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My fellow New Yorkers, we must prepare ourselves: the New Colossus Festival is upon us once more. Beginning tomorrow, 180 bands will descend upon the streets of the Lower East Side, taking over 12 separate venues for five straight days. It\u2019s a lot, and it\u2019s not for the faint of heart. But fear not: we here at <\/span>Paste<\/span><\/i> hope to make the considerable challenge of deciding which bands to see a little easier. Here are the acts we\u2019re most looking forward to at this year\u2019s fest.<\/span><\/p>\n Aunt Katrina<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n Aunt Katrina might have started out as ex-feeble little horse guitarist Ryan Walchonski\u2019s solo project, but it\u2019s since become something much bigger\u2014<\/span>literally<\/span><\/i>, considering it\u2019s now a six piece that includes Snail Mail\u2019s Alex Bass, Tosser\u2019s Eric Zidar, and more. <\/span>Paste<\/span><\/i> writer Camryn Teder penned an <\/span>extensive feature<\/span><\/a> on the Baltimore band last summer in honor of their debut record, <\/span>This Heat is Slowly Killing Me<\/span><\/i>. As she put it, \u201c<\/span>This Heat is Slowly Killing Me<\/span><\/i>\u2019s yearning lyrics shroud in blurry guitars\u2014it\u2019s textured but neat, and that fusion of guitar-driven rock and electronic embellishments create a sound Walchonski creatively dubs \u201claptop gaze.\u201d\u201d Wanna hear what that genre sounds like firsthand? Check \u2018em out this Friday night.<\/span><\/p>\n See Aunt Katrina on Friday, March 6, at Parkside Lounge at 7 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n cootie catcher<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n This Toronto indietronica group made our \u201cmust-see bands at New Colossus\u201d list last year too, and they\u2019ve only gotten better with time\u2014we quite liked their recent sophomore album <\/span>Something We All Got<\/span><\/i><\/a> (an acronym for SWAG, obviously), and even did a <\/span>feature<\/span><\/a> on them last month for our Best of What\u2019s Next series. As I wrote in that piece, \u201cThey write jangly, heart\u2011on\u2011their-sleeve indie pop that could pass for classic twee if you only heard the guitars. Except it\u2019s not just guitars: the band weaves tinny drum machines, chopped\u2011up vocal snippets, and live\u2011triggered glitches into each measure, making the songs feel less like a scene revival and more like someone snuck a laptop into a basement band\u2026 In that sense, the twee is just the vehicle. The cootie catcher effect, then, feels less like a scene revival and more like a Trojan horse: familiar indie\u2011rock shells smuggling in lofi beats and chopped\u2011up samples.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n See cootie catcher on Friday, March 6, at Arlene\u2019s Grocery at 10 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n ira glass<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n To be clear: this ira glass is not NPR\u2019s Ira Glass, although the confusion is to be expected. <\/span>This<\/span><\/i> ira glass is, according to <\/span>Chicago Reader<\/span><\/i>, \u201cChicago\u2019s best new post-hardcore band,\u201d and although I don\u2019t live in Chicago myself, I don\u2019t doubt it to be true. The group expertly wind through brutal, shredding riffs, machine-gun drumlines, and cathartic, raw screams\u2014and also, somehow, some free jazz touches\u2014to create something altogether exhilarating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n See ira glass on Saturday, March 7, at Parkside Lounge at 11:30 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n Junk Drawer<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n We really enjoyed Junk Drawer\u2019s sophomore LP last year; as writer Clare Martin wrote in her <\/span>review<\/span><\/a> of <\/span>Days of Heaven:<\/span><\/i> \u201cJunk Drawer\u2019s debut channeled a loose \u201890s sound akin to Pavement and occasionally devolved into a punk dance party; <\/span>Days of Heaven<\/span><\/i>, however, maintains that playful freshness while broadening their thematic scope and injecting their music with a healthy dose of \u201860s psychedelia\u2026And then there\u2019s the jam of it all; this is a band who know their instruments and each other so very well, and it\u2019s obvious during every hypnotic groove they lock into. It\u2019s easy to get lost in Junk Drawer\u2019s mesmerizing aural push and pull.\u201d The Belfast band is great live, to boot; they even won Best Live Act at the Northern Ireland Music Prizes in 2022. They\u2019re a perfect storm.<\/span><\/p>\n See Junk Drawer on Wednesday, March 4, at Berlin at 12:15 a.m.; Friday, March 6, at Arlene\u2019s Grocery at 3 p.m., and Saturday, March 7, at Pianos NYC at 10 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n Pinc Louds<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n There is no other act on Earth quite like Pinc Louds. Claudi (who uses all pronouns) makes gender-bending, loop-heavy, sugar-sweet punk rock that\u2019s already bizarro and magnificent on its own, but becomes absolutely mesmerizing live\u2014watching her build a wild, feverish world one loop at a time is so supremely fun. There\u2019s so much childlike joy in their music, and it all comes to life when you\u2019re face-to-face with Claudi himself, adorned in some bright flower-print dress and the same black wig, jumping from syrupy falsetto to dinosaur-esque growls with pure glee. Watching Claudi feels a little like watching Superorganism\u2019s Tiny Desk Concert, except instead of eight people working together to create that beautifully strange cacophony, it\u2019s just the one (albeit sometimes with bass from Ofer Bear, drums from Rai Mondo, and keys from Marc Mosteirin). You won\u2019t forget their \u201chardcore acoustic doo-wop trash-art\u201d style anytime soon.