Scenes from night 3 of the New Colossus Festival

Photos by Stacie Joy

Above: Suburban Speed at Ki Smith Gallery 

The New Colossus Festival, the six-day celebration of independent music from around the world, is now underway across 10-plus venues in the East Village and Lower East Side. 

We fanned out last night to catch a handful of bands, including ... the '90s alt-punk of the Brooklyn-based Dutch Kills at Niagara...

...the Jump Cuts from West Palm Beach, Fla., at Berlin Under A...

Then it was off to see EVG faves Suburban Speed on the small stage at Ki Smith Gallery...

Yes, the idea is to discover new music among the festival's 190 bands. However, we're still partial to the cinematic atmospherics of Suburban Speed, who have added a cornet, kazoo and empty Smirnoff bottle to their instrumental lineup. (They're playing Pianos at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow. Yes, p.m.)

... and we ended the evening at the Parkside Lounge ... first with Chicago weirdos Heet Deth...

... and also from Chicago, Bussy Kween Power Trip...

Back at it today/tonight. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• The New Colossus Festival returns this week for its biggest year yet

Bands we like: Homade

Photos and interview by Stacie Joy 

We finally caught Homade live last month, catching an early set at the Mercury Lounge on Dec. 17 — and it was well worth the wait.

We've featured the band here before in our weekly Friday at 5 video posts this past year ... "New Girl" and "Blue Fish." 

However, seeing them in person added another layer. Their sound leans punky alt-rock with a strong quiet-loud dynamic (especially on "New Girl"). 

Homade is made up of Lola Daehler (lead vocals, bass)...

Maya Ruth (guitar, vocals)...

Suzie Ciftcikal (guitar)

... and Addie Vogt (drums) ...

While only Daehler currently lives in the East Village, the neighborhood remains central to the band's story. 

Before the show, Daehler talked about rehearsing at 6/8 Studios on Second Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets. 

"We started playing at Mr. Barnes' studio, down the blue staircase," she said. "It was exciting because Sonic Youth used to play there. We played in the Sonic Youth Room always! You may get electrocuted, but it's totally worth it. And Mr. Barnes is the best."

The band has been rehearsing there since its early days and even filmed the "New Girl" video there. 

"Anytime we're in the East Village playing, it's at Mr. Barnes'. So shout out, Mr. Barnes — 6/8 Studios!"

Homade says new music is on the way in 2026 — an EP for sure, and possibly an LP — with a noticeable shift in direction. 

"We're heading in a much shoegazier direction," Daehler said. "Out of alt-rock and into doomy shoegaze." 

Based on this set, that evolution sounds like one to keep an ear on.

Keep tabs on the band via Instagram.

Eyes wide shut

 

Local band Skorts (an EVG Bands we like alum) debuted a new video this week. Check out "Burden."

Skorts is our tour this fall, with a European leg coming up later in the year.

Bands we like: Puzzled Panther (plus Crazy & the Brains and Nabihah Iqbal)

Photos by Stacie Joy 

We finally got to see Puzzled Panther live last Sunday ... after hearing about them for the past 18 months or so. 

The NYC band was part of the latest Show Brain show in Tompkins Square Park. 

Victoria Espinoza and Kay Bontempo started PP as a duo. They continued to add firepower to their punky dance-floor tapestry with the addition of drummer Brian Chase, moonlighting from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs... and Eugene Hütz of Gogol Bordello, who signed PP to his Casa Gogol label. 

Hütz described last Sunday's set as a "psychosleaze spectacle," which is pretty accurate. 

Also with the band now: Ty from Genre Is Death and bassist Rob Mellinger, doing double duty this day from another band on the bill, Crazy & the Brains. 

Here are a few scenes from the inspired set featuring songs from their two EPs as well as a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs" and Sonic Youth's "Dirty Boots."

Puzzled Panther is off to Europe now for a tour. You can keep tabs on them via Instagram. 

It was an inspired afternoon of music with Bubbles, 95 Bulls, and Grace Begere. 

Crazy & the Brains, who got their start in the East Village, tore it up...

And there was headliner Nabihah Iqbal, who also played a sold-out show this past Monday at Night Club 101 on Avenue A, and delivered an atmospheric, genre-blurring set...

Faces in the crowd included Ty and Taylor from Genre Is Death, currently working on a new record...

... and East Village resident Alli Walls, lead singer of Skorts...

We're not sure if there's one last Show Brain show this year in Tompkins. Regardless, thanks to SB founder Ozzie for bringing so much music to the park this spring and summer.

Whisper to a 'Sting'

 

NYC band Puzzled Panther will be headlining the next (and last for 2025) Show Brain show in Tompkins Square Park on Sept. 7. 

