BLVCK HIPPIE –Blvck Hippie makes VHS-inspired music for anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider. By melding an emo sensibility with an indie rock aesthetic, Blvck Hippie creates tunes for getting unstuck, existing weirdly, and finding togetherness. Raw vocals pair with sticky guitar riffs to create the Sad Boy Indie Rock songs of your dreams. With their firmly DIY attitude, refusal to accept the status quo, and knack for pushing musical boundaries, Blvck Hippie has turned being an outsider into their superpower.

LATCHKEY KIDS –Latchkey Kids’ Year of Summers is a modern Greek tragedy about growing up and falling out of love in New Jersey. On their sophomore album, Hanny Ramadan narrates a staggering emo epic that comes alive at basement shows and in beat-up cars, with guitarist Joey Grzybowski and drummer Cyle Morris soaring alongside him. An emotionally ferocious yet tender song cycle about grief, identity, and resilience in the face of an uncertain future, Year of Summers aims straight for the heart with bombastic hooks and sharp storytelling.

Blvck Hippie / Latchkey Kids / Mad Mike and the Abominable Creatures

Static Age Records

Obscura Prom

Static Age Loft

Sarah Louise

Sarah Louise - Special Fundraiser Show

Bad Ties

Holland Negative - Avl - Southern Gothic fronted by Holland McMinn

Holland Negative + Bad Ties + Carter Herren-Sanders

Crate

i26connector

Hook of Moon

Crate (NYC) - like a warm hug
shoegaze / slowcore

i26connector (AVL) - southern rock country goth

Hook of Moon - Hook of Moon is an Asheville based music project by Aidan Thomann. Focusing on blending electronics, samples, and left field instrumentation with traditional pop song structure, Hook of Moon creates a dreamy sound that lands somewhere between the familiar and unfamiliar.

Crate / i26connector / Hook of Moon / Seven and A Half Giraffe

Laney Barnett - A native of Asheville, NC, Laney is a violinist and music teacher. With deep influences rooted in Appalachia, she remains true to her innermost voice. Her songs carry weight without naming it outright—patient, rough-edged, and honest.

Low Groves is the project of Chicago-born singer/songwriter Adam Naliwajko, music forged from loss and the quiet reckoning of sorting through a lifetime of belongings alone in a vacant house. That process yielded his 2021 debut album Drifter.

After relocating to Charlotte, he assembled a full band and kept evolving, with his 2025 singles earning praise from Queen City Nerve's Pat Moran for "pensive vocals threading through spectral guitars that shimmer like a fine rain" and songwriting that is "personal yet mythic, beautiful yet heartbreaking."

Griffin Duffey - GVL, SC - alternative singer/songwriter

Laney Barnett / Low Groves / Griffin Duffey

The Snares

Space Grandma

Bangzz

The Snares - garage psych-punk outfit based out of sacramento,ca.

Bangzz - garage punk true to the riot grrl era that dishes out loud and fast songs with in your face feminist themes

Space Grandma - Chris Phillips and Friends / noise art rock experimental

The Snares / Bangzz / Space Grandma

R. Hundro

songwriter / bandleader in NYC; Fievel Is Glauque, Blanche Blanche Blanche, Perfect Angels, OSR label [2007-17]; "la Loi" [current imprint]

R. Hundro (album release) / Glue Sniffin Squishheads / Smith and Earnest

Annual Celebration of Life: Mikolos & Sheetz

Big Kitty

Oil Derek

AC Sapphire

Jackie Kelsh

Big Kitty - "A legend in the field of entertainment" "Is the greatest artist, for my buck, in the business today," - Frank Sinatra

Big Kitty / Oil Derek / Jackie Kelsh / AC Sapphire 

Blithe

Headringer

Kaleidoscope Crux

Kaleidoscope Crux - Lafayette, LA - alt shoegaze sludge 

Blithe - avl indie art rock with hauntingly girlish undertones full of ancient rage and love

Kaleidoscope Crux / Blithe / Headringer

Scarlet Rae

Lost Plan

has always been an economical songwriter – he wields restraint and simplicity as tools, the core of his songs sharpened into simple, cutting truths. On Beauty Land, his new album and debut LP for
Dead Oceans, we’re guided by a wry but forgiving narrator, an underdog who has learned to balance cynicism and faith. These songs are self-effacing without self-pity, carefully constructed altars of imperfection channeled through pop melodies, shimmering but urgent guitars, and a voice that reaches for choir boy innocence.


