Wiki, of RATKING fame, isn’t slowing down.  With the embers of his incendiary solo release No Mountains in Manhattan still smoldering in your headphones, he has been hard at work with Antwon and Lil Ugly Mane on some Hip Hop supergroup alchemy.  They will all be performing solo sets tonight before taking the legendary DIY stage together.  More Hip Hop History being made on the corner of Broadway and Myrtle. – BrokeMc

Kyle Duke and The Brown Bag Boys‘ psych rock will make you do a double-take. The band’s newest single "Ocean Waves" begs to be put on repeat because you’ll be hard pressed to get to the bottom of the charmingly weird, introspective lyrics or the grunge-y guitars and wobbly synths in just one listen. If you’re feeling angsty, or looking for a band that hints at Nirvana in a modern way, "Ocean Waves" will satisfy your needs. Catch Kyle Duke and The Brown Bag Boys live at the Knitting Factory tonight, 3/6. -Geena Kloeppel

Williamsburg venue National Sawdust is showcasing five emerging NYC based artists in the 25th monthly installment of "THE REVOLUTION," which coincides with the serie’s second anniversary. This is a local musical movement that empowers community, change, and activism through performance and unity amongst the arts.

The acts featured this time around are Manhattan via Philly rapper Dot Cromwell, singer songwriter with operatic influences beccs, soul pop acts Elle Winston and Meridian Lights, and contemporary jazz ensemble MAE.SUN – you can listen to all of them in the embedded playlist.

National Sawdust touts these artists as being at the center of innovation within their genres, and seeks to highlight them as such with this event scheduled for Saturday, March 24th. – Alexander Beebe

The music of Chicago’s noise-rock band Melkbelly incorporates elements of industrial sludge, shoegaze and math-rock to create a burst of deftly controlled chaos. Their 2017 LP “Nothing Valley” features delicious references to the unforgettable Bostonian bands signed by 4AD in the late 80’s/early ‘90s (read Pixies, Throwing Muses, and The Breeders). Our sister blog Delicious Audio asked them a few questions about their creative process and pedals in this interview. 

Streaming below, their video for "Kid Creative," from 2017’s LP "Nothing Valley." 

Dirty Bird is back at it again – the folk-rock band has released a new song called "Fever Dreams" with a bubbly lyric video to match, curated by Stella Rosen. Complete with haunting three-part harmonies, gorgeous violin and horn arrangements, and thoughtful, evocative lyrics, Dirty Bird’s new song captures the chaos of everyday life, though with intermittent sunshine. Dissonant chords build into a sweet section that puts the whole song (and life) into perspective, singing: "Don’t worry for me / I’m alright." – Geena Kloeppel 

Michael Rocketship’s debut LP is an adventure in tension. The Meaning of Love juggles playful synths and vocals with an intimate exploration of alienation, a theme grounded in the artist’s return to Brooklyn from the West Coast. The album’s premiere video for “Smith, St. John and Pierre” is a great example of Michael Rocketship’s aesthetic given its jaunty synth-driven melody alongside a cardboard puppet that travels through a collage of history. Enjoy this taste of The Meaning of Love now and catch the release show on 04.06 at The Nest. – Amanda Ogea

SXSW gains another up-and-coming singer-songwriter — as well as another filmmaker — in Courtney Farren. The Bay Area-based artist, who now lives in Brooklyn, will play CU29 on March 14th at midnight. That performance will add another to the string of incredible experiences Farren has chalked up over the past year, including a European mini-tour, a six-track album called "Nothing Like It", a write-up and interview by Kodak about her love of Super 8mm film, and a handful of new films, some of which act as music videos for her songs.

To sum up Farren’s sound: The subtle indie-romance flicks shown at short film festivals — perhaps at SXSW — could gain from a soundtrack of her soothing vocals and swirling arrangements. You can stream her music film for one of her latest tracks, called "Go Easy", below. – Will Sisskind

Even, fluid rhymes over a chill beat give Xavier Ingram’s song “Crash Freestyle” a sense of stature. While hitting on tropes about smoking trees to cope and police violence, Ingram steers clear of the tasteless, gaudy production values that doom other projects to total obscurity. The music is not an assault on the ears but rather a pleasing recitation of the litany of issues faced by the lyricist.

Decent/10

-Mike Dranove

In 2015, the girlfriend of Lovechild‘s frontman Leo Liebeskind was living in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in New York- Ocean Hill, Brooklyn. Now, the neighborhood is the namesake of Lovechild’s latest single and music video, "Ocean Hill." Complete with twangy guitars and a breezily-paced rhythm section, the song reminds listeners that we are on the upswing headed out of winter. The music video, however, depicts an icy Coney Island boardwalk, and fellow band members Wyatt Mones, Daryl Cozzi, and Karl Markgraf VIII attempting to teach Liebeskind how to ride a bike. There’s still a bit of waiting to be done until beach season, but until then you can listen to "Ocean Hill" and dream of lazy summer afternoons.

Lovechild will be playing live at The Knit on March 8. – Geena Kloeppel

In her own words, Oakland shoegaze solo act highandfragile is “a project founded out of desperation for emotional relief by Breannyn DeLongis.” A refreshing departure from the conventions of the genre (typically dominated by men), highandfragile’s debut EP i was not well operates within the space where angst and actualization coalesce, exploring the modern pitfalls of being a young adult—it’s angry, artful, and honest all at once. The chorus of opening track “happy birthday” (streaming below) is almost anthemic (as much as is possible for shoegaze.) In this project, DeLongis has established herself as an artist and is definitely one to watch in the future. She will be joining There’s Talk at their record release show at Rickshaw Stop on March 8th. – Lilly Milman

To make it into the crowd for Bodega’s set when they play Jonathan Toubin’s Soul Clap at Elsewhere requires a fair bit of effort, strategic movement, and patience. But it’s worth it. On stage the New York quintet is a fluid sea of movement darting along to pointed rhythms and shouted post-modernism. That was two weeks ago, when searching for the band’s music revealed only outdated links to its predecessor Bodega Bay. On Wednesday, the band premiered its first single under the shortened name, a staccato post-punk piece called “How Did This Happen !?,” produced by Parquet Courts’ Austin Brown. The art punk influence is apparent, with vocalist/guitarist Ben Hozie half-speaking half-shouting monotone lines like “this machine you know it don’t kill fascists, this machine just softens its heart. This machine it killed the dream of the ‘60s, this machine you know it’s just a guitar.”

What’s Yr Rupture? is set to release the group’s debut album this summer. To accompany “How Did This Happen !?” Bodega has released a 360-degree interactive video, describing it as “a simulacrum of a typical night at our favorite Brooklyn venue, ALPHAVILLE. Some audience members scroll on their phones, others half listen (waiting to play), [sic] and those with light to spread join the show.” You can watch the video below and catch Bodega at Union Pool on March 10th, before they head to SXSW to play Pianos’ SXSW party on 03.17. – Cameron Carr

With its first full-length album, Things I’ll Tell You When You’re Older, Brooklyn quintet Bodies Be Rivers shows itself as an entrancing force in the world of alternative rock. There’s a folk sensibility to Bodies Be Rivers’ songwriting but on the ten-track debut that’s been amplified with echoing guitars, tumbling tom drums, and lush vocal production. The slowly harmonizing voices of Lauren Smith and Summer Stephanos lead the way into slight ambience, giving an almost dreamy hue to the band’s sound, particularly on tracks like opener "None The Wiser" and the gently floating "Golden Child." To celebrate the debut, Bodies Be Rivers will play C’mon Everybody this Saturday with support from Lauren Balthrop and Caitlin Pasko. ­– Cameron Carr