American Trio band from Houston Texas, Khruangbin, released their latest record LateNightTales in December of 2020. This album is their first compilation album in their discography, released by label Night Time Stories. The mixtape includes blends of varying genres across the globe, from Korean Rock and Spiritual Jazz, to Latin and R&B. Khruangbin includes their cover of Kool and the Gang's “Summer Madness” to the mix.

In 2011, thirteen-year-old Rebecca Black was thrown into the music scene when her track Friday achieved infamous virality on the internet. Ten years later, she’s still present in music: now 23, openly queer, and with a fairly large audience on TikTok. Her social media journey has been interesting, but her musical journey even more so. Her latest project Rebecca Black Is Here, a 6 track EP, was released on June 16th.

London/Manchester-based queer punk band, The Oozes, recently released a high-energy single titled “Bitchboy”. After an acoustic snippet of the song being performed by lead vocalist Tom Gilbert was released on TikTok on March 8th, check that video out here. The band quickly gained more and more attention; the video now sits at 1.8 million views.

Cut Like This is a New York-based band that combines metallic riffs with gothic melodies and a twisted punk attitude. The founders of the band are vocalist Rose Blood and guitarist Thorne Black, two circus acrobats. As circus performers, they performed on stage with DJs such as Diplo, Excision, and Steve Aoki. They have since left the big top to perform without a net in front of crowds of black-clad moshers and stompers. They've already released a couple of singles out digitally, an ode to lycanthropy, “Bite” and the supernatural-themed “Lights Out.” We spoke about keeping creative during quarantine, taking inspiration from horror films, and the need for diversity and representation in rock music. 

As 2021 had begun, we became more hopeful than ever until the day came that shows were indeed back. On April 25th, I got word of a show happening in Brooklyn, NY at Arrogant Swine and without hesitation grabbed my camera bag to run to the show. At first, I was more cautious than ever before. Hardcore shows hadn’t happened in what felt to be 13 years and I was amazed by the turnout of the audience to get right into it once again. The band Madball did two-day back-to-back shows to celebrate the revival of being able to come together.