New from Lukka: 'Tombol'

 

Local psych-pop trio Lukka, led by East Village-based singer-songwriter Franzi Szymkowiak, has a new single out... check out the video above for "Tombol," featuring her bandmates Ashley Gonzalez on bass and Simon Fishburn on drums. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Heady psychedelia: A conversation with East Village musician Franzi Szymkowiak of Lukka

'Red' alert

 

We have another new video from EVG faves Genre is Death ... a track from their forthcoming full-length debut on In the Red Records, set for May 1.

Check out "In the Red" above.

The noise-no wave duo of Taylor and Ty will have an album release show on May 3 at Madame X on West Houston Street. 

TV party tonight

Photo this week in Tompkins by Stacie Joy

 The Acute, the East Village-based duo of Viveca Butler and Stephen Cacouris, have a new video out for their track "As Scene on TV." 

Check it out below (and follow the band on Instagram for show updates).

 

Mad world

Surfbort is back with their first record in five years, the delightfully absurd Reality Star. 

The video here, which includes a dancing chicken, is for "Jessica's Changed." 

Surfbort has a few local shows — next Friday at Night Club 101 on Avenue A, which is SOLD OUT, and Market Hotel in Brooklyn on Saturday.

A meditation on memory, loss and heritage

 

Tearless, thoughtless, the second record from Brooklyn's Nara's Room comes out on May 15. 

The video here is for the first single, the seven-minute ballad "Tucson." (Read more about the emotional backdrop for the song here.) 

Keep tabs on the band via Instagram... and see them live at Night Club 101 on Avenue A on March 28.

The rules of attraction

 

Genre is Death, one of our favorite local or anywhere bands, has just released its first single from their forthcoming full-length debut on In the Red Records, set for May 1.

The video is for the title track, "Attractive People." 

Take it away, Taylor and Ty...

A band playing New Colossus Festival: Welcome Strawberry

 

The 2026 edition of the New Colossus Festival is entering the weekend stretch at local music venues. Details here. 

In recent weeks, our Fridays at 5 video clip features a band playing at the festival. (And there are more than 190 in total!) 

Here are the Oakland, Calif.-based dream popsters Welcome Strawberry with "Desperate Flower."

Catch them at 2:15 p.m. tomorrow at Arlene's Grocery or Francis Kite Club at 7 p.m. 

A band playing New Colossus Festival: Drook

The 2026 edition of the New Colossus Festival takes place in the East Village and on the LES starting this coming Tuesday. Details here. 

In recent weeks, our Fridays at 5 video clip features a band playing at the festival. (And there are more than 180 in total!) 

Today, we have the Richmond, Va.-based Drook with a sample of their electro-pop in this video for "Sprinter."

They'll be playing at Piano's next Friday at 5:15 p.m. and at Ki Smith Gallery on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Q&A with Steven Matrick, co-founder of the New Colossus Festival, taking place this week at East Village and Lower East Side music venues (Link from March 2025)

A band playing New Colossus Festival: Lucid Express

The 2026 edition of the New Colossus Festival takes place in the East Village and on the LES from March 3-8. Details here. 

Until then, our Fridays at 5 video clip features a band playing at the festival. (And there are more than 180 in total!) 

Today, we have the Hong Kong-based quintet Lucid Express with an older (2021) track, "Prime of Pride." They also just released their latest LP.

They'll be playing the annual day-long shoegaze extravaganza on March 7 at Arlene's Grocery on Stanton Street. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Q&A with Steven Matrick, co-founder of the New Colossus Festival, taking place this week at East Village and Lower East Side music venues (Link from March 2025)

A band playing New Colossus Festival: Loveletter

The 2026 edition of the New Colossus Festival takes place in the East Village and on the LES from March 3-8. Details here. 

Until then, as we noted last week, our Fridays at 5 video clip will feature a band playing at the festival. (And there are more than 180 in total!) 

Today, we have the local trio Loveletter with the track "Follow Me."

They'll be playing Friday, March 6, at Nublu Classic, 62 Avenue C.

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Q&A with Steven Matrick, co-founder of the New Colossus Festival, taking place this week at East Village and Lower East Side music venues (Link from March 2025)

A band playing the New Colossus Festival: Dallas Love Field

 

The 2026 edition of the New Colossus Festival takes place in the East Village and on the LES from March 3-8. Details here. 

Until then, our Fridays at 5 video clip will feature a band playing at the festival. (And there are more than 180 in total!) 

Here we have Glasgow's Dallas Love Field performing "Drowned Out." 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Q&A with Steven Matrick, co-founder of the New Colossus Festival, taking place this week at East Village and Lower East Side music venues (Link from March 2025)

For Minneapolis

 

Several readers shared the video for Bruce Springsteen's protest song "Streets of Minneapolis," released on Wednesday in response to the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. 

As of this morning, it was No. 1 on the iTunes charts.

Line 'Item'

 

Local singer, songwriter and artist Clara Joy released her debut LP last year, What We Have Now (produced by Kramer on his Shimmy-Disc label). 

The video here, shot at a familiar Canal Street storefront, is for "You Just Liked My Item," a meditative ballad about life in the age of algorithms. 

She's on a bill tomorrow evening at Night Club 101 on Avenue A with Avishag Cohen Rodrigues (Cumgirl8), Matthew J. Hutchinson and TDA (Total Display of Affection with Bob Bert on drums).

Start me up

 

Local band Gogol Bordello has a new album, titled We Mean It, Man!, due out on Feb. 13. 

Ahead of that is "Ignition" (with a video featuring Liev Schreiber), which adds some electronic layers to the band's usual gypsy punk sound.

Feeling the 'Need'

 

The fiery Irish quartet Sprints play the Bowery Ballroom on Feb. 5 (not yet sold out). 

The band's sophomore album, All That Is Over, came out back in the fall. The video here is for "Need."

The killing moon

 

Another track from an album we really liked in 2025... here's "Blackest" from Pa'ahi II via The Raveonettes, the indie-rock Danish duo who also put on a great show at the Bowery Ballroom in October.  

It's a sin

 

A favorite EVG release this year includes "Tripla" by Miki Berenyi Trio.

The video here is for the single "8th Deadly Sin." 

Berenyi, the former singer/co-guitarist of early 1990s dream-pop favorites Lush, has also published a damn good memoir, "Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me From Success."

A very Banshee Christmas

 

A Christmas classic to share... here is Siouxsie and the Banshees, featuring Robert Smith looking as if he's in a Lost World on the cymbals, covering a traditional French Christmas carol called "I'l Est Né Divin Enfant" ("He is born, the divine child.") 

The cover was a B-side released in 1982.

Hearing 'Aidan'

 

The shoegaze-y, psych-rock debut record from the Alabama-based duo Sister Ray Davies is now out... the video above is for the first single, "Aidan."

A 'Star' is worn

 

EVG faves Pretty Sick released a new single, "Star," today. 

Check out the latest from Sabrna Fuentes in the above video.

 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Catching up with Sabrina Fuentes of Pretty Sick 

• Halloween night with Pretty Sick at Bowery Ballroom