After decades of making music and touring the world, it’s common to see the tribulations of life weighing down on an artist and their songwriting. Yet, Shonen Knife, hurtling towards their fourth decade of international fame, are once again proving their everlasting optimism and dedication to effervescent bubblegum punk with their 19th studio album Sweet Candy Power (out June 5, 2019 via Good Charamel Records).

Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties is as much a band as it is a story. The band plays Americana, sometimes with 6 or 8 or 10 people - a horn section, banjo, lap steel, strings and more - and sometimes as one man with an acoustic guitar and his voice. The story follows a man named Aaron who, after a series of devastating losses, wanders the country looking for purpose, direction, and redemption.

Plague Vendor have announced their new album By Night, produced by John Congleton (St Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, Chelsea Wolfe) and recorded at legendary EastWest Studios (Brian Wilson, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop). The follow up to their 2016 debut full-length BLOODSWEAT and their widely-acclaimed debut EP Free to Eat is set for release on June 7 via Epitaph Records. The 10-song set kicks off with the raw, vital track and first single “New Comedown.”

WEIRD NUMBERS is the new Seattle-based project from Zache Davis of MANIAC and THE GIRLS, Colin Griffiths of THE GIRLS and TOURIST, and Ethan Jacobsen of TOURIST and WASTED USA. Circa 2001, the 3 friends lived in a decrepit row of U-District party houses dubbed, "Brooklynhaus," "The Doll House," and "The Manor." In 2017, they decided to form WEIRD NUMBERS while working on some original tunes in Ethan's Green Lake basement he dubbed "The Crystal Jacuzzi." The band's first show was opening for FULL TOILET, a project from the ever-prolific Seattle legend Kurt Bloch of THE FASTBACKS.

FLESHIES (est. 1999) are a loud punk band from Oakland, California. They are noted for their intense, wild, and often homoerotic stage presence, abrasive-yet-catchy songs that warp and invert countless rock and punk tropes, radical (verging on wingnut) left-wing politics, and punishing tour schedules from the past (133 shows in 131 days at one point in 2003).

Smash The Statues have something to say on their new album FORVM, which will be out May 17 via White Russian Records. First single "Dvm Navis Praetoria Resvrrectionis ad Profiscendvm Parata est" kicks off the album and warns the listener for what's to come. The band posted the new single with an important message:

Veteran punk rockers Downway will release “Last Chance For More Regrets” on May 1st via Thousand Islands Records. The album will be the band’s first new album in 15 years and will serve as a follow up to “Hometown Advantage”, a split with Belvedere that came out in 2003.

The quartet from Calgary will be touring eastern Canada with Hit The Switch this coming May. The trek will take place in Ontario and Quebec and include a stop at Montreal’s Pouzza Fest. Downway will also be performing at Moment Fest 2019 and recently announced a few album release shows.