Microwave 

Let’s Start Degeneracy is the long-awaited new album from Microwave, and it’s an enormous, gentle, enveloping introduction to what will be explored: life and death, happiness and freedom, the real and unreal. The fourth full-length record from Atlanta’s Microwave is a trip that begins with the misty synth strikes and cosmic transmission warbles of “Portals,” before hazy, dripping-wet guitar chords settle in. The song, an adaptation of the traditional Christian hymn “Softly and Tenderly,” is true to its new name, as liminal and fleeting as it is gripping and emotional.

It’s an emo record, but perhaps only categorically speaking. It contains multitudes: ambient, pop, R&B, punk, and experimental sounds float in and out of one another as the record moves through scenes, experiences, and feelings, all of them rippling with a purity of intention and translation that mark the best artistic works of “psychedelia.” Vocalist/guitarist/producer Nathan Hardy, bassist Tyler Hill, and drummer Timothy Pittard have created something that resembles a concept record, but it’s the sort of concept that’s impossible to contain in just one phrase or word or sound.

The record’s title, taken from a conservative politician’s take on drugs in 1970, captures this liberated spirit. There are no rules, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. “It’s about letting go of attachments and behaviors that aren’t serving you, and trying to shake off your programming and not be motivated by fear and guilt and shame,” says Hardy.

Microwave wrote the songs for Let’s Start Degeneracy over a four-year period beginning in 2019, going through waves of static then bursts of energy. They recorded the bulk of it in Hardy’s Atlanta apartment, where they spent plenty of time rummaging through samples, effects, and plugins to augment, distort, and tweak the soundscapes on the record. Drums and additional layers were laid down in Nashville with Jeremy Ferguson, and in East Point, Georgia with Travis Hill. Josh Wilbur (Korn, Bad Religion) mixed, and Brad Blackwood (Maroon 5, Lamb of God) mastered.

“Circling the Drain” was the first taste of this new era, released in April 2022. It’s more classic Microwave: clean guitar chords emerge from a cloud of exhaled breath, and the song slowly builds to cavernous depths and tidal heaviness with gorgeous, gritty production flourishes. Two others, the swimming, synth-driven “Ferrari” and the bright, stoned summer strummer “Straw Hat,” have since been released, expanding the borders of the band’s playing field.

The title track is where things really start to get weird. Over a psychotropic beat that Hardy stitched together, a synth sub bass throbs throughout and the vocals wander through an existential plane. By the time the streaking, brain-bloom guitar bends hit after the first chorus, we’re already well and happily lost in some other dimension, each texture and sound a delicious new sensation. The piano-led “Huperzine Dreams” unravels over philosophical commentary with a nod to Huperzine-A, the naturally-derived supplement that some people use to facilitate lucid dreaming. “That’s one of the wide variety of nü-tropic supplements that Tito and I have been experimenting with over the last several years,” says Hardy.

Free Throw

As far as they explore, Microwave are never far from their roots though. “Bored of Being Sad” is a Much Love-era demo that Hardy revisited over the years until it reached its final form here. It’s a perfect slice of what people have come to love and expect from the band: anthemic and guitar-forward, a perfect chemical balance between emo and pop-punk.

From start to finish, Let’s Start Degeneracy marks a liberated new chapter for Microwave, one unbound by realities other than their own. Let’s Start Degeneracy is out now via Pure Noise, releasing on April 26.

Since forming in 2012, FREE THROW’s story has been simple: keep going. New records, longer tours, bigger rooms – it’s always been another step upward for the Nashville-based quintet, whose 2014 debut, Those Days Are Gone, has become an era-defining classic in the emo-punk genre, launching them onto global tours with Hot Mulligan and New Found Glory and slots at Slam Dunk, Riot Fest, and The Fest. Every milestone has pushed them ahead, but on their sixth LP, Moments Before The Wind (Wax Bodega), that constant charge gradually slows, suspended mid-step, mid-thought, mid-life.

