Schedule of Events:

7:30 PM: Nat Baldwin
Music - Alternative/Indie Folk

Nat Baldwin is a double bassist, composer, and writer from Maine currently living in Western Mass. He’s released several solo and collaborative works across genres and runs the experimental music label Tripticks Tapes. His books include a collection of short fiction, The Red Barn (Calamari Archive, 2017), and a work of hybrid non-fiction, Antithesis (Bridge Books, forthcoming Fall 2025).

Location: Riverside Theatre

7:45 PM: Younger
Music - Rock

Each of the three women who make up the power-sneer rock band Younger are veterans of Iowa City’s music scene. Their brand of nineties worship brings to mind the shoulder-popping rhythms of early Sleater-Kinney, while their dedication to three-part harmonies evokes the Shangri-las. Drums, bass, and guitar all grind with the swagger of musicians for whom the form is a pleasure rather than a chore.

Location: Gabe's

8:00 PM: Mabe Fratti
Music - Avant-Garde, Experimental

Mabe Fratti is an experimental cellist and composer.  Originally from Guatemala, Fratti is now based in Mexico City.  She uses cello, voice and synthesizers to present sound in the form of installation, composition & free improvisation. Mabe’s music takes us to sensible sounding boards: through a hypnotic and captivating performance, she sews contemporary elements like shoegaze and dream pop with ancestral influences that go from Gregorian chants to Sephardi music, transforming them in ingredients of a potent sonic ritual that causes a profound emotional impact.

Her 2019 debut LP, Pies Sobre la Tierra, introduced the world to Fratti’s lush & hypnotic cello compositions. Her recent album Será que ahora podremos entendernos, earning acclaim from Pitchfork, NPR, BBC, The Wire, The Guardian, XLR8R, Bandcamp, and more, finds a space for lyrical invention, elevating her otherworldly creations to new heights. The album’s title translates as Will we be able to understand each other now? Mabe’s Cello is still a prominent aspect of the work here but it comes draped in vintage synths, guitars, field recordings, and gentle drone.

Location: The Englert Theatre

9:00 PM: Angry Blackmen
Music - Hip Hop

Chicago based experimental hiphop duo ANGRY BLACKMEN formed sometime in early 2017. The group consists of rappers Brian Warren and Quentin Branch. Now in 2024 ABM are back  with a full-length record entitled ‘The Legend of ABM’, a 30-minute coming of age narrative about black men navigating this wilderness known as North America.

‘The Legend of ABM’ immediately smacks the listener in the eardrum leaving no second wasted and jumping straight to the point. ‘The Legend of ABM’ tells the story of two Black men hustling through the trenches of capitalism and the effect that this journey has on them. While the album exudes catchy wordplay and spine-splitting production handled by Formants, digging deeper into the album the group spin a tale of depression, existentialism and afro futurism. Warren & Branch’s raw poetry educates the listener of the pre-apocalyptic hyper capitalistic world we’re already living in throughout this project. Personal anecdotes of tragedy and survival over soundscapes created from the future provide a passionate yet introspective look at the world-at-large. ‘The Legend of ABM’ is not an excursion for the weak, the production is meant to snap your spine in half, the lyrics from Quentin & Brian are pathos infused and relatable to anyone simply trying to survive.

Location: Gabe's

9:30 PM: Mannequin *****
Music - Punk/Indie Rock

Mannequin *****’s music feels like a resilient and galvanizing shout that demands to be heard. Across four albums, the Philadelphia rock band that consists of Colins “Bear” Regisford (bass, vocals), Kaleen Reading (drums, percussion), Maxine Steen (guitar, synths), and Marisa Dabice (guitar, vocals) has made cathartic tunes about despairing times. “There’s just so much constantly going on that feels intentionally evil that trying to make something beautiful feels like a radical act ,” says Dabice. “The ethos of this band has always been to bring people together.” Their latest I Got Heaven, which is out March 1 via Epitaph Records, is the band’s most fully realized LP yet. Over 10 ambitious tracks which abruptly turn from searing punk to inviting pop, the album is deeply concerned with desire, the power in being alone, and how to live in an unfeeling and unkind world. It’s a document of a band doubling down on their unshakable bond to make something furious, thrilling, and wholly alive.

Location: The Englert Theatre

10:00 PM: Flore Laurentienne
Music - Classical/Experimental

Flore Laurentienne is the unique project of Mathieu David Gagnon, composer, orchestrator and musician. His albums “Volume 1” and “Volume 2“, released via Costume Records, won over audiences and critics alike, garnering two Félix awards at the 2020 ADISQ gala and the trophy for Best Experimental Album at GAMIQ the same year. The albums also garnered several nominations at the ADISQ gala, the JUNO Prize and the long list of the prestigious Polaris Music Prize. The piece “Fleuve No. 1” opened the Chanel fashion show at Paris Fashion Week 2022, and Flore Laurentienne wrote the music for a podcast on Jean-Paul Riopelle‘s “Dépeindre Riopelle” for Radio-Canada in 2023. The result is the album “8 tableaux.

Location: Riverside Theatre

10:45 PM: Your Smith
Music - Alternative/Indie

Minneapolis native Your Smith (aka Caroline Smith), relocated to Los Angeles after signing to Pulse Recording (DRAM, Miike Snow, Gallant, et. al). Inspired by the history of Laurel Canyon and moving through a city that’s been immortalized in music throughout the ages, Smith concocted her own sound, bringing together the funk / R&B “Minneapolis Sound” of her roots and the classic songwriting of the LA folk heroes.

Your Smith released her debut EP ‘Bad Habit’, in August 2018 on Neon Gold Records (HAIM, Christine & The Queens, et. al) and a follow up EP Wild Wild Woman in September of 2019.

“This is an anthem for the wild woman that lives inside us all, begging to be let out…”

Her 2020 North American headline tour (plus shows in London) was near completely sold out before taking some time off once the pandemic hit.

Location: Gabe's