<\/span><\/p>\n See Pinc Louds on Friday, March 6, at Sour Mouse at 7:45 p.m., and Saturday, March 7, at Nublu Classic, at 11:30 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n Pop Music Fever Dream<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019ll be honest, I haven\u2019t actually seen Pop Music Fever Dream live yet, but their set is one of my New Colossus top priorities for precisely that reason\u2014I\u2019ve had no less than four (4) friends tell me their live shows are not to be missed, so I need to pop my PMFD cherry ASAP. Their sound is all no-wave post-punk, a la Parquet Court\u2019s <\/span>Content Nausea<\/span><\/i>, but their shows are sheer chaotic ecstasy and raw catharsis. They make full use of the space given, climbing up poles and crawling under platforms, always moving faster, harder, wilder with each song. I\u2019m not missing this one for the world, so if you see me at Francis Kite Club this Friday, feel free to say hi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n See Pop Music Fever Dream on Friday, March 6, at Francis Kite Club at 9:15 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n Prism Shores<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m definitely excited to see Prism Shores, considering I just so happened to blurb their latest single, \u201cI Didn\u2019t Mean to Change My Mind,\u201d for last week\u2019s <\/span>Best New Songs list<\/span><\/a>. As I wrote there: \u201cWho doesn\u2019t want some good ol\u2019 power pop to close out the week? \u2018I Didn\u2019t Mean to Change My Mind\u2019 sounds like it fell out of a forgotten \u201990s college-radio rotation and landed squarely in 2026, blinking in the light but already halfway through its chorus. Prism Shores pile up chiming guitars and fuzz like it\u2019s second nature, all bright jangle on top and this low, satisfying crunch underneath, and then have the nerve to sing over it with a flattened, shrugging delivery that makes every hook feel like an offhand confession.\u201d We have to wait until April to hear the band\u2019s third LP, <\/span>Softest Attack,<\/span><\/i> in its entirety, but at least we can catch a sneak peek this weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n See Prism Shores on Friday, March 6, at Arlene\u2019s Grocery at 8:30 PM or Saturday, March 7, at Baker Falls at 3:30 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n Punchlove<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n We loved Punchlove\u2019s 2024 debut, <\/span>Channels<\/span><\/i>, so much that we dubbed it a Paste Pick. As editor Matt Mitchell <\/span>put it<\/span><\/a>, \u201cPunchlove started from a small bedroom project and graduated into this majorly evocative, eclectic force of guitar-piling nature. The album was not just a cohesive, awing feat, but one of our very favorite debuts of 2024.\u201d As we all know, the shoegaze revival has gotten a bit tired at this point, but Punchlove somehow makes it feel wide awake again. To quote Grace Ann Natawan\u2019s <\/span>glowing review<\/span><\/a>, \u201cThe band\u2019s experimental and stirring blend of blazing instrumentation and poetic lyricism will deeply resonate with a new generation of shoegaze enthusiasts. It\u2019s fiery and pensive all at once, clocking in at a rapturous, breakneck pace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n See Punchlove on Thursday, March 5, at Arlene\u2019s Grocery at 7:45 p.m, or Saturday, March 7, at Arlene\u2019s Grocery at 8:30 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n Star\u2019s Revenge<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n Hey, have any of you guys heard of this, like, super under-the-radar band Geese? Well, you\u2019re reading <\/span>Paste Magazine<\/span><\/i>, so I\u2019m going to assume you have. In that case, Star\u2019s Revenge is an absolute must-see: it\u2019s the burgeoning side project of Geese guitarist Emily Green alongside Sunflower Bean drummer Olive Faber, after all. We here at <\/span>Paste<\/span><\/i> love both of those bands already\u2014editor Matt Mitchell gave <\/span>Getting Killed<\/span><\/i><\/a> a perfect score in their review, and Sunflower Bean\u2019s <\/span>Mortal Primetime<\/span><\/i><\/a> wasn\u2019t far off, courtesy of writer Alex McLevy\u2014so it\u2019s no surprise we\u2019ve been enjoying Stars Revenge too. That\u2019s not to say that the band is just Geese and Sunflower Bean Pt. 2, though; the duo\u2019s mellower, starker indie-pop sound is a far cry from the members\u2019 other outfits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n See Star\u2019s Revenge on Tuesday, March 3, at Pianos NYC at 8:30 p.m.<\/b><\/p>\n Triples<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n