TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

"A RUPTURE A CANYON A BIRTH, the third album from Toronto’s Jane Inc., has a pulse rendered by the insistent self-possession that comes from being repeatedly and forcibly reminded of your own mortality. Written in the aftermath of a car accident, a vocal cord cancer diagnosis, and a breakup, it presents a journey of fragility, mortality, chance, clarity through collapse, and the erotic energy that can come in moments of deep stabilization. The more esoteric art-pop of Jane Inc. records past—2021’s Number One and 2022’s Faster Than I Can Take—has given itself over to a beat-forward, ‘80s disco shimmer because it had to: Bezic’s only way through this was across the surface of a dancefloor and a stage. Effervescent and adventurous, it operates under the foreboding assumption that in life, there are no guarantees. So what’s a girl to do? With this album, Jane Inc. says: meet me on the dancefloor.

Jane Inc. is the solo moniker of Carlyn Bezic, forged after years spent building bona fides in the Toronto music scene with groups like U.S. Girls, Darlene Shrugg and dance-pop duo Ice Cream. Pitchfork has described her as “an all-seeing art-pop auteur equally enamored with electro-disco and bossa nova, like a DIY Madonna who never left the Danceteria” and “a musical Swiss Army knife, capable of anything and revelling in her multiplicity." 2022’s Faster Than I Can Take was featured in SPIN, FADER, Pitchfork, Bandcamp Daily, and Stereogum, and described in TIME Magazine as “a gripping trip to pop’s frontier”. Stereogum described 2025’s A RUPTURE A CANYON A BIRTH as “both extremely fun and nakedly emotional” with Pitchfork rating it at 8.0, adding “Bezic’s glassy vocals seem braced for uncertain adventure, poised between melancholy and euphoria”. In her live show Bezic takes the conceptual edges of her work and pushes them with a physical abandon and “incredible presence, keeping the audience rapt even when she was just dancing hypnotically” (Brooklyn Vegan)."

TICKETS
DOORS 7 /MUSIC 8
Anniversary party for our newish neighbors FREAKOUT SPOT. A killer record store in the space that used to be Ollies slice shop.

FREAKOUT SPOT ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY!
Saturday, February 21 - Tubby’s - with:
Carnivorous Bells - (Philly)
Wes Tirey - (Asheville)
Aubrey Haddard - (Gardiner)

We are having a birthday party and everyone’s invited. Mark your calendars, experience sounds, and tip your bartenders.
7:00-11:00

Flyer by @mallory_anita

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
Music is in multi-instrumentalist and composer Cochemea Gastelum’s blood—he comes from a long line of musicians on both sides of his lineage. For over 25 years, Cochemea has built a distinct career as a soloist, section player, and composer/ arranger, collaborating with artists across genres— from his long tenure with Sharon Jones and the Dap- Kings to work with Kevin Morby, Run The Jewels, Jon Batiste, Amy Winehouse, The Roots, Archie Shepp, Mark Ronson, and Quincy Jones, among many others.

His forthcoming album on Daptone Records, Vol. 3: Ancestros Futuros, is the third volume in a series that includes All My Relations (2019) and Vol. 2: Baca Sewa (2021). Across his body of work, Cochemea interweaves the past, present, and future, engaging with time as speculative history— one that moves fluidly between memory and possibility.

For Vol. 3: Ancestros Futuros, he gathered a core group of longtime collaborators—a powerhouse octet of New York City percussionists and members of Daptone’s famed rhythm section. Gabriel Roth (aka Bosco Mann) returned as producer and mixing engineer, capturing the band live to 8-track analog tape. Accompanied by a 9-minute film mixed in Dolby Atmos, this volume also marks Cochemea’s evolution into visual storytelling.

