, she offered a completely separate side of her craft with cassette release Chokeweed, a collection of auburn-hued solo guitar improvisations. She followed that in 2023 with the acclaimed improvisational guitar album Variable Happiness released under the moniker Edsel Axle. In whatever form it takes, Rosali’s softly glowing music is malleable and deceptively fluid, able to appear patient and refined or at the edge of unraveling depending on how closely you chose to look. Bite Down, Rosali’s new album made in collaboration with Omaha’s finest David Nance, James Schroeder, and Kevin Donahue, and Destroyer collaborator, Ted Bois released March 22, 2024 on Merge Records.
French Police
Formed in Chicago, French Police is a darkwave ensemble led by vocalist and guitarist Brian Flores, lead guitarist Manny Herrera, and bassist Rolando Donjuan. Since 2019, their music has encapsulated indie and post-punk audiences with rhythmic guitar & synths, proving to be melancholic dance music for the passionate and romantic. Riki is the Los Angeles based dark synth-pop outfit commandeered by the mysterious Niff Nawor, a visual artist and musician active in the deathrock / anarcho-punk scenes of the California bay area (formerly a member of Crimson Scarlet), before founding her solo endeavor as Riki in 2017.
Clayton Ryan
Amanda DeBoer Bartlett & Ben Eisenberger
Amanda DeBoer Bartlett Amanda DeBoer Bartlett is a Chicago-based soprano and singer-songwriter recognized for her virtuosic interpretations of contemporary classical repertoire and her adventurous approach to programming. Her debut album of original songs, The Bones Still Glow, was released in February of 2023, and her sophomore album, Braided Together, will be released in June 2025. Along with her solo work, DeBoer is a member of Ensemble Dal Niente, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and Hasco Duo. More info at www.amandadeboer.com Fiddle In The Middle Fiddle In The Middle formed in 2021 during a tour of the southwest and west coast states when the players instantly recognized their unique and infectious synergy as a group. The band members are based in the Chicagoland area and draw inspiration from deep roots and fresh interpretations of Irish, Celtic, and world music. Fiddle In The Middle brings you the energy and emotion of traditional Irish folk music, played with passion, heart, and irrepressible joy! www.fiddleinthemiddle.band Ben Eisenberger Ben Eisenberger is a guitarist and songwriter based out of Omaha, Nebraska. Most recently focused on writing and releasing original folk songs, Ben has also played in bands of various genres, and also plays guitar for several musical theater productions every year.
nightlife
Dubbed “one of the most exciting bands in the alternative scene right now” by MTV, nightlife tests rock music’s boundaries by weaponizing retrofuturism, golden-era soul, and modern rock sensibilities to make a soulpunk sound that drips with groove, catharsis, and swagger. the band burst onto the alt underground in 2021 with a thesis statement in “new low,” a rose-colored, disco-tinged take on the thick, bottom-heavy post-hardcore popularized by bands like Issues, Sleep Token, and Bad Omens in the late 2010s. every song they’ve released since has sent a shockwave through the rock & r&b communities, seamlessly blending different forms of current r&b and soul into their ever-evolving sound & leading Kerrang! Magazine to call them “one of the artists shaping rock music right now.” The band has quickly built a reputation as a show-stopping live act, bringing their unique approach to tours with the likes of Rain City Drive, Outline in Color, FOXCULT, and more. powered by guitarists Julian Lofton (he/him) & Dan Macon’s (he/him) fluid basslines and drummer Isaiah Walker’s (he/him) pocket-based beats, nightlife’s rhythmic backbone meets vocalist Hansel Romero’s (they/them) dynamic style and experimental production to create music that feels alive – that scratches an itch only nightlife can.
Diva Bleach
Diva Bleach is a “sparkly pop-rock” duo consisting of bassist/vocalist Sydney Roten and Brie Ritter from Phoenix, Arizona. Wearing their hearts on their sleeves, Diva Bleach shares stories of heartbreak, loss, friendship and more through their music. Music has always been an important part of their lives, taking music lessons at the same school and then ultimately teaming up to create Diva Bleach in 2021. The band has appeared at Zona Fest on the main stage with Portugal, The Man and has played alongside bands such as The Front Bottoms, Poolkids, Twin XL, Sundressed and more. The duo has now joined the InVogue Records family and are set to tour this spring with Young Rising Sons and 44 Blonde, and will be on the Sad Summer Festival tour this summer.