Recorded with longtime producer Brett Romnes on either end of the sold-out Those Days Are Gone 10-year tour, the follow-up to 2023’s Lessons That We Swear To Keep chronicles a surrealist descent into liminality: a period of intense personal upheaval colored by loss, renewal, reflection, and, ultimately, life-altering joy through the impending birth of a child. The 11-song set is disarmingly real, colored by sonic spontaneity—a swirl of Midwest emo, sweat-soaked punk fervor, and crashing alternative rock—but also the sort of achingly vulnerable lyricism fans and critics have come to expect from the band. Through it all, Moments finds Free Throw still moving, still growing, but now, perhaps more than ever, acutely aware that the path ahead is neither straight nor obvious. There’s a quiet confidence guiding them there into a brand-new era, ready for whatever the wind blows their way.

Carly Cosgrove 

Rising from the fiercely DIY Philadelphia underground, CARLY COSGROVE graft achingly vulnerable lyrics atop a bed of mathy rhythms, intricate guitar work and a penchant for indie-rock cool meets emo authenticity. Their debut album, 2022’s See You In Chemistry, was the sound of figuring life out in real time, tracing personal growth through anxiety, depression, and self-actualization – heavy subjects for a band originally formed as a low-stress side-project stopgap in 2018.

“Every record feels like me answering the question, ‘How are you doing?’” says singer/guitarist Lucas Naylor. “I don’t know much, but I know myself better than basically anything else.”

That quest for the answers to life’s big questions is once again front and center on the band’s second album, THE CLEANEST OF HOUSES ARE EMPTY, as Naylor, bassist Helen Barsz and drummer Tyler Kramer find themselves face to face with the chronic emotional struggles of life in the modern age.

From the stop-start polyrhythms of first single “You Old Dog” and garage-rock sheen of “Random Dancing” and “What Are You, A Cop,” which sounds like Motion City Soundtrack filtering “Everlong” through their idiosyncratic rock tilt, The Cleanest Of Houses is the type of record Carly Cosgrove simply couldn’t have made last time – not musically, and certainly not emotionally. They needed to live, through hard touring and harder life experiences. ~ Evan Lucy.

Flycatchcer

Flycatcher have been working toward this moment and this sound for a long time. Formed in 2017 in New Jersey, the band has spent years touring nationally with Say Anything, Oso Oso, Slow Joy, Foxing, and Casey, and after releasing Stunt (Memory Music) in 2023, They’re set to release their debut LP, Wrench, on October 24. Wrench, a 10-track collection written and recorded between the band’s own sessions and Will Yip’s Studio 4, threads anthemic emo-twang with alt-punk energy and rootsy country-tinged croon, drawing on late ’90s/early 2000s influences while anchoring them in New Jersey’s distinct regional sound. Led by Greg Pease, with Justin VanNiekerk, Jack Delle Cava, and Matteo DeBenedetti, the record explores the late-20s/early-30s rollercoaster of unfulfilled aspirations, memory’s fragility, and the stubborn pull to keep moving forward. Wrench is out October 24 on Memory Music.

At The Water Tower 

Call it roots. Call it Americana. Call it bluegrass-adjacent. We call it an opportunity to connect with people on a higher level, sharing songs, sharing pain and sharing joy. Every show is a chance to be a part of something bigger if even for just a moment. At The Watertower is a hard driving string band of sorts that engages the crowd, invites them in and creates opportunities for involvement, connection, community and good times.  

Althea's Secret 

Althea's Secret is a Taos-based band blending indie folk, roots, and desert psychedelia to create intimate, sun-soaked soundscapes. The group weaves Southwestern mystique with lyrical storytelling, drawing inspiration from the high desert landscape, night skies, and everyday wonder. They’ve earned a devoted local following with cathartic live performances, shimmering guitar harmonies, and rich vocal harmonies. Their music speaks to small-town dreams, timeless moments, and the magic tucked between the mountains and the desert.

