14 Acts We’re Excited to See at New Colossus Festival This Week

The sixth edition of NYC festival New Colossus is this week, starting somewhat quietly with an Opening Party tonight (3/4) at Pianos, before launching in full on Wednesday and running through Sunday at clubs all over the Lower East Side and East Village. There are nearly 200 acts from all over the world who will be playing, many doing multiple shows across the fest, and many of whom will then head to Austin for SXSW.

New Colossus is a great festival for discovering new artists, and with all the venues in walking distance of each other you’re encouraged to hop between clubs, set to set. Festival passes are still available, and even if you don’t have a badge, Friday, Saturday and Sunday there are free day shows. Check out the New Colossus schedule here.

Even if you plan out a schedule, you’re bound to see someone you didn’t know that you’ll really like. Some of the best sets I’ve seen at New Colossus have been by accident. Still, with a festival that is focused on emerging talent, it’s good to have a game plan, and with that in mind I’ve put together a list of 14 acts I’m excited to see at the festival, including groups from Germany, Canada, Australia, the UK and the US. Some of them I already knew and liked, and some I found listening to the official New Colossus 2025 Playlist, which you can click play on below. All but one of them play more than once this week.

Also below are a few notable showcases happening throughout the week where, if you wanted to stay put in one place, you’d still do pretty well. That includes the annual shoegaze marathon at Arlene’s Grocery on Saturday.

Head below for my New Colossus picks and maybe see you out there this week.

—

14 ACTS WE’RE EXCITED TO CATCH AT NEW COLOSSUS 2025

BIBI CLUB

Bibi Club, the Montreal duo of singer/keyboardist Adèle Trottier-Rivard and guitarist Nicolas Basque (Plants & Animals), have nostalgic melancholy running through their veins that is warm and inviting, if just a bit out of reach. At their disposal: weird synthesizers, shoegazy atmospherics and snaking guitar leads that dance around the New Order-inspired basslines and vintage drum machines. Adding to the mystery are Adèle’s breathy delivery, French-language lyrics and a predilection for “oohs” and “ahhs,” not to mention their minor chord melodies and a warbly sheen that coats everything on the band’s second album. Their second album, Feu de garde, is fantastic, and they were equally bewitching when we caught them live at M for Montreal 2024.

You have four chances to see Bibi Club at New Colossus: Wednesday at Drom (10:45 PM); on Friday at Baker Falls (11:30 PM); on Saturday at Pianos downstairs (10 PM); Sunday afternoon at Arlene’s Grocery (3 PM).

Feu de garde by Bibi Club

—

CHLOË DOUCET

Toronto singer-songwriter Chloë Doucet makes winsome pop that owes just a little bit to jazzy ’60s pop, but what her 2024 album Sincerely really reminds me of is late-’90s The Cardigans. The songs are lithe, breezy and very catchy with an undercurrent of melancholy to cut the sweetness just a little.

Chloë plays Wednesday at Pianos upstairs (7:17 PM) and Thursday at Drom (7:45 PM).

Sincerely, by Chloë Doucet

—

CONSTANT SMILES

As Constant Smiles, Ben Jones makes swirling, hooky minor chord pop that is pleasingly mopey, but tends to switch up the methodology from album to album. 2021’s Paragons dipped a toe into heartland rock, while 2023’s Kenneth Anger felt like something straight out of goth’s ’80s heyday, still with just a touch of War on Drugs. Jones laid low in 2024, releasing only the (excellent) single “Connection,” so it will be interesting to see what Constant Smiles are up to now.

There’s only one chance to see Constant Smiles during New Colossus: Friday at Berlin (10 PM).

Kenneth Anger by Constant Smiles—

DELIVERY

Melbourne’s Delivery make the kind of caustic, mutant garage punk that their city has become known for in the last 15 years, sounding like the sun-baked desert vistas that populate George Miller’s Mad Max films. This band rip, mixing full-throttle propulsive drumming with slashing guitars and shout-along choruses. If you like the entire Mikey Young diaspora of snarling “dolewave” (Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control, Dick Diver, etc), Delivery do it better than almost anyone else at the moment. Young actually mastered Force Majeure, their second album and first for esteemed UK indie label Heavenly, which is especially well-titled as the band sound like an unstoppable force.

Delivery play Saturday at Drom (9:15 PM) and Sunday at Arlene’s Grocery (7:30 PM).

