New music from Columbia, SC, musicians

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It’s not like Columbia has ever been short on people making music — it’s just been especially loud about it lately. Across genres and scenes, local artists have been quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) putting out records that reflect the city’s range, restlessness and DIY streak. Here’s a quick roundup of the past few months of releases from Columbia musicians. It’s a snapshot of what’s coming out of their bedrooms, basements and home studios right now.

“ILL Street, Vol. 1,” ILL St. aka Kid Roxxdamus

This is one of the more genuinely unsettling releases of late 2025. An aural horror movie, “ILL STREET, VOL. 1” trades in a sound called krump. Krump is high-energy, aggressive hip-hop or electronic music that can be both explosive and expressive, and Columbia rapper Kid Roxxdamus has got that part down pat. The album is less a collection of songs than a scary theme park ride, blasting through 14 tracks of off-center beats, shards of hip-hop boasting coated in grimy layers of distortion. There are samples from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” floating around this aural horror show, along with snippets of horror movie themes, and that only serves to spotlight Kid Roxxdamus’s evil, unpredictable flow. It’s not for everybody, but if you catch the vibe, it’s addictive.

“Free At Last,” Stretch Arm Strong

Stretch Arm Strong’s roots lie in hardcore punk, but on its new album “Free At Last,” that raging sound is tempered by a near punk-pop sense of melody. The vocals on the album’s 13 tracks range from emotional crooning to throat-shredding wails, and the band moves as one on tight, monolithic rockers on the raging “The Hardest Part” and “Faces.” The band even toys with straight-ahead hard rock on “Hearts on Fire” and leads off “To the End” with a finger-breaking bass riff. The overall effect can be a bit numbing after a while (the album could be a bit tighter, length-wise), but there are songs on this album that could, and should, be on modern rock radio right now.

“My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest,” Your Spirit Dies

What is it about Columbia that spawns so many top-notch metal bands? Is it the heat? The toxicity of being the center of state politics? Regardless, we can deafen the masses with the best of them, and that’s what Your Spirit Dies does on “My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest.” You do not “listen” to this album as much as you “endure” it. Fans of punishing, merciless hardcore will be in heaven when they hear grinding, feral song-beasts like “Trenches of Pain,” “A Rose for Every Stone” and the epic “Unjust God.” If you don’t like punishing your ears, skip this one. If you’re into tinnitus, grab your headphones and enjoy the ride.

“Visions,” The Movement

Nominally, The Movement is a reggae band, and you can certainly find plenty of sun-splashed, easy-skank rhythms on “Visions” like “River Guide You.” But the music is more than that, and the band might have stumbled onto one hell of an original sound here. The Movement mixes electronic dance beats and moody synths into a basic foundation of reggae, creating a hybrid of styles that works surprisingly well. Find electronic zips and zaps on “Putting Up 2” and there’s even a DJ scratching over the aforementioned traditional track, “River Guide You.” This album might turn off fans of traditional reggae, but if you’re of a musically adventurous mind, it’s a hell of a ride.

“No Place Here,” Private Compliment

The newest release on this list (released Jan. 17) is also the shortest, most ragged and most energetic. Private Compliment plays old-school breakneck American hardcore punk, which means speed, aggression and neck-snapping time changes. This bad boy kicks down the door with the top speed “Last Laugh,” which has a hilarious faux-ska break, and never stops. “2 Cola System” is a scathing indictment of local politics, and the title track brings things crashing down with a riff that chain smokes Camels and a lyrical screed against racism. Three songs. Maximum attitude. Less than nine minutes. Hell yeah.

“Pain Shopping,” Her Noise Is Violence

Back in 1975, the great Velvet Underground songwriter and professional jerk Lou Reed released a double-album of nothing but amps feeding back. It was called “Metal Machine Music.” There were no songs. Just screaming, harsh, electronic noise. Some people called it bullshit. Others called it genius. The jury is still out. “Pain Shopping” makes “Metal Machine Music” sound like Kenny G. This isn’t unruly noise; this is layer upon layer of shifting, jagged shards. It sounds like the listener is desperately turning an AM radio dial in the middle of a construction site that’s being hit by a tornado. Her Noise Is Violence refers to this album as “therapeutic;” I found it genuinely unsettling. I have no idea whether it’s good or bad, but it leaves an impression.

“Make Good,” Tourneforte

After a slate of rage-filled releases this time out, it was genuinely refreshing to hear a bright, hook-filled album that could actually be called “alternative rock,” if that phrase wasn’t more out of fashion than fidget spinners. Tourneforte is a quartet that aims squarely for your listening pleasure centers, with full, surging riffs, catchy choruses and a good ear for ballads (check out the heartbreaking opener “Fig.”) Songs like the loping “Minnesota” and the acoustic-electric gem “Centerfolds” sound like vintage ‘90s college radio favorites, and in a perfect world, the anthemic “Time Flies” would fill stadiums.