Jason Leech 

Jason Leech is a keyboardist, producer, and composer based out of Louisville, KY who performs live triple keyboard flips over a variety of electronic beats. Jason has been studying, performing, and teaching music for most of his life and his approach to performing is to change the way people experience pianos and electronic music. In 2014, Jason began experimenting with his own style of music by playing the piano over his original remixes of his favorite EDM songs. Combining all of what made him feel alive, Jason recorded and uploaded his performances, which immediately received positive feedback from fans and the original artists who created the music he remixed. His videos have been uploaded by artists such as Excision, Zeds Dead, Rezz, RL Grime, NGHTMRE, Illenium , Alison Wonderland, Dj Diesel, and many more of his influences. Since he debuted his live EDM keyboard set in 2017, Jason has supported GRiZ, Galantis, Big Gigantic, CloZee and more on stages as big as Red Rocks Amphitheater; along with festivals like Electric Forest, Hulaween, Envision, Summer Camp, and 100s more.

Josh Teed

Josh Teed is a versatile, classically trained, and technical musician. His productions pay tribute to some of his electronic influences such as Charlesthefirst, CloZee, and Govinda while still remaining unique and properly showcasing his vast expertise in instrumentalism.

He picked up the violin at the tender age of 3 years old, going on to win the Florida Fiddle Championship at 9. His live sets incorporate violin, didgeridoo, and live analog synthesis overlaid on top of every element of a great DJ set, keeping listeners engaged and entranced for every second he has on the stage

Lil Fish

Lil Fish is a French DJ and electronic music producer whose sonic universe continues to expand over the years. He skillfully navigates between tracks tailored for the dancefloor—driven by powerful, melodious, and organic bass music—and more introspective, mid-tempo compositions that immerse the listener in dark, raw, and emotionally deep atmospheres.

What truly sets Lil Fish apart is his unique ability to blend modern rhythms with traditional sounds from Asia or Eastern Europe. This fusion invites us on a genuine mystical and sensory journey, oscillating between light and darkness, tribal energy and meditative reverie.

Alborosie

Reggae’s now gone beyond race and nationality, just like Rastafari. It’s Jamaica’s gift to the world and Planet Earth loves it – not just for those irrepressible rhythms, but what the music stands for. It’s therefore no surprise to learn that fifty years after its birth, reggae’s current elite includes a singer from Sicily – one turned Jamaican national, and whose artistry has continued to grow and develop with every release.

His latest album Sound The System is a real landmark. In addition to his talents as a singer and deejay, Alborosie writes the majority of his own material and plays virtually everything we hear on his records. He’s the modern-day Renaissance man – a global citizen who demonstrates mastery of traditional reggae whilst pointing the way forward for himself and the genre. Evoking classics of old, his music doesn’t just sound great; it has meaning. Alborosie may not be Jamaican by birth, yet he promotes reggae music in its truest sense. With dreadlocks almost touching the floor, he’s a proud Rastafarian armed with rebel philosophy, yet there’s a celebratory air to his music that’s impossible to resist at times.

Innastate

Innastate is formed around the core, Adrian Wall of Jemez Pueblo (guitar/vocal), Rylan Kabotie of Santa Clara Pueblo/Jicarilla Apache (bass/vocal), and Lawrence Bailon of Santa Clara Pueblo/Kewa Pueblo (drums). Innasate's lineup expands for live performances, utilizing such talents as Romeo C. Alonzo (alto sax) and Delbert Anderson (trumpet) to name a few!
The band released their debut self-titled EP in April of 2015 to wide acclaim and a growing fan base that earned the group Artist of the Month by RockwiredMagazine.com and the 2016 Rockwired Reader’s poll award for Best Performance by an American Indian/First Nations Band or Artist. In 2016 Innastate was nominated for "Best Reggae Song" by the New Mexico Music Awards. In 2019, The Native American Music Awards recognized Innastate as the “Debut Duo/Group of the Year!”

Crafted after a rigorous live performance schedule following their first EP release, the band's evolving sound and songwriting is showcased on their debut full length CD, “Verde”, released September 2018.

Innastate has shared the stage with reggae greats The Wailers, Native Roots, Tribal Seeds, Pato Banton, Nahko, The Green, The Hu, Natural Vibrations, Stick Figure, Common Kings, The Mad Caddies, Black Uhuru, Jesse Royal, Fishbone, Through the Roots, The Meditations, New Kingston, Ballyhoo and Abstract Rude.