Cochemea’s previous releases have been praised by DJs and critics alike. His Daptone debut, All My Relations, was a family reunion of sorts, uniting spirits, musicians, and melodies across time and place. Leading a nine-piece ensemble, he recombined ancient elements— drums, winds, and voice—into a deeply personal meditation on the interconnection of all things. Vol. 2: Baca Sewa directed this exploration into the archives of family history, mythology, and the cultural imaginary. Pitchfork called All My Relations “equal parts spiritual journey and irrepressible funk.” Mojo awarded the album four stars, noting “its message of harmony and oneness is universal,” while Downbeat described Vol. 2: Baca Sewa as “radiating like a flower from beginning to end.”

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

Dromedary Records presents: Moviola, Antietam, and Sleepyhead

Moviola: in support of their 11th album “Earthbound,” the Columbus, Ohio collective step on with a world-weary stride, making the most personal, direct and urgent music of their lives. Inbetween the cracks of the musical Rust Belt, Moviola has quietly produced an expansive catalog spanning everything from 4-track fuzz-pop to hi-fi country soul. Sounding less like their Columbus punk contemporaries and more like “Neil Young’s noisy nephews” (LA Weekly), “Earthbound” is the most realized, succinct and least ambiguous effort of their career.

Punk pioneers Antietam originally hail from Louisville, Kentucky, but have been based in New York since the late 1980s. Led by guitar hero Tara Key with bassist Tim Harris with drummer Josh Madell, they have a long and influential history, signing their first deal with Homestead Records after opening for Husker Du. One of the longest-running and most influential bands in American indie rock, they are currently working on their 12th studio album.

Sleepyhead was formed in a basement room at NYU’s Brittany dorm in the fall of 1989, releasing their first 7”, the Kramer-produced “Play,” in 1991. They’ve released records on Slumberland, Homestead, Sealed Fate and Carrot Top Records and have shared the stage with such legendary bands as Polvo, Half Japanese, Yo La Tengo, The Grifters, and many more. Now based in Boston, the country-tinged indie rock band is making their second appearance at Tubby’s and is sure to perform some material from their forthcoming LP.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

I hope you are hanging in there during these highly troubling times. In solidarity with immigrant and anti-fascist communities everywhere, we say "Fuck ICE" and the goons that enable this insanity. As a person who once lived in Minneapolis, it is heartbreaking to see this kind of thing going down. 

It sometimes feels weird to promote art in conditions that are extra trying, but art contributes to community, solidarity & hopefully some form of peace. We hope that you can find those things wherever you are.

If you are in the Hudson Valley, I'd like to alert you to the 30th installment of "So, What Do You Think?" at Tubby's in Kingston, New York on Sunday, March 1. This concert presents the music of Chicago-based saxophonist / clarinetist Keefe Jackson with bassist Luke Stewart (Irreversible Entanglements, SILT Trio, Blacks' Myths) and percussionist Mikel Patrick Avery (Natural Information Society, BASIC). This will be a powerful evening of improvised music that is not to be missed.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

Shoegaze from Hong Kong!

Lucid Express singer/synth player Kim Ho has escaped the clogged streets, blinding lights and noise of central Hong Kong to the region’s northern mountains. Heartbreak and disillusionment are on her heels.

In these mountains, in sight of both the Chinese border and the international city hub of Central Hong Kong, Ho finds herself seeking to make sense of exactly who she, and her bandmates, truly are. The pride they’d felt as teenagers has long since faded. The multicultural progressive city that they grew up in has shifted staunchly conservative and politically oppressive since 2014, when an outbreak of anti-state protests were countered with beatings, politically-targeted arrests, and death threats from government officials. Says Ho, “we’ve just been steadily losing hope for a decade now”.

Their response has been to create their own universe revolving around their studio practice space nestled in an unassuming industrial district on the edge of the city. “We joke that we created a ‘scene’ of five people” says guitarist Andy Tsang.

