melt exclusive:
VILLAGERRR
“It just can all feel a little bit funny. But that's not really what the whole thing is about, I guess. It also just feels like, with the carousel imagery, it kind of reminds me of a carnival or something. The songs span a pretty wide sonic palette, I feel like. And there's so many different people playing on it, so I feel like it just feels like a big, messy thing. But in a good way.”
Read Above: Steeped in the same rawness that earned Mark Scott’s earliest, bedroom-recorded releases their initial admiration, Carousel is, in a way, a realized version of these sounds. With an accompanying band composed of Zayn Dweik (drums), Cam Garshon (bass), Alex Cox (guitar), and Henry Schuellerman (pedal steel), Scott’s trademark premeditation and delicacy is brought to rest in absolute perfection in its live incarnation.
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MELT Exclusive:
True Green
True Green, the brainchild of novelist and songwriter Dan Hornsby, recently released the follow-up to their 2024 debut, My Lost Decade, in the form of a tumbling, character-extracted, 13-track extravaganza: Hail Disaster, out via Spacecase Records in March of this year.
From the very moment that the opening track, “Italian Lightning”, settles into its trailing riff, Hornsby issues a poignant reminder of his storytelling acumen, painting a picture of a deadbeat (but irresistibly cool) relative with vague attachment to the criminal underworld. But as the project unfolds, a wider vision becomes clear— what does it mean to court disaster, and why are we so constantly attracted to the dark and sinister that underlies our daily lives?
Ahead of True Green’s stop at the intensely intimate Dissonant Works space in St. Louis (with local acts Matt Daisy and Huck on the bill) I spoke with both Hornsby and close collaborator Tailer Ransom about character-building, growing from My Lost Decade, and both of their intentions in working on Hail Disaster.
Featured Review:
rumspringa — Ear
MELT Curated: best dressed ghost
A dive into the tastes of New Jersey punk band best dressed ghost.
Artist profiles
For founder and frontman Ed Moreno, SoCal-based indie and garage-rock band The High Curbs has served as a sort of journal for his musical inspirations and creative leanings since its formation in 2013. At the time, Moreno was in high school, but over the decade-plus The High Curbs have been in action, he has watched himself grow from an energetic, rock-loving teenager to a more mature artist.
The High Curbs
When Northampton-based composer and producer Dan Langa set out to create a live version of his COVID-era concert After Nothing Comes, enlisting a number of collaborators to re-interpret and re-record the work in a live setting, he had very little idea what would ultimately come of it. Fugue State and its first full release— a collage-oriented, experimental version of the original chamber composition— came about unintentionally, as a gradual crystallization of Langa’s artistic intentions as he worked on the project.
FUGUE STATE
NYC-based guitarist and singer-songwriter Eli Frank has found creative release through Bummer Camp, his solo endeavour turned full-band project, in the years since the dissolution of his DIY punk venture Top Nachos. But now, as the release of the newest Bummer Camp record Fake My Death indicates a turn in a more pop-leaning direction, it’s become evident that Frank is operating at a level of artistic freedom that has, at times throughout his career, been difficult to keep near the forefront of his creative atmosphere.
BUMMER CAMP
sleepazoid, the post-punk-influenced, alternative rock band based in Melbourne, has taken another step forward into their rough-edged sound with the release of their second EP “New Age” in early 2026. In doing so, they have done more than log another entry into their catalogue, however– they have crafted a testament to their creative cohesions as a band, a refinement of their sonic intentions, and a staunch move towards a striking dynamism.
sleepazoid
Iguana Death Cult came to life as the garage-punk passion project of four teenage friends, and it has seen its fair share of transformations over the roughly 12 years since its inception. But their newest record, Guns Out, represents more than just a sonic evolution for the Rotterdam-based band. After two of the band’s original members made the difficult decision to move on from the project, Guns Out is a triumphant and searing continuation of the psychedelic and funk-rooted influences that defined their earliest efforts.