Force Majeure by Delivery

—

DUTCH MUSTARD

While based out of London, Dutch Mustard’s Sarah-Jayne Riedel was indeed born in the Netherlands and makes a lightly spicy blend of dreampop/shoegaze that mixes roaring guitars with electronics and big melodies. Her debut EP from 2022 got plays on the BBC and praise from Iggy Pop, and her 2024 single “Loser” was co-written/co-produced by Bill Ryder-Jones with some mixing assist from Dave Sitek. Her brand new single “Dreaming,” out just ahead of her New Colossus appearances, is another hazy earworm.

Dutch Mustard has three shows: Saturday night at Arlene’s Grocery (9:15 PM); Sunday afternoon at Arlene’s Grocery (2:15 PM); and early Sunday night at Pianos downstairs (7:45 PM).

—

FUUDGE

Montreal quartet FUUDGE make stoner grunge with a French(Canadian) twist, singing in their native tongue with rich harmonies that nicely cut through the sludge, and it’s all sprinkled with just a little baroque psych. The band’s 2023’s album qu’un cauchemar devienne si vrai (“that a nightmare becomes so true”) is crunchy and satisfying, and their 2024 single “Allo?” is even better. They were killer when I caught them at a hometown show in November during M For Montreal 2024, where they were a nice jolt of energy in a post-midnight set.

FUUDGE play the M for Montreal showcase on Wednesday at Drom (10 PM); and also Friday afternoon at Pianos downstairs (2 PM).

…qu’un cauchemar devienne si vrai by FUUDGE

—

HUMDRUM

Loren Vanderbilt spent the 2010s as one third of Chicago indiepop trio Star Tropics. When that band called it quits at the end of the decade he went solo as Humdrum, carrying on with a similar style of shimmery, jangly indiepop that recalls late-’80s bands like The Primitives, Mighty Lemon Drops or the many bands of Sarah Records, not to mention the poppier side of ’90s UK shoegaze. Humdrum’s 2024 debut, Every Heaven, is brimming with memorable choruses, big hooks, chiming guitars and chunky vintage drum machines.

Humdrum play twice at New Colossus and both times at Baker Falls: Friday at 7 PM, and Saturday at 5:45 PM.

Every Heaven by Humdrum

—

MATCHING OUTFITS

Berlin trio Matching Outfits arrive in NYC for New Colossus the same week they announced they’ve signed with Hoboken’s Bar-None Records (They Might Be Giants, Yo La Tengo, Feelies). Their first single for the label is the charming if melancholic “No Whiskey,” which was produced by Emperor X (Chad Matheny) and has Linnea Mårtensson lamenting “A heartbreak is just a hangover of the heart.” If you like skeletal indie rock that has at least a toe in folk (Cate Le Bon or Goat Girl), you might want to try on Matching Outfits.

You’ve got two chances to see Matching Outfits: Wednesday at Pianos downstairs (6 PM), and a Saturday day show at Baker Falls (2:45 PM).

No Whiskey by Matching Outfits

—

MOULD

Bristol, UK trio Mould make hard-hitting indie rock that’s informed by manic mathiness that can turn a song on a dime from pop to shouty punk to ripping hard rock while avoiding pigeonholes along the way. They’re one of these bands you can just tell are going to be explosive live. (They don’t sound like McLusky, but they’re in the same universe.) Having released a 2024 single on Nice Swan Records (English Teacher), Mould are now signed to 5db Records who will release the band’s Almost Feels Like A Purpose EP in April. Lead single “SNAILS” recently premiered on Huw Stephens’ BBC 6 Music show and is a real corker.

Mould have two shows this week: Arlene’s Grocery on Thursday (9:15 PM), and Berlin on Saturday (9:15 PM).

SNAILS by MOULD

—

THE OBGMS

Toronto’s The OBGMs (which stands for “The oOohh Baby Gimme Mores”) are coming up on a decade of blurring punk, rap and anything else that comes their way with indefatigable energy and big hooks. The band’s 2020 album The Ends was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, and their 2024 album Sorry It’s Over features contributions from METZ’s Alex Edkins, PUP’s Stefan Babcock, MSTRKRFT, and more. “We’ve always been a band about raw energy, but this time we wanted to share our soul,” frontman Densil McFarlane says. If you can’t catch them at New Colossus, later this spring The OBGM’s will be on tour with Catbite.

The OBGMs have two festival shows: Drom on Friday (10 PM), and Pianos downstairs on Saturday (10:45 PM) as part of the Exclaim! all-Canadian showcase.