TICKETS

clubby’s is back this time with a new incarnation of a Larry Termite hosted night. FKA Gel FKA Pest, this is another special night of far-out electronic dance music. DJ RHONDA is starting out the night with her well-loved vinyl set, taking us everywhere from no wave to footwork - always angular, always bouncy. downstairs j released basement, etc to high accolades in 2021, and delivers the same spaced out, hypnotic, bassy grooviness on a dancefloor as he does on that album.
Larry (bassist for Sediment Club, beats maestro for SNL, and founder of independent label Crude Tapes) closes us out with his usual wildcard mixing, guaranteed to make you dance in ways you never thought you could and maybe even headbang.

***
We strive to keep the dance floor and the rest of the bar a safer space. Any kind of harassment, hate, non consensual touching is not tolerated. If you feel unsafe or overwhelmed, please let the staff know.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
Breath in: snuff a line speed, a half hour jump on your cheap amplifiers, salad yet once a half hour with you yet cheaper guitar against the wall. Write eleven popliedjes, lay the emphasis on cryptic and forget everything your song teacher you ever learned has. Seek your neighbor girl on and tell her that your musics will make. Lay her emphatically from that she must not try to sing. Stick, now that you it really are, also just your tongue between her lips till you certainly are that they that rather has not. Give her then you eleven popliedjes and (optioneel) a guitar.

Question her these eleven popliedjes with you together to not to sing, expect of it surplus. Mess what with the buttons on the amplifier, let the hamster of your neighbor girl also once over the

strings run, sign the head of the father of your neighbor girl on the skins of a Bears Smit drumstel, call her feather ten year old little brother and lay from that its father him really real hatred. Breath out: and voila, Yourself Summoned. Sounds good? Sounds in it really yet better. Blessed with a delicious dose ADHD spontaneity and a fine nose for popmelodieën know Tim New Viking on Summoned Yourself a particular charming pot borrow fi garagepop down to dump. A kind of contemporary version of The Shaggs, but then without the implicit family tie. More a neighbor boy neighbor girl tie thus.

-unknown blog, google translate 2005

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

Coma Cinema is the longest running project of songwriter and producer, Mathew Lee Cothran, known for his work as Elvis Depressedly and The Goin’ Nowheres. Coma Cinema has been active since 2005, remaining independent and happily obscure in an ever dulling world. Coma Cinema is committed to fighting entropy by the alchemy of art, bringing thoughts to life in Cothran and his listener’s minds with a spirit of deep gratitude for those who have listened to and shared his music for many years.

Trace Mountains is the music project of American indie rock musician Dave Benton. Benton was formerly a member of the lo-fi band LVL UP.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
SOME VELVET SIDEWALK Legendary live band from the Pacific Northwest indie/DIY/grunge explosion, known for kicking out the jams. New album Summer 2026 on K/Perennial

5 albums with K records (new album - summer 2026 on Perennial/K Records ) shared bills with: Dinosaur Jr., Bikini Kill, Modest Mouse, Unwound, Fugazi, L7, Beat Happening, Sleater-Kinney, etc. etc.

Locals - Dom and the Fam + $500 do the damn thing

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

Acopia is a band from Naarm/Melbourne, formed in 2018 by Kate Durman, Lachlan McGeehan, and Morgan Wright. Working with restraint and atmosphere, their music unfolds slowly and deliberately, guided by instinct and emotion. Their debut album Chances was released in 2022 on Melbourne imprint Companion, followed by a self-titled, self-released LP in 2023. Since then, they’ve sold out headline shows across the UK, Europe, and Australia, performed at festivals including Wide Awake (UK), Les Nuits Botanique (BE), and Golden Plains (AUS), and shared the stage with artists such as Bar Italia, Tirzah, and Raisa K.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
In the spring of 2026 Chuck Johnson will be presenting live renditions of a new work titled Caoineadh. This series of performances and live mixes shared online seeks new pathways into composition and improvisation and draws from DJ techniques, wordless voices, voiceless laments, and pulses suggested by negative spaces. 