The bulk of Beauty Land was recorded directly to tape, almost entirely alone in Mendez’s makeshift home studio in Philadelphia - a small room with no natural light. It’s his first full length since his unexpected self-
titled breakthrough in 2023, which was a slow burn success following 15 years of writing and recording music in relative obscurity between Philly and New York. Beauty Land picks up where we left off three
years ago – plumbing the depths of grief, love, and addiction – but its intense, quiet clarity shows Mendez at his songwriting best.


Parts of Beauty Land feel like a lucid dream, dented characters carve their way through a world that’s cartoonish and warped – the broken-clock march of “I Wanna Feel Pretty,” the chiming toy piano on
“Gentle Love.” “Mary / Dreaming” begins as a sparse, finger-picked lament before cutting abruptly to a deflated, Beach-Boys-but-make-it-fucked-up resolution that brings both melancholy and joy; a sense that all things can be true at once. None of the 14 tracks here break three minutes, but they tell stories that span lifetimes.


Death floats through the record, whether it appears as a memory or a threat. Everything feels precarious. There’s a fragility to how these songs are built: the way the funeral organ hits alongside the morphine on
“Looking Out Your Window,” the devastating simplicity of “Frog,” with its slowed-down keyboard and bare refrain: “Please forgive me for my faults.” Beauty Land feels, at times, impossibly lonely. Which makes it
really count when it doesn’t – like when Mendez sings in harmony with his wife and bandmate, Veronica near the end of “So Mean” and it feels like a cherished reunion, a fleeting moment of redemption, a temporary parting of the seas.

 — a Los Angeles-born, New York City-based artist — started to unveil solo tracks in 2020. She quickly honed a formula that blends understated acoustic instrumentation with shoegaze gloom and whispery, effect-shrouded vocals. For those uninitiated, her lowkey output may have seemed to come from nowhere. But she was already a seasoned musician, having performed in a myriad projects since her teens. Rae comes from a family of kindred spirits, who encouraged her to learn guitar as a young child. This led her to open for her father at bars around Los Angeles and attend concerts with her older sister. By high school, she was fronting the indie folk band Rose Dorn, who became favorites in the Los Angeles DIY circuit. The trio’s sepia tinted debut, Days You Were Leaving, was issued by Bar None Records in 2019.

 - Michael Sergio Basso and friends / alternative-rock

Lost Plan is an Asheville-based project conceived by musician and audio engineer Michael Basso. What began as a way of testing out old, broken audio equipment that Basso was restoring slowly evolved into a sprawling catalog of raw, intimate recordings. Each track carries the imprint of the gear that shaped it.

After amassing dozens of these homegrown demos, Basso partnered with fellow recording engineer Mike Johnson to shape the material into a cohesive full-length release. The result is Trutfall to Nowhere, a loose yet deliberate collection of lo-fi, rhythm-driven songs anchored by a detuned acoustic guitar. The album blends fragility with grit, embracing tape hiss, room noise, and the subtle unpredictability of the analog processes. Featuring a rotating cast of Asheville musicians, the record captures both the solitary origins of the project and the collaborative spirit that brought it into focus.

In a live setting, Lost Plan expands into a dynamic ensemble of Asheville heavy hitters. The lineup includes Rooty Rapsardi (Lion Country Ferrari) on bass, Landon George (MJ Lenderman, Indigo De Souza) on drums, and Mike Johnson (Slow Packer) on pedal steel and keyboards. Together, they reinterpret Basso’s recordings with a fuller, more dynamic presence while preserving the understated, homespun core of the songs.
Lost Plan exists at the intersection of process and imperfection—where broken machines find new life, and fleeting ideas are given just enough structure to resonate.

Greg Mendez

SOLD OUT: Greg Mendez / Scarlet Rae / Lost Plan

Kontusion 

Harsh Realm

Exorency

MAKE

"As the album title suggests, the record reeks of disgusting ambiance, tones that'll turn your insides out, and an incurable infection of groove and melody that'll keep you smashing the repeat button." - Metal Injection, Frank Godla

Exorency - Dark, depressive death metal band based out of Seymour, TN.