SORRY, IT’S OVER by The OBGMs

—

PERSONAL TRAINER

We first learned of Amsterdam six-piece Personal Trainer through fellow Dutch group Pip Blom, who put the band’s early single “Politics” on their Best of 2021 list, saying “My favorite Dutch band at the moment. This song is an absolute gem.” Personal Trainer have since gone on to release two studio albums, the most recent being last year’s terrific Still Waiting, which has a bit of a Pavement thing going on and was released by Bella Union (the label run by Cocteau Twins bassist Simon Raymonde).

Personal Trainer have three New Colossus shows: Thursday at Pianos downstairs (5 PM); then Thursday night at Arlene’s Grocery (10:45 PM) and then Arlene’s Grocery again on Sunday (8:15).

Still Willing by Personal Trainer

—

PONS

Powered by a dual drummer backend and wild singer/guitarist Sam Cameron up front, trio Pons got their start in North Carolina but took off upon moving to Brooklyn, where their intense live shows, nonstop gigging and sound informed by The Birthday Party and NYC’s no wave scene made them mainstays on the local scene. You may have seen Pons share bills with A Place To Bury Strangers, Lambrini Girls, Gustaf, La Femme and more. APTBS’ Oliver Ackermann signed the group to his Dedstrange label, releasing The Liquid Self in 2023.

PONS have three New Colossus shows: they’ll close out the Dedstrage party at Berlin on Wednesday (1 AM); and then play Berlin again on Thursday (7:45 PM); and Saturday afternoon at Pianos downstairs (4:15 PM).

Nelson Hold (BUG) by Pons

—

PYNCH

London group Pynch’s 2023 debut album, Howling at a Concrete Moon, owes little sonically to early-2010s indie rock; the band cited indie label Captured Tracks as an influence, and you can hear touches of Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing, and Spectrals in the album’s guitar tones and melodies. But no artist on C/T then had as much to say as frontman Spencer Enock does now, who drops knowing, witty couplets throughout the record, chronicling mid-20s ennui and fears with introspection and a dash of self-aware humor. Pynch just released new “The Supermarket,” their first new music since their debut, and it’s the hopefully the first taste of the band’s sophomore effort.

Pynch have two New Colossus shows: Wednesday night at 12:15 AM (technically Thursday morning) at Baker Falls; and Pianos downstairs on Thursday (10:45).

The Supermarket by Pynch

—

YOU SAID STRANGE

Hailing from Normandy, France, quartet You Said Strange make noisy, post-punk-influenced psych rock with a healthy does of goth and JAMC-style feedback assaults. The band’s 2018 debut, Salvation Prayer, was made at The Dandy Warhols’ Odditorium studio with Dandy’s guitarist Peter Holmström, and their most recent record is the excellent Trade Your Soul EP.

You Said Strange have three New Colossus shows: Berlin on Thursday (9:15); Pianos upstairs on Saturday (2:30 PM); and Arlene’s Grocery on Sunday (10:30 PM).

Trade Your Soul EP by You Said Strange

—

Here are a few notable showcases happening during New Colossus:

What has become a tradition and the most popular showcase of the fest is the 12-hour shoegaze party at Arlene’s Grocery on Saturday. (Like all weekend matinees, the day portion is free.) This year features sets from s k y m e n d e r (US), Kestrels (CA), smalltalk (US), Heaven (US), Hongza (UK), Heaven Slight (US), Autobahn (US), Prism Shores (US), Mahogany (US), Dutch Mustard (UK), Bleary Eyed (US) and Velveteen (UK).

Our friends at M for Montreal have their all Canadian mixer/showcase on Wednesday (3/5) at Drom with Bibi Club, Diamond Day, Amery, Laughing, Pressure Pin, FUUDGE, and Truck Violence.

Dedstrange, the label run by A Place to Bury Strangers’ Oliver Ackerman and New Colossus cofounder Steven Matrick, has a showcase on Wednesday at Berlin Under A with The Jump Cuts, SNOWMEN, Gewalt Public Circuit, PEER PLEASURE, test plan, Joe & The Shitboys, Bucket, and Pons.

For the Anglophiles, The British House is hosting an all-UK showcase on Thursday (3/6) at Parkside Lounge with test plan, Sterling Press, Hongza, The Fiends and Marvin’s Revenge.

Sunday is the official closing party, with free matinees at Arlene’s Grocery, Baker Falls, and Pianos. There are free matinees at many venues on Friday and Saturday, too.