Read Music Coast articles—news, features, and commentary on independent music—plus updates as our streaming app launches on iOS/Android in April 2026.
Bloodywood’s System of a Brown Tour hit Portland’s Crystal Ballroom with a stacked lineup from start to finish: ANKOR, Ladrones, The Pretty Wild, and Bloodywood. Built with on-site notes from Eileen Crawford for Music Coast.
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Victory Kid's new single "You're Alright" previews Catalyst, their May 24 sophomore album via SBAM Records. In a Music Coast interview, Harrison Nida and Carlo Ribaux discuss anxiety, long-distance chemistry, horns, strings, and turning personal collapse into growth.
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The Maine brought their green era to Chicago on April 10th and the Salt Shed was ready for it. A sold-out crowd, green balloons in the air and a city that literally lit up the Willis Tower green to celebrate album number 10. Joy Next Door is here and it showed up in a big way.
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Masayoshi Takanaka turned his sold-out Aragon Ballroom stop in Chicago into a two-hour city pop masterclass, with soaring guitar leads, dual percussion, keytar theatrics, and the AMAZONS guiding the crowd through a mostly instrumental set that still felt like a singalong.
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Sticky Fingers brought their first North American tour since 2019 to Portland's Crystal Ballroom, with Ruby Waters opening and Claude Bailey handling vocals on a night that felt less like a comeback and more like unfinished business finally getting settled.
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Bryce Vine leans into guitars, instinct, and pop-punk chaos on LET'S DO SOMETHING STUPID!, a John Feldmann-produced album featuring Tony Hawk, Goldfinger, State Champs, The Home Team, and more. Photo by Micala Austin.
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After a 2022 Ohio home raid led to songs like "Lemon Pound Cake" and "Will You Help Me Repair My Door," Afroman beat the deputies' lawsuit. A Music Coast look at the verdict, the three-day trial, and why the case mattered for free speech and artistic expression.
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On March 14, Bottom Lounge hosted a packed night of heavy music, headlined by Varials with support from Barrier, UnityTX, Heavy//Hitter, and Boltcutter. The show was part of Varials’ 2026 tour run and brought together a mix of hardcore, metalcore, and rap-influenced heavy music.
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Bricknasty are a Ballymun, Dublin-based five-piece led by masked frontman Fatboy, known for genre-colliding music that moves between hip-hop, neo-soul, funk, and punk-adjacent chaos. This gallery captures Bricknasty live at Schubas Tavern in Chicago, where their BLACKS LAW era hits hardest - sweaty, raw, and built for the room.
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Orlando soul‑psych‑funk collective The Sh-Booms return with first new music since 2019. This Is a Test… EP review + Al Ruiz interview + limited 12" vinyl.
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Max Marginal’s upcoming single “Never Enough” uses restraint, repetition, and atmosphere to capture the modern loop of desire, comparison, and quiet dissatisfaction.
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the Midwest premiere of Nadya Tolokonnikova’s newest performance installation—an uncompromising, visceral encounter with authoritarianism and the human will to create under pressure. Best known as a founding member of Pussy Riot, Tolokonnikova has spent more than a decade turning political resistance into art.
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