MAKE - doom drone post metal from Durham, NC

Kontusion / Harsh Realm / Exorency / MAKE

Cold Choir

Corpse Dust

Bustié

 is an dark electro project formed by primary artist Angelika Padilla aka Pogo Pope. Heavily influenced by 80's Freestyle / Electro, UK Punk,and Janet Jacksons " Rhythm Nation 1814," Bustié craft a sound of socially conscious dance music that they coin as "Anarcho Body Music."

 is Franky and Rio Martinez, an Electro-Darkwave duo. Their sound is rooted in post punk realm with a dose of EBM, Dark Techno, and 80s Electro. With two EPs and a remix album, Rio is a visual artist who plays the keyboard/synths and Franky is the writer and vocalist. Each track will make you dance with reckless abandon.

 is the industrial / ebm / darkwave project by producer Nathan Landolt (Harsh Realm, Secret Shame). Body music fused with heavy industrial percussion, brooding synths and haunting vocals conveying the excruciating human experience.

After forging their way into the industrial and harsh noise scenes with “Nothing Left Of Pain” (2023), experimenting with a Bleached Cross remix (2023), a cover of Godflesh’s “Angel Domain” (2024), and the stand-alone darkwave single “Full of Love (Redux)” (2025) - a complete overhaul of the track’s original sound, CORPSE DUST returns with “Suffer” in 2026.

With “Suffer”, a new vision unfolds across its eight songs, as the harsh intensity is stripped away, a new kind of shimmering darkness emerges. CORPSE DUST has taken a sharp turn into the world of darkwave and ebm songwriting, while still maintaining their revered industrial edge.

“Suffer” moves you through a sonic landscape that demands your attention with pulsing basslines and danceable beats, then pulls you in deeper with its brooding vocals and catchy synth melodies, while finally morphing into an aggressive industrial pounding by its finale.

Bustié / Cold Choir / Corpse Dust

The Darts

Impending Joy

Paper Pills

The Darts - Garage-punk-rock grrls will make your head slam and your feet shake. And then there's the music.

Impending Joy - Garage / Surf / Psych from AVL, NC

Paper Pills - Emo Alt-Rock outta Asheville, NC.

The Darts / Impending Joy / Paper Pills

Foglord

Spife

Lammoth

Formless

DUNGEON SYNTH HOBBIT BLACK METAL INDUSTRIAL NOISE SHOW 

 is a dungeon synth, ambient and experimental Appalachian folk artist from Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Active since 2011, his music blends shimmering atmospheres, folk melodies, and woodland mysticism into journeys that drift between the earthy and the transcendent. 

 - From the state of Tennessee, the enigmatic Spife comes bringing the Lunar Illusory Geists to haunt the stage. A Draconic visage lingers and the sonic rituals begin.

 - is a solo hobbit black metal project from Asheville, NC, combining traditional elements of black metal with influences from electronic, video game music, shoegaze, and more.

2 piece industrial/noise band from Asheville NC

Foglord / Spife / Lammoth / Formless

McAwesome

Nashville based alternative college grunge rock

- avl indie art rock with hauntingly girlish undertones full of ancient rage and love

- AVL based, project of Aiden Thomann, blends electronics, samples, & left-field instruments w/ traditional pop song structure

McAwesome / Avalon / Blithe / Hook of Moon

Lion Country Ferrari

Werewolf Hours

CS Cleaners

 is a group of two pairs from Asheville, NC. Luke and Bryan used to play together a million years ago in Los Angeles. Miles and Chadwick have played together for most of their lives. This band is a weird amalgamation of all of their styles. We play frenetic post-punk psychedelic garage rock... stuff. Listen and tell us what the fuck it is, because we can't tell.

CS Cleaners / Werewolf Hours / Lion Country Ferrari

Ovven 

 (pronounced oven) is the indie rock/alt-country project of Owen Burton. Their debut album, Gnawing at the Cord, was hailed as "a fuzz-guitar, alt-country tour-de-force" (the Indie Scene); "an instant classic" (SiriusXM Outlaw Country); "compulsively relistenable" (Steven Hyden); and was produced by Alex Farrar (MJ Lenderman, Wednesday, Indigo De Souza).

