On the weekend of August 9th, I had the pleasure of attending Rogue Music Festival on days one and three. A queer, female-run music festival committed to paying artists fairly (meaning with each ticket purchase, 70% goes to the artists!) With this being their second year, I was thrilled to be invited back to check out some incredible small, local (and not-so-local) bands! Working with people who care for the artists just as much as they do the art is inspiring. From the week

The anticipation could be felt in the air that evening as time ticked closer to  Summer Fling’s , the funk-rock band based out in New York City, performance on the Our Wicked Lady  stage. The excitement only intensified with each preceding act from the rocking Ok, Tyler , whose lyrics dive into themes of coming-of-age such as heartache, doubt, hope, and more, followed by Thesaurus Rex's  theatrical performance of their narrative-driven songs.   Summer Fling’s  discography, co

Longlegs is dark and atmospheric, catching me off guard from what I expected based on its marketing. It unfolds like a chilling police procedural mixed with eerie tones of Silence of the Lambs and  The Exorcist III . I am neutral regarding slow burns, but the gradual buildup of dread throughout the film is incredibly effective. Director Oz Perkins ensures every set design is hauntingly beautiful. The choice of how much of Nicholas Cage to reveal to sign empty spaces for suspe

The A Quiet Place  franchise continues to impress as this film forges new territory by taking the audience back to the beginning of the alien invasion that told the word to STFU! Much like its predecessors, A Quiet Place: Day One  is a tense thriller with much heart. This film features more dialogue than previous entries, given that it shows the hours just before a meteor shower brings the deadly predators, Death Angels. The majority of the plot and character development is a

“The best band in New York,” says Calvin Rezen from Thesaurus Rex.    The 8-piece Brooklyn-based band, Boys Go To Jupiter performed an unforgettable set exuding high energy and superb storytelling through their musicality and lyricism. They celebrated the release of their newest single, “Tiltawhirl”, by performing it live at Brooklyn Made.  Boys Go To Jupiter is like no other band. They are the type of band with the most spirited and exuberant sets that hold your attention fo

HIT ME HARD AND SOFT is gut-wrenching, witty, and danceable all at the same time.

Komodos , a Brooklyn-based garage-rock post-punk band with influences that stray from just one genre label, recently came out with their second single, Deliverance .    Following their first release, The Score deviates from the liveliness of their lyrics and adds range to their sound, adding an angsty edge to their lyricism and overall production.    Deliverance starts with the isolation of a droning note and the beginning of the drum beat. The isolation that is noted at th