Performing on cello with effects pedals, Clarice Jensen presents music from hernew album, "In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness."  Her fourth full length album, it was released on FatCat/130701 Records in October 2025, and draws abstract inspiration from the Suites of JS Bach, placing the rich sonority of the cello at the fore but carefully treating and layering the timbres to create a "kaleidoscopic, surging cathedral of sound" as described by NPR's Tom Huizinga. 

“Hand on the Bay” is a new collaborative project for Jensen and Johnson. The work is organized by a graphic score that renders the harmonic material of 16 bars of Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger over the course of 24 minutes. 

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
Not far off two years from the day, Bristol's Tara Clerkin Trio return to World of Echo and the EP format for a five song collection of quixotic, emotional redolence. But do not mistake their absence for inertia. If their musical output has been a little sparse during those in-between years, limited to a few solo ventures and an astonishing ten minute long piece as a trio, their time has otherwise been richly spent: continuous writing and recording, extensive live performances across Europe and Japan, a cultivation of local and more far-flung artistic connections (musical and otherwise), and a monthly NTS show that, through the voice of others, speaks most obviously to their own unorthodox interests.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

Ambient country supergroup of Pat Irwin (B-52s), Bob Holmes (Rubber Rodeo), and Jonathan Gregg (The Linemen) ...

New York-based instrumental group SUSS plays a distinctive form of instrumental music sometimes referred to as “ambient country,” emphasizing the droning qualities of country music and Western film scores. Combining the high-lonesome sound of pedal steel guitars and harmonicas with meditative synthesizers and loops, the group's music owes as much to Brian Eno's collaborations with Daniel Lanois as to the film scores of Ennio Morricone and Ry Cooder. The band's self-released 2018 debut, Ghost Box, became a surprise underground hit and a staple of ambient playlists, leading to the band's signing with Northern Spy. The group continued expanding on their signature sound with numerous additional releases on the label, including the 2024 release of Birds & Beasts.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
Optic Sink (Memphis) is the post-punk project from Natalie Hoffmann (NOTS), Ben Bauermeister, and Keith Cooper.

Spain is a new Hudson Valley group and they rule.

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DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
Hold on Whale! zine release Party with Bill Baird + The Sisters + Brian McCarthy

Saturday, March 28, 2026
7:00 PM  11:00 PM

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

Come celebrate the release of HOLD ON WHALE! Issue 04. With live performances by the supremely talented BILL BAIRD, THE SISTERS and the debut of a new song by BRIAN MCCARTHY.

THE MAGAZINE:

Hold on Whale! an indie zine, was born from the global pandemic in an attempt to stay connected and make something beautiful during dark times. The world continues to tumble and we continue to make this zine in an effort to find joy and meaning however we can.

This year’s theme is all about TIME. Huge, expansive Time. 32 international artists contributed their writing, art, poetry & music. Come zoom out of our everyday lives and celebrate that we exist on this orbiting rock. Together we made something rad!

THE MUSIC:

Bill Baird is a musician and writer who’s released albums through Capitol, Secretly, Moon Glyph, Dangerbird, and SonyRed, as well as dozens of micro- and self-releases.  He’s been insulted by famous people, crashed on couches in every corner of the nation, and has lived to tell the tale.  He’s currently writing a book about the 1968 World’s Fair for Texas A&M Press.

The Sisters - original songs, unoriginal songs, stolen songs, good songs, bad songs, and very little in-between.  Folky, bluesy, swampy, in two-part harmony. The Sisters are a duo from Northern VA and they are hopelessly in love with you.  For now.

Brian McCarthy is an actor, writer, visual artist, and music dabbler. He’s performing a song especially written for this issue. His last live music performance was in high school, so let’s hope he doesn’t mess this up.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

TAKAAT (pronounced tuh-cot), meaning "noise" in the Tuareg language Tamashek, for this tour is the duo of Ahmoudou Madassane & Mikey Coltun (ioined by a blown out drum machine). Also known as the rhythm section of Mdou Moclar.