Ovven

*SOLD OUT* Ovven / i26connector / headringer

A Kiss Before Dying - Memphis, Tennessee-based metalcore/hardcore band

A Kiss Before Dying / Heaven Sent / No Sign of Life / Dull Appearance

One Wheel Fireworks Show

Pivot

One Wheel Fireworks Show - Nashville - Jason, eternal is One Wheel Fireworks Show's first foray into louder, darker material, exploring the fickle flow of time, mortality and what it means to get up in the morning and face another day. The record was assembled "hog dash" style at Colin Miller's Haw Creek home, with Cole and Miller embracing chaos and textures inspired by the drawings of the late visual artist, Jason Polan. 

Pivot - (AVL) Melodic Slowcore from Tombstone Poetry guitarist, Sofia Pace

One Wheel Fireworks Show / Pivot / Narcan Racecar

Goetia

Cemetery Filth

Feral Wretch

 - Ripping Death Metal from the Southeast US.
Filth-ridden and progressing beyond thought.

Goetia / Cemetery Filth / Feral Wretch

Bill's Garage

Frances Eliza

Bill's Garage (Album Release show!) - lo-fi grunge folk / bedroom rock from Boone, NC.

Bill's Garage (Album Release) / Frances Eliza

Jaguardini

Jaguardini treats music like a science project, combining the sounds of old video games and synthesizers to create a live blend of lofi synthpop and energetic dark wave. Christo manipulates a gameboy, a vocoder, synths, and an electric guitar with a CRT TV set on his head. Influenced by Crystal Castles, Pink Floyd, The Cure, Ghostland Observatory, Beethoven, Ladytron, MGMT, and Disasterpeace.

plus ADMP (Analog Dance Music Project) - Sophie Hull + Nic Jenkins

Jaguardini / Teardux / ADMP

Bellows

Sophia Corrine

Slow Packer

 (BK, NY) - Bellows is the bedroom recording project of songwriter and producer Oliver Kalb.

 (Nashville, TN) - the world's sweatiest band!

 is a collaborative music project between two brothers, Jack Victor and Mike Henry Johnson. The two of them started playing music together as young kids, and performed and recorded with various bands over the years. This project is a return to their roots, working side-by-side to create original songs that reflect their musical background and multitude of shared experiences.

 - "Sophia Corinne harvests poetry for the lines of each song from her life, one lived paying attention. Her songs are witness to the raw difficulties and layered radiant joys that every heart bears. In both writing and voice, Sophia’s songs offer the companionship of something beautiful for us to hold close in any season. She is currently based in Asheville NC." ~Malena Sweers

Bellows / Terror Pigeon / Slow Packer / Sophia Corinne

The Bug Club

Golomb

Finger Foods

 are a tight-knit, collaborative effort focussed on telling tales of the everyday that we often take for granted, shot through with humour and riffs-a-plenty.

 - Molded in the fertile rock crescent of Columbus, Ohio, three-piece Golomb channels Midwest friction into an album that seeks to find a genuine connection. The band boasts not one, but two bonded dynamics, something of an aberration among most trios. Siblings Xenia (bass) and Hawken (drums) tie down the rhythm section with songwriter/guitarist Mickey Shuman and Xenia turning their tags to spouse after years of dating. The close bonds between the members have fed into the band’s process — family and friends first and band second, leveraging years of trust to turn The Beat Goes On into an album that never wavers in its sincerity.

 is a four-piece indie rock band from Nashville, TN made up of members Levi Carter (guitar/vox), Carmen Kovich (guitar / vox), Mason Haigis (bass) and Meredith Moody (drums). They released their debut LP, 

The Bug Club / Golomb / Finger Foods

Return to Glory / Dark Hand / All Will Suffer / Sydney's Fatal Scream

Agonesiac / Serrate / Falling Behind / Tracheal Shave

Drawn 

Manas

 - Layne Garrett (guitar) and Nate Scheible (drums). Based in Washington DC, NS and LG have played together in many configurations including the art-rock band DRAWN and various ad hoc ensembles. As a duo, their music is rooted largely in free improvisation, exploring timbre, repetition, intuition, physicality, abstraction. Nate has released music on Outside Time and Warm Winters Ltd; former affiliations include Mock Identity, Scarcity of Tanks, and Self Destruct Button. Layne plays in Weed Tree and other projects, and is program director of the community arts space Rhizome DC. 