The video here is for "Sting of Iodine (Panacea)" from the recently released EP Fits of Serenity (Casa Gogol Records).

A 'Rough' patch

 

95 Bulls are first up tomorrow afternoon for Day 1 of the free Show Brain Festival in Tompkins Square Park. 

The above video is for "It Was Rough."

Dreamin’ slow in a burnin’ world

 

Here's another video from EVG bands-we-like alum Dead Tooth... the single is "Chuckin' and Wingin' it." 

The song is on the Queens-based band's recently released debut record. 

You can find the record on Bandcamp. 

And today is Bandcamp Friday, where the platform waives its revenue share and passes the funds directly to artists and labels.

All and 'Some'

 

Avishag Cohen Rodrigues, part of the cumgirl8 collective, also has a promising solo career. 

You can see for yourself tomorrow afternoon as Cohen Rodrigues is part of the free Show Brain show in Tompkins Square Park. 

The video here is for her latest single, "Some Are."

A 'Life' of its own

 

Brooklyn's Water From Your Eyes have a new LP, It's a Beautiful Place, out on Aug. 22 via Matador Records. 

Ahead of that, they've been releasing several tracks, including (above) "Life Signs." 

You can see them live on Oct. 10 at Bowery Ballroom.

Bands we like: Dead Tooth

Photos on July 13 by Stacie Joy 

This past Sunday, Dead Tooth was part of an afternoon of free music via Show Brain in Tompkins Square Park. 

Usually a five-piece, the Queens-based Dead Tooth played as a power trio, led by lead vocalist-guitarist Zach James...

... including special guest Ozzie, founder of Show Brain (on the left), joining the band on drums this day...

Meanwhile, Dead Tooth's debut record is out today on Trash Casual. 

As our friends at Magnet noted: "Dead Tooth has essentially fashioned its own subgenre: 'rodeo core,' a sound that borrows from post-punk, goth, hardcore and (in an oddly peripheral sense) country music." (They also once opened for GWAR.) 

Here are portraits of other bands from the day, starting with Jasno...

SORRYNOTSORRY...

... and Pinc Louds...

And to Tilt — sorry that we missed you!

Some good 'Shit'

 

Dead Tooth is part of the free afternoon of music in Tompkins Square Park on Sunday via Show Brain.

The local band will release its debut record next Friday, July 18. 

Check out the above video for "You Never Do Shit" and see them live this weekend.

Andy Boay's new record inspired by and crafted in the East Village

Photo by Valerie Kamen 

East Village-based musician Andy White, who performs under the name Andy Boay, is set to release a new LP tomorrow (July 11).

White crafted the avant-pop record — titled You Took That Walk for the Two of Us — over the past two years in a small office space he rents inside the New York Center for Creativity and Dance (NYCCD) on the NW corner of Avenue A and 10th Street (the former Boys Club), a multi-use rehearsal and studio building operated by the Joyce Theater Foundation. 

"The album was born over the time that I came to call the East Village my beloved neighborhood," he told EVG. "I will always associate these recordings with late nights at the NYCCD studio building, and listening to demos while walking around Tompkins at dusk." 

The one-sheet for the new releases suggests the following RIYL: Arthur Russell, Spacemen 3 and Roy Montgomery. You can hear for yourself.

He also filmed a video inside the NYCCD. Check out "One & One" below.

   

White's music career began as a teenager in Orlando, Fla. He played in the duo Tonstartssbandht with his brother Edwin and also spent six years playing guitar in the touring band for Mac DeMarco. 

He plays an album release show at Union Pool in Brooklyn tomorrow evening.

Suburban Speed at Baker Falls

Photos by Stacie Joy 

We dropped by Baker Falls this past Thursday, where EVG fave Suburban Speed (below) opened a night of music at the Allen Street venue between Houston and Stanton.

Carson Walsh (vocals, guitar, sax), Seth Sosebee (bass, keyboards), and Dalton Patton (drums, theremin) comprise the Brooklyn-based band.

Suburban Speed plays an unconventional, quirky punk noir that feels tailor-made for a hot summer night's drive through nowhere, chasing ghosts along empty roads...

They are also a good fit for the fever-dream mansion vibe of Baker Falls...

We had to leave before we could see Fine Mess, a new band featuring (in the middle below) Julia Pierce of TDA and Dustin Dollin, an Australian skateboarding legend.

You can catch both Fine Mess and Suburban Speed Saturday night at Alphaville in Bushwick.

Baker Falls is at 192 Allen St. (as of January). Check out their calendar of bands, open mics and other events. They are also open during the day for coffee service.