TAKAAT is sonic chaos, improvisation, freedom of exploration, and the punk styles of bands such as Fugazi and Unwound, all mixed together with the guitar music from the Sahe... think Sunn O))) meets Tinariwen.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

Have you ever felt like you were trapped riding shotgun in a car spinning out of control? Stuck know the feeling well. This nightmarish joyride with a malicious stranger at the wheel comes straight from the lyrics of “gg”, the closing track on the Chicago post-punk group’s latest full-length Optimizer, their second release for Exploding in Sound and third album overall. The feeling of being unable to stop a machine hurtling toward danger by its own momentum pervades across the whole record. Optimizer 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.

As with every release from the trio, comprised of Greg Obis (vocals, guitar), David Algrim (bass), and Tim Green (drums), the central theme flows through every aspect, from the art to the music. Optimizer’s cover, designed as always by Green, depicts a classical statue trapped in buffering hell while the album’s title below it sinks along a declining trajectory. Obis’ lyrics trace the same futility, taking stock not just of the delusional patterns around him but the diminishing returns of sticking to your guns with nothing but air left in the chambers. Turning his eye for political lyrics instead to more directly social subjects, Obis sees the world as one big commercial gym packed to the gills with debt-ridden and desperate marks who only tear their gaze away from the mirror to watch the latest pitch from the latest digital huckster promising a better you at a reasonable fee. Obis doesn’t spare himself either. Written directly on the heels of the band’s tour for 2023’s Freak Frequency, the album also grapples with the personal costs of devoting your life to music while the music industry crumbles around you.

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DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
Drummer / Percussionist / Composer 
Villarreal is celebrated for his irresistibly groovy instrumental sets, seamlessly weaving together elements of psychedelic funk, soul, and jazz with the rich textures of traditional Latin American folk music. His performances are a captivating fusion of rhythm and genre, reflecting his deep passion for both innovation and cultural heritage. Whether behind the drum kit or spinning records, Daniel Villarreal continues to push the boundaries of music, creating a sound that is both timeless and forward-thinking.

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DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

Container is my favorite artist working in the world of electronics. Broken and deranged just like me.

Expensive $hit aka Paul Quattrone (of Osees) incorporates vintage electronic drum pads, samplers, and an array of distortion & delay pedals mixed with acoustic drums to create a rhythm/noise hybrid worthy of a generator-powered sonidero party in a parking lot. Echoes of afrobeat, krautrock, dub and harsh noise abound.⁠

TICKETS ON SALE Thu, Jan 15, 2026, 10:00 AM

DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

Canadian quartet Holy Fuck have always been happy to plow a distinctly lone furrow. Never ones to chase the limelight or hop on any genre-wagon that happens to be passing by, they’ve played by their own rules for the best part of 20 years and five albums. It’s for that reason that they’ve become one of the country’s finest and most influential exports, with their widescreen technicolour, crescendo-heavy and highly danceable sound often finding itself imitated, but never bettered.

Even after attracting mainstream attention thanks to appearing on the soundtracks to Breaking Bad, The Substance, Mr Robot, Chemical Hearts, Good Girls, Cheaters and Invincible (the latter producing viral hit ‘Tom Tom’), the band has continued to go against the grain in a cultural landscape that prioritises and lionises the safe and predictable over the marginal and single-minded.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
Goth night at ye olde Tub.

with DJ sets from Midna Mayhem & Hueman & Live sets from Nøir, Ancient My Enemy, and Ships in the Night

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
I got my Tascam 388 fixed, the same tape machine I had used to record my first album, King Tuff Was Dead. It had been sitting in my parent’s house in Vermont for the past 14 years, but I had finally dragged it out to LA. The first song I recorded on it was “Twisted On A Train”, and I was shocked by how instantly I sounded, and felt, like myself again. In fact, I wrote and recorded the whole dang song in the span of a few hours, which was basically the opposite of how I had been working in the computer. Spending hours moving waveforms around like a zombie, comping vocals, second guessing, trying to make things sound not lifeless, trying to make anything sound good at all, took months. But here on the tape it was so much more alive. More like painting or collaging. More like making actual music. Every move I made stuck like super glue. It was effortless. It was pure joy.