Drawn / Scribblers / Manas

Grocer

Deady

Grocer - Philly, PA - Grocer is a band from Philadelphia. Lead by three distinct vocalists, each with a unique voice both on and off their respective instruments, they flicker between moments of brash chromaticism, saccharine pop sensibility, and rhythmic acrobatics. Their compositions are both meticulous and volatile, while their live performances are lauded for explosive chemistry with cheeky curiosity.

Deady - Louisville, KY - Deady is a 5 piece punk band from Louisville, KY. Pavement is an indie group formed in Stockton, CA. Pavement fucking sucks. Deady fucking rules.

Grocer / Deady

Landon George

Landon George (b. 1995) is a multi-instrumentalist and musical interloper living in Asheville, North Carolina, USA. His music ranges from experimental electronic endeavors to traditional Appalachian ballad singing to intimate original folk songs. An explorer at heart, George may be found drumming in a free improvised unit, playing tuba in an early jazz second line ensemble, or slapping the upright bass in a country blues band.

International appearances by George include a month long tour in China with Yiannese traditional band, Manhu, and festivals in Indonesia and the Netherlands. His current projects include multiple releases on several US labels including COPYRIGHT420, Pink Lady Apple House, and George’s own label, SORSE. In addition to releasing music under his own name, Landon George has released music under the aliases Dosha, Lil’ Nothing Man and The JavaScript Family Band.

Aunt Arctica - Birmingham AL alt-indie pop

Landon George / Aunt Arctica / Lorelei Taylor

Tanner York

Walkhome

Colin Miller

Walkhome - Asheville based songwriter rock, from the head to the heart.

Colin Miller - If the name Colin Miller sounds familiar, you have probably spent a not-negligible amount of time looking at the credits for other Asheville luminaries like MJ Lenderman (Miller helped engineer and produce last year’s Boat Songs), Wednesday (same for I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone), and Indigo De Souza (2018’s I Love My Mom). Miller also makes music on his own, and he’s racked up a decent amount of material over the past few years, mostly one-offs and shorter home-recorded affairs.

Tanner York / Seven and a Half Giraffe / Walkhome / Colin Miller

Lavender Blue

Official Claire

 combines laid-back indie rock with whispery folk, and her incisive, often witty lyrics sometimes make listening to her feel like pricking your finger on a hidden thorn on the stem of a beautiful flower. The five songs on the hilariously titled 2024 EP 

 reveal an artist who’s just as comfortable recounting run-ins with the prying eyes of mediocre men under the fluorescent lights of a big-box retailer as she is confessing her hope for true love and connection. (She recorded the EP with drummer Quin Kirchner and multi-instrumentalist LeRoy Bach, crediting herself as simply “Claire.”) 

The sparse, confessional “This Monthly Affirmation” celebrates avoiding unwanted pregnancy while seeking a romance that will last. “Don’t Ever Let Anyone Tell You to Be Yourself,” awash in dreamy acoustic guitar and shimmering chimes, retells the demise of a relationship. But while the music sounds somber and forlorn, the lyrics put a wry twist on the breakup song—her insistence that her ex was the whole problem, that he failed to be the man she told him to be, suggests that she’s either winkingly indulging her resentment (before, one hopes, self-awareness and accountability take over) or caricaturing a narcissistic jerk. 

Official Claire’s combination of sensitivity and straight talk taps into a familiar Chicago spirit that makes it feel like just about anyone could be an unofficial Claire.

The vessel for the songwriting and guitar playing of Kayla Zuskin. Lavender Blue the band consists of Mike Henry Johnson on Pedal Steel and Synthesizers, Mary Steinbrecher on Electric Bass and Jack Victor on Drumkit and occasionally keys. They are in the process of recording and producing their second full length LP. Their music is best described as slowcore and alternative indie with a dash of Americana.

