#atlanta-rock-scene

#atlanta-rock-scene

Knumears is releasing their debut album Directions on April 3, showcasing their unique sound within the Los Angeles screamo scene. The album is available through Run for Cover and Summer Shade.

It's time for 2026 California to wake up to the fact that Sib, Joe Sib, is a contender for the Best of Us Award. It's wildly rare to have an artist like Sib who crosses over from being in the early punk rock scene to co-founding SideOneDummy Records and discovering talent like Flogging Molly.

Sessa's charming stage presence, irresistible Portuguese vocals, and the whole band's groovy sunshine energy made the entire room fall in love with the musicians from São Paulo.

Band of Skulls emerged from Southampton, England with a gritty, blues-soaked take on garage rock that felt both scrappy and deliberate. Their breakout album Baby Darling Doll Face Honey introduced a sound built on thick riffs, tight rhythm work, and a push-pull vocal dynamic that gave the songs real tension.

You could go anywhere in America and argue with some success for the cultural impact wrought by most of the once-subcultural stars of Lizzy Goodman's oral history of New York's post-9/11 rock scene, 'Meet Me In The Bathroom.' Or, for God's sake, Jeff Chang's history of hip-hop, 'Can't Stop Won't Stop.' But to explain this era to someone who hasn't devoted their psyche or youth to 'indie rock,' you'd need to spend a whole dinner, and maybe a few drinks afterwards, justifying why the tentpole events that 'Us v. Them' returns to multiple times in its 300-page run mean anything.

Gangstagrass occupies a lane that sounds unlikely on paper and surprisingly natural in practice. The collective blends bluegrass instrumentation with hip-hop rhythms, pairing banjo rolls and fiddle runs with sharp lyricism and boom-bap backbone.

Indie veterans of Montreal have announced an expansive 2026 North America tour set for June through August. Cormae and Sloppy Jane will serve as openers on select dates for the Kevin Barnes-led band. Spanning 36 dates, the summer run kicks off on June 19th in Athens, Georgia, with subsequent stops in major cities including New York City, Chicago, Nashville, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC.

The category's been going around social media for a bit, but there's even a domain exclusively for Cigarette Mom Rock. There, the meaning of the genre is described as a "feminine counterpart to 'divorced dad rock,'" but is also meant to conjure up images of your own hard-working '90s mom, driving you to baseball practice with the windows down and a cigarette in one hand.

While Modern Baseball co-vocalist Jake Ewald and bassist Ian Farmer have remained very busy with Slaughter Beach, Dog since MoBo's breakup, and drummer Sean Huber stayed active with Steady Hands, it's been a while since co-vocalist Bren Lukens has performed or really done anything at all in the public eye.

When he's not making proggy folk as a solo artist, Richard Dawson gets his skronk on as part of proggy new-wave art-rock group Hen Ogledd. Despite my attempts to do so in the previous sentence, the band are hard to succinctly describe: they can pivot from warm synthpop to mossy faerie folk to baggy Manchester shuffle beats to dense prog and even flashes of hip hop. Hen Ogledd are weird, but also welcoming.

Home Front, the Edmonton, Alberta band formed by Graeme MacKinnon of Canadian hardcore band No Problem and Clint Frazier, who used to lead electro-rock group Shout Out Out Out Out, will be on tour this spring in support of their third album, Watch It Die, which was released last November. The first half of the tour is supporting Angel Du$t with Béton Armé and Odd Man Out, and the second half is with Bootlicker.

Atlanta's Ying Yang Twins helped define the crunk era by turning late-night club energy into a national language all its own. Their catalog relies on deep bass, playful braggadocio, and hooks designed for shouted choruses more than quiet contemplation. Songs such as "Salt Shaker" and "Wait (The Whisper Song)" turned clubs into shared sing-along zones that felt as much ritual as entertainment.

The lineup has been announced for the 2026 Rock the Country traveling festival tour, with Kid Rock, Creed, Jelly Roll, and Blake Shelton among the headlining acts playing various dates on the eight-city run. The festival will make two-day stops in Bellville, Texas (May 1-2); Bloomingdale, Georgia (May 29-30); Sioux Falls, South Dakota (June 27-28); Ashland, Kentucky (July 10-11, 2026); Anderson, South Carolina (July 25-26; Hastings, Michigan (August 8-9); Ocala, Florida (August 28-29); and Hamburg, NY (September 11-12).

A representative for the Atlanta rapper told Rolling Stone that there was "a mix-up" about Luda's inclusion on the lineup. "Lines got crossed and he wasn't supposed to be on there," the rep claimed. Get Ludacris Tickets Here Upon the festival's announcement, Ludacris faced backlash from some critics over its perceived political leanings. The event was labeled by some as "MAGA-adjacent," with Ludacris lumped in alongside artists like Snoop Dogg and Kanye West, both of whom have had public associations with Donald Trump.

"We made this record in eight to ten days," said singer Chris Robinson. "Bringing the high and inspiration from Happiness Bastards into this album, it was a natural progression. We experimented more, we wrote on instinct and how we were feeling in the moment. Rich brought a spontaneity to the record that I can't describe, but it's the best shit he's ever done."

Dream Fatigue is a new-ish Massachusetts band launched by former Fleshwater/Vein drummer Matt Wood and fronted by Jonali McFadden, and they make shoegazy alt-rock that's not too different from what Matt was doing in Fleshwater. They released their debut LP The Lady In The Sky in 2024, and now they announced a new seven-song EP, No Requiem, due February 13 via DAZE ( pre-order).

It wouldn't be a season of A.V. Undercover without an appearance from GWAR, especially when the lineup consists of returning acts, including , Chelsea Studios NYC late last year, it was to join the ranks of Chappell Roan's "Pink Pony Club," and transform "the song's glitter-drenched celebration of identity and self-expression into a full-scale alien-metal spectacle." Mission accomplished: Rhett Miller , and The Wood Brothers . The only real question was which song the intergalactic rockers (by way of Richmond, Virginia) would choose from .

A band called Ad Nauseam is dead set on keeping grunge alive in Portland, but no local venue will return their calls to play a show. Like the most iconic grunge acts, Ad Nauseam has deep PNW roots. They deliver sludgy, whining guitar licks and haunting, sandpapery vocals. They've even got an angsty tune called "Scab Pimple" for goodness sake. So why can't they land a gig? Well, it might be because all four band members are between the ages of 10 and 16.

Black Country, New Road are set to tour the United States and Canada in June and July. It's the now-sextet's second run of North American shows since releasing Forever Howlong, their first album since the departure of frontman Isaac Wood, last year. Chicago's Horsegirl will open at all dates. Check out Black Country, New Road's full 2026 itinerary below. Revisit the interview Black Country, New Road Head Into the Unknown.

Rut took piano lessons in grade school, but they didn't stick. He asked his parents for a guitar because he wanted to be Ace Frehley of KISS. When his guitar teacher told him the members of KISS "weren't real musicians," he stopped playing-until high school. "I found a friend who knew all the classic rock riffs. That's when I started hearing songs in my head," he said.

The night before Music's Biggest Night, Pitchfork continued its streak of ringing in the new year with fun, undeniably risk-averse things we've never done before. At El Cid, a historic open-air venue in LA, we threw our first-ever Best New Music party in collaboration with Hennessy. Co-hosted by PinkPantheress, FKA twigs, Kaytranada, Perfume Genius, and Pitchfork editor Mano Sundaresan, the party brimmed with talented artists shaping the future of music.