I stopped caring if there were mistakes. There’s not enough mistakes. I played my old, blue, Gibson SG, Jazijoo, and she spewed mangled electrified gold. For once, I sang and I didn’t hate my voice. I played the drums badly and bounced them in mono to one track and it sounded like glorious shit.

I wish it sounded even worse.

Rock & Roll is the music of rodents and bugs. It should sound like it crept from a decrepit trashcan or a crypt or a toilet. It is not chill or vibey, autotuned or on the grid. It is not perfect, which is why it’s perfect. And I don’t care if it’s dead or alive, cool or uncool: when I hear it, and when I play it, as a chubby and balding 43 year old punk weirdo, I FEEL ENERGIZED.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8

The follow-up to 2021’s rustic, folk-tingedGreen to Gold,Blight asks many questions without offering easy answers. Over the course of nine new songs, the Antlers’ founder and primary songwriter Silberman reckons with our passively destructive tendencies–absent-minded pollution, unwitting wastefulness, and the inadvertent devastation of the natural world. But despite its heavy themes,Blight is far from a punishing listen. With its adventurous arrangements and persistent momentum, it plays more like an iridescent odyssey.The album was recorded over the course of a few years, with the lion’s share tracked and produced in Silberman’s home studio in upstate New York, a compact outbuilding perched at theedge of a neighbor’s sprawling hayfield.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, and Macie Stewart are a trio who utilize string instruments, voices, and manual tape effect processing to craft compositions from alternately tranquil and disquieting improvised music. The three musicians are individually rooted in deep sound exploration, multi-disciplinary composition, and all manner of cross-genre collaboration. The musical ground covered by their solo practices is correspondingly expansive, and their individual recording and performance credits read as a veritable who’s who, ranging from DIY darlings to household names of experimental avant-garde, electronic, indie rock, and more.

The trio’s collective sound is based in improvisation—automatic, intuitive composition via their three voices and three string instruments (viola, cello, and violin, respectively). Their influences are vast—dispatched with more playful ease than a trio of string instruments is typically approached with, and just as likely to be found in the cloud-obscured mountains of Donegal, the low-rent cacophony of a midwestern basement, or the revelatory expanse of the Nurse With Wound list as in the storied halls of the academy.

This show is sold out

DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
Deface the Currency, the new second collaborative album from the Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis, grew out of a simple intuition. The group — with saxophonist Lewis joining the core Messthetics lineup of Brendan Canty on drums, Joe Lally on bass and Anthony Pirog on guitar — was on tour in the summer of 2025 when Canty knew it was time to go back into the studio.

This configuration of the band had debuted on record the year prior, releasing an acclaimed self-titled album via Impulse!, the legendary jazz label. But as the quartet logged serious time on the road, the drummer felt their chemistry evolving, so he called up engineer Don Godwin and booked a couple of days at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland, where The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis was recorded.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
No Need To Be Lonely, the latest from Philadelphia band Gladie, is serene, but for only just a moment. For a moment it’s a swirling dream, like paper dancing in the wind, as Augusta Koch’s voice filters in all calm and measured with words that crack the surface of the heart. “Small dose of humiliation/it keeps me humble/it keeps me waiting,” she sings. And then a snap as incandescent rhythms arrive like wolves at the gate, all guitar and drums like a whirling storm, and the crack on the heart tears until it becomes an ocean.

