Festival Preview: 6 Must-See Acts at 2024’s The New Colossus Festival

Festival Preview: 6 Must-See Acts at 2024’s The New Colossus Festival

Co-founded back in 2018 by three New York music industry vets and longtime friends, former Lorimer Beacon founder and head Mike Bell, Kanine Records‘ founder and label head Lio Kanine and Kepler Events‘ and Dedstrange Records co-founder Steven Matrick, The New Colossus Festival over the course of the past couple of years has featured several hundred handpicked, emerging indie bands and artists from Canada, the UK, the European Union, Singapore, Hong Kong and of course, the US. 

Since its founding, the festival has quickly established itself as the first stop in New York and in the US for a growing number of emerging and buzz worthy for a growing number of emerging and buzz worthy international artists. Notable festival alumni include a number of JOVM mainstays including GIFT, Penelope Isles, The Orielles, Thus Love, as well as Pom Poko, Pom Pom Squad, Sid Simons, Sobs, Water From Your Eyes, Peel Dream Magazine, Kiwi Jr., and a growing list of others. 

The festival’s fifth — er fourth? — edition will take place March 6, 2024 – March 10, 2024 in some of the Lower East Side’s best and renowned independent venues including Mercury Lounge, Berlin Under A, Arlene’s Grocery, Bowery Ballroom, The Bowery Electric, Heaven Can Wait, Baker Falls,  Pianos, and more.   Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the course of this past year, you’d recall that earlier this year, the festival’s organizers announced the first wave of artists, which featured an eclectic array of artists from across the US, Canada, the European Union and more.

I’ll be very busy over the course of the next five days and four nights covering an eclectic array of artists and bands. Of course, much like any festival I’ve covered, there are a collection of acts that I’m really looking forward to — and who I believe are must see acts.

La Sécurité: The Montréal-based post-punk super group will be playing what I believe will be their first NYC area shows ever in support of their excellent album, last year’s Stay Safe! The album, which features singles like “Anyway,” “Serpent” and “Hot Topic” sees the super group crafting a sound that seems to draw from The B52s, DEVO, This Is Happening-era LCD Soundsystem — but with lyrics sung in English and French.

Hippie Hourrah: The Montréal-based psych rock outfit features some of the French Canadian city’s more accomplished musicians — Les Marinellis‘ Cédric Marinelli, Elephant Stone‘s Miles Dupire-Gagnon and Elephant Stone’s, Anemone‘s and The Besnard Lakes‘ Gabriel Lambert. The act specializes in a 60s inspired psych rock sound that recalls The Black Angels, Elephant Stone, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and contemporaries like Corridor and Solipsisme. You can check out their first single “Fantôme,” which I wrote about back in 2021 to get a sense of their overall sound and aesthetic.

Keep: The Richmond, VA-based shoegazers formed back in 2013, and since their formation they’ve developed and honed a sound that draws from 80s goth and post-punk, 90s shoegaze and grunge, as well as post-2000s indie rock. Their full-length debut, last year’s Happy In Here featured album singles “Dasani Daydream,” and “Everything.”  

CHAII: The Persian-born, Kiwi-based emcee and producer, along with her family migrated to New Zealand when she was eight. And as the story goes. she was introduced to hip-hop through Eminem, who at the time had just released The Marshall Mathers LP. Fueled by a growing interest in his music, the rising Persian-Kiwi emcee was rhyming along to his work before she really learned how to speak English. 

2020’s Lightswitch EP served as the Persian-born, Kiwi-based artist’s bold, global coming out party and featured the sort of globe-trotting, genre and style-mashing sound that I’ve loved and have been drawn to for much of my life and career. Now, if you were frequenting this site back in 2020, you might recall that I wrote about three swaggering, attention grabbing singles off Lightswitch EP: “Digebasse,” an urgent, club-banger collaboration with Aussie emcee B Wise that features lyrics in English and Farsi; “Trouble,” a club banger rooted in incisive social commentary on the social pressure millennial women face; and “Wow (Look at Me),” a track that saw the genre-blurring artist at arguably her most brash and bold.

FRANKIIE: The Vancouver-based dream pop/psych pop outfit — founding members Francesca Carbonneau (vocals, guitar) and Nashlyn Lloyd (vocals, synth, guitar), along with Trevor Stöddärt (drums) and Jody Glenham (bass) — released their long-awaited  Jason Corbett-produced sophomore album Between Dreams last year. Between Dreams saw the Canadian quartet weaving elements of reverb-soaked ream pop, vintage classic rock, bedroom psyuch and sun-kissed shoegaze into an effortlessly seamless soundscape meant to evoke a world in which dreams and reality are blurred, and are part of a continuum in which magic abounds seemingly everywhere. The sophomore album features gorgeous album opening track “Visions,” and the Fleetwood Mac-meets Carly Simon-like “Cruel.”

Melody Fields: The Gothenburg-based psych outfit quickly established a sound that seamlessly meshes elements of psych pop, indie rock and shoegaze, inspired by y Spiritualized, Moon Duo, and La Düsseldorf and others.

The Swedish outfit were busy last year, releasing two albums: 1901 and 1991. The band described 1901 as being a rock album with psychedelic influences. It showcases repetitive guitar riffs, distorted soundscapes, and mesmerizing three-part harmony vocals. Throughout these musical landscapes, we were fortunate to collaborate with guest musicians from esteemed bands such as Goat and Holy Wave, who added an extra layer of sonic brilliance to the album,” the members of the band explain.

“On the other hand, 1991 takes a different approach as a concept album that evolved from late-night jam sessions, experimental sounds, and danceable music,” the band continues. “It presents four remixes, including contributions from Goat and Al Lover, which inject new life into the original composition ‘Jesus’ from our previous album. The remixes offer fresh perspectives and invigorating interpretations, breathing new energy into the music and allowing it to evolve further.”

Now, if you were frequenting this site last year, you might recall that I wrote about two 1901 singles: The  Happy Mondays-meets-Primal Scream-like “Hallelujah,” and the bombastic, psych rock anthem “In Love.”