Merzbow has always been unafraid to delve into music’s harshest, most desolate corners, often creating a profound meditative state. With Akio Jeimus, the pair present a different face of improvised music – the “contained,” hermetic chaos of the studio, and the new feral life such pieces take in live settings.

While we all eagerly await the next RONG record, Ollie Becker is set to release two new records from their archives, the debut albums from Other Joliah and Hairbrush, both due out on December 13th via Erased! Tapes (Dennis Bleach, Queen Crony, Damien Scalise).

Re-treading the territory of forgotten melody and approaches feels rather special and exciting.Tony Molina is one of the standard bearers of analog jangle pop in this age of increasingly electronic and digital signal based music.

In the leadup to Ugly Hug and Post-Trash’s benefit fest this Sunday at the Empty Bottle, both sites are featuring each project on their respective sites. Sleeper’s Bell hits the stage third, bringing their memorable expressions and tender storytelling. Shea Roney recently sat down with Blaine and Evan about their upcoming album, life’s hidden alignments, and reflecting on their first big tour.

In the leadup to Ugly Hug and Post-Trash’s benefit fest this Sunday at the Empty Bottle, both sites are featuring each project on their respective sites. Uniflora hits the stage second, rearing their sweaty punk spirit and indebted melodies. The trio chats with Shea Roney about being labeled a “youth” band, balancing ego and confidence, and their latest projects.

Post-Trash’s Giliann Karon chats with Helen Ballentine of Skullcrusher about switching labels, moving back home, grief, and their impact on her latest record And Your Song is Like a Circle.

1985: The Miracle Year shows the crucial role Hüsker Dü played in the mid-80’s US punk/hardcore scene, as well as their massive influence on the indie and popular music landscape. This set is a treasure for fans and newcomers alike that shows a band continuing to grow and traverse new musical directions while living up to their reputation as a powerful live band.

Maria Bertel is a fearless artist at the peak of her creative pursuit. As humble as she is virtuosic, her work is a dazzling display of how symphony can be coaxed out of cacophony. Post-Trash’s Khagan Aslanov chats with the Danish trombonist on her education, process, and introductions to unorthodox music.

The Lentils’ Takin’ It Easy the Hard Way is tied together by a sense of love lost. Not always romantic, but every song seems to address a lost loved one, a failed dream.

Live At the Leather Fly cements Paul Leary’s status as one of the greatest guitarists of his generation. Butthole Surfers were one of the greatest bands of the 80s, and anyone not blinded by the mainstream would be hard pressed to listen to this album and declare otherwise. 

Nashville singer-songwriter Vivienne Blue makes Americana-pop for hopeless romantics. “Always on My Mind” is a burning post-break up ballad, a song that sounds pulled right from the Laurel Canyon golden era. Vivienne Blue makes Americana-pop for the

Sharp Pins is the solo brainchild of Kai Slater, a stylishly lanky 20-year-old who has come to position himself as the unassuming spokesman of Chicago’s DIY indie rock scene. If Radio DDR saw Slater playing the hits, Balloon Balloon Balloon is his sandbox for weird, retrofitted experiments that see him tinkering with both fidelity and expectation.

Post-Trash’s Rohan Press reflects on compassion, companionship, and Dead Gowns’ It’s Summer, I Love You, and I’m Surrounded by Snow.

Thanya Iyer listens closely. During a conversation earlier this year, the Montréal singer-songwriter describes the stillness she discovered while creating her third record. Post-Trash’s Aly Eleanor chats with Iyer about her beginnings, community, and the collaborative efforts on her lates record TIDE/TIED.

Inspired by the 1959 movie of the same name starring Marilyn Monroe, Some Like It Hot ushers in a new era for bar italia following a chaotic worldwide tour where the group honed their musicality, production and art-punk sound. 

Every song on Die in Love is unique and stands on its own, but it is an album that should be enjoyed in full and as loud as possible. Greet Death are taking on the constant noise of life with their own noise. Their latest is their answer to two of life's biggest noisemakers: love and death.

Watch the Sunflowers is a poetic album. Or perhaps ‘imagistic’ is a more fitting description. Adeline Hotel’s Dan Knishkowy prefers precise, strong visual images to storytelling. He tends to give you only the contours of memories without defining a time or a place

With Electric Hour, Sword II have full control over their resilient, variegated version of rock. They emerge into the present with a singular, science-fiction-esque, “easy to listen to uneasiness” that so subtly and succinctly captures the paranoid scrutiny of society today, while offering pathways towards collective resilience.

Good Flying Birds’ ability to mix DIY charm with humour is one of the many qualities that set them apart from the digital sea of soft garage rockers. Talulah’s Tape does not fall short on sharp guitar riffs and a forty-minute tracklist that breezes by.

Makena’s new album bathes and listens finds Devin McKnight turning inward, riding the tension between the personal and the universal. Post-Trash’s Benji Heywood caught up with McKnight to discuss the making of bathes and listens, the nature of progress, and how compassion and empathy can shape the future. 

The six tracks that comprise Low Healer’s hold music are uniformly immaculate grunge-pop that far surpass the typically replicative tendencies of their peers on all levels. It’s familiar and refreshing—true indie rock, through and through.

On Worldwide, Snooper embrace their id on the band’s second record in defiance of the dreaded-slash-silly “sophomore curse.” The band’s latest documents their arty, seemingly stream-of-conscious chaos in 2025.

Boston duo Lane have a record due out next year. Love is in the Rain’s lead single “Scream” finds Wes Kaplan and Julian Fader taking a more direct approach to indie rock, embracing their childhood influences for something as interesting as it is nostalgic.

UK-based singer-songwriter Joyeria’s new EP Graceful Degradation is a collection of six tracks as ironic and bittersweet as its title suggests. Each song not only questions life itself, but also challenges the very nature of indie rock.

Good Flying Birds use 20th century tech to craft 21st century guitar rock. Sharp, punchy, and loaded with hooks, their latest record combines analog recording techniques with Internet ubiquity. Post-Trash spoke with GFB’s Kellen Baker about dreams, home recording, and their excellent new record Talulah’s Tape.

Three years after bursting out, Maraudeur are set to release their next album, Flaschenträger, a record that zips between frantic post-punk and mesmerizing grooves. Leipzig’s favorite art punk band are pushing beyond the framework and wandering down rabbit holes.