Each minute on No Need To Be Lonely is a memory carried out on the nerves of the body, unshakable melodies that become blood in the veins. There is something about a good and perfect song that lives in your bones, as if it has become a part of you. What has long been the unshakable core of Gladie’s prowess is Koch’s indelible strength as a songwriter, a craft that has only been honed with time, creating inalienable hits that will burrow in and never leave the core of your memories.

NOUN is a new project from Marissa Paternoster (the former lead singer and guitarist of the band Screaming Females)

TICKETS
DOORS 7 / MUSIC 8
Sluice, now a four-piece band from Durham, North Carolina—with Morris on guitar and vocals, Oliver Child-Lanning on bass and various instruments, Avery Sullivan on drums, and Libby Rodenbough on fiddle—return with Companion, their third album and Mtn Laurel Recording Co. debut. It follows 2023’s Radial Gate, the quietly beloved record Morris made after fleeing NewYork for a Craigslist house in Hillsborough with then-stranger Child-Lanning, tracking songs at Sylvan Esso’s studio Betty’s while working carpentry jobs and wondering, as he sings on “What The Fuck?,” if he should do something else like “go back to school.” Radial Gate caught him halfway out the door of music, steeped in a hermit-like loneliness of rivers, dams, and floodgates. Instead, its release brought the dream back, but it looked different than it did to the “kid reading in a bunk” on a tour bus, crying and asking, “What happened to it all feeling so good?” that he sings about in “Vegas.” Companion begins where that disenchanted loneliness leaves off. Recorded with producer/engineer Alli Rogers at Betty’s in the winter of 2024 and slowly tended over two years, it sounds like someone deciding there may yet be a dream of music worth struggling for—and that the point of that dream isn’t stardom or escape, but companionship.

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Pinpointing the specific catalyst for an avalanche can be slippery — any combination of classic elements, human interference, or freak accident can trigger disaster — and documenting these precise moments often rests on serendipitous reflexes. On Two Wheels Move the Soul, Robber Robber offer themselves as ignition and capture every sound in the wake. Involuntarily thrust into the throws of rootless nomadism, Robber Robber ringleader Nina Cates collects a series of pressurized vignettes to assemble the Burlington quartet’s thrillingly explosive sophomore album.

Two Wheels Move the Soul was written and recorded throughout the winter of 2024 and 2025, a season of Cates’ life characterized by near-constant upheaval. In January of 2025, Cates (and Robber Robber co-founder) Zack James were displaced from their longtime home at the behest of a landlord’s call to have their building demolished. In a moment’s notice — and amidst a particularly brutal Vermont winter — Cates and James were left to fend for themselves. Luckily, the two were able to tap a deep well of support within their community, finding respite on the couches of Lily Seabird, Greg Freeman, and Thus Love’s Echo Mars. An unused attic provided their longest arrangement.

TICKETS
DOORS 7 /MUSIC 8
Ekko Astral is a punk band from Washington, D.C. After quickly becoming a fixture of their DIY scene, they began regularly selling out local shows and building a passionate fanbase in DC. Ekko’s been hailed by Paste Magazine as a band operating in the lineage of DC punk legends like Fugazi “pairing innovative sounds and community-building with trans liberation.”

Rolling Stone says they’re “one of the most vital political punk bands in the world,” whatever that means. Also Pitchfork named their debut record Pink Balloons the #1 Rock Record of the year in 2024.

Mod pop, post-hardcore, 60s soul, ambient electronic music, midcentury design, abstract expressionism, French New Wave cinema; it’s all collage material for Perennial.

The band — electric organist Chelsey Hahn, guitarist Chad Jewett and drummer Ceej Dioguardi — is equal parts manic basement show bombast and studio-as-instrument headphone listening. To see the New England three-piece in person is to experience a 20-minute burst of kinetic energy: dynamic, reckless, electrifying. To put on one of Perennial’s records is to spend almost the same amount of time with impeccably layered studio-as-instrument punk modernism.