 - avl indie art rock with hauntingly girlish undertones full of ancient rage and love

Official Claire (ft. former-Wilco members) / Lavender Blue / Blithe

Okapi

Lady Kabela

is a duo which utilizes upright bass, cello, and voice through raw, intimate orchestrations driven by honesty and philosophical content. We advocate the conscious confrontation with reality, rather than the subconscious avoidance or distraction from it, and encourage individual awareness, freedom, and healthy growth. We hope to inspire consciousness in all those who are willing to listen.

Glad I Didn't Get My Stupid Wish

 Glad I Didn't Get My Stupid Wish / Okapi / Lady Kabela

Johnny Dynamite & The Bloodsuckers

John Aaron Morisi better known by his stage name Johnny Dynamite is an American multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer-songwriter. Inspired by the illustrative work of his grandfather, Morisi took on the name of one of his most iconic characters, an anti hero detective from the underworld; "Johnny Dynamite".

Morisi blends many different genres and connects the dots between different pockets of subculture; equal parts glossy new wave and anthemic rock n’ roll. Morisi’s signature beat centric production style incorporates big stadium drum samples, dreamy alternate guitar tunings and ethereal retro synth patches. Morisi’s sound has been compared to legacy acts such as Pet Shop Boys, INXS, and The Cure as well as more modern acts such as MGMT and M83.

Johnny Dynamite / Falling Behind / TBA

Powder Horns

Paprika

RIBS (Raleigh) - experimental rock - southern mobility meets uptown dentistry

Powder Horns - Powder Horns is a band born from the mind of Brett J Kent in Asheville, NC. Based in the traditions of the almighty rock and roll, Powder Horns finds itself a culmination of influences and life experiences.

Paprika - Paprika is a rock band. Punched with swaying blues rhythms, desert rock stylings, and eerie cosmic flourishes, our music explores the pains of love, life, and desire through a dust-speckled lens. Our music is written, recorded, mixed, and cut to vinyl by ourselves here in Asheville, NC.

RIBS / Powder Horns / Paprika

Lo Wolf

Claire Whall

(Asheville, NC) Conduit songs from the blue beyond.

  - (Asheville, NC) Folk country artist Lo Wolf writes raw, radiant, and real music.Rooted in feeling, their voice moves like spring. Smoky songs that whisper and scream will stay with you. Like the coyotes on the
hillsides or the wolves roaming the lands, she brings stories and
places to life through sound. Whether solo or with a band, they bring
a unique, rebellious energy to their live sets and recordings alike

Lo Wolf / Claire Whall

Nina GI 

Nina GI - Asheville based hip-hop r&b songstress.

Nina GI

Squid Pisser (LA), Mean Habit (CARRBORO, NC), Mockery (AVL), Camel Cash (AVL), Louder Transition Collective (CLT)

Squid Pisser / Mean Habit / Mockery / Camel Cash / Louder Transition Collective (CLT)

fuse the urgency of punk with the grit and melody of Southern Calif rock, turning everyday struggle into cathartic, communal release. Raised in working class neighborhoods and proud of their roots, the band channels lived experience into songs that balance sharp social awareness with a sense of hope, crafting choruses meant to be shouted back from the pit. With every show and every song, Death Lens continue to build a world where outsiders belong and resilience feels electric.

 has been dominating the post-punk/garage scene for quite some time. Building an exciting repertoire through their highly captivating live shows, this raucous trio unleash a whirlwind of sound that commands their audience to move - whether they’re ready or not!

WELCOME

JUST ANNOUNCED

Powerplant / Pollute / Cheeks

Unwed Sailor

Death Lens / Monsterwatch / Pat & the Pissers / Skinman

Squid Pisser / Mean Habit / Mockery / Camel Cash / Louder Transition Collective (CLT)

Lo Wolf / Claire Whall

Glad I Didn't Get My Stupid Wish / Okapi / Lady Kabela

Official Claire (ft. former-Wilco members) / Lavender Blue / Blithe

Grocer / Deady

Drawn / Scribblers / Manas

The Bug Club / Golomb / Finger Foods

Up next

Jaguardini / Teardux / ADMP

Bellows / Terror Pigeon / Slow Packer / Sophia Corinne

The Bug Club / Golomb / Finger Foods

Return to Glory / Dark Hand / All Will Suffer / Sydney's Fatal Scream

Agonesiac / Serrate / Falling Behind / Tracheal Shave